WARNING: In this chapter, I write a section pertaining to a very sensitive topic, such as ATTEMPTED rape. I do not find anything amusing, entertaining, or acceptable about rape, nor do I condone to the act of it - I find it sickening. In fact, as I was writing the segment, it literally made me sick to my stomach and I fought with myself repeatedly whether I should keep it in the story. If you cannot bring yourself to read this chapter, I will understand. I appreciate everyone who has stuck with this story up until this point, and I appreciate all of the wonderful reviews you leave me - I read all of them and they make my day. I hope that you will continue to read Red Kimono until the very end.

XxX

The walk to the Hidden Waterfall Village was a long, silent one, the only noises existing around us being the wind unsettling the leaves, birds chirping, water running down streams and waterfalls, and our feet brushing against the grass below. The sun shined bright enough over our heads to lift anyone's spirit, but when it came to Sasuke and I, nothing at this moment could bring a smile to our faces. There were moments where I wanted to say something, anything, to ease the tension between us, but I could not think of anything. Then again, whether I said something to him or not, would not change the fact that he will not answer me. That is just how he is. But I can relate.

When Naruto rejected me, I felt unwanted and I shut myself out from the world. I was depressed and when I finally gathered the will to go outside again, I could not bear to be in the same room as Naruto, let alone look at him. He had hurt me in more ways than he realized. While I have come to know Sasuke better than I have before, it is hard to tell what he is thinking, especially since he is a man that rarely exhibits his emotions. As I walked paces behind him, I wondered what could be coursing through his head. What is he feeling right now? Is it difficult for him to be near me since I rejected him?

I shook my head. I did not want to think about that. Brooding on how Sasuke might be feeling made my heart ache. I wished that there was a way for me to make things better, but I knew there was not. The only thing that would make this better is accepting his love.

Sasuke suddenly stopped walking, so I halted as well. He then looked around the area with precision before taking a few steps forward to kneel on the ground.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

Gesturing to the ground in front of him with his hand, my eyes widened in shock when I noticed several patches of blood staining the grass.

Standing up, he said "You have the Byakugan. Shouldn't you have seen this long before me?"

"I-I was not paying attention."

"You need to pay attention. As shinobi, we must have our guards up at all times. Don't get comfortable just because I am traveling with you."

My face twitched in confusion as astonishment coursed through me from his bold assumption. "What? I am not becoming comfortable because I am accompanying you. I let my mind wander and…"

"And what? Got comfortable?" Sasuke scoffed. "Once you marry Toneri, you can't afford to do that. You're a shinobi – act like it."

Fists clenched, I said "Yes, I rejected you, and I am deeply sorry; however, I had no choice. Marrying Lord Toneri is an option that I do not have. You know this."

"You have a choice, Hinata. You always have a choice," he told me as he approached me. "You don't have to go through with this."

"I must marry him."

"Or you can kill him."

I unclenched my fists as my face softened. "Sasuke…"

"I can kill him." His eyes locked with mine. "I'll do it for you."

Mouth slightly agape, I looked up at him, unable to tear my eyes away from his. He was serious.

"N-No," I managed to say. "Doing so is too risky."

"It's worth a try."

"Not when my legacy is at stake."

"Your legacy is at stake even if you do marry Toneri. Do you honestly think that life will be perfect with him as your husband?"

"Of course not! But maybe I can change him."

"A man like that can't be changed. You won't be happy with him."

"Maybe I can learn to love him. Maybe he can learn to love me. Maybe life will not be as bad as I assume it will be once the ceremony is complete," I said. "This choice is the safest."

"It's safe, but not permanent. As long as he still breathes, your clan and the world will be in danger. Do you really want to risk that?"

I tightened my lips after I broke eye contact.

"As heiress, you have an obligation to put your clan first, but without a world, there will be no clan to lead," said Sasuke. "To me, the answer is obvious, and it's not because I want to be with you. Do the right thing here, Hinata."

Grass brushing against Sasuke's legs as he walked away, I opened my mouth to retort, but instead my attention was taken from him and had been replaced by a woman screaming in the distance. Mind rid of all our existing problems, Sasuke and I dashed in the direction we heard the scream, soon finding the source of distress.

I crouched by a middle-aged woman kneeling on the ground crying hysterically, and I noticed upon arrival that she had blood on the front of her clothes. Further observation told me that the blood did not belong to her, so I relaxed a little as Sasuke stood close behind me, surveying the perimeter.

I asked the woman "Are you alright? What happened?"

Looking up at us, her watery eyes filled with hope as she said "Oh! You're both ninja! Please, you have to help me. My husband has been taken."

"Taken by who?" I asked.

"The Fuma clan! My poor husband stands no chance against ruffians like them."

While it is unknown where the Fuma clan originated from, they are notorious in the Land of Fire and the Hidden Rain Village for their aggressive taijutsu and use of giant shuriken.

