DOWNFALL OF THE LIGHT 2
Chapter 7: Unintended Development
Disclaimer: Yes, yes, yes, I don't own Naruto or Warcraft3 in any possible way for I am not the creator, I am just some really addicted fan who likes to write and create his own story. I wish I did though, but life's like that.
Legend:
"...": Speech
'...': Thoughts (Italics)
'...': Mind Conversations (No Italics)
Scene Changes are listed in the bolded italic brackets because this site messes up font!
AN: I won't even start talking my usual reasons and excuses for not getting this thing up sooner than I should, every time is the same thing, school is getting in my way, what else is there? If you know what is good for you, get good grades, get a good and easy job that you want because you worked hard for it and finally get a spouse to love you. Now, I want to answer any questions as soon as I can, not to mention thank all those who actually bothered to review. Suggestions are another thing, if I do intend to use it, I will thank you for it and mention it so you would get credit for. If I don't use it, that means I am not following it. I thank you all for your continuous support, you have my sincere respect as readers! There may be mistakes, I will fix it when I can.
1. Hyugachiha Hikaru: (Please check your question within my review section if you happen to forget)
OpForce's reply: Aegis is Naruto, get it? I hope further explanations wouldn't be necessary.
2. Dragon Man 180:
OpposingForce's answer: All those questions you asked ruins plot, I can't answer them. As for your previous review, no, I wasn't offended, I was just getting tired of typing. No hard feelings, okay?
3. Firedude328:
My response: My only answer to you is... transformed too long, when the side effects kicked in, he refused to transform back. So basically, ignoring warnings is a bad idea and the consequence to that was that he no longer could control the corruption, when he did though, it was already this critical.
4. Place-your-name-here:
OpposingForce's reasoning: Sure I will, but that won't come up anytime soon for it would be a surprise. I will ensure you the story wouldn't be pretty.
5. Kyuubinokitsune:
OpForce's reply: Paladin... Hinata making Naruto a Paladin? I happen to like Death Knights, because they are better fighters, and dark makes my blood more active. I encountered a similar idea before, but looks like you didn't notice. Thanks anyway.
6. sephynarutocloud:
My response: Married? That's way too far ahead, I can't answer you yet for I don't know if this story would end in a happy end or a tragic one. And please stop swearing at me, okay? If you want me to email you, send something that is more than just a 'HI!', or better yet, add me on MSN and give me your address. Thanks.
Thank you: One Azn Dragon, Twiggy-Kill-Me, Crimson Strike, Hyugachiha Hikaru, Dragon Man 180, lil uchiha bunny, Crutches, AkiaBinZaid, Firedude328, HinatasBiggestFanBoy, HikaruOfArrow, sephynarutocloud, Night-Owl123, Place-your-name-here, hyuugaman, kenshin2103-kun, stoictimer, greyfox885, Rainbow Neko Pheonix Hime, anonymous, Zsych, XAegisR, Father Malvado, S-Wanderer999, Daniel of Lorien, evilmustardman, Wormkaizer, violentlycheerful, joekool, Jacob Kessler, RuByMoOn17, jasx316, kyuubinokitsune, nArUtOhInAtA fOrEvEr, yourbonesakin, TezukaZone, Alexires, warprince2000, Kaarafear (For kind words of encouragement) and Dream Walker!
(During the same night)
After finishing his dinner, Aegis secretly thanked Hinata for this meal, this had to be one of his best food he had in a long while. Most importantly, it was Hinata who carefully fixed it for him, he would never refuse any kindness from her. As he placed his tray aside, he quickly put his sunglasses back on while taking out his novel again to read. He sighed as he opened the book, he knew his former sensei no longer spent as much time on Icha Icha Paradise ever since his so called death. The novels that have been currently released have been the Life and Death volumes, what surprised even him was how each book was more depressing than the last, when was Jiraiya an emotional person? Come to think of it, Jiraiya must've been someone who hid everything from people and put on that perverted persona.It wasn't the most healthy way to live. Once Aegis' eyes caught the glimpse of the paragraph, he completely forgot about his needed sleep.
(Meanwhile)
When she was done in the showers, Hinata came out of the bathroom and put on her nightgown that she always wore when she went to bed. As she slid into her futon after a long day of work, her eyes focussed on a ceiling with a slight blush on her beautiful face.
'I can't sleep...' she sighed while thinking to herself. 'I am quite tired... something else seems to be bothering me... I don't know what it is...' She then moved her hand slowly to touch her cheek, she couldn't believe how warm it was. 'Am I blushing? Why am I blushing this much... why do I keep feeling so happy when I think about Aegis-kun? I even blushed like I never did to anyone... other than Naruto-kun... but Aegis-kun is so mysterious and he's also so nice... I wonder if he's still awake, I so want to talk to him...' Without a second thought, she climbed out of her blankets and walked out of her room. As she reached the other room across from hers, she took a deep breath before speaking softly.
"Aegis-kun," she called gently. "I'm sorry to bother you... but if you are awake... can you give me a response?" However, no one answered. "Aegis-kun... you must be asleep then, I'll find you later..."
"Yo," called the Hidden-nin as he suddenly hanged down from the ceiling like a bat. Hinata gasped in shock as their heads nearly met another in a collision, the grin she saw that was plastered on his unmasked face made her blush deeply, she now had a clear idea that he would be absolutely handsome without the sunglasses. Aegis, on the other hand, was blushing for another reason for he was able to look at Hinata's cleavage from the view he was at, unlike what he did with Tsunade, he couldn't keep his eyes off. This was his girlfriend after all. "Am I scaring you?" he asked amusedly.
"A bit..." admitted the Hyuga heiress meekly. Aegis simply smiled and turned the right way before standing at least 7 inches taller than her. Her face flushed even more when she felt he was piercing through her like glass.
"Something wrong, Hinata-san?" he asked curiously. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"There's nothing..."
"Why are you up so late?"
"Why are you still up then?" retorted the Hyuga girl with a slight giggle.
"I was reading." Aegis replied easily, there was no point in lying.
"Were you hooked into the novel like the last time I came in?"
"Pretty much, yes."
"Then why did you come out?"
"Can't a guy get attracted by such an angelic female voice?" he asked poking her cheek a bit. Her shade of red increased as he made a touch on her soft, delicate skin.
"You can hear me when your mind is like completely absorbed?" she asked teasingly.
"Your voice is beautiful," he admitted without hesitation. "I know I can hear it no problem. Well... maybe it's because I caused you to wait outside for such a long time the last time around, so I made a promise to not pointlessly waste other people's valuable moments."
"You are too kind, Aegis-kun," she said softly. "You are still apologizing for what happened earlier, I told you it was nothing."
"I'll thank you again anyway," said Aegis with a smile. "It's good talking to you again, Hinata-san, but it is getting late and if there is nothing, I would rather read. I got an important day ahead of me." He then turned around and began to make his way back into his room, but suddenly, he felt a hand on his own. "Hinata-san?"
"Please, don't go..." she said with a heavyshade of crimsonbut not letting go of his hand.
"Why not?"
"If you are just going to read... and both of us are awake... do you think we can talk? Since we are going to live under the same roof for a while... I want to know you a bit better."
"You want to talk with me?" asked Aegis raising his brow a bit, Hinata only nodded as an answer. "I got nothing that you need to know. The only times that I would be here are mostly breakfast and sleeping."
"Are you trying to avoid me?" It was then when Aegis jerked back slightly.
"No, of course not..."
