Simplicity is Complexity

by OpposingForce

Three years of absense can create a lot of gaps in friendships. Despite that, however, on his return he realizes someone still loves him deeply, and yet he can't seem to find the heart to love her. NaruHina.

17. Leaven of Revulsion

Simplicity is Complexity

Chapter 17: Leaven of Revulsion

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, or Guilty Gear, sadly to say. I want to own GG!

AN: Been sick for a several days now… and I am still feeling like crap, in a way. Naruto's techniques, yes, are all taken from Chipp Zanuff from Guilty Gear XX, so don't sue! I know they aren't my techniques! I don't have much to say… so just read on… Have fun, everyone!

(Naruto's home, the next morning)

Mornings always came too early for my liking. If they ever wanted to make peace with me, then come back at eleven. Waking up, altogether, was a challenge. Like I said, I woke up well to the smell of food; but I lived alone, and thus, I had no choice but to fend for myself. It wasn't all bad, since no one in the right mind ever disturbed me during the times where deep sleep was my hope, salvation, and best friend. Perhaps there were advantages at being single and isolated; there wasn't any other thing that required my attention other than myself, and my demon master, who had been arousing me all night with her talks and kisses.

Yesterday evening's sight nearly had Anthris receiving a heart attack. Not out of pain, but sheer delight. The moment I have done enough teasing, soaking Rika's panties to an extent where they could no longer hold any further wetness, her honey coated over her luscious thighs, I finally made a conscious decision to remove her underwear in the most slowest way possible, as though it was a deliberation to make her suffer. Anthris, full of emotions and lust, fainted after her eyes lay upon the treasure I was seeking. To a woman, surprisingly, Rika's womanhood was one of the most beautiful things on the face of existence. I agreed to that philosophy to a degree; Rika, most definitely, was a very gorgeous girl that I loved so very much.

I clutched my head this morning as I opened my eyes; obviously I barely had any sleep the night before despite I confronted with a promise of marvelous riches. Rather, I was so preoccupied that I couldn't tell myself to rest. The prior session was undoubtedly intense; I never saw Rika reaching that many orgasms and yet she insisted to continue in spite her evident fatigue. I was drained by then, but still I could not refuse that puppy look that contained no innocence of any kind. My room reeked of her after a good thirty minute worth of touching and licking, and the mattress we were on was almost rightfully hers if ownership was claimed with the amount of blood spilled; in this case it was, much to my disbelief, love juices. I had a great meal, and losing possession that simple very well compensated for my loss; it was such a fantastic dessert, indeed, a perfect meal for the damned.

I took a look over to my right and breathed in my first morning air. It smelled a lot like Rika, actually, because my bed was drenched of her honey a several hours ago. It was a whiff of heaven nonetheless, in which I cherished more than what my facial expression hinted. My eyes aimed down and smiled; there she was, Sawada Rika, naked under the blanket as she slept like a divine angel of absolute beauty where no one else could match. I knew she was exhausted, and I didn't have the heart to wake her up when I was the one responsible for this. That didn't mean that I shouldn't kiss her forehead just for the sake of making her sleep even more sweet than it already was. She smiled as I kissed her, in spite that she wasn't consciously aware of it. It didn't matter though, I didn't kiss her for recognition; I just wanted her to feel even better than she already was if I had the power to do so.

"Naruto…" I heard her moan, squeezing her pillow more affectionately than before as a delightful grin formed on her lips.

I stroked her hair delicately, as if she was going to wake up prematurely if I gave too much strength. "Sleep well, Rika," I whispered to no one in particular and got off my bed soundlessly after I kissed her on her forehead. I piled up her discarded clothes, but isolated her panties, and searched for the set of clothes I was going to wear today to hide the truth of my undead body. This body did have its flaws, yes, but in a way it was better than death, and yet dying once and for all didn't seem to be such a bad idea in the long run. It had been two years since that accident, and without Anthris' help I wouldn't even be standing here to philosophize about it. It reminded me of weakness, of my old self, and how wretched humanity truly was, and how it was a privilege to prove them otherwise when they wanted me dead for as long as they have.

It would give the villagers quite a heart attack if they realized the demon they despised so thoroughly was already dead, and yet he was still drawing air, smiling wickedly to see their dreams crushed and blown away by the winds.

Anthris gave it her best to create a body that was as precise as my living one, and I never blamed her once for her efforts. I couldn't, I simply couldn't. I guessed my conscience still lived despite my physical state didn't manage to survive. Not that it was an unfortunate blessing, but there were plenty of times that I wished no part of me lived, I desired none of this whether I deserved it or not. Someone with my negativity obviously had no heart to see through this optimistically, yet I always kept a smile. I actually enjoyed it. Deep down, I knew Anthris knew better than that. This undead body had considerable differences, but nothing worth ranting about just yet. Sure, it had its disadvantages; however, there were plenty of advantages that backed it up.

My joints were my main problem. No, it wasn't like they seared with pain as I walked or commenced any type of movement, or lacked the ability to flex them, no, but flesh just did not generate on it as well compared to other parts of my body. My left elbow was permanently wrapped in a bandage –thickly and tightly, mind you. It was not for the sake of a fashion, nor was I having any attempts to promote the newest fashion sense, for it was mandatory. If my goal was to fool everyone that I was still alive, I didn't think exposing a section where it was just a bone was advantageous on my part. Yes, the bandage's thickness was equivalent to my arm, and so by appearance it appeared that I was hiding an injury. To prevent further, unnecessary suspicion, I rarely wore short-sleeved shirts despite the weather conditions. Perhaps I could show off 'uniqueness' so to speak with my partial skeletal arm; and very soon a legion of greedy hunters would want my head as a souvenir just because the government quickly recognized me as a witch.

Secondly, my flesh was not at the most convincing colour. As Hinata told me earlier, when she took the time to observe my distinct difference from three years ago, I was definitely lifeless. Deterioration, yes, I was going through that crisis at the age of fifteen, but most humans usually faced that once they reached forty. Not me, no, I was special. From a pessimist's point of view, dying young was a fantastic privilege, in which I very much agree upon. My hair grew fainter each day, now nearly reaching platinum yellow shade. In that spirit, my eyes lost its usual shine, my skin begging for colour, my throat was hoarse and eventually lost the innocent tone I was able to summon up before, in which I blamed puberty on, and many other frailties. My humanity relinquished itself as soon as a new influence took its place, and in no time at all I was a walking dead, where he gave his best effort to look alive. From that point on, every time I went into a new town, I was immediately accused to be a foreigner when I was clearly speaking Japanese without much, if unrecognizable, accent. Aside from the peculiar deathly colours, no one could, unless they were intelligent, in which none of them were, identify the truth about me.

At long last, the undead body lacked power. I did not tire easily, which was good; however, as a shinobi, I couldn't afford any instant where I cannot pack a punch well. My curiosity over this matter did not do me much good; for I detested this weakness, in which could affect me for the rest of my life. I was a ninja, a shinobi from the proud Konoha of Fire Country, and now I was supposed to accept the fact that the once highly praised Uzumaki Naruto, who was known for his incredible amount of stamina and lack of wit, was no more than a frail loser who should be wasted on the next mission than be saved by his companions if trouble ever befallen unto him. Yes, very encouraging, indeed. Anthris, in my darkest times, tried to do whatever that was within her power to make me feel better. I praised her effort, but it didn't show much promise, I said, and now I was better off dead than continuing to draw air. My demon master was not discouraged yet; for this body was her own creation, and she did know what sort of new advantages there were hidden from these biased, hateful eyes.

The good side to it all was my increased agility, in which permitted me to use moves that I couldn't have ever used if I was alive. It was compensation than a blessing, but of course it was better than nothing at all. The extreme speed sliding dash, "Alpha Blade"; defensive anti-air slash, "Beta Blade"; imprisoning seal, "Gamma Blade"; the cunning evasion, "Tsuyoshi-Shiki Teni", which could warp me forward, backward, and upward; a charging flaming fist, "Resshou" or more known as "Suki"; a swiping flame kick, "Rokusai" or more known as "Miyachi"; and then a leaping slam sickle kick, "Senshu" and which I call it, "Banzai" to finish off the chain; and a trap of concealing dance of leaves, "Genrou Zan", which was a neckbreaker; all these techniques were in my command and ready to be used for any methods of devastation. The last man that challenged me unintelligently had his head sliced off after I performed 'Genrou Zan' on his neck, and needless to say, he is now resting in pieces forever. By the time I got used to this new speed, I guessed this undead body wasn't too bad after all.

I could not afford to take damage, yet I was good enough to evade. It was a fair deal.

Anthris also had a several overdrive attacks, which are awesomely powerful moves used solely for the purpose of any extermination. The secrets of these techniques could not be shared so openly, and rarely anyone survived if any of these made contact by the slightest bit.

Still, a question still roamed in the air I walked under; how did I die? That information could not be distributed to anyone, and therefore it was in my best interest to make up a fake story, in which everyone grudgingly accepted one way or another. I fell off a cliff… Yes, cliff… a big one… twenty stories… lots of rocks and trees… yes, that's right…

Putting that silly issue aside, I had to deal with a major problem. What could I make for breakfast this morning? Normally, I wouldn't have cared, but I had Rika to take care of. Rika, in my opinion, was not a picky eater. In spite of that, she didn't want to eat garbage –and there were plenty of those around in this century. For instance, cereal was a good candidate. I hated cereal with a passion. Back when Tsunade was still a child, she had cereal by the name of 'Sugar Pops'. When it was Iruka's turn to be a kid, he had the same cereal every morning as Tsunade but the name was now 'Corn Pops'. I remembered having 'Corn Pops' in my early childhood, yet no more when I saw the current name 'Pops' on the cereal box in the local store a month ago. My memorable childhood was washed down the drain.

They took away the sugar, and then they took away the corn. What the hell is left?

I quickly washed up, and headed out of my apartment for a mandatory visit to the supermarket, hoping to pick up some quality food than that instant noodle filth I indulged every goddamn day due to poverty and ignorance. Knowing Rika, she wouldn't be up for another hour or two.

I left silently, as though I was never in here to begin with.

