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-inky
The cold feeling of death wrapped around your throat is something difficult to forget. She had been attacked before, she had faced others who's intent was to reach a goal and she had been in the way, protector, hired muscle, but still in the way.
This was the first time that someone was looking at her with cold intent. Her death was his goal and as the burning hot sharingan rotated as she felt his hand tighten.
Lifeless, she was consumed for a moment by those eyes, burning right into her mind, and all she could do was lament her own death
It's an odd sensation, having someone's hands wrap around your throat and feel the muscles clenching, your throat collapsing into itself, your lungs startled and painful in your chest, the pain of being lifted off your feet, all of your weight hanging…
She gasped, her hands flinging up to his grip, tight around her throat, pushing her back slowly, his expression suddenly dead. There was no fake amusement there. He shoved her hard against the tree behind her, and her voice wretched out a cry of pain, her eyes clenching shut, listening to his heart beat and her own, drumming so quickly that it ached.
Squirming in his grip, trying to get loose, trying to breathe… For God's sake, it hurt, and she could do nothing, nothing at all, her anger, her hatred, all of her energy had drained away.
Where was it? Where had it gone?
She heard it, his voice calling to her, Sasuke's voice screaming her name in panic, her Byakugan took in the sight of chakra flickering in all directions and though some logical part of her mind stated that it was chidori she could hardly think, could hardly 'function'.
"If you don't know her, it's a wonder that you would be able to scream her name." said the cold silky voice of the master, cold red eyes focused on the girl in his grip, sharingan rotating sharply. Slowly his other hand reached out and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him.
Hinata twisted; his hands were cold… like a snake.
Flinching away she tried to look anywhere but his face.
Air… air, I can't breathe… I can't breathe!
She twisted again, her mind rushing, her whole sense of reality starting to fade. Black was beginning to tinge the corners of her vision.
It couldn't be happening… it couldn't. The red eyes began to burn into her own, rotating, the red beginning to make a familiar sensation course through her body. She had seen those eyes…
Those were the eyes of the monster in her nightmares.
Oka-san! Oka-san- help me!
Sasuke. It was Sasuke that would shove her, force her away. It was Sasuke that she heard screaming in her nightmares, it was him… It was him she couldn't think of living without.
…I love him…
But the darkness kept devouring.
He was going to blast the whole clearing to bits, destroy him, shred his brother to shreds, watch his blood splatter…
More Uchiha blood shed for the sake of revenge.
Chidori burning in his hand, the birds hissing and screaming out their anger, he jumped down, the ground shattering under the power of his chakra, white light flashing in all directions sending shadows dancing away, jeering at him.
He paid it no attention, his eyes focused on the girl in his grip, on her squirming, her eyes trying no to look at the red hot sharingan in front of her. She knew what they would do.
Take me instead, kill me and my family all over again- just leave her… leave her.
A shadow flickered at the corner of his vision, distracting him. Sharply he turned, the chidori making his hands shake, and there stood Itachi, eyes glittering by the light of the chidori in his younger brother's hands.
"Sasuke." He stated coldly, looking at the boy thoughtfully. "I would have thought you would recognize a clone."
Fear, cold trickling fear began down his back, and he spun around, there was another Itachi holding Hinata to the tree, she had grown still…
No. This can't be happening.
His eyes turned to look back at the Itachi in front of him and the coldness with which his eyes stared at him.
The Chidori was dying in his grip.
"I came, wondering why you had relinquished your desire to kill me, little brother. Did I not instruct for you to survive? To hate me, and to kill me?" His voice was so calm, just like Sasuke remembered. He had walked back into one of his nightmares, the eyes, the cold lips, the monotone and the questions.
The questions, the 'why' to his life. Why… why, why, why?!
Breathing heavily Sasuke took a step back, shuddering, something was happening inside of him, but he didn't know what.
He didn't care, he didn't care if he died. His brother wasn't going to leave unhurt.
"I figured, perhaps you were training here, alone." Itachi murmured, looking back at him still, calm.
