A/N: I would just like to give you fair warning that I have completely made up Deidara's backstory. The first time I typed that her cough had lasted three weeks, I thought I was over doing it a little bit. I mean, how could a cough last that long. But then, ironic enough, my brother caught a cough. Guess how long it has stuck around. Almost four weeks. XD And now I have one too. It has lasted a week. A week! Is it because I made Hinata suffer? I think the universe is just trying to rid me of my long-lasting-cough-doubt. But that's okay. I believe now…. Can the coughs go away? Does anyone else find this ironic?
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto)
Mysterious Captivation: Chapter 6
Deidara's eyes showed his accomplishment as he opened his mouth. "Your cousin – Neji, right? – has been searching frantically for a way to find you, but your Hokage won't let him leave the village to look for you without a clue as to where you are, yeah. Your father seemed just as worried as your cousin, and your teammate, the Inuzuka boy, seemed to be spending a lot of time with Neji, mm. They're probably helping each other out. Your other teammate, the bug weilder, seemed depressed, but I actually ran into him, un. I made sure not to hurt him, though. I just shouted at him before I fled the village, yeah."
"What about my sister and my sensei? Did you ask after them, or however it is that you figured out whom I know? What about Naruto and team seven?" Hinata enthusiastically questioned, forgetting to stutter and almost forgetting that the man had bombed her home.
"Your sister is well, but that was all I could find on her, yeah. The only reason I knew of the people I found was because you mentioned them several times in your sleep during the first week, mm."
The Hyuuga heiress blushed and quietly sat back on her bed, contemplating her new information.
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"So you're trying to tell me that the one who bombed the Hyuuga Compound was wearing a Kumo hitai-ate, but he had the chakra reserves of an Akatsuki?" Tsunade looked to the Aburame with clear disdain. "Don't mess with me, kid. What use would the Akatsuki have of bombing the Hyuugas?"
"According to Kiba, the people who kidnapped Hinata-chan were Akatsuki. They would want to create a conflict between us and Kumo to distract us from rescuing her. The Akatsuki obviously know of the Hyuugas' previous involvement with Kumo." Shino logically reasoned with the Hokage, praying that she would believe him and allow them to search for her.
"And you expect me to send you after the ninja now that you've convinced me that he was an Akatsuki, whom is even more powerful than Kumo." Tsunade fired his logic back into his face.
The cloaked young man thought for a few moments before quietly speaking a truth both had ignored previously. "We know that the Akatsuki mean to cause this village harm in the name of Kumo so that they can keep Hinata-chan. What's to say they won't attack somewhere where there are more people? We are lucky that no outsider knows that the Hyuuga are not allowed to use their Byakugan within the clan walls or that bomb could have killed hundreds of people."
Tsunade sighed as she rubbed her temples. There was too much that could go wrong with sending them after her, but there was so much more that could go wrong if she stayed immovable. "You may chase after the ninja then. Do NOT engage in battle. Kiba and Neji have already left on a reconnaissance mission," she said, catching his question before he could even open his mouth. "If you meet up with them, bring them up to date and let them know what you do."
"Do not enter the base under any circumstance. If you meet one of the Akatsuki, flee immediately. If anything else happens, do what you believe is the best to keep you and your team safe. Choose your team members wisely. You have two weeks to track and return, with a grace period of five days. After that, I will send another, more experienced team out to locate you and you will be relieved of high class missions for a month unless specifically needed."
"Hai, Tsunade-sama." The young bug controller aquiesced to the Hokgae's strenuous demands.
The door burst open in a whirlwind of orange and yellow. "Baa-san! Do you mean to tell me that they've found Hinata-chan and you weren't planning to tell me, dattebayo?"
"It was for that precise reason that I wasn't going to tell you. You were not close to her, and the Akatsuki are looking to kill you to extract your demon. That is plenty enough reason to keep you in the village."
"But I also care for Hinata-chan, and there is no way the Akatsuki can kidnap and hurt her without facing me! You let me chase Sasuke when he left of his own volition. Why can't I chase after a kidnapped Hinata?" The blonde boy questioned with a whiney tone.
"Actually, Tsunade-sama, I would like to bring him with me. Naruto has been attributed much power that could prove helpful in case of an emergency. He has also fought against Akatsuki members before, which would give us helpful insight." Shino cast a look at Naruto, silently telling the other boy that he had better be grateful.
Tsunade sighed. Knowing she would regret it, she aquiesced to allowing the Kyuubi Jinchuriki to leave the village.
