Aesthetics and Identity
Place: Konohagakure Female Prison Block Death Row
Time: 1 hour until execution.
For her, it was all over. When she was younger she had dreamed of growing up into a powerful, beautiful woman that would eventually take charge of her clan and continue on as her father before her. However, those dreams were shattered beyond any hope of repair now. She had committed one of the highest crimes under the law of Konohagakure, more viciously punishable than nearly all others.
Hyuuga Hinata had run away. Due to morning sickness, and fearing for the safety of her unborn child, Hinata had to catch up to her ANBU squad. Finally arriving at the agreed-upon meeting place, she found that they were all dead. Fear beyond all reason filled her and she fled, for she knew that it had been her husband, Hyuuga Kurono, who had murdered them all. Hinata had married him only because the clan head—her father—Hyuuga Hiashi had forced her to do so. Her plan had been to go into hiding, carry her child to term, and then sneak back into Konoha to tell her story, hoping for mercy from the Godaime.
But that wasn’t going to happen. Uzumaki Naruto, her closest friend Inuzuka Kiba and Haruno Sakura all rushed to find her. With them was her husband, who eventually revealed his true nature when killed Kiba and his loyal companion Akamaru. He then raped Sakura and nearly killed both Hinata and Naruto, all without any apparent logical reason. Lucky for her, her old friends from the academy showed up to intervene however, with an underhanded twist of fate, her battle with Kurono caused her to lose the baby. The Council of Elders (Through major pressure from both her father and the remnants of the Inuzuka household) had decided to punish her by ordering that the maximum sentence for running away should be imposed. Disgraced, dishonored, and depressed, Hinata now sat in her prison cell without any hope. Her blank eyes stared endlessly into the wall, and despite the constant rumbling of her stomach, she was simply too depressed to eat.
She had only one hour of life left, and though she was constantly asked if she had any final requests, she ignored her guards, knowing that her one request that mattered had already been carried out by her cousin, Neiji. Briefly, she wished that she had inherited both Neiji’s genius and skills. She was often considered the weakest member of the family, and even though she had tried her best to impress her father by improving herself, he ignored it all, instead focusing on training both her sister and cousin. She couldn’t hate them for the love he had for them. But she simply wished that he had, at least once, patted her on the head like he had done to Hanabi so many times and said, “I am proud that you’re my daughter.” But that was only wishful thinking. As her father had always seemed to tell her “Dreamers do not belong in the Hyuuga clan.”
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Place: Hokage Mansion private quarters.
Time: 45 minutes till execution
Tsunade Godaime, Hokage of Konohagakure, was standing straight up in front of a tall gold-trimmed mirror with her arms wide open as Shizune, her longtime friend and companion, darted around her like an overactive fairy as she finished fitting the ceremonial robes to her body.
“Ah there you go, perfect.” Shizune gleamed.
“I really don’t want to go to this thing.” Tsunade sighed bitterly. “I mean, honestly, what kind of message are we sending? I really don’t believe this is right on any level. What pisses me off the most is that I’m the Hokage and I can’t do anything to stop it.”
With a resigned sigh, Shizune said tiredly, “I don’t like it either. However our founding fathers did put in place these strict laws in because they felt-”
“I know the reason why the rules are in place.” Tsunade snapped. “But right now, even I’m questioning whether or not we’re being too harsh. Its things like this that I wish were my decision alone, because, honestly, I would’ve probably just have given her some psychological rehabilitation time and possibly lowered her rank.” Tsunade stared at her own reflection, shaking her head.
“I agree,” Shizune was holding onto the giant wide-brimmed red and white hat that was symbolic of the Hokage position. “This is way too harsh. But then again, the life we live isn’t easy either. These laws that your grandfather put into place are to remind us of the life which we have chosen. There are many opportunities for a person to stop being a shinobi without any repercussion at all. However I do believe there’s a certain amount of pressure on people in clans, like the Hyuuga that almost forbid anyone from not following in the footsteps of their parents.”
