Title; Seraphim

Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.

Chapter Eleven;

"What are you doing here?" I felt myself ask shakily, it had been a long time since I'd seen him; long even by our standards but somehow it felt like a eternity; he looked the same, tall regal dark but somehow his aura had gotten colder over the years, I had heard his team had been captured by the enemy; it seemed he had taken on the missions most likely to kill him.

"My closest friend lives here, what are you doing here?" He shot back, I was aware that the two of them had been friends, I was hoping he wouldn't be here though.

"I-I've come to request that Naruto choose me to B-bond with." I stated a small blush running across my face; I was more than old enough, in fact my clan was beginning to pressure me into it and I wanted to decide for myself before they intervened. I'd become Bonded to my one true love.

It had been years this the Bonding had actually had any effect; in the old days it was said to increase the strength of those bonded equal to their feelings for one another; now it had just become a simple tradition and a form of marriage for us. I knew Naruto and I would be able to make full use of our bonds.

Sasuke looked as if I had just slapped him; he looked old for a moment and I wondered if I activated by bloodline how many scars would I see lining his soul, he had plenty of new body's and left the physical scars behind him but I'd be still able to see them.

"Alright, he's just inside." He submitted stepping aside and allowing me to pass, I strode by quickly ignoring him when he fell into step with me.

I found Naruto in his living room moments later and greeted him with a simple bow, strong blonde blue eyed and gorgeous; Naruto was definitely more my type than Sasuke. I had decided to say my piece before he said anything, I wasn't sure how long my courage would last around him.

"Naruto, I-ah will you Bond with me." I stammered out, seriously surprising and shocking the blonde who had just stood up to greet me.

There was a few minutes silence as I hoped Naruto was considering it, maybe someone better had already asked him.

"Eh, Hinata I'm flattered, but I've already got someone." He answered looking somewhat guilty, my stomach felt heavy like I'd just eaten a lead plate, he hadn't been considering my offer just how best to refuse it.

"W-who?" I asked, it wouldn't do me any good to know; but it only seemed fair that I know the name of the woman who'd stolen my dream from me.

"Sasuke." I hadn't been expecting that.

I politely excused myself and left to find the Uchiha awaiting me outside Naruto's room, he didn't say anything for a moment and neither did I, and then I had him pinned against the wall by his collar.

"Why! Why did you take him from me?" I croaked out, unable to believe that this man could be so vindictive as to take my chances with Naruto from me.

"I did no such thing." He simply ground out not even making a slight effort to remove my grip.

"Naruto was never yours to begin with, can you say that you wouldn't have used the bond to take him from me?" he continued and I felt my grip slacked my finger's becoming like jelly; he was right, Naruto wasn't mine; and even if it had been unintentional I would have taken Naruto from him.

"But, but your both men?" I blanched, the bonding was akin to a wedding.

"Are you two?" I asked.

"The bonding is only a partnership Hinata, it used to be more common between friends than lovers." He explained and I had no choice but to take his word for it.

"Are you happy like this?" I heard him ask, I didn't answer just let go of him and stormed off. I didn't want to tell him that the last time I'd been happy was when he kissed me so many years ago.

"Tell me about yourself?" I was awake after another odd disturbing dream and I was bored; it had occurred to me recently that I didn't really know a whole lot about my companion, or should I say I didn't know any of the little things- the important stuff really.

"What do you want to know?" he returned apparently un interested in any games of twenty questions I may be trying to start.

"Um...what's your favourite food?" I asked, an easy question to start off with for the socially inept man.

"Tomatoes." He answered quickly, I let out a small 'eh' and cocked my head.

"That's only half an answer, Tomato what?" I asked teasingly a small smile on my face, I wasn't taking any short answers today.

"Tomato anything really." He answered, I guess he wasn't in the mood for long answers.

"How about...other things you like?" I asked hoping for an insight.

"I like classical music, my favourite colour is red and I prefer night to day." He rhymed off uninterested, I was tempted to start asking him more indebt questions even at the risk of sounding like a scolding school teacher, I decided against it seeing as Sasuke didn't seem to be in the mood to talk to me at all really.

"How about things you hate?" I asked figuring I'd let him just drive after that if he really didn't want to talk.

"Things I hate...well religion for one and any kind of large organisation or group of people." He answered and I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"So your an atheist and an anarchist?" I asked with a smile, maybe the man just liked to fight.

"I suppose. I dislike anything that allows one person power or control over another." He elaborated and I decided to just listen.

