Chapter 22

Shino stared at his image in the mirror, taking steady breaths, in hopes of settling his heart beat. It was already straining from the feeding, then the added exertion of Lady Natsuki calling him to rise. It was late, still night, and she was not here in the room. She seemed to want him to come downstairs… the dining room? He was so tired he wasn't even sure if this was real or imagined, he actually tried to go back to sleep, many times, until finally it became too insistent, he knew without a doubt it was her, yet apparently not insistent enough to lend him strength. He had to find that on his own.

It was slow going. He felt too dizzy to sit up, to stand. He was disoriented, they were in a room they had not been in before, he didn't recognize any of the furniture or its arrangement. He wasn't sure even where he was in the mansion, couldn't quite remember the route they'd taken to get here at the moment.
He had that same feeling he had, that first time Lady Natsuki had fed on him. Everything was uncomfortably dark, he was uncomfortably warm, and though it went against all his instincts, to stay covered, stay safe, it reminded him vaguely of how people, when they became extremely hypothermic, even though they were freezing, thought they were too warm and would shed their clothing, yet he wasn't freezing to death, he knew that, he just felt claustrophobic, so he took off his goggles, his trench coat, his jacket, he didn't have his shoes, weren't sure where they were, padded on bare feet to the bathroom.
It helped somewhat, to feel cool air on his face, on his skin. He had managed get on his feet, uneasily made his way to the bathroom to get himself water, normally Noshiko did this for him. Before, it had been too dark, but when he turned the lights on it was too bright, could only handle the dimmest of it, casting the whole room in a pale golden glow, dark in the corners. He looked in the mirror and his appearance disturbed him. Pale, clammy skin. Deep circles under his eyes. His hands shook in their grip on the sink. He cupped his hands to drink, which helped. He splashed water on his face, which did not.

His physical state was taxing enough, but there was another fear. Lady Natsuki had never done this before. She had once again changed the script, and now he did not know what to expect, and that anticipation added to his quickened heart rate. He sunk to his knees, still too tired to heed the call to places unknown.

"Shino!"

That sounded like Hinata, however Shino brought his hand to his face; surely he was imagining this, and that only disturbed him further. He made to stand, gripping the sink edge once again, looking into the mirror once last time, seeing the wound, the wound that never healed, only festered, and he was going to go meet Lady Natsuki, whatever his fate may be, except then Hinata appeared in the mirror as well, Byakugan activated.

He turned and sure enough, there she was.

"Hinata?" He croaked out.

"Yes, I… oh Shino, we didn't know. I'm so sorry."

She reached out, slowly, silently to his neck, as though she too didn't want to look at it but couldn't help herself, had to see it. He was too tired to flinch away, though not too tired to see her features fall in this strange bronze light.

"I'm so sorry." she repeated again, in a whisper, and he lost whatever strength he'd had to rise again, fell to his knees, and Hinata fell with him.

"Are you, did she?" he managed to ask.

"No. I am unharmed but I… I'm afraid she planned this all out. She bit someone, sent them into the Leaf Village. Everyone was being screened. Kiba and I remembered the bruise on your neck and asked Torune about it. When he said it wasn't him, we came here, but she was waiting. Kiba and Torune are down in the dining room with her right now. She sent me to get you."

"Hinata, I'm sorry about Neji, that wasn't me, it was…" Why he felt the need to lead with this, out of everything, he didn't know, Hinata wouldn't even know what he was talking about, yet she gently interrupted.

"I know. Please, don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. She's revealed a lot to us. I don't know how much time we have. I get the idea..."

"...Do not try her patience." he finished for her, and she nodded.

"She said she would tell you if we should meet her somewhere else. Do you know where she wants us to go?"

He took a breath, heard the answer. "The library. I don't know why."

"It's okay. Have you had something to drink?"

"Yes."

"Do you think you can move?"

"Yes."

"Shino, there's one more thing I want you to know, I know it's not much time, but at least you can slightly prepare yourself. She… told us about Torune. About a gift he gave you before coming here, and actually, Torune talked to Kiba and I about it, before he gave it to you. She's definitely enjoying talking about it, I'm sure she will question you once we get there."

"I… wondered why she didn't press the subject with me earlier."

"I'm sorry, I know this is a lot to take in."

"For you, as well. Though be careful what you say to me… she can hear you."

"I know." Hinata responded simply, as he stood up, finding some invigoration from her presence. They walked slowly out to the bedroom. He grabbed his trench coat and goggles from the bed, put them on, but couldn't bare to put his jacket on, just carried it along with him. Hinata thankfully didn't question him about this decision as he couldn't explain it anyway. She also didn't question him about his decision to forgo his footwear, which she had found, and she carried with her as they entered the halls, though a labyrinthine maze they appeared tonight, all in monochrome grey.

The halls being filled with all sorts of objects, furniture included, he found a place to rest about halfway there, a small sofa. Hinata sat next to him, as he tried to catch his breath. To his surprise, Hinata moved close, wrapped her arms around him, rested her head on his shoulder. She didn't feel the need to say anything, judging from her silence, and he found neither did he, whether that was because he was too fatigued, or it simply didn't seem that strange to be like this, even though this was a novel experience for them both. Kiba was the more physically affectionate one of their team, along with Akamaru.

He was again reminded of Lady Natsuki, the same way he had been reminded of her when Torune embraced him, she was still with him, with them, and there was fear as there had been with Torune, yet again, it was not the same. Hinata's hold on him was gentler than either of them, she was also smaller, more tucked in than surrounding. Oddly, Hinata felt more familiar to him than Torune did, and she felt shockingly warm against him, like a furnace, it was almost too much for him, yet he also gained a shocking amount of comfort from this.

"We're going to be okay. Hold on." she whispered.

He could only nod.

"You're so cold. Do you need help putting your jacket on? The shoes too?"

He did not want to put them on, yet he could recognize this was more than a suggestion from her, and he trusted her more than himself right now, so he simply nodded in response to that too.