(Later)

Curse whoever invented 'shopping' as a hobby. How the deuce could anyone seek pleasure walking around commercial facilities of any size and be pestered by those money-greed salespeople, as though they hounded your soul despite they have clear knowledge of your damned disgust? Have they got no shame, or were they simply stupid? These… shopping bags were a living hell. I despised holding them; it was like shaking hands with death. I could not put myself to understand how any normal person can be so energized in the morning; it was unbelievable, miracle of God's work even. In that spirit, I accused them to have Energizer batteries in their veins. It must have took a lot of energy to come up to me, talk about their product with a smile that told the crowd their cheeks were in pain due to over-stretching, and still smile after the audience did not give a fucking damn towards their efforts. But what amazed me more was how they could continue that level of zeal with one person after another; that was something worth praising. The undying persistence really reminded me of my old self before I told him to drop dead.

Still, I was agitated beyond repair. I just wanted to look for the right type of food fitting for a girl, and the outcome of my caring resulted in remarkable rage when all sorts of advertisers, from selling shoes to perfume to panties, practically came at once for an all out attack. This took place in a supermarket… supermarket, yes. I happened to be unarmed except for a few kunais, unfortunately, and those things rarely made threats since they were one of the most commonly seen objects in a shinobi-filled town. Suddenly, there was a distinct urge for me to kill all of them out of the blue, and a goddamned kunai just didn't do the job in the manner I intended. I liked attention, especially over matters that involved me having to killing someone innocent or guilty, but of course the more innocent the better.

Supermarkets were a poison, as I would put it, a corruption to the mind, since Jiraiya, like I mentioned, took this shopping trip to flirt with every attractive woman that passed by. It didn't matter if they were in their teens, young adult, or middle aged, because he was certain that none of them could possibly be any older than him. It brought me great shame to be walking beside him, and I grunted angrily to myself when I actually saw some mothers pulling their children away from me and giving them dire consequences if they wished to associate with me. I knew the parents didn't do it out of spite; well they did, of course, but definitely not out of the knowledge of Anthris' existence. Rather, the parents accused me to be like… Jiraiya… that jackass! I found no peace with most of the citizens once they found my connections with that toad sannin, and sadly to say, I couldn't bring myself to dislike them for it. Uritake, however, was a different issue; it was all because of Sawada Rika.

I looked down at my basket and sighed inwardly. I picked up some of the necessities so far, which included soy-milk, random meat, juice, vegetables etc, but the snack section was unpleasantly full of sample stations. I groaned at the sight. Sample stations were no different from those people who attacked me earlier. Sure, they gave me a treat or two, but in exchange my attention must not be given to anyone but them as they hopelessly elaborated on the goodness of their product. By then, it just looked purely bad if I didn't buy it after their efforts of explaining although I never wanted such a lecture, and thus, I should not have taking a piece of their sample to begin with. This world was twisted. Supermarkets, despite we never thought about it since many commoners came here for their necessities, were very much like a hellhole.

I met someone I wasn't expecting to meet.

"N-N-Naruto-kun," Hinata greeted, surprised and delighted to see me on such a bright morning. "Good morning, it's such a pleasure to see you."

This was awkward indeed. Yes, this was unexpected, and dare I say it was a pleasure to see her as well. "Good morning to you, too, Hinata," I said, observing her for the first time today. Her attire was casual, yet it gave a sense of individuality and confidence. Her clothes included a black bottom that reached to her ankles, white short sleeved top that outlined her cleavage and bust, but with another small sized blue vest that reached only her navels, light blue silk scarf used as a belt as if it had hinted sensuality, and equipped usual shinobi weapon attire as a final touch. What surprised me was her backpack. Why was she carrying one to a place like this? Her taste was nothing special, really, yet I respected her choice. Then again, there wasn't anything I could do to alter her decision making. "Ano… what brings you here at a time like this?"

She laughed breezily, "I am here frequently enough. You are the one that I wasn't expecting to see."

"I live here now, and so I guess there is a first time for everything,"

"Were you okay yesterday?"

"What do you mean?"

"You and Rika-chan left so suddenly,"

"Rika-chan?"

"Your friend, Naruto-kun,"

"I know who you meant. But Rika… chan? What's with the affectionate touch?"

"You don't like me calling her Rika-chan?"

"It's not that," I said, feeling a little dumb, "If it makes you comfortable, then go on ahead. I think Rika likes to it when people call her with a 'chan' anyway. She always smiles better after that. And for your question about yesterday… I am okay, yes. Sorry for leaving so suddenly, but it was, well, it was…"

To my shock, Hinata placed a finger on my lips, silently signaling that there was no need for me to talk any further, as if she found talking cheap, or perhaps she completely understood my situations. "I understand," said the Hyuuga princess, smiling in a considerate manner, "Rika-chan must be a very dear friend to you."

I was at a loss of words. Guilt started to sink in, again, "Hinata…"

Without my permission, there was no need for it anyway; the Hyuuga hime placed all her merchandise into my nearly empty shopping basket, therefore fusing into one. I blinked at her, and all she did in response was smile back cheekily with a touch of innocence.

"Let's shop together, ne?" I couldn't defy her if she put on that face. In addition to my current dilemma, she snaked her arms between mine, as though she was taking her rightful claims. However, her sweetness concealed the truth of her domination, in which could fool the lamest, gullible ducks if she was doing this for show. I knew better, and Hinata was too passionate towards me to be making an act out of it.

I didn't respond for a second and Hinata leered at me as she moved her head closer, trying to see if I was okay. Still, she had to use the cuddliest face she could summon, in which was already more than what I could handle. Wide eyes, round blushing cheeks, she had all the qualities to make any guy melt –somehow, I strongly believed that she was doing it knowingly, too. "Hinata…"

"Mmmm?" she murmured pleasantly as she leaned her head on my shoulders before resting comfortably.

"You got to stop doing that,"

"Doing what?" questioned the Hyuuga girl, blinking cutely before cuddling even more intimately.

"Come on, people are staring. We are in a supermarket, remember?"

"Oh, let them stare. It's not like we don't like each other," To elaborate on her point, she kissed me sweetly on the cheek, and gradually moving on to my lips to see if I was going to offer any resistance. And as soon as I showed none, the Hyuuga-hime merely continued her little soothing treatment by slipping her tongue into my mouth. She dropped her (now empty) basket, snaked her arms around my neck, tiptoeing so she could reach my height although I was still an inch taller, and now we were clearly making out in public. Not that I detested it, but people were starting to give certain looks as they passed by, accusing us as adolescents who did not know when to show affection to another. In other words, we fell into the category of stereotypes.

We pulled back, reluctantly, but I struggled free. Hinata licked her lips, satisfied that she kissed me where as I was dealing with too much anxiety that I didn't know what to expect. I kept it well hidden, though, and as luck would have it, Hinata didn't suspect a thing. Shoppers were still looking, so to speak, with queerness and disgust. No doubt I didn't want to stay here any longer, but at the same time, this silence between the two of us was awfully painful. Hinata, however, did not feel the same way. She was at a blissful heaven, smiling delightfully as a blush crept on her wonderful cheeks.

Before anyone else, besides me, laid eyes on her flushed up state, she quickly buried her head in my chest, in which was something she probably picked up from Hanabi –or the other way around. The Hyuuga sisters loved doing that sort of thing, and surprisingly, it didn't bother me one bit.

"Hinata, oi, we shouldn't stand here, you know," I said, trying to catch her attention when her grip on me increased slightly.

"You're so warm," she wisely avoided the subject.

If she was going to change the topics, then two could play at this game. "I really need to get going," I told her, "Rika might be awake already, and I still need to fix her breakfast."

She removed her head away from my body, but that didn't mean she allowed me to be free. "Oh, she is still at your place? I thought she went looking around while you came here to get food."

"Rika wouldn't do that," I said, "She likes food with a passion. Cooking is something that she truly loves after all, and she would rather come with me than satisfy her other… well, what's that word I am looking for… interests for typical girls, so to speak, like, you know, what Sakura and Ino were interested in back in the old days."

"Can I ask you a favour?"

Seeing how there was no harm done, I didn't see it as a problem. "Ask ahead," I replied with the most generic answer.

"May I come over for breakfast, too? Or perhaps you can come over to my place with Rika-chan, which would be fine, too."

I wasn't expecting something like this. A generous offer, indeed, but with what motive behind it? Sincerity overrode her usual cunningness and deceit. No, that was harsh. Hinata never tricked anyone, perhaps the right word for her was sensual, she preferred to tease me with the impression of there-it-is-and-you-can't-get-it. This time, unlike the other situations I dealt with in the past, she truly wanted to belong, to unite, to befriend. I noticed the slight change, and thus, I didn't have the heart to reject. I kissed her on the cheek again, wondering why I did that so impulsively, and yet it made me feel better, if not a whole lot. Out of curiosity, I kissed her once more. My affection was too much for the Hyuuga girl, or so it seemed, and with her feelings at the level of true love, there was no way that my action could go unnoticed and un-rewarded. With that in mind, Hinata passionately took my lips with hers and kissed it tenderly, as if she wanted to leave me something to remember her by.

We were back at square one.

Absolutely fantastic, in the aspect of we weren't getting anywhere in our conversation.

Again, we broke apart hesitantly, and Hinata was the one displaying more reluctance, as though she wanted so much more within so little time. She still clung onto me, not ever wanting to let go regardless of the circumstances. "Hinata," I called her name kindly.

"Yes?" she asked sweetly, almost giggling.

"Ano… Ano… I… I…"

"You what?"

"Should we get going? I think I am done my shopping here…"
"How about some snacks? I would love to buy some and share it with you and Rika-chan."

"You are quite a sweet tooth," I commented, taking this chance to touch her cheek by poking it. She blushed delightfully, knowing when, and how, to appreciate affection.

"Not as sweet as you," she complimented back, smiling with charm and grace. "Come on, let's get some snacks together." Hinata pulled me towards that section, in which was populated with those… advertising… people. "I am sure you will love them all."

"But…"

"What's wrong?"

"Perhaps we could buy them at another time, Hinata?"

"But Hanabi-chan asked me to buy it for her, and moreover, Father told me that there would be a lot more guests coming over for the next week or so, and you do know that it does look rude not to have any food, so to speak, as a host. I did promise to help Father, and it is not good to go back empty handed, unless I have a legitimate reason."

"You kind of do,"

"And what could that be?"

I pointed straight ahead as a guide before I briefly explained my philosophy. She agreed with me completely, or relatively completely, but her positive nature did not cause her thinking to be as twisted as my own. "See, I am still horrified at whatever happened to me before I met you here, and I think my points proved themselves to be correct."

