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XXXX
Chapter 11:
Reins
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"Knowing clouds will raise up,
Storms will race in,
But you will be safe in my arms;
Rains will pour down,
Waves will crash all around,
But you will be safe in my arms."
-In My Arms by Plumb
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XXXX
November
Sasuke's grip finally loosened, and Hinata retrieved her hand, gradually pressing it to her chest.
Eyes the color of ash didn't stray, staying put on her lowered head.
Despite the vulnerable action, her shoulders held a more solid built since the last time he'd seen her, which wasn't long ago. Maybe four to five hours, he calculated, since he visited her mind and left her to sleep afterwards. So much had occurred since then.
The lack of slumber in the last week had left his eyes strained and his battle with Naruto had inconvenienced him with a headache, the powerful restraining seals on his temples and forehead making their presence painfully known. His throbbing rib, although sore, was a distant thought as he touched the rejuvenated skin on his face, the sensation of the Hyuuga's chakra everlasting. Not that he complained: it was just...an unusual feeling, one that he couldn't describe even if he tried.
"Uchiha-san?" she prompted, and Sasuke hummed in response, not one for long responses.
Hinata looked at him with eerie unseeing eyes. The Uchiha simply gazed back, unperturbed.
"This may sound rude, but...what are you doing here?"
Sasuke sighed. "I was being serious when I said I wanted a word with you."
Hinata's interest piqued, elegant dark eyebrows arching. "Oh?"
She knew it wasn't a social visit, since Uchiha-san wasn't that kind of person, but his presence in her secluded room at this hour perplexed her. He wasn't part of the morning patrol.
"What would you like to discuss?" Hinata tapped her chin with her index finger, pensive.
Sasuke didn't beat around the bush.
"Your mindscape." There was a subtle urgency to the declaration that astounded her. "Listen to me, Hyuuga," he began, looking away from her and at the dead monitor beside her bed. The wires that had once adorned her were disconnected, dangling lifelessly from a hook in the metal pole stand.
She'd probably removed them earlier that morning, he thought.
"Your mind is yours; you can gain control of it with enough practice and turn it in any way you wish. But don't forget this; anything to a certain extent can also be dangerous."
"Admittedly," she agreed, listening attentively.
"Your moods, if strong, will affect everything your mind displays. Sensations will be amplified if excited in any form and vice versa."
She nodded slowly. "You said all that remained of my mind was a wasteland," she recalled. "And that its appearance depended on my mindset."
"Which reflected what you were feeling. You felt cold, " his eyes returned to her, onyx orbs unfathomable. "Lifeless." Hinata didn't recoil at his description. "And lost."
She couldn't deny that.
"But there is more to your mind than a terrain of ice," he continued, expression darkening.
"More? You mean...that the place we always appear in my mind...there's more of them?" I thought so. After all, if the mind was so complex, surely there were places beyond the frozen valley she always emerged.
Just what else was there, roaming through the depths of the unknown?
Sasuke's unperturbed facade didn't waver. "That's right."
Hinata peeked at him unseeingly, silently nudging him to continue.
He did. "There are rooms, dimensions, chambers, you name it," he explained. "The mind is a complex world filled with holes and alleys that seem to have no exit; a person can never hope to reach the limits. Memories, dreams, thoughts, emotions. They're all tightly interwoven. Even time is powerless in a mindscape because it ceases to exist. There's just no end to what the mind is capable of achieving and the idea of time becomes irrelevant."
"It's infinite," Hinata summarized, her hand unconsciously touching the back of her cranium as if she could magically touch the corners of her mind.
"Yes," Sasuke confirmed firmly. "There's never a true way out, although the most common entrance tends to center around a core. Your main subconsciousness, the place we always appear in, is your core. That's a place not many shinobi with the ability to wander the mind venture beyond," he stated, thinking of the Yamanaka clan and their secret ninjutsus.
Hinata kept a stable focus on the place where she could feel the constant, suppressed electricity of his chakra and hear his baritone voice as she reflected over his words. "Why?" she finally pondered. "Why not go beyond it?"
Sasuke's lips lifted into a slight smirk, though his eyes were mirthless. "Why do you think."
Hinata paused, carefully considering the what-could-be with what she knew. "If one were to dive into a person's mind to gather valuable information, but have a limit as to how far he or she can go...D-does that mean that the shinobi doing the digging can lose sight of the way back...?" her question hung in the air, but Sasuke didn't answer it nor did he give any inclination as to whether or not she was heading in the right direction. Even if he had, Hinata was already thinking ahead, many thoughts intersecting with the speed of shooting stars.
