Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Gravity ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
“We have reason to suspect Uchiha did this out of irrationality,” Tsunade formally informed the Hyuga’s head of the family, Hinata’s father, Hiashi. “I have been told someone overheard him announcing he would be taking her to Sunakagure.” She calmly watched Hiashi’s muscles tighten with each passing moment. “As for the reason why he took Hinata-chan, we do not know.”
Hiashi stood and bowed to the Hokage. “Thank you for telling me all you know,” he calmly thanked her, but as he straightened from his bow, she noticed how his movements were stiff with anger. He turned and began to walk toward the door.
“Hiashi-sama,” Tsunade stopped him, “do you truly love Hinata-chan as much as I suspect?”
Hiashi glared over his shoulder. “Why is this question relevant?”
“Why do you push her into unnecessary depression?” Tsunade stood, her compassion getting the best of her. “That is not an act of love. Why do you make her believe you hate her?”
Hiashi looked forward and released a short breath—which was not quite a sigh—still none of his muscles loosening. “If she knew the kind of power she holds, she would be too strong for me to handle.”
“So you suppress it with sorrow instead of allowing her to learn to control it?” Tsunade sat back down and sighed. “Regretfully, I have to admit that’s understandable.”
Hiashi finally sighed and his shoulders released some tension. “Thank you for understanding.”
He then exited the room, leaving Tsunade to her thoughts.

Hinata’s sleepy eyes slowly opened to find an unfamiliar roof above her. She almost began to panic until she remembered leaving the hospital with Sasuke-san earlier that morning. It was quiet in the house. She could hear the peaceful sound of the chirping birds outside. Wanting to get up, she focused her mind on her body. She still couldn’t move her legs and her stomach muscles were regrouping from the operations that had been done not too long ago.
She turned her head to her right to see nothing but the logs that made up the walls. Frowning, she turned her head now to the left and saw a wooden nightstand beside the small bed she lay upon. It looked as if it had been hand carved from the same wood that the walls were made of. A blue candle, which had been noticeably used a few times before, sat atop the nightstand behind the tray of food that was still steaming with heat. Blinded by the sight of her breakfast, she didn’t examine the room any further.
Unable to sit up, she tried to figure out a way to be able to get into a position to eat the food. She tried using her arms to lift herself, but they were weak with misuse. Determined, she continued to come up with ways to use the muscles she still had. After a few long and tiring minutes, she still lay on her back, feeling useless and defeated.
“Are you finished?” Sasuke’s voice sounded loud in the silent room.
She looked to her left and saw nothing. Lifting her head just slightly, she saw him leaning his side against the wall at the foot of her bed with his hands in his pockets and an expression of calm anger (if there could be such thing).
“I’ll never pay off my debt to you if you continue with this stubbornness,” he explained, rolling his eyes and walking over to her. “I just want to get rid…” he stopped, seeing her pitiful expression, “…of this debt,” he finished.
“Th-thank you,” she nearly whispered.
“Stop thanking me for something I have to do,” he spat, taking the tray from the nightstand and putting it on his lap after he sat at the edge of the bed, close to her face.
“For ch…anging your orig…original sentence.” She kept her gaze away from his and opened her mouth for the approaching spoon with warm soup in it.
He stopped what he was doing. “I didn’t,” he argued.
Hinata closed her mouth and looked at him now.
“I saw your face,” he explained. “I wanted to yell at you for assuming what I would say, so I had to stop myself.”
Hinata’s lips formed into a small smile. “Thank y-you.”
“I said it before,” he rolled his eyes and brought the spoon to her lips, “stop thanking me. If I yell at you or hurt you in any way, it takes me further from the objective.”
She swallowed the delicious soup, her stomach thanking her for it. “Ob-objective?”
He groaned and brought another spoonful to her mouth. “Paying off my debt.”
They didn’t speak for the rest of the time as Hinata hungrily ate the entire bowl of soup and two sandwiches. Sasuke now sat at the end of her bed reading an unknown book. Hinata was fighting off sleep. She had to go to the bathroom, but she didn’t know where the wheelchair was and was much too embarrassed to tell Sasuke what was wrong.
“Umm…” Hinata finally began to speak, “wh-where is th-the wheelchair?”
She heard him turn a page of the book. “My doorways aren’t wide enough for you to use it in here.”
Hinata’s eyes widened with terror. “Th-then h-how will I g-get a-around?”
