AN: It was interesting to see how the last chapter was interpreted differently. All I can say is that death isn't the only way out. Anyway, we're coming towards the end here, so this chapter is dedicated to wrapping a few things up for Neji and Hinata (I did say this would be partially a nejihina). Sadly, there's not much Itachi this time round (sorry!)
Hotspur: Whew, I was worried that people wouldn't reread and end up missing things (I have a problem for making things vague). Sorry for the cliffie!
Kichou: Thank you!
dreamalluwant2: I was kinda aiming for sad, but it was a good thing that Itachi did, wasn't it?
Akasha: Oh don't worry, they're closer than you think.
Max Doe: Itachi poisoned Hinata? Is that what you really think? Anyway, the cliffhanger is over!
rcr: Well, keep in mind Itachi doesn't really consider Neji that great a threat. But yeah, he did it for Hinata.
streetboarder: I do my best to update!
Blue-shine-angel: Here you go!
Saskie: You'll find out soon.
Mariagoner: Nice to see you again! Wow, I'm not sure if I really accomplished all that you said though.
Lady Dusk -Raku-: I know, I'm so mean sometimes. :)
Cheh: Depends on what you think he did. I'm not gonna tell you just yet, but you'll find that he didn't kill her in this chapter.
Wyldcat: Thanks, fight scenes scare the heck out of me. But they're necessary. T.T
Lilina: Iaim to keep readers on the edge of their seats!
Meibou: Thank you! I'm pleased to hear that this was your first Itachi Hinata fic; I hope to give all Itahinas a good name!
NarutoDreamer: Here's the next chapter!
Swansong For A Raven: Nope, but he's got someone better: good ol' Sasuke reporting for avenging duty.
Ren: Poor Itachi... He's not as bad as you think, you know.
Chibi Tetra: Yay! I'm glad that you weren't sad about Hinata's "death"!
Rynx: Nah, Hinata doesn't really die. But I sure made it seem that way, didn't I?
sKiLLs-with-a-Z: Angst is my middle name. I fear that you won't enjoy this chapter since it's got nejihina in it, but hang on til the next one and you won't be sorry.
firewindgurl: Thank you very much!
snowdrop019: I'm not sure about what response Hinata will have, but anyway, here's the next part!
Kohaku of the Ice: Not dead, not dead!
Misoporkramen: And here it is!
Wrath-Envy987: Heh heh, thanks... I think?
glitch and gremlin: Ah yes, Sasuke... Sometimes I wonder why I put him in in the first place. I suppose I just wanted to give him some closure, the same way I intend to close Hinata and Itachi's story.
silentxangel: Most of Itachi's inner workings were derived from my denial of the fact that he was evil. But if he wasn't evil, then what would be the most logical reason why he did what he did? That's what I kept in mind while writing this (and it was a lot of fun).I try to answerthe questions that I open, but I fear that I can't do all that in a mere13 chapter story. I've still got someideas though, so maybe a sequel?
Deserter: I don't suppose you'll need tissues and chocolates in this one, but you might want to save them for next time. :)
AuroraStarPhoenix: Heh, agreed. But Itachi's kinda irresistable, isn't he? Sasuke was brought in exactly for "must kill older brother"; he wouldn't have sat down and waited while Itachi was up to no goodagain.
CrystallineTears: I know Itachi is "evil" (or is he?) but maybe he's changed enough that he doesn't see death as the only way out. Killing can be figurative too.
Lovely liz: Yeah, I meant for you to figure out what Itachi did. As for whether he's falling for her... I'm sure you can find the answer.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
He reached out to catch her and carried her outside… Through the trees they traveled and the rain had washed away the blood… He set her down in a clearing and left like he had never been there. He did not return. But then who had picked her up again?
Through the fog of a headache, Hinata recalled the lips that promised her freedom. She had been captured in a hollow darkness that was Itachi, but it was not all black; there had also been a deep red… She moved slightly as if caught in a bad dream.
Something cool brushed past her face. Roused by the feel of cold water, Hinata now wondered why she was not dead. Should she open her eyes now? She could not be sure what she would see. After all that, what vision could she expect?
