Title; Seraphim
Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.
Chapter Four;
"So where are we going?" I asked hesitantly as I followed the dark man, I had found some clothes that actually suited my tastes among the pile Sasuke that had grabbed from my apartment. Comfortable blue jeans topped with one of Tenten's leather jackets and Ino's flowery scarves, the attire did make me feel at least a little more comfortable.
"I can't show you the full extent of your power here without calling some...unwanted attention to ourselves, I've got a small cabin to the north that should give us the privacy we need." Explained Sasuke in his usual gruff tone without so much as a glance in my direction, as if this were the most regular and obvious situation in the world, he opened the black umbrella he carried as he stepped out into the light rain outside; I was forced to stay a little closer than seemed appropriate to him to avoid the icy rain.
"You've told me what I can do...but how about your abilities. What can you do Sasuke?" I asked more out of curiosity than anything else to pass the time. I had already guessed he was stronger, though from what I'd read in Takeda's diary I knew I roughly measured up equally with him and he was considered quite powerful.
But perhaps that was only considered powerful back then, he only had half as many seals his descendant did.
Despite Sasuke only mentioning them to me once I seemed to have memorised the figures he'd told me perfectly, as if he hadn't actually told me them at all, only reminded me.
I was kinda creepy.
"That's not important right now." He answered curtly, looks like I hit a nerve, I wonder why, he doesn't seem the particularly modest type.
"And when will it be important?" I asked shivering for a second and unconsciously stepping closer to Sasuke for warmth, a shiver had just run down my spine.
"In about thirty minutes when the two guys who guard the northern exit from town try to intercept us." He answered coldly and I suddenly felt glad I wasn't the one he was speaking about.
I glanced about quickly, despite the rain there was quite a few people on the street around us, would Sasuke be able to handle them without drawing that unwanted attention he had spoken about, and more importantly if he had the same type of abilities as Takeda then how many people would die in the cross fire.
"Before we go, can I say goodbye to my friends, before we leave Sasuke?" I asked, a voice in my head scolding me for even asking and not simply demanding to go, I was not this man's pet or slave, but I'd been ignoring that particular voice all my life and it wasn't going to change now.
"Your friends have already been contacted by the people currently hunting us Hinata, fortunately they've contented themselves with the idea that they, your friends, have no idea where you are. They'll be watching them just on the off chance you return to say goodbye to them, and even if I can stop them from capturing you they'll torture your friends for any information you may have told them." He answered coldly with an unspoken disappointment in his voice made me suspect that he thought the question had been particularly foolish.
"I'm sorry." I answered not quite sure why I did, I was hardly some sort of super spy who considered every possible way someone might try to kill, torture or kidnap me or one of my friends at every moment in my life.
Almost unnoticeably Sasuke paused and hesitated in his stride an odd look coming over his face, his eyes lost a small measure of their hard severity and glazed over in a more melancholy and regretful look.
"No Hinata, I'm the one who should be sorry...I never meant for it to turn out this way." He spoke solemnly his black eyes regarding me sadly for a moment before he seemed to seal himself back up into his core; once again he was the emotionless enigma.
"Down here." I was suddenly led down a nearby subway entrance, I thought we were going to take a subway until I noticed the construction signs dotting the area.
"What ar-" I started to ask Sasuke what we were doing down here but he quickly cut me off.
"They won't attack us in broad daylight even though I've allowed them to sense me, but by running down here they'll assume I'm some amateur not smart enough to hide my signature trying to get out of the city via an underground route." Sasuke explained quickly leading me deeper down the tunnel.
"But why not just walk past them if they won't attack us?" I asked considering the imminent seemingly unnecessary violence.
"We'd appear on their radar then and we'd be attacked by far more numerous and dangerous enemies once we exited the city. We'd be dead before we got a mile from the city." Stated Sasuke brashly as he pushed me behind a ticket machine.
"Stay down and don't make any noise." With that he rose to his full height removing his black duster and handing it to me.
"It might get a little colder in here very soon." He informed me an odd twinkle in his eye that made me recall something Takeda had wrote in his diary, that he considered using his powers very enjoyable and almost addictive.
I got the feeling Sasuke too would enjoy this more than he should.
I didn't hear them approach because of the sound's of the construction in the background but my eyes immediately caught sight of them as they entered the room, one was somewhere between a man and a woman with long brown hair and of relatively small stature. The other was a large lump of a man with a bald head and messy goatee.
