Hiyas! It's 3:00 in the morning...we've been dancin the whole night through... Actually it's 1:45 in the morning, where I was dead bored. So yeah.
A/N: Naruto Greek Deities and Rome do not belong to me
A/N 2: Incorrect usage of Greek mythologiacal figures
A/N 3: All flames will be used to sacrifice to Jashin
The Value of a Soul
Chapter 12: Bring on the Fangs
"Neji, I'm sure she didn't mean it," Naruto softly cut through the silence between them. The brunet gritted his teeth.
"Hinata has only spoken in that manner twice in her life," Neji informed. Naruto blinked.
Twice in her life? I wonder what the other one was caused by, he thought. Questioning the prince no further, they walked in tense silence.
Neji changed direction, and the blonde found himself following the brunet outside the palace, and into the city. As they walked, all the passerby and merchants made sure to clear a path for the stubbornly stoic prince.
Naruto caught sight of a maiden that looked all too familiar to someone whom the blonde was well acquainted with. The dead giveaway was the two fang shaped tattoo's on the maiden's cheeks. Temporarily leaving Neji, the blonde headed over to her.
"Are you related to someone called Kiba, by any chance?" he asked. The maiden, who was at the time having a chat with a merchant over some sort of leather object, turned to him.
The poor blonde had just then gotten tackled by three large grey and white dogs, who were giving him friendly licks on the face. He laughed. The maiden's face went red.
"Heel!" she cried, the dogs looked back at her, before gallavanting back to her legs. She held a hand out to the blonde, blushing, embarrased. He took her hand, and she helped him up. "Sorry about that," she apologized. "They aren't usually so eager with strangers. They really like you if they'll just jump on you like that. And to answer your question, yes, I'm Kiba's sister. My name's Hana." Naruto grinned.
"Nice to meet you Hana, I'm Naruto," he introduced. He grinned at the dogs who were again trying to knock him over.
"They're with me. You can call them the three Haimaru brothers," she said. "And how do you know Kiba?" she asked.
"He's my first friend here," Naruto replied. "I met him when Neji threw me into prison," he added. Hana blinked, then laughed.
"I see you don't care much for titles," she remarked. "I was going to visit Kiba today. How is he?" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck.
"He's all right, I guess. He insulted the prince, and got thrown in the cell with me, but I managed to get him free, and now he works as a scullery servant," the blonde informed. She rolled her eyes.
"That's just like him to get in trouble." She grinned. "It's something that runs in the family, you know. We're all brash," she clarified. "Actually, Kiba's practically nothing if you compare him to Mother," she added.
"Okay...?" Naruto drawled. He glanced at the brunet, who had realized he had gone, and stopped to watch them. "Anyways, it was nice meeting you, but I have to go," he said. She nodded.
"All right then. Bye!"
He waved and walked back to the prince. The brunet raised a fine eyebrow in elegant bemusement, but didn't comment. They continued to walk until they reached the coliseum.
Soundlessly, Neji strolled leisurely inside, followed by Naruto. His glacial gaze scanned over the faces of the five gladiators waiting there for the blonde. He ran his tongue along his molars.
Naruto walked up to them, and were about to begin training, but were stopped before they could even start.
"Halt."
Six heads turned to face the impassive brunet. Opals were slowly covered by alabaster, as the porcelain-skinned prince unhurriedly blinked.
"I will join this time," he announced, voice as deadpan as ever.
Gaara's aqua orbs roved from the prince, to the blonde. His usually dead gaze almost held a hint of a question in it. The others were silent.
Naruto headed back to the brunet.
"Neji," he whispered. "This isn't the correct way to deal with it!" The pearlescent eyes of the prince, locked with his. Naruto bit his tongue as the temperature around him dropped.
"If I cannot take it out on someone else, I'll take it out on you," he murmured, voice colder than an ice core. Naruto sighed.
"It won't help you," he warned. "But is that is what you wish, don't harm the others. Take it out on me." The prince locked cold, slender, fingers around his upper left arm.
"So be it," he replied in a voice just above a whisper. Leading Naruto away from the five gladiators, he pulled the blonde in front of him. Naruto obeyed without complaint. Serene blue eyes met cold pale-grey.
Long fingers curled into a fist, that soon met the tender flesh of a tanned whiskered cheek. Naruto winced at the pulsing pain that followed the blow. A red welt appeared on his cheek. The alabaster fist collided with with the welt, and he winced as an audible crack sounded in the otherwise quiet atmosphere.
Aw great. He broke my jaw again. This is getting really trivial, Naruto thought. Another stinging blow collided with his flesh, and that shut the impertinent half of his mind up.
Nji rained blow upon blow on the blonde, but none of them seemes to satisfy him in the slightest. His fists automatically opted for body blows, and another sickening crack revealed that he had splitered a few of the blonde's ribs.
He nearly screamed in frustration. This was not working. Eyes glittering dangerously, his hands, left the blonde, and reteated into his garments. When they reappeared, the brunet was holding a knife.
Testing it, he ran it lightly over his thumb, satisfied when he saw a thin streak of blood. Brandishing it before the blonde, he didn't even see the youth flinch.