"Hinata-sama," a gentle voice said.
"Neji-niisan," she responded in an automatic reply. Hinata paused as her mind processed the information. Her eyes shot open and his image came into focus. "Neji-niisan!"
"Don't strain yourself, Hinata-sama," Neji said protectively as he sat by her side. Truthfully, he was in such disbelief that she had returned alive that Itachi did not even cross his mind. "You're still weak from loss of blood."
Hinata was completely baffled.It didn't make sense. When he had given her the potion to drink, Itachi had made it clear that that would be the last time they would see each other. Then how…?
"Hinata." She was surprised again when Sasuke came over to her. Hinata rubbed her eyes to make sure that she was seeing clearly, but it was really Sasuke.
Neji noticed her gaze and explained with a touch of frost in his tone, "He abandoned his mission and left Konoha after learning that Itachi was responsible." Hinata suspected that the two had argued about the importance of placing a shinobi's duty above personal agendas.
"I was still too late." Sasuke looked meaningfully at Neji's battered form. "Everyone knows that only I could have taken him on." The cold glares exchanged between the two confirmed her suspicion.
However, Sasuke decided to put his quarrel with Neji aside for the time. He knelt next to her and asked, insistent, "My brother… What did he want with you?"
With Neji supporting her, Hinata sat up and explained as best she could everything that Itachi had told her about the poison. However, she did not tell him of what she had learnt of the Uchiha and Sharingan.
It was something that was unspeakable.
Hinata tensed; Sasuke might suspect that she was not telling him everything, but he seemed not to notice. He was too interested in what he had just learned.
"Of all the dangerous things…" Sasuke muttered under his breath when she had come to the end, tone bordering on disgust and admiration. Toying with life the way he did was insanity! But how utterly like his brother to experiment on unexplainable things. Like the venom, his personality had always been a mystery to everyone who had known him. "He couldn't have known what something like that would result in. But he did it anyway."
"He wanted to be the first one to find out the secrets of bloodlines," Hinata pointed out. Itachi had talked about discovering what no one else had learnt, exploring the unknown. He had wanted to stretch his limits.
Sasuke scoffed slightly, "His experiments.That would explain what I felt." Seeing her quizzical expression, Sasuke told her about the burning sensation he had experienced about two weeks ago. "This Uchiha blood must have called me to him. It marks us with an unbreakable seal that probably reacts under certain circumstances."
"Sometimes if we're close." Hinata recalled the incident when Itachi had come to Konoha. It had driven her to think murderous thoughts, to act in ways she would never have otherwise. Her face clouded just thinking about it.
"Exactly," Sasuke agreed. "It's just that no one knows for sure how it works. For the most part, with the exception of the inheritance of the kekkai genkai, everyone just ignores it." He smirked derisively. "But it seems that my brother has finally reached his limits. Even he couldn't decipher the secret."
Neji was starting to get worried again. All the talk of blood and bonds were making him feel uneasy. It was like they were speaking on a level that he could not understand; thiswas a foreign feeling. Instinctively, he caught hold of Hinata's hand and held it tightly. She did not pull away, smiling softly at him.
"Don't worry, Neji-niisan," Hinata said, reassuringly. "There's nothing that I won't recover from."
And yet, your eyes have changed so much, Hinata, Neji thought, glancing at her. At present, she looked no different than she had been before, but he remembered seeing the beginnings of the Sharingan in her eyes when she had used her Byakugan. The image haunted him, and he shuddered unwillingly. I fear to ask the truth.
He wanted to feel secure now that she was back, but something told him that all was not settled. He was right.
"It's no point sitting here trying to figure out what he's thinking," Sasuke was saying, resting his chin above his linked hands as he sat on the ground. It was time to take action.
"You're here to kill Itachi?" Neji asked, his brow ceasing. This was not part of the mission that either one of them had been assigned.