Faster than I could follow Sasuke's left arm shot out lightning racing across it and extending until it crashed into the ceiling above the stairs to the street exit, once the dust settled I saw that the way out was completely blocked.
My first thought was that Sasuke must be very arrogant to assume his attackers would immediately run from him. Then I reconsidered, Takeda had been quite powerful in his time and he hadn't been capable of anything like that with his lightning, maybe it was simply a matter of age, Sasuke would be almost twice the age of Takeda.
"The Uchiha? How interesting." mused the smaller one eying Sasuke like one would a troublesome stain or insect.
"Who?" grunted the large man, his eye brows suddenly drawing together in concentration.
"There someone else too?" asked the large man turning to his partner with a raised eyebrow.
"Maybe, but they match the signature the Uchiha should have, perhaps the little boy has bitten off more than he can chew and is trying to trick us. A cute trick that's all." Answered the smaller man grinning in self satisfaction.
"As for who he is, he's a Konoha deserter, should have two seals. He was probably hoping we only had one each. Too bad, so sad." Continued the brunette.
Sasuke was only supposed to have two seals, were his others just tattoos maybe. Was Sasuke in trouble now, should I help him, dozens of difficult questions raced through my mind all in a single second.
"Konoha deserter huh, I never did like Konoha so I think I be enjoying this." Spoke the large man stepping forward till he was within arm's reach of Sasuke.
"Scared stiff kid? You should be." He chuckled lashing out roughly and far slower than I knew Sasuke, and I suspected myself, could move.
Yet Sasuke didn't move.
I started to feel the first prickling of true fear dance its way up my spine as I saw Sasuke raised into the air to dangle helplessly.
"Where's your little light show now boy huh!" snarled the man his eyes wild a berserkers' rage.
Slowly Sasuke raised his right arm to grip the much larger mans bulging forearm, it seemed an insignificant jester of protest to myself and to the brunette, the bald man himself began laughing heartily at the move.
"Two order seals, completely tuned for muscular strength and resistance, but nothing in the way of speed or dexterity...you're a warrior of extremely unfortunate proportions, useless without a partner tch." Spoke Sasuke, a cynical edge gracing his voice as the man stopped his laughing and his face set itself in a mask of pure rage and hatred.
"Even if I were it wouldn't matter now that I've got a grip on you, you little shit!" roared the man as he raised his other arm to strike Sasuke, I closed my eyes shut tight.
There was a pained shout.
And it wasn't Sasuke's voice I heard.
When I opened my eyes I discovered Sasuke was completely uninjured and the other man had fallen to his knees and was desperately attempting to wrench his arm from Sasuke's grip a look of desperation and, I felt certain, unaccustomed fear painfully apparent on his face.
There was a shout from the brunette and the temperature of the room suddenly dropped dramatically frost appearing on the ground and walls.
And suddenly everything was moving and I understand why Takeda had claimed to be the lightning, I saw it firsthand now because Sasuke was the lightning.
His left hand erupted in lightning and he immediately plunged his fist through the bald man's chest lighting up his insides. At the same time I felt my foot side on the icy floor and tumbled roughly out from wear I hid.
"Shit!" I heard Sasuke swear.
The brunette immediately set his sights on me flinging several sharp needles at me. I felt my hands move up, guided by instinct perhaps, and deflect the three needles that were aimed at different vital points, somehow without ever making contact with them a force seemed to catch them and allow me to manipulate them. As the last one sailed around me harmlessly the brunette appeared right in front of me bringing a small knife down in a sharp arc.
Once again before I could even think how to act I was moving, my left palm connected with his elbow halting the arc of his knife and I struck out with my right palm hitting the brunette hard in the stomach driving the wind from him.
My luck was short lived however as without proper footing my attack also sent me to the floor sliding several feet away. The brunette raised looking angry but completely uninjured, somehow the ice didn't seem to effect the brunettes footing in the slightest.
Before he could advance any further on me however a wall of flames erupted between the two of us cutting him off, I couldn't see Sasuke and I released that he must still be on the other side of the wall.
A moment later the wall dissipated to reveal Sasuke standing tall in front of me completely unharmed except a small cut on his left bicep, there were wisps of smoke softly rising from behind his shoulder and I dared not look down to discover what Sasuke had done to my attacker.
I met his eyes and suddenly I felt safe again.
I was however surprised when he took two quick steps forward covering the distance between us and pulled me into his arms for a brief hug as he mumbled an apology into my hair. And just as quickly he was gone picking up his jacket and leading me from the subway station.
