Just getting into the rhythm of this thing again. It's a little bit like learning to ride a bike after a long time. I know I can do it, but the first few laps around I'm going to be a tiny bit wobbly.
Thank you so much for my lovely reviews!
Although, I'm starting to think you guys might be biased hahahaha Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that.
Much, much love
Inky
PS. If you are reading this on or near Tuesday chances are you are like "what the heck? why does this not make sense?" I definitely left out the first chunk. X.x and added it quickly. SO SORRY. this is what happens when I edit on no sleep.
bad. Inky. BAD.
The feather in his hands was a white that shone brighter in the suns light. Sharp as a knife at the bony core, soft as down at the edges it's lightness and elegance was something he had nearly forgotten in the months past.
By contrast, the darkness of his fallen feathers was a brutal thing. Heavy and cumbersome it was as much a torture device for those that incurred his wrath as to himself.
Pushed back on his list of things to yearn for his wings had been sidelined by more pressing matters. Battles and the roar of the wasteland, the blood on Hinata's lips as she drowned within her own lungs, and then the poison at his neck had distracted.
Slowly, Sasuke lifted his gaze back to Hinata's slumbering form on the bed, the light threading through the darkness of her hair and setting her still pale skin to shining like the feather he twirled absently in his hands. Too exhausted to stay awake he had arrived to find her serene as he had rarely had occasion to see her. And he could hardly blame her.
Somehow she had managed to do something he had not even tried to address, despite its importance. Letting out a sigh he glanced at Rasu splayed on the floor near the door of the room. He had taken his guard duties seriously in the days past, refusing to move from his place but to be fed and watered, returning as soon as his meal was received in the patio off the palace kitchens where the women and children of the Rot now worked at their leisure to feed themselves.
And the ones they were now calling heroes.
The knock on the door was brief, followed by the hinges creaking as Chattel after Chattel entered, heavy laden with trays crowded with dishes.
"Lord Star."
"We had to cook Amaterasu's flesh, to minimize the mess if he is to take his meal here."
"And we knew not what the Princess Hinata would be capable of eating at her waking, so we brought many options."
"And also dinner for yourself."
The girls stood in a line, arms tight on their trays as if expecting something. Straining not to growl Sasuke nodded, eyes resting on Hinata in time to see her lashes flicker and fix themselves on the Chattels as they placed their trays on the table by the fireside, moving to leave quickly in response to the Star's silence.
No sooner had the door closed than Sasuke leaned back in his chair, tucking away the white feather in a pocket of the dark tunic Anko had provided him.
Hinata peeked at him from her place on the bed, dimly aware of the rising heat to her cheeks as he stared, brow furrowed and face unreadable.
After an unbearable handful of heartbeats she sighed, closing her eyes as the realization of his anger washed over her. "...I... I know you are upset with me."
Arms crossed tightly over his chest Sasuke rose, wandering to the foot of her bed to lean against the post there, dark eyes pinched at the edges.
Slowly, Hinata dared to glance at him again, glaring at the flames that danced in the grate for a moment before inching herself slowly up.
"You should not be moving."
His voice twisted something in her chest, and the second realization, that she had not heard him in days made something uncomfortable and strange hurt deep within.
Swallowing the wince of discomfort as she adjusted herself on the mattress she heaved a breath and finally faced him, straining to keep eye contact despite her hesitation.
"I... I am not sorry."
Brows rising, Sasuke pressed his lips tightly together. "Is that so."
"Y..yes." Annoyed with the stutter, Hinata held a breath, fiddling nervously with a frayed edge on the heavy duvet thrown over her aching legs. "I... I would do it again."
Frustration simmered within him then, making his shoulders tense and his jaw ache with clenching. Still, he pressed his lips even more tightly together to keep himself from smirking.
So small. She was hardly a lump in the giant expanse of the mattress. There was likely more weight in the many pillows than on her body. So stubborn.
"All just to blackmail me into helping you on a fool's errand." It was not a question, more a weary lamentation and Hinata's frown deepened slightly.
"Blackmail." the snap was decidedly annoyed. "I asked, I did not-"
"It nearly killed you, administering those tears." Sasuke cut in swiftly, his glare as steady and unshakable as his blade. "If you think I will let myself be indebted to you-"
"Nonsense." Hinata snapped back, face flushed so that all those freckles that had been flickering through his thoughts since waking stood bright. "Breaking those slave collars, healing those Chattels... that was you. Don't deny you were eager to help-"
"You-" Sasuke began and froze as her voice rose, drowning out his hissing denial.
"And why are they calling me Princess? Tell them to stop!"
He balked, completely blindsided by the strange turn in the conversation. All thoughts of telling her of their coming separation dropped from his mind. "You are daughter of the ruling family, heiress to a land and people-"
"I am not a princess." There was for the first time ever the slightest, hardly audible sound of a pout in her voice as she glared down at her hands, tiny shoulders stiff beneath her sleeping gown.
"What then, is your definition of a princess?" He could not keep the slightest twitch of his lips as he asked, walking slowly to sit at her side.
The smell of him hit her like a cool summer breeze on a hot day. Mint, and lightning, petrichor and ashes. Swallowing hard, the usually calm Hinata dug around inside herself for her frustration, lifting her gaze full of accusation to his face.
"B...by your definition... a princess is useless."
She was tired, he could see it in the darkness beneath her eyes, in the thinness of her cheeks and the limp fall of her dark hair. But as always the pearls in her face shone bright and defiant if a little sheepish. Silently he thought, receiving the rebuke without anything to say in defense. He had implied this too often to shrug it away now.
"I am fairly sure, that no one who spends even a minute in your presence considers you useless." he moved without thinking, his hand a rebel taking no orders as he tucked a lock of her dark hair behind her ear. "Including me, Princess."
Wide-eyed, Hinata stayed perfectly still, refusing to breathe.
The clatter of the door opening made them both jump, and Kabuto entered with Anko at his heels. "Oh, excellent. You are awake."
Smoothly, Sasuke rose and moved to the trays the Chattels had left behind, taking bits of the cooked meat they had brought for Rasu and tossing it to the suddenly alert horkney wagging his tail furiously at his master.
Blinking rapidly to clear the sudden fog that had descended on her brain Hinata turned to the blonde, trying hard to ignore the heat that was making her neck and cheeks and ears blaze as he dropped a bag on her nightstand and began removing instruments she recognized from his Dispensary.
Frowning slightly he glanced at her as he worked. "Are you well? You seem overheated."
Anko, watching with arms crossed from the other side of the room let her eyes slide to the Star now crouching to rub Rasu's head, ignoring everyone decidedly.
"I...I am fine. Just, tired." Hinata stammered, allowing Kabuto to press the metal cone to her back, listening intently to her breathing.
Feeling eyes on his back Sasuke finally lifted his gaze and froze to see Anko studying him shrewdly, lips pressed into a thin line. There was not enough wariness in her face before she turned away as if she had measured him carefully and found him somehow wanting.
The rain of springtime always came in fits and starts. The storms would rage in the evening and through the night. Shaking the roof of their home and making the shutters dance against the wall. He would curl up tight as a ball in his bed with his siblings and feel their frightened limbs plastered to him, their elder and protector.
