Well now, that took a little longer than I'd planned. Sorry about that.
I spotted an error I'd made a chapter or two ago and corrected it; I misspelled a name. Why did nobody say anything?! Ah well, fixed now. It's Yahiko, not Yuhiko. Baka. Oh, and I've finally found a name for Kaida's bloodline ability; I'm hoping I've not made an utter arse of myself with it.
Anywho, a little bit of background, a little bit of action, a lot more mystery and hey, we have a chapter :D
Chapter Nine: Threads
"Remind me again?" Sai's question was deliberately left half-formed. He knew Sasuke would know the end of it and answer accordingly. He also knew that it irritated the Hyuuga, and far be it from Sai to pass up such an opportunity.
"Dream." Was the answering grunt as Sasuke leapt into the next tree.
"Ah." A pause. And then, "Your blossom-haired sprite?"
Sasuke's next step actually faltered; Sai felt damn proud of himself.
"Sai."
Okay, so maybe riling Sasuke up like this wasn't the greatest of ideas at the best of times, but Sai was so bored! And they couldn't stop, because Sasuke was filled with this pressing need to move onwards-forwards-further and wouldn't stop. They weren't even stopping to sleep, eating on the move. If it couldn't be grabbed and consumed during forward momentum then there would be no feeding. Truly, they were pushing themselves to the limits of their race. Sai was old enough now that, so long as they could travel under cover of shadow, he could withstand the daylight hours. It still irritated him, but he could deal with it. In truth he was advanced even for a vampire approaching their fiftieth; Kurenai Yuuhi was more than twice his age and she still slept for at least half an hour a day, but Sai, despite his youth (still a child when compared to the likes of Master Zabuza and Lady Yoshido and Lord Itachi and Lady Akatsuki), could push himself beyond the limits that would trap others. It was a part of his training. He barely even thought of it.
And the thing was, Sai could see that with every step and jump, every mile covered and every mile left behind, the same need slowly began to burn through the Hyuuga's veins too.
The thing was, Sai could understand it.
And he shouldn't be able to, but he could.
Even though he bore no mark.
Sometimes . . . sometimes he drew things, scenes and people from dreams, like memories half-remembered. He always carried all of his drawings and supplies with him, sealed in a scroll; Itachi and Lady Yoshido had always encouraged him to take pride in his work. He could still remember when Lady Yoshido was just Kaida, the second daughter, fun-loving and carefree and confident in the fact that her older sister Kohana would always be there. He could remember Mizuiro, Kohana's beloved, an unusual and unique male with a secret few knew and Sai had been one of the precious few just before-
No. no, best not to think of that. Else he'd see Kaida's face when she had returned from a mission to find her home drowning in blood and her sister . . . And how Itachi had returned from that same mission only to discover that following his instincts when he had left – sending Sai with a then much younger Sasuke to stay with a trusted ally – had ensured that he still had family.
Sai had only been a vampire for around ten years by that point, alive for nearly thirty. Not nearly old enough and strong enough to protect any of them from the massacres.
Itachi wore his parents' bond-rings on a long chain around his neck, hidden by his clothing so that people only saw the much-shorter necklace with its three beads. Kaida wore an earring made of a single short white feather knotted with a lock of Kohana's hair in one ear and a simple black diamond stud in the other.
As he watched the back of the Hyuuga's head, he caught flashes. Of chocolate and pink and the glint of moonlight on brightly polished metal and the heat of passionate words. And Sai knew.
Sai couldn't wait for the dawn to arrive.
He thought of the sealing scroll, of his drawings hidden within. There were several that came to mind now, and though none were in colour (he could paint, but he preferred simple ink for these drawings) he knew he could describe every shade.
Next time they stopped, Sai decided, he would draw again.
Privately, Sai couldn't wait for them to reach their destination.
Secretly, Sai wished for a camera.
The Hyuuga's face alone would be worth it.
o.O.o
Naruto ran his fingers through his hair with a low sigh. It had taken both him and Shikamaru much longer than they would have liked to calm down the only two vampires in their group.
It was now morning.
