Demon's Ball

Chapter Seven: Susceptible

xXx

It was frigidly cold. Her blood flow had slowed and felt like crushed ice that moved through her veins. Her eyes stung from the cold and she blinked irritably from the cold, her feet were sunk in the snow beneath her. On her right, there was a rotting wooden fence, a broken hinge that held the gate rusting and the gate creaked. She was inside of a hollow yard with a frozen, dead garden, the sun was a pale lime disk that hung in the blue sky and snow continued to fall. Warmth suddenly swamped and lapped at her and it was comfortable and it was better than the freezing air that choked her senses. The eased warmth beckoned her to look off to her left, a giant tree with large, fresh green leaves that danced in the wind. She felt a smile creep up on her face. Stepping to her left, she moved to the warm tree beneath another sun that was yellow and glowing.

Another set of footsteps crunched to her right, however and she looked back. A small boy, perhaps six was looking up at her with the biggest eyes she'd ever seen on a child. His eyes were a blue green that shined in the pale sunlight and he watched her. A tan smock was draped over his shoulders and his tiny fingers were curled into small fists. Red hair danced on his head and swept over his flawless skin. Those big eyes blinked at her, black rings making them look even more ridiculously larger than they really were and he smiled a shy smile. A sweet, disarming smile and he took another step to her. Something with an unnamable emotion tugged at her heartstrings and threatened to snap them with sharp scissors. The boy suddenly stopped, right outside the gate, his hand on it ready to open the rotting gate but then turned suddenly. Another boy was right behind him. A scowl and a glare on his face. A red symbol of love on his forehead and he glared at the small boy whose shoulders slumped and he looked despairingly at Hinata.

Hinata beckoned the little boy her way, but froze when a wall of sand washed over their forms, swallowing them whole and it reached for her. Darkness consumed her, while she held her hands up to shield herself.

Her eyes slid open and she stared at the opposing wall to her left. She could still taste the bitterness of the medicine Gaara had force fed her when her cough had been terribly painful. The sharp herbs and the disgustingly thick sap made the taste linger too long, but her lungs no longer burned. It was odd that Gaara would even help her when she had collapsed, but concluded that though he gave the air of craving eternal loneliness…the saying came to Hinata's mind. 'Misery loves company.' When he was in a bad mood, he'd usually take it out on her through his own brand of quiet intimidation and ruthless sparring hours that left her in pain for days on end. Sighing and snuggling beneath the heavy blanket, she continued to stare at the white wall; lost in her own thoughts that roamed without direction, usually hopping between herself, Naruto and Gaara.

Her thoughts, much to her dismay, centered about Gaara. While she knew he hated her on some inexplicable level, she knew he'd rather have her right there, instead of being alone. That was just how it was, and she herself, not capable of hating found herself instead having quite a severe dislike to him, but she hid behind him knowing he'd more than likely shield her albeit very reluctantly. A bitter chuckle rose into her throat as she saw what she'd made him into, from her disillusions over the months she's known his habits. She made him into something like her knight in shining armor. Something Naruto used to be, before he fed her to the wolves. While she had no such thing of a crush on Gaara, as it was still fixated on the fox demon boy, Naruto had stepped down from his knight pedestal to just a boy she admired and liked and Gaara took up the place of a knight. No matter how cold, or how dark his ways were of protecting her…she made him into her own personal little dark hero.

Her own…little twisted hero with blood red hair instead of sunshine hair, instead of blue eyes like an endless sky, there were two orbs filled with an icy reflection of fire. Instead of a charming smile, there was a dark frown. He shouldn't be her knight, he should be the dragon that would devour her, like a girl accused of witchcraft and sufficed as a sacrifice to the beast. The wolf that clamped down with iron fangs on the strayed sheep that lost her way, he had somehow become her knight despite it. All the times she hid behind him, expecting protection after the first time she had cringed behind him while Neji had been rather sharp with her and he ended up facing down a guy shorter than he, but deadlier as well. Then, it became instinctual to trust the demon she knew would harm her, to depend on the rabid dog that would turn and bite her. After that, what happened…just was. It was for her own reason of being weak against people not in battle, and his own misery that threatened to drown him, so he'd take her down with him. It just was.

