Games of Fate
A soft voice,
calls back dreaded memories,
enshrined deep within my heart…
Where in the world,
could I hide when,
haunting memories hijack my mind…
6
I am alive…
Today I am, very much alive…
I feel life flowing through my veins,
Once again I breathe the air of freedom…
Many simply could get killed…
Hn, being a ninja what do you expect?
Will death come by your door,
And give you an invitation to doom?
No… hn, ridiculous…
Everything about life is pretty bloody.
Ninja or no…
Death is living with you all the time…
It's up to you to believe it or not.
One piece of advice,
Open your eyes before it's too late.
"ugh… uuueeghh… blueegghh… cough, cough…"
The woman wiped her vomit stained wet lips with her sleeves. She was restless, sick and was feeling terribly nauseous. The Hyuuga knew the reason why and she could forget something like that either, it was abnormal, a dreadful experience for someone as pure as her to have.
She puked every time flashes of memories run through her mind. The 16 year old young girl rushed to the toilet about an hour ago, and was still latched to the toilet bowl. She couldn't get it out of her mind.
'Was Sasuke this cruel?'
She wished to think that but she couldn't even bring herself to think that way of the Uchiha who saved her life, but for some reason she knew he hated her. And now, she could even confirm it. His hatred towards her… it was intense, so much profound that she could even sense its wave whenever their eyes met. She had trusted her ability to have him convinced to go back to the village he belongs to but now… she knew it would be even harder than she thought it would be. He hated her… it's a known fact. For some reason she felt that there was a reason behind it, there must be. She bit her lower lip as her eyes searched at space trying to think over as questions kept popping one after another in her mind.
'Why would he save me when he hates me? What is the reason? Why…'
The woman who leaned on the cold walls of the bathroom, slid down the wall she slumped on the floor hugging her knees, the Hyuuga eased her hitching breaths. Her mind was in total chaos, she expected him to be a bit cold, bit she ever imagined this. It is terrifying… how much could time change a person so much? She could help but to wonder why he had to save her, hate her and torture her with this kind of lewd way…
Hinata walked idly stumbling on her own steps occasionally, her mind was jumbled up. She couldn't figure out the reason for Sasuke's hatred towards her. She never knew anything much of him. He never had anything to do with her even from back then in the Academy. The two barely knew each other, both from the distinguished and strongest clans of Konoha, they easily got accustomed in silence, and neither of them had been talk active. They have grown up with complicated backgrounds with situations totally different from one another. He was a popular heart throb and she was a wallflower whom people barely noticed.
He had lost everything and yearned for it while she had everything but neither belongs to her. She was considered as an unworthy heiress, unwanted and neglected. While he was a number one rookie of their class, he was everything she wasn't and she was everything he would never become. Nothing clicked to her mind… she could put her finger to anything about her that could've roused Sasuke's anger on her. There was not even one hint that could link her to him.
The girl suddenly paced a step back; she stumbled on her own feet and fell hard against the wooden floor of the house, rubbing her painful forehead to ease the pain she looked up at the person whom she bumped on.
"aah!…" she gasped sharply looking at the person in surprise.
The man in his Anbu gear rushed through the darkened woods as he travelled at marvelling speed. He had travelled so far and his strength was at its limits. He pushed himself even harder, a little more he would be reaching the village, there is an important report that he must deliver. He didn't want to waste his time on resting the night to replenish his depleted strength.
He suspected that someone might even be tracking behind him and that should be avoided, the enemy must not gain a chance to get back at him. He knew, by now they might have noticed that he was there. He can't afford a fight when he hadn't had enough energy even for the travel.
The Anbu rushed towards the large gates of Konoha; leaping off the gates he reported his presence to the guards. The night was colder since it was raining, bolts of lightning crashed down to the earth in blinding speed. The storm was getting stronger as the man stealthily managed to get into the quarters of the main Hyuuga branch house.
