AN: Heya guys! So I'm back at it again with another piece of the puzzle. Another creme de'la creme, hehehe XD Anyways, I went back some chapters just now and edited some stuff. I recently watched a video detailing some facts and theories surrounding the rings of the Akatsuki members. The rings will have a bigger role in this fanfiction than what they had in the actual anime/manga. I mean they were hyped up to mean something crucial and just nothing was done with it so, I figured I should do them justice in this fic at least XD The main thing that I changed was Pein's knowledge of Hinata as Sasori's discipline. Because in this fic at least, and in many theories, Pein handcrafted each Akatsuki ring and engraved the black Kanji's in the rings with his own black chakra recievers. That would explain why he seemed to know when and where certain Akatsuki members had died like Orochimaru for instance. He was keeping tabs on each member through these rings. With this information, It wouldn't make sense for Sasori to try to hide Hinata from Pein, how else would he explain all his trips to Konoha? So Pein knew about it and permitted it, obviously on some conditions of course. Anyways, enough of this stuff now!

Happy reading! xoxoxo

Chapter 14

Four weeks went by and Sasori came and went. Sometimes he had Akira with him but most of the times, he came alone, as usual. Hinata had trained relentlessly, gearing up for the battle with Haruko. It could be felt in her tired, worn muscles. Slowly but surely, she was becoming more and more adept at handling genjutsus.

The last time Akira had been with them, Hinata had taken the courage to actually ask him about their painted nails and rings. After all, the strange accessories wouldn't stop bugging her mind and she never got much of an answer when she would ask Sasori about it. Maybe she would have more luck with Akira, and so, Hinata decided to test that theory.

"So… What's with the nails and the rings?" she had finally asked the tall man with the dark eyes.

He was quiet and immediately shot a glance at Sasori. All of a sudden though, they were both armed with kunais. A twig snapped, beneath the dark boots of a new visitor, standing by a tree. He had long blonde hair, the colour of sand dunes. The blonde mane was divided in two parts, one was kept up in a high ponytail, the other was loose. A long bang hung over his left eye. He wore a big smirk on his lips and black clothes on his back. No headband, though he was obviously a shinobi.

"I was wondering why you two were always running off to Konoha, yeah!" the stranger said, walking up to the two men.

Sasori looked impossibly angry, Akira just looked alarmed.

"Oh come on, guys, you can't expect me not to snoop around when I'm the one giving you a ride here? I was curious, yeah," the stranger continued, looking away from Sasori to cast his blue eyes over her form. "My, aren't you a cute one..."

She couldn't stop the blush that coated her cheeks. Sasori snapped his enraged eyes over to her and she hid her face, looking down at her shoes. His eyes were like baked clay ringed with red.

"D-" Akira began but stopped himself. He snapped his dark eyes over to Sasori. Then he looked at Hinata.

"Hinata-san, This is our..." he began but was cut off by Sasori, whose eyes had returned to focus on the blonde ninja.

"Our other... friend. Daigo. He's not supposed to be here, though," Sasori muttered out, although his voice was very sharp. He sure wasn't happy.

Daigo's smile only grew, he fixed his gaze on her and raised his hand waving it at her. She noticed he had black nails and another one of those rings on his right index finger. It had a blue stone in it but she couldn't see what sort of kanji it had. Then he came closer, walking up to her, his grin only growing. She felt unease stir in her stomach.

"So you are Hinata then? Sasori no danna's discipline, yeah?"

The honourific he'd just used on her teacher, indicated a deep respect. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all, he actually seemed rather playful. Yet she was still a bit uneasy. Remembering what Sasori had said about courtesy, she stretched out her hand.

"My name is Hyuga Hinata, pleased to meet you."

Daigo's smile only grew. He took her small hand and shook it firmly.

"The pleasure is all mine, princess. Just call me Daigo."

Fighting of the blush that once more creeped over her cheeks, she inspected his ring. The black kanji of "Blue" was engraved on the sapphire stone. Daigo noticed her keen interest.

"You wanna know why we have these rings?" Daigo asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.

She nodded, not seeing the concerned looks exchanged by Sasori and Akira. Daigo raised his visible eyebrow at her, before something akin to a leer grazed his features.

"We're actually in a band. Pretty big out in stone. Sasori does vocals and I play the keyboard," he'd explained to her with the most serious expression she'd seen on him so far. He motioned towards Akira, "That depressed dude over there plays the flute. He's a real heartbreaker."

