Redwood

Chapter One

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto is the original creator of the hit series, Naruto. Redwood is inspired by and based on Masashi's ideas and set in the author's (sublimesubtleties) alternate universe (AU).

Author's Note 06/23/14: I have been pining over writing a Sai x Hinata pairing story, but have been wary of composing two stories at the same time. I have succumbed to the excuse that I have pined long enough to take on the multitasking responsibility. Although the journey of authoring two series will be a tedious and difficult one, I cannot let the restless ideas just sit in my mind – they must be spilled onto the infamous word doc until ready to be put on display here. (:

"She was quite the firecracker. Truly a fitting name."

Hinata was drifting in and out of consciousness, dutifully fighting against her fatigue. Between each successful battle with her heavy eyelids, her ear let her mind in on words that were being spoken above her. Despite feeling as if her life had been erased back into a clean slate – like the unmarred tabula rasa of a newborn's existence – an innate desire to be constantly alert on her toes tugged at her limbs. Yet, her mind's muffled screams for her body to move were fruitless.

"At ten years old, the little firecracker might have outdone that weasel at thirteen. We've got ourselves a quick-sprouting root," A younger voice spoke.

As her body was slowly waking up and picking up more words, she could finally sense that her mouth was being pried open by a set of rough thumbs. Another set of hands held a metal clamp in one hand that forced her tongue to extend quite an uncomfortable distance from her lips. The other hand pressed two scorching fingers down on the back of her tongue. Although her mouth was painfully alight with the burning sensation, she could not scream, let alone release a pitiful whimper. She could not even stop the humiliating trickle of saliva streaming down the sides of her jaw.

"Hyo, clean her up," The man who was searing her tongue with his fingers said to the younger man that was holding her mouth open.

"As you command, Danzo-sama," Hyo replied respectfully in a rehearsed tone as he escorted Danzo to the door.

"Make sure Hinata is kept from the knowledge of her younger sister's actions," Danzo whispered lowly to Hyo and quickly slid the door shut. Hyo looked over to Hinata's weak form, which was sinking an inch deeper into the operating chair she was tied to by the minute. He made his way over to loosen the bindings on her wrists.

"Hinata-san, are you awake?" He spoke softly as he dabbed a warm washcloth over her neck and jaw. He tilted her chin back so she could breathe easier. This resulted with a sigh from her lips. Her thick lashes fluttered as she slowly opened her eyes, shifting them around the room to locate the man whom was addressing her. She finally settled her eyes on a man with black hair that fanned out in the back like a rooster's tail. He stood by her right side, hand still poised against her cheek with the wet cloth. Seeing her eyes open, he smiled at her – a statue-like smile familiar to all Root Anbu. His lips stretched slightly across his face, barely curling up, and his eyes curved like little crescent moons. The effort almost seemed painful. She returned a weary smile.

"H-hello," She managed to say just above a whisper.

"My name is Hyo. It is good to see you are okay, Hinata-san." He continued to dab at the dried saliva on her chin. Hyo moved his hand aside when Hinata raised her delicate fingers to her chin. She let out a little squeak of surprise when she realized that her own saliva had caked on her skin.
"S-sorry! I-it's okay, I think I can m-manage to do it on my own!" Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed like a ripe peach.

"Hinata-san, do not be embarrassed; Danzo-sama would not like that." He continued to dab at her chin.

"E-embarrassed?" Confusion swept across her eyes.

"That is not a word that should concern you. It is not important to us," He said, quirking his lips up in a pseudo-smile again. As expected, much of her past life had vanished from her mind. He put down the cloth on an aluminum tray and immediately swept his fingers across her fringe, smoothing down the hairs that had gone astray. Hinata shifted in discomfort and shrunk a little into her chair, but accepted the gesture nonetheless. "Hinata-san?"

"Y-yes?" She said, looking up into his eyes.

"Nothing. I just wanted to see your pretty eyes." He kept his smile plastered on his face. Hinata turned her face away. She wanted to stop the heat that was creeping up her face but it only seemed to get hotter.

