Disclaimer: I do not own naruto

Note: Please read the stories before this, Stronger and Softer- I am aware that they are a lot more rough than this work is because they were written nearly ten years prior but this is an alternate to the sequel of Stronger, which is Softer. I am currently working on an edited version of both those stories and will I hope be posting their more polished and revised versions soon. (like hopefully within this year soon, not next week soon,)

He had ripped the skin off her back, the lashes had been vicious and she had sobbed through the torrent of pain, wondering if there would be marks on her bones, if it was possible for him to write his name into the marrow within her.

The demands had begun to become unattainable. She simply could not do what he asked. The speed and agility were beyond anything she had witnessed. Sasuke alone had ever moved at this speed, and the effort it took for her to even try made muscles pulse and throb, it made tendons tear.

But to disobey, to stop, had cost her dearly.

He had breathed hard as he worked on, as he tore away her skin, reducing her to a sobbing gasping mess on the ground, watching his arms move. She could no longer hear the screams as they ripped through her throat and as she lay there with her face against the cold floor she begged for him, begged for Sasuke, and her mother, until the blackness had consumed her.

Now she whimpered, breathing in the dirt of the ground, unwilling to move. Her back felt like it was made of razors, and despite her lack of movement it was threatening to make her scream.

Don't scream, don't scream... don't... he will come...

Agony rolled through her as she tried to sit up, and her whole body trembled ,a soft strangled cry penetrated her lungs, setting the walls echoing.

"...Sasuke..." she sobbed, each of her gasping breaths shooting pain through her again and again.

The jingle of a key down the hall made her freeze, the air coming in short burning breaths, eyes wild as she stared at the door to her prison.

She could feel the sticky residue of her blood down her bare back, whimpering she listened for steps and heard none, confirming again who approached.

"...please..." she was begging already and he had not even come in.

With force he had thrown her into the cell, removing his cloak, with cold impassive eyes he had removed the whip from the wall, ordered her to strip her shirt. She had begged then too, she had sank to her knees as he tore the clothing from her body. Half covering herself she had sobbed, thrown to the wall, given the mercy to hold on to something before the torture began.

If she made noise, if he was coming for her now there would be no such mercy. She was clay in his hands, he could mold her, break her, crush her as he pleased and there was nothing she could do against his strength.

Her body began to shake violently as the door to her cell was pushed open quietly and seeing the black cloak an animal sound escaped her mouth, hands digging into the ground as if begging it to devour her to hell.

He stopped, his feet close to her face for a moment as if surveying the damage. She twitched like an insect on it's back, her limbs moving as though electrified, her blood had dripped down the sides of her pale torso, and dried into crusty sneering lines.

Smoothly, he bent down, taking her by the throat. Screams beat against his grip as he brought her up to a standing position and fresh blood seemed to tinge the air from the wounds of her back cracking their half formed scabs.

"You are a princess of the Hyuuga clan." his voice was calm, gazing at her as she sputtered in his grip. "Your intelligence is part of your bloodline, so I will explain this one last time and hopefully you will take into serious consideration what I have to say."

Hanging from his grip, naked from the waist up, raw and bleeding Hinata had no option to argue, she stared at his glowing red gaze, terror eating her alive.

"You can bend to my will, and survive, or you can be broken." His grip tightened. "You can align yourself to me, or you can die."

Hinata's hands gripped his fervently, her pale eyes gazing.

Align...

Sasuke... I can't die here... I can't...

Brutally he threw her, the wretched scream that echoed through the cell followed by the nail on chalkboard sounds of her mewling, no more than a wounded stray dog on the ground.

Abruptly and to her confused eyes the cloak draped over her half naked form, covering her.

Terrified and unwilling to look him in the eye again she felt his hands pushing her back to the ground, flat on her belly, his fingers cool against the burning torn shreds of her body.

"Stay still." His voice was soft, and although the shaking was beyond her control Hinata attempted to do as she was told, gritting her teeth to keep the sounds of agony from escaping her mouth.

