A/N: Somebody finally disagreed with me in a review last chapter. I've been waiting for that forever.
I know you guys are just dying to get to the chapter, so I won't bore you with my crappy author notes any more than necessary today. With out any ado whatsoever, here is...
Chapter Twenty: Guilt, Pain, and Sacrifice
Haruka was alone.
Her normally proud bearing was diminished. Her long black braid, which on any other day would be whipping in the wind as she soared over rooftops and through trees, hung limply against her back as she trudged slowly through the damp streets. The rain soaked her to the marrow, and the blaze in her silvery eyes had gone out.
For the first time in two years, she had no one. Hinata was absorbed in Naruto, a product of Haruka's own machinations. Naruto was absorbed in her, and in finding the missing Uchiha genius. She would have welcomed even Jiraiya at this point, but he had not been in the village since bringing Naruto home. Her fellow Hyuuga, with the exception of Neji and Hinata, had alienated her. Returning to them would cause the old hatred of the "Kin-Abandoner" to come to a boil again, and Neji had his own duties to attend to... plus Haruka had her own reasons not to want to be around him.
And Keisuke...
The blind man was lost to Haruka. Their partnership—the only real reason that they had to stay around each other—had been broken. It was no fault of Neji's that Keisuke preferred the younger Hyuuga's expertise and quiet composure to her crackling fire and determination, yet even now, after the fact, she still could not help but feel bitter. Earlier, when she had visited Keisuke's house, she had intended to take out her bitterness on the blind man rather than the innocent Neji.
But when she had come into the house, she had not found Keisuke. She had found a kindly host, a benevolent blind cripple who had invited her to come in, sit down, have some refreshment, and talk things over. This wasn't the man that she had come to beat on. This blind man was a total stranger to her, a mockery of kindness that had stolen her old partner's body. Unable to remain, she had walked away.
The angry outcry that had followed her out the door had given her a fleeting hope. Perhaps the Keisuke she wanted still lived there somewhere after all... but there had been no more words after that. Disappointed, she had kept walking.
She walked into a world of soul-darkness, where nothing and no one offered succor for the feeling of wretchedness that was to come. Not far beyond the gates of Keisuke's house, she had been accosted by a middle-aged Hyuuga woman—the same woman that had "greeted" her when she had first walked into the Hyuuga compound to see Hiashi. Some of Haruka's fire had returned, and it had burned black; for Haruka ached to fill the void in her soul, and violence seemed to be a suitable candidate, even if the woman was an untrained civilian.
"Not contemplating murder, are we, Kin-abandoner?" the woman had said. "Not about to become the Kin-murderer, are you?"
The words had stopped Haruka from throttling her; the last thing the outcast wanted to do was to become worse than her father. But the black fire in her heart had burned hotter still, rising higher and higher until she thought it would consume her.
"It is well that you do not kill me," continued the woman, "For if the ANBU imprisoned you, you would be unable to see for yourself the doom for your cause that has come about by your own hands. You would not be able to look upon Hyuuga Hinata's forehead and beg her for forgiveness."
Haruka had stood before her, dumbfounded, disbelieving. "Wha-what?"
"Ah, how utterly heartless of me. It never occurred to me that you would forget to check your pockets and count the number of photographs there... but then, nobody thought to tell me that my dear sister's death had been in vain until several days after the fact..."
Cursing the memory and cursing herself, Haruka forced herself to keep moving through the rain, searching for the reassurance that would never come, searching for the rallying voice that had died in a blind man's throat.
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"Damn her, damn her, damn her!"
A human whose eye sockets were empty and shadowed plowed through the sheets of rainwater, struggling to feel for his footing through the heavy precipitation. His sunglasses had been lost when he had stumbled into a telephone pole and snapped them. His brown hair was matted to his head, and his waterlogged clothes dragged him down. All of this, combined with his already-sour mood, flung him into a madness that threatened to exterminate all common sense.
"If not for her cursed belief of owning me, I could be at home, warm and dry, or else doing something useful like figuring out how to get Naruto another Hyuuga-related mission... Damn her, making me come out here!"
