Tsunade smiled as she walked into her newly remodeled office followed by Shizune. She stepped up to her new desk and sat down, picking up a folder as she did. The blonde took a deep breath and smacked herself repeatedly over the head with the paper in her hand. "Well, that was a big waste of my time," Tsunade declared loudly.
Shizune winced and sighed, she was out brilliant ideas. Then she heard her lady's voice, "Well, I'm gonna have to do this the old fashioned way," the fifth said.
With that, Tsunade flipped open a book and began skimming through the pages. She started mumbling to herself, "If we're gonna raid the Sound Village, we need to find it first……. tracking specialists…. one or two ANBU maybe? I hope nobody decides to attack while we have shinobi away…"
Shizune gasped, "B-but, my lady, I-"
"Shhh!" Tsunade said, "I'm trying to study!" The Hokage's assistant however, was not convinced, "You should really-"
"I SAID SHHH!" yelled Tsunade, "Dismissed!" Quickly, Shizune ran from the room.
Tonton chose that moment to look up from her hiding spot in the corner. She gave a confused "Oink" in Tsunade's direction. "YOU TOO!" shouted the hokage. The small creature turned and bolted from the room.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Hinata grimaced at the beam of light that entered her cell, both because of the sting it brought to her eyes, and because her five days in the sound told her what it would mean. To the torture chamber she would go, to face Uchiha Sasuke, the object of her current confusion.
"Hn," Sasuke said as she stood. He wouldn't admit it, but a small part of him felt bad for hurting her. The walls in his room faced ever growing danger, and he had to wrap his knuckles in training tape to hide his show of weakness.
Pushing Hinata into the chamber, Sasuke watched her stumbling steps, resisting the urge to reach out and steady her. He felt the overwhelming urge to say her name. Then, the Uchiha realized that he had never actually spoken the girl's name aloud before. "Hinata," he murmured it without thinking.
Quickly, he closed his eyes and shook his head in an attempt to clear away the weakness. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Hinata was warily staring at him, questions in her pale eyes. Their eyes met, and the Uchiha saw a flash of terror on her face, but though she visible bit her lip, she did not look away.
Without his permission, Sasuke's hand started to reach forward, but he jerked it back. This action caused the Hyuga to shiver, probably in fear, but her gaze was still stuck to his. Making a small, disgusted sound in the back of his throat and turned his back from the girl, painfully tearing away his gaze.
He closed the cell door and said one word, "Sit." The Hyuga complied and Sasuke pulled out a senbon needle. He roughly grabbed her arm and proceeded to push the needle through the fabric of her jacket, pausing after it had just barely penetrated into her skin. He looked her straight in the face, "Tell me the shifts that the Hokage works at the Konoha hospital, you will answer me Hyuga."
Hinata squeezed her eyes shut as she senbon was shoved farther into her arm. She heard Sasuke exhale before he jabbed the needle violently into her arm, she felt it come clean through the other side of her arm. The Uchiha reached under her arm and yanked it from her flesh, then he stepped back. "Feel free to take a look at your arm now," he said.
The Hyuga girl hesitated, but then pulled up her sleeve and looked down at the bleeding hole in her arm. A dark, purple-black-blue bruise was quickly and visible spreading in a blotchy circle around the place Sasuke had stabbed her. "P-Poison," she whispered, turning her fearful eyes on the young Uchiha.
"It won't kill you, just leave that bruise to spread over the entirety of your body, you'll talk soon enough." He answered her silent question.
'He is right,' Hinata thought, reaching to grip the place on her arm that was already beginning to sear with liquid fire. Then the girl lowered her eyes to the floor so that Sasuke wouldn't see the raw fear and pain in her eyes.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Sasuke led Hinata back to her cell. He closed the door and left the girl to deal with her spreading bruise.
It was starting to get late. The only one thought was in Sasuke's head, and that was sleep. As soon as he reached his highly anticipated bed, his thoughts turned back to Hinata, or more accurately, guilt for harming Hinata. The poison he had used on her was specially engineered by Kabuto; it was the first of three poisons that he was supposed to be used on the girl. Sasuke would know how much pain the girl was in; he had tried the poison out from sheer curiosity, but within an hour had taken the antidote.
Finally, the Uchiha jumped out of bed and grabbed a kunai knife, slamming the door as he exited his room.
