Updated 3-15-15

Chapter 18: After Effects

"If you don't know learn how to be scared, you'll never really learn how to be brave."

― Simon Holt, The Devouring

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Her heart was hurting, beating profoundly in her chest. She was on the verge of sobbing, but held it in and stood up on her bare feet.

She didn't dare glance at the camera when she got up. He was dead.

I came here to save him from his pain, protect him, care for him, and now he's gone? He can't be gone. He can't -

She wouldn't get to see those azure eyes, those wild, blue eyes that she had admired so much about him. She wouldn't get to see the few grins he had made, or those inflicting yet passionate emotions that she couldn't seem to get enough of.

"No, t-this can't be happening...no,no,no." Hinata walked out the 'closet' room, not caring that she was dragging herself through the blood of a possibly dead man. Slowly, she exited the room, eyes wide, still unbelieving and hurt. She stopped at the stop of the staircase.

Mondine and his men were still down there, nonchalantly glancing down at Deidara's motionless body. They were looking down at him, as if he was nothing, as if he wasn't full of life and a human. That uncaring nature being displayed before her stirred something within her.

He was alive, he was well, he was passionate, he was someone.

She couldn't stop herself. Before she knew it, she was running down the steps, her shoe clutched tightly in her shaking, tight hand.

Without any thought at all, the bluette struck him in the back of his head, causing him to grunt in pain upon impact and, n the process, drop the machine gun in his hands. It scattered to the other side of the entrance.

She didn't stop hitting him once he fell, no, she continued to batter his head in blind rage, hoping to see the same liquid that Deidara had spilled come from Mondine.

Never in her life had she completely blanked out in rage, not even when she first saw Sasuke with Sakura, but she couldn't compare this moment to that onet. Someone's life was taken away. A life that she was so desperately sure would be good once he had his mother with him.

She wanted him to know that he wasn't alone in this cruel world, that she would be there for him even if he didn't want her too. The bluette had promised herself that she would do anything and everything in her power to get Anne and help him fix it, but how could he do that now? How could he get that happiness now? He was gone, all because he was killed by the hands of Mondine, the man who was supposed to be his father, his protector. The same man who caused death and agony to many people tonight and had attempted to kill her husband, Sasuke.

With that thought marred in her brain, she struck him harder against the head, not realizing that blood was coming from the wounds. "How could you do this to your son?," she struck him, "He wanted to please you! He trusted you - "

She shrieked when she was thrown off the man and onto the stone ground. She was knocked from her daze and looked at the gun in front of her. It shined in the moonlight coming from the rutty windows of the abandoned library. The man who she recognized as the cleaning guy from before.

He smiled viciously at her and started to look over her body. His grin widened. "Que diriez-vous d'une bonne baise avant que je tire ?"

She didn't know what that meant, but she was pretty sure she knew what he was saying by how he looked at her. The lust in his eyes were apparent. It reminded her of the way Sasuke had looked at her tonight, but in a way more twisted and horrendous way.

Hinata began to panic - she backed away from him, pointing the heel of her shoe out in front of her. "L-Leave m-me alone!" She gasped when her indigo locks were yanked from behind.

Mondine grinned. "Little bitch! You think you can get away with that?!"

She grimaced when she heard him speak fluent Japanese. Had he wanted her to hear him?

He yanked her hair harder. She felt as if her scalp was going to come off. She heard him grinning on her neck, his hot breath hovering dangerously over her marks. "It's been awhile since I've had a million-dollar bitch. I always wondered just how it would feel to fuck someone else's wife, no less an Uchiha's."

Hinata started to struggle, but he grabbed the back of her head and slammed her onto the stone floor. Blood started to run down her face, but that didn't stop her from struggling to get away.

His crony smirked down at her. "Juste donner et le prendre comme une femme." Just give up and take it like a woman.

When Hinata felt his hand pull at her dress, she started to kick and scream. Without hesitation, the cleaning man bent down and covered her mouth with his hand, muffling out her screams.

She looked up into Mondine's face for the first time.

His brown eyes were wicked and wild and she could see that wound that she inflicted on his head become bloody, making his brown tuffs matted. He didn't look anything like Deidara.

He ripped her the top half of her gown. He licked his lips at the lacy bra she wore, and Hinata couldn't help but taste the bile that came up her throat. She looked away and shut her eyes tightly as his hands slid up her ribcage, slowly creeping towards the valley of her breasts.

