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XXXX
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Chapter 1:
Return
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"Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming
Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights.
Oh, how I long for the deep sleep dreaming
The goddess of imaginary light."
-Imaginary by Evanescence
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XXXX
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"I'm sorry, Sasuke..."
Sasuke's eyes opened, landing directly on his brother's pained but serene face.
Itachi smiled, the blood running down his chin and mixing with the autumn rain ignored. "I'm sorry, little brother," he echoed, and Sasuke's confusion gave way to apprehensive realization.
A dream.
It had to be.
Itachi was dead, gone.
Yet, the soft pressure of battle-worn fingers tapping his forehead felt real.
Itachi stood before him, bloody, sick, and weary. Despite that, his slashed Konoha headband shone proudly on his brow, the only thing unstained with crimson. But Sasuke didn't care about it, nor about the eternal black flames of the Amaterasu eating away at everything around him.
He could only look at the man who destroyed his life and told him all those years ago that he lacked hatred.
With that easy grin still plastered on his lips, Itachi concluded, "There won't be a next time," before he fell, the blackness of his gaze dulling to flat gray.
Sasuke stared, breath hitched in immeasurable agony.
This wasn't a dream: it was a memory.
"...A Nightmare," he voiced, his own physical state forcing him down to his knees. His dazed eyes closed, letting the icy droplets of rain wash away his crushing grief. It was heavy, the sorrow blooming in his chest, making the air near impossible to inhale.
A moment later, he was swallowed by a void of sudden darkness.
Within the stretch of an instant, the scene shifted.
This time, he watched anew as his seven-year-old self ran through the unnatural quiet streets of the Uchiha District.
So oblivious.
So naïve.
Stop. Don't go that way.
But the boy he used to be didn't heed his warning. Instead, the boy entered his childhood home to witness the unthinkable.
His Mother. His Father. His Clan.
A monster with red, cold eyes glanced at him, blade wet with the liquid of vite. "Sasuke."
"W-what...what have you done?" the younger Sasuke whispered, muscles coiled with untamed fear.
"I've killed. I've killed them all," the monster in human flesh admitted with disconcerting apathy.
Lies. He's lying. He has to be.
"...I...don't understand. Why...why would you do this?!" the child demanded, voice pitched with breathless despair.
In a flash, that bloodstained creature stood before him, merciless as it struck its sword through the younger Uchiha's heart. The injured organ pounded frantically as if to escape his chest, the blood that poured from the wound unsettling warm and smelling of such redolence copper the boy's innards twisted.
Young Sasuke's scream of distress and betrayal shattered the muted night.
"You're alone now, Sasuke. You'll always be alone. So train hard, chase after me, and kill me."
The inhuman being removed the sharp blade, slowly, painfully.
"You see, foolish little brother," the creature continued, "this is the life of a shinobi. This is the life we must live. You'll do well to remember this. Live, and hate me. Grow stronger, seek me in vengeance, and rid the world of me." With that said, it vanished.
The small Sasuke laid on the floor, eyes wide, tears running down his pale cheeks unchecked.
His mother's white face looked directly at him from across the room, her once vivid dark eyes dull. Her lips were shaped into a silent cry, black-blue hair matted with her own blood.
Now, as he watched from afar at his older age of twenty, Sasuke couldn't help but think how gruesomely beautiful she looked.
XXX
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October
"Raven."
Sasuke didn't move.
"Raven," Inuzuka Hana, the tracker of the team, called again, her voice carrying out in the confinement of the place. He blinked, the memories of the past evaporating. They were cast to the back of his mind, tangled with his own deceptive, twisted dreams.
Behind her mask, Hana frowned at the unresponsive brunet. "Ra-"
"What?" She was rudely interrupted.
If his annoyed reply startled the heir of the Inuzuka, she didn't show it. Instead, she turned back to her Captain, a medical ninja wearing the mask of a rabbit and hovering over an unconscious Hyuuga. The green hue of the curative chakra glowed soothingly in the cave the team took refuge in.
"Send this to Konoha," the Inuzuka tossed him a scroll marked in red. "For Hokage-sama."
She spoke briskly and without looking at him, albeit the tone of command in her voice almost taunted him in challenging her orders. The snarling dogs at her side were unhelpful in decreasing his irritation. It was obvious she didn't like to work with him, and that was fine; Sasuke wasn't liking her company any better.
He pressed his lips in a grim line but didn't complain. This was his second mission out of the village and the smallest mistake would result in spending six months chained to a room in Kakashi's house, or worse, Sakura's. There was no way he was going to either.
Drawing blood and forming the seals necessary for summoning, Sasuke pressed his hand to the stone floor. "Summoning Jutsu."
A medium-sized hawk appeared in a poof of white smoke, sharp eyes instantly focusing on its master's face.
