A Will of Namazu
Author's Note 1: Watching Daredevil makes me imagine further chapters of A Will of Namazu. Hm.
Author's Note 2: Why do I always block words for your 'sanity'? BECAUSE I JUST LIKE TEASING YOU HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Well, if you want to read rude language then so be it. Must be my French side to tease you with that; truthfully, one of my favorite cartoons (The Boondocks) just kept blocking the rude words and it rubbed off on me... I liked it!
About the new image: I think it just fits the way I portray Hinata in this story. Unohana Retsu 'Yachiru' has turned out to be quite the monster in Bleach. Being the very first and original Kenpachi...damn.
Hey, I just saw that someone added my story to a community. Wow, that's an honor and I'll thank Hinatta for adding A Will of Namazu and liking it!
The songs of this chapter are The Light (The Album Leaf, Into the Blue Again) and On The Precipice Of Defeat (Bleach Original Sountrack 1). I'll use the former again in other chapters of the story – because I'M IN LOVE WITH THIS SONG!
Chapter Eight: The Chameleon That Hides The Monster
Sasuke shifted slightly in his sleep – a twitch here, another there – but never woke up. The rings under his closed eyes were deep, which proved that he had been unable to catch any sleep in days; Hinata knew all too well that it wasn't good for his health and because it might have dire consequences on his body and mind (the idea of Sasuke momently mistaking her for an enemy wasn't ludicrous, it really could happen.). Somehow she found out that her partner seemed – which she still hasn't understood and astonished her – mostly at peace when he was near her; lately he's been intent in following Hinata wherever she would go and when she had questioned him about it, he had merely looked at her blankly for a while before answering.
"For some strange and unknown reasons, I always find myself at peace around you only. I've just found out. That's all you have to know."
Strange reasons he wouldn't even want to explain if she were to ask. As long as he was willing to stick with her until she finally relieved him of the damn seal, Hinata wouldn't berate her partner too much – unless he tried to get himself killed in the stupidest way ever. Her white eyes found his body and watched his face closely. There was no expression on his face as he slept soundly; was he dreaming or...just sleeping? He didn't seem to be in some gruesome nightmare so this was a good sign. Sasuke looked as if he was awake, only with his eyelids closed and his arms wrapped so tightly around her waist that she actually couldn't move one inch. He didn't look like he was angry or grouchy, he really looked at peace. As if there was something about Hinata that made him relax and apease his senses.
As if he were safe.
Kiba and Shino used to tell her that she had a very good and pure influence on them when they always hung out together. Akamaru would always feel joyful and intent to play with her, so eager to have his favorite playtime partner, while his master messed with Shino. They always told her she emitted a pure aura that, once it was wrapped around them like a vivid snake, they all felt at ease and in constant peace. She had asked them about it, both confused and curious, but they had shrugged it off. It seemed to be the case with Sasuke; at other times he would have tensed up upon her touching him when he hadn't given her the permission to do so or even thrown her to the ground. A Chidori would have pierced through her chest, through her body and ending her life in a matter of minutes. His mental conditions weren't to look down at, it was something serious she ought to check on. But if Hinata believed herself to be mentally damaged as well, the percentage of sliding back into this pool of insanity and losing her mind to it was definitely high. There were some flashes of her trip in Snow Country that sometimes invaded her dreams at night and when she dared to watch them closely, all she could see was blood. Blood and death everywhere her white eyes glanced at. Whether this person killing people was Hinata or not, the aura that surrounded her back then wasn't pure and gentle. It was something that reminded her of the persistent blackness Uchiha Sasuke lived in. Only different.
Usually that kind of nightmare brutally woke her up with a start and she would stand in her bed, sweating and her Byakugan activated to check her surroundings. There would be nothing, of course, but those nightmares freaked her out back then. Now...now she just accepted the fact that having those horrid nightmares was something she couldn't – or wouldn't – fight against because it was too strong for her. It looked like a part of this growing insanity inside of her. The last time she had this nightmare was two nights ago, after she and Sasuke had ended their training session. She couldn't really remember how she had gotten in bed but that strange dream she had had couldn't be forgotten that easily; the smell of blood was strong and everywhere, sticking to her nose and clouding over her. Hinata stood in a field with snow covering the ground and hills. It looked like a peaceful landscape – she absolutely loved snow, because it seemed so pure in white. But in this dream, snow wasn't all white.
There was blood mixing with snow. Red and white, that couldn't match. That doesn't match, she thought with a small frown. That was already weird and the sight of it would have made her sick. As she looked around her Hinata could see several bodies lying in pools of blood, some with twisted members and others just missing them. The last expressions on their faces read the approaching fear of death, having taken the appearance of a woman with dark hair and lavender white eyes...and her smile.
