Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Naruto. Sillybutt.
OoOoOo
There are whispers, hiding secrets
From my darkness you will keep
It will twist you as you try to flee
And your soul is what I'll keep
OoOoOo
It's all a dream. I promise...
For a moment in time there was only red. Wet awful sickening crimson that for one horrific breath covered the whole world. The young woman's mind broke for that second.
It was because she had blinked.
Her pale skin yielded to the coldest steel and her blood bloomed where the blade planted itself within and through her delicate wrist. There was pain and fear that flowed through her like a poison that would surely cause her fluttering heart to burst.
Her end of everything began something new.
She blinked and remembered she was in the real world. White walls and clean ivory linens. Big open windows with a bright blue sky and pretty brown birds singing their sweet songs. A hospital room. No red. No blood. The girl released a shaky breath she didn't know she had been holding.
"I'm sorry..." Her tiny whisper. "I really d-don't remember anything after the attack."
"He said nothing to you?" The other woman's voice was gentle but not even her years of bedside manner and professionalism could hide the desperation in her voice. "Was there any sign of where he came from or where he could be going?" Sakura's gentle hand grabbed Hinata's forearm tenderly. "Please, Hinata anything you might have seen or heard could help!"
The very air seemed to press down on the pale girl's shoulders. Her indigo hair fell around her. Her light lavender eyes downcast staring at nothing in front of her. She still saw the red. "I'm sorry... Other than the scroll I saw nothing else." Was her whispered replied.
"No Hinata-chan," Sakura's said with a sad smile. "You have nothing to apologize for. I'm so happy you're safe. That's the most important thing." Her bright green eyes sparkled with sincerity and something else she chose not to acknowledge at the moment. 'Hinata is what is important. Not finding Sasuke-kun.' There was a small hallow feeling to her own words and Sakura's hated herself for feeling it.
"I'm sorry if I pushed you. I can really be a blockheads about some things!" the pink haired medic said with a sweet smile. "Let's just get you taken care of, okay?"
The rest of the evening became a blur to Hinata. Murmurs and shapes that meant comfort and familiarity. Gentle hands on her grievous wounds and encouraging words. But she couldn't form a fist with her left hand. Her wrist was torn and discolored. Purples and blues and ugly red.
That's where that terrible blade had pierced her.
Their 'fight' had been shamefully brief. One sided assault would have been a more accurate description she would think.
To her the whole scenario, like she perceived her very existence, seemed to be a terrible mistake as she literally stumbled upon Uchiha Sasuke. Or perhaps it was simply a daemon that took on his form. That was Hinata's perception as she gazed at this red eyed man with his sword still drawn from his previous fight. A sword she noticed that was stained in so much blood she couldn't see the steel color. Bodies of nameless nin from a country that no longer mattered to them lay around his feet, unmoving as their life's blood painted the once green grass. Red.
A horrified noise escaped her even as her body automatically readied her fighting stance, kunai in her left hand and her right palm facing the target before her. 'How?' She asked herself. She was less than fifty kilometers from the village. What could have made him come so close to his former home? To chance getting caught… What could be worth that?
His movement was fluid as he turned his body to face her. His eyes did not leave hers but his head lowered cautiously. "Hn." Was all he said as he lowered his body and with his free hand pulled a small scroll from a dead man's hand. Placing it in his pack he continued to watch her and she unconsciously swallowed.
His aura was a darkness that threatened to crush her to nothing and she couldn't help the tremor that trickled down her spine. Too far off she felt the chakra of her comrades. They wouldn't be here for another few minutes. 'Too far…' She realized. Scouts often take the far leads of a unit. Had she come across any other ninja and she would not have felt the terror rise in her throat or the dread in her heart. But this was Uchiha Sasuke. No one escapes this raven of death.
Naruto flashed through her mind. His giant grin and heartfelt eyes that made her heart pound. 'If I could stall him until the other's arrived? Then maybe…' Her train of thought derailed as she watched the missing nin sweep his blade in the air in such a way that flecks of blood splattered across her face. Into her eyes.
