When I woke up, I expected to be dead. I thought that I had moved on and ended up in the world of the dead. The wound that I received was fatal and there could've been no way that I survived. Except that I did. I wasn't in pain, I realized, and I was in a familiar place. A place that I never enjoyed visiting. I was in Konoha High's infirmary.
The white ceiling stared down at me. My exhausted body lay down on a white bed wrapped up in white blankets that smelled like lavender. The scent made me sick as I crinkled my nose in disgust. Looking around at my familiar surroundings, I discovered that I was concealed by green curtains for privacy. It was a small space, but the curtains were opened up slightly. And when I looked through the space I was able to see Kakashi sensei sitting at his desk. I expected him to be filling out paperwork like he often did, but I found him talking to someone instead.
When I woke up I was unintentionally eavesdropping in on a conversation between Kakashi sensei and… Deidara? What were they talking about? When I said that I hated the nurse, my hatred didn't even compare to Deidara's disdain. He never bothered going inside of the infirmary and hated hearing Kakashi sensei's name whenever the girls in class would mention how sexy he was. And when the occasional height and weight requirements arrived Deidara skipped it. He refused to go anywhere near the nurse.
"Why not just take her to a hospital?" Kakashi asked coolly.
When Deidara spoke great disdain carried in his voice. "Because we couldn't risk the hospital asking questions. You already know about us so why not bring her here?"
"I'm surprised you trusted me enough." Amusement sounded in his voice.
"She needed a doctor immediately. We were desperate."
"Can't Sasuke Uchiha heal?"
Deidara bit his lip. "The wound was too deep. He wasn't able to heal the entire injury."
Was it that bad? Sasuke was the best healer I knew… Well, he was good at healing mental injuries anyway. I've never seen him repair physical injuries. The only major injury he healed on me was a massive headache with a side of vertigo caused by Deidara.
"And yet you still brought her here?" Kakashi let out a brief, humorless laugh. "She knows too much. I could kill her you know?"
Deidara growled. "I'd kill you before that would happen."
"Do you honestly think you can?" He was challenging Deidara. "I'm a slayer, Deidara. No matter how powerful you think you are, we will always be stronger."
Deidara bit his lip and tsked.
There was that word again. Slayer. What was that exactly? Kurenai sensei was a slayer that attacked Sasuke a few months back. Sasuke never bothered to tell me what they were, but I wanted to know. All I know so far is that they slay vampires, and now I discovered that they are stronger than vampires. How does that explain how fast Sasuke killed Kurenai though? If a slayer is naturally stronger than a vampire, how did Sasuke take her down so quickly and effortlessly?
I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard a chair scrape across the tiled floor. My heart stopped when I feared that they found out that I was awake and listening. But my fear subsided when I noticed Deidara stroll angrily over to Kakashi's desk. He began to search through his messy piles of paperwork. My friend angrily searched through the pile with frustration and impatience. He only looked through them for a few seconds before he smacked the large pile of papers off of the desk.
"What are you planning?" Deidara demanded furiously.
Kakashi was calm and remained completely unfazed when Deidara got in his face. His collected demeanor both annoyed me and worried me at the same time. Slayers are naturally stronger than vampires. Just watching him sit there unflinchingly looking up at my angry friend freaked me out. I'd be begging for my life with a bloodthirsty vampire in my face. Especially if it was Deidara. He didn't show me all of his tricks, but I figured that he had a lot of amazing ones to share. He owned vampiric strength and he chanted incantations in fluent Latin like a witch. It made me wonder if he was more than just a vampire.
"I am not planning anything," Kakashi sensei responded coolly.
"Fine." My friend clenched his jaw. "What is Tsunade planning? She's the head slayer in this city, right? What's going on?"
"Take that up with her."
Deidara released a humorless laugh. "You're so annoying. It's taking everything I got to not kill you."
"Like you could." Kakashi kept challenging him. Was he intentionally trying to enrage him?
"I could. All of your bullshit of saying that slayers are naturally stronger than vampires is just a bluff. I've killed slayers in my time."
"And how many did you actually kill? Hmm? Out of all of your nine-hundred and fifty years of 'living', how many did you kill? One? Two? Five maybe?"
Deidara backed away. He was pissed off and was trying hard to get rid of the anger that just accumulated. Do all slayers know how to get to their prey? And how did Kakashi know how old Deidara was? I didn't even know. Was that also a slayer thing? I continued to listen to more so I could find out more about slayers, but the subject changed to something that was entirely irrelevant to what they were originally discussing.
"Hinata Hyuga…" Kakashi began. He said my name like it was some kind of mystical, unsolved wonder. "You've taken a liking to her. So has Naruto Uzumaki, the kitsune, and Sasuke Uchiha, the vampire. Slayers are taught when we're young that vampires are evil and you have no affectionate emotions. But when I saw you and Sasuke bring her in here, I thought otherwise for a moment."
"Shut up. Don't even say her name." I heard the chair slide across the floor again when Deidara was out of my sight. I figured that he sat down again.
"You love her. Maybe even more than Kana. That's pretty dangerous. Well, for her anyway." My eyes widened. He knows who Kana is? Am I the only one who doesn't know anything about her? "Even though she's with the younger vampire, your 'friend', will you try to steal her away?"
A silence filled the infirmary that brought tension storming along with it. Even though I couldn't see Deidara I somehow knew that he was sitting in the chair slouching with his arms tightly crossed over his chest as he gave Kakashi his most terrifying glare. Kakashi sat there unfazed by his expression and waited patiently for an answer that my friend was reluctant to give his enemy.
