"He says you don't know what loneliness is," I said aloud to Naruto, translating the beast's ancient sorrow.
Naruto's eyes snapped open, now tinged with red. "I don't? I've been alone my whole life!" he shot back, not at me, but inwardly, at the voice in his head.
The exchange was raw, painful. It was exactly what I wanted. They were communicating. Not as jailer and prisoner, but as two beings sharing a space, comparing their wounds.
"Tell him," Naruto said, looking at me, desperation in his crimson-tinted eyes. "Tell him I know it's hard. But... but he's not alone anymore. He has me."
I relayed the message, adding my own touch of gentle persuasion.
The scoff that echoed in my mind was purely contemptuous.
"And powerful," I added, my voice a silken thread. "Imagine it, Kurama. Working together. Not just lending him your chakra when he's about to die, but truly combining your strengths. The power you could wield. The things you could see. The freedom you could taste, even within that seal."
That was the lure. Not companionship, but agency. The chance to be more than just a living battery.
The red chakra around Naruto receded, slowly, like a tide going out. He gasped, slumping forward. I caught him, holding him upright. His skin was clammy, but he was smiling.
"I... I think he heard you," he panted.
I stroked his hair, a gesture that was both comforting and possessively proprietary. "Of course he did. He's a part of you, Naruto-kun. He can't ignore you forever."
In the weeks that followed, a subtle but profound change came over Naruto. He was still loud, still boisterous, but the desperate edge was gone.
The frantic need for validation had softened into a quiet confidence. He had a secret now. A great, terrible, wonderful secret that he shared with me, and with the ancient fox in his gut. He was no longer just Naruto Uzumaki, the outcast. He was a warden. A partner.
I watched him at the academy, a predator observing its cherished prey. During lunch, other kids would sometimes tentatively approach him, drawn by his new, less abrasive aura.
I'd watch from a distance. A girl would offer to share her dango. Naruto would smile politely and say, "No thanks, I'm waiting for Hinata."
My heart would swell with a fierce, dark triumph. I wasn't just in his life; I was crowding everyone else out.
The yandere nature I had feared was a part of me was not a monstrous, separate thing. It was simply my love, magnified and sharpened by the crucible of a past life.
Love and possession were two sides of the same coin. To truly love him was to ensure no one could ever hurt him again.
And the simplest way to ensure that was to make sure I was the only one who could get close enough to try.
I saw Sakura watching him sometimes, a flicker of something more than annoyance in her eyes.
Sasuke, of course, remained her primary focus, but the seeds of her future affection were there. One afternoon after class, I saw her walk up to Naruto as he was packing his bag.
She was trying to be casual, asking him about the upcoming spar evaluation.
I didn't move. I didn't have to. I simply let a sliver of my killing intent leak out. It wasn't aimed at Sakura. It was ambient, a sudden, inexplicable drop in the temperature of the room. The Hyuga are masters of subtle pressure; this was child's play for me.
Sakura's words died in her throat. She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself and looking around wildly, as if searching for a draft.
Her eyes met mine from across the room. I offered her a small, pleasant, utterly vacant smile. The smile of a harmless, shy Hyuga girl. But my lavender eyes were empty of any warmth.
They were like chips of ice.
She paled, muttered an excuse to Naruto, and practically fled the classroom.
Naruto looked confused for a moment, then shrugged and continued packing. He looked up and saw me. His whole face lit up. "Hinata! You ready to go?"
"Always, Naruto-kun," I said, my smile for him genuine, warm, and blindingly real.
As we walked out of the academy, he said, "Sakura was acting weird. She got all cold all of a sudden."
"Maybe she's coming down with something," I suggested, my tone innocent. "You should be careful, Naruto-kun.
You wouldn't want to catch anything." The unspoken warning was for her, not him. Stay away.
The day of the final sparring evaluation arrived.