I am sorry about this chapter.
When you get to the bottom you will understand
Because I will try very hard to take a break for the next two days to breathe and actually get feeling back in my arm.
Binge writing is how I function but dudes, it's a rough way to live life. If the story doesn't keep me up at night I will be taking a few days to breathe, eat and sleep like a human being and then hopefully feeling more like a person I will continue.
...that being said.
I apologize.
Much, much love
Inky
For over a week Sasuke shot glares back over his shoulder at the dark trudging shadow that tailed them. At least the horkney no longer hid. After several days of flinching from Sasuke's lethal stares he eventually seemed desensitized to their burning.
This was made abundantly clear when out of the blue he inched slowly towards the fire one night on his belly, ears flat and tail lowered in submission with a soft whine. Lips pressed firmly to keep from smiling, Hinata finally turned to Sasuke, eyes wide and begging in the firelight.
Jaw tight, Sasuke stared back.
"No."
It was a farce. Even as he turned stubbornly away from them both to look out beyond the shifting towers of increasingly bigger pines he knew it. The creature was too deep in a forest too empty to survive on it's own.
Despite it's size, growing bigger every morning he was still a pup by comparison to the mother Sasuke had so easily destroyed. His skills at hunting had become painfully obvious as he ran in frantic loud circles behind them, chasing triple tailed rodents with ears too big for their heads and eyes keen and beady in the half light.
"But... he could starve..."
"Hinata." Her name was becoming a common thing in his mouth and Hinata flushed whenever he said it, for although he was often annoyed it was still better than his more bitter princess habit.
"...perhaps I can... perhaps, I could shoot something for him."
Sasuke's dark eyes lifted from the flames and fixed themselves on her, the slight disbelief there not well hidden at all. "It would have to be rather small. I have seen no signs of larger game."
"A...sulpike, or a crono bird." Hinata agreed, dusting herself off as she stood, already grabbing for her quiver. Sasuke watched this with his face carefully placid. Sulpikes were the teasing little vermin that made the poor horkney dash around with it's tongue lolling out of it's mouth as it panted, desperate to catch one of the furry balls that sprinted between his giant paws arrogantly.
Crono birds on the other hand had a wingspan that made Sasuke envious. With tiny lithe bodies covered in feathers of a blue so deep it seemed black except for when the sun hit it and lit it to a thousand brilliant cool shades, like the sky. The only thing not beautiful about the bird was it's eerie mute beak for it had no song.
"I will not be impressed if you lose arrows."
"Of course."
"And don't wander far."
"But the fire will have frightened all the game-" Hinata began and stopped as soon as his eyes fixed on her face. Swallowing the last of her argument she sighed. "All right."
Notching an arrow she eyed him for a moment longer until he looked back, waiting.
"...if...if I get one..."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. This thing she did, of bargaining for things she desired had begun subtly and now after a week taken on a real tangible shape. At first it was "If I can shoot all the targets correctly... will you tell me about the cities on the moon? Or the archery competitions? Or learning to make bows?"
Then, after a while it had delved into other things, such as this moment as she blinked at him sheepishly.
"If...I get a sulpike, or a crono bird... can we name him?"
Sasuke closed his eyes, turning away.
"It could kill you in the night-"
"N-no, you are always watching and-"
"It might very well just be waiting to be big enough to eat you in one bite."
"I don't think so... I mean..." she glanced at the horkney who seemed to know he was being discussed and with his head on his paws turned his gold eyes from her to Sasuke, as though to lament how badly the argument was going.
"Sasuke." Her voice took on a more firm tone. "Just look at him."
It took some effort not to snap at her not to order him around, but rather icily he eyed the offending creature who slowly lowered his giant black ears around his head in deference.
If it could have oozed honey sweetness it would have. Disgusted by the display Sasuke turned away, letting out a grunt of dislike.
"A sulpike and a crono, both."
"Oh..." Hinata bit back what was almost a whine and setting her jaw to her most stubborn flex, moved towards the thick darkness past the halo of the fire, muttering very softly to herself.
"Must you grumble?" Sasuke's call made her jump, even as the horkney came plodding along beside her, tail wagging and ears pricked.
"Ah! I...I apologize!"
Still, out of sight with her bow raised and her feet moving with the ghostly silence of her Clan she smiled.
She had been taking down sulpikes and cronos for days now, pretending to be practicing her growing ability to draw the bowstring, leaving the bodies for the horkney to devour.
It was not like her to lie, but then she rationalized that this was hardly a lie, more of a well timed disclosure.
Strangely enough Sasuke eyed her disappearing shadow from his place at the fireside, rolling his eyes at the creature's wagging overly excited tail moving in the dark.
With an exasperated sigh he turned back to the fire, rolling around ideas of what one would name the furry overzealous brute. After all he was no fool. He knew perfectly well what she was capable of.
