A bet on Love

30 | Back to Tokyo

It was a cold night as rain drummed outside the mansion, drenching the trees and grass that flew softly in the faint cold breeze. The sky rumbled as lightning flashed in the grim clouds. The two girls, Momona and Hinata, sat on the veranda with a blanket wrapped around both of them. Hinata let out a breath and a smoke screen appeared in front of her.

"Something on your mind?" The brunette asked, pulling Hinata closer to her.

"Just thinking," she hummed in response. Hinata sighed again, pulling the blanket higher to cover her hands, "You know I had a boyfriend once but then he broke up with me because of my engagement with Naruto."

"The one with the stupidly adorable dog? Uhh...what's his name...? Kiba?" The bluenette nodded, resting her head on Momona's shoulder.

"The one and only. It was the evening before the conference that happened a months ago, early November. Naruto got me to tell him what I felt about it and I wasn't lying because it did feel liberating." She stopped for a minute watching the drops of rain fall towards the ground in front of them. "But you know, it hurt. He was controlling and occasionally annoying, but he was a good person, to me at least. He was one of the people I loved but then he pulled the cheating card and I thought I was hallucinating." She wrapped her arm around the brunette in a hug of desperation, "I cried. And that's all in the past but when you see happy couples walking around with no care in the world and then you think to yourself, maybe it was my fault."

The drumming of the rain grew louder as a bold sparrow flew through the clearing, barely making it to the adjacent trees to the one it had just come from. Momona returned the hug, resting her head on Hinata's, "It's not you're fault and if you feel something out of your rollercoaster of emotions, the most dominant feeling must be liberation. Why waste your precious tears on a man like that when you have me? I can be your boyfriend, and with that, you would only have to shed tears of happiness. Because unlike those who force you into a relationship at the cost of your freedom and happiness, you will be with me at the cost of nothing." Hinata let out a short laugh,

"Is that a proposal?" The brunette shrugged, brushing her hands through her deep blue hair, "I will take that as a yes," she giggled, "When we have completed our mission, we can get married."

Momona planted a kiss on her forehead, "As you wish."

-

"One two..." The three girls jumped onto the box and immediately, Hanabi grabbed the zip and pulled it, closing the box. All four of them let out a relieved sigh, falling to the floor out of exhaustion. "Right! That's Hinata-sama's boxes done, now it's mine, TenTen's, Naruto's and Neji-sama's boxes," Momona grinned to which everyone groaned.

"It's fine, Neji barely has anything in his box aside from his clothes. I packed all the souvenirs we bought into my boxes so you only have me and Naruto to worry about." Tenten huffed, placing her hand on her hips. Hinata and Momona exchanged looks, then glanced at the brunette. "What?" They shook their heads.

"Nothing. Less talking, more packing." Hinata sighed with a mischievous smile, picking herself up from her crouched position. She walked towards the other room, asking the boys for their bags.

"I barely have anything in my bag anymore!" The blonde whined, staring at his half-empty box. Hinata zipped it for him and dragged it out of the room.

"Because half of it was ramen and who knows where that mountain has gone in two weeks." She answered, "Then again, I expected it to be full since you went on a souvenir-hunting spree."

"I did! It's in this bag," he said proudly, dragging a rucksack in front of him. Hinata nodded slowly at him, not sure what to say in that situation so walked out of the room. The packing took up to an hour since Naruto went around giving everyone in the mansion a small gift while fussing over things to put in his bag and whatnot which left Hinata baffled because she expected something like that from Tenten.

Once they were finished, they boarded the jet and once more, Hinata sat by the window. This time, Naruto sat beside her and she gave him a questioning look. He shook his head and put on his headphones to block out the noise. Her questioning look lingered for a while before the noise faded into the background and she drifted into sleep.

Hinata sat in a chair in a dark room with a single lit candle in the middle, giving little to no light. Loud footsteps resounded in the dark room until a masked figure came into view. They wore a half-white half-black mask with a wide eerie grin carved into it. The masked figure pulled out a gun, the cold metallic surface touching her skin as they pointed the weapon at her head.

"Break your engagement off with Uzumaki Naruto and you shall be set free." The voice wasn't deep and muffled and fake. It sounded like a girl's voice, a familiar voice that she couldn't quite remember the face. The high-pitched voice echoed through the room as her words were repeated and the drilled the gun deeper into her forehead. "Break your engagement off with Uzumaki Naruto and you shall be set free."

"No."

"No?"

"No." A gunshot resounded and there was a hole in her forehead. An ear-wrenching screech sounded through the room as she attempted to reach for her head but her hands were bound to the chair. Almost immediately, the hole closed up but the crippling pain still remained and the gunshot rang unpleasantly in her ears.

"Break your engagement off with Uzumaki Naruto and you shall be set free," she repeated and her answer remained the same. This time, a knife was stabbed into her right arm through her bones and into her left. To pull the blade out, it was dragged down, ripping off more of her flesh and once more, she let out an ear-splitting cry, tears burning at the back of her eyes. The statement was repeated and again, her answer remained 'no'.

"...nata! Hinata!" She let out an exasperated gasp, almost choking on nothing and her eyes flashed open. She looked to her side to see the blonde's worried expression and quickly reached for her face where she felt tears. With a puff of breath, she sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes before anyone else saw them.

"Are you two coming?" Tenten called, stepping out of the jet,

"Yeah, we'll be there in a sec, go on without us." The brunette hummed in response, rushing to Momona's side. Naruto turned to the bluenette who was still tearing up despite her desperate attempts to stop. "Okay- calm down, calm down, and breathe." Easier said than done. She attempted to 'breathe' which led to a choke and wrapping her bony fingers around her neck. "No don't do that! Shit, this is harder than last time. Hinata, I need you to stay with me," he called again, grabbing her to which she let out a cry of pain. He immediately let go, causing her to lose balance and fall. He caught her just in time as she lost consciousness, falling limb in his hands. He let out a shaky breath, lifting her and walking out of the jet.

Why did her answer remain the same when she received the same if not worse fate than what she had earlier? Why was she so keen on not breaking off the engagement? Because they were partners in crime? Or was there something else?

She was lowered onto the soft mattress and the sweet smell of the female Uzumaki filled her nose. Warmth and safety, that was what the woman carried with her and slowly, after a while, her eyes fluttered open. She looked to her side to spot the blonde in deep sleep at the side of the bed.

She stared at his calm face, his beautiful eyes that shone even when they were closed and his gold hair that illuminated every dark room. Maybe that's why because all Uzumaki's seemed to have this alluring yet comforting aura around them. That was why she wasn't letting go. Someone had tied a knot that she was not willing to lose any time soon.

She shifted to her side and reached for his hair. Only once did she have the excuse to do so which made her wonder the reason they were so far apart in the first place. What even happened that caused them to have an irresistible hate between themselves? What was so massive and extreme that they couldn't sort it out at that moment? Was there something she was forgetting?

He shifted and almost immediately, she retrieved her hand, hiding it under the pillow as she shut her eyes. She heard him yawn as stretched, sitting up from where he rested on. "For a professional actress, you're very bad at pretending," he hummed, resting his face in his palms on the mattress. So he was either awake and is toying with me, or just good at knowing when people are fake sleeping. She slowly opened her eyes just to meet him exceedingly close to her face. "Welcome back." He said with a small smile