“Well,” Tsunade turned away from the mirror to take the hat from Shizune. “After today, things are going to change around here. I know that there’s nothing I can do to stop this, but I will definitely not allow another incident like this to happen again. Hiashi and I are going to have a very, very long talk after today.”
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Place: Konohagakure Female Prison Block Death Row
Time: Five minutes till Execution.
They rapped on the bars of her cell, notifying her that the moment she’d been waiting for was now upon her. Two female Anbu guards, both dressed in black hoods, their faces hidden behind white animal masks stood there, staring at her. She could feel their eyes. One wore the mask of a bird, the other one of a fox.
“It’s time,” spoke the one wearing the bird mask. Hinata didn’t answer her. She simply stood up and held her arms out as the two guards came in and placed shackles around her wrists and ankles.
The fox-masked guard said quietly over the clinking of metal, “You know,” These guards were new, as Hinata did not recognize her voice from the usual two guards that often came to check up on her, but dismissed it solely as a change in the guard roster. “You should smile today.”
“Smile?” Hinata eyed the guard, wondering if she was one of those sadistic types that took pleasure in watching people suffer.
“Yes, smile.” The guard wearing the fox mask placed a blindfold over her eyes, the soft cloth smooth over delicate skin. With a gentle tug on the chain connected to her hands, she was ushered towards the door, one guard holding the end of the chain, and the other her arm for guidance. The voice behind her then said softly, “Today is going to be a good day.”
Hinata didn’t answer as she was led blindly out of her cell, shuffling down the hallway. Her guards remained silent as they escorted her to the execution grounds. She let her mind wander, thinking what her life would’ve been like had she quit being a shinobi a long time ago. She had always wanted to work at the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Hinata often visited the store to purchase supplies for one of her favorite hobbies, flower pressing. She herself had kept a small garden, hidden on the grounds of her father’s estate, and Hinata had fallen asleep countless times while admiring the beauty and strength of the flowers she grew there. How she longed to see how well her garden was faring now! But she was resigned. Hinata was ready to die. Even if she wasn’t, it was going to happen anyway.
“You there,” Came a masculine voice from in front of them, along with the shuffling of feet on stone, and the guard who had her hand on arm to lead her squeezed it gently, forcing her to stop. “Where are you taking the prisoner?”
“To the execution grounds of course,” one of the guards said with a hint of venom in her voice.
“You idiot,” The interloper’s voice snapped. “The execution grounds are the other way. Don’t tell me they’re letting mentally deficient morons into ANBU now…If you keep going this way you’ll end up at the-”
The man’s voice was cut short, by a loud smack. Hinata barely kept the surprise from her posture as she realized that the man had been knocked unconscious. The ANBU at her side leaned in to her ear as she heard the leading chain being removed. For an instant, her heart beat hard in her chest, and she was sure that they were going to skip the execution grounds and just murder her in some dark corridor.
“Don’t make a sound,” the woman said, and Hinata was unceremoniously picked up and hauled over one slender but surprisingly strong shoulder. Without further ado, she was jostled as they carried her like a sack of flour down the hall and around corners, her limbs swinging limply as they went. There were sounds of doors being kicked open, and the unmistakable sounds of fists and feet slamming into flesh and armor, and of bodies dropping violently to the ground. Somewhere, an alarm began to wail.
“Wha-what’s going on?” Hinata’s voice was hoarse, and heart was pounding in her chest, threatening to tear itself from her ribs.
“Shhh, stay quiet.” She felt herself being lowered to the floor and pushed upright before being shoved into a quiet room, the only sound for a long while was the door being locked and a bolt being shoved into place behind her.
A sound like radio static came for an instant before there was a small click. “Alright, Shadow Boxer this is the Flower girl, we’ve made it to point A.” Hinata strained her ears, trying to figure out which of the ANBU was talking. A pair of hands began unfastening her handcuffs and shackles, and a moment later, they fell to the floor. Hinata thought she heard them being kicked into a corner. She felt a sense of dread when her blindfold was removed, but she could not see much of anything in the very dim light. A bundle of clothes and armor pressed into her chest.
