.
XXXX
Chapter 7:
Winter
.
"Lay your body down upon the midnight snow
Feel the cold of winter in your hair
Here, in a world of your own."
-Snowbound by Genesis
.
.
.
XXXX
.
November
Hinata...was lost.
There was no going around it.
Her feet sank into icy water, splashing her robe, soaking it, and stealing what little warmth she had like a thief fleeing into the night.
It was cold. Freezing.
Fat droplets of rain touch her, caressing her with their magnitude, weight, and sorrow. An atmosphere of grief had settled over her surroundings, and she hugged herself in an attempt to keep her temperature from dropping further.
Hinata didn't feel her numbing muscles or care about the downpour increasing in tempo and force; she was lost. Even her fear, that powerful and monstrous being, was gone, replaced by deep uncertainty.
Everything before her was coated in that familiar black, but not knowing where she was unnerved her. The ever-present stale scent of her hospital room had vanished. The humming of her monitors had grown quiet. The splatter of the sky's lamented tears falling into a body of rushing water was now the only sound invading her ears.
Her hands spread in front of her, searching for something solid, for something to grab onto and use as a guide.
She encountered empty space.
With every wisp of air she breathed, sharp needles pickled at her insides, chilling her lungs. She rubbed at her skin, goosed and stiff, and prayed for answers and warmth.
Where was she? What had happened?
"Uchiha-san?" she called out, her heart in her throat.
She waited, but no one responded.
Panic probed at her senses, causing the pit of her stomach to drop heavily. He...had to be here, somewhere. What had he done to her? Had they left the hospital? How–? Where–?
He'd barely touched her temples and the sensation of lightning had taken over her being. His last words left her mind in a labyrinth of unfinished thoughts.
"Hyuuga. Relax."
And now he was nowhere.
Despite the wet world she was in, her tongue felt parched, a thick coat of sand lining the inside of her mouth as her body continued to shake.
With uncertainty came resolution and with resolution, she moved a few steps, still unsure of what laid in front of her. To her surprise and momentary relief, only a shallow lake was in her way, her feet causing the water's surface to splash.
"Uchiha-san?"
There was something oppressing in that unknown place that wished to suffocate her. Had she been able to see, she would have known that a set of eyes as deep and as dark as rubies watched her through raven-colored lashes.
The Hyuuga exhaled, imagining her puffy breaths coming out in clouds of white vapor, and stopped, her arms falling aimlessly at her sides. If she kept on walking, who knows where she might end up. Instead, she concentrated past the chattering of her teeth and the merciless cold winds that hugged her from every direction and felt for him.
Within a moment, she found him.
Lightning rays coiled together, interlocked into an electric dance, and creating a special kind of warmth.
That was how Uchiha Sasuke's dense chakra felt to her.
The weight of his stare itself should've been enough to alert her, but she'd been too busy centering around her harsh environment to truly notice.
A slight smile of relief lifted the corners of her lips. "Uchiha-san," she called softly, her head turning toward his chakra signature. "Where are we?"
If he was startled at being found, he didn't show it. "We're inside, Hyuuga."
Indigo brows came together to form a confused frown. "...I beg your pardon?"
The shift of the howling wind and the light shackling of chains clinking together distracted her momentarily.
When he spoke next, he was much closer.
"You don't seem to recognize this place," he voiced evenly.
Hinata shook her head, her breath hitched with unknown anticipation.
"I see. Do you have a guess, at least?" The splash of his steps and the ringing of metal brushing against metal approaching made her listen intently as the rain fell. "What do you sense?" He was so near, right in front of her.
She tilted her head up and was greeted with cold droplets. She was sure that if she stretched her arm, her fingers might just brush against his tall frame, but she was too stiff to try it. "It's cold," she began, her voice not higher than the usual whisper. "And we're in a lake. The rain is intense. It feels like...winter in Konoha."
Blood-red eyes observed her as she raised a palm to cup the oncoming water. It proved to be useless when the liquid simply slipped through her fingers.
"Yes," she confirmed. "It's winter. We must be somewhere in the village."
There was no reply but Hinata waited patiently.
"Winter," Sasuke finally echoed and Hinata could detect the underlying irony. "It fits."
Hinata wished she understood what he meant by that.
"What do you think of winter, Hyuuga?"
