So... hello
I'm inky. I'm back yeah... trying anyway.
I am finally finding some words in my head that seem to belong to this story. It is not coming easy though so I really need some patience and critique.
I have tried and failed to write a plotline for this story many times. I have spiral notebooks covered in different versions and nothing I mean nothing has felt right because I overthink it so please, bear with me. There is GOING to be plot holes for sure. There has to be because I haven't been able to plan it out. But I am hoping that at the end those plot holes can be fixed. Rereading the old chapters I saw a couple and winced but that's the artistic process right?
As per usual, please read and review... I hope I do you all justice, seriously.
Much love,
-Inky
Disappearing acts were the kind of thing she had always hated as a child. One time standing in the crowd by the docks of the city, watching as passersby congregated together on the boardwalk with her mother she had seen a man with a hat.
In the hat he had amazing things. Rabbits and handkerchiefs and flower bouquets that he gave to pretty ladies in the crowd and everyone gasped and applauded, cheering his feats as though they were children.
Hinata, being a child herself stared in sheer wonder, her eyes wide and opaque, awed.
"He... makes things appear." she whispered to her mother, and her mother smiled. She knew she smiled because she could feel it from high up above her, even though she couldn't really see in the brightness of the summer day. She felt the warmth of the sun and was certain it came from the smile radiating down from her mother's face.
"Look at that, darling." Her mother had whispered, crouching down behind her, hands on her shoulders pointing at the man in the hat.
He spun among the crowd, waving a cloak of bright purple and red, dark velvet lined the edges and as she admired the elegance of the cloak he twirled it high above his head, enveloping himself in the fabric, covering himself in it's soft insides.
And then it fell.
It fell through him, past him, and onto the floor. It fell and devoured him, consumed him and made him vanish, as though he had never existed. The gasps and awed claps of applause, the shrieks of surprise and joy drowned out her cry.
The tears appeared in her eyes, and her mother, standing behind her did not see as she wept, wept in horror for he was gone.
How? How would he ever come back?
With her eyes closed Hinata let out a sigh like that of being punched in the gut. She curled into herself on the bed and allowed herself to breathe, taking in oxygen and letting it out the way a person does after having held their breath for a deep dive.
Why that memory? Why now?
Lashes heavy with moisture that should have been tears but did not make it to her cheeks she sat up, looking through the curtains of her room. It was painted a soft pastel blue, powder blue was the right term.
She gazed at it, it's bare walls and the dull hotel art that hung on the walls, framed in old fashioned discarded wood. The books on the shelves were distorted and had no character, books you find at thrift stores and garage sales for cheap.
She looked on at it in silence with her brows furrowed.
How long had it been? She glanced at the calendar and counted the days on it's face.
5, 6, 7, 8...
How long could one live with a monster?
9...10...11...
How much time could one stand being in the presence of one who wanted nothing but to kill?
12...13...14...
Could she have survived being in his presence? How long before she began to beg for mercy herself? She who was older, who had more to protect?
15...16...17...
How long could she now stand this? Months? Years...?
18...19...
No. Not Months.
Certainly not years.
The door opened and she looked over her shoulder, her eyes wide for no one just walked into her room. The servants, the men who were always watching her, the staff that was downstairs sprawled across the house's main floor on computers and phones trying to track an invisible person. No one dared to open her door.
No one opened her door. Not even... especially not...
"Sasuke..." the word escaped her mouth and made it taste bitter sweet, like a wine she had sipped earlier in the year. It had been so delicious and yet made her wince.
Her lips formed the sound, pursed as if to kiss the air, moist and pink and bright and he stared at them and then at her gaze which flickered from his face to her hands.
"Hi." He whispered softly, pressing his back against the door. In his white T shirt and jeans he looked so normal. So unlike the mysterious otherworldly thing that had snapped so violently at her at first.
She watched him out of the corner of her eye, the nerves in her stomach making her dizzy as she sat on the bed. There was no getting used to seeing him looking at her, so intense and uncaring of how uncomfortable it made her feel.
