Hearts in love and denial chapter 7: Dreams

By Gasha Aisu

No, no way, he was not going to give up. Gritting his teeth he raised his sword and narrowed his eyes. He wasn't going to let some... some fox take his life. He had too much to live for, too much to just die without giving a good fight... but... He tried not to wince. He was bleeding, hard. One of the demon fox's claws glittered in blood, his blood. And although it's massive claw only scratched him, thanks to his amazing twisting abilities in the air, he was severely wounded. No, he would not give up, not until the others came. He hadn't even used his last and final jutsu yet, he hadn't used his ultimate strength. His vision was blurring and he blinked the blood and sweat out of his eyes, refusing to believe this was the end. It didn't matter that he was alone, it didn't matter that the rest of the ninja's where sprawled around him, the ones that where supposed to help him. He had to hold on, he had to wait for the others. He had faith in Yondaime (4th hokage), he had faith in his long time close friends Kiyone and Ksijuharu. He had faith in them to come on time, faith that they could defeat this monster. Faith that they could do what he, apparently, could not. Yes, he had faith.

Raising his sword he let out a bloody yell and charged at the massive demon. But he was stopped however by voices he knew all too well.

"Stop Motsiharu!"

He did, and jumped back to avoid a giant tail slashing out to him. He gracefully twisted his body in the air. His ability to move his body in the air was a talent of his own. It gave him advantage to attack from air. Very useful considering some of his attacks where based on that talent. He kept twisting, turning to avoid the massive claws slashing at him. He kept jumping back until he was kneeled besides his comrades, his friends.

"Ksijuharu, Kiyone" he greeted them, keeping his eyes trained on the fox.

"We'll defeat him together" Kiyone stated. She was clutching her bloody side, but her voice did not waver, it was strong as always. Ksijuharu nodded, and wiped some of his blood away. He had a heavily bleeding wound beside his eye.

"It's our best chance until Yondaime arrives, we'll use the attacks with our last strength" Ksijuharu added, his voice stern. They all knew they where going to die. But they refused to give up, not yet. At least they would die together...

Motsiharu nodded.

"Let's do this"

A fiery roar, flames, weapons, bright but saddened eyes, immense strength. Lonesome in it's unique way. Distant, cold, yet so tender, so close, but only to those who saw it. Very few did. Very few cared.

A caged dragon.

Tenten yelled and shoot upright, panting heavily. What the hell just happened? What... what kind of dream was that? The seal on her back burned, although it only gave slight pain. Tenten slowly set her foot on the ground besides her bed, and stood, shaking. She walked out of her room, and into the bathroom. It was small, but big enough to contain a bath, toilet, and a mirror with underneath it a toilet table. She stared into her own haunted eyes. What was that dream all about. Motsiharu? Wasn't that the one who made the seal, the one of her clan? The only family she ever heard of...

When had Tenten finally made it upstairs, she had thanked Lee and offered him inside. Lee had rejected, laughing that she needed to unpack and he didn't want to be there when she did. Both Sakura and Hinata had greeted her happily, and proceed unpacking their own belongings. They had chatted, the three of them, chatted and filled the other in with their lives. Somehow and unspoken bond of trust and friendship had formed between them, in matter of hours. It was strange, for Tenten hadn't had any friends besides her team-mates. It had been strange to all of them, but they ignored the way it was supposed to go. They had easily filled each other in with secrets they never thought they could tell. Even Hinata had talked endlessly about her insecurities. For Tenten it was good to have girls for friends for a change, for Sakura it was nice to have friends that weren't her rivals, or where trying to kill each other. Hinata was just glad she had friends she could speak freely to, without too much embarrassment, and actually being understood. There were some things boys just couldn't understand. They didn't go too fast though, and they still had their secrets, but there was a comfortable feeling every time they were near each other. And they trusted each other, that was enough for now.

Tenten stared into her own brown eyes in the mirror. Her dream… She could remember it al so lively, as if she had been there. Could it be the memory of Motsiharu? And the end... What had that dragon been all about? Somehow that dragon reminded her of Neji, although she couldn't understand why. But she was from the dragon clan, maybe that had something to do with it. After all she never had such dreams. It could be coincidence, but she didn't believe that. She kept staring in her own eyes, searching the answers she didn't have. Quickly she turned and ran out of the bathroom.

Hinata brushed her teeth and crawled into bed. The day had been strange, but she was glad to have the girls as friends. She giggled. The memory of some of the stories they had shared kept going through her head. They had told each other a lot. She frowned. There was one subject they had been avoiding. Why hadn't they talked about love? Not that she was oh so willing to admit her love for Naruto-kun. She felt her face grow hot at the mere thought. But still... Sakura obviously was in love with Sasuke, and Tenten... Now that she thought about it, it had been Tenten who kept changing the subject when they came close to talking about love. Well, Tenten had the right to keep her secrets, she supposed. She yawned and stretched, thoughts leaving her as her eyelids dropped. It had been a tiring day, and she fell asleep easily.