Red? Red. Red! A strangled noise escaped her throat as panic made her blood turn to ice. Everything in the world was crimson hues as the shape of daemon Uchiha seemed to grow to tower over her nearly slightly eyes. Too fast. Too slow. Too late.
She had blinked as she felt the drops of blood land on her face. He watched the instant of panic sink into the girl's aura. That was all he needed. In her blink he moved as silent as death. Faster then she could think and he was disarming her left hand and grabbing the wrist of her right. Her eyes snapped open in time to see black join her red world. She could only feel as her back slammed into a hard surface. Her breath was gone and pain laced her back. As she willed her chakra to move to her left hand to counter attack the man before her, steel met flesh and she screamed.
This time it was pain that blinded her as she felt Sasuke's sword penetrate through her left wrist and pinned her how useless limb to a tree behind her. As a harsh, pained grunt left her lips she felt her right arm slam to the tree above her, the Uchiha's hand like a vice on her now bruised wrist. His thumb dug into her pulse until she felt his nail pierce her skin.
'I'm going to die.' She realized. He was pressed against her but he wasn't warm. He was as cold as his gaze and she couldn't fight her fear anymore. There was now only fear and his coldness all around her. All-encompassing and dominating. She was drowning in him.
Red blood mixed with her tears fell from her eyes. Clearing her vision though she wished it didn't. The stare this man gave was the making of nightmares. No pity or compassion would be found in thoes haunting eyes.
He moved closer to those watery pale eyes, their noses almost touching. "A noble Ninja trying to fulfill her duty to her village." He said flatly. "I want you to realize that it is your dedication and love of this village that is ultimately killing you. I am just the instrument." Another tiny strangled noise escaped from her pale lips.
She blinked and was in the present again. In the hospital surrounded by familiarity. It had been a few more days of healing but her time at the hospital had ended and she was being sent home.
Their had been more questions asked that she could not answer, reports that were incomplete that had been given, promises to immediately advise if any new information was recalled. And through it all she wanted nothing more then to be in her room and sleep until oblivion.
There was no red in her room. Everything was pastels and cool cream colors. Gentle and soft and safe. She allowed a deep sigh and carefully changed for sleep. Her bed had never felt so soft. But even with all this comfort sleep eluded her.
Her wrist was terribly sore, a white gauze bandage wrapped carefully around it. Sakura's healing capabilities were something to admire but not even her skill could fix the extensive damage the Uchiha's blade caused. A steady throb would accompany her for the next several weeks followed by months of physical therapy to bring her limb back to par. If it could come back to par. Even now she had trouble flexing her fingers.
Hinata's eyes stared up at her wood ceiling without really seeing it. The gentle breeze from her window helped to cool her heated skin though she hardly noticed. Hinata briefly remembered Sakura's telling her that her meds might cause a slight fever. Even now the pale girl could feel the claminess of her skin and the slight flush on her cheeks. 'What a nightmare.' The shy girl thought to herself.
'Uchiha Sasuke.'
They had only needed to investigate the bizarre chakra signatures beyond the village. Their had been no need to engage... She didn't even mean to. How could she have know what she was to encounter.
Why did she get too close?
Because Naruto would have. Simple.
Her constant admiration had always pushed her harder, faster and far too recklessly forward then she ever would be in her normal level headed state. She wanted to be him. She wanted to be with him even in spirit.
In her minds eye she saw sun-like hair and whiskered cheeks. Then a man with black hair and cruel eyes had blinded her with the blood of his slain.
Pain. Pain and red encompassed her.
'Not just pain...' her mind whispered.
Her eyes widened and she shook her head. She didn't remember how she got away. Her wrist hurt too much... She couldn't concentrate. Her index finger on her injured hand twitched on it's own as if agreeing with her thoughts. The Uchiha had really done damage to her. Taking away her hand function was the same as taking her very life. What good could she be if she couldn't even defend her village?
The Uchiha was cruel indeed. Cruel and cold. She remembered the feeling of something like ice upon her. Something like soft ice. Pain shot through her mind as she tried desperately not to remember...