"Some warning would have been nice, huh?" He asked the human half-jokingly, knowing by now that he wouldn't need to elaborate. After last night's stressful and unpleasant revelations, hey had both retreated with the girls to the same room, as if acknowledging by some unspoken agreement that the two should not be alone. As it was, the two males were only leaving the room now for a few quick minutes, to shake off the stress and grab something to eat quickly before they needed to return.
Shikamaru shrugged.
~I keep telling you kit, the goddess will be fine.~ the snarl in the blond 'shifter's mind wasn't aggressive. Naruto's eyes flickered briefly.
'Why do you call her that?' He asked mentally, instead of his previous question of who; Kyuubi hadn't answered that one no matter how many times he'd asked.
A mental snort. ~Because she is.~ answered the rougher, older voice in his head, as though the answer was just that simple. Maybe it really was. As though picking up on his thoughts Kyuubi added, almost helpfully, ~You met her. You knew she was like us.~
Like them?
"Quit spacing out on me." Shikamaru griped, rubbing a hand across his face.
"Ah, sorry." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
The human watched him from the corner of one eye for a moment before closing it again with a sigh. "Ugh. So troublesome."
~I agree with the human.~
'Ugh, shut it, Kyuu.' Out loud; "I met some of 'em, I think."
~It's Kurama, kit.~ came the half-hearted reprimand for the thousandth time.
By now they had made it to the ground floor, an open space stretching from back to front with only the furniture to define 'zones'; here a seating area, there the kitchen. Shikamaru was not the only one watching him in interest. "Really?"
Nodding, Naruto took a seat at the table, near Kakashi and Anko. "When me and Asuma were captured, we were held in one of the compounds. Hinata's family's, I think. She's the one that freed us."
Which explained why and how two vampires had been with the shapeshifter caste. "Go on."
"Well, while we were there some other females came around." He paused and, flushing slightly, hurriedly added "Not . . . not like that. I mean there were female vamps in her family and yeah, they came to see us, but-"
"You mean some of Hinata's friends?" Shikamaru prodded impatiently.
"Yeah, that." Naruto grinned. "That's how we met Ino too. She was there. And two others." He paused, thinking back. "A red head and an older looking one with black hair. The red head was . . . scary." He shuddered, recalling that evening, the unpleasant feeling of having something foreign, not him and not Kyuubi, in his mind that he knew shouldn't be there. How his body had suddenly refused to obey his commands to move and the almost-pain that had accompanied the sensation. "Hinata called her . . . I think it was Kaida. Her eyes were so weird and . . . and I think she was like me."
He had said the last part so quietly, and he hadn't thought anyone had heard. Until he saw the speculative gleam in Shikamaru's eyes. Thankfully, Shikamaru didn't seem inclined to follow the thought just yet. He couldn't have anyway, for Tsunade, standing near the stove, interrupted them.
"Kurenai mentioned two 'shifters in one of her reports." Her gaze rested calmly on the blond. "Must have been you. But just for the record," she placed a glass of fruit juice in front of them both, "Kaida Yoshido only looks younger because Kurenai was turned when she was in her twenties. I think Kaida is actually older."
"The Lady Yoshido?" Ibiki entered the room with an empty mug. When Tsunade nodded he placed the mug on the table and stared thoughtfully at the wood grain. "Let's see . . . Kurenai was turned nearly two hundred years ago wasn't she?"
"Just over a hundred and fifty." Tsunade corrected.
"Hmm." He traced lines on the wooden table for a moment. "No, not by much. By vamp standards, Yoshido's still fairly young. Might be the same age."
"How so?" Naruto asked him curiously.
Shkamaru shifted in his seat. "Vamps are immortal."
"Nearly, boy." The male witch amended, taking a seat. "They can be killed, and they do age, but the natural ones stop that process in their prime. It just comes later for some than it does for others, and they can choose to continue it sometimes."
"Who'd want to be stuck as some wrinkly old geezer for all eternity?" the fox 'shifter pulled a face. He turned to Tenten. "Imagine looking like the pervy sage for centuries!"
"What was that, brat?" Jiraiya growled, resting a hand menacingly on the boy's shoulder.
"Ah heh-heh."
"Anyway," Ibiki looked faintly amused. "My point is this, those Created remain forever the age they were turned. Those Born can, after so long, stop and start the process. And until it stops, they age at the same rate as the other three castes. After childhood, humans continue at the same rate, witches age at maybe half or a third of that and 'shifters age a little slower again."
