Chapter 4: The unexpected Invitation
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Silky dark locks of hair laid sprawl all over the bed. After Hanabi's hair was exposed to sunlight, it that was when it's true brow color would show. But the sunlight has been unable to reach inside her room ever since four days ago, when she saw her sister taken hostage by the S-missing nins.
No one would believe her, she knows it. She's not even entirely sure herself, of what she saw. It's even harder for her to accept that reality since Uchiha Itachi was there. Perhaps Itachi really had caught Hanabi in Genjutsu.
"That's what the elders would say…That's what anyone would say!" Hanabi's anger and confusion grew with every time she felt useless. They compared her to Neji and expected her to follow in on his footsteps, yet here she was in a situation where she can not even decide what to do.
"I'm used to following order…I'm so lame that I can't even think on my own!" Hanabi glanced outside her window and looked at the morning light. She arrived to the idea that the best thing to have done back then was to talk to the Lady Hokage. However, this is the fourth day since she has kept quiet.
A light knock on the door was heard and ignored by the new heiress. Despite her wish to keep everyone away, she wasn't allowed to lock her bedroom's door.
"Hanabi-sama, Lord Hiashi departed on a mission about an hour ago, he won't be training you today" Hanabi got up from her bed after hearing that it was only Neji that was there, and so she opened the door to face her cousin Neji. Her impassive façade was put back on, masking her bitter feelings.
"I understand Neji-san…" Neji nodded and without another word said, he walked away and left Hanabi alone.
"Maybe it isn't too late to speak up…" Hanabi whispered to herself. She has the tendency of voicing her opinion mainly when she's alone in her own room by herself. Hanabi exited her room without bothering to change clothes. She was still wearing her black training pants and shirt.
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Naruto, Sai and Sakura returned from a mission. The two dragged Naruto to the Hokage tower in hopes of keeping him from running away just to eat Ramen.
"Sakura-channnn come on I wanna eat Ramennn!" Naruto whined as he was being dragged by Sakura.
"Promise not to run off again! Really Naruto you're so immature…Can't you wait until AFTER we hand our reports!?" Sakura stopped finally letting go of Naruto's orange collar. Sai and Sakura turned to Naruto and waited for his defeated reply.
"Hey I'm not immature! And yea I guess I can keep a promise that easy…" His voice trailed off. In a flash, Sakura remembered when Naruto promised her to bring Sasuke back. He had called it "the promise of a lifetime." But with the events that took place weeks ago, she's not sure of herself if she wants Sasuke back anymore.
"It's settled then, Naruto. I'm counting on you!" Sakura tried to sound cheerful. I guess she managed to pull it off since Naruto gave her one of his brightest smile.
"Can we keep walking now?" Sai finally spoke, reminding the two that he was still there waiting.
"Yup!" Sakura replied and the three continue to walk towards the Hokage tower.
The three continued to walk, but as they headed deeper into Konoha village, their steps were slowing down by the second.
"Oh my god…what in the world happened here?" Sakura asked in awe. She heard Naruto gasp on her side. The three witnessed several construction workers; lifting and moving around boulders of rocks and working on rebuilding a few houses and stores that were heavily damaged.
Sai ran up to one of the construction workers and asked them what happened to Konoha while they were gone. Naruto and Sakura ran up and stood behind Sai.
"The village was under attack four days ago. Three members of the Akatsuki broke through the defenses. Few people were injured, luckily there was no death involve. I'm not entirely sure of the details, but I was hearing rumors of the Akatsuki stealing something and running away." The construction worker explained.
"Who was it that attacked!? Was it Sasuke!?" Naruto has never been good in hiding the anger he felt. His question was asked in a demanding voice.
"L-Listen kid, I don't know much okay?" The man got a bit surprised by Naruto's outburst.
"Naruto calm down! We were just on our way towards the Hokage tower. Let's go there and find out from Tsunade-sama ourselves…" Sakura placed a hand Naruto's shoulder; pulling him away from the construction worker. The three, instead of walking, ran very fast towards the direction of the Konoha Tower.
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"Who are you girl?" Sasuke asked, for a moment he had a feeling of Déjà vu. Where have he asked this question before?
Hinata took several steps away from Sasuke's Katana and then turned around to face him. She thought about revealing her true identity to Sasuke, but her heart was beating quite fast. She felt very uncertain.