If there's no definite way out once they are inside...can they even return safely?
If the answer was no, then...if they stayed there, trapped, powerless...with no concept of time, unable to communicate to the outside despite their best efforts...
"A shinobi could jeopardize his own state of mind," she concluded out loud.
"A shinobi could go insane," he transcribed more bluntly.
"That's awful," she whispered.
"It's a fact." So gentle.
Hinata was quiet for a moment, digesting every word, every meaning.
Suddenly, she stiffened. "Ne, Uchiha-san?"
"Hn?"
"How far...have you gone?"
Sasuke took his time answering that particular question. Then, distantly and in a manner that didn't allow further questions, "Far enough."
"Is this what you wanted to warn me about?" she dared to ask, his tone of finality telling her to tread carefully.
Sasuke observed her porcelain face and petite figure occupying the middle of the room, her hands —overwhelmed by the sleeves of her robe— resting in fists on her voluptuous chest.
"Yes," he said simply.
"I see," she breathed.
"It's dangerous, so try not to push your luck the next time you're there," Sasuke advised as a way to emphasize his point, though he didn't have to.
Hinata was getting the idea loud and clear. But. "Why tell me now? You never mentioned it before..."
Sasuke blew a resounding breath, lips pursing. "I won't be here tonight. Possibly not tomorrow, either." He ran a hand through his unruly hair, frustrated. "The Hokage's punishment for the fight this morning was to keep me away from missions." Away from you.
Hinata froze. Then she strode forward, rapidly terminating the gap between them. "What? T-then, when will you be back?"
"...It could be a while. I'm not sure," he voiced honestly, orbs trained on her anxious features. "But knowing you, you'd probably try to enter your mindscape on your own. So I had to tell you."
She was rendered speechless, her heart touched at the amount of consideration.
"You can get lost and never come back. The first time it happened—" he cut himself off abruptly, only to forcibly swallow the pressure in his larynx. He started again, voice so low it was almost ominous, "The first time I realized how serious it was to roam and access a different chamber, it was an accident. I never meant to find this other side of my mind, but I did."
Hinata's brows pulled down into a concerned frown. The slight tremor in his voice didn't escape her notice. Something that had the ability to perturb Uchiha Sasuke couldn't be taken lightly and that realization itself was more than enough to adamantly drive his case across.
"It wasn't meant to happen, but once it did...," a somewhat bitter curve of lips and a small scoff of disdain echoed, "it took some time to...resurface."
The blind kunoichi looked wary as she asked, "How long?"
There was a heavy silence, and then, more gently, Hinata insisted, "How long were you trapped?" Had he been so consumed by his own mind that it had taken him 'some time' to return to the realistic and solid world?
The heir to the fallen Uchiha clan muttered after a strangled pause, "Three and a half weeks, for the world outside."
If Hinata's face could have turned any paler, it would have. "So long..." she whispered in dismay, a foreign burden encroaching upon her heart as she thought about the days and nights it had taken him to escape from his own self. Time, as he'd said, worked very differently in and out of the mind. A second of out here could easily turn into a day over there.
In her inner world, the atmosphere was in current chaos, powered by trauma and grief, a land of sorrows and nightmares, but what about his? What of his mindscape? Was the terrain harsh and consumed by darkness, ruled by torment and nonexistent skies?
She didn't know and she refused to pretend that she did because that was insulting–
"Don't," he interrupted instantly, putting a halt to her train of thought.
Hinata bit her lower lip, troubled.
"Don't waste your time thinking about something that already happened." Don't waste your time worrying about someone like me.
But how could she not? He was an important person to her, though she doubted he returned the sentiment and that was fine. Why he was helping her was beyond human understanding. Uchiha Sasuke was a galaxy of mysteries not wanting to be discovered. But even so, she worried, she cared.
"I don't..." she trailed off, conflicted.
Sasuke eyed her attentively. "Don't what?" he finally asked when she didn't elaborate.
I don't know what to do so you won't feel like that, lost and alone. I don't want you to drown in the abyss that lies in this 'beyond'. Let me feel concerned on your behalf. It's the only thing I ask of you.
She wanted to say that and much more. Things that couldn't be said, things that ran along the lines of 'I don't want you to leave' or 'Don't leave me alone at night.'
She wished to grab his face and look straight into his eyes and see him, weariness and bitterness and all.
But.