Of course, he could have been at home or at work anyway, but the memory of her last words to him gnawed and pulsed in his guts. Despite what he wanted to be doing, he was compelled to enter the downpour.
"I don't know you..."
"Well then, allow me to refresh your memory, Sadist!"
After two more minutes of searching, he felt the familiar aura—more tainted than ever with darkness—and leaped to catch up.
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Through the inky blackness of her mind and the heavy rain, Haruka nonetheless felt the old and puissant presence at her back before it touched down. Daring to dream that Keisuke was back, that her favorite punching bag had finally come forward, she straightened and turned her head to look at him.
She beheld the same kindness, the same concerned facial expression, the same subdued spirit. And though it was more ragged, more worn than when she had last seen it, all of this was still firmly ensconced in Keisuke's tall, dark, and eyeless form. The body tormented her; that the face and arms and chest and legs that once belonged to her upright, easily annoyed, occasionally lazy, and always entertaining partner and rival now was inhabited by this soft and unfamiliar spirit widened the hole in her.
Still, she had to at least acknowledge its presence.
"Oh," she said, "It's you." She faced front again and continued walking.
The blind stranger followed. "Please, Haruka," he said. "Let's sit down and talk about this. We can't keep this up."
Still walking, unwilling to look back at the monstrosity that possessed her partner's body, she replied from behind the safety of her turned back.
"It's nice of you to want to help me," she said, "But I fear there is little you can do. Please, leave me in peace." Her voice matched the kindness that came from the loathed being's stolen mouth. It had the intended effect; the footsteps of her follower ended and did not resume. Satisfied that she'd been left alone with her misery, she walked on...
Right into a lightning-charged fist. The blow corkscrewed her in the stomach, sending the painful zing of electricity coursing through her and knocking her backwards. Staggering back into her balance, coughing up her broken stupor, Haruka barely had time to block the second blow. This time, the shock was less severe, and she kept her feet. Enraged at having her soul-search disrupted, she brought her eyes up, popping them into full Byakugan flower, to glare with black and silver rage at her attacker.
The assailant had no eyes, the sockets crackling with power in the rain. His fist, caught between her two hands, was connected to an arm that glowed white-hot with a shining, elaborate seal, written in a language that no human alive, save one, could read. The seal extended itself across well-muscled, tanned arms and chest, bringing the force of the storm into his aura. Fanning out from the chakra circulatory system into the air, connected at the tenketsus, were twenty-eight thin tendrils, pulsing with the sickly blue-yellow chakra that only two people in the whole of the world possessed.
Keisuke yanked his fist back towards his body. Haruka did not release it quickly enough, and was jerked forward. Another hand came up towards her head. Though she was able to juke her head to the side, the hand missed only by a hair, dislodging the black headband that concealed her forehead. The Caged Bird seal was visible, burning with the same blue-yellow chakra.
"What the hell?" she said, twisting away and coming to rest in a Jyuuken stance. "What are you doing?"
"If you are Hyuuga Haruka, as I believe you to be," said the eyeless one, "Then my intent is to test you. Somewhere within you sleeps the heart of a warrior, a Sadist who revels in battle and in triumph. It has become shrouded in self-deception and groundless anger for a crime that was committed only in your mind." He drew himself up to his full height, towering imperiously in the squall. Lighting was his blood, thunder his voice.
"I will bring the Sadist forward again. If I cannot, then Hyuuga Haruka is dead. You say you do not know me... Fight me as you used to, know me better, and then know yourself!"
Before a reply could escape Haruka's lips, he had charged, and his kunai knives flashed in the blaring lightning. He fought with a relentless tenacity that stopped her mouth and forced her to grit her teeth, parry, and return the favor. She knocked aside one blade, allowing the second to nick her arm as she brought it to bear against his chest. The blow lost momentum, scored only a partial hit, bringing the jolt of electricity from the crackling Kokuin seal. Howling in rage, she stepped inside, underneath his arm, and drove a second bolt into his side. Now Keisuke cried out in pain, and he coughed up blood to accompany it. Smiling in her small triumph, Haruka attacked with a will.