To say that the question made her pause was understandable. "I...I like it. Winter is a beautiful season."
"It kills," he interjected and Hinata was taken aback by the edge in his voice. "The cold of winter means death. Don't you know? Everything the cold touches eventually dies."
"That's true," she agreed warily. "But isn't that the way of nature? Winter paves the way for a new cycle."
"But don't you feel the absence of warmth? Don't you wish you could dry up and be somewhere far away from this infernal cold?"
"I-I do, but," she defended, "there's a purpose for winter, always. Winter, though deadly, can be something truly wonderful in its own way."
He regarded her with hooded eyes. "...I wouldn't say that if I were you."
She took a step back, almost losing her footage in the process, imaginary fingers dragging her under. "If you were me, what would you say?"
"I'd say that you don't know your own mind very well."
Hinata's teeth clenched together in frustration. Sasuke was being vague while the only thing she wished he'd answer was: "Where are we?"
"I told you; inside."
She frowned deeply. "Inside where?"
"Do you want to see?"
The strength in her bones slipped away at his question. Upset and confused, she didn't utter a word.
She couldn't see. Why did he have to remind her every time? Did he enjoy mocking her that considerably?
Suddenly, his hands settled on either side of her neck. Despite his heated touch, her flesh screamed at her to get away. Fear of the enemy had devoured her when the Uchiha appeared in her room, but now, a different type of trepidation sharpened her senses, for making contact with anyone was too soon and too much. She wasn't sure she could handle it. And yet, Sasuke was already breaching past that barrier. He'd done that in her hospital room, too, and now...
"You're still wearing your bandages," he commented and his breath on her lips made her quiver for reasons that had nothing to do with fear. "Do you know that?"
Distantly, she took note of the wet gauze sticking to her skin.
"Hmph." He sighed and she felt him run his fingers to the back of her head, untying the knot that tied them together. She stilled, the air in her chest suspended.
Bit by bit, he unwound bandage after bandage until the last of the white dressing fell away, slipping down her face. Instinctively, she closed her eyes.
"Open them, Hyuuga," he ordered but she refused, wet hair slapping her cheeks as she motioned her denial.
"Y-you're cruel," she whispered. "I can't see, I can't." Why did he insist on it? Was this the manner in which he offered an escape? Was this why he asked her not to believe in him? Because he would trick her in such a way?
"Open," he repeated more gruffly.
She hugged herself more tightly. "Why...why are you doing this?"
"Does it matter why? Just do it."
Hinata's hands curled into fists of apprehension. "Where are we."
This time, it wasn't an inquiry. It was a demand.
"Open your eyes, and see for yourself."
Sasuke watched her without displaying a hint of emotion, his hands supporting her face, gradually coaxing her until her muscles lost their tension.
Ever so slowly, eyelids cautiously fluttered open with doubt and uneasiness.
Blurriness. Gray, blurry forms.
Hinata gasped as if burned.
Her knees gave under her weight and she crumbled to the ground, Sasuke not far behind, the water accumulated by the rain swamping them up to their hips.
Everything was smudged and it stung, her eyes hurt, but she couldn't help but let them widen to their largest extent.
There was light. Dim and accompanied by darkness, but there was light. She could recognize shapes.
"What is this? I can...M-my eyes..."
"Breathe," someone commanded. "Don't lose it here, Hyuuga."
But those words were lost in the rush building in her ears.
She could see.
She could see.
She blinked away the veil of murkiness and tried to focus but this, all of it, it was...impossible.
She could see.
The impact of shock was quickly forgotten when she saw where she was.
A world made of ice and water.
Liquid everywhere. Solids of crystalline icicles the only material that constructed the high peaks in the distance.
Everything seemed frozen, thin sheets of fragile frost constructing the floor she was on, acting as mirrors through the dark waters.
The skies above her head raged with gray purple clouds, heavy and crying with rain.
For miles, the endless sight of a stretching lake -or river- was all she could see. Mountains with dead vegetation dotted the horizon, tall and intimidating, their colossal leafless trees coiling heir naked branches towards the sky as if trying to stop the last rays of weak sunlight from reaching her. A glow still managed to get through and illuminate the darkness like a candle's flame. She couldn't explain why the sun still hung in the sky; it was unimaginable. The clouds were thick, too thick to not be able to hide it.
