PART 5
For a while, Sasuke didn't see the blood lust in Hinata. They went out with friends more because they had no missions.
Hinata and Sasuke were training one day with their katana and taijutsu. Sasuke feinted to the right, and tried to deliver an upper cut to her left.
She flipped into the air like a graceful butterfly. She rested her foot on his held-out blade, and tried to spin kick. He pulled his katana away to block her.
The pale-eyed girl landed on her feet with soft thud. She charged at him with a ready palm. He grabbed her wrist, making her fall forward. She wrapped a foot around one of his legs to gain balance, but it made him fall.
He cat-rolled along the ground and turned to face her again. He threw his katana, which was a risky move. She deflected it, and ran forward. He jumped over her and recovered his sword swiftly.
When he faced her, she was in a strange position. She was in the position for the 64 strikes, but she had her blade in her upper hand point to the ground.
Hinata brought her blade in an upper cut, and white chakra lashed off the edge. Sasuke dodged it, and knew that she would catch him during the distraction.
He pulled his blade forward, and stopped it 2 centimeters from her neck. But he also felt a cold blade pressed flat against his neck.
It was a draw.
They heard clapping and jumped. Naruto and Sakura were watching in a tree.
"Wow! That was the most amazing swordsmanship I've ever seen! And you guys had a draw! Kami, that's incredible!" Naruto said laughingly.
Sakura said nothing. She had begun to dislike Hinata a lot, and would hardly say anything around her. Hinata, on the other hand, didn't care.
"Thank you, Naruto-kun." Hinata said politely and with a thin smile.
"Ne, why don't we train together?" Sakura suggested.
Sasuke and Hinata stiffened a little bit. They didn't like having other people become familiar with their fighting styles. But it made them even more uncomfortable with Sakura asking. She seemed to be keeping tabs on them.
Naruto cried out with a broad smile, "That's a great idea! You guys against Sakura and me! Come on!"
The raven-haired boy sighed. They'd have to hold back their true strengths. They couldn't trust Sakura with her recent behavior. "Alright."
Naruto and Sakura jumped off the tree and got into a stance holding two fists up. "We'll train with everything. Taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu." Sakura said.
Then the battle began. Hinata jumped back, and Sasuke pressed his hand against the earth and said smoothly, "Chidori Expanxion." Naruto and Sakura jumped away in time barely, for the lightning had numbed their feet.
While they were in the air, Hinata threw 2 kunai. They missed, but on purpose.
Hinata was in front of them and hit them in the chest with Jyuuken. But in their place were logs with explosion tags.
She kicked the logs away into bushes, where they exploded.
Sakura came up behind Hinata, and lunged at her with a fist. Hinata hid a smirk. She hasn't changed, she thought.
Hinata grabbed Sakura's wrist, and blocked the chakra there. She spun around and kicked Sakura in the stomach.
Sakura gasped as she flew back. Before she could recover, Hinata was behind her with her katana's flat side pressed against Sakura's chest.
Hinata whispered quietly, "I win." She removed her katana, and sheathed it. Sakura couldn't believe she had lost so easily. And it didn't seem like Hinata was giving everything she had. How strong is she?
Sasuke slammed a fast kick to Naruto's side. The blond boy jumped backwards, and five clones were beside him. Each threw a kunai with an explosion tag. Sasuke sent five fireballs at them causing a huge explosion.
Sasuke ran at the clones, and threw one arm in the air. From it, black lightning spread and crackled. "Raiton: Thousand Black Blades." It pierced each clone.
But Naruto was not among the clones. Instead, he came from behind with Rasengan. Sasuke pulled his sword up to protect himself, but it was a distraction. Naruto came to his left with a fist.
Sasuke pushed the one with the Rasengan into the one with the fist. The one with the fist disappeared with a poof, and Naruto sat hard on the ground. He launched a kick into the air, and Sasuke side-stepped it.
Suddenly, agony swept over Sasuke. It burned with searing pain. He willed it to go away, but the more he willed, the more painful it got.
Blood. He felt that if he saw blood, the pain would go away. He needed to see the blood. Feel it between his fingers.
He had begun to quicken his pace in fighting with Naruto, who was having a hard time keeping up. Kick to the left, punch to the bottom right, jab to the top.
"Sasuke…" Her voice seemed to have woken him up. Hinata…
He blinked. Naruto was on the ground, and Sasuke's katana was planted in the earth beside Naruto's head. Fear was in Naruto's eyes.
Sasuke took a deep breath to recover his senses. He swiftly pulled the katana out of the ground, and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.
"Whew, Sasuke, I thought you were really going to kill me." Naruto got back up on his feet and continued, "Let's go eat ramen! I promised to meet Shikamaru and Temari there! They're getting married two days after Neji's death day."
Sasuke glanced at Hinata who was at his side. She hid all expression, but there was a faint glimmer of worry as her eyes met Sasuke's. No, it wasn't worry. It was fear.
They were on halfway to Ichiraku's. Sakura and Naruto were talking loudly about things that Sasuke and Hinata didn't listen to. Sasuke and Hinata were silent, but the silence wasn't uncomfortable. They even seemed to be communicating through the silence.
Naruto suddenly threw an arm around Sasuke and yelled, "Teme! Hinata! You guys are strong, man! Why doesn't Tsunade let you guys become ANBU captains instead of just taking regular missions?"
Sasuke turned his head with a "hmph" and Hinata smiled sweetly. They knew that their past wasn't the only reason they couldn't become ANBU. Tsunade was hoping that they'd lose skill and strength by doing simple missions.
But they were a couple, and no matter how hard they trained, they could never beat each other. That was how strong they were.
Suddenly 7 men in black kimonos and white masks sprang in front of them.
"These guys again?! I'll beat the crap out of them!" Naruto said through gritted teeth.
"Uchiha Sasuke, Hinata. Our leader would like it if you would come along peacefully." A familiar voice sounded.
Confused looks were exchanged between Hinata and Sasuke. They placed a hand on their katana and were in a battle stance.
"Very well," the familiar voice said. He charged at Hinata who was surprised at the speed. She barely blocked a kick with her own leg, then spun around to deliver a slash. But he had grabbed her wrist, and leaned down with one arm down, the other in the air and feet spread wide.
"No…" Hinata whispered with wide eyes.
"Hakke Rokujyuu Yonshou!" She jumped far back away from his field of divination.
Meanwhile, the others were battling. More enemies were arriving, and there were too many. Sasuke glanced at Hinata and saw her opponent in a familiar stance.
How could that be?? He thought. Suddenly, the blood-longing feeling shot through him. He cut with delight through each person who charged at him. So many dead bodies laid at his feet, but they soon disintegrated.
He saw Hinata lunge with a Jyuuken hitting her enemy's shoulder, and cutting him in the leg with her katana. But her enemy was quick and nimble. She kicked him, sending him back.
But an air palm slammed into her, and she flew back too. Rage filled Sasuke, and he appeared before the man and slammed his fist into his mask.
The man stumbled back as the mask broke to pieces. Hinata was beside Sasuke immediately and together, they launched a combination attack.
"Katon: Hell's Cloak!!" Fire surrounded them like a storm, and the man stood firmly. His mask was off.
Hinata gasped, and Sasuke's eyes widened. It was Neji's face.