I had grabbed three of Takeda's diary's before we left Sasuke's place, I kept them buried under my clothes in the backpack I was carrying. Sasuke had said I wouldn't need a change of clothes but I insisted.
We took the trip north by train and though Sasuke had claimed in the station that there were no other people like us around the place, I had suggested referring to them as Angels since he had referenced them as such in his story, he had smirked and started calling them Demons as his quick reference instead, still he had decided to go for a patrol of the train.
I took the opportunity to read one of Takeda's diary entries.
It's started. I didn't believe my father when he first told me, but maybe that's simply because I didn't want to believe him.
I can't remember the little things anymore, when did I meet Yui and Kenji? What did I get Yui for her last birthday? How did Kenji and I get the scars on our forearms?
Yui and I have been together for a year now, I'm not sure when we met but I can still remember what she looked like back then. She's become beautiful though, her pink hair has deepened a lot and her eyes have become a much more vivid green. My father has warned me not to pursue any kind of relationship with her so I've kept it quiet.
I think she may be pregnant and that thought fills me equally with happiness and worry. I'm not sure what to do, I just want to take Yui and run, I think Kenji will help and I want to believe Masaka will help too but he's been acting oddly lately.
Father says he's almost fully developed.
That means he won't remember anything, he won't our Masaka anymore.
He'll be their Itachi.
I felt my heart constrict at the passage. I realised that this diary must be one Takeda used several years after the first one I read. The idea that I was reading a forbidden love story at the same time as reading about Takeda losing himself and his family. I also felt an odd abrasion at continuing to read. What if Takeda forgets Yui and his child...
I heard steps outside the compartment door and quickly stuffed the diary back into my backpack.
"Are you alright?" asked Sasuke as he stepped into the compartment taking a seat across from me.
"Yeah, so you're S. Uchiha?" I asked, I had figured it out in the tunnel.
"And you 'borrowed' my umbrella." He answered almost playfully as a miniscule smile appeared on his face, I was glad I had broken the ice for the question that I really wanted to ask.
"How do- did you know Doctor Mason?" I asked, before I'd been drawn into this whole mystical world, that Sasuke seemed at the heart of, that had been my only real question.
"He was one of the people I had in charge of looking after you." He answered keeping eye contact perfectly with me.
"Excuse me." I responded brisling, there were few things I got angry about but I grew up being bounced from foster home to foster home and worked hard to raise the money to get into college, nobody was looking after me.
"I know what you're thinking but I kept things the best and most stable I could. They made sure none of the foster homes were dangerous and most importantly kept you off the radar of the demons." He continued and I felt my anger dissipate somewhat, he wasn't trying to claim my achievements were his own.
"What did Mason do? You said it was his fault." I prodded, I had learned that Sasuke didn't answer questions well without prompts.
"He contacted me directly." Answered Sasuke compactly and without any unnecessary extra information.
"Why?" I asked, I guessed that the Angels had discovered Mason was linked to Sasuke through the contact, but why would he risk such a thing.
"You know Mason has a daughter right? She gave birth to a Demon." He answered, again if I understood this world he was from maybe then I wouldn't need any more information, but I suspected that with his curt answers and rough voice perhaps Sasuke just wasn't used to talking to anyone. Surprisingly he went on without prompting this time.
"When a couple gives birth to a Demon they're given one chance to allow their child to join whichever order finds them first, it's usually the order they have a seal for, if they refuse the parents are murdered and their child taken." Sasuke spoke coldly with his signature dis-attachment, I heard myself let out a horrified gasp as I stared at him with wide eyes.
Doctor Mason would always talk so fondly and with such love for his daughter I couldn't stand the idea of him losing her; the excitement he'd shown when he told me of his daughters pregnancy. It just couldn't be.
"Tell me he had you protect and move his family Sasuke, tell me that's what he wanted you for!" my voice was higher than I expected it to be, less controlled than I want it to be.
"I wish I could. But I'm no protector Hinata, I managed to return his granddaughter to him and his wife. It was the best I could do." And then I was holding Sasuke's jumper bawled in my fists and sobbing quietly, for Takeda who I feared would forget and lose all he held dear to him, for the kind old couple who lost their child and would have to spend the rest of their lives running and protecting their grandchild.
For Sasuke too, and myself, but I wasn't sure why.
Not yet anyway.
And that's the forth chapter hope your all still enjoying the story so far , any question or comments please review or send me a pm. I love getting feedback so no need to be shy about it.
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