Your Guardian Angel
Chapter 10: Parallels
"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality" – Edgar Allan Poe

"So you do speak," the dark, indifferent voice of Sasuke Uchiha slithered across the walls to her ears. Hinata stepped out of her room and let the lock latch behind her, pressing her back against the outside of the door. She faced the boy standing across from her in the narrow hall. The Hyuuga's face had cooled down, the only pink remaining due to being out in the sun. Hinata couldn't decide whether to be agitated or angry, so instead settled for apathetic. Not even a nod of her head alerted Sasuke that she had heard him.

Hinata looked at the boy's face, trying to get a clear view of it. Most of Sasuke's features were sheltered in darkness, only barely illuminated orange. His mass of raven-colored hair formed a curtain across his eyes. One foot rested on the floor, about a foot from the base of the wall, while the other rested against the wall. The girl took note that the foot propped against the wall was the one she kicked the day before. He wore no purple rope around his waist like Orochimaru did, but a white shirt tucked into his waistband and split open, revealing his chest. Sasuke's arms covered most of the exposed skin, intertwined with one another.

As Hinata's examination came back to it's start, he lifted his head and their eyes latched together. The teen girl wanted to scream. It was as if no matter how much light surrounded them, his eyes devoured it all; any illumination dove into the depths of his onyx orbs and drowned, never to resurface. The Hyuuga understood that time could turn you cold almost better than anyone, but something else had broken within Sasuke. Isolation alone would never turn eyes that sinister.

"What's your name?" Was he ever going to give up on that? Hinata didn't answer.

"You do speak," he repeated, "but you refuse answer when questioned." The prodigy's voice held an undercurrent of irritation. As the Hyuuga heir, Hinata learned how to hide the emotion in her voice, but also how to pick it up in others, no matter how hard they attempted to disguise it with distaste or unconcern. The feeling was always there, you just had to know what to look for. A twitch in the eyebrow, an adjustment in the lips; it was always there. Some people were just better at concealing it. Luckily, Hinata considered herself an expert.

"I speak on my own terms," she responded bluntly, clearly disrespectful of any authority he might possess. He was of no importance to her. What she really wanted to do was spit in his face, but being raised as royalty taught the ex-heiress better than that.

"Main branch," Sasuke commented, his eyes searching hers. For what, she didn't know. Whatever it was, the look in his onyx hues told her he didn't find it. "I can tell by the way you stand. And the lack of…" His voice trailed off as his fingers tapped against his forehead. The twitch of his lips told her there was so much more he wanted to say, so much he was holding back.

Come on then, Hinata thought. Accuse me of thinking myself better than everyone else. Tell me how stuck up I am. Tell me I'm wrong. Beat down my self-confidence. You know you want to.But the rogue ninja held his tongue. Hinata heard he was a man of few words. All the rumors were proving to be true.

The girl adamantly refused to answer his question, simple as it may seem. Though they never spoke back at the academy, and hardly even looked at each other for that matter, that didn't mean he wouldn't recognize her name. Sasuke studied everyone, everything, if only for the sole purpose of knowing. Power and knowledge were his life supports. That's what he sought in abandoning Konoha, wasn't it? By revealing her name, Sasuke could pull up anything about her he could remember. And most of that would most likely include failed missions, becoming nearly disowned by her father as the Hyuuga heiress, and her dismal loss to Neji in the Chunin exams. Hinata refused to give him that advantage. She would know more about him than he knew of her, and it would be her little secret.

"You are perceptive. My name," she said slowly, almost mocking him after their elongated moment of silence, "is Hyuuga Honami, main branch member of the Hyuuga family of Konohagakure. My friends call me Hona." The lie slid smoothly from her lips without even a pulse in her eyelid as she blinked. Hinata held his stare solidly, careful not to break it.

Sasuke almost smirked. It made her sick.

