Princess Bride
The sun kissed the mountain peaks as it rose early that morning. The young girl, dressed in a silky white elaborate kimono with a scarlet sash and traditional jewels in her hair, stood under a sakura blossom tree at her parent's graves, awaiting her fiancé's arrival.
"Mother…Father…Is this what I must do to save our prestigious clan?" She asked, bowing respectfully. "Can this fate not lie in someone else's hands?"
Her blue eyes stung with the pain of tears. She brushed her blond hair out of her face and turned towards the rising sun, the breeze tossing sakura petals around her feet up into the air.
"Sister." A voice woke her from her solemn trance.
"Brother, is he here?" She couldn't hold back her disappointment; having to marry someone she didn't love.
"I'm afraid so. I'll miss you Inita onee-chan."
"I'll miss you to Deidara onii-sama." She kissed his cheek and walked towards her carriage so daintily, he thought that if she barely stumbled she would break.
She had always been the weakest in the family, getting injured by the slightest things, becoming ill easily and so quick to cry. But now as he watched her leave she seemed so strong, bearing the full burden of their parent's death and all the leadership responsibilities; No longer a frightened girl but a confident young lady.
His heart ached to see the sister he had cared for from birth stepping gracefully into the vehicle towards her latest marriage proposal. Her beauty had attracted men from the furthest reaches of the land. And he was no exception. He loved her with a deep passion which one should not feel for one's own sister. Hiding his pain as best he could he walked over to her, and placed a sakura blossom into her hair.
"If this is your last time back here, I'm sure okaa-san would want you to have this to remember us by."
"I'll treasure it, since my onii-san gave it to me." She smiled, sending his thoughts into a tailspin. "Goodbye…"
When the carriage at last reached the Hyuga household~
"Miss Hashi has arrived, Master."
"See her in." Neji ordered.
"As you wish." The servant bowed and ran towards the carriage.
Assisted by the driver she stepped down into the yard surrounded by a garden of roses.
"Is it to your liking, Miss Hashi?"
She nodded somberly, secretly longing for the lingering scent of sakura blossoms to last longer. As she stood silently by the rose garden, two young men approached her, each leading a horse.
"Hey, Uchiha. Is that our host's new trophy wife?"
"Hmm…She's far too plain, eh Katsune?"
Her eyes turned towards them. "Oh, horses." She murmured, delight written over her face, "Aren't they pretty?" She walked towards them.
"Miss Hashi…Don't…"
Hashi. The word stunned the two heirs as she approached. This then, was the beauty after which they had sought, only to have lost out to an unexpected rival. Her identity revealed, they could only watch in awe as she stopped before them.
"May I touch his mane?" she asked.
"Milady," Jenei held her hand before she could trail her fingers through the animal's hair. "I heard of your health issues. Perhaps this is not a wise thing to do."
"…Perhaps…" she at last agreed, "Thank you anyway for at least allowing me to see them. I wish you lives full of love." At this the servants quickly lead her away.
"I have fallen for her all over again in the span of a few seconds." Jenei Katsune murmured.
"As have I." Sasuke replied, "But as good as her intentions were in wishing us love, I'm afraid she has cursed us to love her forever."
Later, inside~
"Are you ready, Inita?" Neji took her hand and kissed her fingertips. "Tonight we join as one."
"I can't…" She bowed, "If I could have one night to prepare, then I could give my heart to you."
"As you wish, my love." He smiled and showed her to her room.
Once the door shut, she filled a vase with water and placed the sakura blossom into it. She pushed open the window and waved one of her elaborate fans back and forth gently, pondering her situation. She definitely didn't want to marry this Hyuga…And she didn't want to stay in a place with flowers that smelled like death. She snapped her fan shut with a sound similar to the re-sheathing of a sword.
"I will not allow my clan to be ashamed of me. I'll return home, okaa-san. I'll come back…" Tears trickled down her cheeks. "Even if I must surrender my weakness."
At midnight~
Barefoot, she stalked through the vast halls, prepared for the slightest mishap.
"Miss Hashi?" a guard made the fatal mistake of calling her name. Her fan spun towards him, disembodying his head and lodging itself in the wooden wall. Freeing it, she examined its sharp metal tips.
Upon discovering their comrade dead, the others assumed the worst and followed the blooded footprints until they found her.
"Miss Hashi, it's unsafe to be out at this time. There is an assassin out." Once again, they were fooled by her innocent appearance.
"Really?" she pulled a katana from her kimono and with lightning speed, slashed them all, leaving them for dead. Up the stairs she fled, her beautiful dress spattered with blood. Entering a room upon pure instinct she spotted her fiancé's cousin, who opened her mouth to scream.
Swish. In an instant, Hinata lay dead at her feet, the needle-like decoration from her hair embedded in her victim's throat.
At last she reached her 'husband's' room. He was still asleep, even through the last moments of his life when she stabbed him through his chest. "Consider that my 'love', Hyuga." She smirked, sliding down the tiled roof and landing in the yard.
The moonlight revealed the tell-tale bloodstains on her as she walked towards the stables, and rode a black horse all the way home.
Shocked to see their princess in such a hurry to leave, Sasuke and Jenei investigated the house. Their discovery led them to a grim but sadly wrong conclusion. Someone was after her…
At the Hashi residence~
"Brother…Brother!" she ran inside, eyes wide with terror, "Save me, please. They killed him…Him and almost everyone else in the house."