Hinata felt violated. He didn't' care.

Tears welled up in her eyes -

"I told you that your dad was fucked up."

Hinata whipped her head in direction of the entrance. She felt her heart race.

Sasori loaded the gun at the entrance with an irritated look and before she could blink, shot at the crony covering her mouth without any warning whatsoever.

The man yelled out in pain, and the bluette looked at him to see that the bullet had went through his hands, knocking out the gun out his hand.

Mondine growled as he stood. He looked around wildly, like all of this was an illusion of some sort. "What the hell is going on here?!"

Sasori shrugged as he pointed the gun towards him. He glanced down at the bleeding blonde on the ground beside him. "I didn't think an arm shot would take you down, Barbie."

Hinata couldn't believe her eyes.

Deidara slowly sat up, clutching his bleeding arm. "S-Shit." He glarred daggers up at his father. His blue eyes were stormy, and a snarl was on his face. "You're gonna pay for this, un."

H-He's alive… Her heart started to pound and soon she stood and looked at him once again."Deidara!"

When his cold, blue eyes met her lavender ones, she felt her tears come down. She saw his eyes take in her tattered state and instantly they softened. "Hinata…"

Sasori shot his eyes towards her for a moment before looking back at Mondine.

Mondine sucked in a breath. "T-That can't be possible! You should be dead!"

The girl stepped away from the man in disbelief and looked to the squirming crony on the ground holding his profusely bleeding hand.

"D-Deidara, I…", she stopped when she heard someone coming down the stairs. She looked behind her and saw that it was the pale man from before. He held Anne-Sophie in his hand, tightly wrapped in a blanket.

Deidara grimaced, holding onto his wounded arm as he stood."That's what they make armor for, un." He stood up while holding his arm. His face was twisted in pain. "You fucking suck at aim, but I have to admit - this hurts like a bitch."

Mondine stood back in shock and anger. He started to look around for any of his cronies, but found none.

The pale man walked past him and towards the redhead and blonde."There is no need to call for them. They have been eliminated." He set the woman down next to Deidara. Hinata noticed that he lingered on the woman's face with softened eyes again. "Sasuke-san will want to see you, I'm sure."

Mondine stilled, his eyes as wide as saucers. He shrieked and looked around for something, anything, but there wasn't anything. None of his men were here, and his only backup was still on the ground bleeding. Hinata saw that his eyes found the gun of the bleeding man beside her, and with swift, surprising speed, she picked up it and ran towards the four.

Sasori almost yelled at her. "What the hell are you doing?! Don't run with it!"

The bluette stilled midway and frantically looked between him and the now shaking Mondine. "W-W-What do I d-do?! I don't know what to do!" She pointed it at Mondine, startling him into urinating on himself.

Deidara looked down at his mother, not concerning himself with the odd situation going on, and looked back up at his father, eyes swarming with emotions. "I never would've thought you of all people would do this."

Mondine snorted. "Don't take this personal, son. I was just trying to do what's best - "

"And killing me is the best option? Tell me, why the hell do you despise me so much? What have I done that was so wrong, un?"

"You hurt your mother, Deidara. Do you know how many nights she's cried after you? Ever since you called her that night and told her you hated her - "

He was lying, it was obvious to everyone in the room, but Deiara. He stood still, taking in everything that Mondine was saying, his stern face becoming hopeless like a child's. Guilt swamped his eyes - it was eating at him.

Mondine smirked. "I didn't want her to cry anymore. Can't you see? You're ruining her life. I'm just trying to make it better - "

"You're lying.", Hinata said, looking over at Deidara, who stared at her. "H-He was going to kill Anne, Deidara. He was going to collect her life insurance."

Deidara sighed, looking back at his father. "Dad - "

"You're a hinderance. You ruin everything - why do you think I shipped your ass off to Japan?", he spat.

Sasori sighed. "This back and forth shit is causing us time. Let's just go. There's no getting through to your shitty-ass father, Deidara."

The blond agreed. "You're right, un."

The pale man looked towards the other three. "You all can go. I will take care of him."

Sasori stared at him for a second, then tugged the gun in his pants and carefully walked towards Anne.

