Prologue
Chapter I: Prologue
“Welcome.”
The car’s tires screeched on the gravel as Hinata slowed down, before getting out of the car.
A cat greeted her by nuzzling its head against her leg. She scratched its head and walked over to the door of the house of the person who invited her.
Izanami was a good friend of hers. She was her late friend’s mother. Hinata knew her ever since she was a child no older than seven.
The door opened, Izanami peeking from behind it. “Ah, you’re here already. Was the traffic favourable?” she asked Hinata.
Hinata hummed in something of an answer. The road was devoid of any life; other than the few animals that wandered in from the forest. Hinata didn’t understand why Izanami lived so far from civilization.
She was led into the house by Izanami after she changed from her sneakers to some slippers that Izanami offered her. The cat followed them into the house.
“Is it yours?” Hinata asked, then clarified. “The cat I mean.”
“Yes, it is. He wandered in from the forest one day and I started feeding him. Now, I guess I have a cat.” She laughed.
Hinata laughed in turn.
~~~
She was sat down before a coffee table and asked if she would like anything, anything other than the tea that Izanami was preparing for the both of them. She didn’t want anything, and she did say so, but Izanami put a plate of chocolate cookies before her anyways.
Hinata didn’t like chocolate cookies — or well, didn’t like them no more; she used to love them when she was a child — but she nibbled at one anyways.
In the background, Izanami hummed along to the jazz playing on the radio while she brewed the tea. She never got her tea from a supermarket; she either collected the tea leaves herself, or she bought them from a small family shop in the suburbs of the city. She said that supermarket tea tasted weird and had a lot of chemicals added to it.
Soon enough, Hinata was sipping at the tea Izanami gave her. It was really good.
It’s not the tea that she truly came for however.
She cleared her throat and said, “Me and Naruto will soon be organising our wedding. I’ll need to put someone in trust of preparing the feast; Sakura is the one helping me with preparing the wedding, but she is not much of a cook nor she has a refined taste. Would you like to help me with that then, Izanami-san?”
The house creaked.
“Oh, sure.” Izanami’s eyes lit up. She always prayed for the best for Naruto and Hinata. She was happy they were going to wed soon. Naruto proposed to Hinata quite a long time ago, but because of circumstances in their life, the wedding was postponed several times.
“Thanks.”
Silence. Neither knew if it was a good or a bad one and it seemed that neither were to break it anytime soon.
~~~
Hinata sighed. It was pouring; the road down to the city would be too dangerous to go down in this weather. It was a road made of gravel, and the small rocks making up the gravel were brushed down, slick. Time makes molehills even out of mountains. She took out her phone and sent a text to Naruto.
[19:20]
Me
It’s raining; I can’t go down the road what with this weather. I’ll spend the night at Izanami’s.
Love ❤️
She didn’t have to wait for a reply long. She never did with Naruto.
[19:22]
Naruto-kun ❤️
ah, it’s okay! take care! see you soon <3
She smiled. Naruto was always so caring.
~~~
She and Izanami spend the evening by telling stories, recalling memories. Inevitably, they hit the topic of Izanami’s late daughter - Hinata’s late best friend.
“It’s sad that Kaguya can’t be there to see my wedding,” Hinata said before taking a sip of her tea in contemplation. It was cold already. “I’m sure she would love to see it.”
Izanami nodded. “I think so too. It’s sad that she died so young.”
The way Izanami said the sentence felt… off. Like, she didn’t actually mean it.
Each of us has our own coping mechanisms, Hinata thought. Maybe this is just Izanami’s.
She didn’t give it a second thought.
She should’ve.
Izanami suddenly shot up from her chair at the lightning bolt which struck not far from the closest window to the two women. The chair creaked at the sudden motion.
“I’ll turn off the TV,” Izanami said. The TV has been on in the background this whole time. Currently, it was on the news channel which was talking about the (not) acception out-of-the-closet queers got from their families. Hinata thought it an interesting topic.
“And the radio too,” she added.
Hinata nodded. “I think I’ll go to sleep now,” she said, putting down her cup of now cold tea.
“Good night,” Izanami said as Hinata walked to the guest room to get her clothes and then shower, and go to sleep.
“Good night to you too.”