A feeling of coolness suddenly exploded on her back and she sobbed, turning her head just a bit to see his hands on her, holding a bright whiteness that crunched in his fingers.

Snow.

She stared, transfixed as his pale hands placed small handfuls of the freezing water on her wounds, packing them slowly despite her uncontrollable shaking.

A feeling of both agony and relief waged war inside of her, and her breathing slowed to a hard manageable pant.

"You will be okay." His words meddled in her brain as he continued to press the coolness to the fire in her skin, it was the last thing she heard before the blackness came back to drag her into itself. In the shadows of her mind only confusion reigned as relief was delivered by the hands that originally broke, making him both death and now life.

Waking her up at the hospital had been a mistake. He knew it, and Tsunade knew it the moment her words stopped coming out soft and confused and her ears seemed to listen to something none of them were capable of hearing. Her eyes turned to the one way window where he and his friends stood, watching with anxiety and suddenly shock.

The first time he had really seen her she had appeared in the light of the rising sun, with dew drops in her hair and he had been unable to resist gazing. It wasn't that she had never entered his line of vision but with the precision of a missile he had never let his eyes wander in any direction but the one that led straight to the pulsing jugular of his repulsive brother.

That day had been different however. Lost in the wandering of his disappointed thoughts he had stumbled into the training ground to find a battered thing that seemed to glitter of her own volition. There were not many beautiful things in his memories, so for a second he had paused to stare at the image, at the picture moment of finding her there, sparkling in the sun.

There was beauty in everything, he knew this, because although he didn't have many beautiful things to remember, in the traditional sense, there were other things that were also beautiful, the way that the howl of a wolf can be both damning and breath taking. The way that the weapons of his enemies had sometimes made his heart skip a beat. A katana that moved like silk in water or a jutsu that was precise and glamorous just for the sake of bringing death with artistry.

He had never thought that looking at Hinata would give him that feeling of both awe and terror, she was light. She was snow on a burn, butterflies in the heat of summer. She was cotton clouds from the tall cotton trees in the bright light of dusk drifting lazily through the air.

Not this.

This being stared at him with eyes of fire. This being was made of shadows and edges, this being was made of fangs and claws. The white of her gaze had darkened, a purple tinge had taken over it's core, and to his both terror and admiration three rotating orbs spun within her gaze.

Sakura's shriek of fear rang dully in his ears. He could not move, watching his beloved through the window. The hospital gown made her hair seem darker as it spilled over her shoulders and back. Her stance was perfect, her body though wounded seemed unimpressed with the pain. Her hands raised up as her gaze was re-enforced by her Byakugan and then darkened by the rotating pupils.

She had seen him through the double plated mirror. She had seen him and although Tsunade's soothing voice had at first kept her calm, a force like an orb of heat had snapped from her core and Tsunade had fallen back against the the wall of the examination room.

The window was cracking.

He watched as the glass splintered beneath her power. She had not done this on the battle field... no. This was special. This was just for him.

Across from him she stood, hand outstretched to the wall, her will snapping the fibers that held the mirror together, her anger destroying the atoms, unlinking the molecules.

The way she wanted to rip him apart.

It happened in a split second and yet he could see her, he could see her standing there and all he could think of was how beautiful she was.

Time finally snapped back into it's rapid movement and with a shout Naruto threw himself and Sasuke to the floor as the window and wall exploded into a million pieces.

"Holy shit!" Naruto screamed.

On the other side of the room Sakura pressed herself to the wall, feeling the heat of Hinata's chakra breathing out like a dragon's gaping mouth into the room they had been standing in to watch Tsunade's first interaction with the girl.

"Tsunade-sama!" Sakura shouted, her eyes wide.

Tsunade climbed to her feet slowly, and despite Sasuke's gasping cry of "No!" Her hands slapped onto Hinata's momentarily distracted form, her only goal to destroy the Uchiha on the other side of the mirror wall.

The Hokage's touch on the girls temple was a split second and without so much as a gasp the body of Hinata Hyuuga crumbled into her arms.

