Peace for Traitors

by ScarletTigress

Naruto's marriage to Sasuke and Sakura has given him both legitimate power in Konoha politics and a real family. Life is happy, peaceful, but dark foes are gathering and their plans threaten everything he has. Sequel to Peace for Monsters. SakuNaruSasu

25. Chapter 25

This was really a total trial to write and would not have happened without the incredible support my reviewers have shown and the constant harassment to write by my husband. Stories are much harder to end than they are to begin and while this is NOT the end by a good stretch, I had a lot of things to get to! Hope it was worth a three month wait. At any rate, I want to thank Nilyenea for sticking with the story and for the encouragement as well as meow for the good intentioned whining. Thanks to Maejirase the magnificent, as always, for reviewing even while busy in Japan! How exciting! A true thank you to Li-lo and Nalu M for the support, it was such a pleasure to read your reviews. Thanks to Rubi and KashiHime, as well as L, M and Azilli. You guys rock! Thank you to Midnight Essence for yet another totally phenomenal review and also to Miki, who made my day! Thanks to Ball of Fluff, I loved you review so much I read it to my husband! Thanks to Domi for the endless support, you've been with me since the beginning and I never stop being grateful! A big thank you also to Toramonger and Gunslayer12 for the awesomeness, as well as all the Guests who left totally excellent reviews. Get screen names to I can thank you directly! Thanks to TruGemini, who always leaves such thought provoking reviews and Icykloud who has my new favorite screen name. To Roboguy45 and David999, you guys are the best! Thank you so much! Thank AlastrinaMeadow, tears means it's good, and solitare1. I want to specifically thank Lonely Athena for another excellent review and as well as jd-dox. This thing is 500-fricking pages long because I love you so much, which is just totally insane. Thanks so much and please enjoy!

Accounts of ink demons are incredibly rare, though most sources agree that the creatures were exceedingly shy and probably survived the earliest stages of genocide only by passing as human. It appears, at least from the very rudimentary drawings of my predecessors, that ink oni were a sort of shape-shifting species. Like mirror sprites, shadow spawn and other lesser demons associated with the properties of an object instead of an element per se, they were probably able to alter some of their physical characteristics in response to their needs. Like the ink they are bonded with, the demons were able to manifest a certain concept for a brief period of time and the writings disagree over whether the creatures were devastatingly beautiful or shockingly ugly. The flexibility imbued by their nature was time limited and often more a mirage than true transformation. Texts disagree about the nature of the fully awakened base form, but generally indicate that it was black with strikingly blue markings and quadriped. Little else is known, because ink demons could control their own manifestations to a greater degree than other species and often looked dissimilar enough as to be confused with another demon altogether. Remarkably responsive to their environment, ink oni were able to generate fur to ward off cold or even wings for brief periods of time before returning to their base form. Though interesting, these abilities are not totally unique and, like all demons, they retained three fundament states: A humanoid low energy form, a fully awakened demonic form and an intermediate form sharing features of each. There is, however, a subtle indication of a greater depth to the power of the ink oni. More than any other species, they may have retained the capacity to fine-tune the energy invested in each form until the three modes of existence became less a solid state and more a continuum. The possibilities such an ability might have provided are enticingly vast, but as the creatures are completely extinct, this discussion is restricted to conjecture.

-Koumyuo Sanzo, Lives and Habits of Far Eastern Demons

Hiashi scrubbed at his face, the thick ash clinging stubbornly to his skin and hair and eyelashes, spreading damningly through the water of yet another scalding bath. He sighed, looking down at his hands and wishing vainly that Suki was still alive, still sitting silently beside him with her competent intuition and comfortable curves. She was truly the best of his ninja and not a weapon he was pleased to part with. The image of Suki's frozen, dismembered body was all he could see now, a shattered corpse instead of titillating reminiscences of the supple woman who had served him. Even the memory had been stolen by the Oni's mysterious friends, shadowy threats who remained a problem unsolved and a factor unaccounted for in his strategy. Everything was dirty again, covered in filth and blood just as surely as his own aspirations, but the Hyuuga clan-head hesitated to call his servants to change the water. Perhaps there were some things that simple soap and water could not wash away no matter how long a person scrubbed; things like failure and humiliation, things he had ruthlessly sacrificed many lives to avoid, but Kushina had made her bastard son too strong.

Hiashi clenched his hands into fists at the thought of Naruto, a worthless barbarian commoner imbued with demon strength that should have come to his own lineage. Even the memory of the boy's sunny face filled him with nauseating rage. A blunder of fate, an accident, had stolen Kushina away from him and now her powerful blood rose up to thwart his every intention in the form of an unstoppable jinchuuriki pack. None of it was fair! None of it was right! She should have been his woman, the clan queen of a fortified castle instead of the lowly wife of a butcher's son too poor to even buy her proper clothes and too foolish to protect her from the likes of Madara! Even in death, the fourth Hokage mocked him, just as he had when they studied in the academy.

Minato was always powerful but now, even as a fully realized adult with all of Konoha within his grasp, Hiashi was impotent to stop him. The seething hatred Hiashi felt for the dead man choked him, undimmed by the years or even his own logic, ice-cold and heavy as lead. Naruto's father was a mistake of breeding, an aberration, one in a million men born with enough talent to compete with the high houses. He had never been meant to be Hokage and Naruto never should have been his son! Minato and his cursed seed always stood in the way, ruining everything Hiashi had ever wanted for himself, stealing everything that had ever mattered. Suki was gone, Neji a shattered wreck, his clan decimated and Kushina… Hiashi squeezed his eyes tight against the tears. Even the thought of her, even after decades of forced composure, made him ache.

She drove him mad, the gentle red-haired kitsune and her unearthly beauty so long extinguished. The sputtering of the lamp was too loud and the tangerine glow of its flickering light reminded him so strongly of her, of the scarlet silk of Kushina's long red hair and the dazzling flames of her jutsu. He imagined, as he often did, the son she would have carried for him. A brilliant child with hair as dark and crimson as fine grape wine and perfect control of the Byuukugan, the kind of son whom he could hold above all others. The kind of child his worthlessly sentimental daughter would never be, a true heir to the Hyuuga clan, a conqueror to bring the rest of the world to heel. Yes, the image of him was so clear and perfect, of the boy who should have been his son and heir if Naruto had never been born. Of the life he could have had if only Kushina were his wife instead of Minato's.

"Why?" Hiashi asked to no one, gazing at his own scowling reflection in the dim lamplight.

There were no answers. He was utterly alone with his failures. The Hyuuga clan-head struck the knuckled of his hand against the edge of the large pool hard enough to make it splinter, wincing slightly as the jagged wood pierced his skin. Blood, weirdly cool in the heat of the bath, ran down his fingers to mix with the soot. What a waste. He chuckled quietly, the sound raw and just a bit mad. Hiashi thought briefly of his ancestors as he sat bleeding into the murky darkness, of his own proud father and the hundreds of other heroes and subjugators who had built the Hyuuga line long ago from nothing more than steel and will. Hyuuga survived when other clans and factions fizzled out of existence, they grew when others wasted away, the perfect combination of brilliance and ruthless initiative.

That was his blood, the same power which reigned supreme through the age of fire, the same blood which subdued the demon hordes at the beginning of time. The small laceration was the only injury he'd suffered to his body in the conflict with House Uzumaki, but Hiashi felt crushed anyway, his mind and spirit at the very brink of utter ruination. The damn oni may very well have conquered him, crushed his psyche without ever laying a claw against his skin and that was too fucking pathetic to believe. Was he really so weak as to allow such indignity? Did indignity even matter when everyone was dead?

His ancestors were all great men; certainly the source of his pride, but Hiashi resisted the temptation to cogitate too strongly on what their opinion of the current situation might have been. The dead were dead for a reason. He may join them soon enough anyway. The assault, so carefully planned and precisely executed, failed miserably. Naruto was coming for them, a demon deity enraged by the loss of his damaged little whore, and there would be nothing he could do to stop him. The might of the ancient Hyuuga clan would be broken and the ashes scattered, a faded memory just as the Uchihas were, and then nothing would stand in the way of Naruto's fucking peasant revolution. Hiashi scowled.

No. No, he was thinking about the entire situation incorrectly, allowing the loss of so many fine people in the initial assault warp his strategy, letting the defeat of one battle cloud his judgment about the course of an entire war! Few wars were won with a single blow and even fewer against a force like Naruto's pack. Some losses were to be expected in a war for control of an entire kingdom, it was natural that people should die and the war lords of the past would have barely blinked at the death toll such as it was. Too many decades of peace had made them soft, but not for long. Hiashi grinned as the pieces slowly began to fall together into a recognizable pattern, a strategy against which there would be no defense, something that would slay even a god much less a demon. He'd been thinking about all of it from the wrong perspective, considering Naruto as a force of nature instead of just as a man, a man with weaknesses that were just as human as his own. A man whose psychology he could exploit.

The Hyuuga offensive capability was badly damaged by the loss in the forest, true, but the jinchuuriki was not unscathed by the encounter either. The creature had lost one subordinate and sent another away in a fit of pique that made absolutely no strategic sense, leaving him alone with a pregnant female and only one functional pawn. Only Naruto and Sasuke remained to face him, only two exhausted opponents against dozens of fresh Hyuuga veterans. Even without the force of sheer numbers stacked in their favor, Hiashi still had one last weapon up his sleeve, one that the damn jinchuuriki had been kind enough to place back into his grasp. Hiashi smirked. Neji was under the thrall. There was still a way to win.