"You seem to not like me too much... am I a bother?" she asked sadly looking away.
"No, of course you aren't, Hinata-san," said Aegis trying to comfort her. "Sure... I like you as a person... 'If you only knew I love you,' why wouldn't I? It's just that I am not really an outgoing person who just wants people to know me or the other way around, I personally don't like to know people for you know who I am, a Hidden-nin, and it's not wise for me to make such short time and yet close relations. When we depart, it will only hurt you more."
"But it's better than not having a friend at all, right?"
"I guess you made your point, what are you implying?"
"I can be your friend when you are staying here. It will be perfect, you and I live in the same place, we are bound to see each other and if we don't, I could always bug you."
"Isn't Hinata-san now being a bit intrusive?"
"It's my way of showing that I care about my friends." Hinata reasoned with a cute, innocent smile.
"Yeah, at being intrusive, what a great method." He then got socked by Hinata right in the ribs. As she retracted her hand, she couldn't believe how hard his chest really was, it was obvious that he went through intense training to achieve this. "Ouch," he said sarcastically. "That... hurt... I think..."
"You deserved that nonetheless!" she pouted as she stuck her tongue out to tease him. He simply smiled back and poked her cheek once again. Hinata's face reddened cutely as a response, Aegis couldn't help but chuckle at the adorable display in front of him.
"You can be so cute, Hinata-san," he said with lifted spirits.
"You have to quit teasing me, Aegis-kun," she said playfully. "Or I won't talk to you."
"Really?" he asked with a visible grin. "I thought you said you wanted to be my friend."
"I did... Hey, are you saying what I think you are saying?"
"What did I say?"
"Did you just say that you wanted to be my friend?"
"Yeah... what are you getting at?"
"You want me to be your friend, oh, you are so nice!" Without thinking, Hinata wrapped her arms around Aegis giving him a very warm embrace, Aegis blushed slightly when he felt her body so close to his. "If you want to my friend... I want to be yours too. Let's be friends."
"Yeah... why not." said the Hidden-nin with skillful hidden dread.
"Then it's agreed?" she asked wanting a positive answer from him. When she made that cute face, he couldn't help but laugh. "I'll take that as a yes."
"No one could resist that face of yours," said Aegis smiling. "Okay, you're my friend and don't think that I don't like you, I really do for you are a very compassionate girl."
"You don't need to flatter me... you will make me shy..."
"I am not flattering you for you have nothing to give me," said Aegis solemnly yet understandingly, this was no lecture but he really needed her to understand how fake mockery could be. "You might be noble but I am a Hidden-nin, I don't need to get grace from you for I am even more respected than a noble clan, you can't give me anything. So, when I say nice things about you, I say for I really mean it and I am saying it as a friend."
"Thank you, Aegis-kun..." she said with a very happy and yet grateful voice.
"Anyway," he continued sensing his chest felt a bit warm, he realized that Hinata was still holding onto him. Smiling a bit, Aegis knew the Hyuga girl must've been trying to hide her blush in his chest. "Hinata-san, if you keep hanging on to me like that, I would start sweating because it's getting a bit too warm." The girl extracted herself from him with a smile on her face, her hands were still around him in an embrace.
"Like you said, I want to hug you because I really believe that you are a nice person," she said finally releasing him. "I'm getting tired... how about you?"
"A bit, I'm sure you don't want to be too tired tomorrow, do you, Hinata-san?"
"You should sleep too, good night, Aegis-kun." When Aegis said his words of farewell, he returned into his room and leaned on the wall as if his life depended on it. The real reason was mostly due to the pressure of Hinata's temperate touches, not to mention both her voice and unbelievably attractive body. He couldn't believe he didn't crack, he was praising himself for having this godly self control to restrain himself from doing wrongful acts. Aegis had a real hard time banishing the gorgeous Hinata out of his mind, who possibly could after they see her?
The nightgown she was wearing was translucent, making him able to partially see what she was wearing underneath it. No, he was not a pervert but this was his girlfriend, his ever so faithful girlfriend. He could obviously tell she wore only her undergarments underneath for he could see her white bra with matching cotton panties, yes, he tried very hard not to be absorbed by her beauty for her body was similar to goddess'. Her body was all curves, her waist was very narrow, her hips were wide and when he looked down from head to toe. He would first vision her beautiful visage, her hair had now grown long and with no need to even feel it he knew it was soft and silky. Next would be her considerably full sized breasts, they were like tempting him to feel it with his hands for he was the only person in her life that she would let it slide. The twins were very developed, she had certainly matured into a beautiful young woman. Her legs were long and creamy, it shared the same colour as divinity, it was something that could even cleanse his corrupted blood clean. No questions needed, he loved her even more, however, when he remembered the reason why he referred himself as Aegis, his heart immediately sank.
'I truly do want to tell you who I really am, Hinata-chan,' said Aegis in his head. 'If I tell you, how will you react if I tell you Aegis is Uzumaki Naruto? No matter what, Hinata-chan, I will protect you.'
(Early next morning at 7:30AM)
Hidden-nin Aegis opened his eyes at the spawn of daybreak, ever since when he was a kid he was always a light sleeper. To be more accurate,ever since he becamea Death Knight, hecould never be a heavy sleeper since he had to valuehis life almost twenty four-seven, or was he too suspicious of everything? It didn't matter, his past actions made him into what he was now.As he removed the blindfold that covered his eyes during his sleep, his teal eyes cringed while sunlight irritatingly pierced to his eyes destroying any sense of tolerance level within him.
"Damn this," he cursed as he got himself out of the futon. Taking his T-shirt off, Aegis proceeded into the bathroom with proper clothes for the day, he needed to get ready as soon as possible. He had two reasons for doing so; One, he should set a good reputation for himself for this would be the first mission that he would be serving in Konoha as a Hidden-nin. Second, he just wanted to avoid Hinata, not wanting to get too attracted by her unbelievable beauty. Once he got out of the bathroom in a refreshed manner, Aegis equipped himself with the proper armaments he carried frequently. The large assailant army knife equipped on his right wrist, a series of knives, his sidearm and ninja weapons, but most importantly his sunglasses that covered his bloodline limit eyes. His face didn't matter that much for he no longer had those foxy whisker marks on his face, not to mention his skin had become even more of lifeless peach. This morning, he was simply wearing what he was wearing underneath last night but without the cloak, basically black pants with a black vest. As he got all those checked he quietly exited his room not wanting to wake anyone who may still be asleep, he pledged not to be an bothersome guest.
'So far so good...' he thought as he took silent steps in the corridors. 'Yes, almost there...'
"Good morning, Aegis-kun," called somebody from the kitchen stopping the dark assailant's tracks immediately. He knew this wasn't Hiashi for it was a female, and the only girl who knew his name under this roof was clearly Hinata. "It's good to see you up so early," she continued now walking out of the room to meet him directly. "What are you doing standing so close to the wall?"
"What, this wall?" asked Aegis rather dumbly. The Hyuga girl nodded with a too knowing grin.
"Yes, the wall you are practically leaning on as if you are trying to sneak out of here."
"Sneak out?" questioned the dark assailant trying to cough out a believable laugh, he didn't know what he did to persuade her in the end, all he knew was he did it convincingly. "No, why would I do something that... improper?"
"If you're not sneaking out," said Hinata with doubt distinctly in her voice. "Where are you going then?"
"I'm... going out... to have breakfast." 'Yes, nice save, you bastard!' he congratulated himself in his mind.
"You were? Actually you don't have to, Aegis-kun." Aegis quickly jerked hearing that.
