Once upon a time, there was a princess who was protected.
Her team was sent to patrol the mountain pass that connected the desert borders of the Sun Kingdom to the wetlands of the Moon Kingdom. It was only supposed to be a formality, so they never expected the brutal attack. Ninja wearing the insignia of the Sun descended upon them like wolves. The genin team had no chance.
They were driven like fleeing deer, heartbeats thrumming against harsh breaths as the Sun ninja chased them to exhaustion. And the reinforcements were coming too late. Finally, her teacher stopped and turned to face their hunters.
"Protect the princess!" she ordered, a desperate swan song in the name of duty.
Her teammates forced her to keep running. Their pursuers decreased in number until there was only one. But even one was enough to kill the princess. At the last moment, the Inuzuka shielded her with his body, and the splash of warmth seeping into the princess's clothes sickened her. The Aburame managed to defeat the assassin, but the Inuzuka's eyes were already glazed over.
"We need to go, Princess. There might be more of them." The Aburame dragged the princess away, her ears ringing with canine howls of sorrow.
The ambush was later confirmed to be due to impostors attempting to drive a wedge between the Sun and Moon Kingdom, and it was only the first of many more. But none were as tragic as the one on the princess's team. Half of her team was eliminated so easily. They had defended their princess, but it was duty that tore them apart. The princess never wanted to depend on another team again, and renounced her ninja uniform. The kingdom never forgave her for such weakness.
And so, her younger sister was named the new heir.
Prey for the Hunted
By Airyo
Chapter 9
Itachi was expecting them. The Guardians opened the door and they rushed into the king's office without additional announcement. Ino was already seated in one of the chairs to the side with the saddle on the floor, pale with worry. She looked at Hinata questioningly and she gave the blond a slight comforting smile to show that she was fine.
"Good evening," Itachi said with a stern expression. He didn't give them a chance to play through the usual courtesies. "Report." Hinata started with a brief summary of her side of the events, followed by Sasuke's version of what happened after she and Storm had fallen into the ravine. The king listened with narrowed eyes, arms folded in a foreboding posture.
"So the horse is still there?" Itachi asked at the end of Sasuke's account. They nodded. "Go bring back the body along with any further evidence. Do hurry." Naruto and Sakura bowed respectfully and headed for the door, while Sasuke remained where he stood. "You too Sasuke. You and Kin were the only ones to be present at the scene of the crime. I need to speak with her, so you should direct your team to the site." The prince blinked, but wisely didn't protest and followed his teammates out. Only Hinata and Ino remained in the room with the king. Hinata felt a mild secrecy jutsu surround them.
"First of all, I must thank you for saving Sasuke's life, Hinata," the Sun king said sincerely with a small nod. Hinata returned the minuscule gesture, confused by the almost warmth of Itachi's frozen expression. Sasuke had brushed off the attack as nothing, and it wasn't like she had knowingly tried to save him. "While you took his place inadvertently, few could have escaped the situation as efficiently as you did. I examined the saddle Lady Yamanaka brought me - you are lucky to be alive. If you hadn't detached yourself from the saddle soon enough, a hidden seal would have broken your neck as cleanly as Storm's neck most likely was."
Despite Itachi's cool gaze on her, Hinata couldn't keep her eyes from widening as a cold chill slithered down her spine. Now that the king mentioned it, it was strange that Storm would only break his neck when he had jumped feet first into the gorge. It had been a jutsu after all. She hadn't realized how close she had been from death. "Even if you were not aware, for the risk and injuries you suffered, I must thank you and commend you." She clenched her fists and bowed her head slightly again in acquiesce. He turned so he faced both girls, expression suddenly even more grim.
"But the real reason why I dismissed Team 7 is because I must clarify something. My foolish little brother may have dismissed it as yet another annoyance, but this attempt on his life perturbs me greatly."
"So it's not normal," Hinata breathed with a strange mix of relief and worry. The king raised an eyebrow slightly at her interjection.
"No, it is not. I trust Lady Yamanaka will be able to fill you in on the details later, as I have already explained the situation to her." Ino made a graceful gesture of affirmation when Itachi glanced over at her.
"Why are you trusting me with so much information?" Hinata asked. As a former Moon Kingdom citizen, she was one of the last people he should be confiding in.
"Because it is you, Hinata," Itachi said. "Despite your previous affiliation with the Moon King, you are also not directly opposed to the Sun Kingdom. While I don't require any professions of allegiance on your part, I find a semi-neutral party like yourself far more trustworthy than someone who only pretends to be on my side." Hinata understood that. Better have someone honestly apathetic rather than spewing lies about their loyalty in order to get close enough to stab you in the back. Itachi looked pleased that she understood so quickly and continued.
"In that light, I have my first two tasks for -" A knock interrupted him. Itachi frowned. "Enter." Team 7 re-entered with matching expressions of consternation that troubled Hinata.
"Everything's gone," Sasuke muttered, as if he couldn't quite believe it himself. "Storm's corpse, Kin's boots and bits of her cloak along the trail, even the tracks. It's as if it never happened. Even the broken brambles and such were cleaned up." Itachi's features didn't move, though the air around him seemed noticeably heavier.
"Sit." Team 7 meekly tried to obey, despite the lack of chairs. Sakura took the remaining seat next to Ino. Finally, Naruto perched himself on the arm of Hinata's chair and Sasuke crossed his arms and leaned against Itachi's desk. "The situation is worse than I'd hoped it would be. This indicates that the assassin or his comrades have already infiltrated the castle on a long term basis." The prince looked unimpressed.