OoOoOoO

Kiba awoke slowly to the cacophony of barking, wincing a bit at the noise and the bright sunlight slanting like a razor through a crack in the thick wooden shutters. Even with his eyelids half singed, he was barely awake, fatigue dragging heavily on his flesh even as the sound of the dog's voices vibrated through his body. He was sore and the room felt strange, even though it was his room. The orientation of the brightly colored pillows and the thick sheepskin furs was exactly how he remembered, everything in it's place. The barking seemed louder than he remembered though, more shocking, a herald of something else that was very, very wrong with the world outside. For a few disorienting moments Kiba simply lay among the familiar furs of his childhood bed and listened to the dogs bark boisterously as they always did before reality settled itself around him. He gasped. He was home, safe with his little band of underage misfits, but Hinata was still a prisoner and his new family was at war. At any moment, Naruto might be burning the Hyuuga compound to the ground with his wife still trapped inside it!

"Fuck!" Kiba barked, sitting up and groaning at how dizzy and ill the sudden motion made him feel.

"Easy boy, there's still time." Granny chuckled harshly, her voice as raspy as ever.

The Inuzuka matriarch sat at the edge of the bed as if she'd always been there, not a single strand of her hair out of place, her staff resting between her knees in a way that conveyed to the world that she didn't necessarily need it. Granny always looked confident, but today she was practically glowing, exuding a soft kind of excitement that was as quiet and deep as the very ocean. Something made Kiba think that the old woman was already aware of what was happening and that the mess Hiashi had pulled the Hyuuga clan into with Naruto pleased her as much as it annoyed her.

"Time for what?" Kiba asked, wincing as pain from a thousand forgotten injuries lanced through his awareness.

"Time for one clan to fall and another to rise and thankfully Inuzuka won't be either of them." She laughed softly, but the sound was menacing too. Kiba shivered.

"Things are happening Granny! I can't just lie around! My wife, my men…" Kiba hissed painfully, holding his ribs with one hand and hunting about for a shirt with the other.

"You mean those little half-frozen puppies? Peh, even I know what a man looks like and that's a bit of a far cry to be sure…Even for Hyuuga…" Granny laughed gruffly, voice like ancient leaves rubbed over rusting metal, gripping her staff as she bent over in glee.

"This ain't funny Granny! People are dyin'!" Kiba barked, showing his teeth impertinently.

"People die, boy! People live and die and that's just life! There's nothing to be gained with bull-headed impatience!" Granny snapped, her manner and posture suddenly crackling with authority as her rheumy eyes narrowed.

"Naruto's on the warpath, Granny! He's furious and…and you've never seen anything like what he can become!" Kiba said, biting his lip as the memory of the gigantic spirit beast shook him once again.

The monstrous colossus, a heaving storm with eyes glowing like lightning, wind and terrible intent impossibly made flesh to walk upon the world like the forgotten gods of ancient times. Kiba remembered the feeling of utter insignificance as those amber orbs turned upon him, the way the very air screamed as Naruto moved past with his attendant cyclones. The jinchuuriki was unstoppable that way and, even worse, Kiba knew his friend was unstable. So much elemental power uncaged could only lead to destruction. He shuddered. Hiashi was the very worst kind of idiot and he'd awoken a sleeping titan, one that none of them had any hope of slaying, one that would only be pacified by the total annihilation of Hinata's family. Granny was wise, but they didn't have nearly as much time as she thought.

"The jinchuuriki will do as it must to reclaim balance for the world." The Inuzuka matriarch intoned, almost to herself, rubbing the glossy wood of her staff thoughtfully, "Thankfully for us, Naruto's wrath is directed against an old enemy instead of a friend."

"Hina isn't our enemy, Granny, and Naruto isn't an 'it' either! Hiashi may have dug his own grave, but I don't think Naruto's gonna be very balanced about much of anything. We have a damn situation!" Kiba argued, breathing shallowly around the fractured ribs he still could not remember breaking.

"Do not underestimate a jinchuuriki." Granny hissed.

"I'm not! I just need to get Hina out of his way before…before something really bad happens!" Kiba snapped defensively.

"Al this is not unexpected, pup. His subordinate was killed. What can he do, but rage?" Granny sighed, looking almost concerned for a moment.

"Oh shit." Kiba whispered, "Which one?"

"Sai."

That was bad, very bad, and not made better by the fact that Kiba did not know the artist well enough to anticipate how Naruto might react to his loss. Losing Sasuke would break Naruto into a quivering mess and losing Sakura would simply kill him, but Sai…? Losing a subordinate only newly claimed and yet so close to team 7 would be a more complicated problem. No one really knew how Naruto loved Sai. Kiba knew his friend had been casually fond of the emotionless artist for years, but their relationship had clearly become romantic. Loss of a lover, loss of that lover, might only send the jinchuuriki into a fit of homicidal rage.

"Kami! He might be attacking already, the whole compound could be destroyed! We need to formulate a diversion or a counterattack or a covert strike! We need to do it now!" Kiba howled.

From his place on the floor, Akamaru sat up onto his haunches, whining softly in unspoken agreement. Granny glared for a moment at Kiba and then cast her gaze onto the dog who whimpered and dropped his head back down onto his paws in an obvious show of acquiescence, the traitor. Kiba huffed, pulling the shirt over his head in a stubborn and shockingly painful show of pride. Granny rolled her eyes and tapped her staff thoughtfully with her long, yellow fingernails.

"Be still and rest awhile, boy. The attack has not yet begun and there is still far too much to do…"

"My wife is locked in the Hyuuga complex, Granny! I have to go save her…!" Kiba snarled.

"Go and do what? Spit on Hiashi's pride just to watch it sizzle? Have some damn sense boy!" Granny said, pounding the heel of her staff against the floor for emphasis. Akamaru whined again.

"You can't expect me to sit here and do nothing while my woman burns to death for crimes she never committed!" Kiba seethed, growling under his breath.

"I expect no such thing. What I expect is for you to gather our forces and assist in organizing a tactical strike so that when the time comes, when the opening in the typhoon presents itself, we can rescue Hinata without insulting an angry, grieving and mentally unstable kitsune!" Granny spat at last.

"Well," Kiba grumbled, crossing his arms, "Why didn't ya just say so?"

"I swear! Talking to young people is like chasing puppies, ya never quite catch them and yet you keep running anyway," Granny sighed, "No one can know our plans, least of all Hinata."

"Why not? She'd never do anything…"

"Because anyone can be tortured for the truth, Kiba. Even Sasuke defected eventually." Granny argued.

"They can't torture her! She's pregnant!" Kiba howled half throwing himself off the bed.

Patiently, Granny leaned down to grab Kiba painfully by his overlong hair, hair that he'd grown out in solidarity to the damn Hyuugas. She tugged sharply, neatly short circuiting the adrenaline pounding through his veins and unbalanced his rather precarious position on the edge of the bed. Kiba toppled onto the floor, half dazed with the pain in his ribs. He snarled.

"Running out to yap like a pup at Hiashi's gates ain't gonna help her, boy! She's safer as long as hiashi thinks you're dead!" Granny snapped.

"Hiashi doesn't have the first…wait, what?" Kiba asked.

"Hiashi. Thinks. You. Are. Dead." Granny said, using the same voice she had when he was a three-year old.

"But, he saw me, saw me desert…I…I don't understand."

"All the bastard knows is that you fought with one of Sasuke's clones at the river and that the battle ended with a tremendous explosion. Naruto kept him far too busy to be doing things like retrieving bodies. As far as Hiashi is concerned, you're lying at the bottom go the river along with all his escaped teenage enlistees." Granny smirked.

"Oh," Kiba said, eyes widening, "Well, that changes everything."

"Yes indeed, boy. Yes, indeed!" Granny cackled.

"But, what if Hinata…"

"Her messenger leaves as we speak. I have given your woman my blessing to begin." Granny said, smiling like a cat with a mouse.

"Begin what?" Kiba asked, confused.

"Begin her assault, I assume. I have only received rudimentary details, your princess only says what she must, like all Hyuugas. Still, we can anticipate her actions well enough knowing only that she is moving against Hiashi." Granny said, her gravelly voice practically gleeful.

"What's in the message?" Kiba asked.

"A formal surrender to clan Inuzuka written and signed by Hinata as Clan Head complete with terms."

"That doesn't make any sense Granny! Hyuuga's at war with Uzumaki, they ain't got nothing to do with us!" Kiba huffed.

"She's inviting us to intervene, boy! And she's doin' it in a way that Hiashi can't simply disregard! We are free to support her against either of them!" Granny whispered urgently.

"You're just guessing…"

"Maybe, but this is all the information we need to prepare. All that's left is to watch and wait." Granny shrugged.

"I haven't been able to speak with her directly." Kiba admitted, feeling frustrated that his wife's intrigue had gone on without his direct involvement.

"She knows this, she must. The point, Kiba, is that she trusts you to support her designs without full disclosure…"

"How can I when I don't know what's goin' on!?" Kiba snarled angrily.

"Simple. You just watch and act with your gut." Granny said.

OoOoOoO

People were talking, but Neji could barely hear them. He felt numbed, anesthetized in both body and mind like a corpse forgotten beneath the snow, frozen for a thousand years without ever seeing light. The words passed over him, like whispers from a dream, dimmed into nothingness by the roaring inside his own soul. The pain, the sucking void where Sai used to somehow reside in his awareness combined with the wracking agony of Naruto's rejection occupied his attention completely and everything else was reduced to a shadow. Just the memory of Naruto's angry blues eyes and the deeper pain of knowing that Neji would never be permitted to tuck Sakura's hair behind her ears or nip Sasuke's throat again was so vast, so terrible, that the veritable chaos of the Hyuuga compound barely penetrated.