Within moments, all thought of talk was banished. The two combatants whirled at and around each other in the torrential rain, trading electricity and chakra faster than Naruto could shell out money for ramen. Haruka forgot her misery and her guilt, threw herself at Keisuke with the intent to maim, crush, kill, ignoring the pain of the lightning that singed her whenever she landed a blow. Keisuke's knives cut and hacked away at her, tearing cloth, biting flesh, missing bone my centimeters. His partner's words echoed in his lifebeat...
"I don't know you... leave me in peace..."
Like hell, I'll leave you in peace, you great, bitchy Sadist.
The storm on the ground was louder than the storm from above. Blood dribbled from Keisuke's mouth, a token of the internal damage suffered from Jyuuken hits, and flowed out from the cuts he had made on his wayward partner. Hoarse battle shouts and cries of pain and bloodlust echoed in the heavens. Every blow struck brought the flash of lightning. Every parry sounded the crash of thunder.
At last, a well-timed foot sweep on Haruka's part sent Keisuke floundering off-balance, his back to her. Haruka saw the chance, and struck.
"Jinsoku Hakke, Juuroku Sho!" (Rapid Eight Trigams, Sixteen Strikes)
The burst of precise attacks struck sixteen tenketsus, some of them striking targets on Keisuke's back, others punching through skin and bone to affect tenketsus in front. The tenketsus were all located at critical joints: One in each hand, two in each forearm, one in each elbow, two in each shoulder, and two in each leg. It was an attack meant to instantly cripple chakra flow in a victim's limbs, used when the opponent is too skilled to be left open long enough for the Hakke Rokujuuyon Sho to work.
Of course, Keisuke, who possessed the Rokujuuyon Reiude, was immune to this chakra flow reduction. But that wasn't Haruka's goal; her real intention was to trigger the Ghostly Arms' reflexive action, which she did. The Kokuin seal of lightning was undone.
Crowing in victory, she lunged at the still-unbalanced blind man, a killing Jyuuken bolt massing in her palm. It struck the target in full force...
Resulting in one very angry Haruka staring at a shattered pot that had been housing a rather attractive shrubbery and which would not be housing anything else for a long time. Enraged, Haruka searched the area frantically with her Byakugan, but found nothing.
"Where are you, coward?" she cried.
"Here!" yelled a distant voice. Turning, she had just enough time to gasp in horror as the blind man sped toward her, a new seal shining on his skin. Haruka recognized Chisoku no Kokuin, the seal of speed. After his close shave with Kawarimi no Jutsu, he had run away, formed this seal, and was now using it to run at her so quickly that no Byakugan in the world would save her.
It might have worked, had Neji not used this tactic on her before, when he'd saved her from the Branch capture team. Haruka was more prepared this second time, and her hand came up, ready to unleash the fury of her chakra upon him.
Keisuke recognized the stance and position, but his momentum was too far forward for him to change it. Grimacing, he readied his attack in spite of the pain that he knew would be coming, locking one Ghostly Arm onto her sternum.
The heavens sang the song of their deadly clash.
"Reiude Ninpou: Katsuchi Daigeki!" (Ghostly Arm Secret Art: Fire Lightning Strike)
"Jyuuken Hou: Hakke Kusho!" (Gentle Fist Move: Eight Trigams Empty Palm)
Blue chakra tinted with an unhealthy-looking yellow whirled from Haruka's palm, while lightning-fast flames lanced out along Keisuke's Ghostly Arm, incinerating it. The flames went right through the center of the whirling chakra, catching and igniting it, while at the same time disrupting the spin. Both Haruka and Keisuke were blasted off their feet, their clothing aflame. Keisuke smashed into a stone wall and was buried in rubble, which smothered the flames. Haruka skidded backwards across grass and mud, coming to rest at last in a deep puddle.
Neither one laid still. Keisuke picked his way out of the debris, his face and skin a mess of cuts and scrapes, his mouth dribbling dark blood. Haruka rolled in the puddle to douse the lingering fire, and sloshed her way to her feet. Abrasions, burns, and the marks of Keisuke's knives marred her appearance.
