The Shinobi could have killed her. He could have ended her without a thought, on a simple whim. It was a terrifying thing to realize.
"Naru!"
A shout echoed, Akihane's eyes shooting to the source. In the damaged doorway of the Hotel Kitchen, unperturbed by the debris around the fighting Shinobi, stood a familiar boy. The raven was glaring darkly at the man Akihane had nearly been killed by, murder in his gaze.
"You bastard…" The boy snarled, his eyes turning crimson as the three pinpricks within became deathly still.
"No, Sasuke-!" Akihane tried to reach for the boy, but he was already gone.
Lightning shone brightly from Sasuke's hand, the chirping of birds sounding in the air as the last Loyal Uchiha prepared to drive a Jutsu that Akihane had never seen before into her enemy's chest. Akihane saw the man's smile and every moment, every instance that she had spent with Sasuke, flashed before her eyes. All of the hidden smiles, the twitches of his lips and the fond gestures, the hair ruffles and the words of encouragement, simply disappeared in an instant. Every argument that they had ever had, even those that Akihane wasn't proud of or the ones either party wanted to take back, would be reduced to nothing.
Akihane couldn't stop the tear that slipped down her cheek.
I~~~~I
Omega stepped forward, his eyes ghosting across Sasuke's body as the boy rushed him with his lightning technique. He didn't think as his hand shot out and grabbed the boy's wrist, his own chakra flooding the boy's pathways.
He knew from experience that the chakra would be enough to subdue the boy and leave him gasping for breath for the next few minutes if he did it correctly. That just so happened to be enough time for him to grab Akihane and get out of there if he was quick enough.
The Uchiha dropped to the ground with a sharp intake of breath as the foreign chakra coursed like fire through his veins. His arm twisted around in the socket as Omega pressed the heel of his foot into the boy's back and jerked it backward.
"Sasuke!" Akihane shouted past the anxiety growing in her chest. She had started running over as soon as Sasuke had entered the room and was only a few feet away now. Tears had slipped down her cheeks and left glittering trails in their wake. Anger spawned and pushed her forward as she lunged for Omega and attacked with vengeance.
Omega gazed at the girl as she attempted to attack him. He was hardly worried about her rushed approach or her emotion-fueled moves. They made her sluggish and ruined the form she had worked so hard on. Taking a deep breath, Omega released the Uchiha's arm. Unlike before, he wasn't playing around. His now free hand grabbed her wrist and dragged her toward him. In a swift motion, Omega slammed his head into the Uzumaki's.
A cry of pain sounded and Akihane crumbled to the floor. Her shout registered with the male beneath Omega's sandals, turning the Uchiha feral as his leg whipped out wildly.
Omega cursed under his breath and his hand jerked to grab the Uchiha by his arm. His other hand let go of the Uzumaki, leaving the girl to collapse when she tried to steady herself.
"Don't touch her you bastard, I'll rip out your damn throat!" The Uchiha snarled, jerking around in Omega's grasp in an effort to escape and do what he had promised.
Omega paused, gazing at the boy that jerked out of his hand and dropped back to the floor, his murderous red eyes glaring up at Omega. Those eyes were the mark of his clan, the mark of a people that Omega had no wish to cross.
With Itachi, the resemblance was always easy to dismiss if he didn't focus on it. With this boy, however, Omega didn't have to focus. He saw the resemblance almost immediately as he watched the boy grab for his weapons.
"Alpha…" He murmured, his eyes shifting across the boy's face in recognition.
The boy looked far too much like his great-nephew, Alpha's grandson had. His features, from the hair to the shape of the eyes to the slope of the nose and the slant of his mouth, made him appear to be the spitting image of Izuna.
Sasuke glared and arched his hand up so he could cut Omega. The man only dodged based on instinct and had to weave around the next few attacks the sloppy boy tried to land. Sasuke's anger worked against him as he continued to try to attack Omega. He too had become sloppy in his effort to deal any damage at all to the man who had hurt Akihane.
Akihane looked up from where she lay on the floor. Her head swam and she felt dazed, but she was worried about Sasuke and didn't think about her own safety. Sasuke wasn't faring well. Omega was only playing with him, after all.
"D-Don't touch him!" She managed to say, her voice dropping into a low snarl. Her voice echoed Sasuke's earlier thought, showing just how similar the Uchiha and Uzumaki truly were.
Omega looked down at her then, his eyes meeting her own as his hand lashed out and grabbed Sasuke by his arm. He was done dealing with the two of them. With a single jerk, the Uchiha was directly against his chest and Omega's arm was situated under his chin, ready to snap his neck. He had figured out how to get the girl to react the way he wanted her too.