Naruto knew about his betrayal, about the delicate dance he'd tried to perform between the two clans in secrecy, and the Jinchuuriki blamed him personally for Sai's death. Neji blamed himself as well. The shame of the artist's loss felt like frozen lead in his veins, too heavy to move and even if he could, what would be the point? Naruto had thrown him away. Naruto didn't love him anymore. He was no longer a member of the pack, nothing more than a bloodless hand smote from the body, a severed limb lying useless on the ground. The sun had fallen from the sky and nothing would ever be able to fill the aching chasm of its loss.

Neji walked back to the Hyuuga compound and presented himself to Hiashi for debriefing, but he remembered very little about anything that happened. Everything that may or may not have occurred after Naruto exiled him was an ice-cold blur, a silent recording, totally blank of feeling, as though every moment was experienced by someone else. Hiashi asked him questions, tried to speak with him, slapped his face in frustration, but the whole conversation seemed muted in his recollections. His uncle ordered and cajoled and railed, but Neji couldn't bring himself to care. They were all dead anyway so what was to be gained? As commanded by his alpha, Neji delivered the message clearly and without faltering, but other than Naruto's pronouncement, there was nothing. There was nothing at all after that.

The very last shred of Naruto's mercy fell on deaf ears and Neji stopped listening as the argument brewed and spun in worthless circles. His mind was already far away, too far to hear the words of dead men not yet in their graves bickering over useless details of a battle they would surely lose. His thoughts seemed to slow and he didn't resist the feeling. Neji couldn't remember if he was kneeling on purpose or if that was just the way his body had fallen when his legs gave out, if maybe he'd been standing before, if it would be worthwhile to expend the energy to lay down and die properly.

People came and went and he knelt where the guards placed him hours before or maybe only minutes, maybe days had passed, maybe no time at all. Maybe everyone was dead and the voices whispering around him were nothing more than the agitated echoes of his own useless mind. The world was gray and distant, like an old photo with all the faces too weathered to make out enough to recognize, paper too worn to even hold its form. Neji breathed because his diaphragm was contracting, but even his own flesh felt numb and thick, just cold meat the same as his dead cousins lying under the snow in Naruto's forest. All he could hear was Naruto's angry voice, playing over and over again. Naruto's hot pain, his anger and betrayal, the feel of death in his voice and a day and a night…a day and a night and no more than that.

"A day and a night, he said…" Someone gasped, "Only 19 hours until the creature attacks!"

"Don't be ridiculous, no one can breach our walls…"

"We're all going to die."

"Can't we at least take the children…?"

The chatter was recognizably language and it even made a detached kind of sense, but the effort of processing even a fraction of the conversation was like slogging through frozen mud. Neji blinked and tried to think, but his mind felt paralyzed, whirring uselessly like the gears of a watch that had been disconnected from its hands. People were still speaking, arguing maybe or strategizing, and he could only sit in the midst of their buzzing and stare. Whatever they said, it didn't matter.

"Kami!" Someone exclaimed, "What's wrong with him?"

"He's under the thrall, his mind must be broken…" Someone else whispered, disgusted.

"How could he do that to him? His own nephew!"

"He just sits there, how long is he just going to sit there…?"

"There's not a scratch on him anywhere and still…fuck…it's like he's not even in there anymore!"

Neji was there, sort of, drifting between the present and the past without any particular anchor. Sai was dead in either case and Naruto did not love him. He never imagined losing a lover could hurt so much or that the death of someone he barely knew, and usually disagreed with, would feel so much like dying himself. Jinchuuriki packs were complicated, Neji understood the concept more than even Anko knew, but he'd never expected Naruto's family to be so beautiful. Neji never expected to be living without the fortress of their love or that he would find the experience so utterly worthless.

OoOoOoO

"Dobe," Sasuke whispered, "This doesn't make any sense."

"It's simple, Teme. It's vengeance." Naruto hissed as he tightened down the straps on his heavy combat boots.

"I thought you didn't believe in killing for vengeance." Sasuke hissed darkly, his heart fluttering sickeningly at the darkness in Naruto's tone, "I thought you knew better!"

"I've been re-educated." Naruto said coldly.

"The threat is nullified, Naruto, and Sakura is close, really close…" Sasuke argued urgently, toying with the fastenings of his own gear nervously.

"That's why we have to kill them. We can't let them live or our daughter will never be safe…" Naruto growled, handing clenched into shaking fists.

"Kill who, Naruto? Hinata? Hanabi? The whole CLAN?!" Sasuke shouted, losing his temper at last.

"YES dammit! Every LAST one of them! They're ALL a threat to us!" Naruto shrieked back, jerking a knife into the sheath against his thigh with an angry thrust.

"Will you just LISTEN to yourself?! You honestly think you're going to massacre every person in that compound, what about the children…!"

"Children grow up to become threats, Sasuke. Don't think that I don't know what this means…"

"I don't think you have ANY idea what this means! If we manage to survive this, you'll never forgive yourself for it! NEVER!" Sasuke roared, his voice echoing against the polished floors of their home.

"I don't NEED forgiveness!" Naruto spat.

"Everyone needs forgiveness, you fucking moron! I…I of all people should know." Sasuke said, quietly this time despite the urgent pounding of his pulse in his ears.

Naruto was quiet at that, jaw working as he ground his teeth, his fangs, in unspoken acknowledgement that Sasuke did have a point and that he could not come up with a compelling counter-argument. A tiny flicker of hope lit itself in Sasuke's chest, but he knew Naruto too well for the little spark to warm him much. Despite all the well-reasoned arguments in the world, despite the tears and the pleading and all damn logic, Naruto was far too stubborn to listen to anyone except Kyuubi. He and the Fox had come to some completely bizarre internal accord during the battle and, of course, the demon agreed whole heartedly in the ruthless destruction of an entire clan to avenge the loss of a single loved one. The logic wasn't human, nothing that Sasuke could make any kind of sense out of when Naruto tried to explain it, but clearly the demon's opinion appealed to some deeper, more primitive part of his alpha's spirit and it was the only justification he seemed to need. Even without the Fox, Naruto was hopelessly stubborn by nature. His alpha had ignored everyone when they said that Sasuke himself couldn't be saved and he ignored everyone when they said he'd never be a decent ninja. Naruto was used to ignoring people and the fact that they were even still arguing was a testament to his affection for him. Sasuke took a breath through his nose and tried not to fidget.

"I refuse to lose another member of this family to them." He snarled at last.

"Then don't! You and I could both die doing this…" Sasuke pleaded.

"I'm not afraid to die, dammit! It's better than just letting them do as they please with our lives!" Naruto hissed.

"Our baby will be protected once she's born, we can promise her to Suna, you know Gaara will agree!" Sasuke said, gripping Naruto's shoulders.

The blond's eyes were red and furious with too much weeping and very little sleep, but he met Sasuke's gaze steadily, the stillness of his indigo irises almost unnerving. Sasuke fancied that he could almost see the Fox, the ancient demon so perfectly aligned with Naruto's own spirit that they were practically one. He shivered, but refused to let go. After a few moments of tension, Naruto sighed and covered Sasuke's gloved hand with his own. The raven gave his alpha's broad shoulders a squeeze and for a moment the world stilled to a more manageable pace, the feeling almost an echo of a time before Sai's death, when the argument would have ended with lovemaking instead of only more silence. Sasuke felt like years had passed since they had kissed, but Naruto was still running his tongue nervously over the long fangs in his mouth, half-mad with grief and anger. Kisses were something only bought with peace and they were already at war, despite anything he had to say, but the loss ached anyway.

The bedroom seemed colder than before, littered with armor, weapons, Kevlar reinforced flak jackets and steel girded gloves instead of Sakura's lacy bras or Nejis' slippers. Sakura herself had started sleeping in Sai's old bedroom, tired of fighting with Naruto and too exhausted by the pregnancy to do anything except try to sleep the grief away. The bed was neatly made, but the ochre bedding seemed dull, uncomfortable, and no one had actually slept in the room for days. The soft glow of romance was gone from their home, replaced by restlessness and efficiency, and he could barely recognize the rooms of his own childhood house. Everything that might be damaged in a siege was carefully put away, the heavy steel-enforced siege shutters pulled tightly closed over all the windows, the kitchen stocked to the ceiling with crates of rations. The only light permitted was the disorienting glow of red-green lanterns, something difficult for an enemy archer to localize, and the tables were covered with poison tipped arrows, crossbow bolts, flash grenades and smoke bombs. Even with the clutter, the rooms felt too empty, the dark wood of the floors like a yawning, black lake underfoot. Sasuke sighed. He'd forgotten what it felt like to be at war, to return to the Spartan ideals of their training. Once he would have embraced the change, leapt into the emptiness without regret or reservation, but now he longed for peace.

"A marriage can't save our daughter any more than it saved Neji. Love doesn't save people…it didn't save Sai." Naruto whispered at last.

"It's isn't about love, dobe! It's an alliance!" Sasuke pushed.

"They don't care about alliances, Sasuke!" Naruto said.

"They DO, you total idiot! That's why they're targeting you in the first place!" Sasuke shouted, releasing Naruto's shoulders with an irate shove.

"I'm going Sasuke, either come with me or stay here. The choice is yours." Naruto said, pulling the Kevlar mask hanging from his neck over the lower portion of his face and tying it behind his head with a little jerk of finality. Sasuke sighed.

"Of course I'm coming." He said, tying his own mask in a similar fashion.

"They have to pay," Naruto said, brushing his masked lips against Sasuke's jaw.

"They will." The dark haired murderer agreed.