Breathing heavily, she spoke above the rain. "Been borrowing, I see. That's Naruto-kun's Daigeki technique..."
"Look who's talking, Hyuuga Neji," returned Keisuke, referencing the Hakke Kusho that their mutual friend was fond of using.
"Don't compare me with him!" yelled Haruka. Fire the color of silver lightning blazed in her Byakugan eyes.
"I don't," replied Keisuke. His voice was full of mocking humor, the satanic smile forming on his face. "After all, it isn't your fault that you're so untalented, nor that it's so entertaining to rub your nose in it."
He regretted the words the moment they left his throat. The gleam in her eye foretold swift death. For once, though he had no eyes, Keisuke thought he could see it.
"KEISUKE!" Haruka suddenly found her strength again, though her blood mingled with the mud underneath her and her charred skin pained her when she moved it.
The blind man felt her coming, but he could do nothing to prevent her. His own energy was spent, and every part of him ached. He retracted his Reiude, stood erect and proud, and prepared to die with honor at the hands of a rampaging female. Ah, Jiraiya-san, he thought sadly, you would have been proud; to you, no other death is worth dying...
The Toad Hermit was to be disappointed in Keisuke, however. Though he was smashed into the wall again painfully, the next thing the blind man felt was not the great hand of Death reaching out to claim him. Instead, two smaller, more human hands reached around and grabbed fistfuls of his shinobi vest. The cold rainwater that had soaked into his shirt was displaced by warmer, saltier moisture.
Tears? Keisuke thought. What the--? Haruka!
He brought forth his Ghostly Arms again. Unable to believe, he sank them into her tenketsus. He did not have to tell her to surrender to them and let them in; they met no resistance, and the Synchronization took effect immediately. Keisuke struggled to get a picture, to see through Haruka's eyes, but they were closed tightly. Then, he heard a single, heaving sob, and the eyes opened, giving him a blurry picture. Haruka blinked the eyes twice, causing the picture to come into better focus.
Keisuke stared up into his own awe-struck face.
Startled, he snatched the Synchronization away. But he was unable to get the picture out of his mind. He had seen himself plenty of times from Haruka's eyes, but never had he seen it from the vantage point of his own chest.
He was about to ask, What the hell is your head doing in my aching gut, you crazy-ass Sadist? His words never got out because Haruka spoke first, her muffled voice rising from the folds of his shirt.
"Forgive, Keisuke!"
He was balked. Was this really Haruka? She was supposed to have murdered him, but now she was crying into his shirt, digging her fingers into his back, and asking forgiveness? He ran his feelers over her aura, looking for a hint of concealed evil, some subtle sign of illusion. He found only the silver-white heat, devoid of any darkness whatsoever, burning strongly in her. The true Hyuuga Haruka was back from the dead.
"Forgive what?" he asked. "If you mean your goddamned sense of human ownership and making me beat the shit out of us both, then you're already forgiven, Sadist. We used to do that kind of thing on a daily basis."
He felt the fire burn hotter. "Keisuke," she said, lifting her head so her voice was unmuffled, "I failed them! Hinata-chan, Naruto-kun, my clan, you... I failed them all!"
"Nonsense," Keisuke said, unconsiously putting an arm around her shoulders. "Sure, Naruto's mission is over and he still hasn't hooked up with Hinata-chan, but you still... ACK!"
Haruka had snapped her head back into his chest so quickly that it smacked a tender rib. "Blind idiot," she whispered brokenly, "All the progress I made for them, I undid in a single stroke, one moment of stupidity. Look at these!"
She drew something out of a pocket. Keisuke re-Synch'ed, using her eyes to view the photographs.
"Nice angle, Haruka," he murmured appreciatively. "Naruto and Hinata might get a kick out of that one..."
"That's the problem!" Haruka said. "Anyone would get a kick out of them! And they most certainly did..."
They stood in strained silence for a moment, the pattering rain the only noise. Then, guessing her meaning, Keisuke's face went dead white in horror. Hoping against hope that he was wrong, he asked the dreaded question.