"And vamps stop." Shikamaru finished.
With a nod, Ibiki turned to Tsunade. "I'd have to check my records to be certain, but I'm fairly sure that the current Lady Yoshido is either around the same age or a little younger than Kurenai Yuuhi."
Thoughtfully, the witch princess tapped her glass with a finger. "I think we packed those records for the journey. In fact I'm certain Shizune did pack them into a scroll somewhere."
"And Akako is . . ." Naruto prompted, not realising that the topic had the interest of everybody in the room. He remembered the name from last night.
"Akako Yoshido?" Jiraiya asked, just to be sure; when Naruto nodded he rubbed his chin. "Akako Yoshido is Kaida's niece, and the only other clan member left. The rest were all killed over ten years ago, along with most of the Uchiha clan. Far as I know, nobody was ever caught for the crimes." He accepted a mug of tea from Tenten. "But then, I'm not a vamp. I could be wrong. Let's see now . . . Akako is . . . about ten or so I think."
"She's fifteen." Ino said softly from the stairs. They all swivelled round to look at her, startled, and she smiled sadly. "Aka-chan is fifteen. She . . . the trauma affected her badly and . . . well, somehow it halted her ageing." She sat at the table, leaning against Shikamaru with a faraway look on her face. Then her gaze met Kakashi's slowly. "She was stuck in the body of an eight-year-old. Her mind was stuck there as well. Kai-chan was really worried about her for a while, we all were. But she started aging normally again last year and so she went back to school." She tried for a more cheerful grin, but it fell a little flat.
Naruto repeated the word "Niece?" at the same time that Kakashi echoed "Trauma? What trauma?"
Ino fidgeted. "Aka-chan is Kohana's daughter. Kohana was Kaida's older sister." She played reluctantly with Shikamaru's sleeve. And then, in a much softer voice, she added "Aka-chan was there when they were killed."
Silence.
"The poor child." Tsunade murmured. "I didn't realise she was there."
"Well, she was in the room." Ino said quietly. "It's really lucky that she survived. Corin, one of Kaida's staff, he hid her really well and stayed with her. Nobody who wasn't connected to the family by blood or marriage was there at the time. Some sort of family tradition or ritual or something."
"And Kaida came home to a blood bath." Hinata finished, just as softly, as she materialised in the kitchen area. In her hand she held a small white bird that, for a moment, looked real. Then she walked over to the bin standing in a corner and crumbled it, returning with a tiny scroll for Ino. "It appeared at the window when you came downstairs." She paused, frowning. "Did you h-have to tell them that?"
Shrugging, Ino took the scroll. "They asked about Aka-chan. They were bound to ask why you said she was ten last night when she's fifteen." Her blue eyes met concerned lavender easily. "They need to know."
Concern melted to wary understanding and Hinata released the scroll. "What does it say?" She asked, standing beside Naruto. Ino held up a finger and scanned the note, frowning herself. "I-Ino?"
"Hang on." She re-read the tiny, cramped writing with a pensive frown. "Dei says hello from everybody and-" she paused, not sure if she was reading this right; Deidera did have messy writing after all, especially when he had to write so small. "And that if Sasuke's here the senbon aren't his?" she continued, bewildered. Suddenly her expression cleared. "Oh, I get it. He's raided Itachi's weapons again."
Hinata giggled. "Sasuke is always doing that." she explained to the room at large.
Maybe they were his favourite? That was all the others could think as they watched the blonde vampire deciphering the rest of the message.
"It's mostly along the lines of what we were told last night. City's not safe, Aka-chan's with your father, they're leaving . . . oh, and Deidera blew up a monster. Sounds interesting. Yadda-yadda-yadda-" she paused again, skin paling.
"What is it?" Tenten asked gently. She was leaning across Temari and had folded her arms on the arm of the sofa they were lounging on.
The vampire swallowed. "They're not sure, but they think Sasuke and Neji are only a few days behind us." She looked up. "Sai sent them a message, updating them on their progress. He managed to catch up to them and tell them what's going on, but he doesn't know what they'll do when they find us. Dei doesn't think they're far behind if they've not caught up already."
Finally Hinata nodded, however hesitant the motion seemed. "G-go on. Anything else?"
