Schism
By: Cabalistic
"Love is not a lifelong passion, nor a fiery devotion. Love is dancing on the brink of Madness."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.


II

"Ne, Hinata, I've been meaning to ask you."

"Hm?" Hinata tilted her head towards Naruto, her fair eyes gazing into his. His blue eyes were avoiding hers, averted to the ground and he had his hands tucked in careless poise behind his head. Hinata smiled as he tried to arrange his thoughts. He grinned sheepishly and squeezed her hand tightly, their fingers interlocked.

Walking around the perimeter of the lake, the soon-to-be newly-weds finally managed to get away from the hectic preparations of the upcoming ceremonious day to spend time together. Although they were both eager for the wedding, the date had put a toll on each of them. Hinata smiled to herself – Naruto had insisted on helping out with the wedding as much as he could, putting forth a golden effort in preparing, something uncannily unlike Naruto's usual traits of sloppiness.

Hinata felt a flutter of warmth beat its wings around her heart. He was being wonderful to her, perhaps even spoiling her by trying to appease her. From what she gathered from Ino's wedding preparations, Shikamaru didn't give a fig about if she was going to wear a dress or a paper bag. Despite this lack of enthusiasm from the groom, it did not hinder Ino's determination, in fact, it seemed to strengthen it.

They were both barefoot as they treaded through the sand gently, each holding their shoes in one hand. Their other hands were clasped together tightly, and when there was a momentary silence, Naruto would swing their arms back and forth as they were children and Hinata was laugh at him.

"Are you…" Naruto trailed off uncertainly, skirting a rock in his path. His voice was flustered and nervous and Hinata wondered what was on the Kyuubi's troubled mind. She slid a comforting smile to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. Walking together now was effortless, their legs in perfect sync, each perfect bend of their arms in rhythm. It was as though they were not separate beings, but one.

This was something she missed – just spending time together as though there was no one else in the world but the two of them, pretending there was no one out there but just themselves, together. The waves washed upon the shore and the thunderous cry of the wave rippled through her heart and she sighed.

"How do you…feel about the wedding?" He finally uttered. Hinata looked over at her fiancé and studied his expression. His blue gaze flickered over to hers apprehensively, a worried set to his jaw. His arm was protectively around her shoulder and she felt profoundly safe. Naruto looked like a Greek god garbed in very casual, baggy jeans that put an emphasis on his lanky figure and a black t-shirt with a Konoha design.

Hinata compared him to herself. She was wearing a white halter-top and beige cargo capris. The darker color Naruto wore brought out the blue in his eyes almost with black electricity fired in his pupils. What she wore made her feel different, as though the contrast in bright and dark had set them apart. She smiled then – they had always been different, hadn't they? He was loud and courageous, unafraid of the world. She was timid and shy, a withdrawn wallflower.

"I'm worried," Hinata finally confessed to him. "I'm worried that something's going to happen at the last minute that we didn't prepare for." She tucked a stubborn strand of her hair behind her ear and laughed. "Like what if my dress doesn't come in on time? Or we forget to invite someone? Or even worse – what if they send in the wrong flowers?"

Naruto laughed as he twirled the curl of hair around his hand. "Ne, Hinata," he murmured, "I think everything preparations-wise is going to be fine. But I wonder…" he halted his words and looked around him curiously as though he hadn't been fully aware of his surroundings.

"Did I…do you think I rushed into it too early?" Naruto said, haltingly.

Hinata stopped in her tracks and Naruto stumbled to stare down at her, worry dancing in his azure eyes. Her eyes were round as she looked at him, bewildered. "D-do you…do you mean you want to cancel the wedding?" She whispered, horrified. Her voice was so faint, Naruto had to lower his head to hear her. Her old stutter crept back into her voice.

"What?! No!!" Naruto's laughter broke the tension and he leaned down to press his lips to her cheek. A bright blush enflamed the side of her face and she almost went weak in her knees from a rush of relief that passed through her. Being near her fiancé was like a fantasy that had leapt off the story page. Her own shining knight of armor – emerged victorious.

"Silly Hinata," Naruto chuckled. "Where did you get an idea like that?"

"But you said—"

"Oh well I meant…" Naruto fumbled for his words again. "I thought that you might have wanted to wait for a while before we got married so we could do things properly." He grinned and said, "Shikamaru said that I was too impatient and I needed to take things easier. Neji disapproved too."

