Tsumi
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter 3: Red
He was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.
While looking at Hinata's star struck face, Mikoto giggled, "I think you've got another admirer, Itachi."
I was too young to know what that meant. But right now… Well, you already know.
Itachi smirked, "You know, I don't think I'd mind having Hinata like me." He patted Hinata gently on her head and smirked even wider at her sudden blush.
I never could figure out how he made me feel that way.
Hinata looked away, embarrassed, her face slightly redder than before. Everyone laughed at this.
But it didn't matter… As long as it was him that made me feel that way.
After a few minutes, Hikari spoke, "The grown-ups are talking now, so why don't you kids go and play?" "Okay…" Hinata said. "Kay." Sasuke said. Itachi nodded politely. As soon as Sasuke and Hinata walked away, Hikari gently grabbed Itachi by the shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Itachi… Can you talk to Hinata? There's something different about her…" Itachi looked back at her and said, "I'll look into it…" And with that, he walked away.
I suppose another thing I was guilty of-and still am-as a child was that I was easily bored. Anything and everything that looked interesting, I messed with, curious of the results. And my meeting with Itachi was one of those moments.
"Jan-Ken-Pon!" "Looks like I win again." "Man, this game bites." Sasuke said, disappointed that Neji once again beat him at rock-paper-scissors. "Best two outta three." He exclaimed. "You're on." Neji replied. Hinata blinked slowly, the game between the two boys was starting to bore her.
If only real scissors, paper , and rocks were involved, then I might actually be interested in playing, if only to see my opponents' reactions when I used a rock to smash the bones in their fingers to dust.
She slowly stood up and walked out of the room to the gardens.
As she opened a door, she saw him.
Apparently, I wasn't the only one who had an appreciation of shrubbery…
Itachi sat silently underneath the giant cherry blossom tree. His eyes were closed as if he was meditating, maybe even sleeping.
But I knew better than that. A good shinobi never lets his guard down, even in familiar territory… You'd have to be one paranoid shinobi…
Before Hinata could even blink, a kunai embedded itself in the wooden frame surrounding the rice paper door.
And, ironically, he was…
The blade cut a few strands of hair off the side of her head, but she didn't even flinch.
"It's not wise to sneak up on a shinobi like that." Itachi opened his eyes, and stared at her, taking in her appearance. Hinata blinked in response. He stood up and strode towards her.
I think that is the only time I remember my heart racing as a child… Well, unless I was killing something…
Itachi now stood in front of her. Hinata never moved from her spot. The two had seemed to have an entire conversation through their eyes. Itachi's lips moved the smallest bit, forming a slight smile. "Funny…" He spoke, breaking the silence between the two. "Huh?" Hinata said, confused.
Itachi turned to walk back to the tree and signaled Hinata to walk with him and she hurried to his side. As the two were walking-well Hinata was almost running, her small strides trying to keep up with his longs ones-Itachi spoke again, "Just too funny…" Hinata breathed, "What's funny?" "You."
The two were now at the base of the tree, "Why?" Hinata asked. Itachi knelt down and placed a hand on her head again. "You are literally… a wolf in sheep's clothing." Her eyes widened at his statement, he actually knew what she was, and he hadn't even been with her for more than five minutes. Most who spent time around Hinata just thought she was naturally aloof and more interested in the things around her.
Now that I think about it, I don't know why I was surprised. I should've known that he would figure it out. He had more insight than those two, three times his age.
"Really?" Hinata replied. "Really." Itachi said. He took his hand off her head and sat down, Hinata sat down next to him. "How long?" He asked. She shrugged, "Not too long. It started a little after I turned five." 'Not even three months…' Itachi thought. Hinata turned five in December and her other sibling was predicted to be birthed in the current month of March.
"What's the biggest thing you've killed?" He asked her. "It would have been a blue bird this morning but my mother found me before I could do it." "Ah."
There was silence between the two again. "How do you do it?" "With my hands." Itachi turned to her, "Have you ever used a weapon, or wanted to use one?" Hinata tilted her head, "I remember when I was younger and I found one of my father's kunai…"
A five year-old Hinata was walking around the Hyuuga complex, alone. As she walked into another room she saw a sharpened, black metal kunai lying on the floor.
She stood over the object, stared at it for a few seconds and picked it up in her right hand. She traced the sides of the metal slowly with her left index finger. Once she reached the point, she tested the jagged edge by tapping it with her finger.