"This season is the time with the greatest amount of traffic in and out of the palace," he disagreed. "If anything, this is also the best the time for an assassination attempt. Just give me two Guardians and be done with this."
"This was an inside job," Itachi corrected. "There was an additional seal that you were not aware of. If Kin had not so forcefully detached herself from the saddle, the jutsu would have broken her neck." Sasuke became unnaturally still.
"Those take at least a week to layer into a saddle," Sakura whispered. She'd studied such types of sealing jutsu before for slow healing wounds and had explained the mechanism of it to her teammates. Like painting a wall, each layer required time to settle before the next could be applied. Otherwise, the chakras could clash and collapse the entire structure. "And for something to wait for such a specific moment of impact would require closer to weeks."
"An inside job," Sasuke whispered in agreement. He looked like he wished he was right instead, and Hinata agreed with him.
"While that was a conclusion that I've already come to, the hasty disappearance of the evidence is even more telling. We will need to rectify our strategy." Hinata felt the privacy jutsu unravel subtly. "Crocodile, please show yourself."
Everyone but the Uchiha brothers flinched when the Guardian suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. He knelt on the ground, his red-brown cowl pulled up over his hair. Hinata could see the corner of a grin drawn on his bone-white mask even with his head bent down in a respect.
"Your Highness?" Itachi gestured for him to rise, and Crocodile obeyed.
"As of today, Crocodile is assigned the codename of 'Sai'. Remove your mask." Sai hesitated for a moment.
"Your identity will not be any more compromised than necessary," Itachi reassured him. "The people present in this room will quickly deduce that you are Crocodile during the time of your new assignment anyways, and I can reassign titles if that is required." The mask came off. Several of them gasped, including Hinata. Beneath the grinning crocodile mask, there was a pale, expressionless face that eerily echoed the features of the prince. He had to be related. "Sai is indeed of Uchiha descent. His resemblance to the prince is a lucky coincidence that will be quintessential to the mission I will be issuing him." Everyone was watching the king curiously and Itachi turned sharp eyes to Sai.
"Uchiha Sai, your primary goal is still to protect Uchiha Sasuke. However, I am altering the conditions of your method - you will become the prince's decoy and draw further assassination attempts on to yourself."
"Yes, your highness," Sai said stiffly.
"You will make your debut as Prince Sasuke at the Winter Ball. You have a little less than two weeks to learn his mannerisms. Lady Yamanaka will accompany him to instruct him on any further nuances and the rest of you will aid him in any way you require it." Itachi glanced at Ino, who gracefully hid the expression of shock that flickered across her features.
"Yes, your highness," they said.
"Wait," Sasuke interjected. "Does that mean I am no longer required to attend?"
"Valiant attempt, but no. The safest place you can be during the Winter Ball is in the ballroom. While you will not be "Prince Sasuke", you should still be present in case something goes wrong. Have you chosen someone to escort yet?" Sasuke scowled and then abruptly jabbed a finger in Hinata's direction. She stared at him incredulously. He hadn't even bothered to ask her. What was she? A shadow clone?
"Kin?" Naruto asked, catching the tightening of Hinata's posture. "Did you even ask her?"
"She's the only other female other than Sakura and Yamanaka in the know of the situation, right?" the prince muttered. "I'm not taking Lady Naruto no matter how desperate I get."
"And Lady Naruto doesn't want you either!" the blond ninja snapped back. Itachi cleared his throat.
"Team 7 and Sai may leave," Itachi said dismissively. "I have something else to discuss with Lady Yamanaka." Sasuke gave his brother a suspicious look, but remained quiet and lead the others out of the room. A much stronger jutsu enveloped the three of them. "Crocodile has been a loyal Guardian for the Uchiha family for years." Itachi stared at the door where the man in question had just exited. "However, his loyalties are not with me." Both Ino and Hinata stared at the king in alarm.
"Would forcing him into the open be effective?" Ino asked. Her body was tense, as if she wanted to personally toss Sai into the dungeons. Itachi almost looked amused.
"You are partially correct. He is hindered in the open, but it is not him that I am trying to reveal."
"The person who possesses his loyalty," Hinata said. The king inclined his head once.
"Which brings me to my tasks for you." Itachi glanced at the door where Team 7 and Sai had just exited. "I believe that Sai belongs to a certain secret organization. The greatest proof would be a seal on the back of his tongue. You will find it and confirm if it exists." Hinata nodded in acceptance even as she worried over how she could possibly achieve it with a substandard Byakugan. And seals generally only appeared when active, meaning she had the best chance to see the seal when Sai was outright trying to avoid the specified triggers.
"The second task applies to both of you. You are to report to me regarding all the people that Sasuke interacts with and give me a new perspective. Do keep this from the rest of them, however, as Team 7 was compiled and trained to be a frontal assault team. Reconnaissance is not their strength, and playing a long-term show may be beyond their specialties. Sakura, Naruto, and Sai can protect my foolish little brother from most threats, but as today clearly demonstrates, that is no longer enough." The king had tight control over his expressions, but no one could mistake the dark look in his eyes. Itachi was not someone to be played with.
"Yes, your highness," Ino said smoothly. "We will complete our mission as quickly as possible." The elder Uchiha brother blinked, and then any sign murderous intent was gone on the blank canvas of his handsome face. Instead, he smiled slightly, clearly a false move to put them at ease.