“Hurry, put these on.” The mystery guard ordered. She didn’t argue. Hinata quickly tore off her prison garb and fumbled with a uniform. Something about it felt familiar. After a moment, she smiled just a little. Hinata now did not need to see it to know that the clothing and light armor she was wearing was indeed that of Konoha’s ANBU.
After she was fully dressed in the close-fitting black shirt and pants and long black gloves with steel plates across the backs of her hands, she quickly slipped on a nice new pair of zori and then hurried to attach her breastplate and arm guards.
Another quiet bout of static was followed by a click. “Yeah, we were discovered, but we’re not caught yet.” One of the women whispered lowly. “Roger that.”
“Plan B?”
“Plan B.”
“Wait, wait,” Hinata look at one of her rescuers as they handed her a dog shaped mask to hide her face. “Who are you people?”
“Trash.” Answered the ANBU with a smile in her voice. “We’ll explain later, we gotta hurry now.”
They burst through the door into a hallway filled with Jounin and Chunnin guards and filtered into the chaos. The fox-masked ANBU grabbed the nearest guard, halting him to ask, “What’s going on? Where’s the prisoner scheduled for execution?” Hinata marveled at the audacity of her rescuers. This was a very risky trick to pull.
“We don’t know. Two people came in posing as her ANBU escorts and are trying to escape.” The idiot answered, unwittingly falling for the woman’s deception.
In a voice that was thick with authority, and not a little urgency, this same woman said, “You gather some men and send them to basement, we’ll go check the forest, there has gotta be more than just two!”
“Got it!” The Jounin stopped three guards and gave them orders as Hinata and the other women began making their way out.
“Let’s go.” The fake ANBU shinobi nodded towards the opposite end of the hallway. They ran down one corridor after another, seemingly at random.
“We found them! They’re at the front gate!” Shouted someone from down the hallway. Hinata wondered who it was that they had found, since she and her rescuers were here, and not at the front gate.
“Let’s go stop them!” The fake ANBU said, and lead them straight to the main exit.
Though she had many questions about what was going on, Hinata kept silent. She wasn’t sure if the people breaking her out of prison had her best interests in mind. Hinata became very confused when they reached the front entrance and saw herself standing in between two ANBU guards, kunais raised as they attempted to make a break for the front gate.
“Stop them!” The fake ANBU shouted and gave chase. Hinata silently followed them, mimicking their movements without being told. The two fake ANBU made a move to block the gate.
Hinata silently watched as the two fake ANBU made short work of her clone and her…rescuers.
“You,” The fake-ANBU in the bird mask turned to her as began to tie the imposters up. “Go report this; we’ll take care of things here.”
“H-hai!” Hinata nodded as she looked towards the gate. She hesitated for only a second before she quickly channeled her chakra and used shunshin jutsu she’d learned early on in her ANBU days to get away.
She had barely entered the forest around the correctional facility when she felt a hand on her arm. Before she could see who it was, Hinata was being pulled, moving at speeds she had never dreamt of, to the heart of the forest. The light grew dim, and the trees larger as Hinata began to have an ominous feeling.
“Come with me,” said her new captor, and finally, Hinata saw who it was. A bright smile and eyes bluer than the sky seemed to shine in the dim light. It was none other than Uzumaki Naruto. Hinata’s heart skipped three beats as he led her away from the prison and further into the woods.
“Na…Naruto-kun?” She stammered as her face, though hidden behind the dog-shaped ANBU mask, turned bright red.
He took a second to look back at her, holding her hand over his shoulder. “Don’t worry.” He said, “I don’t let my loved ones die.”
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Chapter notes: Heheh uploaded wrong file >.< Again Naruto doesn't belong to me, but the plot does. Big thanks to Antilogic girl for making my work look better than what it deserves.