::chapter 10::
He was out. Killing again she supposed. The snow was twirling outside. She could see it through the window of the hotel room. It illuminated the night so it seemed less darker than it truly was.
It depressed her.
She was born in winter.
She knew she would die in winter.
Kenshi's whistling breathing tore her eyes away from the flakes hypnotizing her to drive it towards its source.
Bronchitis. Burning fever. Coughs. Pain. A lot of it.
It was her fault. She should have insisted for them to settle down before winter started. Kiba became too insensitive towards his son to even think about it, Akamaru could bear anything and Hinata was too silent to even dare peeping a word about their situation.
Living was already too demanding for her so talking wasn't even an option. Each stutter she would utter softly was a precious present Kiba would cherish until the next would come to replace it.
Her doe-like orbs brushed over the sleeping silhouette in the corner of the room.
Her poor little baby.
If only she had had the courage of fighting a bit more.
Naruto had been right the day he had told her she was acting like a child. A coward.
She had always ran away. Ran away from her father's spite. Escaped the mixed feelings towards her cousin that pushed her into horrible sufferance. Fled from the responsibilities of a clan heiress.
The only time she had not cowered away was the day she had accepted Kiba. It was as if claws had seized her and violently pushed her into his strong arms. As if chains around her neck attached her to him. She didn't care if he would become a blood-hungry beast. A feeling lacking tool. He fascinated her like never before anybody had done. Everything in him attracted her. Intoxicated her. She loved him free, savage, blunt, beastly, violent, without shame. Everything she never could be.
She wasn't even sure that if he was missing one of those traits she would adore him enough to be following him so willingly into darkness.
His being crushed the last remains of a possible love for Neji and admiration for Naruto only to fill her mind with images of him.
Kenshi stirred under his covers.
She sighed deeply. Kiba had destroyed so much in her only to rebuild it all as he wanted.
Foot steps could be heard in the hallway.
The grip on the kunai she had been clutching to for hours now tightened dangerously. She didn't like people nearing her room. She wasn't stupid enough not to be aware of the fact that they were wanted for all the murders and mysterious disappearances of highly confidential documents. She had told him to be more subtle but once his blood rage started it couldn't even be stopped by her calming voice. He would not only slaughter the people he was paid for but all their entourage as well.
He definitely was not careful enough.
The steps were getting closer by the minute. It seemed they were heading towards her room. A sigh escaped Kenshi's lips.
She hadn't taken the time to study the steps of the servants bringing her her diner. It was quite reckless from her considering the fact that her Byakugan became almost useless because she hadn't taken care of it. It was a real sufferance to use it now.
She heard a little knock on the wooden panel of the shoji.
If it had been any special forces, they would have broken into the room, shattered everything around, beaten her up, maybe killed Kenshi while they were at it, but she frankly doubted they would have knocked politely before entering and butchering the living in the room.
It wasn't Kiba either. He was slier and never entered by the door. He appeared to have a preference for the window, which Akamaru's big self personally despised.
It only could be someone from the hotel.
She did her best to stand up on her weak legs. She had been sitting on them for hours now, so they lost their sense of sensibility as much as stability.
Each step was painful, however not as much as the hunger gnawing at her stomach. A loud growl escaped her intern organs, making her damn that useless body of hers.
Once she was standing in front of the shoji, she obliged herself to take again the same position she had bore for too long, as to slide de panel open.
Her fine, white fingers, reminding of sticks of porcelain, slipped easily into the little wooden opening for her to push the gliding door aside.
It was moving on a screeching sound as to warn her not to open further.
Nevertheless, it was too late.
The opening did not reveal a woman as expected, but a broad-shouldered man dressed in a plain white yukata matching hers where only a glimpse of a mesh shirt could be noted around the collar.
Her lips parted slightly in shock, calling a smirk on his own.
"I found you. Again."
°°
Holding her hand, he was running as fast as he could without tiring her, hoping not to be late. I he was, he would have to witness Hiashi's outburst on his six-year old niece, and he wasn't sure he would be able to withhold his rage towards his brother, Sôke or not.
It was a shame to see such a composed man permit his sentiments to overflow him to the measure of almost beating to death his own child.