0o0o0o0o0
Hinata was lying on the stone floor, staying very still. She had used up a lot of her energy writing in pain, and now she dared not move. The bruising had spread from her arm down her fingertips and farther up her shoulder, going all the way across her chest and down past her breast to slow and now the line rested across the middle of her stomach. The bruises stung like fire, and she could feel her heart beat painfully everywhere they had spread.
There were quick, quiet footsteps outside of her cell. The keys rattled in the lock. Hinata wanted to compose herself, but the pain was too great for her to even begin to try.
All of a sudden, Sasuke was kneeling over her, kunai knife in hand. She closed her eyes tight, thinking of the village she let down. Then, the girl felt rough calloused fingers, cool against her burning hot skin, lift her wrist up. The cool metal of a weapon pressed to her skin and slid underneath the cuff that was suppressing her chakra, cutting it. It slid from her wrist and fell to the floor, Hinata opened her eyes a slit in just enough time to see the Uchiha boy snatch the cuff and shove it into his pocket.
She looked up at him with confused, tear-stained eyes. For a moment Hinata thought she caught a flicker of tenderness in his eyes. Then Sasuke pulled a vial out of his pocket, it contained a light blue clouded mixture. He unscrewed the lid and held it to her lips. "Drink," he commanded. She did as he said, the liquid tasted strange and it felt slimy and thick in her mouth.
Hinata closed her eyes and tried to think about what was happening. Then, she heard a ripping sound, it echoed around the small cell. She felt the Uchiha wrap something around her wrist.
Then she heard his footsteps and opened her eyes to watch him disappear through the door. Already she felt better, the pain of her bruises was starting to recede, and it no longer hurt to breathe.
Looking down at her wrist, Hinata saw that the chakra-suppressing cuff had been replaced with a strip of cloth the same dark blue color. 'This must be off of his shirt,' she thought, 'And that liquid, was it the antidote? Why remove the cuff?' Then, a theory began to form in her mind. 'My healing jutsu, I can use it now, does this mean he feels bad for harming me?'
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Inuzuka Tsume and Hana crouched in the bushes with their ninja-dogs. They were looking down over the rocks at the entrance to the village Hidden in the Sound.
"Found you," Tsume growled under her breath, "Come Hana, we must make our report to Hokage-sama." At a nod from Hana, the two leapt up into the trees, closely followed by their dogs.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
After she awoke the next morning, (she could tell it was morning be the meager breakfast tray sat just inside her door) Hinata felt a mix of emotions. She was still greatly confused by Sasuke's actions the previous day.
Footsteps sounded and stopped and were followed by the familiar rattle of keys. The girl stood before the door could open and faced the entryway. The exact person that had been confusing Hinata as of late walked in.
For just a moment, Sasuke looked surprised to see the Hyuga on her feet, but it quickly passed. He jerked his head to the side, indicating that she should come, just like everyday.
Today though, Sasuke seemed a little different to Hinata. He was more cautious, it was hard to tell though, she could have been imagining it. The poison on the needles was different though, and it sent fresh waves of pain through the Hyuga girl's body.
That night, just as the night before, Sasuke came to her cell with a vial of liquid, this time yellow and sickly sweet tasting. The pain melted away as the presumed antidote took effect. Soon, Hinata was able to stand again.
She looked towards the door and gasped in surprise when realized that Sasuke still stood there. He studied her carefully, onyx eyes carefully guarded. The Hyuga looked at Sasuke but her gaze quickly shifted to his feet, a blush spreading across her face.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Sasuke stood just inside the doorway of the Hyuga's cell, carefully studying her. A blush colored her face, and she looked down at the floor near his feet, he quirked an eyebrow at her strangeness.
The girl swallowed so loudly that he was able to hear it. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and stuttering, "T-Th-Thank you, U-Uchiha-san."
"Hmph," Sasuke scoffed and turned to leave. As he stepped out of the door he turned his head, "You shouldn't be here Hyuga."
After he closed the door Sasuke shook his head. I'm becoming soft.
--
Okay, okay, I know I'm in major trouble. I REALLY should have gotten this up a LOOOOOONG time ago, I know….. But truth be told I just blew it off. -_-; Please accept my apologies! I was actually thinking of abandoning this story, and Fanfiction in general, 'cause I've been busy writing original stuff anyway. I haven't even logged on since way before they redid the site…. In fact, I'll probably quit fanfiction after I post the rest of this story…. But who knows, maybe my love for Naruto will prevail and I'll pick it back up…. Maybe. So anyway, the rest will be up ASAP(or whenever I stop lazing around)