青い骨の美 - The Beauty of Blue Bones

Chapter 3

Winter
Thursday—5AM

Her hood was raised and a scarf was wrapped snugly around her face as she stepped out from the gates surrounding the Hyūga compound. There was at least an inch of snow on the ground, and the temperature was somewhere around the negatives, yet, as a ninja, she did not complain as she began her journey to the Hokage tower. She knew that Kakashi would be there, despite how early it was, and how the village was still asleep. She would rather collect the list he had promised to put together for her as early as possible instead of waiting until the rest of her family woke up.

It wasn't that she was hiding her plans, she did tell her father a month prior that she would not be returning once she rescues Hanabi, she just wanted to avoid any possible conversation the elders would have to try and thwart her plans.

A gust of warm air made her close her eyes for a split second as she entered the tower. She shook off the snow that accumulated on the fringes of her hood and sleeves, greeted the clearly tired secretary, and made her way up the stairs towards Kakashi's office. With a short knock on the door, and given the permission to enter, Hinata peeked into the office to make sure that he did not have a meeting of some sort.

"I expected you to come so early, you don't waste time, do you?" Judging by the way his eyes crinkled, she knew that he was smiling under his mask. "Come on in, I have some pictures and addresses of the available properties outside our walls that should be to your liking." He waved at her.

She shut the door softly and approached his desk. Looking at everything but Kakashi, she waited for him to push a small pile of papers to the front of his desk, clearly inviting her to take a look.

"You can visit these places today and get back to me when you're ready. I've already taken the opportunity to fill out your housing application and put the money that was originally supposed to be deposited to you for your previous missions on hold to cover the payment of the property you want. Is that understood?"

She flipped through the sheets, eyeing the description of every single house available and nodded. Looking up at him, she tucked the papers into her jacket and attempted to show him how grateful she was for his efforts with a small smile. "I'll notify you as soon as I can, thank you."

"I assume that you would like to keep your home a secret when you find it?" He resumed his original task of taking care of his paperwork for the day.

"Right."

"Well, your secret is safe with me. I do believe that some of your friends would like to know, but you can handle that situation when it arrives." He smiled again as he stamped a document with a heavy sigh. "Good luck."

Hinata bowed, excusing herself as she left his office.

Instead of returning back home to rest for an hour or two longer, or wait for the snow to come to a stop, she immediately took a detour to the gates with plans to check out the houses Kakashi had suggested.

The walk to the furthest one took a while—not that she was in any rush to get there—that when she arrived, the sun had begun to rise and the snow had stopped. She already had her eyes on the house since she'd seen the picture Kakashi gave her. Personally, the choice was made long before she saw the other ones in person—it was an easy choice.

She stood in front of a traditional house; the shōji doors were closed, the windows were shut, the garden was dead and the clearing it stood in was packed with uncleared snow. The paint was fresh, however, the white coating fitting well with the dark oak floorboards and the bluish black tiles of the roof.

It was the furthest, prettiest, most secluded, and largest [though, not by much] of the five houses available for purchase. That already put it at the forefront of her list, and seeing it in person solidified her interest in the building.