In the morn they would see the world always awash with clarity. Sparkling with the residue of the chaotic rain and lightning it was a realm full of possibility.
At least, he had used to think so before he was old enough to understand that everything had a darkness to it. Nothing was ever truly just opportunity. Opportunity meant you had to take a chance, and chances meant there was the possibility of failure, of pain.
He learned that when he heard of the fire that had sprung in the Villa over a decade ago. He had been too young to remember. It had begun with the flash of lightning streaking through the heavens like a knife. The Villa had been the obvious choice for the storm's aim. It was the highest point in a low flat land Valley. it was topped by the metal towers and instruments from a time long past when the Hawk Eyed had studied the world and even had scholars who were students of the weather.
They told him that was how the Lady Hawk, mother of the heiresses and wife to the Lord Hiashi had died, eaten alive by the fire.
Even the Lord's powerful magic had not been sufficient to save the storehouses, barely enough to keep the damage to the Southern Pavilion.
"They are human." Konohamaru's father had sighed when he had told him the story, their hands deep in the soil which was less dark than the year before, less joyful.
"We revere them now, but once upon a time, our own family had been leaders of the Valley. We ruled because it was our land that produced the vegetables and fruits, our family's labor that fed all the mouths." He sighed deeply, leaning back a moment to straighten his tired back, sweat-soaked from rummaging in the earth on hands and knees to feel with his skin the depth of the Rot's reach into the land.
"But..."Konohamaru had stuttered, thinking of the pale eyes of the men and women he watched wander past the fields his family owned on the very outskirts of the Valley. They were dangerously close to the forest where the animals now paced hungry and desperate. "..their eyes- were they not blessed?"
"Certainly." His father shrugged then, tapping his nose lightly with affection. "But we are all blessed, Konohamaru. One way or the other." He pressed his hand then to his young son's chest, feeling the healthy beating heart within. "You at least get to choose what you will do with your blessing. Perhaps..." he shrugged then, offering a tired wink on his worn face. "...you are more blessed even than they who have no choice in the matter."
Konohamaru's grin had been wild, his little mind whirring with thoughts of blessed eyes and the soil within his hands. Distracted by his thoughts he did not see when his father straightened, catching sight of a handful of figures heading down the edges of his field slowly. Too slowly to simply be the passing wayward clumps of foragers heading into the darkness of the forest.
Several rows over, with a babe strapped to her back and her face half hidden by a wide-brimmed woven hat Konohamaru's mother straightened, catching wind of the tension in her husband's body instinctively.
"Is that...?" she began softly, rising from her place in the dirt as well. The rains had been hard the night before and the soil was soft and pliable. With spring heading towards them fast and furious, it was the right time to handle the earth. To feel how much of it was dark with nourishment and how much had succumbed to the growing Dryness within their Valley.
"Lord Hiashi."
Konohamaru raised his head to look at his father then in surprise, jumping to his feet and raising a hand to block the sun as he squinted through the haze. At the head of the envoy, a tall broad-shouldered man walked, cloaked in the white tunic of the Hawk Eyed, the gray sash around his middle and the blood red darkness of his pants signifying his ability and willingness to take life.
Behind him, a handful of other adults walked in varying colors. A handful of black-clad elders like giant crows waddling through the grassy edges of the field. A young man who walked with the same slow intense look as Lord Hiashi, his sash gray and his tunic red to signify his proficiency at the Hawk Eyed art of killing.
Mouth dry, Konohamaru scanned his face. "The Warren."
"That must be them, then." His mother whispered, walking to stand beside him, hand on his shoulder.
The two white-clad figures on either side of the Lord Hiashi were small. Little puffs of cotton amongst the chaos of the brown field. They walked with careful movements, and despite the youth on their faces, they surveyed the world attentively, knowingly.
For a moment Konohamaru felt the familiar flash of longing and envy that their pearl eyes inspired, before shaking himself roughly of the thought. His father was right, as always. It was a pity they had little choice regarding their live's calling. He, on the other hand, was free.
"My Lord Hiashi." Konohamaru watched his father bow, and then blinked, distracted from the men's voices by the sight of the two tiny heiresses standing right before him.
The elder looked closely at the ground, examining the plants that his mother had been tucking into the earth after having sprouted them amongst raw cotton balls collected from the summer snow that drifted in the hot months.
On the other side, the younger stood stiffly, arms laced behind her back much like The Warren who stood silent and still behind them both.
He frowned slightly, startled to find the younger girl's eyes trained on him, white as the tunic she wore they loomed in her pixie soft face. Her dark brown brows and long lashes framing the blessed gaze as she stared at him.
Feeling strangely cowed Konohamaru rummaged around inside himself for an adequate reply, and as children are wont to do he stuck his tongue out.
The girl's flinch was involuntary and with her jaw tightening fitfully she glared, drawing a slow triumphant smile from Konohamaru's mouth.
"...well, I do not want to disturb your work. Forgive the intrusion. We were surveying and I figured since you were here..." Hiashi's voice cut into Konohamaru's thoughts, drawing his attention again to the men's conversation.
"There is nothing to forgive, Lord Hiashi."
Turning away with his back ramrod straight Hiashi paused, brow furrowing at the sight of his eldest daughter crouched near one of the miniature sprouts, head cocked to the side as she investigated its leaf pattern.
"Hinata." his snap was like a well-managed whip and startled the girl jumped, losing her balance only to catch herself palm flat on top of the tiny fragile vegetation.
Her snatched breath was as fast as her limbs snapping up as though electrified, eyes wide.
"Oh...Oh, forgive me- I-" she started, turning to Konohamaru's parents with wide pale eyes filling rapidly with tears.
Konohamaru gasped, stunned. His father and mother had alluded that the eldest of the heiresses had been born with a weak heart, with eyes that wept and blurred her sight.
He had not believed it.
"Please, forgive my offspring," Hiashi muttered, grabbing the girl by the arm and pulling her around to walk back. "There is much training yet to be accomplished in this one."
Without giving anyone a chance to reply he dragged his daughter away, murmuring rapidly in her ear as he went.
The envoy followed, as though tethered to the Lord Hawk by an invisible line. All but the smallest of the silhouettes falling into line.
Lingering after the others wandered further down the path, Hanabi gazed levelly at Konohamaru and his parents, making him suddenly nervous that she would disclose his improper gesture only moments before.
To his surprise, the girl glanced first back at the path where her father was quickly disappearing and then at the crushed and now useless sprout pressed too deeply into the soil by her elder sister's hand.
Wordlessly, and with hardly a bend to her small knees she lifted a hand to hover over the miniature green, eyes squinting tightly and jaw clenched as she stared.
"Oh...Lady Hanabi, you do not-" Konohamaru's mother began wide-eyed only to pause with the words dead on her lips as the beansprout shivered like shaking off a chill and straightened, it's leafy stem sighing back into place as healthy as before.
"It is good spell practice." Hanabi murmured, voice too serious for a child, too dark.
Wordlessly the family watched as she walked back after her family, The Warren standing patiently at the end of the row for his youngest charge.