She stared at the blonde, shocked. Then her wide eyes moved over to Akira who had closed his eyes, his hand massaging his forehead. And Sasori seemed as shocked as she was, his eyes looked ready to pop out of his skull. The visual image of Sasori singing into a microphone made her abruptly laugh.

"T-That can't be true-" she tried to say through her giggles but was rudely interrupted by her teacher.

"Daigo! Stop messing around!" he barked out, uncrossing his arms from where he leaned on a tree.

Daigo gave the puppet master a funny look before he turned back to Hinata, a playful glint in his eye.

"Nah, we just like fashion," he conceded.

Hinata laughed at that as well, especially when she took in Sasori's face. It looked like he had wanted to object to that notion as well. His mouth opened but promptly shut itself as he harshly shook his head, muttering something inaudible under his breath.

He was seething with ire but for some reason, it just made her want to laugh harder. The prospect that the three men before her would be into fashion made her want to bend over backwards in laughter. It was ridiculous.

Of course she could tell that there was something they were holding back on but then again, who was she to snoop around? Yet, it was interesting for sure. After that, Sasori had dragged Daigo away, muttering something about "having a word with him". She had been left with Akira, who went about training her genjutsu skills some more.

Thinking back on the odd memory, Hinata cracked a smile. Though, she then sighed deeply, breathing in the nightly air. Regrounding herself back to the present.

Her tea had grown cold, she had forgotten to drink it, again. It was her second cup of wasted tea that night. She just kept forgetting to drink it for some reason. She had been so distracted as off late. Actually, there were many things to be distracted about.

This day had been… hectic, to say the least. Terrible actually. All of her tears had dried up and the only things she could do now was to think. Yet, it felt like she was going in circles in her head, nothing made sense.

The misfortune of her day had really started around noon. She was just done with the daily training she usually had with her clansmen, practicing the sacred Hyuga techniques. She knew she wanted to train with Hana for a short while, and so she had proceeded to go up to the forest behind the red door. Of course her cursed father had followed her, wanting to catch her in the act.

And that's exactly what he did.

"I've told you countless times! Puppetry is not a fit practice for a Hyuga, nevertheless an heiress," he'd hissed at her through his teeth, his white eyes narrowed into slits. "You refuse to listen, I've given you warning after warning yet you still persist, bringing shame upon this great clan!"

She could hardly react as he shouted at her, such nastiness was beginning to get old. She merely stood there and took it, hoping he wouldn't beat her but still expecting it. He didn't put his hands on her though, something she was eternally grateful for and maybe a little perplexed by. Yet he did confiscate Hana, ripping the scroll out of her hands.

That's why she had stayed up so late. The clock had just hit midnight and she knew her father to be asleep at this time. Operation save Hana could soon begin. Hinata would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous. She was literally shaking on the inside, and even on the outside.

She had already vomited up her dinner, the nausea was just so potent. It had settled now though but it still didn't really go away. It still felt like something was squeezing her insides, her heart weighed like a stone in her chest and her throat felt so dry. No matter how much cold tea she drank.

But she refused to give in. She was going to get Hana back, she had to. There was no other alternative. And so, she had dressed in all black, making sure to melt in with the shadows. The two Hyugas that stood guard outside her father's chambers would be the first hurdle to overcome.

And so, she was going to sneak in through the balcony entrance. Of course it was locked but thanks to Sasori, she knew the basics of lockpicking. Though she didn't do it often and as such, it took her maybe 15 minutes to actually get the door open.

The room laid in darkness and soft snores could be heard, coming from the king-sized bed of her father's. Her heart was beating so loud, she almost expected it to jump out of her chest. Holding her breath she creeped over the floorboards to enter his study room. If she made the slightest noise, the guards outside were sure to activate their byakugan and notice her.

So she had to be as quiet as humanly possible, opening the door to the study room and closing it with the utmost care.

She knew he kept his scrolls here somewhere, she just had to look. She wasn't stupid enough to actually turn on the lights. And so, taking a deep breath, she allowed chakra to concentrate around her hands, flexing her fingers. The warm, energetic sensation prickled her skin and soon, both of her hands glowed in soft, blue light, lighting up everything she touched. The perfect lamp.

Activating her byakugan, she scanned the drawers and cupboards. They were all either filled with scrolls or books. Soon her 3D gaze came upon a particular scroll that caught her eye. The signature and the colour was familiar. Almost ripping the drawer open, her glowing hands picked out the scroll and sure enough, it was Hana!