"O-oh, my Byakugan? Th-thank you." Hyo's eyebrows rose up at her memory of her special kekkei genkai.

"Ah, it's good to see you have some memory," he said. He could see her shifting even more, almost as if the memory jolted her mind to continue her train of thought. "Do you remember anything else about your Byakugan?" He said as his dark eyes searched her pale, lavender ones. Hinata flinched a little; She didn't understand why she felt threatened by the discussion of her eyes. She almost felt the need to protect them. Sensing her shift, Hyo plastered the smile on his face again to reassure her. Although there was a slim chance she would have suspicion over anything, considering her amnesia, there were no chances to be taken. She managed to mirror a mousy smile back to him.

"A-ah, um, I am not sure at the moment. A-although maybe –" Hinata darted her eyes around the room in nervousness. "W-where am I?" She changed the topic suddenly, to Hyo's dismay. He turned the corners of his lips down for a fleeting second, only to return them back to a neutral, but pleasant expression.

"You are most definitely still in Konoha," he said, fighting the urge to frown again.

"W-what about my family? I do not think they know w-where I am." A stretch of silence filled the air. Hinata didn't know what was out of the norm, but Hyo's unmoving, stoic expression chilled her skin. For some reason, she felt as if there wouldn't be a word that described the way he looked.

"I am very sorry, Hinata-san, but all that is left of your family is you and your little sister, Hanabi."

"Hokage-sama, it is an honor to be in your presence," Danzo said as he bowed in front of Tsunade, the Godaime.

"What brings me the delight of your visit, Danzo?" She said, picking at her nails. A nearly undetectable hint of sarcasm laced her voice. However, it was obvious that the newer Hokage wasn't quite fond of him. Danzo straightened up and cleared his voice.

"In lieu of the recent tragedy of the Hyuuga massacre by the hands of the youngest branch member, Hyuuga Hanabi, I have a proposal to make: As leader of the Root Anbu, Shimura Danzo, I would like to take custody of both Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Hana-" Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him, cutting his sentence off by the mere glance of her eyes.

"I refuse your request." Her response was firm.

"Hokage-sama, please, I request that you lend me your ear. I assure you that my intentions are of highest regard." He bowed his head. She went back to inspecting her manicured nails, waving her left hand reluctantly for him to continue. Danzo was a difficult man to trust. She would have torn down his shady organization immediately after the assumption of her role as Godaime if it were not for Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, the council elders. "Che, those stupid old bags," She scoffed in her mind ironically in her own middle age of fifty-four.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama. As you know, I lived through the time of the Uchiha massacre, just as you did. Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi did not quite benefit from the aftermath of the tragedy. Root was able to detain another disaster from happening by inducing amnesia in both childr-"

"WHAT?" Tsunade bellowed, slamming her hand down on her desk. Shizune smiled nervously by her desk, struggling to keep a wriggling Ton Ton in her arms.
"It is the best option, Tsunade-sama. I hope you will understand that by preventing Hanabi from recalling her deeds and Hinata from the knowledge that her beloved younger sister was the cause for this great loss, the chance of Konoha reliving a copycat sibling rivalry like the Uchiha brothers is very much at zero percent. Although we cannot erase the blood that has already been spilled, we can prevent the Hyuuga bloodline from being completely endangered. I am sure Hiashi-san would have agreed that the protection of his daughters is of utmost importance." Tsunade eyed Danzo calculatedly. She could easily have him arrested for illegally inducing a state of amnesia in two Konoha residents, but after some thought, realized it would have been carried out anyways by her own hands. After several moments, she sat back down in her swiveling chair. She propped her elbows up on her desk and interlaced her fingers in front of her nose.

"Very well. But, if you use either Hyuuga in any way for your own or another's profit, your life is on the line."

"Understood, Tsunade-sama." He bowed, signaling that he would turn around to leave.

"Not so fast, Danzo. How will I be assured that you shall keep to your word?" She narrowed her eyes again.