"The Fuma clan?" said Sasuke. "What do they want with your husband?"

"My husband owes them money after they loaned us some ryo to pay off my medical bills. Since we couldn't pay them on time, they dragged my husband out here to 'teach him a lesson'." The woman turned to me, holding tightly onto my hands as she stared at me with pleading eyes. "Please. You have to help him. They'll kill him!"

I could not turn away anyone who asks for help, especially when it involves life and death, so I said to her with calming reassurance "Do not worry, ma'am, I will find your husband. Go back home where it is safe and wait for his return. I will bring him back to you shortly."

Happiness reflected in her eyes and she smiled largely. "Thank you! Thank you, young lady!" I helped her stand up from the earth. "You both look strong, but be careful. Those men are monsters."

"I will be sure to stay cautious," I said.

Once the woman was out of sight, Sasuke said to me "I noticed that you kept saying 'I' instead of 'we'. I hope you aren't expecting to take care of this without me."

"I did not know if you wanted to help."

"I may be upset with you, but as long as I'm with you, it's always 'we'."

As butterflies swarmed in my stomach, I smiled up at him. "Thank you, Sasuke."

Even though he waved me off, I could see that he became slightly flustered. "Don't thank me yet. We need to retrieve that woman's husband."

I nodded my head and then I activated my Byakugan to find any traces of Fuma clan chakra in the distance. It did not take me long to locate five men dragging another man across the dirt about six kilometers away from where we stood. It was easy to tell from the network pattern that the five men standing belonged to the Fuma clan and that the man on the ground was a common villager, so, once I told Sasuke, we rushed off in their direction.

We soon cut the men off from their destination, and upon encountering them, I noticed that I had met these people before. The Fuma clan member dragging along the villager was the same man that stopped me in the village yesterday because he thought I looked familiar.

Sasuke drew his sword, pointing it at the shinobis. "Let the man go and I will spare your lives."

The clan exchanged glances before they turned back towards us with haughty expressions plastered on their faces. The one in front, who I christened as leader, said "To have a fight with the legendary Sasuke Uchiha would be an honor. If you want to try to kill us, go ahead and try."

Without warning, the leader sprinted towards Sasuke with a kunai knife in his hand. Sasuke saw this coming long before I had thanks to his Sharingan, and he stood there, sangfroid, blocking the attack with the blade of his sword before any of us could comprehend what occurred. As the leader pushed to get Sasuke to yield, sweat dripped down his face from the effort he had to produce to combat Sasuke's strength. Sasuke, however, maintained his composure, and once he grew tired of their stand-still, he pushed the man off by coursing lightning through his blade.

The leader jumped back before he electrocuted, smiling at the challenge Sasuke gave him.

The Fuma group leader told two of his men "Come with me. The Uchiha is going to show us a good time."

Knowing that Sasuke would not follow them without a practical reason, one of the men grabbed the villager, sprinting off into the forest with another member of the clan and the leader in tow. Annoyed, Sasuke sucked on his teeth before rushing after them, leaving me with two Fuma clan members.

Veins thickening on either side of my eyes, I activated my Byakugan as I entered the Gentle Fist stance. One member rushed towards me without hesitation, throwing reckless punches in my wake. Due to his carelessness, I successfully dodged and countered all of them, but as I was doing so, something did not feel right. Because his technique was sloppy, I figured that I could easily subdue him, but he never gave me the opportunity to, which told me that they must be planning something.

I could not see it since it was positioned at my blind spot, but I heard it coming for me as its sharp blades sliced through the air. Quickly, I knocked my opponent to the earth to conjure my Protective Trigrams to shield myself from the devastating attack of the giant Demon Shuriken coming for me; though, because of the weapon's unique size and sharpness, I had trouble deflecting it as it continued to scrape against my barrier. With some effort, I was able to push it back, sending it spiraling into a tree standing a few meters away.

As soon as I let my shield down, the same Fuma member that threw sloppy punches at me attacked me again, only this time he was serious. His blows were precise and neat, though he still did not stand a match against me. The Fuma clan does not excel at taijutsu, not like the Hyuga clan, so it did not take me long to find another opening, and when I did, I knocked my opponent to ground with a force so resilient that he blacked out.

I turned my attention to my last opponent, the man who had said I looked familiar to him, with the intent on facing him with taijutsu. As I approached him with speed, he weaved several hand signs together, releasing Earth Style: Mud Silhouette, a technique that summons a river of mud. Upon release, I leaped into the air to avoid the mud, landed in front of him, and thrust a palm at his chest. When my palm impacted with him, shock took over me once my hand got stuck in a mud-like figure that looked identical to my opponent in the place that he previously stood. I kicked myself mentally for not noticing he used Substitution Jutsu.