"Thank you, Lady Yamanaka. I appreciate your service to the kingdom." The final tone in his words indicated that this conversation had reached its end. Ino stood up and bowed instead of curtsying as she usually did, signifying her commitment as a warrior for the king, not a mere lady of the court.
"My pleasure to serve, my king."
"I will do my best in the tasks," Hinata said as she also stood and bowed. She remembered Itachi's earlier reference to false proclamations of loyalty and only promised what she could guarantee.
"Then you are dismissed." Ino and she headed for the door. "Oh, and Hinata, I am also still waiting for the other report regarding the events of your exile." She looked back at him and Itachi gave her a look of expectation.
"I'm...working on it." It was a blatant lie, but Itachi only looked vaguely amused and bade them both a good day as they exited.
Team 7 and Sai were waiting outside. The Guardian had already managed to change into the Sun jounin uniform black shirt and pants, complete with a flak jacket. However, it seemed that supply had run out of larger shirts, given the pale expanse of toned stomach revealed for everyone to see. Hinata's eyes lingered a little longer than necessary and then she forced her gaze away with carefully hidden disgust. Her cheeks heated in a mixture of self-recrimination and embarrassment. This man's sole duty was to protect Sasuke, and he was trying to kill him instead. It was betrayal of the highest level, when a guardian betrayed his ward. There was no doubt that the prince trusted his Guardians, and yet Hinata and Ino could only stand here and watch the traitorous Crocodile waiting for a chance to drag his prey underwater.
"What did you discuss?" demanded Sasuke. Ino fluttered her eyelashes prettily.
"Yamanaka clan business," she said truthfully. She gave the prince a coy smile. "If you want to know, you will need to marry into the clan. I think Yamanaka Sasuke has quite a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Naruto snickered in the background, while Sakura looked like she was moments from doing the same. Sai seemed confused.
"But, Gorgeous, Prince Charming is the male," he said. "Doesn't the female take on the husband's family name?"
"Prince Charming?" Ino looked like she was sucking on a lemon in the effort to keep from laughing. Even Hinata had to put effort into biting back a smile. Sasuke looked like he wanted to strangle Sai right there and then.
"I told you not to call me that," he snapped.
"But I thought that applied only to my prior role. Since I no longer need to keep my identity secret, I do not need to restrain my personality."
"Oh kami, that was restrained before?" Sakura whispered next to Hinata. She looked at the medic quizzically and the other girl caught her expression. "All the Guardians were introduced to us when we were assigned to Sasuke's team. Sometimes they join us for missions. C-Sai is..." Sakura sighed and patted Hinata's shoulder. "The first time he interacted with us, Team 7 hated each other. Sai was socially inept enough to think that we were friends. You know how Naruto and Sasuke call each other names, right? Well, he seemed to think that nicknames are a form of friendship. Unfortunately, he also fails at finding flattering words." Hinata frowned in thought.
"He calls Ino 'Gorgeous', but I don't think she knows him," she said. Was the social ignorance a ruse, or reality? The medic shrugged.
"It's been a while. I...convinced him that calling girls mean names wasn't good for his health, but he's taken to calling every strange girl 'Gorgeous'." Somehow, Hinata had the idea that Sakura's idea of 'convincing' was of a rather violent type. "However, he still calls me -"
"Hag, can you clear this up for me?" Sai interrupted. A dark shadow fell across Sakura's face. Hinata stared. That vein throbbing on her forehead couldn't possibly be healthy. "I thought it was based on physical attributes, but it seems that whomever is the girliest one in the relationship takes the clan name of the manlier one. Does that mean that your boyfriend will take on your name, since you're far more manly than -"
"Sai. Sweetie. Darling," Sakura said with a smile that contained far too many teeth. She rubbed at her knuckles thoughtfully and then started leading Sai down towards the training halls. "It seems that you have a lot of to learn about being Uchiha Sasuke, so let's go to the dojo and have a nice long talk about these things." It was clear to Hinata that Sakura meant for Sai to have a rather intimate conversation with her fists. Hinata concluded that Sai really was that socially inept, because no one would purposely anger the medic like that.
"Bastard, come on! This is going to be good!" Naruto snickered and skipped after them, dragging Sasuke with him. Ino and Hinata remained standing, with only the two silent Guardians outside Itachi's office door staring at them. The blond turned to Hinata and gestured with a graceful motion.
"Naruto did say it will be a 'good show'. After you." While Hinata was peaceable by nature, she appreciated a little karmic justice just as much as the next person. Sai absolutely deserved it if what Itachi said was true.
It couldn't have been more than a few minutes between their arrivals, yet the dojo was already a mess of craters and broken wooden beams. Several other soldiers - clearly previous occupants of the area - were in the process of sidling towards the exit as they stared at the tiny pink-haired girl punching new fault lines in the ground. The sad part was that they didn't look quite shocked enough for this to be an abnormal scene.
"Damn it! Get back here and take it like a man!" Sakura screamed as her fists glowed and she jumped up to punch down at the Guardian. He barely managed to dodge it. The momentum of the medic's attack pulled her to the ground, and her arm sank elbow-deep into the new hole in the floor. Splinters flew through the air in horrifying slow motion, dancing around Sakura's waving pink locks like confetti.
Hinata whimpered.