But the sphere of light, although a mere flare, seemed to defeat all logic, for it was there to see, standing out again the darkness of the swirling heavens.
Hinata drank in its feeble radiance, tasting it after being deprived of it for so long.
It felt like years since she had last seen it. Tears pricked at her eyes –
Her eyes!
She snapped her head towards him, to the young man that had caused this and a calm Sharingan gaze looked back.
A white, long-sleeved shirt covered his torso, no doubt displaying the Uchiha fan on the back. Its high collar hid his neck, but everything else: the defined features, the long bangs of inky, spiky hair, and the fine eyebrows in his possession were out in the open.
Crimson orbs watched her stoically, daring her to look away from the demonic sight.
She didn't.
She couldn't.
"This...isn't real. Is it?"
She was positively scared of the answer.
This was too good to be true.
"Don't trust anything." That's what he'd asked of her.
Now...some of his words made sense.
Sasuke scrutinized her closely, crouched to her level, his elbows resting nonchalantly on his knees. His eyes spoke for him, telling her what she already suspected.
Hinata could only gape, unable to blink. "H-How?"
The Uchiha scoffed, but not meanly. "The 'how' is not important right now, is it? That's a long story best told at another time."
She had to silently agree. She could barely process everything as it was. "...You're chained down," she pointed out numbly if just for the sake of saying something, anything. She was still reeling.
"I am," he said simply.
Unmeasurable lengths of thick chain surrounded his wrists, leading to a far place she didn't know. That explained the sound of metal she'd heard.
If the weight of them bothered him, he gave no sign of it.
Her gaze slid down to her lap; his eyes, like always, were wells of unreachable emotions buried deeply.
"Is this genjutsu?" she asked breathlessly and made herself glance up again. She wanted to see a flicker of honesty to assure his answer.
"No," he replied, his ember-red irises blinking to their original charcoal color. Her reflection stared back in those glaciers of black and it was in his gaze that she saw them.
Her own eyes.
She really had her eyes.
Orbs of soft colored cream, tinted with lavender and gray mercury, mirrored against the black of his eyes. They were hers...She was unmarked, her forehead bare.
She couldn't grasp it. Not completely. Not at once.
"Uchiha-san," she began and swallowed the lump in her throat, "what is this place?"
Suddenly, his figure started to fade away by the second like smoke. "This is you."
"W-what?" she stammered faintly.
Sasuke's face wavered in the scarce light.
"Wait!" she cried, her voice no match for the loud tap of rain that met with the lake. "W-where are you going?" She tried to catch his right sleeve but it disintegrated on contact.
He looked directly into enlarged lavender crystals and stated, "This is you; this is your mind."
It took her a stretched pause to understand his meaning, and when she did...
"How is that...possible?"
But it was too late; Uchiha Sasuke was gone, his words the only thing in that foreign place keeping her company.
"Rest now. You'll be safe here."
XXX
.
Hinata woke gasping for air.
"Hinata!" a startled voice cut through her ears, but the girl's unbelievable experience hadn't dissipated from her memory.
She remembered every detail of that strange meeting in that even stranger place.
What...had she become? That was what remained of her mind, a frigid world that barely got any light?
It was winter.
Uchiha-san was right; winter killed.
"Hinata?"
"You'll be safe here."
Safe.
Could she consider that possible? Could she ever be that anymore?
"Hinata?" a soft palm slapped her cheek gently and Hinata flinched in reflex, chakra-charged fingertips ready to deliver a deadly poke. Thankfully, the voice was familiar and in a millisecond, Hinata recognized it.
"Ino?" she croaked, her vocal cords rusty with misuse.
"I didn't mean to startle you!" the Yamanaka raised her hands palm-up in defense, despite knowing the gesture would go unseen. "I-I thought you had finally woken up, but when you just-"
"I-It's okay I'm...I'm okay."
That was a lie and both of them knew it.
Ino, after finally calming her nerves, seemed to finally relax a little and spoke. "Well, then. I wanted to let you know that I'm going to be staying with you for a while. We're going to be like roommates, so I hope you don't mind." Trying to light up the gloomy situation, the blonde resisted the urge to take Hinata's hands into her own and simply rearranged the flowers she brought from her family's flower shop as a distraction. Picking up the conversation was easier than before, and Ino continued talking about nothing and everything.
