Disclaimer: I do not own a Naruto, I've never even seen one. But I can tell you anyhow I'd rather lock-him-up-and-never-let-him-go than own one.
Author's Notes: Some people have been requesting a long chapter with some whoopage from Hinata. I now present to you that chapter. Enjoy!
oOo
"Okay, this is stupid, childish, and dangerous. Let's start on three." -Anonymous
oOo
The bell over the shop door tinkled softly as Sakura came in, shutting out the warmer spring weather behind her. The sweet smell of the flower shop filled her head, sprays of roses and hibiscus crowding for attention among the cluttered shelves between purses and jewelry. Ino's flower shop, and Ino herself behind the counter, cleverly managing to sell not only the two dozen roses the woman had come to buy, but also a purse and three necklaces. She nodded to Sakura, and held up a finger to show she would be with her in a minute.
Sakura nodded and wandered around the shop, admiring the bouquets and fingering the new displays. She had gotten a new purse in that Sakura was eyeing with interest when Ino snuck up behind her and slipped her hands over Sakura's eyes.
"Guess who," she sing-songed.
"Um… let me think… Kristi Yamaguchi?"
"I don't think so!" Ino laughed. "Can you see me fitting into one of those sparkly costumes without being sewn in? But hey," she said, letting her hands drop. "Good to see you."
"Good to see you too," Sakura said, hugging her tightly. "It's like you dropped off the face of the planet! When was the last time I saw you? Why haven't you been returning my calls?"
"Sorry," Ino said, pulling Sakura farther back into the shop. "I've been really busy and… well, I've been busy."
"Busy," Sakura said doubtfully, following the blond ponytail into the backroom and leaning against a petal-strewn counter. "Too busy for three weeks to even send a 'hi-how-are-ya' text? Because I've been busy too, and I've found the time."
Ino scrunched her nose and arranged some hyacinths into a towering bouquet. "It's been crazy is all. Holly…" she trailed off, and snapped off the end of a flower with a particularly violent flair.
"Is she alright?" Sakura asked worriedly. "She's okay?"
"She's fine," Ino sighed. "She's with her dad. I've been working with the schools to get her transferred."
Sakura blinked stupidly for a moment before her brain kicked back into action and got past the thought, she's with her dad?
"She's with her dad?"
Okay, so maybe her brain hadn't gotten very far off the topic.
"Yup," Ino said. "In Texas."
"O-kay…"
"It's best for her there."
"O-kay…"
"She's happy."
"O-kay…"
"She's going to get to go to a great school, and she likes Temari, and I'm planning a visit soon."
"O-kay…"
"Stop saying 'okay' like that!"
"Okay," Sakura said, not sure what else she really could say. "Um… what brought this change on? You've barely had any contact with Shikamaru since you told him you were pregnant, and now you're letting Holly live with him?"
Ino hunched her shoulders, faced her flowers, and said thickly. "It was for the best. For everyone. Can we not talk about it?"
Sakura approached cautiously, and gave her a hug. Ever since Hinata had dropped into lovey-dovey land a week ago with Naruto, Sakura had been gathering up her courage to go and see Ino. She had thought there would be screaming involved in this confrontation, maybe hair-pulling, but not Ino crying. Ino never cried.
"Hey," she soothed, patting her back while Ino's shoulders shook. "I'm sorry. I won't mention it anymore."
"No, I'm sorry, I'm being silly," Ino said, carefully drying her tears so as not to ruin her mascara. "I just haven't had anyone to talk to about this lately."
Sakura frowned, and stepped back, squaring Ino off and looking her up and down. The woman had lost weight, quite a bit, and Sakura could feel hard bone where she gripped Ino's shoulders. "Ino, I've known you since you punched that kid in the face for me in kindergarten and then made him eat paste," she said. "Something's up here, and I want to know what it is."
Ino sniffed and continued wiping at her mascara. "I—I can't t-tell you."
"You can tell me anything."
