Happy late New Year and Happy Holidays everyone! I hope that, no matter what you celebrate, you had a wonderful time!

Sorry this chapter took a while, I've been stupidly busy this last month and have barely had time to breathe, let alone write, so…

As always, thank you so very much to the people who left me a review, there are no words to describe how much it means to me :) xx


Chapter fourteen – Matsuri

I walk in to the room, head held high, arrogant in my confidence. I've been called to meet with Itachi – an honour, truly. Men would kill – do kill – for a chance like this. Men spend their whole lives waiting on a whisper of hope that Itachi has noticed them.

And eighteen year old me has the honour.

Itachi is sitting on a new leather couch when I enter the room. It's decorated simply, created for business, not recreation. Kisame stands behind him, alert but at ease, knowing that no one could touch them, even if they wanted to.

I stay standing. I've been given the honour of meeting with Itachi. The honour of sitting with him is a whole other matter.

"You called?" I say, unable to help the respect that enters my voice.

"Yes," Itachi replies, his voice a bored monotone. "I have a project for you."

I'm taken aback. A project? From Itachi? I fought alongside him against the Senju, gained a reputation from the blood I spilt that night, shot through the Uchiha ranks, but overall nothing much has changed. The jobs have gotten harder, but I relish the challenge. However, a job from Itachi is a rare thing indeed. "What kind of project?" I ask, reigning in my excitement.

He doesn't say a word, merely flicks his fingers and the doors I'd just walked through re-open. I turn around to look, and a ragged girl stumbles in, brown hair matted and dark eyes frightened.

"This is Matsuri," Itachi tells me, and I look back at him, confusion on my face. "You have six months to train her."


When I leave the training room Tenten is waiting for me. In her arms she holds a handgun in its holder, a machete in its sheath, and some throwing knives. She hands them to me the moment I exit the room, and orders that I put them on. Then she swivels on her heel and leads me silently down a hall, past the elevator.

"This is Hinata's floor," she tells me. "It's split into two halves, and this hall keeps them separate. In the back half we have the training room and the guard's room."

"Why do the guards need their own room?" I ask her as we pass one of the guards stationed in the hall.

"Because sometimes the guards have night shift, or an early start, and it's easier for them to sleep here than go home and come back. Are you done asking stupid questions?"

I remain silent and she takes that as assent.

"Anyway. In the front half we have Hinata's area. You'll see it in a minute and I'll show you around."

We reach the end of the hall and go around the wall, and I'm met with a huge open space, easily ten times the size of my crappy little apartment. I can't help but gawk at it, eyes practically bugging out of my head.

"This level was built to be self-sustainable. Hinata does not technically need to leave. We're standing in the kitchenette. All of her meals are prepared here, under Neji's or my supervision. Next to us is the dining room. I assume I don't need to tell you what that's for. In front of us is the living room, and at the end there is Hinata's bedroom. That room is strictly off limits to you and everyone except me, Neji, and Hinata. If you so much as touch the door handle without our permission, I will disable you faster than you can blink. You're being assigned to the living room. Congratulations. Most start off in the hall, but you're pretty impressive, and Neji and I figured your talents were wasted back there. The fact that Hinata likes you helps. It'll be good for her to see someone other than Neji and myself around. Anyway, that's the tour. If you need to use the bathroom there's one in the training room and in the guard's room. Keep your weapons sheathed at all times unless there is danger. If you get your weapon out for any reason other than to defend Hinata or clean it, I will disable you. Understand?"

I nod my head, looking around, something feeling a bit off. I stew on it for a moment, trying to figure it out, when it clicks.

"Why are all the curtains closed?" I ask, realising that the unnatural light is what had me confused. And it's true, I realise. There were huge floor-to-ceiling windows stretching right along this floor when I tried to kill her, and all of the curtains had been flung open, making my view completely unobstructed. Now, dark, heavy curtains claim the skyline, erasing the city from view. Not even a chink of sunlight has been allowed to filter through, and I crease my brow in question.

"Hinata won't let them be open," Tenten says, and I detect something like sadness in her tone. So subtle it's not even an idea, but it's there in her voice. "She panics whenever they're opened. She's convinced that the Demon will kill her the moment one of those curtains is open, so we keep them closed twenty-four seven." Tenten's eyes have a little crease of worry nibbling at them as she looks at the curtains. "Don't let her fool you, Gaara. Hinata's petrified of the Demon. She tries to hide it, but it shows in little ways."

I ingest the information, and it tastes sour on my tongue. "Does she feel like this about other windows?" I ask, thinking back to the library. There were open windows there.

"If the windows are large, yes. But generally it's just these ones. This floor was her safe space, and the Demon shattered that safety. The windows make her feel unsafe, so we cover them, and it helps. The Demon hasn't invaded other places, so she feels safer in those."

"Why don't you move her then?" I ask, thinking it seemed logical.

"Because this is probably the safest floor in this building for starters, and because Neji and I know it like the back of our hands. We know every crevice of this floor, and so when something's wrong, we can find it easily and quickly. New territory is dangerous and unknown. We won't risk her safety just because we don't know our environment."

I nod, figuring it makes sense.

"What about the lights? Do they ever go off?"

"No," Tenten says, her voice sharp as glass. "You are not to turn any of these lights off. Ever. Do you understand? Do not open the curtains, do not turn the lights off."