"C-couldn't we leave him?" Hinata began, fumbling on her words. She, like everyone else, knew that Sasuke meant to take down his brother. And yet, her heart rebelled against her mind. Whatever Itachi had intended to do, it had not been to kill her. He had deliberately left her in a place where her friends could find her. It didn't feel right anymore to go against him after all that had happened between them.
Uneasily, she sensed that Sasuke could see right through her feeble attempts to steer him away from a death match with Itachi. "I mean with Neji-niisan's injury, and, um…"
"Hinata's right, Sasuke," Neji seconded with a level tone. He was disturbed by Itachi's hand in Hinata's abduction, and he desired answers to many questions, but he knew when to back down. "Itachi's extremely dangerous, especially now that his guard is up. Considering that I'm not fit to help you, at least go back to Konoha and consult the Hokage before taking action," he advised.
"Do you think that he'll still be here by the time we run all the way there and back?" Sasuke demanded, andall of them knew that he was right.
Neji tried one last time though he wasn't hopeful. "Sasuke, we shouldn't let personal issues get in the way of—"
"You're one to speak." At this retort, Neji was silent.
Sasuke grimaced. He refused to meet either of their eyes. "I know what you mean, Neji, but I've been pursuing him for too long. Can you understand this?" His tone was accusing as he reversed the question. "I want to put the memories of my parents and family at rest; the entire clan's burden is mine now and I can't ever run away from that."
Shaking his head, Neji gave up. The Uchiha Avenger was too determined to be swayed by any force on the planet. There was nothing to do but let him have his way.
---
"Um… Neji-niisan…"
Neji looked up from the dry sticks that he was in the process of lighting. Hinata was standing behind him, somewhat shyly. "Come sit here, Hinata-sama." He beckoned to the ground next to him, and she followed his instructions
It was getting dark, and Neji had decided that a campfire would be the best way to keep warm. Now, he lit it quickly and listened to what she had to say. He felt that he and Hinata had much to catch up on.
"Did you want something, Hinata-sama?" he asked.
"Not really," she said softly. All she hoped for was that Neji would help calm her nerves. "I was just thinking about Sasuke… and Itachi."
This was uncomfortable topic even though he knew that Sasuke was out of earshot. Neji poked the fire with a stick when he saw that it had started to grow smaller. "Sasuke needs closure, that's why he can't let his brother escape from him again," Neji said, explaining the best he could. "Itachi keeps him in the darkness, and Sasuke needs to find his way out of his brother's shadow."
Seeing Neji's eyes cloud momentarily from recalling unpleasant memories from his troubled childhood, Hinata ventured forward. "D-did you feel like Sasuke, before?" Hinata asked, awkwardly. It was not something they frequently talked about.
"Perhaps…" Neji was evasive. He could not tell her just how much resentment he had harbored against her, or how long it had taken for it to finally dissolve away. He still felt guilt for the things that he had said to her. "The anger was like fuel to me;I waslike a furnace, burning up. I did some horrible things, especially to you, Hinata-sama." He looked down.
"But sometimes I felt like I deserved it."
"Hinata-sama!"
"I knew about everything that was going on but I didn't try to do anything about it," Hinata said. "That's just as bad." She refused to let him argue with her. "But I'm thankful that it's over," Hinata said whole-heartedly. Stretching out a bit, she asked wonderingly, "Neji-niisan, why do you think that it took us so long to reach this point?"
He had pondered on the same thing himself. "The clan was built that way, and for years no one stepped up to change our traditions," he said, continuing to absently poke the fire. "You and I, Hinata-sama, we inherited the system that our ancestors created. But I believe that change happened because someone was willing to step forward and speak out."
That someone was Naruto.
"I wasn't the one to break the traditions, even though I was struggling inside the cage. My anger found other outlets, other scapegoats." At this point, Neji sounded somewhat sheepish. "It truly takes one of great will to even attempt changing a clan."
At this, Hinata's thoughts drifted back to Itachi. He had tried to change his clan from labeling geniuses and failures … and he had succeeded.
"We are not so unlike, him and I," Itachi had said suddenly one day. "We both know what it's like to be judged and trapped in something that we cannot change." His words seemed to rush out like the rapids. "We cannot change the clan so we squirm helplessly within its constraints."