"No, I mean, it might be dangerous for you."
"Dangerous!" Sakura shrieked. "Is that why you sent Holly away? Is it the mob? Because I'll take care of that, Ino, I really will. You'll be surprised how many gang connections I've gotten from working in the hospital…"
"No, no, it's not that," Ino said, wringing her hands. Sakura stared. Ino was wringing her hands. Unprecedented. She hadn't even been this upset when the pregnancy test had come back positive. "I really can't talk about it."
"Is there nothing I can do?" Sakura asked sadly, brushing Ino's hair back and wiping a tear. "Nothing at all?"
"I'm getting—I'm getting letters," Ino said hesitantly. "You know, the basic threatening kind. I'm keeping them on my fridge because at first I thought they were funny, like the ones you get from the political parties."
There, that sounds like the Ino I know.
"But-" her voice broke and went up an octave. "I'm scared, Sakura, and I don't know what to do anymore."
"Come on," Sakura said, putting and arm around her shoulders and closing up the shop. She could feel the ridges of her friend's spine. "You'll stay at my house for a few days, we'll talk to Hinata and see if she has any connections that can help. Her family is like a mob unto themselves. We'll get this figured out, I promise."
Ino nodded, but it didn't look like she believed it.
oOo
"She's with her dad?"
"Yeah, I know," Sakura said. "And she actually cried."
"Bizarre," Hinata murmured, stirring her Alfredo sauce and checking on the shrimp. Naruto was supposed to be over in an hour to eat, and she wanted everything to be perfect. He had said he had something important to tell her.
"I'm really worried," Sakura insisted. "You should see her. Skin and bones! I sent her to bed and she went! When has she ever done something she was told?"
Hinata honestly couldn't think of any such time.
"Is there anything I can do?" Hinata asked. She set out the plates, but hesitated before she got the silverware. "I could come over. Talk, hug, have a girl's night in. I could bring ice-cream, and make come calls…"
"Thanks, but I don't think she's up to it, and I know you have a special night planned with Naruto. How's that going anyway?"
"Wonderful," Hinata gushed. "Ever since that little kidnapping incident, we've been closer than ever. I haven't gone a day without seeing him recently and," she lowered her voice shyly. "He says he has something important to tell me tonight."
Sakura's squeal was loud enough Hinata almost dropped the phone and barely recovered before it dropped into the boiling pot of spaghetti. "You think he'll propose?"
"I don't know," Hinata said, toying with her apron and unable to keep the smile off her face. "Wouldn't that be an important question though, instead of something to tell me?"
"You never know! Oh, how exciting. Wait, I'll tell Ino, if this doesn't excite her nothing will."
Hinata waited patiently, hearing muffled footsteps and conversation, and then there some loud static.
"Um," Hinata said. "Hello…?"
"He's proposing?" Ino demanded.
Sakura was right, she didn't sound like herself. But even without another headache-inducing squeal her voice was intense enough to make Hinata think it couldn't be that bad.
"I don't know," Hinata repeated, laughing. "It's just a thought. Maybe he's just going to tell me he finally managed to eat enough ramen to go in the Guinness Book of World Records."
"Totally possible," Ino agreed. "No offense, but your boyfriend is kind of a dork."
"Yeah," Hinata agreed dreamily. "He kind of is."
Sakura and Ino laughed, and Hinata blushed so hard she felt like her face might melt.
"So how long do you have for us to tease you?" Ino asked.
"As long as you need," Hinata lied, remembering what Sakura had said. Maybe Ino really did need a girl's night. "I can—"
The doorbell rang, and Hinata winced.
"That was him, wasn't it?" Ino asked.
"…yeah."
"Go on then! And don't keep us in suspense! If he even has an inkling of getting on one knee then you need to call and put us on speaker phone so we can listen in."
Hell will freeze over, pigs will fly, and my father will wear bunny slippers first, Hinata thought. "Um, well, I better get that door…"
"Good luck!"