Hinata watched the pale man come towards her and she soon handed him the gun. With a weary smile, she bowed. "T-Thank you so much,…"

He gave her a smile. "Sai."

"Hinata, help Deidara.", Sasori demanded with the woman in his arms.

The bluette looked at Sai for a minute and decided to give him a parting gift.

Sai stilled when he felt her warm body wrap around his. Her hug was gentle, but stern. She didn't care that she was clad in only a bra right. "Thank you, Sai." With that, she let go and rushed to Deidara's side and ushered him out the door.

Sai watched them leave from the opened door. Once they were gone, he turned his attention back to Mondine, his obsidian eyes now a bright red. "Sasuke-san will be elated to know that you were the one that placed that bomb in his hotel room."

Mondine feared those eyes greatly.

They were the same eyes Sasuke possessed.

"Y-You're an Uchiha!"

Sai gave him a fake smile."That doesn't really matter right now."

"Mama…", Naruto held Kushina's hand tight. He was shaking. Minato held her other hand, his eyes unreadable, and his face twisted into one of anger.

The nurse smiled sadly at the scene. "Doctor Eric is running her results off right now. Mr. Namikaze, he would like to speak with you."

Minato nodded and stood, but not before looking down at his unconscious wife once more.

Sasuke stood in the corner of the room, his eyes also fixated on the woman on the bed.

Once Minato closed the door, Naruto snapped his eyes to Sasuke. "We need to stop this, Sasuke."

Sasuke remained quiet, his eyes observing the cuts and bruises on Kushina.

He couldn't face his best friend right now. It hurt too much. He had been the reason for so many deaths tonight. The bomb erupted the whole floor he was on, killing 150 people instantly. But he was still here.

Naruto started to shake, and soon his tears stained his mother's pillow. "S-She almost died. That chandelier could have killed her. All because of money that we didn't get. Money, Sasuke!" The Uchiha nodded, but that didn't stop Naruto for ranting. "Nothing in this world is more valuable than my mother. Nothing! Do you see what we have caused, Sasuke?! All of this talk about trades and money, it almost put our life on the line! I want out!"

Sasuke stilled at those last words, and snapped his eyes to Naruto's tearful face.

"I-I can't take it anymore, Teme!"

The blonde had always been by his side; they never left each other's side. He had considered Naruto his best friend, his eternal rival, HIS. But now, he wanted to leave and go.

You can't just step on people and expect them to love you and follow after your tail. She was right, he did expect people to still follow him, no matter what he did or what happened. He did only think of himself and what he wanted.

His family, they gave him what he wanted, everything that he wanted, but he still resorted to dealing drugs. Just to have more power. He was the one making his life so complicated, and now he was making Naruto's like that. Hinata came to his mind.

Sasuke looked down at the woman again; the monitor beeped slowly as she breathed in and out. "Okay."

Naruto clasped onto his mother's icy hand harder.

The Uchiha looked at the two once more before exiting the room and closing the door softly behind him.

He knew what he had to do now.

If he didn't do anything for anybody in this life, he was going to a least not think of himself today. He would get rid of this problem he created.

When he walked out the door, he saw Minato,Uncle Mada, and his mother down the hall, listening to one of the doctors present. He stood still and listened quietly.

"…the temporal lobe of the brain has experienced significant damage. Because the lobe contains the auditory and memory parts, I'm afraid that she may not be able to speak or remember the way she used to. I'm sorry."

Damn.He decided to leave, not interested in hearing what Minato would say. He didn't want to have that guilt weigh on him any longer.

"Sasuke", Shikamaru stopped him.

He nodded towards the man, and they both got onto the elevator. "How's Neji?"

The Nara sighed and leaned against the steel wall. "He's doing fine. The doctor says that it's just his left eardrum that was ruptured. It should be back to normal in a month or two."

Sasuke remained quiet. They soon walked out to the front.

Shikamaru continued. "It's a blessing that nothing happened to the others. We don't need more people getting hurt. I'm going to make sure to have my dad donate to this hospital." The Nara glanced at him from the corner of his eye. "Well, what are you going to do?" When the Uchiha didn't answer, he sighed and pulled out a cigarette. "I would stop you, but I understand somewhat. You know who did it?"

"Sai called." Sasuke looked at the tall, bad postured man. "Mondine."

The Nara 'tsked' and pulled out a lighter, both of them now exiting the elevator. "I knew that guy was bad news. It's a bad call for him though, right?"