Hanabi however would have luck. Her father wouldn't do twice the mistake. In the beginning, Hinata had been judged skilled, almost the same level as Neji when he was her age. The only thing she gave the impression to lack was a certain quantity of chakra. Nevertheless, her speed and sharp reflexes for a child that young could compensate to some extent her deficiency in other matters. However, it had never been enough for Hiashi. At three he started training her as if she was a genin. When she couldn't succeed his expectations and the goals he was setting for her, she would be insulted and beaten.
Three broken ribs, fractured right wrist, broken thumb and forefinger on the left hand and a cerebral concussion where Hiashi's record on her, if he remembered well. It had been quite a bloody experience. Hizashi had had to call for five men to stop his brother in his fury. And she was only five at that time.
Hiashi never stopped complaining of her supposed weakness that was completely artificial, considering the fact that with his reign of terror over her he created it completely.
How could he expect her to improve when permanently under the horror of failing and getting punished?!
She had not to see loss as a failure but as a source to learn. He had to admit she was not a quick learner. Yet, if only somebody would take the time to explain and encourage her, miracles could get extracted from her minute being.
When training with him, she had never those problems of breaking down or paralyzing from fright. In fact, if she couldn't attack him, at least she could block and dodge a great number of his attacks considering on how young she was. And Neji, when sparring with her, did not have it as easy as it could have seemed.
She of course wasn't a genius as his son, but had quite some talent for those old techniques based on silence, speed and subtlety ancient ninjas, not yet knowing how to use their chakra were recognized on. She was already more advanced in her Shiko wo shinobu (A/N knowledge of the life as to reach a psychological awakening to penetrate the totality of the surroundings before reacting) than Neji would ever be, with his tantrums and strong character. Her Mi wo shinobu (A/N development of the body) would be much better if only her father stopped destroying her in physical ways. As for her Kokoro wo shinobu (A/N mental), at the young age of five she had completely lost it and there was no way, in how hard she worked, that she would ever be able to rebuild it. Only dread would be there as to burn it down more and more each day.
In other words, to him, she was a fossil. A remain of the past. The last of one kind that couldn't adapt. And that was a shame, because, definitely, it would cost her her life.
A faint tug on the sleeve of his yukata made him lower his silver eyes. They have been sprinting for a while now, perhaps she wanted him to carry her. She after all, was still a kid. No. In her non-existent pupils there was no need to be read, only sadness. She had that color her mother loved encaged in her eyes. Lavender.
The very day Hyûga Haruna had died, she and Hinata had been taking care of her beloved lavender plants, perfuming the whole Hyûga compound, a few weeks after Hanabi's difficult birth. The woman, at a certain moment, had started to cough violently, spluttering her blood all over her beloved flowers, under her daughter's horror-struck eyes.
She had fallen asleep that very time and had never woken up again. When Hiashi and he had arrived it was to observe the macabre exhibit of servants crying over Haruna's blood soaked body and Hinata tearing out the flora around her, not a tear staining her pure doll-like flesh, while mumbling words such as: 'I d-don't l-l-like l-l-lavender a-anymore, o-o-oka-san …'
"U-uncle Hi-Hizashi?"
He redirected his attention towards her.
"Hmm?"
He saw a blush creep on her cheeks. Hum, something delicate to ask? She was too young for THE talk, right? He sincerely hoped she was.
"W-why d-doesn't o-o-otô-s-san l-love m-me? H-he l-loves Ha-Hanabi-ne-nee-chan …"
Frankly, he would have preferred THE talk. If he would have traumatized her, at least her heart wouldn't have been damaged.
Yet, he couldn't lie to that sincere and pure Hina-doll (A/N some kind of a doll representing court-ladies, each rich little girl receives quite a set of those for her fifth birthday), not demanding at all, only hopeful.
'What have you done, Hiashi?'
"I don't know, Hinata-hime …"
Those words never were meant to be said to somebody like her. To somebody so fragile … so breakable. He was not Haruna, he was not strong enough to tell her she was loved and desired.
He saw an almost invisible little twitch in the edge of her pulp lips. He was expecting tears to be shed any moment, however they never came. Only the grip on his yukata's sleeve strengthened.