Neji and Tenten did more sleeping in the week that followed than they had in likely the entire month before it. Lee watched over them day and night, sitting with his legs drawn up to his chest on the only wide bench in their room, arms crossed over his knees, chin on his forearms.
Tsunade assured him that the sleep was normal, that to balance themselves they needed the rest. Pouring their life first into the woodland and then into each other would have been exhausting. She failed to mention how exhausting it had been for her to correct it as well.
It was not like a member of the Hawk Eyed Clan to loiter and do nothing, especially for one such as Kiba however. So, finding his watchful eyes unnecessary in the hospital room where the Lord Warren and Tenten rested he wandered the village at the heels of Shikamaru, Shino following behind.
"Seems a waste, to destroy the forest." Kiba commented lightly as he caught sight of the wall through the squat houses and buildings that were dolloped in a mess that had no real structure. You would have had to be blind not to notice the fact that the village was old, edging on ancient. Homes looked almost grown out of the earth, squat but sturdy, small but comfortable. Even with the fading blue of their painted shutters and broken pottery for their flower pots.
"Wouldn't really have a village without sacrificing the Iron Trees." Shikamaru replied, walking ahead towards the gate with his hands in his pocket, the perpetually weary expression on his face plastered there like others wore a tan. "The nomad clans started ravaging the town on a more and more frequent basis the wider the Rot got on their own territories and by the time Tsunade was elected to be village chancellor there was only a quarter of it left. They took everything- even the foundation stones of the houses. If you look behind the village to where the grass fields are that's where the other three quarters of the town used to be." He shrugged.
"It was us, or the trees."
"I suppose." Kiba allowed, glancing back at Shino who as usual looked back silently. After the destruction of Kiba's arm by the horkney Shino had not left his side. Worse than Akamaru he was constantly plastered to him, and although endearing Kiba found himself both mildly amused and irritated.
"Well, if there's anything we can do..." Kiba began slowly, thinking it best to steer the conversation from the trees and the slight insult he had accidentally stumbled about the village to the Captain of the Guard.
Shikamaru eyed him. "Is your arm even well enough for work?"
"Miss Ino says I should be good to go in a few more days." Kiba's grin caught Shino's eye, and for a moment a pressure of worry lessened in the stoic young man's chest. Since Lady Hinata's departure for the star Kiba had not been the same.
Being a shadow with no opaque was the same as being cut loose at sea, worse than losing the one they had sworn their lives to in death, for in that instance the mourning and the consequent freedom that followed in a shadow's life was clearly set out.
There was no guide for the life of a shadow permanently separated from it's Lord or Lady. Like Akamaru without Kiba, appetite waned, thirst went unheeded, smiles disappeared.
Until today.
"Well... we can always use more eyes on the towers." Shikamaru admitted. "I expect that we will not be having a lot of movement, since the nomads seemed to be heading away from here in the direction of the Rot itself but it's best to be prepared and alert."
"We can do shifts." Kiba offered, glancing back at Shino again. This time, perhaps because he had been gifted the smile only a moment ago Shino nodded and Kiba's grin returned.
On his back Akamaru peeked his fuzzy white head looking around with mild interest from his carrier.
"It's the least we can do, to show our gratitude for all the help your village has offered." Kiba rubbed Akamaru's head awkwardly over his shoulder, frowning slightly as he thought of the debt they now owed.
Shikamaru shook his head as they neared the gates, waving absently at Chouji who as usual sat comfortably within the tower's first floor, ax on shoulder, mostly asleep.
"There's no need for payment, your Lady took care of that."
Shino froze and, on reflex Kiba stopped with him, frowning slightly at Shikamaru's retreating back. "Lady Hinata?"
"She came bearing medicinal gifts we could not pay for." Shikamaru tossed over his shoulder. "I believe Tsunade is rather glad to have something that will put her less in debt to the Hawk Eyed Clan."
Looking at each other Kiba offered Shino a sigh and a weak smirk. Within their chests the twist of longing shifted at the thought of their friend and Lady, their precious one out in the wild they had barely survived themselves. "Of course she did."
"Come now, I'll show you the battlement." Shikamaru called, waiting for them at the steps. "You're going to want to know how to handle the nomads. They're...tricky."
"That would be very useful information," Kiba nodded, following close behind. "Once we're after Lady Hinata again we may cross paths."
Shikamaru kept his face decidedly away, looking purposefully at Sai who in that moment had the blessed gift of being able to smile in a manner that did not give away the worries beneath his and his captain's eyes.
Everyone who had been aware of the Hawk Eyed heiress coming through the village also knew now that the People of the Rot were after her. After some deliberating and hearing Lee tell the story of their goal Tsunade had only to look at Shikamaru to let him know there would be no mention of the situation to the outsiders until the Warren and Tenten were back in fighting form.
By then, likely as not it would be too late. But then there was nothing to be done worrying them unnecessarily.