"Well, Hona," he said, not bothering to add any sort of honorific, "Yo—"

"Uchiha-san," Hinata cut him off, her voice slicing over top of his. The girl's eyelids narrowed over her marble orbs and her glare was almost as acidic as her voice. "You and I are not friends."

Her voice was a challenge in his ears. Sasuke attempted to keep his cool disposition. Neither one of them moved. In no way did Sasuke plan on letting this invalid girl think she had the upper hand. No, the war was just beginning, and in no way was he going to lose this battle.

"Hn," he grunted, trying to get another reaction out of her. When it didn't come Sasuke chose his words carefully before speaking. "I wasn't under the impression that we were, Hyuuga-sama."

Honami closed her eyes. Her chest rose and fell with a heavy breath, and she rolled her shoulders, steadying herself before replying. The main branch member eyed Sasuke strangely, as if the comment insulted her. "Hyuuga-sama is the label given to those that control our clan," she informed him, her voice carefully controlled. "I never wish to be one of them, let alone be given the same title." There was almost an undercurrent of bitterness in her last few words.

Sasuke found this statement interesting, to say the least. All he ever wanted was recognition, power, leadership, knowledge. Being the head of a clan would give him those four things in their entirety. The girl that stood before him now had all of that in her grasp, all of it in eyesight. The prodigy studied the Hyuuga enough to understand how they trained their future leaders. The preparation and teaching was demanding and rigorous, but rewarding. And in the end they were revered as the most talented and influential clan in all of Konohagakure. Even the Hokage couldn't interfere in their family affairs. How anyone could have that sitting on their lap then walk away from it was beyond him.

"Then what would you prefer to be called?" he finally asked the girl across from him.

"Honami-san will suffice," she responded, all traces of emotion escaping her voice.

Sasuke nodded. "Well, Honami-san, it's time to train."

Sasuke took his stance across the room from Honami. The last spar was taijutsu only. This time the prodigy would see just exactly what this girl was capable of. Getting a couple blows in during their spar the previous day was just luck on her part. Sasuke wouldn't give her that much leeway this time, but his Kekkei Genkai was not needed. Not yet.

Across the dimly lit room the boy watched his new student with curious eyes. Honami's feet slipped shoulder-width apart underneath her and she bent her thin legs low. One leg slid out farther in front of her to maintain balance. Sasuke noticed idly that his opponent had opted not to wear the netting, leaving just the navy tank top to hug her thin waist and shoulders. The Hyuuga girl's chest shifted as one arm bent, letting her hand rest low at her hip, and the other extended straight out in front of her. Both palms faced open towards the Uchiha heir.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, taking his own stance. Much more relaxed than his opponent, he stood with his feet shoulder width apart, let the arm farthest away from Honami hang down at his side, and lifted the other with his hand cupped, knuckles facing the girl. "Spar."

"Byakugan," Honami's quiet voice echoed in the stone room. Not even hands seals were used this time, and Sasuke watched in interest as thin veins began to protrude from the skin around her eyes, creating an intricate weave of mountains and valleys around her marble orbs like a mask. She blinked her eyes quickly, as if using her Kekkei Genkai pained her, but quickly recovered. Her blank eyes no longer seemed to stare intently upon him, but instead to see through him. And considering her bloodline, that assumption probably wasn't far from the truth.

"Spar."

Hinata activated her Byakugan, sending chakra to her ocular pathways. As the blue energy made its way to her eyes, the girl cringed. She had yet to fully recover from her travel and the spar the day before. Her head ached, using her Byakugan was painful, and she could already feel strain on her chakra reserves. Unfortunately, she would have to bear the pain for now.

Hinata studied her subject intently from across the room. His stores of chakra were unusually large and swirled brightly in her vision. She concentrated on his eyes first, noticing the unusual amounts of energy stored behind them even without his Sharingan. The Hyuuga girl had never seen so much chakra in that area except when fighting other members of her clan… ex-clan.