"I did not think it would be a woman that would hold you here, captive." His eyes flickered over his little brother to his own clone and the limp form it still held to the tree.
The Itachi there was staring back into the eyes of the Hyuuga heiress, smirking, beginning the cold cycle of torture.
"But that will change now…" The real Itachi turned to Sasuke, watching the younger man's shoulder shake as he stared at the ground and heard Hinata's first whimper, starting at the base of her throat, strangled… a child's cry.
"Once she is removed." Itachi whispered. "She will tear her own throat out in order to stop screaming."
A flash of silver, the whip of blades cutting air. Itachi flickered out of sight, letting the shuriken cut through where he had been standing, lifting his hand up to block his brother's blows sharply, frowning with contempt.
But Sasuke's expression had changed. It matched his own cold expression, his dead impassive gaze.
With a hiss his kunai slit a sleeve of his brother's cloak, letting the sight of a smooth arm sliced open peer through.
The two brothers froze, looking back at each other calmly, inhuman in their lack of strain.
"First blood." Sasuke's voice said, though the sound was dead… a slab of cold ice, same as his eyes. He flicked his kunai into his hand again, staring back at his brother without emotion.
Somewhere along the way the boy from before had vanished.
"First blood." Itachi allowed, looking down at the cut thoughtfully.
You will die. Sasuke looked at him, the expression impassive, but in it's impassiveness the words were there, hanging in the air.
He would die, for what he was doing…
A red sky, blood red, deep and swirling, clotting in places. A white moon against it, the sight of the power lines crossing over the village, and the Hyuuga house standing against it, it's shadows casting blackness over her whole body, making her cold.
She stared at the scene, and looked down at herself, her small fingers and her short legs.
A child. She was a child again.
The door opened, a woman stepped out, the kimono moving gracefully, her face hidden by the long hair, she was looking away, towards the right, towards the moon.
Hinata stared at her, feeling the panic, the shock, the desire to run into her arms.
"…Oka-san…"
The woman's face turned, focused on her and the smile came forth, gracing those beautiful features, the soft expression.
"Hinata."
"Oka-san!" she was running then, tripping over herself, clumsy idiot that she was. She threw her arms around her mother, burying herself in the smell of jasmine and lavender that clung to her at all times, the smell of safety.
"Hinata." She whispered again, bending down to her level, bringing her in. "What are you doing here, my little one?"
Hinata shook her head, confused. "I-I don't k-k-know-"
Her mother smiled gently, touching her cheek, brushing aside the tears that were pouring there. "This is the place of the dead. Have you died?"
The words were so gentle and yet their meaning was monumental, throwing Hinata into a frozen state of confusion.
"…D-d-dead…" she whispered, trembling, shaking her head so hard her short hair waved around her face.
"Aw, little one…" her mother whispered softly, her hands beginning to tighten around her arm, digging her delicately manicured nails into her arm, making Hinata flinch suddenly, gasping in pain. "Did the rest of the family let you die too?"
The little girl's eyes widened suddenly, forgetting the burning sensation of pain across her arm. "N-n-nani-"
"Don't tell me you didn't realize it..?" her mother enquired, leaning in, studying her face. Hinata stared at her, shivering, feeling cold, the whole place felt like it was made of ice.
"They didn't kill you!" her voice was so high pitched it sounded like someone else altogether, the panic speaking for her loudly, confused, startled, horrified. The thought had passed through her mind but she had always laughed at it, always shoved it to the side and been ashamed by it.
No… no her family wasn't like that!
"…no, they let me die." Her hands were tightening, Hinata flinched, squirming in her grip.
"It hurts- Oka-san, it hurts…"
"Does it?"
"Oka-san… please!"
"Shss, little one, I'm here."
"Let go!" Sobbing now, feeling too small to push away, her fingers pulling at her mother's hands were too small, too weak.
"I'm the only one that ever held you- why do you pull away?" Her mother's voice wavered in pain, but her hands were tightening, her nails were so deep into her daughter's flesh that the blood was dripping, pooling, Hinata was wrenching, falling to her knees, shivering.
