Author's Note: Chapter two and it's already boring. *Sigh* I'm sorry. I just really need to write something about Kasumi.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters.
Bonds - Chapter 2
The night was cold, and a fragile-looking woman lay still on the damp ground of a hollow cave. Her hair is red and long, with some parts of it framing her face. She feels cold, hungry and afraid, and her eyes are quite red from crying for days. She longed for her family and friends back home, she wants to return to the warmth of her cozy room, and to feel the embrace of her worried mother and father.
I hope that they haven't given up looking for me, she thought to herself.
Her clothes are quite thin, not providing enough protection from the chilly night air. She shivered and closed her eyes, questioning herself if she should just give up and break. It's been a week and she doesn't know where she is. Her captors are always guarding the entrance, and she wouldn't even dare to escape. She's too afraid. She doesn't want to get hurt.
Not that they ever did. They barely even talk to her.
They offer her food, simple bread and water, but she rarely eats it.
She doesn't trust them. She can never.
She is a bit sleepy, but she tries her best not to fall asleep. Nightmares of her ambush and images of her slaughtered servants would always appear in her dreams. Her thin yukata had streaks of blood, blood from the people who cared for her when she was still young, blood from those who served her, blood from those who died dying to protect her.
She once used the water from the drink offered to her to removed the stains of blood off her clothes, but the dried crimson was persistent, it didn't even fade. It tormented her every time, reminding her that she's still alive and suffering.
'Good thing okasan and otousan weren't there, or else I wouldn't even want to think about what could have happened to them.' She thought.
The earth inside the cave clung to her hair and clothes, staining her skin, digging itself under her once-polished fingernails.
She thought she was pitiful.
And she gave herself a nervous laugh as a tear ran down her cheek.
'They said that they'd let me go if my family can produce a rare scroll and a huge sum of money, but we're not a family of shinobi's to begin with...'
Her thoughts were interrupted by noises and explosions outside the cave, and she turned her face to look. She saw that no one was guarding the entrance, and she felt her heartbeat quicken, and so did her breath. She cautiously moved to the cave's opening, looking carefully at her surroundings, looking for anyone who is watching her.
Then she saw one of her captors' body lay soaked in a pool of blood with three kunais on his chest.
The stench of her captor's blood is nauseating, and images of her dead servants flashed before her, and she lost her focus. Her knees were feeling week, and she felt it give way. She expected her body to fall, but something else prevented her from hitting the ground. She felt strong arms grab her, encircle her and lift her up, supporting her back and knees. She heard a male's voice that she can never forget, he whispered, and she could have cried at his words,
"You're safe now." He said.
She opened her eyes, her vision slightly blurry, and she she looked at her savior. She saw his white shirt, and burnished colored hair that seemed to flow to his back, his unusual white eyes that she'd love to stare into until forever, and she quickly memorized his face, until her body and consciousness failed her and she drifted off to sleep.
She woke up at the hospital, bandaged and healed and her clothes removed and changed into a white medical gown. She looked around the unfamiliar room that she was in and noticed a pink-haired woman with similarly-colored emerald eyes looking at a chart. The woman looked at her and said, "Oh, you're finally awake." She beamed at her.
"I'm Sakura. What's your name?" The pale woman in red said.
"Kasumi." She replied briskly and quietly.
"You've been out for quite some time. But don't worry, you didn't seem to have any major injuries. In fact, you're perfectly fine. Well, except for maybe a couple of small bruises and scratches, but nothing that we can't fix."
"Where am I?" She asked, looking at Sakura in the eye. Twin green eyes meeting.
"You're in a hospital in Konoha."
"Konoha?" She responded. Unfamiliar to the name.
"Yes. According to the reports, there were some rogue-nins who attacked you and your party. I guess it's obvious to say that you're the only left. The reason they kept you alive is because they wanted some scrolls and money from your family." Sakura's features softened and moved closer to the girl.
"The rogue-nins were keeping you here in Konoha, so the Hokage was forced to take action and sent a team to recover you." She continued.
"That's ridiculous, we don't have scrolls. We don't even have a shinobi in the family." She spat the words out with displeasure, the images of her murdered servants flashing to her mind once more. Her head began to hurt. She raised her hands to soothe her throbbing temples, and she grimaced at the pain.
"Take it easy. You need to rest." Concerned jade-colored eyes looked at her, and Sakura pushed her back to lay on the bed. "I'll check up on you again." She turned to leave.
"W-wait!" She stammered. She was feeling slightly dizzy.
The kunoichi paused in confusion and looked at her.
"Who was the one who saved me? The one with brown hair and uncommon-looking eyes."
Eyes that I can never forget. Eyes that I love.
"Oh, you mean Neji-kun?" The med-nin said with a smile playfully forming on her lips. "Maybe you'll see him once you're well." She snickered at her blushing patient and walked out the door.
"Neji..."
Kasumi's hand clutched her blanket, and smiled as she drifted off to sleep.
"Hokage-sama, I would like to return to my country." She stood in the middle of the blue-eyed Kage's office, a lone figure in the midst of paper piles full of words that the blonde kunoichi doesn't want to bother reading.
"Okay." She said in a deadpan voice and snorted. Her eyes never leaving the mission reports in her hand that never seemed to diminish.
Kasumi took a deep breath, and looked sternly at the woman before her and said,
"I'd like to request someone to be my escort."
The sun is rising in Konoha and Neji is waiting at the main gate with his cousin. They're both ready for their mission with their bags packed and their calm determination to succeed the simple assignment.
Hinata smiled at her cousin offering him the cup of hot tea in her hand.
"No thank you, Hinata-sama." the auburn-haired jounin said.
"Umm... b-but, it's q-quite cold, a-and y-you need to w-warm your self u-up." Her eyes were pleading and insistent.
He frowned a little and sighed as he took the paper cup full of hot liquid from her hands. He took a sip, and he admitted to himself that this tea tasted nice, he is quite sure that Hinata was the one who brewed this. Tea ceremonies were taught at an early age in their clan, and he knows that Hinata easily mastered it when she was still young.
He remembered seeing her prepare tea, with her slender hands skillfully holding dried tea leaves, or pouring hot liquid to his teacup, he remembered her fingertips, face and frame, she was always focused, graceful and pale.
And of course, every time he trained in the Hyuga compound, Hinata would always bring him tea. He would always take a break from what he's doing, and he'd sit near her as she offered him a cup. He'd drink it and she'd giggle, and they'd talk about certain things that nobody cares about. If they ever did run out of topic or words, they would just sit contently, staring at the blue sky, until he regains his energy and gets up to train again.
White-lavender eyes were staring at him and he looked at the cup in his hand, he didn't seem to notice that he almost drank it all. Neji murmured an apology to Hinata, feeling a little bit embarrassed for almost drinking all of her tea, she said that she didn't mind and she bit her lip and gave him a soft smile and took the almost-empty cup from him.
"U-ummm, hello." The male Hyuga heard a soft female voice speak and he turned his head into the direction of the voice.
"You must be Neji. My escort. My name is Kasumi." She smiled at him, her emerald-colored eyes never leaving his opalescent ones.
"Shall we get going?" Neji asked in a steady voice.
"Yes, if you're ready." She moved closer to him, and Neji turned to Hinata,
"Hinata-sama we're leaving." He said.
Kasumi stared intently at the dark haired woman, her face giving a look of surprise that there is another escort.
Hinata didn't seem to notice her client's expression, and nodded to Neji and she stood up, with the cup of tea still held in between her two hands.
And Hinata didn't know that the part of the cup where Neji's lips landed to drink,
Is also that the spot that Hinata's lips touched as she drank.