So sorry to keep you all waiting. What kept me from doing this FINAL chapter was the fact I just did the next chapter of Mummy Lover, another fic unrelated to this and the trilogy.

Be warned: an attempted rape with no nudity.

Chapter title translation: "betrayal and compassion".

Chapter Six

Uragiri to Omoiyari

Word got back to him that Sasori's statue, which was gilded in gold, was splendidly beautiful to behold, but old man Sarutobi saw one thing missing besides his praise: the brightness which could leave the prayers and visitors blind, as well as lacking of the compassionate face - and that meant Naruto still had a chance after all.

"It's a pity to pray to such an image," the old priest had said.

Naruto couldn't have been so happy his fortune had changed. He could imagine the look on Toneri's face when he must have heard of his loss. But it was too early to celebrate. And Iruka had told him everything, so with the words in mind, he set about to pick up where he was struggling...but now he decided he needed all the help he could get if just the inspiration that was his wife's face wasn't enough. Which leaves only one option.

But then came the time for the attendance of the holiday ritual in the square. He had to put down his carving tools until tomorrow. So he went to where she was kneeling by the fire getting the tea ready. "Hinata! Let's go to the holiday ritual," he said. At her slight furrow of the brows, he added, "There's just no way I can imagine EYES for the goddess. It may be my last chance to ask the Kami for help. We can go together." He took both of her hands into his, looking deep into her eyes and pleading she would agree.

"The priest insists on the compassionate gaze. I have your face as inspiration, but somehow I can't visualize the gaze in her eyes. So I feel asking the gods for help will have to work." He smiled. "I am almost finished, so if you come, we can ask them together."

Surprisingly, she agreed. And they were going to take Boruto and Himawari with.

~o~

We are back again. And for me to see that shaman again...

She was greatly afraid, though she tried not to let it be seen. And somehow she felt like it was a bad mistake to be here, but she couldn't just disappoint Naruto because he needed the gods' help in this last ditch effort. Boruto was excited, and he got to carry the baby in that strong hold of his; Himawari was so tired she was falling asleep already.

Just as she guessed: that holy man was there, boiling herbs in the pot as he chanted the Buddha's word. Seeing this, Boruto got excited and called out the bubbles he saw. His father called his name and started to chase after him, leaving her behind to hide behind a few people, holding her breath as her heart was thudding with her prayer: please, not tonight.

But as she feared, he saw her. Quickly but quietly, she began to slip away through the praying crowd, and she barely dodged the boiling sparks that were coming her way.

Hinata was crossing the bridge, lavender and white kimono gathered in both hands, and didn't stop until she reached the end which started into the forest and the cottages - but it was there she was also greeted by an unwanted visitor whom she never thought she would see in a place like this. "Y-you!" she said angrily, containing her fright which in turn made him smirk.

Three of his men came in after and she found herself surrounded. One of them struck her across the face, but it was nothing compared to the way her father used to strike her before he cast her out into the snow. Hinata tried to scream for help, tried to run, but she was dragged away towards those buildings, where one door was opened, and she was shoved inside. He followed soon after, and he locked the door behind him.

Hinata found herself on the ground, but as she glared at him, she picked herself up. She tried to flee again, but he was on her, pushing himself against her and up against a wall. "At last," Toneri said in delight, "my desire will be carried out. You're even more beautiful when you're afraid, I see it now. But that resistant fire makes it much sweeter..."

A hand came up and yanked down the front of her garment, exposing her shoulder and the top curve of her breast. "You have such white skin. I've never seen a woman with such skin. I really have dreamed so long of undressing you, Hinata. To have this damned kimono removed and to see all of your beautiful skin!" Now that was the last straw, and she threw her head forward, smashing his forehead with such an impact that left him with a huge headache but had no real effect on her.

She was several feet away from him now, pulling the fabric back over herself. He pushed her too far to the point her temper reached the highest point, and not boiling.

She didn't want to do this, but what else could she do?

When she looked at him, just as she did what he wanted - and yes, she removed her kimono to show all of herself to him - what he was gifted with wasn't what he expected. It was exactly what Naruto saw that night in the snowstorm.

Only unlike he, Toneri actually screamed when he beheld that the woman of his sinful lust was none other than the feared Woman of the Snow.

The windows opened just as SNOW blew in, turning out the candles inside, and coating the beams with frost and icicles. Thus the door which he'd locked purposefully was frozen so he couldn't escape his fate. "Y-Yuki-onna!" Toneri howled, back still against the wall, unable to retreat to the side as she advanced on him.

"Yes, this is who and what I really am," Hinata said icily, eyes devoid of the sprightly lavender hints, now cold snowy white like the rest of her body. "I must kill anyone who has seen my true appearance. You who are guilty of many things will be one I won't regret, unlike several I never knew of..." Including old man Jiraiya, Naruto's mentor, who had only been a survival source, inexcusable...

In his terror, Toneri frantically cried as he held up both hands before himself, "Yes, I am guilty! I...I..."