He detected the emotion in her voice and looked up from his book. “Why do you need it so bad?”
Her face blushed crimson. “I-it’s n-nothing…”
He sighed and arose from his sitting position. Without saying a word, he put his book down on the nightstand, scooped her into his arms, walked her into the kitchen and continued down a hallway to the right. He opened a door on the left wall, walked into the small room and turned on the light. It was the bathroom. Hinata’s face was still red as he sat her down on the toilet and walked out, shutting the door behind him. She continuously thanked him mentally as she proceeded to do her business.
She flushed and “umm” was all she had to say for Sasuke to walk in. He picked her up, held her up to the sink, so she could wash her hands and brought her back to the bed.
After a while of silence, Hinata spoke, “Th-that hurt my st-stomach.”
“To sit up?” he asked, still reading.
“Y-yes,” she answered.
“Which is why I didn’t sit you up to eat.”
She lifted her head to look at him. She wanted to think he was doing this out of kindness, because the truth hurt. How could someone be so cold?
“Why d-don’t you love S-Sakura-san?” she blurted out, and then slapped her hand to her mouth and closed her eyes, waiting for the worst.
He looked up from his book, frowning. “Where did that come from?”
“N-never mind,” she rushed her words nervously. “I-ignore m-me.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Something happened, didn’t it?”
“W-well…” she wasn’t sure what to say, “…y-yes.”
“Tell me,” he ordered, closing his book.
“Wh-when you th-thought you w-were s-six…”
Hinata told him the story about the flowers and how Sakura had burst into tears and then he had a fit of pain and awoke from his trance. Sasuke had gotten up and sat at the edge of the bed beside her, listening intently, eyes glaring at the end of the pillow she lay upon throughout the entire story.
“I could never love Sakura,” he finally announced. “She’s almost as big of an idiot as Naruto. Neither of them know what real pain is.”
“E-everyone kn-knows wh-what pain is, S-Sasuke-san,” Hinata disagreed, forcing Sasuke to avert his glare toward her. “W-we just ex-experience it d-differently.”
“You lie,” he snapped.
“N-no,” she frowned, “i-it’s true! The l-level of pain may b-be different for each p-person, b-but they still f-feel pain in some w-way.” She paused, blushing slightly. “E…especially for N-Naruto-kun…”
Sasuke didn’t reply. She likes Naruto… He didn’t understand what emotion it was that caused his heart to feel constricted when he realized this fact and decided to ignore it. He just glared into Hinata’s eyes. She felt intimidated and afraid of him, but refused to show it. Even when it was her father, she had always given her opinion. It was the only thing she could hold onto. He could beat her all he wanted, but she would forever believe in her mind, because her body was too weak to depend on.
“You have a point.”
She realized she had gone into a state of thinking and hadn’t been looking at him directly. Now that she did, she was shocked to see a small hint of a smile in one corner of his lips. His eyes were still narrowed, but his eyebrows were relaxed, indicating he was not angry. Oh, sweet reprieve! She was relieved and spread a warm smile at him in return.
“I didn’t kn-know the real y-you could s-smile,” she breathed.
It then faded, but he didn’t grimace or show any signs of anger. “The real me?”
“Y-yes, wh-when you were s-six, you sm-smiled a l-lot,” she giggled. “It’s p-probably bec-cause you th-thought I was y-your m-mother.”
His usual cold and lifeless face returned. “I see,” he replied with a harsh tone. “How could I have been so mistaken?” He stood and walked to the front door—which was (oddly) located on the back wall of the bedroom they had been in all day—and opened it. “You could never be her!” With that, he slammed the door behind him.
Tears swelled in her eyes, bitterly warming them like the sting of a bee warms the skin after impact. He could be so sweet at times. She found herself asking the same question as usual: how could someone be so cold? Even her father would come into her room after beating her and hug her tenderly, crying into her shoulder and begging for forgiveness. This boy was scarred. Worse than her. Worse than many.

Sasuke felt the urge to scream at the top of his lungs. He dashed through the trees of the forest surrounding his secret cottage. He ran until he reached the lake just south of the log cabin, which was the main reason he had chosen this land for his hiding place. The lake was so gorgeous. It brought back peaceful memories of his mother and respectful memories of his father.