Sasuke pushed the roiling emotion from his mind, focusing instead only on the icy hate still festering the place where Sai used to be in his consciousness. The anger radiating off of Naruto was more than enough to fuel his own rage, the rage that once consumed him, the blood-lust only sated with combat. Sasuke turned away to equip his weapons. His alpha wanted vengeance and at least that was something he knew how to do.

OoOoOoO

The guard was someone Hinata did not know well, but he was very young and, hopefully, impressionable enough to listen to reason instead of blindly following Hiashi's orders. The Hyuuga heiress wanted to take as many people as she could, but the truth of the matter was that without confirmation from house Inuzuka, she may have to take them all the way to Suna. Crossing Grass country with a horde of young children in tow would be difficult and the life of a refugee, especially one associated with the clan responsible for an attack on Naruto, would have a cool reception in the desert nation at best. At worse, Gaara may choose to just kill them on sight. She sighed. There were no good options without Inuzuka, but she had a little more time, patience was key. Either way, Hinata preferred taking the chance to rescue even a few of her people rather than letting them all just die here for her father's pride and with Naruto on the warpath people would die.

With a slow, silent exhalation to calm her nerves, the Hyuuga princess poured herself another cup of green tea. Her hands were steady enough on the handle of the teapot, but Hinata knew her mouth was trembling anyway. She never had been able to hide her emotions as well as Neji, but she was no longer ashamed for having them either, something her cousin might never learn. The time was almost upon her and she would have to simply do what she could, moving to wrestle leadership from Hiashi without even a hint of hesitation. She could take control of the clan and Naruto's assault actually served her purposes beautifully, even if she never wanted things to end up this way, even if she wished with every fiber of her being that she had moved ahead with her plans earlier.

The problem was the Kiba didn't know exactly what she was planning and he couldn't know as long as Hiashi held him as a hostage against her good behavior, but they had talked enough for her husband to have a reasonable idea about her intentions. Moreover, the Inuzuka matriarch probably already guessed that a coup was afoot and Granny was nothing if not ruthless when an opportunity presented itself. Hinata glanced again at her young guard, trying not to tap her fingers as the minutes ticked by until Hanabi's return.

"What's your name." The Hyuuga princess whispered at last, pleased when the boy startled at the sudden noise.

"Sen, my lady." He answered, bowing politely.

"I'm happy that you were not sent with the rest for the assault. I hear than many people died." Hinata whispered softly.

"Many did." Sen replied and his voice was cold with some deeper anger.

Hinata cursed to herself and hoped that whatever grudge Sen was nursing wouldn't interfere with his judgment. Her guard detail had been reduced to only one, very young soldier, but Hanabi wouldn't hesitate to strike the boy's head from his shoulders if he did so much as delay their plans. Her sister was wound too tightly, the stress of too many secrets pressing heavily on her mind and fraying her already fragile patience. Hanabi was a good girl, a good person, but she could be surprisingly sadistic when forced too far for too long.

"I wouldn't have wouldn't have planned that attack, there was no reason to sacrifice so many." Hinata probed again, trying to discern the level of Sen's loyalty to Hiashi.

"My brothers didn't die for no reason." He snapped, silver eye flashing.

"What if they did, would you want to join them?" Hinata said, tiring of subtlety

"They died trying to kill a demon, with honor. I'd be happy to die that way." Sen argued.

"They died for a madman's pride, nothing more." Hinata replied tonelessly, staring at her hands.

"They said you were a traitor."

"Am I? Who's the traitor really? Is it a pregnant woman locked alone in a cage, crying for the deaths of her cousins? Or is it the man heedlessly throwing your lives away to satisfy his own insecurity?" Hinata answered levelly.

"You're trying to confuse me…"

"If you aren't confused, then you haven't been paying attention." Hinata said, moving to stand.

"Kiba, your consort, just left us! He left us all to die when we needed him the most!" Sen hissed.

"He saved everyone he could. He would have saved your brothers…"

"Lies! They said you would lie!" Sen snarled under his breath.

"Careful boy, you have a chance here. Only one. People need to think about the chances they are given or they end up like Neji." Hinata said, pinning him with her eyes, the tremor in her mouth suddenly gone.

Sen's mouth snapped shut at that and his eyes were frightened. Hinata felt her gut twist at his reaction, she hadn't actually known anything about Neji's condition, but Sen's reaction confirmed her worst fears. She sighed. Her poor, poor, misguided, abused, hopeless cousin was a good man. He deserved so much better than being jerked around for the sake of Hiashi's political intrigues, but that's exactly what mindless loyalty bought. Suddenly, Hinata heard Hanabi's tread in the hall, the girl's feet loud, booted and moving quickly, doors slamming loudly enough to make Sen jump again. Hanabi was breathing hard and the pace of her feet sounded like she was nearly running. Her time for negotiations had just run out.

"Sissy! Kiba is alive along with most of his soldiers!" Hanabi practically shouted, her voice high, strained and breathless.

"Are they with us?" Hinata asked, motioning for her sister to slow down.

"They are!" Hanabi said, her voice harsh and victorious.

"What are you talking about? Who is with you?" Sen asked, looking completely confused.

"Time to choose, Sen." Hinata said softly, turning toward him.

"Choose what?"

"Whether you want to join your brothers for Hiashi or try thinking for yourself." Hinata replied and Hanabi tensed like a tigress waiting to pounce.

The girl's posture quieted and stilled, face a perfect mask of predatory concentration. Slowly, one finger at a time, Hanabi removed her armored glove, eyes fixed on Sen's face. Her sister had been keeping secrets for too long and her inherent ruthlessness was beginning to rise. Hinata tensed. Hanabi would kill him, or worse, use the mark and send Sen into a shrieking frenzy for the entire household to hear. Hinata gestured urgently for her sister to back down, but Hanabi was no longer paying attention to anything except her prey.

"There isn't any choice!" Sen hissed, noticing only too late that the youngest of the royal household was readying herself to use the curse-mark.

"There is! Choose! Come with us!" Hinata urged, gripping the boy's hand with a sudden flash of movement.

"Don't touch me! Traitor!" Sen shrieked, jerking a long knife from the sheath strapped against his captured wrist.

"Sen, don't do this." Hinata pleaded.

"I'm loyal! I…"

Hinata didn't hesitate and her hands moved automatically, flipping the blade from the youth's nervous fingers and around into her own ready palm, disarming him in a single, fluid motion. She was weak from her confinement, but her wrist held steady as Hinata drove the sharpened steel into his belly, the hot gush of blood slippery against her fingers. Sen would have screamed, but Hinata was already moving to snap the hard edge of her other hand into his throat, fracturing his larynx and silencing the boy as she twisted the knife. Sen coughed and fell against her, eyes wide with pain and terror, twitching like a panicked rabbit caught in a snare. Hanabi gasped from behind Hinata's shoulder as the Hyuuga princess drove the blade deeper, seeking to finish him with a single strike, the blood gushing in beating surges onto the floor. Sen gripped her hair where it trailed next to his face, tugging viciously, grimacing as the strength ebbed from his body.

"Why?" He croaked and then coughed, blood speckling his lips.

"So that my sister doesn't have to." Hinata said gently and held his mouth shut as he died.

OoOoOoO

Sakura bit into her fingers, the grief and frustration almost too much to bear and yet she had to watch them, watch the last of her family as they tightened the straps on one another's armor or risk losing the opportunity to ever see them again. Naruto and Sasuke stood face to face, systematically checking each-other's gear, a satchel of deadly weapons slung in a shoulder bag over each man's back. Sakura had been crying so much and for so long, crying for Sai and even for Neji, crying because her home lay in ransacked ruins and her men were going off to die. The whole plan was so stupid, so utterly pointless, but Naruto would not yield to reason or anything else. He was out for blood and she knew as well as anyone that her golden haired husband was an unstoppable force once he managed to make up his mind, the Hyuuga's were already dead as far as she was concerned.

"Will you at least bring Neji home?" Sakura asked at last, her knuckles raw and bleeding as the baby moved within her.

"He betrayed us." Naruto said, but his tone wasn't the same brutish, unreasonable growl that she'd become inured to.

"I know baby, but I don't think he meant to. I think he was trying to keep us safe." Sakura pushed, heaving herself up to stand, hoping she looked more authoritative than she felt.

Naruto looked at her, considering. Sakura fought the urge to fix her hair or wipe at the tears still drying on her face. The girl was still wearing her mourning clothes, the energy to change seeming far too daunting to bother with and if she did…if she took the white clothes off and put them away, then Sai might really feel dead. Sakura wept at his funeral, she watched as Naruto and Sasuke carried his bier, but the empty place in her heart where Sai's love used to be wasn't cold and numb. The chasm inside was agonizing, hot and piercing, keeping her awake when the rest of her body cried for sleep. Sakura ached in her spirit like a wound trying to heal, like an arrowhead lodged deep in a muscle, a muscle locked in spasm trying to push it out. Sai felt gone somehow, the line to his spirit disconnected, but Sakura's body could not seem to come to agreement about whether or not he was dead. She was exhausted and her chakra was confused from Sasuke and Neji's makeshift re-routing away from her womb; eventually she might be able to accept the death of her beloved artist, but not yet…She had more important things to do.

"Neji should be with us. You've punished him enough." Sasuke agreed, crossing his arms, the glowing scarlet of his sharingan spinning with some unseen emotion.

"He made his choice…" Naruto argued hesitantly.

"I think you made it for him, dear." Sakura snapped, her frayed nerves finally giving way to her temper.

"He delivered your message. He fought against them, killed his own family to protect Sakura, the least you can do is let him come home…if he's even still alive." Sasuke whispered darkly and Naruto shivered.