Hinata needed time.
Ino had read several things about trauma after difficult events, hell, every kid in the Academy attended at least one class regarding that, but...
She had to be understanding and make Hinata feel comfortable without directly avoiding the conflict. To accomplish that, she had to behave as she normally did.
"Are you hungry, Hinata?" she interrupted herself mid-sentence when a slight growl resounded in the room.
A tiny blush made its way up pale, pasty cheeks but the shy smile that usually accompanied such sight was missing. Hinata shook her head. "N-no, not really."
"Your stomach doesn't agree with you," Ino sang teasingly and neared the door. "I'll be right back –"
"Wait!"
Ino's hand froze on the handle.
What she saw when she turned around made her chest clench.
The girl was scared, her lips white. "Don't leave. I don't want to be alone," she insisted, pulling the blanket close. "Please."
It was said in a whisper, but Ino heard it.
She didn't have to think about her answer. "Okay."
"Thank you...Ino."
Ino chuckled. "There's nothing to thank, Hinata. We're friends! But," she started, standing at the foot of the bed, "you need food."
"...I have no appetite," came the muffled response from within the cocoon the Hyuuga had wrapped around herself.
"It'll be something easy on the stomach," Ino added to reassure her.
Another denial. "I don't want to be alone," her tiny voice repeated.
Ino sighed inaudibly. "I won't move from this room, I promise, but you need to start eating; I'll send someone else to retrieve your tray while I stay with you. Sounds good?" she proposed.
A dark head of indigo popped from the cotton fabric. "Mm."
Ino smiled grimly, her eyes sad. "Are you cold, Hinata?"
The girl closed her eyes behind her bandages - bandages that in this world Sasuke had never removed - and stayed quiet. Ino regretted asking.
Slim fingers slowly began to unwind the gauze around her head and Ino watched from a distance, not prompting further.
"Yes," Hinata finally sighed, letting the gauze slip. "Do you think...I can have some of own my clothes back?"
Ino nodded in instinct before remembering Hinata couldn't see the motion. The Yamanaka tried to swallow the shuriken that seemed to rip at her insides and hurried to answer, "I'll see what I can do."
XXX
.
Tsunade stared openly without an ounce of shame.
Sasuke stared daggers back at her.
"I'm leaving," he announced.
"No," the blonde snapped, her hardened voice bouncing off her office walls. "You won't until you report everything."
Sasuke didn't hide his irritation at being ordered around like a true Konoha dog. "I already told you everything," he gritted out. "If your ANBU outside couldn't detect anything, what makes you think I could?"
Amber eyes narrowed, the purple bags that not even her jutsu could hide making her look weary. The last time he'd seen her like this had been during his trial, right before he was thrown in jail for over a year. "Don't play pretend with me. I'm not stupid, brat, and neither are you. We both know you're not here for that report." She sat back and considered him. "You're very powerful, Sasuke, and thus must feel like you can get away with everything. Not this time, though, so sit your damn behind on that chair and start talking. "
"I'd rather not."
Another stare-down initiated, neither individual willing to back down.
"You're hiding something, Uchiha," Tsunade drawled and dared him to call her crazy.
Sasuke would gladly comply, if not for the fact that he just knew the woman would put him in a prison cell indefinitely. In another situation, he wouldn't have cared, but back then, the Hyuuga hadn't been involved.
Now he couldn't very well do anything that would cause him to leave her. He couldn't explain it, nor wanted to. It just was.
"And I know it has to do with Hinata. Funny, since from what I've heard, you don't like her much. You hate her, in fact."
A black eyebrow lifted at that. "Your point being?"
Her glare intensified. The Uchiha was truly an impossible nut to crack. With this in mind, Tsunade gave up all pretense and said, "Care to explain why she knows you - specifically - are one of her ANBU guards? You were supposed to stay hidden!"
Sasuke said nothing and the old Sannin continued, undeterred by the dark eyes burning holes into her own.
"What were you thinking, letting her know you were there? Listen to me, Uchiha brat, no one but a few selected people know of your status as an active shinobi. If word gets out because you were this careless...I swear to you I'll make you regret it."
Sasuke huffed. "If you're that concerned, then you shouldn't have given me any missions in the first place."