"W-we...just..." She couldn't finish. Jerkily, she turned her head to where Naruto was cheering to their left. Sasuke was leaning against the wall near the entrance with his arms crossed. He looked bored as he watched Sakura and Sai lay the dojo to waste. He should be furious. They'd just cleaned it yesterday. Why wasn't he furious? Everything indicated that Uchiha Sasuke should be furi-
"Kin...?" Ino leaned in and tapped her shoulder carefully. "You're scaring people." Hinata ripped her gaze away from the sacrilege occurring right before her. Her hand had unconsciously reached back for her naginata. The blade was already halfway out of the sheath.
"But they..."
There was a rather sickening sound of knuckles driving into a soft gut. Sakura let out a screech of triumph and dragged Sai's gasping form off the field of their battle by the back of his hood. It took a while, since the medic made sure to bump his body over all the potholes on the way back to her teammates.
"Wahoo, Sakura! That'll teach him to say how manly you are!" Sakura was panting, but she wasn't too tired to glare at the blond suspiciously for his wording.
"Say how manly I am?" she questioned dangerously. "And pray tell, Uzumaki Naruto, what is that supposed to mean?" Naruto's grin slipped slightly.
"That's what he said," he said hurriedly. Sasuke grumbled and rolled his eyes.
"Idiots. Cat, come out." The Cat Guardian dropped out of nowhere to crouch respectfully in front of the prince. "Fix this before Kin hurts someone." Sasuke glanced at Hinata and smirked. She quickly dropped her hands by her sides, far away from her weapons. She had better control over herself than that.
"I wish you guys would stop destroying the dojos," Cat muttered as he stood and faced the horrific wreckage of the room. "I feel more like a maid than a Guardian." Sakura grinned at him.
"Hello Kitty," she said sweetly, as if she hadn't tried to remodel the room with her bare fists. A resigned air surrounded Cat and he scratched at his covered head.
"Please don't call me that, Miss Sakura." She smiled. "My codename is Cat."
"Then would you rather me call you-"
"Flirt later. Fix now." Sasuke stood behind Cat with a dark glower, his face eerily illuminated by what looked like a light from under his chin. Naruto looked at him and yelped, screaming something "using fear to control his minions". The Guardian sighed and flickered through a series of hand seals. Then he held out his palm towards the wreckage. Hinata stared as the floorboards came alive, reknitting themselves back together into newness. It was like watching a wondrous dance in reverse.
"Amazing..." she whispered, hands clasped in awe in front of her.
Itachi was conspiring with Hinata. Sasuke knew it, and he couldn't say a damn thing about it. If his brother had resorted to body doubles for him, Sasuke knew that this assassination attempt was a lot more troubling than Itachi was willing to let on. While that wasn't news to the prince, it was also telling that the king was no longer playing games. As much as Sasuke valued his independence, he was also sharp enough to realize that this wasn't an appropriate time. He'd outright been ordered to attend, where there were more eyes guarding his every movement.
Sasuke was used to Itachi's protective phases, but it was strange that his brother still adhered to Hinata's false name. That indicated that there were deeper agendas at work. The prince had already accepted the fact that Hinata was an ally now, not some criminal to kick around, but it was rather annoying to realize that she'd somehow risen higher than him. The little Moon princess was now sharing secrets with the Sun King. Apparently, the Sun Prince was just chopped liver.
"Amazing..." Hinata cooed in awe over Cat's ninjutsu, as if just to prove Sasuke's point. He rolled his eyes and approached the two girls in the doorway.
"When you are finished gawking, do step inside. You're blocking the doorway." He braced himself for another of the blond noblewoman's hugs. Instead, Ino only gave him a passing smile and then glided towards where Sakura was reluctantly healing the enormous bruise on Sai's stomach.
"You look just like Prince Sasuke," Ino said with a little titter of delight. She held out her hand. "I do believe that we weren't formally introduced. I am Lady Yamanaka Ino, heir of the illustrious Yamanaka Clan." Sai blinked and took it. After a moment, he stiffly pecked the back of her hand and gave her a tooth-curlingly false smile.
"Pleased to meet you," he said as he stood. Sakura had finished, and stood by, watching the scene with interest. "Does this mean that we are friends now?" Ino gave him a bashful look. Sasuke stared with a mixture of relief and shock. If he had known all his fangirl troubles would have been solved with a body double, he would have taken advantage of Crocodile much, much earlier.
"If you want us to be," she demurred. "We are going to be dance partners."
"I will be your prince, Goldilocks." It might have been romantic if Sai hadn't said it in such a flat voice. Or had referenced the wrong fairy tale. Ino gave the Guardian a strange look.
"Goldilocks?" she asked.
"Your hair is gold," Sai explained. "Isn't that what Goldilocks is? A blond girl who fights boars?" Ino's eye twitched slightly.
"Bears. Goldilocks encounters bears that share their porridge with her." Sakura cut in with a badly hidden look of amusement. "I didn't know you were into fairy tales." A snigger from Naruto drew Sasuke's attention.
"Dickless suggested them as a way to learn about people. I admit that the characters in the stories are unusually powerful. For example..." Sasuke stopped listening when Naruto screamed in outrage and tackled the tactless jounin. Hinata looked like she had eaten something questionable, as the expression on the bottom half of her face was a mix of repulsion and pain. Unless it was because she was still injured.
"Did Sakura not finish healing you?" he demanded. Hinata's head jerked up, so she seemed to be looking at him. Sasuke wasn't sure, and the urge to order her to unmask herself reemerged. It wasn't even because he wanted to prove himself right anymore. It was just so disconcerting to always be staring at her lips.