Right. This smile. It looked like the gentle and warm smile she always had on her face whenever she talked to someone she knew. Warm and friendly, heart-melting like a thousand of suns. This smile had never ceased to reach everyone to their hearts, touch them and make them friendly. Who knew that smiling like this could also lead someone to a bloody grave? Obviously smiling like this had made Hyuuga Hinata a master of lure – how could you read her smile when you have always known her as someone who was genuinely kind to you? How could you know that her smile could also hide this growing, murderous lunacy inside of her? Her smile was the perfect illusion since her eyes had long stopped betraying her feelings.
Hinata could vaguely remember herself smiling 'warmly' as she murdered countless of these people in this camp, dancing under a rain of blood and snow as her hands – those feminine yet deadly hands – killed men that had fallen for the trap that was her smile. She had never accepted the concept of killing her enemies because of her personality, that was what made her look like weak for so many people. The shy, soft-spoken Hyuuga Hinata who wouldn't dare killing a fly, had outdone herself in Snow Country and had given up on her old personality for a newly forged one, born with a twisted mind that could also become a void where she wouldn't think of anyone – especially people of Konohagakure.
It was strange to watch herself move into this nightmare, where this other Hinata seemed to be in a blissful daze around this landscape of horror and death. She ignored the screaming, kept smiling that incredibly 'warm' yet deceiving grin as she created countless pools of red in the snow. Her hands flashed so fast that they blurred and when her enemies thought they had cornered her, they found themselves feeling their life being sucked out of them quickly. Bodies fell under this dance of death, both so graceful and so lethal at the same time. It was strange, the watchful Hinata thought with a faraway look on her face, to think that she had become this person.
Hinata slowly raised her hands in front of her and looked at them, thinking. Petite and feminine they were, swift and deadly they also became when the first signs of lunacy began to shake underneath the surface. They were once drenched in blood back in Snow Country – the blood of so many men responsible for stealing something that belonged to the Hyuuga Clan. She had been so angry to discover this and the results of this bloodshed had been vile; the precious eyes of a possibly dead Hyuuga were still in her possession, certainly sealed so that the Byakugan couldn't be used, but the price those thugs had to pay couldn't have been anything else but death. That was what her mind had settled on, there hadn't been any other solution for them. If she had let them live she probably would have felt guilty about it, because Hinata had finally understood that not every action could be forgiven and left unjudged – had she still been sane enough to stop this massacre the old Hinata would have walked away, forgiving the culprits and moving on. That won't happen again. It won't. Happen. Again. She slowly clenched her hands, a small frown marring her face. If she could fool her enemies and friends by concealing this new personality with the previous one – that is, if she was still able to feel it deep underneath this insanity – she could have their heads when the guard was dropped. Almost nobody feared the previous Hyuuga Hinata, who would be able to feel this new, darker one?
A low, hoarse voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "What's wrong?"
She turned towards her companion, who was looking at her through half-lidded onyx eyes. He looked still tired and groggy, but seemed awake enough to listen. She smiled at him and looked at the ceiling.
"Tell me, do you think yourself as mentally damaged?" she asked Sasuke. When she received no answer she closed her eyes, still smiling. "I think I am. Behind those white eyes and this smile everyone back in Konohagakure knows there is something dark, twisted and different. It's hiding behind my smiles, concealing under a surface I don't even want to break in order to get rid of this thing. We don't really know each other Uchiha, but surely you must remember me as a pathetic, weak girl who could barely speak one sentence without stuttering, right?"
Sasuke gazed at the woman. His mental condition. He had sometimes thought about it too, certain that it would bring nothing but trouble for anyone around him. He would describe it as another 'himself' in his mind who would harass him, disturb him and whisper all his fears with a mocking voice that sounded like his own. Through all these years he had sometimes drown into the constant blackness his older brother had thrown him into after the Uchiha Massacre, fighting against something he couldn't defeat even though he had tried – Kami knows how much he had tried. Sasuke had first thought that it was the horror of his past that wouldn't leave him alone but, if he thought closely about, that wasn't just because his past wouldn't leave him. He was himself, and he had hated it when he found out, afraid to let go of his past because that was what tied him up to Konoha and the bastards who were responsible for the monster they had involuntarily created. This psychotic monster Uchiha Sasuke had become because of the Elders of Konohagakure No Sato wasn't kept in a cage where it could be controlled – neutralized. If anything, Sasuke believed himself to be damaged as well. Something was broken in his mind, broken and beyond repair. He had experienced too many traumas that involved his family to be sure of it so, about the Hyuuga?
