NEO SASUKE

CHAPTER 24

'This isn't Sasuke,' was Hinata's first thought. Those Sharingan eyes couldn't belong to anyone else—she had never met his infamous brother—but the way they stared at her . . . She was so trapped by those eyes that she didn't notice when his hand moved to caress her cheek. The left over chakra sparked against her lip, and she bled. He dropped his hand away at once, lowering her to a sit with the support of one arm, which also caused the earplugs to come tumbling out. "S . . . Sasuke-san?"

"Hinata." He grazed the full side of her face with his right hand, securing the round of her chin between two fingers. The black dots in his eyes swam. "You're . . . hurt." She was trembling. That chakra . . . where was it coming from? It was like a roar in her ears. Without meaning to her Byakugan deactivated, and when she saw the chakra still wafting from his body like a miasma, her breath stalled. It looked . . . it felt sick. "Where did your wings go?"

"W-what?" He kissed her firmly, trailing his tongue along the cut on her lower lip, and when pulled back he wet his own lips—tasting the blood. It was an absent-minded gesture. His eyes weren't even on her anymore, but fixed in front of him. Hinata was so stricken she didn't even have the faculties to blush. She was so confused . . . so scared. Right now the purpose of the entire expedition was lost on her—senseless. Just what had they gotten themselves into? She couldn't help looking over at the headless body not two feet away from them. 'Does he realize what he's done? Does he even . . . S-Sasuke-san . . .'

Hinata watched Sasuke approach Dosu, who had long given up trying to scrape the beetles out of his speaker, and was now working on clawing his arm in half. His cloak was gone, the fur linings, and everything else the bugs could have nested in, but then there was just no getting rid of his skin. The bit of flesh peeking out of his bandages didn't even look like skin anymore. His eyes were big and puffy, watering, so the only thing he could rely on was sense and sound to detect Sasuke's approach.

"Noisy," Sasuke said quietly, disgustedly. "What the hell is this?" He tilted his head to the side, unblinking, nose twisted. He placed the sole of his foot to Dosu's back and pushed him hard into the dirt. He smiled when the Sound nin screamed. "It'd almost be too boring killing you in this state." As he pivoted the heel of his foot into Dosu's back the beetles scurried to opposite corners. Hinata was astounded that even the bugs fled from Sasuke's chakra—as if it were repellent! "Tell me the truth and maybe I'll go easy on you. Did you injure my teammate?"

"Bastard!" Dosu croaked. "You . . . You killed Zaku!" Sasuke smiled darkly.

"Concern for your teammate?" He twisted his heel harder, making the blisters ooze. "I'm surprised. With the way your kunoichi ditched you I'm shocked to find you really give a shit about anything other than your pathetic self. Tell me, did you feel proud ganging up on a little kunoichi like my teammate? I'm curious as to what you did to her in my absence. Well?" When he got no answer he raised his knee to the chest and smashed his foot into Dosu's spine. "Well?"

'What's happening?' Hinata couldn't breathe. This was Sasuke? When she heard him laugh her blood went cold. He put his hand over his eye, dissolving into hollow throated chuckles.

"You know, I'm finding it hard to take this seriously. I'm so pissed that I just want to kill you now, but look at you! To think my Hinata had something like this hidden up her sleeves. Are you really the proud Sound nin we met only yesterday? Oh how fast the mighty have fallen." He flattened his left palm toward the back of Dosu's head and gripped his wrist with the other. Purple sparks started forming, raging with sinister colors of reds and blacks.

"N-no!" Hinata gasped. She wobbled to her feet. "Sasuke-san!" Her voice was shot.

"That last attack took absolutely nothing out of me," he told Dosu. His voice was coarse with pleasure. "I could obliterate your whole body if I wanted. What do you think? Put you outta your misery? Those bugs just keep inviting more company."

"D-Don't kill me!" Dosu cried. "Please . . ."

"Oh man, this is sorry." The ball of electricity doubled in size. "Put-you-outta-your-misery it is!"