"She did a good job," Hinata said softly as she shook her head. "I am in as perfect health as I can be."
"Hn." He was relieved to hear it, even if he hadn't asked it.
"...and so Kin is Princess P," Sai finished saying. Sasuke forced himself to remain deceptively relaxed. Princess? What was he talking about? Did he find out or did Itachi let Sai in on this secret? Beside him, he could feel the tension thrumming through every line of Hinata's tiny body.
"Princess?" Sasuke found himself scoffing as he approached the group. "Kin's no princess."
"But why Princess Pea?" Naruto asked. A new bruise was forming on his whiskered face, a rather obvious sign of exactly how Sakura had ended the fight between Sai and her teammate.
"P for pervert." Sai gave them a wide smile. Even though all the right muscles were engaged, it was incredibly creepy. "Princess Pervert. She was staring at my stomach. The Hag always yells at Dickless for being a pervert when he's female bodies." So Sai didn't know, though despite his denseness to some social normalities, Sasuke had to admit that the Guardian was sharp when it came noticing unflattering personality quirks.
"I see what you did there - very punny!" Naruto yelled with a big laugh. Then his mirth dropped off his face. "Now I'm going to kill you."
"Stop, Naruto," Sakura said with a sigh and a hand on his arm. "We can do that after the ball. If we're going to convince anyone that 'Sasuke' is making a proper appearance, we have a lot of work to do regarding that idiot."
"Sakura is correct," Sasuke said as he cut in. "Today is the 18th of December, giving us only twelve days until the Winter Ball. We don't have much time." A quick glance confirmed that they were now alone in the room. Cat had disappeared again, and would keep any unwanted eavesdroppers away. "Yamanaka will need to make sure Sai can perform the required dances. Kin, as well, will need lessons." While he knew that Hinata had learned the dances, the others didn't. He turned to her and trailed off.
Hinata was turned away from them, standing so still he wasn't sure if she was breathing.
"Kin?" Ino asked. The ex-princess didn't respond, didn't even seem to hear her. Sakura tapped her shoulder. Slowly, as if she were swimming in molasses, Hinata turned her head. She seemed dazed, though it was hard to tell with the half-veil.
"I'm...not...feeling very well," she whispered faintly. "Could I...lay down?" The medic immediately began checking her over, but after several moments of confused silence, Sakura just shrugged.
"You don't know what's wrong?" Sasuke asked. What was going on? Moments earlier, she'd seemed functional, complete with nervous awareness of everything around her.
"Shock?" Sakura said uncertainly. "Traumatic experiences could take a while to process. We're going to take her back to Ino-pig's suite." That might be true if she was talking about a pampered civilian. But this was Hinata, who'd managed to make a reputation for herself by hunting down wanted criminals. A little assassination attempt wouldn't shake her, would it?
Then again, she had been very fond of Storm. Sasuke scowled and suppressed the slight twinge at the thought of the spirited stallion.
"Fine, whatever. Just don't take too long." Just another question to add to his endless list regarding Hinata.
She was dreaming of laundry.
Enormous white sheets soaked in tubs of bleach and water. Several already hung on long clotheslines, dancing in the summer winds. The playful breeze herded the clouds across the perfect blue sky like a flock of sheep. Hinata threw her head back and laughed as the wind lifted her long midnight locks and tickled her cheeks with her own hair. The scent of clean soap and fresh grass was warm and comforting, mixing with the scent of lavender in her shampoo. Her dress was white, a lovely purity against the emerald green of the rolling hills behind her.
"Hinata! There you are!" The princess turned to see her genin team. A tiny Akamaru bounded up to her, followed by eleven-year-old Kiba. They barely stopped themselves in time to avoid barrelling her over, and gave her lopsided grins brimming with wolfish humor. Little Shino and Kurenai followed at a more sedate pace. The Aburame shook his head slightly at Kiba's antics and gave Hinata a small nod in greeting. Kurenai gave Hinata a warm hug and smiled at her.
"Hi, darling," her teacher greeted. Hinata sank in the hug, savoring the human affection she so rarely received anywhere else. Kurenai smelled of warmth and vague childhood memories. "How are you?"
"I missed you guys." Kurenai's red eyes crinkled.
Then her face began to melt.
Bony fingers restrained Hinata as she tried to scream. The world broke into a storm of darkness and dust. The sheets were staining crimson red, never to be washed clean again. The smell of ashes and burning flesh filled Hinata's senses.
"Good," the skull where Kurenai's head used to bed said with a clack of too-white teeth. "It would be ungrateful of you to forget us."
A skeleton dressed in Kiba's clothes lunged for her, arms locked around her neck.
"You won't forget us, right? Princess Hinata?" The skeleton of Shino leaned with hiss as hands gripped her chin and forced her to look down. Her white dress was splashed with blood, looking all the more horrifying because of the contrast. The sharp metallic scent of blood prickled her nose. Red, red everywhere. Hinata tried to struggle and they restrained her even tighter. Their empty eye sockets bore into her. More skeletons filled her peripheral vision.
"We dedicated our lives to you, Princess Hinata." Her genin teams' voices were diluted into a chorus of thousands, moaning her title like a curse. "We will always protect you. Princess Hinata...you are our beloved Moon Princess..."