"They?"
"The Advisory Council," Haruka said. "They found one of my photographs in the castle last night. They have the proof they need, and they're going to make Hinata-chan into a Caged Bird!"
The sound of the rain became the cacophony of Keisuke's dreams smashing into the ground like gargantuan meteors, burning with the air-friction of the descent. No! A Caged Bird cannot fly, cannot succeed the clan! Naruto can't change the clan by marrying a Caged Bird! And there's no way, at this point, that he will consider anyone else, and no way that I would ruin his life by trying to make him! The hand that had been around Haruka's shoulders smashed into the stone of the wall, leaving yet another crater.
"Damn it! How am I to fix this mess?"
"I don't see how you can, not without committing genocide against the council," said Haruka. Her face returned to his shirt, where fresh tears soaked into the fibers. "Forgive, Keisuke! Blind fool, please forgive!"
Keisuke couldn't bring himself to say anything. He didn't have the physical energy to do anything but lean against the wall and listen to fate destroy his ambition.
Then, abruptly, the rain ceased to fall on them. Through Haruka's eyes, he could see that an umbrella had been placed over their heads.
"Hold this, please," said the owner. "I need both hands to heal you."
"Sakura-san?"
"Just do it. We don't have a lot of time."
Haruka extricated herself from Keisuke. She held the umbrella for Sakura. "Heal the oaf first," she said. "He can't feel good, having been stepped on by the same woman for about the thousandth time."
The "oaf" did little more than grunt in annoyance and let Sakura in to do her work. When it was done, he was able to move with no pain, though his energy was as low as ever. Reaching into his vest, he withdrew a soldier pill, hoping that its nutrients would bring him back into fighting shape soon. Sakura seemed as though she had a plan of action in mind. After she had finished tending to Haruka, he inquired as to what it was.
"You may not know what to do about this," Sakura said, "But Naruto seems to."
The rain grew lighter.
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Naruto hated stealth. In his earlier years, it had been the hardest concept for him to grasp, even more difficult for him to master. Here, however, it was essential. If he raised the alarm, the whole Hyuuga complex would boil forth and knock him silly, if not dead. So he kept his chakra low, his motions smooth and quiet, and his eyes and ears peeled.
He rested in the prone position on a rooftop over the largest building. Below him could be heard the voices of two men inside the building, talking heatedly, and many more voices quietly mumbling among themselves outside. Naruto chose not to bother himself with the latter; they were saying things that Sakura had been telling him earlier. Instead, he focused himself on the former, and was intrigued by what he heard.
"Takashi," said one man, "Please, reconsider this. The evidence is undeniable, that is true, but what has been proven is hardly worth the trouble of cursing Hinata! Look at this one, the two of them are barely brushing each other..."
"This one, however," said the second man, whose frail voice strongly contrasted the deep, resonant voice of his companion, "Is more explicit, I think..."
A pause, and then the first man changed his angle. "Takashi, my eldest daughter... she is fifteen now, and she has been groomed all her life to take my place. To thrust her so roughly into a far different role after so much..."
"Is irrelevant," interrupted the second. "We laid down strict guidelines for Hinata's behavior. She has broken them. The punishment will be carried out as dictated by that ultimatum. You cannot prevent it."
"Can I not?" said the first man thickly, "I am, after all, the head of this clan." Naruto guessed that this must be the current Hyuuga patriarch, Hinata's father.
"It is true, you do have the executive power to stop the procedure. But do you know what would happen if you did, Hiashi?" The old man's voice became a low wheeze, and he was beginning to sound pleased with himself.
"You have executive power, Hiashi, but the civilian populace—all of them members of the Branch House—is rapidly losing respect for that office. They have turned to a more organized, civilized body for leadership. They could be made to rise against you, Hiashi, every single one. Would you kill every last innocent life in the clan because they wanted to make their own fate? There was once a Hyuuga Hiashi that might have, but he is dead."
"Takashi... please, she is my eldest daughter, fifteen... you know that the process is more painful for older children. I don't want her to go through that..."