"I can tell that something changed in you," Sasuke told her calmly. "It's not just about your skills, but your personality as well: you've become unpredictable and hard to read, Hyuuga. Even for me. From what I've observed about you during our time together you're no longer cowering like a lamb just born yesterday, you're more of a...chameleon." The Uchiha propped himself on his elbow once he unwrapped his arms from her waist to look down at her. "Your mind is a void, you said it yourself. A chameleon only thinks about hiding into a landscape and adapting itself to it, but something about your personality makes you more mysterious and dangerous. The fact that you think yourself as mentally damaged is unsettling: because it makes you unpredictable, the chameleon you are can also turn into...something else."
White eyes slowly opened and turned towards his onyx ones. The smile never wavered. "Something else?" she repeated.
"A chameleon isn't usually dangerous and is excellent at hiding itself. You've become good at hiding, concealing your chakra signature and your tracks but something is amiss here." Sasuke leaned in, staring intensively at Hinata. "There is something off about you, Hyuuga. Usually chameleons don't fool their environment to slaughter their prey, they're too small and weak for that. No, you're definitely something else. A snake hidden behind a chameleon? A monster concealing itself behind a snake? I can't bring myself to choose."
The two of them had a staring duel during which silence was golden and practically tense, with the former heiress still smiling 'innocently' at him. Sasuke's description of Hinata was only the beginning but there was something actually true about his explanation: the person he was traveling with couldn't be the Hyuuga Hinata everyone in this treacherous village used to know and love, this was someone else. Something else. While he may not know much about her Sasuke had observed the kunoichi before she left Konoha; it was obvious that the war had taken a toll on her and she wasn't stupid enough to hide it. A grieving woman with a heart and a soul as warm and gentle as hers was easy to shatter. Hyuuga Hinata wasn't a child anymore but whatever she had been through alone had broken something in her mind. When she blinked and rubbed her nose, her answer almost seemed too sincere to be true.
"I won't betray you, Uchiha. I gave you my word."
A small smirk graced his lips. "And as strange as it is, I believe you. But lying has also become part of you now, so words like those could fool the stupid ones with that smile of yours. This smile," Sasuke's fingers came to trace the outline of her lips in a feather caress. "could be the reason why I can't read you. Why everyone will believe that you're still their innocent, pure Hyuuga Hinata who wouldn't dare shed blood unless she wasn't given a choice. The Hyuuga Hinata they know would have said that there is always a choice, but this one I have in front of me just spits on these thoughts. The mangled mess you've left in Snow Country was only the first signs of this growing lunacy you're talking about and yet here you are, talking to me about it with this smile." His black eyes narrowed slightly. "You've got a massive – if not frightening – bloodlust that you can conceal behind this genuine kindness and this selfless nature the former Hyuuga Hinata was known to have, which could be one of your greatest assets. You need to learn to do that properly."
"You still haven't answered my question," she countered with a light frown.
"Here's mine for you: do I want to answer your question when my mental conditions always get me off the grid?" Sasuke didn't wait for her scathing look as he smirked down at Hinata before rolling off the bed and sauntering off the room.
Behind the facade of the wallflower, the chameleon or the sweet girl hides something even more monstruous, nurtured by an ever growing bloodlust. Hyuuga Hinata had never been malicious or devious but she was a quiet person; quiet people weren't easy to read – if not quite impossible – and what added to any Hyuuga's advantage was the blank look their eyes could give someone. What can you read into those white, blank eyes when they choose not to show any emotion? Nothing good, nothing bad, it's just a void. Sasuke could feel her bloodlust: it was still growing. Quiet people are always the ones you should fear and run away from if you wish to live.
He was no imbecile; Hinata's smile of these days showed nothing else but a future promise of death. The kindness it held seemed so genuine and heartwarming that it hurt – and it hurts even more if you get to understand that under this kindness you've always known from Hyuuga Hinata there is a twisted, darker personality that seemed to have taken over. Sasuke had caught glimpses of his female companion's latest behaviours before her departure from Konohagakure (even prison wasn't enough to keep Uchiha Sasuke off the news around the damn village. If you know a stupid loudmouth who can't control his mouth in front of a very cunning Uchiha then you don't have to worry: you will know everything in the village in no time!) and there were things that had intrigued him while he was still imprisoned. Rumors said that something very bad had happened in the Hyuuga household, causing a huge uproar in the Main Branch and Naruto, being the usual loudmouth he was, came to Sasuke to tell him everything he knew.
"Teme, there's been a tragedy in Hinata's house!" the stupid blonde had exclaimed and he had merely looked at him with blank eyes that screamed boredom. Sasuke didn't give a damn about the Hyuuga and as far as he was concerned, they remained aloof when his clan had been wiped out by his older brother so, if something were to happen to this clan full of bastards, he wouldn't care one bit.
Still, he was listening. And listening he did.