"I don't think there should be anything to be afraid of,"

"Walk in this store in my shoes and feel my pain then. I don't know how women think sometimes. Why would they come up to me and think that I would have interest in buying panties? I am a guy for crying out loud. That is just plain weird, and almost an insult to my gender. To make myself feel better, I accused them to be idiots at birth, who, sadly to say, still could not differentiate the difference between a male and female."

"Don't think like that, Naruto-kun," Hinata comforted me as she gave me another kiss on the cheek, "I think their intuitions played a large role in their actions. If you want my opinion, I believe that they knew you had someone special in your private life."

"Aren't you overestimating them?"

"I have faith in our, let's say, brethren,"

"You make it sound like you want me to buy you panties,"

"I wouldn't mind," she admitted, blushing cutely. "I like anything that you give me… So, are you going to buy some snacks with me or not?"

I sighed inwardly for the hundredth time. Looking at Hinata, for which was unnecessary but I couldn't keep myself away, I failed to summon up the strength to disagree with her. For a fact, it would look mean if I didn't go with her, and yet my heart wasn't there to keep myself motivated. Despite Hinata's optimistic nature towards the whole ordeal, I still had a hard time accepting them as if they were the simplest things in the world such as 1 plus 1 equaled 2.

"Fine," I agreed at long last, "But who is going to pay for all these-" I believed Hinata and I both knew the answer to that. "Me, right?" She nodded happily to see me obey, and without any further lack of haste, Hinata took my hand and led me directly to my dreaded death.

(40 long minutes later, in the trade district of Konoha)

Amongst all the social activities I had to face over the course of my lifetime, nothing was more agitating than shopping. Not only did it cause my blood pressure to rise incredibly within minutes; it nearly got me to attend anger management classes if I exposed any of my rage in an obvious manner. Come to think of it, visiting my doctor did not seem to be a terrible idea after all. Anyhow, I expected only two shopping bags in the end, but the numbers appeared to have a liking to multiply themselves, and thus, it wasn't much of a surprise when I exited the supermarket with a grand total of nine. Just for the sake of playing the gentleman role, I took the initiative to carry six, and Hinata took responsibility for her own snacks. I was about to complain about the amount she bought, but as long as it made her happy, I was happy, too.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," Hinata said gratefully and kissed me again on the cheek.

"Don't mention it," I said, grinning forcefully as though I was smiling under the influence of painkillers and steroids, and other related drugs.

"No, I really mean it… now I owe you two favours…"

"You don't owe me anything, Hinata,"

Then her attention shifted into her backpack. "Naruto-kun, do you know what I might have in my bag?"

Now I remembered my previous curiosity –now that she mentioned it. "Ah, right, I almost forgot. Hinata, are you going anywhere?"

"Atashi? (Me)"

"Why, you are carrying that backpack,"

"Don't let it fool you," she said, grinning sensually, "I am not going anywhere."

"Then what is in the bag?"

"I found some vanadium ores at a stand at the flea market," answered Hinata, removing her pack of her back as she gently placed it on the ground and opened it. Inside contained a rich, healthy supply of vanadium, and at its best quality, too. The entire bag, to my disbelief, was dedicated to the element alone. "I wanted to save you the trouble of looking for it yourself."

"You did save me the trouble, yes, however… you can say that you made my interest in searching through this town short lived."

"How so?"

"I have less of a reason to familiarize with this place now," I replied, laughing lightly at the humour of my little dilemma, or the irony of it, "You can say I have less to worry about because someone else is going to do those things for me."

"I did it out of good nature, geez," she argued, taking this time to inspect the alloy and trying to understand what made this rock so magnificent. To a simple person like Hinata, it was not possible for her to find the same delight I did; at least not when she didn't know how to make weapons and armour out of it. I wonder if it was a trademark for a nobility, but whatever associated with a noble person always had perfect results. For instance, the meals they had; absolutely gorgeous to the highest degree. Even their battle tactics were full of grace and beauty; it was stunning; for it showed perfection from any angle. These vanadium ores Hinata had brought me, I had to say they were definitely first class although she might not have realized it. In fact, they were better than the other ones I found from before. Before I knew it, I was examining them with interest. "Will these do?"

"These will do just fine, Hinata," She caught how amazed I truly was despite my dedication to remain as passive as possible. Hinata, of course, was glad. "I shall have your weapons forged in a week or two."

"There is no need for you to hurry," she told me with consideration and genuine understanding.

"I don't mind at all,"

"You haven't changed,"

"What?" I asked, taken aback by her randomness.

"You are still so kind to me," she said, lovingly.

"You flatter me so,"

She blushed in a very delectable sense, in which warmed my heart in more ways than one. "I still love you, Naruto-kun,"

"I know, Hinata, I know," I told her, welcoming her to remain in my arms for as long as she wished. And she claimed it like it was a deserving reward, thus, she held me tightly. Did she know that we were still on a public street? Like in the supermarket, the bystanders and other folks gave us their queer stares. Some signaled us to stop and find a room, and others encouraged our actions and hoped for Hinata to have some of her clothes removed just in case our emotions got high. Perverts… why didn't they find themselves a girlfriend? "Hey, come on, Hinata, I am losing feeling in my arms… and people are staring…"

"Didn't I tell you that I don't care?" she questioned, resting her head on my shoulder blade. "I don't care at all. I love you."

"Yes, I know, but…"

She became curious. "But what?"

I decided to switch our topic for the better. "What's our plan then? Do I come over or do you come over?"

"What would be more of a convenience then? For you, I mean."

"Rika is still back at my place, and you got all this vanadium ores for me, too… I got an idea. How about you take the food that you bought back to your place, and I will take your backpack and my food back to my apartment before I bring Rika over. I forgot to set the alarm clock for her this morning, and if I know Rika, she is still deep asleep. I'll bring her to your place, if it is not too much trouble."

"More the merrier," chimed Hinata happily, "Father always likes guests our age to come. For what reason, I don't know. But I have heard him say something about bringing 'life', in a way, back to our home. I think our household has too many old nincompoops and boring individuals that shaking hands with death is actually an excitement worth being anxious of despite its dangerousness."

Nice metaphor she got there; not that I complimented her out loud though. Personally, I found it absolutely wonderful for my ears, but was it morally right to praise her when she just insulted her elders? Due to ignorance, I chose to be silent.

"That's great…" I dumbly replied.

She then gave me her pack and snatched her goodies out of my hands, as though she was afraid that I was going to steal it from her. I wondered if she had any craving for chocolate. It wouldn't be a surprise if she did, since she was so insisting to go through that snack isle of death and misery just less than an hour ago. "Looks like we have a plan. I'll see you in a bit then?"

"That's fine with me. Am I missing anything?"

"Would it be too troublesome if you sparred with me then?" she reminded, in which I nearly forgot that I promised her that favour yesterday. If she said nothing, then I might have banished it away forever, in which perhaps that was what I might have done in the end. Luckily, in a way, her reminder did save me some face. Now I wouldn't have a need to look like a forgetful idiot in front of her, and I thanked God for that to the most passionate extent my conscience allowed me to, in which was limited. I was more agitated at myself than anything else.

"No, of course not," I said, "It would be a pleasure."

In reality, I just wanted to get it over with so she wouldn't be able to stack up more favours later on. Women always had their way to play with guilt, and Hinata would certainly raise the stakes if I failed to meet one of my promises. Let us pretend that I broke my promise for a spar. Sure, knowing Hinata, she would forgive me, but then she would ask for another task, in which required more dedication, time, and difficulty to achieve. Despite how much my will didn't want to accept it, Hinata could just use my past failure as a pressure, saying that the fault's my own. That scarred my confidence, my self-esteem, and only increased disappointment and disrespect from Hinata, in which I had no desire of. I placed myself in a horrible spot, and there was no one to blame but my own weakness.

The Hyuuga hime smiled delightfully at my answer. "Thank you so much, Naruto-kun,"

"Allow me to ask you one question though, Hinata,"

"What's that?" she inquiringly asked in a kind, smooth tone, almost humming a melody.

"Why do you want to duel with me? What's your purpose? There are plenty of stronger people that you know of, Hinata, you shouldn't have a reason to fight with a weakling like myself; unless you have an urge to feel superior to those who are weaker than you, but I know you are not that type of person to do something that low. So tell me, what motivated you?"

Again, she smiled, as if it was the most suitable thing to do in a situation like this. Smiling relieved tension and brought poor atmospheres into delightful ones, not answer questions. Yet Hinata did it so gracefully that no one could possibly complain, since her happiness was contagious. "I am curious, that's all."

"Curious?"

"Tenten-nee-chan told me something rather interesting," she told me, knowingly, "You barely put up a fight last time you two fought. She is surprised, not in a good sense, mind you. You have been gone for three years, and yet you got pummeled to the ground badly… it's not very reassuring to hear, if you want my opinion."

"Perhaps all of you went through immense training, and therefore Tenten did not manage to notice my developments. Then again, it wasn't like I learned a lot despite my absence. Maybe I am a weakling, who knows? With that in mind, why do you insist in having this spar when the odds are, much to my discomfort, to your favour?"

"Because I don't believe it,"

"What do you mean?"

"That you are weak. I want to see it for myself with these two eyes that you aren't weak like Tenten-nee-chan said you were. Naruto-kun was not weak when I first met him, and surely you aren't now." Hinata spoke with utmost confidence in me. This woman was too optimistic. No, she had too much faith in me altogether made me sick. I was a mere human, an undead human… no, an undead half-demon, whatever! Bottom line was that I was light years away from being perfect, from being the ideal person that I wanted to be. This praise, this flattery could never do me any good, and I knew it better than anyone. Besides, there was no point in pretending to be something that I am not when the facts proved otherwise. However, in spite the harshness of my origin and reality, I was going to give my best shot.

"Thanks," I merely said, feeling better after her encouraging words. Then, I tried putting her heavy backpack on my back before wincing at the weight. How did Hinata manage to carry this without flinching once? "I'll bring Rika to your place as soon as I can."

We exchanged a kiss, out of impulse, as we bid our farewells. Hinata giggled with delight as she turned around, where as I was cursing and scolding myself for doing something so recklessly. If I was going to put so much difficulty on myself, perhaps I should recall the moment when I suddenly kissed her multiple times in the supermarket where I had no specific motives or intentions to be affectionate. Feeling farfetched, I banished all my troubles building in my mind and cleared my head –not without some major difficulty. Thinking couldn't do me any good at this rate, and besides, I still had Rika in bed, who did not know when to wake up even if a legion of alarm clocks rung in her ears.