"He's sent this on the move." Ino added after a long pause. "They made sure they were well clear of the city first. Says they're in 'shifter territory."
"Where?" Jiraiya interrupted her.
More scanning of the note. "Doesn't say." She traced a line with the tip of her finger. "Not safe to contact them, and they might not be able to check in with us for a while."
"Do they know who you're with?" Kakashi asked with a raised brow.
Ino looked at him, then turned her blue eyes back to the slip of paper curiously.
Oh, and before I forget, what the hell do Kai and Nai mean when they say
"say hello to your friends" for them? Something you two wanna confess?
"Ah heh-heh . . . maybe some of you." Blue eyes turned to first Naruto and then to Asuma when the wolf 'shifter padded in from the garden. She summoned her most innocently charming smile especially for the older 'shifter. "Kaida and Kurenai say hello."
Her reward was getting to see Asuma fumble his next step. "You what?"
Hinata, stealing the note from Ino to read it herself, answered him softly. "Ino's older brother sent us a message this morning with one of his special messengers."
"You remember Nai-chan, don't you Asuma Sarutobi?" Ino added sweetly, still wearing that innocent smile. "She's the one who was stroking your fur so nicely that evening. Remember? When you twitched?" Her eyes glittered impishly. The corner of her mouth twitched as though the smile was trying to grow into a devious smirk. Instead she tilted her head and forced her smile to remain innocent and just a little curious. "Are you ticklish, Asuma?"
Damn if the man didn't flush at her insinuations. Her smile grew downright evil; this was far too good to pass up.
He scowled at her. "How do you know I wasn't injured?"
She allowed an eyebrow to rise gracefully as she reminded him; "Uh, because I was in your mind?"
'Aaaand cue the blush darkening.' She smirked.
"I-Ino, please behave." Hinata strove for diplomatic; it was ruined slightly by the giggle that escaped from behind her hand.
Ino grinned. "But it's so sweet Hina! Look at him. Really, how can I pass this up?"
"Does your dear older brother know about your new teddy bear?" Asuma shot back smugly. Ino's face blanked and his smug expression turned triumphant. "Thought not."
Muttering darkly under her breath, Ino downed the juice in Shikamaru's glass and brushed passed Asuma on her way to the garden.
Asuma's victorious smirk only lasted until he reached for something in his left pocket. Then his right pocket. Then he frantically patted himself down. "Gods dammit Ino Yamanaka bring those back!" he snarled as he about-faced and raced out the back door to catch her.
"Err, should we intervene?" Sakura asked carefully from an armchair.
Anko snorted. "Pfft. No. If he can't defend himself from blondie, then he needs a workout."
They all burst out laughing when the next shout was Asuma's near-frantic "NO! Not in the pond!" A pause, and then . . . "Nara! Come and control your bloody woman will you!"
"Excuse me!?"
"Gah not the POND!"
"Ah, I see our friend Asuma is ready to greet the day." Gai grinned brightly as he ambled down the stairs. "I have never heard him so enthusiastic before."
From his seat at the table Kakashi hummed, and then piped up slyly. "Maybe you should join him?"
Gai stared at Kakashi for a moment, but the silver-haired male only returned an innocent smile. Soon enough Gai grinned back and boomed a laugh. "Right you are my friend!" He ambled out.
Grinning broadly, Kakashi caught the eyes of every 'shifter in the room and the mixture of incredulous, amused and accusing stares. "What?" he asked as the shouting outside increased.
Laughing, Tsunade shook her head. "I should be grateful that this property is just outside the village." She chuckled again. "I can see we'd have a lot of complaints otherwise."
They were still laughing when the wards first rippled.
As though lightning had arced its way through each of them as one, all sound abruptly ceased. The tension grew thick, a near-physical presence that could be cut with a knife.
They all rose as one.
But it was Hinata that led those still within the house out into the garden.
Ino, Gai and Asuma had formed a single, solid line with the blonde in the middle. To one side Gaara stood resolutely with folded arms, directing a menacing jade-green stare at the intruders standing brazenly in the middle of the forming group. Beside him and on the opposite side, Haku, Shizune, Ayame and Lee materialised. Temari tightened her grip on Tenten's wrist imperceptibly,
"Cousin."