"Sasuke, please!" Hinata shouted. "Can you hear me? Do you realize what you're doing? Who are you?" Surprisingly he did hesitate. His whole body went still, but the black marks continued to expell that sinister chakra, and his Chidori did not recede.

"Killing me won't do you any good," Dosu said. His voice was rough with terror. "You have the damn kunai and the rest of my team is dead. Not that it matters. You've been out of it all night, haven't you? So you probably don't even know."

"Know what?" Sasuke gritted.

"That the test has been rendered useless. The competition's changed."

"And why's that?"

"Because no one can acquire a Sand kunai. If things keep going as they are there will be no third test. With only one competing Sand team it was faulty anyway, and so all three members have been entrusted with one kunai. Do you understand what I'm saying? No one can get one."

"And was your objective really to get any kunais?" Sasuke asked coldly. Dosu didn't answer.

"Speaker-san!" Hinata called reluctantly. "Is Orochimaru the snake who attacked Sasuke last night?" Sasuke looked over his shoulder at her, and then back to Dosu.

"Orochimaru . . ." Again, another slow smile crept onto his face and Hinata's throat caught. The Chidori was screeching so loud his voice could no longer be heard, but it was possible reading his lips with the Byakugan. When you see him in hell, tell him I said thank you.

"Wait." A column of sand sprung up near Hinata. She gasped, backing into the tree near Naruto. When the sand dispersed Gaara was left standing in its wake, arms crossed, glaring at Sasuke. "Let him answer first." Sasuke's brow collapsed over his eyes, dark and untrusting.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Hinata noticed when his eyes flashed towards her. It was incredibly fast, but it was obvious how aware he was of the closeness between her and Gaara. The distraction even caused his Chidori to shrink.

"What did Orochimaru tell you to do?" Gaara asked Dosu. "Answer now before I kill you myself. I guarantee I will not be as quick as the Uchiha." Sasuke turned his nose up, but did (much to Hinata' relief) pull back the Chidori and stepped aside. Dosu didn't even seem to be in his right mind anymore. His body was spasming, laid prostrate the ground with his cheek turned to the side. On his back was a large dark spot where Sasuke had crushed the blisters under his foot, and his one visible eye was swollen shut. The side of his mouth leaked saliva.

"Filth," Gaara uttered in disgust. He held his hand out. Sand crawled over his body, sweeping over the beetles and all, who retreated deeper into their new home—frightened. Sasuke stepped back further, eyes swimming red as the sand thickened and contracted at the command of Gaara's "Sand Coffin." It was a relatively tame execution, the only thing visible being a spot of red in the sand. Hinata purposely deactivated her Byakugan to spare herself the image inside. Sasuke turned his back on the bloody mound, already forgetting it. "And where are your teammates?" he asked Gaara, taking a cautious step forward. Gaara responded with intrigued observation.

"You smell of death and poison." His eyes drifted to the headless body near Hinata. She didn't follow his eyes. When he looked at Sasuke again he said with a slightly twisted edge, "How did it feel? Does your body tremble?" Sasuke drew back, seemingly confused. He looked at his hand as if on reflex, and appeared to notice for the first time that there were fine splatters of blood on it. The black markings trailing down his arms he also took notice of, as well as the headless Sound nin by the tree. The black beads in his eyes rotated. The look on his face translated to Hinata very clearly: Did I do that?

Gaara pivoted so that he was facing Hinata and she stifled a gasp. Sasuke snapped to and sprang at Gaara, but a sand shield arched to block him. He was thrown back with a fist of sand, and although he managed to land on his feet, he stumbled. Was he in shock? Gaara wasn't even looking at him. "I did not expect this from you," he told Hinata. She tore her eyes away from Sasuke. Naruto was behind her, still unconscious. She moved to block the cocoon as best she could. Gaara realized this, but apparently he had no interest in harming her teammate. "Why do you protect someone so useless?" he asked roughly.

"Naruto-kun is not useless," she said. Her legs were weak, but she did not sink to the ground. "He protects his friends. He looks out for them no matter what, so I'm doing the same." She fell into the Gentle Fist stance. Surprisingly Gaara creased his brow. He unfolded his arms to let his hands rest at his sides, and although it didn't look to Hinata like he might attack, Sasuke appeared quite swiftly out of thin air to shield her. His left hand was already palm-down, ready to form another Chidori.