But that didn't comfort her, to realize how dependant she was on him, and how he leaned on her for support as a crutch to delay his suffocation, it made her uneasy. It confused her. When had they come to this conclusion, this truce that they had to lean on one another and in the same breath curse on another and hate each other to an extent that left an impression of wanting the other to disappear, or dead. Then, in a full one hundred-eighty turn…one of them was seeking some sort of solace or protection. Their cycle wasn't natural. They were neither friends nor enemies, as each went to a certain limit only to bleed into the other. Something…something was wrong with them.

A hollow laugh that transformed into a strangled sob left her lips and she buried her face into her pillow, salt water leaking over its fragrance and tainting it with a teenager's confusion and frustration. Her shoulders heaved and she knew she heard the door to the room open, but didn't even bother to turn to it when it closed with a snap. Footsteps and something lowered to the ground, but easily skirted away from her. The blanket, she drew about herself more tightly and didn't bother to make the movements of her shoulders lessen, though she did keep the noise down. He didn't mind that she was crying, but it always irritated him when he could hear it and it was apparently too loud.

Gaara looked over his cup of water and blinked at her petite body shuddering heavily beneath sobs. He didn't smell blood, she didn't appear injured and no one seemed to have entered their room since he left. She was having one of those fits she would have once in a while and she didn't seem to care whether he was aware of it. He wasn't bothered by the small hiccups or her sadness, as she usually dealt with it and later would pretend it didn't happen. The shudders began to faze out and even breaths were being taken now instead of choppy gasps that depraved air. A sniffle and softer breathing. She was feigning sleep and he ignored the barb Shukaku sent-Know her sleeping pattern so well, boy?

Hinata curled in on herself a little more; her own patented guard against the world and her arms went over her head. Gaara stood and left the room, quietly, leaving the sand to dance about the room and perhaps give her nightmares about the fresher scent of blood that now coated the grains.

-

He was aggravated. Hinata clutched her tea cup tightly while they waited for the food to be delivered. His eyes were narrowed at the door and she bit her lip when she heard a growl. Another growl and she knew that the food was too late for the sand demon's liking. She sipped from her cup delicately and she turned her head to the side a little when she heard a brisk knock. The padding of feet leaving and she got up, not noticing that the sand had tried curling around her ankles. Opening the door by a crack, she spotted a tray of food and a small pot of tea and two cups. Gripping the tray handles, she made her way back to the dining table. Placing it down on the table, she looked down at the food, rice balls with ume rolled in and wrapped with seaweed, grilled fish, plain miso and rice porridge.

Gaara just stared at it for a moment, and she heard him inhale deeply-sniffing for any traceable poisons with any odor before reaching over and biting into a fish, tearing off its flesh rather savagely. Without seeing any change in his façade, she reached over and began nibbling on a rice ball. She frowned at how much pickled plum they had placed in her rice ball, drowning out the taste of the rice, even its own smell was saturated. Sets of feet echoed throughout the hallway which caused Gaara to freeze, the sand going on defense. Hinata blinked at him and suddenly, before she could blink again, he reached across the table and gripped her shirt before throwing her across the room bodily. She turned to him angrily, Byakugan glaring heatedly and she saw a hooded figure on the other side, the door sucked in a little as though taking a breath before blowing outwards. The sand was shielding Gaara and had encased her seconds before the explosion. She heard the thunk of a multitude of boots now inside the room. The sand washed away from her and left her coughing in a lungful of billowy smoke. A man was coming at her, she saw behind her closed eyelids and her fingertips began to ache. Chakra erupted from her palm when she slapped at him.

It had happened too fast for her to recognize anything beyond that this was a fight. The man she had been fighting suddenly slipped or rather something grabbed him and pulled him down. Gaara already strung up the others with sand, her own guy being crunched about the middle and she winced when she heard a rib crack beneath the pressure. Gaara's eyes, slightly wild, narrowed on one of the goons. "Your sender, who was it?"

The man spat at Gaara, who side stepped the spittle attack and tightened the sand to a deadly embrace. "Answer."