"No! Why are you doing this to me!? Oka-san!"
"I'm the only one that ever believed in you! I'm the only one that ever held you, cared for you, healed you, loved you! Stay here, stay with me!" her mother was whimpering, her arms wrapping around her daughter, nails digging into her body as they slid across her back, leaving streaks of blood on the child's skin.
A scream escaped the girl's lips as her back arched, trying to pull away from the death grip, from the sickening scent of decaying flowers and dry blood.
She should be able to endure a little pain, for her mother, for her poor mother. It was true, she was the only one, the only one that ever believed in anything she ever did. And the struggle was inside of her, her mind battling over her common sense. The blood pooling around her, her mother's words drowning out her own thoughts, making it hard to listen to any sense, to the rational voice of her mind screaming within her.
Her mother loved her, her mother would never do anything to hurt her… This pain, this pain was good, this pain was good…
Hours, days, she didn't know how long it was, didn't know what year it was, what day it was, where she was, who she was. The rationality of her thoughts was fading, her life beginning to fade in her gaze as she stared up at the blood red sky, the full daunting moon, feeling only the scorching continual pain of her mother's hands ripping the flesh from her arms and back.
"Everyone that ever loved you will rip you to shreds, it's the cost that must be paid for the love." Her mother continued, the blood covering her beautiful hands, the long manicured, deadly nails.
"They will use you, crush you, shatter you." Her nails dug into her skin, pulling back the flesh, the pain was immense, making her whole body go through spasms of cold and hot.
"Love is too close a thing to hate for it to be worth anything."
Hinata felt it, the tears she had been crying the whole time. The weeks, the seconds, the years she had been enduring the pain of her blood spilling, her flesh ripping. The tears had dried, leaving crusts of salt across her face, making it rough.
Love is too close to hate…? Is it…?
No! No, that's not true! My friends- all of my friends believed in me, knew I could, they loved me, and now they just need me…
And Sasuke… Sasuke…
Her eyes widened, staring into the blood red sky and the full moon, the shadows beyond, crawling with insects and dripping with blood.
Sasuke. Sasuke… he was out there, this was just a dream, a nightmare. Sasuke needed her.
Just like she needed him.
This isn't Oka-san.
She felt as her limbs began to grow, stretching, her hair cascading down her back in a shower of darkness, her face aging until she was herself, staring back into her mother's face… which was almost a mirror image.
Only the face of her supposed mother had eyes empty of life. They were the eyes of the Uchiha monster.
Amongst the pain, and the fear, she didn't think she would be able to find rage, but it came again, relieving her aches, the wounds closing. Her fake mother's eyes widened in slight surprise, drawing away with a miniature hiss of distaste.
"…I won't let you defile my mother's memory this way." She whispered back, feeling the tears pouring down her face again, trickling their way down her chin, splashing her hands and legs.
"I won't let you win over my mind." She closed her eyes, focusing, fighting, feeling the world around her straining.
Let me go. Let me go. Let me go. Let me go… Let me go…. Let me go… Let me go!
With a gasp Hinata's eyes widened, staring back at the reality of where she was. In the forest, facing Itachi Uchiha, looking back at her, shock clearly marked on his face.
Sharply she closed her eyes, feeling the rage and the sudden energy flowing through her.
She didn't need her eyes, Sasuke had made sure of that.
Eyes closed she reached up to his hand, hearing a grunt of surprise as her nails dug into his flesh.
How dare you… how dare you use Oka-san in such a way.
Listening intently to his voice, tuning in to his breathing, his heart beating rapidly, his muscles trying to tighten around her throat, tuning in to his chakra and it's feeling rolling off of him, the sensation of it crawling over her skin.
Sasuke's words flooded her mind, a whisper of rationality, of reality and logic.
"They are all just humans, just like you. Their possibilities are just like yours. I'm your equal."
