(A/N: Not really all that much to say. I've been swamped with school work lately. Finals this week for my two college classes, but then I'll be getting a nice month long study hall during first block, so it's all gonna be good. I hope. (: Well, enjoy chapter nineteen!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!)
Mysterious Captivation: Chapter 19
Kisame stared at the blonde blankly, though he was shocked. What an idiot. "I hope you realize that I was his partner. I'll bring more memories of him to her than you would. At least you would show her how much she still has to live for. I don't know how she sees me, so I have no idea how to approach her."
Deidara seemed to hesitate, opening his mouth, but not allowing any sound to break forth until several seconds later. "She was afraid you were angry at her because her medical skills were not developed well enough to keep Itachi alive, yeah," he admitted. "Other than that, I have no idea how she sees you."
Kisame hummed thoughtfully. I'll have to make sure she knows that I am not angry at Itachi's death, but worried for her. She is fragile. He nodded to Deidara, then moved forward past the wall of cabinets on the right side of the kitchen to the large refrigerator at the far wall.
He withdrew a thick cut of steak after a glance at the only clock in the room. Perfect for my lunch! He turned to the stove on the left side of the room, below the microwave, and surrounded by countertops on either side. Various cooking utensils were located on these surfaces, from frying pans to knives and cooking spray. We should organize this stuff instead of leaving it out like this. He thought practically, placing his steak on a skillet pulled from the pile.
As the smell of cooking meat rose into the air, so did the smoke. Unused to the cavernous, closed in space, he thought nothing of the smoke until it began to gather around his head. Looking up at the ceiling, only slightly more than three feet above, he couldn't even see the stone.
"Hoshigaki, you idiot! Are you trying to kill us all, hm?" Deidara griped, coughing. "Turn on the vent on the microwave or something, un!"
Kisame growled. "Just because you think you knew how to cook in the old hideout doesn't mean that it's the same here. There was never a problem with smoke back there," he listened to the blonde anyway, despite the small blow to his pride. "Why are you still here, anyway?"
"I can't find any chicken noodle soup, un. I've heard it's really good for sick people," he admitted, eyes turning away as he realized just how frightened Deidara was for the ex-Hyuuga heiress.
"I think there's a can in one of these cabinets. Why would it be in the refrigerator?" The shark-like man questioned in an attempt to make fun of the explosives expert, but the shorter man took no notice.
"Thanks, yeah," he breathed a nearly imperceptible sigh of relief, moving away from the cold doors; he seemed to have left reality to sink back into his mind.
Kisame shook his head with a sigh; Princess must be in a terrible state for him to be that worried. He watched the blonde as he pawed through drawers of unorganized kitchen ware, probably searching for a soup spoon and a bowl. "Shouldn't you find the soup first?" He asked.
Deidara didn't even seem to hear him speak. The Hoshigaki flipped his steak, making sure it wasn't over cooked, then went to the dry goods cabinet to get the soup himself. After several seemingly long moments of the two men searching the kitchen, and looking extremely out of place, they met in the center of the kitchen.
Kisame held out the container of soup to the younger man. Said person ghosted from the kitchen, making sure not to drop anything, but otherwise oblivious to his surroundings. The blue-skinned man made a mental note to visit the Hyuuga girl later.
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Why is my body so heavy? What's wrong with me? Heavy-lidded eyes opened slowly, promising pain to their owner as soon as the light touched them; however, they were met with nothing but blindness.
Despite the pain in her body, Hinata leapt to her feet and activated her Byakugan. Where am I? She tried to recall what had led to her placement in this room. She knew that it wasn't hers; her bed was not nearly as comfortable as this one. She had made sure of that. With her failure, she didn't deserve comfort.
A door clicked open somewhere to her left and light from the hallway spilled into the room. Temporarily blinded until the door closed once more, she still didn't know where she was, and she was too exhausted to think to sense the chakra.
"Hinata-san, mm?"
She would know that voice anywhere. She felt her legs give out from under her in relief and fatigue. The bed creaked as her body collapsed into it. "Deidara-san? Where am I?" Her voice was quiet, wobbly, almost frightened sounding. She hated herself for it.
"You're in my room. I expected you to sleep a bit longer than you did, mm. Otherwise, I would have stayed in here with you. I brought you some food," he said; she could hear him walking in her direction. When he got to the bedside table, he stopped, and there was a clinking noise. She guessed that he had laid whatever food he had been holding on it.
