Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!
get yourself cooler, lay yourself low
coincidental murder, with nothing to show
with the judge, constipation will go to his head
and his wife's aggravation, you're soon enough dead
- Aerosmith, Same old song and dance
Chapter 3.
One, two, three, four... Hinata's eyes darted from walls to roof, and down to the floor. She knew it was making her more worried, and didn't help the sinking feeling in her chest as she counted every odds and ends in the room. She had counted the walls, including the roof and floor. It was six of them, just like on a dice. She had counted the corners, four of them in total, and the dark marks, which were two off. Hinata didn't know what they came of, but wasn't sure the truth was anything close to pleasant; so she left it at that. There were four cracks in her room, on by the upper left corner, one in the middle of her third wall, another at the floor by her bed, and the last one over the jail bars. The mark was very high up, and she wouldn't be able to reach it even if she jumped. Hinata knew this, because she had tried, wandered around her room and feeling the cracks. Not daring to touch the stains in case it was something sinister; – for all she knew it could be nothing – she had even counted the objects in the room. She had nothing beside the small bed and the mattress. The sheets were nailed to the wood under it, and she winched her nose. How many people had been sleeping in that bed, and they hadn't changed it? She wasn't very picky, or over hygienic, but even that got to her.
The counting had gone so far she started counting herself and people in her life. With her father and sister it made three, but with uncle gone and Neji by her side they were four. She seemed to end on that number a lot. Four walls, four people, four times two bars, four legs on her bed, and so on. She had four birds back home, and four sources of light on her room. There was a reason behind her mad counting, and that was fear. She was afraid of thinking too much, and not thinking at all. If she thought, unreasonable horrific images would play in her mind, and if she didn't think at all, a soundless voice would mock her.
Hinata had tried her best, but everything was futile. The virtual images had her clutching her head and screaming. A guard came whistling down the corridor, and ran his bat along the rods on her cell as he told her to shut up or it would be the shoe for her the rest of the weekend. Hinata had muffled her own screams, and started counting to move her mind over to something else. The recovery was fast, and she now didn't dare stop counting. She couldn't keep track on how many times she had counted the things around her, but she couldn't stop.
"Alright. Dinner time," Tenten's voice broke her mid way into counting the walls again. She lifted her head up from her mattress and gave the waiting girl a smile. She was kind of excited to figure out if the guard had learned something. "I'm sorry there's no social time today, because most people were going to therapy groups. It usually lasts an hour, and it's social enough." She snorted as she opened the door and Hinata exited her new room. "You take your turn in talking about whatever you want. It's very much like a normal AA meeting, but you get a lot more disturbing stories and a mental valuation after."
The bluette nodded her head and bit her lip. She slowly fluttered with her eyes and strained herself from asking the girl what she had figured out. Tenten was the kind of person to tell what she knew.
"I tried to look into the matter we talked about," she said, and all hope fell from Hinatas face. She had tried, meaning, no success. Dropping her head, she adjusted her lavender eyes to the floor. It wasn't the end of the world, but she at least wanted to know something in this god forsaken place. It seemed like everyone else knew what was going on, and she was so tired of being left in the dark.
"It took a great deal of time, you see. Tsunade-sama has her own system in all the mess she makes. Notes are everywhere, unrelated subjects in the same stock, different names and cases shuffled all over the place. Took me forever to find her too; that scientist."
"Tsunade-sama?" she asked and looked up at the brunette. All the names were so unknown to her, and she had learned a lot of new ones the last few days.
"She's the head of the psychology department, and the main nurse. She runs all the diagnoses of both psyche and physical. She checked you when you came in her." Flashbacks of a blond, big busted lady came to mind. She had been very strict in her demanding in what Hinata was suppose to do, and it made sense. It was something she did every time someone came in there, and from the looks of it, they were some. "She was in a, ehm," Tenten coughed at this, "Private meeting, so I didn't get to ask her. I'm sorry."
"That's okey. Thank you for trying," Hinata smiled, and really meant it. Tenten had tried her best from what she had told, and that was all she could ask of her. They were silent the rest of the walk, but neither cared that much. When Tenten was close, Hinata could relax. Her mind had been wandering their conversation, and not a single, disgusting image came to mind. She saw this as a victory, and she also learned something. It only happened when she was alone.
