Icewater
Chapter 11: Two Days 'til I can Tell You
Disclaimer: See chapt. 5. On a side note, I love beignets. I had one last week. Delicious!~~~
Enjoy.
Review!
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It was late afternoon when Naruto was roused from his sleep by shouts and cries. He jerked upright on his steed, immediately feeling something amiss.
"Hey, what gives?" he yelled; in front of him, the horses and carts of the Hyuga's were stopped, gathering around a figure in front of them.
"Th-There's some sort of f-f-f-fish that ca-can't be killed up ahead," said a soft, airy voice. Naruto turned in his saddle and saw the girl he had rescued before looking nervously at him; when their eyes met, she looked down shyly, her hands anxiously clapped together by her heart.
What had she told him her name was again? Hinaya... Hitana...!
"Hinata!" he exclaimed. He grinned when she looked up in acknowledgment of her name. Yes! he thought happily. I got it right!
"Y-yes?" she asked. Naruto's grin grew wider.
"What do ya mean by fish?"
Hinata blushed and pointed in front of them.
"I-It's unusual, unlike any we-we've ever seen before," she said, "and has black and red scales and orange fins on its head."
Naruto frowned; the colors together reminded him of something... But what? He didn't know any merfolk who could turn into fish; besides, he knew no fish or merfolk who had those colors.
"Long live Orochimaru!"
Naruto's eyes widened. He spun around in his saddle and set his horse to gallop forward, joining the crowd; he hopped off and pushed his way to the front.
His instincts screamed at him as soon as he saw the fish.
It flopped on the ground, evading the hands attempting to catch it and the pans and hooves aimed to smash it. The single orange fin decorating it's head was spiky and decorative; it's scales were black with red cloud linings.
Just as the man with the orange hair had a black fin with red clouds.
Almost as soon as Naruto recognized the fish, it seemed to recognize him, its purple eyes finding his blue ones.
It stopped flopping.
"RUN!" screamed Naruto.
His warning was useless. As soon as he had finished, a blast of wind swept around the fish, blowing all those who had surrounded it backwards; Naruto skidded on the dirt pavement, wincing as a rock dug into his shoulder upon impact. He stopped sliding a few feet from his startled horse; he sat up and quickly leapt to his feet.
The sky was no longer a cheery blue; dark clouds gathered, forming a whirlwind around the fish; it's scales were ripped off, swirling away, and the fish seemed to be being torn apart; but when a fish feature was pulled off, a human feature was revealed under it. It was a peculiar and odd transformation to watch, but everyone was transfixed by it, watching in horror as the fish became a man. The whirlwind peeled the final scales off, revealing toes.
Naruto knew it was not Chiyo who had given the man human legs.
The man with orange hair stood impassively, scales billowing around him, sticking to his body; they melted together into the fabric of a coat.
"Out of the way, horrific creature of the ocean!" screamed a Hyuga, raising his sword.
Naruto did not know what to expect as the whirlwind blew itself to nothingness and the man looked at the raised weapon of the approaching Hyuga.
The breeze picked up again.
All the people within five feet of the orange-haired man were flung backwards, painfully; the one nearest was cut across the chest by the sharp wind blowing him backwards. Naruto grabbed Hinata and braced himself, his feet digging into the ground so he was not thrown backwards by the wind as it proceeded outwards; it was no longer deadly enough to harm when it reached them, but still strong enough that Naruto and Hinata had to lean all their weight forward so as not to fly backwards.
Through the blowing gust, Naruto squinted. He saw the man with the orange hair look back to Naruto, narrowed purple locking on to widened blue. He began slowly approaching.
Naruto wasted no more time. He grabbed Hinata, tossed her upon his horse, leapt up behind her, and set his horse at a full-blast dash away from danger. Naruto did not need to turn around to know they would be pursued; he heard the hooves of a horse clapping behind them, along with many outbursts from the Hyuga.
"Ah!"
Hinata let out a startled yelp, finally reacting to having been snagged up by the blonde boy. She looked up at him, her eyes wide, and he grinned cheekily.
"Let's get outta here, huh?"
She looked over his shoulder and nodded.
"Naruto," she said, "Please hurry! He's a-a-after us!"
Naruto grunted, trusting her words, and urged the horse forward.
I'm sorry, Sakura, he thought. I might not get to you in time.
He narrowed his eyes and hopped off the horse, leaving a startled Hinata with the reins. He skidded to a stop, rolling to lessen the impact, and then stood, beginning to spin his hands together quickly.
But I can try!
As the wind began to pick up, and the horse holding the man with the orange hair drew dauntingly closer, Naruto roared.