Then I heard Deidara inhale and then deeply exhale. "Possibly," he said. This got a reaction out of the nurse. He was amused. But the short lived amusement faltered when Deidara said, "But I'm happy to see her happy. If I took her away from the youngster then she'd never forgive me. As pitiful as it sounds, I wouldn't be able to bear the person that I love hating me. If she were meant to be mine then she'd be with me by now. If not now then later. I'll wait for her. I love her."
Sensei wasn't expecting an answer like that. When he questioned what he was taught as a young boy, as a slayer, he was reflecting on all of his lessons he learned when he saw Deidara and Sasuke bring me in here. He wanted to confirm his doubt. Vampires didn't have affectionate emotions. That was wrong. I knew that first hand. And now Kakashi was beginning to think that as well. The answer he received would take a while to sink in though. After being told most of your childhood that vampires were cold-hearted monsters I'd also take a while to see them in a different light.
Kakashi was thinking of whether to believe creatures of the night were evil or not. He looked confused and he left the room still pondering on Deidara's words and actions. It relieved me. Not because he left the room. I was relieved because he was starting to see what others didn't. If Kakashi, a slayer, could change his view on vampires then maybe others could too. Instead of being an enemy to vampires, maybe they could be allies. With a little effort, maybe they could-
The curtain that was concealing me shot open with a swift force. I gasped and nearly fell off of the lavender scented bed when I saw who opened the curtains. Deidara. Of course. This was his second time in less than twenty-four hours scaring the crap out of me.
"It's not polite to eavesdrop, Princess," he said. He sat beside me on the bed and stared at me with concern. "How are you feeling?"
"Better," I responded as I cleared my throat. He wasn't sorry that he scared me. He actually looked amused and pleased with himself.
"That quack doctor didn't do anything weird did he? I don't trust him."
"I… I don't think so. I doubt that he would try to pull anything with you here." Sasuke didn't provide me with information on the mysterious slayers, but maybe Deidara would. "Deidara? What's a slayer?"
He ran his fingers through his long hair and sighed. "Wouldn't you rather want to know about what happened after you collapsed? Most people would ask that question instead of something that made them curious."
I frowned. He changed the subject immediately. He wasn't going to tell me. Why not? I ought to know, right? This is another situation that I'm involved in. I need to know these things.
"Fine," I said, crossing my arms. "What happened? What happened to Anko? What happened to Sasuke? What happened to Naruto?" Despite how annoyed I was, I shivered when I recalled how Naruto transformed.
"Well, after you collapsed, Naruto and Sasuke went ballistic on Anko. Normally Sasuke would've healed you right away, but he wasn't in his right state of mind due to how enraged he was. He underwent something we call vampire rage. And Naruto's transformation… evolved. His claws grew even longer and the room was pressurized by the demonic aura he was emitting. As soon as Naruto evolved Anko was done for. I would've jumped into the battle, but I was still charging up on your blood. Before I got to get in the fight they ripped her body in half."
I'm kind of glad that I didn't see the end of the battle. I would've had nightmares for weeks. Maybe even months. "How… How did they… How did their anger defuse? Are they okay?" That was the first question that came to mind, but there was so much more that I wanted to ask. Like why couldn't Sasuke heal me, what was a kitsune, I wanted to know more about Kakashi and why Kurenai was an easy kill compared to the other slayers, and question Deidara about his confession.
"Yeah. When the battle ended they went back to normal. Good thing too. I could take on Sasuke, but Naruto is in a whole other league."
I frowned. He was acting so calm while I was so uneasy about what went on while I was out. No matter how hard he tried to hide it, I saw right through his façade though. He was a little shaken. Is that why he was here with me and not Naruto or Sasuke? Was he afraid to be alone with them and afraid to leave them with me? Naruto, I could understand. He was much stronger than Deidara and Sasuke combined. And he proved that. But Sasuke? Why? Couldn't Deidara do the same thing Sasuke could? That rage is a vampire thing, isn't it? Maybe Deidara couldn't do the same thing Sasuke did after all because he's not just a vampire. I decided to ask that question since I just now remembered that I wanted to ask him.
"Deidara?" I asked. "You are a vampire, right?"
He looked at me like I was an idiot. Maybe I should rephrase that.
"Are you a full vampire?" I asked again.
A large smile grew on his beautiful face that exposed his sharp fangs. He appeared to be impressed by my observation. He was waiting for someone to mention it, like Sasuke or maybe even Naruto, but he didn't expect me to find out first.
He said, "Princess, you amaze me." He got up from the bed. "Let's go back to the church. Sasuke's probably worried about you."
I nodded and gave him a slight smile. I was just as hesitant to go back to the church as Deidara was. I couldn't imagine how Naruto and Sasuke would react to my recovery. But overall, I couldn't imagine them acting like their normal selves after what I just witnessed. I was still frightened, but not as much as when I first saw them enraged. I just had to keep reminding myself that they were still the same people that I knew. They'd never hurt me. Deidara should tell himself that too.
Deidara opened the door for me when we arrived at the church. My boyfriend and blonde friend stood in the center of the lobby waiting for us to return. As soon as I got inside Sasuke rushed up to me and pulled me into a tight embrace. His lips brushed against mine when he loosened his embrace's hold. Looking into his eyes, I suddenly felt a little guilty for thinking he'd be any different from the Sasuke I knew. His dark orbs stared down at me with so much love and worry that I felt even more guilty the longer I looked into them.
"I'm so happy that you're okay," he breathed as he pulled me into another embrace. He couldn't stop looking at me no matter how hard he tried.