Her voice became even more upset.
"A-and y-you, u-uncle Hi-Hizashi, d-d-d-do y-y-you l-l-love m-me?"
Why did she even have to ask?! Of course he did! She was more his daughter than Hiashi's as he was the only wanting to take care of her!
"Yes, I do, Hinata-hime."
The way his firm voice called her hime washed away her sadness at once. It was neither sarcastic nor respectful. It was his pet name for her. It was tender. She was his tiny princess. His shattered porcelain doll.
Her puzzled features relaxed somewhat, understanding installing itself upon her childish visage.
"T-then i-it's o-okay, U-u-uncle Hi-Hizashi …"
A head popping out from Hizashi's side cheerfully exclaimed itself, sending strands of brownish hair all over his face:
"I love you too, Hinata-chan!"
She let a giggle escape her lips.
"A-Arigato, Neji-k-kun…"
°°
He was towering her, his cold glance inspecting her rigid being.
"No …"
Distress was visible on her face. This was a nightmare. How could he have found them … again. It couldn't be true. This couldn't have happened. The memories of the last time thronged in her mind, closing all breathing orifices.
On of his hands was holding a plate of wood where food had been disposed. He seemed quite relaxed, all the opposite of the last-time Neji. His other hand, beautiful and smooth as they always have been, removed a few strands making his nose wrinkle.
Still, he didn't move from the frame of the shoji, and it appeared to be disturbing him.
"Aren't you going to invite me in, Hinata?"
His voice was so calm and low. He wasn't mad. He seemed perfectly at ease, all the opposite of her.
He stepped in, noting she wouldn't be talking from shock, sliding the gliding panel behind him, smirking at her scooting away from him.
Looking around him, he sighed disappointedly. He had been searching her in all the worst hotels and inns there were around this town and its surroundings, not expecting his dear Hinata to be intelligent enough to hide herself in an expensive and well-built building. She wasn't as unconscious as he would have thought. It only made it more fun to chase after her.
Nearing a low table, he delicately put down the platter without spilling any of the food or tea.
"I just had to say you were my sister and that you were expecting me for them to tell me where you were. I suppose it is because of those eyes we share. A very recognizable trade mark."
He gave an alarming impression of casualty when sitting by the table and pouring himself a cup of tea. Before bringing it to his mouth, he turned his head towards her slender, trembling silhouette, doing its best to disappear in the wall behind her back, holding do hard onto the kunai between her fingers that her knuckles were becoming red.
Lifting an amused eyebrow, a smirk came playing on his lips.
"My! Do you look wild! Compose yourself and come have dinner. I am sure you are starving."
As to prove him right, a growl broke through her stomach. She had no intention of approaching him. However, she noticed how he was between her and Kenshi, dozing in a corner of the room.
She remembered more than well the last time Neji had emerged.
It had almost cost Kiba his life and Kenshi, both of his parents.
It had pushed her to do things she preferred neither to recall nor to come out.
Nevertheless, carefully and suspiciously, she forced herself to stand up for a second time, her eyes painted in the sinister color of lilac.
Her legs were shamefully quivering. Yet, she managed to somehow make unsure steps towards his sitting form, never letting her only arm absconding (A/N frankly, do we use abscond in this sentence) her claws.
His orbs couldn't restrain themselves in urgently swallowing her image in their non-existent pupils. She was different, so much different from the little girl he had known. So much better, as if finally bloomed.
She seemed a somewhat more solid, but not a lot though. What marked him the most however was the spark in those eyes he never had stopped praising … As well as the bitter curve of her pulp crimson lips.
She was at last drowned in harsh realisation and hatred towards the world.
He understood it was his fault. Mostly his fault. He had known since forever her tendencies to masochism and delusion not only destroying her but the people around her.
He was aware he never should have overprotected her. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to abandoning her in her misery. He had let her play around, even if it meant for her to be taken away from him for a certain time. But, when he realized she truly loved Inuzuka, it became way more than a childish game of hers. He shouldn't have let it happen. He had suffered and still did. Each time he had seen her with him, he hadn't wanted to kill them and after slay his abdomen open. He had been accumulating it all. And when she ran away for he-didn't-know-which time, it only unleashed it all. He had to see Inuzuka's life be taken.
