Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter Four

Kikyo190

The bright green healing charka emitting from the female Hyuuga's hands dimmed as she concluded the healing session with her patient. She turned away from his bedside and quickly read off his heart monitor, to check for any abnormalities, like she did every time. But her mind wasn't focused on the task at hand. It was preoccupied elsewhere.

Hinata wanted answers.

She needed to know the reason why her mind felt invaded by another's presence, like a constant shadow looming over her consciousness, refusing to melt away. She felt like she was being watched by a pair of crimson eyes whenever she relaxed or turned a blind eye. It made her feel violated, deprived of privacy and personal space.

It irked her. It irked Hinata Hyuuga so much that she couldn't stand it any longer. She wasn't going to allow herself to be used as a puppet for another's selfish and manipulative purposes.

She was going to put an end to it.

"I demand you to undo what you did to me." Hinata stated calmly. Her heart hammered with fear in her chest, as complete terror overwhelmed her, warning her that she was making a mistake by confronting the one and only Itachi Uchiha. And at the same time, her mind raged in indignation that she had been taken advantage of, that she was being underestimated and ridiculed by anyone.

At this moment, Hinata lifted her eyes to meet Itachi's emotionless obsidian gaze.

"Granted, I knew you would find out eventually," Itachi murmured, stripping away the sheets over his legs, absently flexing his newly healed biceps. "It's impressive that it only took you one week to realise I've been inside your mind."

Hinata swallowed down the urge to gasp at his sudden movement.

He was now standing right in front of her.

Itachi must have not noticed her anxiety, because his next question directed at her was one of curiosity. This unassuming Hyuuga girl challenged everything others believed about her, including himself.

"Why do you not fear me?" He asked.

Hinata forced herself to lock gazes with Itachi, determined not to break in front of him like he wanted her to. She ignored the racing of her blood in her veins as she spoke her next words as calmly as she could.

"I am the trained heiress of the Hyuuga Clan. I do not fear. If you were to harm me… there would be ANBU guards in here in a matter of seconds to sedate you. Also, I trust in my own abilities."

To emphasise her last point, Hinata activated her Byakugan, her eyes not leaving Itachi's calm onyx gaze as the veins in her temple pulsated and bulged to form the translucent bloodline-limit of her Clan.

"Undo the genjutsu. Now."

Itachi's eyes narrowed.

He could've easily broken her wrists, faster than light. He could've effortlessly snapped her neck, including the life-force of her jugular vein, ending her right there and then.

He could've easily activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and sent her mind into oblivion. Pure insanity.

But Itachi chose to do neither of those things.

Instead he chose to come forward, closing the gap between them, and grasp her chin in his smooth palm. Hinata tensed at the unexpected action, blinking rapidly as she stared at him in fear.

She flinched away from his touch, but Itachi merely brought his face closer to hers. "I am a dangerous man, Hinata. I have no need to harm you. Don't give me a reason to." He murmured silkily against her ear, his breath warm and welcoming against her neck. His inviting sensations contrasted with his dark words, only serving to frighten and confuse Hinata more. "You would do well staying away from me."

"I-I can't do that, I'm assigned as your nurse." Hinata gasped, eyes wide in trepidation.

Itachi chucked, leaning away slightly. His hand fell away from her chin, as he allowed his gaze to wonder over her full lips, and the air she was softly breathing out of them in small puffs, in compete fascination. For a few moments, he admired her beauty, but it didn't last. Never had he been so close to a female like this, and never had he been bewitched by such undeniable beauty in a long time.

Meanwhile, Hinata was frozen in fear, unable to move a muscle. Her mind was overloaded with the shocking sensations the unpredictable Uchiha was communicating to her through his hungry gaze and bold actions.

"You are a fierce one, heiress of the Hyuuga Clan. I was beginning to wonder when I would get to see your bloodline-limit in its true fruition. It's captivating."

Hinata faltered. Had she mistaken his gaze earlier for hunger instead of curiosity? Had she wrongly seen the glimmer of passion in his obsidian irises? Was that why he had pulled her face so closely to his? Just to examine her bloodline-limit closer?

Being in close proximity to the older Uchiha was messing with her mind, giving her mixed signals…

Hinata backed away, deactivating Byakugan and was about to leave through the door when…

"What have we here?"

Danzo Shimura entered the room at that moment, his eye immediately fixated on the pair like a vulture eyeing its meal. The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade Senju, followed closely behind him, looking somewhat agitated. Itachi could safely hazard a guess that her foul mood was a result of breathing the same cursed air as Danzo.