Entering the cafeteria, they both stopped. Guard were standing in a circle and closing in on a person. Hinata could hear the scream of a panicked boy, and she felt really bad for him.
"Why the hell aren't you guys answering me? Where am I, what the hell am I doing here? You can't do this to me, you'll kill me if I stay! Let me go, let me go!" Hands and legs moved everywhere and they worked in a whirl to try and grab om to the hysteric kid.
"Minato," Tenten said to the blond guard Hinata remembered. He was the one she had asked a fork of. Her face became a little red, and she looked down on the floor when his disapproving eyes came to her. "What is going on? "
"New inmate," was all he said, and they both heard the tenderness in his voice. The bluette stared up at the man, and the lines in is face was hard, as if he was in pain. His hands were folded over his chest, but his knuckles were white as he clutched the arms of his jacket. Minato was straight in his back, and he had huge, dark circles under his eyes. The man was in pain.
"Name?" Tenten pursued the issue further, but Minato only bit his mouth closer. Tears were in his eyes, and the girl sighed. "Do you want me to take your shift?"
"Yes, please do," the man said and shut his eyes as he turned around to leave.
"Double shift," Tenten snorted. "Think about the money, Tenten. Think about the money," the girl told herself as she lead Hinata to her table. Hinata turned against the wall, and Tenten unstrapped her. A sigh of pleasure escaped her lips as her hands fell to her side. The straight-jacket wasn't something she liked. It made her hands cold and ruined her circulation.
Upon sitting down at the table, she saw that the guys were too busy to look at the newcomer to notice her. Another good thing of the day. Hinata smiled to herself as she looked at her plate. It was warm, white soup. A few pieces of meat and vegetables were swimming around, and she hungrily looked for a spoon to dig on.
"One should've thought you had learned by now, Hinata-san," the gentle voice of Itachi said beside her. He was looking at her before nudging her to look at the rest of the table. Neither one had anything but a plate and the dinner. "We're not allowed anything other cosmetic than the plates."
"I-i k-know," she said in embarrassment. "I-it's j-just t-that I-i f-f-forgot." It was a habit from back home, and she was probably going to take a long time to adjust to their missing etiquette when it came to food.
"No shame in that," He said as he lifted the plate to his mouth and took a sip. Hinata was glad he did; it was a way of showing her how she was suppose to eat, and she silently thanked him for it.
Hinata showed down a few gulps before placing it back on the table. It was still very hot, and she was careful not to burn her tongue. It was one of the best things she had eaten in a very long (that's what it felt like) time. She carefully took another, huge mouthful from it before looking back at the ruckus.
"W-w-what i-is g-go-" Hinata didn't get further in her question as Hidan answered it.
"A new bitch kid. He's in my block; been bloody fucking screaming all night long about getting a lawyer and suing the hell out of these mother fucking prisoners who placed him here for no fucking reason." Hidan laughed, as if the thought amused him, and it probably did. Hinata could see the humor in it, after spending a few days here, but seeing she came here for not so long ago and still remembered her confusion and scare, she could relate to the boy.
"Calm down, inmate, or it's the weekend in the box!" one of the guards screamed over him, but that only made his mouth move faster.
"Where the fuck am I? Who are you people? Why is nobody answering my questions?"
"What an idiot," Deidara laughed as he picked up his plate and drank from it. It would have looked elegant if it wasn't fur the slurping sounds he made. His eyes fame to her, and he lit up right away. "Hey, baby blue! Speaking about idiots, look, Sasori, it's that idiot girl!" Hinata wanted to slap him. It was days ago, why was he still talking about it? Tired, and now a bit annoyed, she glared down on her soup.
"She's the idiot that asked for knife and fork for breakfast, can you believe it?" Sasori looked ticket off at Deidara, maybe he was also getting tired of his repeating mind, before staring at her.
"Hello, dollface," he gave her a long smile and she clenched her jaw. Of every nickname he had to go with, she cursed inside her brain. She didn't want to be rude, so she muttered a hello back to them.