She stopped for a second, suspicious. How could this be so easy? That's when she realised that the snoring had stopped and she got her answer. This wasn't easy at all. The lights turned on and icy cold dread enclosed her, creeping down her back. Swallowing thickly she turned around and dismissed the light from her hands.

Standing by the doorway, was her father, his expression, unreadable. She kept her byakugan activated, not too keen in dismissing it when she felt so obviously threatened.

"Looking for something?" he asked, his tone cold.

"N-Not anymore," she answered and held up the scroll.

She couldn't believe her confidence at the moment. She was actually scared shitless.

"Hinata… That scroll is not for you to take," Hiashi continued.

That fear, instantly gave way to anger, surprising her with the ferocity of it.

"It's mine. You are the thief here," she said, calm and steady.

The clan leader looked utterly speechless at that, surprised even. His white eyes widened and his expression soured into a foul scowl.

"You insolent little wench, after everything I've done for you and you still defy me?!" he almost barked out at her, swiftly walking up to her frozen form.

He was about to rip the scroll out of her hands when she tucked it into the holster at her waist. She received a hard slap for doing that. Hinata staggered a bit to the side, her cheek burning. In that moment, she realised how common this was, how normal this was. She had been here before, and one could almost call her experienced in the field of beatings. Now, her anger and spite, outweighed her fear completely.

"All you ever do is beat me. Are you r-really surprised at this outcome?" she spat out, daring a glare in his direction.

She would not give in to fear this time. But she could do so with her rage. It looked like her father didn't even know what to say so she took this opportunity to let it all out. Everything that she ahd kept bottled up inside of her.

"All you ever do is holding me back! Holding me back from my true purpose! I didn't win over Neji due to cheap tricks as you call it, I won because I'm the better fighter, because I'm cunning. Imagine being the only H-Hyuga using poisons and puppets, I-I will be extraordinary, stronger than you one day! I will achieve this whether you l-like it or not, but I need Hana for that!" Hinata exclaimed, her voice only shaking a little bit.

She placed her hand on the holster, taking a small step back as she took in his stunned face. His stunned face, gave way to anger almost immediately.

"Hana?!" he hissed out, his fist clenching at his sides.

An ominous feeling started to climb up her spine but she refused to back down now.

"I named the puppet after her."

He shook his head, as if he was questioning whether or not he heard her correctly.

"You… named that thing after her?"

He took a step towards her and she took three steps back as a consequence, rounding the table. Suddenly, a small grin rugged at the corner of her lips, a vulgar thought entering her mind.

"I w-wanted to honour her memory. Although I can't for the life of me understand how she could ever m-marry such a cruel, monstrous man as yourself. It must have been arranged, or she was simply out of her mind," she crudely said, her eyes narrowed into slits.

She can't believe she just said that, though she did mean it. The only thing she got out in return was the sight of her enraged father, snarling out curses as he ran towards her. She bolted out of the door, her heart hammering away in her eardrums.

Running madly, she got to the balcony door and threw it open. She wasn't fast enough though. He caught her by the hair and brutally hurled her back. She landed on her stomach. That's when the fear, the dread kicked in. A fist landed on her back and she instinctively, hid her head in her arms, turning over on her side.

Then a foot hit her, and another and another. She was kicked repeatable on her back, where she laid, caved in like a crescent. In the end the pain was so great that she knew she had to do something. Anything. A scream wrenched itself free from her throat, her ribs quaked from each blow. She tasted blood on her tongue.

She received another two more kicks before she could feel her hands buzzing with chakra. Although this time, they didn't glow blue. As quickly as she could muster with her broken body, she rolled away from his feet and got up on her knees.

Hyuga Hiashi looked at her with a rageful disgust, contorting his face into a sneer. That sneer fell from him as something akin to surprise took its place. Her clenched fists, crackled to life with lightning as the roots around her byakugan eyes flexed like muscles. It was with a wild look in her eyes that she lunged at him, both of her fists raised.

The gentle fist, a flurry of strikes hitting him in his chest. The odour of burnt flesh reached her nostrils, no doubt caused by the lightning. His wide, unhinged eyes met hers before he was thrown away from her. His shirt, burnt through and blackened. She thought she could see regret flash across his face but it could have been a trick of the light.

