41 Scared little boy
In a dimly lit room, with an air of menace, a man was held tied with a set of chains on each of his limbs. His eyes didn't hold any flicker of emotions, but if someone could see deep inside his eyes, he was truly horrified.
On both sides of the operating table, two white-eyed kids gazed at him, one with an emotionless face, and another one with a sadistic smirk.
.
"Did I see fear in your eyes? I thought with his training methods your emotions had been dead,"
"Hehe, but you're a lucky bastard to be chosen by me. At least here, you're being put to greater use," Hinata smirked, indicating Haku to pass her a vial of poison.
Haku looked at the man; he just wanted to kill this man who had tried to kill her.
Grabbing the vial of poison, he diligently passed it to her.
He had been learning medical ninjutsu from her and was improving himself every day. His fighting and assassination skills were improving so much and one of the reasons was that he now had a living dummy at his disposal.
.
Dipping the needle in the poison, she impaled it on his shoulder. "In ten minutes, you will be unconscious. This poison is very strong. Try to resist it, lucky bastard."
Haku looked at her for a moment before asking, "Lady Hinata, why do you always call him that?"
"Hehe, I just want to mock his fate," she replied.
.
"I see," he nodded and observed the reactions of the man, noting them down in his diary.
After ten minutes, the man started to lose consciousness. Hinata, with her Byakugan activated, closely examined the chemical reactions in his brain.
"So water could work like a poison." With a turn of events, it was revealed that there was no poison to begin with. With just mere water, the man went unconscious, believing that he was poisoned.
.
"See, Haku-chan, the human brain could produce things like these. If you start to believe in something, your brain will try to accomplish that thing."
It was a psychological test that the man had passed with full grades.
Haku nodded, resembling a benevolent student.
.
It had been around one month since he had sparred with Neji. From that day, he had learned from her and trained with Kimimaro day and night.
He had progressed in taijutsu, but he hadn't made that much progress in the department of his kekkei genkai.
He could freeze buckets of water and create water balls in his hands, but he hadn't been able to harness the same power he had when he first awakened his kekkei genkai, killing tens of men with just a wave of his hand.
If he couldn't do that, how would he be able to be useful to her?
.
Thinking, he looked at her. He wanted to be as useful as he could to her; this was the whole purpose of his existence.
As if sensing his inner struggles, she asked, "Did you want to ask something, Haku-chan?"
A surprised look appeared in his eyes. From the tone of her words, he felt like she already knew what he wanted to ask, just like a god. '
Just like the first time I saw you,' he thought.
.
He stammered for a moment before speaking, "I want to feel the same power I felt the first time I awakened Ice Release," he truthfully said.
Hinata stared at his unwavering eyes before nodding to herself. "I see. Tonight, you will feel the same power, Haku-chan," she said with a slight curve in her lips.
Seeing her smile, he felt happy but at the same time a slight bit of fear.
.
"I will meet you in the training ground," she said before leaving him alone in the room. 'I won't disappoint you,' he clenched his fist tightly and walked in the direction of his room.
'If I don't get stronger quickly, Kimimaro will surpass me, and there is also Neji. If I don't become powerful, I won't be any useful to her, and I don't want that to happen.'
Thinking about her, with a slight smile he too disappeared from there.
—
At night, he appeared in the training ground where Neji and Hinata trained daily.
Currently, they both looked exhausted, their clothes dirty.
"Did something interesting happen in the academy?" she asked her brother.
"Nothing, same as usual. But as you told me, I just sleep there," he replied. It was his daily routine: waking up from a little nap in the morning, going to the academy, sleeping most of the time there, getting the highest mark in every aspect, making his classmates jealous that, without doing anything, he could still get the first place. This only made his reputation as a genius skyrocket.
.
After coming back home, he and his sister trained like maniacs until they finally got too tired to move their bodies.
"Big brother, do you want to see how a person gets drawn in the water?" she asked.
"What are you up to now, sis?" he asked.
"You will find out soon," she said and lay on the ground until two boys eventually reached them.
Four of them stood in front of a big and deep pond that was in the corner of the training ground.
"You have to freeze it, Haku-chan," she calmly said, too calmly for her character.
.
"It's so big and deep, I don't have that much chakra to freeze it," Haku said, not knowing why she was asking such an absurd thing to do.
'It's impossible,' he thought, looking at the water.