Other than that everything looked normal. Sasuke wasn't preparing anything yet, too closely examining her to make a move. Still, the amount of chakra combined with its swirling patterns told Hinata that he was ready to strike at a moment's notice. She could see where energy lingered in his fingers and feet, prepared for any nin or tai jutsu he might need, and which chakra paths had been used more than others. Obviously Sasuke's chakra control was excellent. It must be, Hinata figured, if he was really as good as everyone said. But there was one thing the ninja genius seemed to be forgetting.

Never leave an opening, especially when you're the one giving orders to attack.

Hinata shot forward towards her opponent. Two steps and a correct hit to the shoulder would be enough. Maybe she would end this fight quickly before her chakra ran out. She needed more sleep, more time to recuperate. Though she couldn't see it, if she aimed right and hit the tenketsu it would freeze Sasuke for just a few seconds. If she missed, maybe it would at least take him off guard. That was all she needed to be able to hit his pathways in the correct pattern. Just two steps…

Sasuke started when Honami attacked. He really didn't think she'd do it, but still berated himself for letting her get so close with such slow reaction on his part. One more step and he would have been out before the game had even begun. Making sure to move quickly, Sasuke switched positions with his opponent before the girl knew what was happening.

Hinata's outstretched palm fell hard against thin air, diving through open space where Sasuke's shoulder was not even a second before. Hoping to end the spar that quickly was just wishful thinking. The girl slid a foot out to the side, letting it follow around in front of her and returning her body back to its traditional fighting stance. The rotation was executed smoothly around in a full one hundred and eighty degree turn without so much as a stumble or air of frustration. Then again, Hinata had had a lot of practice when it came to spinning.

Though internally she criticized herself for attacking so recklessly, Hinata's disposition was secure. She faced Sasuke with her heightened vision, his form a swirl of blue energy and black empty space. He was more prepared now. Her eyes ached, but Hinata just pushed the pain to the back of her mind. She had to do this.

"Come at me," Sasuke commanded solidly. All he had to do was keep avoiding her blows. The Hyuuga fought in close range, and dodging Honami enough to frustrate her would give Sasuke his opening. Just two seconds of lost concentration and Honami would be his. This was going to be easy. Her attack was so predictable it was almost comical. The only reason she was able to hit him the day before was because Sasuke underestimated her, a fact he wasn't proud of. Unfortunately for her case, he wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Hinata didn't dare to blink. Between the steadily increasing pain around her eyes, attempting to keep the flow of chakra steady, and trying to focus on Sasuke, she could barely think straight. Her breath was even at least; that was a good sign. Read his chakra, read his chakra… Hinata jumped into the air, leaving Sasuke no time at all to assess her actions. The Hyuuga girl kept her eyes wide and watched his movements while she came down upon him. Just an inch more…

Sasuke let her get close on purpose. The nearer your enemy gets before they fail and have to try again, the more abrasive their attacks become. She was putty in his hands.

Air again, but she saw it coming that time. Still it made Hinata irate, knowing she could have hit him. All of Sasuke's motions appeared in slow motion to her, showing up in her Byakugan before he actually moved. But the teen knew his pattern now, and that was the important part. When she ran directly at him, his movement was backwards first, then up and over. But when she came down on top of him, Sasuke ran forward, almost as if he made an attempt to hit her. However, during the second escape he had to stay low to the ground in order to actually get under her.

Both times, in her hindsight, Hinata watched as the dark figure turned to face her as soon as he dodged. The boy never turned his back on his opponent.

Smart, she concluded, facing him once again from opposite ends of the room. They were back in their original spots. Smart, yes, but also predictable.

"I said, come at me," his deep voice crept across the stone, molding with it, and continued up her legs to her lower back and spine, then finally to her head where they reverberated ominously. The pain around her eyes reached a peak as Hinata obeyed to the command, running straight forwards, trying to predict his movements through her steadily blurring vision. The prodigy stood with his feet planted, completely calm.