Danzo lifted his mouth into the trademark root smile. "You may check in with my…daughters at any time you please," He stressed the new and unfamiliar label of the Hyuuga sisters. "If you find anything mentally, physically, or spiritually questioning to you, I take full responsibility."

"You may leave." Tsunade dismissed Danzo with a flick of her wrist. When the door closed, she let out a snort. "Che, monitoring them like dogs implanted with tracking devices." Despite her less-than-confident trust in Danzo, she couldn't help but agree that preventing another Uchiha disaster would be most welcomed – especially during Konoha's present recuperation from its messy aftermath.

"Oh," was all Hinata said in response to the event that her family was nearly entirely wiped out. She couldn't seem to remember what it was like to have a family. In fact, she just felt blank. Hyo had showed her to her new room to "recuperate from the distressing news," but she couldn't quite understand if there was a certain way she was supposed to respond. So far, she had only been told not to feel "embarrassed." She supposed that meant whenever heat was rising in her skin or something akin to butterflies fluttering around in her stomach, she was to push them away.

Hinata looked around her new room – it seemed that someone had already occupied her living quarters, but that person's belongings had merely been pushed into one portion of the room, leaving half for her; Whoever it was did not have much. Her new roommate's futon had un-fluffed pillows and black sheets that were slightly askew – almost as if the individual hadn't moved much while sleeping, but threw the sheets back in a hurry to get up. Nearby the futon was a low table with a kneeling cushion that was clearly used often and worn out. The table had ink smears on it. In curiosity, she dared cross the invisible divide between her side and her roommate's. She padded her big toe over the "divide," and seeing that there was no harm, walked over to the closet. Peering into it, there were five pairs of an identical outfit: black training slacks and a matching black, cropped top. She glanced at the cut of the top and frowned at how revealing it was. She turned around to her side of the room and tiptoed back over the divide. Her futon had neatly folded sheets patterned with little lavender flowers – courtesy of Hyo. On the wall above her currently empty bureau was a moderately sized mirror with a brass frame. She got up on her toes to look in the mirror, touching her fringe where Hyo had smoothed down her stray hairs. Her face heated up at the memory. She bit her lip, puffing air out to try and calm down the warmth in her cheeks. There was a note left on top of her bureau with a brush beside it: Never forget to brush your hair, Hinata-san. –Hyo

The note didn't help with her flushed cheeks. She pinched them, sticking her tongue out at herself in the mirror. As she did this, she caught sight of a black marking further back in her mouth. She stretched her mouth out with her index fingers and opened her mouth as wide as she could to get a good view of her tongue: There was a black tattoo with three thick, straight lines starting from the back of her tongue and ended with a fourth line that was broken in half into two below the first three. Her saliva began running down her chin again, but she was too preoccupied with inspecting the black mark.

"Hinata-san." The door to Hinata's room slid open abruptly. Hinata turned her head around towards them, caught with her fingers still stretching out her mouth and her tongue stuck out. Hyo stood there with a boy about her age with short hair and pale skin. As she released her fingers from her mouth and looked at the boy, the clothes he was wearing looked very similar to the outfits she had seen when she peeked in her roommate's closet.

"U-um, y-yes?" She turned her gaze to the lower right corner of the room, wiping at her chin with her long, lavender sleeve. She was embarrassed again and even more so because she couldn't control it not only in front of Hyo, but also in front of this complete stranger.

"This is Sai. He is the other person that currently resides in this room," Hyo said, gesturing to the boy next to him. Hinata took a step back in surprise, completely blindsided by the fact that she thought her roommate was a female.

"Hi, Hinata-chan. It seems that we are husband and wife now." He arched his eyes into a smile. Hinata felt like she had been spun around a hundred times. Her limbs started to feel weak and her face lit up even more so than it usually did.

"E-eh?"

A/N 06/26/14: At last the idea that has been on my mind for a while has been written on (digital) paper! I can't believe this has come to the beginnings of fruition! I wrote most of this on the plane to Hong Kong hehe and I hope I can upload it when I arrive. Please tell me what you think!