A/N Thanks to RedSox31 for their suggestion. Thanks to everyone who reviewed.
"Shit!" Tenten cursed, as the building behind her exploded.
Narrowly avoiding the debris, she spotted little Yoshino falling through the air. She quickly flickered over and caught the girl, before landing on the ground. Lee was next to her in a second.
"Once again," Tenten said through gritted teeth "I'm wondering what kind of moron takes a child to a battlefield! Just because Gai-sensei was convinced that putting you in as many near-death situations as possible makes you stronger doesn't necessarily make that true."
Lee looked hurt, but Tenten really didn't care. She tightened her grip on the child and scanned the air for Neji's -Obito's- next attack.
"Tenten! I swore to protect young Yoshino with my life! I guarantee you that there is no safer place for her than by my side!" Lee gave her a thumbs-up, his teeth sparkling.
She rolled her eyes, glancing down at the child in her arms. Yoshino's eyes were wide, but she looked determined. Her mother's kid. Tenten thought.
"I don't suppose you can use tessenjutsu, can you?" she asked. "If we had a strong enough fan we could deflect…" she trailed off, her eyes lighting up.
Another missile raced towards them, and Tenten was so distracted by the idea she had just had that Lee had to drag her out of the way. She scowled when she smelt her singed hair, but ignored it as best she could. If Obito was alive after the invasion, she'd make him pay for her damaged hair, and then she'd kill him.
"I-I don't use fans." Yoshino stammered. "I brought my doll though, and I can use Water Style. Does that help?"
Tenten spared a quick glance at the small puppet strapped to Yoshino's back. Against Ne-the Asura Path- it wouldn't be much use. But that didn't matter, because Tenten had had a brainwave.
"Lee!" she yelled "I need to find Ino!"
!
Hisa was torn. She needed to get Kawa away from here, but if she told him to run Obito would know he was important to her. Obito was currently standing with his back towards her, but both of them knew that Hisa couldn't attack him. She barely had enough chakra left to stay alive, so talking was her only option right now. She took a deep breath.
"Kawa, run!" she yelled "Get away from here before he kills you!"
Kawa frowned.
"But I heard him say he was going to torture you. Why would I run away when I know you're getting tortured?"
"Because you're not strong enough to make a difference and he also really doesn't care about killing you!" she yelled, frustrated. Obito was watching their interaction with a gleam in his eye.
"Again, why would any of that make me run away?"
"For Kami's sake Kawa!" she screamed "I don't give a shit if you want to be a hero. I want you to be alive. So get out of here!"
"Sorry, but that's not happening." Kawa said, sliding into a battle stance. Hisa stared at him in disbelief. Was he grinning?
"What's it going to take for you to leave?" she rasped, her voice already hoarse.
"I'm not leaving without you." Kawa said calmly "And I know you're not leaving until this dick is defeated, so I guess I'll stay and fight."
"If you fight you'll die." she said, surprised at how clinical she sounded.
"If I go he'll hurt you, and I can't let that happen."
Dear Kami, can this get any more clichéd. Hisa wondered.
Out loud, she asked "Why not?"
"Because I love you."
Yes, yes it can.
"…What?" was all she could say.
"I love you." he stated, completely calm. "I've been your friend for years, and you're as close to me as my own teammates, maybe even closer. You love me too, don't you?"
"I…" it was rare for Hisa to be speechless, but right now her mind was blank. "Yeah… yeah, I guess I do love you."
Kawa smiled sadly, surprising Hisa.
"I was afraid of that." he muttered. "I'm sorry about this, because I know it's going to hurt you when I die, but I'm being selfish. I can't let him hurt you, because it'll hurt me too. I'm doing this for me as much as for you, maybe even more."
Hisa was frozen, wondering why the hell all of this was happening. How had it gotten to this point?
"So I'm going to fight." he continued "Even if I die. Because I can't just walk away, no matter how terrified I am, and I have to be honest: I'm shitting myself right now."
She opened her mouth, but Kawa kept going.
"Look, if our situations were reversed you wouldn't leave me. You can't fight and I can. So let's skip all this clichéd bullshit and get to the fighting part."
For a minute, there was nothing but silence.
