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Dedicated to creynoso who had sent the word in; enjoy!
Inner Universe
(D is for…)
Diadem
She saw the look in his eyes; those horribly pained and yet numbed orbs of death and destruction. He was tanned like white sand and his red hair flared this and that way in the sun. She had watched his arm stretch out and his hand turn to her and her teammates. Die.
His arm lowered abruptly and he walked away, she felt like her heart was breaking when he met her eyes fully, the Byakugan saw too much, unveiled too much and was her burden. Pain, pain, death, outcast – lone footsteps in miles and miles of sand. Yonder the black horizon, blood red sand hissed in the sobbing winds and desert snakes saw not human in him; they saw the humanoid form of the desert – their home – akin to their god.
Hinata had felt her heart clench and white wash covered a flash of smiling brightness, golden sunshine and blue skies.
In the night she thought of lonesome sands, harsh winds and a scarred heat beating coldly, barely budging.
††††
She thought her knees were going to rattle their way from her legs when she had faced her terror of a cousin. He was scowling ferociously at her, words nailing the right spots of her personality to break her down by her small foundations. Witty mind was abusing the weak and against hope she wanted to give up. A loud voice penetrated the miasma his had created like a refreshing cool mist. Snapping at him, her cousin backed down and stared at her furiously.
A murmur tickled the back of her mind and her Byakugan flicked on to see his arms crossed, looking down at her from his place above and behind her. Harsh eyes narrowed on her figure and a straight broadsword line for his mouth as though he was expecting something from her. Failure? Blood? Humility?
Yes. More than likely, but his chin lifted as though he was the king commanding his knight pawn to move forth. She spoke, "Let's fight."
She hit offense and she blocked continuously, feeling her courage and adrenaline running her but not her talent. Stone cold eyes glared at her through the visibility of her Byakugan – her hand skimmed over her cousin's stomach and missed by an inch.
††††
She lay with white sheets tucked about her, chakra having been pumped into her and she lingered between consciousness and dreamland. Her window, she mused faintly was the best one for viewing the moon – close this way and up high enough where it was fairly nice. She thought of red hair and the look of contempt when her fight had ended ("Do you think me weak? I'm sorry to have been a disappointment."). Dull grey green eyes stared right through her and nailed her on a cross with spikes of sand. Her fingers twitched and she inhaled sharply when a cough rattled its way up her throat.
Choking, gasping, wheezing – inability to breathe.
Hinata coughed harshly and blood leaked between her lips, eyes squeezed shut. Shadows played against her white curtain and out stepped him. Red hair and grey green eyes, pale white sand skin – the very epitome of the desert. Hinata wondered what he'd do; kings of his stature usually called for sacrifices didn't they?
He looked over at her as though noticing her presence and she bowed her head a bit; feeling slightly ill at ease. He looked out her window, where the moon shone and stared at it. He was saying something softly, but in a rumbling voice like an oncoming storm. "I can smell it," he murmured, eyes fixing on her form and narrowing in. "You've been watching me."
He had no shame; she realized and why should royalty? She had too much humility. Her eyes lowered and there was a brief silence – she could smell blood on him and perhaps his hunger had been satiated. She looked through the thick fringe of eyelashes she had and saw that the wind was drifting through as though coming at his beck and call, wrapping around his hair and clothes, tugging. He was from Sunagakure – the headband at his waist said so.
It spilled from her lips unbidden, unwanted and accidently, "…king…" she whispered and he turned to her. His face was blank but there was an upraising note in his eyes as though she had guessed right. As though it was a good thing she had recognized his position despite his disguise.
He turned from her and he approached her window, and then crouched on her sill to stare at the moon.
Even kings, she supposed quietly and observed him and now knowing that he could barely tolerate her because she could pose no threat to him and knew that she knew that he was king, need to breathe.
††††
He was to fight the Uchiha – the dark haired boy with black wings and a halo of barbed wire (all the Hyuugas could see it on him but dared not to speak a word of this abomination because what was to come was to come) and Hinata wanted to watch it. The red haired king of doom needed no army to defeat any opponent – a murmur and the sand would rise to his command. He was king, it was to be expected.
She watched the Uchiha spin and break through the king's dome of sand during the battle and the sand locked on his arm. The sand wasn't doing any offense and her Byakugan flickered on, seeing the Uchiha's hand and wrist right through king's shoulder. King…king was bleeding, Hinata realized with something akin to shock. He was being defeated.
The angel with black wings and a barbed wire for a halo was fighting and winning against the red haired king of the sands and wind. Something went wrong when she saw a pulse of foreign chakra; yellow like liquid gold. Fitting, she believed as her heart clenched and her chest swelled and she fell back.
††††
Naruto had truly defeated king, Hinata had heard from the pink haired girl named Sakura. She sat up in her hospital bed and drank her water, feeling glad that Naruto had saved them from king's wrath as she had recalled Sakura babbling about it excitedly and proudly to the Hokage a few weeks ago.
The wind blew and Hinata didn't need to lift her head to know that king was there. He must have come back to Konoha, but instead of wanting to destroy it, had come back to patch things up with Konohagakure apparently, perhaps. Kings didn't come back for servants. She smiled shyly beneath her hair, knowing he couldn't see it and stared at him beneath thick lashes. Red hair shone in the moonlight and his posture was straight, confident and spoke of volumes of power.
He looked over at her briefly and stared at her as though expecting something, waiting for some sort of reaction.
Fear? Yes; king was all powerful and cunning, ruthless and cruel. Uneasiness? Yes; king could do anything he wished because kings were never denied what their hearts desired.
She bowed her head a bit more and folded her hands in front of her, "King," she whispered so lowly that no one else could have heard her soft voice.
King did.
She looked beneath her lashes and hair to see him crouching on her window to look out the moon and not answering her.
After all, she reasoned while she stared at his back as he looked out into the night, king was quiet. He looked the type; silent, quiet, sneaky, deadly and dooming.
The wind blew in, cold and silent.
-
Some of you may not know why this chapter is called 'diadem', but Hinata continually calls Gaara 'king' instead of his actual name in this piece so the royalty playoff works well, I think. :D All from Hinata's POV, and it was…interesting to write this, really and not really any actual romance between the two but some sort of relationship as the summary promised. It did not lie. XD
Not normal fluff! XD Much better. Anyway, OOC, bad grammar/visual effects, I know but screw it. -.- Send in your words for 'E is for…' and thanks to TSOH, creynoso, KyuubiPandoraChan and akuma de soro for your words.
Words I'd considered/tried using: Diana, Dana (Celtic mother goddess suggested by my abusive muse person) and dysfunctional.