Then, in the very middle of the room, arm straight out in front of her, Hinata's sight vanished and she tripped, landing face first on the floor.

"I said come at me!"

Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she tried to maintain a steady breathing pattern. There was a heavy ringing in her ears, like a metallic bell. Blood pounded in her temples and across her eyelids as her heart raced, trying to keep up with her lungs and her hands and her feet. They were moving so fast, and she'd been keeping it up for so long. She just wanted to stop, just for a moment. But she knew there was absolutely no chance of that happening any time soon.

A seven- year-old girl with big white eyes stared at a fully-grown man calmly positioned on the opposite side of the teak floored room. Short midnight colored hair clung to her sticky skin, plastered to her forehead and neck while her one-piece black training outfit hugged her thin body uncomfortably. It was an odd scene, considering they were sparring and the man was obviously three times as old and four times as large. But at that moment they were partners in training… sort of. "Partners" wasn't exactly the word the girl would use to describe it. More like master and slave.

When she didn't move right that instant, the man's voice rang deadly cold through the thinly walled room again. "I said come at me, Hinata!"

The girl rushed forward, focusing her underdeveloped Byakugan on her father. The young heir counted in her head as she rapidly ran through the motions of the form they were practicing, missing over half of the marks. Before she had even finished, her father pushed her back across the room with just one hand. Hinata's feet tripped over one another, throwing her back against the wooden post holding up the wall. Her head whipped backwards against the pole hitting it squarely at the crown of her head. The adolescent's thin neck nearly snapped upon her shoulders.

Hinata couldn't move, she couldn't see, she couldn't breathe. Everything stopped around her as she tried not to move her neck. Footsteps made their way into her conscious mind and something in her noticed the shadow lingering over her small body when the footsteps stopped just in front of her.

"Open your eyes, Hinata," Hiashi ordered harshly as only he seemed able to do. Why was he yelling at her? His voice was so loud.

When his daughter didn't follow his instructions, he applied pressure to her ankle with his foot. Hinata attempted to do he said. But even with incentive, the child could hardly lift her eyelids enough to see. Her Byakugan disappeared but breathing remained ragged. And why wouldn't that ringing just go away?

"Get up." The girl tried to move, but it seemed as if every bone in her body froze. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it quickly as a sharp pain shot right through the tender area on her head. Again and again she tried to speak, tried to move, opening and closing her thin lips like a fish out of water. But every time her head protested and the pressure on her lungs tightened and stung as if an imaginary force was wrapping rope tighter and tighter around her insides. Blood beat behind Hinata's eyes, trying to force her eyelids shut when she knew she couldn't close them.

"Pathetic," her father's words spit down upon her before he turned his back and left the room, releasing the pressure on her ankle and closing the door behind him. Seven-year-old Hinata let her eyelids fall as she gave into the pain radiating through her small body. Silent tears tumbled from closed marble orbs.

Why was she born into a clan with such a strict, sick idea of training? Why was she given a destiny she clearly couldn't fulfill? What had she ever done to lose everything important to her? What had she done to deserve to be treated like a burden?

Who was she kidding? The poor girl thought. Being born to the Hyuuga clan was an honor in itself, let alone being born into the main branch family. Everything was set in place for her. It shouldn't matter that her mother was dead. She was a burden. Everything was handed to her on a silver platter; she just wasn't strong enough to keep up with it all.

Even still, there was only so much pain, so much pressure anyone could take, let alone a little girl. When would he realize that? She wondered. When would he stop hurting her?

Sasuke watched Honami fall face first into the stone floor, her body reacting as if in response to a binding jutsu. She just stopped in the middle of her attack, arm outstretched and legs frozen, none of her limbs even acknowledging the fact that they would need to catch her. He watched the bizarre event as Honami hit the floor with a sickening crunch, her outstretched arm folding underneath her thin body.