And it was true, he couldn't care despite his best attempts to. He wanted so much to give her space, to let her be alone. He had stepped away despite wanting to crawl into bed with her, hold her as she wept. Her panic had turned into hysterics, the doctors had been called out of the hospital, they had sedated and calmed her by force.
He had let go of her then, and had not felt he had any right to touch her again.
"H-hello." she winced, irritated by her stuttering.
How could she possibly be feeling like relationships of any kind mattered, when her sister was out there, alone... with...with...
She buried her face in her hands then, trembling. The white dress she had on was too big, it slipped from her shoulder and he had the uncontrollable urge to put the strap back into place, sliding his fingers along the smooth skin.
Hands sweaty he pressed himself more firmly against the door, unable to look up. All those endless days of wishing he could see her, of wanting her in sight to take in what he already knew about her. And yet now, with her a few feet away he could barely stand to make eye contact, the shame, the guilt driving his eyes downward.
"Hinata..." he began softly, but her hand lifted up as if to ask him to stop and he paused, pushing his dark framed glasses up on the bridge of his nose.
"When will I be able to know what is happening?" There was no stutter there, just calm collected words, spoken evenly. It had taken a lot of effort on her part but she was thinking of Hanabi. Of her baby sister. Of her baby sister and... and...
"They are refusing to discuss it with me also because they fear I will speak too openly with you."
"I don't understand why." she whispered, and regretted it the moment that she said it. He didn't reply but the lack of movement betrayed the feeling that the words had conveyed.
"G-g-gomen." she continued hoarsely. "I'm just... so..."
"Angry. I know."
"No."
Sasuke blinked at her, daring for a moment to glance up. Her gaze leveled with him, bland eyes penetrating. "I'm so tired, Sasuke... I'm so tired... and I'm so desperate...Please."
His eyes searched her tear streaked face.
"Hinata. I can't. I can't... disobey..." he choked on the words. He had disobeyed Kakashi a million times but this was so far over his head. He didn't know what would happen to them, to him, to her if Hanabi was...
He couldn't risk Hinata too. He just couldn't do it. And her asking the one thing he wouldn't do for her seemed liked the most ironic thing that could happen to him now. With her there, looking beautiful and soft and broken. So close, so far away. He couldn't demand the information from Kakashi, he didn't even want to sneak into his office or room or wherever it was, he didn't want to know. If he knew he would have to tell her, if he knew what was happening, what Itachi was doing, what he was demanding he would have to let her know. He had a pretty good idea of what he wanted, what he had been trying to get from the beginning. Eyes lingering on her face he shook his head gently. No, he couldn't tell her that it was her. Itachi wanted her.
Damnit.
She rose, realizing suddenly that there was a battle happening inside him. His eyes were still, and he half closed them, as if listening to her movements. This was familiar.
Her hand slid across the top of the blanket on her bed, the caress hissing softly. Her feet, bare on the tile ground padded softly towards him. Her small hands ran up her arms, trying to soothe the chill away.
Slowly she came to stop in front of him, heart in her chest pounding so hard it might come out of her body to land in his hands.
"Sasuke."
His eyes shifted beneath the long lashes, listening, breathing her in. She could feel the heat of his body coming off his clothes, could smell his soap, feeling the breeze of his breath caressing her neck.
She had always remembered him slightly slouched, so she never pictured him quite as tall as he actually was. He towered over her by a head and she tilted her face up to look at him, cocking it to the side slightly.
"I... I loved you so much..."
His eyes snapped to her face, as if electrified and stayed there. They were penetrating. She had done them no justice. Black like the sky in the middle of a forest, the sparkles of stars dancing in his gaze. She could see herself lost forever in those eyes, an endless void both beautiful and terrifying.
"Loved." his voice was so low she could hardly hear the word, it was a breath, released from his lips like a sigh mid sleep.