One of them wincing, squirmed and whimpered out, "Hag…inn keeper." He shrieked at the sound of his arm popping out of his socket, "Told us you were just kids!" the sand was swallowing their facial features now. Hinata turned away quickly when she knew his infamous attack came into play. The exact same one he had used at the Chuunin Exams and the one he used on many of his unfortunate victims, the one he would use on her but without killing her.

"Desert Funeral."

She ignored the tears that wanted to squeeze from her eyes when she heard their screams and made herself die quickly, blanking out her emotion; something she'd learned from Gaara. Corpses dropped to the ground and she was moving before he could tell her, throwing things into her pack, arming herself with weapons. Turning to Gaara, she found him gone. Hurrying to pull her sandals on, she began rushing and scrambling out to find him. Running through the hallway, now cluttered with terrified people all screaming and trampling over each other like maddened beasts. In the front desk of the inn, an old, wrinkly crone sat there in terrified shock.

A wave of sand stood at the ready for signal behind Gaara, and time sort of just…stopped. Movement ceased to exist while Hinata gripped the pack's straps that lingered over her tired shoulders and sound had never been borne. The inn keeper, sensing another turned slowly to Hinata and her mouth was gaping. Her eyes darted back to Gaara and with sudden spontaneity, she ejaculated out from her horrid, yellowed lips, "Sand nin!" her eyes slid back to Hinata who was approaching Gaara slowly, but she never took her eyes off the old crone. The old woman's lips twisted and she spat out vindictively a curse most foul to Hinata, "Hyuuga whore!" she pointed a gnarled finger the girl's way and the pointer tip wavered, shivering in fright. The sand was on the move and Hinata jumped when she felt it grate against her skin, her Byakugan having faded she hadn't foreseen it behind her.

Swarming around the old woman, she saw contempt; hatred against the Hyuuga family and she wondered why the old woman hadn't attacked earlier. Her eyes grew lax and glazed when the sand started cracking bones. The world wasn't there anymore.

Then, like that, they were on the move again, the sunlight heating their footsteps and Rain nin coming at them, sand knocked them away and Hinata pushed them back with weapons; betrothed to a valuable clan or not, they had attacked civilians. Taking an off course, they veered through the marketplace to cause disruption and seek opportunity. Hinata was right behind Gaara who was moving too quickly for her to keep up properly though she could see him through bodies. Catching up as much as she could, wriggling between people, she caught hold of his shirt and her grip tightened when he sent a fierce glare back at her, which was conveniently disregarded. He was moving and dragging her behind him forcefully, he'd snap at her later of course, but now she was…

Counting on him. Not…dependant. Her grip tightened marginally while they moved swiftly, his broader shoulders shoving people aside and predatory aura driving some away. The commotion of stirred up ninja, a whole colossi of them hot on their heels. She gulped and didn't bother to deactivate her Byakugan before moving a bit closer behind Gaara who was looking about the crowd for a way out; her brows furrowed. Why was he running, usually in these cases, she would have to distract him from fighting. She looked a little more and she saw why-he probably spotted him far before she did. A bear masked man was moving swiftly after them, and in her unusually visual advantage, she saw many more Rain ninja heading their way. The bear masked man was all she could see.

They were out of the crowds now and Gaara pushed off from the ground, Hinata relinquishing her grip from his shirt was at his side only separated by a few feet and her palms were burning. Up the side of a tall building, three were behind them and one on each side of them, the bear one running side by side at Hinata. He was closing in when Hinata brought her palm down vertically, a chakra line cutting at the building and slicing at his uniform a little. He dodged and tried again and the same thing happened. Sand was knocking them all aside and Gaara was gaining speed, despite his gourd, he was still faster than she. The bear masked ANBU was rushing at Hinata but suddenly had to leap over a sand swipe which came back down and snagged Hinata around her waist, dragging her along speedily. She was propelled over the building and onto a roof of a house, Gaara quite a bit ahead of her and going in a different direction.

Gathering her wits, she moved forward and the Byakugan watched carefully as the masked ANBU fell into her one small blind spot. She drew out a shuriken and a kunai, preparing herself for hand to hand combat. Warmth wrapped about her before the man could attack, and he was blown away by an indomitable wall of sand. A tendril of sand had wrapped about her waist and tossed her next to Gaara, "Move."