"Uchiha-sama," it greeted.
Sasuke nodded in acknowledgment, lifting the scroll for the bird to see. "Fly to Konoha," he instructed. "Give this to Senju Tsunade, no one else."
"As you wish," the summoned animal said and Sasuke placed the message on its back, securing it in a holster. The hawk flapped its bronze-colored wings and flew out of the cave with significant speed.
Sasuke turned back to find the two kunoichi observing him.
"You can summon hawks," said the Captain.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, not gracing her with an answer when it was just too obvious.
The Captain's gaze lingered after the messenger hawk. "How big do your summons get?" she carefully asked and he practically heard the gears in her brain turning.
But Sasuke was silent, uncooperative.
The Captain regarded the Hyuuga lying on the blankets and nodded with an aura of authority. It put Sasuke immediately on guard.
Ten minutes later, the idea of using his katana to hurt the Captain sounded like an excellent plan to Sasuke. He crouched on his heels, elbows atop knees, and took off his porcelain mask. The cool night air swept his bangs, exposing restrainer seals on each of his temples and a sun-shaped rune in the middle of his forehead, all blue in color and extremely annoying.
Garuda, his biggest hawk, silently glided through the clouds hanging over Water Country, aware of the Uchiha's foul mood.
Sasuke was to take the Hyuuga to Konoha's hospital before dawn. And, to his utter chagrin, the insufferable ANBU Captain had decided to come with.
She sat cross-legged with the Hyuuga's head on her lap, tracing her fingers along her hairline like a mother would do to soothe a child.
He'd been forced, in turn, to place a hand on the Hyuuga's forearm to secure her from falling. He refused to touch her anywhere else, even with his gloves on. Despite his hold, he wouldn't be surprised if she fell, somehow.
The girl had always been awkward and graceful simultaneously, and that was something so contradictory it was ironic. He couldn't help but think that if she did fall, she would become the night itself.
Moonlight beams would become pale, creamy skin. The dark indigo sky would shift into long strands of hair, coiling with the wind in intangible smoky, blue ropes. And her eyes...
Her eyes would blink and adorn the heavens in the form of the moon. Round. Bright. Benevolent.
A slight curve, wry and sardonic, touched his lips briefly before disappearing with no sign of ever been there.
...What laughable notions. He was truly in quite the need of rest if his mind was devising such foolish concepts.
Disparangly, Sasuke observed her from his peripheral, only to quickly avert his black gaze. "Tch."
At the moment, whatever similarity she'd once shared with the dark heavens was null; she could no possibly resemble the night sky, not like this. Her skin was covered with loose pants and a shirt that had seen better days and undoubtedly less filth. She wore no sandals on her small feet but the white of medical gauze was evident from the edges of her vile garments. Her hair was oily and stringy; definitely in dire want of a good wash. Despite its appearance and unkemptness, it'd been braided by the Captain, who also saw fit to secure bandages over the Hyuuga's eyes— or the place her eyes were supposed to be.
But nothing remained there anymore; just empty eye-sockets.
XXX
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Hyuuga Hiashi was a patient man.
After years of being the head of the Hyuuga clan, dealing with elders and diplomats from diverse lands who were more annoying than greedy, he was bound to learn how to tolerate a tricky situation.
Patience was a virtue his clan prided in having. After all, honing perfect chakra control and a complicated style of taijutsu wasn't for the faint of heart.
For years, the Hyuuga patriarch never failed to keep a composed mask of peace, an emotionless expression that conveyed nothing.
But this time, he closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, his posture rigid under Hyuuga robes, hands clenched with rage underneath a low table. The cup of morning tea one of the servants had brought earlier was crushed under his strength, its spilled contents dripped on the floor.
Nara Shikamaru, Jonin and strategist, stood before him, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his pants, shoulders slumped. For anyone else, Shikamaru was in his typical apathetic persona. Albeit if one were to look closer, they would've seen the hardened gleam in his brown eyes.
"She refuses," Hiashi repeated, voice eerily calm. Shikamaru wasn't fooled; he knew that underneath the table dividing them, Hiashi's fists were shaking.
The Nara shifted his weight, uncomfortable with facing Hinata's father with this issue. Why him, and this early in the morning? "…Yes. Hokage-sama postponed the search. She refuses to send any more tracking teams."
Hiashi breathed deeply and Shikamaru braced himself. He knew it was coming in one, two-
"She's the next head of this clan, a ninja of Konoha. She must be found!" Hiashi exclaimed, his voice resounding throughout the room. Activated, his bloodline limit made the veins coiling with powerful chakra stand out against enraged silvery eyes. The clan leader's sharp cheekbones and set, pressed mouth only added to his already intimidating glare.
Shikamaru sighed, seemingly immune to its effects.
"The Hokage has no power to stop our clan's search for my abducted daughter!"