If the nomadic People of the Rot were after the fallen star that Hinata had obviously been travelling with... then likely as not, they were already dead.
Sasuke had been surprised that there was the shine of victory about her face. Her cheeks had been flushed and her eyes wide as she threw (rather more aggressively than she needed to) not one but two cronos and a sulpike at his feet. She had had the luck of finding them nesting since the darkness had come and with her sharp eyes it had been an easy thing to slay the parents.
With her guts writhing, despite the necessity of the kill she had climbed the tree, retrieved the plum sized eggs and offered them to the horkney whose appetite appeared to have crushed all qualms about eating anything she so much as hinted might be for him.
Still licking his chops the beast huddled just out of Sasuke's periphery, waiting impatiently for the right to the bodies Hinata had left at his feet.
"I want...to name him... Shadow."
Sasuke's grimace was partly due to the dead animals, and partly at the awful name. "No."
"B..but you said-" Hinata began, and stopped herself sharply, clamping her mouth tight to hide her upset voice.
"You plan to name him after his coat color?" He grabbed the stiff dead creatures at his feet roughly and chucked them at the horkney then, watching with interest. It ran, tail raised like a war banner to tear them apart, salivating already.
The argument lasted several days.
"How...how about Guardian?"
Sasuke's furtive shake of his head had earned him a glare from behind and had he seen it perhaps he would have laughed. As it were he still smirked despite not catching the look, feeling the frustration coming off her in waves. "If he's guarding anything it's the right to eat you when you least expect it."
Hinata looked down at the horkney then, standing at her side he was tall as her hip, and after days of stuffing himself at any opportunity that presented itself had put on several pounds. The archery practice had been a blessing as Hinata took out more and more of the small rodent life that seemed the only moving thing in the stillness of the forest. Under the constant availability of food his shoulders had thickened behind his muscled head.
Looking back up at her the black creature let his tongue roll out of his mouth, pink and soft, gold eyes pools of affection.
"...I rather disagree."
Their walk had become harder, as the terrain began to rise and rocks began to jut out of the once smooth pine needle carpet. The boulders were sometimes cracked right down the middle by the enormous powerful roots of the pines that refused to take no for an answer while growing.
"That is all you seem to do lately."
Hinata felt herself heat up, licking her lips nervously wondering just how much she had been annoying him the last few days. It was a strange game she had been playing, prodding about to see what made his eyes flash with real disdain and then the more subtle disinterest of his approval.
"...did...did you ever have a beast companion, in heaven?"
Sasuke paused, glancing back at her from higher up the incline they were climbing. Above there would be a view to the Rot, he could smell it from even so far away. He was sick of the trees and their thick blinding boughs. He needed to see the wide expanse of home, to feel like if he wanted to fly he could do so.
"I..." He turned away, remembering the snowy white four legged creature made of starfire that had been his brother's companion growing up. It had never felt like his creature, but rather Itachi's despite the familiarity. "...his name was Amaterasu."
Hinata's steps crunched behind him in time with the horkney's soft panting.
"What does that mean? I...is it angel tongue?"
Blinking Sasuke glanced back at her, always amazed by the things she asked. "No... It is what we call fire." He frowned at her a little, biting back the comment about her lack of education. "It's what burns inside us."
"Amaterasu."
He watched, momentarily distracted by the way her mouth pursed to say the word, her pink lips pulling together in a similar fashion as when she kissed his palm to pour his pooled blood into her body.
Pearl eyes glowing in the unobstructed light of Luminatus and Solatta she smiled, just the barest turn of her lips at the corner. "Could we name him that?"
Pulling his eyes from her mouth with more effort than it should have taken he shrugged, as though it had nothing to do with him.
"Fine."
The horkney padded softly to her side, pushing his hard wide head beneath her palm, panting happily. Hinata smiled sadly down. Thoughts of a snowy white pup back home in the hands of her shadow flickered through her mind. Kiba's face lit with pleasure. Beside him Shino's usually stoic features had been unable to suppress a mild smile, infected by Kiba's wide spread enthusiasm for his new partner Akamaru. He had been nothing but a palm sized ball of cotton fluff when she had seen him. Now he was likely a full bodied pup. Clenching her jaw she sniffed, determined to keep thoughts of her friends from surfacing again.
"Amaterasu. Come."
Reaching the summit in silence was partly due to the fact that breathing in the stench of the Rot left a slimy feeling on the tongue, and partly due to them both being lost in their own thoughts. Breathless, Hinata attempted to steady her lungs, dragging in air through the nose that stung as the wind fluttered back her hair.
The outcrop was small, just a handful of paces wide and long, looking out to a vast flat land that was nothing but thick oozing mud, tufts of yellow dry grasses and patches of dry rock like scabs on a festering wound. It stretched out as far as they could see towards the mountains on the other side, standing tall and black as tar. To the right Solatta began it's descent coating everything in a gold and pink hue that caused the pools of oily substance on the wasteland to glimmer in a mockery of beauty.