Kiyone desperately tried to fight off her enemies. Who would have thought that, with the demon fox, there would be enemies to take advantage of the situation? And so many? No one expected the demon fox, no one expected the enemy ninja's. But they all fought. The village needed all the power they could get. The village needed them. They had send Motsiharu ahead, hoping he could slow down the demon fox so that she and Ksijuharu could join him, and defeat the demon. Deep in her heart though, she knew there was no defeating that beast. Unless someone could pull of some mind blowing jutsu, they where doomed.

She buried one of her last kunai's in a ninja's neck, effectively ending his life. She saw a ninja going for Ksijuharu, and knowing he couldn't deal with a sixth ninja attacking him, she forced her tired body to move. It had been four hours, she mused while she jumped in front of him. Three hours of them fighting with the three of them, side by side. The last hour with just the two of them, worrying for their friend, but continuing to keep fighting anyway. A ninja's first priority was his mission. But that didn't mean friends didn't matter.

She raised her hand, armed with a kunai, just in time to stop the ninja's attack from doing serious damage. His other hand went for her head, she dodged, and reached to grab another kunai. She cursed under her breath. She was out of kunai's. Quickly she made a false movement with her unarmed hand, and struck his dodging body with the other. Her kunai wounded him, but did not kill him instantly. She stabbed him in the side, but not before he could bury his own kunai in her side. Piercing pain was immediately felt, but she ignored it. She had to ignore the pain for now. She saw Ksijuharu barely dodging an attack for his eye, before stabbing the last ninja. She knew she couldn't keep up much longer. Although she had a lot of stamina, her byakugan was taking all her strength. But she needed to keep it activated, and she had no time to linger on her weaknesses. She looked around. There were no more enemies the others could handle. It was time to take on the fox.

She looked at Ksijuharu. He nodded to her and she took of, him quickly following.

Hold on, Motsiharu, we're coming.

She hoped they would reach him on time. She hoped they where of any use. They needed to protect this village. She wanted those children to live. She would protect her village, even if she died protecting it. She winced and clutched her side. Somehow she knew she would, but she also knew she would die in the progress of saving her village.

Sharp eyes, an enraged creature, caring and bright, lonesome in it's own way. Mourning for the death of its master. Yet too strong to give up. Too strong to continue crying. Fighting to be cheerful, fighting not to surrender to the darkness that was slowly consuming the light creature.

And eagle.

Hinata screamed and shot up. Her white eyes wide in shock. Behind a wall she thought she heard Tenten yell, but she wasn't sure. The pounding of her heart made it impossible to hear anything else. She noticed that she had activated her byakugan on impulse, and quickly deactivated it. What... what had that dream been all about? Kiyone... wasn't that... but... how?

And that eagle, that eagle reminded her of Naruto-kun. Her hand slowly came up to rest on her seal. She felt sorrow for the death of Kiyone. She felt connected to her. She figured it had something to do with the seal. Maybe... maybe Sakura and Tenten also had nightmares. Another muffled scream came to the other side. Sakura...

Slowly Hinata slipped out bed, still dizzy from the dream. She needed someone to talk to, she had a feeling the girls would understand. She knew it had something to do with their seals. It had to be. She needed her friends, and she needed answers. She slowly walked out of her room, hoping she didn't have to wake Tenten or Sakura.

Gritting his teeth, Ksijuharu tried to ignore his worries. He cleared his head and focussed on the enemies, but his feelings weren't so easily deactivated. Motsiharu would be okay. His weapon attacks were most useful on distance, so he could stay away from the demon claws. Kiyone could handle herself, she had the byakugan after all...

He quickly dodged the kunai going for his eye, and cursed under his breath, hardly feeling the sting of the wound beside his eye. He shouldn't have been so distracted! Quickly he ended his enemies' lives, and he knew it was time to face the fox. He looked up and saw Kiyone silently watching him. He nodded and they took off.

He frowned in worry. He always had trouble controlling his emotions, but recently he had found out that that was a good thing. His emotions made him stronger, faster, simply better in combat. But he didn't have the time to linger on his strong and weak points, they didn't know how much longer Motsiharu could keep up. He probably needed his friends.

They needed to hurry.

They reached him in time. He was bleeding, but he was alive. That was what mattered for now. He was preparing to charge at the demon again, and without thinking Ksijuharu opened his mouth.

"Stop Motsiharu!" he yelled. Kiyone yelled at the same time, he noticed.

His friend responded quickly, jumping back and barely dodging the massive tails.