The corpse of Hyuuga Hiashi had been discovered in his study early this morning, lying on the tatami. There was no blood, no evidence of a crime around – every Hyuuga had checked the room for anything (for nothing could escape the All-Seeing Eyes of Konohagakure No Sato) but as surprising as it had seemed, they hadn't been able to find something. The study was neat – everything seemed in order except for the dead body of the Hyuuga Head and his empty cup of tea on the floor. The tea hadn't been poisoned. Everything told that Hyuuga Hiashi's death was natural, that he must have died of a severe stroke.
Naruto had kept blabbering about the Hyuuga, pestering and surely spouting nonsense but the traitor wasn't listening anymore. The blank look he had in his eyes now held a spark of curiosity and a light frown marred his features.
Wasn't this too realistic to be actually true?
During their spar he had been able to feel this intense, crushing bloodlust coming from Hinata. Her eyes would remain white and he could read her emotions but there had been times when he hadn't been able to guess the motives or the next moves she would do to reach him; Sasuke had never fought a Hyuuga before – he would have loved to take Neji on just to see who was the strongest but his death in the Fourth Shinobi War had decided his fate before he could have a say on it – and he hadn't been disappointed when he fought Hinata. The training she had had for months before he caught up to her had been successful. However, Hinata's bloodlust was the problem. If she got carried away in battles there was a slight but not impossible enventuality that she would end up slaughtering everyone in her path. She had almost ripped one of his legs apart. And she had been smiling in the process. Sasuke clenched his teeth. She had been smiling the whole time.
Such a genuine smile could deceive so many and hide a monster to the point you wouldn't even notice his frightening bloodlust. Hinata was no saint but when had her kindness reached its limit? Sasuke had heard many civilians singing her praises, always talking about her everlasting kindness when her clan wanted her to be the opposite way. This form of kindness was considered as a lethal weakness that could have gotten her killed so many times, it took her father's death and other things to finally make her snap and she had been smart to leave the village before she could seriously harm someone – was it intentional? Did she somehow know that a blooming bloodlust was growing inside of her?
He came out of the house they were borrowing and stared at her slender form standing in the grass. Hinata was wearing a sole shirt and panties but the way this shirt showed those amazing legs – he'll be damned if his imagination were to send him sinful images and thoughts about that woman in front of him – was too sinful to ignore and cold showers weren't for him, they really weren't. She had a scroll in her hands and was reading it silently, as if she were oblivious to Sasuke's stare, but there was no way she couldn't sense it; her senses had become so acute that she could be taken for an animal. After all, shinobi must have sharp senses. The aura floating around her was peaceful and light – the usual aura that the former Hyuuga Hinata used to have around her. Now Sasuke could guess there was this no longer dormant bloodlust that awaited to be unleashed, to shed some blood before feeling satisfied. He had never thought he would find a woman beautiful. Beautiful, that was the word Sasuke would use to describe his companion. Sakura had been pretty but she had never sparked any interest in him and her perseverance to catch his attention had been exhausting. And Karin? He would never go that low for a girl like her, even if she had been a teammate.
A light breeze picked up, making her hair fly around her. The sun was setting and soon night will come, looking 'peaceful' and harmless as anyone else would think because the war was over. Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest as he made his way over her.
"We should go," he said straightforward once he stood next to her.
She nodded. "You're right. There have been too many eyes on us for days and I don't feel like letting anyone else know that we're here." Her white orbs shifted towards his black ones. They shone beautifully in the last ray of sunlight, giving Hinata an ethereal look, but there was an unmistakable shift in the atmosphere when their eyes clashed.
One would shrink in sheer fear – even run away screaming like crazy – when he was given that kind of look: this pure kindness that revealed a bit of a monstruous, terrifying bloodlust. And this smile, the very reason why Hinata would succeed in fooling her environment before shedding blood everywhere, was the disguise she would put up to conceal this other darker personality that had emerged from within. But Sasuke couldn't help the widening smirk on his face that showed how excited he really was upon catching their pursuers; he'd been restraining himself for days, listening to Hinata's advices to sleep more and get his energy back. But they had also found out that the lesser he gets to sleep, the more irritated and murderous he gets. Sasuke had been able to catch some sleep with Hinata in his arms, the nightmares flying away from his barely sound mind and leaving him alone. Sasuke's own bloodlust needed to be satisfied, as satisfied as his companion's. Now he was hungry but not 'hungry' as in starved for food...'hungry' as in 'out for blood' to shed.
They waited until the last ray of sunlight vanished, their calm heartbeat silently thumping in their chests. Hinata's gentle smile never wavered and her eyes still held that 'pure kindness', Sasuke's hands were still folded against his chest and his black eyes were cast on the scroll she had been reading. Patience is one of your weapons towards greatness and success. Never lose patience. Only idiots couldn't know that patience was required to be a good shinobi.