That fear was frozen on his face, his words dying on him as she didn't have a care in the world. Final words from useless scum like him who thought he was better than anyone like her husband were meaningless. As were those who followed him. When she reverted to her human self, the elements of her powers going back to her except for that on the corpse of her family's tormentor - mostly mine - she smirked.

How does it feel to have your passions cooled, you hypocritical, filthy bastard?

But then, she heard the voices of his men outside, and that was her cue for the next in line. When the job was done, she let herself fade into the darkness and took the snow with her. It was still summer, so what was the point in letting it linger for someone to find?

Naruto and the children were most likely waiting for her or had already gone home after having not found her.

~o~

He and the children couldn't find Hinata after the services, assuming she must have gone back home. He never really bothered her about this, always thinking that she had no real religious beliefs, so he didn't ever ask her.

"Oh, Mom returned!" Boruto cried, rushing through the door as soon as it was opened. His excitement woke the baby, but Himawari only opened her eyes and yawned, stretching her little arms. Naruto held her in one arm as he turned around behind him to lock the door.

"You came home, and we were wondering where you were."

"Yeah, Mom, what happened?" their son asked, going up to her and hugging her, but she didn't answer - no, she couldn't answer. Naruto saw why: she was very pale. Something had happened when they weren't looking, and he had a feeling she couldn't say it in front of their children, even if their daughter was too young to understand, but Boruto didn't need the impression so soon. Oh, God, if that Toneri...

That had to be it; that lecher either tried to or HAD taken advantage of his wife while they weren't aware of it. Blood boiled with vengeance. He didn't want to think about it, but his head started to spin with thoughts - until he saw the gaze in his wife's eyes when she made him look. It might mean Toneri did nothing, making him feel relief.

The next day, it was a brand new day - and it was his resolution to finish today at all costs. He felt the clarity when he prayed to the gods, but in the end would be his hands and his heart. Hinata was with him when he stood before it - and it was also that day they heard the news outside their window.

The bailiff had been killed, as were three of his servants. It was a strange death, but didn't say what. Naruto frowned to himself, but he was also glad that their enemy was gone and wouldn't bother them anymore.

However, they halted together when they reached the front door, and there stood a visitor with the harshest gaze on a wrinkled face: the shaman from the holiday ritual last night. "It's not necessary to look," he said coldly. "I have seen everything with my eyes."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man who had the nerve to come into his home uninvited. "Really? Who murdered the bailiff?" he demanded. "The one who harassed this family and my work - especially my wife?"

The man's eyes switched to Hinata beside him; from the corner of his eye, Naruto saw the sheer fright in hers. "I saw you six years ago, witch." What - how DARE you call my wife -!

"What are you saying to Hinata?" Naruto growled, clenching his fists.

"She is a ghost - a spirit of the snow. The yuki-onna herself. I recognized her from years ago and last evening." The old man approached her and just about danced around in a confrontational circle. "It was not a simple death; he and his servants were found frozen as if their blood were drained from their bodies." His beady eyes flashed with the violence he inflicted on her when he raised his hand and struck her, sending her across the floor and then producing the branches he would use to douse in the boiling water at his ritual.

"It was you...you killed the bailiff in the little house near the temple! Vile ghost - succubus!"

Naruto snapped, roaring, "ENOUGH! Shaman -" He grabbed the old man's wrist which held those branches and pulled him away from Hinata who pulled herself together and inspected her minor injuries. That blow didn't even leave a mark on her face. "I won't allow such violence in my house. Get out before I call the authorities!"

The man pulled himself free and hissed. "It's your ghostly wife who must leave," he seethed, "and I'll prove it. There is a scar on her arm from the boiling water I splashed on her years ago. Look!" He was on her again, this time reaching down to grasp the pale lavender fabric of Hinata's kimono, but her husband acted and yanked the old dodder away from her.

"Get out now. I won't spare you despite you being a holy man." I won't really kill you, because I won't go to hell for that. But you're pushing me too far...

However, for some reason, he found himself doubting his own words. The old codger's words made him remember something, from so many years ago, which he'd forgotten until now when he looked at Hinata and then hearing the gruesome and unnatural manner in which Toneri and his men had died.

Snow...spirit...

"...traitor," the shaman snarled before turning on his heel and leaving.

He and his wife were alone in shocked silence. He helped her stand up and held her close. "Don't worry, Hinata," he said softly. "I won't let anyone hurt you again. You're my wife and mother of my children. No one can break our happiness, not even the forces of nature..."

She clutched onto him, weeping desperately, and he just let her.

It feels like my soul was just cleansed and I can complete the work. I got the face I need right here.

Naruto let her go then to walk around the statue back there. Before had been a shadow, but now it was all clear...but something else troubled him. Especially what the shaman had said. "Hinata," he said quietly, looking up at her. She stood there staring at him without a word, waiting for him to continue. "That man said you were a ghost, but I don't believe it. But even if you were..." He paused there for a moment, thinking that because back then he had been younger and afraid, because he remembered HER sparing his life, and he didn't have it in himself to hate her since nature made her like that.