I smiled at his words. I stroked his hair and then rested a hand on his warm face after caressing his cheek. "I missed you." We kissed again. It took the sounds of discomfort around us for us remember that we weren't alone. In that brief moment it felt like it was just the two of us. And when Deidara clearing his throat brought us back to reality, my face became hot from embarrassment. Sasuke looked a little embarrassed too. For a moment he wasn't his trademark, austere self. He let the others see a side of him that he preferred that they'd never see.
Once Sasuke finished greeting me Naruto slowly approached me with his hands stuffed into his pockets. His eyes, no longer crimson, showed me how worried he was about me and how worried he felt as he assumed that I wouldn't look at him the same. After witnessing the shocking transformation that he underwent, he feared that I wouldn't view him as the same person I did before.
He didn't come up to me. He only took a few awkward steps towards me and stopped halfway. I had to be the one to tell him that I was okay with him. He was still my friend. That he wasn't a monster even though he thought he was. So what did I do? I hugged him. When I wrapped my arms around him I felt his body stiffen. He hadn't expected me to do that. Then, slowly, he brought his arms up around my body. It took him a while, but seconds into the hug, I felt him wrap his arms around me tighter. And I felt him smile against my shoulder as he rested his head on me. If he was going to cry I was probably going to too.
Our hug was interrupted by my cell phone vibrating in my back pocket. I broke from him and pulled it out to take a look at who was calling me. I thought that it'd be Sakura or Ino, but it was a number that I'd never seen before. It wasn't a phone number from Konohagakure. It was a call from Kirigakure. This person must have the wrong number so I answered the call.
"Hello?" I said, taking a step away from Naruto.
At first I heard nothing. Just static. Then I heard someone breathing. It sounded like someone gasping for air. It was hard to make out the words when the person on the other end started to speak, but I was able to piece them together.
The man said, "Haku… Haku is in… trouble…" He coughed a few times. After the coughing he continued. "Please come… quick…" The line went dead.
"Who was it?" Naruto asked.
"I think it was Zabuza," I said, turning to Sasuke. His eyes widened. "He said that Haku's in trouble and that we should come quick. I think Zabuza's been injured."
The fierceness in Sasuke's eyes told us all that he was ready to jump into action. He was willing to go alone if he had to, but the three of us wouldn't allow it. All four of us were going to meet Zabuza to help out in whatever way we could. So we all left the church immediately and headed towards Haku's house on the outskirts of Konohagakure.
Usually it took slightly over twelve hours to get to the house, but with three supernatural creatures rushing to the location, it only took us about two hours. Since it was humanly impossible to run as fast as two vampires and a kitsune, Deidara ended up carrying me on his back. Sasuke would've done it, but I didn't want to ask. He was so eager to find out what happened to Haku that I didn't want to burden him with my weight on his back (literally and figuratively). Also, jealousy was burning through me again. I know that this wasn't the time to be feeling jealous, but I couldn't help it. Every time I thought about Sasuke seeing the young gypsy my heart was clouded with envy.
Sasuke was the first one through the doors of the house. My mouth dropped when I came through. Everything was a mess. The wallpaper was coming off of the walls and the wooden walls hidden behind the wallpaper was destroyed by what seemed like a blade cutting through it. Some parts of the floor were also soaked in water. Those must've been the work of Zabuza. He was a water nymph after all, and the cuts on the walls looked like the doing of his gigantic sword.
The rest of the small home, however, was not the work of Zabuza trying to protect the gypsy. Furniture was broken in half and some were broken into small parts. But they weren't broken with a blade. The ends where the furniture was destroyed weren't clean cuts, they were rigid. They were taken apart by force. Like someone snapping them apart with their bare hands.
Another part of the house was completely covered in ice. Thick layers of ice let off waves of fog from the kitchen that led towards the living area. Was this done by Haku? I recalled that he said that he used a forbidden spell to defend himself from his father when he was young. Was this the spell?
We all walked past the ice with our mouths dropped in awe. But we all came to an abrupt stop when we saw Zabuza lying on the floor with his sword in his hand. Sasuke rushed to Zabuza's side before any of us recovered from the shock we were undergoing. The house was a mess and the bodyguard that belonged to the last gypsy was unconscious on the floor bleeding profusely. Even though Naruto and Deidara never met Zabuza, they were surprised at how such a formidable looking warrior was taken down so brutally.
Sasuke knelt beside the water nymph, turned him on his back, and began to heal him. The healing process took longer than usual and Sasuke was putting in a little more effort than he usually had to, to the finishing the process. He stopped temporarily when Zabuza began to stir underneath his hands.
Unlike before when the water nymph first saw Sasuke, he felt great disdain for him. He wanted him out of his house as soon as he laid eyes on him. Now he looked relieved to see the vampire here.
With a trembling hand, Zabuza placed his larger hand on Sasuke's slightly smaller one. "Please…" he begged with a voice that was barely audible. "You have to save Haku."
"Where is he?" my boyfriend asked frantically.
"A vampire… A vampire took him. I don't know where… they went."
I knelt beside the water nymph too, but opposite of Sasuke, and asked, "Do you know what the vampire looked like?"
He stayed silent to gather his thoughts. Once a few moments passed he said, "I couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl, but…" He put more thought into what he was going to say next. "The monster had blonde hair and it seemed to be fixated on getting to Haku. It was odd. It's goal wasn't to kill him."
Sasuke and I exchange glances. That was definitely odd. What kind of vampire broke into a home on the outskirts of a large city full of people just to kidnap a boy? And then not eat him? No one had the answer to that.