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"Hey!"
With the breath of a groan, Sakura turned over in her bed, unwilling to respond. She was emotionally (and physically) taxed from this morning/afternoon. The events at the waterfall cascaded through her mind as surely as the waters in the waterfall fell, and just as quickly, just as fluidly, Sakura roused herself and sat up.
Ino was looking at her funnily, her eyebrow raised and her mouth in a half-smile; Sakura immediately placed it as Sasuke's fake grin. The servants had undoubtedly picked it up from him, she realized.
And they must undoubtedly use it for the same reason.
Her Inner was right. Sakura wiped the last reserves of exhaustion from her face and scrutinized the blonde servants face.
Ino's normally glowing personality was missing; her smile did not reach her eyes, and she had not found anything to tease Sakura about.
She asked he question with her eyes and Ino answered it.
"The King wishes to see you."
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Her eyes must be failing her.
They had to be.
And yet as the wind whipped forth around her, billowing so strongly she knew her horse could go no closer, Hinata knew her eyes did not lie to her.
What she saw was exactly what it appeared to be.
Naruto had sprouted tails.
Not one, not two.
Three.
The marks on his cheeks - the ones she had assumed he must have picked up in skirmishes, because he had appeared to be an experienced fighter from the moment she met him - had thickened.
And the wind in his hands was spinning so quickly.
The man who had been the unkilleable fish was also attacking with the air, his palms reaching for Naruto; his attack was so fast, so utterly powerful that, like Naruto's, the wind gathered for the blow was visible, gusts billowing about. The wind cut through itself, aiming to destroy one man or the other, whichever would prove to have less control over the slicing gusts.
Naruto yelled again, a sound so piercing and unthinkably inhuman that Hinata's horse - Naruto's, actually, but that didn't matter at the moment - reared in fear. Hinata screamed, falling off, and could only stare in horror while the panicked horse stomped on one of her ankles in its hurry to flee. It galloped away, and Hinata screamed again, this time in pain.
She heard the inhuman roar and then the wind blasted forward; and then Naruto was at her side. His tails had disappeared, and he looked at her in worry.
"Hinata, are you okay?"
Hinata wanted to laugh at the irony.
"A-Are you?" she managed to reply.
He was covered in cuts, bleeding lines decorating his skin, his clothes now merely tattered hanging strips of cloth on his body. His eyes were bluer than usual, darkened and deepened by the dark sky.
Hinata looked up to the clouds now.
"Guh..." She took in a sharp breath and tried to stand; Naruto caught her before she nearly tumbled forward, steadying and balancing her.
"Easy," he said. Hinata nodded gratefully, preparing to limp forward. She looked ahead, turning away from Naruto's blue eyes.
In a moment, she realized what was going to happen.
The orange-haired man, the unkilleable black fish, was up, injured but not subdued. He was charging, and his hands were poised to thrust a grey cloud-and-air-and-wind combination at Naruto, who was too busy supporting her to properly defend himself.
She did not wince when she put pressure on her broken foot by stepping on the ground with it. She pushed Naruto with all her might, and he stumbled away from her, stunned.
She did not have time to wince for pain of her foot injury.
She screamed for a third time as wind ripped through the flesh on her side.
"HINATA!"
She fell. The sky was foggy, the world quickly dimming.
She breathed heavily; she BLED heavily.
And Naruto yelled again.
This time, it was not inhuman; it was animal.
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Once again, Sakura found herself thrown into the uncomfortable setting of the court. The politics were the same as in Oceanica, of course: the lords and ladies socialized and gossiped about trivial matters while the monarchs and royal guests discussed real-world (or back home, real-ocean) problems. But the discussions themselves puzzled Sakura. Already, a materialistic woman clothed in an ugly feathered dress and gaudy flower-covered hat had asked Sakura her opinion on "Lady Karin's Black Widow Dance." Sakura neither knew Lady Karin nor what dancing was, but she handled the woman well enough. She simply poked her throat and the woman sympathized, cooing over Sakura's unfortunate circumstances before turning to a passing nobleman to ask him something about his wife.
Sakura could not see either of the Uchiha brothers around.
The King must want to talk to me alone, she thought. How strange...
Suddenly the doors to the court swung open, and a person (she assumed a man) stumbled in; his black hair and black clothing would have marked him as an Uchiha had he not been a few shades paler than any Uchiha she had ever met. Besides, he held in his hands a canvas, and an assortment of paintbrushes.
The nobles took no notice of the man as he stalked towards the thrones.
Sakura blanched.