"Yosh!" The Uzumaki exclaimed, quieting when Shino threatened to leave him.
"We leave in an hour. Hurry up and don't be late, Naruto."
"Where are you going?" The orange clad ninja wondered aloud.
"To find the third member of our team." The Aburame replied before whirling away in a cloud of bugs, much to the displeasure of the Hokage.
Said woman sighed once more before glancing around and making sure everyone was out of sight. She smiled as she reached into a secret compartment in her desk and pulled out a bottle of Sake.
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"I thank you for caring enough about me to defy Leader-sama." Hinata finally spoke aloud.
The silence had seemed never ending to him. There was no way for him to know what she thought about him now. He had felt he had no hope of ever having his feelings returned now that she knew he had bombed her home.
When she finally spoke, he had been sure that it was to tell him she hated him. But she surprised him. "I figured if I had to live with you, I might as well get along with you, right?" He lied, trying to hide his real reason. I seem to do that a lot with her. He contemplated wonderingly in his mind. What makes her so special?
"Deidara? Where is your family? Did you kill them, the way Itachi-sama did?" She quietly spoke again.
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She had spoken before she had realized it again. She wondered at how he had enough compassion for her to spare even her family so as not to cause her pain (because even she, as untrained as she was, could see through his lie) and yet abandon his village in favor of becoming a missing nin, mass murderer.
"My family?" He repeated. She knew that he had heard her clearly. Maybe he was just buying time to come up with a lie. But maybe, a little sliver of her brain replied, it hurts him to talk about them. Maybe he loved them. Maybe he was like Itachi-sama, forced to kill them for peace.
"My family died when I was very young, mm. I don't remember much about them. What I do remember is the aftermath of their deaths, un. I had always been a little bit unstable as a boy. Losing them just magnified it, yeah." He shuddered as though he were reliving it. Watching as he lay down on his bed, she sat off to the side, though still near him.
"You don't have to tell me if it pains you too greatly." She reasoned that she had no business sticking her nose into an S-class ninja's business if he didn't want her there.
"No, it's okay, yeah. I was always the last boy to be picked up from the academy when I was younger because my civillian foster parents worked all day to support the other foster kids, mm. None of my adopted siblings went to the academy with me. They were civillian kids, hm. But my goal in life had always been to become a ninja. Even more so when my parents were killed, yeah.
"You know, I was going to be a big brother, mm. But when our village was attacked in the middle of the night, my mom, dad, and little soon-to-be sibling were all murdered. I was left alone because I was a coward, yeah. I hid." He broke off. There were no tears in his eyes, but the blue of them was slowly darkening. It was anger that radiated off his prone form.
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"The other students at the academy would tease me because I was alone while all of them had parents, hm. I guess it was the little things that made me break. One day, I snapped, mm. It was only a few days before I would be assigned to a gennin team. I had already surpassed everyone else in skill-" He had to add that, his pride made him want to impress her. "-and they were so jealous, yeah. I just wanted them to stop picking on me. I was so incensed at their constant belittling, hm. My self control just shattered. I killed them all, yeah," he ended softly, observing the emotions flit across the face of the female Jyuuken user.
He felt the bed tremble underneath him as he watched tears fill the Hyuuga's eyes. "All those children…" She trailed off. He wondered what was moving through her mind. Mere moments later, he watched a wall build up behind her eyes. Usually such open books, he could no longer tell what she was feeling.
"I was subdued by an ANBU before I could do any more damage than I already had, yeah. At first, I contemplated dying in the cell to which I had been sent. But Leader-sama had seen what I had done as he passed through Iwagakure, mm. He told the guards that he wanted to speak with me because he was a civillian parent who needed to look at the face of his child's killer, hm. That way, he wouldn't have to show his hitai-ate. After he met with me, we broke out, and I joined Akatsuki because there was no where else for me to go, yeah."
The silence that descended after his telling her of his past was almost worse than what he had endured after her learning that he had bombed her home.
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When he finally finished his story, she was shocked. How could the man before her have endured so much without fully giving in to his darker side? She was amazed at his resilliance. The blonde was still kind, compassionate, and when she looked into his eyes, she was sure she could see love there.
At that, her thoughts paused. She had never seen love in his eyes before. Where had that thought come from? Forcing her emotions back, she concentrated on the meaning of his story. She had been prepared for a gory tale, but not one involving the deaths of so many children. His own classmates, nonetheless.
"Do you think you would have gone with Leader-sama if you hadn't killed your-" here, she struggled to force the word from her mouth, leading to a short pause, "-classmates?"