"Hurry!" Tsunade yelled. Lowering her to the ground she pressed her hands to her forehead.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke didn't realize he was yelling, panic was battering his rib cage as his heart raced.

"I don't have much time. She will wake up again- and she will do this again, and again, and again until I can get in there to work some of the Tsukuyomi from her mind-" She clenched her teeth.

"Whatever you do, if she starts to wake, hold her. Do you understand me?"

Sakura's hands were already at Hinata's feet and Naruto planted himself on Tsunade's side, gripping the pale hand of his friend gently at first and then more firmly.

"Sasuke." Sakura whispered. "Quickly."

"What... what are you doing?" He began, but Tsunade shook her head. "I can't wait for you to understand this. Hold her or get out."

Before he could reply she turned to Hinata and letting out a heavy breath whispered. "I'm sorry..." Her hands glowed with chakra and then lightly settled on Hinata's forehead.

And Hinata's spine suddenly arched, a scream ripping through her as she began to try to thrash, her eyes closed but the animal sounds coming from her mouth maddening in their emotion.

"Oh god..." Naruto whispered.

Sasuke felt himself take a stumbling step back, watching as the girl who had smiled at him so sweetly shrieked in agony, her face contorting and body struggling against the hands that held her.

She shrieked and shrieked, until the screams began to sound like words in his ears and he realized she was calling his brothers name.

Exhausted the trio stood outside of the hospital room where Tsunade was finishing arranging proper care for Hinata, expecting that she would be asleep for some time.

Sasuke felt like he had not slept in years, and slowly lowered himself down to the floor his hands digging into his hair.

Naruto looked at him sadly, shaking his head. He couldn't imagine watching what he had seen happen to Sakura, it was hard enough watching Hinata go through it.

Tsunade had worked, her brow starting to bead with sweat for nearly an hour until she had finally pulled back, stating that it was for Hinata's sake that she stopped.

The girl's body had collapsed onto the ground and seemed rag like in her movement. Not a single tendon resisted as Sasuke picked her up to place her in a different room. Plans were in place to transport her in her sleep to a more secure location away from other patients. The shaking of the building as her chakra exploded outwards in her search for Sasuke's blood had startled many of the injured on several floors of the building. She had to be kept separate-preferably far from others until they were certain she was manageable.

Sasuke gripped his hair more firmly. Hinata. Manageable.

This was insane.

The hokage stepped out of the room tiredly then, interrupting their thoughts and making Sasuke sit up, looking at her expectantly. "She's still sleeping. She will be for some time. I would be stunned if the girl woke in the next week." Tsunade muttered lifting a hand to stall their questions.

Sakura nodded, the amount of work Tsunade had done had been monumental, she had drawn not just from her own chakra but from Hinata's as well. Vast amounts of energy had been used, she was tired just thinking about it.

"There's going to be side effects." Tsunade continued, starting to walk down the hall slowly. Sasuke hesitated to follow. "I'm not leaving."

"She's not coming out of that coma any time soon, you may as well come." Tsunade shouted over her shoulder, not slowing her walk. For a moment Sasuke hesitated, glancing at Naruto who nodded at him.

Gritting his teeth he followed, feeling like a chain tugged at his chest drawing him backwards towards the thing that wanted him dead.

"I had to work fast, and I had to do a lot less gracefully than I would have preferred. There's going to be amnesia, I don't know the extent of it but to be honest if Hinata knows her name when she wakes up it'll be one of the few things she does remember."

Sasuke stopped walking then, his stomach felt like it was going to drop from his body to the floor, he held on to a door frame beside him in the hall, feeling dizzy.

"What?"

Tsunade stopped but didn't turn around to look at him, shoulders drooping slightly as she rubbed her tired face. "I'm sorry, Uchiha. I did what I had to do." she paused, glancing back to see his pale face gripping with white knuckled force the wood of the frame beside him, eyes wide and staring into the nothingness of the hospital floor.

"She fought you, when you saw her, is that not correct?"

Sasuke was trembling, Sakura's hand went to his shoulder, her bruised dirty face searching his fervently.

