Neglected Child

Chapter 44

Kitsune's POV:

"Why now?"

The question hang around in the air as the world seemed to have stopped. The married couple looked taken back by my sudden question and made little to no movements.

Luckily, there was no one else watching this whole exchange. It would have been awkward.

After what felt like hours of waiting, Kushina sama opened her mouth to speak, but closed it soon afterwards. Silent tears slowly  flowed down from her puffy eyes fown to her chin, leaving red lines along where they passed through.

"I - I had a realization. After your d - death"

"You only had a realization after my supposed death?"

I need to stay strong, I no longer have to cower but the lingering fear is still present. Confronting her is a step towards my healing.

"Y- Yes."

"So if I had not died, you would not have had this realization then."

I spoke in a quiet tone, nearly soft enough that only I could here it. But their sudden flinching told me that they could hear my voice quite well.

"I - ..... I don't know. But after that incident, it opened my eyes to how badly I treated you. I was blinded by the fantasy of Konoha having nice villagers that I was blind when it came to reality. I - I always thought they would think nothing of it when it came to your Jinchuriki status like they did to mine."

A pause, to provide her lungs with a new supply of oxygen

"But I was wrong, no one aside from the higher ups knew about my condition. But yours was known to everyone, civilian and ninja, adult and children alike. I always thought they would treat you like they do to Menma."

"But that still does not explain the fact that you did not try to help me when you saw burn marks and visible open wounds around my body. Thanks to the Kyuubi I am still alive but any normal human being would have died on the spot.

"I was clouded by my rage. You were always coming home late that I did not ask why and when I did, I did not want to listen to your story. I was stupid, I still am. "

A pause in the conversation, as Minato san went closer to Kushina sama, not touching her in any way but to probably provide comfort.

"......... how about the many times you did not bring me to your business trips in other nations. I had to live off of leftovers from the garbage bins since you almost always forget to restock the fridge."

"What?"

This time it came from the older blonde, who looked enraged.

"The council won the vote of keeping you inside the village perimeter at all times when you were a child, with the promise of taking care of you when we were out on an official business trips."

I heard him curse under his breath but payed it no mind.

'So it was not them who decided to leave me, but those fuckers? It's probably the civilian side of the council and the other two members of the Elders. Probably Danzo included since he was still not on my side at that time. Sadly I can't castrate them yet but Minato can put them to jail. Considering theu broke contract.'

"How about the many times you hit me, Kushina sama?"

Another flinch.

Drip. Drip.

The sound of dripping of something can be heard thanks to my hearing capabilites. It's from the grass, something is hitting their surface.

I looked towards the direction of the noise.

Crimson.

The color crimson coveds the blades of grass just below the closed fists of Kushina sama.

Her nails were digging too deep into her palms.

Minato seemed to not notice it yet, but he gave a concerned glance to his wife since she has become quiet once again.

I took a step towards her.

The shouting in my head came back, telling me to stop.

But I continued.

I finally arrived infront of her, her eyes looking down towards her foot.

I reached towards her closed fists and brought them on our chest level.

We were nearly the same height.

I opened her fists genstly as she slowly made them loose.

Using some of Kurama's chakra, I healed her bleeding.

I know her Uzumaki genes could heal that small wound after a minute but my body just moved on it's own.

"You don't have to answer that question. But there will be a time that I will ask you the same question once again. Just know that I have not forgiven you. Please excuse me, I have a war to prepare for."

And with that, I let go of her hands and did a quick shunshin to my house.

The house is better than before thanks to the clones actually making it look better over the week that I was away. I changed out of my ANBU mission gear and wore my normal mission hear I guess. It was pure black with some orange outlines on the bottom and an orange zipper in the middle. Kurama liked it so it is what I chose. I wore a similar pants and finally took off the twenty black masks, leaving my face uncovered.

With a look in the mirror and fixing my unruly hair, which was no use by the way, I shunshined towards the Yamanaka flower shop. To think they are open after a big disaster is a big surprise.

Luckily, it was Inoichi who was stationed by the counter. Encountering an old classmate who did nothing wrong to me by the way would still be awkward.

Buying a bouquet of lavenders, I paid for the flowers and decided to walk back towards my destination. There were some waves towards my direction which I returned with a small hand movement. I am still not comfortable with their treatment to me now but atleast it is not like before. There were some who looked away in shame again when they spot me.

After ten minutes of walking, I finally arrived.

The gates of the temporary Hyuuga Clan compound.