He can't be the King, she thought, mind scrambling. He's only Sasuke's age, there's no way...
The boy sat in the King's chair and lifted his canvas, peering intently a the crowd before beginning to paint, producing a pallet from somewhere to use, which he placed precariously on one of the armrests on the throne.
What an idiot, Sakura thought. She was relieved; the human male was only a painter, not the ruler himself.
"He is a klutz, isn't he?"
Sakura's eyes widened and she spun around.
Itachi stood, arms crossed, face expressionless despite the humor she had detected in his voice when he had spoken.
When did he get here? she thought suspiciously.
Beats me, replied her Inner. Pay more attention to your surroundings.
Why don't YOU? replied Sakura.
He held himself with poise and confidence, and had Sakura not been born a child to a King as well, she would have felt bested by him. As it was, she was taking a small hit to her pride; she did not have enough control over her human body to look that regal right now. Of course, right now, she didn't want to look like a Princess, but it was still a minor blow to her self-confidence nonetheless.
She did not answer. Itachi looked down at her.
"What do you think?"
She shook her head, half-grinning, forcing herself to turn a little red. It wasn't hard; Itachi looked a little bit like Sasuke. She touched her throat, tapped it twice, and looked up to see Itachi's reaction.
For a moment - and just a moment - sympathy reflected in his eyes, and then he grunted, his eyes hiding his emotions, and snapped his fingers. Almost immediately, the court fell silent.
"Good day," he said to the crowd of nobles. "In place of my Father, King Fugaku, I am to introduce this young woman to court."
One by one, the nobles approached, taking Sakura's hand eagerly. She played her part well, shaking their hands and grinning stupidly, a surprised look on her face. She was surprised. Why had the King sent Itachi to bring her into the inner circle of nobles when he thought of her as a "commoner?"
Perhaps he doesn't want Sasuke's reputation to be tarnished for spending time with a woman dressed like a gypsy, she thought to herself.
More likely it's to make our fall that much more painful, replied Inner Sakura.
Oh, hush, you!
Just saying.
What do you even MEAN by that, huh?
Oh, nothing, except that-
"Welcome to court," said Itachi, bringing Sakura back to the present. He took her hand and kissed the back of it, and then relinquished her. She smiled and curtsied low, knowing court protocol well enough herself, and then glanced at the door.
And why is Sasuke not here? She wondered. She had an unnerving suspicion...
Someone tapped her on the shoulder. Sakura twirled and looked around, and saw the painter standing behind her. She turned to face him and tilted her head by way of asking what he wanted. He smiled, a fake grin that was barely passable, and turned his painting.
In it was her standing beside Prince Itachi, being introduced to the noblemen and women of the court of Konoha. Sakura stared. Surely the light didn't fall on her quite like that; surely her smile wasn't that radiant; surely her green eyes didn't glow like that...Surely her hair...
"You look nice with the sun in your hair."
"Ooh, your hair almost looks pink in this lighting! Talk about strawberry blonde!"
Surely her hair didn't look that pink in the sunlight...
But the painter did not exaggerate anything else: there stood Itachi, regal stance and all, dark, long hair pulled back in a white ribbon, and there were the flocks of nobles, dressed in their frills and gaudy hats. He had even captured the yellow of the sunshine dripping through the gold-colored curtains, had even added the intricate embroidery on them...
She looked up at the painter. He was an expert at what he did. It was no wonder he was employed by the royals; he had produced such splendid work in less than a few hours.
Sakura tried to compel her amazement at his work through her eyes. The painter must have seen it, because he bowed low to her, and then retreated from the room, throwing a fake grin at the court and a genuine smile at her.
The door closed behind him and Sakura looked out the window.
The sun was beginning to set.
She heard the doors burst open behind her and turned again, instinctively knowing who it was.
Sasuke stood, huffing a little bit, his clothes slightly rumpled as if he had been in a hurry to go somewhere. His eyes raked across the crowd, narrowing when they alighted on her, and narrowing further upon noticing her proximity to Itachi.
She shivered.
His eyes flashed red.
He approached, practically stomping towards them.
"Itachi," he said, anger dripping off his tongue. Sakura took a step back, giving them space; but Sasuke took a step to the side at that point, placing himself between her and Itachi.
"Ah, little brother!" Itachi was unfazed by Sasuke's tone. "You just missed a lovely introduction to court!"
Sasuke tensed.
"You introduced her to court?" Sasuke talked almost in a whisper now, and with good reason, too. Sakura noticed the volume level in the room had reduced as the nobles tried to overhear the Prince's conversation. "She's not meant for it, Itachi!"
Zing.
