On the outside Kurenai was watching in concern. She knew the girl contained the demon and this could be dangerous. She had almost interrupted as the girl started pulsing chakra. But as quickly as it started, it stopped. And then things changed again. Now her hair was forming horns, or maybe ears, and she seemed to have red eyeliner as well. Then that stopped too.
Then she changed again. The girls hair turned white for only the briefest of seconds but she was sure of it. At least she never felt that evil chakra so that's a good sign.
***
When Haruka awoke she was in a temple of some sort. It was illuminated by candlelight and the walls were decorated in tapestries. They all had one thing in common. A woman with long hair and horns atop her head. Haruka slowly walks down the long chamber of the temple. It takes her a few minutes but finally she reaches the end. There are two statues standing next to each other at the altar. One is much larger than the other and seems to represent a great tree. The other showed a monstrous creature with ten waving tails. A figure seems to be sitting at the altar, surrounded by candles. Interestingly only two of the candles seem to be casting shadows. One onto each statue.
Slowly the figure stands and reveals it to be a woman. She was the tallest woman Haruka had ever seen, If she had to guess she was just under seven feet tall. She had two long horns protruding from her head. Haruka realized this was the woman on the tapestries. Slowly the woman turns towards her and the redhead gasps when she sees the woman's eyes. Staring back at her is a pair of Byakugan eyes. The woman's eyes seem to widen. Her voice is soft like a fine silk, yet held a power that commanded one's attention. "Is that you Uzume?" Before Haruka can respond she shakes her head. "No. You seem to be of a similar spirit but you are not my granddaughter. So then you must be my jailer."
"Are you the demon that attacked the village?"
The shadow on the monsters statue seemed to grow. "I am not the Juubi, rather it is me."
"Is that it's proper name?" The woman nods so Haruka continues. "So then who are you?"
"I've gone by many names. Some know me as the Rabbit Goddess, others know me as the Oni, and even still others know me as the Mother of Chakra. But the name I was given by my own parents is Otsutuski Kaguya. Now then child I have been unjustly sealed, won't you free me?"
Haruka didn't know what to think, this woman had basically called herself god, as well as calling herself the demon that indirectly caused her so much suffering. And now she is just asking to be free. "What will happen if I let you out?"
"You will die, but know that your death will have allowed the world to achieve peace."
"Then I can't let you go, not now at least. I have people I have to keep on living for." Haruka still had a long life to live, and she doesn't care about world peace enough to die for it.
"I see, then I will merely have to wait a little while longer." The conversation dies at that, before Haruka remembers what she came here for in the first place.
"I seem to have an ability to suck out chakra, but I have no idea how to use it. Do you know about it?"
"My my, it seems you really are like Uzume, likely because you're my first jailer to be sealed as an infant. Yes I know of that ability, it is mine." Who is this Uzume person? She had mentioned it's her granddaughter, but that doesn't really explain much.
"Then can you tell me how to use it?"
"Can you tell me how to breath? I cannot explain how to use instinct." Haruka guessed that made sense. It wasn't something she thought about then it was simply something she would have to do.
"I see, thank you for the help Kaguya-san." The two shadows seem to merge into one on the empty wall between the statues.
"Of course child, perhaps we shall meet again." The candles all flicker out drowning Haruka in the darkness.
***
Her eyes snapped open and she found herself in the real world once more. Kurenai was looking at her in concern, about what? She didn't know.
"So what happened, did you figure anything out?"
"I think I just need to use my instinct and it will happen." She didn't want to tell anyone but Hina-chan about what she saw yet. Who knew how the Hokage would react if he found out. "How long was I out?"
"It just hit the thirty minute mark, Hinata should be arriving for her lesson soon. We'll talk about this more later okay? I don't want you trying to use your kekkei genkai until we know you can control it." She didn't want the girl to accidentally kill an ally by sucking out all of their chakra. "Go check training ground 23 to see if Sasuke is there, if he is you can decide if you want to take my advice or go home." Haruka nods and heads out. She smiles as she sees her girlfriend entering the training ground.
Hinata smiles back but once she passes her face turns serious. She walks right up to Kurenai-sensei and stands there silently. After several minutes of silence Kurenai-sensei speaks first. "Alright, what's the problem?"
"If you knew who Haruka-chan was, if you knew her mother and became our sensei just to teach her. Why were you not there for her as a child? Why did she have to grow up being abused when you should have been there to take care of her?"
"I was there for her."
"Don't you lie to me! She was in the orphanage for years before being given an apartment, and the fact that she and I have never seen you even on her birthdays means you weren't there!" Hinata was glaring fiercely at her.
"I was afraid of that, she really doesn't remember me then." Kurenai's tone was one of sorrow. "I raised Haruka until she was three years old."