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He hated to see the sadness that passed over her face when she spoke of his previous killings. "I don't. But if I hadn't, I wouldn't have been half the ninja I am today, yeah." He proclaimed, hoping to remove her mind from the many deaths that he had caused.
"You mean, you wouldn't be half as unstable or sadistic as you are now." She said bitterly.
"Where did that tone come from?" He was shocked that she even possessed such a tone. He should have realized, though, since she was a ninja. How could one face death at every turn of life and not be slightly bitter?
She reguarded him with distaste for a moment before hiding behind an emotional mask once again. "Have you ever looked at a small, newborn baby before, Deidara-san?" She inquired.
"Iie, mm. Why?" He was bewildered by her turn of subject.
"They are innocent. Have you ever watched one grow up? Have you ever looked upon the face of a tiny, innocent babe and thought 'this child will grow up to be a murderer someday'?"
He thought of the families he used to pass on the streets in Iwa. There had been small children, but never once had the thought that the chubby faces were of kids who would kill some day.
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She watched the thoughts process through his mind. "Have you ever thought that you were ending a life before it even had a chance to begin? When you kill for Akatsuki, have you ever wondered whose family you're killing? Have you honestly never wondered if you were causing another child to suffer as you had to suffer?" Her quiet voice had lulled him into a moment of deep thought, but her final words pulled him back to the surface.
"I have thought of that before. I have never cared about that. The only thing I do now is kill to better Akatsuki. I could also ask the same of you. When your Hokage sends you on missions, do you think about the people whose lives you are ruining?"
He watched her eyes fill with hurt and knew he had spoken too rashly. "Hinata-san, I'm sorry." He immediately apologized.
"No, you're right." She replied as she backed away from him to her own bed.
He heard, rather than saw, her crawl under the covers and become still. The explosives artist sighed, a silent gust of air, before he rolled over to do the same.
It seemed like only moments later that he was awakened by the tinny of the anklet he had given to Hinata. He felt her chakra approach his bed. Deciding to stay frozen as though still asleep, he listened for further movement.
Nothing surprised him more than when she curled up at the foot of his bed. "What are you doing, yeah?" He questioned aloud before fully thinking through his words.
She squeaked and leapt up. "Nothing, Deidara-san," she panted fearfully.
"Tell me what you were doing," he demanded, knowing that being forceful would allow him an answer.
"I'm-" she paused as though searching for a word or lie, then spoke again "-scared." Her voice sounded different than normal for a moment, but he brushed it off as her fear.
He looked bewildered for a moment before it occurred to him that Itachi had only a one-bed room and that she had spent the last week curled up with him –
He broke his thoughts away before he could become even angrier with the Uchiha filth. He slid over to make room for Hinata. Her whispered thanks and sigh of relief made it worth the interruption in his sleep.
The fact that she had even admitted her fear and crawled beneath his covers meant that she still trusted him –perhaps too much.
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The three man cell had met at the gates. Naruto, Shino, and Shikamaru were prepared for finding the worst. They had moved out as soon as the last person, the Uzumaki, had arrived.
They had a good segue into the forest, making up for the time lost by conversation with the Hokage and one another. They set up camp in the forest, leaving a lookout at every point of the night and exchanging shifts when needed.
Mostly, they kept on the lookout for opposing ninja and a misleading genjutsu. They had found no signs so far, but there was still a lot of ground to cover before they would reach the point when they had been told Kiba and Neji had found the discrepancy.
Making sure to relay his plan to the others before retiring to get as much sleep as possible, Shikamaru had spoken to his teammates. "When we find the signs of the genjutsu, make sure to release it. Aside from that, do not waste any more chakra than necessary for moving at our increased pace."
"What will we do when we find the hideout?" Naruto asked, for once being quiet because they were in foreign territory after their long day's run.
"We will watch the area, gather information for what they plan on doing."
Shino seemed to agree to the plan, though he had nothing to add. "Let us retire. Naruto, your watch is first. Wake us at the first sign of danger." With that warning, he turned his back to the orange clad ninja.
"I'm not a little kid, you guys!" His indignant tone was the last thing that rang through his teammates' minds before they fell into the abyss of dreams.
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Hinata awoke, as normal, to a warm sensation on her back, but there seemed to be less room on her side of the bed today. She just let herself lie there, though, because she didn't want to wake Itachi-sama again and have him in a bad mood all day.