"Yes." He whispered, the tremble passing through his body and into Sakura's hand. Slowly the girl wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her face to his shoulder hard. He didn't move, could hardly breathe.

"Whatever your brother did... whatever she did to survive it..." Tsunade sighed, finally turning around to face him, glancing around to make sure there were no lingering listening ears. Naruto was staring at her dazedly as well, leaning against the hall wall with his hands in his hair, disbelief lighting his face.

"She's been remade. The damage I saw, it was extensive, it was calculated. Your brother-"

"Stop calling him that." Sasuke hissed, dark eyes flickering to her face with ill intent. Tsunade's brow furrowed.

"He remade her, more or less. She doesn't know you so anything I did believe me will be a severe improvement on what was happening in that room. If you and I and everyone especially Hinata are extremely lucky you will not be a trigger for her. Hopefully you will not remind her too much of...him." she conceded, avoiding the term brother for the sake of her hospital. They couldn't really afford any more damage that day and from the way that Sasuke Uchiha was panting she wondered briefly if there would be any avoiding some sort of chidori infused explosion despite her attempts to be civil.

But she was tired, and she was weeping inside for the girl she had once known and cared for. And honestly, maybe a good fight would help. Her fingers flexed for a moment, wondering if the Uchiha would indulge her desire for a tussle.

Naruto's hand on Sasuke's shoulder gripped hard, making the Uchiha's ebony gaze flicker up to the sky blue of his friend's eyes.

"She survived it. Sasuke, she fought hard to be here. To be alive." he stared at his friend. "She's in there."

Tsunade bit her tongue and refused to correct him. Maybe he was right. Stranger things had happened.

"For now, stay out of her room." She cut in decisively, turning back around to head towards her office. "The last thing I need is for you to undo work I've done to get her to forget you and anything that resembles you. I need someone safe for her, someone that if she remembers will be the furthest from you or any trauma she's ever had. "

Sakura looked at Naruto sadly, her grip on Sasuke's torso tightening slightly. "I guess... that might mean you, Naruto-kun." she whispered.

Abruptly Sasuke untangled himself from Sakura's grip, starting down the hall towards the exit, clenching and unclenching his hands at his sides.

Naruto glanced at him and then back at Sakura, shaking his head sadly. "Oh Sakura." he sighed. The girl buried her face in her hands, voice wobbly. "I don't know what to do. Naruto... I'm so lost. I only want to help." a soft tremble in her body drew him in like a magnet and in her state she allowed his arms to wrap around her protectively, burying her face into his chest.

"I'm so stupid, aren't I, Naruto-kun? I'm so stupid."

Naruto pressed her gently into himself, breathing in the perfume of her hair and her skin, eyes clenched tight against the brightness of the hospital lights.

"We're all a little stupid, Sakura-chan."

She woke to the sound of someone's breath in her ear. She listened, holding still, disoriented. Her training made the muscles freeze as though in snow, her skin prickling. Her nose sniffing. From the smell of the person she could tell they were likely female, from the breath she could tell they were relaxed, perhaps worried, from the rate of the heart beat near enough to her to hear she could tell they were not in any unnecessary stress.

Trying to think back on where she was, who she was and finding nothing but darkness she slowly came to the rational and relatively calm decision that she had been in some sort of accident.

A spike in her brain chemistry, she knew, would soon be releasing vast amounts of adrenaline into her body. She would experience tension, irrational fear at not remembering who and where she was, she would find her chest feeling heavy and oppressed, her breath coming in painful gasps, she would struggle to make rational calm decisions.

Slowly she began to take longer deeper breaths, also attempting to keep her eyes closed and unclenched for fear of alarming the person who leaned over her so closely, breathing her in.

"...she's awake." a soft voice murmured. Definitely female, and older. Perhaps even an occasional smoker. She frowned. How did she know she was awake?

"Her breathing has changed. You can open your eyes, Hinata..." the woman continued.

Hinata. Presumably that was her name.