"If I do, how will he ever forgive me?" The blonde asked softly and Sakura wasn't sure if she was talking to her or the Fox again.

"Maybe you and he can work on that together." Sakura said, the tone more tart than she'd intended.

"Woman, for the last time…!" Naruto shouted, but Sakura cut him off.

"You think I'll just stand by without an argument and watch you go off to die while I stay here to…to…ALONE! I REFUSE Naruto! FUCK you!" Sakura roared, pressing herself into Naruto's space.

"You can't fight like this, our baby…" Sasuke said gently.

"Our baby needs you BOTH, she need her family to be alive when she's born! We've lost so much already!" Sakura wailed.

"Sakura, please…" Naruto pleaded.

"I'm NOT asking much of you! If you have to go take your stupid revenge, an eye for an eye…if it means so much to you, I clearly can't stop you," The woman cried, gesturing to her distended belly, "But I want Neji home! I want him back and so do you! He's MINE just…just as you are!"

"I will bring him back if I can…" Naruto sighed.

"Promise me! You promise me this now and don't you DARE die!" Sakura roared.

"I promise." Naruto and Sasuke said in unison.

The two men moved to hold her then and even though Sakura felt like fighting, like smashing and breaking, she let them pull her into the embrace. She sobbed, holding onto the edges of Naruto's armor like she would the edge of a cliff, feeling the world lurch beneath her feet. They kissed, fast and desperately, hands moving into her hair and against her body. For a moment, Sakura almost felt steady, felt like she could stand tall and protect those she loved, but then they were gone. Naruto and Sasuke left her arms and turned away as one, neither offering a single word, but there was nothing more to say anyway. The moved in perfect synchrony, like deadly spirits, and a chill settled into her blood. Jogging into the night like just another pair of shadows in the growing darkness, their footsteps so silent that she had to settle for the sound of their breathing, her precious men went to war. Sakura hoped that it was at least a war they could win.

For several breaths she simply stood, brooding on the silence of the house and her own furious heartbeat as the night seemed to still with weight of too many sinister intentions. The baby kicked again, hard, and Sakura lay a quelling hand against her own abdomen almost out of reflex. Clan Uzumaki was at war with clan Hyuuga, but the matriarch sat at home drenched in her own tears, totally helpless to do anything for her people. She laughed bitterly at the irony of the situation. Sakura had often wondered what a clan war might be like and her imagination had always managed to produce something truly gruesome, but nothing as shameful as this. It was stupid; the whole thing was so unbelievably stupid! Sakura had never thought of herself as a strong or beautiful until she met Naruto and Sasuke, but she had never felt as ugly, helpless or useless as she did now. The choking self-consciousness that she struggled with as a girl bubbled up from withi, along with the certainty that even if she had all the power in the world there was still nothing to be done.

There was a part of her that wondered why she had ever thought that she could do this, why she ever even imagined herself capable of something like being the head of a jinchuuriki pack or the matriarch of a house, but she ignored the niggling doubts. Doubt was something for children and foot soldiers, not leaders, and Sakura wasn't the scared, embarrassed little girl she used to be. The woman took a trembling breath through her nose and then another until her heartbeat slowed and her hands became steady. Her value as a warrior was compromised, but that didn't mean she was incapable, not by far. She had friends and powerful connections and if there were ever a time to use them, then that time was now! There was no way to stop the war, but she'd be damned if she didn't win it!

Resolved, Sakura pulled a Summons from her sleeve and prepared to activate the seal binding the creature. Naruto had refused to involve Tsunade in the dispute, getting weirdly territorial about Hiashi's destruction, but the older woman had seen her share of clan struggles and the least she could do was ask for a bit of advice. If the battle turned, Sakura could be facing a siege alone in her house and that was not a situation she was prepared to face alone. Even as she bit into her thumb, however, she felt it: A deep pain rolling in a pressing wave through her belly. She gasped and shook her head. There was no way! No way! She should still have a few more weeks, Tsunade said three more weeks at least and probably more! Not less! Not now! Sakura sat down on the bed and tried to think rationally, tried to think clinically, but the pain hit her again. This was her first pregnancy and Sakura had certainly never felt a contraction before, but the sheer terror of what the feeling might mean lanced like a frozen shard into her heart. Her baby couldn't come now!

"No, no, no! Please, please wait!" Sakura whispered, gripping her belly with both hands.

For a moment she simply sat, her fingers tingling with the beginnings of hyperventilation, teeth chattering. She almost called to Naruto, but her husband's emotions were far away, filled with burning battle-rage, and growing farther with every step. He was moving quickly and Sakura couldn't risk compromising him now, not when he could already be engaged with the Hyuugas. She could not know for certain that the battle was not already beginning and if he was distracted…She bit her lip. The woman masked her emotions instead, pulling away from him and into the silence of her own mind, trying to find more space. She needed to think logically instead being preoccupied with the carnage her mates where currently wreaking on the Hyuugas. In her mind, Sakura knew that the pain was probably nothing, just the practice contractions Tsunade had warned her about, but she was still afraid. Either way, she didn't have to sit here alone just because Naruto was too stubborn to ask for help! With one last gasp, Sakura finished her jutsu and sent the Summons, a white rabbit, to her sensei with all the speed she could muster.

OoOoOoO

Kiba dressed in his armor, trying to stretch his sore, cold, stiff muscles back into usefulness in the process instead of taking the time to warm up properly. Every decent ninja knew that going into combat without the proper conditioning was incredibly stupid, but every heartbeat that passed only brought him closer to the brink of true panic. Hinata expected him to follow along with a plan that he'd never been briefed on, perform an operation completely blind, and she could call at any time, in any way, or not at all. The uncertainty was unsettling and the endless minutes of waiting even worse. Kiba couldn't shake the worry that things were happening without him, the gears of a vast machine moving without his knowledge towards a fate that he had no way to prepare for. He sighed. Sometime a dog had to keep his nose to the wind, but he'd never been a particularly patient person.

Even the familiar weight of his clan furs, favorite weapons and hardened leather armor felt strange after so many months of silk robes and hidden blades, almost stifling against his frantically pounding heart. No matter what he chose to do tonight, nothing would be the same and Kiba had never had so much to lose. There was a knock at his door and suddenly Akamaru was on his feet and happily barking like a pup.

"Enter!" Kiba shouted, trusting the dog's reaction enough not to look towards the door.

"Kiba-sama, we are ready." Yumi's polite, cultured voice came from the portal.

"Eh?" Kiba said, startled.

He turned to see his entire squad of under-aged soldiers bowing low on the furs and cushions of his bedroom floor. The boys were dressed in the traditional battle-dress of Inuzuka ninja, long white furs spread on the ground around their bowed shoulders, their faces freshly tattooed with the scarlet triangles that represented the hallmark of the dog-clan. He could see also that three of Yumi's fingers had been amputated at the first joint, likely dead with frost-bite and taken to prevent gangrene, but despite the fresh injuries the boy gripped his bow fearlessly. The others were in similar condition, with ears and hands bandaged with the evidence of too much exposure and not even a hint of hesitation anywhere in their scent or posture. For a moment, Kiba simply stared, too moved to speak.

"We are ready to fight, milord!" Aki piped up from just behind Yumi's left shoulder, his silver eyes fierce above the newly cut tattoos.

"I ain't your lord, boys. I don't deserve ya…" Kiba began.

"We are ready, milord!" One of the others, probably Kaze, shouted.

They stood, facing him resolutely, their long, dark brown hair braided into tight rows along their skulls or pulled into high, shaggy tails, each boy different and yet unified by the textures in their armor and the blood-red markings on their faces. Unlike the Hyuuga clan which sought to make their warriors appear all the same, Inuzuka celebrated individuality and focused on an appearance that could easily be recognized on the battlefield. Even with their shining silver eyes and delicate bones, his soldier's didn't look like Hyuuga commoners anymore, but like Inuzuka knights in full regalia. The pride welling up in his chest was so deep and so new that Kiba could barely breathe.

"You need to rest. I didn't save yer little asses for my health ya know, no point dying now…" He began, voice trembling only a little.

"We'll rest when we claim victory!" Aki said hotly, grinning like a madman.

"Or in the grave." Yumi added.

"Very well then, brats," Kiba sighed, "I guess we're going to war."

OoOoOoO

Hinata took only what she needed, a few scrolls of the clan's most precious jutsu and enough serviceable clothing to make it through Grass country and Gaara's desert if she had to. Hanabi packed similarly, the girl throwing a stuffed doll into her pack at the very last second along with her weapons and rations. She was still just a child, a child torn away from the only home she knew, but there was no other way and Hanabi was wise enough even now to recognize that. The Inuzuka matriarch accepted her surrender, but if Naruto insisted on exterminating every person of the Hyuuga line, he would not be satisfied by words alone and they might still need to flee. Hinata hoped not, she hoped that her friend was not so far gone in his grief that he couldn't recognize her intentions, but Naruto was never a person to do anything halfway. If he came to make war on them, no one was safe.

"Sissy, why can't we just go to Naruto and ask him not to hurt us?" Hanabi asked softly.

"Naruto isn't himself right now, he hasn't been since Sai died." Hinata answered, sighing.

"Why? He has Sasuke and Cousin too, why does he need Sai?" Hanabi huffed, frustration thick in her tone.