"They make too many mistakes for my tastes, it's almost impossible for a regular person to tell the truth from a lie, you may as well flip a coin to decide things." He finished with a sneer, I wondered what brought on this hatred of laws and governments.

"So what would you do?" I asked interested in what he'd do instead.

"I'm not sure, however I do know of two secret groups of people who can detect lies; but they only use those abilities to help themselves." He spoke still without the emotion in his voice but I began to wonder, I suspected he was just far to practiced in hiding his emotions to even notice he did it anymore.

"You're bitter?" I asked not certain just how strongly Sasuke felt about it, he'd used the same tone of voice to describe Christmas decorations as he would Genocide.

"A little." He replied back to his short answers.

"I've started to remember things." I spoke quietly, so quietly in fact that had it been anyone else they wouldn't have heard me.

"What kind of things?" he asked and either it was my mind playing tricks on me or I actually heard a sliver of concern in his voice.

"Odd things, a lot or it doesn't make sense, though I think I figure things out with each new memory. The clothes and other things seem old even ancient in some memories, and in other memories their newer; it's kind of hard to establish a timeline." I explained as he nodded in understanding.

"But the weirdest thing is Sasuke, you're a part of everyone of my memories." I left the question unsaid, I didn't think it needed to be spoken; what were we to each other.

"No one really knows how exactly it works, it could be that it's your proximity to me, or our connection, the bond. There are hundreds of explanations." He answered, and I couldn't help but feel as if he was keeping things from me.

"That connection, our bond, it wasn't formed on the train that day was it?" I asked suspicion in my voice.

"So you've remembered huh?" he asked a small sad smile crossing his lips.

"Not exactly, no." I admitted, I still wasn't exactly sure what it was but I have my suspicions.

"So tell me then, what do you think it is?" he asked voice low, calculating.

"W-well...it seems to be like m-marriage actually." I stammered out a bright blush creeping up my face.

"Yes and no. It was originally a way for partners to boost their strengths, the bond would increase your strengths while the others are near; it became diluted and stopped having the desired effect. It became a form of marriage contract later, since many of the people who were bonded to each other became tightly connected or married; they figured that a marriage may lead to the bonds working again." He explained, I got the idea of what he meant; the bond only could be seen as a marriage contract it wasn't necessarily one though.

"And which was it for us?" I asked after a brief moments hesitation, I watched him carefully for any signs of a lie; I probably wouldn't have been able to detect the lie but still I had to at least try.

"I know what it was to myself, but I could never tell what exactly it meant to you." He answered, as vague as possible in his usual form.

"So what was it for you?" I asked, it was an important question; what had we been, partners or lovers.

"I'll tell you that, what you tell me what I was to you." He answered, that made my breath catch; Sasuke wasn't the type to fool around it he'd only thought of me as a partner then he would have said so.

And then I recalled the focus of my last two flashbacks, maybe Sasuke wanted to think of it as more than partners but I didn't...and simply used him; I wondered not for the first time exactly what kind of person I was in my last life.

We lost ourselves in silence as Sasuke returned his focus to the road and my own thoughts journeyed back to the shards of memories I had regained, I decided that I would have to wait until I remembered more about myself before I could learn about him; I had figured that he was the one with all of the answers but I had been wrong, he knew about the people after us and how our abilities worked but he didn't know who I was; whoever I had been had kept that secret from him.

I still could remember what I had wanted to say in my memories of all those years ago.

We've been on the move for a while now.

Since we met with that first person we haven't met with anyone else yet; or at least no one that Kenji has been worried about.

Speaking of Kenji I've been worried about him lately, he's been jumping at shadows even some that aren't there, he's become highly paranoid and I wish there were some way I could help him; if I still had my seals then maybe I would be able to do something.

For the first time I wish I could remember, I wouldn't mind losing some memories; if it meant I could help Kenji.

I thought I saw Yui yesterday, just a flash of pink in a crowd on the street; I haven't told Kenji though, he has more than enough to worry about as it is, besides it was probably just a scarf or something like that.

I'm afraid.

I don't know what to do anymore, I've already lost both of my friends; one replaced with a monster; the other best described as Kenji but not Kenji, they looked alike and they liked the same foods but there was little things that reminded me of the truth; my friends had been erased and I couldn't get them back.

It was the last entry, in this diary at least; I didn't actually know if Sasuke had one dated after it back in his home or not.

