Title: Taking Hinata
By: Midnight Unicorn
Disclaimers: the usual, not mine, no money. Also, I have no specialized training or knowledge in ninja arts or any medical field, so take everything that isn't strictly Naruto related with a heavy dose of salt. Also, I pretty much suck at action sequences. You've been warned.
Warnings: some attempts at torture and angst. Also, this is up to chapter 244 (that's the end of the Kakashi Gaiden). Pre-time skip, post-Team Seven break-up, completely disregarding the stupid fillers. M'kay?
Reviews are welcome.
Chapter One
It happened so fast she could hardly believe it. The day was warm without being sweltering, and the breeze kept it crisp without chilling. It was a picnic she had planned for her and her cousin; her teammates; his teammates. They had no missions; the day was too perfect to waste.
Shino and Neji got along better than she could have hoped, though she suspected that was in no small part due to her cousin's fascination with the way Shino's kikaichuu worked. Kiba and Lee were content to spar lazily (Akamaru had been left in the village, recovering from an injury sustained on Team Eight's last mission), neither putting forth remarkable effort, but working up a bit of a sweat; Hinata knew her teammate was of the opinion the taijutsu expert's tree didn't quite reach the top branch. She wished she and Tenten connected so naturally, but the older femme fatale was so much more vivacious than the Hyuuga heiress and she didn't have the patience to deal with Hinata's insecurities.
They were relaxing in the wake of the meal Hinata had prepared, full and satisfied, sharing sporadic conversation about nothing of import. Then everything began to burn.
Kiba noticed first, smelling the smoke, but he'd barely exclaimed the warning when they were surrounded by flames. They were on their feet, kicking the remnants of the picnic out of tripping zone, backed into a huddle, alert for enemies and a way out.
"On the left," Neji warned, low-voiced.
A dark figure stepped through the flames as though untouched, approaching them. Tenten gasped, "It's Uchiha Itachi."
"Don't look at his eyes," Lee cried out. "Neji, Tenten, Gai-sensei taught us how to fight Sharingan-users." The other fourteen-year-olds nodded, recalling the lesson.
Shino and Kiba averted their faces, relying on their bugs and nose respectively, but Hinata had no such extreme senses. Neji didn't tell her he'd deactivated his Byakugan, which would only have made it easier to be ensnared in a genjutsu.
"Sleep," a voice ordered in her mind. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her knees buckled, taking her to the ground.
"Hinata!" Kiba cried, crouching to search for an injury.
"Has she fainted?" Tenten demanded with a note of disgust coloring her voice as she eased a scroll from her pouch and brought her thumb to her mouth.
"She doesn't faint," Kiba snarled despite the situation. "She's…asleep." His head shot up to glare at Itachi who had stopped about twenty paces away. "He's done something to—"
"Don't look!" Lee shouted but it was too late.
The Inuzuka went rigid, mouth agape as some horror played out for his wide eyes alone. A strangled scream gurgled in his throat.
"He's picking us off!" Tenten growled in frustration. Through with waiting for a move she could counter, knowing full well not a one of them could stand against Itachi, she leapt into the air, unleashing a hail of sharp steel on the Uchiha. A wave of water rose from no where to defend the man, dousing some flames but still more roared up to replace them.
Shino focused on the second man with his large sword and blue skin, sending a swarm of kikaichuu at him. He moved to bat through them with his sword but the small insects insinuated themselves between the blade's edges, feeding on the sentient chakra. Behind the screen of bugs, Lee charged him, foot leading the way. Surprisingly quick and graceful for such a large creature, he dodged the kick and struck Lee in the chest with his forearm. With strength his arms did no justice representing he sent the boy flying into a tree; burning leaves rained around him.
Rolling away to put out the beginning fires in his clothes, Lee coughed, covering his mouth.