"You're just as much an idiot as this guy," Deidara laughed and pointed at the now visible kid. He had shaggy blond hair and deep sea blue eyes. His cheeks each had two horizontal scars on them. He was talking to another man in a white jacket. Their voice wasn't as loud as before, and the panic was slowly leaving the young man. His companion had dark hair and black eyes. Standing side by side, they looked as different as night and day. The blonde was radiating hyper energy, but the brunette was as calm. They talked too low for Hinata to grasp their words, but whatever the man was saying, was making his fellow inmate calm down. They both sat down shortly after, and the guards removed themselves back to observing.
"Maybe not as much," Deidara said, "but equally as stupid."
"I-i k-k-know," she stuttered and stared into his eyes. He didn't have to tell her; everyone else had her life. Her father had always told her how ignorant and low she was as she grew up to be such a weakling; Neji would always call her an idiot for trying to push herself when she couldn't, when she was useless; Hanabi had told her how idiotic she was every time she disobeyed father or did something to annoy him and got herself punished from trivial things. The elder council had told her how useless and hopeless she was, and how the main branch was doomed to die out from weakness.
"I-i-i k-know I-i'm s-stupid," she said and looked at him closer. Her eyes averted into something she would call a glare, but it wasn't much. "S-s-so s-stop t-t-telling m-me, p-please, D-d-deidara-san," she stuttered before looking down at her plate. Now she had done it, they were going to be really mad and throw her out of her seat, tell her how she couldn't sit with them any more and she wouldn't be allowed food ever again. With the horror in mind, she picked up her plate and gulped down the rich food along with her tears.
"She really fucking told you off, Deidara," Hidan said laughing, and the rest of the table burst out with him. "Spill it, Sasori, I fucking win!" He said between fits of laugh. Itachi gave a small smile beside her before saying: "You couldn't wait another day before speaking up?" He wasn't saying it to put her down or be mean, it was just a tease.
"God dammit, baby blue. You couldn't say it yesterday? I would've won if you did." Deidara gave a pouty expression. Hinata was so confused she put down her plate and stared at each and every one of them in turn. Sasori and Hidan was going mouth to mouth with each other, but Hidan didn't look ready to fight pissed off. His gaze was filled with maliciousness.
"Betting a fucking week. Even Jashin-sama would have been able to last more than three days like her with your constant fucking nagging. It's too damn annoying."
"Shut up! Don't you think I know that, un!" Deidara said. "It was starting to get annoying for me as well, un."
"A-ano," Hinata said, but they kept talking among each other.
"We bet on how long you would take Deidara's nagging before telling him off," Kisame said to her over his toothy grin.
"O-oh, t-t-thank y-you, K-kisame-san." Hinata was looking on the guys. Apparently Hidan had won, and Sasori had said she would last a week. Itachi had said the next day, and Deidara the day before. She wondered what Kisame had said. As if reading her mind, he answered her.
"I though you were going to tell him right away," the pale man explained. "You don't look so badass, so I thought maybe you had a huge psyche to end up here." She blushed at the statement, obviously not meant to be an insult, but rather an explanation. Hinata nodded. Her body did look weak, so she didn't blame him for thinking that.
She drank down the rest of her soup, and listened to the other inmates as they talked about sweet nothings. Itachi asked her if she new what group she was in, and she shook her head at him. He assured her it was okey. She was going to figure it out sooner or later.
"Oh, when we're talking about groups. If you do end up in Gaara's group, I heard they are eight and there is only two more spots open. The rest of the therapy groups are basically full," Sasori told her.
"Can't be nine fucking people in that group," Hidan told him. "The guy run's the place, he kills everyone who get's close to him." Hinata rose her eyebrow slightly. Wasn't the guy suppose to kill people who looked at the therapist?
"You said he would kill people who got close to Miss Uzumaki," Itachi voiced her thought. Hidan snorted at him.
"He does both, of course! The mother fucker is so fucking bad ass he kills every single person in sight. He got more balls than any of you looser." The albino man made a point out of pointing at every person in the group, but stopped at Hinata. All eyes fell on her chest, and she folded her hands quickly over them. She was completely flat, she knew that, but they didn't have to make a huge deal out of it.
"Which remind me. How old are you, dollface?" The red haired man gave her a smirk.
"f-f-fourteen i-i-in t-t-two d-d-d-da-ay's," she answered him.
"You're a young one," Kisame said and his signature smirk was gone from his face. Blushing, she slowly nodded her head.