Substitution Jutsu is a basic technique that replaces the user's body with an inanimate object of their choosing, such as a log of wood, the moment an attack lands. This creates an optical illusion where the opponent assumes their attack was successful until the jutsu activates and the opponent realizes that the user either has escaped or is planning to reverse the trend of events by turning the battle in their favor, which is what I can only assume my opponent is doing since the Fuma clan are not the kind of people to flee from a fight.

I tried to free my hand from the mud replacement, that had dried once my hand thrust through it, by pulling it. When I learned that was not going to work, I concentrated an ample amount of chakra to the captured parts of my arm, eventually achieving cracks in the solid object, though I failed to free myself.

I had raised my other hand for another attempt, but, with my visual jutsu, I saw my opponent reappear behind the figure. With a smirk, he easily punched through the substitute, freeing me by hitting me in my abdomen directly on my preexisting wound that possessed enough strength to steal my breath. I skid along the earth, landing in remnants left from his Mud Silhouette, as I writhed in pain.

While I lay in the mud trying to convince myself to push past the pain, my opponent approached me, standing at my feet with a hand in the form of the sign for chakra release – index and middle finger pointed upwards. Suddenly, the mud that I lay in restrained my arms and ankles, hardening immediately once I fell prey to its hold. I struggled to escape, but to no avail.

"I know where I've seen you before," said the ninja. "Yuji showed us a picture of you and told us all about you and your fiancé. Your fiancé betrayed us, you know? He promised to make us and that Arata Sairenji guy rich if we tested out those weapons he gave us. It's been weeks and he hasn't held up his end of the bargain."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What Lord Toneri does has no affiliation with me."

"Oh, but it does! You see, as his fiancée, you are also held responsible for his actions. Yuji put a bounty on your head, telling us that whoever finds you first gets to kill you. He figured that it would send a message to Toneri because he didn't pay up like he was supposed to."

"So, are you going to kill me?"

"Yeah, I am. I can't pass this opportunity up. If I show your corpse to Yuji, he'll promote me."

"Then what are you waiting for?" I asked scornfully.

His mouth twisted into a wicked smile. "Before I take your life, there's something I need you to do for me."

The man took off his belt followed by unzipping his pants and I stared up at him in horror. My body froze as my mind pieced together what was about to happen.

"Y-You… You do not have to do this," I said.

"I want to. Do you know how much brothels cost?"

He liquefied the hardened mud around my ankles, and restrained my legs with his hands as he lowered down to my level. I fought hard to prevent him from enacting what he was about to perform, achieving a few kicks to his face that merely irritated him. To stop me from resisting any longer, he hit the wound on my ribs with a closed hand, which made my vision hazy. In the period of my temporary incapacitation, the man managed to pull my shorts and underwear off and by the time I came to, I was only able to stare at him because I had been immobilized by fear. While he had not entered, he had full reign to do so at any given moment.

Our eyes met, and the world seemed to turn in slow motion as he hunched over on his knees in between my legs with his groin positioned directly in front of my mine. I stopped breathing when I felt him touch me. He then pushed ever so slightly, but he never received the chance to defile me.

I blinked and Sasuke had appeared behind the man, pulling him away from me, and throwing him with a force so strong that he rolled hard enough to kick up chunks of earth. Still rolling, he hit the mark of four meters when Sasuke charged after him with blinding speed, thus stopping his involuntary movement by stabbing him with his sword directly in his erected groin. The man let out a blood curdling scream that grew louder as Sasuke twisted the blade. Peering down at the man in disgust, Sasuke sent lightning into the man via blade with a voltage so high that the noise emitting from it sounded more like screams rather than chirping.

Body now blackened, Sasuke removed his sword after a few tugs once he pronounced the man as dead, and he approached me. After summoning lightning to his hand, he aimed the current at the muddy restraints around my arms, freeing me from it. I covered myself until Sasuke turned around, and I hastily put on my underwear and shorts that were soiled by mud.

After rising from the ground, I subconsciously wiped my face, noticing that I had been crying. Shame festering inside of me knowing that I displayed such weak emotions in the presence of an enemy, I forced myself to remain calm – starting with speaking to Sasuke. However, when the words released from my lips I sounded more phlegmatic as opposed to collected.

"Were you able to save that woman's husband?"

"Don't worry about him. He's fine." He turned to face me, remorse thickly coating his usually stoic features. "I shouldn't have left you here by yourself."

Seeing him like this, I was not sure how to respond. All I could do was gawk with widened eyes, but eventually, I found the will to say "I-I am fine, Sasuke. You saved me before he…" I could not bring myself to utter the word.

"If I didn't get to you in time I never would have been able to live with myself."

I looked towards the earth, unsure of what to say when Sasuke suddenly pulled me into an embrace. "I'll never leave you alone again," he told me.

His warm words made me momentarily forget my potentially traumatizing experience as I wrapped my arms around him and let myself melt into the safety of his embrace.