Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters do not belong to me...but I still want Gaara and Shikamaru!
YEAH...finally back to the point where I ended last time. May take a week or so before I update cuz I'm going on a trip tomorrow so won't be able to write anything for a while. Hang tight and thanks to all those who are reading this! I appreciate all reviews and criticisms.
He was there.
Hinata peered out from behind a large oak tree at the well-concealed figure hidden in the forest on the edge of the training field. She hadn't intended to come. After last night, she had promised herself that she would never meet him again and that first thing in the morning, she would go tell the Hokage that Uchiha Itachi was back in Konoha. Instead, Hinata had found herself volunteering to do unnecessary tasks, activities that took her as far away from Tsunade's office as possible. And now, here she was again, placing herself at the mercy of a merciless man. Hinata silently berated herself for her indecisiveness.
"Come out, Hinata. I sensed your chakra signature ever since you left your house."
She stifled a small squeak. The red Sharingan was fixed on her from the top of a tree next to one she was clutching. She had not even heard him move.
"I didn't expect you to show up."
He waited for her to respond. Part of him expected her to bolt; the other part was still mildly surprised that the girl had came at all. When she made no movement, the tiniest flicker of impatience crossed his face.
"You said you've been training. Show me."
Hinata tried to comply but her feet remained rooted to the ground.
"I...I can't."
They stared at each other for a long time. An owl hooted loudly in the distance.
"If you don't attack me, it's not my fault if you get hurt."
With that, Itachi hurtled off the tree branch directly at Hinata.Whipping out an arm, he struck her solidly in the stomach and flung her into a nearby tree. A soft moan escaped her lips as her limp body slid down the tree, a trickle of red marring the snowy perfection. Hinata blinked, desperately trying to clear her mind from the encroaching darkness.
"Fight me or I'll kill you."
Her hands clenched involuntarily. Those words sounded so familiar yet so different.
--
"Give up or I'll killyou."
He glared at her, his voice deliberately and painfully impersonal. The pale skin, the colourless eyes. Features that were so similar to her own yet infinitely more precious to Hinata.
She struggled to her feet, pushing back the damp strands of hair that clung to her face. The metallic taste of blood, the yells of the other genin- they all faded into the background. All Hinata could see was the young man in front of her.
"Look, Hinata-sama! Look!"
A chubby hand tugged at the little girl's while another pointed eagerly at a bright red bird perched near the pond. The afternoon sun shone warmly on the two children running through the Hyuuga garden.
"That's my favourite. I promised I would show you right, Hinata-sama?"
The three year-old giggled shyly. "Hai, nii-san."
"Neji nii-san..."
--
Itachi leapt sideways as a slim, bandaged leg shot out suddenly under him. Hinata spun forward, her limbs whirling in a flurry of chakra-infused attacks. He was pleased to see that she hadn't been lying; not only had the strength of her attacks improved, but her speed and accuracy had also increased.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
The dark hair, the emotionless expression; the man in front of her was too similar to another for Hinata to tell the difference. Arching her arm outwards, she pushed forward recklessly.
"Why do you do this to yourself? Why do you force yourself to do things you don't mean?"
She gasped when she felt her wrist clasped tightly in a large hand. The world around her came to an abrupt halt when he brutally slammed her up against a tree trunk. Hinata stared wide-eyed into a swirling sea as red as blood and as black as night.
Eternal damnation.
Itachi rested his forearm almost casually across her throat. The girl weakly pulled at him to no avail.
"You don't know anything about me. You are nothing!"
The pressure on her throat increased. A welcoming sense of faintness threatened to overcome her but Hinata struggled to fight it off. There was something he needed to hear.
"But you aren't."
The sound of wheezing filled the air as Itachi abruptly lifted his arm. He silently watched her gulp in air, his face inscrutable.
"It-Itachi-san..."
Her words were cut off when he crushed his mouth over her. Hinata froze, her mind horrifically registering the feeling of his lips and tongue as he plundered the recesses of her mouth roughly. Strong fingers gripped her chin as Itachi wedged her fully against the tree. He smiled with grim satisfaction at the way she futilely tried to twist away from the obvious arousal he intentionally pressed against her.
"Look at me."
He wanted to see her eyes. Wanted to see the disgust and hate taint those innocent orbs.
"Please, Itachi-san...yada..."
Itachi pushed away from her. Hinata collapsed on the ground, tears rolling down her flushed face. Her eyes never left his. He took an unconscious step back, the crunch of dry twigs mockingly loud.
"Don't come near me again."
Then he ran. The painful bite of the chilly night air was unnoticed. For once, Itachi paid no attention to his surroundings, no heed to the direction he was going.
He had intended to scare her, to force her to accept the fact that he was a dangerous stranger, not her best friend. Instead, what he had seen reflected in those haunting eyes had only ended up adding to his ever-growing mass of carefully-hidden inner turmoil.
He had seen himself.
A/N: I tried to make it more clear as to why Itachi behaves like this towards Hinata. Reviewers mentioned last time that it seemed a bit fast for him to 'make a move' on her but that isn't the idea I'm trying to get across.
Please feel free to tell me how you interpret this and how you feel about the fic...I've actually already written the ending but have a couple of different ways for the story to continue in the mean time.