Well , hasn't been too long has it? Who am I kidding, two months . Sorry?
Hope the wait was worth it is all I can say?
Thoughts, suggestions, compliments and criticism, everything's welcome. I thrive off your reviews, thanks so much!
~Raven
My black fire's
Burning Bright
Maybe we'll go out tonight
We could paint the town in blue
~Lana
Everything in that lone, empty studio, reminded him of her.
Reminded him of the platinum blond hair and cerulean blue eyes that brought colour to the monochromatic greyscale of his life.
Every window, every table, every stool, every camera.
Mostly, every canvas.
Of course they would- each one was a picture of her after all.
Some candid shots, some carefully posed, and some reflections of his artwork.
She was his exclusively.
At least, her body was.
They used to sink into a routine. She would visit his studio in her free time. He would spend hours carving his designs into her bare, creamy skin, with his temporary ink, and then she would pose for him, as his camera captured his work. She was a model to the two spheres of his profession- photography and body art. He would take regular photos too, many of them catching her unaware. She used to inspect his work, standing there in front of a full body mirror, exposed and clad in only his artwork. She would turn to him, whispering seductive compliments as her slender fingers slipped under his shirt, disrobing him as they would drown in a guilty pleasure only the other could induce. And by the time he woke, she was always long gone.
Guilty pleasure; for she only used him as a means to forget. Forget the love she could not have.
And he? His being with her was torture in itself. A reminder that the one he loved would forever be so close, yet would never love him back.
The artwork that marked the last five years of his life was swiftly transferred out of the dimly lit studio, to the gallery where his work would for the first time be bared to the world. People would remember him as a photographer and a tattoo artist; with no more than three letters to his name.
But he would remember himself through her.
Small, delicate petals curled around a central frilly, folded bud. Blade like leaves circled and wrapped around the iris, spiraling out into a network of leaves, stems and dark spirals over the smooth, creamy expanse of an uncovered back. The stem dipped as far as a well sculpted, thin waist, and the leaves spanned the even expanse of well defined shoulder blades. Long, light hair, pulled into a high ponytail would have cascaded down her back, had it not been for the hand sweeping them over the right clavicle. Light skin contrasted against the dark sheets which spread over the surface she lay on. A lone, expressive eye, frozen in the picture, peered from the side of a skull tilted to the side so as to look slantingly into the eye of the observer, out of the confines of the four walled frame. The picture was colourless, its palette a monochrome of the shades of grey. Its main focus, the detailed body art which spiraled over the woman's back, was framed and mounted on the canvas in front of them.
To everyone else, it looked like what it was. A picture of body art on its canvas.
Two men stood in front of that particular picture, the former with light blonde hair and cerulean eyes, the latter dark haired, standing stoically with his arms folded.
Midnight dark hair and silvery eyes marked the woman who stood behind them.
"I still don't get it. Is it a flower or a person? Sasuke?"
"Idiot." The dark haired man muttered.
"I mean, it's a flower on a person but why not make a picture of a flower and a picture of a person? Why not separately?" The blonde said, frowning at the picture.
"Maybe you should think of it as the flowers symbolizing the beauty of the person? They bring out the best in each other?" a third, gentle voice joined the conversation as Hinata stifled a laugh on seeing Naruto's puzzled expression, a rouge blush dusting her cheeks, the colour several shades lighter than the maroon cords that adorned her legs, tucking into knee high sleek black boots.
They had slipped into a comfortable dynamic as they explored the gallery, neither of them bringing up mention of their last encounter at the cemetery, atleast they hadn't yet- not while they were surrounded by people.
Footsteps approaching announced the return of the fourth and final member of their group, accompanied by a fifth person, their host.
A tall, pale, dark haired photographer more commonly known for being a tattoo artist, Sai was responsible for the inked fox on Naruto's back. More than that, he was a well acquainted friend. As he walked towards them, a pink haired woman to his right, his gloomy disposition masked itself with an almost fake smile, his eyes showing not a telltale of the shadow of sadness behind them. Those who knew him well would see through it nonetheless; though they were still unaware of the reason that lay behind it.