Neji-niisan is not like you, she had thought silently, her clasped hands tightening in her lap.
"You are thinking of my crimes," Itachi had observed, seemingly bored at this old condemnation. "But all I did was to act on my belief. He was simply fortunate enough to be spared the destructive system. Or else surely, your Neji would have done the same as I."
Despite all her misgivings, Hinata had to wonder if what Itachi said had truth in them. She did not doubt that Neji had resented, even hated, her at some point. He had nearly killed her—the intent had been there.
Would he have started with her, and then gone on to her sister, her father, the entire clan? Would he have eventually tried to kill all of them to free himself from the subjugation of the curse seal that he bore?
"Such a crippling system deserved to be destroyed by the very warriors that it created, for this kind of imbalance of power could only bear the most twisted of shinobi."
Looking at Neji now, Hinata could hardly see the killing intent. It was unthinkable how such a reasonable person could be as twisted into viciousness as he had been. Maybe then… it was really the fault of the clan… She chewed her lip nervously.
"Hinata-sama." Neji was calling her from outside her thoughts. "Is there something wrong? You look troubled."
"N-no! I was just thinking," Hinata exclaimed, jumping up. She was sorry to have worried him again. "Thank you for being so concerned, Neji-niisan. I'm always a trouble to you."
"I'm supposed to take care of you, remember?" Neji told her remorsely; he had not been doing a very good job lately. "But it's never a trouble, Hinata-sama."
Hinata blushed profusely. In alarm, she realized that Neji had come closer to her. Gently taking hold of her hand, he drew her to him.
Can we really start all over again? she wondered.
Then there was a familiar chill. Even though she did not know what caused it, it was like a cold bucket of water had been dumped all over her. Hinata had suddenly thought of Itachi and the memory clutched painfully at her heart.
Hinata turned her head away. "I-I-I'm sorry!" she squeaked.
Neji backed away, struck dumb. Had he read the signs wrongly? Didn't she feel the same way as he did? He should have never hazarded something like this… Trying to lessen the damage, Neji recovered himself the best he could. "It's all right, Hinata-sama," he mumbled in reply, and he cursed that he could not stop the pink from spreading across his face. "It was my mistake."
"It…it wasn't!" Hinata protested, distressed. He had done no wrong. It was just that… when Neji was close, Itachi came to her mind. Was it his will that refused to let her go free, even now?
"I-I'm confused, Neji-niisan," she concluded, at loss. She needed time to sort it out.
Relieved that Hinata had not turned him down flat, Neji smiled warmly. If she needed time, she would have it. "I was being too forward. I'm sorry to have shocked you, but I… Well, I…" Neji cut himself off hastily knowing that he was starting to make no sense.
Hinata had no answer but to blush even more furiously.
"No matter what the outcome is, Hinata-sama, know that I will always be here for you," Neji said wistfully, enveloping her in a tender embrace. She tensed at first, but soon relaxed and timidly returned it.
Neither of them had dared to broach the topic of Hinata's Sharingan yet. Neji just didn't feel like talking about the light and the darkness or about black and white and red. All they were were just colors, after all.
"I want you to know that I don't care if your eyes have changed..." he told her genuinely. Once, he might have been intimidated, but that was before he had come to know her. "They have done nothing but change you for the better."
Surprisingly, Hinata did not faint. She simply clung to him, thankful for the relief that only Neji knew to give her. Though he did not understand everything, he was trying to.
"Did you know that I reprimanded Sasuke for letting his emotions get the better of him?" Neji asked quietly, still holding her. Hinata nodded; it had been obvious. Neji sighed softly. "Then you must know that I am as guilty as he is. After running away I found that I couldn't live with myself; I lost my cool and slammed my fists into the nearest tree until they bled even more." Hinata's eyes widened; that didn't sound like Neji. "Sasuke saw me, and that's why he knows I'm a hypocrite when I talk about duty,"he said,tone mournful.