"I could leave your body for them to find." His tone was neutral. She held her breath. There was an unfamiliar flash in Sasuke's eyes, "Or I could just burn you to ashes." The pulse still under his thumb became more frantic.
Sasuke Uchiha had a hard life. Cruel acts and icy words were his company. Death was his accomplice. So, being with this small sad creature in such close proximity was all together foreign. This couldn't be a ninja he observed. This thing was soft and warm. Things the Uchiha had no knowledge of anymore.
The mission nin first noticed her skin was improbably soft. Impossibly, interestingly, unequivocally soft skin that must have tasted like silk feels, soft and delicate. The pulse of her wrist fluttered under his thumb and his mouth almost twitched. Instead his spinning red eyes stared, unblinking, into eyes of pale lavender that quickly shut in terror.
It wasn't her tiny cry that left her lips nor the terror on her face that paused him from killing her. The trembling, whimpering and tears were common occurrence before he gave a killing blow. What caught him suddenly and kept him was her scent. It wisped before him gently and subtly, coaxing some of his killing intent to ease for a moment. Healing herbs and gentle things. Clean, soft, innocent things. Earth and water. Beautiful weak things.
All movement around her had stopped but she didn't open her eyes. Silence stretched for days and seconds all at once. Darkness still encompassed her as she still refused to open her eyes. Even in her last moment she cursed herself for being so weak. She would die a coward before Sasuke and that would be the last of her. Still she didn't hear or see the blow. Was she in shock and it happened already? Hinata never realized it took so long to die. Perhaps she already was. Everything was so still.
His eyes narrowed but not from anger or malice. It was almost a drowsy calming affect that for a moment he wondered if this young woman somehow managed to drug him. Her scent seemed to assault his sense as he moved his face up to catch her sent again. Lovely was not a word the Uchiha used but it was the only one that came to mind in the moment's haze. Nothing should smell this interesting.
"Hinata!" A male voice screamed. Closer now but still too late. Sasuke didn't care. He would have this moment with this soft creature that couldn't be real. Later he would think he had gone mad. Later he would curse his own weakness for giving into something soft and temping, things he would never have in his harsh brutal life. Weakness. She was weakness. Something to give up and let whatever the gods do what they wanted with her.
She had no control. He had all of it. He always has total control in his life. No control? He wanted to feel it for one mad moment. He wanted to taste it even for just one second of his constantly controlled life. He wanted to lose it.
There was a gentle breeze on her face that could have been confused for a soft touch. A pressure on her lips she couldn't name that lasted less than a second. A sigh before her.
"Open your eyes." He said simply. No emotion. "I want you to see so you don't forget."
She opened her eyes and knew he was too close. Hinata's vision blurred as Sasuke kept her eyes locked to his as he kissed her. His lips were soft. 'How could they be when he only scowls? How is this even happening? I'm already dead. Why is the afterlife so odd?' Her thought broke as did her breath. She gasped against his lips and a rumble from his chest was felt again hers. His tongue licked her bottom lip gently and eased into her own mouth. Everything was gentle for one moment that lasted forever in a second. Then there was nothing and he was simply before her, staring down at her with slightly glistening lips.
"You're beautiful." A deep voice seemed to say before her. The terrified girl knew she must have misheard and gave no second though.
"Let it not be said that I am not thoughtless." The sharpest pain came from her wrist as the sword was ripped from her tender ruined flesh. The dream was broken for both of them. "Now get up and run before I finish what I started." She didn't know what that meant but her broken mind couldn't process much of anything anymore. Fight or flight only remained.
Hinata ran for her life.
The real world. My room. I'm safe. Those things never happened.
Hinata's head suddenly ached and she shook herself trying to clear the foggy pain.
It was just a dream. A horrible dream.
OoOoOo
Sasuke had watched her run from him until he couldn't and then he simply wasn't there.
Sasuke Uchiha's eyes now watched the sky as the moon shone over the trees. The lavender streaks from thin clouds in the sky caused his mouth to twitch. He decided then that if he ever saw that girl again, he would probably kill her.
He enjoyed few things in his miserable life. Two of them being respect and quiet.
He added her to his list.
He very much liked those things.