Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters. If I did it'd be terrible, but at least SasuHina would be canon.
Hinata Hyuga was familiar with pain. It had become an old friend coming and going as it pleased showing up in many forms. For her the two most common forms were the cold stares her father gave her when her best was just not good enough and the smiles Naruto always left for someone else. A physical suffering was only minor to these so when the blade struck her, she remained in fighting position.
Her opponent, Suigetsu, smirked knowingly. They both knew she wouldn't last long anymore, but Hinata refused to let him see her weak.
"You know you're just asking for a quicker death,ne?" He said. Hinata didn't need to respond. Somehow in the back of her mind she knew she wasn't going to die today and if she was going to die she'd rather have it at the hands of an Uchiha. Her mind told her these things, but her body failed her and collapsed. Her breathing became uneven pants. With her face planted on the ground she could see Suigetsu's feet stand next to her.
"You know, Hyuga, I'd like to finish this and all, but I've got to meet up with someone."He began his retreat.
Hinata couldn't let him escape. Pushing her weight off the ground, gathering every last morsel of energy she had left, she began the chase. She could feel the warmth and see the red of the blood that was drowning her clothes and seeping through her jacket. She was too wounded to keep up with Suigetsu's pace, he was a good twenty yards in front of her. It'd only be a matter of time till she'd collapse again, but she refused to give up. Suigetsu was the clue to get what she really needed, Sasuke.
Citizen and Shinobi alike wanted Sasuke to be captured for a variety of reasons. Some,very few, wanted him to be safe in the walls of Konoha, but the majority wanted him to be suffering confined in jail as consequence for his betrayal. Greedy ninja from Konoha and other villages had selfish intent for hunting the rogue ninja. High sums of money would be rewarded to the person who captured him and you'd also get the satisfaction of defeating an Uchiha. Hinata was different, though. She was of the rookie nine and the rookie nine only wanted Sasuke back for one reason, Naruto.
To the Uzumaki they still held that brotherly bond no matter how dark Sasuke went. But that was the problem; Sasuke continued to grow more thoughtless, less humane, as the months went by, controlled by the need to seek his revenge, which arose another set of questions to be solved. Itachi was already dead so what exactly was Sasuke seeking revenge on now? Hinata spent hours each day for the past few weeks thinking about what he could be doing. He already enacted his plan of killing his brother. Shouldn't he have come back to Konoha right now? Did he fear the punishment? No, Hinata knew just as well as anyone that he held no fears. Even the Hyuga elders were wondering what he could be doing.
But no one searched, thought, and speculated as hard as Naruto. His search was formulating into an obsession and Hinata wanted to find Sasuke before that ever happened. Sasuke's revenge had turned into more than a mere obsession and look where that got him.
The Hyuga wasn't at all worried about her own death. Suigetsu was still in her sights and she knew that if she allowed herself to collapse it'd only be in front of their hide out. Akamura and Kiba could probably smell the blood on her. They were maybe a mile back tracking the scent. The best case scenario would be that the team Taka hideout would be near here and if she died, or at least collapsed, her own team would find her body and use that as a clue to find him.
Chasing the blur of silver in front of her finally paid off. In the midst of the forest, through her kenkei genkei, she could see what the genjustu was hiding. The genjutsu itself was powerful and even the most skilled ninja would have difficulty finding it. Hinata was silently grateful for the Byakugan.
"Kai!" The jutsu soon faded and revealed a small cottage. Inside, see saw him. His messy black hair, locks sticking out in different places in a familiar fashion was the first give away, but those dark obsidian eyes gave her the confirmation she needed.
Her breaths were slowing. They weren't coming naturally anymore, forcing her to actually concentrate on breathing. She was still running now only a few meters away from where he was dwelling. Suigetsu was already inside.
Chills traveled across her spine making her even more breathless. Hinata wasn't scared of Suigetsu and his sword. She wasn't scared of the other chakra presences that surrounded her, except one. A dark one with malign intent that was harmless enough in earlier years, but now it was the one making her feel the most uneasy. It was coming towards her with force. It was Sasuke Uchiha.
And the world went black.
"Did you take care of the others?" Sasuke asked looking down at the helpless girl before. She was pretty enough, fair skinned and dark haired. Juugo crouched, carefully inspecting her.
The group knew she barely had any life in her and definitely not enough to continue fighting. Her chakra grew dim only to regain a bit of strength afterword. Her body was fighting the physical effects left from the blade. If she regained consciousness, fighting would not be an option for her, but to Sasuke it didn't matter if she'd wake up or not. Being from Konoha, she had to have come with a team for this mission. They would find her and eventually Taka. They had to move and quick.
"Do you know who she is, Sasuke? She's from your village." Juugo asked. Sasuke didn't know her, but he did recognize the chakra. It belonged to a Hyuga, which means this must have been a search mission. The person of interest, him.
"Karin, come," he demanded. Usually she'd be the first one to come forward in situations like these, but today she just stood near the cottage, away from the ordeal. She hesitated for a moment as if when she went over there Sasuke would attack, but she complied.
With Karin standing next to him, he stated his next command," Bite her."
"Why?" Pursing her lips, she finally dared to meet Sasuke's gaze. His eyes were blood red.
"Bite her. We don't have enough time, she's dying."