After a year of not seeing her, I actually forgot what method it took to wake her up. I awaited the dread back at my home, and I wasn't trying to be pleasant about it either.

(Moments Later)

Not wanting to waste another second, I discarded Hinata's backpack onto the couch and ran to the kitchen and threw everything I bought earlier inside the refrigerator. The machine looked like it was going to burst. I didn't give a damn if I didn't put it in properly; the damn fridge just had to hold. Too bad, so sad. For my next obstacle, it was mandatory for me to re-enter my bedroom and wake up the naked Rika, who was still deep asleep.

I grunted with annoyance to see my predictions a reality. Rika was still in the same position she was in an hour and a half ago, if not more passionate. This was going to be hard, but with any luck it could be easy as well. It would be easy if I was fortunate though, and I wasn't going to start making any promises that I couldn't keep. In that spirit, I expected utmost difficulty.

I moved over to the bed. "Rika," I called as I shook her with the blanket still on. "It's time to wake up."

No response –as expected.

"Mmmmmmm…" she murmured soundly and happily as she continued to sleep. "Rika… wants sleep…"

She was referring herself in third-person… this was not a good sign…

"No, you don't," I urged on with persistence, "You want to wake up and you want to have breakfast." I didn't know why I was bothering with her sleep talks. It wasn't like she heard me or knew what I was saying. In spite of that, I played along for the sake of it. To a surprising extent, this was somewhat entertaining –provided if I was tremendously bored where urgent attention was required.

"Pillow is soft…"

"Yes, I know it's soft,"

The girl only held it tighter to her bosom, which was behind the blanket. The smile crept wider, meaning her sleep was going deeper, in which was not favourable for me by the slightest bit. My obscurity, in a way, was starting rise, and it was heading in the wrong direction. "Rika likes pillows that are soft…"

I quickly snatched the pillow away from her grasp, and she had the saddest face a sleeping person could form, in which was adorable and amusing. No, it was not a time for such nonsense. Hinata was waiting for the two of us at her place and I didn't want to be any later than I already was. I crossed my fingers, prayed in advance that Rika would forgive my next actions, and took a deep breath.

"Rika! Wake up!" I shouted declarative, commanding voice, in which shocked the sleeping beauty to her senses. She jolted straight up, taking her blanket across her chest so she wouldn't reveal any flesh in an act of impulse, watching me in disbelief and shock. Although that seemed to do the trick, Rika's mind was still wandering all over the place. However, I knew she was awake, to the least, and that was how I liked it.

"Wha…" she dumbly whispered, rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes. The prior loudness seemed to have little effect, if any. "What's going on…"

"It's morning, gorgeous," I complimented despite my frustration, which I hid fairly well from her. Then again, she wasn't alert enough to notice anyway. "Rise and shine."

"Good… m-morning…"

"Yes, instead of good morning, how about you hurry yourself and get dressed? Isn't that a better idea?"

"For what… I am still… tired…" Just when she was about to collapse again, I quickly rushed to her side and prevented her from falling by putting my hand on her bare back. She was so soft, indeed. I couldn't get sick of feeling her body; I just couldn't no matter how often I relentlessly punish myself by self-verbal-abuse. Of course that wouldn't work, not when I had great interest in rebuking words or any negative words in general. I had a disturbing hobby in knowing literature, and I knew a variety of insults, but unfortunately I did have possession of the full set just yet. I was a sadist, in a way, and I couldn't say that I was necessarily proud of being one, but seeking out entertainment out of someone else's misery was a satisfaction that, well, satisfied me. Better yet, it was even more delightful when the pain, that I caused, came from the insults that I learned. In my opinion, it was killing two birds with one stone, and it was an opportunity that I shouldn't ignore if the time was just right.

I took Rika's backpack to my side, which was previous next to my drawers, and dumped out all the clothing she packed onto my bed. From my estimation, she had at least a week's worth of clothing, and therefore choosing an outfit, in theory, should not pose as a problem. That was, however, if she was going to wake up. I was under no illusion that she was going to pay attention any time soon, and my disbelief only grew when I proved myself correct. "Rika," I said, forcing her to concentrate on her clothes when her eyelids were half-opened. It was a miracle that I was still sane. "Just pick what you want to wear today and go to the bathroom to change and wash up. Once you are done, meet me at the front door and we'll go to Hinata's place."

Hearing my instruction, or at least pretended that she heard it, Rika nodded with a weak moan. In her naked state, she stumbled out of my bed tiredly, with her clean clothes and undergarments, and made her way to the bathroom, which was in the hall, but not without taking a several bumps to the head when she mistook the wall as the exit. Instead of snapping her to her senses, the collisions seemed to have done more harm than good. I kissed her on the cheek as encouragement before she went inside the bathroom safely, and once she locked the door, probably due to habits, she was finally on her own. I sighed, inwardly, knowing this was going to be one hell of a long morning.

Perhaps this was the best time to catch up on my reading –provided that Rika didn't accidentally commit any self-inflicting moves in the bathroom, in which was virtually safe from all four corners aside from the toilet, counter, dental floss, plunger, bathtub… Forget what I said… Washrooms were, in many ways, a hell.

(Later at the Hyuuga Estate)

By the time Rika was done changing, which was similar to eternity, I guessed Hinata was already waiting sick. Then again, I didn't look at my watch or any other clock I had in this apartment, but I did have a pretty good sense of how much time we wasted already. I sure learned my lesson the hard way; in order to wake up a sleeping Rika, an alarm clock was essential for this operation to be a success. It couldn't be just any ordinary, cheap, fragile, quiet clocks; for persistence was also a key factor. Therefore, perhaps a digital clock could suit my purpose thoroughly, and most importantly, satisfactorily. I didn't crave for another instance such as this.

Knowing that I was terribly late (and I didn't know how critical Hinata was on punctuality) I had no choice but to piggyback the dozing Rika and use the most effective, quickest way possible to travel. In other words, 'Tsuyoshi-Shiki Teni' became my best friend candidate for the day. This was the most chakra consumption I had used in a long while, and in addition to my pain, Tsuyoshi-Shiki Teni drained a horrific deal of chakra if used in long distance warps, since it was initially planned for cunning escapes in battle. Knowing what sort of possible wrath I would face if I was any later than I was, a choice wasn't opened as freely as I wished, and therefore the quickest way, in which might not have been the safest method, had to be used.

I fell on my knees once I reached my destination, panting heavily and hoarsely when I felt my chakra not regenerating at all due to extreme tiredness. My hunger, since I ate nothing but drank water this morning, only added on to the problem. Rika was still sleeping on my back, and of course she was totally oblivious of my torment. At the same time, I didn't realize that I warped four feet away from Hinata; she was, actually, trying to set up the table in their gorgeous central courtyard, but my unexpected entry seemed to have stopped her momentarily. The Hyuuga girl stared at me with wide eyes, wondering how in blast hell I just appeared out of nowhere. If I arrived a second earlier, all the food she was carrying would have took flight itself before good friend gravity pulled them back to the ground, thus ending with a huge waste. In all honesty, Hinata did jump back in shock, but I was too fatigued to have seen that.

"Kuso…" I cursed, coughing for the sake of feeling better and not out of necessity.

Hinata, after a few seconds of observing, decided to step in. She always grew nervous when someone showed vivid agitation, and seeing me curse and swear was never a delightful sign. In the end, she still chose to speak. "Ano… A-Ano… Naruto-kun,"

I easily recognized that voice, and quickly looked up despite the pain that was starting to grow in my shoulders. I lied. It weren't just my shoulders; for my entire body seemed to ache due to my improper landing. Nothing serious though, luckily, but fate told me that I shouldn't be depending on luck as if I was the luckiest person in the world. I, for one, knew misfortune followed me like a bothersome ghost wherever I went, as though I had wronged it during the days the spirit was still alive in the flesh.

"Hinata…" I whimpered, taking much effort to stand up again with Rika still resting comfortably, "Hello…"

Kind natured did match her perfectly when she rushed to my assistance without a second thought. I was about to fall again, but she made in time and did her best to support me, and my sleeping passenger. "Naruto-kun, are you okay?" she asked out of sincere concern.

"Yeah," I replied, taking a breath a little easier when I noticed my chakra was finally regenerating a better pace. "I'll be fine… I think I just used too much chakra… It'll be fine… I swear on it…"

Hinata, however, was not so convinced. In spite my confidence; there was no way she thought of it as such when I practically gasped for air before each word came out of my mouth. For a brief moment there, Hinata was persuaded that I took some crack before my arrival. Of course, she discarded that fact when I didn't look high, but not like she really knew how I looked like after inhaling it, and yet she fairly curious about the cause of my tiredness. I promised her that it wasn't drugs, however, my body failed to react accordingly. I was, in more ways than one, a mess.

"Why is Rika-chan still sleeping?"

"She's a deep sleeper," I commented, putting her down onto the grass before I cracked my whole undead body mercilessly to loosen the joints and stiffness. Again, Hinata responded with wide-open eyes; she had never seen anyone able to do crack this many joints at once and with a volume that disturbing. I should have been screaming with torment, screeching for help, shouting in desperate panic, and yet all I did was stand there as if nothing happened at all. "I am sure she would get up soon, but still, I want to figure out a solution to wake her up."

Hinata, in return, just smiled warmly. "I think I got just the thing," she told me intelligently with a touch of unspeakable, understated confidence. That caught my attention. Swiftly and gracefully, Hinata took one plate of freshly made eggs, bacon, toast, and croissant, and with a cup of sweet milk tea of the table before placing it gently next to Rika's head. As the Hyuuga girl unintentionally brushed the serving across me, I grinned when I picked up the delicious aroma that filled the air most fleetingly. A whiff of heaven, so to speak, and my heart flooded with jealousy when I saw Rika was breathing in a better air than I was despite that she was unconscious. Needless to say, Hinata's cooking was absolutely stunning, strikingly magnificent and she was not even a professional. Remarkable talents, indeed, and she didn't seem to be wasting an ounce of them, too.

"What are you planning…" I half-asked, dryly.

"You'll see," she chirped back.

"Rika is a not a hamster, you know,"

"You know, Naruto-kun, everyone has a hamster in themselves,"

"What?"