"Why do you need that dolly?" Hinata asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hanabi's face flushed hot with embarrassment for a moment before the girl realized that her sister was not, in fact, making fun of her, but trying to explain. Hanabi's lips puckered a moment and she stroked the place in her pack where the old toy resided, fingers completely girded in the steel reinforcements of her gloves. It was odd to watch Hanabi's hands, obviously equipped for battle, moving in the same slow circles as they had when she was a baby trying to fall asleep. Hinata nodded to her and Hanabi turned away, hiding beneath the wide brim of her straw traveling hat, her breath sounding almost like a sob for a moment.

"I hate this." The girl said at last.

"It's war." Hinata shrugged, buckling her own gloves.

"I thought war was supposed to be glorious and exciting! I thought we were supposed to win! This is just running away…" The girl grumbled, hands clenched into fists.

"No, Sissy. This is what war really is like and it's nothing like the stories. You were there for the battle in Naruto's forest, did that feel particularly glamorous to you?" Hinata asked, her tone carrying just a hint of sharpness.

"No, that was all just ugly."

"Now you understand." Hinata said and slung the pack over her shoulder.

They marched out of the rooms in silence, stepping over Sen's rigid body without looking down, moving quickly and masking their footsteps as much as possible. Hinata performed a series of gestures once they reached the first courtyard and Kagura appeared from the shadows, a large band of women and children following behind her carrying baskets and other parcels. Hinata was so relieved to see her that, for a moment, she could barely move at all. The woman had done what she'd asked and no one had been caught. Hinata had worried every moment until now that Kagura would have been tortured and killed by her father, but the woman was there just as they'd planned almost three months ago. Hanabi was pushing gently against her shoulder and then they were out in the open, moving under the snowy sky that she hadn't been permitted to see in months. She took and deep breath and sighed as the nagging claustrophobia of incarceration finally eased.

The gathered women said nothing, but smiled shyly at her and Hinata was pleased to see that most of the sisters, daughters and wives of the men lost in the battle days ago were present among the faces gathered. Instead of holding grudges, her people had decided to opt for a fresh start, a new way of life without the prejudices that poisoned her father. She smiled back, warmed to the core just to see it. Gesturing quickly to Kagura, Hinata managed to organize her little band of refugees into a more or less recognizable marching column with the children pressed to the center and the few women carrying weapons arrayed along the outside. Unliked Kiba's people, few of the Hyuuga women were schooled in battle beyond mere ninja basics, but they knew enough to survive in a fair fight at least for a little while. Only she and Hanabi had been permitted to attend formal battle training at the academy. Just another example of the poisonous inequality she was determined to rectify.

"Have you done as we discussed?" Hinata whispered.

"Yes, milady. All the gunpowder and explosives have been soaked with water and ruined with lye, there won't be anything Hiashi can use to carry the conflict outside these walls. All the bowstrings have been weakened and the spear heads dulled as well." Kagura reported.

"Where…where is my mother?" Hinata asked, her voice catching hard in her throat.

"The Lady gives you her blessing, but she refuses to leave. She said she will stay with her husband as a wife should, even in death, and that it was the promise she made. She said you are right to go and her heart will be at peace…" Kagura said softly.

"But, Mama! We can't just leave her!" Hanabi whimpered shaking her head.

"If she chooses to stay and die here, what can we do?" Hinata asked, shutting her eyes against the threatening tears and gritting her teeth.

"But Sissy! It isn't fair! Father's always mean to her…!" Hanabi cried.

"She has her principles and we have ours. Do what you think best, Hanabi." Hinata said, gesturing for the girl to remain silent.

"But Sissy!"

"The Lady's mind will not be changed." Kagura said sadly, shaking her head.

Hanabi trembled, clenching her hands, tears running silently down her face in the snowy darkness, but she stayed firmly at Hinata's side. The heiress closed her eyes, waiting for the sound of her sister's tread as she turned away into the snow, but the whisper of leaving feet never came and her heart finally began beating again. She was more than grateful, more than any single word could express. She'd truly thought that Hanabi would change her mind if their mother chose to remain loyal to Hiashi, but her sibling was still there, close enough to touch, weeping by her side. The firstborn Hyuuga princess swallowed hard in relief, her knees shaking just a little as the realization that her sister was still going to escape with her finally settled into her heart. At least she would have her sister, some family, after the massacre that would take place here. At least that and it would have to be enough.

"My father?" Hinata asked at last, her voice trembling only a little.

"Poisoned, as you instructed, but I can't be sure if he ate the food. Either way, this won't turn into a siege. We poisoned the rest of the food too." Kagura sighed, biting her lip unhappily.

"I know its treason to ask such a thing of you," Hinata began gently, "I take full responsibility."

"Father's left us no choice though!" Hanabi hissed, rubbing angrily at her eyes.

"You've done very well and now at least we have something to hold against Father and to offer Naruto as a part of our surrender." Hinata said, pulling the Kagura's hood more tightly around her face.

"Shall we leave through the west gate then, milady?" Kagura asked timidly, wringing her hands.

"No, you will leave through the west gate and head towards the house with the red lanterns. It's snowy, it might be hard to see, but just keep the forest at your back and you won't be lost. Make sure everyone has boots instead of sandals…" Hinata instructed.

"And…where will you be?" Kagura asked, her tone a hint mutinous.

"I am going through the south gate."

"But Sissy! That takes us right through the main parade grounds where all the soldiers are in formation and then we'll have to double back around to get to Kiba's house!" Hanabi argued.

"We aren't leaving until everyone who wants to go with us can." Hinata said stubbornly.

"But Sister…!" Hanabi argued.

"No more hiding, Hanabi. The Inuzuka support us and we must move forward for the sake of everyone. There is nothing Father can do to stop us." Hinata snarled.

"Milady…What about the curse-mark? What if they harm you?" Kagura whispered, her voice high and frightened.

"You will just have to go on without me, but that won't happen." Hinata said softly, squeezing the woman's roughened, chilly hands.

"We are very afraid of the mark, Hinata-sama…" Someone whispered from behind.

"I know, but Father can't use it on everyone, only one person at a time. I can reverse it almost as quickly as he can activate it. The men out there are just going to have to decide if they want to take the chance against it, or live as slaves forever. Hanabi, you should go with Kagura and help the women find the way…"

"Fuck that!" Hanabi hissed, pouting.

"They need you now." Hinata sighed.

"You need me more!"

"This…is going to be very difficult." Hinata said.

Hanabi crossed her arms stubbornly and spread her feet defiantly, posture firm despite the moisture still glistening on her cheeks. Hinata sighed. She nodded to Kagura, gesturing towards the west gate, and then turned on her heel towards the unmistakable sound of troops being rallied for combat without another glance. People would follow her orders or they would not, she was not in the habit of gaining obedience through brute force, and Kagura was more than capable of walking the few blocks to the Inuzuka compound on the other side of Konoha. Regardless, she had other matters to attend to. A reckoning was upon them and the decisions made within the next few hours would decide not only her own future, but the survival of her entire clan. Now was not the time for indecisiveness and even if she was forced to put the coup into action far sooner than initially intended, Hinata's intentions remained the same. Her people would be alive and they would be free or she would die trying. The idea that one's clansmen could be free to learn and grow as they saw fit was fairly elementary as far as the rest of the world was considered, but it was all she could offer.

Hanabi followed in her footsteps, moving silently and with the same tactical determination that Neji always adopted in the field, a kind of elegant prowl that preceded the kill. She and her sister were really nothing at all alike. Hanabi was a warrior through and through, the epitome of ninja ideals, as proud and ruthless as a wolf with the unnerving tendency towards cruelty instead of gentleness if the situation turned against her liking. Hinata was the opposite, preferring to watch and wait instead of fighting over every insult, slow to anger and even slower to forgive, everything their father despised. On some level, she'd always half expected Hanabi to betray her, to choose the easy violence and quick satisfaction of their father's methods instead of her patient traps. She smiled. Though she was more patient, the elder Hyuuga daughter was not as weak as Hiashi or even Neji believed, and her traps were just as dangerous as a thousand of her sister's blows.

"What will you say to them? To Father?" Hanabi asked, her voice carefully emotionless.

"What must be said. Nothing more." Hinata replied.

The frosty gardens with their perfectly manicured miniature pine trees and frozen fountains slowly opened and through the lens of the Byukugan Hinata could see her assembled kinsmen standing in ranks arrayed in a star pattern. So, Hiashi meant to simply grind Naruto's assault down with bodies, exhaust him at the cost of lives. She scowled. The strategy was a good one, ideal against an enemy attacking fortified gates, but like everything else her father's mad pride drove him to do, the cost of life would be enormous. There were no lamps lit, but the sound of hundreds of cold, nervous, shuffling feet was more than enough to guide her. She moved forward unflinchingly, stepping out into the snowy courtyard as if the men in her path weren't there at all, forcing the troops to part lines as she passed. Hanabi followed her, silent for once, as she moved toward the center of the formation. Finally, she stood a few steps from the raised platform in the center of the formation, the very head of the beast.

"Hinata, what a surprise. What are you doing here?" Hiashi asked softly as she approached, tone empty.

He realized that her very presence undermined his authority, Hinata thought, and if fewer people hadn't already died for his designs, she might have even enjoyed the small victory. As it was, she moved forward grimly, clutching a poison dipped kunai to the inside of her wrist. Hiashi turned towards her, expression annoyed, but perfectly composed. Even now, he was so very sure that nothing would dare stand in his way. She truly wished things could be different, but they were not and the time for polite intrigue passed the moment her father decided to attack a jinchuuriki. Hinata paused and pulled back her hood so that everyone present could see her face, allowing the soft murmur of surprise to settle before she spoke.

"You have lost the right to lead our people. Surrender now and perhaps your life can be spared." Hinata said.

"Has pregnancy driven you insane, my daughter?" Hiashi laughed, eyes narrowing dangerously.

