Towards the Sun

Chapter 11

Sasuke landed stealthily on the rooftop of the tower. The sombre veil of the night had already fallen over the azure sky. Overhead, diamond dust twinkled faintly, silently. This source of light was nothing next to the beams emanating from the many windows of the tower.

After checking out the first battle scene, he had summoned his giant hawk for faster travel. The high altitude and prevailing wind had somewhat cooled down his head, much to his delight. He now felt a bit groggy though due to the long trip. He easily got in through an open window on the topmost floor. The circular space was empty, safe for a little sparrow which was resting on the stair railing. It peered at Sasuke and flapped its wings briefly, before taking off. On its way out, it dropped a small rolled-up slip of paper into his hand. Sasuke read its contents quickly before burning the message to ashes with the black flames of Amaterasu.

He started down the flight of stairs. Everyone else inside the tower was most probably having dinner at this time. As for Sasuke, he would just eat the cup ramen he had brought from home. Naruto had given him a whole stock for his eighteenth birthday. He hadn't expected that those instant ramen cups would come in handy someday, much less so soon.

Half an hour later found him in the bedroom he had occupied during the second stage. The light was switched off. An empty cup with chopsticks lying across the rim could be seen atop the single table in the room. While eating, he had heard a certain mellow voice coming from the room directly beneath him thanks to the open windows. He was presently sitting on the windowsill, legs hanging outside and enjoying the fresh night air – autumn was just round the corner. A light backpack was slung onto his right shoulder. In the distance hummed the large river hidden by the dense greenery. From nearby could be heard a series of different sounds: approaching footsteps, a soft thud and the clinking of metal.

All his attention was directed at the conversation going on below.

"My pretty sunflower, I want you to feed me, ne~"

"No thank you…," replied Hinata. "You should do it by yourself, it'd be better—"

"Oh, don't be shy." There was a laugh, followed by shuffling sounds.

"W – What are you doing? Stay in bed!"

For the second time this week, Sasuke felt like punching a certain someone. He bent over to peer at the window from which light was streaming generously. It was rather annoying to stay perched up there and not to see just what was happening down below. And this breeze was making him sleepy…

Without warning, the light went out in the first floor room. This was closely followed by an "Eh?" of stupor from its occupants. Perplexed, Sasuke's eyes swept the environs, but only darkness stared back at him. Was it a power shortage? This would be too ridiculous…

"I'll go and see what's wrong," Hinata was now saying; "I'll be right back." Tap tap tap.

That was Sasuke's cue to get moving.

He pushed himself off the windowsill and glided down the outside wall. When he entered through the window one storey below, he was not surprised to find nobody in the room. Maybe he had even expected this outcome. His blood-red eyes scanned the vicinity as he exited the empty bedroom; he swiftly followed the trail of chakra left by Hinata who had undoubtedly activated her own bloodline limit. But where was the yukata guy? Granted, he and his teammates were adepts at moving undetected. Had he used the Body Flicker technique to get away within the two seconds it had taken Sasuke to reach the room? Regardless of the circumstances under which his team had managed to sign up for the Exams, that Akio could definitely not be considered a mere Genin.

Hinata was in the main hall where were gathered the other medic-nins and those ensuring security, flashlight in hand, chattering animatedly about using a summoning technique to transfer everyone directly to the Konoha hospital. An ominous feeling was floating about his head like a new storm gaining momentum before striking. So far, Sasuke had caught sight of absolutely no member of the ANBU with his Sharingan. He highly doubted that they had mastered some new technique of invisibility. His ego plainly kicked this possibility out of his mind.

Sasuke jumped to a higher level for an overall view of the area.