"You can bet your ass."

When they both stepped onto the first floor, they ran into utter chaos. Nurses were running around setting up curtains and pulling out makeshift beds all around. Many yells and shouts were coming from the patients, and Sasuke couldn't help but stiffen. Were so many people hurt that they had no more room in the ER or other floors to take care of them?

A group of RNs rushed past them suddenly, a stretcher coming out right after him.

"Take her to the cardio in room seven! Get doctor Cher!"

Shikamaru pulled on his cigarette, ignoring how the receptionist at the front was eyeballing him. "Yet another group. Mondine has it coming big time."

I'll say… Sasuke froze when he saw the group coming in.

"We're going to try and squeeze you in the ER section, sweetheart.", one of the older nurses ushered someone else by.

Hinata. His stomached dropped when he saw that she was bleeding from her head, and that her dress was exposing her.

After her, the stretcher came, with the woman of captivation on lying on it. Anne-Sophie. Many nurses were around her, one with an air pump, and some of the other's ripping her dress a bit to get her blood sample. They were working fast; her life must've been at risk.

Sai said that she was sick, but I didn't think this much… Right after her came her son, Deidara, who was also being escorted with her, not wanting to leave her side at all. Then he had to come in. Sasori.

Sasuke glared at the passing man, anger flooding through his being, but it was short-lived by the Nara.

Shikamaru coughed a little and looked at the bluette be escorted away. "So she was also in on the plan to get back Sophie." He smirked and put out his cigarette. "Such a surprising girl. That's gonna prove to be a problem in the future."

The Uchiha didn't respond. He stepped out of the hospital with the lazy Lawyer by his side.

"I need an EKG in room seven, ASAP!", yelled the doctor as she continued to bounce from room to room. Thank God that they are speaking English. She could understand English much more than French lingo.

"Are you taking any type of medications at the moment? Any medical or allergy problems I need to hear of?"

Hinata wince as the woman dapped her head wound with antiseptics. "N-Not that I know of."

The nurse nodded and went out the door.

Hinata sighed and looked around. All she saw were curtains, but what she heard was disheartening. Painful grunts and moans were all around her, and she couldn't help but feel grateful that she'd only suffered a head wound. She was almost sure that most of the patients out there had wounds that were permanent and that would never heal.

Tragedy after tragedy, all for money and substance that the world would be better off without.

So many things had happened tonight, some both good and bad - Anne-Sophie was safe, but still in ICU, and Sasuke was okay. It was ironic to think that she'd saved both of them, the captive and the one who put the woman under captivity. They would've been both dead - both Sasuke and Anne. It terrified her. She couldn't help but thank God. Someone up there was looking out for her. She had walked right through death itself.

The curtain pulled back and she was met with soft, hazel eyes. She gave him a soft smile, but it slowly deflated as he made his way to the chair near her bed, his eyes downcast when she met his eyes and face unreadable.

Hinata looked away, pulling her covers closer to her chest. "H-How are they?"

"Deidara is fine. Anne is in critical condition.", he said, apparently gaining the courage to fully look at her, but more importantly on the large bandage on her head.

A long silence ensued between them, and Hinata questioned whether or not this was the man she'd come to know, if this really was the boy that held such spitfire. He looked like a little boy right now; she didn't like how disheartened he looked.

Just as she was about to speak, he stopped the words from coming from her mouth.

"I heard some rumors bomb went off in Sasuke's room. It's all over the news actually…"

She looked back at him and saw that he wasn't staring at her anymore. His attention was averted to the marble floors under him. His voice was so low, and that's when she knew what he had meant.

"Sasori, i-it's not what you think. We didn't know-", she whispered so as to not disrupt others around the curtain from listening to their conversation.

"I told you to keep his attention all night. If it weren't for your stubbornness and strong will then you would be dead, wouldn't you? Both of you." She became silent. "Were you in the room before the bomb went off?", he whispered to her.

She hesitated before answering him. "Seconds before a-actually..." Sasori gripped his locks and the bluette saw that his hands were shaking.

"You could have been dead."

"B-But I'm not. It's not your fault. You did nothing wrong." Sasori ignored her and looked back to the floor.

"And you went to the hideout without anyone with you-"

"That's not t-true. That chauffeur that you hired helped me get there. He was there with –"

"He was unconscious when Deidara and I made it. That could've been you, but much worse."