"I understand, Hyuuga-san, but sending shinobi when we don't have a clue as to who and where the enemy might be isn't the answer," the Nara explained with such explicit patience he ought to have been nominated for godhood.
"Hinata must be found, that's final," Hiashi stated, dismissing Shikamaru's words with such a scowl the young man had to suppress a 'troublesome' comment.
Had it been anybody else, they'd have bowed hastily and left Hiashi's presence, but Shikamaru merely rubbed the back of his neck. Kurenai had said the same thing, except that she'd taken it farther. He literally had to drag her back to her house after she tried to go with her former team in search of her student, unbeknown to the fact that Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba were hospitalized by the same person who'd taken Hinata.
That troublesome woman.
Though, Shikamaru deemed, it was to be expected.
Usually, Kurenai was level-headed. After Asuma's violent death, the possibility of losing another precious person was a constant concern for the Yuhi and that had changed her drastically.
"Hyuuga-san, I'm just the messenger. Tsunade-sama added that if you wanted to discuss this matter, to visit her. She'll be waiting." With that said, Shikamaru performed a half-hearted bow and exited, not wanting to deal with an unhappy father that could Gentle Fist him across the Hyuuga compound.
Hiashi stood from his seat, veins retreating but leaving a face still tight with wrath. Abandoning the broken cup in his hand – not minding where it fell – he left to exchange a few words with Senju Tsunade.
Outside, Hanabi stood pressed against the wall, her eyelashes wet as she watched him leave from afar. Her body shook with emotion but she fought hard to stop her trembling.
Yet, that only intensified her tears.
"Where are you...onee-sama?"
XXX
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By her office's window, a busty blonde—aware that a furious Hyuuga would soon stride her way—contemplated the blanket of darkness gradually lifting from her village. Dawn was near and Konoha was slowly (but surely) stirring.
Her arms were crossed behind her back, her familiar green coat discarded despite the morning's crisp air.
After the war, things had changed. The destruction left by Nagato Pain had been indescribable. Everything had been uprooted from its place, houses, trees, stores, everything.
Now, seeing the street lamps turning off in the distance, returning to a temporary slumber, a part of her was content and pleased.
Her village and that of her predecessors was back in motion. Many had died to protect its people since its founding. Tsunade, granddaughter of the First, grandniece of the Second, and student of the Third Hokage, was no different. By taking the title of Fifth Fire Shadow, she'd sworn to do her best for all citizens of Konoha, which brought her back to the matter at hand.
With a weary sound, she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Hyuuga Hinata...your kidnapper better pray for his life when I find him. He's giving me a lot of paperwork and he'll suffer for it," she murmured darkly.
To be able to enter Konoha unnoticed by the security sensors or the ninjas on patrol was worrisome. To overpower three Jonins was something to investigate and be on guard for. Leaving two of them close to death's door and abducting the female of the team, who was none other than a Hyuuga with one of the three legendary dojutsus, was alarming.
And the bastard hadn't taken just any Hyuuga.
He wanted to make life impossible for everyone, so why not take the heir of Konoha's most renowned clan? The guy had a death wish, and knowing how protective the Hyuuga's main branch was of their bloodline limit, he was bound to get it. The last person who tried his luck could testify to that, had he been alive to do so.
Three weeks ago, Aburame Shibi had found his son, his Inuzuka teammate, and a trained ninja dog bleeding from Raiton attacks in a secluded part of the southern woods.
Tsunade wasn't stupid; she knew the person to blame for her shinobi's condition hadn't missed stabbing through the heart due to incompetence. Everything he'd done—even managing to evade Shino's bugs and get rid of the female one on Hinata—had presented a clear warning to everyone who was smart enough to realize it was there. The attacker had let Kiba and Shino live if only to carry an unwelcome message.
For weeks, teams of shinobi from the three tracking clans - the Inuzuka, the Aburame, and the Hyuuga - were sent out in hopes of finding clues. The unbreakable loyalty the Inuzuka and Aburame displayed not only for a member of their clan but for their friends was admirable, Tsunade admitted that.
The Aburame found it 'logical' to search for a missing comrade in need, though the Hokage presumed they wanted to investigate how their clan's secret ninjutsus were fooled. Most pronounced in that regard was Shibi's wife, Mitsuki. As a matter of fact, the ex-Mist ANBU kunoichi had requested a higher-skilled team of her own. Arguing against someone who was as immovable as a mountain was exhausting, but sending someone on such a crucial mission after been off duty for years wasn't Tsunade's cup of tea.
Until Mitsuki announced something that immediately made her change her mind.
"Allow me to search Water Country."
The request had surprised Tsunade. After all, if an elemental country was to be suspected, it'd be the country of Lightning, which used Raiton and had a history of desiring the White Eye. But Water Country?