"Huh." Konohamur listened as his father studied the sprout, mouth still slack with surprise. "One weeps, the other wields magic like it's as simple as breathing."
"She was exhausted by that." His mother retorted. "Her brow beaded with sweat. Is she not too young?"
"The other is too old for weeping. Even newborns sometimes do not weep." His father's reply was worried, and while he and his wife studied the resurrected plant before them Konohamaru watched as Hanabi glanced back once more at the very end of the row and stuck her tongue out in return.
His grin was instant and so wide it was nearly painful.
"If you ask me... it will be the younger who saves us." Turning finally back to his father Konohamaru watched as he straightened, following the troupe of Hawk Eyed with his eyes as they headed back towards the Villa where they had lived for centuries.
"They say The Warren has taken to calling her Little Fire. Because of the all-consuming passion of her character." A slight tone of pride usually only reserved for his own children lingered on his tongue and Konohamaru blinked rapidly at him, absorbing his words in the brightness of the early spring sun.
"Little Fire?" He asked softly, thinking of her glare.
"Mm." His father hummed, bending back down to continue working. "It would be a good omen to have a fire on our side."
The bang of the door flinging open roused him with a dagger in one hand and a throwing knife in the other. The young man who had barged into the Shadow's sleeping quarters flinched back a step but was lucky enough to have disturbed one of the best-trained people in the Villa besides those of the Main Family themselves. Someone else might have skewered him for his rude disruption.
"K-Konohamaru, sir." He gasped, breathless. "The Lady Hanabi calls for you."
Konahamaru had already risen, grabbing a shirt to throw over his naked torso while he shoved his feet back into his soft leather boots, pushing the jittery Hawk Eyed boy out of the way as he marched out into the hall.
The Villa had been in an uproar since their arrival, and only at the orders of his Lady had he dragged himself to his bed, finding rest despite the rushing worries in his mind. He could not recall the last time he had had an actual meal or slept for longer than a handful of hours. The short nap had been necessary and now his senses felt sharp as wetted blades.
From the second floor balcony, he looked out to the courtyard where animals and people were crowding in what looked like chaos. He could recognize Hanabi's strategic evacuation of the Village, however. Women and children were being herded into the underground cellars not filled with the last of the bounty that would be collected come autumn. Pack animals wheeling blankets and furs, barrels of drinking water and the precious dried foods the villagers could not risk being ransacked by the invaders were being organized near the back of the Villa where the stables and granary of the Southern Pavilion were flung open to the cooling late summer air.
Dragonmoth lamps were being lit by stern-faced Hawk Eyed members, handed out to the more steady-handed women arriving in from the village. Beyond the wood and rock walls of the Villa, he could see the suns sinking against the black of the mountain range, bleeding itself to death for the sake of night's glory.
He stopped abruptly however, halfway through throwing the tunic over his head and causing the messenger behind him to slam into his shoulder blades when his eyes landed on the spouting black smoke rising from the Village proper.
"Curses." His whisper lashed from his mouth and with an unsteady gasp he was running, shoving past people as he struggled to clothe himself, shouting out orders for the messenger to bring him his weapons from the armory.
Dodging women and children, braying donkeys and lamenting frightened goats he wove his way to where the Villa gates were only half open, people scrambling inside with high pitched cries of panic on their voices and soot-stained faces. Babies wept as their mother's hustled through, right before the double doors were slammed closed and the timber slid across to bolt it.
Above and on either side the unused sentry towers were now teeming like an anthill with white clad Hawk Eyed heavy laden with their bows and arrows, thighs darkened by the throwing knives strapped in easy reach.
Throwing himself up the stairs Konohamaru shoved his hair out of his way, catching sight of her glaring fiercely over the wall, the only point of stillness in a myriad of moving parts. Around her the Clan moved, preparing extra quivers of arrows, hauling water to quench the unavoidable fire that their enemy would try to light at the entrance of their home. In the chaos, her stillness was a point of brightness, and he clenched his teeth to remember her small childish face, the calm with which she had gazed at him at their first meeting.
It was the same transient immobility of flame, right before it sparked and set the world to fire.
"Lady Hanabi."
His voice broke the spell and she turned away from the fires that raged at the Village grounds. Homes that had stood unshakable against winter snowstorms and summer thunder for centuries now turning to ashes tossed by wayward winds into the heavens.
Rage, as bright as superheated iron glowed from her blessed Hawk gaze.
"Konohamaru." The choked whisper of her voice betrayed little to anyone else. Even her father standing behind her with Grandelder did not turn at the sound of her subtle strain, staring into the destruction of their people's homes instead.
Konohamaru however, knew what that tone meant.
"No." He shook his head, his whisper alerting Grandelder and subtly the older man watched them.
Hanabi's rage only brightened at his word. Seething she clenched her jaw, letting out a breath through her nose like a bull before rushing. "No?"
"You are needed here. You must guide the forces. They look to you. Send me." He searched her face, looking for the glimmer of rationality among the burning embers of her fury. "I will slay them in your name. Use me."
Opening her mouth to retort sharply Hanabi paused, hearing the sudden booming echo of a drumbeat- a sound that had been missing in the Valley since music had been forsaken for the sake of survival. Besides the trilling songs of their people during gleaning and foraging, there had been no music on their land and the drum made her stiffen.
On the wall, all around her Hawk Eyed and Villager alike stilled to listen, their eyes wide, their breaths held.
The pulse droned on, growing it's frantic pace so that their hearts raced to keep up. Growling low Hanabi stepped to the wall, gripping the ancient wood of the Villa's defenses.
How many hundreds of years had the walls gone without a single battle. Nothing but the weather fought with the largely peaceful people of the Valley and now as the drum roared so too did the shadows of the invaders materialize from the ashes and smoke.
They moved awkward and loping, less human than animal. Their matted hair and painted faces grotesque. The whites of their eyes glared in the growing darkness and the flash of their bared teeth made Hanabi think sharply of the threatening gaze of half-breed demon foxes in the woodland.
The smell of them was pungent enough to be carried on the smoking breeze and gasps of disgust and terror rippled through the men and women at the gate, their hands shaking as they gripped their weapons.
Hanabi let her eyes slide to her periphery, watching as they struggle to keep fear from their faces.
These were not warriors. These were hunters, perfect stalkers and killers by need not by desire, and the creatures marching towards them looked both human and monster, terrifying and familiar. A combination of both things avoided in their form of battle.
Konohamaru let out a ragged breath, half growling as he took the bow and quiver offered to him by a breathless young man. Eyes fixed on the dozens of shadowy men approaching he slipped the weapons on his body, fiddling with the belt of his short sword absently.
"Orders, my lady."
It was not a request.
Jaw tight, Hanabi glanced at her father whose face was so tightly held, at the men on either side looking steadily more horrified at the approach of their foes.
Come now, Little Fire. Neji's voice was smug with pride, despite the teasing. Show them how to set a real flame.
"Take two dozen men." she murmured, lifting a hand, gaze fixed on the steadily growing speed of their opponents as they began a loping trot towards their gates, their spears aiming for the faces watching them approach.
