Edited.
I would you will enjoy it! :)
-X-
Inert, Hinata laid on her back her dark hair spread around her paling complexion. Still nothing. Dauntingly, the servants' whispers unraveled tight insults. They muttered about how she lost consciousness in the temple. Her pearl eyes on the ceiling she let the words snaked their way through her. Another weakness, another fall. She was too feeble, too unfit to be a Hyuuga. She heard it loud and clear in their dropped stare, her father's silence and her sister's disgust. 'S-shut up,' she thought dearly wishing she could scream it instead. Instead, she lay still clenching her eyes shut her hands tightening and her knuckles whitening on her wool blanket. Her father had dismissed the incident as a sign of her fragility. She had woken up to his fury, his dishonour of having her as his first born. It would be easier had she been the second born.
Hinata opened her eyes, her heart yearning for Naruto.
The demon had disappeared. Wherever her pearl eyes stared, she saw nothing tangible that could attest that she wasn't sliding outside of sanity, into a darker pool that slowed her movements. She felt empty. There was nothing, no reminder around her. Her mouth dried as she remembered her father's narrowed eyes at the unintelligible flow of words coming out of her mouth when she awoke. Did she really say a red-haired demon out loud?
The young heiress felt the sting of tears at the corner of her eyes. She thought of Naruto and she trembled of both apprehension and excitement. Slowing raising her right hand that the evil spirit had cut, she moved it in the light filtering through the drapes of her bedroom window. She watched it glow then shade abruptly. She expected to feel different, now bound to him. A flickering warm in her chest or an overwhelming feeling of content. Raw peace flowing in her veins. In the gleam of the early hours, she felt nothing. Her skin tainted by dusk's grey light, Hinata bit her below lip staring up at her unmarked right palm. Letting it fall back at her side, she shifted her glaze to the ceiling below her.
She wondered if the demon failed her, if she gave her soul up for nothing.
Unbeknownst to her, the pattern of the kanji of love was traced on her back. It was his mark. She was truly his.
-X-
Wish for Immortality
By Clementive
-X-
Light steps and lurking shadows broke the harmony of the main compound of the Hyuuga clan. They sensed one another in the darkness and their eyes shone like full moons. They had barely spoken to one another during the past four months in order to divert the attention on their conniving stares they exchanged at each of the heiress's failure. They had gritted their teeth and feigned innocence when Hizaishi's brat had cornered them and then later when Hiaishi himself noticed some irregularity surrounding the heiress.
Yet, they still thought of her as unfit, weak and cowardly. They thought of the future, of the void that Hiaishi's death would leave behind if she were to take upon the title of leader of the clan. No, when they thought, the clan thought and the clan thought that Hanabi would serve them better.
A hand reached out of the darkness before the two men and they didn't hesitate. They pushed a heavy chest in the direction of the newcomer.
"You will get the rest when the job is done."
The clan thought Hinata Hyuuga needed to die.
-X-
Later, dusk was still pale, grey-like as it slid across his skin.
The demon jumped from roof to roof, Konoha unfolding before him in dimmed light. He still felt uneasy in his old skin; his muscles still adjusting to his powers. Wildly, the cool breeze plastered his red hair on his forehead. Power ran through his veins, he felt it with each heart beat; the earth beneath his feet and her innocence. He couldn't keep the smirk off his lips; the woman had been as gullible as he had imagined. Yes, power and no remorse. Her vow still rang to his ears and her soul was his. Leisurely, his smirk turned wolfish. His bare feet sliding across the wooden surface of a tall mansion, he hunched forward sniffing the air for his trail. He let the smell of angry blood pass him again. Killing one of them seemed pointless. Only the chase gave him goosebumps, the thrill of quick steps of fear. Fear had a delicious aroma, the flavour of death, the unknown.
He had almost forgotten it all; raw ecstasy, the weakness of a prey and subhuman instinct orienting his blows.
In a swift motion, the one-tailed demon jumped down the roof and landed on his feet in the dark alley beneath. A sensation curved in his knees joints making them slightly tremble as he unbent them. He had long forgotten about physical pain. Distastefully, his gleaming orbs turned black and he hissed. 'Humans are so limited…'
"Funny sensation isn't it, Shukaku? To be human again."
His features froze and slowly he rose back to his full length. The hunter had become the hunted. The younger demon deeply growled in his throat frowning at the lurking shadows. He could only make out the shadowy figure of a man sitting against the farthest wall. Red eyes glinted and he could smell sulphur weighing down the air. Dauntingly, it tightly curved in the air and reached past him.
"Hopefully, it won't be long," the red hair demon coldly replied. "She signed the contract."
"As you may imagine, Shukaku, I felt it. I didn't know you had it in your black human heart to trick her."
The darkness shifted unevenly and a thin scroll rolled slowly towards Shukaku's bare feet. Warily glancing down at it, he remained still not willing to bend to pick it up. A human hand gleamed, wrapped in moonlight as it pointed towards the object that still lay before him untouched.
"The tailed demons have come down to an agreement about your tail. Aren't you curious about it? Go on, pick the scroll up."
He hesitated before snapping his fingers. Green light exuded from the translucent paper as it unrolled before him. His eyes ran over the paper and he felt his insides knotted. 'Humans are too limited by their feelings'. The unfamiliar stench of bile filled his mouth. Again, his body was betraying him.
"A week," he said flatly attempting to cover his uneasiness.
Cold laughter erupted from the shades.
"Yes, a week. Now, what would be the fun of having tricked her if you can't have her soul rapidly? If she gives you her soul within the week, we will grant you another tail. That means if she agrees to die. If she refuses, you'll go back to being a mere subordinate in the inferno."