"This may be intuition talking, but...please give me a chance to attend to this matter."
The Slug Princess had meditated on Mitsuki's words and ultimately given her the go-ahead.
After all, Mitsuki knew her mother country best.
For being part of the Aburame clan in which the members showed no emotion and stood stoic all the time, hidden behind clothes and dark glasses, Mitsuki was an exception. Obviously lacking the dark brown hair of the Aburame, she held her white-blond hair in two buns secured with needles and her dark chocolate brown eyes were expressive, even at the age of thirty-seven. She was clear and open about what she wanted and her presence couldn't go unseen unless she chose to fade into the background.
How she ended up married to an unmoving rock named Shibi was beyond Tsunade.
Living in the woods as a housewife and matriarch of her clan didn't leave her with much time to stroll through the village, but every time she did, it was with something in mind.
This time was no different.
Tsunade sighed. For one, Mitsuki certainly talked with fervor. What surprised Tsunade was the urgency in which she asked to be sent out with a team of her choice. Tsunade knew the Aburame was hiding something, but when questioned, Mitsuki had promised: "to explain everything once I gain confirmation."
Just thinking about her vague words and her motives for picking Uchiha Sasuke and Inuzuka Hana was giving Tsunade a severe case of cephalalgia. Letting the Uchiha go hadn't been easy.
"There's no victory without risks," she reminded herself, ready to reach under her desk for a very deserved helping of sake. Hopefully, Shizune wouldn't get wind of her early drinking; she didn't want to be sermonized until noon.
Before she could even begin to pour, her door was unceremoniously thrown open by none other than Hyuuga Hiashi, another parent she didn't wish to deal with but was obligated to nonetheless.
At least Inuzuka Tsume had been unusually calm (for her) once she knew of her pup's injuries.
Tsunade sighed. Not caring if the founder of the ninja world himself stood before her, she served herself a cup of sake –forget the saucer– and a second shot for the man that was clearly fuming.
"Stop giving me the glare of termination and sit down, Hiashi," she barked, taking a seat behind her desk and swallowing her share of alcohol. She had a feeling she would need it and soon. This was definitely not an apt way to start her morning.
"Hokage-sama," he began, ignoring the offered drink and chair, not a hair out of place. "We have much to discuss."
"That we do," she replied, taking another sip. She watched him through narrowed amber eyes and placed her cup down. "I said, sit," she repeated. "This will take a while."
Hiashi complied stiffly, his displeasure at having the blonde order him around evident.
"Shikamaru must have delivered the news."
"Yes," Hiashi replied curtly.
She released another long breath. "Look, things are more complicated than you think-"
"I know the stakes; don't dare presume I do not," he intercepted coldly, eyes hard.
Tsunade's face morphed into harsh features, pink lips taut with menace. "Very well. Have it your way," she snapped, threateningly leaning forward on her desk. "You and I both know Hinata isn't the first victim. You saw this coming, didn't you?" she demanded without preamble
His lavender stare, so different from his daughter's, burned her.
"Hyuuga clan members have been found dead outside the village, Hiashi. Seven of them, killed and recovered without their eyes. The Caged Bird seal did its job: it destroyed the Byakugan at the time of death, but the eyeballs were taken regardless. The autopsies showed the cause of death to be cardiac arrest due to powerful electricity."
She gave him a pointed look.
"Whoever this ninja is, he knows too much about your fighting style and the abilities of the Byakugan, not to mention how to disappear without the Inuzuka smelling him or the Aburame tracking him. Three of Konoha's most skilled tracking clans, useless against him. Three of my Jonin, my village's security, and seven of your clan, all lost to this enemy, among them, your heir and blood."
Hiashi's posture remained immobile as if nothing in the world unsettled him, but his eyes showed everything. Those walls he usually displayed were crumbling and Tsunade was able to see, if just a glimpse before he composed himself, the anger and impotence brewing inside.
"If you know what's going on, the why, or the who, it's within your best interest to tell me now before more tragedies strike."
"...Are you insinuating my daughter is dead?"
Tsunade almost gave him a pitiful look but knew he wouldn't appreciate it. Instead, she noted the increasing rays of light invading her office with forced interest. "Now you're just putting words into my mouth," she chided him, "but it can't be denied we must keep in mind that such an event is possible."
"...She's not dead," Hiashi proclaimed with so much conviction it was impossible to doubt him.
Tsunade exhaled long and hard. "Be it as it may, but it seems to me like this situation derives from something considerably personal and without a true end in sight," she disclosed. "The eyes may have been taken, but the reasoning behind such an act is not to gain the power of the White Eye; this enemy, whoever he is, is trying to make a point. A very sinister one," she added dryly. "This enemy is targeting your family, first starting with branch members out in missions and then scaling his way up to the Main House's heir. The fact that he killed each of your seven kin in different locations but at quite close dates indicates that he knows he can do it without a problem. Bastard isn't afraid to show it either and if you know anything, the slightest clue, you need to tell me."