Deidara hugged her to him, relieved that she had returned safely. "I'm glad you're ok, nee-chan…Go take a bath, ok? I'll make sure you're safe."
"Onii-sama…" she started to cry, "Thank you."
"I love you, Inita." He thought, as he watched her walking towards the bath, "More than I should…Why are these feelings so wrong?"
In the bath~
Inita pondered the events that led her to execute a mass murder without so much as a second thought. She closed her eyes and drifted back to that part of her past she wanted to forget; back to the source of her soul's scars.
Fire crackled all around her. The ashes of their once proud home flew into the air temporarily blinding her.
"Mother? Mother!" her piteous cries resounded, but no one came to her aid. She cried, alone and scared to die.
"Onee-chan…Thank God, you're alright!" Deidara hugged his nine year old sister, "Let's go."
"No! Not without mom or dad." She said stubbornly.
His eyes dulled, "They can't come with us, nee-chan." He looked solemn.
"Okaa-san?" She ran outside, tears soaking her dress, "Okaa-san!"
Her mother stared directly into her eyes, petrifying her, "Go, Inita! Live on for me and never forget who did this to us…Never forget…Hyuga…"
At that moment, her brother ran in and pulled her away, running as though his very soul depended on it. It was in vain, however since Inita witnessed her mother's beheading and they were soon captured by the rival clan.
"Kill them." The clan leader said.
"Mama…I miss mama, onii-sama." Inita wailed.
"Father…" A young girl pulled her father's sleeve. "Spare them, please. We have done enough."
"Hinata…"
"Yes uncle, let them be. I might even consider the girl as a marriage candidate."
"Fine…We will leave them be. We've conquered their clan anyway."
"I will never marry a Hyuga!" she yelled after them, "I'll die or kill you all first!"
They only laughed at her.
"I'll show them." She decided, "I'll wipe them off the face of the earth…"
Smiling a little she stood, now waist high in the water, she reveled in her success. She had done what her mother wanted…At least, what she thought her mother wanted. Though…why did she feel so empty? Why this sudden chill of fear?
"I'm so lonely, okaa-san. Please…please help me." She clutched a lock of her hair and watched as it changed color with her tears. "Will I ever really know what it is to love?"
The next day~
Inita was under the sakura blossom tree, trying to coax a kitten into her arms. "Come on. I won't hurt you."
"Nee-chan! Hurry!" He looked extremely worried.
"Why? It's only a kitten." She stared blankly at him.
Jenei and Sasuke ran towards her.
"It's not the kitten." Jenei insisted, "But the girl who was originally Neji's fiancée is after your life."
"Why?"
"She was jealous of you to begin with and she also has this wild idea that you were the one that killed him." Sasuke replied.
"Why would I… She must think I was serious about revenge." Inita picked up the cat and turned towards the house. "I suppose I should hide…"
"Onee-chan, hurry."
The clatter of hooves pounding the stones only minutes away filled her companions with anxiety. Jenei scooped her up and carried her quickly towards the house.
The other two locked every opening to the house.
"Send her out! Send out the one they call Hashi Inita!" the voice of Ten Ten penetrated the walls.
"I won't. She's my only sister."
"It doesn't matter! I want her dead!"
Inita slipped away from her protectors and into the adjoining stables. She couldn't bear to see them killed for her mistakes. Kissing the kitten on the nose she tied a note around its neck and sent it back to the others. She mounted the steed and the full burden of her actions hit her. She had wiped out an entire clan and at the cost of her soul. As she headed for the stable door, she heard:
"I'm just glad he's still alive. Send her out before we burn this place to the ground."
"If you want me, try to catch me!" she yelled, relieved that she hadn't succeeded in killing them all.
"Inita!" Deidara exited the house in time to see her ride off followed by several assassins.
"She's either really smart, or extremely suicidal." Sasuke murmured, as they mounted their steeds to follow them.
A few minutes away~
Her heart pounded wildly. Desperation flashed through her mind and few options made sense.
Her pursuers were closing in on her.
"Innocent…I'm supposed to be innocent and weak." She looked back. With her allies nowhere in sight, she at last decided to fight off the nearest killers and make a break for a nearby ridge. After all, everyone had to die sometime.
Her brother and the two heirs rounded the corner, only to see her standing on the running horse's back as though it was flat, unmovable ground. Even more surprising, the fans she threw seemed amazingly accurate…and deadly.
"Nee-chan?" His heart skipped a beat. Was this his docile sister's true nature? As impossible as it was to believe, her serious stare and fluid, swift attacks were definitely not of the girl he knew; the girl he loved beyond his own life. Even so, he still adored her, perhaps even more so now, since her beauty and character still shone through her blood stained exterior. And he could tell his companions were of the same opinion.
Inita gazed behind her for a moment then leapt off her horse, sliding down the incline from the cliff. Gathering her kimono about her she ran for all she was worth towards the edge.
"Inita!"
"Is she stupid?" Ten Ten asked.
It was far too late. Her ears deafened by the wind, she began her plummet to the ocean below.
"Forgive me, onii-sama. I really am sorry for all I've done." She looked upwards, barely hearing his reply before she connected with the placid surface of the water:
"I'll forgive you, Inita… I love you."
"I guess…I love you too…" she thought, sinking deeper towards her watery grave, "I love you all…"
Deidara watched the surface silently, hoping that maybe she would survive but only the sakura blossoms from the tree near the cliff served as any reminder of her there. He turned away. It was now his responsibility to continue their clan…