Her hands began to tighten sharply around the gripping hand, breathing in as she fought against his grip.
He's just human… he's just human…
Her eyes opened, Byakugan flashing. With a grunt she lifted her arm up, twisting forcefully to the side, pumping chakra into her legs as she used the tree trunk to push away.
Itachi drew in a breath, impassive, but nothing could cover the surprise that did cross his pale features.
Arm weighed over with several pounds of extra chakra, she flung her elbow down into his grip, hearing the sickening break as wrist shattered, his grip falling away.
Her feet touched the ground for half a second, shoving off the moment she felt the bark against her toes, eyes focused on the chakra points glowing beside his gaze. With a grunt she shoved her hands forward, her fingers tapping both sides of his head.
Rapidly the clone growled, feeling the chakra points plugged, but furious now. With a grunt he slashed out with a kunai, knocking her aside hard as she flipped over his head.
Crying out sharply in shock and pain the Hyuuga heiress hit the ground hard, rolling over it's moss cover until she came to a stop, crumbled in a heap, her hands over a bloody slash across her stomach, feeling her whole body shivering as she stared down at the ground, listening to Itachi's wordless attempts to speak… but you cannot speak when a kunai has slashed across your throat.
The clone stood there, looking down at the blood falling from his neck, reaching up to touch it, realizing suddenly that the necklace was also gone.
His eyes stared back at the bland lavender tinged gaze of the girl on the ground, shuddering with pain.
Hyuuga He realized. Gentle fists were apparently much faster than the Uchiha clan…
With a bang of smoke that smelled of ashes the clone vanished, and Hinata let her head drop down, struggling not to cry, listening to the shattering sound of kunai on kunai above.
There was Sasuke…
A flicker of movement made her look up suddenly, staring at the real Itachi, fear starting at the base of her throat.
Gasping she struggled to her knees, looking at him dangerously, trying to steady herself.
Suddenly Sasuke was in front of her, blocking her way, kunai raised, a slash across his face bleeding unhealthily, his clothing ripped in places.
"Get away from her."
"She's managed to destroy my clone." Itachi replied softly, looking right past him at the pale girl struggling to her feet behind his younger brother.
"I am naturally, curious." He murmured, flickering out of sight.
With a gasp Hinata watched as Sasuke took the solid kick to the stomach, flying back into her, throwing them both against the tree behind them with a loud crack. Pain burned white hot as she felt something break within her, a rib perhaps.
Unable to see, or hear or breath she hit the ground with him in a heap, both of them struggling to catch their breath.
Shivering horribly she lay there, staring up at the canopy of green above and the light that was filtering through it.
…it's so odd, that there is light…out there, beyond this shadow, there is light…
He was struggling to his feet, spitting out a mouthful of blood, crouching elegantly beside her despite the cuts, the blood, the pain clearly marked between his brows.
She stared up at him from her position on the ground, staring at his face, feeling her lips part slightly, wishing she could let out a whisper of how much she needed him…
His eyes were just so cold.
"Hinata." His voice was cold, but when he turned to look at her, there was real need in his expression, desperation. "Go."
Itachi watched silently, patiently.
She shivered, closing her eyes for a moment, knowing what she had to do, forgetting her dream for only a moment as she struggled to sit up, the hot pain of her ribs and the slash across her side making her whimper.
His hands were there, steadying her, knowing his brother would wait… It was him he wanted.
"Go." He whispered again, breathing it into her ear, his voice strained, for a moment she thought he was going to sob. "Go…"
She was shaking as she looked at him, her body beyond her control as she struggled to her feet, knowing she couldn't argue.
She was on her feet, using the tree behind her to stand, his hands were still there, gripping her arm, his eyes studying her face, desperately taking in the hue of her eyes, the curve of her lips.
Without a word she turned, following the darkness, holding her hands up to her side to stop the bleeding, even though each drop slipping through her fingers made it feel her emptier than she already was. Her mind was numb; she could hardly understand what was going on.
There was the darkness of knowing she was walking away, leaving him there… leaving him.