"I see, so you're going against my words," she whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Hearing the dissatisfaction in her words, he panicked; fear crawled into his heart, seeing her disappointed in him.
"I-I don't dare," he panickedly said, but Hinata raised her hand, stopping him from saying anything.
.
"Kimimaro, tie his hands and legs and throw him in the water," she said, not showing any emotions on her face.
"Yes," Kimimaro, without showing any hesitation or pity, started to tie Haku, despite Haku's struggles and pleadings against going against her words.
"Please, Lady Hinata, I will do it now," he said, about to run towards the pond to freeze it.
"You had your chance," she said without looking at him.
"Throw him," hearing her, Kimimaro nodded, and after checking that he was tightly tied, he threw him into the cold water.
.
*Splash*
.
The cold water hit Haku's face, his body slowly started to sink into the water. The last thing he saw was her face, looking at him disappointedly.
He held his breath; the coldness of the water didn't hurt him as much as her.
'No, I don't want to die.'
With a struggle, he started to move his body like a fish to get to the surface.
Holding his breath, struggling with his body, he somehow appeared on the surface.
He looked at Hinata, who was standing above the surface and seemed to be looking directly into his soul.
"If you don't freeze this pond, then forget that I have ever met you," she declared.
Hearing her words, he felt a pain in his heart. "Please don't say it like this."
.
This was the last thing he wanted to happen. Then he felt a push on his shoulder, and he was going downwards.
Soon, he reached the bottom of the pond, and only darkness remained.
'Am I going to die like this?' he thought.
He tried to freeze the water, but his hands were tied. Despite that, a small amount of water turned into ice and quickly flowed upwards.
'No, this isn't working.'
He tried harder and harder, but nothing happened. Everything started to get dark. Haku, for the first time, felt the true despair of losing everything.
.
But deep in his heart, he still didn't want to give up. He had finally found his true home, but now it was slipping away.
'I won't let this happen again.'
He looked at the water. 'If this thing is getting between me and her, I will destroy it.'
.
Above the surface, Hinata looked at Haku, ten strings floating around her fingers, ready to save him anytime.
"Sister, you should save him; he is dying," Neji yelled from the bank of the pond.
"It's not the right time, brother," she calmly replied.
Haku was only mere seconds away from his death, and then it happened.
His chakra started to emanate from his hands and blended in the pond, decreasing its temperature.
"Haha, that's what I call re-awakening," she said with a laugh and jumped away from the water that was freezing at a rapid pace. Razor-sharp spikes formed on the water surface, ready to kill everyone.
.
At the bottom of the pond, Haku's chakra was almost gone; he was surviving on his sheer willpower.
He finally felt the true power of his Ice Release. With a final push, he shot through the frozen water, feeling as if he had truly become one with ice.
'I just hope she is happy with me.'
Before closing his eyes, he saw a figure appearing beside him, and he knew who it was. With a slight smile, he lost consciousness.
"Let's go," Hinata picked up the unconscious boy and disappeared from there.
---
Four hours later.
Hinata was sitting beside Haku's bed; he was still unconscious. Her hands were holding his hand, slowly transferring her chakra into him.
When he felt the warmth, he groggily opened his dark brown eyes; the mask on his face was gone due to not having enough chakra to maintain itself.
The first thing that came into his sight was her concerned face for him.
"I am sorry, Haku-chan," she said apologetically.
.
Seeing her concern for him made his heart feel warm.
"You don't have to say sorry; I asked for it," he quietly whispered.
With a warm smile, she said, "Even if you ask for it, I am genuinely sorry; I won't do it again."
He remained quiet for a moment before looking at her, "Are you still disappointed in me?" he asked, the thing he was most concerned about.
.
"No, Haku-chan, you made me feel proud," she sincerely said.
"Really?" he asked with a bright smile.
"Yes, but you don't have to act so tough around me," she said, grabbing his hand tightly.
Lowering his head, with quivering lips, he spoke, "I-I felt scared down there. I wasn't sure that I could make it," he said.
Hinata quietly listened to him, letting him express his emotions.
"I don't want to die, Hinata. I-I can't imagine losing you. Please don't do this to me again," he said between his tears.
Hugging him and tenderly patting his back, she spoke, "You are not dying, and I won't do this again."
"Promise me."
"I promise."
.
.
.
---
end of the chapter. how do you like it? tell me your thoughts in the comments...
and add the book to your library...