"I've always done the logical thing, what was best for the mission. I knew when I failed and that anger did not help the situation, so I should have realized that there was no point in further damaging myself, but I still acted recklessly and struck out in fury. Somehow, I had broken the shinobi rule of never showing emotion. And do you know why?"
Hinata did not reply and Neji smiled a little.
"It was because I realized then that I valued you more than the rules, Hinata-sama. The code of the shinobi meant nothing to me when I saw that you were in danger and that I was helpless to save you." Neji's voice was hurried now by his guilt. Closing his eyes, he rested his chin on her head as he relished the moment. "I won't leave you again."
---
To Hinata's dismay, the night stole away the warmth that Neji had brought to her earlier in the day. In the night, Itachi appeared in her thoughts stronger than ever. Why did the deep connection with him ring throughout her even more potently than before? He had told her that she was free in the last few moments of her fading consciousness. He had meant it.
But she could not forget him. She felt like she needed to talk to someone who might understand her confusion.
That's when she saw Sasuke, sitting a little further from the camp, out in the open field. Surely he would know this feeling; it was the thing that drew him across so many miles to find Itachi.
The truth was that she was still a little afraid of the younger Uchiha. When his eyes turned red in battle, it was as though they could penetrate far more than her Byakugan could ever see. She approached him slowly as she tried to find a way to start a potentially offensive conversation.
She need not have worried because he was thinking on the same issue too.
"You can't trust your feelings, Hinata," Sasuke said darkly, sensing her doubts. He had detected her approach even before she sounded him out. His statement was instantaneous and he said it without even looking back. "He's a master of deception. Only my brother knows what's going on in his mind.
"He's still a traitor. He has an ulterior motive, even for releasing you."
Belatedly, Hinata realized that Itachi's influence on his brother was far more destructive than on her. On the outside, Sasuke was handsome as ever, but his heart was still more scarred than anyone else's from the terrors that he had faced. The worse thing was, his hate was justified. He had found himself completely alone in the world, surrounded with the broken fragments of the comfortable life that he had had. It had been all Itachi's fault.
"But… How do you know for sure?"
Sasuke's back straightened like a pole and his expression was that of a restless predator. "My brother doesn't do things unless he has something to gain from it. Most likely, he wants you as a spy, so that he can tap into you to find out what's going on in Konoha. You were simply worth more alive than dead to him."
Hinata shifted nervously under Sasuke's fierce assault. "My brother's done too much evil in this lifetime to be forgiven. I have put myself through hell training, all for the sake of defeating him." His hand unconsciously went to his neck where the curse seal lay. " I don't know what happened between you, Hinata, but you can't ever forget that he is a killer, a ruthless murderer. He'll take advantage of that."
Hinata flushed in the darkness. Sasuke was right, she was acting illogically. She wasn't worried that he would be hurt in the fight against Itachi; in the darkest crevices of her heart, she was worried that she might lose her chance to see Itachi again.
"I would never condone his actions," Hinata stammered, faltering. "I-I only…"
Sasuke let out a sigh and put a hand to his forehead; scaring her was not his intent. "I know what it's like. My brother is such a powerful influence that he makes his ideas seem right sometimes." A stray leaf blew past, and Sasuke caught it in his palm, as if to remind himself that his loyalty lay with Konoha.
If Itachi could move one as strong-willed as Sasuke, it would not be difficult to sway a person easily led like Hinata. Even so, she was torn. How was she to know what was true and what was illusion? She did not like to think that she was only weak prey now, simply a pawn to be used and then thrown away; someone who did not even know of their own worthlessness. Hinata squeezed her eyes shut as she refused to believe.
Sasuke had stood up with his hands in his pockets. His expression was serious, but his tone had lightened a little as if he had decided to discuss something less grim. "I don't know how you achieved it—and it really doesn't matter to me—" heput inquickly."But the Sharingan is still something to be proud of."
Hinata was astonished. She had not mentioned it to him even once before. "You know?"
"It's instinct." It was aremnant of the past where the only thing that attracted him was power; it had become second nature to seize up a person's abilities in a single glance. Besides, it didn't take much to notice that something in her had changed subtly.