"Why is that?"
"I think I made too much food this morning, I would want to share it with you if you don't mind me doing so." She already fixed enough for him, was Hinata trying to charm him already?
"Oh, there's no need for such kindness towards me, my fair Hinata-san," said Aegis now just wanted to get out of that scenario but of course putting up a good act. "Your lovely meal last night was good enough to touch this very soul, if you do any more, I would not know what would be enough to justify my gratitude."
"You don't have to be so humble, Aegis-kun, I would be more than happy to eat with you. I don't want the food I made go to waste."
"Well, you may save it in the refrigerator for later, oh look at the time, I should really get going, and I nearly forgot to say, good morning to you too, Hinata-san." The Hidden nin then slipped away from the wall and continued down the corridors to find an exit out of the Hyuga mansion, before doing so, he gave a short wave to the bewildered heiress.
"Wait, don't go!" she declared softly as she reached out her hand to grab his and his actions were halted as of result. "Do you really have to go?"
"I still need to familiarize myself with this village," he justified. "I should be spending as much of my free time knowing my surroundings, this morning is no exception."
"You want me to come with you?"
"No need to trouble yourself for me, Hinata-san," Aegis then leaned down to kiss her soft forehead, she blushed deeply afterward. "I thank you." With that, he turned around and disappeared into the distance leaving a very stunned and bewildered Hinata.
'He's so wonderful...' she thought remembering what he just did moments ago.
(An hour later at the Hokage's office)
"Shizune," called the current Hokage, Tsunade. "Do you have any information on the Hidden-nin we have currently called here, you know the one yesterday."
"What is his name?" asked the attendant.
"His code name is Aegis."
"I do have some," said Shizune as she handed limited files on the dark assailant. "I'm not sure if I gathered enough though..."
"Is he a Hidden-nin like he said he is?"
"All the files at least say that part correctly." Tsunade then looked at the first paper that was on top, his info was certainly interesting to read. Talk about vague.
"Code name: Aegis, real name unknown, Level of experience: Stage 4... that is really high... Class: Hidden-nin, worked as a Hidden-nin for the past 36 months, Rank: Genin... Aegis-san is just like Rin when she became a Hidden-nin..."
"This guy is pretty amazing..." said Shizune impressed. "Is there more?"
"Not much though... combat skills unknown, armaments unknown, completed 24 A-missions, 49 B-missions, no Cs or Ds, and all his personal information has been purged."
"No personal info? What's up with that?"
"Because they aren't shinobis represented by any country or village, they just don't feel the need to list that much about themselves," said Tsunade taking a sip of tea instead of sake. "This info is accessible to every village unlike other shinobis."
"I understand completely, but can we trust him?"
"We could for we do have record as of how many missions he had done for each country. So far he had completed 13 from Grass,10 from Rain, 16 for Sand and the rest for Wave. For the past 3 years, Aegis-san must've been overworking himself by a lot and these aren't easy missions."
"But that doesn't mean he can be trusted that fully."
"I think we can, Shizune," said Tsunade confidence evident in her voice. "I contacted the Kazekage last evening on this young man, she said that he is definitely someone who will not show any treachery or betrayal to the village. Based on his records, all of the Kages say the same thing."
"He's really an honourable shinobi," said Shizune. At that moment, the two women heard door knocking.
"Who is it?" asked Tsunade softly but audible.
"It's Aegis, Hokage-sama, may I enter?"
"You may." Promptly, the Hidden nin entered the office and as he entered, the two women inside looked at him with total awe. Aegis was now confused, what did he do and what were they doing? Little did he know, both Shizune and Tsunade were admiring his unbelievably handsome face, without the mask, his face was completely exposed. To top it off, he was well built for he wasn't wearing his long black cloak, not in a ridiculous way but certainly above decent.
"Hokage-sama," called Aegis in a clear voice. "Hey, are you there?" With that question, Tsunade woke up from her daydream and focussed her attention to the dark assailant.
"Sorry..." apologized the female Hokage. "My, you are here earlier than expected."
"I just want to get today's missions out of the way as soon as possible."
"Aren't you an impatient one."
"Can't you see it as a hard working attitude?"
"I suppose I can. Now Aegis-san, if you don't mind, I would want you to wear this when your are here." She then handed an object to the Hidden-nin, Aegis' eyes opened more when he saw it.
"Why do you need me to wear the forehead protector while I am here?"
"It shows to everyone that you are a ninja, this thing does more than just that, it also proves authority."
"Authority?"
"Don't you know this protector earns respect?"
"No need to explain, I understand you completely." Without further questioning, Aegis took of the band he had on his head and replaced it with the forehead protector, now he looked nearly like a replica of the former Death Knight. Tsunade and Shizune gasped at the resemblance. "Is there something wrong?" asked Aegis. "It looked like you have seen a ghost... is it because I look like someone you once knew?" He knew better, his eyes already told him everything.
"You sort of remind me of my brother..." said Shizune sadly looking away.
"How was he like?" asked Aegis with much empathy.
"He was a great Hidden-nin and a proud shinobi of Konoha. Even though he never loved this place because many of the villagers hated him... but he never let that get to him for there were others who loved him and accepted him for who he was. My little brother then dedicated to protect those who cared for him, and would even accept life and death missions for this village." At this point, Shizune was already crying and Aegis didn't even have the face to even look at her for he knew she was describing his old self, guilt was evident in his teal eyes.
"I'm very sorry to hear that..."
"It's not your fault, Aegis-san," said the slug sannin in a depressed tone. "Let's not talk about that anymore... I'll tell you more about him later on, okay? May I know what kind of capabilities you have? I need to know your skills before I can assign you to your missions."
"I am suited in both the medical field and in the combat field."
"You are a medic?"
"A very highly skilled one also, Hidden-nins need to know at least the intermediate level of medical training if they want to save themselves from crucial injuries, basics just won't do the job."
"Then it's decided, I'll give you a mission that isn't within any rank category."
"What do you mean?"
"We are needing more people in the hospital these days and your healing abilities are just what we need right now. Somehow, people have been getting into playing this sport called underwater badminton, I really don't know how it works..."
"Underwater what?" asked the Hidden-nin in disbelief. "Never mind, I don't even want to know."
"Good, your task today would be helping this colleague with the ID number 233. Please help him/her with the best of your ability okay? Here's your map, you are expected to be there at 9:30."
"Roger."
(Moments Later in Konoha Hospital)
"Good morning, sir," greeted a kind female secretary as Aegis entered the front door and approached the reception's desk. The young women blushed as she saw Aegis' face, but the dark assailant knew why. "I haven't seen you before, are you a new shinobi here?"
"Sort of..." replied Aegis. "I am here under Hokage-sama's orders to aid the worker with the ID of 233, I would like to meet with him or her please."
"No problem."
"Hey, did someone mentioned my ID just now?" asked a soft female voice suddenly catching both their attention, when Aegis turned his head sideways to check who it was, his face was somewhat drained of colour.
"Hin... Hinata-san?" choked Aegis not knowing if this was fortunate or an unfriendly surprise.
"Oh, hello, Aegis-kun, it's so nice to see you again." Hinata said while tilting her head innocently with a charming smile.
"Likewise..." responded Aegis with much hidden desire to dash out of here.
"Did you miss me already?" she joked while giggling.
"Not really..." said Aegis.