Hiashi spoke after a long pause. "The clan has many enemies, even at times of peace."
"But they've never been stupid enough to mess with Konoha, much less with an alliance between the Five Great Shinobi Villages on the line, with a mere grudge as their sole reasoning!" she bristled, losing all pretense of patience.
Hiashi's attitude was starting to aggravate her. The man could truly be unbelievably difficult when he wished to be and Tsunade was tempted to throw something at him and ruin his ridiculously immaculate hair once and for all.
"The first kill was on the first of August, wasn't it?" she questioned after a charged pause, though she already knew the answer.
Hiashi's nod was forced.
"It's late October, Hiashi. Two months, almost three. Seven Hyuuga shinobi killed in this timeframe. Why is it that during this period not once has the perpetrator been caught?"
"Tracking this...individual...has proven more elusive than anticipated," the Head of the Hyuuga confirmed through clenched teeth.
Tsunade's gaze sharpened. "You've sent your own clan members out without informing me, have you."
His stony demeanor did not change as he replied, "As I've said, the Hyuuga have enemies in every nation, which makes it a clan matter-"
"Spare me the bullshit, Hyuuga," Tsunade interrupted angrily, slamming her fist down on her desk. A fissure that ran the length of the table appeared. Neither party paid it any mind.
There was nothing more than that absurd rule she wished she could veto. What the hell was her grandfather thinking when he came up with it?
"The moment that bastard entered my village and attacked my shinobi was the day he also became my problem. He not only announced his presence to your house but he had the nerve to kill several guards, injured two of my best trackers, and decide to mock my village and your clan with his stupid little warnings. He's playing a dangerous game and I refuse to let him get away with anything!"
"As accurate as those statements are," Hiashi relented, "I believe the reason for your message with Nara-san had to do with stopping the teams looking for my daughter."
"Yes," she admitted, lacing her fingers and placing her chin on them, settling back once again. "I stopped the search for her."
"Why?" he asked softly, his tone belying the danger that lurked in the inquiry. "Have you lost hope in just three weeks? If I recall correctly, the search for Uchiha Sasuke lasted years." He slowly shook his head in quiet disbelief. "If I wish it, I could send members of my clan and look for her if Konoha refuses to cooperate," he stated simply as if he had the power to do as he wished.
Tsunade had to regrettably acknowledge he sort of did.
Well, then. Time to play her last card.
"But you won't do anything of the sort," she pronounced, glowering at him.
"...I beg your pardon?"
"You won't send anyone else, Hiashi. That's why I'm discussing this with you now. A sole team has gone after this 'enemy' and your daughter," she explained as unabatingly as she was able to.
"...A team?" He questioned deliberately, an unsavory expression that said the word tasted bad in his mouth becoming apparent. "We've sent several without results, among them my nephew's. What makes you think this team will make a difference?"
Ignoring the derisiveness of his tone, Tsunade replied, unfazed, "Simple. Sending teams with abilities our adversary knows is counterproductive, a waste of resources, and shinobi. This team, however, has already found a–"
"Tsunade-sama!" The door was slammed open for the second time that morning.
Shizune stepped into the room, eyes dilated, hair disheveled as if she'd run all the way to the office. Her gaze sought her mistress and when it found her, the brunette sighed in relief.
"Not now, Shizune. Can't you see I'm busy?" Tsunade exclaimed in exasperation, helping herself to more sake. Couldn't people knock anymore?
"It's urgent, Tsunade-sama!" her apprentice protested.
"Not now," the blonde repeated, lifting the drink to her lips.
"But–"
"Shizune," Tsunade groaned.
"It's from that team, Tsunade-sama! The one that found a trail!"
Tsunade spluttered the liquid in her mouth, coughing violently at the burning in her throat.
In a fleeting moment of reconsideration, she was glad for failing to spray the clan head before her on the face. By the murderous look he sported, however, he wanted to see her very much buried six feet underground for spattering on his pristine robes.
"Why didn't you say so before?!" the blonde demanded, ignoring the black aura surrounding Hiashi and wiping her chin with the back of her hand, manners be damned.
"But–"
"Hand it to me," she ordered.
"The messenger refuses to give it to anyone but Senju Tsunade," Shizune informed her in a quick breath.
"And where's this messenger?" Tsunade questioned impatiently.
"He's–" Shizune began hastily, only for a bullet-shaped bird to whiz past her so close it ruffled her hair.
The hawk landed on Tsunade's desk, sharp claws digging into the wooden surface. It raised its black head to meet the blonde's expecting gaze.