Hinata stood tall, pale eyes cast forward defiantly and determinedly not releasing Naruto's hand as she forced the blond 'shifter to stand beside her and not in front of her or, more incredibly stupid, rush the intruders. "Cousin." Her voice was steady, with no trace of her stutter now, as she inclined her head coolly but respectfully. Then it turned a fraction to the right. "Sasuke." And again. "Sai."
"By order of the Prince, you are to surrender yourselves to our custody and accompany us to Yamitsuki for questioning." Red eyes watched the two female vampires impassively, but Hinata knew all three of the males were aware of every single person surrounding them.
Naruto growled. Hinata tightened her fingers in warning.
"And if we fail to comply?" Ino asked. She would have sounded cocky if she hadn't been so serious.
The Uchiha heir inclined his head to her. "Then we are to take you back by any means necessary."
Sai shifted at his side, but his face showed nothing but his standard blank expression.
The other two moved before anybody could even blink.
Hinata and Ino were not the only ones that moved to intercept their attacks; Naruto, Tenten and Lee all rushed forward to meet the challenge head on. The vampires blurred as they clashed with the defensive rebels. Not two minutes later the fight stopped as quickly as it had begun. Neji held a palm threateningly against Tenten's forehead; the brunette didn't even blink, the kunai she held to his chest steady as she breathed heavily. Hinata stood behind her cousin, her own open palm aimed between his shoulder blades. Naruto and Ino had both gone for Sasuke; the 'shifter mimicking the Uchiha with fingers wrapped around each other's throats and Ino meeting the Uchiha's eyes steadily. Lee merely stood in front of Sai, guarding the last member of the trio who hadn't so much as twitched.
It was Tsunade who spoke this time. "Your Prince is not fit to issue such orders, let alone to command such respect."
The three traded looks. The others gaped when they did the unthinkable.
All three relaxed their stances.
"We know." Sasuke began quietly, his red-eyed gaze transferring to the witch princess. Those hypnotic eyes flickered only once, too fast for Tsunade to trace their target, though she could guess.
Neji's eyes returned to Hinata. "You have some explaining to do, cousin."
o.O.o
Silence.
Punctuated only by the steady drip-drip-drip of water somewhere off into the distance and the gloom.
Agitated, he ran a hand through shaggy red hair, belatedly thinking that perhaps his first order of business upon escaping should be a haircut. Once more he roughly straightened the bland grey cloth that passed for clothing in this hell as his grey eyes stared out through the open door into the darkness beyond.
The Marks on his lower back tingled still; the sensation had been a steady one, lasting through the sedation that had been forced upon him and back into waking.
It was unusually quiet, but the only other lifeforms he could sense out there were other prisoners. As much as he might wish to – no-one deserved this hell – he couldn't really free them. It was purely accidental that he was free like this!
He wasn't certain how, and he wasn't one hundred percent sure that the guards were really gone and not just hiding away, but he was not about to throw away this short blessing. If it didn't work . . . well, they were overdue for his next sedation anyway. Maybe they would believe it had worn off on its own.
Well, it had worn off on its own . . . but not quite in the way he hoped they would believe.
The Marks tingled again, the feeling sweeping along the familiar lines he had never been able to forget. The central spiral surrounded by concentric rings that patterned the base of his spine and lower back echoed warmth and determination with every pulse.
He remembered the stories now. He remembered Yahiko telling him what the Marks had meant, when they were children. He remembered why he could sense things that had nothing to do with him.
He smiled. More a feral baring of teeth than a true smile, but it didn't really matter.
It was time.
Silently, slowly, suspiciously, he took his first steps out of the cell and into the gloom. He looked right, then left. He went right.
He had heard rushing about earlier, the guards panicking about something. He didn't know what, but he felt a vindictive pleasure that something was causing them problems.
Now to add to them.
Slipping passed two guards in a booth, dodging a patrol, listening when another discussed an entrance blown open when one of the subjects had been released earlier. It still wasn't fixed. Smirking; perfect.
Child's play.
He saw sunlight again for the first time in who knew how long.
As he took his first steps into the new dawn, as he took his first breath of fresh morning air, he considered his name. The child he had been when he was captured was no more, long dead, killed by neglect and torture and pain. That wasn't who he was anymore. Hmm. He needed a new name.