"Thank you, Zabuza," Sasuke said. "I'll take it from here."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Deidara said, rushing over to Sasuke to place a hand on his shoulder as he was beginning to rise from the floor. "You should stay here. This guy needs all of the healing he can get. And by the progress you're making I'd say that it'd take a while." Deidara continued to speak after my boyfriend furrowed his eyebrows. "Stay here to heal the nymph. Naruto will stay with you just in case anyone else decides to drop by uninvited. Hinata and I will find the boy. Okay?"
Sasuke removed the blonde vampire's hand from his shoulder. "It's dangerous out there," he said. "Hinata should stay here."
"Aw, come on!" Deidara protested. He threw an arm around my shoulders and pulled me forcibly closer to his warm body. I staggered by the powerful and unexpected force. "Hinata and I are a dynamic pair. No one can take us down. Right, Hinata?"
I didn't respond. Sasuke was glaring at Deidara. He was already bothered by us bonding now he was troubled by the touching. He was catching onto the older vampire's more-than-needed affection for me. Sasuke was jealous and wanted nothing more than for he and I to go find the gypsy, but he couldn't reason in this situation. Zabuza needed as much medical attention as he could get. Forcing Deidara to stay here with Naruto would be selfish and the wrong thing to do.
Defeated, his response to it was just a wave of his hand telling us to go. He then began to heal the water nymph again. And as Deidara tugged me out of the house I glanced back at Sasuke who was occupied in saving Zabuza. I had the feeling he knew that I was looking at him. He just chose to ignore me. It angered me. I had no choice in the matter. This was all Deidara's doing. Not only that, this formation was the best that we could do.
Outside of the small house, we came to an abrupt stop. Deidara released my arm and began to… sniff the air. Another new thing. He was tracking down the gypsy by trying to get a hold on his scent. This definitely wasn't a vampire thing or a witch thing. Honestly, I had no clue what to make of this new ability. No creature came to mind that had the nose of a dog. A werewolf maybe, but that seemed unlikely. In folklore everywhere, werewolves were known to transform on full moons, and I'd been around Deidara long enough to prove that he wasn't a werewolf… Then again, all vampires were assumed to be cold-blooded. Maybe the werewolf theory wasn't true either.
"Got him," Deidara said, pulling me out of my thoughts. He was doing that more and more often as of late. And I was beginning to think he was doing it on purpose since creatures of the night can read minds. "It's about two miles east from here. Let's roll, Princess."
I merely nodded and climbed onto his back. I hated doing this. Piggyback rides were weird. As a child I never received a piggyback ride. My cousin, Neji, might've given me one, but being only one year older than me, our similar height and weight made it impossible. Unless, we were purposely looking to injure ourselves to get out of going to school for a day, which Neji did once.
With Deidara's incredible speed, we were rapidly approaching the location where Haku was being held captive. From a distance, I couldn't make out the vampire's lair. When we got closer it turned out to be a cave. My eyes narrowed in annoyance as I thought of old scary movies and ancient novels where the antagonist held the maiden in distress captive in a cave to lure the protagonist to his demise. Unfortunately it was a school requirement in Konohagakure to read a novel with a conflict like this and the layout of the caves were always the same.
The caves were usually intertwined with a bunch of twists and turns that only delayed the main character from finding the maiden (it also made the story longer than any of us would have liked). It usually ended with the protagonist fighting his final battle with the antagonist. The protagonist wins, of course, and then saves his maiden. They get married and you know the rest. Stories like this are popular with the elderly in Konohagakure.
When we entered the cave, however, the layout was completely different from what I expected. In some ways this was a relief from not wanting to relive the fictional novels that we were forced to endure. And in others it was a disappointment. After reading so many of those boring books I figured that I could've been of some use to locate Haku. This confusing layout was nowhere near what the novels held.
The farther we went into the cave the more it transformed into a dungeon type. The walls and floors were tiled in some kind of stoned material. Our only source of light was the medieval candles lodged high on the walls. The light was dim and they were placed far apart so it was hard for me see. But it was fine for Deidara. With his supernatural sight, he could walk around here as if was daytime. I was bit envious, but I'd never admit it to him. It'd only boost his pride.
"Can you sense him?" I asked.
My friend stood beside me and looked thoroughly down each hallway in the forked corridor. "No. I can't. It's like something's blocking my nose."
"Then what do you think we-"
My speech was abruptly stopped and suddenly I wasn't looking at Deidara near the beginning of the cave. I was seeing something else in a body other than my own. I didn't become this person. I was merely seeing what this person was seeing. It didn't feel weird. But it certainly was unusual.
The person warily looked around at their surroundings while lying down on something hard and cold. In the process of doing so, I couldn't help but notice that the person was scanning the room slowly and thoroughly. Whoever pulled me into this… mind-sharing experience wanted me to drink in everything. To study everything in the small room in hopes of that I'd be able to help them.
Once the mystery person finished showing me the room, something told me that this person was weak. Physically weak. Lethargic even. What happened? Raising their trembling hands, I saw what the problem was. Bite marks were looming all over the arms. They travelled from the wrists all the way up to the shoulders. Since there was no more room to drink from on the arms I wondered if there were any lacerations on the neck too. It was disgusting to look at the arms as I noticed red and purple rings around the injuries. I could only imagine the neck.
Suddenly fear shot through the helpless person when the door opened. Even though the person had a strong urge to look away they didn't. The victim focused on the hallway behind the kidnapper. I noticed that in the hallway there was a door that sat across from the room the person was in. This door was a vibrant red unlike the other doors residing in the lair. The other doors were a dull brown. I was hoping that that was the only door in this place that was red. If not, we were in for some trouble.