"It's you who has gone mad, father. You throw our kinsmen away in a struggle you cannot hope to win, all for the sake of pride and status our people see no benefit from. I cannot allow it to continue." Hinata continued, refusing to be intimidated.

"You have no say in the matter!" Hiashi hissed.

"I am leaving father and you cannot stop me." She said before turning to the assembled soldiers, "Anyone who values their lives and that of their families may come with me. You do not have to follow a leader you no longer trust, you don't have to die for nothing! The choice is yours!"

"Silence! This is treason!" He shouted.

"Come with us! You've already seen what fighting Naruto brings us!" Hinata went on.

"I said SILENCE or I will HAVE you silenced!" Hiashi snarled.

"I am not afraid of you father," Hinata hissed, meeting his eyes, "And I owe you nothing. You've lost thr right to call me daughter."

"You little IDIOT! I should have gotten rid of you long ago!" Hiashi railed, "I don't NEED you! Hanabi is ten times the heir you were! You're too weak Hinata, too weak to act against me! You've always been WEAK!"

"No father. You are weak, too weak to see past your own pride. I pity you." Hinata replied, almost sadly.

"How DARE you!"

"The poison should begin working any moment now, father. The food stores are spoiled and the explosives ruined as well, this is a battle you have no chance to win, but you are my father and so I will offer you one last chance. There is an antidote and I would be happy to give it to you if you will just surrender…" Hinata offered, hope flickering briefly in her chest.

"NEVER!"

"Fine, but this is what you chose." She said sadly, shaking her head.

"A Hyuuga will NOT surrender! Not to you and not to that monster either!" Hiashi railed.

"As you wish. Die with whatever honor you have left." Hinata said mildly, before turning again to the troops, "Come with us and fight to live, or stay and die. Choose now."

She did not wait for an answer, turning back the way she'd come, walking with firm purposeful steps. The troops stirred, muttering amongst one another, the sound of steel gloves against steel weapons like the buzzing of an army of mechanized bees, nervous and dangerous too. Hinata refused to turn around, but she knew immediately that Hanabi was not following her. The emptiness where her sisters footsteps should be hurt, but Hinata refused to turn back. Perhaps in the end her efforts finally had come to this, one last betrayal, karma for her own desperate attempt to restore peace. She closed her eyes. Death came for everyone eventually and if she had to die by anyone's knife, she'd rather it be her sister's than a stranger on some distant battlefield or Hiashi's assassin when he finally tired of her insolence. Hinata had already chosen to live as she chose or die.

"Hanabi! Kill her! Kill the TRAITOR!" Hiashi ordered, stamping the butt of his naginata into the boards of the platform.

Hinata watched the soldiers flinch at the sound, but one by one, several of the men began melting out of the formation, moving cautiously. The left, alternating sides so that Hiashi could only see their shadows as they moved. She sighed, whether she died or not at least a few more lives had been saved.

"Sissy isn't weak," Hanabi snarled, "She's kind and strong and honorable! She loved you…"

"GO, dammit! Finish her! She's a TRAITOR, Hanabi! You should have always been the heir anyway, and now you will have the status you deserve…"

"Goodbye father. I hope Naruto kills you quickly." Hanabi said and turned to follow her sister into the snowy night.

OoOoOoO

The main gate was lightly guarded, just as Sasuke had anticipated, with only a handful of common soldiers fearfully clutching spears outside the heavy, ironwood doors to the Hyuuga compound. Hiashi never imagined that the vanguard of their assault would come from the center of Konoha, in the middle of the street where any curious citizen could see. The old bastard was too accustomed to conducting his wars in secret, Sasuke said, and probably assumed that they would want to do the same. Naruto grinned. If what Sasuke said was true, Hiashi couldn't be more wrong. Naruto wanted what was about to take place to be public, he wanted to grind the Hyuuga out of existence before Konoha and anyone else who might be watching so that an example could be made. He was tired of secrets.

Either way, attacking from the street entrance to the compound served their purposes and presented a tactical advantage as well, one compounded by the dense tree cover in that particular part of town. Sasuke was watching the guards as well, counting their numbers and memorizing their patrol patterns, learning in an instant was took most people days of reconnaissance to ascertain. His subordinate understood war and, even better, he understood how someone in Hiashi's position might think, an advantage Naruto intended to use. When he was finished with the Hyuuga clan, when he'd ground the murderers into the soil like the rotten worms they were, no one would ever dare threaten his family again.

Deep in his thoughts, Kyuubi rumbled its agreement. The demon advocated total destruction of the enemy, especially when the enemy was human and, thus, an unpredictable force against its own loved ones. The situation was too close to the ones the Fox had faced before, times in the darkened past when humans ravaged the forest and killed young, atrocities committed before the Age of the Fire that still resonated through Naruto's bones. Before, the kitsune's motivations had been a mystery to him, but now he understood. The creature merely wanted to survive, to live in harmony with the natural forces of the world, and it attacked the humans encroaching into its territory as it would any other invader. Kyuubi loved, deeper than he could, and suffered more thoroughly than his own human mind could accept, but the sentiment was the same. He and the demon were in accord and even if the emotion was too vast, the years too long, Naruto understood the Fox's needs. They would protect their home and family, all other considerations were minutiae.

"Humans are evil…I have seen it." The Fox whispered sadly.

"I believe it. They cannot be trusted." Naruto agreed in his thoughts.

"They kill everything. Your mother, she tried to show them…" Kyuubi hissed, voice rough with emotion.

"I have no such intentions." Naruto replied silently.

"The forest is soaked with blood…" Kyuubi said.

"And thirsty for more." Naruto finished.

War was inevitable, an inescapable truth of humanity, and peace was merely an illusion fostered by time and complacency. Naruto understood Kyuubi's perspective now and he felt the pain of the Fox's many tragedies as he felt his own, the hurt deep and nagging, like a landslide into the flow of eternity. He heard the voices of dying kits and wailing mates from across oceans of time, undimmed by the centuries and un-soothed by the quiet of the present. The Fox knew what was at stake and Naruto would be damned if he allowed another massacre in his own lifetime.

"We attack before sunrise." The jinchuuriki snarled, burning eyes locked on the Hyuuga stronghold.

"Agreed. The darkness lends us the advantage, it forces them to exhaust Byukugan faster." Sasuke replied softly, loosening the long knife at his hip in its sheath.

"We can advance first with a diversive maneuver and then push on past the frontlines to Hiashi, avoiding his vanguard." Naruto suggested.

"Possible, but there could be collateral damage." Sasuke whispered.

"The Hokage has been notified of our intentions. Any who remain here do so at their own risk." Naruto said.

"Fine. How do you want to handle prisoners?" Sasuke asked softly, Sharingan eyes moving with inhuman speed as he looked past the physical barrier of the gates and within.

Naruto bit his tongue, choosing to breathe and watch for a moment instead of replying right away. Teme had a point, he usually did, but that was not something the jinchuuriki wanted to think about until the problem presented itself. He'd issued warnings and anyone with any sense would have already left the compound hours ago, but he couldn't shake the feeling the memory of what Neji had said before, that the commoners didn't have the freedom to escape. For all he knew, they were being threatened into action with the curse-mark, unable to save themselves. The knowledge grated against him, but the only tactical solution was to precede regardless of the cost. The Hyuuga condemned themselves the moment Sai died and politics had nothing to do with it. The threat had to be neutralized and that was the only focus of the mission.

"What do you see?" Naruto asked finally, neatly avoiding the question.

"Battalion rows have been organized in a star pattern, likely with the officers towards the centers giving commands via chakra flairs instead of aloud. There's something else happening, some kind of movement to the west side, maybe troop rotations. Looks too chaotic for that though, and there's a central figure disrupting the rest of the lines." Sasuke reported.

"Do you recognize the chakra signature of the central one?" Naruto asked, impressed as always by Sasuke's abilities.

"Not from this distance, but it doesn't look like the curse-mark it being used so it probably isn't Hiashi."

"Anything we can use to our advantage?" Naruto asked.

"Whatever is happening might provide us a distraction, but we might also be walking into a trap, though I doubt that's the case. It doesn't look like an ambush and there's only one reason to use of formation like that. Hiashi is planning to fight this defensively and throw bodies at us until we fatigue, which we will. There's just too many people in there and fighting among the buildings is going to slow us down." He sighed.

"Then we burn the buildings." Naruto hissed.

"There are people in there, dobe. Non-combatants probably." Sasuke whispered.

"Everyone in there is a combatant."

"Naruto, how do you want to handle prisoners?" Sasuke asked again, more firmly this time.

"We take no prisoners." Naruto replied softly, pulling his mask up over his nose to disguise the smoky plume of his exhalation.

"Naruto, that isn't going to work. There are probably children…"

"We can't afford to lose momentum and trying to move people in and out of combat is going to be impossible behind those walls. They're already planning to use the urban setting against us, which means Hiashi doesn't care if people get hurt." Naruto shrugged.

"We can request refugee support measures from Tsunade…"

"Warnings were given, Sasuke. Anyone in there is an enemy. No prisoners." The jinchuuriki snarled.

"Care to make that order with the thrall?" Sasuke hissed.

"Do I have to?" Naruto spat.

"No, but you will definitely regret this." Sasuke sighed, a surge of pain and despair rising off of him into Naruto's awareness.

"That's my burden to bear, baby. All you have to do is what you do best." Naruto said darkly.

"Hai." Sasuke replied, "And don't call me baby."