"Thanks."
Hinata set her phone down on the front hall table, took a deep breath, straightened her pretty-but-I'm-not-desperate dress, checked her breath (minty) and opened the door.
At first, she couldn't find Naruto under the giant bouquet of flowers being shoved in her face, but once she did he gave her a laughing kiss and all but carried her into the kitchen.
"I'm so happy to see you! It's been forever," he declared plopping down at the kitchen table while she got a vase for the flowers. She checked the sauce, it needed a minute, and drained the spaghetti.
"You saw me yesterday," she pointed out, but had to concede that had indeed been too long when he came up behind her and started kissing her neck. She gave in with good grace, turning around and kissing him until the world started to float.
"Mm," she sighed, when he pulled away, opening her eyes lazily. "No more. I've got to get the sauce."
"We have all night," Naruto agreed pulling away.
Hinata busied herself with dinner so he wouldn't catch her fiery blush, but he found it anyway and pinched her cheek. "Cute."
Hinata huffed, saying something about not being "cute" (which was for little girls with pigtails and ribbons) when Naruto leaned in again.
And indefinite amount of time later they managed to seat themselves at the table, though admittedly two to a chair, and engrossed themselves in the horribly-disgusting-lovey-dovey-activity-Hinata-had-sworn-she-would-never-ever-do—feeding each other.
"So what was it you wanted to tell me?" Hinata asked, wiping away a spot of sauce at the corner of his mouth.
She could feel him go tense, and had to stop herself from bouncing up and down in excitement. Surely if he was so worried it wasn't just about ramen? Surely it was something like—like—
His phone rang.
There was a moment of tense silence where they both tried to ignore it, and then he went red and pulled it out of his pocket. "Sorry," he muttered. "Just a second."
Well that killed the mood, Hinata thought sourly, standing up to clear the table. Naruto's fingers lingered at her waist but didn't stop her. He better have a dang good reason for that, or he is most certainly not going to "have all night".
"You're kidding," Naruto said lowly. "How come you…? Yeah, of course I do but… Yes. Yes, I told you—! Of course I know how important it is. Don't you even… Yes. Yes, I know. And you can't do it? Buck up! No, no, no. …Yes."
There was a period of long silence, where Naruto glared at the wall and Hinata glared at him. She could already tell where this was headed. Every time Naruto got one of these phone calls—and they came more and more often—he had to rush off and take care of something "very important" at the office. Usually she didn't mind, she could understand perfectly the insanity of the business world and had cancelled a few dates of her own, but this was a special night. This was the night when, just once, he ignored that phone call or had the best excuse ever known to man.
From the guilty look in his eyes when he hung up the phone, he had better have had the best excuse known to man.
"Something…" he said, trailing off when he caught the look in her eyes. He looked down at the table. "It's really important."
"What is it?" Hinata demanded. "And don't you say you can't tell me."
He cleared his throat and got to his feet awkwardly. Hinata's glare could have melted his feet to the floor. "There's this guy that's been, uh, embezzling! Yeah. Embezzling. And they caught him but if I don't get there and identify him he could be let go."
"Embezzling," Hinata repeated.
Naruto nodded quickly. "Yup! Big problem. Lots of money went poof."
"Uh-huh. And you haven't mentioned it before because…?"
"Because… Sasuke handles the money…"
"And so Sasuke can't I.D. him because?"
"I'm the head of the company?"
"That sounds like a question."
"Come on, Hina!" Naruto begged. "Please don't do this. I'm second-guessing my own story because you look so unhappy. I'm sorry, really, really sorry I have to go, but I'll be back! It'll only take an hour, maybe two, and then I promise the rest of this time and the next time I will turn off my phone."
She hadn't meant to make him beg, but she couldn't help liking it. She sighed and, ever benevolent, and nodded. "Okay, I'm sorry, I know it's important and… it's just dinner. You go, come back, everything will be good."
"Yeah?"
"Yes."