Gazing at the soft skin of his mouth she felt the skirt of her dress tangle with the material of his pants for a moment, the friction slight but somehow a beacon of feeling
"I... you left me..." her mouth was moving and words were coming out and a part of her watched in horror as the words slid out, one after the other. But here he was, one step away with his hands in his pockets and his back so hard against the door. He wasn't reaching out to hold her like he had the night he appeared at her studio. Could she be tainted to him somehow, was he wondering who she was? Now that he could see her was he doubting his first thoughts, wondering if perhaps he had imagined the girl he had kissed so fervently?
Sasuke took a deep slow breath.
No... no no no. dear god.
"I didn't... Hinata. I had... I didn't want to."
"H-hai." she amended softly, her eyes flickering from his lips to his eyes. "That's right."
He could feel the tickle of her long hair on his elbow. There was a space of a few inches between his body and her own. He could feel the blood pumping through him and he wondered if there was terror coursing through his veins at the words she was using, at what she was saying, or if he could be delusional enough to crave her at the same time.
"I am..." he stopped, he breathed. "I can't..." the words he spoke were always carefully picked but she smelled of lavender and it was scrambling his senses, his tongue, his brain was a mess of twisted thoughts. He wanted to give her room, to let her go. She would be safe without him, hopefully this nightmare would end no matter what happened with Hanabi, she could still grow, she could still find someone to love her she could still get old and have grandchildren and remember this time as a horrible nightmare. A meeting with an unlucky stranger. A meeting with him.
But her fingers lingered soft hardly touching over his arm near his wrist.
"Why...w- won't you touch me then?"
Sasuke's chest rose and he held his breath still, feeling the invisible force that tickled his skin where her fingers hovered.
"Don't you think..." he felt himself moving and froze, looking away again trying so desperately to calm down that he could hardly speak. "Wouldn't your life be easier...safer, without me in it, Hinata?"
Her scent, her heat, and her soft white dress suddenly withdrew. He looked up, watching the unsteady step back she took, searching his face.
"W-w-would yours?"
"No." He answered before she had even finished asking the question. Stepping into her space like it was his own, because it was.
Hands on her face he breathed her in. "No. Nothing would be easier. Believe me, I..." He shook and she felt the tremble through her lips where his fingers were suddenly touching, feather soft caresses that made stilled her heart from racing.
"I don't think I can do this living...thing...with anyone else. I would manage without you... but the same way an amputee would...It would be..."
"Like being blind."
His eyes widened as she looked up at him, searching. "It would be like being blind."
Of all the people in the world who could possibly know how he had faced the darkness, with anger and fear and pain, she would. She would know what it cost him to be blind, to wander through the lonely shadows day in and day out.
He had not touched her in weeks, watching her, starved for her but determined. He would let her choose he would step back and let her make up her own mind. That was what he could do, he would step away...
Fuck that.
Slowly he pressed his mouth to hers, gentle and thoughtful. The feel of her lips rubbing slowly across his felt like the spark of a match against sandpaper and he strained to hold back. Carefully he slid his hand up her back, into the hair at the base of her neck. Each movement brought another wave of lavender making him feel heady and drunk.
Abruptly Hinata pushed him hard, lips locked onto his against the door, pinning him there. Stunned Sasuke gasped. Hungrily she pushed the kiss harder, pressing her body against him, all the softness of her chest and hips making him dizzy.
"D-don't you ever..." she whispered, arms wrapped around his neck, hands tangled in his hair. "Don't you ever say that again... "
Sasuke pressed his face into the curve of her neck, lashes fluttering against her skin. "Damnit Hinata..."
Her hips suddenly were pressing harder and harder against him, her mouth searching for his. "No. " she murmured, taking his face gently in her hands to make him look straight at her. "I said never."
Her face was red, and her eyes were filled with tears. Chest rising and falling fast against him she trembled, lowering her hand from his face to the button on the front of her dress.
Like a deer in the headlights he followed her hand, watching the first button and then the second coming undone.
"Hinata wait..."
What was he saying?
"N-no."
Her body was burning. It was feeling nothing but tiredness, nothing but fear, anxiety and a festering dark thing she didn't recognize and yet knew so well. The time was coming, for her to face that black. It moved in her belly, it numbed her bones, it made her clench her jaw hard. She didn't want to know what it was exactly, didn't want to think about it. She had to feel something else. She had to feel something else now or it would consume her.
