Here's the next chapter...kinda on time. I'm only sixteen minutes past posting it on Monday, close enough. For those who were curious, I do intend to put some more Naruto-Sasuke bonding in later chapters. It is fun to write those two. n.n
Disclaimer: The only things that belong to me are Hinode and puts hand over mouth Well, you'll see. Anyway, I don't own Naruto or any other characters.
Chapter Nine
After they had finished eating lunch, Hinata looked over at the Uchiha.
"Do you want to go train?" she asked.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow before nodding.
"If you want to, Hinata," he responded.
"I'll go get the scrolls," she said, quickly leaving the kitchen to hide her blush. She laid her hands on her hot cheeks as she entered her room. She whispered to herself, "Why do you have to blush every time you're around a guy you're attracted to? It makes it so obvious…"
She retrieved the katana scroll and began to exit her bedroom, stopping in the doorway. Her lavender gaze was fixed on Itachi's room. Almost without realizing it, she stepped forward. The scroll dropped to the ground, clunking on the wooden floor. She lifted a hand to the door.
.oOo.oOo.oOo.
Sasuke raised his head as he heard the sound of something dropping to the ground. His eyebrows drew down and he stood, walking toward the hallway. He looked down, breath catching in his throat. Hinata stood before the door to his brother's room, stretching a hand toward it. The expression on her face was almost that of a person trapped in a genjutsu. He ran toward her, catching hold of her wrist and spinning her away from Itachi's room. One arm went around her, the other lifting her chin so that she looked into his eyes.
"Hinata," he said.
She stared at him blankly, as though not really seeing him. Sasuke cursed under his breath, onyx eyes changing to the crimson of Sharingan. The black tomoe whirled, dragging Hinata into his mind.
The world around them bled into black and red. Sasuke looked around warily, eyes widening in shock. He stood in the same room in which he had discovered the bodies of his parents. He instinctively tightened his hold on Hinata, glancing down at her. Her body had gone limp against his, her head dropping down to rest against his chest.
"Hinata," he whispered, again lifting her chin to see her face.
Her eyes slowly opened and Sasuke faced his second shock. Instead of the white of Byakugan, the woman in his arms had the crimson eyes of the Uchiha clan. He released her, stepping back into the pool of moonlight which shone into the room. He heard footsteps as Hinata followed him, but the person who stepped into the moonlight was not the young woman. Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
"Itachi," he growled, "What have you done to Hinata?"
The older Uchiha smirked ever so slightly. He stepped closer to Sasuke, his crimson eyes whirling in preparation to attack. Sasuke held his brother's gaze without fear. He knew from his last battle with Itachi that he could counter his brother's attacks with his own Sharingan. Without warning, the older Uchiha moved to attack him. They traded blows, only able to keep up with each other through the aid of their kekkei genkai. However, this battle ended just as their last one had. Sasuke slipped through his brother's guard, landing a killing blow. Itachi's hair came loose from its tie as he collapsed, hiding his face. Sasuke stepped closer, using a foot to roll him over. His face went pale. Instead of his brother, it was Hinata lying on the floor.
The world changed back to its normal colors. Sasuke looked down at the woman he still cradled in his arms. She had gone completely limp and did not respond when he called her name. Sasuke felt for her pulse, finding it weak and sluggish.
"No…" he whispered.
He lifted her bridal-style and ran from the house, moving swifter than sight through the village of Konoha. He burst into the hospital, startling the nurse working at the front desk. She looked from his crimson eyes to the woman held in his arms.
"Where is Sakura?" he demanded.
"Sir…" the woman began to protest.
The black tomoe in his eyes whirled as he repeated, "Where is Sakura?"
The nurse flinched away from him.
"Th-third floor, room 318," she stuttered.
The man was gone as quickly as he had appeared. The nurse reached for her phone, hands shaking with terror.
"S-Sakura-sama…th-there's a man h-headed to your o-office. It's the U-Uchiha," she stammered into the phone.
.oOo.oOo.oOo.
Sasuke entered the pink-haired medic's office much the same way he had entered the hospital itself. Sakura sat behind her desk, fully prepared to lecture him about proper manners, but all that flew out of her mind when she saw the pale woman cradled in his arms. She pushed the papers off her desk, not caring of the mess they created on her floor.
"Put her down here," she ordered briskly. She quickly began to check Hinata's vitals as she asked, "What happened?"
Sasuke's gaze did not leave the young woman's pale face.
"I…need to talk to Naruto," he answered at last.
Sakura's expression tightened with anger.
"I can't help Hinata unless you tell me what happened to her. She seems to be in shock. What caused it?" she demanded.
"She was trapped in Tsukuyomi," he said.
The next thing he knew, he was slammed against the wall with Sakura's chakra-laden fist poised in front of his face. The medic's green eyes were sparkling with rage, her fingers tight around his throat.
"What did you do to Hinata?" she yelled.
He tried to breathe, but her hand was keeping his windpipe closed. She released him after a long moment and he drew in a gasping breath, not meeting her gaze.