"Yes, a sad thought, but we must banish it from our minds, Hiashi. You have another daughter to think about now, your true successor... Leadership qualities seem to run with the second-born in your line, don't they?"
A long, dark silence.
"You will not impose guilt upon me, Takashi," Hiashi said. "It is true that I have often wished it was Hizashi who had succeeded the clan. However, the fact of the matter is that he did not. I govern this clan, not he. You or I cannot change that."
"No, unfortunately, we cannot. But we can pick and choose who will succeed this time... and just like you, that successor will be under our thumb, Hiashi."
Naruto almost broke his cover. He'd thought Hinata's father was a mean old fart after sending the bastard Hiroto to drag her off, but the way he was being spoken to was so unfair, especially since he was an authority figure. Not that he himself showed much respect towards authority figures, but when he became Hokage, he would never allow anyone to speak to him like that.
He heard Takashi open the door in preparation to depart. His comrades outside cheered him. "Hiashi," he said, "My colleagues and I will be in our conference room, if you need us. Feel free to go down south to the branding chamber to watch, if you wish. It may not be pretty, but at least Hinata will be comforted knowing that her loving father is there."
The door closed. The council marched off to their victory party.
Naruto cautiously stood up, careful not to make noise. South end, he thought. That's where they'll be...
Hiashi's voice, broken and pleading, could be heard from below. "I pray to whatever gods who listen," he said. "Please, please help my daughter..."
I'm no god, old man, thought Naruto, but Hinata's in good hands. I promise.
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The Hyuuga Lieutenant in charge of escorting Hyuuga Hinata to the branding chamber was very smug as he led the way to the south end of the complex. He'd been given a task force of fifteen Hyuuga for the job, but he hardly thought it was necessary; after all, who in the world would defy the council now? Nobody who wanted to live comfortably, that was certain. Hell, the Kyuubi child was already on his way to die because he crossed the council...
He was so sure that nothing could possibly go wrong that he did not even take notice of the blond teen in orange until he was practically on top of him.
"Huh?" he said with an air of annoyance, "Get outta the way, kid..." The Lieutenant moved to push past him, and was greeted by the sky as the kid grabbed hold of him and heaved him into the air.
"Naruto-kun!" cried the voice of his charge. The words were simultaneously full of hope and laced with fear.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Flipping over in midair, the Lieutenant looked down to see a force of eight Narutos crash headlong into his fifteen men. They were more prepared than he had been; only three of them fell to the initial onslaught, and the rest grappled with the clones, holding their own against them but not causing much damage.
Still, it was more than the Lieutenant had managed. He was supposed to be leading them, and here he was just coming to the end of his upward flight, doing nothing while his underlings fought! And he had completely relaxed his guard when he should not have, disregarding the fact that the Kyuubi boy had no respect for authority and not realizing that he might have been coming here regardless of what he'd been told to do! He'd get demoted for sure! Frantic, he though about what aid he might be able to give from his position. After a few seconds, he had an idea.
"Seize the girl, don't let her go!" he shouted. He lobbed a smoke bomb at the thrashing melee.
He saw one of his men take hold of Hinata just before the bomb hit and, satisfied that she wasn't going anywhere, activated his Byakugan. Even with those eyes, it was difficult to see clearly in the thick, dark smog, but he could still make out the outlines of humans, and so could his men. The Naruto clone force was quickly eviscerated.
"Into the branding chamber, quickly, lest there are more of them!" shouted the Lieutenant. "Turn your Byakugans off, as well, don't activate the defense mechanism!" he added as an afterthought.
Deactivating his own Byakugan, he landed on his feet and rushed for the door behind his men, closing and locking the heavy metal door behind him. There was no way the Kyuubi kid could get in now, and if he did, the noise would have the whole clan after him, so he'd never get out alive. Turning, he grinned at his captive.
"No one coming to save you now, Hinata-sama," he said. His voice dripped with acid on the honorific.
The Hyuuga girl regarded him with fiery, defiant eyes, but did not speak. Playing the uppity Main Houser, but too scared to back it up, he thought with a mental chuckle. Smiling evilly, he led his prisoner to the lone chair in the center of the chamber.