The mansion was dark and unwelcoming. There was only ghostly silence apart from the sounds of thundering storm that he could hear. The man walked his way through the lane and found the Hyuuga head's office. The lights in the room were still on, he noticed. He was actually quite grateful and relieved to learn that his master was still awake. Entering the room in silence, the man crouched down on his knees. He took of his mask and held down his head in a bow in due respect to the presence of the Hyuuga head.
"Mission accomplished, Hiashi-sama" the man said in his clear voice.
The man who sat behind his desk opposite the Anbu looked up at his shinobi servant, and merely grunted his approval, "Hn"
Flipping back to close the documents he had on his table Hiashi watched as the man raised his head, he stood up and placed a scroll reporting the mission he was on. The Hyuuga head picked the scroll, he glanced at it.
'Hn… so she is alive after all…' the old man's thought echoed through his mind.
A small smirk appeared as he closed the report after finished reading it, "You can go now, Ko."
"But Hiashi-sama… Hinata-sama is-" Ko tried to convey his worry but he was cut off by Hiashi.
"Ko. You know what your mission was; I assume that you have done a good job. So you can leave." He said sternly.
Ko gritted his teeth as he heard Hiashi's spoken words, he wasn't concerned of his own daughter's wellbeing at all, "I understand that, I know it is rude for me to question your decisions, I know I am in no position to do so, but Hiashi-sama… as a branch member I have a duty to protect the main family, Hinata-sama is your first born and the heiress to our clan… she had to be rescued immediately Hiashi-sama! She is with-"
"I know Ko." Hiashi cut through Ko's words again, silencing the agitated shinobi.
"Then why didn't you send our aids to save her? She is with a dangerous person and what if something happens to her again? Aren't you concerned even a bit for your daughter?" Ko nearly banged the desk of the leader, restricting his actions the man stood rigidly to his ground.
Hiashi glared up at the young man, with a straight face he answered, "NO. Your mission was to find her corpse and bring it back at all costs… I entrusted you to do it and as expected of you, you had a very good result for this mission. This talk is over. Get out."
"So you were only concerned over her eyes that hasn't been sealed, you wanted to retrieve it all costs, it was never the subject whether your daughter was safe or not am I right?" Ko nearly yelled.
"Good, if you understood." Hiashi said.
"I cannot tolerate this Hiashi-sama! I am going to inform this to Hokage-sama, I am going to rescue her!" Ko briskly turned away from the Hyuuga head to walk out of his room.
'BANG!'
The furious fifth Hokage banged her desk not too hard that it actually break off, she had enough broken desks and she can't waste the last one at the news of her Anbu squad brought her. She couldn't believe this was happening. How could this be? She made sure herself that the security to his cell was a top notch at all cost. And how could this happen?
'Unless…' her mind voiced her doubts.
She lifted her hazel eyes up from the scrolls of reports in her hand to the Anbu squad which was present at the moment in her office. They were all assigned to find the missing Uchiha who had broken out of the Konoha jail. She narrowed her eyes at them as her mind clicked when she noticed something.
"Where is Cobra?" Tsunade asked the leader of the team.
Lifting of his mask Yamato met the Hokage's gaze and said, "she is missing as well Tsunade-sama… we assume that she was the one to help him breach the security and escape."
"Hn. All of you except Crow are dismissed. Crow please stay." The woman smirked to herself, she knew Anko and she believed there better be some damn good reason to why she had done something this crazy.
Looking back to the shinobi she said, "Very well, Yamato. I assign you to lead a team of your own, find 4 skilled shinobis in tracking and strength move out to find Uchiha Obito and Cobra by tomorrow evening. I want you to only track them down, be careful and do not get noticed by them. All you have to do is to spy on their actions and send me reports of it when you have something important."
"A. Hai Hokage-sama" Yamato said.
"This is a B class mission which can be turned into A at any point, you might even have to face unforeseen enemies… be wise in choosing your underlings. That is all, you may now leave." Tsunade ordered.