She reached off the bed and grabbed his hand, holding onto it tight. "B-But I'm not, Sasori-san! I'm okay! See? I'm fine!"

"I shouldn't have dragged you into this, Hinata. I really shouldn't have." She pulled on his hand harshly, trying to knock him out of his guilt –daze.

"I wanted to come and stop Sasuke, and I did! I made you take me with you! Please, don't feel guilty about all that has happened!"

Hinata jumped a little when his eyes connected with hers. An electrical spark went through her at that moment, something she had never experienced before. Her heart raced fast, and so did the heart monitor in the corner, which made her avert her eyes somewhere besides his.

He shook her hand away and left out the curtains. Hinata sighed and brought her knees to her chest. Even though she was okay, he was still upset. Was it because she was so close to death? Yes, it was. Did he care for her, even though they hardly even know each other? Apparently so.

Hinata's head started to pounded then and soon she felt wetness upon her cheeks. Realization was really kicking in now. She could have been killed tonight. So close to death. She prayed that the families of the victims in the bombing were okay.

So there, in between the curtains, Hinata sobbed. She cried for the dead, cried for the hurt, cried for Deidara and his mother, cried for Sasori and his breakdown. She cried for the well being of the ones close to her, and somehow, she cried for Mondine. Because she knew that he would be the one to suffer the most from this.

"I-I'm telling you, Sasuke was the one that founded this whole drug situation, not me!" Sai smirked from the corner of the police interrogation room as he watched Mondine blabber to the detective. "He held my wife up for ransom! Anne Sophie is her name!"

The bright, fluorescent lights shined down on the three in the room, showing the cracks and crevices in the interrogation room. It also showed the disfigured bandage placed on Mondine's head injury.

The interrogator shook his head tiredly and looked towards the smiling pale Sai. "You said that you had cameras in the hideout, right?" Sai nodded and pulled the tapes out of the bag on his shoulder.

Mondine started to frantically squirm around. "You see! He knows that there were security cameras in the hideout because he put them there! He's working with that little brat!"

The interrogator gave the man a smug smile and pushed his chair back before standing up. "We know, Mondine."

Mondine froze, his throat becoming dry. "W-What? You know! Then arrest him!"

"He admits to the bombing, contraband, and attempted homicide of Anne-Sophie on the tape." Sai handed it to the man, who looked impressed with how organized the evidence was.

"Anything else I need to know?"

Sai thought for a moment before nodding. "Cut out the last hour on the tape."

The interrogator nodded and looked back at Mondine with a cruel smile on his face. "I'll make sure you rot in jail, Mondine. You've killed over a hundred people tonight with that bomb, you know that? Innocent lives." He shook his head once again. "And you succeeded in pissing Fugaku's son off."

Right on cue, Sasuke and Shikamaru came in along with two officers through the metal like door. Mondine froze when he saw the Uchiha's eyes glaring down at him, and started to hold onto the mahogany table.

Sasuke looked out at the tinted window at the other officers watching the scene from the outside. "Cut the cameras." The little red light on the camera in the corner of the room went out, and Mondine started to panic.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

Shikamaru pulled out a cigarette with a sigh, and quickly lit it; he was getting nervous at the situation about to take place.

Sasuke took the initiative to sit down first at the long table and soon after, the Nara joined him, both now staring at the man before him.

"Do you have anything you want to say?", Shikamaru asked.

"I don't have to say a damn thing!"

The interrogator glanced at Sasuke before interjecting. "You planted the bombs in the hotel, did you not?"

Mondine paused. "I didn't."

Sai gave the man a smile soon. "Did you not assault and try to sexually assault Mrs. Uchiha?"

Sasuke's glare hardened. Mondine thought for a minute. The cameras were off, and the police were already in the room; what could Sasuke do?

Mondine laughed, his insanity taking over him. "I planted the bomb, and I was about to fuck your wife until your little fuckboy and his friends stopped me! But what can you do about it? I'm going to jail!"

Having heard enough, Sasuke stood and calmly walked over to one of the officers. "Give me your gun."

The officer nodded and handed him the contraption, startling the poor man.

"Why did you give him that?! What kind of crooked shit is going on?!"

Sasuke's emotions were becoming unstable from what Shikamaru could tell.

