Authors note:Warning-Gore and frightening themes.
Kokais chirping woke her up from her nap on the porch.
The warm afternoon sun had lulled her to sleep, and she was dismayed to realise it was now past sunset. She yawned softly.
A sound made her freeze.
Men.
Drunk laughter filled the air.
They had just entered the clearing, parallel to her cottage,too far away to notice her yet,but drawing closer and closer.
She scrutinised them with her byakugan.
The men were voraciously drunk, jostling each other. They were wild looking and beefy ,small time crooks she gauged by the looks of their shoddy weapons, probably on the way back from a tavern taking the shorter route home through the woods.
Hinata stayed still, hoping the clouded night was dark enough to shroud her as they passed.
They were civilians and she was a trained Shinobi.
If it came down to a fight she could take them, but her fighting style was close range combat and with twenty of them attacking simultaneously, she would either have to kill a few of them or risk being overwhelmed.
Neither option was appealing.
As if laughing in the face of her silent plea the impish moon emerged from the sky and she was lit up as if by spotlight.
'Oye what's that!'
And like hounds sensing a bone , twenty to a man , their eyes honed in on her.
Someone whistled.
,'That's a prime piece if I ever saw one'
There were drunken murmurs of assent.
Hinata carefully adjusted her position, gathering chakra into her hands, contemplating her next move.
They were closing in on her.
Kokai was chirping wildly now, fluttering around her head darting out and back in.
'The heck is that?'.
A crude knife zipped past Hinata.
The chirping stopped.
Hinata froze, her heart in her throat, before releasing her breath in relief when the chittering restarted from farther away.
'Gosh darn it! I missed',whined one of them drunkenly,his statement followed by raucous laughter .
Hinata readied herself.
'Is she blind?'
'Who cares, 'one drawled, a large bearded man , wiping his mouth with the back of his hand ,'look at her curves.'
'Yeah! so what if she's blind, it's her body we're going to f-'
The mans voice cut off as a gurgling sound filled the air,blood gushing out of his throat, a kunai imbedded in his neck.
Time stood still as the man floundered towards his mates ,eyes wide, hand futilely raised as if in an effort to stamp the flow.
When he fell on his face, the men came out of their stupor.
'GET HER!', the bearded one roared running towards her. The ones behind following in a crazed mob.
'Amaterasu'.
Screams filled the air as a black fire appeared in front them, charring the limbs of the ones closest.
Unprepared for this new foe, they turned tail and ran, scrambling over each other in this haste.
Sasuke stood in front of her, his face set in cold fury, a harsh smirk appearing on his face as the screams amplified when the men realised the fire was following them.
'Sasuke! Stop! Let them go!,'Hinata screamed latching on to his arm.
The fire disappeared in an instant.
They glared at each other, ignoring the nineteen terrified men as they ran with all their might from the demons in the forest.
'Why did you interfere?,' Hinata exclaimed ,' I could've handled them!'
Sasuke glowered silently.
Letting go of his arm in frustration,'They were just drunk civilians ! You were about to kill them all!', Hinata hissed, turning to walk back into the hut, the sight of the now charred body sickening her.
Sasuke grabbed her arm, and whirled her around.
'What did you want me to do? ,'he barked out,'Wait for you to be overwhelmed before intervening?Those weren't men Hinata,' sasuke seethed,' they were rabid dogs and they needed to be put down for even thinking about hurting what is mine.'
Hinata sighed.
'You still don't think I can take care of myself, do you?', she said softly.
Sasuke frowned, expecting anger and fury, not her gentle reproach.
She looked into his eyes and he cleared his throat, straightening.
'You would have attempted to disarm them at the risk of your own safety,' he said gruffly,' I couldn't let them get close enough for you to try. '
Hinata crossed her arms over her chest disappointedly, not approving of his explanation but deciding to let it slide.
Shaking her head, she stepped closer, reaching out her hand slowly,hesitantly almost expecting to have it slapped away, carefully watching the erratic Avengers face.
Sasuke looked down at her fingers as she intertwined them in his but besides a slight frown, didn't make any other move.
A pause.
Encouraged, Hinata tugged gently at it, moving them towards the cottage.
'Come, kokai and I have been waiting for you.'
As if beckoned, chirping filled the air and the canary fluttered excitedly around the brooding Uchihas head.
Hinata giggled at his annoyed face.
'See, she missed you.
Sasuke looked down at her and Hinata knew what he was silently asking.
'I- I missed you too.'
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