"Natsu, promise me. You can never do something like this again. If one day I'm no longer here, then even for my sake, you have to keep living well."
Hyuga Gen looked solemnly and earnestly at Hyuga Natsu, who was right in front of him.
"Big Brother Gen, could you move a little farther away from me? You're kind of scaring me," Hyuga Natsu said with a teasing, evasive look in her eyes. She did not look scared in the slightest.
The two of them really were very close. In Hyuga Natsu's room, she lay on the bed while Hyuga Gen hovered over her, supporting himself with both hands as he stared at her with a serious expression.
The gathering had ended, and everyone had gone home. After seeing Karin off at his grandfather Hyuga Kamen's house, Hyuga Gen returned to Hyuga Natsu's house next door.
He had to properly teach Hyuga Natsu a lesson, so nothing similar would happen again.
"Don't try to brush this off. Look me in the eyes. You have to promise me, understand?" Hyuga Gen said, unmoved as he continued to stare seriously into Hyuga Natsu's eyes.
Hyuga Natsu looked into Hyuga Gen's eyes, and the two simply gazed at each other. Slowly, the playful expression on her face faded away, and her gaze gradually softened until her eyes seemed ready to overflow with tears.
"Then, Big Brother Gen, don't make Natsu worry anymore either, okay?" she finally said in an almost pleading voice.
She vaguely remembered countless scenes playing through her mind while she had been unconscious, especially the scenes of the Nine-Tails attacking the village.
When she had been at her most helpless, when she thought she was about to die, a little boy had desperately protected her, standing in front of her.