"It's nice to see you standing on your two feet, Uchiha Itachi. Hinata must be doing a good job of healing you." Danzo said.

"What do you two want?" Itachi inquired. Although he sounded apathetic, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"We're here to discuss your fate, Itachi." Tsunade answered for him.

Itachi broke away from his silent staring match with Danzo before the tension in the room could heighten further, to lock gazes with the newly appointed Hokage for the first time.

"My fate?" Itachi repeated slowly, deliberately enunciating each syllable. He chuckled. "I believe my fate is already sealed. And so is yours, too."

Tsunade knitted her eyebrows together, turning to Danzo in confusion. "What the hell is he talking about?"

"The boy is merely playing with your mind, Tsunade. Ignore him." Danzo stated.

Itachi's eyes immediately snapped open.

The Boy.

Itachi knew that Danzo was just egging him on, trying to make a crack in Itachi's carefully neutral façade that he'd mastered after years upon years of hardship and pain, and although Itachi knew Danzo was merely trying to get a reaction from him, he was rightfully pissed off.

"Have you forgotten, in your old age, that I am now a man? A man with blood on his hands, and more blood yet to come?" Itachi asked, dangerously.

Danzo shrugged off Itachi's chillingly serious words, as if the prospect of death meant nothing to him.

"Manipulation won't work here, Itachi. You're now detained here in Konoha, and I have no intentions of letting you go. I've heard that you've agreed to work for me."

Hinata glanced nervously at Danzo then, for she had been his messenger, asking Itachi whether he would choose his own death and his brother's over serving Danzo. Itachi had surprisingly chosen servitude.

Tsunade, who had been painfully silent, turned to Danzo, suddenly panicked. "Work for you? I thought we agreed on executing this mass murderer and Akatsuki member!"

Danzo closed his eyes, a bemused smile forming on his face.

"Hush now, Senju Tsunade. Don't you see how much of an asset these two Uchiha brothers will be for this village? You're struggling to recruit capable shinobi."

He was using manipulation to twist her, but worst of all, it was the truth.

They were low on skilled and talented shinobi.

Especially after Naruto lost the use of his legs.

Tsunade gritted her teeth together. Even she couldn't deny that Danzo was right, but that didn't stop her stubbornness from surfacing.

"Well, I am the one who gets the final say on whether either of those despicable Uchiha boys will ever get to see the living daylights again." Tsunade spat.

"Once we discipline them both in the ways of the Leaf again, everything will be fine. They will be submissive and proficient."

Itachi's eyes narrowed. Nevertheless, he smirked. "And how will you hope to do that?"

Tsunade turned to Danzo, agreeing with the older Uchiha. Even she doubted Danzo would be able to rehabilitate and reform the two Uchiha brothers. They were dark and twisted on the highest level.

Danzo's eyes were stormy, like a cyclone of darkness. It made goosebumbs form on Hinata's skin.

"Curse Seals, if necessary. Similar to the Caged Bird Seal the Hyuuga use. That way, if they dare to step out of line, we can swiftly incapacitate them."

Tsunade shook her head. "I still have the last say on whether this whole thing goes through. Hinata, come with me. I want your reports on both the Uchiha's medical conditions, recovery speeds etcetera."

Tsunade, giving Danzo one last glare, left the room, followed closely behind a flustered Hinata, who had felt like she had been intruding the whole time and was glad for an escape.

The door had barely shut before Itachi's emotionless obsidian irises bled into the crimson and black of his infamous Sharingan.

A semi-second later, Itachi held Danzo's wrist in a tight grip. And a heartbeat later, Itachi yanked the elder's sleeve up sharply to reveal something even years of suppressing one's emotions couldn't prepare him for.

Danzo's arm was impregnated with several Sharingan implants. The eyes of Itachi's brethren swivelled up at him accusingly, watching him like the haunting eyes of the fatefully dead. It wouldn't surprise him, if they were the eyes of a mother, father, or child he'd killed in the massacre.

Danzo remained stationary.

"You're despicable." Itachi bit out.

Itachi's grip on Danzo's arm tightened crushingly before he loosened his hold on the elder, barely restraining himself from dislocating the bone of his spindly wrist from its socket.

Danzo watched Itachi the whole time calculatingly, as he pulled down his sleeve proudly.