Deciding further questioning would lead to unwanted measures, Karin dug her teeth into the girl's skin.
"ghhh." The pain was overwhelming, eating at her mind. She felt the stab wound, but the soreness in her eyes was worse, a continuous throbbing sensation. Only it wasn't the throbbing of a slight headache, it was a forceful pound. This was the pain the Byakugan brought.
Taking her lips off the girl she fell back letting a groan escape her lips. The rest of the group watched this interaction, waiting for a response from Sasuke, or Karin, or the girl, but no one said anything. Suigetsu's eyes furrowed. There was nothing special about her besides her eyes. She was average looks wise, no matter how you looked at her and she didn't put up a great fight. She was weak or at least too weak for Sasuke to care. The predicament was strange for Taka.
They expected a lot of things from Sasuke, considering his behavior, but they never thought he'd casually lift up the girl in a sweet embrace like one would carry his bride. He sauntered away from them not bothering to take note of their shock and confusion.
"Sasuke-kun? Where are you going?" Karin's face flushed. Seeing another girl in Sasuke's arms washed all the agony away and replaced it with the reality that she was completely jealous. He turned around and faced them.
"You all need to leave immedietly and find elsewhere to stay. Somewhere near one of the snow villages. Konoha has been tracking us. I need to move her somewhere else to die to throw off their track." He continued walking, but not before facing them, eyes red with warning." Just keep moving and go where I told you. I'll catch up, but most importantly," His eyes found Karin's before finishing," do not follow after me."
'Thud.'
Sasuke finally dropped the body on the ground. "Just who are you?" He asked what he hoped was a corpse, but of course it wasn't completely dead yet. Or should he call it a she? No, he thought, it would give her withering presence meaning.
Searching into his memory, Sasuke tried to remember who she was. She was near his age so she had to be one of the rookie nine and there was only one person with the byakugan.
"You're a low life you know that, hyuuga?" He grumbled out of pure spite. He remembered her vaguely, Hinata was her name, but more importantly he remembered her team. Inuzuka's were good trackers, but it was easy to throw off their scent. Aburame's are the ones are the ones you should be worried about. They had small, almost unnoticeable creatures on their side.
The sun was setting and the air was getting cooler. He should leave soon, but in somewhere in his mind he wanted to see long she'll last before she's completely gone.
So he stood next to her, watching her body move up a down carefully with each breath. Her blood was all over him staining his only pair of clothes which slightly pissed him off. Rarely did he get blood on him in battle, but Hinata Hyuga would be the one to smother him in her own.
He never even liked the girl, but he never hated her either. In the academy days she never paid any attention to him and he never paid attention to her. In the beginning, Sasuke thought it was unspoken agreement they had until he saw who she really was giving all her attention to. One day, from the corner of his eye, he caught her absentmindedly watching him and Naruto argue, except she wasn't looking at him at all. Both her eyes were focused on Naruto.
"So you're after me, because of that dobe, huh?" Sasuke watched the sky's shades turn from red and orange to purple and navy. He was aware of her unrequited feelings, and her reason for requesting this mission to capture him. "You have no reason to chase after me you know that Hyuga? Even if some miracle happened and you did succeed in taking me back you do realize he'll still be too much of an idiot to give you the thanks you want. The thanks you hunger for." He said sharply, not at all expecting a reply from her. He moved his focus from the sky to her bloody jacket and down to her hands. Kneeling down, he inspected them closely, perplexed." These hands," he grabbed one of her own and held them up to his face, noting every perfectly etched line," he hasn't even thought about touching them at all has he?" Dropping the limp hand he drew his attention to her red lips. Gently using his thumb he wiped away the blood that stained them.
"And these lips he hasn't thought about kissing them at all, has he?" Sasuke chuckled darkly, returning to his original position standing up. Hinata was here in vain. Naruto would never even give her the time of day, though to Sauke she was much more intriguing than the other girls.
"Just for today, I'll let you live."
Darkness had fallen completely around them and once again Sasuke carried her. It was only a few minutes from the gate where Sasuke finally left her. Someone from Konoha would find her and she'd be saved.
'Until we meet again, Hyuga.'
It was a promise. He found her entertaining, almost like a character he'd love to read in a book, if he ever read. He wanted her to get stronger gradually, to get her hopes, so when the day comes when she's destroyed by the one she loves it'll hurt worse than dying slowly like she is now.
He smirked, feeling accomplished that he created another mess that'd drive Konoha insane. They'd find out it was him that personally sent her there and come up with different theories that was far from the truth.
He could hear they villagers whisper about it even now.
"Maybe he left her as a warning to us. Let her survive so we can watch her suffer."
Hmm, that was plausible.
"He just wanted to leave us paranoid, but why would he let her live?"
He could see that question popping up many times.
"It shows he still has a heart. He pitied the poor girl and left her to us."
He laughed at that one.
Sasuke Uchiha did not pity anyone, and Hinata Hyuga herself would realize that.
A/N: This was one of my first fanfictions and I decided to go back and edit. Sorry if I made Sasuke sound like a creeper in this chapter, cause he was talking to Hinata while she was unconscious (he even sounded creepy to me). I apologize if anything is out of character in any way.
Please review!
Till we meet again!
~G.C~