Hinata woke silently, with a violent jerk of her body. It took her few moments to remember to breath, and even then, it came in shaky whimpers, as if her lungs were hesitant of the right to sustain her life. Her eyes were dry, staring uselessly into the darkness of the bedroom she was sharing with Ino. Hinata's body was still neatly arranged under the undisturbed sheets, in exactly the same position as when she had fallen asleep. Too many nights in the desert had conditioned her for still, careful rest.
Slowly, Hinata sat up and covered her face with trembling fingers. The soft rise and fall of Ino's breath was soothing, and she sat still as a statue, focusing her all on the signs of life in the darkness. Red still slashed the insides of her eyelids.
With a sigh, Hinata quietly slipped out of bed and pulled on a pair of loose pants under her knee-length sleeping tunic. She grabbed her naginata from its place in the corner of the room and haphazardly tied her half-veil around her face. She left her hair down, like an additional shield around her. Her feet were bare, only distantly feeling the cool chill of the stone-paved floor. The door opened and closed soundlessly, and then Hinata was padding silently to the dojo she had helped Sasuke clean.
The training hall was dimly lit with pale slivers of moonlight like splashes of chaos against the clean lines of the floor, and Hinata let the shadows envelop her like a familiar friend. Her close brush with death was barely a drop in the ocean of her thoughts, but the passing mention of a simple date parched her mind of any reason.
The nightmares would only continue if Hinata tried to sleep. The date haunted her. Before she was exiled, the only way to sooth the guilt was to work herself into an exhaustion so deep that her rest was closer to unconsciousness than slumber. When she was in the desert, Hinata made sure to avoid any way of learning the date during the entire month of December.
Hinata slid into a half-hearted kata meant for beginners to wake herself up. Her stiff muscles loosened with the smooth motions, and she could feel the tension in the back of her shoulders ease. It was comforting to lose herself in isolation, with nothing but the soft shuffle of her feet against wood like heartbeats and whistle of her blade like breaths.
But her thoughts were still too loud with her memories, and Hinata stumbled. Too easy. Instead, she dropped into her favorite scorpion stance, inhaled, and then exploded into a swift series of attacks difficult enough she needed to think with her whole body. She lashed out like a striking viper, jabbing her naginata forward with one hand on the end, and then immediately snapped it back with a twist of her wrist. The weapon blurred around her body as she twirled it. Hinata dropped into a lunging crouch and pivoted into a high leaping kick, her blade and heel meeting the face and stomach of an imaginary enemy. She hung in the air for a moment, and then even as she fell, Hinata was already targeting the imagined knee and groin. Her long hair lingered behind her like an afterimage, another blur in the motion. She became a mere extension of the weapon: unthinking, unfeeling, uncaring. There was only movement.
Hinata completed the final flip of the advanced kata and landed in a deceptively harmless position. She simply stood. Her glaive was held behind her, parallel to the ground, and her head was turned away as if in deep thought. For a moment, her mind was quiet, filled with the rhythm of her quickened breathing. Her pulse pounded in her ears.
Someone clapped.
Hinata turned and watched as Sasuke stepped into the dojo. Moonlight fell against the planes of his face like an old lover's gaze, simultaneously sharpening his features with light and softening them with darkness. He stopped several feet away from her, well out of the range of her naginata.
"Why are you awake so late?"
"I couldn't sleep," Hinata replied blandly. She was reluctant to give the prince a straight answer, not when her stomach turned with an odd mix of annoyance and relief that he'd interrupted her practiced process of surviving with her guilt.
"Really? Here I had no idea that to be awake, you had to be not asleep. Silly me," Sasuke deadpanned. Hinata gave him a flat look, feeling particularly irritated that he dared to mock her on top of interrupting a very private moment.
"Then what are you doing?" she snapped back before she could think through her words. "Sleepwalking?" Sasuke lifted at eyebrow and crossed his arms.
"Merely getting back from a late meeting with my second-in-command. Kingdom stuff. Not that you would know," he replied snidely, reacting to her sneering tone.
"Feeling really important are we, little baby brother?" she shot back. "Be careful, Crown Prince Uchiha Sasuke. People's lives aren't chess pieces." Hinata regretted her outburst even before she finished her last sentence. It was like she was trying to pick a fight. With the crown prince of all people. It wasn't his fault that he appeared at the wrong place and the wrong time. He was simply asking very normal questions and she was taking out all her self-loathing on him. Her nightmare affected her more than she wanted to admit.
Rather than explode with defensive anger, Sasuke merely looked at her with confusion.
"What is wrong with you?" he finally asked. He did look angry, but also far too tired to really work up the momentum of any fit of temper.
"Sorry," she whispered, shrinking into herself. Hinata clenched her fists around the naginata, squeezing until her knuckles seemed pale even in dim lighting. It was so easy to forget where she was when her team's faces seemed to fill her vision no matter where she looked. Her eyes throbbed, but there were no tears.
"Since you're clearly healed, you still owe me a spar." Hinata jerked her head up, taken aback by the change of topic.
"Wha?" she answered intelligently.
"A spar," he reiterated slowly as if she had a hearing problem.
"Really? Now?" Hinata couldn't help but protest. Normally, she was a patient and passive person, but she was exhausted and hurting and even the thought of the effort of restraint was too much. "You choose now to challenge me to a spar?"
"Why not? Clearly you need to get your mind off whatever issue you're wallowing in. I'd say I'm being generous and helping you."
"Generous?" Hinata repeated skeptically. It was like he was trying to anger her. Suddenly, she felt so tired. "Sasuke. Your highness. Please just leave me alone. This is not a good night. I'll spar with you another time."