The prodigy waited for her to get up apprehensively. Something wasn't right, Sasuke thought. Honami should be getting up, even if she was hurt. There should be motion, noise, anything to let him know she was still conscious. But perhaps she wasn't conscious at all. Maybe something grabbed hold of her mind and took her out of time for just a few moments, her body not catching up with the real world.

Sasuke, however, was not about to take any chances. If that was supposed to be some sort of joke, something to lure him close to her, it wasn't going to work. As more time passed, however, Honami didn't even move an inch. Sasuke could barely even tell if she was breathing.

Cautiously Sasuke approached Honami, vigilant and ready to react at the slightest indication of movement. When he got close enough to reach out and touch her, the dark figure stood over his new student, casting a shadow down upon her motionless form. He nudged her with his foot, rolling the girl over on her side. As soon as Honami's face was off the floor, a shuddering breath rattled down her throat into her chest, as if she were cold. Nearly translucent eyelids squeezed tighter together over her purple white hues. The Hyuuga cradled her right arm against her chest.

"Open your eyes, Honami," a familiar voice ordered harshly in a tone she had only heard from one other person. Hinata could recognize that timbre anywhere. Why was she being yelled at again? His voice was so loud.

When his charge didn't respond immediately to his instructions, Sasuke applied pressure to her abdomen with his foot, positioned over the girl's body as if he owned her. This damn girl! What the hell is wrong with her? I told her to open her eyes; that's an easy enough task to accomplish.

Hinata attempted to do as she was told. But even with his foot ready to crush her waist like a bug, the girl could hardly lift her eyelids enough to see out of them, pain radiating through her eyelids and forehead. Her Byakugan was released and her breathing was ragged. Where did that ringing come from? She'd been here before. Oh God… it's happening again.

"Get up." Hinata tried to move, she really did. But like before, every bone in her body objected. She opened her mouth to speak, opening her eyes enough to look at Sasuke's feet through blurry vision. She remained on the ground. As quickly as she had opened them, though, the girl pressed her thin lips back together as another sharp pain shot right through her head.

Again and again she tried to speak, tried to move, opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water. Every time, however, her head protested and the pressure on her lungs tightened and stung. That rope around her organs that she felt so many years ago was back, pulling tighter and tighter. It was so hard to breathe. Blood beat behind Hinata's eyes, trying to force her eyelids shut. But they would stay open, no matter how much it hurt. In addition to the pressure, sharp pains shot up the Hyuuga's arm and through her shoulder. She didn't want to be there. No, she didn't want to be anywhere.

"Pathetic," Sasuke spit down on her before he turned his back and left the room, the pressure on her waist disappearing with him. For a moment she could have sworn it was her father's voice, back for more punishment. Fifteen-year-old Hinata let her eyelids fall. She let herself be submerged into the familiar pain radiating through her wrecked body. Hinata was weak and she could feel it in every bone. Silent tears tumbled from closed marble orbs.

Why did she have to run away from her clan only to find that nothing changed, even in a completely different place with completely different people? Why was she constantly given tasks she couldn't complete? What did her loved ones do to deserve her disappearance? What had she done to deserve to be treated like a burden?

Who was she kidding? The pitiful girl thought. Nothing would ever change. Some part of her knew that, no matter how she attempted to fool herself. Her family gave her everything on a silver platter and now she had absolutely nothing. It didn't mattered that her mother was dead. She'd been gone for a long time. But, as Hinata lie beaten upon the stone floor, she wished the beautiful woman from her childhood was there to comfort her.

The cold hard truth was that Hinata's mother wasn't there; she was dead. There was only so much pain, so much pressure anyone could take. Hadn't she already taken her fair share of brutality? She wondered. When would the pain stop?

The truth, Hinata knew, was that it wouldn't.

She had a chance to start over here. She had a new name, a new identity. She could form a new life. She wouldn't stay on the ground this time. No, this time would be different. This place reminded her so much of home, but it offered opportunities her life in Konoha kept from her. She was still weak, but things would be different this time. Things will be different.