The kidnapper approached the frightened victim with a smirk on their face. The victim's heart raced and I felt their eyes widened when the kidnapper got closer and closer. The vulnerable person didn't look away so I could see the face of whoever held them there. It was futile though. The kidnapper wore a long, heavy cloak with the hood covering all of the person's facial features with exception of the mouth.
With a trembling voice that spoke in a whisper. The victim asked, "Why are you doing this?" I immediately recognized the voice. It was Haku. Haku was using some kind of gypsy spell that let me see what he was experiencing.
"Just for tonight," the kidnapper said. It was a woman.
The woman gently touched a part on Haku's neck. The gypsy shivered at her ice cold touch and subconsciously moved away from her fingers. "What are you talking about?" He raised his voice. Even though he was frightened he raised his voice. This relieved me a little. That was a sign that he still had fight left in him.
"You belong to me tonight…" Her voice trailed only for a second before she spoke again. "This world is becoming corrupted. I need something pure. Just for tonight."
It sounded like she was insane. Talking in vague sentences only made her seem more crazy. Haku seemed to understand what she was talking about though. Too bad he couldn't send me mental messages. That'd be really helpful.
Haku opened his mouth to say more, but the woman sunk her teeth into his neck. He winced from the pain but his weakened state prevented him from getting away. He lay there forcing his delicate body to endure the pain. I felt the familiar pain through him and wished that I could be in his place receiving the new lacerations instead of him.
She was slowly draining the life out of him. And judging by how many lacerations there were on his body, the woman kept coming back for more. It was like she was addicted to his blood and was trying to save as much of it as she possibly could by taking small amounts. If she keeps this up he'll expire no matter what her methods were for saving food.
The experience we were sharing ended. Haku had passed out. When I returned to my body I was faced with a very concerned Deidara. His warm hands rested on my shoulders. Our faces were inches apart.
"Oh, thank God," he sighed as I came to. His head dropped with his hands still on me. He must've been trying to snap me out of Haku's psychic hold for a while. He looked frustrated and, like I said, concerned.
"It's alright," I said. "It was Haku. He was showing me where he was."
"He should think about warning someone next time then." He took his hands off of me and turned to one of the corridors. "Which one, Princess?"
"I don't…" An image of directions went as quickly as it came to me. Haku was showing me the way. "The right one."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
I nodded confidently. He trusted me and we decided that he'll lead the way. I directed him where to go as I received more instructions. We walked through so many twists and turns that I feared that we wouldn't be able to find our way out. Deidara's sense of smell was being blocked here so sniffing our way out was not going to be an option. Maybe after all of those years of living, Deidara obtained a good sense of direction or a good memory. In case things got out of control we were going to need to leave quickly. No one could rely on my sense of direction so I was relying on Deidara or Haku to lead us out.
About five minutes of searching for the room the gypsy was in we finally found it. Haku stopped informing us a few paces before we reached the door though. But from there I was able to tell Deidara where to go. Fortunately this was the hallway that Haku showed me and my heart pounded in my chest from both fear and anticipation when we reached our destination. My blonde friend, however, was more than ready to twist the doorknob and enter the room. Even though my feet weren't ready to carry me into the room I followed my friend anyway. To his amusement, I was holding on to his shirt's sleeve and kept close.
Deidara scanned the small space for any threats before letting me in. I rushed to Haku's side right away. I placed my hands on his face and observed the marks he was given. To my dismay they looked worse in person. Not only that, his skin was extremely pale. Much like a vampire's skin. It was startling, mainly because I thought he was dead, but his warm skin and steady breathing said otherwise. I sighed in relief.
"Is he okay?" Deidara asked from the doorway.
"Yeah. He's unconscious though. He's suffering from blood loss."
I heard my friend huff. He left the doorway to enter the room and grabbed Haku. "I want to avoid trouble. Let's go before the enemy finds us."
I followed Deidara who walked down the long hallway with Haku in his arms. I tried my best to keep up with his pace and it was proving difficult. He was determined to get out of here. My guess was that he wanted to avoid a fight. I preferred that too. Depending on how old this vampire was, Deidara could be at a disadvantage. And, with Haku out of commission right now, Deidara would be on his own. It would also be difficult to protect Haku and me while fighting a crazed vampire hooked on gypsy blood.
We were moving smoothly through the cave without any detection from any unwanted attention. But even though we were unspotted it was still nerve-wracking. I tried my best to hide how anxious I was because vampires can sense emotions, especially strong waves of emotion. It was difficult to mask my anxiety though. I was silently praying that the vampire couldn't sense me.
The three of us soon reached the entrance of the cave. "We are actually going to escape here without the enemy finding us." I felt my adrenaline rise as my relief escalated. "We are going to escape." Well… that's what I thought anyway.
Deidara stopped walking and I nearly ran right into him. I asked him what he was doing as he sat Haku down against a wall. Deidara's body was tense and his eyes possessed a predatory glint. Does he sense something? If he did, why couldn't we keep running towards the exit?
"She's here," Deidara said to me, rising from the floor. "Stay with the boy. I want you to run if things get out of control."
"Is this vampire that strong? We'll be fine as long as you're fighting, right?"
He looked downward but still stayed alert. When he averted his gaze away from me I frowned. There was a possibility that this woman was stronger than Deidara, but I found it very unlikely. Deidara was nine-hundred and fifty years old. Who can beat that?
"So, you've finally appeared?" Deidara said, walking past me. "My old teacher. I'm surprised that you're still living."