"Veil... it's vast." Hinata breathed finally, looking out at their coming challenge.
Sasuke ground his teeth grimly. "The Scaled Worm is clever to hide behind such a defense. Anyone coming to beg for his help will enter weakened if not dying. Desperation makes a bad negotiator."
"...what...what does he have that you would need?" Hinata glanced nervously then at Sasuke, having wondered this many times and although she was fairly certain she knew the answer it still made her mind fretful.
"The ability to find my brother." Sasuke shrugged, turning away from the sight to gather wood for their usual fire. "He will smell his blood so similar to mine and tell me where he is... or where he will be, and I will hunt him down and kill him."
Watching his retreating back Hinata bit her lip, drawing away from even the half formed thought of ever having to desire the death of Hanabi or Neji with such coldness.
Worriedly she turned back to the panorama of death before her, sighing deeply. Back home the elders would be watching the Rot move forward in the direction of their valley, licking at the sides of their mountains and forests with vile intention. Her Clan would be going to the very edges, where the smell in her nose would assault them and placing stones polished smooth and shining, painted white to mark the progress they would tally the loss of wood land to the decay.
Behind her, gathering wood for a fire to keep her warm was the one whose bones would have kept it back.
Biting her lip hard she flexed her fingers around the solidity of her hunting knife hilt, stunned by the aching hollowness that replied as the thought of his blood and the power within it entered her head.
None of her training had prepared her for what the action of saving her people and valley would look like. Despite the gray they bore for taking life. None of them dared to to name her Calling what it was.
Looking back to where he had disappeared she watched as Amaterasu followed Sasuke's steps, hesitant at first then more confident as he wasn't shooed away, tail wagging cautiously.
It would be murder.
Saving her people...would require she murder.
Yet before her the rot stung and stank, the wind that rushed over it's vast plains laughing as swept the disgusting stench into her face. The decay mocked with it's growing expanse, because the truth was his murder would be the saving of her people, just like keeping his life would be their death.
"Get this creature away from me before I carve it." Sasuke's snap held none of the venom she remembered fearing at the start, and Hinata jolted out of her thoughts, swallowing the knot in her throat as she hurried towards him.
"If he gets in my way one more time..."
"I...I'm sorry! Amaterasu! Rasu, come here!" Hinata called, straining to keep her voice even. When she entered the cover of the trees she was thankful for their shadows, hiding the torn expression on her face as his dark eyes lighted on her.
The Valley could not die. It was her Calling. Her fate had been written in her blood.
Oh, Neji... Hanabi...Father..
What am I going to do?
Looking back at her steadily Sasuke cocked his head, just slightly. "You look ill."
Before she could shake her head or come up with an excuse he had approached, hand extended in a pattern growing more familiar day by day. Wordlessly, Hinata drew her hunting knife, handing it hilt first into his palm.
He made the cut clean, the silver pooling in glowing, perfect beads. Eyes closed, Hinata felt the burn of the blood on her tongue, hoping he would not notice the tears she was going to waste lest he taste her indecision, her self loathing, her pain.
What am I going to do?
Sitting together and yet very separate on the outskirts of the fire's light Sasuke attempted to not pay attention to her obviously craning her neck up to look at the heavens where the stars that remained glinted and glowed. Beside her Amaterasu lay snoring, a black inky darkness that was curled almost entirely around her small body, calm with her smell near.
The other thing that was determined to glow besides the stars was the smoothness of her long stretched neck as she stared up. Framed by the darkness of her hair so smooth it was distracting. He had been thinking entirely too much about that hair, about the way it was as black as his feathers and how sometimes he wondered if he touched it if it would be sharp as glass, slicing through his fingers.
"Um...Sasuke?"
Surprised he turned instantly to her, just barely snatching back the curious look from his face although it didn't matter. Her gaze remained fixed upwards, allowing him a great view of the long pale neck he had been purposefully not thinking about.
"If you're here... then...is the point of light you were up there gone?"
It took him a moment to understand her question. Like questioning if when he closed his eyes they disappeared. He cocked his head and then rather brusquely. "No...whyever would my tree disappear just because I'm here?"
Hinata's head snapped down to him at his words and although he had anticipated slight distaste with his condescending reply there was mostly just wide eyed curiosity. "Tree?"
He stared back, studying the expectant expression. Realizing again that although he had been taught many things about the Veil, she on the other hand...
"You know nothing about the Soul Trees?"
Carefully, with a shake of her head she untangled her arms from around her knees, sitting up earnestly. "Soul trees? What soul trees? Is that ...is that what the lights are?" She turned her face up to the sky again and then back to him.