Her eyes, pale and milky gazed up at the ceiling, staring at the rafters. The timber that held the roof up in a horizontal strife was bare, allowing her sharp vision to take in the grain of the wood, the rough edges unsanded among the stone of the supporting walls.

Hinata. That was her name. She was Hinata.

The voice was to the right of her, the woman had pulled away and was standing back a step. From the sheer feel of her chakra she could tell if only for a moment that there was tension in her body. Anticipation perhaps... fear?

The grain of the wood, and the smell of the woman and her hormones, the smell of the possible tabacco on her breath, even the feel of every fiber in the sheets was fading, the way an old dream does as you come back outside into the world beyond it.

"Hinata... can you hear me?"

Turning her face the girl gazed at the blonde standing before her, arms crossed in front of her with a loose fitting robe and obi, an overcoat in a soft green wrapped around her shoulders falling softly around her large bust and slim waist.

Tired dark circles lined her otherwise pretty blue eyes, her lips looked chapped but her mouth was still small and pleasant. Hinata blinked at her, long slow thoughtful blinks, her eyes flickering to the corner of the room where movement caught her eye.

Another blonde stood in the corner, his eyes searching HInata's face with fervor. The blue of his gaze was like the sky had fallen and dropped two tears into his features, gracing the world around him with little bits of heaven.

There was more than just the beauty of his eyes, however. Her eyes studied with care the sharpness of his chin and jaw, the strength of his cheek bones and smoothness of his nose. There was an earnestness in his face that made heat rise slow and steady to her face as she began to push herself up to her elbows and with a bit of a struggle to a sitting position in the bed.

"Hinata..." The young man began, and his voice made goosebumps rise on her skin, her eyes feasted on the expression on his face. The woman beside him however raised a hand, making him pause.

"Do you know where you are, Hinata-chan?"

Tearing her pale eyes from the blue gaze of the young man Hinata turned back to the woman, studying first her face, and then slowly the room in which she found herself.

There were clean fresh tatami mats on the ground, there were beautifully painted sliding doors, a stone wall with a single round window looking out into the heavens beyond where she could see it was either sunrise or sunset, the sky a brilliant pink and orange spill across the either darkening or growing light.

"...I..." her voice was soft and delicate, like the underside of an owl's wing mid flight. The sound made her eyes flicker to the young man watching with what appeared to be hungry desperate eyes.

"I...gomen... I... I do not...know..."

The blonde seemed to start, and seemed to appear as though he were a bottle of pop shaken and ready to explode but the woman gave him a sharp look that made him pause, biting his lip.

Hinata's eyes lingered briefly on his mouth, on the pinkness of his lips and the way he bit down to keep words from spilling forth as he searched her face.

"You are Hinata Hyuuga, eldest daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga, and you have been in an...accident..."

Hinata's eyes flickered back to the woman at her words, surprised. "An accident?"

"Yes... I am Tsunade. You were my apprentice for a time. I have been working hard to heal you for the last month."

Hinata's eyes widened slightly with fright and she felt for a moment that her heart was going to start galloping in her chest with the terror, but to her surprise a slow deep breath entered her lungs and her heart slowed and steadied.

"Tsunade...sama." she whispered, testing the name out.

"Do you remember me at all?" Tsunade continued, watching her closely. Hinata's eyes flickered over her face, studying every feature with an indescribable distance.

"...no..."

To her right the blonde seemed to recoil as though struck. "No..." his gasp, his voice made her skin break out again in goosebumps, her limbs seemed to move of their own volition as though to get up to go to him and she froze, staring at him, a deer in the headlights.

"Naruto- quiet!" Tsunade hissed.

"N...Naruto..." Hinata whispered softly, her lips pink and smooth formed the word and released it into the air with a kiss.

He stared back at her, blinking rapidly before walking past Tsunade's arms to lean into Hinata's face, searching her pale gaze.

"You know me, Hinata... You know me, I'm Naruto." His face inches from her own, piercing into her he let out a breath, and the feel of it on her lips made her shiver.

"Stop!" Tsunade gasped, pulling on his shoulder hard. "Naruto!"