"I'm…" Hinata was unable to finish off her sentence because a very violent wind started to blow in the air. She placed her hands on top of her head, so hood so it won't fall off. Seconds later after blinking, she found that Itachi, Sasori and Deidara were standing there, surrounding her.
Itachi stood in front of her; he was wearing some black ninja pants, black shoes and a black net shirt. Deidara stood on Itachi's left and directed a cold stare aimed at Sasuke. Sasori stood on Itachi's right, his stare only reflected boredom and the lack of enthusiasm he held for being alive again. The two were wearing outfits similar to Itachi's.
"She's my fiancé, little brother." Itachi spoke calmly. Initially, it had not being part of Itachi's plan to say something so random; to cover up Hinata's existence. Itachi also hadn't taking into consideration that he left Hinata astonished enough to allow the wind to knock off her hood her head.
Since things didn't turn out the way Itachi envisioned it, he only continued to stare Sasuke's pale expression. Deidara and Sasori turned their attention to Itachi. Deidara raised an eyebrow, his anger turned into amusement. On the other hand, Sasori directed his angry stare at Itachi.
"Hinata!?" Sasuke's skin tone turned pale for a moment and didn't pay much mind to Itachi's words. He mentally shook his head in disbelief while having a brief flashback.
Flashback:
It was part of Sasuke's job to question the prisoner held in the dungeon; mainly captured or adducted from Madara's order. Most of the prisoners broke down, under the stare of his Sharingan eyes, and spilled the information Sasuke was asked to find. Then days later, Sasuke would take a stroll around the dungeon again, only to find the prisoners he questioned, gone.
There was this one time where he witnessed Zetsu dragging a dead body away. Moments later, he had heard the sound of human flesh being ripped apart and then eaten. The scent of blood would linger all over these dungeons's wall.
One day, when it was time for him to fulfill his job, he was surprise to find that the new prisoner he was ordered to question, was a female. He took out the keys and opened the cell. He stepped inside and stared at young woman who sat against the wall while hugging her knees. She was shaking with uncontrolled fear. She jerked with each step he took closer to her. The young woman's hair was long, and in the dark, he couldn't make out its true color. She had on an expensive white kimono, made out of pure silk. She whimpered as Sasuke kept stepping closer. The she turned her away, so only her back was facing him.
"Who are you girl?" He asked. His feelings was swelling up with pity for her. He stayed there in that room for a few hours asking her questions but never got much of a reply. He got impatience and nearly Sharingan to torture her, a punishment for remaining quiet. Sasuke finally gave up on his useless tries and walked outside the cell to leave her alone. He was going to find Madara and tell him that the girl won't speak a word, no matter how much he had tortured her. Of course this was a lie; Sasuke hadn't torture the girl in any kind of way.
"You're still too soft Sasuke. Your soft side will be the death of you one day." Madara told him. Sasuke took this reply to make the assumption that Madara didn't believe his lie. Not that Sasuke cared anyways…
"Hnn." Sasuke walked outside Madara's hideout for some fresh air.
The next day, Sasuke, Suigetsu, Karin and Juugo were summoned by Madara and given a simple mission to complete. Their mission was to dispose of a young woman's body, and dump it near the outskirts of Konoha forest. Sasuke thought of it very strange and he began to suspect that the woman he refused to torture yesterday was probably adducted from the village of Konoha…
Sasuke's group walked down the stairs, in silence, to reach the immense underground dungeon. You would think that silence is impossible to achieve, while having Karin and Suigetsu around. But actually when it came to business, Suigetsu and Karin kept quiet and observed.
The group arrived towards the last dungeon cell just in time to see Madara leave the inner cell.
When Madara walked past Sasuke, he paused and whispered:
"If you had dealt with this girl, she wouldn't have suffered as much as she did. You thought you did her a favor by leaving her alone unharmed. You could have saved her from the pain." Madara chuckled darkly, and kept walking, leaving a Sasuke gasping in disbelief.
Juugo stepped into the cell and dragged the dead body out of it. He stopped dragging her once she had been exposed under the dim light of the dungeon. Suigetsu stood over the young woman's body, and eyed her body.
"Isn't it a pity he killed such a cute bitch? Now all her beauty will go to waste…" Suigetsu commented. He pulled his katana into view, and used it to trace his blade to cut through the chest area of the silky Kimono that was now tainted with blood. He cut enough to reveal part of her chest.