Uchiha-san wouldn't appreciate her thinking this way and her once-extraordinary sight could no longer capture what she desperately wished to behold.
"I-I," she uttered, the prominent sensation of cotton in her throat making it difficult to swallow. She was grasping at split ends in order to change the conversation, and she knew it. "Did you get the idea from casting genjutsus? That of entering your and someone else's cognizance in this manner, I mean."
"That's right," he coincided in a murmur, choosing to let go of what was obviously not being said.
If only for today.
"I know this may shock you," he said, "but when you're forced to serve a prison sentence for the village you ironically helped save, you suddenly have plenty of time off with absolutely no better way to spend it than to count the crevices up in the ceiling or experiment on yourself to pass the time."
He paused.
"I did the latter, in case you're wondering."
Hinata's cheeks flushed and had she not abated the old habit of fussing with her hands when nervous, she would have probably snapped a couple of her fingers in mortification. His sarcasm wasn't lost on her and she cursed her inability to conjure small talk.
She was ready to unnecessarily apologize, he saw it coming judging by the way her mouth parted, so he decided to interrupt.
"Come."
Hinata bit back a startled gasp when his breath hit her ear.
Uchiha Sasuke was famed by being able to move in a fraction of a second. Hinata knew this and had had the opportunity of seeing him in action a few times, but having to feel for his chakra instead of witnessing his body flicker was a whole different experience.
He took her wrist and pulled her in the direction of her bed. "Sit."
Once she reached the mattress and honestly having no real choice in the matter, she sat, feeling puzzled.
"Uchiha-san, what are you–?"
"Hold it," he shushed her before she could proceed and Hinata complied, although visibly irked.
Sasuke pretended not to notice despite the gleam of amusement flickering in his dark eyes.
"There's something I want you to tell me." He crossed his arms over his chest once more and resumed, "How much do you know about your curse mark?"
It wasn't a question she was expecting and whatever irritation she felt faded faster than it had arisen. "I...beg your pardon?" she said in dismay.
He knew she'd heard, just as he knew that there had been a seal planted inside her head.
After pulling the Hokage in his jutsu, he'd taken advantage of the element of surprise and swiftly checked for any information that could shine a light on some of his theories and thoughts. He'd either been remarkably lucky or his skills were better than he anticipated because he'd found what he needed just by glimpsing inside the blonde's mind. Now, if he could only cross-reference that information with the source itself – that being the Hyuuga– then the better to prevent the danger he hadn't foreseen when he decided to introduce her to her own mindscape.
He wasn't completely sure whether the procedure would somehow affect the curse seal, but he unwilling to take the risk.
Not when the risk could harm her.
"The mark itself," Hinata began, a set of pearly white teeth nibbling her bottom lip, "is apparently quite a strange one in design. From what has happened to me, it's my personal belief that it can be activated from afar to cause...excruciating pain." And possible visions and disembodied voices, but that could be attributed to an ill mental state. "Aside from that, no one seems to know much of what it does," she finally admitted and Sasuke's brow lifted itself in doubt. "Just that it's there and that was most likely...implanted...before I was brought to the village."
Not one to keep asking questions, but neither one for relenting so easily, Sasuke advanced. "It runs to your brain, correct?"
Her hands fisted on her lap. "That's what I was told, yes. It's unknown...whether or not it affects the cranial nerves or spinal cord."
"Then going into your mind without knowing what this seal is capable of isn't in your best interests." He uncrossed his arms, brushing his bangs away from his face. "I said you could take control and that practice is required but with this development–"
"I can still do it," she intervened.
Calloused fingers paused in pushing back ebony strands of hair away from equally dark eyes.
"If Tsunade-sama is right and this mark was placed on me before leaving Water Country, then this wouldn't...be the first time we go in," she rationalized.
"Hyuuga..."
"I want to know more," she insisted. "I want to be able to control what goes in here—" she gestured "—and then, perhaps I'll be able to learn something about this seal...and get rid of it."
The urgency bubbling to the surface and the resolute expression staring back at him didn't manage to surprise him. The Hyuuga, after all, seemed to be full of things no one saw coming. Sasuke, perhaps unknowingly, had adapted to the uniqueness and oddity her person tended to represent.
"I have given you my warnings," he concluded. "The capacity of insight doesn't disappear just because physical sight itself is lost, so be very mindful of what you choose to do from now on."
But Hinata's determination was already set, and the gears of speculation and reflection had already halted in certain places, waiting for her to take the next step.
"If I can't control my own mind," she replied quietly, "then I control nothing."