The scroll disappeared in thick black smoke. It caressed his cheek as silence settled between the two demons.
Light sank in the nothingness surrounding them and he felt him shift, drawing closer to him. Unflinching, he stared into the cerulean eyes staring back at him.
"Now what do you say, Gaara? Do you accept our terms?"
Her dark hair contrasting with her pale complexion appeared before his eyes and he found himself nodding. Once more, he was Gaara. He was human and in need of light, guidance. The smell of her soul was enticing; floral determination wrapped in a zest of sweet blood. He tried to convince himself it was the sweet scent of her soul that brought him to her, that he could ignore the rush of blood in his human at the indirect mention of her.
Their stare hardened, they were merely humans again. They were the same, fighters in a world of darkness to acquire powers in a world of light. Humans then demons.
"Consider it done, Naruto," he hissed in return.
A wide smile sparkled in the darkness and the demon was suddenly gone. The familiar scent of sulphur kissed his jaw and he willed his human body not to choke onto it.
The day rose on the second day of the Festival of the Dead.
-X-
The tattoo was dark red, curled in the small of her back.
She noticed it for the first time when it startled the servants helping her with her bath. Steam wrapped itself around her pale limbs and her pearl eyes quivered before the kanji sign imprinted in her skin. Love.
Quickly, Hinata wrapped herself in a cotton light kimono. With a mere nod, she sent the servants away. Her hand pressed against her mouth, she felt sick in the pit of her stomach. The demon eyes seemed to shine in the steam tendrils around her. She remembered seeing the same colour on the demon's forehead. She saw the demon's wide smirk, his strong jaw and his red messy hair.
Her breath was caught in her throat as the servants returned. They pressed damp towels onto her stiff body. They averted their glance, not even daring to mutter a comment among one another.
The image faded away in the heat, in the mirror. Love.
She didn't have a soul, in front of her the mirror stood bare for the servants.
She had no reflection.
He played her and she was his.
For the first time, the weight of her wish pressed down on her shoulders and she almost cave in. She still felt empty.
-X-
Sometimes, it amused Naruto how his mate would understand his world better than she understood her own. Her teachers had always called her intelligent, but when her body snaked within arms after his meeting with Shukaku, he couldn't help smile when she understood his darkness. His candid would fade and she would smirk with him. His mouth attacked her neck as she stared at him with her green orbs, smirking with ease at another woman's misfortune.
"She doesn't interest you, now does she, Naruto?"
He shook his head softly kissing her cheek and she closed her eyes satisfied. He had told her years ago about the inquiring pearl stare that seemed to follow him everywhere. He hardly held any interest in human traditions and politics but Sakura told him about the wealth of the Hyuuga clan and their prowess in battles during the Edo period. Their eyes could see through their enemy and he reasoned that their power must have faded since the Hyuuga heiress hadn't seen through him.
"Her soul smells delicious but I prefer you." His kisses burned her lips but she hardly cared anymore as she rested her head on his chest. "You have two minds while she only has one. She probably didn't realize that I'm no human and Gaara tricked her into thinking that he could grant her wish. He has only one tail, his powers are too limited for that kind of spell."
She moved across the sheets staring up into his blue deep eyes.
"Would you have tricked me?"
Pressing her against his chest, he laughed silently. He did, but she didn't need to know that.
"You are more intelligent than me, Sakura-chan. You would have tricked me and not the other way around."
Naruto tenderly bit the soft flesh of her neck and her mewls made him smirk. Yes, sometimes, his human made him wonder about her true nature and the one of every human. Was their dark side more invasive than their good angelic side?
Yet, she made him oblivious almost goofy. He still felt the heat of her smiles back in limbo. The Kyuubi had enough tails to play his dangerous games with ease. They had two minds, two sides of their humanity. During the day, while she healed mortals, he burned their dead souls. At night, while she laughed about her own mortality and their dying wishes, he smiled like a human child.
Slowly, the nine-tails demon lost himself into their shared kiss and he saw with a certain pride that she had more power over him than he had over her. Quivering darkness probably attracted her more than regular human love. As long as she liked it better he knew he would find a place in her arms.
-X-
Her ceremonial robes weighed down her movements as she served the tea for her father and two elders. Hinata kept herself from gnawing on her below lip despite the harsh cold stares fixed on her. Even with her eyes lowered to the porcelain tea cup, she could read disgust on their faces, on their slightly arched eyebrows.
"Your uncles are concerned about your safety, Hinata."
She slowly nodded to the deep cold voice of her father. She was used to the lectures, to the blame of her own clumsiness and her shyness. That was merely why, he called her Hinata and Hanabi, his daughter.
"We decided to assign you a bodyguard for the remainder of the festivities."
She set down the teapot her mind whirling.
"I don't think it's necessary, father." She forced the words out of her mouth in a soft voice.
"I'm not asking for your opinion."
Harshly, Hiashi turned towards the sliding doors and the servant a man deeply bowed. She recognized at once the stiffness of his neck, his arrogant posture. 'Oh no. No, no, no!' She felt familiar cold fingers of fear around her neck and she found it difficult to breathe. The teapot slipped between her fingers and broke in several pieces. She saw annoyance spread on her father's features and the red haired man slowly rose up his head.
A firmly drawn smirk on his lips, he cocked his head on a side.
"Hinata-sama, it is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Gaara of the Sand and I will be your protector for the rest of the week."
His eyes deviously gleamed as he exchanged a brief discreet nod with the two elders who remained in the shadows of the ceremonial room.
-X-
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