Teacher? Maybe I should start worrying now. Age was no longer an issue. This person taught Deidara once. There's a chance that he might've surpassed her, but judging by the way they were standing I doubted that Deidara did. He appeared a little too tense and afraid. I wasn't sure if he was afraid of her or if he was uncertain of the outcome of this inevitable battle.
"Don't worry, Hinata," said my vampire friend. "I'll protect you both."
"You've gone soft, Deidara," the woman said, removing the hood on her cloak. She was a stunning woman. More stunning than Anko. Shoulder length golden blonde hair framed her elegant face. It strengthened her facial features like her jaw, high cheekbones, and her nose. It also somehow brought out her eyes. Her blue-green eyes seemed to stand out from all of the rest of the features on her face. The only downside to her eyes popping was that we could see the confidence in them. She was confident that she would walk away victorious. "I've taught you better than that."
Deidara shrugged nonchalantly. "Some people change, Temari."
She gave him a twisted smile, exposing her fangs. "Yes. I suppose they do."
Realizing that they were going to fight, I ran by Haku's side. Deidara knew that he couldn't possibly protect us both. He wanted me to run and, if possible, take the gypsy with me. But I couldn't bring myself to leave him behind. Foolish? I know. But I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happened to Deidara.
Temari pounced at Deidara. And while she was in midair she changed. Her nails grew longer, similar to Naruto's but not quite. The only contrast they shared was that Temari's nails curved under her fingers. Her eyes turned from their original color to a yellowish-orange color, and her hair became much longer and wilder. The bone structure on her body also seemed to transform. Temari's spine hunched over and I could've sworn I heard it crack as it changed. Her arms grew longer and her hands grew a little bigger to befit her nails. She looked very much like a werewolf, but Temari still possessed her vampire fangs and agility. Part of me expected her to sprout hair, but she didn't. I found myself relieved that she didn't.
Deidara moved swiftly to avoid his former teacher's attack. At first I thought he got away unscathed but then I saw him clutch onto his right shoulder. He wasn't bleeding much, but I noticed steam rise from the cut and heard his flesh sizzle as the green residue that Temari's nails left behind ate part of his skin and shirt. His body had trouble healing itself from Temari's attack but he was soon able to overcome the substance. Were her nails acidic?
Temari was on Deidara as soon as she landed. She was much faster than Deidara and he tried his best to avoid her nails that were still seeping with acid. It was proving difficult for him but he was soon able to get far enough away from her to go on the offensive.
They both ran towards each other and collided. Their hands clasped together as they fought for dominance. Their strengths were pretty matched and no one was being subdued. Deidara was thinking of a plan to overpower Temari but as he was thinking, Temari somehow found the strength to tilt her hands enough to pierce my friend's knuckles with her acidic nails. He growled and did a good job at ignoring the pain and tried to equalize their bout again but couldn't. She smiled at her former student and dug her nails in deeper. Deidara released his hands from hers and pulled back.
He stumbled a little with trembling hands that were letting off immense amounts of steam into the air. These new injuries were taking longer to heal on their own but, despite the pain that Deidara felt, he continued to keep his eyes on Temari. When she came at him again he had even more trouble fending her off as she tackled him down to the floor. He tried his best to fight her from underneath her. And as I watched him struggling to get her off I noticed him give me a look filled with desperation. He wanted me to run now. I slowly shook my head and I felt myself rise from Haku's side. Deidara's eyes gave an expression that I couldn't quite identify as he watched me stand up. I figured it was because he knew what I was going to do.
I had to help him.
There wasn't anything I could use in this room as a weapon besides the candles on the walls. If I could pry one off of the wall I could use the fire as a weapon. The only problem was the lights were so high up. I couldn't reach them but I had to try. So I ran over to the wall opposite of me and jumped to get a grip on it. I was a few inches off. Doing a quick scan of the hallway, I found nothing to stand on to further my reach. I had to think of something else.
After recalling everything we passed in this cave I remembered that in the room Haku was being held in there was a couple of standing medieval candles. I hated to leave Deidara with Temari but I had to go back to that room. Fighting whether to go back or not I quickly chose to go. Deidara called out my name when I passed him. I ignored him of course and kept going.
Without getting lost, I found the room and grabbed one of the standing candles. It was heavier than I expected and it took me a while to stop staggering with it in my hands. But I regained my balance and left the room with it.
I returned to the scene a few minutes later. Haku was still passed out near the entrance of the cave and Deidara was still under Temari. One of his hands was on her chest pushing her away. The other was around her throat. He was grunting under her and perspiring profusely. All he had to do was choke her to end this. But I soon realized why he hadn't. Temari had both of her nails on Deidara's neck. She was smiling the same way she had earlier. Temari was toying with him.
When she grew tired of playing with him she dug her nails in deeper. He let out a strangled cry that made me wince. I had to go in to save him now. Rushing towards Temari with the candle under my arm, I presented the candle with a powerful thrust when I got close enough. The vampire didn't notice me until I already pushed the fire into her face. Temari got off of Deidara, holding onto her burning face as she screamed. My friend got up immediately. I expected him to go after Temari while she was off guard, but he ran to me and pinned me against the closest wall which made me drop the candle. He pressed his body against mine and covered me like a shield.
I opened my mouth to yell at him. To tell him that he should've went for Temari but I soon figured out why he chose to protect me instead. The woman already recovered. The burn was gone from her face and she was furious. My heart stopped and I felt my knees buckle when I realized that she was undergoing vampire rage. I would've fallen if it weren't for Deidara supporting me with his body.