Deliberating for a moment or two, he chewed his lip thoughtfully. If pain was what had killed the child, if pain was all he had known and what he had become, then Pein he would now be.
If Yahiko was here, he'd doubtless be shaking his head at him.
He focused on the tree line he could see in the distance, debating, then narrowed his focus just a little more . . . a little more . . . and he slip-streamed.
In his departure he left the door behind him wide open, unguarded, not caring.
If he had also managed to break some of the cell doors and their locks on his way to freedom . . . well, who could judge?
o.O.o
As though his words had flicked a switch, Hinata told them everything.
The assignment to retrieve Hanabi, the fox and the wolf. Their fathers' increasing pressure on them to marry. Hinata confessed that Hanabi was in place to become clan leader; Hinata was to be sealed into a branch. Their plans to escape. The flight to Iwa. Everything that had happened there. The meeting with the witches. The journey here. Kakashi's wounds and most everyone's difficulty in sleeping. The feelings. The Marks.
The trio of vampires shared a look before Neji approached Naruto. The blond stiffened before Hinata placed her hand on his chest, eyes pleading him to calm down. Neji met the furious, wary blue eyes calmly before slowly raising a hand to Naruto's sleeve and tearing it off in one smooth gesture.
The black stood out against the tanned gold of his skin.
o.O.o
Within the cells, several faces smiled.
o.O.o
Frowning, Neji turned to Sasuke. His frown deepened when he realised the Uchiha heir was staring at a patch of grass, one hand absently rubbing at his neck. Abruptly the pale hand dropped, and Sasuke strode purposefully over to one of the witches.
Many of the group moved to defend her. The pink-haired female didn't even blink.
Defiant jade met glowing crimson steadily even as his pale fingers reached to lower the tall neck of her shirt.
Sasuke's hand shook.
Black sat proudly against the pale column of her throat.
o.O.o
The wound on his arm throbbed with pain like a dull fire.
He should have known better, really.
Even as his breath came to him in harsh gasps, the smoke clearing from the small crater a few feet in front of him, he knew he wouldn't be standing long.
'Bloody hell.' Iruka cast irritated eyes at the remains on the creature that had attacked him. The foundation that was his most precious mask had long come off in the fight, after he had been sent ploughing into the ground. Absently, he rubbed the cheek and snorted in morbid amusement.
'So not my day.'
Knowing that the longer he stayed, the more likely it was that he'd be captured by something that he knew was out there waiting for a chance, he took a few unsteady steps away from the bits of corpse.
Maybe he'd overdone it with that bomb after all, he thought as his tired eyes took in the devastation around him. But the damn thing just wouldn't stay dead! He hadn't been able to think of any other way to keep it down!
Still, if this wasn't a neon sign saying Here I Am, Come And Get Me . . .
Something hit the dirt behind him. A branch snapped.
Iruka wheeled about, ready to face it down – again! – when dizziness overcame him. The oppressive, coveting stare he had felt before grew sharper with irritation.
Dimly, Iruka realised that it wasn't the monster at all.
The last, blurred sight his eyes registered was of glowing gold eyes bleeding to a rich red. He heard voices murmur – This will hurt – but then oblivion truly claimed him and he knew no more.
o.O.o
"Who are you?"
The boy in front of her was watching her. She would have thought him indifferent if not for the shaking of his hand that still hadn't moved from her collar and the wary glint in his red eyes. His voice trembled just slightly.
"S-sakura Haruno." She replied, stumbling over her own name when his fingertips just brushed the Marks on the left of her neck and left a strange tingling in their wake. His hand withdrew as though burned, eyes widening ever so slightly. She knew he'd felt it too.
The moment was destroyed when Anko wavered and collapsed with a hiss.
o.O.o
He raised two fingers to lightly push his glasses back up his nose, scowling at the scene before him. There was no way he could achieve his objective now. The creature was destroyed, and the target was not obtainable due to the interference of the group surrounding him in a protective circle, five staring outward into the forest with weapons drawn while the sixth used her power on the wound on his arm to draw the poisoned blood from his system.
An interesting application of the Kurozunda Chi, he had to admit.
Gritting his teeth, he fled.
He would have to tell his lord about this unfortunate development.
And hope it wouldn't get him killed.