She had messed everything up again. He simply knew that in the end, it was all her fault. While he had her in the same territory as him, he could have watched over her naïve yet dangerous behaviour. Protect her from herself as well as others from her.
And he loved all the poisonous feelings she was making him resent, knowing she was a venom only he was immunised against.
°°
The way she pulled on her frail silver chain drew all the attention towards her long neck.
It was stainless however crossed by faint tinted lines. As pale as the snow if not translucent. His vision moved as his head did, from the fine veins of her throat to her full mouth. A ripe fruit only begging to be bitten in and savoured. The shade in the edges of her lips reminded of the extremities of the petals of a crimson rose starting to darken.
Yet, even if his eyes were admiring her physiognomy, she appeared to have more important to say and do than be a target for his thoughts. He would have liked if she had at least let the time to his mind to compose a few opinions about those expressive eyes of hers, her most enthralling charm.
Nevertheless, at the scowl she was displaying, he could deduce there was no time for his inner fantasies.
The branches of the peach-tree she was kneeling under, their leaves moving in the wind, sent deranging shadow run across her flesh and pale yukata.
Her calm, almost inaudible voice he had been training not to stutter for ages dissipated the invisible haze in his sharp orbs.
He heard the shudder in her tone.
Once her hands extracted the chain completely out from the collar of her attire, a miniature flask, full of an unknown white substance, started dancing from it.
His first and truthful thought had been to name the powder poison.
The dark hues on her face were modifying her traits in a strange manner. Each shade took away from her beauty, to add to the quasi-invisible incongruity of her nose and chin. When light ran away from her face in the movement of the leaves of the peach-tree to leave only darkness, he couldn't disregard how she resembled a Nô (A/N traditional court theatre having inspired Kabuki and the Inoue dances) mask.
Her lips started juddering. He caught the glimpse of tears welling up in her eyes.
Gently, he extended his arm to grab the chain she now was holding out for him to take. Once the flask opened, he poured a certain amount of the substance in his palm, bringing it to his mouth where his tongue was awaiting to snatch it and taste.
It was alkaline. The flavour of course. He was familiar with its savour, however he couldn't place a name on it. It was a very old poison. Made of peach kernels (A/N that poison truly exists, however I don't remember its name, I don't know how to make it, which is good, and it's not very effective, used in medieval times). It was long to prepare and to kill one it had to be consumed in great amounts. Yet, if taken in little quantities but regularly, it could put a liver or a kidney out of function. Or both.
His eyes shot wide-open in shock at a certain thought. It just couldn't be.
Her head was hanging low, her long black tresses of silky hair covering her facial expression.
The only person that would have been able to create such a substance was his aunt, Hyûga Haruna. Not Hinata. Not his innocent lily.
But still …
And how would she have been capable of disguising the taste? He loved bitter tea! His one and only weakness.
"He had to pay …"
She spoke again. Finally. Sadly.
"He had to suffer just as Hanabi does …"
That was all Hinata. You could harm her as much as you wanted, she wouldn't react. Until you touched her family … Then, a beast, horrible, painted in grudge, was unleashed. Her conscience in those moments vanished without a note.
He approached her a little more, kneeling down as she had, to pull her in a comforting embrace.
Nobody would ever find out the reason of Hyûga Hiashi's strange disease. Neji would make sure of that.
°°
"If I would be you, I would put that kunai down. You wouldn't want to be hurt like last time …"
Why had he always to remind her of that? Even if he always talked about love, to her it appeared more like he appreciated making her suffer. She was sure he enjoyed the pain drawn across her now stiff features, the way shivers would cross her seated body, the blood on her bitten lower lip. He did not love her, he loved how she made him feel.
She doubted he would ever sacrifice anything for her.
He wanted her as a trophy, to show her off.
At least, that was the impression she had.
An uncomfortable silence installed itself between them, timed by Kenshi's whistling breathing.
Even if panic ran the biggest part of her brain at the moment, she couldn't restrain her glance to wander over Neji's symmetrical traits, making her remember her little girl fantasies before Naruto crashed head first into her mind.