"Back away, sand freak," he growled. Gaara was unperturbed. His eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. From his utility belt he produced a kunai. Sasuke scoffed, but then he got a look at the Sound mark on it. Gaara threw the kunai at their feet, point dug into the earth.

"Sate my curiosity, Uchiha Sasuke. Hyuga Hinata."

"I hope you don't expect to just leave," Sasuke said lowly. His eyes were dubious. Not for a second did he trust the offering, and in fact, spurned it.

"I intend to do exactly that."

"Gaara-san . . ." He looked at Hinata, but she didn't flinch away. "What do you know about the snake? What are those marking on Sasuke-san?" His silence told absolutely nothing; betrayed nothing. Then, shockingly, he smiled. It was not a kind smile. It was not a malicious smile. It was of a nature unknown to Hinata, and it frightened her.

"Freak," Sasuke spat.

"Those with glass houses shouldn't cast stones, Uchiha." He gave them his back and walked away. "I look forward to seeing more from you. All of you." They watched Gaara disappear into the forest, and when he was gone Sasuke clenched his hand into a fist. The black marks started receding, blazing like cinders until they bleached from his skin. The pain brought him to his knees.

Hinata was at his side in a second with her hands to his shoulders. The miasma of a chakra also disappeared, and when nothing was left but a mark of twin dots on his neck, he collapsed into her arms. Unlike last time he did not slip into unconsciousness, but held onto her with shaking hands, panting, eyes wide—scared. He bolted up, hands gripped hard to her upper arms, staring at her in wild confusion. Her eyes seemed to anchor him back to reality. Minutes passed before he was able to breathe again.

His head shot toward the dead nin by the tree. There was blood everywhere, and his body. . . Sasuke clapped his jaw shut. He looked sick. Hinata put her hand to his cheek and turned his face toward her. He looked at her again, frozen, unblinking. "Are you here now?" she asked. Even she wasn't fully aware of what she was asking, but no other question seemed appropriate. To her great relief he nodded. "Naruto . . ."

"He's okay," she said, dropping her hand.

"We need to wake him and get the hell out of this forest." Hinata looked down and shook her head slowly.

"Gaara-san gave us a Sand kunai. I don't understand."

"He came to this competition to kill," Sasuke said. "If Dosu is right and no one succeeds, then what was the point? But there must be something else going on here." With an unconscious gesture he cupped his hand to his neck. "What the hell are the jonin thinking, orchestrating a test like this? This goes so far beyond competing for honor. It's like they're trying to weed us out. What the hell is Orochimaru?"

"Did it look like he was targeting you specifically?" Sasuke's eyes were cast down at her lap, disturbed and far away.

"Yeah," he said quietly. Then, without knowing he was doing it, he took her hand and placed it back on his cheek. He was incredibly hot, though no tint appeared on his cheeks. Her palm was a cool compress to his burning skin, and he drank her touch almost euphorically. His hand was firm, trapping her there with trembling fingers. She stared at him silently, her small brow drawn together in concern.

Naruto stirred in the tree then, momentarily disoriented. Luckily Sasuke and Hinata were right there, and he saw them at once. "What's going on?" he asked, instantly alarmed. Hinata made an instinctive jerk with her hand, but Sasuke's hold was tight. He let go only when she relaxed, seemingly just realizing what he was doing.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto scrambled over to them, taking her face with both of his hands. His sea blue eyes were wide with concern. "What happened to you? You're hurt! Did you run into trouble?" Hinata blushed under his touch, speechless. So much had happened she didn't know where to start. Naruto found the headless body on his own, just as she knew he would, and when he did he jumped to his feet. His face drained to the color of paper. "Wh-what the hell . . ."

Sasuke ignored him for the moment, snatching up the kunai Gaara had left. He sneered at it, but shoved it in his holster anyway. "We have our Sound kunai and Sand kunai. Let's go." Naruto whipped around to face him.