Hinata didn't wait around to see his reaction. With tears in her eyes, a sob in her throat, she razed out the balcony door and disappeared into the night. He got what he deserved, so why did she feel guilty?

…

"Haruko will try to keep her distance from you. She knows Hyugas are dangerous on close quarters, it's pretty much a universal fact. Your job is to not let her get away," Sasori told her with an authoritarian tone to his voice, deep and booming.

As was custom when he demanded her full attention. And her full, undivided attention, he got, albeit not without distractions.

For as he was saying these things, he had her simultaneously, jumping around and dodging Hiruko's massive tail. The sharp, poison-dipped tail which he controlled with some sturdy chakra strings from his right hand.

Sweat made her black tank top and pants cling to her like a second skin. He hadn't permitted her to use her Byakugan. The reasoning was that it would allow her to see the tail from all angles, and therefore make her more prepared in dodging it. Apparently he wanted her to practice her stamina and reflexes. The byakugan would only limit that practice, in his own words.

It annoyed her but it's not like she didn't get his point of view. She just didn't know why it was necessary to hone her reflexes when she had special eyes to make up for that. Either way, she knew better than to talk back to him. He usually had a good reason for everything...

She managed to stand her ground for another two minutes or so, all while fighting back the biological urge to activate her bloodline limit. In the end, the massive tail got her right across her lower back. The worst place really.

It cut apart her top and sliced the skin open, like a hot knife on butter, making her bleed loads. It was a quite big wound, but Hinata was too busy screaming in agonising pain to really care about the damage. She curled into a ball on the ground, biting her lip and making it bleed in order to have some sort of control over the screams that she emitted.

Sasori was startled at that, startled at her pain. Because, even though Hinata had assumed the tail to be dipped in poison, it actually wasn't this time. Yet she screamed and writhed on the ground as if it actually had been. It boggled his mind and made his suspicions rise as he dropped the chakra strings.

He swiftly walked over to her trembling, crying form. Sasori knelt down and promptly ripped off the lower part of her top. He needed to take a better look at her wound and that's when he saw it. The very obvious reason for her pain. Hinata tried to turn over but he would have none of it.

"On your stomach," he nearly snarled at her, pushing her down by pressing in between her shoulder blades.

That turned out to be a mistake as she winced again, another cry of pain leaving her mouth.

"You cannot be serious!" he suddenly bellowed out in barely contained rage.

Hinata raised her arms and hid her head under them as she felt her top being lifted to reveal her whole back. She wheezed weakly, unable to stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. She didn't want him to see this, she didn't want anyone to see this. She had been so good at hiding it this whole day.

Decorating her whole back was a colour palette of big, brutal bruises. Yellow, blue and black, blending into each other, creating dark clouds of lilac. He lifted up her sports bra to see the cloud continue. It made her otherwise pearly white flesh look malformed and incredibly discoloured. Like rotten food. It had a whole new shade... a painful, severe shade. The shade of a ruthless beating.

His blood was boiling. He could literally feel it coursing around wildly just beneath his skin, heated and intense. Or maybe it was just his fury. Probably both. She was ruined, soiled, inpure. Someone had done this to her and he hadn't been there to stop it. Hinata hadn't even told him either. His seething, fuming anger was nearly uncontrollable at this point. To think that she would actually try to hide this from him.

A deep, frustrated yell left his lips, foul curses on his tongue. His rough voice snapped like a whiplash in the air, like a guitar cord.

"I swear I'll snap his spine, I'm gonna kill him!" he growled out, his unhinged eyes unable to look away from her wounded back, although he just wanted to close them at this point.

With tense hands, tense like the rest of his body, he began healing her, starting with the bleeding cut.

Hinata's voice was meek as she stuttered out; "M-my father-"

"Your father will be spineless, mark my words," he spat out, interrupting her.

She took away her arms and craned her neck around, shaking her head violently at that proposition. He took in the obvious turmoil and pain that marred her features, bloodshot eyes pleading with him. He was revulsed.

"What? Do you seriously expect me to just do nothing as you are abused? Do you seriously want that?!"

"I-I never s-said that-" she broke off, hiccuping as fresh tears left her glossy eyes. "I-I just don't w-want him d-dead like th-the others..."

Her cut was healed and he began on her bruises.

"The others?"

Hinata took a deep breath, trying to steady herself for what she was about to say.