"Oi! Has everybody gathered?" said Shizune, who was in charge of the whole medical unit, while flashing her torchlight around the hall. He saw Sakura and Ino hurry in Hinata's direction and ask her something. She shook her head, eyebrows furrowed in concentration and lips set in a tight line. "Okay, listen to me," Shizune was saying at the top of her voice, "Medic-nins will form pairs and each will get to a patient and then head to the topmost floor, belongings in hand. Half of those in charge of security will perform the summoning technique there; the others are to stand guard. Once a pair arrives with a patient, one of them will accompany the latter all the way to the hospital while the other will remain behind to help with the summoning itself. Is it clear?" The others nodded in unison. "Alright! Quick, start moving."

It was evident by her stiff posture that Shizune was aware of the ANBU's absence. As Sasuke watched them carry out the instructions, he couldn't help doubting the success of this procedure. After all, it would require a huge amount of chakra to move the thirty or so shinobi present over such a long distance. Fortunately, there were exactly six pairs of medic-nins for the half-dozen of idiots – now five, if Akio was still nowhere to be found – who had all managed to anger Naruto and Sasuke in some way with their tactless taunts. Anyway, Sasuke didn't feel even an ounce of guilt on their account.

After some time, only Hinata remained, frozen in place, her Byakugan gaze directed at Akio's room. Obviously she had noticed that it was empty. Sasuke saw a brown-haired medic-nin rush out of that same room, the light of her torch dancing in front of her, and tell Hinata that they should immediately report Akio's disappearance to Shizune.

Maybe it was because of his fatigue or the fever but for a split second, the scene before him became blurry. He blinked once, twice, verifying whether something was wrong with his eyesight. The haze was still present. Oh-uh. It was not any type of haze.

A mist was slowly forming in the main hall.

The next moment seemed to flow in fast-forward. As Sasuke jumped over the railing to land onto the floor of the main hall, several cloaked figures suddenly appeared within the mist. Either they were wearing some device to see clearly in this darkness or the pervading mist was serving this purpose because one of them deftly knocked out the brunette while the four others converged on Hinata. Sasuke's chakra-enhanced shurikens were much swifter though and successfully pinned them by the fabric of their cloaks to the ground. However, puffs of smoke then emanated from beneath the immobilised shrouds. Sasuke whirled around and stepped aside just in time to grab an incoming kunai aimed at his head. His eyes darkened with grimness. So they were in to kill? He would have gladly incinerated every one of them with Amaterasu now itself but thought better of it: capture them and extract information first, and then burn them all to a crisp.

More importantly, he had to get closer to Hinata. She was presently fending three assaulters off with a defensive technique of the Eight Trigrams, a fighting style of the Hyuuga clan; they were propelled backwards by the orb of chakra pinpricks surrounding the Gentle Fist user. The Uchiha shinobi sent a fireball at the two masked shinobi in front of him before sprinting towards the centre of the hall. There, the cloaked figures had encircled the Hyuuga heiress. A glance at her face revealed that she was ready to take them on: her expression was as stern as any other Hyuuga in that moment. Since Sasuke didn't know what she had in mind, he preferred not to interfere for now.

She made a move to charge at the uncloaked shinobi directly in front of her, but as soon as her palm was thrust at him, she disappeared in a puff of smoke. In her stead, a log of wood fell to the floor with a thunk.

"Eight Trigrams…"

Hinata had reappeared one floor above in a particular fighting stance. The Byakugan truly had more insight than the Sharingan – or maybe the fever was impacting on his abilities much more than he had thought. To an onlooker, it would have seemed as if she was inflicting the Sixty-Four Palms of the Eight Trigrams onto nothing at all. But as soon as she was done, the five figures down in the main hall fell to the ground.

The lights went back on.

Before a panting Hinata was crouched another shrouded individual. With a grunt, that person promptly vanished into thin air. So, there had been only one person behind this whole scenario. Sasuke suppressed the feeling of nausea that was threatening to overcome him at the sight of five bloody corpses lying on the ground in front of him. They had been participants in the Chuunin Selection Exams – two from Konoha and three from the Hidden Mist village.

He looked down at his left hand to find the kunai he had caught earlier. Did it belong to one of those five or to the real culprit? That thought lingered on his mind as he pocketed the weapon.

