AN: You may have noticed that I changed the story rating to T and added Humor to the genre. This is because the story was extended from its original single chapter and therefore things need to be changed to fit it. And don't worry; the story may not seem very humorous now but it will get better (Though, in the meantime, I'll admit that this chapter's title sounds wrong… whoops).
Thank you for reviews!
Seeing Brown
Inspired By Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto
Not for the first time that day Hinata wondered where it went wrong. It had started out well enough. She and the rest of Team Eight had gotten a mission to capture a man who was working with the Akatsuki and supplying them with things ranging from well-made armor and powerful weapons to simple rations.
Once they started their mission they made their way down an easy path at a decent pace- only stopping once to rest for the night- until they had to veer into the trees for the final leg of the journey. Perhaps, Hinata thought tentatively, that was where it went wrong. After all, as soon as they had made it a few yards into the forest they unexpectedly came across the very man they had set out to find.
A fierce battle had ensued between them and the man (And his surprising amount of lackeys) before everything took an even worse turn. Out of nowhere two members of the Akatsuki had appeared, the famed Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha. It was presumed that they had shown up to help their supplier until said supplier cursed, grabbed a momentarily distracted Hinata, and knocked her unconscious before making a break for it, leaving her teammates and the two Akatsuki members to fight it out.
When the Hyuuga awoke she was bound, gagged, and had a cloth tied around her eyes. Her first instinct was to use her Byakugan and escape, but when she tried and failed she realized that she was too low on chakra. She knew that she hadn't used that much during the battle so that only left her to suspect that she was being restrained with chakra-draining binds. That, of course, left her tired and relying on nothing but her natural senses.
The first thing she noticed was that she was in a well-lit place. She could tell because the cloth around her eyes- which would normally appear black if she opened her eyes and tried to peer through it- was lit up from the outside to show that the cloth itself was a rich, earthy brown. That didn't mean she could see anything past that, though.
After that she realized that the ground beneath her was made of old, solid wood and had a thick layer of soft dust on it. Beyond that she could smell the thick musk of aged wood and, surprisingly enough, an underlying scent of forest plants. Despite the scent, however, she couldn't feel any wind. From all this information the heiress deduced that she was in an older warehouse with many windows somewhere in the woods. That gave her some hope that her teammates would find her.
The sound of footsteps broke her from her thoughts and made her swivel her head towards the person nearing her as he began to talk, "I see you're awake, girl." The voice was deep and made Hinata shift a little uncomfortably as he continued, "That's good. You were taking so long to wake up I was beginning to think you'd died when I hit you. Where would I be then, without so much as a hostage to keep your pathetic friends at bay?"
Hinata stiffened as he moved in front of her, blocking the light and changing what she saw from brown to black, "And what a pretty hostage," he grabbed her chin and tilted her head towards him, his rancid breath reaching her as he crouched down and went on, a leer evident in his voice, "Perhaps I'll have a little fun with you before I-"
Seizing her chance Hinata suddenly slammed her head forward, her forehead hitting the man's nose with a sickening crunch and a howl as he stumbled away, her bound feet sliding out behind him to trip him up and make him fall. She turned and began to wriggle hastily away, wrists straining against her bonds as she moved. Before she could even make it a yard the man had stood up- still cursing- and staggered over to her to land a powerful kick to her stomach, making her gasp in pain and slide a few feet as she curled into a pained ball.
"How dare you!" he snarled, his enraged voice sounding almost wet, "I'll kill you, you bi-"
A loud smack echoed in the air, and for a moment everything was silent. Eerily silent. And then the Akatsuki's supplier began to whimper and stutter, panic plain in his voice.
"Y… you! Bu… but how are you…? I had g… guards! Hundreds of them! How is it possible-"
He didn't get any further, his voice suddenly turning into a gasp and a terrified drowning gurgle followed by the thud of him falling to the floor. Then silence fell once more, leaving Hinata with the knowledge that the man she had been sent to capture was dead and she was alone with the person that had killed him.
~oOo~
Itachi was tired. For the past month, since seeing the girl for the second time, he had problems sleeping. He didn't understand it. He hadn't been able to remove her from his mind for longer than a minute, and even that was difficult. It made no sense. He didn't know her name and had never even heard her speak, and yet she dominated his thoughts.
"Itachi," the dark-haired man instantly snapped from his reverie and glanced at his companion, who frowned at him, "were you listening to me?"
"Yes." No.
"Then you know the plan?" Kisame continued suspiciously.
"Of course." Not.
The blue-skinned man, clearly still doubtful, said, "So you know that we just have to sneak by Goro's guards and slit his throat quietly."
The Uchiha nodded and turned his attention back to the branches as he leapt to them effortlessly. Goro Hetsuchi. He was one of the Akatsuki's suppliers (Kakuzu's least favorite because he demanded the most money for his products) and had recently decided to stop helping the Akatsuki and instead sell information about them to rival organizations. This gave Pein (And a very pleased Kakuzu) the excuse to finally kill the vulgar black market dealer.
Itachi was once more brought from his musings when the sound of battle reached his ears, making him glance in Kisame's direction at the familiar sound of kunai being deflected and hitting trees with dull thumps. His partner barely dipped his head in a nod, a small excited grin reaching his face. Shinobi had found their target before them. They didn't have to be subtle anymore.