"You'll see what I mean soon enough,"

Was Hinata saying that everyone would wake up to the smell of food? That… couldn't be…

Rika's nose twinkled, trying to pick up the source of the aroma with her eyes still closed. This sparked great curiosity. She wanted to know what could be generating such a pleasing smell, and yet in order to do so she must open her eyes. That was where a dilemma started. Sleep, in which she yearned for, or the smell, which she loved as each passing second went by. Although Hinata and I failed to see it despite our advanced eyesight, Rika's mind was engaging a rather too fierce battle, in which I would have gladly taken part in provided if this was reality. We saw her struggling to wake up, as though her sleepiness was demanding rest, and yet her curious side relentlessly urged on, telling her to sit up and indulge the satisfying goodness. Hinata and I looked at another for brief second; neither of us had seen such a 'crisis', so to speak, at this scale before. If Rika could potentially destroy her conscience and mind with a simple problem of waking up, then how the hell could she deal with the other situations, in which contained a significant amount of devastation as a side-dish, later on in life. Then again, Rika was a simple girl, and she took the greatest pleasures in the simplest things.

"It doesn't seem to be working," I whispered to the Hyuuga princess silently, "Good try though."

Hinata, however, was not discouraged. She must have picked up a touch of undying persistence from the old me, in which I told him to drop dead ever since I obtained this undead body.

"Just wait a little longer," said Hinata, grinning proudly as the aroma continued to do its damage, "It's not over until it's over."

"If bad comes to worse we could just shake her up, right?"

"That's very unkind to a lady," she retorted, shaking a finger from left to right repeated to strengthen her point, "Your words certainly lack some gentleness, ne?"

"I have been too gentle to her, if you want my say,"

"Too gentle? Oh, Naruto-kun, there is no such thing. I love it when you are gentle with me,"

"That's because you love me, Miss Hyuuga Hinata,"

She blushed up cutely before timidly turning away by a little to reinforce her endearing features, in a way. Silently coughing, I tried to avert my gaze on her, since it was having a considerable effect despite my face remained unchanged. "That, too…" she twirled her fingers as she said that, "I just love it when you are so sweet,"

"That's…" I couldn't put my thought into words. "… Great…"

Hinata pointed a finger at me, as though she proved a philosophy valid. "See, that wasn't gentle."

"What?" I argued back in disbelief, "What the hell do you want me to say then? You can't expect me to start going, 'Oh, I love that, too, let me do it more often,' or 'I just love you, Hinata,' It doesn't work, it's not me."

"You would have said that before you left though…" Hinata said disappointedly, as though something pierced her heart.

"What?" I questioned, unfeelingly.

"I mean… that would be something that you would have said… Why did you have to change? I want the old Naruto-kun back… I love this one, too, but… he keeps so many secrets…"

My awareness kicked in at the nick of time, in which I was grateful, but still I could have used it a little earlier. Now it was a good time to tread with caution, if I valued my deepest insights and secrets that was. "Change is good," I said back, patting her shoulder helpfully in an emotional sense, "It takes things to another perspective than to be trapped in one where you see things in only one angle. Besides, I am still me, technically,"

"Technically?"

Shimata… she was catching on…

"I don't think that there is anything for you to be concerned about, Hinata," I continued, running my hand through my lifeless blond hair once for the sake of doing something. In other words, meaningless actions that did little to gain reassurance. "I've grown up, that's part of life. Instead of liking ramen, now I like you a lot better. Instead of caring about how to improve my practical jokes on the foolish, like Sasuke, I'd very much rather try to understand you. I just learned to set my priorities straight, and of course, I also need a different attitude to see things in the correct path." I played my charming role swiftly and unnoticeably, and Hinata gasped lightly when I stepped forward with a smile that could tame any girl that liked mysterious, unpredictable, charming guys. Hinata was not vain, but due to the fact that she was deeply in love with me, she fell for everything that showed care and affection. How lovely it was to have that stain of pink appearing on her cheeks again.

"Naruto-kun…" she whimpered pleasantly, but quieted herself down when she started to moan as I pulled her in by the waist and kissed her cheek. "We are out in the open… anyone could see us if they come out…" That didn't do a thing to stop me from my advances.

"What happened to the Hinata-sama that didn't give a damn about anybody else's opinions an hour ago?" I inquired teasingly as I watched her beautiful visage with precision and deep interest. I poked her left cheek, and I grinned slyly when her shade of pink grew clearer, as though it could be easily manipulated with my touch. She fought back another groan, but of course it could not last long once she knew I was giving her all the attention she had desired; if not more. She was so warm, I barely had any control over my actions as my eyes turned lustfully red, eating her up like a wolf. Oblivious to my sudden 'metamorphosis', so to speak, I was sure that Hinata found me absolutely irresistible; for no one in this town could outmatch my cunningness, darkness, and miraculous ability to conceal and reveal my deliciously unbelievable facades. Her moans were as delightful as she was brilliant.

"Naruto-kun… please…" she insisted, but her voice packed no relevance to her objection. Simply put, she was demanding something which she wanted none of; and that, my friends, was for me to stop. How she detested herself for asking me to halt this heavenly treatment; she yearned for it for the longest time, and then she had it, but she dared for it to stop! "My family members will see us… my family…"

So that was it. She had concerns and frailties if her family was involved. Couldn't be helped, I guess, it was always hard for the child to explain to their parents about their feelings towards someone when the parents might not appreciate the friend. The same went for defending; it was no easy task. For someone who had no family, I only had a very limited understanding about the authorities a parent could use to influence their child. Judging from the expression Hinata gave me, I had a strong feeling her self-consciousness still applied when she encountered with Hiashi, or any other family members in the household. Then again, perhaps she wasn't 'entangled' in the same manner I elaborated on, I was always too negative after all. At the same time, I shouldn't be assuming so much when I never saw Hinata's family face, in which her father and closest relatives and maids always dealt with and not an outsider.

Quickly realizing her situation, I did as I was told and commanded my feint lust to flee. Hinata was grateful, yes, in spite of that she was somewhat saddened at her wish coming true. It didn't take a genius to understand her unwillingness to stop; that pout of hers was a clear message. I sighed as her pout turned into a frown. That in itself carried another message; it ordered me, in an indirect way, to make her smile again. Luckily for her, I was in the mood to do what she demanded of me, although she made no verbal note of it. I simply kissed her on the forehead and did no more. Despite my small peck, it was more than suffice to have her smile again.

"I apologize for my rudeness earlier," I stated, "And now, let's see if your theory is working on Rika-"

I didn't even finish my sentence and my face dropped instantly. Hinata blinked at my sudden lack of enthusiasm, whereas moments ago I still had a healthy, but not excessive, amount. She watched my eyes, hoping to find the answer to her question. Unfortunately, she didn't, because my face was blank, my eyes showed nothing, and words were clogged in my throat when they were desperate to burst out. She did catch one thing though; that was disbelief. Instead of scanning my visage, where she gained nothing out of, Hinata decided to look towards the same direction I was looking. Finally, she understood why I did what I did.

The plate of food she placed earlier was gone (the plate was still there, miraculously) and so was Rika. Hinata and I both knew human beings could not simply vanish out of thin air, but it seemed that we had to make this one an exception grudgingly. No, this was not the time to be pondering about such silliness! It was pretty obvious that Rika didn't 'disappear' or 'vanish' -especially not when she knew no ninja techniques except brutal taijutsu. She had to be here somewhere… it was virtually impossible for anyone to evaporate as if they never existed.

My anger quickly subsided when the two of us heard a pleasant moan from behind us.

"Delicious…" the feminine moan actually became audible for the ears. In a hurry, Hinata and I turned around; just to find Rika sitting on a chair munching away my share of breakfast. My share! What in the hell did she think she was doing? She ate hers, and now she was crossing over the line. She still had a sleepy expression written over her face, her eyes were in cute slits, and her mouth smiled timidly to elaborate on her cuteness while taking her bites. "This is so good…" she mumbled, nibbling away.

"Oi, oi!" I alerted her, in which did nothing when she was still half-dozed off. "You're eating my breakfast!"

"I'm hungry…" Rika justified, taking her fork and stabbing it to her last bacon before putting it in her mouth. She smiled with glee as she swallowed, of course causing me to glare with hatred as she did so. "Ahhhh," she sighed with heavenly delight, "That was wonderful. Naruto, you should have had some."

This was the same woman that I aided in helping her orgasm just hours before? I demanded nothing out of her; the least she could do was to make my life a little bit easier with some lenience! I was starving, she knew that, and despite my hunger I still went out to do… shopping! I detested that wretched, evil domain of death, and yet I survived. All I asked for was my just reward, a pleasing meal, in which now was in the stomach of the ungrateful who didn't do a single thing to make my blasted life any easier.

And she fell asleep right after that.

Yes, I was very aware that Rika was sleeping very frequently today. Correction, she was sleeping too much. For starters, Hinata certainly looked shocked at the sight. She had her reasons, needless to say, and I couldn't blame her to doing so when the Sawada Rika she met yesterday had a lot more energy and dedication to stay awake. The drastic change within less than twenty-four hours undoubtedly caused some suspicion, but more so concern than anything I could ever mention. I understood Rika's situation well, a fact that was excellently hidden from the Hyuuga hime. Obviously, if I was ever demanded to give a reasoning for Rika's unbelievable fatigue, it wasn't a choice for me to shut up. The fact was, as outrageous as it may sound, that I drained all of her strength last night when she overexerted herself with the untold amount of orgasms. She did a very good job at making my room reeking of her sex, though, in which was always a pleasure for me to know that I satisfied another patient. Bluntly speaking, it took so much out of her that she even sucked her backup battery dry. In simpler terms, six to eight hours worth of sleep was impossible to recover the quantity of energy that she used up, and it usually took a immense amount of time to charge up that alternate 'battery', figuratively speaking. I knew this would have happened, but she insisted that she would keep going despite her strength drainage with relentless endurance –and tenacity.

It would appear that she yearned for my touches more than I first expected.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata decided to break that awful silence of awkwardness when she spoke.

"What?"

"I… still have more food… Don't be too mad at Rika-chan for eating yours…please?"

This woman was still kindhearted after all that. Then again, her share didn't suffer the same fate as mine. I caught some distress in her tone though, and that pointed towards fear. Was I that scary with my angry visage? I wouldn't know; I never bothered looking at myself in a mirror while making all sorts of different faces, as though I had no life, or had a life shared by many losers.

"Yeah, I figured," I replied wearily as my hunger took the best of me. "Would you mind if you got more for me?"

"It would be a pleasure," Hinata said back, smiling gratefully and charmingly. "What should we do with Rika-chan?"