"Why?" he asked. "If you are training, it is always better to do so with a partner."
"I wasn't training."
"Then why not?" Sasuke gave her a disdainful lift of his eyebrow. "Give me a good reason why you won't spar with me. It's not like you have anything better to do. "
"Maybe because eight years ago today, two of my genin teammates died because of me," she snarled. "That's why I don't want to spar with you! Because I am too damn busy honoring their memory. I apologize if that isn't a good enough reason." Hinata clapped a hand over her mouth, disbelieving that she'd just blurted it out like that. She'd just been so angry with his tactless words that she'd just lost control.
Sasuke paused and studied her carefully with dark, calculating eyes.
"Itachi once showed me my teammates' deaths in a genjutsu for 72 hours straight." His words could almost be interpreted as an attempt at comforting, but the tone was oddly challenging.
"Are you...trying to compete with me?" Hinata could not believe this jerk.
"My mistake," he said coolly. "I thought we were telling our sob stories from our past" She was speechless with rising rage. Sasuke continued with a disdainful flick of his fingers, as if he were dismissing a boring servant. "I'm sure your teammates died very courageously and all, but I'm also certain they won't begrudge you one little spar. They're not going anywhere." He smirked at her arrogantly. "Royalty takes priority over...I'm guessing some insignificant samurai clans assigned to your team as cannon fodder to protect the princess. Sacrifices need to be made and they were the most expendable. As someone of noble birth, you really shouldn't be bothering yourself with lowly-"
Hinata lunged at him with an inhuman shriek.
"Shut up!" she spat. He raised his sheathed katana, catching her overhead swing. There was a moment of tense stillness as Hinata tried to overpower him, and then she ripped away her naginata. She pivoted, twisting into a combination of strikes aimed for all his weak points. Neck, solar plexus, groin, knee, and he deflected them all with his sword still in its dark, sleek sheath. She spun into a high kick, which he easily dodged by leaning back slightly, so he was looking haughtily down his nose at her. His face remained coldly expressionless, as if she wasn't even the worth that much effort. Frustration and fury made her too sloppy to be remotely effective, but Hinata couldn't stop attacking, lashing out at him with which part of her that was closer.
He never unsheathed his katana, and stood there calmly, parrying away her useless attacks. There was a coolness on Hinata's cheeks, and she realized that she was crying, finally unleashing the buried emotions inside her. She also realized with a sinking sensation that Sasuke had goaded her into taking everything out on him. She was too tired to even feel humiliated. The intensity of her attacks lessened, until she was simply standing in front of him, bearing the blade of her weapon down on his in a parody of a power struggle.
It felt freeing to blame someone else for a change, even if it was in a haze of rage.
"You really are a bastard," she whispered.
Sasuke was having trouble following Hinata's mood swings.
Years of experience had taught Sasuke very specific strategies when dealing the different women in his life. Sakura's tempers were easy enough to deal with a grudgingly kind word and a meaningful glare at her boyfriend. Or at one of the servants if something chocolate was required. His mom just needed hugs, which he was not all that reluctant to give as long as no one else was around to witness it. Fangirls like Ino responded best to glares and frowns, despite the fact that he had no idea why that worked. Even Naruto's tantrums were perfectly fixable with fists, no problem.
But none of them oscillated quite as dramatically between all the extremes like Hinata.
He had walked in on a warrior woman when she was running kata. But when she had finished, within a blink of an eye, she had turned into this feral beast, hissing and spitting and lashing out. And then before Sasuke could regain his bearings, here she was, shrinking in on herself like a dying bug. It was great that she was finally reacting to him, but he wished she would just make up her mind so he could develop the appropriate strategy to addressing...this...
"Sorry," she whispered meekly. Her head was bowed too low for someone born royalty, and it grated against something in Sasuke that this pathetic creature was also the skilled huntress that could stand equal to him in taijutsu. Had Storm's death affected her so much? She'd succumbed to shock, according to Sakura, but then she wouldn't be here, training herself to death. Even now, Hinata seemed distracted. It was a far cry from her usual tense cognizance.
"Since you're clearly healed, you still owe me a spar," he reminded her. She jerked her head up.
"Wha?" she answered intelligently.
"A spar," he reiterated slowly as if she had a hearing problem.
"Really? Now?" Her mouth was currently twisted in a small, skeptical sneer. He found that far more flattering than the sad frown that had occupied her lips before. "You choose now to challenge me to a spar?" Anything to stop her from turning back into a spineless thing, like a slug with salt poured on it. Her pitiable display sickened him.
"Why not?" he asked. "Clearly you need to get your mind off whatever issue you're wallowing in. I'd say I'm being generous and helping you." Sasuke was lying. If he was really feeling generous, he would have left her in peace. He was tired from dealing with an afternoon of clueless Sai and his short-tempered teammates and useless intelligence reports from Shikamaru. However, despite his fatigue, the prince found himself unwilling to leave, trying to piece together a girl that he wasn't responsible for breaking.
"Generous?" Hinata repeated. "Sasuke. Your highness. Please just leave me alone. This is not a good night. I'll spar with you another time."
Again, she was retreating back into herself. Sasuke was at a loss on how to proceed, so he simply stood there. She was clutching her naginata like an old woman clung to her walking stick, like she would topple if her grip even lessened an iota. He hated her like this. Her palpable self-loathing was disgusting to someone like him, who cherished dignity alongside his life. Sasuke was not a tolerant person, and when he encountered something he disliked, he fixed it.