"You are a goddess," Naruto breathed and kissed her. His phone started ringing again while he pulled away, and she only let him go reluctantly. "Thanks."
"Hurry back," Hinata ordered simply.
He grabbed his jacket and ran out the door.
Hinata sighed and finished clearing the plates, leaving them to soak in the sink. She sat down at the table and frowned, tapping her fingers against the tabletop. Naruto had run out so quickly, and half of his excuse sounded like he'd been making it up on the spot. Why did the call have to come then?
Another sigh, and she strolled around to the refrigerator to pull out the strawberry chocolate cheesecake she had made for dessert. She might as well serve it up now…
Or… she thought with a smile. I could take him a piece…
She hummed as she wrapped up the two cheesecake slices and filled a thermos for milk. She would go and surprise him! Surely identifying someone didn't have to be done alone. She thought about the look on his face when he saw her, and laughed.
What a surprise this would be!
oOo
Naruto sat in a carved mahogany chair, thumbing a tiny carving of the battle of Styx—which, strangely, had absolutely nothing to do with mythological rivers and everything to do with the beginning move of establishing the office of Kage. The chair was alive with such carvings, each in perfect detail and rendering. The Kage's faces from the First to the three hundredth and twenty-fourth—Naruto himself—were in perfect relief.
Orochimaru's face was carved into this chair as well, a chair that had lasted nearly as long as the Hokage's robes of office, just a little before Naruto's own on the right side of the chair. The lank hair, pointed nose, and even the manic glint in his eye were there, almost alive, and Naruto considered, not for the first time, to scratch the face off. He had tried before though, and he hadn't even managed to scratch the wooden monstrosity with a Rasengan.
He looked up, eyes shadowed by the brim of his hat, at the table around him. Sasuke sat immediately to his right, watching him with hawk eyes that were beginning to swirl into red and black. Shikamaru sat to his left, a clear frown on his face, glaring at the end of the table with undisguised disgust. The head of intelligence looked like he was going to kill something if it twitched wrong.
Down along the table sat all of his most trusted advisors, counselors, and friends. Chouji—not eating for once—was followed by Yamato, Kurenai, Rock Lee, Kakashi, Nagato, Tsunade, and Shino. All of them had their eyes riveted to the figure at the end of the table, hands chained to the polished wood and each finger broken.
Orochimaru smiled, licking his lips with his absurd tongue, and reclined as much as he could in his chair. He was trying to present a cool, controlled front, as if he had even a modicum of control over the situation. The black eye that had swollen the right side of his face and the burns where half his hair had been removed made him a ridiculous figure in Naruto's eyes.
"Read the charges," Naruto ordered. His nail dug into the carving of Orochimaru's face, wishing he could be done with this formality and skip right to the execution. Usually, he withheld from killing—the only reason Sasuke and Nagato had survived to sit at this table—but Orochimaru was a special case.
"Attempted murder of the Hokage through deceit and treachery," Sasuke began. Sasuke had taken the job of reading the charges with particular relish. "The kidnapping of one Hyuuga Hinata, and the subsequent revelation of his Secret."
There were hisses from around the table. Reveal the Secret? It was enough to call for death right there. It seemed a little funny that none of them had been as upset about Orochimaru trying to kill him. But then again, most of the people at this table had tried him at one point or another.
"Human trafficking, the escape and subsequent mental torture of Yamanka Ino-" Shikamaru twitched. "—drug trafficking, human sacrifice that was included but not limited to: pagan rituals, the drinking of blood, and the desecration of the bodies. Stealing the following items: The Hokage hat, six human children and sixteen adult humans, three thousand dollars worth of lab equipment…"
The list went on, and Naruto was almost tempted to tell Sasuke to skip to the end. But that would set a bad precedent. Naruto intended to be the one Hokage who followed procedure and had an honest cause before he killed someone.
Even if the process killed him.