"Hinata..." his attempts to speak were being completely side tracked as her body pressed harder against him. His hands were moving of their own accord, sliding below the hem of her dress, feeling the softness of the skin of her thighs, the lace of her underwear...
A sound, low and wanton escaped her lips and any attempt to speak was immediately eradicated from his brain.
It didn't matter because his mouth was suddenly occupied with hers again, while her fingers continued to move on her clothes, and the rest tumbled out of his control, like trying to hold the rain as it falls into your hands. The only way to truly hold the rain, is to drink and give thanks.
Kakashi lowered his head after looking at the report on the table again, slamming his fist into the wood of the desk.
"For fucks sake." he growled.
The rest of the team glanced at each other subtly. The captain wasn't usually a swearing man, so the words coming out of his mouth could only mean one thing.
Itachi was playing with them and again, the lead they had thought they had proved to be nothing.
What was the madman waiting for anyway?
"I can't go back upstairs with nothing for that girl." He grunted, straightening.
"I get that." Iruka muttered. "But it's been weeks. I think we have to start thinking about relocating..."
"We keep moving around he won't find us."
"I think we're both going to have to be honest here Kakashi and say we're playing his game not the other way around." Iruka snapped. "Her family and friends may be okay but that is an expense even the Uchiha fortune cannot afford to simply absorb forever. And Hinata..."
"We're not going to be able to keep her here much longer. I saw her testing out the windows yesterday." Another of his men murmured. He had watched as the girl walked into the room she had been assigned in the new safe house, her fingers fiddling with the locks.
Her eyes had landed on him in the doorway and she had stepped away, cheeks pink.
She had been looking for a way out. He was sure of it.
"She was probably just making sure that Itachi couldn't get in obviously." Kakashi laughed nervously. Iruka's glare made him stop.
"No. I know... Damn." Kakashi sighed, raising his hands in defeat.
"And your godson."
"Don't even start, Iruka. I swear."
Sasuke had been a menace for days, listening in on their conversations, demanding to go out when they didn't really think it was a good idea. Kakashi knew why. He had been trying to convince his godfather to use him as bait.
The truth though was that Itachi wouldn't fall for that. He wanted the girl. He wanted Hinata. There would be no heroic sacrifice for Sasuke. If Hinata found out however, that would be a problem. If she finally figured it out, how would they keep her from going and looking for him?
"We should be moving them out of the country, it's the only way to keep them under some sort of control." Iruka muttered. "We need to relocate them and we need to do it now."
A creak in the stairs made the men look up, meeting pale Hyuuga eyes above them on the staircase. Hinata's hand stayed on the banister, although the rest of her body looked like it was mid run upstairs.
"What is it with kids these days and eavesdropping." Kakashi growled, moving to climb up the stairs.
"You're moving us out of the country?" Hinata asked, her face pale.
"It doesn't mean we've stopped searching of course, but it would free up a lot of my men and give the search more-"
"Please... p-please don't be patronizing." Her gaze leveled at the top button of his shirt, glaring at it like it had no right to be there.
Kakashi sighed.
"Hinata. I can't protect you if you don't trust me."
More rudely than he had ever seen her do anything she turned, heading up the stairs slowly, hands clenching as she went.
"Well fuck." Kakashi let his head hang back, staring up at the ceiling tiredly. Sasuke's parents owed him, dead or not. They owed him big.
Sasuke woke slowly, unlike any other time he could remember. For him waking was always an instant startling thing. He was asleep and suddenly he was awake. But this time he came to the way that ice melts, snowflake by slow snowflake.
Everything felt gentle and soft, warm, soothing. He shifted sleepily, burying his face into the pillow.
The bed was silky. It slipped over his skin with a familiar comforting scent. It made goosebumps rise on his skin, like... like...
Hinata's silk black hair dancing against his face, swaying to the rhythm of her hips above him, the lavender smell mixing with the sweat and the heat. There was a different smell that made his mouth feel dry and his body melt, he couldn't identify it but it drew a quiet muffled cry from his lips.