The woman in her middle fifties slumped against her seat releasing a heavy sigh as thunder of the stormy night echoed through the whole building. It was getting late, and there were still some more decks of paper works left to finish on her desk. She was totally exhausted, she wanted to at least to have a drop of it but Shizune had banned her from drinking sake.
Glancing the scrolls and documents on her desk the woman stared into space, soon enough someone will take over this job from her. She couldn't wait for the moment when it happens, but for now, it has to wait. The boy is not in the right mind set to get his hands on the title of Hokage yet. Naruto was suffering, as much as her own subordinate Sakura. Tsunade could sense that Sakura was trying her best in cheering up the blonde. He was not himself lately, all day he trains and spends his time lesser and lesser with Sakura. He would vanish to Mount Myobuki for weeks and will only return when he receives a mission.
'He wasn't at his good shape either… That boy, I wonder when he'll return to his normal self… I hope he could be saved…' Tsunade mused thinking of Naruto.
Tsunade held her temples and thought of her precious students. The other three- the Hyuuga, Inuzuka and Aburame wasn't taking the loss of their cousin and team mate any good. They were evenly down as Naruto was, but regardless they were focused in their mission. Losing a family and a team mate was never a good experience to begin with. As a shinobi they had to endure this kind of wound in their hearts and live on with the memories of the dead.
"As long as the memories are not forgotten… the dead will be immortal within our hearts… isn't that right? Dan, Nawaki… Jiraiya…" Tsunade whispered her words into the wind.
She eyed the city from her wide window; the downpour of rain was heavy. The storm didn't seem to subside any time soon. The night was chilling cold and grim. The clock on the opposite wall ticked striking as it was three in the morning. Tsunade stood up from her seat and walked near to the window, she eyed at a familiar summon as it popped out of nowhere in front of the Konoha gates. The white clouds of smoke dissipated quickly under the rain.
She smiled as she saw the lone man with huge scrolls on his back standing upon one of his two large toad summons, "you grew up just like him… Naruto" she smiled sadly looking at the man.
'Knock… Knock… Knock…'
"come in…" she said as she heard a loud knocking sound at her door at the moment.
"What are you doing at this time of night?!"
Hinata flinched at the person that she bumped on as the person yelled at her.
"Tsk… what a pain, get up lady!" Karin yelled as she saw the Hyuuga flinched at her volume.
Partially she was at fault for bumping on the Hyuuga too; she was drunk with sake a little and she didn't notice the Hyuuga's presence at her back.
'Am I too loud? Why is she scared of me? Hmm?' the girl questioned herself in guilty.
Hinata lifted herself up and bent down in a bow, "I… apologise Karin-san… I was careless…"
Coughing awkwardly the Uzumaki glared down at the Hyuuga hiding her guiltiness and said while waving her hand dismissively, "a… *cough, cough* b-be careful next time, now go to bed we have to get up early tomorrow…"
Hinata smiled brightly at the girl as she dismissed it as if it was nothing, scooting closer towards the Uzumaki, Hinata eyed the woman with worry.
"W-what?" Karin asked as she paced aback when the Hyuuga came closer at her.
The Hyuuga simply asked her innocently with worry, "u-um… Karin-san, are you having a cold? Your face looks red… are you okay?"
"W-what, where? N-no… of course I am fine! Get away from me…" Karin yelled as she stepped back away from the Hyuuga.
"o-oh… s-sorry Karin-san… I guess I said too much…" Hinata said.
Grumbled under her breath the red haired kunoichi said, "Even if I am sick, I won't have you to look after me, I can take care of myself…"
'I don't want to owe one… especially not to you…' Karin thought as she watched the Hyuuga's innocent face.
"Hai… Karin-san, good night…" Hinata smiled at Karin and walked away as soon as she thanked the red haired kunoichi.
"a…" Karin said in return, but she continued to stare at the back of the Hyuuga.
She was very curious about this young lady that happened to be the 'souvenir' that they bring for Orochimaru. That girl was brightened as soon as Karin forgave her, it was a small matter but the Hyuuga wasn't that cocky like the other clan members would be, she was down to earth and very polite for that matter.