"I'm n-not stupid you k-know... The man that h-hit me back at t-the arena, his n-name was Akihito and h-he's been reported as m-missing now. Gone, like Sora and the o-other two," Hinata stuttered out, her voice strained and heavy with emotion.

She fixed him with an unrelenting stare and he met it with a stare of his own. His jaw, clenched, his eyes intensely narrowed with his brows drawn low. He wasn't going to back down. He hadn't done anything wrong.

"You didn't need such scum in your life, they would've distracted you from your goals," he hissed at her, looking briefly down to assess that he was done with her lower back.

He moved his glowing, green hands up to continue the healing on the rest of her back.

"That-that's not for you to decide! Y-you just c-can't remove people you don't like from my l-life like that!" she fired back, sounding angry herself.

"I already have!" he shouted at her, his voice snapping at her like fangs would.

"But I never wanted that!" she shouted back, fiercely so.

A consuming urge came upon the puppet master. The urge to maim, kill, mutilate.

"If you think for a second that your father can get away with this unscathed-"

"He didn't get away with it unscathed…" Hinata suddenly conceded, barely a whisper.

Sasori's eyebrows rose up in a baffled look, his eyes seemed beyond fixated on the child before him.

To have him so concentrated on her nearly made her skin crawl, but she wouldn't trade it for the world. His hands left her as her back was healed up now. Gone were the ugly, oil painting of lilac bruises. In its place were a peachy, fair and snow-like texture, adorned with a new scar on her lower back.

"Tell me what happened, start from the beginning," he said, breathing in sharply through his nose.

She did just that.

…

"-And now I think he's avoiding me. I've barely seen him since yesterday…" Hinata finished her tale with a heavy sigh.

She was leaning on a tree, Sasori at her side. He'd been polishing a kunai during the entire time of her story but she could tell he was hanging onto every word. It seemed like he just wanted to do something with his hands, keep them busy while his mind took in what she had to say.

"You had the right on your side, Hinata. He was taking your belongings from you, he's a thief in my book," Sasori said, looking up from his kunai and pointing it at her. "I would suggest you trample any lingering feelings of guilt, he got what he deserved. Though according to my standards, you were being too lenient, way too lenient."

Hinata creased her eyebrows in despair at the memory.

"I just wanted to get out of there to be honest. I can still smell it you know, the burnt flesh…" she heaved out, biting her lip.

It looked like Sasori wanted to bitterly laugh at that, but he restrained himself, keeping his rusted eyes on the girl by his side.

"If he touches you again..."

Hinata gave him a troubled look.

"About that… I cannot have d-death folllow me around like a shadow. You will have stop punishing people that cross me," she explained, her eyes almost pleading with him to see reason. "It's- It's too risky anyways, you said you didn't want too many eyes on me," she added as an afterthought, hoping that would make him more complacent.

"Sure."

She was taken aback by the short, easy response. He couldn't mean it could he? For what could have been the first time in her life, utter distrust filled her white orbs as she gazed upon the puppeteer.

"Sure. Whatever you say, Hinata," Sasori said again, his voice devoid of any sort of emotion.

This couldn't be genuine. He was too persistent, too stubborn.

"So you won't d-do anything?"

His jaw clenched into a straight, sharp line, his lip twitching slightly. The look in his narrowed eyes could only be described as volatile. An uncomfortable silence stretched out between them.

He spun the kunai in his hand, before putting it away in his belt.

"There are some matters I need to attend to. So you will train on your own for the rest of the day. You should practice the combination of lightning release and the gentle fist, obviously it is a quite potent ability," Sasori suddenly uttered as he stood up, looking down at her.

His calculative mind was already going through which poisons he would use on Hinata father. It couldn't be something too outrageous and it needed to resemble a sickness. Yet it had to be painful and long lasting as well. He already had some ideas.

In truth he wanted to force feed Hiashi Cyanide, or Arsenic, but Kloxav will do. It was a substance he had thrown together a long time ago. It makes the victim sick for at least two weeks. They can't eat without vomiting, thus their only hope for nutrition would be through a feeding tube.

His meddling would also leave symptoms of a cold, although with a severe fever, a dry throat, a running nose. Not to mention the tortuous headaches, the insomnia, the muscle aches. Kloxav would keep Hinata's father bedridden and incredibly weak, way too weak to be a nuisance. It would keep him off her back until the tournament. Which was good. Now, almost a month had gone by and her fated battle with Haruko was drawing nearer by the second.