The barrier covering the estate was practically invisible. The only way I could tell if it still stood was based on the glittering effect it had when the light from the sun cast its rays in certain areas. Had the sun not been shining today, I would not have known that a shield still stood there. Two guards took watch outside of the barrier at the front gate and when they saw me approaching, they opened it, shutting down a small portion of the shield to let me pass through. I glanced between then warily, but I walked in regardless.

I had never known my house to be so empty. It felt like a ghost town on the other side of the barrier, but even though I stood alone in the courtyard, I still felt eyes on me.

"You came back."

The sudden sound startled me enough to make me jump. I whipped my body in the direction I heard the voice to see Toneri, who had appeared out of nowhere, standing closer to me than I deemed comfortable. His blue eyes regarded me with caution.

I gulped. "Yes. I have returned, Lord Toneri. The journey to get here took longer than I hoped."

"Your journey…" His eyes still held caution, and his voice sounded guarded. It made me realize that I needed to be more careful of what I was to say to him and how I was to say it. "Can you tell me why you never showed up in the Land of Iron? You expressed how unhesitant you were by agreeing to marry me. I know how much you care for your family, Lady Hinata, so I know that you would not selfishly run away and put their lives in jeopardy."

"The carriage was attacked. The guards were killed, however, I managed to escape. The time spent away from you… I have been trying to return to you so that we may wed." The words I fed him were truthful to an extent. My eyes, however, were full of lies. I made sure to express longing instead of distain. "I have been thinking about you frequently during my travels, and I soon came to the consensus that our marriage could be the best thing that has ever happened to me."

He looked suspicious. "If that is so, why did you destroy my energy spheres? Surely, you had to have known that I placed them there. People tend to talk."

"At first, I did not know they were your doing, so I destroyed any I encountered. As soon as I discovered they were yours, I ceased."

His eyes narrowed, still harboring an intense suspicion. "And that shinobi who was traveling with you?" It was clear that it was meant to be a question, though it sounded more like he was accusing me of something treacherous.

"What of him?" I fought hard to keep the longing in my expression. When I thought of Sasuke in place of Toneri, I found it to be easy to do so.

He stepped closer to me with his hands behind his back. I had never thought he could make me feel more uncomfortable until he stood in front of me, giving me a couple of centimeters of space between us. "Did either of you… do anything during those many days and nights you shared together?"

I pushed the times Sasuke and I kissed to the back of my mind as I deceived him with a convincingly warm smile. "No. I would never betray you, Lord Toneri. You were the only man in my thoughts. More than anything, I wanted to reach you so that we may be together for eternity."

The expression in his blue orbs softened as he let his guard down. He did not give me time to think or act, lunging for me with a hand gently holding the back of my skull as he smashed his lips against mine. This abrupt action startled me, but once I realized what was happening, I suppressed the nausea quickly building up and I forced myself to kiss him in return.

After we broke apart, I tried my best to make sure my smile did not seem forced. He did not notice due to the blindness he inflicted upon himself from his own elation as he held onto either side of my shoulders with a grin plastered on his face. "We must wed at once." He released me to gesture to two guards that emerged from a shadow the estate cast on the ground. "Escort Lady Hinata to her room. I have her dress waiting for her there."

"You… You have a dress for me?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes. I think you will like it." The back of his hand caressed the side of my face, sending chills up my spine. "I apologize for coming on so strong. When I think of you, I tend to lose my temper." His lips curved into a warm smile. "I am doing all of this for you, Lady Hinata, because I love you."

Upon hearing this, I bit my tongue to suppress all of the disdain I harbored for him. In the name of "love", he killed a clansman, killed countless people from the unknown toxins the energy vessels produce, threatened my bloodline, held my family hostage, and left me no choice other than to marry him. It was difficult – very difficult – to swallow the words that would ruin everything, but I somehow managed to, and I merely gave Toneri a smile in return. If I opened my mouth, I feared I would utter something I would come to deeply regret.

No more words were exchanged between us as we parted ways. The puppets took me to my room while my fiancé walked the other direction. My guess is that he also left to prepare himself for the ceremony, so when I achieved my destination, I decided that I needed to dress quickly in order to reach the basement in time before suspicion arose of my tardiness.