Neji had been … so unreal. Everything about him had been amazing her when she was younger. All the girls found Sasuke incredible, but for Hinata there was no one better than her breath-taking pseudo-brother. At that time, she was already friends with Kiba. She had always found him great as well, yet in another manner.
If anybody had told her she would finish up banning herself from her clan, marrying Kiba , bearing his child and finally leaving Konoha, she would have … fainted for sure.
"You are quite pensive, aren't you?"
His voice wasn't matching his actual expression. It was warm and welcoming while his clear eyes sent daggers at her.
She perceived the birth of a small smirk, caused, she supposed, by her aghast face. She must have seemed on the border of tears, which she was.
"Hmm. It appears I will have to converse for both of us …"
He cocked an inquisitive brow, but as no answer came, lowered it.
"I am sure you would like to know how I found you this time, considering the fact Inuzuka was way more careful than before."
The way he pronounced Kiba's family name proved his intentions. This time, Hinata thought they were lost.
Before he continued, he took another sip of tea, handing her with his free hand a bowl disposed on the plate.
As she didn't budge to reach for it, he just put it down in front of her, sighing some more of disapproval.
"That very time you escaped me, it left quite a bitter taste in my mouth. Of course, Aburame paid as well as all those that lived in the village. Do you remember that little girl? What was her name? Saki? The one just like Hanabi. The one calling you Hinata-nee-san. I am sure you recall her. She was a sweetheart. Such an adorable girl. Too bad she had to die the way she did. You know, if you weren't so stubborn and had followed me instead of fleeing, I would have spared her life, as well as the existence of all those missing-nins … But, they were only missing-nins, and if I haven't gotten rid of them, somebody else would have."
He had started quite aggressively. He had wanted to hurt her. To feel her shatter in between his fingers. However, when quivers became replaces by sobs and tears, he had to soothe her. In the best way he knew.
Yet he didn't stop talking.
It hurt her.
He had wanted it.
But not anymore.
He was sorry.
He had to continue.
"I thought you wouldn't get far enough to escape. Ryôshi had made sure your Inuzuka wouldn't survive. But I have underestimated you. You seem to know too well were I wouldn't be looking for you. Do you realize what your half-breed is charged against? Multiple murders, the massacre of an ANBU, deserting and betrayal … An A-ranked missing-nin. His head costs way more than all that money you made by butchering and stealing."
Big drops of crystal were now hitting the tatami in a regular rhythm.
"It took me a whole year to find you for a second time …"
Why was he doing that to her? Why? Why her nii-san? Why again? Weren't they friends not so long ago?
Her voice broke when she asked him.
"W-why?"
His muscles tensed, especially around his jaw. A sneer escaped his lips.
Almost violently he put down his cup.
In one endeavour, he was in front of her, between the table and her knees. He became fast. He always had been faster. In shock, she scooted away for a second time, until her back hit the wall behind her.
And again, he found himself towering her, rage running through his white orbs.
"'Why?' 'WHY?' How dare you ask something like this?! Hinata … you are cruel."
And he meant it.
He had been ready to give her anything. His life, his heart, anything. He had always only been passionate about her. She had had his adoration during childhood, his hate throughout adolescence and finally, his love in adulthood. His feelings for her have been so strong, so pure that he had almost killed her and after, accepted for her not to be his. Almost …
He crouched down, his knees encaging hers. He noted her frightened glance brushing down the visible tsuba (A/N hilt of a katana) of the katana strapped to his back.
She hadn't let go of the kunai, but when one of his hands grabbed it, she almost pushed it away.
"Good girl …"
The one hand not occupied with the kunai raised itself towards her jaw, tracing its line with his cool fingers, his thumb caressing her sensitive, pulp lips.
She felt something on it. Maybe an old scar on his thumb.
An old scar she remembered more than well.
°°
She was sitting by herself again. He never understood why she wouldn't mix with her cousins. He supposed it was because of her sickening shyness. And it was good that way, he could keep her for himself. He on the opposite had plenty of friends all over the Hyûga compound and at the academy he just entered a year ago.
He could have entered two years ago but otô-san thought he was too young, not mature enough and … maybe a little of a show-off …
He approached her, trying to be just as silent as she was usually. She really was cute, even if he preferred long-haired girls.