I'm surprised at the vehemence in her voice, like poison dangling from the edge of a blade, and can't help but question, "Why?"

"Because turning the light off was the last thing she did before the Demon attacked her. It's an irrational fear. She knows that, so don't go making her feel like an idiot for it. She can't help it. Whenever someone turns a light switch off, she panics and thinks that she's going to get shot again at any moment. So don't turn the light switches off. We've worked hard to make her feel something resembling safe. Don't go ruining all of our progress over one stupid light switch."

I nod my head, piecing together this new profile of Hinata, and I'm honestly surprised by how much my assassination attempt has traumatised her. She's seemed so calm and collected whenever I've seen her. "Anything else I should know?" I ask.

Tenten narrows her eyes at me, indecision swimming in her chocolate irises, unsure how much she should say. I roll my eyes back at her.

"If it's my job to protect her then I should know what to expect from her, at least," I push, trying not to sound too interested.

Tenten stays silent a moment longer, sizing me up, deciding whether it's safe to trust me in any way, and then she relents.

"Hinata has nightmares," she says, then looks around, presumably to make sure Hinata's not in earshot. "And not your average, run-of-the-mill nightmares, either. They're bad. Intense. So when you're on nightshift and you hear her screaming, let me and Neji handle it. You'll only make it worse."

"So these nightmares happen often?"

"Every night. Multiple times."

I can't help but feel bad for her, but I quickly temper the thoughts. It's not my job to feel bad for her. It's my job to kill her. And that's what I'm going to do.


I barely see Hinata over the next few days. She'll leave her room sometimes, accompanied by Neji and Tenten always, and she'll smile and wave and me, and I'll nod back, and then she disappears into the hallways and doesn't return for a few hours. I have no idea where she goes or what she does, and it drives me nuts that I can't follow, but I breathe in and out and think of murder and calm down.

Patience, Gaara.

But three days later I'm sitting on the couch, bored shitless because there's nothing to do around here, and I can't even put a bullet in my brain because If you get your weapon out for any reason other than to defend Hinata or clean it, I will disable you and then I'd get locked away and it's really hard to commit suicide when you're being questioned, you know?

And then, Hinata sits next to me and smiles her pretty smile at me while Neji sits across from us, a cloud of suspicion and annoyance hanging over his head.

"Hey," Hinata says to me, and I turn to look at her, trying to get a read on her face. It's friendly and open and trusting and I feel for a moment like I want to protect her, not kill her, but then I stamp that thought from my brain before it has time to form.

"Hi," I say back, glancing towards Neji. He rolls his eyes at me and leans back in his chair, and I would think that he's relaxing were it not for the fact that his muscles are tighter than a virgin. "What are you doing?" To be fair, I am genuinely curious. Doesn't she have other shit to do?

"Sitting, I think. What are you doing?" She smiles again, and I wonder at how someone who seems so happy is also scared of light switches and windows.

"My job," I reply, and turn away from her.

"How is it?"

"Boring."

"Oh." She turns to look at Neji, and they exchange a silent conversation that I'm not privy to, before she turns back to me.

"Neji says you don't have any siblings, but I think you do. Do you?"

"He was given up for adoption, Hinata," Neji says, bored. "Even if he has siblings he wouldn't know about them." He's annoyed that he has to sit through this, but Hinata's persistent and wants to know, so I think of an answer to satisfy them both. The lie manifests itself on the tip of my tongue, falling like silk on their ears.

"Sort of," I say, and I look back at Hinata. "She wasn't blood, but we were close. She was probably one of my best friends at the time. We got along really well and she adored me and I adored her. We just clicked. She was the daughter of one of my foster families. She was only nine and I was twelve. It probably wasn't on my file," I say and turn to Neji, attempting to placate him before he can accuse me of lying about my whole identity. Which I am, but he doesn't know that and he doesn't need to know that. "I was only with that family for about six months before I was moved again."

"Why were you moved?" Hinata asks, and my attention goes back to her.

"Because I was caught shoplifting and her parents didn't want me influencing her," I lie. "Which is a shame. I reckon I could've been happy with that family. They were probably the best family I was ever with."

"Did you keep in contact with her?" Hinata asks me, curiosity a star in her eyes.

"No."

She looks crestfallen at that, and I'm confused as to why she would be so invested in a person she's never even met. "Why?" she queries, baffled. "If you got along so well, surely you must've tried to -"

"She's dead," I say quickly, silencing her before she can say any more. Hinata looks horrified. "Hit and run a few weeks after I left."

Hinata looks like she's going to be sick, and tears well in her eyes. "Oh Gaara, I'm so sorry, that's horrible…"

She goes to put her arms around me, but thinks better of it before she does.

"Don't worry about it. It was almost ten years ago, I'm over it now."

We sit in awkward silence for a moment, Hinata looking ashamed of herself and Neji looking like he wants to say I told you don't ask him.

"What was her name?" Hinata asks me quietly, hesitantly, like she's scared she'll say the wrong thing.

I say it before I have time to think, but the name doesn't sound wrong on my tongue. Maybe because this makes the lie even somewhat true. "Matsuri."


I'm curious as to what your opinions on all this are, especially the little flashbacks I've been doing. No matter your thoughts, I'd love to hear them :)

Reviews are always appreciated, and honestly, nothing motivates me more. Thank you for reading, and sending lots of love!

- Alia xoxo