"I couldn't help it if I was tempted to steal one or two of these precious Sharingan."

Itachi noticed there was also a Sharingan in Danzo's right eye, hiding beneath the bandages.

"When did you do it? Before or after the massacre?"

Danzo closed his eyes. "It's irrelevant."

"Before or after." Itachi repeated, his gravelly voice not inviting any refusal.

"I may have killed an Uchiha to get the one in my eye. The several in my arm I plucked out of the eye sockets of the corpses leftover from the massacre, which I got my ANBU Black Ops to recover for me."

Itachi wanted nothing more than to slit Danzo's throat in that moment. It took every fibre of his being to control his pulse, his breathing, his heart rate, his mind. Don't. Kill Danzo. Yet.

Danzo chuckled, drawing Itachi's attention back to the present.

"I still remember that day nine years ago I gave you the order to annihilate your Clan." He reminisced.

Itachi's knuckles whitened as he clenched them so hard, his nails drew blood from his palms.

"And I hope you too remember the pledge you made to me, back then. You are to remain loyal to the Leaf, even as you join the Akatsuki, acting as a double-spy on the Akatsuki for me."

Danzo laughed. "You've never stopped serving me. You're still under my control, still under my original orders. How nice."

"How dare you," Itachi began, letting his voice break as he raised it. "Pretend I have any commitment to you!"

The air in the room literally dropped twenty degrees as Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan activated.

"Incredibly powerful." Danzo noted. He smiled smugly.

Itachi, for the first time in his life, struggled to sustain the Mangekyo Sharingan long enough to do damage to the elder. That was when he realised that he didn't have enough chakra. Blood slowly seeped down from tightly shut eyes, leaving a trail that contrasted against his pale skin.

Maybe now was not the time to take down Danzo. He would have to wait longer, until he was fully recovered and strong enough to take down each and every elder responsible for plotting the downfall of his Clan. For ordering him to do it. Danzo was merely one of many.

"Get out." Was all Itachi said.

His voice left no room for retaliation.

Later that evening, Hinata was staring into her bathroom mirror as she brushed her long midnight-hued locks.

She closed her eyes for a long moment, savouring the sensation of the night air from her bathroom window as it grazed her skin. It had been a long day. She couldn't wait to crawl back into bed and fall into a deep slumber that even Naruto's loud voice couldn't awake her from.

At that moment, her mind filled with thoughts of the Uchiha brothers placed under her care.

They both still scared her very much. But Hinata was determined to push on, and do her job. They both had darkness inside them, as a result of their troubled pasts, their Clan's massacre…

Hinata shook her head, placing her hands on the edge of her sink.

But when she opened her eyes and looked at her reflection again in the mirror, she had to place a hand over her mouth to stop the scream daring to escape.

Her eyes were no longer the colour of lavender, iridescent moons. Instead, they were the colour of crimson blood, sorrow and hatred. They were the eyes of a lost soul.

For a moment, as she stared intensely into bleeding eyes that were not her own, Hinata almost missed the silky voice in her head that accompanied it.

Don't be afraid, it's just an after-image, an effect of the genjutsu…

Hinata's heart hammered rapidly in her chest as she recognised that calm, sharpened voice, and that piqued baritone…

Allow me to apologise…. I didn't give you an answer earlier to your demand… you wanted me to remove myself from your mind, correct?

Hinata nodded her head meekly in response to Itachi's curt voice, communicating to her in her head. It all felt so strange, yet oddly exhilarating. Hinata checked behind her shoulder to make sure she was alone, even though it was obvious that she was.

I will remove this genjutsu I have entranced you in… eventually. But I need your help with a few things first.

Help?

Itachi Uchiha…. The Itachi Uchiha needed her…. Hinata Hyuuga, to help him?

"L-Like what?" Hinata stammered in surprise. "I hope it has nothing to do with betraying the Leaf Village."

There was an immeasurable silence that followed. Finally, Itachi's soft, slightly muffled voice punctuated the silence.

You will not have to betray the Leaf Village, Hinata Hyuuga.

Itachi paused. Hinata could imagine him sitting in his prison-like hospital room right now, his eyes staring darkly into nothingness.

But I will.

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Author's Note: THANK YOU for all your lovely reviews! They encourage me so much to update faster! I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Until next time! :D ^^

See you!

Hinata: Sasu-kun, Ita-kun what happens to flamers?

Sasuke: This.

Itachi: Mangekyo Sharingan.

*troll bursts into flames*:D