"And?" Konohamaru let out a breath, watching as her hair began to dance- drawing the attention of all her people. Around them the world wavered like a heat wave and the air condensed to the thickness of water. The ponytail hanging low at her back flicked and fluttered like the tail of a hunting cat and her eyes sharpened.
"And slaughter whatever of them I leave behind."
The boom of the drum was suddenly drowned, a sound much deeper in nature echoed through the ribcage of all as her magic roared vicious and vindictive. Stone, thick as tree trunks punched through the compact earth of the path dotted with invaders and their cries of surprise were marred with pain as the boulders jammed into their bodies, brutal and unforgiving.
Konohamaru smirked, withholding all awe from his face as he hoisted himself up onto the wall ledge, looking down at the thirty-foot drop calmly.
"Archers!"
Hearts now pounding, infected with their heiresses' bloodlust the clan rushed forward, following the Shadow's example without hesitation.
"For our glory!"
Their jumps were fearless, clothing fluttering in the breeze of their fall even as the ground tore and shredded itself like a dozen angry mouths to chew on the Rot clan's first wave.
"And for those of the Hawk Eyed Clan." Hanabi's whisper replied, sweat beading on her forehead running down her face in place of tears as she watched the one most dear to her head straight into the fray of possible death.
Despite his best intentions to avoid the thought, the Worm's words had festered. The geysers hissed at him in the black of the jungle darkness.
The smears of the worm's path through the soft ground showed a scarring map of their battle that he studied with face placid as an undisturbed pond.
There, he had been thrown to land at Hinata's feet. There, she had pulled back her bow with eyes glowing white as the moon, and just as fierce as the people who lived upon it. Her magic had been a vibrant star shining in a black void, the hiss of the arrow as piercing as the screech of the Hawk from which her Clan had gained it's name.
Carefully he stepped past the heated clouds of water leaving foggy tendrils through the black and to the edge of the pit again, fingers twitching with anticipation.
The hole gaped wide and ominous as a throat ready to swallow. Beneath, hidden by the layers of shadows the slithering monstrosity of the worm was a tongue too short to escape.
Hissing softly as he tasted the air the Profane rumbled his discontent.
"Here again, are you? What now? Come to beg for more tidbits?"
Slowly his hooded serpentine head lifted and the glow of Hinata's arrow lit it's still blood smeared mess where the two eyes had been gouged.
Plucking the magic from the air was easy, it still surprised him how easy. He had grown used to the struggle, to the strain of dragging the electricity to his hands, the power to his fingers. Now, it was as simple as opening his wings wide, as comfortable as drawing a deep breath to sprint.
The flicker of sparks was lost on the blind Profane but the sudden suck of air from his lungs was not. Suddenly still, his tongue flicked rapidly, listening as the chirp and scream of the lightning in Sasuke's hand solidified into the glowing katana he preferred.
"No. Begging is not something I am keen on doing."
"Only a fool would pass up all I can tell. Are not the Uchiha's a wise bloodline? Has the intellect been lost through the generations?" Panic was starting to slither into the darkening tone of the Worm's voice and something about it had Sasuke's thin-lipped smirk rising.
"The bloodlust has grown, vile one." His wings flared then, their sharpness cutting the air as the edge of his blade sang. "It is time to end you."
"Wait!" The shriek had no semblance of calm, or dignity. Flattening against the curved wall of his jail the Worm thrashed as though pinned. "T-the slaves!"
"I have no need of slaves."
"But you cared enough to shatter my collars? To give them their freedom?" He was panting now, and had he been in his humanoid form sweat would have glistened on his upper lip, stinking strongly of his terror.
Feeling the coiling pressure of an oncoming kill Sasuke ignored him, closing his eyes to sharpen the edge of the blade in his hands.
He dropped silent, wings tightening to his body as the ground rushed to meet him, bubbling with the stinking scaled body of his soon to be victim.
"No!" Orochimaru's voice tightened to choking, cut off by the force of Sasuke's body slamming to his throat, pinning the enormity of the creature to the wall with the pounding fury of his magic so the stone cracked in a spider web behind him.
The serpent gasped, choking as Sasuke's knee dug into its thick throat, both arms rising high with his blade. His deep breath was acrid on his tongue with the smell of the Profane's rotting flesh and old blood. It truly was an obscenity, a mistake needing to be rectified.
Eyes flickering red he slammed the blade down.
"The palace will crumble!"
Blood black as the Rot's bubbling pools on the wasteland dribbled in pus thick torrents from the wound, marring the shining white of the Star's sword. The stench was almost unbearable and stung the eyes as Sasuke glared.
Threaded at the edge of the Profane's neck his blade had missed major arteries by inches, a twist of his hilt would sever his spine, but for now it was a bad flesh wound. Courtesy of his rapid tongue.
"I suggest you speak quickly. The stench of you alone is reason enough for me to be done this task."
The heated huff of air released by the frozen serpent was as pungent as the blood and Sasuke snarled, tightening his grip on the hilt and earning a hissed curse from the pinned Worm.
"I am no fool. By comparison, you are an infant. Slay me, if you dare but this palace and all the life it supports will crumble. I did not choose to live at the edge of the waste for nothing. Anyone aiming to usurp my power by slaying me would find themselves isolated in the wasteland, with nothing but rubble." His hiss was bitter as well as pained. "How I wonder will you darling slave girl recover if the rot sweeps you all up in a sandstorm with no cover? Nothing but the crumbled piles of this destroyed place to hide in?"
"After I end you we will leave this place."
The laugh was choked and the tongue that slithered from between Orochimaru's fangs was coated in the darkness of his blood. "I had you. You were just at my fingertips. I could feel you succumbing to my poison, thrashing less and less with each heartbeat within my mind." He panted softly, tongue flicking rhythmically as he thought. "Such lovely thrashing."
Jiggling the blade stopped his reminiscing instantly and Sasuke clenched his teeth to contain the urge to take his head off in one clean sweep. Furious, he pressed harder into his throat with his knees.
Strangled now and teeth coated black as his tongue the profane gasped. "I felt the push of something fighting me. Something...soft. There is only one thing to fight my poison and only one who would be so interested in your welfare to use it. How did you manage to instill her loyalty?"
Wrestling to keep his surprise and anger in check Sasuke stepped back, snatching the blade back as the snake screamed and crumbled onto its side, laughing wetly through his blood.
"Are you seducing her, young star? Beauty that she is, I would not be surprised. She would be delectable."
He could not have seen it coming but Sasuke cared not for fairness in that moment. The blade slammed hard through the same clotted wound on the snake's eye that he had pierced days before and the snake's scream thundered through the jungle, echoing up into the cavernous top of the mountain within which it hid.
Thrashing wildly now, it's endless coils twisting and turning he shrieked, laughing and agonizing at once.
"Or is it the blood in your veins that you feed her?! Have you enslaved her to the flavor of your silver? Have you weakened her resolve with the ichor? How are we different, Little Star? We are the ruling race, the proper masters of this world, I commend you-"
Flattening his palm hard to the top of the snake's head Sasuke growled, magic exploding in a burst of power that sent a hurricane outward, splaying the wreckage of the Worm's hoard in all directions.