"Sasuke-kun! Could you help me carry her upstairs?" Hinata's voice brought him back to reality. She had already jumped down next to the unconscious medic-nin and heaved her limp body off the floor, draping one of the brunette's arms around her neck. He went over in an instant and took her other arm, careful to avoid any skin contact with Hinata. He still was unsure on how to behave around her. Silently, they made their way upstairs.

As soon as the others were informed of the attack, the tense atmosphere weighed down significantly on their shoulders. However, all went smoothly from that point on until at last, only Sasuke, Hinata and Shizune stood in the circular room. They had just sent all the personal belongings away.

"We'll be going straight to the Hokage's office," said Shizune, her black eyes dead serious. "Just channel your chakra; I'll take care of the rest. Stay close to me."

Sasuke's head was burning hot once again. He didn't think he would hold out much longer at this rate, yet he let nothing of his condition appear on his countenance. It was silly, yes, but he had developed a habit of always acting strong in front of others. That was also his perception of a reliable leader. Next to him, Hinata's fatigue was apparent in her heavy breathing and trembling hands. This recent fight had undoubtedly stressed her out.

He could feel a sort of distortion similar to being pulled as the technique began to take effect.

There was a deafening sound of glass shattering all around them, followed by a scream. Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes. A gigantic white tiger had used its powerful paw to break into the room and snatched Hinata away with a swipe of its fanged mouth. It had probably been attracted by the high concentration of chakra being released over here.

Or not.

"I'll be taking her, thanks," said a male voice from atop the tiger's head. The cloaked figure wore a dark feline mask and he sounded clearly delighted. "Come and get her if you can." He chuckled darkly.

Sasuke looked back sharply at Shizune who nodded and said in a grave tone, "I'll leave this to you. I'll send for reinforcements as soon as I reach the office."

Once she was gone, Sasuke summoned his giant hawk again and gave chase to the fleeing animal. Just where was that guy headed? The young shinobi clenched his teeth as he pondered on the possible ways to halt the other's advance. Resorting to an elemental attack would hurt Hinata, so that was out of the question. That left one extreme option. An extreme option which he had intended to use from the beginning, anyway.

Sasuke summoned his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and instantly set the cloaked figure on fire with Amaterasu. However, he hadn't anticipated Hinata's next course of action. The latter suddenly seized this lapse of attention from their part to strike the tiger's mouth with a burst of concentrated chakra, breaking one of its fangs completely. It immediately relinquished the kunoichi as it roared in agony before disappearing, leaving a puff of smoke in its wake. The two shinobi were now freefalling, straight towards the river. Sasuke saw the cloaked figure discard its flaming shroud before vanishing as well, abandoning Hinata to her fate. They had distanced themselves too much from Sasuke – he would not be able to catch her before she fell into the water.

The river rushing across the Forest of Death was torrential by nature. The rough riverbed caused the currents to converge in the middle where would most certainly be trapped whoever had the misfortune to fall into the deathly waters. Moreover, the previous storm had worsened the simmering currents into boiling wrath.

Panic involuntarily rose in him as the river engulfed Hinata.

This time, he didn't pause to think about what possibilities he had or had not, to consider his current state of health and the consequences of his spontaneous decision. Did that really matter? A life was at stake – a life that caused him to act more on instinct than rationally. A ribcage of pure chakra was materialising around him…

Ignoring the vertiginous height, Sasuke dove headfirst into the churning waters.

xXxXx

Drowning. Hinata was drowning. The cold water was rushing all around her, numbing her sense of hearing. Darkness was everywhere. Even though her Byakugan showed her where the surface lay, as desperately as she struggled towards it, her weakened body was no match against this fierce monster which had swallowed her whole. She was shoved again and again against the hard rocks at the bottom; bubbles of air were squeezed out of her lungs with each impact. She extended her arms and tried to grab onto some protruding object, onto anything that could prevent her from being carried away any further. Every time she thought she had succeeded, the cruel current would simply take the piece of rock along with her, or the cowardly rocks would slip out of her grip.