But he had asked her, his eyes pleading as they looked at her, studied her face. There was nothing else to be done as result. She could not stay and could hinder him no more.
Please forgive me…
Blood dripping between her fingers, sticking as it coated her hands. The pain of moving with her ribs broken was making her whole torso numb, she could hardly feel the earth beneath her feet, and she had forgotten completely how to breathe, her eyes dazed and focused completely on the ground, and it's subtle rise and fall as she walked.
Darkness, reaching for her, the tree roots rising…
She was panting slightly, unable to breathe, her lungs struggling against the shattered bone within her, the blood spilling, each step leaving a trail of gore behind her.
Her knees buckled before she knew what was happening and she was on the ground, sound echoing around her, she could almost see it, the vibrations making her reality ripple as her body collapsed into the moss, rippling the way the agony of falling on her side was moving through the rest of her body.
She had no more tears to cry, no more words to say, her mind was so tired, sluggish, frightened, cowering in the corner of her being. Fetal position, the numbness of knowing there was little chance for survival.
She stared at her palm laying beside her, coated in blood, a necklace laying in her grip, coarse with her life liquid.
…his mother's…
She closed her eyes, feeling defeated.
Slowly she felt herself withdrawing, throwing in the towel, aching for sleep… perhaps even death.
The thought struck something in her chest suddenly, a new ache amongst the waves of agony rolling over her sore and battered body.
No… she didn't want to die.
She wanted to feel him again, feel his lips, his arms, his skin, see his smile, hesitant, unsure of himself, she wanted to watch him move with the elegance that always took her breath away, wanted to hold him when he cried out in the dark, remembering the fears and terrors of so many years ago.
She didn't want to die.
She didn't want him to die…
Her heart began to pound again, as she stared into the darkness and the swirling colors behind her eyelids.
I can't… I can't not go back…
Fatigue clung to her every limb, dragging her down, making her movements feel as though she were struggling through mud.
But she began to push herself up slowly, wincing, each wave of agonized pain beginning at the base of her back, starting upwards, tearing itself into her side the way a wolf ripped into the flesh of prey.
That hardly mattered, she was listening intently, watching without seeing the dancing shadows the canopy of trees cast on the ground where she lay, making her blood glitter where it had fallen to cover the moss.
She knew what was coming. She had seen it so many times… heard it so many times.
It was as though she was waiting for his voice to whisper the command into her ear again, for the wordless scream to tell her he needed her again.
And then it came, shattering her reality the way a rock shatters glass, breaking apart her whole world, making her mind mentally hit a brick wall. The agony could not get through it.
Hinata. Go.
Chakra she did not know she possessed began to pump through her body, she could feel each thump of her heart beat drowning out the waves of pain, the fire put out and ignored by the sensation of power.
Some rational part of her mind knew there would probably be no getting up once this bit of energy was gone, but that did not matter. She stood anyway, her fingers running over her side where the slice was bleeding, and where the odd bump that was her awkward broken rib was.
Breathing slowly, but heavily she turned around, pouring chakra into her feet, closing her eyes, listening intently.
She couldn't use her eyes for this… there was only one chance.
And she took a deep breath, clenching her hands by her side, feeling her body leaning forward, one foot in front of the other, one breath after the first…
And she was running, sprinting, listening… heading back.
Forgive me…
Forgive me for leaving.
Something about having her gone, knowing she was bleeding, that she was probably going to die had taken away everything he had, everything he could think of…
Something about how she had looked at him, her eyes so dead, so tired, so hurt… it had drained him, stealing it all away, the anger, the hate, the power.
He turned to look at his brother, the expression of cold fury was gone, replaced with impassive wary eyes, and tired shoulders.
"When you left Orochimaru, I assumed it was because you found his teaching not useful." Itachi murmured, ignoring the absence of the kunoichi that had captured his attention for a grand total of five minutes. She was nothing now, a moment in time that kept going.