The magical blow silenced him instantly, knocking all sense somewhere deep inside him so that unconscious he lay as though dead.
As the confetti of coins, jewels, and debris of his hoard showered around him Sasuke scowled. Flaring his wings, he pushed hard out of the pit to land on the destroyed clearing ground.
To his surprise Anko stood in the ribbons of steam from the geysers, her hand on her sword and her brow furrowed.
She had spoken a handful of words at most to him since his waking. It was how he preferred to keep their acquaintance but even as he tucked his wings deep inside him, screeching like nails on a chalkboard he could see the rant building in her throat.
"Well." He snapped, stalking past her to head out, furious at being outmaneuvered by the scum in the pit behind him. "Spit it out before it chokes you."
"She does not know, does she." It was not a question, her tone sharp where he rather thought it should be careful.
"I do not read minds. If you plan on speaking in riddles-"
"Hinata does not know that your blood could be her bane."
"It would be difficult to argue that point as it has kept her breathing on more than one occasion." Sasuke snapped, stopping abruptly to face the woman, eyes dark.
"I heard what the Worm said. Its blood is what drove the Chattels to madness. When they arrived they were normal, his blood changed them, enslaved them to his will. Now they do not even remember their names." Anko stood her ground despite the twist of fear that wrankled through her innards as he glowered. From the frying pan to the fire she was, it seemed, always facing off with a creature from the heavens.
At least, however... this one seemed more bitter and wounded. Less insane.
If only a little.
"The Worm is a Profane. His existence is a blasphemy." Sasuke snarled. "We are not the same."
"Tell me that the ichor is not addicting," Anko whispered, her hand tight on the hilt of the sword hanging at her hip always. Although, what good it would do against him she could not guess.
Jaw tight, Sasuke glared for a moment longer before straightening, face smoothing to calmness that was more unnerving than his irritation. For a few breaths, there was nothing but silence and Anko scowled.
"I knew it. Kabuto was right."
"This is none of your concern." Without so much as a backward glance, Sasuke moved to leave, pausing abruptly at her next words.
"I will not tell her."
With her eyes boring a hole into his back Anko let out a breath, hands flexing nervously at her side. "She saved you because she wanted to. I saw it. I...I don't know how the ichor works, but if dependence is its result she deserves to know."
As wordless as before he left, not bothering to even look back at her as she called out. "You owe her at least that."
No. Sasuke prowled out into the palace corridor, already listing in his head the things he would need to gather to leave.
She deserves to be free of me altogether.
"Daughter." Hiashi's voice feathered on her ear at her side and she didn't bother flinching as his staff slammed home to cut off a spear with her name on it.
Hands raised to manipulate the stones, sweat trailing down the sides of her face the heiress swallowed hard. Not breaking eye contact with the chaos of the fight at the Villa gates had her white-knuckled and silent.
"I see it." Hanabi snarled, her body tightening until she was nothing but curled apprehension. The invaders were falling. Their bodies pierced with Hawk arrows and left already stinking like carcasses as Konohamaru and his brood waged forward.
Their prowess was painfully matched, spears were aimed with precision and from her vantage point Hanabi could see their filth covered bodies twisting expertly out of the deadly reach of rapidly released arrows well aimed by gifted Hawk Eyes.
Still, they had been holding them back, framed by the flaming inferno of the village in the background and the glittering cinders through the smoke.
That was until the song began to weave through the fray. At first, Hanabi did not hear it, too focused on ripping a gaping hole at Konohamaru's feet to divide him from the onslaught of spear-wielding savages rushing towards him and a trio of her people backed up against the gates.
"Daughter!" Hiashi snapped more loudly then. They fell. Like the puppet strings had been cut above them. In a heap, her people crumbled, one after the other, more and more rapidly as the song filtered through the chaos and touched gently on their ears.
"The music." Hanabi gasped. Beside her Hiashi's large hands slammed together in a clap that exploded with magic of his own and the shield bloomed to life, expanding wide with an elegance and speed only matched by The Warren's own skills.
"You must shield the villagers, they- Hanabi!" Stunned, Hiashi watched as his daughter threw herself onto the wall ledge, face pinched tight as Konohamaru so far below swayed, bow dropping from his hands while the enemy advanced, ghoulish and deadly on easy prey.
His hands grabbed at her tunic and she spun, the wildness in her gaze making him flinch though he didn't let go. "You forget your duty, child! Your people-"
"Somewhere below the piper comes. I will rip out his throat." Roughly she ripped the tunic from her father's hand, turning back to jump only to stop at her Grandfather's soft call.
"Little Fire."
Shaking with impatience, she glanced back, aware that below Konohamaru was collapsing.
"Burn bright." There was a knowingness in his eyes that made her throat tighten, a glance from his ancient face at Konohamaru's vulnerable body splayed on the dirt communicating understand that tangled her intestines within her.
There was no time for more words, tightening the coils of magic in the air around her she jumped, buffering her landing, feeling the fall like the pulling of a carpet from beneath her feet.
Heart in her throat she slammed home, shattering the earth on impact and sending the burst of power out to knock the fiends off their feet, staggering under the force.
The flowering of her shield rose not like a bubble but the sudden explosion of glass materializing, enclosing herself as well as Konohamaru in its safety. The spears that flew to land upon her bounced from its slick surface, earning barely a wince from her as she crouched over her shadow.
Dazed and fighting the spell of the melody now that it was cut off from him Konohamaru grunted, focusing with some difficulty on his Opaque's face. "No- you should be behind the wall- where it's safe."
"Silence." Hanabi snarled, dragging him to a sitting position only to flinch at the sudden swing of a bone spear crashing onto the shield. Obstinately she growled, watching as the shield exploded with the snowflake pattern of cracks.
"Hanabi, curses. I am fine, get back to the-"
"There are people trying to slit our throats- the moment I have gutted them all you can quarrel with me at your leisure, for now, however. Shut. Up." Her growl was punctuated by the painful tug of her pulling him to his feet, making him wince. Eyes focused over her shoulder at the sight of their attackers backing away he froze. They were looking not at them but the figure that appeared at the hill's crest.
Shadowed by the flames of the village behind her, the woman's shape was obvious. As was the flute that she now held at her side.
"There." He growled, grabbing his bow.
Following his gaze, Hanabi stood, chin raised as she locked eyes with the woman whose voice she had heard snapping orders at the invading Clan within the cover of the woods.
"Always the Hawk Eyed hide. Behind shields, behind walls, mountains..." the woman shouted, spitting her hatred across the wide expanse of shattered earth. "...stars."
Hanabi's gaze flared white as the full moon on a cloudless night, shining and deadly. "What did you just say?"
"You all look alike." Tayuya turned her head to spit a mouthful of bloody phlegm onto the ground. "All of you, selfish cowards."
"She's seen your family," Konohamaru whispered, pushing himself slowly to his feet, eyes snapping from foe to foe as he counted, shoulders tense and poised to move.
"Yes," Hanabi whispered softly, hand reaching back to grip the hilts of her elbow blades sheathed between her shoulders.