Heart suddenly racing he sat up, hands in his hair. Her room was empty, the place in the bed where she had curled into him cold.
Outside the light had dimmed slightly. He could see the early afternoon light glittering on the windows of the house next door.
Before his panic could start to get truly out of hand he heard the doorknob turn and Hinata stepped inside, pressing her back against the door, a glass of juice in one hand.
He blinked at her uncertainly, their places a complete opposite of earlier in the day. Eyes lowered and face pink Hinata cocked her head. "H...hello... gomen... I... I just needed a drink of water..."
Swallowing hard she moved towards the bed, sitting on the edge, hands in her lap, fiddling with the glass.
Sasuke remained still, as if afraid that if he moved to quickly she might disappear like a sparrow on the breeze.
"...are...are you okay?" His voice sounded different to his own ears. He had sounded so different an hour ago, had made sounds he had never made before. He felt different, maleable, like putty.
Her gaze flickered upward at him, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear before pressing her fingers together in front of her around the cup.
"H-hai... I... gomen, I was so...I just..." she buried her face in her hands, whether upset or embarrassed he wasn't sure. His hand on hers seemed to break the spell, and slowly she slid into his embrace, her legs wrapping around his waist along with her arms, her dress and the sheets tangled between them. She placed the juice cup on the nightstand beside them, forgetting it momentarily.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Hinata, don't apologize."
"H-hai." her tiny nose pushed against his neck, breathing in deep. Shivering momentarily she closed her eyes brushing his skin with her lashes.
Carefully, Sasuke took a deep breath, "...are you... regretting...?"
Hinata sat up, looking at him wide eyed. "N-n-no! No... " Her face flamed, embarrassed by her sudden outburst. He studied her as she gripped and loosened her grasp on the sheets. "I don't regret you. I will never regret you." she whispered.
Somehow, despite her beautiful eyes lifting to look at him through long lashes he felt his stomach twist. She wasn't lying he knew it from the way her lips reached up to caress his, and the way her body began to push against him, slow and steady and determined.
But there was something unsaid, something that should have been whispered after that sentence, and whatever it was, it hung heavy above him, tainting the moment of her dress in a ball on the floor, and her gasp in his ear.
It filled him with equal parts love sick and dread.
In the middle of the night she did it.
She slipped from the sheets, pulled on his shirt, and a pair of her pants. She breathed in slow and steady like Asuma had taught her, watching Sasuke's sleeping form on the bed by the light of the moon. Outside she could see it, bright and shining, a glorious round face that glowed in the darkness. It signified the amount of time she had allowed herself. 21 days.
The time it took to form a new habit.
She looked at Sasuke again, and a nagging desire drew her to the bed, hesitating a moment before touching his face, her fingers sliding from his cheek to his hair, and then the curve of his lips.
It wasn't like her to be so bold, but she savored it anyway, despite the anxiety that sprung into her body as her fingers slid across his skin. There was a part of her that knew he wouldn't wake. The part of her that had watched him drink the cup she had brought him, downing the entire contents in one go. His mouth had tasted sweet and sour, like strawberries and pineapple.
Slowly Sasuke's eyes fluttered open, watching her sleepily and then noticing her clothes became steadily more awake.
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing." she smiled, leaned down before her boldness disappeared and pressed a kiss to his lips. "I'm just going to get something to eat from the kitchen, ne?"
"Oh." he whispered back, relaxing slightly back into the bed. "I'll come."
"I-iie." she shook her head. "I'll be right back. Sleep."
Sasuke eyed her, eyes drowsy, feeling the weight of his body on the bed like lead. Why was he so tired? His eyes felt fuzzy and her face although so close wasn't clear.
"Hinata..." he began, trying to grasp as his thoughts although they slipped through his mind like oil on water.
"Ssh." Hinata sighed, passing a delicate finger over his brow. "Sleep."
In the pocket of her jacket she tightened her grip on the bottle of sleeping pills with Hanabi's name on it, and ignored the feeling of guilt blooming in her chest. Sasuke's eyes began to close, fluttering like the moths outside her bedroom window. Watching intently she leaned down once more, pressing a lips to his forehead before turning around facing the door.