His eyes were red, and his face was emotionless as he spoke to Mondine. "I'm debating on whether I should spare your life or not."

Shikamaru stood at that and held Sasuke's shoulder. "Don't kill him. He isn't worth it."

Mondine sighed in relief a little. The Nara sighed and put in earplugs soon after. "Try not to aim for his chest or anything. Just a quick shot in the leg and that's all. The worst that could happen is he becomes paralyzed from the waist down."

Sasuke smirked at the man's confused and fearful gaze. "That's what I'm aiming for. Hold him down." The officers rushed towards the man and held him up, ignoring his cries of fear and disbelief.

Screams echoed throughout the police department.

Hinata stumbled down the cardio floor of the hospital. The nurse had wrapped her head securely and had also given her a hospital gown; she could feel the cold hair whipping her bare back, but it was better than the shredded dress that she had, until recently, adored.

She wanted to see how they were doing. She had no idea where her Knight in shining armor was, and she really wanted to see if they were okay. Tents and curtains were set up all over the floor of the hospital, and Hinata had to question whether the hospital was being overwhelmed with patients from things other than the bombings.

When room seven popped up, she knocked silently on the door before going in. She tightened her hand around the doorknob.

Deidara was staring at his mother's face like a broken-hearted child. Many tubes were on the woman along with a thick blanket, and her long, blonde hair was thrown over the bedside. She was still a sleeping beauty despite her sickly state.

He didn't look up and Hinata took this time to quietly sit in the chair on the other side of the bed and also stare at Anne-Sophie.

She was so beautiful. Her face so delicate, and her skin looked so soft. She wondered what it would be like to see her eyes open. Would they be as bright and alive as the man sitting?

"You risked your life for her."

Hinata maneuvered her eyes to the blond. His eyes stayed on his mother. "Why?"

Sai had asked her the same question, and she had given him her answer: to save Anne from the sinners of this world. But now that everything was over and the drama has dispelled, she didn't know why wholly...She didn't want to say that she saved her because she felt obligated too; that was a lie. And saving the woman from evil was only part of her reason. So why did she risk her life for Anne?

"I wanted to save you.", the words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them, and it caused Deidara to look up at her in question.

The darkness. She had felt it before, but had never entered it.

She looked back at the heart monitor. It was beeping slowly.

"My mother was everything to me. She's the only one I can remember who has ever known me, and loved me for it. Still to this day, she's my biggest fan." She paused for a moment, looking down at her hands. "When you told me that I reminded you of your mother, it struck something in me. Though I loved my mother, there were m-many things that I'd wished I had asked her, like why she let go of dreams so quickly or why she kept quiet about certain things."

Or why she stayed.

Deidara looked at her. Hinata continued. "You were upset with your mother, and you said or did something that you regretted. I thought you deserved the chance to actually see your mother, a-and apologize and just ask her 'why'. Your mother loves you, unconditionally. I wanted you to know that, and actually see it for your own eyes. I wanted you say the things to your mother that I couldn't. You deserve to know."

He didn't respond, he just stared.

The door opened soon, revealing the doctor, Dr. Cher. She looked glanced over at Hinata before looking at Deidara, who sat up attentive.

The doctor looked at the unconscious woman on the bed. "Her sickness right now is dwindling. She should be more responsive in a few hours. We've got her diagnosis, but our policy says that we can't release personal information without the consent of the patient."

Deidara nodded."I'm her son. Deidara Suoh."

The doctor's eyes widened a bit, but she nodded and looked down at her clipboard. "Your mother has Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. It's a connective tissue disease that attacks the main organs in the body along the nervous system. It brings along periods of extensive sickness, but her symptoms are getting better,so that's a good thing."

"But?" Deidara asked.

The doctor smiled apologetically. "SLE is treated with immunosuppression and corticosteroids. Up until a few months ago, she hasn't been treated, yet the appointments were being set up. Do you happen to know why?"

The blond glared. "My father…"

Dr. Cher nodded and pulled out the EKG results. "Her heart is okay; the disease hasn't attacked it. If she hadn't been brought to the hospital, her heart would have been affected greatly by the disease-"

The door slammed open.

"Mother!"

A tall, yellow-haired teen and a tall, Japanese man came into the room, eyes wide in concern. The teen dropped to his knees beside the woman, a stream of tears coming down his cheeks.