"Just let her rest, I am sure she gone through a rough day yesterday."

Hinata made no objections to my justification -not like I could afford myself to tell her the truth anyway. After planting a temporary farewell kiss to my cheek, Hinata gently scurried off to the kitchen whereas I remained to observe this beautiful scenery, in which still shocked me to know that the magnificence of human hands created this, and yet the same hands could also bring so much agony in this world.

(Time Passes)

Once our surprisingly light meal was devoured, the main event could finally begin. To be blunt, I wasn't looking forward to this in any way. Sure, I could admit that there was a small ember of curiosity for me to understand how much stronger they really had become. In spite that I scanned them once with my unique eyes once cunningly, statistics could only go so far, since strength could not be matched under the scale of information and numbers. First hand experience was positively required –especially when shinobis were professionals at hiding their true powers. Without having the need of hearing Hinata's justification for challenging me, I readied myself for the worst. I was kind enough to help Hinata clean up, and carry Rika to safety, but I knew flattery wouldn't get me anywhere. Nevertheless, my assistance was very much appreciated; that she would give credit for.

We stood a good twenty feet from another by now, and still haven't showed each other our battle stances. I picked up a very disturbing aura from her; a peculiar one to be exact. I was impressed, Hinata was already starting her pressure before this fight began, but unfortunately for her, two could play at this game.

"What should the rules of this game be?" I asked, putting my left hand on my right wrist before gripping on it slightly.

"Best two out of three?" suggested Hinata kindly despite the atmosphere's constant changes.

"Done."

At last she bent her right leg, shifting it back as she slowly stretched out her left one before pulling her right arm back, defensively, mind you, while extending her left one with an open palm. I haven't seen this in a while. The last time my eyes feasted on this battle stance was when I fought Hyuuga Neji in the finals of my first and only Chunnin examination. Hers, compared to Neji's, carried a different taste; a new and distinct fear and inferiority that must not be ignored under any circumstances in spite of her gentle appearance. Not activating a single seal, her eyes already engaged with the Byakugan, and I only guessed that she was reading my chakra flow as a small, yet significant, advantage.

I didn't mind by the slightest. Even if she did study my chakra flow, it would not do her much good. Suddenly, my right wrist ejected out a heavy teal energy blade in a form of an assassin's army knife, and then bent at a thirty degree angle, in which was almost parallel to my arm. I had no unique stance of my own; for it was not necessary. I scanned Hinata for a moment there, and I grinned when her eyes cringed somewhat nervously; this was an advantage I must seize. However, at the next second she already disappeared.

So that was how she wanted to start things off. In less than a second I vanished as well.

By the time I returned to 'reality', I found her at one foot behind the spot I was just standing on before I warped, whereas I was one foot away from her first standing point. She cursed silently, but I caught her mouth motions with my keen eyes, in which caused me to smirk a snicker that most people hated when they fought me. Everyone hated my mockery.

If we were going to 'Flash Warp' all day, then we wouldn't get anywhere. Just for the sake of it, we did it a couple of more times as a test, but after four shots both of us knew this fight would not go very well if we just jumped from spot to spot. Some decisive action must be taken. Therefore, I dashed at her –fast.

Her first impulse was to defend, which was natural by all means, and following her impulsiveness was a straight palm thrust to my heart. I easily shifted my whole body to the left without effort, and made her attack utterly useless in less than a second. She only tried again, but this time faster, of course. To humour her, I intercepted the attack (not her palm knowing what damage it could do if it hit me) by her arm before using a bit of strength to push it away as I dived in closer. In all honesty, I could have plowed my blade into her already, yet unfortunately that would have ruined the entire purpose of this match. Besides, how encouraging would I be if I just beat her to the ground? Hinata always loved some support –emotionally, I meant. Instead of attacking with my weapon, I decided to strike her chest with a punch. To my surprise, she managed to defend against it with her left arm effectively, and to respond I returned a kick.

My foot smashed into her gut –hard. In truth, I did not have the strength to pack such an impact, but the swiftness and agility in my strikes clearly made up for it to some degree. Hinata coughed and recovered from her previous attack, but not without gaining more caution than before. If I knew better, she didn't even see my kick. Perhaps this was the perfect time to show off the agility that made my combat style unique.

I warped again, but this time I was right in front of her face than behind her. She almost shrieked in horror, but forced herself to keep quiet at this unpredictable act. I was glad that she didn't scream, but that didn't stop me from raising my blade above my head before slamming it straight down for a heavy slash. This time, however, it was I that nearly gasped out loud when she actually blocked it with her chakra energized palm, and then she returned the favour with left hand ready to jam into my stomach. I quickly retracted, moving out of harm's way as her left arm whizzed by dangerously, and then her right hand rushed itself towards my kidneys. Just when she thought that she caught me, I, with stoic eyes, turned away from her as I cleanly evaded her shots as if they were nothing at all. This angered her considerably.

I rushed another kick at her, which was so quick that it was impossible to identify my leg as a distinct entity, and it smashed against her shoulder blade without an ounce of resistance on her part. If she was already having trouble with my kicks, which were not my dominant style of combat, how could she survive the quickness of my hand strikes? To me, no doubt, it made no difference whether she had the ability to dodge or defend against me. Perhaps I was a little cold hearted, but she brought this upon herself. In spite the pain in her shoulder, she still recovered in an incredible pace, and almost immediately she lashed back at me with an attack aimed for my chest. This time, I responded with opened eyes, in which I rarely did since I was always the quicker one between the two.

As fast as it might, it was never quite right; for I managed to disappear with Tsuyoshi-Teni Shiki and reappeared ten feet away from the spot Hinata attacked. By now, the Hyuuga girl was more than agitated for reasons more than one. Firstly, she had not laid a single strike on me. Second, she knew that she could not keep up with my speed although she felt my strikes barely had any force put into it. Thirdly, Hinata realized that I could have easily given more blows, and yet I didn't, in which she recognized as mockery. I was mocking her skills. If there were anything that she could not forgive, that would be mockery and disdain to her efforts. Hinata had been put down too often to endure any more, and if it was from someone she loved it had a scar deeper than all the other ones she received.

"Don't fool around with me…" she hissed with clenched teeth. "Take me on seriously, Naruto-kun…" Irritation was an understatement at a time like this, and so I obeyed her wishes with a slight bow on my part.

I decided to embarrass her a little further though, or how else was I going to have any fun. "Why, Hinata, I was just moving away from your attacks," I said, feigning my concern, "What is so bad about that? On the battlefield, I wouldn't want to get hit now, would I? I am only doing what is natural. You seem angry, is it something that I've done? Hinata, please do tell me what is bothering you."

"It's not what you are doing!" she yelled back with evident frustration, "It's how! How, damn you!"

"How?" I replied in a question format, putting my hand on my chin, as though I was pondering about something. Hinata obviously knew I was acting, especially when my right eye looked directly into hers with a sense of cunningness and deceit. I chose to drop my act before regaining some seriousness. "Oh, very well," I continued, giving more power into my blade, "Prepare for the worst."

And she did.

"Alpha Blade," I announced passively as I suddenly used my entire body in a high-speed dash right at her. Hinata panicked as she mustered up all the power she had to set up a defensive stance. It was in vain. I rushed past her in a flash, but not without dealing some damage to her legs as she pounced into the air temporarily. I took this chance to halt, turn around, and then plow my bladed arm at her body to increase the agony. Hinata, in an ungraceful manner, fell onto the ground, whimpering at both unexpected attacks. I was convinced to show her that just because she was a little shocked didn't mean that I would simply stop, and thus, I ran to her again as I lowered my entire body to perform a leg swipe, which was aimed at her sides. Unexpectedly, Hinata rolled hurriedly to the left and leaped back on her feet; by then she clearly noticed my cunning strike before she jumped towards me to evade. If she leaped at me, that meant she was going to strike from above! My predictions did not prove me wrong; for she already had her right arm pulled far back for a devastating blow at whatever point she desired.

She attacked. Hinata grinned victoriously as she found her chakra-powered hand finally struck me, but I was about to prove her wrong when she realized all she attacked was my beam knife. To make it worse, I countered.

"Impossible…" she murmured in horror.

"Beta Blade," I declared my second technique as my entire body ejected upward as my blade flared up with a dangerous amount of chakra, and finally jammed itself in Hinata's gut before I smoothly made a second hit at her chin as my body went up in an uppercut. Now completely defenseless, perhaps it was a prudent decision to show off my air supremacy. Right after my Beta Blade, I used Alpha Blade again, which was useable in the air, to crash into her. This time, I didn't strike her legs but her chest once more.

My speed allowed me to land quicker than my opponent, and when I turned to look at her she still seemed to be falling helplessly. Key word: seemed. If I were an arrogant moron, then perhaps I would have thought she was down for good, but luckily for me I was no one of that sort. Behind that act, I knew she was up to something, and my philosophy proved itself to be correct when she suddenly recovered (in mid air) with her arm pulled back with a kunai in it. She lashed it at me without any hesitation, and more so when she didn't say a word to give me any preparation to evade. Like I said, if I was arrogant, that kunai might have pierced through a ligament or two.

I charged my entire, yes, entire, body with chakra and ki while drawing back in order to fire out an unique projectile that required my whole body to unleash.

"Gamma Blade!" I yelled, releasing a nearly invisible, clear projectile that was equivalent to the size of me. The 'blade' intercepted the kunai in time, and the effect of the Gamma Blade took its effect with imprisoning the victim in a ki-generated star cell with five Chinese symbols at each tip as it from a circle. After a three second duration, the Gamma Blade lost its effect and the kunai dropped onto the grass effortlessly. Flexing my arm in my preferred position to slash, I ran at her in an attempt to capture Hinata in a brutal assault; yet to warm things up I rushed with Alpha Blade.

Hinata, as she clenched her teeth almost dangerously, snatched a kunai from her holster, as though she knew how to defend against such a quick attack. Our weapons clashed, and thus, I was stopped in my tracks in spite the fact that the two of us knew we were dueling on thin air. Due to my prior charge, I seemed to have the advantage in this pressure, and even more so when I gradually earned my place above her. As gravity had it, what went up must come back down. I grinned knowingly, clearly having knowledge that if both of us went down, it would be Hinata that reached ground zero first and not I.

And that was exactly what was happening; we were falling –with our weapons still battling each other.