A rustle in the leaves. Short, but not unnoticed.
Then they came out in large number. They didn't have headbands on, meaning that they must be rogue shinobi as well. Hinata carefully rolled her scroll in a rustle of paper, still smiling. Sasuke slowly took out his katana, the blade of Kusanagi gleaming and his bloodlust vibrating from him in waves. His Sharingan was blazing, counting their enemies until he smirked in the end. Twenty rogue shinobi. Twenty corpses that will lie in dark pools of blood.
Hinata cocked her head. "Good evening," she greeted them, as if they were about to have a normal conversation instead of a bloodbath. "We've been wondering when you would attack us since you've found us for a long while now, which still confuses me: would you care to tell us why you've been waiting for two weeks?"
Many of them frowned upon being greeted so politely when they had come here for their heads, surprised at such formalities in a time like this one. One of the rogue shinobi, who appeared to be the leader of the group, took two steps forward before addressing the pair in a light yet menacing voice. "You are in no position to ask such thing, considering that you are a traitor and a target. Hyuuga Hinata and Uchiha Sasuke, missing nins of Konohagakure No Sato, we have come here to retrieve you two to your village. Should you object to our proposal we are allowed to use force. However, we have not received any order forbidding us to kill you so we are also allowed to end your life. But surely you would comply without questioning, isn't that right? You do understand the position you are in right now; outnumbered, there is a high chance you would end up dead and we truly want to avoid this."
So there was a possibility that they weren't 'rogue shinobi' per se, but they might have affiliated themselves with Konohagakure to hunt Sasuke and Hinata down. Interesting. To this Hinata blinked. "My, it seems you have us cornered. I am to assume that you already took serious precautions to capture us, otherwise you wouldn't be so confident in your success." Her smile seemed to widen a little more as she turned towards Sasuke. "What is your decision?"
Red eyes narrowed slightly. "Hn." There was only one outcome possible for him and Hinata.
White orbs closed and the gentle smile remained. "Bloodshed it is, my friend."
There was a collective gasp as the leader's eyes widened in alarm. "Y-you can't be serious! If you –"
He was abruptly interrupted by Sasuke's sword that would have beheaded him had he not ducked in time to avoid this quick death.So fast, he thought, amazed at the traitor's speed. The Uchiha traitor smirked evilly as he now started to figth with deadly, dangerous accuracy. The others wasted no time in joining, rushing towards the two fighting shinobi and the Hyuuga. The smile had wavered a bit but was still there, rendering her features stunning. The way she evaded their blows while smiling seemed to strike a nerve in her opponents, who started to make hand signs with gritted teeth. Really, someone's smile would always be seen as mocking in a battle!
The smell of blood quickly invaded Hinata's senses, somehow sweet to her nose. It had always repulsed her before because the smell had always been so horrible to bear whether she hurt someone or herself, depending on the situation she had been thrown in. Sickening and tasting like metal. Now she was ecstatic to see its colour everytime she could fight – hurt someone to death; her smile and white eyes would widen in a crazed psychotic way while her hands would break or rip the opponent to a heap of missing or broken limbs. It was the massacre of Snow Country all over again, only this time she had a partner to play with. Uchiha Sasuke may always claim that he worked better when he was alone but, when paired up with someone who could be as good as him, the joy of killing and creating dark rains of blood around him was doubled. So it was no wonder Hyuuga Hinata started laughing while avoiding an earth jutsu to counter attack and Uchiha Sasuke just kept smirking through his part of the carnage.
Peace? He once thought that he could live in peace after the war
but once again, reality could be a real bitch when it came to his ordeal. Peace was another form of unspoken, concealed chaos
where it was always baited by indelible sins that the world would never be able to get rid of.
Peace? Uchiha Sasuke would never know peace within Konohagakure.
That was just a fucking joke.
The sound of bones being brutally broken, followed by a horrible sound of flesh being ripped, echoed loudly in the battlefield and effectively snapping almost everyone out of their concentration. Every enemy head turned towards the source of the noise, eyes suddenly widening in horror and surprise upon seeing the scene. It was hard not to throw up, if you were in their shoes.
The female Hyuuga was holding two heads – bloody heads – in her hands, their blood soaking her body and face wet with the red liquid. She had her eyes closed and her expression was of 'pure' bliss, as if she had just tasted one of her favorite treats. The blood that was entirely soaking her came from the two headless bodies that lay on the ground, dislocated and broken – the Hyuuga techniques were deadly and could put an end to your shinobi career with just a few touches of their fingers, something that would change your view of life for good. To witness a murder was something normal for every shinobi but this sight was sickening. And frightening. The data the rogue shinobi had had on Hyuuga Hinata stated that while she may belong to the Hyuuga Clan, she wasn't as strong as her late cousin Hyuuga Neji. If anything, she could have been captured so easily – they should have captured her easily. She wouldn't have been a problem, so what. The. Hell?
