Beg

2

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Hinata sat quietly on a bench to the far side of a road which was now becoming empty. It was getting late and it had been hours since Naruto had been dragged off by Sasuke and Sakura. Mostly Sakura. She hoped that everything had turned out all right and that he hadn't gotten into too much trouble. She worried about him a lot, sometimes so much so that she seriously considered running off to visually confirm her beliefs. He was never within the range of her Byakugan, a blood line trait passed to the members of the Huuga clan by birth, so she found herself constantly straining her abilities even though she knew all attempts were useless.

No matter how desperate she became, however, would she never abandon her team mates, Kiba and Shino. Not that it made much of a difference. Nothing she did never seemed to lead to improvement. Hinata viewed herself as mentally and physically incapable of being a ninja. As did a few others.

All the while her cousin, Neji Huuga, was getting stronger all the time. Naturally gifted. A genius. The true heir to the Huuga clan in another time line, she was sure of it, and yet he had been burdened with the duty of being her protector. Just because her father was born a few seconds earlier than her uncle, Neji's father, who was now dead. How absurd. How utterly absurd.

Why? She always found herself asking. Why me? I'm not special at all…maybe…if I died…my sister could be the heir instead…and Neji-niisan wouldn't have to protect anyone anymore. He could be free.

Suddenly Hinata's mind flashed back to the red-headed boy from earlier. How…murderous he'd looked. Hinata shivered violently at the thought of him, but only for a second. Did he always look at people like that? Hinata couldn't help but wonder.

"Hinata." a low, hoarse voice called. She looked up and almost yelped in surprise as the fiery red head glared at her. For a ridiculous second she thought he'd come out of her thoughts but she quickly composed herself. Had he been following her? And he called her by her name. Did he know her? He stared at her, eyes boring into her skull. It was much worse when he was looking directly at her, his whole body facing forward, attention directed fully at her.

His arms were crossed and his stance was almost perfectly vertical. No slouch at all. He probably had to practice perfect balance because of the gourd on his back. If not it would have messed up his spine. He looked at her, bored, as if thinking of something to say. She fidgeted in her seat, extremely uncomfortable, fear rattling each individual disk in her spine. She fought to control herself. He took a step forward shattering all attempts she was struggling for.

"Do you…" he began softly, as if trying to pick his words carefully. His voice, no matter how quiet, could never retain any source of friendliness, although an obvious trace of patience could be found in each syllable.

"enjoy being alive?"

His question had taken Hinata completely off guard. Was this a death threat or was he really trying to extract a serious answer out of her? She couldn't tell, but he waited a few seconds as if waiting for an actual reply.

"Wh-who are you?" Hinata struggled to reach for the right words but this was all she could come up with.

"Why?" he asked looking oblivious, his voice hard. "Why do you…fear me?"

Hinata just looked at him. She didn't know what to say. Deep down she knew she was a coward, a characteristic completely unfit for a ninja, but there was just something about him…

"Do you…" he began, his voice on edge and a bit more serious.

"want me to make you fear me?"

In the next second his hand stretched forward as an invisible force popped the cork from his gourd. On instinct Hinata jumped from the bench she had been nervously clutching at as it crushed completely under the impact of a constricting stream of golden sand. It took Hinata a short while before she fully realized that the sand had came from the gourd on his back.

He controls sand…

She had never seen anything like it before. He could actually manipulate sand, bend it and move it to his will. Hinata had always had an abnormal sense of smell when she was younger. No where near as keen as her dog friend Kiba of course, but she could smell blood radiating off of that sand. Wafts of it. It smelled of iron and rust…It was so strong that she could have sworn she saw traces of red in the sand.

How many people…?

Hinata's thoughts trailed off to a dark place. That sand was a shifting graveyard. Would she become one of those people…? Would she die today? If she did…would anyone notice? Certainly not Neji, not Father… in fact he'd probably be happy. She was being dragged into a void of spiraling depression as she thought of Naruto. Would Naruto…? Probably not. No…definitely not. As much as she admired him, idolized him, loved him…he hardly ever knew she existed. But that was the fault of her own cowardice. Kiba and Shino could find a new team mate with no problem. They hadn't even been together that long. Hardly a few months.