Kisame sped up his pace impatiently, clearly looking forward to throwing himself into the fray as Itachi simply kept his pace. When the navy-haired man burst from the trees ahead of him he heard surprised yells and quite a few curses, followed by the sound of Goro shrieking for a retreat. Itachi's came into their sight just in time to see Goro hit a girl unconscious and begin to heave her over a shoulder as a hostage. But, to Itachi's shock and dismay, it wasn't just any girl. It was the Hyuuga girl again!
He tried his best to ignore the lurch in his gut at the sight of the Akatsuki's old supplier- a known lecher- escaping with the girl. The sound of a kunai landing solidly in the tree trunk next to his head caught his attention and forced him to look towards the remaining group of Leaf Shinobi. Among them was a boy in heavy clothing and sunglasses, the woman known as Kurenai, a large white ninja hound, and an Inuzuka male with brown hair who had been the one to throw the weapon at him.
"Just great! So you came here to help your buddy out, huh? Too bad! He's ours!" the Inuzuka boy yelled up at him, earning a hissed warning from his Sensei while the other male remained silent.
Kisame, who was on the ground and seemingly disappointed at the early cutoff to the battle, suddenly laughed, "Help Goro? Ha! As if. We came to eliminate the traitor."
The black-haired Kunoichi frowned, "I thought Goro was your supplier."
"Was."
The smirked reply made the ninja squad shift a little anxiously before Itachi stated emotionlessly, "You should stop concerning yourself with us and instead worry about your missing teammate."
That made the Inuzuka look alarmed as he appeared to notice for the first time that his team was one short, "Oh crap! Hinata!"
Ignoring them, Itachi spoke, "Let's go, Kisame."
With a grumble he obeyed, leaving the Shinobi behind. They then resumed their chase once more, quickly making their way to where their target was. The entire way over Kisame whined about being pulled from a possible fight while Itachi thought distractedly, So her name is Hinata.
That confirmed his earlier suspicions of her being an heiress.
Upon arriving to an old warehouse Itachi signaled for Kisame to remain outside waiting- much to the shark-man's annoyance- before easily sneaking past the ridiculously large amount of guards and entering the building through one of the many windows near the roof, where he then proceeded to hide in the shadows on top of a large crate of unknown supplies and scope out the area. He saw Goro- a large, muscled man with a clean-shaven head who sat on a stool near the center of the warehouse- staring impatiently at Hinata's still form as she lay on the dusty floor; bound, gagged, and blindfolded as her normally smooth blue hair now collected dirt.
Itachi's eyes narrowed.
After a few more moments she seemed to wake up, moving around groggily to take in her surroundings to the best of her ability. Goro's demeanor brightened and he stood, stalking closer to the girl and beginning to talk. He crouched and grabbed her face, talking some more. The Akatsuki member couldn't hear what he was saying from his distance, but the look on his face gave him a pretty good guess.
Itachi clenched his fists tightly and tensed his muscles, preparing to leap down when Hinata suddenly lurched forward and rammed her head against Goro's, earning a loud crunch as his nose broke and began to bleed profusely before he howled and stumbled. Hinata then swung her tied legs out and tripped up the dealer, making him fall.
As she began to wriggle away Itachi found himself smirking in satisfaction. All too soon the man stood, clutching his bleeding nose, and moved to her, kicking her in the stomach and ending her escape attempt. He began to shriek loudly enough for Itachi to hear him clearly, but he wasn't listening. His stomach tightened as he saw Goro swing his fist towards Hinata.
Before he could blink Itachi was on the ground in front of the Hyuuga heiress, his hand catching Goro's fist easily. He tightened his grip and dug his nails into the supplier's hand, eyes narrowing dangerously at him. He instantly began to blubber in fear, but once more Itachi didn't listen. In a split second he was behind the hairless male, a kunai at his throat. Before the man could finish his sentence he cut his throat, leaving him to drown in his own blood. Without a word he dropped the lifeless corpse to the ground.
Silence fell in the warehouse, only Itachi and Hinata remaining. Hinata was clearly waiting for something to happen, but Itachi was trying to figure out his next move. He could leave. He should leave. There was no reason to stay. It's not like the girl would thank him. After all, her mission was probably to capture Goro alive and he had just killed him.
And yet when Itachi looked at her slim form trembling slightly from exhaustion he couldn't help but feel pity for her. She looked… young… and too innocent to be a Shinobi. Too kind. A sudden ruckus outside of the warehouse showed that her team had finally arrived and that it was officially time to leave.
The Akatsuki member turned to go, even moving a few quiet feet forward, but before he left he glanced over his shoulder one more time, realizing too late that it was a mistake. One look at her small, delicate frame made his shoulders sag weakly and a silent sigh of defeat escape him. He faced her once more and began to approach her, making sure he walked loudly enough for her to hear him coming.
She stiffened.
As he reached her he crouched. He reached a hand forward, clasped the cloth that gagged her, and gently removed it, placing a finger to her lips afterwards to signal for her to remain silent. The last thing he needed was for her to scream and make her squad come rushing in faster. Speaking of… they were getting really loud out there. And was that Kisame laughing?
Removing his finger from her lips he then pulled out the kunai he had used to kill Goro and moved to the bonds at her ankles. He recognized it easily enough as a thin metal rope that- while surprisingly weak when it came to a blade- worked really well when it came to draining a person's chakra. He cut the bonds with ease and moved to the knot at her wrists.
"Th… thank you."
He had just positioned the kunai at the bonds at her wrist when he heard her soft voice say that, causing him to pause for a moment before giving her a hushed reply, "You're welcome."
With that he cut her bonds, leaving her to remove her blindfold herself. She did so quickly in hopes of seeing her rescuer, but by the time it was removed he was gone.