The footsteps drew closer, their voices growing louder as their conversation became audible.
"You could have told us you were planning this sooner, Sai. You know we would have helped you…" Sakura said, trailing off as her eyes locked onto the painting infront of them, suppressing a small gasp as she examined it.
Her reaction was masked by Naruto's loud exclamation as he saw Sai and strode over to pull said man into a hug, before releasing him and saying, "We haven't heard from you in ages, Sai. Where've you been?"
Not giving the other man a chance to answer, Naruto pulled him closer to where they were standing previously, ebullient as he spoke, "You must know Hinata, right? Sai, this is Hinata Hyuga, the super model. She's our friend- we invited her to come with us."
Stopping in front of the dark haired woman, who was smirking amusedly, her silvery eyes trained on the blonde. Shifting her gaze, she looked properly at the man to whom she was being introduced, smiling politely as she recognized him.
Naruto went on to say, "Hinata, this is-"
"Sai. The photographer. Host of this wonderful exhibition, I take it?" She interrupted, extending a hand in greeting as she shook the pale hand that met hers. "It's a pleasure to meet you again." She added, speaking this time to Sai directly.
"The pleasure is mine." The sickly pale man replied, pulling his hand away and smiling in greeting.
"You know each other?" was Naruto's surprised reponse.
"Not personally. Yes, we've met before. A photoshoot several years ago." She replied, turning her attention back to Naruto.
"Whoa! Guess that's a world class supermodel for you! Sai's been our friend for a long time- he's the one who gave me my tattoo!"
She already knew what tattoo he spoke of. But Naruto didn't know that she knew. "A tattoo?" she asked, feigning surprise.
"Yeah! It's a fox, a really cool one. Big too. On my back. A fox- like my pet." He said, sinking into an animated explanation of his love of animals, his attention focused solely on Hinata, who was attentively listening to him, a smile curling her lips.
Sai turned to notice the hushed conversation enfolding between the woman who had walked with him till there, and the man who had approached her.
Sakura's expression was distraught as she spoke in a low monotone to Sasuke, who looked at the frame on the wall once again, this time in disbelief.
"Is something the matter, Sakura?" Sai asked softly, concern lacing his voice as he appeared behind Sasuke.
"Who was your model?" Sasuke asked curtly, answering before Sakura could shake her head.
"…A friend" He replied hesitantly, reluctant to say too much.
"Someone we know?" Sasuke pressed, somewhat sharply.
"It was Ino."
Sakura's voice had answered the question directed at Sai.
"It was Ino. Greyscale or not I'd recognize her." She took a step towards Sai, her emerald eyes piercing him, this time not concealing the pain which lay beneath them. "But you would too, wouldn't you, Sai? What was she to you?"
Sai's façade of normality slipped as his face crumbled into a forlorn look of anguish, his dark expressionless eyes windows to the pain he'd been accumulating. He hadn't expected himself to answer the rosette's question. He had expected to brush it off like he had every other time.
But something hypnotic about her eyes, eyes which commanded him not to lie to her, prompted him to act otherwise. His voice a hoarse whisper, his strangulated reply was, "Everything."
Naruto peered out of the corner of his eye at the woman who stood next to him now looking at the photograph in front of them with mild interest, her thoughts evidently elsewhere. They had found themselves separated from Sasuke, Sakura and Sai for more than a while now, but as much as he was worried for Sakura, and eager to give Sasuke a push in the right direction to bring the two closer, Naruto for the life of him couldn't bring himself to care that he hadn't seen heads or tails of them for an hour now. He was far too much enjoying the company of the elusive goddess with silvery eyes and midnight dark hair whom he had finally caught hold of for long enough for them to enjoy each other's company- though the memory of their last interaction at the cemetery still tormented him.
For the last hour, people had been steadily streaming into the exhibit, and the crowd had increased significantly- Sai's debut as an independent photographer would most certainly be recorded as a success. But the crowd made it much harder to enjoy the comfortable silence between he and Hinata; a fact which much annoyed him.