The puppets took watch outside of my room and I closed the door to prepare myself for the occasion. The wedding dress he left me was easy to find – he simply hung it in my closet. He claimed that I would like it, but on the contrary, it was the opposite. It was a black dress with black jewelry to match, and it came with a black turban with a veil attached to it. I found it to be quite hideous, and I found it ominous instead of romantic.

What Toneri did not know was that I had no plans to wear his gown. I intended to put on something more tasteful with an underlying meaning.

I removed the red, silk kimono from my bag, sprawling it – along with its other parts – on my bed. Despite all of the components the garb owned, I dressed quickly, and fixed my hair, pinning it up and adding accessories to match in under thirty minutes. I then escaped through my bedroom window, and headed in the direction of the basement.

The Hyuga estate was heavily guarded with puppets patrolling the hallways consistently. With my Byakugan, I managed to slip by them without much effort, and I soon found the basement where Ko claimed the source of the barrier resided. Standing on either side of the door, two puppets took watch, each wielding a sword. I knew that I could quickly take them down without either of them noticing what happened, but I fear that in doing so, their defeat would alert Toneri, so I searched beyond them towards the side of the estate where there was an alternate way in.

A few years ago when I was on a mission, I returned home to find a group of Hyuga clansmen huddled around a hole in the side of the estate that led into the basement. Apparently, their sparring became too aggressive, creating a hole in the brick. My father had meant to ask the Hokage to spare some carpenters to fix it, though he forgot no matter how often we reminded him. To this day, the hole remains with a wooden board to cover it up. No one outside of the Hyuga clan knows of this, not even Toneri, so I felt a wave of relief pass over me at the sight of no guards in the area.

Removing the wooden board, I slipped into the basement, landing perfectly on my feet. As soon as I stepped forward to look for the device projecting the barrier, the sight of crumpled bodies lying on the cold floor halted my progression. Heart beating rapidly in my chest, I approached them, turned one over to identify it, and then nausea threatened to expel. This man had no eyes. I turned the next body over, quickly coming to the same consensus. I wondered what could have done this when I remembered the symptoms my father described when injected with Toneri's serum. There were so many bodies abandoned down here – many of which I knew personally. I counted the bodies, realizing instantly that the quantity accumulated to each day that I had been away from home, meaning that Toneri must have killed one for each day that I remained absent...

Anger filled me, and I no longer had the ability to think rationally. I whipped my body towards the hole from where I came, ready to find Toneri when I heard the sound of a force colliding against metal bars resonating through the empty space. I reactivated my Byakugan, focusing my vision in the direction of the noise. When I located the origin of sound, my heart pace quickened and my mind voided of all murderous intent. I couldn't think. All I knew was that I had to reach her. So, I allowed my body to enter autopilot as I dashed into the following room to where we held the dungeons.

I quickly walked along the row of cages harboring my people until I reached the one cage holding the person I wanted to see most.

She already knew I was coming. She stood on the other side of the bars clasping the cold metal with her visual jutsu activated. Breathlessly, I stood in front of her, wanting so badly to take her into my arms.

"What took you so long?" she said, face sanguine.

I rushed to the wall of metal keeping me from her. I clasped the bars in my hands. "Are you alright, Hanabi?"

"Not even a scratch." She deactivated her Byakugan, glanced at my apparel and then back up at my face. Her mouth formed into a deep frown. "You aren't planning on marrying that freak, are you?"

"No. Why do you think I am wearing this?"

She grinned. "I want to help."

"It is too dangerous."

She shook the bars. "Stop treating me like a child. I'm the third best fighter amongst our clan and you know it."

I furrowed my brows. I knew that she was right – Hanabi can defeat even Ko in battle, though I worried for her safety, for her life. We lost our cousin, the man we thought would change the concept of our clan and take my father's position. If I lost my little sister too…

"Hey," she said softly as she observed my face. "You can't do this alone, Hinata."

"Yes, I know."

"Then let me help," she insisted. "I won't even go near Toneri if it makes you that uncomfortable. Tell me what you need me to do and I will do it without question." Her face twisted into one of thought. "Except if you tell me to stay in this cell. I won't do that."

I laughed. "Alright. You can assist me. Where are the keys?"

"Where they usually are – on the rack by the door you came through."