"Senju-san," it croaked. Presenting her with its plumed back, Tsunade took the scroll off the holster without uttering a word, pausing when she realized the scroll was tightly sealed.
Of course, was all she thought before biting her thumb and running the raw liquid across a large symbol.
A puff of smoke was released. The Hokage stood up from her seat, her eyes scrutinizing the contents of the scroll hungrily, frowning the whole time.
"A trail? Is this about–"
"Hush!" she snarled and paid little to no attention to Hiashi's indignant reaction.
A moment of tense silence filled the office; no one dared to break it. Shizune stood by the door, awaiting instructions she knew would come.
Sure enough, Tsunade rolled the scroll, shoved it into the sash around her waist and headed for the exit. "Shizune, go to the hospital and gather a group of four capable medics at once! Have Hinata's blood type at hand and set up a surgery room."
Her disciple nodded and left with purpose in her steps.
Hiashi's eyes flared, feeling like someone had hit him, ruined robes forgotten. "Hinata's blood–"
Before he could finish, Tsunade rounded on him, honey eyes blazing. "You!" she pointed imperiously and Hiashi couldn't help but straighten up in his seat. "Come with me!" Her eyes landed on the silent hawk and hesitated for a moment before saying, "Dismissed!"
"Senju-san," the bronze bird bid farewell and dispersed in a cloud of white smoke.
"I demand to know what's going on." Hiashi, finally recovering his wits, followed the Hokage out of the office at a swift pace.
"It appears that my single team was successful," she responded, her two low ponytails swinging behind her, the heels of her shoes clacking against the boarded steps of the stairs as she descended.
He halted, his chest painfully constricted. "Meaning..."
"Yes," she confirmed. "Hinata's back."
XXX
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Yamanaka Ino was a medic and (recently) a great source of aid in the surgery room.
She'd seen her share of injuries, from low to high, open flesh and organs, screaming patients in intense pain and hysteria. When doing her job, she remained serious and focused, because she knew the importance of her work. She knew the risks of not keeping her emotions in check.
She'd been trained for years and knew exactly how to kept her features concealed. She'd never put her patients in danger with her bubbly personality and endless talk in times of importance. When Ino crossed the entrance of the hospital, she was all business.
After all, she had fought in the 4th Shinobi War at the age of seventeen and seen blood and death, gore and tragedy.
With the years, the young blonde had forced the trauma of so many wounded people into the back of her mind, though the images never left. Something like that could never be erased.
Yes, Ino knew how to keep her cool.
But not this time.
The operation had scarcely concluded when she couldn't take it anymore and fled the room.
She had to get away.
Now.
The medic hastily removed her mask and gloves, shoving them into one of the waste shuttles attached to the hallway, and ran out of the hospital using the backdoor, the dark red that soaked the front of her white uniform disregarded.
Once outside, her wobbling knees finally folded under her weight. It was then that she smelt them; her hands. They smelled of antiseptics and blood and sweat, the raw scents of human struggle.
Two sets of footsteps followed after her but she didn't care. She was too busy trying to calm the arrhythmic heartbeats rattling her body.
Her fingers shook with strain, her skin covered in pinching goosebumps. Blue eyes shut tightly in a weak attempt to stop the tears from flowing.
She knew Hinata wouldn't like it if she got word of Ino crying but the blonde kunoichi couldn't help it.
"Ino..." Akamichi Choji whispered, eyes wide as he and his best friend stared at their teammate on the ground.
Ino was quiet, unable to speak, unable to scream.
Shikamaru looked grim but didn't comment.
Choji inched towards her slowly, as if afraid she would go on a rampage if he got too close. Truth to be told, Ino was so unpredictable he sometimes didn't know what to do when she was concerned. He looked at the bento in his hands and then at Shikamaru, whose mouth was set in a flat line.
Ino's mother had asked them to deliver Ino's forgotten breakfast at the hospital, but by the blonde's pale face, he doubted her eating any time soon.
"Ino," Shikamaru sighed and finally approached her. Both men crouched to her level and waited until she was ready. Knowing Ino, she'd say what was on her mind sooner rather than later without them prying too much.
When neither her shaking nor her restrained sobs ceased, Choji began to rub her back soothingly and Shikamaru awkwardly placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort and support.
Minutes later, she spoke softly. "They...they were all over her body," she sniffed. "Everywhere. Teeth marks, handprints, bruises. Cuts. Her skin is naturally pale, but all the purple, and the blue, and the b-burns...it all looked so...s-so sick. So inhumane." She grabbed her head as if it hurt. Her pretty face screwed up in a mask of pain.
Just remembering what she'd seen hurt, yet, it wasn't long before naked fury took its justified place.
"Those...those bastards! They hurt her! They hurt her!" she cried, hurling her fists forcefully against the ground.
Choji jumped, startled at the sudden rise of her voice.