Finally deciding on a more bold course of action, he closed the distance between them, walking past her from behind, grabbing onto her hand and tugging her along in the process. He heard her soft, feminine gasp of surprise which was quickly replaced by a confused question, the hurried steps as she regained her balance and allowed herself to be led away by him, and the feel of her magnetizing eyes on his back.
Pulling her to a corner of the room, where the wall jutted out around them masking them from view, with only the door to a storage closet on the wall next to them, he twirled her around to face him, and moved closer till her back was pressed against the wall behind her, his own arm placed next to her head, supporting the majority of his weight as he leaned closer to her, his face soon inches from hers.
His voice a husky undertone, he asked, "Are you going to answer my question, Hinata?"
She turned her face away from his, giving his eyes a chance to trace the outline of her soft, yet well defined jawline, and the regal arch of her high cheekbones. The corner of her mouth tilting upward in a knowing smirk, she whispered, "What question, Naruto?"
"You know what I'm talking about." he said smugly, his hand reaching up to gently grasp her chin, and tilt her face towards her. His cerulean eyes peered into her pale silvery ones, hypnotically drawing him in, inviting him to delve deeper into the mystery she painted.
She never replied, instead moving her hands up to rest on the flat sturdy expanse of his chest, one hand resting there, and the other sliding up to cup the nape of his neck, pulling him closer and moving closer herself till their noses touched, their lips millimeters apart.
Instinctively, he found himself closing whatever distance remained, as his lips slanted over hers in a fast, hungrily desperate moment of ecstasy. Their lips locked, his hands found their way to her hips and her hair, one hand playing with silky long strands while the other wrapped possessively around her waist. Her own hands rose to play with his hair, her other hand wrapping around his neck as she pulled him closer.
Losing her balance as she swayed into his touch, she found herself being pushed further against the wall, her legs inadvertently rising to wrap around his waist as her feet slipped out of their boots which lay discarded on the floor, lest their sharp heels would have dug painfully into his back. She fought back a louder moan as his mouth left hers and moved to leave a trail of hot, sensual kisses along the column of her neck, and the bare expanse of her collarbone left exposed by her open necked sweater.
Lost in pleasure, her racing thoughts at the reality of what was happening overshadowed by pure ecstasy as the object of her intense affections was finally hers for the taking, she missed the delighted squeal of excitement which was followed by an effeminate exclamation, "Naruto! Where've you been I heard you were in town I've been looking for you everywhere-"
The foreign hand which clasped on his shoulder before jolting back in surprise having realised that he was currently otherwise engaged with company, belonged to a woman with sandy blonde hair tied up in twin buns. Her wraparound coat a deep black, lined with red velvet hems, she stood next to the still entangled couple, only just realising the position they were in.
"I'm so, so sorry I didn't mean to interrupt I didn't realise you were...umm, yeah I'll just go now..."
Abruptly, yet rather reluctantly, he pulled away from their entangled position, careful to set Hinata firmly on the ground and wrap an arm possessively around her waist as he turned to face the newcomer. "I didn't hear you were back in town, Temari. This is Hinata. Hinata, meet Temari,"
Hinata who had till then been glaring pointedly at the stranger who'd interrupted them, now turned to fix Naruto with a questioning glance.
"Temari is an old friend. I've worked with her in the filming industry before." Naruto supplied, though given the blonde woman's expression, a mixture of hurt and longing, Hinata figured they had once been more than just 'old friends'.
A smile gracing her lips, she looked at the newly introduced woman and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Temari."
The smile never reached her silvery eyes.
"I loved Ino. Just...not the way she wanted me to. She'd gotten over it, I thought."
Sakura stood next to Sai as she spoke, both standing in front of yet another photograph of the woman who's death they both mourned- this picture a candid, the blonde's pensive face looking forlornly out of a studio window, with wispy white curtains billowing around her, caught in the wind which pushed the hair out of her face, the image immortalised in greyscale. With the crowd inside steadily increasing, the two of them had been separated from the rest for well over an hour by then. She had since then learned that Sai had been Ino's lover. A lover who never loved him back like he wanted her to, because she was still in love with her pink haired best friend.