"Ksijuharu, Kiyone" he greeted them when he was beside them, keeping his eyes trained on the fox. Ksijuharu looked the demon in the eyes, and saw pure evil there.

"We'll defeat him together" Kiyone suddenly stated. Ksijuharu glanced at her, then back at the fox. She was right. They needed to do this together. He nodded in response, and wiped some of the annoying blood away.

"It's our best chance until Yondaime arrives, we'll use the attacks with our last strength" Ksijuharu added, his voice stern. They where ninja's, they could handle this. They could handle the knowledge they where going to die, they could handle their deaths. Anything for the village. His blood rushed with excitement, and he found himself smiling. Death alongside his friends, that was the best death.

Motsiharu nodded.

"Let's do this" Motsiharu said, his voice did not waver. He had faith in his friends, like Ksijuharu had. Motsiharu raised his katana, maybe for the last time. Kiyone activated her byakugan, and prepared her own weapon, raising her hands in the gentle fist stile. Two giant knives shot out from under her hand. It was her weapon. The one she had created with her own hands, the one she had wanted to pass along her children. She would never have the chance. Ksijuharu swallowed, as he trembled with emotion. This was it, this was their end.

Motsiharu grabbed his katana a little tighter, his jaw clenched in determination.

Finally, Ksijuharu reached back, and grabbed his staff, also made by himself. He was proud of it, because of its great strength (he didn't think it was possible for his staff to break) and the sharp knife that shone on one end when activated. He pounded the end without the knife on the ground and the knife shot out. Easily he slipped into fighting stance, as he had so many times before. For a second they just stood there, three friends, three team-mates, sentenced to death. Death for the village. Anything for the village.

With a war cry, Ksijuharu charged forward, followed by Motsiharu with a war cry of his own, and Kiyone. Kiyone usually was quiet, silent and respectful, therefore she wasn't that loud in battle. The three moved graciously, dodging the massive tails. Other ninja's finally appeared, but they where not as skilful or as experienced as they were. So they died, being hit by the demons massive claws and tails.

Motsiharu jumped and raised his katana, aiming for one of the massive claws. The demon dodged, but was distracted, as planned. Ksijuharu immediately thrust his staff forward, which was once again dodged, again distracting the demon, giving Kiyone enough room to get close, which was necessary since her knives weren't long enough. With her teeth gritted, she rushed forward, knifes ready. One of the massive tails came out of nowhere, and Ksijuharu's eyes widened. He quickly dodged a tail, and tried to get to her, but to no avail. Tails kept coming, and blocking his way. Kiyone kept rushing forward, ignoring or not noticing the tail going after her.

Motsiharu yelled.

Kiyone was hit.

With a poof of smoke, the poor piece of wood was smashed to nothing but tooth picks.

The demon's ears responded, and the demon looked up, and managed to barely dodge the knife going for his eye. Instead of being buried in its eye, it was planted in its cheek. The demon growled in anger, and a claw came for Kiyone, who quickly jumped off its head.

While she distracted the demon, both Ksijuharu as Motsiharu prepared a special jutsu, hoping it would stop it, but knowing it wouldn't. Kiyone did her own hand seals the minute she landed. It had to work, or else the village was doomed. They just hoped they would be fast enough. With mighty cries, this time of the three of them, their strongest justu's were released.

Gentle green eyes, a long lashing tail. Something happened and the eyes turned cold. The creature seemed bitter as it let out an anguished cry. Needing someone to hold him, yet too stubborn to let anyone, let alone ask. Only thinking about revenge, only thinking about avenging its master. The creature shut out its feelings, the same feelings that made it so strong.

A tree salamander.

Sakura screamed and shot up. Her eyes darted around the room, widened in fright, while panting heavily. What the... it... what?

She closed her eyes en breathed in and out, steadily, calming herself down. She was fine, she was okay. It was just a dream, just a dream. A dream about her ancestors. Her eyes shot open, and she knew. She had to speak to Tenten and Hinata. Throwing her blanket off she practically ran out of her room. Yet, she couldn't help but think of that tree salamander.

It reminded her of Sasuke-kun.

The three quickly came to a halt, staring at each other. Hinata was in the middle of the three, as were her room. Tenten stood the opposite of Hinata and Sakura, as she came out of the bathroom directly across her room. Sakura just stared at the others, from the right side of Hinata. Finally Sakura cleared her throat.

"We need to talk"

The other girls nodded, their expression serious.

To be continued.

I know, I know, it took a long time! But I had to figure out the weapons, and the creatures and stuff. Sorry to keep you waiting this long, I hope the next chapter will be up sooner.

I hope you enjoyed reading as much I enjoyed writing it. (Despite the efforts)

Until next time.

Gasha Aisu.