Chapter 10: Moonlight

ALL THE SPEED WRITING I'VE BEEN DOING FOR THE PAST 12 HOURS HAS SUCKED THE SOUL OUT OF ME, AND I ONLY USED A PROOFREADER, SO THERE MIGHT BE MORE MISTAKES THEN USUAL, I'M SORRY IN ADVANCE!

The constant beeping at seventy times per minute – she had counted – was most likely the thing that woke her up, although her own breath was very loud due to the oxygen mask on her face, and the light pressure on her right side didn't do anything but contribute to her awakening.

She couldn't move, is one of the next things she noticed, she could barely see where the weight on her arm came from because the mask sabotaged her lower vision. But if the black mass of – most probably – hair, was anything to go by...

'Itachi..'

Her eyes felt wet and she felt the unpleasant stinging sensation in her nose, she blinked in order to chase away the tears but that only made them slide down to her cheeks. She wanted to talk to him, to apologise, he probably blamed himself for her current state, but no one was at fault except her answer-driven mind. Every time there was a question she just had to-

Her ears faintly registered her steadily quickening heartbeat which gave her an idea. With all her willpower she tried to move the fingers on her left hand before her thumb finally responded and pushed the oximeter off of her index finger successfully making the machine think she was flatlining and in turn warning anyone in earshot and beyond of the fact.

The man that was sitting in the chair next to her hospital bed abruptly stood up, and she could finally see his face, but the terrified expression on it did not suit him at all. His eyes looked past her to the monitor as if they were avoiding him as if he couldn't even bear to look at her. She was right, he felt guilty.

Only five seconds at most must have passed since she barely pulled off the oximeter, although it felt like hours as she started at the foreign expression on his face. He opened his mouth, to call a doctor she guessed, but her hand has finally decided to cooperate and moved to place itself on his which was gripping the bedside in a white-knuckled grip.

His black eyes still wide fell on her finally, his expression of horror turned into a mix of relief and concern. She tried to smile but didn't know if she'd succeeded, and if she did, could he even see it behind the foggy mask.

After a short moment, he finally sat back down, leaning with his elbows on her bed with her hand still between his larger and warmer ones. He pressed her paler than usual knuckles to his lips, his black eyes never leaving her white ones. She tried sending another signal to her hand, thankfully it complied and she watched as it slowly dragged itself across his slightly stubbled jaw and over to his cheek. Itachi took a sharp breath as though to calm himself and placed his palm over hers.

She wanted to stay with him longer, to just stare into his eyes a little bit longer, but even though she hadn't moved it, her body was tired and it wanted rest. Her eyelids felt too heavy to hold on her own and she tried to hold them up, just to see him for a little more, but she lifted them only once and then the second time before her wet lashes fell again and her mind slipped away into unconsciousness.

Next time she had woken up she didn't not much has changed, she still had the oxygen mask although it was much easier to breathe this time. She realized Itachi was nowhere near her bed nor was he in the room, although she did see someone else standing near the window. A man with short spiky black hair. Itachi's brother?'

Thankfully her body was more cooperative for she was able to move her arm in order to remove the breathing aid from her face. Once she was done with that she tried calling out to the Uchiha. "Hey," at that he snapped out of his daze and turned to look at her, making her wonder if the fast way he did it gave him whiplash or neck pain. Her voice sounded unusually raspy and dry to her own ears but was why she called out to him in the first place. "Water,"

Sasuke gave a curt nod at her request and went to fetch a cup of water from the cooler. After handing it to her instead of returning to the window he sat down on a chair next to her.

With her throat no longer painfully dry Hinata allowed herself to laugh at him, at which he raised a questioning eyebrow. "I see it takes a near death experience for you to be nice to someone."

Sasuke gave her a surprised look before a smirk made its way onto his face. "Isn't it a bit early to joke about almost dying?" He asked with a hint of humor in his voice.

"My perception of time must be off then, must be the coma and all that," Came her no less amused reply. They sat in comfortable silence after the unusually pleasant exchange for a while until Hinata remembered the absence of her partner. "Where's my fiance?" She asked and resisted the urge to laugh when the man beside her visibly cringed at her choice of words.