It took nearly an hour to read through the charges, by which point Kakashi had his porn open underneath the table and Kurenai was filing her nails. Naruto was wondering if Hinata was still waiting for him or if she'd cracked and started their Star Wars marathon early. (He had insisted on the marathon. What kind of person could go through life without watching "these are not the droids you're looking for"?)
"How do you plead?" Sasuke finished, and gulped water for his dry throat.
"Innocent," Orochimaru said breezily. "Unless you have proof of such charges?"
"We have Hyuuga Hinata."
"And she remembers the incident does she?"
"No."
"Then where's your proof?"
Naruto's claws dug into the chair, and he gnashed his fangs. "How about you trying to kill me?"
"Who wasn't?"
"Is that your final answer?" Sasuke asked excitedly. The emphasis he put on "final" was a little too gleeful.
Orochimaru laughed, a sound like snakes slithering in the grass. "I lured you there using your precious girl—your Fire—and I was going to kill you. If the brat-" he glared at Sasuke. "Hadn't gotten in my way you would be dead. I would have killed your girl, seconds before you could stop me, and you would be nothing but a shell!"
There was moment of long silence and then Naruto pounded his fist on the table and stood up. "Alright, enough is enough! I declare Sannin Orochimaru guilty."
"All in agreement raise your right hand," Sasuke said.
Every hand shot up in the air without a second of hesitation, and Orochimaru began to look uneasy. He looked to Tsunade, the only member of Naruto's council he knew—perhaps the only one that would ever consider speaking for him—and she stared grimly back. Her hand did not waver.
"This isn't the end," Orochimaru snapped as Naruto formed the Rasengan. "I'll come back! I am IMMORTAL!"
"Oh yeah?" Naruto asked, stabilizing the whirring swirl of power in his hand. He noticed a swirl of red in the Rasengan, and knew his eyes were bleeding red, the whisker marks on his cheeks standing out in relief. "Let's test that out."
He lunged across the table, his Rasengan aimed at Orochimaru's head, and the snake's scream covered Hinata's own as she opened the door.
oOo
"Can you feel the love tonight?" Hinata sang as she carried the basket full of dessert into Naruto's office building. Judd, the guard on duty she had come to know on her occasional visits, had told her Naruto was up on the top floor in his second office.
Hinata hadn't been aware Naruto had a second office—wasn't one with a view of the entire city enough?—but she thought it must have been the locked set of double doors she had seen once when she had come. She had thought they led to a bathroom or something, and hadn't bothered to ask.
"In short our pal is dooooomed," Hinata finished as she stepped off the elevator and walked into Naruto's office. It was dark up here, but just as she had suspected there was light coming from underneath the double doors and she headed that way. She wondered what his face would look like when he saw her…
The doors opened to a massive hallway lined completely in an enfilade of mirrors. The halls, even the ceiling, were massive panels of glass. The only part to be spared was the floor which was tiled in black with different engravings on each individual tile. One was a dragon, its lithe body curled around itself many times and biting its own tail. Another was a phoenix, crumbling to ashes, and another after that a tree cloven in two. Each one looked so real. The dragon looked like it was about to jump at her, and she could almost hear the phoenix's dying cry.
The designs were multiplied and expanded on the mirrors, making the whole hallway into a twisting mass of living pictures, Hinata's small face peering back at her in wonder.
Who knew Naruto had such a flair for the dramatic?
Shrugging, Hinata tiptoed in to the hallway, hurrying down it to the next set of double doors at the end. Light leaked around those too, and she thought she could hear voices, though they were muffled.
The doors were black, with giant gold—though surely they weren't real gold—doorknobs shaped as an intricate swirl.
Hmm, Hinata thought. I don't think I personally would have decorated this way, a bit too flashy, but I suppose if you want to make an impression…
She opened the door, poked her head in, and screamed.
Naruto—what she thought must be Naruto—was driving some kind of—of glowing blue thing through some poor man's skull as he was chained to the table, unable to move. Brain and blood exploded, bits of bone ricocheting off the walls in pale splinters, as the head broke open beneath the force of Naruto's sphere.
