literature

What he has been missing

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Literature Text

Now that Hinata's out of the house, Hiashi smothers Hanabi with his version of affection.

He makes Hanabi wear poofy dresses, protects her from the dance floor at Hinata’s spectacle of a wedding, and assigns four new bodyguards to shadow her every step. Pleased with himself, he then threatens to remove her from school so he can personally train her 24/7, watches what she eats, reads, and watches on TV, and takes away her phone privileges (They should come bow at your feet instead, he mentions over dinner). Then he drowns her in clan lessons.
She was always his princess, but now she is the clan's princess, and she will be perfect.
It’s to spite Hinata in a twisted sort of way, to tell Hinata, “You chose to leave in spite of my wishes, so this is what you’re missing.”

But Hiashi doesn’t see, doesn’t realize what he, himself, has been missing.
But one day he will see.

Because one day, Hanabi's going to snap, flip a table, run away from home and beg to live with Hinata and act as a babysitter between missions. Hiashi will sulk and seethe in a corner at home and begrudgingly admit he's pushed too many of Hanabi's buttons, so he'll walk over to the Uchiha's house, grumbling all the way, to try to convince Hanabi to come home.

He'll arrive at dusk, and Sasuke will answer the door and let Hiashi inside with a little smirk on his face, without a word being spoken. But when Hiashi raises a foot with a sneer, it'll quickly disappear, because as he steps in, he'll see many shoes in the entryway. And as he follows Sasuke through several rooms, he’ll note the house feels warm, happy, and welcoming despite the dwindling sunlight through the windows. There will be pictures on mantles, flowers in vases, baby toys in the corner, and ninja paraphernalia scattered about. The lamps will throw golden light, and before he sees it, he'll hear laughter up ahead.

Sasuke will walk ahead into the dining area, and leave Hiashi parked in the doorway. And Hiashi will find it hard to understand what's going on at first: there are too many people sitting too close together, preparing for dinner. Elbows on the table, they'll be pouring each other drinks and passing out plates and silverware. They will be laughing and joking and smiling, and when their hands touch nobody will flinch or scowl. He'll watch, baffled, as expressions are freely given, received, and reciprocated.

They will be wearing different outfits in different colors, but it is the color of their hair that will draw his eyes. Red, orange, white. Sasuke's own dark head joining them as he settles himself into a chair. Sasuke will keep facing the doorway, and despite busying his hands filling cups with lemonade, the smirk will stay on his mouth and the smirk will stay in his eyes. Hiashi will then narrow his own, but before it becomes a full-fledged glare, Sasuke will tilt his head, slide his gaze to the left, quirk an eyebrow, then look back at Hiashi. Unused to being looked away from so dismissively, Hiashi will nonetheless find himself looking to the left, as instructed.

And there: Hanabi, her dark brown head adding to the colors. Hanabi, crinkling the corners of her mouth, the corners of her eyes. Those corners will have tears. It will take Hiashi a second, two seconds, to interpret this arrangement on her face he has never seen before: Hanabi giggling. No; Hanabi laughing. Hanabi bouncing a baby on her knee and making babbling sounds.
Unacceptable. Hiashi will inhale to call to her, but before he can purse his lips, Hanabi will exclaim "Finally!"
And she'll look up, but not at him.
And the others will look up, but not at him.
They'll turn towards the kitchen, and start hooting, “Aah”-ing, and celebrating as a woman carries in a large tray, the meal atop steaming and smelling delicious.

And that woman will lean forward to settle it on the table before too many hands reach for it, and again, it will be her  hair that holds Hiashi's attention, as it cascades forward. She will tilt her head softly before it reaches the tray, such that it sweeps over her arm, over her shoulder, and curtains off to the side.
And while Hiashi won't have understood the spectacle in the Uchiha’s dining room, he will understand this scene.
Because this, this is easy. This he knows.

It's his wife, pouring tea to the sound of crickets in the evening, lips content, smooth, and rosy.
It's Hizashi, reaching down, to tie his sandals, to dust off his pant legs, smiling up at his twin before going to school.
It's his mother, sweeping a napkin across his cheeks, his mouth, his neck, soaking up watermelon juice and chuckling and picking seeds off his shirt in heat of the summer.
It's the Third, and the Fourth, looking out the big bay window and sighing in contentment over Konoha.
It's Inuzuka pressing his cheek into his partner's fur, it's Ichiraku sliding him a bowl of ramen with extra toppings, it's Naruto taking Sakura's hand.
It's Kushina, with mission complete and kunai in hand, throwing her head back, roaring in laughter, as red of cheek as she is red of hair.

Wait. Red. Not red. This person with the tray has a different shade of hair.
Ah, Hiashi will realize, it's Hinata. It's Hinata.