"Who knew Suigetsu was such a pervert." Karin commented with a short laugh.
Meanwhile, Juugo was trying to suppress the sudden urge he had to kill. The three didn't notice that behind them stood Sasuke, with his eyes widen.
Hinata Hyuuga…there's no doubt about it, that really is her…
Sasuke hadn't recognized her yesterday, until now. Sasuke regained his composure. He hid his feelings of distress and sympathy.
"Suigetsu." Sasuke spoke. His voice sent chills down everyone's spine. Suigetsu took the hint and withdrew his large katana away from the girl. Sasuke approached the body slowly, and kneeled down next to it. She had died with her eyes opened. Her once lovely lavender eyes had turned pale rosy. He placed his hand over her eyes to close them for her.
Sasuke's suspicion was finally confirmed after he noticed that the woman was wearing a ninja headband with the Konoha leaf symbol on it. He untied and pulled off the headband off her neck and slipped it inside his pocket.
"Can I carry her? I wanna carry her!" Suigetsu broke the silence and his hyper tone caused Sasuke's mood to darken. Sasuke stood back up and turned to face his teammates.
"Juugo, you wait outside." Sasuke ordered after he noticed that Juugo was struggling to keep himself in control. Juugo was grateful that he was ordered to go outside. He nodded and left the dungeon.
"Karin, go find a blanket, or any cloth to wrap the body in." Karin left and followed Sasuke's order.
"Suigetsu." The raven-hair male couldn't stand the smile that was plastered on his teammate's face.
"Get that stupid grin off your face." Suigetsu blinked but then he angrily hissed at Sasuke. The young man with silver-blue hair turned away and left Sasuke.
Sasuke turned his attention again towards the dead body. He bended and extended his hand to caress her pale face that was losing its natural warm color. Just when he was about to touch her, he heard Karin's footsteps approaching. He quickly stood up and turned towards the direction Karin was coming from.
"Here Sasuke-kun" Karin handed a white sheet of blanket to Sasuke and watched as he carefully wrapped her body in it.
"Call Suigetsu" Karin nodded and left. He was developing a weird feeling of foreboding, everything about Hinata's dead body yelled "bad omen!" Sasuke decided that maybe it'll be best if he doesn't carry her; he might have nightmares about a shy young Hyuuga girl, yelling and asking why he didn't save her.
End of flashback
"What's wrong little brother, you look like you seen a ghost…" Itachi's mocking tone brought Sasuke back from his short flashback. The younger Uchiha had trouble wording the question that was now plaguing his mind.
"How can you still be alive?" Sasuke's voice portrayed the feelings of uncertainties and disbelief he felt at the moment. No one answered Sasuke's question. The setting didn't seem appropriate enough to discuss the matter.
Sasuke watched as Hinata pushed past Itachi and Sasori and walked up to him. She deactivated the Byakugan before staring into his eyes again. Once his eyes met with hers, he felt the tip of his ears turn red. Good thing that his dark hair was covering it.
"You have something that belongs to me, Sasuke-san" Hinata extended her hand and motioned Sasuke to return her belonging. She watched Sasuke reach inside his pocket and pull something out if it. It was her ninja headband. He wondered for a moment how it was possible for her to know, but then remember she probably saw it in his pocket while using her Byakugan.
"This time when you give me some answers, I'll give it ba-"Sasuke was stopped in midsentence. She had wish for him to stop moving, then suddenly she found herself with a strange power allowing her to manipulate her own spiritual aura to stop him from moving. Sasuke's whole body was covered by a dark red aura causing him to be unable to move any of his muscles.
"Sasuke-san…" She pronounced his name with hidden hatred in her voice. Her pale lavender eyes turned pink, and then her color shifted to a dark red.
"…I'll be taking this from you." Hinata stepped even closer and grabbed her headband from Sasuke's grip. Sasori and Itachi watched the scene while showing their indifference expression. Deidara had a satisfied look in his face.
Hinata stepped away from Sasuke to tie her Konoha headband around her neck. She released him from her demonic grip moments later.
Sasuke fell on his knees gasping for air. Whatever Hinata had done to him also had caused his lungs to stop giving him oxygen.
"What are you?" Sasuke asked. He glanced up and stared at Hinata and the rest, it was evident that he was angry.