Then Obito began to chuckle, and Hisa's blood ran cold as she realised how vulnerable her conversation had made her. She shouldn't have opened her mouth, should have known better. When she was with Kawa, it all flowed, regardless of the circumstances. Now Obito knew, she had even admitted to loving Kawa. How stupid was she?
"It's quite cute." Obito said "That you actually thought he could run away in the first place. You there, Inuzuka, do you actually think you stand a chance against me?"
"Nope." Kawa said easily "That's why I didn't bring Kiiromaru along with me. I'm not really good at my clan's jutsu, so there was no point bringing him here just to die."
"Kawa-" Hisa began, but Obito interrupted her.
"So you're walking to your death just so I won't torture her? That's foolish. I won't kill her you know, so if you run away now perhaps both of you can live to see tomorrow."
"When you're a shinobi, there are more important things than death." Kawa replied "Of course, to most people, Hisa isn't more important than death, but to me, she is."
"Enough Kawa." Hisa said sharply, before Obito could reply. "This isn't sweet or brave, it's suicidal. Run!"
In response, Kawa swung his fist at Obito. Obito easily dodged, but Kawa's fist smashed into the rock behind his head, crumbling it in an instant. Obito eyed him with interest.
"So you plan on fighting me with nothing but taijutsu and weapons? Do you know any other jutsu beside your clan's?"
"Nope." Kawa said calmly, before moving so fast, Hisa barely caught it. His fist smashed into Obito's head, and Obito was sent crashing into a boulder. Hisa wasn't surprised when he stood up snickering. He was so insane that if she stabbed him in the head with a kunai, he'd probably do a happy dance.
"It was quite foolish of me to forget I lost my sharingan." Obito said, his voice dripping with false pleasantness. "I wonder if your death will placate me, or will I need to target her Hyuga mother?"
Kawa snarled, and ran at Obito again. Hisa caught a glint of amusement in his eye as he stuck out his hands. Kawa was smashed into a boulder, but got up again almost immediately. Obito grabbed him by the throat and smashed him down into the ground again. Then he picked Kawa up and flung him into the air. As he began to fall Obito's hand changed into a knife. Hisa didn't even have time to scream before Kawa was impaled on the knife.
For a second Obito looked satisfied, until Kawa melted into a pile of dirt. Hisa breathed a sigh of relief. He had used the substitution jutsu to escape. Had he completely run away?
Her hopes were dashed when he appeared above Obito, slashing down at his face with nails as sharp as claws. Obito grabbed his wrist, and flung him into yet another boulder. Hisa was stuck watching, horrified. She tried to push herself upwards, but she could barely move her arms. Obito noticed her though and he smiled, staring at her with sadistic eyes.
In a flash, he was next to Kawa. Hisa didn't see him move, but there was a sickening crack, and suddenly Kawa was screaming, his left arm bent at an unnatural angle. Obito held Kawa's wrist in his hand, eyes locked on Hisa, hoping for a reaction. Hisa struggled to keep her face blank. The more pain she showed, the more Obito would hurt Kawa.
Hisa forced herself to focus on something other than Kawa's screams of agony. She needed to do something, there had to be some way for the two of them to survive. Once again, a small voice was nagging in the back of her mind, replaying her fight with Nawaki in the Valley of the End, and the surging rush of power she had felt when she used the Asura Path… A last resort… She could almost understand…
She shut that part of her down quickly. She wasn't even certain what it meant, but she didn't like the feeling she got when that voice spoke to her. Of course, having a voice speaking to her in the first place wasn't something she was comfortable with. She didn't even know where these thoughts were coming from, or what they meant. One thing she was certain about was that she wasn't the one controlling that voice. It had happened just before Obito died, and it was happening again now. But that doesn't mean anything. she reminded herself quickly.
Another crack echoed through the training ground, and Kawa's screams became gasps and chokes. Hisa's eyes flickered to him for a second, and she almost screamed when she saw the position of his leg. There was no way that was natural.
Don't focus. she chanted. Think of something else. A happy ending. A way to make it possible.
Then it hit her.
One thing Hisa had accepted by now was that fate loved to screw with both her and Konoha. First Obito Uchiha turned out to really be evil, then Nawaki pretty much turned into his carbon copy, then Sasuke killed Sakura and Nawaki went crazy for revenge, then her brother died to repay a debt for something that had happened before he was born, and now this.
But for once, it came with a silver lining. Thanks to her parents, she had hope.