Her eyes widened when she realized that it was Deidara's room, not Itachi's, that she looked into. Rolling over carefully, she watched the blonde man's eyes open. "Good morning," he said quietly.
"Gomen ne," Hinata apologized before scooting away from him and throwing the covers off of her.
He placed his fingertips on her arm, making her freeze. "Feel better?" He inquired.
Her face twisted in confusion for a moment before she remembered why she had sought him out last night. "Hai," she replied, "I do. Arigatou, Deidara-san." She turned her back to him.
"Why were you afraid last night?"
Her hand involuntarily went to her throat. It was no longer bruised, but her voice still sounded strange at times. "I am more comfortable with a friend," she simply responeded.
"What did that piece of Uchiha filth do to you?" He demanded with a fear for her safety that he didn't know he possessed.
"Stop calling him that!" She exclaimed before continuing to explain in a small whisper. "He saved my life."
"Then what, heven forbid, happened to scare you so badly?"
"Do you remember my first week here when I woke Leader-sama by screaming? It happened again, but this time, he almost killed me. Itachi-sama gave all the credit to Konan-sama, but he nursed me back to health and healed my throat. My vocal chords are still not fully healed though." She admitted.
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He couldn't help it. He was absolutely furious. He couldn't believe Itachi had allowed her into his life enough to care whether she lived or died. His voice was tight when he spoke. "I suppose he shared his bed with you, and you came to feel that he protected you through that."
He watched the blush blossom on her face. "Iie. He allowed me on the bed before that. It's just that he-he cared. That was unusual, but comforting. The night after Leader-sama attacked me, I-I woke up and-" the final part of her sentence was spoken so quickly he barely understood it "-hewaslettingmecuddleinhisarms." Her blush deepened, as did his anger when her words finally registered.
"And you let him?" He ground out.
"I can't stop him from doing anything. He over powers me in all categories. He didn't force me though. I had curled up to him in the middle of the night. He merely allowed it." She smiled a strained smile.
He was about to tell her exactly what his opinion of that was when she spoke again. "C-Can we train again? I haven't trained since you left because I was fearful of Itachi-sama's reaction to my asking."
He smiled minutely at her admittance of fear of his rival. That meant her heart was still up for grabs. "Of course. I see that your persistant cough has finally melted away, mm. Now we can seriously fight, yeah."
Hinata nodded her head. In that small moment, they mutually decided not to mention her week with Itachi any more than necessary because both knew it would lead to an argument neither wanted to have. The blonde explosives expert led the way to the training ground a short way out of the hideout.
Hiding the thoughts of the past week in the dark recesses of his mind, as he was sure she was doing, he spoke. "Now, what do we want the rules to be this time, yeah? Taijutsu only, or shall we throw in some ninjutsu as well, mm? No weapons?" Deidara smiled at the blissful look that crossed her face. She must not have been allowed outside while under Itachi's supervision.
He knew for a fact that the time she was granted outside was her most treasured time of all. He knew she didn't like it inside. He had been able to pick up that much before he had left.
"I think we should practice just taijutsu first. Then, after one of us loses-" he knew she was referring to herself "-we can move into ninjutsu."
He responded affirmatively before disappearing in a flash of leaves. He watched her close her pearly eyes before opening them once more, veins bulging. "Byakugan." He saw her lips shape the words. "Come out, come out, wherever you are." She teased.
"Ollie, ollie, oxenfree!" he responded as he leapt out at her. She spun on her heel and blocked his fist with her palm.
Her movement was a moment too slow; the recognition of this fact entered her eyes when he swung his other fist, an uppercut to her chin.
She flew backward, using the momentum to flip and land on her feet. Gingerly, she rubbed her jaw before disappearing. A kunai thudded into the wall a short distance from where her head had been.
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He watched in facination as Hinata sped about, almost seeming as though she were playing around.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when Kiba growled lowly next to his ear. "Shut it, mutt." Neji hissed warningly.
"He's taunting her! It must be some way to warp her mind. There's no way he would bring up a game we used to play as kids. Mass murderers don't play children's games. What do you think they've done to her?"
"It doesn't look like they've tortured her. Sure, she has bags under her eyes and she's a mess, but I can't see any major injuries or chakra disruption. That uppercut to her jaw should have shattered it, but she seems fine."
"Neji, she's got her Byakugan activated. Should we leave before she spots us? If she reacts, she could be in danger, or even give our position away." Kiba glanced worriedly from the face of his current teammate to the body of his kidnapped one as she flipped, dodged, and twisted out of the reach of her opponent.