"...I wouldn't care and I wouldn't be afraid," he said finally, and her eyes lit up, but then it faded when he had to bring it up. "And that six-year-old scar - I don't believe that nonsense either. I only believe in good luck and not fairytales like most of everyone and that old doddering fool. Even if you had that burn, it was just his religious babbling and only a normal wound."

She had said nothing the entire time, looking down, and staying that way when he was still speaking - finally opening up about what happened just before he met her.

"I also remembered something that happened before our wedding. When I look at your kind face, I can't believe it ever happened at all. I used to fear, should still feel that way, that terrible evening it happened. I still don't know if it really happened or if I was dreaming. After all, it was late, dark and cold, so it's possible it wasn't real. I never told anyone about it..."

And so he told her: it was the night old Jiraiya, his mentor whom he dedicated this statue for, had frozen to death in his sleep up in the mountains. Six years ago exactly and that horrible snowstorm. In fact, he could still hear the howling wind now as he retold the events which involved the white woman - the Snow Woman of myth - who killed his master, drained his warm blood and left him in frozen sleep.

When he was done talking, he looked up at her, and there wasn't a readable expression on her face, except her eyes spoke of interest in a way that made him a little more than uneasy. A cold feeling ran up his spine...

~o~

She had never been so conflicted when she finally listened to him speak of that night - the night he swore on his life never to reveal to anyone - and yet he had right after that religious man left. Oh, Naruto, you never should have...

His blues were locked on her, waiting for her answer, as she fought with herself internally. The first wave was utter betrayal.

All these years I prayed for your silence many times. It was a pledge to life for us both. All this time as your wife, ever since my father threw me out in the snow and left me to die...all alone...I finally learned what it was like to be truly happy and with a purpose. When Boruto and Himawari were born, we were all together as a family. I prayed to never lose this happiness. But finally, you...

I told you that if you breathed a word, I would show you my true face...and I would kill you.

The demonic side said he betrayed her, but there was something else that prevented her from speaking this out: he said he didn't know if it was a dream or not, but now that he thought of it, he wasn't scared anymore. He also didn't care if she was a spirit or not. That burn scar in her flesh could just be a regular injury from boiling water, for all he knew. He didn't believe in such things besides good and bad fortune. He didn't fault her for the old man's death, and that Toneri and his men got what they deserved - even if he didn't know SHE did the deed.

She did it to protect their family and anyone else who might have suffered.

It took all of her willpower to not let loose the storm in summertime.

No doubt what the other emotion was: compassion. Compassion overcame every wicked source thrown at them, like he said.

"...perhaps it was only a dream," she said at last, changing everything from the way it should have been. She wasn't human anymore, but here with him and the children asleep in their room for the afternoon which was becoming cloudy, foretelling of rain rather than her element...she was human inside as she made herself to be outside. "And if she had existed, she would have come and killed you at this moment."

Hinata finally looked up at him, smiled at him through tears she pushed back - with ice that froze them instead of her own hand, so that he didn't see - and then walked up to him, putting both hands on his face. "Just a dream," he repeated with a small smile of relief. She leaned up and kissed him chastely on the lips.

"Now go and finish your face. Make it excellent."

She watched him go, eager and determined, feeling so much better than before, and softly walked into the room where the six-year-old and the baby were soundly sleeping, standing where she was in the right side of the doorway with a heart warm as the summer sun.

I never realized this would be the end until I finally got here. I was literally crying when I was bringing it to life and then reread for errors. :')

The original ending in the movie as well as the legend was the Snow Woman leaving after her husband finds out the truth, the reason being her a victim in her own story. She could have killed him as promised for breaking the vow to NEVER speak of that night, but she doesn't because of their son (children in Hearn's story). She ended up being the unlikely heroine like Hinata is, and when Yuki saves the day but also meets the devastating climax when she leaves her husband and son, she now knows all about human compassion combined with the nature of her ways she cannot help. She sacrificed her own happiness for her family, and it's here that Yosaku (the husband and sculptor Naruto is) finally has the compassionate face for the goddess he relentlessly searched for. He sees that look on his wife's face when she exhausts herself with her supernatural powers to save the patron's son from near death, and in her eyes when she left him and their son.

In some other versions, Yuki-onna also spares him because when he told her, it didn't count as a broken promise as she wasn't essentially human; in a similar myth, she melted away afterwards and goes to the netherworld.

I considered having this ending for NaruHina in here, but it was too huge a risk since we love them so much. And my friend who worships them equally would never want to read.

I promise I never rushed this story, because it's all about flow. Sometimes a good story doesn't need too much. And if you add too much, the natural is all gone just for the sake of someone else. The two sequels to come MAY be the same length, or a little longer. Let's just wait and see.

Meanwhile, review and thank you for the support. :D