While it was true that Sasuke had liked being one of the few people who possessed it, three was still too lonely a number. Though the Sharingan had been the unfortunate thing that had drawn Orochimaru to Sasuke, it was also his only inheritance and it pained him to know that it was quickly dying out. "It wasn't your choice, nor is it necessarily a good thing," hestated frankly. "If you are afraid, I don't blame you."
Hinata's gaze flickered quickly to his face, searching, before dropping. Could he already know Itachi's secret? she asked herself sharply.
It was not the case. No one had ever told him, but Sasuke could sense that there was something untouchable in the Sharingan. He had come very close to demons in his training with Orochimaru and he had witnessed the sort of powers that they wielded. But he had chosen not delve further into the mystery; it was not worth knowing now when the knowledge would only bring grief and frustration.
There was the uneasiness of treading on uncharted grounds and of things not meant to be said, but this time the silence did not last long.
"I can teach you how to use the Sharingan," Sasuke offered suddenly.
Hinata stared at him. It was strange that despite being in the same class for so long, she had never gotten to know the younger Uchiha. She could see now that it had been a mistake thinking that he was too distant and cold to be friendly. To think that it had taken this encounter with Itachi for them to begin to understand each other.
"I don't want you to think that there's only one place to turn now," Sasuke said, adding wryly, "Though I can't say that everyone will be too happy." The authoritative Hyuga clan was on both of their minds. It was all too much to hope that people like them—they who had pushed her out even before this had happened—would welcome her back with open arms. Sasuke was not familiar with the strict laws of the Hyuga clan, but he remembered that their definitions of puity and piorities of keeping an exclusive bloodline placed higher than any of the individuals. Still, the clan was not everything.
"You can be sure that Neji won't alienate you, neither will Naruto, I, and many others," Sasuke said, confident of this fact.
This much Hinata had already known and she was minimally conforted. But who was it that she really wanted to be accepted by? The truth was she wanted to believe that her Sharingan wasn't just a result of Itachi's spite for mankind. Maybe she just wanted to know what she meant to him; that was why she was unable to let his image rest in the past.
Sasuke eyed her carefully. "You can go back to a regular life when you're ready, you know," he told her. "It's not too late for you yet."
Hinata could not be so sure. In some ways, she was already following Sasuke's path.
---
He set her down in the grassy patch and stepped away. With his departure, he was breaking their bond. Not with death, but with forgetting. He prayed that he would forget her.
Itachi could not have killed Hinata. He had looked at all the poisons and weapons that he owned but found that he could not use any of them to take her life. Not when she had a lifetime full of prospects. No, he could not be the one to doom her the way he doomed himself.
So the only remaining option was to let her live far away from him.
He stared out the window. Had Neji found her yet? He couldn't help but wonder.
But Itachi did not think of this anymore.For all that he was concerned with, she was dead now. Her face would become but a distant memory, because Hinata would never step into these grounds again.From here,they would go on their own separate roads, never to meet again.
If there was one thing that he had gotten out of this mess, it was that it had been stupid to play with ancient beings that did not enjoy being controlled.When he had tested that claim by boldly using its power in a poison, he had been daring it to harm him and he had scoffed at it when it did not.
But instead of rendering his body weak, it had given him a taste of what he had sacrificed. Back then when he had thrown it all away, he had been young and reckless; he had believed that bonds meant nothing to him. Now as the years slipped on by, he was beginning to wonder if his death—for one day it would definitely come—would be even more anonymous than any civilian. This was the fate of shinobi, wasn't it?
How strange that these human thoughts flooded his mind now. It was as if a bit of Hinata's own self had somehow made their way into him as well. Itachi feared that he had waited too long; was it possible that it was too late, even for him, to remedy?
A stirring in the night caused him to detach himself from his meditations.
Calmly, he stepped outside to await the visitor.
No action, but call it the pre-finale lull. No cliffhanger here sinceI'm pretty sure you know what's coming next... Chapter 12 is the conclusion though probably not the last chapter. See you then!