"I remember you."

Tsunade froze, eyes wide as she stared at the Hyuuga who's face was a blazing red, her gaze penetrating in a way she had never seen before as she stared into Naruto's eyes.

"... I remember... you..." Hinata stopped, hand reaching up to touch her face, burying herself into her palms. "Oh..." she whispered.

Naruto's hand on her bare shoulder made her jump, looking at his worried expression. His hand was warm, dry and rough, calloused from hard work, it smoothed over her shoulder delicately and made something deep inside of her hurt.

"It's okay... don't work so hard, just breathe."

Without her realizing it, her fingers had tangled around the front of his shirt, gripping like a lifeline the fabric against his chest.

"I'm here."

Something seemed to relax, deep inside of her body loosening like a clenched fist in sleep.

"I'm here."

Slowly she felt herself pressing her forehead to his shoulder, her own stiff arms seeming to settle against his chest, a shiver traipsing down the legnth of her spine as she softened into his frame, feeling as his hands hesitated for a second before rubbing her back in smooth slow circles, wincing at the feel of the scars along her skin.

Tsunade frowned at him over Hinata's dark head, Naruto's eyes fixed on the blonde determinedly, jaw set, ignoring as she gave one slow firm fortune telling shake of her head.

This was no good. This was no good at all.

The blonde kunoichi glanced at the mirror that hung by the sliding door of the room, her eyes worried. On the other side Sakura's hand gripped Sasuke's arm, watching as his breathing sped up as Hinata's pale eyes looked up into Naruto's face, her cheeks bright with pink.

"Sasuke." Sakura whispered, sliding her own grip down into his hand and squeezing hard. "She doesn't... she doesn't know who she is..."

Gently he pulled away, turning around to face the flat gray wall at the back of the room, searching it for answers to questions he couldn't even properly formulate.

"I can't be here." He realized out loud, moving towards the door. "Sasuke!" Sakura whispered again, moving towards him only to have him raise a hand. "Stop it, stay here." he snapped, stepping out and closing the door quietly behind himself.

Sakura stayed put, gazing out past her bangs at the shut door, hands clenched tight in front of her.

Behind her in Hinata's room Naruto felt her relax into his embrace, her fingers tightening until the knuckles turned white around his shirt.

He had expected them earlier but it appeared that Tsunade had not bothered to inform them of their finding right away. Keeping Haruno, Uzumaki and now himself hidden wasn't easy in a village made up entirely of shinobi but Tsunade wasn't hokage for nothing.

But the cat had been let out of the bag, and as expected he heard the knock on the door of the home he had decided to occupy that particular day. One of many run down dilapidated things that were left over from his Clan days. It was dusty and gloomy and empty.

So, it suited him just fine.

Jaw clenching at the feel of chakra on the other side of the door Sasuke stared, wondering i fhe would bother to open it or not. He had a fairly good idea of who stood on the other side but wasn't sure he was in the mood to engage in conversation with them.

However, he also knew they were unlikely to leave.

Brusquely and before he could change his mind he took the quick five steps to the door and opened it, finding as he had anticipated a half dozen pale Hyuga eyes staring back at him calmly.

"Uchiha." Neji murmured at the forefront. The years had been kind to Neji, though not at first. There were lines on his face were there had not been any before. They had begun to form in the years after Hinata's disappearance and now as he stood there they were also part of his joy. Sasuke knew that. From what Naruto had said Neji had been one of the few in the Hyuuga Compound to take the disappearance of his cousin the worst. He had been out there on missions every time he could, sometimes joining Sasuke, other times doing his own recon work and several times he had saved his life in battle.

But the years of searching had ripped him apart and had it not been for Tenten and then their unplanned pregnancy he probably would have succumbed to the darkness that was brewing beneath his pale eyes.

Now they were searching Sasuke's face, clearly unsure of what had transpired to bring him back. The fear was just below the surface, peeking at him through the windows of his gaze.

Where was her body?

Was she still there?