"Hss…" Hinata hissed softly as she felt the weapon pierce her skin. In surprise, she dropped the object and it clattered loudly to the ground. Hinata stared at her left finger, curious at the bright liquid that was slowly seeping out of the small cut. She squeezed it between her thumb and index finger, smearing it on the once clean digits. Hinata smelled it and didn't smell anything coming from it.
What did it taste like? Was it safe to eat? Hinata threw all caution out of the window and placed her index finger in her mouth. "Hm." It tasted like copper and salt. She pulled her finger out of her mouth and stared at the spit-covered digit. She wanted to see and taste more of the bright liquid. Hinata reached down and picked up the kunai again.
As she was about the make the incision on her finger larger, Hikari walked in and screamed when she saw Hinata. "Oh, Kami!" She ran up to Hinata and grabbed the weapon from her; she would reprimand Hiashi for this later. "Hinata are you okay, darling?" Hikari asked. Hinata nodded slowly. "Mommy…" "Yes, Hinata?" Hikari wiped Hinata's fingers clean and placed a band-aid on the one that was cut. "What is that stuff?" Hinata asked as she pointed the bright color on the now dirty tissue.
"That's blood, sweetie." Hikari responded as she stood up. Before Hikari could walk back to her bedroom to talk to Hiashi, Hinata asked her another question, "What color is that?" Hikari stopped and looked at Hinata, "It's red, sweetie." "Okay…" And with that Hinata skipped away to the gardens.
As Hinata sat in the gardens, she couldn't stop staring at the Anemone flowers. They reminded her of the blood. They reminded her of the color red.
They were so red.
So red.
"Ah." Itachi said, and once again there was a calming silence between the two. "You know you can't just go around killing things whenever you want." He said, "I know." Hinata replied, "But I can't help it."
Itachi then stood up, "Then we'll just have to do something about that, won't we?" "Huh?"
He turned to look at her, "You want to be able to kill freely, right?" Hinata nodded. Itachi started to circle around her.
"You want to kill a lot of things, right?" She nodded again.
"You want to kill people, right?" She hesitated before nodding, he noticed this. "No? Who is it that you won't kill?" Hinata pursed her lips in thought, "I guess… I guess… I guess I wouldn't kill anyone who doesn't deserve to be killed." Itachi stopped circling her and stood behind her.
"Funny." He whispered to her. "What's funny this time?" she asked. "A vigilante wolf-in-sheep's clothing." Itachi said. "What's a vigilante?" Hinata asked. Itachi replied, "It's an anti-hero, if you will." "Oh."
After a few more minutes of silence Itachi spoke, "So that's it." "Huh?" Hinata asked. "Now that we know what your monster is, we just need to train it." Hinata's eyebrows raised up, "Train it?" Itachi started to walk to her house, "Yes, train it." Hinata quickly got up and followed him, "How?"
"I'll teach you." "Teach me what?" "In due time, Hinata, in due time." Once he reached the sliding door, he turned to her, "Oh, and I'll be back tomorrow at five." "In the afternoon?" Hinata asked, "No, in the morning." "Why?"
"For your training." He took a step inside, "Oh, and from now on, I'm your sensei."
In those ten minutes that we spent together, my life changed from the blank color of white, to the bright color of red.
And how red my life was.
It was so red.
So red.
END
Stephano Hungary: Here ends chapter 3, hope you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for chapter 4. I'm going to jump skip the training sequence, and go straight for the jugular, the next chapter will be my first attempt at a death scene and I hope you guys enjoy it.
Preview of Chapter 4:
"Don't worry; you won't feel a thing," Hinata said as she stuck the needle in Zuta's arm and inserted a small dose of morphine into her vein, "Yet."
They say the first kill is… rather difficult.
Hinata looked down at Zuta with a sadistic smile and the match between her thumb and index finger seemed to flicker expectantly, "So, Zuta, any last words?" "Mrm, MRM, MMPH!!" Zuta tried to scream but the cotton balls in her mouth muffled her cries for help.
For a minute, Zuta thought she saw Hinata's usually white and lavender tinted eyes turned a scarlet red.
But I found it easy.
Hinata smiled even wider, showing perfectly white teeth, which made her look more manic than before. "That's what I thought…" She dropped the match into the box and watched the flames immediately begin to engulf the gasoline covered ropes. "MRM!! MRMH!" Zuta wailed wildly as she watched the flames lick at her skin.
In fact, rather fun.
Hinata watched the flame lap at Zuta's skin, peeling and blistering it. The scent of burned flesh quickly filled her nostrils and she slowly inhaled it, savoring its unique smell. Soon, she began to chuckle before breaking out into a low laugh. "Hahahaha…"
Yes… Fun, indeed. Wouldn't you agree?