As Toru Kujyo watched her look so happy and content, the last of his awkwardness melted away, leaving only boundless tenderness. He took her hand and sat back down with her on the warm stone bench. They leaned quietly against each other, gazing at the distant snowy mountains and the Milky Way overhead.
After a long silence, Toru Kujyo suddenly spoke, his voice unusually clear in the cold, crisp air. "Hinata, there's something I've always wondered about."
He drew his gaze away from the stars and looked at her profile. "Nine years ago, you were still so little. What gave you the courage to run away from home all by yourself?"
Like a pebble dropped into a still lake, the question sent ripples through Hinata's heart. Her smile slowly faded, replaced by a faint sorrow. The floodgates of memory opened, and the past she had deliberately buried rose before her eyes once more.
She lowered her eyes, her voice growing much quieter. "Because... I thought it was my fault."
She paused, seeming to gather her words, then slowly recounted that painful past. "Back then, a ninja from Kumogakure sneaked into our clan's grounds and tried... tried to kidnap me. Father accidentally killed him while protecting me.
"Afterward, Kumogakure pressured Konoha to hand over the killer, threatening war if we refused. To settle the matter, and to protect the Hyuga Clan's secrets... Neji's father, my uncle, Lord Hizashi Hyuga, took Father's place..."
Her voice caught there. No matter how hard she tried, she could not say the word that followed. The burden of the Main Family, the branch family's fate, her father's pain, and the sight of her uncle walking away with unshakable resolve that day had weighed like a mountain on a little girl's heart.
"I was too young to