He gave her an icy stare. "Do you do that on purpose?!" At her vague shrug, he huffed and crossed his arms. "He's-" Sasuke's words were cut off when the door opened to reveal the subject of their conversation. "- right here…"

As soon as Itachi's gaze fell on her conscious form his eyes widened before he swiftly went to stand by her bedside, immediately taking her hand in his, to make sure she was actually okay. "Hinata," Her name came out as a sigh as if he'd been holding his breath

The bluette smiled up at him intertwining her fingers with his making a weak and worried twitch of a smile play on his lips. Itachi's other hand went to her face brushing the bangs out of her eyes before cupping her cheek gently. "Please don't do that again,"

She looked up at him with anxious eyes remembering what the Bishop had said. "I'm not sorry, though I don't regret it" At her statement the fingers on her face almost dropped but she quickly put her hand over his to hold it up.

Itachi frowned, taken aback by her words. "What do you mean 'you don't regret it'?" He demanded, voice not as quiet as before but nowhere near shouting yet since it was hard to get him to do that. "You could have died!"

Hinata averted her white eyes from his, even if she didn't regret it, she didn't feel comfortable with her fiance being worried for her sake, so she explained. "I mean I'm glad I went there on my own. And while I only could have died you definitely would," What she said wiped the ghost of anger from his face replacing it with confusion, and caught the other Uchiha's attention.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

She spared a side glance into Sasuke's direction before looking up at Itachi once again. "He wasn't going after me, or after Kurenai. He was ordered to do so because somehow they knew that you would appear in the picture. I didn't get much out of him but we can question him after I get out of here." At her words, Itachi's now questioning eyes strangely went to his younger brother as if trying to get an answer for something."

"Hey, don't look at me, I didn't touch the guy," He opposed defensively.

Hinata placed hers and Itachi's hand in her lap and started from one brother to the other while they had a silent debate without her. Then Itachi finally sighed. "Hinata… he's dead." He told her hesitantly.

Her eyes widened in shock. "No.." She trailed off. But how? She had never…

Sasuke spoke up seeing her worried expression. "It was self-defense, so you've got nothing to worry about."

Hinata shook her head and started "Itachi, I didn't mean to, I only wanted to knock him out. I…" Once again the two shared a confused look with each other, it was obvious by this point that they knew something she did not.

"Last time I checked when you put a bullet in someone's head that hardly ever only knocks them out," Sasuke said sarcastically though his voice didn't sound accusatory.

Dark blue brows knitted together in a perplexed frown on her forehead. "Itachi, you know I would never - Argh!" She moaned in pain and clutched her left side when she tried sitting up straight. "I would never kill somebody, you know that" She managed to hiss out through the pain, white eyes begging worried onyx ones to believe her. She had never intentionally or not, killed anyone even a criminal, she had the opportunity, the means, the law on her side, and her own desire to do so many, many times. But she'd never do it because she wanted to help people not end their lives, no matter how undeserving of living she found them to be.

"I know you wouldn't, gekkō" He assured her, finally sitting down in a chair and bringing her hand to his lips once again.

Sasuke, on the other hand, didn't become less confused. "I don't get it, the guy is obviously dead, so-"

"-so that means somebody else killed him!" She snapped at him not before turning her head to meet his eyes. "Because I wouldn't."

The confidence and the finality of her words told him not to argue but things were still unclear. "But there was no one else in the house!"

Hinata only glared at him. " First of all there was, I heard someone upstairs. And second of all, I passed out from blood loss, before I did, my fingers wouldn't even be able to hold up a gun properly much less pull a trigger." She told him sounding sure if herself but inside she was afraid that somehow – no matter how unlikely – she had shot the man and forgotten about it. "I would never kill another human being." Those words sounded more like self-reassurance than a point of argument.

Itachi's warm hands enveloping hers made her figure back onto him, her eyes pleading for him to confirm it to her that she would never take a person's life, even someone like the Bishop. "Can you leave is alone, Sgt Uchiha?" She some without taking her eyes off of her partner.

"I don't want to. Your brat of a sister is there, and she's annoying. Plus, I didn't know A.D.A. Hyūga was your cousin."

At his words, Hinata looked down in shock at Itachi but he only gave her an apologetic look and muttered a low "Sorry,"

"Ugh!" She groaned and threw her head back. "Why?!"

Itachi gave her another regretful smile. "You needed a partial liver transplant but you rejected the first one so we couldn't get another doner, but your sister was a match and she agreed."