"I assumed that you would find some other method to do as I instructed." He looked at his brother, the way the sharingan slowly faded and onyx eyes stared back at him, asking the question he had screamed the night of the massacre.
Why?
"Demo…" Itachi admitted softly. "… it is said that women are the end of all men. All weak men, at least."
There was no reply, no change in expression, no change in breathing pattern. His brother looked back at him, waiting.
Finally weary of the situation the elder Uchiha appeared in front of him rapidly, his hand slamming out, throwing Sasuke so forcefully against the bark of the tree behind him by the throat that the trunk bent into itself, brittle pieces of wood flying in every direction, blood splashing out of Sasuke's mouth as he hung there, unable to breath, unable to move, looking down.
He could not look up… he wanted death. What his elder brother could bring upon him was worse than that.
However, no one had ever said that Uchiha Itachi had it in mind to be merciful. Slowly he reached out with his other hand, lifting his brother's face forcefully up by the chin, staring at the young man as if he were a particularly disgusting specimen.
"The weakness in you is disturbing. To think, you are of Uchiha blood…" he stared back at him a moment longer, taking in the features that were so familiar, a perfect mix of his supposed mother and father. The toughness of his father's chin, the softness of his mother's eyes, and a mix of both made up his lips.
It was sickening.
"For your weakness, they will suffer, all over again." Itachi sighed gently, leaning into his brothers face, staring directly into his eyes, tearing through the feeble defenses there that blocked sight of his soul and his pain.
"And she, the Hyuuga with soft eyes." He smirked then, his lips turning up ever so slightly. "Her fate will be much worse."
Something flickered in his younger brother then… panic, fear…
Once upon a time, I thought that there was nothing left for me to loose, nothing left for him to take from me but my life.
Sasuke looked back at him, the chakra beginning to boil within him, but it was too slow.
With a gasp he felt his reality flood away, he was being sucked into the eyes of red, rotating sharingan dragging him back again, back into the swirling nightmare that was his life, his reality, making him face a broken distorted mirror so he could see his broken distorted self.
The scream that ripped through his lips was one he had sworn once he would never allow to escape his lips, but it did, shattering through his vocal chords, ringing through the stillness.
Flashes of memory passed through his vision, faded against the overwhelming background that was made up of his brother's powerful eyes, their malicious intent.
Mother, kneeling, looking up at her older son, unable to move, unable to defend herself. The blood as it sprayed by, silver katana slicing open her body, making her very being pour out red, pooling as her body fell, her hand dropping in the middle of that puddle of her essence.
Those hands would never move, all those flowers in the secret garden would die… He couldn't take care of them on his own.
Piles of bodies, littering the streets. Flashing kunai, flying shuriken, imbedding themselves into familiar arms, familiar faces, spraying the blood against the wall he used to lean against as he watched his brother come home everyday.
Lanterns going out, leaving him in darkness, the smell of metallic blood.
And then Hinata.
Her eyes, pain filled, staring into his very being, her mouth moving, screaming out something, he couldn't hear her voice, a whistling high pitched sound was shattering his eardrums.
Itachi stood behind her, his fingers caressing her neck gently. But she didn't look at his brother, she looked at him, just like Itachi was, watching his reaction, watching him with amused cold eyes. Her lips parted suddenly as she gasped, eyes widening, seeing past him, seeing into him, seeing through him, around him, his very being, standing there doing nothing as his brother… as his brother….
Itachi's hand was in her… driven into her side, blood pouring down. Pain engulfed him, he could feel that hand inside of him too…
He screamed harder.
She was too late.
He was pinned to a tree, his brother's hand holding him there, his other hand was driven into his side, the blood was pouring around his fingers, covering the black cloak in it's red liquid, melding it with the red clouds.
Unable to see anymore she closed her eyes, let her body move forward, let the adrenaline take over, the feline set loose, she knew who it was now, it was her, it was her mother, it was Hanabi and her quirky submissive anger, her friends and their efforts to do right, to prove themselves, to be better… It was Sasuke, and his inability to smile…
Just one touch, she had time for just one touch.