Sasuke smirked.
What a foolishly brave porcelain doll.
"I will be careful and try not to push myself too hard in your absence," she promised him solemnly.
"Best to keep your word, Hyuuga, because I'll hold you up to it," he drawled, words coated with casual indifference. "If I return to find you are but a comatose body, I'll be bored to tears and trust me, you don't want that."
Despite the gravity of the situation, she couldn't suppress the natural smile that settled upon her lips. "Why is that?"
Sasuke humored her. "Who knows?" he replied wryly. "I may be terribly tempted to grant you an exciting new haircut to amuse myself for the night."
For the first time in a while, Hinata laughed, the sound bright and unexpected, thoroughly catching him by surprise. "Then I'll just really have to do my best," she chuckled, "to ensure you don't lose your source of entertainment."
He snorted. "Glad we sorted our priorities out. To guarantee that happens and you don't somehow cheat me, I'll show you how to enter the core properly." That way, she wouldn't get lost as he did on his first few tries. "It might feel like a test trial, but I assume I don't need to stress the importance of paying close attention. If anything suspicious arises, I'm taking you out immediately, no objections allowed. Agreed?"
"Of course."
"Good," he replied. Grabbing the foldable chair resting against the farthest wall, Sasuke unfurled it and took a seat by her bed. Charcoal eyes lit with the color of flaming embers as the Hyuuga awaited what she knew would come.
"Do you think...that the seal will manifest? Eventually?"
Sasuke hummed in thought. "Taking into account the nature of cursed seals, it'll manifest in one way or another. That kind always does." He'd know; Orochimaru's cursed seals were infamous for the black marks they produced.
However, Sasuke's knowledge about diverse juinjutsus came mostly from his days out of Konoha and he determined that the seal that once branded the side of his neck was far from being the most deplorable in existence. To his displeasure, the shinobi world was anything but stagnant when it came to the innovation of nasty and loathsome seals. The set that marked his forehead and temples was a prime example.
Courtesy of the Konoha's most reputable elders, he noted venomously.
"The Hyuuga's Caged Bird Cursed Seal works in a similar manner," she remarked without reserve. "I looked into its mechanism for a time, before—" She halted prematurely, then sighed wistfully. "I was hoping that when I became Head, I'd be able to one day...vanish it from the Cadet Branch."
"I see." What else could he say?
She straightened her back, improving her posture and sitting properly. "My concern is this: will the seal be visible from the inside of my mind? If there's a trace of it, will I be able to discern between what belongs and what does not?"
He penetrated her with a long, measuring look. "Hyuuga."
Her skin erupted with goosebumps. The intensity of his voice as he pronounced her name bewildered her. "...Yes?"
"You mentioned earlier, that if the opportunity presented itself and you saw evidence of this seal, that you would attempt to get rid of it. Was that right?"
"It was."
"...I have yet to see anything in the core of your mind that resembles a corrupted seal. But," he emphasized, "it may manifest if the seal is activated. That, or it's somewhere where we haven't looked."
"That makes sense, yes." The smell of mint made her eyes drop, an action that was fruitless but that made her feel prepared, even if just a little.
"I'm ignorant of your knowledge and skills in fuinjutsu, but if you ever come across anything resembling this seal or anything that looks suspicious, I strongly suggest you try not to touch it. In fact," he amended immediately, "I don't want you going near anything unfamiliar at all."
"...It seems," she uttered with resignation, "that chambers are no longer the only danger lurking."
Sasuke huffed, mildly thankful for her lack of opposition. "Getting too close to something we barely understand could present a crisis."
"If I were to approach it, it'll probably activate," she mused calmly, although her features said she was undeniably crossed at the fact this mental search would be postponed until further notice.
"The possibility can't be dismissed," Sasuke agreed. "An unintended activation is the last thing we want." His face darkened, memories of blood-stained linen sheets and raw cries still fresh.
Hinata went dreadfully quiet, most likely reviving the same past event.
Sucking on his teeth, he decided to proceed.
"Let's move on to the technical part of this. I don't need hand signs, but you—as a first-timer—will until you don't anymore." Subduing with a more conserved countenance, he informed her almost haughtily: "There are forty-four of them in the sequence. Will that be a problem?"
Hinata shook her head. Memorizing hand signs was nothing compared to the endless Senbon Sparring rituals, in which she sparred for hours one thousand times in succession.