Shikamaru simply observed patiently, letting her work it out of her system.
"They must have tortured her slowly... They sliced her skin open little by little like she was some kind of animal, and then they let her heal, only to continue the cutting again. Kami," she hissed, a muscle jumping on her jaw, "who does that?!"
For three weeks. Hinata had been gone for three weeks.
Three weeks too long. Three weeks in which she lived a nightmare.
What if those monsters had touched her in other ways? In other darker, filthier, humiliating ways?
Ino sank lower, touching her forehead to the dirt, teeth achingly clenched together.
The finger-shaped bruises on the Hyuuga's hips flashed through her eyes and the taste of bile overflooded her mouth.
"How could they...how could they do that?!"
And her eyes...
Kami-sama, thought Ino, face blotched, lungs contracting.
Her eyes. Hinata's eyes were gone, plucked out by a psychotic freak, the nerve damage more extensive than she could've imagined. Without vision, her career as a kunoichi was as good as over.
"...I'll kill them," she swore breathlessly, tone unsteady. "I'll kill them!"
Choji faltered on his rubbing, fear sinking heavily in his heart. He wasn't sure what (or who) Ino was talking about, but...
"She...she didn't deserve it. I just don't understand! Why? Why?! For what purpose?!"
Choji didn't know either.
His lips trembled and he glanced at Shikamaru for a sing on how to proceed.
"You won't do anything, Ino," the Jonin said lazily.
Blue glaring orbs settled on his face and Shikamaru would have backed down on another occasion...but not when he knew exactly who she was talking about. Unfortunately, the opponent she wished to murder single-handed was out of her league.
He'd heard Tsunade's instructions to Shizune that very morning in the Hokage Tower and known. Yet, hearing Ino's words made it so much more real.
Hinata...
If Ino who wasn't that close to Hinata was reacting like this, he didn't even want to see how Kurenai and the Hyuuga clan would take it.
XXX
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Sasuke was really wondering how in hell he managed to get into these kinds of situations.
After leaving the Hyuuga girl, believing he wouldn't see her again for good, he'd headed for the Hokage's office that same afternoon, seeking a new mission. A distraction, a goal. Anything was better to his thoughts roaming free as he stayed indoors.
His initial plan to spar had spectacularly flown out of the window when he remembered that the only willing opponents, Naruto and Lee, were in another village sited half across the continent.
So much for that.
To make his irritation surge, the crazy Hokage wasn't in her office.
Clicking his tongue and ignoring the stiff guards eying him warily, Sasuke had tersely made his way back to the small cottage he owned, far away from the center of the village. After taking a shower and having a lackluster dinner, he'd sat on the floor and read.
That was the only thing besides eating and training that he carried out daily when missions requiring his skills were scarce. Not that he'd received many.
Naruto was on 'tour' in the Village Hidden in Stone with Lee and Sai by his side, obliterating his training options. That and he wasn't desperate enough to consider the rest of team seven.
Curse that orange idiot for being gone for a month. Knowing him, Sasuke thought bitterly, he'll take his sweet time on the way back, too.
Thinking about his absence made Sasuke wonder about Naruto's reaction when he learned of the Hyuuga's kidnapping. He knew the old hag hadn't mentioned it to the usuratonkachi just by the way he'd failed to return. The Hyuuga had become very important to the dobe, though Sasuke was well aware of Naruto's motives for asking her to train with him. The Uchiha had perceived from the beginning that nothing but friendship would be cultivated between those two, and sadly for the Hyuuga, what the dobe had in mind wasn't exactly the love she seemed to be hoping for.
Tragic, really.
By the look she wore after their second afternoon spar, it was obvious she'd realized this and accepted it, though her appreciation and feelings for the whiskered knucklehead appeared to linger.
That Hyuuga is irritatingly strange, he noted mildly, not for the first time.
And now...she was his mission once again. Thanks to the Hokage, he was stuck with her recuperating body in a cold hospital room until further notice.
He was starting to truly despise this Senju woman.
She was more than aware of his sleepless nights and knew that he could keep a mission going for days without requiring much sleep. She was shamelessly taking advantage of that unfortunate insight and Sasuke didn't appreciate it.
Albeit, this time he had no one but himself to blame for the predicament. He should've seen the trap Tsunade was walking him into when he requested a mission the day after bringing the Hyuuga back. He hadn't, and so here he was, watching over the same girl he assumed never to see again.
She looked at peace but also indisputably dead.
He had no doubt that if he were to shake her awake, she'd slept right through the rough manhandling. It was already day four of this new assignment, exchanging shifts as a guard with other ANBU as needed, and she was nothing but a cadaver laid on white, sepulchral bedding.