"You're mean!" teased Hinata adorably. The Hidden-nin simply sighed slightly in exhaustion, he then patted on the girl's shoulder as a way to cheer her up, Hinata gave him a disappointed pout wanting more than that. Letting out some air audibly, he rubbed her back slightly as a way of paying back for his past so called mean words. It was that moment that he noticed her cute expression.
"Hinata, you got to cut it out."
"Cut what out?" she asked innocently clearly knowing what he was referring to.
"That adorable face of yours." Aegis replied smoothly with a grin.
"What if I like it?"
"I bet you can charm your patients well with it then. Hinata-san, I forgot to mention that my task for today is to aid you in all of the tasks that you might need to encounter. My info says that you work in the highly skilled areas and workers are limited."
"Yes, we really do need help but I didn't expect that a Hidden-nin like you would be the one to help me."
"Surprisingly enough, I didn't either." The dark assailant replied honestly. "I told Hokage-sama about my capabilities in the medical training, who would've thought that she would use me this much to her liking."
"You can be sure I would do too, Aegis-kun," teased the Hyuga heiress.
"Am I like a piece of equipment to you people now?"
"Of course not, Aegis-kun," The girl then took his hand into hers and began to pull him along to wherever she was going. At that moment, the silver hair male was surprised at her boldness, her eyes told him clearly that she felt right doing so. "I'm glad that you're here to help me, c'mon, we have to get working."
"Sure thing..."
(One day during the week)
The Hidden-nin Aegis ventured in the cold streets of Konoha during one day where Hinata didn't require his help that day, which was fortunate for the dark assailant didn't want to face another day of patients. He met Hyuga Neji during the evening of the second day, Aegis had to admit that Neji's looks and body had improved greatly. For his looks, Neji's face simply matured. Now, he was just as tall as him and his body was equally built, the former demon hunter certainly impressed. However, what made Aegis shocked was his capacity of chakra, it was definitely at least five times more massive than the last time they have met, the Hyuga genius would prove to be a very worthy rival indeed. Five times was only a minimum.
Tenten was also present that evening, she had turned out to be a very attractive young woman at the age of 17. The weapon specialist no longer had her buns on her head, nowadays, she allowed her hair to flow down. To Aegis' surprise, her hair was even longer than Sakura's but not as long as Rin's or Ino's. Like Hinata, Tenten was gorgeous, not like he would say that in front of anyone especially not Neji or Tenten. In addition, he was pretty sure all the girls have grown very nicely, it was an assumption that could be safely assured. Luckily for him, both Neji and Tenten didn't recognize who the dark assailant really was, but Aegis knew their impression of him was definitely a positive one. Good things happen to those who wait.
Who would've thought the feeling of winter would be this relaxing, the cool winds were just perfect for Aegis to ease his mind on more calm things. As he continued to walk under this chilly weather, he couldn't help himself to observe the looks the people gave him. He smirked knowing these fateless cowards didn't even recognize him, he didn't know if that was a good thing or vice versa, not that it really mattered, he never cared about any of these people. However, seeing those undeserving cheerful smiles in the corner of his eye do indeed make his blood boil, if mass genocide didn't make his heart cry out with remorse, he would've easily took out his sidearm and blow at least a several pieces of limbs out of their bodies. And their tortured cries would be music to his ears, it would be wonderful, not to mention beautiful.
His dark daydream was disrupted as soon as his activated eyes picked up a considerably high chakra presence, by the looks of it, it seemed like that person was stalking him. By concentrating more chakra into his eyes, his vision focussed to a spot 80 meters behind him and viewed it from there. In truth, his eyes have evolved greatly, now it could view an area at around 150 meters at least, 180 meters at most. Also, he could also hear everything that he could see within that closer sight, which proved to be very advantageous in all situations in terms of both combat and spying purposes. To his surprise, that person was an acquaintance from the past, this would prove interesting indeed.
'Damn...' thought the spy in frustration. 'Who is this guy who has been coming out of the Hyuga mansion for these couple of days? If he wears a pair of shades... he might not be a Hyuga... wait, I haven't even seen him before! I hope he hasn't been trying to hit on Hinata, ever since Naruto had been gone I have been looking for the perfect opportunity to court her... I better see what this guy is up to.'
'He's actually trying to hit on Hinata-chan?' thought Aegis with a smirk. 'You're going wish you have never thought of that.'
"C'mon, Akamaru," said Kiba who was the spy. "We're gonna follow him." With a bark of agreement, Kiba and Akamaru both continued their silent pursuit on Aegis, they were determined to be successful.
'Oh, Kiba, you can really make my day...' thought Aegis grinning due to excitement. 'You're a fool to approach me, let's see how long you can entertain me...'
(Time passes)
In a short amount of time, Aegis visited the busier district of the village where the main attractions were, it was no doubt that he was melded into the crowd. During this period of time, he sensed Kiba and Akamaru presence were still nearby, it appeared like they were a persistent duo, which was excellent. If his entertainers were quitters, where was the fun in that? The hunters were smart, they faked their interests in the merchandises to fool Aegis to believe that they were there by coinsidence. Aegis was no fool for he knew their intentions right from the start. If he decided to act right away, he would give away to them that he knew what was going on. Not only would that be boring, it would create unnecessary dull tension. The best way to make this situation to his advantage was to make him believe he had the upper hand but in reality, Aegis held the key advantage.
After a several minutes of lingering, the Hidden-nin decided to take the next event to higher heights. When he saw Kiba at an appealing music stand pretending to be interested, it was then when Aegis stepped beside him with a very neutral look. The beast boy gasped silently when he saw his target suddenly appeared next to him, his timing was definitely unexpected. However, Kiba raised a brow when he saw the dark assailant was actually interested into a music instrument, this guy was weird, Kiba thought.
"Maam, how much is that platinum coloured flute with the gold lining?" asked Aegis politely. The middle aged woman kindly smiled back at him, her smile was unlike most of the villager's looks.
"It would be 24 thousand yen, sir." The lady replied with equal amount of kindness.
"I would like to purchase it." Aegis took out a considerable amount of money from one of his pouches on his belt, Kiba was surprised at the amount of cash the Hidden-nin was carrying, not even he would have that amount of money to carry that casually.
"Thank you so much, sir." Aegis simply smiled at her words before facing Kiba.
"Hello," greeted Aegis to the beast boy pretending not to know him. Akamaru growled slightly at the calm assailant, its attitude certainly puzzled Kiba. "You seem to be quite interested in music."
"I am kind of..." said Kiba now feeling very awkward.
"There's no need to be shy," said Aegis in a friendly manner. "I saw you standing here for quite some time, you must be quite fond of music."
"Somewhat I guess, hey, are you then?" asked the beast specialist now walking with Aegis to get out of the district.
"I am indeed. I think that music can create all the different moods a person has within themselves. Hearing music certainly helps one relax when they are under unbearable stress."
"I do agree."
"I got an idea," said Aegis almost amused. "Why don't you play upon this flute, I want to see what kind of sound this thing makes when it's played."
"I can't do that," said Kiba. "I am not good enough to play it."
"I don't understand those terms," continued Aegis not dropping this subject intentionally. "Will you play this flute for me?"
"I cannot."
"I plead you."
"No, I cannot. Believe me, I don't know how to handle it."
"It's as easy as lying," replied the dark assailant casually. "All you need to do is place your mouth on the mouthpiece, put your fingers on the parts that cover the holes to create another sound and blow it. When you do, it would make a very elegant sound."
"But I don't have the skill!" At this point, Aegis looked amused.
