Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series.
Enjoy!
Chapter 6
My dream...
Haku had been impressed with Sasuke so far. He could keep up with his speed, at times even getting the best of him. Haku was lucky, still. It had been dripping at occasions during their battle. Those tiny bits of water put a smirk across Haku's face. But Haku was running out of time, he had to return back to Zabuza with Sasuke's crystal while he was getting a hold of the remaining.
"You won't be able to keep up for long, if you don't give me your crystal, it will end badly for you."
"I think I've been keeping up pretty well." Haku let a quiet sigh escape his mouth through his mask.
Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishō
Sasuke's vision must be playing with him, this time. He was standing before needles, definitely more than 500, directed at him. He could concentrate his chakra onto his feet and dodge them all, but Haku, as skilled as he is, could maybe control the needles and have them follow him. This is bad.
"Give me the crystal, and I will re-do it."
Guess, I got no chance.
"You can re-do it if you want, I won't give you anything."
"Very well." Haku let his hand fall to his side, firing the thousand of needles towards Sasuke. The Uchiha performed the hand seals for his clans renowned jutsu.
Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu
Something was weird. He had technically mastered that jutsu, yet it absorbed so much of his chakra that he is left on his knees. What the hell? He saved himself from the needles, yes. But he felt too drained and out of breath to fend himself for the rest of the battle.
Haku took the opportunity and attacked Sasuke from behind. Sasuke was roughly kicked onto the wet ground with a minor splash. His enemy appeared again, dragged him up by the collar of his shirt and shoved him further away with a chakra infused palm. Sasuke coughed his inner liquid out.
It felt like hours, though it had only been mere minutes, since Haku had showed Sasuke what a true ninja fight consists of. Sasuke once again found himself on the floor, groaning over a newly implanted pain to his stomach. It didn't take long for Sasuke to raise his head and find Haku performing another of his hand seals. Oh no, is it the same jutsu?
Hijutsu: Makyō Hyōshō!
The minute after the jutsu was cast, Sasuke found himself surrounded by multiple mirrors made of ice. He could count up to 21 mirrors. Sasuke dragged himself to his feet. Haku appeared in the mirror that was facing Sasuke. With the remaining of Sasuke's strength, he threw a kunai at the glass, cracking it. But Haku had already moved to the above mirror. How does he do that?
"You wanted speed, huh?" In no time, Haku appeared in every reflection there was, each holding approximately 6 needles between the knuckles. Oh no.
Sasuke's heart skipped way faster than he had ever experienced. Is this it?
"Say goodbye, Uchiha."
The last thing Sasuke heard was a loud yell, the voice was so familiar. He hated it. He wanted to stand but his body didn't listen, it wanted to rest and let his comrade finish what he couldn't. His thoughts were driving him away from the battle and into nothingness.
"You couldn't sleep?" Mitsu shook her tiny head. From what she had told him, she had been having nightmares of those bullies. It wasn't the first time that she had said it, but he wished that it would be the last time.
"K-Kurai-kun, w-what if they never leave me alone?.."
"They will leave you alone, I'm here for you."
"D-Demo..."
"Mitsu!" The raised tone startled the young girl. She never minded it, though. It always turned her mood upside-down.
"Will the-y really lea-ve m-m-me alo-ne?..." Kurai gave her a confident nod, saying that one day they wouldn't even dare to look her way. In fact, they would be praising her whenever they lay their eyes on her.
"Hehe, h-h-how do y-y-you know t-that?"
"I know they fear the Konoha Military Police Force. And... and my dream is to become a member of the organisation, just like otou-san and onii-san!"
A tiny smile appeared on Mitsu's face, seeing Kurai so excited for the future and knowing what he wants to do as a living already inspired her to do the same. But she wasn't like him. She would never be like him. She knew it.
"Mitsu, what's your dream?"
"H-Huh, my dream?" Her dream, huh. Her dream was to be like her mother. That was it. She is the sole reason she's against violence and wants to find an alternative when she is confronted. But, Hinata knows that when violence is needed, she still couldn't get herself to do it. She wasn't as strong and skilled like her sister, father, Kurai...
"I'm sure you'll become a lady just like your mother." That made Hinata touch her hair strands. Her mother had long, shiny hair, she spoke with grace, she was strong. There was a time where she saw her mother training, she thought none were watching, but what she saw was nothing but beauty, elegance, and determination.
"But Mitsu is beautiful, too. You can do it!"
"Kurai-kun i-it's ha-hard... I-I'm n-not so s-strong.." This time, Kurai stood up and looked at her. He never did that before, the evening light shone on his straight face. Oh no, did I make him mad?
"Mitsu," he reached his hand out for her which she hesitantly accepted, "repeat after me."
"Huh?"