On the floor, walls, and ceiling there glowed and eerie green seal—the chamber's defense mechanism. Most people who came here to get branded were children who couldn't use the Byakugan, but there were rare cases like this teenager who were capable of fighting back. For that reason was the mechanism in place. If she activated her Byakugan, which was necessary for her Jyuuken style to be effective, then the seal would react and shoot unspeakable, paralyzing pain through her body. Granted, it stopped their Byakugans, too, but there were many of them and only one of her; any attempt to escape would be a low-damage, short victory for them, after which they could chain her to the chair and prevent any further attempts.
With cool confidence, the Lieutenant began the preparations to work his work. "Now then, little one," he said, "Since you've grown so big, I can't promise you that this won't hurt, but if you don't struggle, it will be quick..."
The terrible screams of pain reverberated through the chamber, but the thick, soundproof walls contained it within. Nobody would know the agony that went on that day but the one who experienced it and the escort forces that bore witness. A few of these witnesses heard the screams and shuddered, praised their gods that it was not them that this was happening to. Most of them simply stood around boredly, having seen it all before.
And through it all, the Lieutenant smiled, satisfied that the council's will was being carried out and that he was not going to be demoted.
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In the gardens adjacent to the chamber, two people lay camouflaged underneath an assortment of leafy plants.
"Jeez, that was close. Really close," said the Hyuuga escort. Hinata's face was forcibly muffled against his robes, so she could not protest loudly. However, she made all the effort she could to protest violently, kicking at her captor and making him wince in pain.
"Hey now, what are you kicking at me for?" he asked. Then he realized whose face he was wearing. "Oh yeah..."
Releasing the illusion, the fake Hyuuga escort reverted to his true form.
"Naruto-kun!" gasped Hinata. "You... you... how?"
"In all honesty, I didn't expect it to go so well," he said. "I totally thought that those Byakugan eyes would see through the smoke and the illusion, but I guess they're overrated, huh? No offense."
"N-none taken, Naruto-kun," she said. She had too much on her plate—namely Naruto's chest in her face—to take offense. "But, why did you do that? You knew how dangerous it would be if you failed..."
"That's easy," he said. "You're my friend, Hinata... no, more than that. There are plenty of reasons why, and I'll tell you later, but now, we have to talk about the rest of my plan. Once they come out of there, the illusion won't fool them long... sooner or later, somebody is going to use the Byakugan, and they'll realize that the one they just put the seal on isn't you. If that happens, we're both screwed."
Hinata nodded. The words, more than a friend, were music to her, a song that played over and over in her head, but he was right... if his wild scheme was to work, they had to cover their tracks.
"Listen, Hinata," he went on, "I'll find a way to divert their attention, and then we'll switch you back in. Tie your hitai-ate around your forehead, and don't take it off. If you absolutely have to remove it, then create an illusion of that weird seal. Do it even if you're completely alone—we don't know who might be watching. So much of this depends on pure luck, we don't want to increase the danger any more than we have to."
Hinata was afraid. He wasn't kidding when he said this hinged on luck; so many things could go wrong with his plan. Yet he was sticking to it, and she was going to put all her faith in it—in him—as well, though it might mean the end of him and of her happiness.
"All right, Naruto-kun. I will do my best to keep this secret until... until whatever it is happens that needs to before I can rest."
Naruto smiled at her. "Thatta girl."
They settled down to wait.
"Naruto-kun," Hinata said suddenly, "I feel badly for your bunshin. The branding process is supposed to be very painful for teenagers and adults..."
The blond next to her grimaced. Her eyes filled with concern.
"Naruto-kun? What's wrong?"
He turned his head towards her slowly, and his blue eyes brought a chill to her.
"I heard about that on my way in. If its as bad as you say it is, a bunshin wouldn't be able to handle it. He'd disappear in the middle of the process."
Hinata's mouth dropped open, horrified. "No... you don't mean..."
"I do," he said. His face was lined with sorrow. "I'm the bunshin."
OoOoOoOoOo End Chapter Twenty oOoOoOoOoO