"I've been meaning to ask Itachi-san the same thing. Last night I spent most of my time feeling bewildered and lost. No matter how many times I cut myself, my wounds would completely heal leaving no trace behind or any marks." Hinata confessed. Sasori wasn't surprise that Hinata finally found out that there was something quite different about her body. The five were interrupted by a female voicing coming from behind Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun!!!!" Karin yelled, making her presence known. Juugo and Suigetsu were running with high speed after her. Itachi moved from his place with unnatural speed and stood in front of Sasuke shielding him from Karin who was about to run up to Sasuke and hug him. Karin ended up bumping into Itachi's hard muscular chest.
"Little brother, is this your team?" Itachi observed each of them and noticed he has seen them before, working for Orochimaru.
"Yes." Sasuke replied.
"N-No way! It's impossible!" Karin stumbled back after noticing Hinata standing behind Sasuke and Itachi. Suigetsu and Juugo noticed what caused such reaction and were also shocked as well. Things were getting troublesome for Itachi, more and more people were finding out about Hinata.
Deidara laughed at their expressions.
"In each village, there's always a circle of gossiper. Itachi can you invite them inside so all of us could talk about the situation?" Hinata's calm voice was heard from behind. She pulled her hood over her head to cover herself once again. Itachi nodded and started to walk towards the gates. He opened the gates and motioned them to come.
"Hinata-chan looks like she's part of an occult organization, un?" Deidara's joke was ignored by almost everyone. Deidara walked inside the gates of the mansion, following Sasori and Hinata. Juugo, Suigetsu and Karin exchanged wary looks before they, too, began to follow them.
"She could have fooled me." Sasuke murmured while following Deidara. Deidara began to laugh at Sasuke's comment, and for an instant he had forgotten that this young man defeated him before and caused him his life. At least someone went along with his joke.
Itachi had been the one holding the gates open for everyone. Sasuke was the last one to walk inside the gates. Itachi closed the gates and walked behind Sasuke.
"Little brother you have a lot of explaining to do" Itachi whispered to Sasuke so only Sasuke would hear. Ever since he saw Sasuke wearing the Akatsuki cloak, he's been glaring at him.
"I wasn't the one who came back from hell, Itachi" Sasuke didn't address him as his brother because he still had his doubt.
However he didn't realize his comment was actually quite relevant.
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:::Replies for chapter three reviews:::
Gaara's Hug Buddy: I was going to actually write "That's none of your business, little brother" but somehow I ended typing the "Fiancé" thing instead. Since I'm the author, I didn't find it as random or surprising…hehehe.
KC Austen: When I was reading your review, sentence by sentence I kept nodding to myself.
Me: *reads* *nods nods* un un! Agree!
One, yes I prefer the same thing. (What does the term Mary Sue means?)
Two, I tried to watch out for typos on this chapter . I hope I didn't make any and if I did, I hope you didn't notice kukukuku.
Three, yes I'll try to work on that thank you for pointing it out Austen. I just thought someone would let me get away with my grammars and mistakes _
And, sometimes I have problems portraying certain feelings through a character's actions, so I end up just typing it. I'll try harder! Dx
Plus, don't be sorry _ everyone is picky about something which I find that to be a good thing. Each time I make a chapter I'll have these suggestions in mind. I don't want to look for a BETA person, so I guess I'll put a little more effort and time to go over my typos and punctuation.
"So, don't take all of these criticisms/critiques too personal. To me, a horrible fan is someone who doesn't help the author become a better writer."
Sob you're correct T_T thank you for the time you took to write this review (Again, what is Mary Sue?).
SinShu: SinShu don't worry, you and I are going to be there at the wedding! xD I also love wedding as well, they're so beautiful and make me teary. Hinata and Sasuke aren't passionately romantic about one another at this time, so…I wonder how long we'll have to wait.
Rosa1817: *As I typed your name, Microsoft word capitalized the "s" and I left it that way* Rosa I was kidding when I talked about you pressuring me x3 It was really my way of saying that I'll take into consideration your opinion.
White Rose Of Oddity: What evil laugh? Hehehhuhehekukuku… I'm not sure if chapter 4 turned out to be okay though T_T
Rimas: When I get reviews like those, I get hyped about wanting to start working on the next chapter X3
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Please be part of Criie's inspiration by leaving a review X3