"Hmph. Now, listen closely. " He listed—with patience she didn't know he possessed—the sequence. One by one, the signs were formed and repeated until they were retained. He had to admit he hadn't expected her to pick them up so quickly. The Hyuuga...was proving to be quite a disciplined student.
The notion made him smile crookedly.
"Now, concentrate a good amount of chakra here." He touched her temples, the tingle of energy making her shudder in a positively intimate manner. "Don't get the place wrong, or you'll accidentally knock yourself out—don't laugh, I'm being serious."
Hinata strived to swallow her mirth.
He sighed at her failed attempts. "Are you ready?"
Inhaling profoundly, she assented. "As I'll ever be. Not as if there is a choice in the matter, mind you."
His mouth twitched. Good girl.
With a murmured "Go," signs were made, chakra was gathered, and the real world disappeared.
XXX
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The sensation of being pulled down by gravity, while unable to do anything about it but to give in completely, was indescribable.
Many emotions took place during his free fall, all of them packed tightly in a space that claimed her soul entirely and at once.
Descending.
Escaping.
Breathing.
It all led to one thing in Sasuke's opinion: freedom.
There was freedom in falling, in letting go, in the air passing by at high speeds as he dropped to the core of the world.
Weightless, safe, and...content.
In her mindscape, there was pandemonium waiting in the form of towering glaciers and intimidating rain clouds coming alive. Yet, this chaos welcomed him with open arms, benign in his treatment. Sasuke blamed it on the doll's kind character.
There was pureness wanting to hold on to her persona, innocence persistent in its task of perseverance. Her kidnapper had tried to break her, and he'd succeeded somewhat, but his Hyuuga was strong.
She was fragile in looks alone, there was no denying it, and her world of ice and water reflected her breakable nature that could at any given moment erupt in pieces after being irrevocably shattered. But even if she did come to be nothing but fragments, she could always go back to the surrounding water, disintegrate, and become ice again.
She might be fragile, but she had flexibility and flow, items that allowed her to bend and transform.
Just like the cycle of water, of melting and evaporating, of liquid and solid, Hyuuga Hinata shifted, adapted, and continued to be.
A drop of water took time to go from one state to the other, but nonetheless, it always went back to a certain form of existence.
Just like her.
And to think that he had wanted to viciously crush her before.
Now, the idea sounded ludicrous even to his dark thoughts that ran deep into his subconscious. The Hyuuga, after all, was his, and no harm would come upon her person if he had anything to say about it.
When his feet touched the ground, his eyes immediately searched for her.
This time, he found her staring at her reflection in the water. They had appeared in an unfamiliar part of the lake, and she had gathered her bearings faster than the first time he unveiled the world that hid within her very being.
A twin image of her stared back, reflecting her curiosity and determination, emotions that were rarely placed together in the same face but fitted hers without trouble.
Indigo blue locks were pulled back and rested atop of her head, doe-like pale eyes whimsical as she continued to watch herself blur by the ripples the unceasing rain caused. Her hospital robe was gone, replaced by a violet yukata that complimented her ivory skin, the back of it emblazoned with the symbol of Konoha's Hyuuga clan.
"What are you doing?"
Instead of acting startled at the newest intrusion, the Hyuuga doll tucked a strand of wet hair away from her face, and said, "Practicing."
Practicing?
It hit him.
Control. She was trying to take control.
Unsurprised but nonetheless intrigued, Sasuke observed her.
The manacles chained to his wrists made a metallic clang as he crossed his arms over his chest and he briefly wondered where they lead to or if they lead anywhere at all.
Why he wore them was a mystery; the only thing he was sure of was that the Hyuuga's perception of him somehow included linked pieces of metal in a never-ending line that he carried everywhere he went.
Chained.
He was chained down to something, who knew what. Only the doll knew, since it was her accountability he was tied in the first place.
So much for freedom, he scoffed inwardly, and though it was meant to sound resentful, it easily lost its hard edge as the Hyuuga's hair began to come undone.
The navy strands began to fall down, the pins that had accommodated it into a complex position vanishing into nothing as it descended like a waterfall of iridescent blues down her back.
Large eyes widened to their fullest, and a smile touched her mouth. Her fingers outstretched and brushed the surface of the lake tenderly, adding more ripples to the already turbulent water. "It's a start, ne?" she told her reflection and Sasuke thought that for a woman that was almost twenty, she was still, in many ways, childish.
As if truly sensing his presence since their arrival, she turned to look at him.
"Hey," she told him softly, her smile still painted on her gentle features.
"Hey yourself."
Suddenly her eyebrows furrowed, and he followed her gaze down to his wrists.