Perhaps I was too careless, or maybe overconfident was the right word. Just when I thought I had the upper hand, Hinata's free arm suddenly gripped onto my upper thigh and she violently, as she used her whole body as her weapon, twisted our positions forcefully. In less than a second, I was the one underneath, and to make matters worse on my part, Hinata roughly whacked my bladed arm away and seized both my shoulders before she carelessly tossed to kunai away to free her hand. In normal circumstances, I would have given some retaliation the instant she grabbed me; it was a natural part of self-defense. However, she grinded her knee vigorously into my stomach to weaken my struggles and in no time at all I felt great pain when my back slammed –hard- onto the grass.

"Crap…" I cursed as Hinata leaped off gracefully, but not without charging up for a lethal blow just before I stood back up. As if in hell I was going to get up to receive another blow; she almost broke my shoulders with that death grip of hers. I immediately warped backward when I saw her coming in for the kill, making her strike a complete miss, but knowing me, I couldn't just move away without giving some appreciation of my own. The appreciation, of course, was not affection; or perhaps it was, an affection of pain and torment.

"Gamma Blade!" I shouted out as I released the humanoid shaped beam right at the perfect timing when Hinata as she stopped her actions. The blade struck her perfectly, imprisoning in a trap of ki where she could not move no matter how much she commanded her body to react. It was useless. With three seconds of immobility, I was certain that I was going to have my fun in one way or another.

With that said, I rushed directly to her with an engulfed hand of raw chakra pulled behind me, as though I was prepared to punch her. "Suki!" I yelled as I crushed my flaming fist into her chest, thus dispelling the Gamma Blade, in which breaks immediately when the victim receives a new attack. Hinata gasped painfully, but not that I cared. She was my opponent, not my friend at this point. "Miyachi!" my attack continued with a leg swipe, in which was charged up with the same amount of chakra from earlier. Hinata, this time, could not hold back her scream and yelled out as I swung heavily at both her legs. Again, I ignored it as I planned to finish this chain with a finale with all the brute force this undead body could gather. I made a front flip with my right foot extended out like how I would be when I used 'Naruto Rendan', but this time my entire foot was, once again, generated with chakra before I slammed heavily on her left shoulder blade as I yelled the word, "Banzai!"

The initial force was great, so great that not only did she wail painfully loud, but she even bounced a several feet back into the air after she struck ground. With her at my mercy, I instantly smashed my foot into her back; slashed her chest area with moderate strength twice; released another Gamma Blade to freeze her so she would stay in mid air; mercilessly nailed her chest again with a forward heavy stab; swiftly crashed through her with Alpha Blade; and finally jabbed her spine as I turned around after stopping my dash.

Hinata did not show an ounce of resistance as I pummeled her brutally. Of course she didn't, I thought, because that was nothing more than a Bunshin. I cringed my eyes as the lifeless body disappeared in a poof of smoke, in which meant I just showed off a set of combination attacks for nothing. The first rule of a shinobi, in battle, was to never reveal secret techniques. Although whatever I did was not considered to be forbidden, or anything close to that caliber, but it revealed too much. If Hinata was watching, in which she obviously was, that set of attack did take quite a bit of stamina to execute. Simply put, I couldn't use it that often if I wished to save my strength.

However, what interested me was where was the real Hinata if that one I defeated just now was nothing but a mere bunshin? There were no trees nearby, in which meant that she couldn't be too far off. Panic rose to my attention when my neck and arms were suddenly constricted by something tight, but warm. In addition to my already troubled dilemma, a pair of legs wrapped themselves around my frail waist before binding with the intent to crush. It was quiet, but I knew my bones just cracked. Despite that it was nothing severe, that didn't mean the pain wasn't starting to kick in.

Shimata…

"That was fascinating, Naruto-kun," I heard Hinata speak soothingly to my ear, licking it as she spoke, and yet she did not forget what position she was in. "So… you use something beyond chakra, don't you?" She gave a mock giggle, but I chose not to react when she expected a reaction of any sort. Her anger only caused her to bind me harder. This time, she heard some sounds; not out of my mouth though, but the fragility of this undead body. "I never expected you to use 'ki' in your attacks," she continued with deliberate seductiveness, "You surprise me every time I see you; no wonder why I love you."

"Is it a good time to talk about that?" I questioned, struggling to break free when I thought her guard was down. She answered my hidden question by squeezing every constricted point even tighter, in which got to a point where I was facing suffocation. This time, my grimaces did not go unnoticed.

She planted a kiss on my cheek. "I am sorry, Naruto-kun," she whispered, allowing her tongue to lick my neck as a final token of affection before she got serious. "I find you dangerous being a chakra and ki user, and so…"

Her voice then turned deep. "I am going to finish it off quickly. "You are in the field of my divination."

Shit!

I immediately, in a vain attempt, tried to headbutt her. I gasped out loud when she unexpectedly released her hold, as though she already knew that I was going to show retaliation. By the time I turned around, my lifeless eyes opened fully as I saw her in that stance; the stance that nearly killed me, well no, it was the actions after that did, but nonetheless, seeing it still gave me the creeps.

"Jyuuken," announced Hinata for the sake of talking, really, "Divination Sixty Four Strikes," We both knew the name was longer than that, but names were hardly an issue when the devastating effects were going to be completely identical. In less than a second, she was going to come at me with more than her usual agility due to this divination aura she established, and there was nothing I could do to stop me despite my own speed. I didn't want to do this so quickly, but the sixty-four strikes did have the potential power to kill me, and thus, the only techniques I actually have left to defend myself were Gamma Blade, in which took too much time to execute in this case, or my Overdrive Attacks. Even if I was planning to 'surprise' Hinata with one of them later on, I figured that my life was first priority and not pride.

Putting my pride on the side, I spread my arms apart in fists, head tilted back as if divine lightning struck me from above. At the same time, that was when she charged –fast. "Two Strikes!" she declared as she rushed two fingers at one out of my three hundred sixty five chakra holes.

As if I would let her hit me with that! "Banki Messai!" I shouted the name of my Overdrive Attack before I was actually crazy enough to engage myself at her. Hinata thought that I was trying to commit suicide at first, in which she did have a reason to believe so, but then she realized that it was hardly the case once she found me blocking her strikes with my own. Banki Messai was not a move that was difficult to comprehend, no. First of all, it drained quite a bit of stamina, but in exchange I temporarily gained an excessive deal of speed to continuously unleash my brutality on my opponent. Secondly, once I caught my opponent it caused me to move in a wild, uncontrollable fashion when I inaugurated my assaults. In this case, however, it proved itself useful when Hinata was attacking with equal amount of zeal and wildness. As luck would have it, it was nothing but coincidence that I was clashing with her strikes, and I was surprised I was still swiping and kicking after she unleashed her sixteen-strikes on me.

"Impossible…" she said, not believing what her activated eyes were seeing before her. "Thirty-Two-" She didn't manage to pull it off, not when I suddenly gave a heavy double-palmed push to her chest, in which was an amateur version of her Jyuuken, right in between her attacks. Her divination aura immediately dispersed, and yet I was not done yet until I nailed her gut with my bladed arm while using Beta Blade. Defying all laws of gravity after my first Beta Blade, I used it again. Just when she believed that was the end of that, I had one more Beta Blade coming, which struck her hard on the gorgeous face that Kami-sama gave her.

Disbelief turned into anger when she instantly recovered once more; coincidentally, it was the same moment when my Banki Messai's effect vanished. Without any warning, as she defied the laws of gravity like how I did, she glided directly at me with a speed that was even greater when she was under the influence her divination aura. Having me just finishing the Banki Messai left me defenseless, and thus, she rammed into my stomach severely with her elbow. I coughed out in pain as a result. If I thought that was the end of it, then I didn't know how cruel Hinata really was in combat. The crash served as a distraction, and while I was helpless under pain, she, in reality, was powering herself for her own deathblow. The fact that I was right in front of her made it all better.

Heat radiated heavily from her in less than a moment. This was not body heat; it was chakra! As an essence, chakra never displayed physical attributes, in a way. Sure, I have seen it solidify, I could see the blue waves as it ejects from a human body, but never, and I meant never, have I felt such a powerful radiation of warmth. My intuitions, in spite of its limitations, went on high alert; scolding and screaming as it warned me of the dangers up ahead.

I wanted to move, but I found myself stunned, literally, after that paralyzing blow. Hinata must have added a trick or two before hand just to spice things up a notch for me to suffer. She then activated her faultless defense shield, Kaiten, in mid air. The high energy shield surrounded her perfectly from every angle. I thought her intentions were to add more affliction to her strikes, since the Kaiten did whirl away anyone or anything that came in its path. However, that was not the case. Hinata had bigger plans, figuratively speaking, and likewise, she was pretty eager to demonstrate what sort of new abilities she learned during my absence.

"Ride of Kaiten!" Hinata shouted, bolting right through me like a drill. I had no time to scream; for it just happened at a blink of an eye. I felt like a vehicle hit me, in which I didn't know what to expect. The next moment she was already thirty feet behind me, but not forgetting to deal a severe extent of damage to both my internal and external state as she charged by with only one hit. How the hell did she do that? Not only did she defy the laws of physics, like me, but she actually learned how to 'move', so to speak, when she used her Kaiten. Not even Neji had the abilities to do that when I fought him three years ago, but then again, that was three years ago. By now, Hinata must have found a way to use it herself, then to improve it from immobility weakness, and she did with devastating results. Did I underestimate her? No, she just surprised me. Yeah, that was what it was –surprise. Telling myself that did make me feel better, but everything told me it was false flattery in a pathetic attempt to hide my true feelings.

If I was any more fragile than I already was, my body would have broke, literally, in two after a collision of that sort of power.

"Kuso…" I winced as I tried to talk. Hell, it was already a pain trying to stand up from my collapsed state; guess what kind of nuisance it was if I wanted to use techniques. I was grateful, to an extent, though, and I obviously kept that fact away from the Hyuuga princess, who represented the evil monster that every hero in fairy tales must defeat in order to achieve that sappy, cliché, overrated, idiotic, goddamned happy ending. Back to the main topic, thank goodness the damage was more external than internal. In fact, I presumed that prior attack was meant to deal external damage only; however, the initial force was too mighty, so heavy that it went beyond its expectations and not lacking very beneficial outcomes. To a body that was already dead, internal damage meant little –as long as it didn't disrupt my chakra system. "You got me there, Hinata…" My efforts in acting tough went down the drain as I coughed. Fantastic… just fantastic… Now she knew that I was hurt.