Biting the inside of his cheek Sasuke turned back to the fire, debating with himself. On the one hand her curiosity seemed like it might eat her alive if it was not satisfied and it wouldn't take too long to explain. On the other hand...
He glanced at her again quickly, without turning his head. She bit her lip, worry gnawing at her at the possibility that he might not answer.
Sighing with exaggerated irritation he shrugged. "Each star has a soul tree, we are born when the sapling sprouts from the sky soil." He nodded up at the heavens. "What you see is the roots, spreading out. The older the tree, the wider the roots."
"Your...your soul is up there?" She was looking at him now, studying him like a thing anew. He winced slightly. "No, I am here. It... it is just a marker of my home." He sighed, suddenly hit by a pang of homesickness. "It makes certain that we are tied to our world and land, until we die."
"So you don't cut wood down then. How do you?" she waved at the fire. "How do you-"
"In time past we were given offerings by your kind." He frowned at her then. "Wood for weapons, and fires, although." He shrugged. "We are stars." His eyes blazed. "All we do... is burn."
It occurred to her then that the fire before her had come from between his lips, from within him.
"Oh..." she nodded, burying her face behind her knees again, studying the flames. The cogs and wheels within her head obviously turning very quickly.
"I knew we offered things... I didn't know it was things like wood, though. Is that how you knew what kind of tree to use for my bow?"
He nodded, dared a glance at the stars that made him ache so badly and turned back to the fire. "My brother taught me."
Raising her head again with interest Hinata let out a soft hardly audible word. "Brother."
Meeting her gaze past the flames Sasuke stared, daring her to continue. Stubbornly Hinata bit her lip and then began. "I have a... brother."
This was not what he had expected, frowning a little he continued to stare and say nothing, and taking that as a better response than him snapping her to be quiet she continued. "His name is Neji..." she smiled just a little. "He's very protective of my sister and I."
"I must not be a favorite of his then." Sasuke muttered thinly, and Hinata looked up from gazing at the flames, surprised for a moment by what was almost a joke before allowing herself half a laugh that she muffled with some effort. "No...I suppose not. But he always wanted me to learn archery." She lay her head on her arms, her voice less focused. "He thought it was more safe than the close combat I was required to learn. He would be glad I had such a great teacher."
The crackle of the wood seemed tame for some reason, less frightening as she stared at it thinking about the fact that inside of him somewhere a vast unquenchable fire raged. At first sight it seemed like he was nothing but the cold void of space.
She had been wrong, on several fronts about her fallen star.
"You should sleep." His voice was quiet, and carefully she turned her eyes to him through her lashes, holding as still as she would if faced with an easily startled fawn in the woods.
"Do you ever sleep, Sasuke?"
His smirk was instant despite the lack of eye contact, and she felt herself tighten at the sight of it. "I'm a star." he murmured. "I suppose I could, but I rarely want to."
Stretching out on the ground that was becoming increasingly more familiar and less awkward to sprawl on Hinata curled on her side, peering at him still through increasingly heavy eyelids.
She had not meant to say it, the thought was only half conscious even in her mind, so it was surprising that it filtered out of her mouth in a whisper.
"I can watch over you, if you ever want to..."
Sasuke remained perfectly still, unwilling to move, unwilling to even breathe. A long while after her breath had slowed to the familiar rhythm of sleep, only then did he turn. Silent, he studied her in the flickering light of the fire, trying to fathom how someone so small could make him so nervous.
Before they knew it, their pleasant wood land walk began to near it's end.
The trees that had so far survived the onslaught of the Rot were ancient beings. Even as they neared the edge where the mud and slime and death chewed incessantly at the ground it was those ancient trees that stood firm. Unwilling to succumb to the ever growing vapors of gas and filthy slimy air. The closer they got, the less small plants and saplings grew. With only a day left before their first steps into the Rot the sting of the stench had become background noise. Hinata had muttered it had probably burned the inside of her nose. He had silently thought her correct.
Sasuke stared up at the stubborn pine pillars, as he so often did when Hinata was asleep. Watching their tips disappear to points against the blaze of indigo and black of the sky.
He had never been in a land so blazing with vibrancy as the Veil. Above where the stars sparkled and shone he mused that depth of color in the sky soil lied about what hid behind it.
Creams, grays, whites and silvers were the natural monochrome make up of his childhood. Homes made of stone so white it glared in the light of of the passing Luminatus and Solatta. Not that their rising or setting did anything to their days. The time of rest and the time of labor were designated not by the suns wayward roll through the sky but by the bells that chimed from the towers of the lunar Umbra City.
Still, despite the bell tolling signalling the end of the "day" stars rested little. Their job as sentries of all three lands required constant vigilance and their bodies were made to withstand the rigors of constant training, education, preparation. It was the only way that passing through the atmosphere in the endless fall from Heaven to Veil to care for their charges could be withstood multiple times.