That stung a little, Sakura thought.
What, you thought he wanted us in court with him? asked Inner Sakura.
I just thought-
"It was on Father's command," said Itachi, raising his hands. "I would not have done it otherwise."
"You're a fool, Itachi." Sasuke's tone was like ice. "Our Father says a great deal of things."
"Not all of us are at liberty to do as we please, little brother," replied Itachi. "It would do well for you to remember we have duties to attend to."
"If I remember correctly, OLDER BROTHER," spat Sasuke, voice raising, "I am the only one with a great duty to uphold. YOU passed on it."
"Sasuke-" Itachi began.
"I'm leaving for the evening." Sasuke coldly cut his brother off. He turned, grabbed Sakura's wrist, and dragged her from the room. He walked quickly, and Sakura had to run to keep pace with him. In moments, they were at the front gate of the castle. A guard noticed the two of them and moved to block the path to the gate.
"Prince Sasuke, I'm afraid we can't let you leave."
Sasuke's eyes flashed a deeper red in the light of the setting sun.
"You dare question me?" he asked.
The guard opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again, breaking into a sweat.
"No, your Highness, not at all! But the King has said-"
With a roar, Sasuke shoved the guard to the side, and pulled Sakura along with him as he continued his approach to the gates.
"I am Prince of Konoha," he cried to the other guards. "I am the future King! Do NOT deny me what I wish! I seek passage to walk in the lands of my people! This girl is accompanying me because I have commanded it, and you will allow us to leave because I command it."
The silence that followed was almost tangible, it was so thick. Then, almost as if in a daze, the guards opened the gate.
Sasuke tugged Sakura along with him. As soon as the gate closed behind them, he broke into a run, and it was all Sakura could do to sprint alongside him.
What's gotten IN to him? she wondered. Their feet pounded on the dirt road. Sasuke slowed only to turn onto the beach. They ran for a time along the sand until the sand turned to rocks. Sasuke stopped then, and Sakura, still unused to straining her relatively new legs, crumpled to the ground, panting and gasping. Sasuke looked at her, and his eyes turned black again. They widened and he crouched beside her, supporting her shuddering form.
"Are you okay?" He cursed when she coughed in answer, and pulled her close, settling on the rocks with her. "Look, it's gonna be all right, I'm just really frustrated." Sakura felt his chest heave as he sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made you run so far."
After a while, Sakura caught her breath. The sun was almost over the horizon, and Sakura became aware of the fact that Naruto would have only one more day to find her before his time was up and she gained more. Suddenly the thought of four more days was intensely daunting. So much had happened in the two she had already had here... Could she really hold out for so much longer? What if her relationship with Sasuke were to take a turn for the worse within the next few days? What if-
"Hey, are you feeling better now?"
Sakura looked up at Sasuke. He looked down at her in concern. She smiled and flicked his forehead with her finger.
"Oww!" he said, rubbing his forehead. Okay, so I deserved that, he thought to himself.
Sakura pulled away from him and began taking her shoes off. Sasuke frowned, taking her wrist to stop her.
"You can't swim here," he said. "It's dark, and the rocks are dangerous."
No more dangerous than your boats, she thought to herself. She removed his hand and stripped her socks off, then lifted her dress so it wouldn't get wet as she began to wade into the water. She turned and faced Sasuke then, smiling at him.
His eyes widened.
She looks like-
And then the last ray of the sun disappeared.
Sakura turned back to the water. It was cold and refreshing. She waded out further, gathering her skirts higher and higher.
She heard splashing behind her and smiled again. Hands grabbed her own.
"You may as well just let go; it's gonna get wet, anyways."
Sakura closed her eyes and let her dress fall into the waters around her. She leaned back into Sasuke's chest, feeling his heart beat quicken a little. She grinned as she felt her own pick up. Sasuke's hands went to her shoulders, and he rested his head on top of hers.
"Your hair looks nice in moonlight, too."
Sakura opened her eyes and looked up at him. He was looking down at her, observing her eyes.
Sakura let one of her hands stray to her currently-blonde tresses, brushing through a strand of it absently while she lost herself in Sasuke's black eyes.
I think we'll be fine in four more days.
One of Sasuke's hands encircled hers, and she let her strand of hair fall back into place as he continued gazing into her eyes.
More than fine.
In two days, she would have her voice.
In two days, she would be able to talk to Sasuke.
I will avoid Naruto when he comes, she decided. Sasuke smiled down at her, and she returned it. I will . Because I want to speak to you.
Because I want to tell you how I feel.
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AN: Sorry it's taken so long to update! School, life, you know. Review, please!