Hinata grumbled in annoyance, she really didn't want to see her family, especially her father whom she cut ties with after she enrolled into the police academy in Washington. She had started a new life after Fū's death, not wanting to be kept in debt to her father she had started working, and stopped relying on his allowance. Hanabi and Neji, she wasn't necessarily close to either other, they didn't do anything wrong per se, but they still reminded Hinata of her lonely family life and miserable relationship with her father. So she kept contact to a minimum, not as much as her sister did though.

Itachi's ever comforting grip on her hand told her that she wasn't alone and miserable anymore, he had become better family to her in the last four years than her actual family had in her fifteen years of living with them. She let out a long sigh. "Invite them in, I suppose,"

The older Uchiha was ready to get up but the other beat him to it waving his hand dismissively with a low "You're okay," before leaving the room to gather her scattered family members, because she guessed even now, for her sake, they couldn't bear each other's presence for more than ten minutes.

"I'm here," His reassuring words and warm breath against her cold hand warw comforting and she was more than grateful to have him by her side in difficult times. He stood up then and started leaning towards her up until his lips were pressed against her forehead. "I'll always be here,"

'Will you?' Hinata couldn't help but think, worried about his life more than she was worried for her own in that basement whatever amount of days ago. "They wanted to kill you, not me, and Kurenai was just bait,"She finally told him, her voice trembling slightly.

"What?" She heard him ask, sounding confused, before he leaned back and she could see a matching facial expression as his eyes searched hers.

"The drug cartel – though at this point I doubt that's the only thing they occupy themselves with – they want you dead, I don't know why." She watched his face for a reaction, it looked as if realization dawned down on him after a moment of silence. "What? Do you know something?"

He opened his mouth to speak but the door to their room opened with two figures entering. He quietly whispered "We'll talk later," with a squeeze of her hand and another peck on her forehead before sitting back down.

Hinata's gaze drifted over to the other two pairs of white eyes, they didn't say anything, just stared at her. Hanabi's eyes went to her hand that was still in Itachi's, both their grips tightened at her unapproving gaze. "You wouldn't tell us before, but who are you and what's your relationship with my sister?"

The older Hyūga resisted the urge to scoff at her sister's sudden overprotectiveness. She hadn't even tried to stop their father from sending her off to the states, hadn't called to see how she was doing from the moment Hinata cut ties with him. And now she was playing the worried sister. Hinata hated the fact that Hanabi helped her, it meant that she'd owe her something and that was the last thing she wanted.

She looked over at her cousin who was also looking between the couple of agents. They hadn't talked much either, maybe once in a couple of months. They still had normal conversations even with Hinata refusing to disclose personal information about herself, which apparently had been a good thing considering how she along with Kurenai were used as means of baiting her fiance. Who knows how much sooner it would have happened if she hadn't been so anal about not trusting anyone.

Hinata sighed, at least get father wasn't here, she'd like to save that conversation for another time, maybe when she wasn't risking ripping stitches. "He's my fiance," She told them indifferently, after all she didn't need their autism. Neji reacted calmly, as he always did, with a look of curious surprise on his face. Hanabi, on the other hand, looked downright furious about the fact, but she didn't say anything about it as she stormed off without a word.

Neji cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, looking rather apologetic for the youngest Hyūga's actions. After another moment of awkward silence, he came up to Itachi and extended his hand to him. "Neji Hyūga, Ms. Hinata's cousin."

Itachi shared a surprised look with his fiance before standing up and reciprocating the handshake with a smile. "Itachi Uchiha, I'm… well, you know," He let out a light uncomfortable chuckle.

He again gave them an apologetic look."I'm sorry about my cousin, she was very upset about you not informing us about your involvement with Ms. Hinata,"

Hinata groaned in annoyance. "Neji, can you please drop that, we're adults now and you're not obligated to be so formal anymore." She told him, irritated by his use of such stiff language. "I haven't been a Hyūga for almost a decade, please let it go."

Her cousin looked taken aback for a moment before he nodded in understanding. Hinata gestured him to sit down - on the chair that was previously occupied by Itachi's brother - by her bed.

It was rather graceless and inexpert at first but they managed to have a pleasant conversation despite seeing each other for the first time in twelve years.