-

The Rain ninja had chased them till sundown, wave after wave of them attacking, seeing as they couldn't expose themselves as Konoha ninja lest they give the impression that Konoha was spying on them and it wouldn't help matters that they had to crush the assassins and the sender. Hinata collapsed partially on a worn tree, chest heaving and most of her chakra drained, her Byakugan fading out from sheer exhaustion. Her abdomen strained even more and her lips were stained with blood from her fits. Coughing, she reached weakly for the potion in her pack and pulled it out; with a spoon she dipped into it with a shaking hand and downed the slop. Heaving unevenly for breaths and having her abdomen clench periodically due to extreme strenuous activity, she hoped it was nothing more than bruises and strained muscles.

Slumping against the tree and sliding down ungracefully, she waited for Gaara who was patrolling or something. Drawing her knees about her chest, she hugged them and rested her head on trembling knees. Running so much and defending herself had drained her energy completely and while Gaara was only winded, she was practically melting. Her eyes drooped and she looked over at her already pitched tent. Her eyes slid shut and her system grew lax from the whole tiring event of today.

A prod none to gently at her aching shoulder when she'd taken a powerful blow from a Rain ninja who had been a Chuunin, made her eyes flutter open, lashes kissing her cheeks like butterfly wings. Glaring at the sand that only leaked back to the gourd, she urged her body up and cheered when she was able to, trudging wearily to the little tent and basically just…timber. She fell to the pillow and didn't look outside to see that Gaara was crouched by the fire. Sleep overtook her and unnoticeably, Gaara looked over at her for a bit before returning his gaze to the fire.

Today hadn't been promising at all; if the indication that Konoha may be at possible ends with Rain since one of the Chuunin she had gone against may or may not have known about Hyuuga traits. None the less, it had to be reported to Tsunade immediately so their side of the story was shared as quickly as possible. The fire crackled and popped merrily, hungrily-There's something wrong with that girl…usually she'd be a little more useful…I smell her. Gaara knew he could, as her blood was stained near him due to her coughs. He didn't know why exactly she was acting the way she was-protective of her abdomen and even screaming when a Chuunin merely tapped it. Women…Shukaku muttered faintly and Gaara had a theory that was possible-however her scent wasn't altered for it yet. It was something else-Mayhap we broke her? Shukaku was laughing with something ugly in his tones. Gaara cast another look to his female companion. It was a high possibility.

She was very breakable, he remembered Naruto mentioning it quite a few times before he'd left. "Hinata-chan…she's like…glass, like Kurenai-sensei said, she'd real breakable…she said something about cutting you up too…" Breakable. Fragile. A figure meant to be placed on a high shelf away from childish hands (Naruto's clumsy ones) and cruel ones (his own blood covered ones), not to be traveling or anything. Had he had something akin to sympathy, he would have carried her earlier. If he was a better person, he'd go easier on her. If, perhaps, maybe, were, was, should, could, would…all were meaningless. To Gaara, the here was that she was probably wounded and it was his fault, and the now was that their mission was already chopped up to begin with, just more so. If he were a good, decent person with a sense of justice, he'd apologize to her and try to make it better and call the mission off since she didn't deserve this.

Unfortunately to her and all who held her even the tiniest bit dear; he was Sabaku no Gaara.

The fire popped and he added another stick, watched the fire devour it greedily. He rested an arm on a raised knee, watching the fire and Hinata sleep. She clutched the blankets a little tighter to her, and snuggled into herself like a little furred creature.

Nightingales unlocked nocturnal throats and sang to the night, the forest was damp and out of the Rain territory, now on unclaimed land they were in the middle of nowhere. Gaara closed his eyes and listened to everything-even Shukaku with half an ear. It was nearly a full moon, again.

-

Susceptible (easily affected emotionally)

Naw, you guys are so sweet! You review all the time and you all keep tabs on this fic. Thank you for your acknowledgements and support and major ego boosters! –does good guy pose- Hope this chapter was better than the last as it sort of shows Hinata's thoughts in a weird way…o.o…

Lucky number seven…this chapter is a product of listening to Aquarius by Within Temptation over and over again. If you listened after reading this…you would understand. O.O Review if ya liked it! (or wanna yell at me) Also…for my up coming one shot…breathing through someone else in a kiss…is sexier than frenching. XP