"Then why was she in the orphanage?"
"The Hokage ordered that I stop taking care of her."
"And you followed that order?" Hinata would never follow an order like that, if the Hokage ordered her to stop dating Haruka-chan she would become a missing-nin sooner than that.
"Not at first, I was seventeen when he gave the order, and it was Kushina-sensei's daughter, of course I would ignore it. But He forced me to. He started sending my team and I on long term and difficult missions. By the time I was in the village for more than a few hours at a time Haruka was already seven years old. It's why none of Kushina-sensei's students were there for Haruka. I couldn't not do missions, I wouldn't have even been able to pay for her to survive. I'll let you in on a secret Hinata. The village doesn't typically put orphans in apartments or give them stipends to live off of. They're expected to survive on their own once they leave the orphanage. So where do you think Haruka's living expenses has been coming from for the past several years? The Hokage may have forbidden me from interacting with her directly until she was a genin, but I could still at least give her as much financial support as I could."
Hinata wasn't sure what to think of all this. It had been so much easier when she had just thought Kurenai-sensei was a heartless bitch. But this, how is she supposed to react to the knowledge that their leader not only allowed the girl to be abused, but also went out of his way to ensure she's alone? Though another question comes to mind. "If you were giving her financial support then why would you only barely give her enough to live off of?"
"What do you mean 'barely'? I was sending her more than half of my pay from each mission. For a child that should have been enough to live with some extravagance." Kurenai-sensei's expression had darkened. "I see. Someone has been stealing from Haruka's cut." There was going to be hell to pay, and when she was through the bastard behind it would be a mentally broken wreck who only knows how to wallow in agony. Hell she bet Gai would get in on it too. So that begs the question, was it the Hokage who had betrayed her like this, or maybe it was just a greedy banker. Any number of people could be behind it. She lets out a sigh, well looks like she just gained a new goal on top of training her genin. Looking at Hinata she said, "Do you know the Lullaby of Takeda? Because if you're still not convinced that I raised her, try singing it to her, I bet she can still sing along. It was always her favorite lullaby."
Hinata nods, she was familiar with it and it would be worth testing. Of course she was no longer boiling in anger at Kurenai-sensei. Instead it was directed at her Hokage and whoever else was in on harming the love of her life.
"Now then why don't we get started on training you. We'll be working on Ninjutsu today."
***
The two girls met up again after Hinata was finished with her training, they decided to train combinations together for an extra hour like Kurenai-sensei recommended.
"Hey Hina-chan, I interacted with the demon today, well sort of."
"What do you mean sort of?" Hinata was curious, she hadn't felt the foul chakra so Haruka-chan probably didn't use it.
"Well I met a woman inside the seal, she claimed that the monster is a part of her."
Well that was not what Hinata was expecting at all. "Did she say anything else?"
"Well she asked me to free her and die in the process. I told her no." Hinata certainly hoped so, she couldn't bear the thought of her redheaded lover dying.
"Hey Haruka are you familiar with the Lullaby of Takeda?" Her conversation with Kurenai-sensei was still on her mind.
"Not that I'm aware of, you know they never sang me lullabies at the orphanage." Oh Hinata knew that fact all to well.
"Just try singing along with me if you think you know the words okay?"
"Sure" And with that Hinata begins.
"Mori mo iyagaru, Bon kara saki-nya
Yuki mo chiratsuku-shi, Ko mo naku-shi
Bon ga kita-tote, Nani ureshi-karo
Katabira wa nashi, Obi wa nashi
Kono ko you naku, Mori wo ba ijiru
Mori mo ichi-nichi, Yaseru-yara
Hayo-mo yuki-taya, Kono zaisho koete
Mukou ni mieru wa, Oya no uchi
Mukou ni mieru wa, Oya no uchi"
It only took until the second line of the song for Haruka to start singing along, her voice matching the tune of the song perfectly. She looks at her girlfriend bewildered. "Hey how'd you know I somehow knew that song."
"I think you should ask Kurenai-sensei to sing it to you. She might have better answers for you." Hinata wanted to tell the girl, but felt it would be better for both her sensei and her girlfriend to work this out together. With that the two girls fall into a comfortable silence and finish their training together. Once hours passed, Haruka said,
"I've gotta go meet Kurenai-sensei so she can show me to that friend that knows Kaa-chan's Taijutsu."
"Alright, I'll talk to you tomorrow." As Haruka starts to walk off she thinks of something. "Hey Haruka-chan, this Sunday let's go have a picnic. We haven't been on a real date in a while." Haruka turns and smiles at her.
"You just want me to cook for you. But alright, I love going on dates with you Hina-chan."