Listening only to the intake of breath suddenly from Itachi's lips and Sasuke's gasp of relief as the torture was snatched away she flipped, slamming her hands into the sides of the elder Uchiha's face, shoving chakra into the holes so forcefully that it drained her arms, made her head spin.
But Sasuke had stopped screaming… he had stopped screaming. That was enough.
Itachi turned sharply, hearing at the last second a soft intake of breath, the smell of lavender and jasmine washing over him as a flicker of movement caught the side of his eyes, ink black hair, a whisper of movement, and a brush of silk soft skin against the sides of his face. A pain like stabbing kunai into his eyes forced his hands up against his face, bloody and covered in his brother's life liquid.
Sasuke felt the anger, the passion, the sheer relief of being set free again, away from the nightmare. He didn't even have time to process each sensation, they were flooding his mind so gravely he could hardly function. The smell of Hinata, the feeling of her being there, moving, and the torture, the terror, the memories of seeing his family, his mother…
Chidori roared in their ears as he shoved forward, his hand ripping into his brothers side, tearing apart the cloak, blood splashing as the contact was dodged slightly. Uchiha Itachi was wounded but not defeated.
Panting heavily from the high pitched sound filling his ears and the sharp pain against his eyes Itachi looked down, feeling the coldness of the sudden gaping burn on his hip.
The sound of Chidori faded slowly as Sasuke looked at him, struggling for breath, his eyes alive with the sudden taste of revenge.
"Hn." Itachi managed, putting a hand to his side slightly, trying to quench the bleeding. "Perhaps I misjudged the situation." He murmured, looking past him at the girl sitting collapsed on the ground, panting, dazed, staring at him with a vague confused hatred.
"…The necklace… is obviously yours to keep." He smirked, watching confusion pass through his brother's face.
Wordlessly he took a step back, letting the shadows consume him, their dark hands enveloping him in their secure retreat, leaving no traces.
For a moment, the younger Uchiha took a step forward, but a sound made him stop… The sound of a cough, a struggle for air…
Gasping he spun around, running to her side, catching her as her arms finally failed and gave way.
She stared up dazedly at him, eyes half closed, tears brimming over, making her gaze glitter.
"…Gomen… Gomen, forgive me…please…" she whimpered, reaching up to touch his face gently, the clotting wound on his cheek feeling rough under her fingertips.
He shook his head, unable to speak, burying his face in her hair, breathing her in. "You'll be okay- Hinata, you'll be okay…"
He could hardly feel the pain of the wound in his side and the blood that was pouring, she was the only thing that mattered, and she was fading…
"Just stay with me, breathe, help will get here.." he whispered, wondering where everyone else was… where was Naruto…Sakura…
Hinata just nodded, closing her eyes, listening to his voice, hearing nothing of what he was actually saying.
"I couldn't leave." She opened her eyes then, it was a struggle, it felt like climbing over a mountain, but she wanted to see his face, watch his expression. She never thought she would see someone as strong as him cry, but it looked… it looked like he might…
"…I love you." She whimpered, feeling her own tears start to pour. "I'm sorry… I just c-couldn't… I couldn't leave…"
He stared at her, unaware of his own tears starting to mix with hers as they landed on her face, twisting in their agonies.
I love you…
She closed his eyes, and he gasped, leaning into her to listen to her breathing, slowing down, blood was covering her whole torso, her arms, scratches across her thighs and back. There was just so much blood everywhere…
"…Hinata! Hinata, listen to me…" he whispered, he knew she wasn't there though, she wasn't hearing him anymore.
"…I love you… I love you, please don't…" he couldn't finish the sentence. He couldn't say it, he couldn't allow it to be a possibility.
But the darkness had come and claimed her, she couldn't hear him… not clearly.
At least she could feel it, after all… In order for there to be darkness, there has to be a light somewhere.
And that's the end of the story!
Just kidding, just kidding ((grins evilly)) I almost had you there, didn't I? mwuahahaha.
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