A fist clenched around Hinata's heart and his honesty towards her made her smile. "No, your timing was perfect," Hinata whispered fiercely. Her coming of age was nearing soon and it was something she had dreaded profoundly. Once she became of age, there as no turning back the heirdom. But now that she was getting married to Naruto, she no longer could become the leader of the Hyuuga clan because to be leader required marriage to a full-blooded Hyuuga, to keep the line pureblooded. The heirdom passed to Hanabi who rightfully deserved it. For once, she could do something to please her father, even if he would never say anything about it.

Hinata no longer would be viewed as Hyuuga Hinata but rather Uzumaki Hinata, a stranger and foreigner to the Hyuugas. It was like a dream come true – to be freed from the lifelong traditions and customs that had daily constrained her. She would adapt the same name that only Naruto would share with her. Indeed, Naruto was her shining knight in armor.

Naruto was watching her expression carefully and he slowly grinned. She could tell that he knew where her thoughts were because he gently squeezed her shoulder and they fell back into their easy walking tempo. "I'm glad then," Naruto said. "I wasn't sure I could wait any longer."

Hinata laughed and shook her head. Naruto's impatience had lucked them out.

Enthusiastically, Naruto launched into a conversation. "So when we get married, Hinata, I was thinking about getting a house kind of near here, so we can look out in the morning and see the sunrise bam! Right in our window! We'll get a nice big dorm so there will be a nice kitchen for you to cook as much as you want!" He paused. "Or maybe we can get a nice small one in the city. But you never liked the city noise much, did you Hinata?"

She smiled and shook her head. Of course Naruto would know, even if she had never told him directly.

"How about we save up our money and then we can buy a house out by the outskirts of the village?" He halted then realized, "But that would be kind of dangerous because we would be farther out than anyone else. Missing nins could…" His voice faded out with the possibility. Eagerly, he turned his face to Hinata, his blue eyes burning with his happiness. "What do you think, Hinata-chan?"

"Hmm," Hinata mused aloud as she considered each possibility. She looked at Naruto and her smile widened. "How about the lake house? I wouldn't mind having one out here – it's beautiful out here."

"Yeah!" Naruto declared with a sudden burst of energy. "Then we're gonna get a house by the lake!" He looked at her with meaningful blue eyes and said with intensity, "I promise."

Hinata gazed into his expression; his wide-set grin and his smoldering blue eyes and found her love bursting in her chest in so many waves it nearly hurt. His promise made her heart swell in utter compassion for him. A house by the lake…just her and Naruto. She could imagine getting up early in the morning, careful not to awaken her husband and tiptoeing silently into the kitchen to begin cooking for his ravenous appetite. And while she was frying something on the stove, he would wrap his arms around her from behind and… The vision made her beam. It wasn't too far off into the future – to secure her dreams into reality. She stood up on her toes to kiss the corner of his mouth fleetingly before her burst of courage slipped away. "Arigato, Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked down at her, his expression unreadable and reached over to take her chin in his hands. She stopped as he redirected her gaze towards him. "Ne," he whispered softly, "Do that again, Hinata." His sky blue eyes were pleading and his lips were gently curled into his smile, her smile.

She reached up and laid her small pale hands on either side of his face, the perfect curve of his face fitting into the shape of her hands. She stood up on her toes and he leaned down towards her as their lips gently brushed together. Her hands moved to entangle themselves in his golden hair and his lips moved against hers. "I love you, Hinata," he whispered fiercely against her mouth.

Hinata opened her pale eyes, ecstasy trembling through her veins. White met blue as he tightened his embrace around her. Despite the numerous times he had repeated this phrase in her ear, her heart never failed to swell and nearly burst within and she felt as though she was soaring to the clouds.

He loved her.

He loved her.

He loved her.


Standing off in the distance, the witness to this couple's joy and happiness watched them with menacing eyes as his lips twisted into a deep scowl. By-passers took one look at this stranger and walked instantly to the other side of the street. Children ran at the sight of him, hiding behind the safe embrace of their mothers. He was accustomed to being the outcast, to being hated and despised.

He had a clear view from where he stood of the Uzumaki and the Hyuuga. His scowl intensified in hostility into a snarl as they exchanged light contact of the fingertips with a deep sense of familiarity. The Uzumaki's arm moved around Hinata's shoulders and she didn't seem to mind. Rather, she blushed.

The stranger clenched a fist at his side, his nails biting deeply into his skin. How dare he. Who was he to take her, to own her, as he himself had done naught but a few years ago? And she, how dare she forget about him as though he had never existed, walking simply beside the Uzumaki as though it was a fact. Did she forget? She belonged to him.