A different noise, like wood slipping against wood, maybe a drawer opening, reached her ears, and when he began rummaging, she knew she had been right. "How are you feeling?" A small flicker of light suddenly leapt to life within a small container. The blonde man lifted the candle between them so that they could see one another.
Memories of what Deidara had said to her earlier that day suddenly came rushing back to her. "You called me worthless."
The candle clattered roughly onto the table in favor of placing the hilt of his palms over his eyes. "I know, un. You wouldn't listen to me any other way, hm. I tried so many times, it was all I could think of," he spoke, lowering his arms from his face, but refusing to meet her eyes. For a small moment, he seemed to struggle with himself, but she knew his better side won when he asked, "Will you be able to forgive me?"
It was a long moment before she answered, even though she knew he was tense, I'd almost say terrified if I didn't know he was Akatsuki.
She thought back to her time in Konoha. That was back when she had been so much weaker than all of her friends. She had been called worthless by her clan more often than her team told her they were proud. Her clan had deemed her as a useless heiress. Hearing the blonde explosives expert call her that had thrown her back in time, back to when she truly was weak.
And it had hurt much more than any of the torture she had put her body through all week.
She closed her eyes, blocking out the light that shone on his downturned face. Her heart, newly injured from losing Itachi, had nearly felt shredded when he'd said that. She wasn't sure how much longer she could deal with this emotional pain.
Before she knew it, she had spoken in a voice clogged by tears, "Please stop hurting me," her eyes widened when she heard the words, as did his.
It was then that she noticed the tears sparkling in his eyes. He won't cry because he doesn't want to concern me.
"I was so worried about you. It was like every time I spoke with you, you were falling deeper into despair, changing more into someone I didn't know. I didn't know what else to do to make you listen, yeah," he admitted, as if finally glad that she was speaking. He still wouldn't meet her eyes, though.
"I was trying to get stronger. You're not going to be with me on missions to save me anymore, and neither is Itachi-san. Kisame-san isn't going to risk his life to save mine, so I knew I would have to be as strong as possible. If I died on a mission, you would never forgive me. Or Kisame-san, for that matter," she responded.
"It's not necessary for you to do something so drastic, though. We all know that you're not as strong as us, yeah. Hoshigaki knows that you are only a medic, and that you need to be protected, mm. I don't care what he's told you; I know that he was chosen as your partner because he knows how to protect, and can do so without he cost of his life, un," Deidara told her, and it made her pause.
Have I completely misread this entire situation? She wondered. "I was so sure he hated me, though. I let his partner die, and then he got stuck with me as his new one," the fear that she had been sure was tamped down was now rising, just below the surface of her brittle voice.
"He could never hate you, Hinata-san. No one could," he added the last part so quietly that she almost missed it. "Now, you need to eat something. Watch your eyes, yeah; I'm going to put out the candle and turn on the overhead light. Okay, hm?"
She nodded, knowing that the moment her eyes were closed, the fiery glow would disappear from her eyelids and a painful light would penetrate through them instead. Preparing herself, she still gasped when the fluorescents were lit.
It took her several long moments until she could open her eyes fully because of the sensitive Byakugan irises. "Are you okay, un?" Deidara asked as she blinked away the spots.
She nodded. "What are you so adamant about me eating?" She inquired, glancing at the soup can. She reached out to scan it for a name, but he snatched it away before she could.
"It's chicken noodle. That kind of soup is supposed to have tons of stuff that you need, especially when you're sick, mm. You definitely qualify as sick right now, and don't argue, yeah," he said, interrupting her before she could even begin to speak.
She bowed her neck instead, waiting for the sound of the lid being pulled off the top of the can with the tab. She heard it, and the sloshing of the soup as it was poured into the round, ocean blue porcelain bowl.
The bowl was placed gently in her lap, and she huffed a short chuckle. "It's cold,"
Deidara frowned and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What's the difference, un?"
The brought on a new bout of quiet, controlled laughter. "It's easier to eat and much better tasting when it's been heated."
The frown never left his face, but he bent down and took the bowl from her. "Do you feel up to walking to the kitchen?" He asked, politely offering his arm to her.
Despite the paleness of her skin, she felt better than she had since before she had left their last hideout. "Sure," she took hold of him, allowing him to sweep her out of bed onto the chilly floor of the cave.
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He didn't want her to be alone after the mental anguish she'd been through, and he'd made such progress in pulling her out of the shell of apathy she'd constructed. He wasn't sure if it was the best decision to ask her to come with him instead of rest, but he left it up to her to decide her strength.
