Ah hello again! Here's another chapter for my readers, straight out of the oven. The inspiration came back!
Um, be warned, this chapter is a little more graphic than the others. It's not M, I think...more like...T+.
"For I am shamed by that which I bring forth,
And so should you, to love things nothing worth."
-William Shakespeare
Chapter 10
She was eighteen. He was nineteen.
The water falls, drowning her in warmth and wetness. It has been a long day, and she is tired. She deserves a small comfort such as a shower.
Her eighteenth birthday. A day of relieved sighs, laughter, and crushed traitors. A day of togetherness and singing and surprises. A day for one wish, one wish that is supposed to change the future and turn the universe upside down. So much confusion, so many mixed feelings. Everyone is agitated, nervous, stiffly pleasant. A cake fight between the entire household dissolves the turmoil.
She's covered in cake and frosting. It's in her hair, smeared across her eyes, sticking on her legs, and most pleasantly, melting in her mouth. All of it washes away as the water continues to run, little bits of food falling off and revealing little swatches of pale skin. As she transforms back into her normal self, she remembers how the fight had started with a clumsy Hanabi and a messy, upset child. She remembers how excited everyone had been, ducking behind chairs and hoping that their formal clothing wouldn't be hit. She remembers how laughter made them forget their dry cleaning bills, and allowed them to join in.
But mostly, she remembers a long-haired boy, stony and silent, who had simply walked out of the room when the fight started. He had done nothing except sit in a corner all night, his eyes staring into space. Glaring with those eyes that were so like hers only not. She never saw him after he walked out.
But no matter. Now it's time to rest, she's clean and refreshed, and nothing is weighing on her shoulders. An oversized, luxurious towel wraps around a naked form, enveloping and hiding. Small feet pad their way to her bedroom, a dreamy, lukewarm trail that is absolutely tiring. She does not travel alone.
He cannot believe that she has done this to him. To hurt him so badly and mock him and tease him. Maybe he deserves it, he doesn't know, but it's so cruel.
Cruelty. He knows about this.
And she is cruel. All the time. Tired and sweaty, quiet as the trees, covered in cake, it doesn't matter. She taunts him. She is carefree, unhurt, unremorseful.
He can't stand it.
How can she act like nothing had ever happened? How can she move on, day to day, knowing she has hurt someone so deeply? How can she even breathe, as ridden with guilt as she should be?
She doesn't even stutter. That is what makes him the angriest.
Punch spiked with liquor. More like liquor spiked with punch. The world is a little tilted, but whatever.
She will know what she has done.
It's frightening, finding a stranger in her room. She is actually more frightened when she discovers his true identity.
"Nii-san, do you need something?" she asks steadily, feelings of discomfort and uneasiness emerging.
He lifts himself off the chair, and his vision tilts a little more, but she is the only thing he sees. This is too easy. She is already scared, and the hunt has not even started.
"Hinata-sama," he breathes, the name flowing from his lips like silver mercury. It is the name that binds him, tortures him. It beats and abuses him, heals him, and makes him crawl back into its lap and beg for more. And he does what this name commands him to, with livid disgust and indescribable pleasure. Tonight he frees himself.
All she sees is a monster step forward, looming over her and carrying shadows. Fear rises in her throat, blocks her speech, and stops her movement. Nowhere to run. Just like a trapped animal, she finds herself trapped, back against a wall. The hunter comes closer.
He grabs a thin wrist. She doesn't resist, and finds the other wrist grabbed in the same manner. He stretches, stretches her arms, way over her head and slides them across the wooden panels. So easy to manipulate. He runs his hands over the skin of her arms and lets them drop, pressing his lips to hers in the same movement. It's a soft kiss, so unlike the others.
She's silent, just like always. He can read her eyes.
I thought we were stopping…
Words mean nothing. Only feelings and hearts and hips and hands now. Her arms are stiff by her side, she struggles to keep her jaw from trembling. She is stronger now.
But so is he.
"Hinata-sama, Hinata-sama, Hinata-sama," he whispers into her shoulder, her body heat radiating across his face. She shivers, once, and he is satisfied.
She controls him, she is the master. He is the slave, yet tonight…tonight, the universe will turn upside down.
A cold hand runs up her leg, unfeeling and barely there. She winces and draws back, but no, he is always there. He pushes her hard against the wall, and now, it all goes to hell.
It hurts, those biting kisses, that tight grip, those forceful hands. Only luck has kept the towel covering her, and she knows that it won't shield her much longer.
She could try to fight him.
Can't win…
She could scream.
Don't want anyone to know…
She could… oh, that felt wonderful. No…no! Hot blood runs down her chin as she bites through her lip, a rush of release and shot of pain.
He stops his ministrations on her throat and looks at her, seemingly confused.
Now…now he will stop…
But he licks the blood off her lips and returns to his assault, the towel being endlessly tugged and threatening to fall.
"Nii-san," she whisper-screams, "stop!"