And she was smiling. For Heaven's sake, she must have just kept smiling while she was beheading her opponents!
Now the leader was concerned. This was supposed to be rather quick with the Hyuuga and long and difficult with the Uchiha...not this. Uchiha Sasuke was something just on his own but the female Hyuuga was showing off too much talent and abilities that made her quite a difficult opponent. Was this the Hyuuga Hinata they had been briefed on? Because this one wasn't weak at all, she seemed like a psychotic murderer who must have had long months of insane training! An 'easy target you could snatch very quickly' they said, a 'wallflower who wouldn't hurt a fly and could have her neck snapped if she wasn't focused enough' they said too. Clearly they had lied or had been fooled by this 'wallflower', chameleon or whatever monster that female Hyuuga was, because everything about her – the aura that was vibrating of her in intense waves, this 'gentle' smile she kept on her face when she was fighting, everything! – just screamed 'death', 'newfound fear' and 'blood'.
White orbs opened and the leader felt a chill running down his spine upon seeing this look she was giving him. "You should be careful," she said. "that's how idiots who allowed themselves to space out get killed." And she disappeared in a flash, obviously going to continue her rampage.
What was she – oh, hell! He suddenly remembered that he was fighting the Uchiha, his heart beating a little faster because of a fear his pride would never let him speak of, but he was too slow. Way too slow. All he could see was a black Sharingan. Wait, black Sharingan? Impossible! Did that mean –
Now he understood the Hyuuga's words.
"Amaterasu," was all he could hear before feeling himself being engulfed in fire – an ungodly fire.
Being on fire could make you loose your mind and your focus in a matter of seconds and really, that was all it could take to decide your fate. Your mind would settle on 'panic mode' and wouldn't know how to act and think, too overwhelmed to think of a way to calm this panic – too late and helpless to save your life, in fact. And if you were on fire, there would be only one way to express your distress and helplessness.
By screaming your head off because your life was about to be burned. Literally.
The screams that erupted from the boiling throat were strangled, so horrible and sudden that some of the remaining rogue shinobi were a bit startled. And that was Hinata needed to use this technique: she started her hand signs in a flash, her mind already set on an imaginary scene she had imagined many times after mastering this technique. How would it be on human beings? Would it be as deadly and lethal as it was on animals? That was she wanted to find out. On his side Sasuke kept an eye on his companion while cutting an opponent in half with his Kusanagi after slitting his throat open. He was interested in her new technique after all.
The final hand sign flashed and was set. "Treachery," her voice said.
"You already performed that technique on animals?" he asked, arms crossed on his naked torso as he watched the female Hyuuga with his keen eyes. She nodded with a grin on her face, flushed with all the workout she's done. He was curious to see the result of that technique she seemed to be so proud of, to see if it was worth the work. "And was it successful?"
Her white eyes turned towards him, mirth shining in them. "It wouldn't be a secret anymore if I were to tell you, Uchiha," she teased lightly. "And by the way, how do you feel? Any pain?"
How did he feel? That was a very good question; Sasuke had never felt so great in a while – ever since his year-imprisonment in Konohagakure. Being freed of a tension his staying in the village had thrown upon his shoulders was...wonderful. If he were to think about all the things that happened and all the feelings that had washed over him when he was still a 'shinobi of Konohagakure', he would say that none of them could match those he was experiencing right now; emotions were still alien to him because he had forsaken any kind of feeling. There may have been some relief and a drop of joy when his last battle with Naruto had ended – even when he had apologized to Sakura, who must have thought or fantasized that it could mean something new would start between them – but now he realized that he hadn't been satisfied. Not at all. The fact that he had to go through such lenghts after helping in the Fourth Shinobi War had left a very sour taste in his mouth and having his Sharingan sealed by the Senju had awoken whatever was left of his hatred towards the village.
This fucking village. Konohagakure. He still hated them. He still hated them all. Hated them. Hated Senju Tsunade. Hated the Elders from giving his beloved older brother this task of disposing of everyone in the Uchiha Clan and labeling himself as a traitor when the truth lay where Naruto claimed it was Sasuke's village as well. Hated his stupidity for accepting to come 'home' where he knew that he could no longer call this village his home. Hated Naruto for discouraging him from achieving this new goal to recreate the Shinobi World in his way.
However, Sasuke found out that he couldn't hate the petite Hyuuga. No, he couldn't find the strenght to feel hatred towards this woman. Strange, isn't it? Uchiha Sasuke knew that he wasn't capable of loving someone – would he have loved Sakura back, let alone returned her 'feelings'? Love was now forgotten to him, destroyed by this deep hatred he thought he had let go of. But somewhere in his heart he knew he didn't hate Hyuuga Hinata.
