Hyuga Aoi found this feeling very strange.
She had always considered herself a person who loved fiercely, hated fiercely, and was straightforward.
What was on her mind was what she said aloud. If she decided something should be done, she would do it, even if it meant hitting a wall.
What she disliked the most were hypocrisy and cowardice.
Like before, she demanded that the Branch Family members assigned to spar with her must use their full strength.
She could see the suppressed hatred in the eyes of those Branch Family members and feel the urge to resist deep in their bones.
She promised never to use the 'Caged Bird' cursed seal, yet those people, when facing her, would only display nauseating weakness, flattery, and subservience.
That posture of outward obedience, yet inner fear and resentment, made her feel incredibly stifled.
Or, for example, regarding the death of her father, Hyuga Higo, her heart failed to feel much of the expected grief.
Her father had no children before the age of forty, which nearly led to the severing of his Main Family lineage until she was finally born when he was forty.
From then on, she was cherished. She thought her father loved her.
It wasn't until later, when she had clearly become a ninja, yet was still confined within the clan, forbidden to leave the village for missions.
That day, the day before she lost to Hyuga Kawa, she had a huge argument with her father. She saw the coldness in his eyes and finally realized...
She finally understood that in her father's eyes, she was less a daughter by blood and more the sole 'vessel' used to perpetuate the Main Family bloodline of that branch.
His protection was not out of love, but because if she died, or if something unexpected happened, that Main Family bloodline would be cut off.
The 'vessel' only needed to survive and later marry a suitable person to continue her bloodline—that was enough.
In her father's eyes, besides the pure bloodline of the 'Main Family,' she was no different from those clan members who were branded with the cursed seal at birth.
Therefore, she neither liked the obsequious Branch Family nor equally loathed the outwardly fierce yet inwardly timid, rigid, and mean-spirited Main Family members like her father.
She was instinctively drawn to strength and fiercely competitive, hoping to go to the battlefield and use the secret techniques she learned in real combat.
For this reason, she admired Hyuga Kawa. She felt they were kindred spirits, both unwilling to be constrained by their predetermined identities.
She watched Hyuga Kawa, as a Branch Family member, do the things on the battlefield that she most wanted to do but couldn't because of her identity.
She watched Hyuga Kawa gradually display his talent, leading the Branch Family to break the cage set by the Main Family, becoming a hero of the Branch Family and even the entire Konoha village.
She envied Hyuga Kawa's courage, his strategy, and his undeniable power.
However, she didn't know when this envy began to subtly transform.
It was as if fine sand stacked up to form a tower, or a stream flowed into a river.
Envy gradually turned into deep reverence, and, without realizing it, reverence transformed into an unattainable aspiration.
And this aspiration, after Hyuga Kawa saved her from Hyuga Neji, fermented into a complex emotion that even she couldn't clearly describe or articulate.
Trust? Adoration?
Or an even more intimate feeling?
She couldn't tell the difference.
Hyuga Aoi only knew that whenever she faced Hyuga Kawa, her usual bold, forthright, and sharp self would disappear.
In its place was a self that hesitated, shrank back, was overly cautious, and even lost composure because of a single word or look from him.
She had become the person she disliked the most, which made her incredibly frustrated and conflicted.
At this moment, hearing Hyuga Kawa's seemingly casual question, yet one that seemed to pierce through all her pretenses...
"Were you waiting for me, too?"
Her throat uncontrollably bobbed up and down, as if something was lodged there.
The struggle and hesitation lasted only for an instant.
She stopped agonizing over what that emotion truly was.
Hyuga Aoi looked up, forcing herself to meet those pale blue eyes that seemed to see through everything, and uttered the word:
"Yes."
As the word left her lips, she felt as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted. Her gaze no longer darted away. She looked directly at him and added: "I was waiting for you, too."
The moment this sentence was spoken, her tightly strung nerves suddenly relaxed, and simultaneously, a more tumultuous emotion surged in her chest.
It was nervousness...
She stared intently into Hyuga Kawa's eyes, holding her breath, her heart pounding like a drum in her chest.
In the hospital room, sunlight flowed quietly. The clamor outside the window seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier.
Time stretched out in the silence, every second an ordeal.
[Ding, your lie has been judged as [Specious Words][Flirtation][Superficial Harmony]. Hyuga Aoi has experienced a fierce emotional fluctuation, reaching the degree of [Deep Conviction], granting 1500 Truth Points.]
As expected...
She was just someone deceived by a disguise.
Hyuga Kawa shifted his gaze away from her, looking instead towards the clear yet distant sky outside the window, and asked in a steady tone:
"Do you know, what is the farthest distance from 'understanding'?"
Hyuga Aoi was stunned, completely unprepared for such a question.
"Is it 'cowardice'?" she hesitated.
In her view, cowardice was the biggest obstacle preventing mutual understanding. If one dared not speak, how could they understand the other person? How could they make the other person understand them?
"Incorrect answer."
Hyuga Kawa turned back and looked at her again, a slight smile appearing at the corner of his mouth: "I understand what you mean, but I currently have no desire for that."
"But I won't advise you to give up, because I know you are not a person who gives up easily."
"So, I give you this question. Every year, I will give you one chance to answer."
Pausing here, he continued: "But you should understand that this question may not have a single standard answer."
"Whether it is correct or not will entirely depend on my subjective judgment."
"Then, what if I answer correctly?" Hyuga Aoi instinctively asked.
Hyuga Kawa didn't answer directly. He simply looked at her quietly, then slowly raised his uninjured hand and gently placed it against her cheek.
The sudden contact made Hyuga Aoi stiffen completely.
"If you answer correctly, I will unconditionally agree to one request from you," Hyuga Kawa said, looking into her eyes.
The notification sound did not appear.
Because Hyuga Kawa was not lying, nor was there any need to lie.
This was a question with no fixed answer, where correctness entirely depended on Hyuga Kawa's subjective will.
That meant she could only answer correctly when Hyuga Kawa 'wished' for her to answer correctly, and only then would he be 'willing' to unconditionally agree to one request from her.
Hyuga Kawa naturally knew Hyuga Aoi's thoughts, but unfortunately, the person she saw was not the real him; Hyuga Aoi had simply fallen for a false disguise.
However, at this moment, Hyuga Aoi was completely incapable of thought.
The scorching heat from the hand placed on her cheek instantly enveloped her whole body.
The warmth spread rapidly from the point of contact. Her cheeks, neck, and even her entire skin began to flush, and her head became muddled.
Just at this subtly charged moment.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knock sounded, but before anyone inside could respond, the door was pushed open directly.
"Kawa, how are you feeling? Lord Third Hokage, he..." Hatake Kakashi said casually as he walked in.
But the next moment, his words abruptly stopped.
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