"What?" he asked, feeling slightly defensive.
"I thought those would be gone by now," she confessed, still eying the chains. "I tried to take them off." Her disappointment was pronounced in the way she pursed crimson lips.
Sasuke's expression didn't change. "There're just chains, Hyuuga."
"But...I wanted you to be free," she whispered to herself, identical pools of opal saddened.
The Uchiha managed to hear her. He looked away at the lake and said quickly, "Let's go."
Hinata nodded and stood up, her yukata falling in place as she walked to catch up to him, her hair swinging with her movements even as the rain glued them to her face, forehead, and neck.
She didn't ask where they were going, and simply kept a step behind him.
As they walked in silence through her mindscape, she scrutinized the dead trees and the vegetation that didn't grow, feeling a pang of melancholy as she remembered the well-taken care of gardens of her home.
This world was so different from the one she had helped create in the outside.
"Do you know where the chain goes?" he asked her and Hinata looked at his back.
"No." She had wanted to actually ask him the same thing.
Sasuke stopped to stare at her. "You don't?"
She shook her head in confirmation and Sasuke suppressed a sigh. So much for that.
"But..." She hesitated in voicing her idea, but Sasuke's heed encouraged her to finish. "If we follow it...Maybe we could determine where it comes from ourselves." Without the help of hand signs since the age of thirteen, Hinata's activation of the Byakugan inside her own inner universe shocked him.
The fact that she had done it was surprising, he wouldn't deny nor admit it. In his genjutsus, his Sharingan was always shining a blood-red, whether he wanted to or not, but mindscapes were different.
Large eyes came to be larger still. "It's..." the impact of what she saw didn't allow her to finish and her mouth hung open, her expression full of disbelief and amazement.
"What?" Sasuke demanded. "What do you see?" Could she even see?
Hinata didn't grace him with an answer and set off without a response.
Where's she going?
Tsking with irritation, he followed.
Catching up to the Hyuuga wasn't as easy as he thought. The girl was running faster than ever and wasn't holding back on his account. The yukata failed to restrain any of her movements as she seemed to almost fly over the frozen surface of the tundra. The bulging veins down her cheeks didn't fade as she moved.
Sasuke didn't bother to ask anymore. He would eventually see for himself, and if the speed they were traveling at was any indication, the wait wouldn't be long.
Abruptly, Hinata stopped, and if not for his quick reflexes, Sasuke would have crashed against her and fallen into...
His usually uninterested onyx eyes blinked at the pit of undefined darkness that spread before them.
"I followed the chain and...it goes beyond this point," Hinata informed him, her lips barely moving, her Byakugan no longer in sight. "There's something there, Uchiha-san. I saw it move-"
She was cut off when her feet suddenly slipped. Before she could even try to stop herself, enchained arms were already around her, helping her stay up.
"Slow down," he admonished and Hinata couldn't help but think that the aura of obscurity that tended to surround him wasn't as frightening, cold, or merciless as the world outside thought.
It was, Hinata believed, surprisingly smooth, thick, and embracing.
"Don't get so close to the edge, or you'll fall," he muttered, his hold on her waist tightening as he pulled her body away from the infinite abyss coiling with the sounds of deep underwater activity. A long hollowness resounded back to them in distant but loud waves.
"It's like an ocean..." Hinata easily stepped back as he dragged her away, taking in the different shades of oily black and blue-grays the pit seemed to be made of. "Have you heard anything like it before, Uchiha-san?" she asked, a sliver of wonderment sneaking in her hushed voice.
Sasuke listened for a moment. "No." What the hell was that?
"The long and low frequency...sounds like whales," she said, her gaze glued on something that was, in his opinion, nothing but a murky well of liquid and concealment. "B-but there's nothing down there that looks like whales," she cocked her head to the side in puzzlement.
"Describe it," Sasuke stated.
"I'm afraid it's not something I can really put into words," Hinata said, an underlying apology in her words.
"Try."
Hinata bit her lower lip in thought. "The shape and matter are like fog," she finally expressed quietly. "Like the vapor of a cloud as it moves. And..."
"And what?"
Her expression turned sorrowful. "It changes to forms I recognize." She blinked away tears. "I-I thought I saw my mother. She was on the other side." She was alive.
His eyes narrowed in instant recognition. "A border." Of course.
"B-border?" she murmured.