They looked more like … girls.
"Ohayo, Hinata-chan."
She jumped from surprise. She hadn't seen him? She was really daydreaming a lot.
"So, how was your first day at the academy?"
She had entered one year before her normal age. That's because she was brilliant! She knew a lot more than him about … anything. However, he was a way better fighter than she would ever be. She knew the name of jutsus and all that theory, but he was the one using them. And it was good that way!
"It w-was o-okay, n-nii-s-san … I m-made a n-new f-friend …"
He didn't like the sound of that. He let her go one minute out of his sight and she already replaced him! At least, he hoped it was a girl.
"His n-name i-is K-Kiba. I-Inuzuka K-Kiba, I t-think …"
A boy?! AN INUZUKA BOY!
He liked his little scared cousin. He liked her that way and only that way. He wanted to be her only friend. She was not aloud to have other friends.
As he was older, taller and stronger he only had to seize her by the shoulders and push her to the wall she was leaning her back on.
"You like him more than me."
He had not to shout to scare her. Her lavender-tinted eyes widened in surprise and fright. She didn't seem to understand why he was touching her when she knew he loathed physical contacts between humans.
"N-nii-s-san ..?"
His orbs from friendly passed to furious. He sneered.
"You like him more than me."
How dared he even think about something like that?! She was friends with him for now two years and Kiba, she had just met him. She found him funny and nice, but nii-san was … her nii-san.
"N-no, I d-don't!"
Her shaky statement did not appear to relieve Neji. His grip on the flesh of her shoulders only intensified.
"You are lying, Hinata."
His voice became deeper, more manlike. Not childish. It only increased the bad feeling that was starting to form itself in her stomach.
She was not lying. And she was not ready to be called a liar as well. She flushed deeply. But not of consternation. She was pissed beyond normal.
Violently, not at all in her nature, she shoved his hands away from her shoulders, almost shrieking of rage.
"N-NO, I AM N-NOT! I L-LIKE Y-YOU M-MORE TH-THAN K-K-KIBA-K-K-KUN!"
She expected to receive a slap like from otô-san. However, he answer was greeted by a large, predator-like grin, exposing her cousin's white, shiny teeth.
"Prove it."
She would have never imagined a trivial conversation could turn out like that. But, as she was one stubborn little girl, and the Hyûga heiress, she couldn't let anybody humiliate her that way.
"H-how?"
Her voice was shaking with anticipation. She did her best not to look as pathetic from fright as her otô-san always said she was, yet she couldn't muster her courage as to push away the feeling of something horrible happening.
When Neji retrieved a kunai out of his pocket, her heart skipped a beat. How could he have found such a weapon.
"W-where d-d-d-did y-you g-get that?"
He couldn't hold back a smirk at the sight of her shocked features. He desired her to cry just to be then one comforting her after.
"You promise you love me and only me? I love you, and I am ready to seal my words with blood."
Weren't they a little young to be thinking about blood sealing?
When a shiver crossed her backbone, a sentiment of triumph as much as of grief overwhelmed him.
'She doesn't love me.'
"How do I do it?"
He couldn't believe what he had heard. She hadn't stuttered once when asking him how to exhibit his wrongness.
He felt like crying for the first time of his life.
°°
Maybe was it because of that same scar they were sharing on their respective thumbs of the left hand that she let him burry his lips in the crook of her neck, sucking at a pulsing vein. Way too gently, way too calmly … way too casually.
Once he detached them from her smooth flesh, he approached his head of hers, breathing on her mouth.
His voice by then was only a husky whisper.
"I will tell you why I am doing all this … It is because I love you, and only you … And because you are my belonging and nobody else's …"
His mouth crashed on hers, parting his lips to lick her lower lip.
She did her best to struggle away from his grip, her hands on his broad chest, trying desperately to push him away.
He appeared to forget she also was a jûken user, or perhaps hadn't he thought she would. The truth being he knew she would attack and him being more than prepared to it. He could sense her chakra flow interrupt itself as to concentrate on her hands resting on his chest.