Walking out without looking back she breathed in deep, listening intently to the movement of men below, bantering about something even as they typed into their computers. Cameras were all over the city and somehow they had managed to secure use of them. Someone was up at all hours of the day, watching and monitoring. Carefully she stepped down the hall, aware of the fact that Kakashi's room was the last by the stairs studying the door intently for signs of occupation inside.
"Are you going to sleep any time soon, Kakashi?" Iruka's voice inquired teasingly. Hinata peered down the steps, biting her lip. If she timed this wrong then it was all useless and she would have to try again. Swallowing hard she listened.
"Yeah yeah make fun of my pajamas all you like Iruka, at least I sleep comfortable."
"Uh, I sleep plenty comfortable." Iruka muttered. "Just not in dinosaur pajamas."
For a moment Hinata froze, thinking.
"Well, I'm gonna make some tea before bed, want a cup?"
"Yeah please."
Kakashi's white head disappeared down the hall into the kitchen, the sound of water running echoing back up the stairs.
Glancing at his room quickly, and without allowing herself time to reconsider slipped inside.
The furniture was the same beige and gray stuff that was in her room, the walls a different shade of pastel although in the dark she couldn't quite tell what color it was.
Breathing deeply she scrambled on the wall for the light switch and when it flickered on winced in the brightness.
His bed was unmade, a tangle of sheets that said something about the state of his mind when he dreamed. Brow furrowed Hinata walked to the nightstand, searching it's drawers until she found the cell phone she saw in his hand all the time.
She had been watching him for weeks, the thing never left his side except in the evening when he charged it.
Licking her lips she flipped it open, staring at the screen for a moment stumped by the password box that blinked back at her.
Password... what would Kakashi put down as his password...
Downstairs the sound of voices continued. Hinata glanced back at the door, feeling her hands clammy and her face hot.
Password...password.
Slowly she tried Sasuke's name. Nothing. Kakashi's name. Nothing. 1111. Nothing.
Brow furrowed she tried to think.
What were those books he always had on him all the time...
Slowly she typed in what she thought was the name of the series although she couldn't be sure, it had not been a particularly pleasant thing to be aware of your teacher reading.
The phone thought for a moment and then opened up with a sound that resembled a sigh.
Wide eyed she scanned through the messages and attachments lighting up the screen. Sighting Reports, areas searched, rivers searched, unidentified females found...
Feeling sick she hesitated, restraining herself from looking at those files as she scanned.
There it was.
Iruka had sent it, probably when Kakashi had been out somewhere and couldn't be communicated with in person.
...We have another letter from the bastard...
...there's a phone number on it but it's a burner...
...can't let Hinata know...
...called and texted the number with no reply...
Hinata looked back at the door, hearing Kakashi's voice closer now, by the staircase.
Quickly she pulled out the pen in her pocket, writing down the number on her wrist before throwing the phone back in the drawer and stepping out.
Kakashi laughed at something Iruka said, a couple steps away from the top landing. Pressing her body against the wall Hinata breathed in deep, slowly closing the door to the room and stepping sideways back down the hall to her own room.
Before Kakashi had reached the top and still feeling the shaking in her bones she closed her bedroom door, turning to look at Sasuke, fast asleep on the bed.
He was well and truly gone, she could hear it in the depth and breadth of his breathing. It moved throughout he room calmly, dazedly and the nagging feeling of wanting to stay dragged her to the bed again, her heart still hammering in her chest.
"I'm... going to miss you so much..." she murmured, a bit of terror beginning to crawl up her spine.
Dragging in a breath she stood. If she stayed even a moment longer she wouldn't leave. There was no chance for hesitation. The rest of her life couldn't be lived knowing Hanabi was out there somewhere maybe and to stay would be to trade in Hanabi's joy for her own.
It wasn't something she could do and she knew it.