"I'm 21," Hidan said as he pointed a thumb to himself. "My birthday was way back. This red mother fucker is in his thirties, so don't let him come close to you. You fucking freak." Hidan laughed, and continued before Sasori got to answer. "Dei-chan is like fifteen or something,"
"I'm seventeen, un!"
"Whatever, and Kisame is the same age as Sasori. Itachi is nineteen." As they kept talking in their weird, friendly way, Hinata had built up the courage to ask them what they had done to get thrown inside here. It could help her figure out what she had done. She wasn't sure she was going to like the answer, or even wanted to know, but curiosity won over. She never got to ask her question as a guard announced dinner as over.
A guard she didn't know the name of or had seen before, tightened her jacket to the point it hurt. The guard asked if it was too tight, and before she could help herself, she nodded. The only response she got was an evil laugh. Great. As Hidan would have put it; another mother fucker.
"Have a great day, Sarutobi-san," Itachi said as the lock on his cell said click. The grumpy man made a sound before leaving him there. "Have a great day, Umino-san," he said as a man with a scar across his nose passed by. He had escorted Kisame to his cell, and the man nodded his head. "Have a good night, Itachi-san," the man responded and went out of his sight. They were done with their therapy session, and the teen felt exhausted.
Falling down on his bed had him shuffle a little around before finding a comfortable position. It didn't last long, however as a familiar voice broke his silence.
"What are you doing, Itachi-san?" the sound of Kisame made him open his eyes and glare up into his sealing. It was dark, and the lights adjusted their brightness as if it was a normal day. The nights were covered in shadows, and the days were painfully bright. He sometimes wished he were locked up in the box or the same cell as Gaara.
"What do mean, Kisame-san?" He learned a long time ago that playing innocent and ignorant worked better in his favor than showing of his intelligence. It was a dangerous thing in front of certain people.
"You know what I'm talking about," the man said, and he could hear the smile in his voice. That man was always smiling, and for some reason, it wasn't as creepy as Sasori or crazy as Deidara. It was a secret smile; as if he knew something nobody else did. It intrigued Itachi, drowe him toward this man. He didn't know what the pale man had done before entering this mentally insane prison, but he wasn't showing it. Ever in his five years had he seen anything off about the man. The only thing he did was intimidate people, but that could hardly stand beside Hidan and Pein in this place. His eyes also held a gleam of knowledge, and Itachi enjoyed his company. The man was fairly sharp too.
"Maybe I do." Itachi rolled over in his bed. "Maybe I don't."
"You must really like her. I wonder why?" His voice was mocking. The man knew why Itachi was trying to be discreet when he was helping the girl, but it didn't go unnoticed in his eyes.
"You know why, Kisame-san," Itachi said. He wanted it to be over. The way this conversation was headed had him uneasy. He wanted to bang loos at his walls, but that wouldn't end well. Most likely in the shoe.
"Ah, yes. I'm being rude."
"Yes you are," The black haired man said and turned over again. He could hear the moving of sheets in the other room, and he knew every single one of them. It meant Kisame had moved from his bed and to the bars. Great, so now he wanted to talk more personally with him. Just his luck.
"She kind of does act like him. They both had the atmosphere of a brat. Though, she's more shy and quiet. Your brother on the other hand is-"
"Don't talk about my brother, Kisame-san," Itachi said, and to a normal person, his voice would have been steady and solid, but to the ears of Kisame it was the description of his anger, his pain. The older man could read him as a book, and right now, he knew Itachi was on the edge of loosing it. The memories of his past was still hunting the man, and had him suffer from insomnia and horrible nightmares.
"My apologies, Itachi-san."
"Who is this she you are talking about?" a dark voice over the hall asked. It was pain and he was staring at them. The man was sitting with his forehead into the bars and peeking through the creaks. His orange hair was dirty, and his purple eyes glowed in the dark. The man had holes in his body, where piercings used to be. They weren't allowed inside the prison, and removed. Every inmate had heard the horrible screams of Pein. Itachi had heard the nurses say something about the metal being grown into the mans skin.
"A new girl," Kisame said and stuck his hands outside, between the bars, looking like a thug. "she's very pretty with long blue hair and lilac eyes. Her innocence were much like that of Sasuke before-"
"Kisame, enough," Itachi screamed from his bed and decided to get up. These two idiots wouldn't leave him be before they had talked about the subject at hand. They always did this to him, this bittersweet presence they provided him with.