"You could stop this. Just come with me and I'll leave him alone." Omega bargained, his arm tightening when the Uchiha tried to struggle.
There was fear in the Uzumaki's eyes. She did not doubt his abilities or the fact that he would end Sasuke without a thought. She believed in his power and his will. That alone was enough to give her pause and make her realize her situation.
"O-Okay." She told him after only a moment's pause. Her eyes burned a dark maroon as he looked down at the boy he had just threatened. The Uchiha had frozen and was staring at Akihane in shock.
"Akihane, no, don't you-" The boy started, but he was cut off by the girl's sharp glare.
"Shut up Sasuke. You don't get to choose this. I won't lose someone else!" Her jaw snapped shut and she took a deep settling breath. Omega observed the display with quiet and searching eyes, his lips twitching as he noticed parallels.
The Uzumaki was a lot like him when he was younger, while the Uchiha played Alpha's part perfectly. He'd have to watch his back and make sure that the Uzumaki didn't have an opening later on. She would no doubt try to attack him the moment her loved one was out of harm's reach. The girl was far too predictable and easy to work around. She would never make it if she didn't bridge the weakness that the people she cared for created.
Without another word, Omega shoved the Uchiha away from him. He then reached for the Uzumaki. Surprisingly, the girl remained in place and waited for him to grab her. That was odd considering what he had just deduced, but he wasn't going to complain. He had already spent enough time trying to grab her.1
Omega let out a heavy sigh. He hadn't wanted to take this long and he knew he didn't have a lot of time-
The world shifted and Omega jumped back, away from the fist that slammed into the ground where he had been standing. Lavender hair met his vision before the signature pupilless eyes of the Hyuuga Clan met his gaze.
"You chose the wrong friends to hurt," Hinata spoke in a deathly-calm tone as she rose from her hunched position.
The Heiress had created a crater where she had landed, her violet chakra dancing around her like ribbons of light. Her eyes burned with a protective fire that Omega had witnessed only a night ago. The Hyuuga shifted on her feet and took her stance in front of her friends, protecting them.
Omega landed in a crouch as he met the girl's gaze. He was shocked that the girl could even get up and move around, let alone channel chakra the way she just had after what he had done to her. Most people didn't get up for several days at least, and yet here this girl stood.
"How are you up?" Omega questioned the girl, forgetting about his mission in the face of such an oddity.
Hinata narrowed her eyes and pulled at her chakra.
"I don't know what you are talking about, and I don't really want to give you an answer if I do figure it out." She says firmly. Without another word she tugs and the chakra around her pulses and vanished. Her eyes clap together and the earth under Omega rushes upward in sharp spikes.
Omega flips away from the spikes. His eyes widen once more and he is left dodging the array of rock spikes forming under his feet.
Hinata's hands move fluidly through several more hand signs and she brings them back into a clap in practiced motions.
"Earth Style, Mud Bullet!" She shouts as she spits a large bullet of earth at her opponent.
Her objective was to hold the man back long enough for Jiraiya or Tsunade to get here. That was her mission and she wouldn't fail.
Something entered her vision, the byuakgan pulsing in warning. Taking a deep breath, Hinata extended her hand in the direction and pulsed her chakra in a fine strip. The protective trigrams formed and pierced the kunai coming toward her before it came within a ten-meter radius of her.
She had been useless as a child. Hinata had been told that she was nothing more than trash for the longest time, but these two people behind her had never said anything like that. Akihane had given her something to protect, and Sasuke had given her the means to do so. They had helped her, pushed her, and she would never forget that. Hinata would sacrifice anything and everything so that her world, her two precious people, did not vanish.
Straightening her stance, Hinata prepared herself. She felt the man launch at her before he appeared in front of her with his foot raised, and she reacted accordingly. Her fingers filled with yin chakra, just the way that Sasuke had taught her, and she followed through with the strike that Akihane had shown her.
Her fingers grazed the man's side as he shifted to the side, but that was enough for her and she kept up with the next few blows the man dealt. She dealt her own back to him and made sure to keep him far away from Akihane and Sasuke.
I~~~~I
"The Hyuuga really is something else, aye Itachi?" Kisame spoke from his perch beside Itachi. The two of them were waiting for Omega near the outskirts, but they had both moved closer after the Inn Akihane had been reported to be staying in blew up. They had watched Itachi's little brother intervene and then witnessed the Hyuuga launch herself into the fray to save her friends.
Kisame was rather impressed with the little heiress. The girl showed promise with her strength, and it would be a waste for the girl to not get into Kenjutsu with how disciplined she was. The girl wouldn't be a Katana or Tonto type either. She could probably learn to wield something like Kubikiribocho or another one of the Seven Swords like it.