Once Sasuke had watched as a member of his brother's knighthood had gathered provisions for his journey. Armor for the bite of friction that came with being soilborn, star water gathered from the Well of Prayers where the wishes and requests of the humans were gathered at the center of Umbra City, and a sword because even in those peaceful days the Veil proved a fickle lover and could turn on a being at any moment, star or not.
Itachi had given the man instructions, whispers about a Clan he had studied whose prayers were particularly keen for compassion and courage, that he felt deserved a blessing. Not an indulgence for they had not requested this gift. Sasuke had been hardly tall enough to reach his brother's hip, cocking his head he had wondered what this blessing might be that this other angel was to pass on to the people of the Veil.
In the stillness of the Soul Wood the small gathering of stars had bid the angel good luck. With their bare hands lest they damage the roots of the trees, they dug away at the navy blue and spotted black of the earth until the gaping hole peered not towards more earth but to the atmosphere below where the Veil clouds drifted lazy in their white and lavender hues.
"Be wary of the rain, Shisui." Itachi had murmured with a smile, and his friend had snorted lightly. "Do I look a fool?" Carefully he lowered his legs through the hole, dangling as though at the edge of a pool. Face filled with trepidation and excitement he turned to Itachi one more time. "The Hyuuga."
"Yes." Itachi's nod was firm. "I believe they are worthy."
"If you have come to this conclusion then it must be so." Shisui shrugged in his boyish handsome way, the feathers on his back glinting pure and white against the glass green of the Soul Tree leaves behind him.
"Fare well." Itachi murmured, pressing a hand to his heart.
"For our glory." Shisui murmured, pressing a hand to his chest as well.
"And for those of the Veil Lands."
Shisui dropped through the hole, with no sound, no plop of water to receive him. Just the gaping maw of a rapid descent that would in their lifetime take but minutes. Sasuke however knew that for the people of the Veil the falling star would streak through their sky for weeks. Time was never quite the same in one plane as the other, and as he peered down the edge of the hole he twisted his small mouth with envy.
"Brother?"
"Hm?" Itachi's hands were busy with the soil, kneeling in the dirt despite the soft pristine blue of his trousers and the elegant waterfall of his cloak behind him.
"Why did you tell Shisui to...be wary of the rain?" Blinking Sasuke watched as the hole began to close, roots that had so amiably moved out of the way to allow the star passage tangling again into a network that held the sky soil in it's web.
"Rain is water. Like the liquid in the Well of Prayers, except that where that water is precious and holy to our bodies, rain..." He paused, looking up to find Sasuke's rapt attention on his face, eyes wide.
"Rain comes from above, it falls relentless and rapid. Some of us can stand it better than others." He touched his brother's cheek. "The more brightly you burn the less it bothers."
"Rain." Sasuke had whispered, blinking his onyx black eyes so beautifully prized in the Heavens where most bore gazes of gray, of brown and green.
"The Veil...sounds terrible sometimes." He admitted then, turning his worried frown to his brother. "How do the people there stand it?"
Itachi's laugh had been light, his hand stretching out flecked with dirt that smelled of home and growth and promise. Sasuke took it, feeling the familiar callouses on the palm and knuckle and fingers that spoke volumes about Itachi's immense prowess as a thing of war.
"They are not like us, they are like children." Itachi continued, and with the small entourage that had come to bid Shisui good bye they headed back towards the city, away from the exploding riot of trees that arched delicately above them in a canopy of glittering green.
"I am a child." Sasuke put in, frowning, not liking the idea of being described as a bad thing.
"Yes, and you are learning much." Itachi replied lightly. "Like they are. Some of them have much to learn." Softly he let out a sigh, worry flickering over his face.
Sasuke's young clever gaze missed nothing. Erasing the intense curiosity from his face the little one looked away. Casually, with small glowing white wings twitching their attempt at coolness he asked.
"What is Shisui doing? I heard you say a name. Hyuuga."
"Oh nothing." Itachi's reply was gentle, teasing, his smile knowing and therefore infuriating. "I can say however that it was your idea."
Face lighting up with a mixture of delight and frustration Sasuke floundered, mouth gaping as he scrambled to find words to the questions rollicking around in his head. "Eh! Brother, please- tell me what he-"
"Are you not late for a lesson with Master Kakashi?"
"Brother- brother please, I-"
"Sasuke, go on. You will have time for knowing all the secrets in the world when you have grown. Enjoy your childhood."
Enjoy your childhood.
Frowning Sasuke shook his head mildly, trying to clear the image of his brother's face so clean and relaxed, his eyes so open and welcoming.
What a sham it had all been.
With the roiling of anger and frustration that rose from such thoughts so did other memories. His mother dragging him hard despite his thrashing, of explosions that ripped bits of the moon bite by vicious bite, demolishing towers of ancient cities that had stood for millennia. With the black of the sky and the brightness of the planets looking on unfazed by the gore Sasuke had shrieked for his brother, his confusion at the color of his armor making him inconsolable. How could his brother, the one he loved and hoped to one day emulate wear the black of Danzo's treacherous band?