A couple of days had passed since then, she and Itachi were returning from Kurenai's funeral, both with grave expressions on their faces. For the last couple of weeks, it had been easier to cope with the distraction of the Bishop Killer in mind. But when they watched her being buried the reality set it, a dear friend was dead. And even with the person guilty dead, it hurt.

Hinata wiped her tears for the nth time that day, watching Itachi pull the keys out of his pocket and open the door to their apartment. After he'd done that he walked over behind Hinata and pushed her wheelchair, the doctor found it necessary that she move as little as possible, hence the wheels.

"I'm tired," She said quietly, he hummed lazily I'm agreement. Itachi crouched down enough for him to pick her up out the wheelchair before he carried her to their bedroom. When both feel onto the bed Hinata curled up into her man and he wrapped his hands around her. They sat in comfortable silence until the Hyūga chose to look for a distraction, something to take her mind off things. "You still haven't told me about why that stuff cartel wants you dead," She leaned back so she could see his face as she told him this.

"Yeah," He sighed and shifted slightly so he laid on his back, while Hinata still lay on her side, with his arm under her head. "There's not much to it. I worked in VICE and I was assigned to go undercover and infiltrate one small drug smuggling organization. I did, i was undercover for about four, maybe five months before we finally apprehended them and a couple of other groups. They called themselves Akatsuki.

"I never made it to the hearing, because after that case I went to work for the FBI so I didn't know if we're actually sent to prison, apparently not." Itachi recited her one of the few stories she hadn't actually known about, and she didn't blame him for not telling her since even in her mind it'd be considered a closed case and a trivial one at that. "Speaking of which," He retracted his arm from under her to reach for something on his bed.

Hinata gave him a look when he showed a case file. "What did I say about bringing work into the bedroom?"

"Sorry, I just put it here so I wouldn't forget," He told her, handing her the file.

Holding it she read that it was the Bishop Killer report for the FBI. "Do I have to get hurt more often for you to actually write our reports?"

Itachi smiled bashfully. "Sorry,"

She gave him a side glance before muttering "it's fine,". She read through the report and it all had been pretty accurate up to the point where she left to deal with the Bishop Killer. "Nikkō,"

"Hmm?" Came his sleepy confirmation that he was still awake, albeit barely.

"This isn't the right address," she flipped the page looking for the place where Sasuke find her, finding the address she pointed it out to him. "This is the place I left to when I went to find Shimizu"

Itachi picked up his torso slightly and leaned on his elbows, in order to look at her frowning. "That doesn't make any sense." He said, looking over her shoulder at the papers she was holding. "That's definitely the place me and the detectives went to, the guy was the only Kakuzu Shimizu that we found in the database." He picked himself off the bed and started unbuttoning his shirt. "I'd usually say that it's the dispatcher mistake but that's too uncanny of a coincidence.."

Hinata stared at the paper chewing on her thumb – the one that wasn't still in a cast courtesy of her small sacrifice. She agreed with Itachi, this was a very unlikely coincidence. Then a strange thought occurred to her "Maybe there's a leak in the department?"

A/n: screaming inside a building on fire is hella mood right now, I literally finished this in record time it had about 1,7k words(unfinished) yesterday before I had to delete 1k completely and now you have this, I really impressed myself with this one over 2,5k words in twelve hours? You do me proud, Irene (that's my name, hi)

So yeah last chapter huh… oh sorry what I meant was, that this is the last chapter of THE FIRST ARC! Pa-pa-pa-pranked! Ha! Got eem! I got y'all good with this one lmao. Yeah this is the last chapter of "the Bishop Killer Arc". I hope y'all enjoyed it thoroughly. Thank you for the reviews, much appreciated!

Additionally I'd like to say that I'll be taking a break bc I need to figure out the outline of the second Arc. For this Arc I had things sorta planned out but not really, like I had written the Kakuzu Vs Hinata fight months ago and everything I wrote was with that in mind and it worked out somehow. But I don't have much on the second Arc so I'll need some time. Maybe I'll get my good phone back during this time (it's been 7 weeks and the new display the repair dude ordered still hasn't arrived) and it will be easier once I have it.

Also my birthday is on the 18th of December (it'd hardly be a break if I updated until then, so I'm telling you now) so if you're in the mood to make feel good, you could wish me a happy birthday then on my Tumblr g-hostwriter.

See y'all soon and don't forget to REVIEW! Bye