We had stopped at a gas station and I had taken the opportunity to take a quick read of Takeda's diary as Sasuke went to pay for the gas, the quick read had turned out to be surprisingly short; only blank pages followed the entry I'd just read.

I felt an odd sickness fill my stomach suddenly, it was a somehow familiar sensation.

A knocking at the window drew me from my thoughts and I realised exactly what the sick sensation was.

A giant of a man stood outside the car, he was wearing a bright white suit over a crisp black shirt, a royal blue tie was tightened messily around his collar.

"Come along quietly miss." He spoke as soon as I rolled down the window, I had hoped that like the last time we'd met outside Doctor Masons office that he wouldn't recognise me; my luck seemed to be particularly bad today.

I opened the door and stepped out of the car, plans that I knew wouldn't work raced through my mind as I tried to figure out what I should do; I had my weapons on my but I wasn't sure how I'd match up against this man, I still only could use a fraction of my powers; then there was the big question, where was Sasuke?

I was led into the shop and I saw Sasuke at the counter presumably paying for the gas, he turned sharply when we entered; in the matter of half a second Sasuke had drawn one of his revolvers from God knows where and I felt myself hoisted up my the man to be used as a human shield.

I knew Sasuke was a good shot but I suddenly felt very frightened, it didn't help when I heard the man in white let out a low chuckle; the man carelessly tossed me aside, luckily though a large stack of some new flavour of pot noodle of something broke my fall.

I noticed that Sasuke had lowered his gun and had a vaguely annoyed expression on his face.

"Looks like Shikamaru got you; I gotta say I'm disappointed Uchiha, the way Shikamaru worked to plan this out I was expecting more." Gloated the man seeming quite pleased with himself.

"Shikamaru Nara, one of the shadow users?" I heard Sasuke question an eyebrow raising gracefully; I mentally shouted for him to just shoot already.

"That's right. You know what that means right, you can't escape once he's hooked your shadow." Answered the man in white with a smile on his face.

"Hinata, shoot at me!" Sasuke spoke calmly authority in his tone, I didn't hesitate; if I didn't know Sasuke like I did I would have hesitated, but I knew Sasuke and every word Sasuke spoke was carefully chosen for its purpose; the 'at' meant that Sasuke had a plan.

I managed only one shot before the gun was ripped from my hand; the bullet didn't make it to Sasuke, it stopped just an inch before reaching his body; it only stopped there a moment though before it shot off again piercing the fuse box to his left.

Everything went dark.

I wondered how he had managed it, seeing as he claimed to only be capable of pulling and pushing me metal, I made a mental note to ask him if we survived.

There were several shouts of pain and several gunshots before I felt myself once more gapped hauled outside, I had a split second to catch a glimpse of Sasuke, eyes scarlet red, as we exited the shop before Sasuke quickly shot out the outside lights too.

I wondered if those red eyes allowed him to see in the pitch dark as I was none to gently shoved into our car, before I even had time to gather my wits Sasuke had hit the accelerator...without turning on the headlights.

Ten minutes later Sasuke finally slowed down and hit the lights, I was still a little dazed and had to take a moment to gather my wits.

"What happened?" I asked examining the Uchiha next to me; there were a couple of bullet holes in his jacket but there was only a small trace of blood on his upper arm, I guessed that the man had fired off a few pot shots when the lights cut out.

"The big guys dead, I didn't go after his partner; too dangerous on his own territory." He answered, I gasped in shock at the statement; there had only been a single of the louder harsher bangs that I had recognised as Sasuke's gun firing when we were in the shop.

"How'd you get free?" I had realised that he had somehow been trapped, I just didn't understand how the lights going off helped him.

"The Nara clan are Shadow users, among other things they can bind your movements by linking their shadows to yours. No light means no shadows, no more binding." He explained, I noted that his eyes had returned to their regular inky black.

"How about your new trick, how'd you change the direction of the bullet?" I asked my heart beat finally returning to its normal rate.

"That was mostly out of convenience, I wouldn't be able to repeat it again unless it was on another fuse box or electrical item." He answered causing he to frown, he had gotten me to shoot at him when he only had a hunch that he could affect the bullet.

I suddenly wanted to slap the man...hard.

Alright a little short I'll admit but I've got plenty of work to do at college...most of which I've been finding excuses to put off. Just not enough hours in the day really you know.

Well anyway I hope you enjoy and find it in your heart to review, I'd actually like to take this opportunity to thank all of my reviewers; you guys make this story possible with your feedback. Like I'd write if I weren't getting reviews ;)

R&R