So when it all came down to it…nobody would miss her.

The whole time she was swiftly trying to dodge the waves of sand that came rushing after her. One attack after another. Her jacket was torn across the shoulder blade and she'd received a few cuts on her cheek and legs. She hardly noticed. The adrenaline kept her moving, kept her from deaths clutches for seconds at a time, a surrender looking better and better each moment. She didn't have time to think about it before a wave of sand came from under her twisting her ankle leaving her to the mercy of a second wave of sand that twisted around her entire body clutching her into submission.

This was it. She couldn't move anymore. Any attempts she could think of for escape were useless.

She gasped for air that was slowly escaping her with each grip of pressure that the sand inflicted upon her body, crushing her. Her eyes struggled to get a view of the fire haired boy who stared at her menacingly. His arms were at his side as he stepped forward. He lowered her body from the air so that she was a little above eye level. He continued to stare patiently as if waiting for an answer of some sort.

"Beg." he grumbled harshly.

Hinata just stared at him with her left eye, the other one wincing in pain.

""Why don't you beg?" he demanded. His voice was getting louder and more impatient. "Beg for your life!"

What was wrong with him? Is this how he got his kicks out of life? What kind of sick individual is this? He wanted her to beg? For what? Her life? Hinata was quiet for a moment as she thought. Both her eyes opened as she looked at Gaara. The color was drained form her face. Trickles of blood ran down the cuts on her cheek. Breathing was becoming harder and harder…and more painful. Words escaped her. She felt like she was drowning.

She dug deep within her mind fishing for something…anything that she could think of that might save her life…if that's what you wanted to call it. Air came out in uneven wisps, consciousness was beginning to leave her, and her throat was steadily becoming dryer.

"Why are you alive? What is your purpose?" he demanded desperately. " What is the point of your existence?" Hinata struggled to speak.

"I don't know." she looked at him with a mournful apologetic expression. He gaped at her in surprise but quickly recovered. "Why…are any of us alive? Why…are you alive?" Hinata, knowing clearly that she didn't have anything to lose, spoke her mind freely; for the first time ever. "I-If you want to kill me," she said, grunting in pain, "then please do it. There has ever only been one reason for my existence on this planet and he hardly even knows I'm alive. I-If you think that killing me will slake your insatiable lust for killing…then I accept without complaint. It will be the first use…I-I have ever been."

She was almost certain that he was going to kill her right then. He could have easily thought that she was challenging him…maybe she was…but death did not come. Instead he stared at her. His expression was hard to decipher. He wasn't angry, he wasn't surprised…he was…thoughtful?

The sand flew from around her body and retreated back into his gourd. The cork, that had disappeared into nowhere only a few minutes ago, had suddenly reappeared into his hand as he popped it back into place. "Uh…" Hinata's body shivered as she gasped for air. Her arms clutched at her sides and she stared at Gaara who's arms hung stiffly in the air. His face was hidden by a shadow that the setting sun created as his chin tilted downwards. His foot slowly pivoted sideways as he turned to walk away.

"This sand…aches for the blood of warriors. You are not worthy." he explained calmly as he walked away. " I will give you three days. Three days to figure out why you are alive. If you cannot give me an answer on the third day…I will kill you."

His words were so final. He sounded so certain. So sure of himself. Hinata closed her eyes relieved that he had left. It gave her some time to think. She looked at the bench that lay in ruins…small traces of sand had been left behind on the grass. It only took a few minutes for her to come to a conclusion. It shouldn't even have taken her that long, for the answer was obvious…clear as day. She would die in three days because she was positive…something she should have known all along but had only been brought to her attention this second…

She'd never give him an answer because…there was no reason for her existence.