Because she had relieved him of the awful seal. Now he will pay her back.
His smirk was sincere and real this time. "I'm more than alright, Hyuuga."
My limbs... I have no more control...
This was the horrible thought that crossed the minds of the remaining rogue shinobi, who suddenly found themselves unable to freely control their body. If anything, this was the most disturbing and unpleasant feeling you could ever experience in your life: being a puppet and having no control over your own limbs. This jutsu wasn't anything like Akasuna No Sasori's where there would be blue strings attached to your body so he could use you as his puppet, it was completely different. They all felt like the jutsu worked inside of them and was doing damages – the pain they all could feel was searing hot and they even could feel a powerful pull in their guts, as if their own blood was trying to get out of their body on its own (which was something very hard to believe in the first place: how could someone like Hyuuga Hinata be able to have that kind of jutsu up her sleeve? And to practice it?). Sasuke watched, speechless, as two of their opponents drew their fingers in their pockets with flabbergasted expressions and took out their kunai. The expressions soon turned into horror-stricken faces when their hands began their ascent towards a vital point. And even though they were struggling like hell to avoid that, it wouldn't do any difference.
"No!" the anguish scream almost sounded like a plea. "What – no!"
Her smile lost its gentleness and became carnivorous. "Even shinobi without eyes could still be shinobi. However," Hinata added in her soothing voice. "can we say the same when eyeballs are brutally punctured without care? I'm curious, even though I already know the answer."
The pleas were ignored, the horrible screams fell on deaf ears as the sharp weapons violently dug into the eyeballs at a quiver of Hinata's lips, blood splashing from the sockets. Bodies fell heavily on the smeary ground and under the horror-stricken gaze of the two remaining rogue shinobi who, unable to contain their fear any longer, gave into it; they tried fighting back with whatever strenght they could have left to get free of the hold Hinata had on them and avoid the same kind of death their fallen comrades had just experienced. They didn't care about their pride anymore, didn't care about retrieving the heads of the two nukenin, didn't care about returning in their home villages as heroes.
All they cared about was living now.
All they cared about was surviving now.
All they cared about was escaping this. Those monsters. Now.
And that was no fucking joke!
Treachery. It was such a loathed word no one would want to hear and experience its meaning to the fullest because it could break so much in a matter of seconds – trust, confidence, will and so much more. Every shinobi had experienced and tasted treachery before, it was like salt on a wound. Sharp, painful and sometimes treason could leave wounds that wouldn't heal with time because they were too deep. Hyuuga Hinata had done a good job in creating this technique because the word fit: if you can't trust your own body to do as it is told, then you'll know what it feels to betray yourself when you don't expect it at all. And there she was, smiling at the last preys to her technique. Almost laughing.
Treachery. What type of technique was that?
Despair was now visibe on their face, clear and vibrating so much from them that it was unnerving. Sasuke looked over to his companion, who had her Byakugan activated, and narrowed his eyes. The game had to eventually come to an end, exactly when he had calmly walked behind a desperate, dying Danzo to finish him off.
"Hyuuga, what are you doing?" he asked coolly, annoyed.
She blinked, as if he had pulled her out of a delicious daze, then turned towards him without breaking her concentration. "Huh? Waiting, I guess. I want to see if I can strenghten this technique on them before they die, that would be good." Then, her smile regained its gentleness. "Why? Are you that bored?"
"Stop playing with your prey and kill them already, we have a long journey before us," Sasuke pressed on as he stared at her with his Sharingan. His Mangekyo Sharingan. "Don't leave any of them alive because if one succeeds in returning to one Shinobi village and tells whatever Kage that you've managed to get rid of the seal, they'll send more. They'll be breathing down our neck from the moment they know about this and won't ever leave us alone."
True. Now that she had broken the seal on his forehead there would be more danger for him – and her too. If she didn't kill the two last desperate shinobi there was a high chance that they'll go to a Shinobi village and tell a Kage what had transpired here: the Mangekyo Sharingan had become the murderous danger everyone had to fear since Uchiha Madara during the Fourth Shinobi War, everyone still remembered their countless comrades that had fallen before his tremendous power. Comrades, brothers, sisters – sons and daughters too. But there wasn't just Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan, there was his Rinnegan as well; the dangerous Rinnegan that was the evolution of the Sharingan, a dojutsu you would like to avoid or render useless with a seal, had become the epitome of danger linked to an Uchiha. Sasuke was right, Hinata couldn't play any longer. They had to leave. Quickly.