So he baited her. Years of being around Naruto had taught him the exact formula to offending someone, even someone as passive as Hinata. Figure out what they cared most about, and then be a callous jerk about it. Hinata had practically handed him her lure on silver platter when she tried to use his conscience to convince him to leave.
"My mistake," he said coolly. "I thought we were telling our sob stories from our past." She was speechless with rising rage. It was working, so Sasuke pushed it a little further. "Royalty takes priority over...I'm guessing some insignificant samurai clans assigned to your team as cannon fodder to protect the princess." Even though they were in earshot of his current Guardian, the usage of 'princess' could be metaphorical, so Sasuke didn't think much of the term. "Sacrifices need to be made and they were the most expendable. As someone of noble birth, you really shouldn't be bothering yourself with lowly-"
Hinata lunged at him.
She had lasted much longer than he'd expected her to, and he had been prepared. But the pure killer intent concentrated on him was still shocking enough that Sasuke barely had time to block her first strike. On hindsight, the prince realized that he was lucky that her grief was making her technique sloppy, because that kind of killer intent made Hinata a very scary woman when angered. If he found her oddly captivating despite the ugly snarl framed by snake-like strands of dark violet hair, Sasuke didn't bother to acknowledge the thought.
Hinata's rage didn't last long, and eventually she was standing in front of him, barely pressing her weapon against the katana he held out parallel to the ground. Her long hair was liquid black in the dim lighting, and fell in tangled strands around her face, framing a mouth crumpled in some sort of sad smile. She was breathing too fast , and he realized that her cheeks were shining with wetness. Hinata was crying in the only way that was fitting of her - quietly, unobtrusively, hiding in the shadows. No one naturally cried like that. Sasuke had a hunch that like ninja who learned to be unnoticeable after years of practice, Hinata learned to conceal nearly all the signs of her pain.
"You really are bastard," she said softly. Even her voice didn't sound muddled with water.
"I was not born out of wedlock. And I win this spar," he said, because Sasuke wasn't sure he could say anything else. Everything that came to mind sounded stupid: I'm sorry about your traumatic past, hopefully one little fake-fight will fix it all up even though I'm not quite sure what happened here, go to sleep already, just pretend this never happened, you're done leaking out of your eyes now, right? She hiccuped in laughter and sniffled. Normally, he found that rather gross when anyone snorted back their mucus, but Hinata somehow made it sound delicate and ladylike and almost cute.
Sasuke jerked his katana from her naginata and rehooked it on his belt. This was a fugitive, a criminal. No matter what a select few knew, the opinions of an entire kingdom was just as important. While Hinata might be an ally now, it was always unwise to become entangled with key figures in whatever conspiracy laced the current political landscape. 'Cute' was only the beginning of what could be a slippery slope.
"You win," she conceded. Now that she was clearly mentally stable, he could leave. He turned for the door.
"As long as that is clear," Sasuke tossed over his shoulder.
"Thank you," she called after him. He paused and then forced his smile back into a scowl. The pleased pride swelling in his chest was due to his ability to calm the raging beast of a hysterical female, or even because the annoying little princess had finally acknowledged his superior taijutsu. It wasn't because of something stupidly simple like her gratitude.
He really was a lot more tired than he thought he was.
"Hn," Sasuke grunted and left.
"Thank you," she called softly after him. Hinata had uttered it more in a habit of good manners than anything else, but she meant every nuance of it.
"Hn,' he grunted in response as he exited. Hinata blinked, warring feelings of indignation and amusement pulling her mouth into an awkward half-smile. At least it was good to know that he was still the rude and arrogant prince she thought he was. But even though Sasuke was a study of mixed signals, he somehow still managed to convey his rather sweet intentions. While he hadn't fixed her by any sort of measure, those precious moments of distraction when the prince had pushed her into expelling her emotions was enough of a reprieve for Hinata to remember herself.
It was unseemly of her to fall apart like this. So many years of running away from her grief only led to a pent up mess of unresolved guilt, rancid with neglect. If Sasuke could so easily unwind her with just words, it was time for a change. She couldn't heal infected wounds by closing her eyes, and Hinata couldn't heal herself by closing her heart.
All it took was one ornery prince to make her comprehend this.
An:
-Thank you, Rhinst! Beta-mon Digivolve to...Awesome-Beta-mon? (Please don't judge me...)
- Woah. Massive inbox explosion with all the reviews. You guys are epic.
- On that note...did not expect such a reaction to Storm. T_T I hadn't meant him to be that popular.
-Oh Sai. You make me sigh. Okay, now that's out of my system...Sai has been around Sasuke for a while. However, as a Guardian, he hasn't really been interacting with Team 7 and therefore, is still rather stupid in human connections and such. But mainly because clueless Sai is hilarious and his attempts to imitate Sasuke are all better when he's not aware of such things. Sasuke hasn't exactly set a good example over the years...XD
-So I really really hate writing Hinata as sad and whiney and perfect little princess, but girl's not made of stone either.
-Doctor Sasuke is in the house...in his own way, he was trying to help, but this is Sasuke. He's not going to hug Hinata and whisper sweet nothings into her ear. Hinata's not exactly ready to throw herself into his chest and make his manly bosom wet with womanly tears, either. I don't really buy into the distraught-girl-throws-herself-into-the-first-manly-chest-in-the-vicinity plot device. There has got to be some emotional connection there.
-As always, any feedback on what's good, what's not good is much appreciated. Review review!
