I don't own She-Ra or Naruto. But let's do this anyway. Love all the way.


An Unacceptable Loss! The War Begin's in Earnest!

An interesting theory. I'll have to keep that in mind.

The mechanism of the sliding door squealed.

"Lady Hinata," Shadow Weaver's unwelcome drone pierced her sanctum.

The head Hyuga exhaled. What could she have possibly wanted now? She looked up from her tablet and felt her annoyance melt to confusion as she saw the sorceress dragging Catra by arm. "Kneel before your Lady!" She growled as she threw the girl before the foot of the throne. On her part, Catra looked unusually meek. She wasn't the typical uppity creature that accompanied Adora.

"What is the meaning of this?" Was all Hinata inquired.

"My Lady," Shadow Weaver crooned angrily, "I gave her a simple mission: return Force Captain Adora to the Fright Zone. Instead, our forces suffered a humiliating defeat."

Wait, Adora was missing? Excuse her?

"Pardon you?" The demi-shadow being rose with narrowed eyes. "I wasn't aware that Adora was even missing." She began to descend the steps, pulse suddenly raised as her aura grew heavy.

"I-"

"And the first instance I'm learning of it is after a failed retrieval attempt?" Her distorted voice had dropped to a guttural She triggered the Byakugan without even having to think about it. She knew exactly why the wench tried to hide it too. Hinata was the one person who managed to be more touchy about the blonde cadet than the sorceress herself. She knew her first mistake would be to admit that she'd lost her. The second was to try and hide it from her. A piss poor attempt to try to get out of flames, but not unforeseeable.

What is this place?

It was the only thought that really filled a young Hinata's mind.

This wasn't the Chunin Exams preliminaries stage. She was sure of that.

She had felt her last breath leave before her heart stopped and the world faded to black. So where was here? Was this death's realm? If so, it seemed too pleasant. Some grassy gnoll in the middle of somewhere. She had long stopped caring about the strange humanoid she apparently killed while being reconstituted. No matter where she turned, nothing really grounded her. She growled in annoyance before suddenly ripping her jacket off; it was just irritating her now.

In the process, the fallen Genin noticed her left hand wasn't the right color. Instead it was pitch black as a starless night. Plus, it felt weird. It was like her flesh was there but also not at the same time. The same thing went for the whole upper left half of her torso and head. Reeling should have set in by now, should have set in long ago.

...

Yet she felt nothing.

A baby's cry sparked what felt like her first genuine reaction to all this. Instinctively, she turned towards it and made to move forward but something stopped her. Strange. Now she couldn't move at all. It was like invisible hands were forcing every inch of her to be still. Her entire body was suddenly outlined in an eerie red glow. Whatever had her turned her around and suddenly. She was faced with another creature, and this one was ludicrously witch-like. Her hand was outstretched and shared the same red pulse as her snare. "How curious," she noted before looking passed her and the dead creature. "And unfortunate." Her town was annoyed at best and indifferent at worse.

"Who are you?"

It was too easy to feel it. This woman's gaze so condescending, bored, and thoroughly unimpressed. Just like her father's voice. She had the same downcasting look to spare.

At last, the revived Genin felt something within her break. She had wanted so badly to please him, earn his respect. And Neji's too. To that end, she had forgotten how to respect herself. She didn't feel all that obliged to in this moment. Not given how she had been up until now. She put kindness and compassion above everything. Her own desires so muted that she wasn't even really sure they were there. Everything she did was protect herself, but not to defend herself. She bargained for her right to exist and claim her own strength. With her clan, with her teammates and herself. For what? To be killed by a cousin who called it destiny in front of all the other Genin. The boy she admired so much included. The one person who she had finally gotten to look at her and believe in her. Now she was expected to play the meek one again, in this world that clearly wasn't her own? To play peacekeeper a second time.

No! I won't!

Sneering, she used her new hand of black mass to grab Shadow Weaver's wrist and began to feast. The darkness that composed part of her body now drank the witch's hot, angry, crimson power. It writhed with excitement as it screeched with life in her psyche. The woman's pained shrieks were icing on the cake.

Almost as quickly as it had began she was full. Now she was equal height to her would be attacker, maybe a few inches taller.

Gasping, Shadow Weaver collapsed to her knees. Her locks suddenly looked a lot less animated. Even behind mask, Hinata could taste the fear in her eyes. That was a much better demeanor for this tramp.

"What are...you?!"

"I'm the one who's in control now," she proclaimed in her newly distorted voice. Mentally, she noted sounding more like a woman now instead of a girl. More than that, she was no longer full of self-destructive dread. She was merely overcome with whimsical calmness, a welcome numbness that could be molded into anything. "Whatever it is you did for him is what you're gonna do for me now." She nodded behind her to Hordak's corpse.

An infant's wailing cut through the moment. Hinata turned without fear of her fallen opponent. And went to try and scoop up the babe again. She picked up her jacket to cover her left arm. She wasn't sure if she was fully in control of whatever this was yet.

Almost immediately, the child went silent. Hinata took note of the child's blue eyes and blonde hair and wondered if she was lucky or cursed. But she could think about that later. Right now, she had baby cheeks to poke. The little one grab her finger with eyes full of wonder and then jolliness. Hinata couldn't stop her smile. "We will carve a home out this place together." Their noses touched. "Won't we, Adora?"

...

Hinata didn't know Hordak at all when she killed him. But just judging by Shadow Weaver's reaction to her, the Clan Leader knew she was far more unpredictable than he ever was.

With a gentle grin she walked up to the sorceress and hummed, "Lieutenant-"

A resounding crack popped off the walls of the chamber.

Shadow Weaver was suddenly huddled over and coughing violently with blood dripping out of the bottom her mask.

Hinata slow lowered the palm she'd struck her chest with. "Do you think I'm a fool? Through your own incompetence, you lose one of your wards-my protege-and then you drag a cadet before me try to blame this on her? Even though it could your fault she's been conditioned incorrectly. Such folly, such arrogance."

As soon as she finished speaking, the crone lost consciousness. Hinata used her foot to turn her head to the side so she didn't choke to death on her own blood.

"Pathetic," the head Hyuga tsked with a shake of her head.

"Rise Catra, tell me how this has come to pass," Hinata commanded.

Catra stood slowly, still looking unsure about what had just occurred.

For her sake, the Hyuga turned off her Byakugan and breathed before letting a gentle smile come across her lips. "You're not in trouble. Just tell me what you know."

Catra nodded slowly, finally letting herself relax. After that, she spared no details. From how Adora initially founded the sword all the way to She-Ra appearing to turn the tide a Thaymor. The Clan head listened with tightened lips.

"She left us," Catra hissed with finality. She failed to hide her attempt to wipe away a tear. "She left me!" Her body instinctively flinched as a hand clasped her shoulder. But when she looked up-

"This isn't your fault," Hinata had a disappointed look on her face. But it was for Catra, not at her. The softness in her eyes said so. From the way the feline's ears twitched, that wasn't at all what she was expecting. "I guess my warning to her wasn't strong enough. She didn't get it after all. She's enabling her own destruction to appease sheep. Her type just can't help themselves in that way."

"So what do we do?" the Cadet asked with a frame and tone full of frustration.

"We get her back, and then finish this war." The woman's tone was suddenly lute like, in spite of its warped nature. It didn't go with the exaggerated grin on her face at all. "You'll have my complete cooperation and assistance in this-"

"Force Captain Catra~!"