He felt her shiver once out of bed and knew that he had to do something to help her stay warm. "Where is your cloak, un?" He asked, only realizing that it was missing after seeing her out of the covers.
"I took it off so that I wouldn't mess it up while I was training,"
The artist handed the bowl of soup to her, then proceeded to shed his cloak. Taking the soup back, he wrapped his already-warm mantle around her shoulders. He forced himself not to shiver with the new coldness of his room, and was proud when he saw Hinata's cheeks glow a light pink. "Let's get your food warmed up, yeah," he held his arm out once more, leading her out of the room, without dropping her cold hand.
The moment he opened the door to the kitchen, he knew there was something wrong. He heard a breath, then a gasp. The Hyuuga woman's hand went limp, then suddenly began to pull away. "Hinata-san, what's wrong?" he asked, turning to look at her.
"Iie," she whispered, drawing several ragged breaths. "No!" She tried to back away from the room, dropping his arm completely.
Deidara stepped closer to her, blocking her view of the open doorway. He made quiet, whispering noises, trying to comfort and calm her. "What's wrong, Hinata-san, mm?" When she gave him no reply, he took her chin in his hands and forced her to look at him. "Hinata-chan, what is wrong?"
He winced when she forced her chin away from him, only to hear her coughing, struggling to draw breath. His eyes widened when he remembered a conversation he'd had with her; it had been so long ago that he'd nearly forgotten. "You pushed yourself too far, didn't you, hm? Now all the smoke in there is making your condition worse," he deduced.
The fear in her eyes was enough proof. He slammed his fist into the wall behind him, growling. "Hinata-chan-" he broke off, running his hand through his hair. "Why would you do this to yourself?" He whispered, calming himself with the question. He reached out to her, placing his fingertips on her shoulder.
Her eyes widened when she heard his question. He sounds, she paused in her thoughts, scrambling for the word she was looking for, broken, She finally settled. "Strength," she whispered in return, unable to inhale enough oxygen to do more.
"I don't care, hm! When will you understand that your strength doesn't matter to us? We will protect you, yeah!" Deidara nearly shouted; his voice was hoarse, and cracked on the word 'protect.' "Kisame!" He shouted, directing the shout into the room behind him now.
A booming reply, even through the smoke, returned. "What?" The yell was slightly irritated, as though the shark-like man didn't want to be disturbed.
"Come get Hinata-chan! I have to take care of something right now, but I can't leave her alone," he said, watching as the blue-skinned man appeared at the door almost immediately.
"What's happening?" His eyes took in the scene before him. "Sure, go on," he said instead of waiting for an answer, and Deidara watched his eyes soften as he beheld the small girl standing within the blonde's shadow, struggling to breathe. "Come on, Princess," he said.
Her eyes gleamed, curiously pained, probably wondering why Deidara was leaving her so soon. "I'll be back soon. I need to find some sort of healing technique, un," he promised, meeting her eyes resolutely for the first time since she woke up.
She nodded weakly, and Deidara knew that it was getting even more difficult for her to breathe. "Can you take her back to my room for now, Kisame?" He asked the much taller man, being polite because he knew that Kisame would need to care for Hinata for a little while so that Deidara could get a bit of research done.
Kisame looked at him warily, as though the politeness was only a trick, then nodded his head. Rather than walking her to the blonde's room, he swung Hinata into his arms, tucking her head into his shoulder as he placed one arm beneath her knees and supported her back with the other.
The explosives expert shook his head, wishing he had the same stature so that he could have saved Hinata the walking trip as easily, despite her protests and coughing. He hadn't wanted to find any of her injuries by swinging her around in the same manner, but Kisame could easily hold her like that because of his height and body structure.
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"Deidara told me what you've been doing to yourself," Kisame spoke through her haze of pain.
She turned her face away from him. His voice was unreadable, so she couldn't tell what he thought of it.
"You don't have to punish yourself for his death, you know," this sentence caught her off guard, and she squeaked in protest when his grip on her body tightened. "Just because you think I'm mad at you for doing the best you could doesn't mean that you have to try to train yourself to death,"
She shook her head uncomfortably against his chest. "Not death," she murmured, still gasping, but less so now.
The Hoshigaki looked down at her as her breathing calmed, observing her heavily-lidded eyes, and drooping posture. "Go on sleep, Princess. We can talk again when you wake up."