Neji mirrored the movement before making the decision. "Tsunade specifically said not to engage any Akatsuki in battle. We need to leave." His voice took on a pained hint at the end. As much as he wanted to hide it, it was killing him watching his cousin get beaten by an Akatsuki when there was nothing he could do about it.
Kiba nodded slowly as he slunk away through the undergrowth.
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"Deidara-san, hold on a moment," Hinata said as she paused, trying to figure out what had disturbed her concentration.
He landed in front of her and she watched the puzzled expression pass over his face. "What is it, hm?" He questioned.
A frown marred her features for a moment before she shook her head. I must be imagining things. It's just because I haven't been outside in a week. "Nothing. A bird just caught my attention for a moment," she lied. Can't have him thinking I'm insane, can I?
He nodded sagely and grinned. "Let's end it here for today, yeah. I know we didn't get to ninjutsu today, but you haven't practiced without coughing for over a month. We should let your body get used to the flow of battle again, mm."
Hinata agreed with a contemplative nod. "I hadn't thought of that. Can we stay in the courtyard today instead of the lounge? I'm tired of being stuck inside all day." As soon as the words flew from her mouth, she clamped it shut, panicking, and turned her wide eyes on her captor.
He shrugged, looking nonchalant. "Sure, yeah. I don't mind, mm. Being outside is nice, hm?"
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It took all he had not to look down at her with the same look she was giving him. Where had that assertiveness come from? Maybe it had always been there, but she had been too frightened to show it.
Or maybe he just had to be playful to make her feel comfortable enough around him. Realizing he had stumbled upon her secret, he smirked. "Last one to the courtyard has to make breakfast tomorrow!" he shouted playfully, getting a small headstart while the Hyuuga girl stood staring at him.
Suddenly, she smiled and appeared in front of him. "Yeah, right!" She giggled, the bell on her ankle matching the one from her laughter.
He allowed her to win. He couldn't stop himself from giving her that pleasure. "You caught me off guard when you took off in front of me, yeah," was his explanation.
She looked at him, brooding, for a moment before she perked up. "At least we won't have to deal with Itachi-sama's complaining about cooking!" she expressed in a burst of giggles and happiness.
That was when he realized that the next day wasn't his turn to cook. He had just offered to cook for his arch rival. Itachi hated to cook, and Deidara took that job for the day. He scowled.
Hinata merely grinned at him, as though she knew what he was thinking.
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She hadn't had that much fun in ages. She couldn't even remember the last time she had allowed herself to giggle like a little girl. Not even in her own village. There, everyone expected her to be the uptight, proud, perfect Hyuuga heiress. Even when she was little, she hadn't been allowed to run around and laugh like the other kids her age.
In the Akatsuki, she didn't have any of that responsibility weighing her shoulders down. Here, it was only fear of the other members that kept her from herself.
With Deidara, she felt comfortable. With Itachi, she felt protected. Wondering what it would be like if they would interact, her eyes glazed over into a daydream.
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Itachi thought he heard childish laughter outside the hall. It was in the courtyard. He walked to the window and peaked out. Hinata sat in the grass, looking as though she had lived in the hideout her entire life, and laughed at something his enemy said.
He growled. As he had promised, he had sorted his feelings for the Hyuuga woman into neat thoughts, and realized that there was a feeling of extreme protectiveness, mixed with what could be love. If he nurtured it, that feeling would mature. It was something he thought he had killed off, but he was thankful it was a persistent thing. It would be nice to have something positive to look forward to.
How was he going to get her away from the blonde? There was no way he could woo the girl with that walking time-bomb around her. He hadn't felt this way in a long time, and the courtship that he felt he could offer was a slow one.
The blonde seemed to make her comfortable around him.
Itachi would just have to try harder.
The fight for Hinata would be long and ugly, but he was certain he could win it. The eldest Uchiha smirked, pleased, and turned away, plotting.
(A/N: So, this chapter is moving the plot along. Honestly, I'm kinda disappointed in this chapter. It didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I don't know how well it turned out because I was rushed to finish it, even though I sat for over six hours working on it. But hey, I at least hope if flows well enough to catch your attention and make sense. If there's something that doesn't, let me know, because I went back through this chapter several times. I changed so much so that it would flow better and things wouldn't move too quickly that I'm not sure which pieces I left and which I forgot to fix. Let me know what you think, please, so that I can become a better writer and get things right the first time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of MC! Just as a heads up, there's gonna be a little bit of a time skip in the next chapter.)