"I…didn't mean to. Please, can't you wake her?" he whispered, voice raw from the pressure she had put on his throat.
Sakura turned back to Hinata, green healing chakra coming to her hands. She laid them over Hinata, expression intense as she worked. Suddenly, the door swung open and Tsunade, Naruto, and several ANBU stepped inside the office. Tsunade quickly joined her former pupil, adding her chakra to Sakura's. Naruto went straight to Sasuke.
"What happened here?" he asked.
"I should have mentioned something earlier, but I didn't want to face it. Itachi sealed his room with chakra, before…well, it was never opened. This afternoon, Hinata and I were going to go to the training grounds. She went back to her room to get a few things and, when I went to check on her, she was about to touch Itachi's door. I stopped her, but it looked like she was under some sort of genjutsu. So I used Tsukuyomi on her," he said.
Naruto frowned and asked sarcastically, "A release technique wouldn't have worked?"
"Not against one of Itachi's genjutsu," Sasuke responded, "Once I had brought her inside Tsukuyomi, it was almost like the technique had been reversed. I was back at the night Itachi, killed everyone. Instead of Hinata, I was facing him. We fought, but at the end when I defeated him, he changed back into Hinata."
Naruto kept his expression impassive.
'So I was right. Itachi was after Sasuke,' he thought. Aloud, he said, "Sasuke, I'm going to have to put you under guard until Hinata wakes up and is able to tell her side of the story."
His eyes showed that he wanted to believe his best friend, but Sasuke had not regained his trust yet. Sasuke nodded, closing his eyes. When he opened them, they were their normal shade of onyx. The ANBU moved forward and again placed chakra-draining restraints around his wrists. It was only when they began to lead him toward the door that Sasuke resisted. He turned his head back toward Sakura.
"Will she be all right?" he asked.
The pink-haired medic did not answer. It was Tsunade who at last responded.
"She'll be fine," she said shortly.
The Uchiha male allowed the ANBU to lead him from the room. Naruto looked after him, then joined the two medic-nin at the desk. The glow of chakra at their hands faded. Tsunade stepped away.
"Sakura can handle things from here. I have other matters to tend to," she said, leaving the room.
The two shook their heads. They knew that by this she was planning on going to drink sake. However, this was a relief to Naruto. If the experienced medic was going to get herself drunk, that meant Hinata was well out of danger. As if in response to his thoughts, the young woman stirred. Confused lavender eyes slowly fixed on them.
"Naruto-kun? Sakura-chan? What happened?" she asked.
The blonde Hokage leaned down and said, "We were hoping you could tell us, Hinata-chan. What is the last thing you remember?"
"Sasuke and I were going to train. I went to my room, then…" she hesitated, brow furrowing as she struggled to remember, "Sharingan. That's the last thing I recall."
The two former teammates exchanged a glance.
"What could Sasuke have been thinking?" Naruto murmured, heading for the door.
Hinata sat up quickly, clutching Sakura for support as her head spun.
"Naruto-kun, wait! It wasn't Sasuke," she said.
"How do you know that?" the Hokage asked, returning to her side.
"Why would he harm me, then bring me to the hospital and wait for you to come arrest him? Besides, I don't think he would hurt me intentionally," she added softly.
Naruto gave her a searching glance. He was no longer as dense as he had been as a genin. He could see what was right in front of him.
"Hinata-chan, you're falling in love with him, aren't you?" he asked.
Her face turned beet red and she looked down.
"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. You were counting on me to remain unbiased. You should take me off the mission," she whispered.
"No, this is great," Naruto grinned.
Both Hinata and Sakura looked at him as though he was losing his mind.
"If you are allowing yourself to fall in love with him, you trust him on some instinctive level. I know you, Hinata-chan and, though you have a soft heart, you don't trust people so easily. If you believe in Sasuke, that's good enough for me," he said, "I'll order that he be released, though you will need to stay away from the Uchiha compound. It seems you were caught in a genjutsu and, when Sasuke tried to bring you out of it, it caught him as well."
"Is Sasuke all right?" Hinata asked.
Naruto nodded and turned to leave. As he reached for the door, it swung open and nearly hit him. The nurse standing in the hallway bowed.
"Sorry, Hokage-sama," she said before turning her attention to Sakura, "Sakura-san, Hyuuga Tenten has gone into labor early. Tsunade-sama is…currently unable to help with the delivery."
Hinata gasped, eyes widening with concern. The baby was a month early! That could not be good. She glanced at her friend to see Sakura's face was pale, but composed. She strode for the door, calling back, "Hinata, you stay here and rest."
She hurried off with the nurse. Naruto looked at the young woman, raising a blonde eyebrow.
"Will you listen to Sakura's orders?" he asked.
"Of course," Hinata stated.
He nodded slowly, giving her one last measuring glance before also leaving the office. Hinata waited for the sound of his footsteps to fade away before pushing herself off the desk. She staggered and had to catch herself by grabbing hold of the wall. She leaned against it to gather herself before continuing down the hallway. She couldn't sit still and rest. Not when Neji and Tenten needed her.
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