"My dream is..." Mitsu was still confused about the task, she could only stare into those onyx globes that made her heart skip a beat every time her eyes fell upon his.
"Come on, Mitsu. My dream is..."
"M-my d-dream is..."
"To become like my..."
"T-to become like my..." Kurai nodded his head forward, "mother?"
"Yes! See, that wasn't so hard. One day, I will become a member of the police force, and you, you will become a beautiful lady like your mother, right?"
"N...nn."
Why am I remembering this?
"Sou ieba, Mitsu, you wanted to be like your mother, does that mean that you want to find a husband like your dad?"
The thought of her marrying a kind like her father actually saddened her, she didn't want her future children to go through such parental behaviors like with hers. She never thought of marriage, she just wanted to be a woman like her mother who could've lived a noble life without a man. That's probably why she never thought of it. Now that he mentions it... Mitsu looked at Kurai and for a minute saw a flash of his future self. H-Handsome...! A red color grew across her cheeks No, no, no, no! K-K-K-K-K-Kurai-k-k-k-kun a-a-as-s m-my h-h-h-husb-band!
"Mitsu?"
A hysteric Mitsu waved her hand uncontrollably in front of him and was backing away at the same time. If she didn't stop she could trip over a branch. "Y-y-you're n-n-not m-my h-h-hus-ba-n-nd, y-y-yet!"
"Huh?"
"Wa~h!"
"Mitsu!"
"I-Itai~"
"Mooo, Mitsu you clumsy."
Mitsu... Where are you now?
"Sasuke!" Huh? That voice, Naruto! Could he still be alive? That must have been his voice earlier. After being unconscious for so long, he could feel this heat on his skin and another heavy being on his chest, sobbing something that involved his name. It must have been Sakura. No doubt about that. How did they find him, though? They must have taken down Zabuza, if they managed to sneak past him and find Sasuke. The voices were getting clearer.
"You bastard, give Sasuke's crystal back!" His crystal. Oh yeah, he threw it away. Would it be a good timing to open his eyes or wait for a little longer? God.
"I said, give Sasuke's crystal back!" Him and his loud mouth. Sasuke forced his eyes open, startling Sakura as she looked up.
"Sasuke-kun!" Can't these two ever lower their voices?
"Naruto, he opened his eyes. Let's bring him to Kakashi-sensei!" He heard loud footsteps on his way, Naruto brought him on his back and dashed towards their sensei who didn't seem to have any scratches despite fighting an S-rank rouge.
"Bring him to the house!" Was the only thing he heard before drifting off to a deep sleep.
After having treated his wounds, Team 7 felt that it was time to go home. Sasuke was thankful for Naruto's lack of memories. He hadn't mentioned anything so far, if he could just get back to the village, he would know where to find his crystal.
"Sasuke," he felt a raise in his heart beat, "I'm impressed that you survived that fight without using your crystal. For that, I give you praise. Demo, not having your crystal with at all, is another thing." How did he? Could it have been Naruto?
"Don't worry, I know where to find it."
"Sasuke!" Team 7 stopped in their tracks from their sensei's unusual tone. "I keep telling you that, that crystal is to be treasured. Had you had it on you at that time, you would've been killed, yes. But now that you've lost possession of it, you could be in grave danger without knowing."
"I know. But nobody knows of the place. So I doubt it had been taken."
"What if that man you seek revenge on finds it?"
...
...
...
Unlock!
So far, Hinata had managed to unlock her armor.. She went a hand through her hair, feeling if it had grown any longer but as always, nothing. She had been training ever since they got back. She saw improvements in her tai jutsu but her clan skills were swinging a bit. She had been taking extra lessons from Kurenai instead of her father. She enjoyed it quite much.
Your hair was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It shone in different shades of purple. And when you two clashed. You looked like a princess, onee-chan, please do it again!
I wish I could do it again...
She wondered what had triggered that burst of chakra, though.
Mitsu.
"Kurai-kun..." She shuffled through the back pouch which was a part of her Armor. There she had the blue crystal which she found at the river. Bound by love? Naruto-kun... A flash of Kurai was her answer. She shook her head in denial.
"K-Kurai-kun is dea-d. A-and, he h-hates m-me..."
"He hates you, huh?"
"Eh?" She turned around to the unknown voice. She had never seen him before, but he didn't seem friendly.
"If he hates you so much, why does his crystal allow you its power?"
"His crystal?" The man brought his arms crossed before his face, pointing his fingertips towards her. Chakra was slowly growing onto those fingertips. Was he going to attack her?
"Let me see what the Yin Guardian is made of!"
Translation:
Otou-san- Father
Onii-san- Big brother
Sou ieba- By the way
I'm sorry for the really short chapter. I hope you had a nice read, though. ^^