"She could never get over you." he said, looking fondly at the picture of her late best friend on the canvas.
"And so she could never return your feelings...you must blame me for what happened." She listened, almost hesitantly unwilling to hear his reply, looking down at the rugged carpet between her brown leather ankle boots.
"I don't blame you." he said, surprising her, jolting her head to look up at his towering figure.
With small, pained smile he finished, "It's not what she would have wanted."
Suddenly the large, spacious hall seemed too small in that moment as the extent to which Sai had cared for Ino truly sunk in. Looking down again, she brought her hands up to cradle her arms, her hair falling in a curtain around the sides of her face.
"I'll see you around, then." she heard him say, as the sound of his footsteps gradually receded into the low din which had settled in the gallery.
So the one who had stood between Ino and Sai getting the love they both deserved had been her. She was the one who had taken away their happiness. And in the process also robbed herself and Ino of the best friends they so dearly wanted. And now? Ino was dead, Sai alone, and she in mourning.
She hadn't realised when she started shivering, nor had she realised that tears now streamed down her cheeks, until she felt their cold wet drops landing on her outer knuckles as they clutched her upper arms. Even if she had realised, she couldn't bring herself to care about them. And so she stood immobile, in front of the canvas which held the picture of the girl she'd loved as a sister- and the woman who'd loved her back as more- with nobody to see or stop her tears.
Unknown to her was the tall brooding figure who stood leaning against the wall several meters behind her. His eyes fixed solely on Sakura, Sasuke watched as she spoke to Sai looking up at the colourless canvas with longing and anguish. He watched as Sai surprised her with words inaudible to him. He watched as Sai walked away, leaving Sakura alone as she shut out the world around her, and as she cried in her misery.
Sakura was still in love with Ino- that could be the only logical explanation to her reaction in that moment. How else would you explain her agony over the death of someone she hadn't spoken to on civil terms in years?
She was still in love with a dead woman. And Sasuke himself was still unrequitedly, pointlessly, hopelessly in love with Sakura.
And there was nothing he could do but watch, as she tore herself up over the death of a woman who could just as well have counted as a ghost from her past. He could do nothing to ease her pain but pathetically watch from the sidelines as she cried her heart out in a room full of people who neither noticed nor cared. Nothing he could say, no consolation he could offer. And watching the woman he had loved since childhood mourn the death of her former lover and best friend, he had never felt more utterly useless.
And much as he resolved never to let anything hurt the delicate rosette like that ever again, as much as he resolved never to let himself feel like that in her wake again, he had no idea how to stop her tears.
His thoughts were broken by a small nudge to his shoulder, as he turned around, startled, to face the dark hair and pale face of his near lookalike, Sai, his face a frown, his lips set in a thin line.
Looking down he saw a wad of tissue in the hand that had nudged him, being offered to him. Somewhat surprised, he took the tissue and watched the shorter man tilt his head in the direction of the rosette who stood crying on the other side of the room.
"She needs you." he murmured, as he walked away.
Somewhat hesitantly, Sasuke paid heed to his words, crossing the room in a few quick strides, and placing a tentative hand on her shoulder, gently turning her to face him, and leaning over to whisper into her ear, "Are you okay? Take these."
He placed the tissues in her hand, and placed a hand on her chin, tilting it upward to look him in the eye. Momentarily discouraged by the look of surprise he found between the strands of hair that covered her eyes, he almost pulled away, before she surprised him with her reaction.
As though his presence had broken a damn, throwing her arms around his neck, she buried her face in his chest, crying even harder than before. Instinctively, his own arms rose to cradle her frame, rubbing slow, soothing circles on the expanse of her back, and whispering calming words. He felt her wet tears seep into his shirt, but couldn't bring himself to care. As long as he was with her.
They stood in each others' warm embrace as he cradled her tears and she mourned her losses.