Slowly she turned to the window, inspecting it's wood frame carefully again, noting the screws that pinned it down on the inside. With trembling fingers she pressed the end of the fork she had snatched from the kitchen days ago into the heads of the screws and began the slow process of turning each one, watching it pull out with focused careful eyes.
It was now or never. And never was simply not an option.
Sasuke dragged his eyes open with focused painful effort. The sheer force it took to see made him panic for a moment, the feeling was familiar from months of wanting to observe and seeing nothing but blackness. He had laid in bed opening and closing his eyes, trying, willing his eyes to just work and failing.
This time the effort paid off and his gaze came into shaky focus by the light of the morning sun. Hinata's room was cool and empty. Groggily he pushed himself slowly to his side and reached across the bed to the bedside table for his glasses, allowing the world to finally come into full focus.
The curtains were open into the alley on the side of the house. Slowly he scanned the room, feeling instinctively a strange sick feeling in his gut like the moment before a roller coaster plummets.
"Hinata?" he whispered softly, although it was obvious she was not there. Moving stiffly he stood up, grabbing his clothes from the ground where they had been so carelessly discarded before, although he couldn't find his shirt to save his life.
Frowning he moved to the doorway, pausing before opening the door and peering out.
Below he could hear all the men in the process of caffeinating themselves, and making breakfast. Kakashi's voice, loud and argumentative was resonating up the stairs. He couldn't hear Hinata in the fray but then, that was no surprise they sounded like a herd of elephants.
Careful so as to not draw himself too much attention Sasuke stepped out of the room and down the hall to his own bedroom, trying to calm the tightening muscles of his stomach and the sick feeling that seemed to be getting steadily worse.
Something didn't feel right, his brain felt foggy and unnatural, and he still didn't feel fully awake.
In the bathroom he splashed water on his face, trying to dispel the feeling of sleep that was clinging to his body. It weighed his lids, his limbs and his thoughts, hanging like weights on everything.
A knock on the door made him jump. "Sasuke?" Kakashi called through the door. "Is that you?"
"Hai." Sasuke grunted, drying his face quickly before opening the door. "Nani?"
"Can you wake Hinata please?" Kakashi inquired, looking at his phone absently. "I need to speak to you both about something."
"Hinata?" Sasuke paused, looking down the hall at the bedroom door he had just come from. His heart skipped a beat, starting to race and stumbling. Suddenly the weights were falling off his body, a painful over sensitivity to the light making his jaw hurt.
"Was she not downstairs?"
Kakashi blinked, looking up at him. "No..."
Sasuke looked at him for a long agonizing moment, a fist starting to tighten his stomach more. Wordlessly he pushed Kakashi out of the way, heading towards her door.
"What?" Kakashi asked, following behind him slowly, looking more and more alarmed. "What's wrong?"
"No." Sasuke breathed, knocking hard on the door before opening it. "No, no, no."
Kakashi's hands on his shoulders turned him around away from the empty room. "Sasuke. Where is she?"
His godson looked back at him, breath coming in short painful gasps. "I don't know."
His godfather's one eye widened, the grip on his shoulders turning white knuckled.
"I don't know..." Sasuke repeated softly, shaking his head one smooth motion from left to right, realizing slowly what had happened. She had smiled, she had touched his face, she had lied.
"She... she must have drugged me last night..." he couldn't believe it. The incredulity of gentle delicate Hinata lying to him, mixing something into his drink, it was almost too much to take.
"What?" Kakashi was having as hard a time keeping up with what the Uchiha was saying. Trying hard to understand but finding it all equally overwhelming.
"She's gone to him." Sasuke murmured, realizing that the kisses had been goodbyes, the aggressive push of her body on his had been fear, her wide eyed tearful eyes had been terror.
He knew what it was because he felt it, that terror. He felt it now, and it was threatening to eat him alive.
Well there it is, be it what it may.
i'm not particularly pleased with this, im not going to lie to all of you. But it's the version that feels the most like a continuation on not a massacre of what it was supposed to be.
But there it is, none the less.
Thank you everyone that is bothering to read this, and I hope that the flow of words will continue, for a very long time my ink was totally dry.
much love,
-Inky