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When the Sun Starts to Set
Eleven
In the first five minutes, she came up with a few things. On the top of her building list, she knows she cannot say anything about that guy and their past relations. She cannot handle speaking of Vaughn's murder, how that man was behind it. She cannot say what her own standing is because she doesn't know where she stands. Not anymore. How can she when everything she thought to be is slowly turning into one lie right after the other?
So she tries to tell them what she can – how he appeared at school, the note he left, how he appeared here as she and a large group of students from her school came here for some reason or another. The entire time, the Akatsuki was silent. Each was sitting somewhere in the room, eyeing her, drinking in the information, and frowning at various parts of her patched together narrative.
And the look on Pein's face, she knows that he knows that she is withholding parts that could be important. But he doesn't press the issue. He only sits at the end of the table, hands folded before him and his face focused solely on her. He absorbs each word like a sponge absorbs water. He does not speak, only listens and watches. She already knows he is detecting each nervous jitter, each time she looks at the wall above his head or off to the side. She knows that all of them are catching this…all but innocent Hinata.
The raven-haired Hyuga has her hands folded in her lap, her brows furrowed in a look of discomfort and intense worry. She is unsettled, that Gwyn is sure of. Even when Kisame puts his large, blue hand on her friend's shoulder, she knows that the shy girl's fears are not quelled. She knows that Hinata will ask the most questions, at a later date when it is only them, and she will bombard her for answers that she will not be able to answer.
"And then I found you guys." She left out a lot – her aunt, for example. She just has this gut feeling that they will not take the news of her aunt very well. It is kind of how one can tell when someone is staring at them – she knows that they will not take the revealing of her aunt like civil people. She left out her family, Mark and how she is engaged against her will, and how this stranger is somehow connected to her, her brother, and the fact that he seems to be targeting her family. And the jerk didn't even bother giving her a name.
He's a criminal, that's what he is. He's an unlawful, immoral, scandalous, senseless, outrageous, wicked fiend. Someone ought to lynch him. Someone ought to take a noose, wrap it around his murderous neck, and shove him off a building that the rope is attached to – a rope that is so long that when it snaps at the end it rips his freaking head off his blasted body.
But she doubts it will happen.
"Gwyn-chan?" her gaze turns to Hinata, at Hinata who is looking at her with a frown etched into her face. And then she realizes that Pein was talking and she hasn't been listening. No doubt he asked a question a few times and is growing irritated at her lack of response…and lack of attention.
"Ah, what?" she shifts, wringing her hands together under the table.
He just blinks at her, brows furrowing till they nearly meet, and then leans back into his seat. He doesn't say anything. He only stares, the frown turning into an expressionless mask of indifference that not even Itachi can see through. It is a look that she knows well for it is a look that he has directed onto her more than once. It is a look that tells of his dissatisfaction without actual words. It is a look that prompts her to let it all out without any encouragement.
It isn't going to work – not this time.
"So let me see if I got this right. You got a poem in the mail, a poem you cannot remember, the sender showed up in your school, then here, and attacked you. For no apparent reason." His eyes are calm, business-like.
"Yeah, that's about right." She closes her eyes for a brief moment before looking him dead in the face, gray clashing against russet.
"Is there anything else you would like to add?" he leans forward, hands clasped together.
"One thing – I think it would be best if I get back to the Red Diamond District before Tsunade-san flips a lid and calls the cops. Or the FBI." He frowns but nods, "I have to agree. It would be best if no one knows we, the Akatsuki, are here."
Meaning I cannot say a word about seeing you, meeting you after so long. She nods, face never betraying a thought lurking emoishly in the back of her head.
"I understand. After what happened in Konoha, staying undetected would be the best idea." He leans back, "I am glad you understand, Gwyn."
"Pein-sama, Tobi doesn't want them to leave! Not so soon!" the male with the bandaged eyes drapes himself off her shoulder, nose brushing her throat.
"Tobi," the warning is clear in his voice despite his still blank face.
Slowly, one by one, each member of the Akatsuki get up and leave – minus Pein, Konan, and Itachi. For a moment, the five of them sit in silence until Hinata stands. She eyes the three standing across from them as she asks, "So how will we get back? We were knocked out when taken here."
Pein and Itachi exchange a glance before their gaze turns to Konan. The first thing to go through Gwyn's head is along the lines of 'oh shit, they're going to knock us senseless' followed by 'why the hell does this keep happening to me' and then silence. Instead of hitting her, though, a gentle stroke on her cheek alerts her of the leader's touch.
Her eyes open, an 'eep' bursting from her mouth as she sees how close he is. Eyes half lidded, lips parted, she cannot think of a time where he looked more kissable. Or seductive.
"How well do you know Red Diamond District?" he asks as he places a hand on Hinata's shoulder.
"Better than I know Konoha. Came often as a child for vacation." Not a lie, but not the truth.
She did visit, but not her aunt. Her mom would take her and her twin when they were little, before he became ill. It stopped when Vaughn died. It wasn't mentioned after Ari died. It wasn't thought of when Max was born.
But now she is there, staying in her aunt's palace-like manor for kami-knows-how-long. She never thought that she could sleep in such a fancy place. She didn't even know it was possible for her aunt to even let her in the house. But it would seem that once she returns, she and her aunt will have to speak. They will have to talk of the past. Talk of things she wished would never be talked of again.