Hell would have to freeze over before Tsunade admitted to this boy that his skills had been needed at the time. "It's been half a year since your release. Would you have preferred to stay under house-arrest, roaming the halls of your house at night like a caged animal?"
So the hag knew about his insomnia.
"Surprised I know?" she smirked smugly.
"...Not really." More like displeased. "Though I'm curious as to why you'd put me on guard duty for the Hyuuga if you knew I held nothing but hate towards her." A dash of scarlet flashed through his eyes but Tsunade wasn't intimidated.
"I had my reasons," she smiled cynically, honey eyes alight with mischief.
A scowl was her reply. "If that's all, I'm leaving," he spat and turned to the door.
"One last thing," she called to him. Talking to the boy had been a moot point.
Sasuke grudgingly stopped to hear her speak, though he didn't turn.
"I'm warning you; if you take advantage of Hinata's situation, I won't hesitate to impale your body in a spike and hand Naruto your pretty head on a silver plater. That girl has suffered enough. Do I make myself clear?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed but he smirked if just to annoy her. "Yes, Tsunade-sama."
Before Tsunade could throw him the innocent stapler sitting at her desk for his impudence, the Uchiha man had already closed the door.
"Hmph," she huffed loudly. "Brat."
XXX
.
"Ino?" came a fatigued voice.
"Yes, Hinata?" the kunoichi asked as she flipped the page of the book she'd been reading aloud to pass the time. She looked up to find the girl's blank eyes staring directly into her own.
The sight startled her so much she almost dropped the volume. She wasn't used to seeing those foreign eyes inserted there instead of her usual warm and pale amethysts ones.
Hinata said nothing until she heard Ino shift positions around the room and near her bed, the book now lying upside down on the nightstand to her left.
"Is it winter?"
The platinum blonde paused in what she was doing and raised a baffled face to the smaller, blind girl. "Winter?"
"Mhm," Hinata nodded mutely and awaited her answer. Ino, unaware of the Hyuuga's thoughts, answered honestly.
"No, Hinata. It's fall; we're in the last of November." Ino watched her carefully, but the girl in question didn't react except for the small nod of her head in appreciation.
"November..."
The Yamanaka was known for her curiosity. However, she bit back her questions. Dragging the loveseat near her increasingly groggy friend without difficulty, she took a seat and crossed her long, athletic legs before saying thoughtfully, "Winter won't be here until December twenty-first. "
The brunette intertwined her fingers, the light blue jacket Ino had managed to get swallowing her small hands. Ino didn't miss the touch of hurt that flashed over her face. "Oh," she sighed.
"Why do you ask?" Ino worded carefully.
"Because... it's very cold inside."
Ino cocked her head to one side in puzzlement but smiled sweetly, "Yeah. The rooms are always cold in this bloody hospital, no matter how many layers of clothes you wear." She made a face of distaste, crossing her arms over her chest. "But you know why it's kept this way."
Hinata shook her head. "No, that's not it," she said absently, her lids flickering to a close. "It's cold inside, Ino. It really is winter."
With that said, she drifted into a dreamless world, leaving a very disturbed and worried Ino behind.
XXX
.
His eyes fell on them as he entered the secluded room.
Well, not them, but her.
The blonde Yamanaka didn't interest him. The only reason he paid her any mind was to make sure she was asleep, though he shouldn't have bothered; the girl was lost in her own slumber, sprawled none too gracefully on a dark gray loveseat. A loveseat, may he add, that was a tad too close to Hinata for his taste.
His gaze turned to the smaller girl lying on her side, her fists tucked underneath her chin, a pose he'd come to recognize as very typical. Her chest rose with even breathing, and her eyes were uncovered, the gauze nowhere in sight.
Today, there were no Nightmares, no disruption in her dreams.
Tonight, she was at Peace.
Within a second, he stood before her, dark eyes unconsciously softening at seeing her again. After leaving her in her own mind, his shift had ended and his replacement had arrived. Sasuke almost missed him heading his way too. He'd dove so deep inside her consciousness the outside world laid utterly forgotten. Everything that wasn't inside had become so meaningless.
But, could anyone blame him? He hadn't expected her mind to be so cold. It had surprised him. Her level of despair was higher than he had initially thought. The neverending amount of rain in that place was proof of that.
He'd been wrong about her.