It’s Hinata? Hand delicately curled around a two-pronged fork to serve dinner, the other wagging a carving knife as she smiles and scolds those who reach into her platter with greedy fingers?

And for all of Hiashi's power and insight, experience and self-proclaimed wisdom, he will find himself speechless and thoughtless. And he will blink and blink again, uncomprehending. No, it cannot be. This cannot be my daughter, he will think.
This one is his wife, his brother, and mother, isn't she?
This one is Hokage, a ninja, a lover, a warrior.
This one is peace, and joy, and love; she is strength, passion, and warmth.
She is home, she is sunlight, she is everything he misses and all he has ever wanted.

Ah. Hinata.

And Hiashi will look at the platter, hot and steaming, and then at the company gathered around the table, the baby in Hanabi's lap. His eyes will find Sasuke's and Hiashi will draw a shaky breath, because Sasuke will have been watching him the entire time with the Sharingan activated. He will have seen the aching, gaping hole in Hiashi's heart, and the slight tremor in Hiashi's hands. Sasuke will continue to look at him, reading him, and Hiashi will feel measured and exposed.

Hiashi will realize with a start how, despite being trained from birth to be honorable and bring honor, he has been anything but. He has acted shamefully. For the first time in a long time, Hiashi admits he’s been wrong. Wrong about what it means to be strong. Wrong about how to measure greatness. Wrong about what is truly valuable, and how to assign value to different people and different things. He’s been wrong in how to grow a family, foster bonds, and love his daughters.

He has also been taught to fight tooth and nail, to scratch and bite and do everything and anything to come out on top, to win, to be right. But that night he will concede defeat. He will not come up with excuses for this and that and whatnot. For the first time in a long time, Hiashi will swallow his pride. And, for the first time in even longer, Hiashi will decide to apologize.

Eyes damp, lip and chin trembling, hands upturned, Hiashi will bow his head to Sasuke, quietly, meekly. Hiashi will be expecting triumph on his son-in-law's face, a great, baleful sneer.

But Sasuke is as unpredictable as Naruto, and when he smiles instead Hiashi will be taken aback, for there won’t be a trace of accusation that Hiashi can detect in those Sharingan eyes. The Uchiha are competitive and the Uchiha are dangerous, but above all, the Uchiha are passionate. Sasuke sees Fugaku in Hiashi, and to see Hiashi regretting his stupidity and longing for his family...
A repentant Hiashi is just as good as a repentant Fugaku; and Sasuke has been craving his father's love since before he can remember.
So this will be more than enough.

Sasuke’s smile will broaden, and without warning, he will turn his gaze on his wife, calling her name. And Hiashi will panic as he feels the soft "pop" of the Uchiha's dining room barrier give way (when his son-in-law had put the barrier up, he will never know) and the assembled ninja go dead quiet and pivot towards this new presence they detect in the doorway.
Hiashi will swallow thickly as his insides gnaw and churn, and Hanabi will open her mouth.

But it will be Hinata, with the sun in her eyes and stars in her lashes who will act, who will gather him in her arms and breathe, "Daddy!"

And he will know this, this is what he has been missing.
So... I was responding to a comment by Whatever7795 on one of the "Alpha Female" pics, and kept typing and typing, when I realized, "whoa, this is a whole story all in itself!" AMAZING!!!
I got so excited I deleted my entire response, saved it as a Word document, and decided to put it up as an independent piece. Hooray Meow :3

Please note, I am NOT a good writer, and this is the very first anything I've ever written, other than school assignments. The grammar and tense are going to read a little funny Bucktooth
This is based on 8sword's story "Apha Female", a Sasuke-Hinata fanfic. It's a glimpse into what the future could/should hold, and thus serves as my own little epilogue to 8sword's story. 'Cause I'm a sucker for happy endings, and this just had to happen.

Whatever7795, this one's all for you :blowkiss:

Kishimoto owns Naruto,
8sword wrote "Alpha Female",
this little spinoff is all mine :giggle:
© 2014 - 2024 lila-me
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latina-anime-bunny's avatar
This...this is the single most wonderful thing I've read lately; if not ever. I'm not even exaggerating or just saying it as flattery but it's true. Few times I have read a fanfic where my eyes well up with tears because my soul has been touched so profoundly. This spin-off, all be it non-cannon, allows me to appreciate the Naruto's character development. I was seriously moved and wept because I knew that even though Hiashi hurt Sasuke and Hinata, Sasuke wanted that acknowledgement and attention from him, because as you said, Hiashi reminded him of his father whom couldn't give Sasuke that satisfaction. Being able to see these deeply traumatized characters reach out and give their forgiveness, well, it does things to my heart and shows your ability to make the characters go full circle and well-rounded(even if you're an inexperienced writer and this is based off someone else's work).

Thank you for this much needed concluding piece.