"What do you want?" her shout was hoarse with emotion she could not control, the hiss of her weapons unsheathing harmonizing with her anxiety. "Why are you here?"
"To see you all dead, as your kind has seen to our people." The woman's smile was just a row of bloodstained teeth lacking all joy. Hanabi scowled back fiercely.
"You have come bearing war to the wrong Clan. Do you not know who we are? What we do?" The shield released with a breathy sigh that ruffled her hair and she marched forward, twirling the elbow blade in her right hand in humming windmills.
Behind her Konohamaru raised his bow, arrow steady though none of the invaders moved to intervene, watching instead as the two women faced off.
"We know all about your kind." Tayuya's leer made a face that might have been beautiful beneath the smears of Rot and old blood grotesque.
"What a mistake you have made." Hanabi sighed, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she settled into fighting stance, both blades glinting as sharp as her eyes. "Were it true that you knew my Clan, you would not have come to your death here."
"I am Tayuya of the Rot Clan." The woman cocked her head sardonically at Hanabi as she slammed a fist to her chest hard enough for plumes of red rot dust to rise from her clothing. "And I can promise you, the words you have spoken will haunt you as you die today."
"Only fools make promises they cannot keep, Tayuya." Hanabi hissed, her blade spinning expertly in her hands singing as her body coiled tightly with anticipation.
Teeth bared Tayuya twirled the flute, and as the wind tossed plumes of ashes and smoke to twist around the wildness of her hair she pointed at Hanabi deftly.
They snapped like beings on rubber bands, ignoring the flash of her teeth in a grimacing smile. Spears raised, and sharpened ivory daggers unsheathed they came on her in a wave, stinking and many-limbed.
The thunk of an arrow into chest cavities echoed out as Hanabi slit through the first of her opponents, flinging a half shield at her back to repel the handful rushing to backstab.
The ribbon of blood exploded in a wild arch and she watched each crimson droplet rise against the black of the smoky sky for a moment, feeling the way her heart and breath seemed to slow time.
This was why she had been born.
With the filling of her lungs, she exploded.
The elbow blades spun, ripping a throat as she ducked the swing of a spear, slamming her arm up to shatter the wood of the staff with the solidity of her blade. The splinters erupted high and as the man stumbled forward she twisted her blade, running him through and sending his bleeding body over her shoulder at his comrades.
Another thunk echoed, registered in her brain as Konohamaru's relentless arrows flew. Her gaze swept over the incoming kick of a leg and raising both blades up like a shield she absorbed the blow, twisting her weapons as she pulled away and hearing a satisfactory scream as she sliced the tendons of the limb from knee to ankle.
The snatch of a spearhead tearing her side was a blaze hardly noticed. Her body itself was on fire, adrenaline coursing through her at high speeds leaving no room for pain. Her growl in response was more of irritation and twisting towards the wielder of the offending weapon she slammed her leg back in a kick that shattered ribs, the grunt from her enemy thick with blood and vomit.
Something nagged at her then, as she felt the familiar heat of Konohamaru's back against hers, staring down the Rot who circled them warily now, stepping over the mutilated corpses of their brethren.
"You people are dying." Hanabi hissed, watching as Tayuya standing back from the battle spat another mouthful of blood at the ground. "What disease ails you that you would spend your last days slaying a Clan that has no quarrel with you?"
"No quarrel?" Tayuya snorted, moving forward, hand at her back where a dagger lay sheathed. "One of you white eyed filth destroyed our last chance at survival. We, who deserved the blood of the star, are now enslaved to a monster or as you so aptly noted," she spat again at Hanabi's feet. ", dying."
Breath shallow, Hanabi lowered her blades. "You fought my sister. She still travels with the star?"
"I pray that someone else takes the heart from her chest as I was unable." Tayuya's smirk creased the dry Rot on her face. "Plenty will want it. She cannot fight them all. But you would know all about the desire for stars, wouldn't you? The last keepers of angel bone."
Eyes wide, Hanabi stared. "You want our angel bone?"
"And your blood to water the earth."
Like a cat with tail lashing Tayuya launched, from calm and coy to snarling. Hanabi grunted hard as the dagger in her hand sparked hot against her crossed blades.
Blood heating to boiling Hanabi growled, hair flinging out in a hiss of magic that rippled out and snapped with electricity. "Enough."
Twisting hard she sent Tayuya stumbling, dagger raised to block her spinning elbow blades. Rot Clan launched at her, stunned in intervals by Konohamaru's rapid bow, and those he did not slay on impact Hanabi sliced through, easy as butter left in the sun, twisting out of the path of their falling bodies in pursuit of Tayuya's fumbling defense.
"You come to my home." Hanabi's hiss was mostly for herself, ground between teeth clenching hard enough to hurt as she spun, impaling a body behind her and twirling her blades to rid them of the blood, her steps determined and calm towards the woman now flinching from her approach.
"You threaten my people."
The earth cracked again with her steps, shattering in dark elegant ribbons, reaching for her victim.
"You burn our village. You insult my bloodline."
There was no more sass to be found on Tayuya's face. The ground was shaking beneath her feet, crumbling and shifting in ripples as Hanabi continued to prowl forward. Behind her bodies lay moaning towards death or motionless. Only Konohamaru stood, breathless and stunned.
"You must die." Hanabi lifted her blades, hair dancing in the magic storm of her own making, the ripping fissures sending Tayuya stumbling back and off her feet with a grunt.
Fear and hesitation flickered on her dirty face for a moment and the soft curse that escaped her made Hanabi pause, coiled to slash her throat open, to prove her a fool making idiotic promises.
"Come on, Kidomaru you bastard! Come on!"
Holding still, Hanabi stared at her opponent crawling backward away from her as the earth shuddered and danced beneath her.
Kidomaru? Whirling around Hanabi searched first for Konohamaru, seeing him safe and still behind her, her gaze snapping to the Villa and freezing, the color draining from her face at the sight of her Father.
Back turned away from the battle where his youngest child struggled, he and everyone else stared at the flames rising, from within the Villa.
"We do know your clan, don't you see?" Tayuya hissed smugly at the sight of the fire and smoke. "Your arrogance has cost you everything."
The screams began from within the walls of wood and stone containing all that Hanabi was meant to protect, where the rabid monster of flame now wrecked havoc with impunity.
The roar that tore from Hanabi's throat was primal, sudden as the tear of a hair from a scalp she sprung and they slammed into the shredded earth and stone. Tayuya struggled hard against the blade Hanabi pushed forcefully towards her throat, panting and groaning with the strain.
A kick to the gut sent the heiress flying backward and Konohamaru rushed forward, pulling her to her feet as more Rot clan appeared over the crest of the hill, spears shining in the dancing flames light. They were led by a dark haired, brown skinned young man whose sneer glinted white against his dirty skin.
Beside him the confusing shape of a double-headed, pale-haired human drew a gasp from Hanabi, scrambling to her feet beside Konohamaru.
"Too many." Konohamaru whispered, his arm tight around her waist and she looked back over her shoulder at the flames, at the Villa gates that would open to spill women and children for the ready spears waiting.