"Yes. It seems like Sasuke showed her the Uchiha Interceptor Fist as well. She has worked it into her teachings from Akihane well." Itachi praised quietly as he watched the Hyuuga weave around Omega with practiced motions. The girl had turned the styles into her own and made them bend to her will rather than slipping into the molds they normally created.
The two observed the Hyuuga up until she was pushed back and left to summon a mud wall to keep Omega back. Her flexibility was on point and allowed her to roll and spring up in front of her friends, ready for the next bout. She was starting to tire, but she did not allow it to show as she faced down an opponent ten times her strength and experience.
Itachi closed his eyes and Kisame glanced toward the Uchiha as another crash sounded from below.
The Sannin had arrived on the scene and where pushing Omega back from the downed Chunin.
"Looks like our mission was a failure, Itachi," Kisame told the male, his eyes darting across the ground to the Uzumaki who had been watching the battle.
Instead, the girl had turned her head in their direction and was looking almost directly at them with frightened eyes.
"Yes. We have learned some things, however. I think it would be in our best interest to report back to Pein-Sama with our findings." Itachi spoke up. His eyes were settled on Akihane's, the orbs shifting into red hues.
"Let's go retrieve Omega." He said and vanished in a blur of leaves.
Kisame smirked and gripped his sword as he dashed after his partner. He would rather leave the brat, but if they had to bring the kid back he'd at least enjoy himself doing it.
I~~~~I
Hinata had begun to tire. She felt her energy wane with each strike she blocked, but she never failed to keep her opponent back.
Her body was collapsing and she felt her limbs start to sag as the earlier strife she had been put through started to catch up to her.
Looking up, Hinata stood on shaky limbs as she stared defiantly at the man that had hurt her friends.
"You are persistent." The man said to her, his blue eyes shifting from her to the two she was protecting.
"You won't let me take them, will you?" He asked her quietly, his eyes meeting hers as a deep sadness worked its way through them. Hinata took a harsh breath and settled herself, bringing her arms up as she glared at him.
"No." She answered and prepared for another onslaught.
"Neither will we." Voices called from above, driving Hinata back as two figures dropped down in front of her. Dust did not rise, and the ground below the feet of her rescuers dipped into craters.
Hinata could have cried when she noticed that Jiraiya had come to her aid alongside his teammate Tsunade. Instead, she collapsed beside her teammates and tried not to pass out where she was. Her eyes were still trained on the battlefield without really seeing what was happening.
Her thoughts dwindled down and she shifted so she could look at Akihane and Sasuke. Sasuke on the edge of opening his eyes, while Akihane…
Hinata's fists clenched and she tried to hold back bitter hatred directed at the idiot beside her. Akihane had nearly given herself over to the enemy for the Uchiha, she had nearly sacrificed everything they had ever worked for just to be a martyr. Hinata wanted so badly to shake the blonde, to shove an ounce of sense into her damn brain.
They never thought about how their actions affected others, and it really pissed her off. Hinata knew better than anyone what words and actions could do to someone, and she still hadn't taught her friends the same thing. She had thought they would have learned by now, with how often the two dug knives into one another's wounds, but it seemed like her thoughts were dismissed to the darkest corners of their minds. The two of them were brainless idiots.
Yet, she cared more for the two of them than anyone else, including her family. She had found a home in the Uzumaki and Uchiha, even if they continued to bypass the obvious signs of her care.
Taking a deep breath, Hinata allowed herself to fall back between her friends, the energy she had vanishing away as the sounds of battle dwindled down to nothing. Her right arm twined with Naru's, and the left twined with Sasuke's.
She did not notice Akihane's eyes open and look to her with such sadness and regret. She did not notice the guilt-ridden kiss that the Uzumaki placed on her cheek.
Hinata did not hear the quiet apology the Uzumaki gave her as she sunk deep into the darkness of sleep.
I~~~~I
So, here it is. I'm so sorry this took so long, and that it's so short. I just ended up overwhelmed at the end of the school year with testing and finals and extracurriculars. I then went to a leadership conference, ended up helping at my church for a week, and right after that spent a week at a youth camp in Oklahoma. I have a bit of grace period before I leave for another camp, so I finally decided to finish up this chapter. It's been giving me trouble for so long that I had to refresh myself on where I was even going with this story. Don't worry though, I'm not going to stop it. I don't plan on putting it on Hiatus ever if I can help it.
Thank you all so much for reading this fic this far, I never thought I'd actually have this many chapters, or that I would have such an awesome group of readers for it. Enjoy your summers!