Her vision was growing blurry due to the lack of oxygen. Yet, she willed herself not to gulp in this lethal liquid, gritting her teeth and clamping her mouth shut. Her lungs were on fire, her mind was going blank and only panic remained. She didn't want to die. She could not die like this! Fear was gripping at her heart, coiling around it. But she knew that she could not give in to it or it would be over for her. She would not give up yet. In her despair, she frantically reached out as far as she could, this time jerking her arms above her head. All to no avail. Her fingers curled around nothing but this evasive, despicable liquid.

NO!

No way… No…

She had reached her limit. Consciousness was abandoning her, deeming her a hopeless case. She could feel the coldness of the water seep into her body. Her heartbeat was weakening. Her end was finally coming. She had no more strength to fight against those rapid waters… Maybe she should just accept it and stop struggling already. Hinata closed her eyes.

You know… You shouldn't just agree to everything…

Where had she heard this before? It sounded so familiar…

… Start saying no… from time to time.

In some corner of her numbed mind, she faintly registered her back coming into contact with a large, hard surface. A boulder was maintaining her in place. Now acting solely on instinct, she felt her hands form a hand seal. Clinging to one last glimmer of hope, Hinata wrapped the little chakra she had left around her like a cocoon before allowing the darkness to claim her.

Somehow, she was still aware of her surroundings. It seemed as though, while her mind could no longer endure, her body refused to let go altogether. She could feel the water rush past her and it was dragging her along once again. But this water was much warmer. It soothed her frozen skin and gently offered her the oxygen she craved. Slowly… slowly… the air entered her lungs… Her feeble heartbeat quickened slightly. She dared not try to open her eyes for fear that it was all just a delusion. For fear that her mind was giving her one last pleasant moment before death reaped her life for good.

Hinata…

Someone was calling her?

Hinata!

"Who is it?" she wanted to ask but she could not find her voice. She tried to at least move her lips. In vain. Maybe her fingers then? She struggled to make sense of the tiny signals her nervous system was sending to her brain. The tips of her fingers were touching something smooth and cool and wet. She knew what it was… Yes, she had touched that so many times before, back at the Hyuuga compound, in the garden. It was grass.

But how could it be… Had she been dragged out of the river? She couldn't tell when she had started breathing again. Something was cradling her head. Was it a hand? Her senses were gradually coming back to her. Alongside her own weak breathing, she could hear that of someone else, much more laboured. And there was a frantic rhythm too…

Open your eyes! Answer me!

Please…

The inside of her eyelids was becoming redder. Light. She could feel some warmth too. Fire? No… there would be some crackling sound. It was the sunrays kissing her face. Once more, she tried to open her eyes.

She squinted at first at the overwhelming sensation it brought. Then, blinking several times, adjusting to the daylight, she let her eyes drink in her surroundings. Leaves… branches… the azure sky overhead. The sun was peeking at her through a gap in the massive foliage.

"Thank you…," said a quiet voice full of relief next to her. It sounded extremely familiar. She immediately looked at the person who was holding her in his arms. She was met with an intense pitch black gaze and she recognized whom it belonged to at once. However, it was not as sharp as usual but quite otherwise. She had never seen such an expression in his eyes before. Moreover, she just could not figure out what kind of emotion was swirling in the depths of those twin black pools.

The morning sunlight was reflected in Sasuke's eyes. He was holding her gaze steadily, silently. She couldn't explain why but a strange sensation quite similar to falling from high above swelled inside her.

However, she was given no time to dwell on that. For a split second, Hinata saw Sasuke's eyes lose focus. She hardly had enough time to shift her position so that her arms could support Sasuke's limp body as he passed out. No special ability was needed to deduce what was wrong.

Sasuke was burning up.

[Author's note]

Yo ho hoooo! And here goes my attempt at some romance. Do tell me, how was that SasuHina moment to you? That'll help me improve in the future.

Please be kind and leave a review!

In the next chapter, we'll see… more SasuHina moments, lol.