"So busy defending the front." One conjoined twin tsked, shrugging all four shoulders. "Kidomaru played you Hawk Eyed well."
"Easy win." The dark-haired Kidomaru drawled. "Their moves were predictable." Arms crossed he grinned. "Honor required they think we would fight head-on."
"I wonder." Tayuya laughed coarsely, joining her people. "What foolish promises have you made to your burning villagers, white-eyed witch?"
He could feel her shaking against him, heard the clatter of her elbow blades as she dropped her weapons despite the panicked cries from within the Villa.
"K...Konohamaru." Fingers trembling Hanabi pulled, wrapping her arms around his neck and to his terror pressed her lips to his cheek.
"I...I have to put out the fire." Voice hoarse and hardly a whisper, her breath left heat across the side of his face, making him close his eyes.
"Yes." His nod was firm, his grip shaky.
"I...I can't...I can't fight them and save the Villa..."
"Put out the fire. I am here. I will protect you." Pressing his forehead to hers hard he stared, breathing in her exhale.
"Konohamaru." He would die. There were too many, and drained of magic she would be as useless as a lamb.
He smiled, and for a moment she remembered. A little boy with a dirt-smeared face on a wide field. His puzzled look, the churlish flash of his pink tongue. "Hanabi. The only fire allowed to burn in the Villa of the Hawk Eyed is you."
Kidomaru grunted in disgust. "Enough. Kill them both."
Turning instinctively to defend his Opaque, Konohamaru's blade whined as it slipped from his sheath. With Hanabi's back pressed to him, swirling with the last dregs of her magic he tore forward, jaw set.
Trusting him to keep her safe Hanabi faced the fire, hands splayed open to the earth below where the underwater rivers dwelled that fed the hot springs and wells. As the water rushed up, turning the earth to mud and then flooding high in twin ribbons of cerulean blue she closed her eyes.
And she listened as her Shadow died.
The Chattels had told him that she asked to see him, and his irritable response had sent them scurrying.
The blonde, Kabuto had commented that she wondered where he was and Sasuke had replied by pressing a blade to his wrist, letting him drain the silver from his body to feed the Chattels one final dose of the healing he could bring against the poison of the Profane's experiments.
Anymore and perhaps Anko would be claiming he was trying to make mindless puppets of them all.
It was a simple thing gathering all the supplies he would need. In the stores and armory weapons hung in carefully maintained piles that made him think the women of the Rot Clan had had no intention of staying despite the slave collars.
In the kitchens, his request for a water skin and a traveling cloak had been met with curious glances but ready acquiesce for his requests.
In the end, he had waited out the daylight in the stone maze of the Worm's trophy room. Prowling through the Gallery disturbing objects covered in dust from centuries of sleep. Studying with a frown the strangeness of blinking eyes jarred and sealed with wax, distracted from the constant pull to a certain soft-voiced being by the incredulity of the blooming flower that died and was reborn every few heartbeats.
The palace quieted around him as the sun began to set. Animals were taken in from pasture, the women and children began to ready for bed. The evening meal was cleared and the Chattels did not find him or if they did chose not to disturb him.
Looking up through the skylights that lit each crossroads through the grid of the Gallery he watched as navy bled across the sky, the smattering of stars above making him remember the freckles on Hinata's face once more.
The moon was high when he stepped into the corridor and began his passage towards the entrance. The Chattels would be prowling as they always were, more like guard dogs than even Rasu. They had taken to watching not just the doors leading to the jungle, as though the Profane would pop from them like a jack in the box from hell but also the wasteland. He had not considered that he might somehow call for aid until Kabuto had mentioned their reasoning.
Remembering the panicked words of the Worm at his hands however he shrugged the notion as the frightened anxieties of traumatized slaves. Who would come to the Worm's aid? What kind of allies did a creature as vulgar and selfish he have at his disposal?
Kabuto had agreed and with that Sasuke had made his decision to leave. Here, at the edges of the wasteland, under the care of those who felt indebted to her Hinata would be safe.
His steps were calm even if inside him something festered. Across the shining floor of the entryway, he stalked, remembering the panicked look on Hinata's face as she was dragged away from him on their first night in the Worm's domain.
He had forgotten, but the memory came back as he opened the door and took stock of the shining marble steps glowing by the light of the moon, the wind humming off the waste tangled with the perfume of the gardens and fountains.
At the edge of the plain, with the thirst and near death still clinging to her lips she had looked at him, unashamed to meet his eye.
"You are going to have to trust me."
"I...I already trust you."
Letting out a breath he had not realized he was holding he closed the door, glancing back at the darkened corridors stretching far back into the palace, following the shadows in his mind towards the door which hid her and Rasu fast asleep.
He was standing there, at the threshold before he really knew what he was doing. Hand hovering over the handle he sighed, hearing the rustle of Rasu's body shifting and knowing he would growl if he didn't make himself known Sasuke stepped through, silent as the breezes through the lemongrass.
In the dark, the room felt eerie and wide. The bed, although enormous was swallowed in the high ceilings, and with the fire dead in its stone cradle the rock floor seeped the warmth right from the air.
Rasu had indeed woken and at the sight of Sasuke rose, tail wagging and tongue out in welcome only to cock his head at the furtive shake of Sasuke's head.
Ignoring the drawn curtains on the bed frame Sasuke crouched, placing a hand on the creature's dark head, studying the gold of his eyes and the curious expression too intelligent on his face.
"You proved yourself, in the end." He whispered, rubbing behind his ear idly. "Watch over her."
Rasu cocked his head confusedly the other way, watching as Sasuke stood and moved to leave, hand on the doorknob only to freeze at the sound of metal on metal hissing.
"Do not throw that knife." Sasuke snapped, unsure of what to name the feeling that sparked to life inside him. Amusement? Anxiety? Unfamiliar sensations, too complex to name. Roughly he shoved them under. Hinata's sigh was followed by the shift of her covers and as he turned he caught the glint of the blade as she lowered it to her lap. "Sasuke? What are you-?" she paused, taking in the cloak and his unreadable expression.
Clearly taken aback she let out a sound, worse than any rebuke in its softness.
"Go back to sleep."
Ignoring him she threw back the covers, struggling to the edge of the bed stiffly to stand.
"Hinata, don't."
"You said you would help me."
There was no hesitation or stutter in her voice and for that alone, he knew there would be no avoiding the conversation. Frozen by the door he studied her swaying on her feet, the white gown that she had been wearing as she tried desperately to sleep some of her lost energy back into her limbs hung limply to pool at the floor, hiding her bare toes.
Impassive but for the tightness in his chest he studied her, as calm as if discussing the weather.
"I will do as I promised. I do not require your presence to attempt saving this mess of a realm."
Her flinch had her grabbing at the bedpost for balance, fingers white against the darkness of the wood and his gaze snagged there on those fingers, memorizing each curve.
"Please, do not leave me behind." Softly she breathed the words, drawing his attention from her trembling hands to the full lips finally pink after so many days of paleness. In the dim glow of the moon he could not see the freckles that had been haunting him, and for a moment he had to focus on not stepping forward for a better look.