Soon the crisp air of night is washing over them.
Soon the warmth of a van flows over her.
Soon the beat of a heart thrums under her ear.
Soon is comfort…and contentment.
She can hear Hinata striking a conversation with Konan and Itachi. She can feel the rumble of Pein's voice as he adds his own input and feel him shift. His smell always hits her, strong and unyielding.
Soon the van is slowing to a halt.
Soon they are outside and helpful hands are helping her sit down.
"Gwyn?" warm hands brush her hair from her face, cup her cheeks.
"S'Kay, just tired." She mumbles.
She can hear Hinata talking, on the payphone not seven feet away. She leans against the Akatsuki leader as she watches her friend talk, giving directions, apologizing. Soon Konan is brushing her hair from her face, telling her to take care of herself.
To be careful and safe.
Even Itachi runs his hand through her hair before they, and their van, vanish.
Now, she leans against Hinata. Tired, eyes drooping, she blinks. The surroundings blur together, a funhouse theme tilting her world. In time, other voices mix in. She can feel someone lifting her up, talking to Hinata, asking question after question, talking…talking…talking…
Then she can hear someone speaking frantically, demanding answers.
"What happened?" more voices, more talking…
"Are you sure?" worry, a cloth over her forehead…
"You just woke up…" waking and falling asleep in a fever-caused slumber, Gwyn looses track of time.
She was moved, at one point, from her room to her aunt's chambers. Hinata tagged along, saying that she didn't want her friend to wake up alone. Her aunt agreed.
"…but she will wake up, soon enough anyway." Her eyes blink open, sleepily, before drifting shut.
Jugo stopped by at one point, when she was partly awake and stomach churning. He gave her iced water, helped her sit up even. Sasuke and Naruto were right behind him. Sakura and Ino came and went, each staying to talk to her for a bit. Even Temari stopped in, checking her forehead and telling her she was looking better.
Five days passed in this manner.
On the last hour of the last day, she came to full wakefulness. Her eyes opened, clear and seeing, but the pain in her body was at full throb. She rolls over, wincing, but noting that she is alone.
She slowly sits up, the flaring ache in her side wrenching a gasp from her lips. She stumbles out of the silk sheets, to the bathroom. She grasps the toilet in her hands, expelling all in her stomach into the white bowl with a vengeance.
She hasn't felt this ill since she was a child with the flu.
She closes the door, locks it. She stripes of her clothing, hands clumsy. She leans against the wall, underwear a brilliant white, and the bra strapped around her is tight. Painfully tight, like it is far too small for her.
She strips completely, grasping the knob in the shower and turning it to full blast. She sits on the edge of the bathtub, stomach grumbling angrily at her. One hand moves to her side, to the rough skin that lines the side of her breast and under it, hidden from view.
One wound Pein missed – that or he not comfortable enough to…disinfect it.
She moves to the mirror, to see the wound. Raw, spider-webbed and throbbing, the black mark screams at her in a way that makes her stomach roar once more. She repeats the toilet expelling spell, hurling till she can hurl no more.
Then she stumbles into the shower, collapsing to her rear. She folds her arms across her chest, tears dotting the edge of her eyes.
She carefully washes herself, mindful of every wound. She scrubs her face till its red, shaves and ignores the sting of the cuts, washes her hair mindlessly. She climbs out, water off, and wraps herself in the white towel laid next to the tub. A towel set aside by someone who must have entered when she was washing. Someone who has a key.
"Amelia…" the door opens, the black-haired woman peeks in.
She crosses the room to her, runs her hands through her hair. She hushes her when she tries to speak, helps her dress. She takes her back to the bed, to Hinata who looks worried as ever.
"Y-you are a-awake," Gwyn smiles, nodding.
"A bit lightheaded, but fine. I'll be on my feet by tomorrow."
"I think not." Her aunt snaps, covering her with the blankets now that she is lying down.
Hinata wrings out a cloth, dabbing her forehead with it as her aunt excuses herself. They are silent, listening for any sign of the woman.
"What happened? You…just go sick…" Hinata doesn't stutter, a thing she only does when with people she trusts absolutely.
What happened indeed?
She thinks back on it, on the wound and the day that happened so long ago…or feels so long ago. It is as if someone put a blender to her brain and hit 'scramble.'
Not a pleasant effect.
Not at all.
But her hand drops over the wound under the blanket. She can feel the rough edges through her nightgown. She can feel the sharp stabs of pain as her fingers brush over it.
"I guess one of my injuries got infected." Gwyn murmurs but her mind turns to something else.
It turns to Ari.
It turns to her twin brother who died when they were young.
To a brother who died from a mysterious illness that sprang from nowhere.
It turns to his good days and his bad days.
It turns to the mark that was on his back…
…a mark that has the same, eerie roughness and color as the one on her side.
"I would say I've been marked, Hina-chan. Marked to die…"
This is one hell of a chapter - it might be confusing. I hope it isn't. It would seem more and more of her past is surfacing. Vaughn, Ari, her dad and her aunt, it makes me think "where is this going?"
I know the answer - and it will all be revealed soon enough...
...but can anyone else guess?
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
Review
~CideanForever