"A girl, you say?" the redhead said as his eyes tarted to the floor. "Been a long time since I had one of those."
"Don't think about it, Pein. She's barely fourteen." Itachi sat down by his opening and glanced up at his acquaintances. They weren't his comrades, would never be, but he had a small amount of respect for them.
"Jo nermer null jo trangere hull," Pein said as a smile crosses his feature. The other men rose his eyebrows.
"What does that even mean?"
"Don't ask," Itachi answered Kisame. Knowing Pein, it was probably something very inappropriate and he didn't want to hear it at all. Pein laughs at them.
"But fun aside. I've heard that Sasuke has come inside here. Think I saw him at dinner today too, talking to that new kid. You know the blond, hysterical one? Shit kid was really loud, hard to miss."Itachi felt a jolt of surprise. He didn't know his younger brother had ended up there. Pein could clearly see his confusion and question, because he continued. "From what I got from that sexy pink nurse, he clearly went crazy batshit and killed some thugs in a back streets. They probably insulted his deary brother. I also heard he lost it over the years; went completely emo and shit. Cut himself and even tried to take his life."
The world was spinning for Itachi, and he fell down on the floor, eyes wide and mouth agape. He had no idea his brother was still in so much pain. It was only a month since they had last talked, and he seamed fine at that time. That wasn't right. He had noticed how the kids eyes had hardened, but just slightly. He had wore a leather jacket with long sleeves and a Te-shirt with a random metal band on the front. His pants had a chain in it, and his once bright smile were now stiff and strained.
When had it happened to his brother? Itachi couldn't figure it out. It hadn't happened over night. His younger brother had slowly turned more and more dark, and it was such a steady change that he hadn't noticed before. How could he not notice? This was his brother, for crying out loud!
"Itachi-san?"
"Leave me alone, Kisame." He was angry, and they could hear the blame. He was blaming himself, but there was nothing Itachi could have done for his brother, other than sit back and watch the painful change in his once loving younger sibling.
Hinata didn't want to sit in her bed. She didn't like the foul stench from it, how had she not smelled it before? It was strong and sharp, and she was very sure it was pee and puke. Gross.
She slowly rocked herself back and forth as she started counting. Afraid of what foulness would reveal itself to her if she didn't, she counted everything she came over. The bars to her right, the cells she could see from her open room, and the sources of light. They were much dimmer than before, and Hinata thought it had something to do with the day. Maybe they adjusted the light as if they were outside. A forced chuckle escaped her lips. Such a joke. They weren't even allowed a window to see the outside world.
As the darkness grew thicker, the bluette started counting faster and more frantic. She didn't want the night to come; awful things were hidden in the dark. As a guard passed by, he did the thing all the other guards had done before him; He rolled his bat against the bars, making her clamp her head.
"Can everyone just stop it?" she sobbed and lowered her head. She was so tired of this place, these people, the food, the atmosphere and so very tired of herself. Why was the guards treating her so badly? What had she ever done to them? Why did she have these images haunt her? She had never even seen a corpse, never tortured one. How could the images be so alive? Why, why, why...
Hinata didn't care if the guards heard her, or the other inmates. She drew a deep breath, and screamed her sorrow. It was a painful howl and she sobbed loudly. Screaming felt so good, to get out all the pain that she had tried in vain to hide away. Taking another deep breath, she let out another scream. The sorrow she heard in her own voice had her stop up and draw shaky breaths. It made her calm to know the pain had left her body, and the girl fell to the floor, exhausted.
"You're one loud one," a voice said, and she averted her gaze from the cold, cement floor. Across her was a guy with shaggy blond hair and deep blue eyes. His cheeks bore two scar each, and she remembered him from earlier that day. When had he moved in to the cell? The other rooms were always empty, or too dark for her to see anything. The kid was sitting on the floor with his head into the grids. He looked much calmer than he had before.
"I-i-i'm sorry," Hinata whispered as she looked away in shame. She didn't know anyone were around as she threw her tantrum, and now felt embarrassed with her break down. He was going to make fun of her, call her weak, and be another one of these who made her current life a living hell.