"Come in then." Sasuke muttered darkly, glancing at the tall woman that accompanied Neji, wincing at just how much like her sister she appeared to have grown.

"The Hokage appears to have wanted us to stay out of the way of something." Hanabi began, ever the more talkative of the Hyuuga's.

Sasuke walked partway into his living room and then stopped, arms crossed. "She's here."

Neji took a step forward, looking behind him at the house. "Here? You found her?" The disbelief was palatable and Sasuke didn't blame him. Half a decade of searching did not help one's faith in hope.

"Not here, Tsunade has her...in a facility..." he continued with difficulty.

"Facility?" Hanabi frowned. "She's under arrest?"

"No." Sasuke began and then reconsidered. Was she? Is that what was happening right now? He had purposefully kept the akatsuki cloak from his report but Sakura and Naruto had been there, they had seen the rags wrapped around her body, had picked the kabuki mask shards from her hair.

"She's wounded." Neji whispered, reading the pain on his face like it was his own. "How badly?"

"I don't know." Sasuke admitted, watching his fists clench in response to his answer. It was unsatisfactory, for both of them.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Hanabi snapped, taking a step forward angrily.

"Itachi has had her for five years." Sasuke snapped back, eyes flickering to her face and away, unable to look at one that seemed so familiar. "If Tsunade isn't even sure how should I-?"

"Tsunade-sama is unsure?" Neji whispered, half asking half in surprise and fear. His cousin, pure and smiling in his mind was growing more and more vague with each year. Now he could hardly recognize her in his memory. Would he be able to recognize her now?

"When can we see her?"

"You can't." Sasuke muttered, finally turning around and dropping onto the couch behind him, burying his hands in his hair. "She's under lock down. I'm not allowed in either."

Hanabi's frown had yet to leave her face.

"We have been sent because the rumors were hard to believe, that she had been returned has not been circulating through the village, but that you had struck our interest. Hearing she is back...we have business to attend to."

Sasuke didn't move, giving no indication that he was listening.

"The engagement." Neji began slowly, trying to soften his younger cousins tactless tone. "The Clan wants to know...about the engagement."

The Uchiha turned his head slightly to look at him, and without having to move a muscle incredulity rolled off of him in menacing waves.

"She just got back."

"She is still Hyuuga." Hanabi began, and froze when the Uchiha stood, eyes blinking obsidian and then crimson in the half light of his dimly lit home.

Hanabi growled deep in her throat, hand flickering to a kunai at her thigh, her eyes hardening into Byakugan in time with her distaste.

"No." Neji began, moving to step between them.

"She's not going to take your place, if that's what you're so concerned about." Sasuke murmured darkly, refusing to move his gaze from the Hyuga heir despite Neji's hand on his shoulder lightly. "Take your disgusting pride and go."

"This is hardly the worry on my mind." Hanabi hissed. "Your marriage affects more than just you two, her disappearance has wrecked havoc-"

"She doesn't know who she is." Sasuke snapped finally, making Hanabi stop, shock registering for the first time on her face since entering into his home.

"Nani?"

"She doesn't know who she is or who I am. She isn't going to leading anyone let alone your Clan. As for our engagement..."

"She doesn't know who you are." suddenly noticing the bandages peeking out from beneath his clothing Neji's eyes softened on Sasuke's face, a fist tightening in his gut.

"No." Hanabi whispered, her eyes filling with tears for a moment. "She wouldn't have."

"Get out." Sasuke sighed, unable to look at her face any longer, filled with tears and sparkling her eyes were both familiar and strange, making his stomach lurch inside himself. "Just get out."

"Demo..." Hanabi tried to speak as Neji pulled her towards the door, herding the others with their shocked faces back out into the coolness of the evening air.

He knew Sasuke, he knew himself. He knew what would be happening inside him if Tenten had...

He knew now, looking at the glowing Sharingan glare that Sasuke left him with as he closed the door that the Uchiha was facing something he hoped never to encounter. He was staring terrified and unable to stop into the black of an approaching nightmare.

leave me some love, ne?

inky