They were talking now and Hinata was laughing. The stranger gritted his teeth angrily. She had never laughed with him, never laughed freely. But now she was standing beside this…this mere Kyuubi and looking at him with all the love and affection pretending that he himself did not exist, pretending that he had died in some far off distant past.

Then suddenly, Hinata stood up on her toes and kissed the Uzumaki.

The stranger's eyes shot blood red as though his eyes were bleeding and he stared through them, his gaze wide with disbelief mingling with hate and despise. Had she? No…no his eyes had to be deceiving him. Those lips belonged to no one else other than his own, the love in her eyes, the soft touch in her hands… No. No, she could not have given it away all for some mere Kyuubi.

But then again… she could.

The stranger watched them, dumbfounded, as the Uzumaki whispered softly to her. She smiled in reply and placed her hands gently on his face and leaned up to kiss him. They embraced each other in a disgusting scene of harmony and tranquility.

The stranger's eyes intensified in hate and loathing. Then he was bounding over the rooftops of Konoha, running fast and furious to the woods before his anger would blow his cover. Once he was within the safety of the secrecy of the forest, he ran his fist straight through a tree, making the ancient tree groan and ease the other direction, toppling over in a flurry of chattering birds as they flew away. He seemed not to notice.

Hinata.

He screamed his anger and frustration to the skies as he clenched his fists at his sides, trembling. His eyes were burning in his face and his nails were nearly tearing through the palms of his hands.

He needed to kill.

"Hey, nii-san, I heard a noise over here…" a little girl clambered over the toppled tree. She looked about her surroundings with curiosity, and then her round eyes saw the stranger. His eyes swerved slowly, then locked onto her. A child. A low hiss escaped from his lips as his eyes contracted at the sight of her. His hands twitched strangely at his sides, like a dull heartbeat.

"N-nii-san!" The little girl screamed, but her voice was abruptly cut off in a burst of flowing crimson. Her nii-san came for her only for his blood to mingle with hers on the ground as well.

Staring down at his bloodstained hands, the stranger looked at the fresh corpses with something close to revulsion and hate brewing in his glare. Kicking the bodies over with no compassion, he wiped the blood off his hands on the little girl's dress. The scent of blood in the air made him calmer and he was able to clear his mind and concentrate better now.

He would exact his revenge on Uzumaki. And remind Hinata that she was his.

Fisting his hands before him, he raised his voice in a keen, eager howl of enthusiasm.


Hinata made the lonely walk home by herself, holding several bags of groceries in her hands. The sun had set far in the sky behind her and an eerie, unpleasant feeling was starting to overcome her as she saw her shadow lengthen beneath her feet. Usually Naruto would walk her home because he would never have her walk alone at this time of night, but he had to go meet with Tsunade concerning something about a certain missing shinobi. He had taken so long apologizing, Shizune all but appeared and dragged him away.

Hinata frowned. Yes, she remembered the missing shinobi that Naruto was obsessing in his search for. For he had promised his teammate Sakura that he would find his best friend and her crush.

Her silent wish was that they would never succeed and that the missing shinobi would stay just that: missing.

Sighing, Hinata continued on her path, keeping to the sidewalk where there was light. Usually, she would never walk in this part of the neighborhood at night, but she wanted to drop off some groceries for Naruto since he had no time to go shopping for himself. She smiled and checked the paper bags to see the vegetables the Kyuubi loathed. Really, his obsession with ramen was going to be the end of him.

She tightened her hold on the paper bag when an owl hooted not too far off. The sound made the hair on her arms rise as she nervously quickened her pace.

She walked around a turn in the road when she heard voices, low and dark. Hinata tightened her hold on the bags. She didn't want to stay in this part of town too long to figure out who they were. Besides, he didn't live too far away from here. She was almost there. Hastily, she willed herself to walk faster.

"Hinata!"

She stiffened in her tracks and turned around slowly. In the alleyway was none other than Haruno Sakura, Naruto's teammate. Trademark bright pink hair crowned her head in her disheveled state and she was stumbling, leaning against the walls. Hinata could smell her breath even from where she was standing – she was drunk.

Sakura took a swing of the bottle, clumsily spilling some of the liquid all of her rumpled shirt. "Hinata! My best friend!" She called out again, drunkenly.

"Sakura," Hinata replied curtly. She pressed her lips into a small smile. When she was younger, she used to be jealous of this pink-haired shinobi who always seemed to catch Naruto's eyes. Now, though, she had nothing to be envious of in this girl, but felt only sympathy. She had never been close to her, but from what Ino said, when that certain teammate of Naruto and Sakura's went missing, Sakura had been inconsolable. Apparently, she had picked up more than a few traits from her sensei the Hokage and was out almost every night drunk on sake in an attempt to lose herself.