It would have worked on any non-jûken ninja because the physiognomic change was almost imperceptible. You had to see it. And since he had left her mouth to take delicious licks of her throat, collarbone and shoulders, she couldn't take note of his activated Byakugan. When she thought she should bring him down, he only seized both of her wrists in his wide palm pulling her on top of him while he let his back fall on the tatami of the room. In no time, he changed places, she being under him, encaged between his knees, her arms pinned above her head by one of his claws, while the other one was dangerously playing with the piece of long fabric serving her as an obi.
She started trashing even harder, trying to aim for his genitals with her knees.
A smile, of those bone chilling ones, plastered across his features, he lowered his head towards hers as if wanting to attempt to kiss her again. However, he deviated to her ear, as she didn't stop struggling and squirming.
"If I would be you, Hinata, I would be a good girl. You wouldn't want something tragic to happen to your poor, sick baby, would you? He is the way I found you. After I almost did in your Inuzuka, I have been looking around all hospitals and doctors, nin or not, I could find. And –oh, my– at a certain place, I learned quite a few interesting things about you. You seem to enjoy acting like a prostitute. But I suppose it could be considered as a good payment. Yet, after that, I lost you and had to go back to Konohagakure, until a cadaver of one of our shinobis had been found around Amekagure. I did not know you specialised in senbon needles. For anybody, it wouldn't have meant anything. Nevertheless, I noticed some strange things like the perfect precision of their placement. Right in the center of each vital point but the heart. How cruel of you! I am sure they could feel their hearts pumping the poison of your senbon and sending it towards their nervous system. Such a deadly accuracy could only be the fruit of the Byakugan, am I right? Of course, all the hints on your direction were perfectly erased. Your stalker of a husband doesn't seem to like being the target of his own methods. Nonetheless, I knew I would get you there because of the kid …Winter …"
He stopped abruptly his speech, pulling away from her as to examine her now calm body. She was being a good girl, a sobbing good girl. She had stopped struggling, only cried silently.
He would have never thought a kid could mean so much to a woman. Enough for her to execute licentious acts.
"I am sorry you and your mutt have to learn the hard way. I only hope he will get the message."
He sat up, maintaining her hips under him, passing his ANBU katana over his head.
Once he got rid of it, he lowered his upper body again, sending silky locks all over her face, letting his tongue lick away the salty trails of tears running down her cheeks, while his hands still fought with the knot of her pseudo-obi.
Once he undid it and opened the flaps of her yukata, revealing a scarred, translucent skin. Her stomach was shaking at the pace of her sobs. His fingers passed over the remains of her caesarean.
He had very soft hands. Hers have been like that as well before she chose to start working with poisons more actively. She hated his kind of hands. It only proved laziness or coquetry. However, Neji was everything but lazy.
His hands stroking her bared body became more demanding, more intimate, making her wish for more against her will.
His kisses became more passionate, stealing her breath.
He tore himself away from her to look at the now exposed body under his he had craved for.
She was waiting to be broken, begging for death to come soon and deliver her. He loved the image of her displayed weakness under his strength. She made him feel alive.
"P-please N-Neji-n-nii-s-san … I b-beg y-you, d-d-don't …"
She was hushed by the most brutal kiss somebody had ever given her. And she had been living with a blood-craving Inuzuka since a while now.
"Hinata … I am not your brother."
°°
He could feel a strange chakra hub evolving in his surroundings. He had only felt something as violent and strong once. Only once in his existence. Uzumaki Naruto.
It was displacing itself in the darkness of the woods. It was nearing him. Swiftly, noiselessly, his heavy Chinese sword was removed from its sheath. Akamaru by his side whimpered. He must have had the same stomach heaves as him. The same feelings of hatred installing itself little by little in his mind.
With his only functional eye, he scanned the trees. The thing had no odour. Jut like himself. And it did not seem to be human. He felt it nevertheless. If he only had raised his eye to the branch over his head, he maybe would have understood particles of what it was, but he didn't. He only prepared himself to face something that gave the impression of being worse than hell itself. Something making him almost cry, eating him inside.
It remained him of those stories his sister was telling him when he was eight.
' … And then the Gobi will eat your eyes and drink your blood … and explode your body …'
He didn't miss her. He didn't miss anybody. No, he didn't.