Deidara was chanting something in Latin as Temari dashed towards us with blinding speed. Her teeth and nails were ready to take us both down. I was frozen in place. I was scared. For a moment all I could see was Temari coming for us, and in my periphery I could see Deidara's lips moving from chanting his incantation. All I could feel was Deidara's bodily warmth that was oddly warmer than before. I was drinking in my last moments of life again. I was going to die this time. I wasn't going to get a second chance at life like the last time.
At least that's what I thought.
Temari thrust her nails towards us but as she reached out to rip her acidic nails through my skin, a force field formed around me and she flew back, tumbling across the floor as she was pushed away. Relief overcame me as I suddenly had faith that we were going to win this. But the relief disappeared when something warm splashed against my face. It was blood. I was paralyzed for what seemed like forever. Temari wasn't bleeding and neither was I. Slowly turning my head to face Deidara, I screamed out his name and frantically pressed myself harder against the wall behind me even though I knew that I couldn't go anywhere.
Deidara's throat was slit. Blood was everywhere. On me, on him, on our clothes, on the floor… I felt faint. This was worse than when I was dying. Someone I cared about was dying in front of me and I was powerless to do anything just like when my family died. Deidara couldn't die. That was impossible. I couldn't live with myself if he were to. He had to live.
A hand reached up and touched my face. Deidara wiped away a tear that I was shedding. He knew that these thoughts that were running through my head were futile. He was going to die. Countless tears were streaming down my face but he wiped them away anyway. He wanted an excuse to touch me one last time. He wanted an excuse to look at me before he…
I reached out to grab Deidara as I realized that he was falling to the ground. I caught onto his arm and was pulled down with him. There was still some warmth left to him and I wanted to so desperately to save him, but there was nothing I could do. I needed someone that could heal. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't do anything. I was letting someone else I cared about die. Someone that I loved…
Kneeling next to Deidara's body, I released sobs into the quiet room. I held onto my friend's hands and stared at his face through blurry eyes. He looked so calm and at peace. His pale skin becoming a deathly pale with no color to it at all. His once pink lips were turning blue. And his gray-blue eyes were losing the mischievous glint they carried and they were exchanging the trademark glint for a lifeless one that stared off into nothingness. It was heartbreaking but I refused to look away. Not even when I felt someone approach us. If it was Temari she was going to have to kill me with Deidara because I was not going anywhere.
"Hinata," a gentle voice called from above Deidara and me. I gasped and slowly looked at Haku. He was awake and fully aware of what went on while he was out. "Let go of Deidara's hands."
The words took a while to process. They sounded like a foreign language to me. When I noticed what he instructed me to do I shook my head.
He knelt down too so that we were at eye level. "I can help him," he said calmly. "But you need to release him so that I can. Okay?"
I hesitated. The word "release" tugged at my heart and my mind didn't recognize the word. The only way I was able to overcome my stubbornness was by recognizing the word "help". I so desperately wanted someone to help Deidara. And even in my state of shock, I knew that I wasn't the one to assist my dying friend. So slowly, I let go and backed away with weak legs. Letting go of his hand was the hardest part. I felt more tears run down my face as I left his side. I felt as though he needed me to be by his side. No. I needed to be with him. I wanted to be by his side until the end. I wanted help, but I felt as though the only one who could help Deidara was me as I left Haku to take care of him. So many thoughts and feelings of mine were contradicting each other that I became overwhelmed. I fought hard to stand aside and to watch what Haku had in mind.
Haku took a deep breath and placed his hands over the injury. The gypsy's brown eyes turned white like when we were around his crystal ball. Air surrounded them just like a barrier as white lights formed around Haku's hands. Seconds later, white orbs swarmed over Deidara's slit throat. What I saw was incredible. Almost unbelievable. The injury was… reversing. All of the blood on Deidara's face, neck, and clothes returned to his neck. The severed windpipe was repaired along with the muscle and the skin. The color to his skin returned and the glint I was so familiar with came to life in his eyes as he stared at his surroundings in confusion.
"Do not strain yourself," Haku warned. "I may have treated you, but you must still be careful. When we go back to my home Sasuke should be able to finalize the treatment."
Deidara nodded, still confused at what just happened. He was lost but when he remembered everything that just happened he looked back at me. I was still crying but they were tears of joy. I could never repay Haku for what he just did.
Deidara smiled at me, and then frowned when he saw Temari rising from the floor. The tumbling she endured impacted her more than I thought. Bruises loomed all over her face along with scraps. Normally she should've healed by now, but she hadn't. Why?
"So you're prone to my magic, huh?" Deidara said, rising from the floor, too. "I wish that I would've known that about fifteen minutes ago. It must be the werewolf in you."
I saw Temari wince when she heard "magic" leave Deidara's mouth. That was her weakness? That was why she didn't heal? Because she couldn't?
"Why don't we do this again?" Deidara said, walking towards his former teacher. "This time we'll play by my rules." He gave her a sinister smile. He wanted revenge. He wanted to see her in the same position he was in.
The woman turned to run for the exit only to be stopped by a wall of ice. She glared at Haku with predatory eyes but didn't bother to attack him. They both used magic. She wasn't going to win. She knew that. But she wasn't ready to accept defeat yet.
Temari hissed at her threats and sidestepped to get a better aim. Who was she going to attack first? Haku, the weakest or Deidara, the most formidable? It was neither. She was aiming for me. With speed faster than before, she ran towards me with her hands ready to thrust towards me. I braced myself for the attack but the attack never came.
Deidara casted a spell that manipulated the earth beneath us to rise up, cutting Temari and me off from each other. The woman stumbled backwards briefly but gained her balance and headed for Haku. The gypsy gave her a knowing glint before he quickly casted a spell in Romanian. He disappeared into thin air, leaving a mist behind as he fled the attack. Temari was baffled. She nearly ran into the wall and searched for him, completely bewildered. With her enemies having the upper hand, she was becoming unfocused.