"Thank you," she was someone who knew how to take a compliment, like I said, "You are pretty amazing yourself, unlike what Tenten-nee-chan told me."

"I can't help but to sense some sarcasm,"

"Oh no, I meant every word,"

"Flattery won't get you anywhere,"

And it didn't.

I appeared right before her once again (after using Tsuyoshi-Shiki-Teni, the teleport move) knowing that she could not react quickly out of shock. Besides, it was undoubtedly tough to move when someone, out of the blue, vanished and then emerge as if it was a natural process. I loved being so… conniving. Taking this chance to my advantage, I slashed her shoulders with one swipe. Hinata grimaced with agony as the torturous pain started to sink in, but that was only the start of my final finale. My second Overdrive Attack would finish her off for good. Perchance it was an act of cowardice, yes; nevertheless, I certainly did not want another Ride of Kaiten to be used on my already weak body. The first one was out of carelessness; I sworn it would not happen again.

I froze when she spoke –calmly. That came from behind me! Once more, I was a fool, a fool who fell for the same trick twice! The Hinata I just slashed was, again, a bunshin, a clone that was used to deceive the foolish ones such as myself. Like all clones, the fake Hinata turned into a cloud of smoke, and at the same time, I saw the Yin and Yang symbol, which was glowing and radiating a powerful green aura, that just appeared on the grass, as though it serves as a deadly plague. Needless to say, this was definitely a good time to panic.

"You're within the field of my divination, Naruto-kun," That was what she said from my rear; a nice and sweet voice, too, which demonstrated many factors that represented anything but kindness, yet there was delight and lots of it. "I still love you," Her voice, once more, shifted horrifically into one that reflected as the menacing queen bitch of Konoha that deserved to die due to her excessive (which included) cockiness, mockery, arrogance, and deliberate sadism. "Even if you lose."

This witch…

Hinata, in her stance, looked more determined than ever. Finally, she came at me with the intent to kill. Obviously, she didn't want to "kill" me; no, she couldn't do such a thing. Like forgiveness, it followed the same principle. Hinata would forgive me if I ever committed a wrongful act, but that, of course, came after she punished me –badly. "Jyuuken: Divination Field Sixty-Four Strikes."

Without her knowing, since my back was facing her, there was no way that Hinata would have seen what I was planning up front. Her Byakugan might permit her to see through me, yes, but I doubt that she was intelligent enough to realize that I already engaged in a stance. I had my left hand folding outward, pointing down with my first two fingers, whereas my right hand bent in front while using my first two fingers pointing to my left. This was the start of my ultimate Overdrive.

She dived in at long last. I caught no reluctance whatsoever from her aura. She must have banished all hesitant thoughts, as she believed that she got me in her tracks. After all, hesitance was a hindrance to success. Perhaps she should have been a little bit careful, not a lot, just a little; for arrogance and wishful thinking was going to be her downfall.

I gathered all my remaining ki for this assault. God be damned if I didn't succeed.

"It's over," I said.

My body vanished the millisecond before her fingers made contact. Her eyes widened in shock, but then fear soon replaced that initial surprise when she felt a damaging blade slash gashing her back. Knowing me, from Hinata's perspective, she guessed that I was being annoying with Tsuyoshi-Shiki Teni to confuse her, but that was hardly it when she noticed my movements were much too fast and cunning to be simply shifting from one spot to another. Immediately, she screamed excruciatingly when her chest was slashed badly.

I was not teleporting by the slightest. In all honesty, I was actually gliding across the field back and forth while striking Hinata mercilessly with each trip. The instant I managed to lay the first hit, the victim had no means to escape due to the paralysis poison I had in my blade, in which only activated when I engaged myself in this Overdrive. For now, I struck her twice so far, and furthermore, I knew that I was successfully leading her higher and higher in the air with every hit gradually. On my third collision, which was coming at her from behind, I ruthlessly made a deep slash to her kidney area, and thus she truly shrieked a downright scream of absolute torment. Gaining more speed after the third strike, where she shrieked in pain, I silenced it forcefully by giving a blow to her face before I flew past her to return with preparations for the fifth strike. I made sure her other kidney suffered the same fate as her first one. Upon returning for the sixth hit, I carefully aimed for her wounded shoulders. What yelling she projected with her vocal cord once I rushed my blade through! I actually felt sorry for her.

Out of the blue, I appeared right beside her with my bladed arm pulled back as far as I could go. I always made the seventh attack drastic; for it was the end of my little deathblow. What made it even better for me was how I ceaselessly chose to end things off with the stomach area, as if I had a desire to slice the victim in half. This time it was no different. Not having any second thoughts at all, I dived down… with my energy weapon searing her stomach while doing so.

"Zansei Rouga," I said as I finished her. That was the name of my Overdrive, and the most exhausting one, too.

I landed safely, as expected, after my ferocious freefall. Hinata, on the other hand, crashed ungracefully with no means to defend herself even by the smallest bit. I detected no spirit remaining from her body. Hinata was still pretty much alive; nonetheless, she didn't have any more strength to even stand up. There was no way she could continue after all that -even if she did say best two of out three earlier. Hell, I was stunned to see her conscious! Remembering that was my sparring partner and not enemy, I knelt beside her, slowly turning her body to face the sky than having it crumpled up when she fell. To my surprise, she was actually smiling… a painful one though… and her tears… her tears… she was crying…

"Naruto-kun…" she wept, weakly raising her wounded hand to touch my face. "Naruto-kun…"

I obediently held on to her hand, not wanting to let go although somewhere in my mind I knew she wasn't going to die. "I am… sorry… Hinata… I am so sorry…"

"Don't be…" the Hyuuga girl told me, closing her eyes but her understanding smile still remained. "I am glad… that we… fought another… You are not weak… I knew you weren't…"

"Don't be silly, Hinata," I worriedly said, reaching into one of my pouches and took out some medicine cream. I didn't think these things did anything, especially not when she looked like she required severe medical attention. "I'll take you to a doctor! I'll take full responsibility for my actions! I went overboard… Please… forgive me… Hinata…"

"I am fine…" she wheezed wearily. "I'll be okay after some rest…"

"Don't be ridiculous!" I nearly screamed, but refrained myself from doing so.

"Trust me," her voice contained more strength compared to before. "I will be fine."

I decided to tread no further. Still, I leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. She still blushed adorably after that. I believed that I was starting to take great pleasure in it. "Tell me something though,"

"What?"

"Why did you fight me?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"There is more?"

"Of course…"

"Then what is it?"

"Because Rika-chan said something interesting about you… about your new skills… about your new…"

My heartbeat stopped. "What," I continued, now looking like a zombie, "What… what did Rika tell you…"

Hinata was about to answer; I was dying for her answer. However, as fate would have it, the two of us were interrupted in our worlds when a loud screech was heard from the sidelines. Hinata and I shifted our gazes towards my left, and there, at the hallway that intercepted with the one that led to this central garden, stood Hyuuga Neji and Tenten. I knew Neji was not the one who obnoxiously yelled, and therefore, that must have been the girl. Perhaps I should not have been focussing on the Hyuuga male, since he didn't drop and belongings nor did he point accusingly at me. Tenten, unlike her friend, was filled with anger.

"Tenten-nee-chan… hello…"

"What the hell did you do…" Tenten hissed gravely as she ignored Hinata's greeting and glared an absolute deathly gaze toward me. "What the fucking hell did you do!"

"Who… Me?" I dumbly questioned, still not knowing why she was so furious.

"Did you do that to Hinata-imouto-chan?" she demanded of me to reply despite she knew nothing about the scene before she arrived. I took a glimpse at the wounded Hinata, and then it hit me. "Are you responsible for her being all injured? Tell me! Right now, damn you!"

I sighed inwardly. What else could I do? Panicking only made things worse, and that was the last thing that I wanted. It appeared that the safest path was to remain calm and act civil. Taking a deep breath, I chose my next words with utmost precision. "Tenten, I-"

"Ah!" she accused victoriously, "You confessed! Look what we got here. We have reached a verdict!"

"What-"

"Tenten," said Neji, who seemed to have been left in the corner when his friend's rage consumed her, "I think they were just… sparring…"

"Don't contradict me in front of that Love Procrastinator!" the weapon mistress howled angrily, making Hyuuga Neji cower back to the corner he just came out from. "He clearly wasn't sparring! If he was 'sparring', as you say, then why does he look okay? That beast must have took advantage of Hinata-imouto-chan like the damned bastard he is! I will never forgive you!"

This was the best time to reach hysteria. "Matte, Tenten! Listen to me!" My efforts were futile.

"Shut up!"

"If you just listen to me-"

I silenced myself when a kunai whizzed by my ear.

This woman was serious…

This was no joke…

I suddenly became a prey… again…

"I am going to kick your ass…" the older chunnin seethed in a deadly tone, a sword suddenly appeared in her hand from nowhere. I looked over at Neji in desperation. My hopes fell when he just shook his head, not able to make a difference when Tenten was on her rampage. I looked over to the Hyuuga princess for assistance, but it did trouble me earlier as to why she didn't say anything when Tenten arrived. Of course she couldn't; she went unconscious midway. With no one to rely on, I was on my own as I dealt with the monster that caused me to visit the hospital not so long ago. Now that I thought about it, this woman really ticked me off. With barely any ki and chakra, how was I going to defend myself? I felt half-broken, physically. Was I supposed to attack her with sticks and harsh language? "I had enough of you… You do nothing but to bring misfortune and sadness to those who love you… For all the pain you have caused to Hinata… how dare you hurt her like that when she loves you so much!"

"I said we were-"

She dashed for me.

I didn't even finish my justification yet, because Tenten took this chance and sliced off my left arm from my shoulder.

Like a flesh eating disease came upon it, the once connected arm grossly dissolved all the liveliness in it before it returned into what it was before I stole it for my own gains – a skeleton.

AN: Yeah, I am still sick, so I don't really want to type anymore than I have to. If the last bits, or the entire fight in general, is a little, well, cheesy, then I apologize. I am really bad at action. I am sure you smart readers understand what kind of deathly hell Naruto is going to face now. His undead identity is now revealed. Like I said, all Naruto's moves were taken from Chipp Zanuff for Guilty Gear. As for Hinata's "Ride of Kaiten", yeah, that was taken from Ky Kiske's "Ride the Lightning". So, in that spirit, don't sue me!

Thank you all for supporting me so far, I could not have done it without your 'help', so to speak, and encouragement. See you all again soon!