"We have what?"

"You have the Leaf kunai, Naruto-kun," Hinata told him as Sasuke helped her up. "And you have the Sound kunai, Sasuke-san. I separated them when you two fell unconscious, just in case."

"Thank you, Hinata," Sasuke said.

"I . . . yes. You are my friends, so . . ."

"Wait, what the hell did I miss?" Naruto demanded. "There's a headless body over there! A-and what's that?" He pointed to the bloody sand mound. "Just what the heck happened?"

"Shut up," Sasuke said. "You're giving me a headache. Trust me when I say that's the last thing I need right now." He rubbed his temple with the tips of his fingers, pale and sweaty. "The only way backward is forward. We have no choice but to finish the damn test. We're going to treat Hinata's wounds, let her sleep, and then leave."

"No," Hinata immediately protested. "I—"

"This is what we're going to do," Sasuke said softly, but firmly. "I'm not letting you go anywhere in the condition you're in. We're going to protect you this time. Don't worry. We won't camp here obvious reasons."

Hinata was more worried about the two of them. There was no telling when Sasuke's mark would act up again, and she hadn't forgotten Naruto either. That mark on his stomach still worried her, and if it weren't for her inhibitions she would ask here and now to see it. In a roundabout way she did ask, to which he tilted his head, confused. He lifted his jacket and rubbed his stomach. It was still swelled with strange depressions, similar to the markings she had seen last night. Sasuke inquired about it too, but Naruto didn't know any more about it than they did. They'd have a lot of questions to ask Kakashi when the time came. They prayed that it would come soon.

Hinata cleaned herself up a little and dressed her own wounds, much too embarrassed to let Sasuke tend to them (which he did insist upon). It wasn't worth the risk to go hunting in broad daylight, so she ate from the food supply at hand. It was enough to sate her into slumber. When she woke up it was to a relative darkness—and rain. Sasuke had moved her into the hollow trunk of a tree, only spacious enough for two, with a thin blanket laid out underneath her. Her bag made for a lumpy and uncomfortable pillow, but at least it didn't make her neck stiff. Sasuke was sitting next to her sharpening a kunai. Even though she didn't stir, he knew when she woke up and stopped. "Sorry. Was I too loud?"

"No," she said quietly. He set the tools down anyway. "Where is Naruto-kun?"

"Setting traps. Scouting the area. He'll be glad to know you're awake. I just came back not too long ago."

"Will he be okay?"

"I haven't heard him scream."

"That's not funny, Sasuke-san." He only smiled for a second. Hinata tried to sit up, but he held her gently by the shoulder. She dropped her head back on her bag. He pulled out a canter of water for her that he said he'd filled in the rain. She drank from it gratefully, keeping her eyes down. He screwed the cap back on for her when she was done and put it away. He asked how she felt.

"A little sore, but much better. I'm glad I brought those earplugs."

"There's something to be admired about your preparation. What made you bring earplugs?"

"Nothing too research intensive," she said bashfully. "I just figured that with a name like Sound . . ."

"They'd use sound based attacks?" She blushed deeper and he chuckled. "Still, you outmatched me. I'm impressed. I can't believe it, but I think I'm actually getting spoiled by you. Even though I can count the number of times I prayed for your Byakugan when I didn't have it, I really did pray for it. Your innovativeness is something I haven't seen in other kunoichi before. It's not something I taught to you, either." He chuckled to himself. "Maybe you should start training me." She wished he would stop. Turning her face away caused bits of hair to roll over her cheeks. What small concealment she could get was welcome, so when Sasuke actually brushed those loose strands aside her heart skipped a beat. What was he doing?

"You call him Gaara-san." She kept her eyes diverted.

"Huh?"

"It can't just be because you live in the same house. You must have had some interaction with him outside of the tests. He's oddly attached to you for some reason."

"He's that way with you too."