"Welcome back, Hinata. It's good to see you're keeping time out of your busy schedule to keep up with your appointments." The busty blonde doctor looked up at the dark haired supermodel as she sat down in a comfortable chair on the other side of her desk.
"It's nice to see you again, Dr Tsunade." she said with a dazzling, likeable smile which had won the good doctor over on their first appointment that early Monday morning following her breakdown of sorts witnessed only by her cousin, Neji.
"Tea or coffee?" Tsunade asked, pushing a tray towards her patient.
"Water would be fine." Hinata said, politely declining the cup offered to her.
Calling for a glass of water to be brought in, and once it was handed to the patient in question, Tsunade settled back into her seat, glass of her chosen beverage in hand, as she got down to business.
"So I understand you were in a somewhat delicate condition in our last meeting- your cousin isn't here with you today, but perhaps you'd like to start at the beginning."
"The beginning?" Hinata's soft silvery voice was somewhat subdued in the psychiatrist's office.
"The modelling world isn't kind- I've seen many before you crumble under the pressure, and many of lesser strength of character get cold feet before their career even begins. But everyone has their own story- tell me yours. I can't help you if I don't know you." she replied, assertively reassuring.
"You can't help me if you don't know me...I see. Okay." she leaned forward, placing her empty glass on the desk between them, her hand resting on the polished mahogany surface.
"Now that we've got that settled, why not-"
"What if," she said, interrupting the doctor as she spoke, going on to say, "What if when you get to 'know me' you find something so horrible you'd agree when I say I'd be better off dead? What if despite knowing that's what you'd think of me, I'm still not the least bit remorseful? What if you find that the person behind this pretty mask of a face I wear is a monster inside?" she stopped, her eyes fixing on a point somewhere in the distance, contemplative as her thoughts trailed away.
Reaching out to grasp the hand that lay on the mahogany surface of her desk, the old doctor gave it a reassuring squeeze as she smiled, saying, "As a doctor I'm bound by an oath never to wish any of my patients dead. If you weren't remorseful at all, you wouldn't be here. And as beautiful as your smile is, I like you for the person who lies behind it, the person who makes it as vibrant as it seems when you walk into my office. So no, I won't think any less of you by knowing who you are and what you've done. It's my job to share the burden of it with you. So you don't need to be afraid, Hinata. Things are going to turn out just fine."
The lost look in her eyes focusing itself with more clarity as she collected herself and looked up at Tsunade, the supermodel smiled and said, "Well, I guess this could take a couple of sessions..."
Footsteps echoed through the almost empty lobby as Hinata walked away from the elevator which brought her down from the office of her new psychiatrist, a smile on her face as she contemplated the relieving effect of having someone to talk to about everything which had happened without fear- a similar feeling to what she'd had talking to Neji several nights ago, albeit far less abrupt this time.
The only other person who'd ever known those things about her till then had been her cousin- but he'd been the one who'd insisted she get professional help.
Pulling her phone out of her bag as she left the building, her smile widened as she recognised the sender of the unread text messages she'd been sent- Naruto, who she'd given her number two days ago when they'd last met.
"So are we still up for tomorrow?" the message read.
Sliding into the dark sedan that waited for her outside the building, she typed her reply.
"Question remains, are you up for tomorrow?"
Almost as though he'd been waiting impatiently for her reply, his own response reached her.
"If it's carrying on from where we left off on Wednesday, definitely."
Giggling slightly, she replied, "That eager to get to know me better?"
"You have no idea" his instantaneous responses continued.
Laughing, a steady blush creeping onto her cheeks, she went on to send her own response.
"Then I can't wait."
"So...Are you going to tell me what you've gotten planned?"
Smirking as she read the hopeful tone of his message, she replied with flat out, "No"
"Not even a hint?"
"It's a surprise."
"A hint?"
"Lets say we'll have some fun around town."
"Ooh...so we'll be painting the town red?"
Her smirk widened as she noted his choice of wording.
"Not red. I much prefer blue. We'll go round and paint the town blue."