She was hurting, perhaps like he was, but for a completely different set of twisted circumstances.
She knew pain. She knew despair and being ripped away from what one held dear. Perhaps not to his extent, but he couldn't see himself hurting her like his mind had aspired to before.
"She's suffered enough," came the Hokage's resolute voice, thick with warning.
For once, he could admit that the blonde was right about the little Hyuuga. But Tsunade didn't know what transpired between them. She wasn't aware of his thoughts regarding this strange girl.
The doll was his, and he was going to kill the imbecile who dared hurt her.
The bastard was already a dead man...if a monster could be considered as such. Shinobi against shinobi. Monster against monster.
A slow smile formed on his face, humorless, just a flash of bared teeth.
It was only fair one of a kind went for the kill, after all. What better opponent than him, an Uchiha bound to one day pass along the Curse of Hatred?
But...Sasuke had plans for that nameless being before he ended his miserable life. He would encounter him one day and when he did...It was going to be bloody.
He was going to torture that scum. And the torture was going to put Morino Ibiki to shame, Sasuke guaranteed it.
His hands closed on the bed rails as he released a breath, allowing the firmness of his square shoulders to dissipate slowly. The genjutsu encasing him fell and he let a little of his chakra wash over her form, waking her lightly.
He watched in secret amusement as her nose twitched in recognition and a lid cracked open, long, black lashes casting shadows on her sharp cheekbones.
Implanted eyes opened in recognition, a twitch of a smile forming on her lips. "...Good morning," she greeted.
Huh. Her stutter was gone in her grogginess, he couldn't help but note.
"Night," he corrected her quietly, glancing at the blonde from the corner of his eye.
The brunette blinked repeatedly to fight away sleep only to finally shut her eyes again. She let out a childish "Oh" in response, her mouth in a small 'o' even when she returned to her blissful – for once – sleep.
Sasuke suppressed an amused huff and shook his head, turning serious and masking the small amount of chakra he'd released. It wouldn't do him any good if the Yamanaka found him staring at her charge. Or detected him nearby, period.
He now had the entire Hyuuga clan to watch out for in case they decided to appear in the hospital at ungodly hours, and adding the young Yamanaka wasn't something he had in his plans.
His gaze settled on the blank room and he disappeared in the shadows, allowing them to swallow him up.
It wasn't until later that she spoke again.
"Uchiha-san..."
Thinking that she had awakened, he replied, "What is it."
"It's cold." She formed a ball with her body, shivering in heavy sweats and dense jacket. At some point, her blanket slid down her figure to rest below her waist.
Sasuke merely exhaled when he realized she was still out and pulled the blanket all the way up, wondering not for the first time as he did if she knew she talked in her sleep.
Apparently not.
In all truthfulness, her obliviousness wouldn't surprise him.
She was so strange, he thought, his fingers absently playing with long strands of deep violets and blues. Today her hair was loose, disarrayed across her white pillow, her bangs pulled back by a set of red butterfly hairpins that just screamed 'Yamanaka Ino was here'.
Sasuke grunted.
For some reason, that didn't surprise him either.
"Will it always be winter?" came her soft whisper.
When her words registered, Sasuke closed his eyes, silent.
Sometimes it was better not to voice truth lest the answer brought a higher amount of misery.
XXXX
.
.
.
A/N: Acknowledgments: Guest, Guest, remiedy, Mrs. HoneyComb, TAIRA18, SabakunoAnjel, geeeorge, PuppyKatGirl, Pressing Point, LIZA, Ayrmed, aurora0914, farahb, holmesfreak1412, RiduDai, Kia-B, SBello, Kibachow, umnia, BaiYueAnn, hyuugalove, Ro0w'z, oCloudNine, Tina, Fiona, Duchess23, Guest, YukiTenVianey Team, and Meech Macko! :'D You guys are so awesome. And you, YukiTenVianey, I couldn't stop laughing at your last review.
Haha, how many of you expected Sasuke to use genjutsu? Sorry but nope. No genjutsu at play here. Answers to how this is possible will be given eventually.
Can Hinata get her sight back? I won't spoil the story for you guys, so wait for the end result.
As I've said, I'm spoon-feeding you. I don't want to give the entire plot to you guys at once. I'm sorry!
2.9.14
Revised 3.12.21