How could he be a traitor?
It couldn't be.
It couldn't be.
The pain had consumed him, so much so that it wasn't until his mother's body collapsed in her attempts to pull him back that he realized her armor and the long tunic she wore beneath it were soaked in the silver of blood. Not from the battle, not from slaying those who dared attempt a coup on the moon, but her own. Her voice had been ragged, her eyes black as his own losing the park of the stars within their deepening iris.
"Sasuke...your brother... you need to...take care of..."
It had snuck up on him, that memory. The image of his mother's gaze emptying, of her words unsaid dying on her silver stained lips.
Breathless, Sasuke shoved himself to his feet in the clearing, mouth dry. Heart aching in his chest with every beat. Softly, with his eyes flashing to the sleeping form of Hinata tucked against Amaterasu his voice came in choked whispers.
"No... no, no, no."
It had been so long since those thoughts had twisted in his mind, sharp as jagged etched glass, tearing him apart. With a fist of the black tunic in his hand he breathed out softly, pressing hard against the space beneath his ribs where the pulse of agony bled from.
It always astounded him how a broken bone or the tearing of his flesh could sting and burn and still be put from his mind in the fray of battle, but the throbbing wound of his heart break still had the ability to bring him to his knees with the simplicity of a wayward memory come to pay a visit.
In the stillness the fire crackled and crunched, and he stared into the flames, trying to focus on their wild and spirited dance.
He had to think of something else, he had to put his brother's smile from his mind. He had to wipe away her gasping breaths, her dark eyes searching his face as silver stained her lips, her cheeks...
Like the flames before him memories flickered in his mind, a play of images tangled together and for a moment he was looking at both his mother, dying in his young arms with the silver shining against her soft pale skin. And Hinata, pearl eyes dazed, the touch of his blood staining the corner of her kissable mouth, her cheeks the foreign beautiful pink of the Veil's bashful.
Opening his eyes he turned to her then, studying her curled form, small compared to the girth and fur of Amaterasu's black muscles.
Pressing his lips together he stared, watching the even in and out rise of her side as she breathed, knees drawn in, her hand relaxed on the ground, her scarf bunched beneath her head for a pillow.
In the shifting light of the fire she always seemed so small. Despite his attempt to dissolve her fear of the flames she still eyed their nightly fires with suspicion. Although, he had noted that unlike before where she had been so far from them the shadows had hid her, now she could sleep with it only a few feet away.
Amaterasu shifted, opening one gold ringed eye to look at Sasuke in the dim light, his pointy tufted ear turning towards him in question.
Sasuke smirked then, surprised at the pull of his mouth even as he slowly settled himself back down to the ground. That damn beast, with it's vicious mouth lined with deadly treacherous teeth and talons growing faster than bean sprouts would (of course) choose Hinata as his new mother.
"Stop." Sasuke muttered finally at the creature, shooting it a look of irritation. Just because they tolerated each other did not mean they got along. "Go back to sleep."
A low deep grumble reverberated from Amaterau's body, and wincing a little Sasuke watched Hinata shift, her hand tucked tightly to her side readjusting on the handle of her hunting knife in her sleep.
After several breaths both the beast and girl seemed lost again in their dreams and Sasuke let his shoulders relax, studying her without restraint.
He clenched his jaw against the thoughts slowly whispering to life inside his head, questions about her wiggling cautiously for attention. Before any of them could truly form to speak about the nerve wrecking feeling of having her eyes on him the silence stole his focus.
Feeling rather than seeing intruders Sasuke paused, dark eyes sliding slow and smooth over the spread out pillars of the pines, thickly enmeshed in the white whisper of what looked like fog.
It crept and edged, twirling like fabric in a stream, buffeted by soft breathy winds. On Hinata's side Amaterasu suddenly lifted his head, gold eyes glinting in the fire light. Both ears raised and turning in sharp twists on his head as he listened.
Sasuke's gaze flickered to Hinata then, aiming to whisper her awake only to find her hand clenching the now unsheathed hunting knife tightly, pearl eyes clear and focused on his face. Her pink mouth pursed for a moment as she too listened without moving.
It started with a slow, dark drum beat.
Like a heart it pulsed in careful throbs, so deep it seemed to come from within their own heads booming through the wood and bouncing from trunk to trunk, making it impossible to pinpoint it's birth.
At the first pulse Hinata pushed herself to a crouch, her knife gripped in white but steady knuckles.
Amaterasu's hackles raised, taloned feet digging into the pine needles and soil beneath his enormous paws, a growl as deep as the booming drum vibrating from within his muscled sleek black chest.