The air shifted. Deidara stood. "What the hell?"

I'm sorry, but may I ask who-", the doctor began, but was cut off.

The Japanese male turned and gave the woman a stern expression. "I'm Yuzuru Suoh, and this is my son, Tamaki Suoh."

Hinata looked between the family and Deidara in confusion. "W-What?"

Deidara frowned. "There must be some misunderstanding - "

"What the hell are you talking about? This is my mother!", the teen turned teary, bright blue eyes towards Deidara. Those same, bright blue eyes. Like Deidara's.

"Wait...", Yuzuru spoke, looking at Deidara as if it was his first time seeing the light. "Anne is your mother...?"

Deidara didn't say anything.

Dr. Cher looked between the two. "I'll be back to price the immunosuppression. Nice to meet you all again."

The door shut, leaving the people in the room silent.

Hinata bit her lip This teen looked exactly like Anne, and the father resembled Deidara's face structure and height perfectly. Could it be that this man was his father? Mondine looked nothing like him from the beginning, so these two popping up out of nowhere only told everyone in the room something.

A huge family secret was about to be revealed.

At the wrong moment, Sasori came in, but paused when he saw all the people in the room. He looked around until he saw Hinata, and motioned her to come with him. She nodded and quickly scurried after the redhead, not wanting to see the major conflict about to occur.

Hinata walked side-by-side with the tall redhead. It was comforting to know that Anne would be okay, but still...

"Here."

The bluette stopped and looked at the phone he was holding before taking it and slowly putting it to her ear. "H-Hel-"

"Hinata, are you okay?! Did anything happen to you?!" Ino's voice came over the phone, and

Hinata felt herself tearing up at the worried tone. A few tears came from her eyes. "I'm okay, Ino."

"What the hell were you thinking, going without anyone?! Are you stupid?! Do you know how worried we were?!"

Hinata missed that motherly voice. She sobbed and quickly handed the phone back to Sasori.

The redhead gave her an unreadable look before grabbing it from her hands. "Ino. She'll talk to you later." He hung up the phone after a minute and looked at the crying girl.

With an irritated sigh, he pulled the girl into a hug. Hinata leaned into him and cried some more, her wet tears staining his shirt. She felt his arms tight around her.

"Are you always this sensitive?" his voice was laced with amusement. It was once again, surprising to her that he found a way to sway her from a sudden emotion. Right now, she felt okay in his arms, and slowly her heart was feeling lighter.

She didn't answer him. She just inhaled his cologne and buried her teary face further into his chest. She could feel his heart beating in sync with her own, and the heat from his body comforted her greatly.

"Hinata."

She stilled when her name was called. She felt Sasori's chin lift from her head to look at the person who possessed the voice.

Sasori sighed and let go of Hinata. "I think your husband wants to talk to you."

Hinata whipped her head around and saw him standing in front of them with a blank expression. His stare penetrated her, but she still didn't look away.

Sasori smirked at the Uchiha and looked down at Hinata. "I'll be back in ten minutes. Exactly.", he walked away, leaving the two to alone.

Hinata looked up at Sasuke with firm eyes. "What d-do you want?"

His face held not one emotion - he was completely unreadable. She hated that. "You know."

She did know. The bluette looked down at her slipper-clad feet. "I do. What I can't understand is why? Why would y-you do it?"

Sasuke knew exactly what she was talking about. Drug trade, Mondine, Anne-Sophie - everything. He ran a hand through his hair. "You won't understand."

"You're not g-giving me a chance."

"I wanted power."

Hinata snapped her eyes back up at him. "Power can't make you happy, Sasuke. I-I don't w-want you to d-do it anymore-"

"I won't." He sounded monotonous.

"P-Promise me that you won't. Do something right i-in this marriage for once."

struck a chord in him, and Hinata felt his now dark eyes glare at her.

The bluette couldn't hold in her emotions anymore. She ran to him and hugged him tightly. He was surprised by this more than anything. "P-Please Sasuke, just d-don't do this anymore. D-Don't do stupid things anymore. I don't care if y-you're mean, or if you hate m-me, just please d-do what I say for once." She couldn't stop the words that came from her mouth. "I don't want you to die…"

Her words stuck with him. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. "I promise."

That was the first promise that he made sure he wouldn't break to her.