"Is that so, and don't those words you just said sound contradicting? You would play upon me, you would know my stops, you would know when to start again and when to rest. Hell, you would even want to hear what kind of music this body is able to make and yet there is beautiful music here and you can't make it?" At this point, Kiba felt pinned, Aegis' voice was from kind to now deadly. "Hell, you were trying to play a human being here! Ha, and now you are telling me you can't play this piece of crap? Who do you think you are, what do you think of me?A fool?Do you even believe that I am easier to be played compared to a flute? Think what you must but you can never fool me!"
'Shit... he knows...' thought Kiba now in a slight verge of panic. When his black eyes met his shades and that lustful grin, lust in terms of for blood, he knew he already fell into a deep trap with no possible escape.
"You have suspected nothing, did you?" asked the dark assailant now with his army knife fixed into an attacking angle using his chakra. "I had a good talk with you, but that doesn't mean you could just leave here without facing the consequences."
"What are you trying to do?" asked Kiba not going to be intimidated by him, heck, he was being very serious. "You think you could just go around fighting a chunnin in this village?"
"It's not like you don't deserve it," reminded Aegis coldly.
"I'll give you one more chance to change your mind."
"I think I like my choice." Kiba had heard just about enough, this was just unforgivable.
"Akamaru," ordered the beast boy. "Attack him!" As the larger dog leaped right at the assailant preparing a hard and crucial bite to the upper arm, Aegis smirked darkly and raised his left arm slowly in a defensive block. The hound's body forcefully landed on Aegis' left wrist, in a matter of movements, the Hidden-nin easily whipped his arm towards his left sending the white canine soaring across the air.
Kiba's eyes widened in absolute shock at the effortless attempt at that guard, no one was able to block that with that much ease, however, his face drained of colour when he saw Aegis took out his firearm from his waist and aimed right at the living ninja tool. The weapon wasn't like anything Kiba witnessed before, sure he had seen guns but extremely rare, but this one didn't even look like it was something made of technology. To be precise, it was made from demonic chakra, the process and creation was identical to Nightshadow. Similarly, the assassin army knife on his wrist was a creation like that also. At the next second, Aegis pulled the trigger releasing a concentrated and yet piercing beam of chakra from the nozzle ready to strike the face. In an instant, the beam struck Akamaru's head and violently ignited.
"Akamaru!" shouted Kiba with fear. "Stop this!" However, Aegis' grin widened even more for he continued to fire at the dog creating an inescapable suppressing fire. As the hound whimpered in pain due to the burning torment, Aegis focussed more chakra in the final shot and aimed directly in the stomach. With a small finger pull, the hound suffered from a deadly impact before falling lifelessly to the grass complete wasted.
"Ouch," said Aegis now very amused. "That must've hurt..."
"To hell with you!" yelled Kiba obviously not finding that statement anything close to funny. If he paid attention closely to Aegis' eyes under his shades, he would've sworn he saw them flash a glint of deadliness. Using a swift evasion, Aegis easily sidestepped to dodge Kiba's incoming fist completely. Noticing this opening before it was too late, the former demon hunter raised his knee to crash into his victim's ribs making Kiba yelping in agony. Next, Aegis' left fist made a slam into the chin, as on natural reaction, Kiba was now in more of a half standing and half wobbling back position, that exactly was what Aegis needed for he aimed his firearm right at his opponent. In an instant, he fired striking the leg. Not having enough time to even ease the pain, Aegis fired again and this time the right shoulder. After the second shot, the Hidden-nin began to attack rapidly causing Kiba to stumble backwards every time a beam hit him viciously into his flesh, especially the ones that struck his chest. After 30 shots, Aegis gathered chakra into his palm and held the handle to regenerate more chakra to fire again, it was similar to reloading.
To the Hidden-nin's surprise, Kiba managed to run close to him while he was concentrated on reloading, not able to shoot within such a short amount of time, Aegis bent his back into a evasive curve to ready himself for his next attack. Using his left elbow, he quickly rushed it into the stomach, Kiba jerked back immediately with much stumbling, also coughing out blood within his internal injuries. However, his eyes widened in fear when his pupils only focussed on Aegis, who had his army knife now in striking range, with no hesitation whatsoever.
'His blade...' thought Kiba. 'It's surrounded with a... green chakra...' Before Kiba could think anymore, the searing army knife made contact with his flesh making a long and deep cut. As the hound master flew back due to pain, he could feel a burning sensation within the wound and it wasn't any pain a person would receive from a cut, it was similar to fire. The chakra within the injury flared brightly, in a matter of seconds, it violently exploded resulting the victim to crash on the ground in a helpless manner.
"Ah, you're already down for the count?" asked the dark assailant now taking steps closer to his prey. "I was hoping that you could make my day a bit more challenging."
"How dare you mock me..." grunted Kiba in much pain.
"Why now, why wouldn't I mock you when you are in such an disadvantage? In battles, one's disadvantage is the opposing force's advantage, is it not?"
"Damn you..."
"Your futile attempts is like a drama display in my eyes," said Aegis now holding his blade into a position ready to attack the neck. "I just wish you actually put up more of a resistance. Don't worry, I will make this agony of yours end sooner." Generating chakra once again into the army knife, Aegis released a threatening chakra assault right at Kiba, that easily resulted in a tortured scream. In a matter of moments, the beast master fell unconscious in a delicate state, by the amount of stamina left within his body, Aegis could clearly tell Kiba was done, done for.
"You really are a fool to try to sneak up on a Hidden-nin," declared the dark assailant silently with coldness. "Especially when the person is Uzumaki Naruto." He then concentrated more of his essential energy within his body to his hand and placed it on Kiba's body. "You have no idea how much you don't deserve this... Rejuvenation..." In a short amount of time, most of the wounds have completely healed, even though Aegis wanted this intruding fool to die pitifully, his death may cause a commotion in the village. This would be a good lesson for him not to pull that meaningless stunt again, if this happens once more, Aegis would make sure he wouldn't hold back. "You'll wake up eventually, you would be a disgrace if you die now." With that said, Aegis walked out of the combat grounds and decided to head back to the Hyuga mansion, he had enough pointless excitement for one day, there was no need to encounter any more ifit was notmandatory.
(Back in the Hyuga mansion)
"What a stupid day..." said Aegis taking out the flute he bought earlier that day. "This former acquaintance was a fateless fool, I hope the others grew up fine. It's good Hinata-chan, Neji and Tenten are good people... unlike some others..." As he put the mouthpiece to his lips, Aegis began to gently blow in it to test out the elegant sound it made. It was absolutely beautiful, but his stoic like attitude certainly hid his emotions well. Gently giving in more air, Aegis began to play a tender song that could ease the rage of a storm, the song was exquisite, the flow was simply marvelous. Indeed, the Hidden-nin had much talent in music.
Hyuga Hanabi was drawn by the sound that was producing in the east wing, the waves of the music was similar to hypnotism, even though she was tired from the day at the academy, her body was shot awake when she heard such a graceful tone. Curiosity obviously took the better of her in this situation, as the sound got more clear after each step, she stopped at the room where the music was coming from. Not even thinking of knocking, she entered immediately. Once she stepped into the room and saw the person who was playing the instrument, the younger Hyuga girl blushed deeply seeing how handsome Aegis was. The girl attempted to hide her flushed face, she never blushed this bad in front of anyone, like her older sister, she only felt like this when she saw Naruto for the first time in her life.