"Get into a tree." Sasuke's whisper was deft, even as he pulled the tunic he wore over his head to better free his wings, his jaw set at the sight of flickering light coming from several different points in a circle around their small fire.
"What?" Hinata's snap was flat and unimpressed. "There are many, I'm not-"
"Do as I say." Sasuke's icy bite froze on his tongue when he glanced to the pines around them and his eyes widened.
There would be no climbing to safety.
Following his gaze Hinata let her mouth fall open, breath forgotten in her lungs, unused.
The pines, so tall and awe inspiring reached into the darkness of the night, their boughs heavy laden with needles thickening the shadows to an oily black. Hanging from the branches twenty feet up in thick bunches like ugly frightening fruit were the bodies of dozens of men looking down upon them.
For a moment there was nothing but the booming of the drum, always even and steady like a heart in rest. The men hung from one arm. Like hairless monkeys smudged roan red with crusted mud, with their feet pressed to the trunk, their free hands wrapped around long spears tipped at first with what Hinata had thought was off white stone.
Upon closer inspection, with her eyes sharp with fright she picked out the shape of a jaw, the dull white shine of human teeth wrapped crudely to the staff.
Bones. Their spears were tipped with human bone.
"People of the Rot." Hinata's whisper betrayed the terror eating at her insides. Shaking hard she stepped back, unconsciously drawing closer to Sasuke whose face had gone deadly still.
"What do they want?"
Hinata shook her head. "I...I don't know..." Right at her side Amaterasu growled, and the men looking down at them so silent and still turned their heads as one to study the creature.
From their hordes a voice called out, even as the drum in the distance seemed to gain pace and fervor.
"Controlling the beast is for it's benefit. Lest you want it upon our roasting spit."
Eyes shifting slowly Sasuke rotated one shoulder, restraining the urge to snap his wings from his back. Silently he counted the many opponents with distaste. He had been too well trained not to know when he was outnumbered, and although the likelihood of a victory on their side was still miserably low, it was also high that Hinata would pay the price for not thinking.
"What do you want?"
"We have been tasked." The voice still came without a body, deep, male and rough as though from constant sickness. Any of the faces above him could have released it's sound, and in the background the drum continued, speeding in painfully slow increments.
"We come for the Ichor of the Fallen."
Sasuke's face tightened, a snarl curling his lip as his dark eyes bloomed with blood lust and power. Hinata snapped her head towards him then, feeling the dangerous shift of pressure in the air in a growing bubble around his shape. Right before her eyes his wings exploded, not slowly like uncurling petals reaching for the sun as per usual but a shattering spray of ebony razors that flashed and glistened in the light with the desire for cutting.
Choking on the power of his magic swelling she stumbled back, with Amaterasu keening nervously at her side.
"Hinata." His voice was no longer familiar, a metallic tinge like the silvery shine of his blood now marred it and although his eyes remained fixated on the threats hanging above she felt as the panic ripped through her, ice suddenly flooding her veins.
"Run."
There was no arguing with that tone, with the push of magic that swelled around him. No sooner had he said it than her limbs complied. Like an arrow released with his unerring aim she shot through the dark, snatching at the bow and quiver on the ground as she sprinted hard into the trees. Right on her she heard the ulutating sounds of the Rot People's war cry echoing through the pillars of pine.
Amaterasu ran, a shadow at her side that growled, ears twisting and turning attempting to locate the incoming danger.
She had only made it out of the halo of light, just past the brightness offered by the fire when the pounding sound of Sasuke's wings and the force of their flap sent pine needles in a hurricane behind her, forcing her to raise her arms over her face as she ran to save her eyes.
In her head the fear bloomed like a bruise, fear that he would only send her away if he was unsure of the outcome, uncertain of victory.
Uncertain that he would survive.
Panting hard she glanced back, sliding the quiver over her head in time to see the shifting shadows of the Rot People. Jumping from tree to tree, moving like silent deadly crows smeared red and brown. Only the wild whites of their eyes and the glinting shine of their teeth between their snarling lips showed in the dimness.
Breath burning in her lungs, tears stinging in her eyes she pushed. The acidity of Sasuke's blood pumped power into her thighs and calves, speeding her on like a lithe doe through the trees.
Amaterasu snarled a warning, spinning around ears flat on his head and Hinata took the cue. Twisting hard, bow up, arrow notched, her blessed gaze zeroed on the careening form of a wild man falling at her from the trees, spear raised, teeth bared.
With Sasuke's voice in her head whispering she did as she was taught.
Draw.
Breathe in.
Release.
Despite the explosion of blood as the arrow pierced his throat, derailing his trajectory and throwing his head back with a sickening wet grunt she didn't stop. Sucking air hard into her lungs, she turned and ran. There was no horror screaming in her mind, no pain, no mourning. Just his voice in her memory, tinged with a smirk.
Good, Princess.
Beside her Amaterasu's approval rumbled like thunder and together they ran on.
TBC