"Don't worry about it. You just didn't seem like the person to own such a loud voice, just took me by surprise, is all. I saw you come in here with one of the guards, and you bowed your head so far down I thought they were going to hit your knees." The man gave her a friendly grin. It didn't help, but made her face even more red. So even a stranger could tell she was pathetic. Just great.
"But you know," the guy continued as he rubbed his nose. "It's okey to let out all the anger and sadness inside. I do it all the time." He shrugged, almost apologetic. "It feels like I'm going to explode if I don't let it outside." The deep, clean color of his eyes had her breath taken away, and Hinata's face took a new shade of crimson. This time, it wasn't from embarrassment. He understood her, and accepted it.
"Thank you," Hinata murmured as she let her hair fall over her face. Tears of joy filled her eyes, and she let them fall down her cheeks. It felt so good to not be judged or stared at with such a hard gaze. It was such a relief that someone allowed her to be weak, encouraged her to do it. To let the pain show.
"That's all right," He said in a very soft voice. "Let it all out." and she did. Hinata cried under the warm gaze of this new arrived man, and fell asleep on the cool floor, face still damped from fresh tears. The man smiled, pleased with himself. The sound of clicking heals caught his attention, and he looked up to his right. A woman in a green, long jacket, painted nails and platinum blond hair in tho pig tails came strolling down the hall with a piece of board and a stack of paper in hand.
"Let's see, let's see," she muttered to herself, as her eyes wandered over the rooms in the building. Her brown eyes met the blond mans cold, blue ones. He recognized her as the medic who had examined him before placing him in this cell.
"Uzumaki Naruto," she said with an uninterested voice.
"Granny Tsunade," he greeted back with an attitude.
"We had to move you from block C, you made such a ruckus for the other inmates. It is just temporary, if you behave, and we're willing to move you back if you stop acting like a brat," the lady smiled a fake smile, "and act like a good inmate should."
"Why?" he snorted. "You have no right to keep me in here. I did nothing wrong."
"But that's where you're wrong." Tsunade saw his questions, but she lifted a hand up with a pen stuck inside it. "It's not the reason I'm here. I get too easily sidetracked. I'm here to inform you about your therapy. Normally Shizune takes care of this sort of things, but she's busy right now." She snarled and bit her lips, clutching the pen so hard it broke in her hand. It snapped her back to reality. "You will have therapy sessions tomorrow with Kushina."
The boy's face lit up at the name of his mother. Tsunade took two steps closer to the bar, and bended down toward the boy. "If I hear one word, one lousy, un-nice word, about your attitude or behavior, I will send you to the shoe for the rest of your stay. You're not to get personally involved with your therapist, and you're to stay the hell away from her. No physical contact. I'll make the rest of your stay here a living hell if you do. Am I making myself clear?" Wrinkles formed on her face as she talked, and her killing intent made him gulp hard. It wouldn't have been a surprise to him if she could bend the five inches thick bars with her bare hands. The blond boy nodded his head as he realised she was waiting for his answer.
"Good," she growled before straightening back up. "Now, Hyuuga, Hyuuga," she muttered to herself as her eyes wandered over the other cells. She took notice of the evil glare the kid sent her, but didn't pay it much mind. Finally spotting what she looked for, she strolled across the room.
"Hyuuga Hinata," she said as she looked down on her paper. Her eyes slightly widened as she read the quick description. As her brown orbs fell on the sleeping form on the floor, she couldn't help but wrinkle her eyebrows. Was this for real? This puny girl? Tsunade shook her head as she remembered other patients. Others who looked just as innocent, but also just as twisted. However, the adult couldn't bring herself to wake the girl as she saw how filthy, thin and tired the kid was.
Turning away from the sleeping form of the Hyuuga, she favored the staring blond across the room a look. "You two are in the same group. Inform her when she wakes up. It's one hour every Saturday evening," and with that, the woman stormed off, not wanting to be in this part of the facility any more. Naruto sent her one last glare, before his blue irises fell on the sleeping form of the girl.
"That Hyuuga Hinata, huh?"
Puh, such a long chapter. I hope you enjoyed it just as much as I did.
I'm super hyped! I just got my first follower! Thank you so much! And thanks to everyone who is reading this story. You guys are all awesome!
"Jo nermer null jo trangere hull" is a Norwegian saying which translates to '' the closer to zero, the tighter the hole''. It's a sexual reference, and a very vulgar one at that.