Noticing how his mood in playing was so intrusively interrupted, the silver hair shinobi lowered his flute and turned his head to his left to look at the unexpected visitor. He gasped silently to himself when he saw the younger Hyuga, Hanabi was incredibly attractive for her age. She obviously matured over the past 3 years or so, her hair was still straight and long that reached down to at least her chest area, her facial look didn't change that much only to be replaced by maturity, and finally her body was in very good shape. Aegis safely came to the conclusion that Hanabi must've been training very diligently for the past years, even so she looked very feminine. Like a precedent to her sister, Hanabi was small, Aegis was now wondering if the body size issue was a heredity in the main house that was passed down to the girls. Her outfit was pretty much the same as the one when she was 8 other than the fact it was now a few sizes larger, it wasn't like she needed to look fancy.
"Is there something that you need, miss?" asked Aegis as his eyes were fixed upon her pure lavender ones.
"I..." she murmured nervously, she couldn't believe that even his voice sounded so appealing. "I... I am sorry for barging in like that..."
"It's fine," said the male teenager with a smile. "These things happen." Suddenly, Hanabi's mind got into order and finally she was thinking straight.
"Wait," she stated seriously with hints of hostility. "Who are you? And why are you in my house?"
"Me? Didn't Hiashi-sama tell you who I am?"
"No one told me anything."
"Funny, I would sure tell the household members if there will be a guest living under the same roof for a while. Not to mention I have been staying here for about 3 days already."
"You've been here for 3 days without me knowing?" Hanabi asked in much disbelief.
"I haven't encountered you until now." Aegis reasoned with both calmness and skill.
"Are you a trustworthy person?" questioned the now older little Hyuga, her voice sounded like an adorable child, even though she may be mature, there was still a child like character within her.
"If I am not trustworthy, I don't think I would be living here for very long now, wouldn't I?" replied Aegis in a joking tone. She giggled slightly at his words but quickly calmed herself down when she sensed she had lowered her guard.
"Who are you, and what's your purpose?" Aegis could feel her seriousness returning, his eyes didn't make any sort of trickery on that.
"I am a Hidden-nin," answered the assailant. "Under Hokage-sama's orders, I have to live here."
"You sound like that you don't want to stay here," said Hanabi noticing a bit of exasperation in his voice. "Is it that bad here? I would get ashamed if you don't like it..."
"No, don't think that way," said Aegis. "It's just that I just didn't think I would receive such hospitality. I thought I would be staying in an inn."
"You still want to go there?"
"What, are you kicking me off campus?" asked the dark warrior with amusement.
"No," replied the lavender eye girl somewhat giggling. "It's just that you sounded so desperate."
"I wouldn't mind if you kindly escort me there, my fair lady," Hanabi blushed immediately.
"You are even older than me," she retorted cutely. "You can go there yourself!"
"Well, you won't want a Hidden-nin such as myself to get lost now do you?"
"That's your problem."
"Ouch, that hurt..." said Aegis pretending to be in pain like a knife pierced into his heart. Once again, the girl chuckled silently to herself seeing that display, she wondered why she was smiling and blushing this much in front of this stranger. Even though she had not met Naruto for very long, like her sister, she felt very comfortable around the silent Death Knight. In her own fantasy, she hoped to meet someone like that in the future so she could have a shoulder to lean on when she really needed it, it was only normal for anyone that they want to be loved.
"You're funny," said Hanabi sincerely with a grin. "My name is Hyuga Hanabi."
"It's nice to meet you, Hanabi-chan," said Aegis making the girl having another crisis of turning scarlet. "If you want to know my name, I am Aegis."
"Aegis?" asked the girl curiously. "Do you have another name?"
"That's my code name, everyone calls me by it for I am a Hidden-nin."
"Do all of them need a code name though?"
"I just go by one because there is no need for me to get all personal with anybody. I come and go, friends isn't something that I have a lot of."
"That's sad to hear..."
"Don't be, that's life I suppose," said the cunning assassin looking at his flute. It was then when the girl remembered the reason why she entered the room to begin with.
"Aegis-ni-chan," said Hanabi timidly. "I think you're really good in playing that instrument."
"Really? How would you know?"
"I heard you from outside, I think you are really good." The former demon hunter could easily tell the young girl in front of him wasn't lying, nor was it flattery, she was honestly telling what her heart felt. Honestly was something that Aegis believed to be a very noble quality, Hanabi just earned his utmost respect.
"Thank you so much, Hanabi-chan. Hey, you want me to play a song? I could really use your help in terms of if it sounds good or not."
"It'll be a pleasure."
(Many days after working in the hospital)
Ever since Hyuga Hinata had reported to the Hokage that the Hidden-nin was a great help to the hospital, Tsunade decided that she would place Aegis in the hospital for the whole week until the hospital wasn't in a rush all the time. Knowing everything that he did would be beneficial to Konoha in one way or another, the dark assailant didn't give any signs of objection and willingly, but not enthusiastically, accepted them all. Little did he know, taking on this role was much more than it seemed.
Aegis or Uzumaki Naruto, was tired from this day. No, it wasn't all that draining for it was a piece of cake to him, however, it indeed were annoying tasks to deal with. The main reason to this was the patients who kept coming in. To his surprise, most of these people were kids with their mothers panicking like a rooster about to be shot by a shotgun. 'How's my child? Will he be okay?', that question was heard nearly every incident Aegis encountered, he didn't understand how Hinata could be still smiling and was able to reassure them without her temper rising over the charts due to the infernal racket. He certainly didn't have that kind of tolerance even though his anger managing skills were incredibly high, eventually he would just lose it, also the person who would be in front of him will wish they were never born.
What really made his eye twitch noticeablywas the cause for these kids to visit the emergency room, they all had something in common, for they all suffered a case from drowning since they were playing underwater badminton. Just kind of game was that? How could a birdie travel underwater? And why did these ignorant brats continue these actions of absolute stupidity? What a bunch of fateless fools, he thought, if they didn't want to experience such suffering, why not just don't play that game to begin with, especially those idiots who had no capability to swim! Aegis had no intention as of to know how this game worked or what it was, because this so-called 'fun activity' was making his life a living hell. The last thing he needed was another noisy parent with an unconscious child who had drowned, if he didn't have self control, his army knife would've been in the attacking position and slaughter that pathetic coward who caused another worst case scenario.
Just when he thought the work was irritating, the young female workers there weren't giving him the best impression either. It wasn't like that they weren't hardworking or slacking off, but they all seem to give him winks and cute looks when they walk by or when they talk because it was necessary. Some of the most attractive ones would even make sure that he would see their chest or their rear end by 'accident'. Aegis knew the girls found him attractive, especially under those shades of his, he tried his best to ignore them but their presence made him uncomfortable. He couldn't blame them, like who wouldn't think to themselves when they witness a cute girl or guy, it was human ambition, it was inevitable but it didn't mean it wasn't incredibly frustrating. Sure, he had girls having silly crushes on him when he was in another village working on missions, he would simply brush them off saying "There is a person waiting for me", but in this case, it just didn't work.
Two reasons; One, the person that he was waiting for was in the same workplace. Two, he was working with people who were considered his colleagues, he was not talking to some random people on the streets. If he used his cold attitude to an extent that was too much, he would really look like an unreasonable jackass. In spite of he wasn't someone who cared about his reputation all that much, if people had bad perspectives of him, that could easily influence others to think badly of him. He already had people hating him for being a demon, Aegis had no intention to create people who would hate him on a social level when they might not even know who he really was.