And Naruto himself… red eyed, with claws, and thick scars—three on each cheek, like whiskers—on his face, mouth in a snarl to show fangs.
Fangs.
Naruto was—Naruto was—
He's lied to me. He killed someone. He's a monster. Naruto is a murderer. He lied to me.
That last thought seemed to be the only one she could hang on to, the rest too impossible, and there was a sudden pounding in her skull that made her feel like her own brain was being split apart. And her eyes. Her eyes felt itchy and swollen, and—and—
Naruto lied to me.
There was an explosion of pain and sound. Images flooded back to her, disjointed and out of order but she knew they were real. A giant snake, Sasuke with wings, running and running and running and chasing and being chased and turning to fight but losing and—
-and at the same moment, time seemed to slow down. People were looking from the headless corpse to her, shouting and saying words she couldn't hear, but she understood them. She could see the words forming on their lips—Naruto! Your girlfriend's here! —and the miniscule specks of dust floating in the air. She could see Sasuke, pale—Do you see her eyes? That can't be what I think it is—and Tsunade with more wrinkles than Hinata had ever seen before. She's going into shock—and Naruto. Naruto, who looked nothing like the Naruto she knew. Naruto, who had just killed a man.
She could see the hallway behind her—That's the Byakugan! But how could she?—even though she was facing forward. Naruto took a step forward…
Hinata dropped her basket and ran.
She expected the world to be confusing, because she could see everything, in all directions in prefect clarity. She could see the people chasing after her, inhumanly fast, her own slight form reflected in the mirror above and beside her, but most importantly she could see forward. The exit.
She burst into Naruto's office and was in the elevator, closing the doors before she knew that she had moved.
Wait! Naruto's lips screamed as someone lunged toward her. Don't hurt her! Let her go! Don't hurt her!
Her mind was in a fog, still roiling with images of her kidnapping. The elevator moved so slowly and suddenly she realized she could see the cogs whirring and the cables moving as the elevator went down.
I'm seeing through walls, she realized. Then, a thought born purely of shock: Wow. I'm Superman!
Naruto was taking the stairs, she saw, but the others stayed on top pacing and arguing. They were discussing how unfortunate it was that she had seen, wondering if Naruto would catch her. Naruto was moving fast, much faster than the elevator.
Will he kill me too if he catches me? I don't know anymore.
She had to think of something. To stay on the elevator could only lead to Naruto, and she couldn't face him now.
In fact, if she never saw him again that would be great.
She had to think. There, there, there, there, there, she thought, eyes shifting slightly as she took in different parts of the building. Yes, that will do it.
She hit the emergency stop between the second and first floors, slightly closer to the second than the first. She was amazed at the accuracy with which she could do it now. She could see how long the brakes would take to stop, how much closer she needed to be to the second floor than to the first. But she barely paused, she jumped up and pulled herself out onto the roof of the car, then—using every ounce of strength she possessed—opened the doors just enough to squeeze through them. These doors were weaker than the rest, by a faulty alignment that needed fixing, which made for easy opening.
Naruto had gotten to the elevator and was waiting for the doors to open. Hinata didn't waste any time before she was running down the hall to the window. I'm so glad I changed to sneakers and jeans, she thought as she opened the latch and climbed down the ladder on the wall.
She was running before she hit the pavement. Naruto had just figured out the elevator had stopped and was forcing the doors open. The others were still on the top floor…
Shuddering in relief, Hinata stumbled out onto the street and hailed a cab. Her eyes were burning, and as she settled into the back of the cab and stumbled out her address, the clarity of her vision faded to fuzz.
It was only with it gone that she realized how dim and unclear things were. It had looked like day with her eyes like that, but she realized now the sun had gone down nearly an hour ago. Everything was suddenly lacking.