When they were still alive, their home had been next to a lake. His mother would go out to the beach in the morning and paint the beautiful scenery. Sasuke, young and infatuated, would follow her and watch from a distance. Once, he came out from hiding and accidentally startled her. When she had jumped, her hand flew up and the painting was smeared. He felt so sorry that he vowed to become an artist to repaint the lake for her. As he had promised, Sasuke took up painting. His isle and paint were spread out on the beach, far enough away that they wouldn’t be harmed by the water.
He walked over to his current painting, picked up his tray and began filling it with colorful paint.

The door made a slight creek when Sasuke opened it, but it wasn’t loud enough to wake the girl. He gently stepped inside the cottage and quietly shut the door. A groan made him frown with puzzlement. It was too far away to be coming from the bed just across the room.
“Hinata?” he called out quietly.
“S-S-Sasuke-k-k-kun?” Hinata called out, her voice sounding indescribably strange.
Kun? Sasuke thought, frowning. She’s refused to call me “kun” ever since we met. He walked into the kitchen and flipped on the light. His eyes widened. Hinata lay collapsed and nearly lifeless, other than her shivering. There were glass pieces all over the floor and in her hair, which was sprawled out around her head. Her shirt was off and she held it—her hands shaking—to her stomach. Blood was everywhere. There were cuts and slices all down her right arm.
He rushed to the bathroom to retrieve the medical kit. When he got back, she was dragging herself toward the bedroom.
“Stop!” he ordered, but she didn’t. He dropped the kit and quickly, despite her struggling and kicking, picked her up and rushed her to the bed.
“What did you do?!” he demanded. She trembled massively as she tried to get off the bed. “Enough!” He pinned her down. “Why can you move your legs? And what did you do?”
“W-water,” she panted, words slurring, “I n-need water!”
Despite the fact that she wasn’t answering his questions, he ran into the kitchen to fetch the water anyway. He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with tap water. Briskly walking back toward the doorway of the bedroom, he stopped and screamed out in fury. Dropping the drink, he ran toward the wide-open front door and left the glass to shatter onto the floor behind him.
He picked up on her trail of blood and broken glass. I’ll catch up with her before she gets too far. He thought. Stupid girl! A minute passed and, despite running at his full speed, he still hadn’t caught up with her. She’s going in a straight line! There’s no way she can be faster than me. The lake was up ahead. Why would she go to the…?
He burst into the clearing and stopped abruptly. The scene before him glimmered so bright with the moonlight that he had to shield his eyes with his arm. He watched in bewilderment as Hinata’s blindingly bright figure danced within a sphere of water upon the lake. The light then brightened and the force of it pushed the objects around the sphere away, which included Sasuke. He fell on his side, but refused to look away despite the fact that it was much too bright to see anything.
“This body cannot be healed,” a foreign voice bellowed into the night sky. “The internal wound is unknown by the chakra of the ancient ones within the warrior. Cast out this body into the world of the mortals.”
“N-no,” came Hinata’s innocent voice, “I w-want to l-live!”
Sasuke listened for anything more, but he could hear nothing but the sound of the roaring water. A few long minutes passed. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew Hinata was in danger. He could feel it.
I have to save her. He thought to himself. I can’t just sit here! I owe her my life… Suddenly, his eyes widened. She called me “Sasuke-kun” like we were good friends. She needs me to…
Standing, he tightened his hands into fists. “Hinata!” he screamed. “Hinata…chan! I’m not done with you yet!” Nothing happened and he grimaced. “Hinata-chan, I will be with you until you don’t need me anymore, so…you have to live!”
Nothing happened for a long moment making Sasuke unsure she could even hear him. Then, abruptly the vortex disappeared. Hinata’s glowing body still hovered over the water. He rushed over to her and placed his arms beneath her shoulders and knees. Gravity gave in and she dropped into his arms. He waited for the glow to dissipate, but it didn’t. Giving up, he carried her back to the cabin and placed her in the bed. Covering her with the blankets, he turned to walk into the kitchen and tend to the mess.
Just then the light emanating from her faded away. Puzzled, he turned around and walked back over to the bed. Lifting the blankets, he saw that she wore different clothing than what she’d had on before. Curiosity got the best of him and he continued to lift the sleeve of her right arm. Her wounds were no longer there. There wasn’t even a hint of a scar. Seeing this miracle, he couldn’t help but wonder what the strange voice had meant when it had said her body couldn’t be healed.
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