Sakura stumbled and slung an arm over Hinata's shoulder. "Heeey Hinata," she slurred. "Shinji just told me you were getting married to Uzumaki. 'Graaats."

"Thanks," Hinata replied, although she had no idea who Shinji was, her smile becoming forced. The reek of alcohol from her breath was repulsive.

Sakura peered at her through foggy green eyes. "Although, I told Shinji it prob'bly won't last, y'know? After all," she took another swing of the bottle, "Uzumaki's had a crush on me since the Academy days. He'll prob'bly drop you after he gets what he wants…"

Hinata stiffened, her blow coming close to home. "It's great seeing you again, Sakura," she grinded from her teeth as she pried Sakura's arm off her shoulders. "Take care of yourself."

"Y'know," Sakura blundered on, as though she hadn't heard Hinata, "I used to be jealous of you back then. 'Cause I know you and Sasuke-kun were always really close…"

Hinata flushed red. No. Not that name again… She felt the ground almost give way beneath her feet, as though the world shifted and suddenly everything was off-balance. She felt like she was suffocating suddenly – she couldn't think, couldn't breathe…

"Hey you're blushing, Hinata…"

"Excuse me!" Hinata burst out suddenly, turning her face away from Sakura. She turned her heel and fled.

Sakura watched her flee down the street silently. She wiped her mouth and pitched the barely-drunken bottle aside to the ground. Her green eyes narrowed viciously at the disappearing Hyuuga girl, her drunken act over. "You can't take him away from me, Hinata-chan," she whispered darkly. "I'll make sure of that."


Hinata burst into Naruto's apartment, face flushed. She dumped the groceries on the ground and slid against the closed door, face in her hands. What was that? She hadn't seen Sakura in years and suddenly, she was there, the prettiest girl in the Academy drunk, wasted and ruined, suddenly spewing out poisonous names from forgotten memories…

Sasuke.

She shivered at then name. She hadn't heard it in years. She had managed to forget all about him, even when Naruto innocently brought his childhood companion up. He was missing. Let him stay missing. Let him go to Orochimaru and never come back. She wiped the corners of her eyes, her breathing slowly evening. He was gone now. He won't come back. He had no reason to come back. He had what he wanted – let him keep it.

"Hinata-chan?"

She looked up, bleary-eyed into the face of Naruto. He was standing in front of her, wearing his pajamas and signature sleeping cap, rubbing his eyes, looking like a sweet, innocent angel that had been rudely awakened. She hadn't expected him home yet. She thought that he would still be with Tsunade until the next morning. But it didn't matter: he was here now. "Hinata-chan?" he said again, a puzzled look on his sleeping face. "Are you okay?"

She didn't answer him, only averted her eyes from his face.

He curled up next to her in front of his door, wrapping his arms around her small, tiny frame. "Whatever it is, it's fine now, kay?" he whispered softly in her ear. "I'm here now." He rested his head on top of hers. Hinata closed her eyes. She reached for his hand and held it tight, as though clinging onto him for her sanity.

"You know, Hinata," Naruto mumbled, half-asleep. "I had a dream about you. I dreamed that I died and you wouldn't stop crying…" He squeezed her tightly as though he was making sure she was still there. He said softly, fiercely in her ear, "But I'm here now, kay? I'm not going to let you go either."

She squeezed his hand in response. "Thank you, Naruto," she wept softly. "Thank you."


A/N: Hahahaaa Sakura bashing... Who'da thunk she'd come back evil and drunk? :D -gets tackled and mauled by Sakura fans-

YEAH ITS AN UPDATE! BELIEVE EEET!! (...Yeesh I hate the English dubbed Naruto...)

Have I suddenly had a burst of ideas from a random muse and received a healing from writer's block? Not really. Have I been inspired by the anime that is beginning to bore me from lack of action? Um. No Am I going to start updating on a more frequent basis? Probably not.

Sorry to disappoint y'all. :D Most likely I won't update again until summer starts.

Know why? Know why?! KNOW WHY!?

ITS FINALS WEEK AND IM FRANTICALLY TRYING TO STUDY WHEN ALL I REALLY WANNA DO IS TYPE!! -bangs head on table and scratches face off and rolls around the ground in hysterics-

...Yeah. -cough- I have a sudden impulse to burn something. I'm gonna go, like, make toast or something.

Review the insane person pweety pweaseee.