Hisa had heard the story a thousand times. The first time Hinata told Naruto that she loved him was during Pein's invasion. Pein had thrown her around, stabbed her, and she had still survived. If history loved to repeat itself (and as far as Hisa knew, it did) then surely Kawa would survive too? Yeah, that would work.
Of course, she wasn't completely clear on how Hinata survived. Either Sakura managed to heal her in time, or she died and Naruto convinced Pein to bring her back to life. It didn't matter anyway. If she was Naruto, and Nawaki was definitely Sasuke, then Sakura was… Oki?
But the only medical jutsu Oki knew was for eyes. Her main talent was with her sword, which meant that the second option was how Kawa would survive…
She rolled over onto her back and tried to get up, but barely managed to get onto her knees before collapsing back into the dirt. There was a thump, and Kawa's mangled body was dropped in front of her. He was still breathing, she noticed in relief, and he wasn't unconscious either. Obito was standing above her, probably saying more cruel words, but Hisa wasn't listening. Her eyes were on Kawa. She felt like a fragile glass, and only the steady rise and fall of Kawa's chest kept her from shattering.
Kawa's eyes met hers and although his expression was pained, he managed to grin at her. She found herself smiling sadly back, although her brain wasn't quite sure why. Kawa was going to be fine wasn't he? She had this all planned out. She focused more on the plan that was forming in her head. So Obito would kill Kawa, and she would defeat him. Then, using her powers of persuasion she would make him see the light and bring Kawa back to life…
Her sword was in Obito's hand, and with a quick movement he drove it through Kawa's head.
Hisa wasn't quite sure when she finally realised that this wasn't going to have the same happy ending as her parents. Maybe it was when she accepted that she wasn't her father, and there was no way she could ever convince Obito to bring Kawa and her brother back to life.
Or maybe it was when she saw the light leave Kawa's eyes. She saw it through her left eye, because her sharingan was suddenly too sore to open, and even without seeing it she knew that the Mangekyo was forming.
Either way, she snapped.
With a blood-curling scream, the kunai pinning her down were repelled, shooting off into the air. She rose to her feet with strength she hadn't possessed a minute ago, strength brought on through sheer rage and grief. Her head whipped over to glare at Obito, and when she saw his satisfied, smug smile she stuck out her hand. The push that came out of it was strong enough to blast Obito through five different boulders, but in the end he still stood up smiling.
She snarled and pushed off the ground, shooting towards him. Her right hand was changing into a knife, she vaguely realised, not really caring. Nothing mattered except for this man. She needed to see him lying dead at her feet.
Her vision was tainted with red, and although she heard a faint cry she didn't pay it any attention. Obito did though, and he stuck out his hand. Hisa heard another cry, and suddenly a woman was being dragged in front of Obito, powerless against his Heavenly Pull. Hisa snarled louder, but didn't slow down. This woman was in the way. Hisa would just go through her, as long as her knife ended up in Obito.
She drew closer, staring uncomprehendingly into horrified white eyes, tinged with a familiar lavender colour. Who was this woman? It didn't matter. She was in the way, so she had to die.
Just as Hisa was about to strike, a hand clamped down on her elbow, stopping her thrust completely with just one arm. Hisa stared at the man who had stopped her. For a second, he looked puzzlingly familiar, yet she had never seen him before in her life. He had light spiky hair, with two tufts sticking up like horns. He also had a goatee on his chin. He was a white haori, with a necklace around his neck. On that necklace were six comma shaped beads. Hisa took all of this in, and she still had no idea who this man was.
Then in the blink of an eye, she was staring at someone much more familiar.
"Naruto!" she gasped.
Her father stared at her, unreadable emotions swirling in his amber eyes. She wondered if she had simply imagined the man. He had looked quite similar to Naruto, so it could have been a simple trick of light.
"Hisa." he said, his voice low and scaring her slightly. "Why would you do this?"
She stared at him in confusion, before slowly turning around to face the woman. With the red haze gone from her eyes, she was horrifyingly aware of who the woman was.
Hinata tried her best to disguise her horror, but Hisa still saw it. She had almost killed her own mother.
She clapped her hands to her head, which was had begun to pound. What was happening to her? She was seeing things, almost losing complete control, and totally numb at the same time. Was she going insane? Was it because of Obito? Was she already insane?
What the hell was going on?