Trying to convince his feet they were roots he looked away. "You would be a burden."
Stillness took over her breathless chest and blinking rapidly she swallowed. "G...gift me your blood. Let me heal so I may join you."
His eyes snapped to her without thought, and they gazed back and forth as he digested her request. She had never asked for the silver blood in his veins, not since her and her sister's defeat at his hands. But he watched now as her eyes drifted from his face to his side at his wrist where the blood now rushed more quickly with his pulse at the thought of her mouth on his skin.
Yearning, visible as she bit her lip flashed a flicker of lightning through his stomach and coldly as he could he glared.
"To heal you on the blood you fueled with your energy would be a mistake. Magic does not work that way. Your body would reject it." It was a theory, easily proved either way but the excuse at least had a tinge of truth to it. Enough that when she looked away, hiding behind her hair he was satisfied she believed it.
He could smell the tears, salty-sweet and familiar as they pooled on her lashes and to save himself he turned to leave.
"I..I know what it is like, to be a burden."
Tethered by the doorknob in his hand he waited, ignoring Rasu's low rumble by the window.
"I have been one all my life. To my village, my Clan, my brother and sister, my father." She swallowed, and Sasuke frowned at this, unsure if he could believe it.
"I know I am not a burden when I am with you." Her eyes lifted then, pale pearls swimming in tears he could feel himself craving. "I know I am not."
He watched as the star water drifted down her cheek, tantalizing in it's path to her mouth.
Rasu tensed, sudden as a sharply pulled bowstring and together they turned to the horkney whose ears were raised to listen, body poised and ready.
"Hinata!" Anko's voice echoed from the corridor, Kabutomurmuring urgently words they could not hear clearly.
Confused Hinata wiped at her face roughly, unsure of what to do with herself as Sasuke stepped to her side right before the door was flung open. Kabuto, Anko and the three Chattels spilled breathless into the room. Their faces glowed with the candlelight in their hands.
Kabuto barely glanced at either of them, storming past to the window to fling it open into the gusting evening wind of the wasteland.
Anko looked sharply at Sasuke, taking in the cloak on his shoulders and Hinata's still wet lashes, though her mouth remained tightly shut.
"What is happening?" Lowering herself to sit on the bed Hinata followed Kabuto with her eyes, refusing to look at the magnetic heat of Sasuke standing beside her.
"We were out on patrol." One Chattel murmured, eyes fixed on Hinata's face with something like nerves. "We check the perimeters and look from the viewing tower for anyone approaching. It is how we knew of your imminent arrival with Lord star."
"We caught sight of something heading this way. It is moving quickly." Another of the girls continued, her dark eyes lowered.
"Too quickly. It will be here by sunrise." The last finished.
From the window Kabuto squinted into the dark, shaking his head. "I cannot make out anything, but Hinata..." He turned to look at her over his shoulder. "You could see it, no?"
Anko was there in a moment, arm extended to help Hinata to the window. Gripping the window frame tightly she frowned into the dark, searching the barren wildness of the waste and feeling the tightness of her stomach at the memory of the horrors it held.
Back and forth her gaze searched, brow furrowed in concentration until the plume of red dust became visible on the flatness of the plain.
"There." Gazing intently she breathed in, feeling the strain of her eyes focusing enough that her hand clenched Anko's tightly.
By the moon's weak light their shapes became more distinct amidst the chaos of the dust they lifted with their rapid steps. With each passing breath, she made out the length of a heavy wide blade, the sharp slice of a scythe, the muscular shoulders of monstrous men.
"Two men. Armed." Hinata whispered, her eyes distant. "Moving much faster than I thought men could."
THe hiss of the Chattels discontent drew her to look, though she paused at the sight of Sasuke still standing back, face pensive.
"Did the monster call for help?" Anko muttered, urging Hinata back to the bed. "How would he have sent out a message?"
"Or it's someone coming to ask for a boon." Kabuto put in, arms crossed as he thought. "Not a much better situation."
"No." Anko agreed, as she settled Hinata back in bed. "Either way, they will want Hinata."
"We will slay them on sight." The Chattels chorused together. From her place on the bed HInata gaped, stunned.
"What- no...I-"
"She is what the Profane most desires at the moment, to be free from the arrow." Kabuto frowned as he thought, one thumb pressed to his bottom lip lightly. "So to trade her for a boon would make sense."
"You have to go." Anko put in finally, looking not at Hinata but Sasuke. "She is in no condition to do battle- the damage to the palace and possibly the lives of the Rot Clan," she turned to the Chattels who bristled at her gaze. "Everyone will be safer. You can disappear into the wilderness."
"But... but if they come to help the Worm be freed-" Hinata began to protest.
"There is plenty to bribe them with." Anko continued firmly. "This is the only way. You need to go, and quickly. I have an idea." Turning to Kabuto, the blonde nodded. "Yes. I know."
"How?" Sasuke's first comment made Hinata look down at her hands, fists clenched tightly.
"Kabuto and I planned to escape, before the Rot Clan showed and the Profane began experimenting. We gathered supplies..." Anko swallowed thickly, holding Kabuto's gaze. "We have been planning for years."
Without breaking eye contact Kabuto nodded again. "Beneath the mountain, the geysers are fed by an underground river. Long ago a people must have used it to navigate this territory. There were small vessels, in disrepair but... we had the time. Following the route through the caverns will take you beneath the mountain range to the other side. We planned to go just far enough North to get lost in the wilderness." he sighed. "Even if Hell's Maw is said to be there, it could not be worse than here."
"How long until we can leave?" Sasuke was already moving towards the door, brow furrowed. One snap of his fingers had Rasu at his heels.
Kabuto and Anko blinked after him, still neither as surprised as Hinata by his agreement.
"Within the hour, I gather." Anko finally replied to the impatient look he threw over his shoulder.
"Get Hinata ready to leave. Kabuto, show me the vessel."
"We will gather provisions for the journey, Lord Star." The Chattels rushed out the door despite his lack of response and Kabuto disappeared after a conflicted look at Anko.
Holding herself perfectly still Hinata stared after them all, aware of Anko's watchful eyes on her features.
"I do not envy the responsibility on your shoulders, Hinata." she murmured finally, moving to the wardrobe to pull out clothing for her.
"R...responsibility?" Tearing her eyes from the empty door way Hinata finally turned to her, blinking away her daze.
"Yes." Anko muttered, moving to help her out of her sleeping gown and into the darkness of a black tunic trimmed in a patchwork of twinkling silver stars. "The responsibility of knowing you have sway over the star tasked to end us all."
In the silence that followed she paused, surprised to find Hinata sitting perfectly still and staring out the window to where the rot plains blew eerily with wind like sandpaper, remembering if only faintly the feel of it rattling through her lungs, tearing her throat, filling her mouth with blood.
"It might seem that I have sway." Softly she picked up the tunic and leggings offered in her still trembling hands. "But the truth is, I know he does not want to destroy. He just has no reason to save."
Anko said no more, finding instead boots, and changes of clothes to pack with other essentials for the road.
Still, the thought was ringing through her head like a bell, too true not to resonate.
Until now.
TBC