They moved together without another word, intention synchronized into action, darting towards the Hyuuga stronghold like a pair of black specters against the glittering whiteness of the newly fallen snow. The soft surface of the ground barely whispered against their feet and what little footprint remained was quickly lost as the snow continued to fall in steady, flowing flurries, muffling even the soft noise of their breathing. The air was cold, but Naruto's body burned as the battle-rage surged through him again, lighting his blood like a burning candle dropped into accelerant. His teeth lengthened, aching in his jaw, the razor edges sharp against his tongue as the fury grew and consumed any doubt he had harbored before. The empty place where Sai's spirit once rested stung within him like a hornet' barb, the pain as real as an arrow in his heart and twice as deep. Soon Hiashi would suffer as well and then he would die.

They paused at the gate, the guards shuffling in surprise as they melted out of the shadowy edges of the trees, stark for a single terrible moment against the snow. A moment would be more than enough time. Sasuke pulled his sword free of its scabbard and settled the knife into his other hand, lowering his posture like a snake readying itself to strike, his breath pluming like smoke into the air. Dressed all in black with his eyes swirling crimson, Sasuke looked almost the way he had at the Valley of the End so many years ago: like death incarnate. The unholy terror of the world, his childhood beloved, Orochimaru's best and most formidable student; Sasuke was the kind of ninja born once in a generation and Naruto knew that unleashing him against an enemy would be like dropping an explosive. In battle, Sasuke was ruthless, pure unhinged aggression, and he would destroy everything in their path, even himself if Naruto wasn't careful. Still, hesitation gained them nothing.

With a deep breath and a shudder of chakra crackling to life, Naruto generated hundreds of shadow clones, an army of perfectly created kage no bunshin forced into existence by the powers of energy and will. The clones were all the same, copies of himself, but they were made with a very delicate chakra manipulation that forced the energy from any kage no bunshin that fell back into those remaining. As the clones expired, the ones left actually grew stronger and more stable. Sasuke exhaled noisily and struggled a moment longer before conjuring a smaller army of his own, three of whom appeared as the Seal's fully activated manifestation complete with the hellish wings that still haunted Naruto's dreams. The clones moved to an unspoken command, scattering like raindrops, some scaling the walls and others falling back to engage the other entrances to the compound.

The guards on the top of the gate shrieked in surprise, leaping to engage the clones trying to climb up over their parapets instead of attempting to raise a warning for the rest of the compound, just as Naruto had hoped. Sasuke's winged clones leapt into the air, the sound of their flight thunderous as they raised a cloud of snow to further obscure the maneuver from enemy eyes. Naruto crossed his arms, the anger burning like poison in his veins, chased by chilly hate. The feeling made his teeth chatter and his belly clench, the anger almost enough to bring tears back to his eyes, but there was no time for emotion now. The time for grief was over. Naruto turned away from the surging tide of his feelings, shutting them away, and suddenly there was only calm emptiness, predator and prey, friend and foe. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Naruto cracked his neck and glared towards the towering barrier to the Hyuuga main gate with unmasked spite.

"Burn it." He ordered and Sasuke moaned softly with the thrall even as he filled his lungs to obey.

Naruto watched as his subordinate pulled the air deep, his belly distending with it as the fire gathered and concentrated within, smoke issuing from his lips. Naruto could see the fire glowing beneath Sasuke's skin, illuminating his ribs in hellish orange light even through the armor. The power of the raven's natural talent with the element was tangible in the easy way he gathered the blaze and Naruto knew before another heartbeat passed that in the years of peace, Sasuke's abilities had only grown stronger. The heat rising from his lover was palpable and the snow popped and evaporated as it fell against him. The guards on the gate managed a single scream and then Sasuke spat the flames, an infernal blue with concentrated heat, engulfing the entire barrier in a searing wall of fire. The air shimmered and the snow sizzled away into nothingness as the only obstacle between the Hyuuga household and Naruto's wrath crumbled away in the inferno into feeble, blackened charcoal.

OoOoOoO

Long ago, a child lived with his Mother in the forest. The forest was large and rich and the child had plenty of good things to eat and clean water to drink. Mother was large and magnificent, her black fur strikingly decorated with swirling blue markings a so bright that even the frog spirits with their brilliant hides sighed in envy. She had a pair of lovely, spiral horns and a slender muzzle filled with pearly, white fangs she closed gently around him when they traveled. They traveled often, never staying in one place too long, but always staying in the forest. The child played with beetles and hunted mice and occasionally the slippery fish which swam in the stream. The other demons of the forest hated him, and spat at his tail when he passed, but Mother would growl and the lesser demons bowed to her out of terror. The only demon which did not bow was the mighty bear demon, but the Bear was wise in many things, and though he ignored the child he did not spit at or slap him.

The child didn't care how the other demons despised him, he had Mother. Her fur was warm, soft and comfortable against his cheek, her heartbeat a comfortable thrum in his awareness. Mother drew toys for him to play with, guiding his clumsy fingers gently with her claws until he could manipulate the ink as well, creating prancing horses and laughing faces to decorate the plain wall of the den. There were no other children to play with, Mother always kept him tucked away during the day, but the paintings could move and speak and it was almost the same. When he was big enough, Mother said, they would fly away somewhere safe where he could play in the sunshine without fear. For now, the den was all the world that the child knew and Mother the only companion he had. The outside was very dangerous and the child was only allowed outside to pick flowers and chase raccoons by starlight, even the moon too bright to take any chances. He knew about sunlight, because Mother told him stories, their tails wound together cozily as she spoke. She smelled of pungent ink and old paper, a rich musty smell and her words came to life in the ink even as she said them.

The sun, she said, was bright and hot. She said it was light like the fire, but brighter, and that in the sun flowers opened instead of staying closed and that shops with paper and other goods opened too. She said the forest spirits loved the sun and the fire oni worshipped its heat, but that the bright light was also loved by dangerous creatures that would kill him if they could. The child knew that he had to stay hidden at all costs. Mother was not afraid of the creatures and she often changed shape to go out and hunt or to get candy and more paper for painting. Mother loved paper and she would even risk going into town, the nest of the frightening creatures, to get it. The child often begged to go with her, to see the sun and to eat sweets out in the world at her side, but such things were not allowed. He could go, she said, when he could change.

Mother never said why, but the child knew that the rule existed was because he could not morph wings to fly away or big claws to defend himself; he couldn't change the way Mother did. The things that hunted out in the sun would kill him in a moment, Mother said, and he was the only baby she had. He tried, tried hard to morph, but his body never changed. His blue claws were always blue, no matter what he did, and his tail never grew thorns. His father, Mother said, was not a demon that could change the way she could and so the child was trapped in one form by his blood. He cried, because being locked in only one form was terrible and because he didn't want to be different, but Mother never seemed to mind. She loved him, cradling him in her wings or carrying him in her mouth, the child always knew Mother would keep him safe. She said that she would carry him even if he never managed to morph wings.

The child knew that rabbits only had babies when there were two rabbits together in spring, but Mother was the only person he had ever met, there were no others. When he asked, Mother became very quiet and said that there had been another person, but that he was dead now, which was fine because he was very cruel. The other person, she said, had hurt her and that he, her child, was the only good think the man had ever done. Mother said that the child could grow to be many things, but never cruel and he tried, because he loved her.

Cruelty, Mother said, is the mink that ate its own young instead of going hungry in the snows and the child thought he understood, but he was wrong. The mink was just trying to survive the best way it could, living to make more young instead of dying slowly of starvation in the vain hope of saving the ones it had. Real, true cruelty came later. Cruelty came with loud voices and torches, lighting up the forest so much that the stars lost their shimmer and he had to squint just to see. The men came from all directions, blocking both the road and the river, and when Mother changed form and tried to speak to them they slapped her down. The child snarled and rushed to her, fur raised in his tail and claws extended, but the evil ones just laughed and hit him too.

Mother tried to fly and she almost got away, but the child's clumsy human fingers couldn't hold onto her fur as she changed and tore her way out of the clinging ropes. The child fell and he had no wings. He cried and Mother dove to save him, reaching her talons out, grabbing his body just in time. The evil ones threw spears to stab her, and Mother cried in pain, but did not let him go. Her blood was hot on his face, sticky in his tail, and the child cried because he was terrified and mother was hurting. They fell out of the sky, tumbling, Mother turning to strike the ground with her body instead of his and then the men fell upon them again. They dragged Mother, choked her, forced her into a cage.

The child clung to her, too still and coated with gore for the men to notice, but the cage was too small. Mother begged, she said that it was too small, she promised to be still if they would only let them out. Mother couldn't move, couldn't move enough to breath and slowly, slowly she gasped and gasped and her wounds bled. When she breathed, the cage pressed too much, hurting, and she was too weak to change into her smaller form. The sound was horrible, but Mother wrapped her claws around his eyes so that the child couldn't see even as he clung to her trembling fur.

"Change…" She said, her breath wet and crackling.

"I can't!" The child cried.

"Change!" She begged.

The child cried in panic, but he nodded and tried. He tried as he'd never tried before, willing the tail away and his markings faded, pulling the tiny horns back into his skull with all his might. Mother wheezed, moaning in agony and the child thought that is he could just change, if he could make himself look like the evils ones, perhaps she would be allowed to breathe again. He tried, he tried so hard his nose bled and his eyes hurt. Mother wheezed, her heart stuttering, the blood gushing against him in terrifying waves. He gasped and tried and, bit by bit, his body morphed, forced into an unnatural shape. The change hurt, hurt down to the marrow of his bones, but the child pushed harder. He willed everything away, everything that did not look or smell like the evil men crushing his beloved Mother to death, even though the effort made him scream. Soon his shape was different and his eyes too, no more blue or claws or tail, but it was too late. When the child stopped screaming, Mother was already gone.