"No," Sasuke was quick to protest. "It's different with me. His need to fight others in order to validate himself is something I can understand. The connection he feels toward you is something I don't understand. So what's the reason?" Hinata's chest hurt. She couldn't stop her heart from pounding.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." She honestly didn't. The space around them was so small she could feel his body heat. They had shared close contact before, like during training and when he carried her to the hospital, so she didn't understand why she was feeling like this now. Looking him in the eye was unbearable. His right arm stretched over her, hand laid flat by her nose. He was leaning over, trying to catch her eye. She could smell rain and earth on him, and a woody sweetness, like campfire.

"What are you going to do if we run into Neji?" he asked with an edge.

"What?"

"If he finds out we have a Sand kunai he might try to fight us for it. What will you do?"

"I-I don't think that will happen."

"You think he'd let you win on purpose? Is his loyalty to you really that strong? Don't tell me the Hyugas put him through the exams just to aid your success."

"No!" She turned face up. "They would never do that. Niisan is a great warrior, and my father knows it. He's honorable and hardworking and brave. If anyone was to succeed the Hyuga clan, it would be him. I've watched him since I was three, so I know. My niisan—" Sasuke covered her mouth with the full width of his palm. His other hand was still laid flat beside her head, so at this point he was practically on top of her.

"He's not your brother. He's your cousin. The kunai is in my possession anyway, so if he wants it he'd have to fight me. Don't think he wouldn't, either. Why is it so easy for you to forget that we're in a competition? Right now the person you call 'niisan' is not your friend. Neither is the bug boy, or the mutt, and definitely not the sand freak. Naruto is useless to you. When are you going to realize that? Even under normal circumstances his tiny brain is so full of Sakura that he doesn't notice much else. But you probably know that better than anyone by now."

His face loomed closer. She had never been so near to him, seen his eyes at such a distance. Her flustered and terrified reflection shone in those crimson pools. "You only have me, Hinata. So say it. Call me Sasuke. Just like you did today; no honorifics, no nothing." His hand slid from her mouth her chin and hovered on her collarbone. She had never felt a paralysis like this before. Her mind was utterly blank and her skin was afire. "Hinata."

'Why is he saying this?' she thought numbly. 'This doesn't sound like something Sasuke would say.' The only reality she could process was the sound of rain pattering against the ground outside and the rustling of leaves. Whatever was happening now with her and Sasuke—she didn't understand it. Couldn't wrap her head around it. Her stomach fluttered and her chest ached. She wanted it to stop. When she continued to say nothing the corners of his mouth turned down and his eyelids dropped halfway closed. He sighed lightly.

"I really don't know what to do with you," he said. That may or may not have been a lie, because the next thing Hinata knew her mouth was being coveted by his, and his hands were pressed to either side of her face. She tried to push away, but he was . . . aggressive. It was scary. She didn't like this Sasuke.

The crunching of footsteps broke his lips away. Naruto was coming back. Sasuke looked outside and clacked his tongue against his teeth. Hinata could see black marks just receding back to the little dots on his neck, and his eyes were fading back to their deep onyx color. He removed himself from her in one smooth motion and curved his back against the inside of the tree, picking up his kunai and sharpening stone. When Naruto peeked into the tree he saw him in the exact same position he had left him in. Hinata had turned over so that the entire front of her face was pressing into the blanket. "Is Hinata-chan awake yet?"

Sasuke gave the edge of his kunai one loud swipe with his stone. "She'll be waking up any minute now."

"That's good. I found some bird eggs while I was out, so maybe I can make her an omelet when she wakes up." He sounded so happy about it. "She really saved our butts, y'know? So I wanna do something for her."

"Hn."

"Bah, what's the use talking to you? It looks like it's gonna stop raining, so I'm going to make a fire." He left the two of them just like that. Hinata was most certainly awake, and so tied up in knots she wanted to cry. Sasuke continued to swipe away with the sharpening stone. When a few minutes passed in silence and the rain finally died away he spoke. Though she had not moved an inch, he knew she was listening.

"The reason Sabaku Gaara is so fixated on you. . . I think I know." They did not speak to each other again for the rest of the night.

*A/N*

Please leave a review and let me know what you think. I wish I could have given Gaara more screen time here, but now's not the time. Like the original, I like to keep him in moderation. I do love him.