When they separate from their task, Hinata would wave at him if they needed to work on separate tasks, which was rare but Aegis knew she was the only person that he would wave back to. The Hyuga girl smiled politely every time, that smile alone warmed his own corrupted heart. Despite how much he wanted to look at Hinata, he had to remember who he was now, and also remember why he had to keep a barrier between his feelings.
During this hour, Aegis was in the lounge taking a break from all the healing jutsus he engaged for all this time. Drained from chakra was one issue, exhaustion due to fools was another. He desperately needed to get away, peace and quiet would be one step closer to heaven, nothing would stand in his way to achieve that goal.
"I am not made to be put in this field..." said Aegis to himself as he was filling in his working hours sheet. "If Hinata-chan was trying to persuade me to work here... these bastards, also known as annoying brats, have really did a good job in making a deep and unrecoverable scar in my judgement." It was then when the door opened and a familiar figure entered the room.
"Hello, Aegis-kun," said Hinata with a smile. "You are still here?"
"Yeah..." replied the Hidden-nin dully while finishing off the last touches that he needed to do on his sheet. "How are you?"
"Thanks to you, my tasks today have been a lot easier on me. I thank you so much for your help, I hope it wasn't too hard on you though... if it was, I want to apologize."
"Don't say that, Hinata-san," he replied reassuringly. "Work is like that and my mission objective was to help you. Was it really hard on you when you didn't have help?"
"It was, Aegis-kun, for I am one of the most important medics working here who spends the most time here amongst the others. The hospital really needs me at a time like this."
"Sorry to hear that."
"It's not your fault, these things can't be helped. I'm happy that you care."
"Why are you so certain that I care?" questioned Aegis raising a brow.
"If you didn't, you wouldn't have asked from the start." Hinata replied kindly and smiling of course.
"You made your point," said Aegis sighing in defeat. "Anyway, since it's time to leave, I'm going out and have dinner. I'll see you around, Hinata-san." Just when he walked past the Hyuga girl, as if on impulse, the girl gently took his hand and held it. Aegis turned his head around slightly with much curiosity. "Hinata?" He was beginning to wonder why she liked him to stay by her so much.
"Can't you eat at home?" asked Hinata wanting him to stay. "Why do you have to go out though?"
"I don't want to bother you that much," justified the dark assailant sincerely. "I really don't wish to trouble your family more than I already have."
"You haven't bothered us at all, you have no idea what kind of honour it is to have a Hidden-nin to be here living with us."
"Hidden-nins are also human," said Aegis sort of contradicting himself for he was a demon. "We are nothing more but shinobis who need a living like you and I. It's already too much for me to accept when I was told to live in your place, if you do anymore, I would feel guilty."
"Why though?"
"It's because I can't do anything for you."
"Don't say that, Aegis-kun, I think that you are a very kind person."
"You don't know me that well, Hinata-san."
"I know, but you're sweet enough to kiss me when you are treated with sincere courtesy," replied Hinata with a smile. "Why did you kiss me the day before?"
"Because you made me happy," said Aegis. "I'm sure that you have touched many people's hearts with your kindness." He soon circled his arms around her back and gave her a warm embrace, Hinata blushed immediately when she felt his touch, however, this embrace melted her heart for she seem to felt it before. "Hinata-san, no matter what happens, continue to smile because I can tell that everyone wants to see your beautiful face smiling. I also know that your heart has been aching a lot because no one has been giving you the feeling you want to experience that you want so much, you want someone to care about you, you want to show your care before receiving, yes, I know. However, you don't need to do that with me because a few actions can tell me a lot about a person, I can see you are truly genuine. Do you know that you are one who deserve a whole lot more than you give out, your eyes tell me that you miss this something thatwas lost in your life, this something was your happiness and you have been doing a lot ever since trying to comfort yourself."
"Aegis-kun..."
"Hinata-san, you deserve so much more than this life has to offer, you don't deserve such a unfair life. It saddens me to see how you always want to make me feel appreciated when I couldn't do a thing to make you feel the same way. Just like you, I am not worthy of your kindness and it just hurts me to see the truth behind your intentions. Hinata-san, be true to yourself and remember that you deserve a lot more that this." When he broke the embrace, the Hyuga girl was in absolute awe. To her, Aegis seemed to see through her like glass and nothing could hide from him. What made her admire him was how caring he was to her, he didn't joke about her feelings, Aegis wanted her to heal spiritually. No one else other than family would say these words to her, he truly wanted her to be happy, Hinata was amazed and definitely grateful. At that moment, she wanted to kiss him.
"Aegis-kun..."
"What is it, Hinata-san?"
"You do deserve to be treated with care and kindness as well," she answered with a touched smile. "Because you care enough about me."
"Hinata-san... I really don't..."
"Don't believe that, Aegis-kun. You too make me happy, you encourage me because you want to, not because you feel obligated. Even though you may not feel like you are caring to me, I want you to know that you are. Aegis-kun, I know you didn't have to take on hospital duties if you didn't want to, but I know you did it for me because you have seen how hard it has been here. Aegis-kun, you have done so much more than enough for me... in the work hours... do you know that you would work really hard so I won't have as much of a difficult time... This week, you would even care about my conditions, no one has been so considerate towards me."
"I am your personal assistant when I am here," said the former demon hunter. "If you start collapsing due to exhaustion, Tsunade-sama will have my head."
"I can tell that you care about me," said Hinata holding his hand gently. "Aegis-kun, is it because you like me?" 'I love you as a matter of fact.' The Hidden-nin thought to himself.
"You are my friend, Hinata-san," justified the dark assailant obviously not going to give her such an answer. "If I don't consider you to be an importance that is greater than just the normal colleagues, what's the point of a friend? Who else would I show at least a bit of my caring?"
"You're just avoiding the question."
"I like you as a friend," lied Aegis with no signs of discomfort when he spoke lies. "No one said that I didn't like you."
"I like you a lot too." said Hinata hugging him tightly. "Thank you, Aegis-kun. You are really a kind person, you are sincere because of who you are, I really believe that you are worthy of being cared for."
"Thanks for saying so, Hinata-san." 'When you know who I am... you will understand why I am not worthy of your faithful love, Hinata-chan...'
"Please call me Hinata-chan," stated the Hyuga girl demandingly but not harsh. With her soft voice, no one would've expected it was an order. "You don't need to be so formal with me when you're my good friend."
"I'm your good friend?" asked Aegis not knowing if this was a good thing.
"Of course you are," said Hinata cheerfully. "I hope we get to know each other even better... it's not like I don't know enough about you after around 9 days. I must say you are a very likeable person."
"Oh, you don't know that,"
"You are to me, Aegis-kun."
"It's getting a bit late, should we get out of here?"
"Are you going out or coming back home?" asked Hinata making a sad expression. Aegis sighed deeply.
"If I say I am going out, you're going to insist to eat with me, right?" Hinata nodded promptly. "Why are you so persistent to be with me?" Instead of blushing, the Hyuga heiress gave him an understanding smile.
"I already said that you're very likeable, I like being with you because you are always kind." Aegis didn't like where her words were getting at, he already sensed a bit of the hidden message.
"Seeing that you would be following me with both decisions," said the Hidden-nin banishing her previous words aside. "I have no reason of spending my money, let's go home."
"You're so nice," said Hinata giving him a peck on the cheek. Since he received many kisses from her a long time ago, blushing wasn't something in his vocabulary. "I'll fix you something really nice tonight."
"No need for that, Hinata-chan..."