"The door to another chamber," he explained, but he sounded as if he was talking to himself rather than her. "I didn't recognize it. Not at first. It's different from the ones I've encountered." His jaw tightened. Was it because...of the Cursed mark on her brain? Sasuke wasn't sure, but he knew the risks of venturing ahead and he didn't like the possibilities. "Let's go." He pulled at her small waist to get her out of there. The sooner they left, the better off they'd be.
Hinata's protests were met with unwilling ears as she was stirred away by strong arms that would have none of her opposition.
"I've said this before, Hyuuga," Sasuke growled, fighting the urge to shake her. "Never go near one of those chambers. No, don't even think about visiting a border. Do you understand?"
The icy way in which he looked at her troubled her. "I- But-"
"No," he bit out. "Never, Hyuuga."
Her lowered eyes and the hurt inside them made his chest clench with a foreign pain. "You must understand. The borders aren't as innocent as they look, no matter what they show you. If you were to cross them..." he trailed off.
She knew. Gods, she knew. But. "It was my mother," she interrupted him shakily. "She was alive, not dead. She was here." So close. Hitomi had been so close Hinata could have sworn she could reach her.
If she had only reached out...maybe she could have seen her again, with her very eyes and not through somber depths.
One of his hands traveled to her chin and lifted it up to make her look at him. Lavender mercury and black ash met.
Silently, Sasuke shook his head and Hinata silently conceded that it didn't matter how much she wished to do as she wanted, it could jeopardize her in ways Uchiha-san knew.
In ways she didn't.
"Promise me you won't wander," he beseeched.
Her eyes closed. "...I won't."
The hand holding her chin didn't relent, but it did become gentler. "Good."
She pretended that she didn't hear his sigh of relief, but it warmed her heart knowing that he cared.
If just a little.
"Ne, Uchiha-san?" she said after a moment of mutual silence.
"Hn?"
"I think- I think the rain stopped."
Sasuke looked at the sky and realized it hadn't. The Hyuuga was wrong.
"That's not it. Look up."
Hinata opened her eyes and gasped lightly when she took notice of the rain sliding down an invisible shield just above their heads, protecting them from the cold showers of the chaotic heavens.
The rain wasn't gone; the skies still cried, but not like before.
"Let's head back to the lake," Sasuke proposed and Hinata nodded.
It was a good idea to take advantage of paradise while they could.
Hell, after all, was a mere fall away.
XXX
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When he regained full alerts of the world outside, Sasuke blinked, his eyes unfocused.
He closed them again and breathed deeply, the surface he was leaning on delicate and inviting.
The smell of this room was different from the previous one the Hyuuga had been placed in a few weeks back.
The odor of bleach and other cleaning supplies lingered, but there was a scent that overpowered the rest.
Vanilla mixed with subtle rosemary.
It was intoxicating to his brain, numbing every aspect that wasn't the combination belonging to the little Hyuuga that slept beside him.
Warmth radiated from her and Sasuke allowed himself to bask in it for a few moments, moments that felt far too short.
But...
It was time to get going. The Yamanaka was bound to return and the ANBU in charge of watching at this hour couldn't be fooled forever, not even by him. He had enough with the Hokage as it was; he didn't need her yapping at him any more than necessary if informed of his whereabouts. He was well aware that she'd come to know of his visit eventually but he decided he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. After all, he cared not about her restrictions. He was no Konoha dog, and would never be.
He came and went as it pleased him, currently more than usual.
For now, he had to go and rest in his own bed. The negligence of sleep was catching up to him, and the urge to simply go back to sleep was a strong force.
Inhaling, he opened heavy lids deliberately.
He had no choice but to be on his way.
The Yamanaka would return at any second and Sasuke preferred to be gone before she appeared.
The image of the Hyuuga under the spell of slumber greeted him back when he finally stepped into the realm of reality.
The hair that had been styled by the Yamanaka's hand was still intact, except for the removed bangs that exposed red kanji characters on the brunette's forehead. Her robe was in its proper place, and his hands still kept contact with each side of her head. Her own had circled his wrists as if to keep them locked in place, and the contact of her nivea skin against his snow-pale one sent a hum of heat running throughout his entire system.
...It was pleasant.
He had been away from contact for so many years that the idea of touching and being touched in return was abnormal.
But not unwelcome.
At least, not if it was her. The prospect of having anybody else this close, the way he had her in that precise instant, was unthinkable and sickening.
Slowly but surely, he moved away from her grasp reluctantly, and sat upright on the small seat he occupied, the pillow he'd laid his head on imprinted with wrinkles.
Her soft intake of breath and rise of chest as she came to made him look at her.