White eyes closed in understanding. "Very well," her soft, unobtrusive voice echoed in the silence that had taken place. Her smile didn't lose its gentleness as she turned towards the rogue shinobi who had snapped their fearful eyes back on her.
"No – wait! Don't do –"
The loud snap that broke into the valley signaled that the Treachery has just broken their neck. Something that made Uchiha Sasuke smile as he walked back to their cottage.
Being a Kage was the thoughest job in the whole world, Hatake Kakashi had realized the first time he had to go to a meeting with the Elders. If it wasn't for his genius and wit he would have already been overwhelmed by them; now he understood why Tsunade was always so wary of Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura. Everything they could speak of was 'for the good of the village', they said. Their words were those of a couple of bastards who truly had no qualms in sacrificing anyone they deemed worthless of ruling or serving Konohagakure – Tsunade was the first example: by forcing the Sannin to step down and making her leave, they had demonstrated how influential they could be within the Council. How they had managed not to get killed by Sasuke when he was still around was beyond Kakashi. The boy knew they had blood on their hands – mainly Uchiha blood – and Kakashi may be a bit aloof about heated discussions concerning his former student, that certainly didn't mean he wasn't unfazed.
Uchiha Sasuke wasn't the only one to cross his mind. The late Hyuuga Head was still fresh in the minds of anyone who missed him, especially his daughter Hanabi and the rest of the clan. Kakashi hated to admit it but his sudden death was still suspicious and too sudden to be true. He had read the reports Tsunade had left in his care, just to be sure that he wasn't imagining things.
"It's strange. Hyuuga Hiashi's corpse doesn't present any marks and still, I've noted many irregularities in his chakra patterns. With Hanabi's Byakugan, I was able to discover that some tenketsu points had been blocked on his abdomen and chest for quite some time. Purposefully or accidentally?"
Hyuuga Hiashi would have never done that to himself if he knew the consequences of the techniques of his clan, so what the hell? Kakashi hadn't tried asking what the Elders could know about this, his words would have fallen on deaf ears and his questions would certainly have been ignored – Kakashi was no idiot, the second Tsunade had resigned he had known that it had something to do with the Elders and the Council. He knew he had to dig deeper to finally uncover the truth behind whatever secret conspiracy they were up to ever since Hyuuga Hinata's departure from the village. He wouldn't be surprised, this wouldn't be the first time Konohagakure would launch a conspiracy to annihilate a powerful clan. The Uchiha having been the first, would the Hyuuga fall too?
Not with one heiress missing and having gone rogue. But again, the Rokudaime Hokage couldn't help but think that she had chosen a perfect timing for her defection; things could have definitely gotten worse had Hinata not defected the village. Behind the wallflower many thought she was there had been a chameleon hiding, waiting to show its true colors.
The Copy Ninja strayed his eye from the dark sky and stood up, sighing. It was getting late and even though it wasn't the time to read his favorite Icha Icha porn, he needed to think. Sending his shinobi after Hinata and Sasuke wasn't a good idea, they were too good in hiding themselves – real chameleons, he mused as he searched through his library for his orange book. When he finally pulled out the famed novel he went back to his chair, plopping himself into it.
A very good way to deceive some prying eyes, he thought as he opened the book and began to read.
"Ino, are you sure you want to do this?"
His answer was a mild glare sent in his way – the kind of glare she would give him when she challenged her teammates to contest her decisions. Shikamaru cringed, but shrugged anyway.
"Fine," he drawled and closed his eyes in boredom. She would seal their doom anyway. "But where does this motivation come from?"
Her blonde hair flew behind her as she flashed around her apartment to another room. "It's from the Hokage!" she exclaimed in response. "He asked for help and the Yamanaka techniques could help him a lot, he said. Though I really want to tell you what this is about because you're my friend, I can't. This has to be strictly confidential and must remain like this until we're done."
Shikamaru sighed as he shook his head. "Troublesome. But what the heck..." It sounded like he didn't care about it.
But he did care. It may not be his business but since Ino was both his dear friend and teammate he was concerned for her, even more since Haruno Sakura's death. Whatever the Rokudaime Hokage wanted with Ino, Shikamaru would definitely get informations about it. There were possibilities; either Ino was tasked with finding informations about the Uchiha's treason once again, either she was –
His eyes snapped open and he cringed. No.
She couldn't, no. Not about the Hyuuga!
Author's Note 3: Third note, huh...anyway, I wanted to say sorry for the delay (was having my exams, had to experience some writer block...yada, yada!). So yes, the seal is broken. As you must have guessed already, the Elders are up to something and it's not good. The plot is still tricky, don't get lost. And, ah, SasuHina interaction. Finally!
By the way, on next Saturday I'll go to Ireland for two weeks. I'll be able to update but you'll have to be patient.