She gave him a small, sincere smile, but there was very little feeling in it. Taking his permission to heart, she fell asleep to the rhythm of his movements. He smiled gently, feeling nothing but brotherly affection for the younger girl.
It was then that he noticed the fresh blood on the cloak that did not smell like her. Deidara's cloak? Why is it bloody?
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"Leader-sama?" He spoke, announcing his presence at the door of that man's room.
"What?" The reply sounded harsher than it was, and the door swung inward to reveal the red haired shinobi.
"Do you know how to heal tissue around the heart that's already scarred over?" Deidara asked, hoping against all hope that he would.
"No. However, I know of Hinata's plight. Itachi was researching how to heal her before he was murdered," Pein turned to the bookshelf located directly to the right of the door and himself, slipping a thin, leather bound volume delicately from the shelf and handing it across the threshold to the bomb specialist.
"What is this?" He asked, glancing over the title-less book in his hands.
"It's Itachi's research journal. He kept all the information he discovered about healing Hinata written in that little book. He'd almost finished, but was missing some key bits. See what you can make of it," with that said, Pein shut the door in his face.
Deidara heard muttering on the other side and figured that he'd better leave before Leader-sama came back out to yell at him. Besides, he needed to get back to Hinata to make sure she was okay.
He walked back to his room slowly, opening the journal and attempting to read through it. Itachi was more of a genius than Deidara had ever given him the credit of being. I'm following this better than I thought I would, but these techniques are some that I would never have imagined in my life. How in the world did he figure these out? He wondered to himself. Somewhere in his subconscious, he wished that the Uchiha was still alive to work through the rest of the jutsu with him so that they could save Hinata's life.
He shook his head as the strand of thought passed into his conscious thoughts, then winced and knocked on the door to his room. He slid it open with a soft click to observe as Kisame brushed a strand of hair out of her face as he tucked her in.
"She fell asleep as I carried her here," he spoke, addressing the owner of the room, the blood on her cloak momentarily slipping his mind.
"I see, un," Deidara replied absently, still trying to decipher the journal. It hit him unexpectedly that Kisame might know something about it. "What do you know about the notebook Itachi was keeping? He was trying to completely heal Hinata's heart. In the literal sense, not emotionally," the bomber added upon getting a strange look from the blue man.
"I know that he wrote in it often, but I don't know specifics." Kisame looked thoughtful for a moment. "I know his fighting style, and his creative style for jutsus, so I may be able to help you a little," he finished, gesturing for Deidara to bring the book over.
The two poured over the small booklet for the next two hours while Hinata slept, comparing understandings and side notes as they read.
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The raven haired man wasn't even out of breath as he approached Konoha. His journey from Otogakure had not been pleasant, but neither had it been terrible. He had met up with a band of thieves on the way, so he had a small bit of gold on him.
He had travelled far, trying to gather information on the murderer of his brother and the thief of his goal: the female Konoha ANBU, Gazelle, he'd learned.
He strolled up to the village, wondering how he would be able to get in without causing too much of a fuss. Eventually, he decided to wait for nightfall, then sneak past the guards and patrolmen and into Hokage Tower.
He smirked. This is going to be fun. Wait until I get to see the look on her face when she realizes that she is going to die because she killed Itachi and ended my revenge!
Backing away from the high walls of the village, Sasuke leapt into the forest surrounding Konoha and masked his chakra. He made sure to sit in a place where he would be completely out of sight of everyone, but could still watch what was going on below him.
And now, to wait for sunset. Sasuke sighed, hoping that the time would pass quickly, but knowing that he would be patient for it either way.
(A/N: Well, I think that just about sums up this chapter of Mysterious Captivation. (: I hope you liked it this time! I appreciate reviews very much; they let me know what I'm doing right/wrong/perfect/terribly [and it's fun to get the email telling me that someone reviewed. I love hearing what you all have to say about my writing and how to make it better]. So anyway. I'm sorry that this chapter was an hour late, but I stayed up extra late to make sure it was only an hour instead of a day. I…have school tomorrow… Well, hello there, inside of my eyelids. You're looking beautiful tonight. Too bad I'll only get to see you for five hours or so. Maybe six if I get lucky. XD Oh dear. I feel the incredible need to go to sleep now because I do believe I'm talking to myself. It is one in the morning, and I dearly hope you enjoyed this chapter. Despite the fact that it was an hour too late to make it on Sunday. XD It's up, it's Monday, but I'll post the next on Sunday. I'm going to stay on schedule!)