She whipped her body around to go for Deidara, but all of us saw that coming. Deidara was on her before she completely turned around. He pinned her against the wall and looked her in the eyes. He was enjoying her suffering. He was enjoying her panic. He was enjoying her rapid breathing underneath him and enjoyed it even more when it stopped. Deidara shoved a hand through her chest and pulled out her heart. He let her body slump to the floor in front of him as he tossed her heart onto her lap.
"Deidara…" I whispered. Deidara whipped his head towards me. He lost the cruel gaze he owned immediately when he stared at me. He gave me a gentle, welcoming gaze as he made his way over to me. I noticed Haku walk over to Temari's corpse, but didn't bother to see what he was doing. I wanted to see Deidara. He was alive. He was healthy. He was himself again.
He wrapped his arms around me and I didn't hesitate to do the same to him. More tears streamed down my face. I didn't think that I'd be able to feel his warmth, smell him, hear his voice, or see his eyes full of life again. I was so scared. So scared that I'd never be able to do anything with him again, that I'd never see him again. Deidara was a friend that I wouldn't be able to live without. I loved him too much to let him go.
Pulling his head away from my shoulder and resting both of his hands on either sides of my head, Deidara met my eyes. I took that as an opportunity to wipe my eyes. I bet that they were red and puffy along with my red nose and cheeks. Embarrassed, I averted my eyes away from my friend.
"Look at me, Hinata," he said. It was such a gentle tone. He never used that tone with me and it startled me for a moment. I knew that tone. A gentle and affectionate tone that was often used by Sasuke when he spoke to Haku. A tone filled with adoration and love, but this sounded somewhat different. I obeyed Deidara and looked at him to find out what he wanted only to be met by a powerful gaze filled with love. The same gaze Sasuke had whenever he stared at me.
Deidara leaned down and kissed me. It was so passionate and tender. It sent electricity throughout my body. Electricity similar to whenever Sasuke kissed me or touched me. But this was milder. He was careful. He was careful that if he kissed me in any other way than this that it'd scare me away or maybe even break me.
He wanted to kiss me with so much more passion than this though. I felt it. His lips brushed against mine with precision and a little lust. It didn't surprise me that he'd want more. What surprised me was that I was participating and letting him kiss me. My lips brushed against his with just as much precision and lust as he caressed my hot face with his hands. My hands abandoned my side and went to accompany Deidara's hair. My fingers tangled in his blonde, long locks. The silky quality that his hair possessed mingled with my fingers that enjoyed the touch. When I played with his hair I felt a smile form on Deidara's lips. It then turned into a frown.
The kiss that we shared came to an abrupt stop. He pulled his lips away from mine and studied my eyes. When he found what he was searching for he opened his mouth to speak. "No one has ever cared about my life that much, Hinata. Not even Kana. How could you both look so much alike, but then be so different?" He paused. "I really wish that I could get you to understand how much I love you. I love you so much that it hurts to look at you sometimes. It kills me to see you with Sasuke every day. I hate it that you look at Sasuke with so much love and I hate it how you look at me like I'm another one of your friends. But after this evening…" A small smile played upon his lips. "I discovered that it took my death for you to find out that you're in love with me, too."
I opened my mouth to protest but I found nothing to say. Was it true? Was I in love with Deidara? Wasn't it impossible to fall in love with more than one person? I replayed everything that was running through my head when Deidara was dying. I mentioned that I loved Deidara a couple of times, but it wasn't because I was in love with him, right? The form of love that I used was meant for friendship. My friend was dying… Yet why did it feel as though I was trying to convince myself? Was Deidara right?
Slowly, I looked up at him in our embrace. I was shocked. This was love? Was I in love with Deidara?
"Dei-" I began to say but was interrupted by Haku.
"It's getting dark," he said, approaching us. He gave us a knowing glint. Sasuke was his closest friend so shouldn't he be upset that I just kissed another man… Or could it be that he saw this coming?
Disgusted with myself, I broke out of Deidara's hold and stormed for the exit without looking back. I chastised myself for everything I allowed Deidara and me to do. How was I going to tell Sasuke? How was he going to react?
The three of us returned to Haku's place when the sun fell. Naruto, Zabuza, and Sasuke were cleaning up the house when we entered the small house. They were all happy to see us all walk through the door and they stopped what they were doing to greet us. I expected Sasuke to greet Haku first, but he went to me instead.
He embraced me and gave me a few kisses. Guilt ate at me with each kiss but Sasuke didn't seem to notice. He was so caught up in his own positive emotions to notice my guilt. He wanted to be with me longer, but Haku interrupted the commotion and requested that we follow him to the room where he kept the crystal ball.
Before we followed the gypsy I glanced back at Deidara. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. He gave me a smile and kept his distance when we all sat down on the floor in the small room. Haku took his place behind the crystal ball. He activated it with his magic and studied the messages that he received. He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked deeper into the ball. He nodded his head briefly after furrowing his eyebrows and looked at all of us.
"While I was being held captive by Temari the hybrid, she told me something that caught my attention. She told me that she took me because she needed something pure for the night." He emphasized the word "pure". "I had a few theories as to why she said that, like maybe after living for so long, Temari has lost her mind, or perhaps the world was too corrupted for her and she needed some form of hope to be with her for the night. But after asking them they gave me an answer." My mind spun as I tried to figure out who "they" were. Were they the people holding the limited information that Haku wanted to share? "They told me that there will be a war. A war between us and the slayers."