Nonetheless, during the night he would remain close to her and blend with the darkness of the hospital's room. Visitors weren't allowed inside the Hyuuga's chamber –not yet– and that was a relief. After witnessing the pathetic way in which a brunette with silver-colored eyes wept at seeing her big sister resemble a frozen (and beaten) vegetable, Sasuke had humored more than enough of the frivolous sentimentalities. The Hyuuga patriarch had kept his composure, thankfully.
Now only they could visit her, and no one else. Hyuuga Hinata's return was a secret meant to be kept under lock and key. That was fine with Sasuke.
He was sure the Hyuuga girl would have preferred to be alone, anyway, had she been awake to tell the world so; her bruised face was something she'd certainly want to be kept out of view.
Perhaps that was why after that initial visit, neither member of her family came back. That meant he could sink into the silence that was occasionally interrupted by the machines wired to the damaged porcelain doll.
By the fifth day, the Hyuuga remained asleep, her vitals unchanged. The one and only difference was the caregiver coming to tend to her throughout his shift, sometimes taking it as far as coming to check on her in the wee hours. Visiting hours, after all, didn't really apply to staff.
Yamanaka Ino had begun to appear at least five times during her turn, always monitoring the Hyuuga's state, murmuring words of comfort and stories of her regular, dull life outside work to the unresponsive brunette. She'd sometimes let a tear slip and then clean it away quickly as if to vanish her train of thought. When she ran out of mundane things to talk about, she would simply stare at the Hyuuga's face for a long time and look lost, like she didn't know how to act around the small girl anymore.
Hmph, the Yamanaka had nothing else to do but to babble about unimportant matters.
How vexing.
Once, she reached out to touch the bandages around the Hyuuga's eyes, only to look horrified and jerk her arm back, as if it burned. She'd left hastily thereafter, as if guilty of a terrible sin and incapable of tarrying this close to the source of her regret.
Good radiance, he'd silently jostled her. The sooner she left, the sooner he could be freed of her.
Her constant visits irked him. Sometimes she wouldn't even step in, choosing to mutely hover at the entrance, watching the Hyuuga's monitor for a while before she realized what she was doing and went away. She was so distracted with her patient she hadn't even noticed him in the room, standing quietly in the corner surrounded by genjutsu. It didn't matter. The blonde was disturbing his work and it was displeasing.
On the sixth night, the Hyuuga began to respond, if only slightly. Her sharp intake of breath caught him off guard.
By the seventh day, she twitched her fingers, halting movements of delicate bone and muscle feebly grasping at strands of fleeting consciousness.
By noon, her breathing became shallow, causing the annoying Hokage to show up for an examination. It was then that the blonde medic removed the drugs that had kept the Hyuuga sedated throughout the week.
She's been on medication this whole time. Sasuke, surprisingly, had failed to consider something so basic.
He'd assumed the girl had merely allowed herself to rest without care after the grim events that had taken place.
An hour after that, the Yamanaka had appeared to lavish the comatose Hyuuga with unnecessary company.
Though Sasuke excelled at snubbing those he didn't deem worthwhile, Yamanaka was abusing his capacity to properly act upon the exceedingly valuable skill and ignore her outright. Babbling about how sorry she was because the Hyuuga didn't deserve what 'they' had done wasn't a conversation Sasuke fancied himself on hearing.
Throughout it all, the blonde had assumed the brunette was still out of it, unable to capture her words and rationalize their meaning. Sasuke had supposed similarly.
And that, Sasuke would realize later, was a mistake he'd committed once already. Logically, he should've known better than to 'assume' anything when it came to this particular girl.
When the Yamanka (finally) withdrew for the day, closing the door softly behind her, the Hyuuga started to shake, the restless motions of her limbs foreign to the dormant perception he'd conceived of her. At that exact moment, Sasuke understood many things, one of which explained why Tsunade had kept her sedated throughout the week.
It didn't come as a complete surprise to him, then, that when the darkness of night slowly bled into the room it was accompanied by a mounting and discernable terror.
By nightfall, the tremors had amplified, her breath a scratchy, harsh pant that did nothing to endear him to the sterile hospital room.
Sasuke remained unmoved, his eyes unflinching from that slip of a girl that desperately struggled to break through the surface.
Seconds, minutes, hours. Time passed and the night grew foreboding and she continued to (shakingly, strenuously) battle against something Sasuke couldn't hope (or wished) to see. Yet, he watched and observed and his patience eventually bore unpleasant results.
When Hyuuga Hinata's swollen eyelids attempted to open beneath heavy bands of gauze, only a scathing throb of profound pain accompanied by an undeniable sense of loss, of hollowness, conveyed the action.
The clock had scarcely struck midnight before her room was permeated with screams.
XXXX
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A/N: If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
Thank you: umnia, LadyCassie, Kichisaburo, nikols, & kyoru!
-9.22.13
Revised: 12.13.20