A few yards away, Tenten collapsed to the ground, hacking and gasping, lungs poisoned by the smoke her elevated position had exposed her to. Shino called the kikaichuu back when the man enacted a jutsu that would have drowned all his bugs. Lee joined him and Neji, standing over their disabled teammates, no longer moving to attack. Lee hunched a little over what he was sure was at least three fractured ribs.
"I have heard of you, Hyuuga Neji," Uchiha spoke, voice surprisingly deep for his slight size. "You hate the Main Hyuuga House with good reason. Stand aside from your cousin."
Almost imperceptibly Shino stiffened, not confident in the Hyuugas' healing relations. Neji's face hardened and he said, "No. I do not know what you want with her or what you think you know of me, but you will have to kill me."
Itachi inclined his head. "As you wish. Kisame?"
The larger man—that speed again!—was behind the three boys. Shino's kikaichuu buzzed into a protective dome around them but there weren't enough to stop the Suirou from encasing them. They held their breath, struggling for a way out. Kisame bent to pick up Hinata.
"No!" The word was muffled in a bubble that burst from Neji's mouth. He gritted his teeth and forced his chakra out through every opening; water sloshed at his ankles, dripped from the hand he thrust at Kisame. "Hakke Kushou!" He shouted. The new technique was imperfect and one of his weakest but at this range it didn't matter; Kisame was thrown a good sixty feet, crashing through blackened tree trunks weakened by fire.
Rounding on Itachi forced him to flip back, feet skittering dangerously close to burning grass as he dodged three kunai. His mouth was dry and his throat burned as he inhaled as much smoke as air, but he couldn't let it distract him.
"You cannot defeat me," Itachi said in a voice like black velvet, playing on what he knew of Neji's beliefs of fate and hopelessness.
"No, I cannot," he rasped, voice ruined by heat even as he stood at the ready. "But I will try. I will not let you take her."
II
When Hinata opened her eyes she felt groggy and ill, like she'd been put under by a drug.
Memory came to her slowly, but as it did she stilled, assessing her surroundings. She was seated but her ankles were bound together, wrists chained to the wall and stretched away from her body. The rough rock wall behind her was damp and cold; her jacket, shoes, weapons and hitai-ate were gone but all her other clothes were in place. A shiver ran through her involuntarily but she bit her lip before the trembling could become worse. Her mouth was dry; she must have been out for a while. She was a little surprised that her chakra hadn't been sealed, but when she activated her Byakugan she couldn't see beyond this dark room. Only a bar of dim light slid under the door. There was no window; the air was stale and still.
Using her heartbeat—surprisingly steady—to measure the time she figured she was awake for just under an hour before the light under the door shifted as feet blocked it. A key rattled in a lock and the door squealed on old hinges as it swung open. By the strengthened light, Hinata recognized the man who had come out of the flames.
He left the door open for light and knelt in front of her. He held a cup close to her mouth.
"Drink," he said in the same low voice that had commanded her to sleep. She felt no compulsion this time and kept her lips tightly shut, as much to deny him as to keep them from trembling. "It's just water," he explained, pressing the rim to his lips and taking a small sip. She turned her face away, lower lip clamped firmly between her teeth. He set the cup on the ground beside her and straightened. "I'll see about getting a light in here," he added over his shoulder as he turned to go.
"You're Uchiha Itachi," she stated suddenly in a rough voice quite unlike her own.
He glanced back at her. "I am."
"What do you want from me?" Was that really her own voice?
Itachi tilted his chin as though considering his response. "You will see before long."
III
The Suirou is the prison thing Kisame makes around Neji, Tenten and Lee in the rescue Gaara arc, and the Hakke Kushou is the Empty Palm thing Neji uses to push Kisame back. And for the record, I hate neither Tenten, nor Hinata; I just see them as so completely different. Tenten's teammates are these two really determined, really strong boys, so she'd have to be tough to keep up, and I can't imagine she has the patience to deal with those who can't. That's all.
Once again, reviews are welcome, particularly in places where I might mix up facts. Even if I don't fix it, I'll know for the future and appreciate it much.