The beast, or whatever it was, had sensed him at last, jumping through trees and bushes. He was scared like never before. He wanted to abandon his sword behind and run through the forest towards Iwagakure as fast as he could. Yet, that was the worse thing that could occur. The beast would follow taking his cowardice as an invitation to chase after him. He had to get rid of it the best way he knew or at least harm it as to escape.
A flash of white and red bypassed him in a fraction of a second. It was rapid. The chakra emanating from the being was so strong. He felt as if each one of his particles would disintegrate from that much energy. Akamary let another whimper escape him. He seemed to be aware of the nature of the thing.
'What is it?'
His question was left unanswered as the being launched itself at him in an unimaginable speed.
Before its exposed fangs, bloody from previous fights, could close themselves upon his throat, something fast jumped behind the monstrous thing, raising what appeared to be a blade and fiercely shoved it into the solid ground.
He was awaiting for his death, however it never came. The beast was in front of him, struggling to advance itself or pull him towards its claws. Nonetheless, it couldn't reach him. Something was hindering it in approaching.
The shadow that had jumped behind it, being aware of the fact that the being was covered in chains of all kinds, around his neck, his wrists, his ankles, had seized the opportunity to pass a katana through the ones around his neck in its fall from the branch. At any normal moment, he would have just killed the beast, the guy that saved him from the beast and punish Akamaru for his behaviour. This was everything but normal though.
The thing was little and could have been considered as human without the red liquid smudging the lower part of his face and the veins on the on the right side of its visage popping out around a blank eye. The colour of its hair was white, yet travelled by strands of a darker shade.
It was monstrously disgusting. In an indescribable way.
'Inugami …'
Akamaru's response came a little late to Kiba's likings.
Before he could even think of disposing of the demon, Inugami or not, an arm slithered across its neck. The shadow stepped further into the light of the moon, feebly visible through the foliage.
The creature, in its frustration, bit into the warm and soft flesh under a thick, black fabric, grazing it with its claws.
"G-gômen n-n-naisai … Kenshi …"
Kiba had perhaps after all missed somebody.
°°
"Are you certain of your decision, miss?"
The nurse could not be but concerned about the little woman and her feverish son.
"It is something you will have to think over. If ever the intervention goes wrong, you might become sterile."
The nurse inspected the poor thing facing her. It was a tiny, black haired female, holding a maybe three-year old kid that appeared pooped to her heart.
"I a-am s-s-sure …"
She could have been a prostitute that needed to get rid of another mouth to feed. The nurse sighed in sadness. The world was cruel to young woman such as the one she had been introduced to.
"Very well, but we should take care as well of the child. He seems quite tired and I am concerned about his fever."
The woman nodded her head with uncertainty.
As another nurse approached to take the boy, it tightened its grip on his mother's neck, whispering incoherent words into her ear.
She gently detached her son from her, murmuring sweet words to him. He nodded, after having softly uttered a whining 'Kaa-san'.
"I w-will b-be b-b-back s-soon, K-Kenshi. Get a l-little s-sleep."
She turned her heels. She was in a shinobi hospital which meant she had to be extra careful. But, until somebody noticed she was a missing-nin, she would be out of there. Trailed, but still! She had to get herself out of the trouble she was actually in. Three months of hell. Three months he had left her.
It was not Kiba's. He was way too concerned to let that happen for a second time. After Kenshi, he had sworn he would never have another kid. He was not reckless enough to let it occur again. It was Neji's. It could only be his. And not only was she in no situation to be pregnant regarding her lifestyle and health, but she had no intention in raising a baby that couldn't be loved by her. She was sorry about it, yet it was unwanted.
°°
"Phh! You see that Akamaru? Iwa-nins are pathetic."
A charging ninja got his face caught in his palm. He squeezed it violently, hearing the bones of his skull crackle.
That was the real power of an Inuzuka. Liberated of everything. Nothing could stop him now.
He turned his head around to glimpse at the bleeding bunch of corpses he had left behind. It was funny. They were all dead.
"What do you think? Is their kage better?"
He brushed his blood-stained fingers over his companions silky fur.
Yes, his life would be fun from that day on.