She took the drive home to readjust herself to normal vision. That sight-the Byakugan. That's what they called it—had seemed completely natural. Now she felt like she was trying to see with her eyes closed.
I'll have to pack, she thought wildly as the cab pulled up in front of her apartment. She paid him and told him to wait. She didn't know where she could possibly go to escape Naruto, but anywhere was better than here. Just take the essentials. I'll go to the bank wherever the cab stops and get my money. Then I'll go—I'll go somewhere. I'll go wherever I need to go to get away.
The stairs to her apartment seemed to take forever, and when she was finally able to stumble in to the relative safety of her home her legs collapsed from relief.
She sat there for a few moments on the floor, hand over her mouth and breathing hard as she tried to comprehend it all. The head exploding, Naruto being some kind of freak, her eyes, escaping…
Escaping. Right, I'm escaping. I need to get moving before he comes.
She thought of this afternoon, when Naruto coming over to her house had filled her with sunshine, and now she felt nothing but ice in the pit of her stomach.
She hurried to her room and pulled out the safety box she kept under her bed. She put that in a backpack along with a change of clothes, her toothbrush, and the contents of her purse. It would have to do.
She went to the door, but paused. She had forgotten something…
Of course.
Into the living room, under that old horrible baseball trophy she had gotten as a child playing on Kiba's team, she grabbed the debit card her father had given her for emergencies. She would draw all the cash from it, use that to pay her way to… was France nice this time of year?
The door slammed, and Hinata pressed herself back against the bookcase, hiding the trophy and card behind her.
It was like Naruto knew exactly where she was. He didn't waste any time searching or peeking around corners, he simply turned into the living room and pinned her against the book case.
He was breathing hard, so was she, and he was close enough that they touched with each inhale and she could smell his sweat from chasing her. His eyes were mostly blue again, the whiskers faint outlines, but there were enough lingering traces that Hinata couldn't possibly pass off what she had seen as a hoax.
"Hinata," he gasped. "Let me explain."
He did not just say that.
"YOU KILLED SOMEONE!" she hollered in his face. "YOU MASHED HIS HEAD INTO PULP!"
"It was the guy who kidnapped you," he defended.
"You erased the memory of that though, didn't you?"
"Well…"
"You're a freak! Get away from me!"
He had her trapped so that she couldn't move, and he didn't step back. If anything, he moved closer. "Hinata, please, I love you…"
"Get away from me!"
"Hinata, I know I messed up but please—"
It almost undid her. She loved him, so much there was an ache of misery in her chest, and hearing him plead with her was enough to start the tears.
For just a moment, she went lax, and Naruto took that moment to lean down, one arm loosening, and bite the junction of her neck and shoulder.
There was no pain, but there was a burst of something in her, like a pocket of her mind had suddenly opened up that had never been there before, and inside that pocket was a million things. Frightening things, happy things, but mostly a knot of tension and fear and love and—
She couldn't think, she couldn't even process her movements, all she knew was that Naruto had hurt her, and she had to get away from him.
Her arm came up, and the copper plated steel trophy crashed into Naruto's temple. It dented with a crack, and he crumpled, blood leaking out one ear.
Hinata stood with the trophy still raised high, blood on the corner, and all at once her Byakugan was burning again. She could see the damage in Naruto's brain, blood vessels destroyed, and his heart puttering fitfully in his chest. It spasmed, and stopped.
Just like that. No other warning, no afterthought, no halted intake of breath as his heart started again, he was simply gone.
Hinata lowered the trophy slowly, trying to argue with the evidence before her eyes. Naruto couldn't be—she hadn't—
That corner of her mind that had opened up fell silent, barely a spark remaining, and Hinata dropped the trophy.
She couldn't think, couldn't feel, she didn't know what else to do.
She ran.
oOo
Author's Notes: Wasn't that fun?
I thought so. I actually wrote all thirteen pages of this in about an hour, and was going to post it yesterday but (gasp!) I couldn't log in. Very sad, I know.
Anyway, please tell me what you think!