He doesn't and runs a hand over her shoulder.
"Nii-san!"
She can cry 'brother' all she wants. He will have his revenge. He yanks hard on the towel, and it comes down a few inches. Hardly enough.
"Nii-san!" she cries, and slaps him hard. He stops momentarily to stare at her in awe. She has never hit him this way. Before he can think any further, she pulls him into one, last desperate kiss, a plea for mercy and prayer for courage.
This isn't what is supposed to happen. She is taking control again. She is using him again. He shivers in repulsion…but allows himself fall victim to the sheer ecstasy. It's always so easy to obey her…
She yanks off his forehead protector, closes her eyes, and pulls away from their kiss. Tears stream down her face, a lovely kind of waterfall, and her thumbs immediately go to that green scar.
He feels her on him…she's touched it. It hurts more than ever.
"Nii-san," she pleads, eyes still closed, fingertips tracing that menacing pattern on his forehead, "please…stop."
So violated. She shouldn't touch that, it's not hers. It was never hers. He was never hers.
She was his.
He slaps her hands away and attacks her again, this time far more furiously. She can't do this to him. He will not permit her to do so.
True fear sits in her stomach now. She can't do anything.
Hanabi treads down to her sister's room, grumbling about occupied showers and no shampoo.
The kid overreacted. The food fight was so not her fault. And damn those shower-stealing, shampoo-mooching people she called family.
"Hinata!" she calls, her voice echoing through the halls. She walks closer to her sister's room and stops in front of the closed door. A smudge of frosting finds its way into her mouth.
But bile is what collects in the back of her mouth as she listens to what unfolds behind the door. She is afraid to go in, to open the door and see the horrors inside, but she reaches for the doorknob all the same.
Slowly, it screeches open…
"Oh…" Hanabi breathes as she sees what lies inside, her mind struggling to put together the pieces of the puzzle. Everyone and everything is frozen, but it's all so out of place…
Oh God…
"Hanabi-sama, please leave," Neji coldly commands, straightening himself up and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. Hinata simply leans against the wall, trying to dry her tears.
Like hell she will.
Her frame shakes as she is swallowed by anger. No one does this to Hinata. No one.
"Neji-nii-san! Get away from her!" she screams as she rushes to stand in front of Hinata.
"What are you doing? Get out!"
He won't.
"Nii-san, you sick pervert, get out!" Hanabi screams again, covering her sister with her towel and body.
He doesn't move, and Hinata starts to cry again, her tears mixing strangely with the blood from her lip
"What have you done, Nii-san? You're sick, you're mentally sick! Get out!"
Hanabi turns to Hinata, and inspects her face. A bitten lip, tired eyes, red marks all over her body. Monsters have done this.
"Hinata," she pleads she grabs onto her sister, her eyes welling up with tears, "look at me, are you okay?"
Hinata slumps to the floor and turns away. She can't face this. This isn't real.
But it is.
"Hinata! Please, look at me! Look at me! Please…."
Everything escalates into one giant sob.
Neji stands quiet as ever. He cannot believe this has happened. It wasn't supposed to be this way. But now…everyone will know. He will lose everything.
As if everything has not been taken away already…
"Nii-san," Hanabi sobs and shrieks, wiping the blood away from her sister's face, "She won't look at me! She won't look at me, you disgusting pervert! What did you do? What did you do?"
What did he do?
And for what seems like all of eternity, all three Hyuugas sit together, bound, broken, crushed. The air is heavy, no one can breathe, but no one wants to breathe. They want to be anywhere but there, but no one will take them away. They want to be free, but no one will free them. A tale as old as time.
"Neji-nii-san," Hanabi finally speaks, her voice barely steady, "Get. Out."
He stands, but he does not move.
That's it. Screw civility.
"Bastard, I said get the fuck out of here!"
He steps back a little, taken aback by her sudden force and ferocity.
Where did she learn such language?
"Hanabi-sama, I will not…"
"Get out now or I will use the curse seal!"
"Hinata-sama! I…"
She waves a hand, and collapses back into her defeated position.
So with a wave of a hand, she has passed her judgment. She has made her decision. She has condemned him.
Without another word, Neji leaves, a tight lump in his throat and sinking feeling in his stomach.
Nothing less than he deserves.
Hanabi walks back to her sister and flops down next to her.
"I did well?"
The older sister nods ever so slightly, though she still cannot face Hanabi. Because of her, because of him…Hanabi has lost her innocence. They took it from her. It'll never be the same.
"Well, Hinata, I…. I…."
Hanabi can't go any further, and breaks down again. Hinata finally turns and throws an arm across her sister. She's sorry.
And so the two Hyuuga sisters sit with each other, hand in hand, heart in heart. They are bound by blood and love, heartache and happiness. They are the same, they are different, and they are each others world and hero. It's them against the world.
Two against the world. Good odds, they would say.
Did you guys like it? Let me know and review!
Like I said before, expect pretty fast updates. Well, fast for me, anyway.