If he had to name her expression as she regained consciousness, he would have called it drunkenness.
Unbalanced and unfocused, she stirred, letting go of the last strands of sleep.
Long lashes blinked once, twice, showing a blind gaze that was gradually getting rid of all traces of drowsiness.
He wondered if she reacted the same way every time he left her to resurface as he ended his guard shift.
"Uchiha-san?" Though she was awake, her voice still sounded slightly slurred.
"Hmm?"
"...You're still here," she said and the astonishment in that one sentence made him realize that she had assumed he would leave before she awoke. Which was natural; he had planned on disappearing before she noticed him.
So much for that plan. The moments of unwillingness had costed him, but he found he didn't mind.
"Aa," he replied quietly.
Hinata didn't say anything in return and simply sighed into her pillow as she buried her face in the soft cotton contents inside.
She felt sleepy, and a little tired. Was this result of staying inside another world for so long? She wasn't a hundred percent certain, but she had never felt this way in the previous times she had visited her mind. This once, though, her and Uchiha-san had prolonged their stay longer than ever before.
The shift of his chakra as he stood made her pay attention to it as he moved and neared the exit.
"Stay awake for the rest of the day; whatever you do, don't sleep more than a few hours tonight. It might cause dizziness."
Hinata instantly knew what he wasn't saying. "I understand."
Sasuke stopped in front of the metal door and shoved his hand deep in his pocket and said, without turning around to face her, "Again, I won't be here tonight so...make sure you follow my instructions." And with that, he opened the door and was gone, the intensity of lightning and the odor of fresh mint after a pour-down following quickly after him.
Hinata's features softened into a diminutive gentle smile before she fell back into her pillow.
"Ja ne, Uchiha Sasuke-kun."
As expected, there was no answer.
XXX
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A twin set of green orbs looked at the night sky in contemplation, plotting, and assertion.
In the midnight-colored canvas, a pale moon hung, making its way across the sky in the usual never-ending ritual that had been going on for millenniums.
Ritual, the owner of the verdant eyes mused, dry lips twisting into a gesture that resembled a snarl more than a smile.
The time to perform rituals again was approaching, and the old, wrinkled skin that had once been full of youth and vitality (now withered away by the minute into thin and old sheets of flesh) was an obvious clue that spoke of needed renewal.
The full moon was a bit more than three weeks away, and once it reached its fullness, the rituals would begin. It was just a matter of time.
"The strength will return to my bones," a croaking voice rasped. Fragile-looking fingers tightened into a fist as the eyes of a wild cat narrowed to slits, the long hair that had been platinum blond a few short days ago now painted a silvery gray illuminated by the light reflected from the heavenly sphere.
The strong and capable had become old and tired, but an eroded physical state had never caused a delay in anything that this individual planned, and it wasn't going to start now, of all times.
The time to end the Hyuuga heiress was closing in.
The talk of her being the light of a new Hyuuga clan had spread several months after she had been named the irrevocable heir of Byakugan users, possessors of the only dojutsu that wasn't in danger of extinction.
"The light of the Hyuuga will eventually be extinguished and darkness and the smell of fear will be everything that will remain for them." A smile that didn't reach the eyes but that allowed a clear view of insanity was created. "They will be destroyed," the figure that stood under the shadows of a weeping tree murmured, patting the head of the doll that resembled Hyuuga Hinata in a plain act of mockery and a parody of merriness.
Soon, it would be time.
All that was needed was a full moon, a dark desire, a few rituals, and a phantom of misery and cruelty to be summoned.
XXXX
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A/N: If you're confused about something, let me know. And man...This chapter may not seem important, but it will be. Mark my words.
Thank you: R0ugh33, Guest, eireen. crisostomo, josephineeee, Guest, nikols, The King in White, OrangeisMe, LIZA, 11, alwaysNaruHina, TAIRA18, Tina, Pandora Lilith, iivolgelchen, XsymohoniaX, Fiona, SabakunoAngel, FireGladiator, Delicatelyplaces, luvhinata, umnia, Duchess23, SH, YukiTenVianey Team, 21me21, xHinaLovex, Ro0w'z , Hilda9AFitra, aurora0914, Kia-B, farahb, Guest, rainbowxpersonality, holmesfreak1412, Guest, 372259, anlmoon, RikuDai, MeghanLeggyLeaf, nanitaa, & Kibachow for taking the time to review. I know some had problems reviewing and sent me messages instead, you know who you are :D
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-6.30.14
Revised 7.8.20