Glaring rather speculatively at the Hyuuga's retreating back Karin thought, 'Is she really the Hyuuga clan's heiress? I wonder if her politeness is just pretense but her advances towards me are friendly… Am I the only one having a rivalry against her?'
Karin shook her head as she turned away from the watching the Hyuuga's retreating back. She felt she was reading too much of the girl and chose to ignore her thoughts about her. As Karin walked into her chamber she fell into her semi-hard futon on the floor sighing in boredom.
"Where is Sasuke… *Sigh* I'm bored…" Karin whispered more to herself.
'step… step… step… step…'
The man halted on his feet at the door to her bedroom. He wasn't feeling any nervous before, he was very friendly towards her and was even initiating the friendship with her. But just as Juugo had said, having feelings towards her would only ruin their plan. If it got out of hand, all the blame would be his. The Hozuki knew, but he couldn't forget the fact that he actually likes her. There was nothing that could stop him from thinking about her, worrying for her, watching her… and secretly admiring her. Despite the warning from Juugo, he decided to have feelings for her but he would keep it a secret.
'T… there's no need to worry… I am just checking on her… just to say good night, that's right… to say good night… phew… here goes nothing…' the man mentally encouraged himself as he paced front to back at Hinata's room.
'tok-'
When he placed his hand to know on her bedroom door, he was startled to see another small hand was present beside his own large ones. He was taken aback when he turned to look at the very girl that he wanted to approach standing right next to him with a surprised look on her face.
"Suigetsu-kun?" Hinata said his name in surprise not expecting his presence at the entrance to her chamber.
"A-… A… um, Hi- Hinata…" The Hozuki was taken aback by her as he saw her with his widened eyes; he didn't know what to say to her, all that he practiced to speak have been erased in just a second after he saw her face.
"What are you doing here? Were you waiting for me?" Hinata asked the man out of curiosity.
Gulping down the painful lump down his throat the man stuttered as he thought over on how to answer her without getting exposed, "A… Umm, I… No… I mean y-yes… Yes!"
Blinking at the weird behaviour of the young man about her own age she smiled at him, "Is there anything that I can do?"
Hinata noted the way Suigetsu was sweating in nervousness; he was nearly in his melting point, his body began to melt slowly as he stared at her yapping about something incoherently, "A… Um, Sasuke no, umm Karin oh… no, J-Juugo said t-"
He was cut by her worried exclamation alarmed by the way he was terribly sweating, "Oh goodness Suigetsu-kun, are you okay? You're sweating terribly, do you need any medicine? Or do you have a fever- here let me check!"
"N-no… I don't…" Before he could even deny anything she placed the back of her hand on his forehead checking his temperature, in that couple of minutes the Hozuki allowed himself to calm down.
Noting his temperature she said, "hmm? Your temperature is fine…"
"No its just that I was feeling a bit uneasy in here… I wanted to go outside, Hinata do you mind accompanying me?" the man asked her as he managed not to falter in his words.
She smiled at him warmly and nodded curtly, "Hai… I, couldn't fall asleep, I don't mind either Suigetsu-kun… waah!"
Hinata yelped in surprise as the Hozuki grabbed her hand pulling her after him "Great lets go!".
The lean-built white haired man and the indigo haired woman walked out from the lane turning right at the end, getting out of the house for some fresh air, they remained to be totally oblivious of being watched by something at the dark corner. Unknown to both of them, silently without making a sound it watched their little act over at the entrance to Hinata's room, secretly in the shadows.
To be continued...
A/N: Hello! hi everyone! Its finally February the lovey-dovey month of the year... i hope most of you out there would be planning to do something with your family, friends and beloveds...I wish all of you good luck on that and a very big, hearty ADVANCED HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO YOU ALL!
I love Naruto, but his not mine... sniff... sniff... what a cruel fate, so sad...
Reviews please! Reviews= Love ;p