"I insist, Aegis-kun," she replied with an attractivesmile. In a quick action, she took his hand firmly not allowing him to escape. "C'mon, I'm getting hungry." Without another word, the Hyuga heiress took him out of the hospital and returned to the Hyuga estate with a very cheerful face, she laughed with him all the way. Her voice was still divinely to him up to this date, it truly pained Aegis to see her to be so lonely for these past years, he truly wanted to know just how much this absence had affected her. Even though he was having fun with her walking home, the sense of guilt was completely evident in his teal eyes, without her knowing, Aegis silently cried allowing his tears of regret seam through his eyes.
(Later)
"Aegis-kun," said Hinata pulling the dark assailant to the sliding doors that accessed to her room. "Wait for me in my room, when I come back, I'll give you a good surprise."
"Hinata-chan," pleaded Aegis. "You don't have to go through all that trouble."
"I want it to be a token of my appreciation."
"For what though?" asked the silver hair shinobi. "I didn't do anything."
"You helped me make my job more enjoyable," said Hinata with a giggle. "If it wasn't for you, I think I would've collapsed already."
"Okay, I thank you then, but why do we need to eat in your room? There is a dining room after all."
"I want to talk to you alone, in the dining room we don't get the privacy."
"What is there to talk about?" asked Aegis raising a brow. "Can't we just talk about it right here?"
"I think sharing it during dinner would be better," she reasoned as she pushed him into her room, of course, he gave a bit of resistance. "Come on, just wait patiently okay? If I don't see you when I am done with dinner..." The girl then made a cute pout, that resulted in a small poke on the cheek by Aegis making her blush radiantly. "That's not funny, Aegis-kun!" Hinata said with her face still carrying that shade of crimson.
"You were begging me to do it," justified the dark shinobi with a victorious smile. "Weren't you saying you needed to go somewhere just now?" Those words made her pout again, trying to hide her laugh, she quickly turned the other way and walked to the kitchen in a quick pace. The dark shinobi smiled at her retreating form, even her footsteps were graceful. No longer feeling her presence, Aegis simply did he was told and entered her room. With a deep sigh of both exhaustion and relief, he allowed his eyes to scan around this unknown room. However, it was then he picked up much demonic energy within this room, he didn't need his engaged eyes to tell him how powerful this was. Strangely enough, this signal was very familiar indeed, part of himself told him that he had encountered this before in the past. At an instant, he felt something had equipped to his left thigh, as soon as he took a quick glimpse of it, his eyes widened.
"Nightshadow?" asked Aegis in disbelief. "What are you doing here? So it's you that I sensed with the demonic chakra... it has been a while, hasn't it?" He took the blade away from his thigh, however, the weapon wanted to remain attached to its master's body like a magnet. "Nightshadow... what's wrong?"
'I think the blade might want its master,' said a soft female voice in his head, Aegis smirked at that remark. 'Naruto, you have left my gift to you behind for 3 years already, it's only natural it would be attracted to you.'
'But...'
'Nightshadow is part of me, my little dark one,' continued Kyubi softly. 'If the weapon is not near me, I don't feel complete... the same goes with you.'
'I feel fine though,' replied Naruto to his demon master.
'But Nightshadow does want its master, that is you, Naruto.'
'But... if Hinata-chan sees the blade equipped to me... she will know who I am!'
'The blade needs you, Death Knight.'
'Kyubi-chan... is Nightshadow attracted to me because of...'
'No, the weapon is very loyal to the wielder, Naruto, don't worry about it.' Kyubi said with a smile. 'It's good to know that you found out where the blade is, without it I do feel very different.'
'However, I can't use Nightshadow anymore... If I do use it, it will reveal my techniques and Hinata-chan and the others would know Aegis is Uzumaki Naruto!'
'You don't have to, my little dark one,' comforted the demon. 'I know you have to mask your identity, try to reason with the sword, it will understand your intentions.'
'Thanks, Kyubi-chan.' In a flash, the demon fox quietly faded in his mind sending him back to reality. "Nightshadow," said Aegis to his blade softly. "Please get off my thigh, if Hinata-chan sees you on me like this, she will know it is me. You have Kyubi-chan's chakra, you do know my intentions. I'm not trying to abandon you for you have been very loyal to me, however, I can't risk my identity here like this... please, listen to me once again, I will be very grateful to you.
The black weapon glowed within its sheath, the assailant's eyes blinked in surprise and guilt hit him once again.
"I want to as well, Nightshadow... I want Hinata-chan to know that Uzumaki Naruto is still alive... but how can I tell her that? I just can't..." At that moment, the blade detached itself from its master's thigh and floated in front of him. The softness it was hanging appeared compassionate. "Please stay by Hinata-chan and protect her, Nightshadow, I am sorry... I am very sorry that I wasn't strong enough to keep that promise, I am so sorry that this chaos happened, just please protect her for me."
Aegis wiped away a bit of his tears as he held on the blade with one hand, he couldn't let Hinata see him cry or even touch her most valued item. However, bad comes to worse when Hinata suddenly entered the room for she forgot something. The dark assailant cursed this timing, but he just stood as still as a lifeless statue. Once she entered, her actions halted immediately, her eyes were focussed completely on the hand that was holding onto the sword, if Aegis knew Hinata, those lavender eyes were showing much emotional distress. The Hidden-nin took several steps backwards when he noticed a dangerous aura with mixed emotions, things were certainly taking a turn for the worst. Deep in her melancholy, the Hyuga girl's eyes were in tears of despair.
AN: I know there wasn't much action or plot development, sorry for that but hey, I needed to get stuff straight before the good stuff arrived. I suppose that's the catch for making a time skip, especially with a character that has no impression towards the other characters, things must build up. I know you will be asking a several questions, I will answer them so you won't need to ask me later on in you reviews. If you still have questions, feel free to ask.
One, does Hinata love Aegis? At this point, she sees him as a very good friend, no intimacy romance whatsoever at this stage. Of course, it doesn't mean that she won't try to attract him, she really does like him a lot.
Two, why does Aegis use a gun? Because he is an assassin and the gun uses chakra as the source of power. To those obsessed with Counter-Strike, don't even think I would be making Aegis having possession of an M-249 mowing down everyone he hates. If you like to see blood caused by a bullet, start playing Opposing Force or TFC or something to satisfy your ambitious desires.
Three, will Aegis reveal his identity? Sooner or later, yes, he will but not in a way that most of you would expect it to happen. If he doesn't, there will be no story, even if Aegis dies in this story, he would die telling her the truth.
Four, will there be a lemon? Most likely yes, and I will make sure it would change to rated R. If any of you feel disgusted about this, tough luck. Hey, they are 16 now, I feel a lot more comfortable writing it but that doesn't mean I won't hesitate during the writing process. It is still new to me after all, you perverts out there better give me some time to make it good, rushing does me no good.
Five, why didn't Kiba and Akamaru figure out their target was Naruto? Easy, they didn't know Naruto well enough to even notice the scent of his chakra for they never did smell it before in their life. In this story, they didn't fight each other, ever. No familiarity, no recognition.
That is the end of questions, it's Thanksgiving today in Canada, yep, October 11, I wish everyone in Canada had a decent 3 day holiday, I certainly did because I had fun and homework was no obstacle this time around. Sorry if this chapter came out a bit slow, I had enough assignments the week before to bug the hell out of me. Hey, chapter updates will only get slower these days, the harsh reality just wouldn't ease up on us. Like I said, life is short, life is hard and most importantly, life is not fair. Looks like I have to live with it whether I like it or not. Hope you all liked this chapter of mine, I hope I could release the next one soon. Later for now!