Sure enough, they were, along with the keys necessary to unlock the other cells. I grabbed Hanabi's key for now, releasing her from the cage Toneri kept her in.

"Where is Father?" I asked.

Hanabi scowled. "Toneri has him upstairs. He's heavily guarded by the puppets."

My heart sank. "Saving Father right now will alert my position to Toneri. My plan will be thwarted if I change my course of direction."

"Hey, did you forget already? You let me out for a reason, remember? I'm here to help."

In my little sister's white, pupiless eyes, she possessed a fire that burned so brightly I could not doubt her abilities. My baby sister was a baby no longer.

"You are correct," I said with a warm smile. "I need to return to Toneri before he grows suspicious, so what I need you to do is very important."

"I'm listening."

"Somewhere in this basement is a device that is producing a barrier around our home. Once it is destroyed, Toneri will know instantly, so after you release the rest of our clansmen in this basement, I want you to wait ten minutes before you break it."

Her wide eyes scanned the floor as if she was trying to find the logic in my words. "Toneri's puppets will be swarming the area. And what about Father?"

"That is why I want you to release the others before you break the device. There is strength in numbers and they will protect you. In terms of Father, I want you to take a few of our best members to rescue him. As you said, he is heavily guarded. Please be careful."

"You don't understand Hinata – he has a lot of puppets."

I challenged the self-doubt quickly consuming her by staring back at her with eyes full of confidence. "You can do it, Hanabi. I believe in you."

The fire reignited in her pale orbs. Her frown transformed into a haughty smile as she placed her hands on her hips. "Of course I can do this! Who do you take me for?"

Smiling, I said "Good. I need to go now. Again, please be careful."

"I will."

We gave each other a brief hug before I left her to return to my room. Fortunately, I reentered the comforts of my bedroom without incident. I brushed off the dirt on the kimono and then I opened the door, meeting the two puppets obediently waiting for me on the other side. Following behind them, they escorted me to the training room – the largest room in the estate – where Toneri waited impatiently.

He had completely redecorated the room, ridding it of Hyuga mantras that hung on our walls proudly for decades, and our insignia. He replaced all of it with a wedding arch subtly adorned with black roses at the far end of the room, a long black rug that extended from the doorway to the arch, black exotic flowers that hung neatly on the walls, and lights that gave the space an ominous, depressing glow. Toneri himself wore a black formal outfit, giving me the idea of why he chose such a dark, hideous dress for me to sport. This red kimono of mine stood out in this monochromatic space, so it did not surprise me when Toneri spotted me as soon as I entered the room with his puppets in tow.

"What the hell are you wearing?" he shouted from across the room. He took long, angry strides to reach me, and when he did, he commanded "Go change. Now."

After inhaling deeply through my nose, I batted my eyelashes, taking care to project disappointment in my eyes. I asked "This does not please you, Lord Toneri? I had planned to wear this in the Land of Iron, though I never made it to you. Throughout my life, people claimed that I looked wonderful in red. I had hoped that this would catch your attention in the most… concupiscent ways."

I gave him a suggestive expression that made him gulp. All of the anger he felt washed away, turning into desire.

"It… It is undeniable that you are a beauty beyond compare, and the temptation you offer is almost irresistible, however, we need to save consummation after we are married. Please," he gestured to the archway, "this way, Lady Hinata. I have something I wish to show you that you may appreciate before we say our vows."

Reluctantly, I followed Toneri to the wedding arch. With a snap of his fingers, a puppet presented a wooden box that it handed to its master. My fiancé opened the top, standing at an angle where I could not see the box's contents, but I felt my stomach twist at the thought of what might be inside. The feeling that spread through me was not a good one.

"It is no secret that I have been watching you during the moments we spent apart, and, well, I happened to see what that Fuma mongrel attempted to do to you. The rage that consumed me was unlike anything I have ever felt – the image burned into my mind."

Fear seized me at the possibilities he enacted to achieve "justice". When I spoke, my voice came out in a whisper. "Lord Toneri? What did you do?"

"I did what I had to, to make sure your name was not tarnished like some brothel whore." He put his hands in the box, lifting something out of it that made me jump several meters back in horror.

From the box, he pulled out the head of Yuji Fuma.