Slowly, he drove it into Naruto's neck, carefully avoiding vein, artery, esophagus, and trachea. He plunged the weapon hilt deep, until it literally pinned the blonde to the wall.
Naruto bit the inside of his cheek, staunching the yelp of pain that threatened to break through his lips. He could see this only served to anger the prince more, but if he wanted to, Naruto would allow him to vent out every bit of pent up rage in the brunet.
He silently hissed, as the prince ran another blade through his carpal tunnel, fastening his left hand to the wall. If he had been a lesser being, the treatement would have left him screaming in agony, but unfortunately for the prince, he was not a lesser being.
Soon he was pinned to the wall by all four of his limbs, and his neck. Neji pulled out yet another knife, (By now, Naruto was wondering how he hid all those knives,) and pointed it towards Naruto's chest. Naruto wondered just how good at anatomy he was.
The blade was slowly pressed in, and Naruto couldn't help but release a small hiss of pain. Slowly, it penetrated through minor veins and arteries, leaving the crimson liquid to flow freely onto the blade. The blonde wondered how much more he could take before he passed out, or worse, died.
As the blade dug deeper into him, he sighed, wincing, as his trachea vibrated against the edge of the blade in his neck.
"Neji."
The prince paused.
"Do you wish to end my life?" he asked. The blood stained alabaster hand tightened around the hilt of the weapon. "Neji?" Naruto asked softly. The pale brunet's features hardened. "If you do want to, then before you do, can you tell me why?" he continued.
Neji blinked slowly. Was he really about to do this? He bit his lip, his expressionless eyes showing the barest glints of doubt. He inhaled sharply, as his mind wandered.
"No..." he breathed quietly.
His hand abruptly tore into the remainders, until the knife was buried up to it's hilt. Internally, he winced, as Naruto finally left his restraints, and uttered a blood-curdling, bone-chilling, almost inhuman scream.
Neji promptly fell to his knees, covering his ears, his face twisted into a grimace.
"The rest will be easy now that Hiashi is gone," a voice declared. Thre was a dark chuckle to emphasize the speaker's point. "And now, the prince is paranoid...this is perfect!"
"Ah, I see. So your deduction, is that Neji will most likely kill his sister, right?" another voice asked.
"Exactly. Such a long time in between murders will keep our prince wondering until he goes mad. His emotions have already been destroyed. Let his mind follow."
Sinister, almost insane sounding laughter followed the statement.
"Hey Kiba! I see you've gotten yourself into another fine mess, no?" Hana greeted, walking up to her brother. He absentmindedly scratched the heads of the Haimaru brothers.
"Oh yeah. But it couldv'e been a lot worse if it wasn't for my prison-mate, Naruro," he explained. Both of his sister's brown eyebrows shot up.
"Naruto, you say? I met him this morning in the marketplace. Handsome youth isn't he?" Kiba nodded, an almost dreamy look clouding his eyes. A moment later he snapped out of it.
"Yeah. He was probably going for his gladiator training," he replied.
"He never said he had anything to do with freeing you though," Hana informed. Kiba rolled his eyes.
"That's Naruto for you. Overly modest," he responded.
"Also, the Haimaru brothers seem strangely attached to him. They're rarely like that to people they haven't met. Kiba nodded.
"He seems to have a way with animals. After all he is a s-" Kiba's eyes widened and he cut himself off as he realized what he was so close to revealing. Hana glanced quizzically at him.
"Continue," she urged. He shook his head, an overly bright grin pasted on his face.
"Naw, nothing important. His family is good with animals, or so I've heard," he quickly blurted, hoping that would sufficiently cover his outburst. The brunette seemed satistfied, and he heaved a small sigh of relief.
"How's Akamaru?" he asked. Hana frowned.
"He misses you. A lot. In fact, he isn't as playful as he used to be, and he tends to sit somewhere alone for hours." Kiba's lips dropped into a frown.
"I wish he could stay here, but I don't think it would be approved." He sighed. "I miss him too. When you get back, let him know I said hi, and try to get him to eat. I efuse to come home to see his ribs," Kiba said.
"All right, I will. And about mother..." she drifted off playfully, smiling amusedly at her brothers reaction.
"Noooo! Don't tell her I've been demoted, please! I'd rather get killed by stone-face than her!" he babbled. She grinned.
"Stone-face? Don't tell me...Prince Neji?"
Kiba laughed sheepishly, and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Uhm...yeah..." he mumbled. She patted his back.
"I won't tell her. Well I won't tell her that much," she quipped playfully. He mock-glared at her.
"Oy! If I die becuase of Mother, I will make sure that my tombstone says 'death by demotion, mother, and a treacherous sister'!" he retorted. She looked at him with mock shock imprinted on her features, a glimmer of a smile in her eyes.
"Treacherous sister? Me? Oh no! More like a slacker of a brother, who brought death upon his own head," she remarked. Kiba raised an eyebrow.
"You're calling me a slacker? Go talk to the royal advisor!"
She stuck her tongue out playfully.
"Hey! He may not do much, but his brains profit him well. Too bad you don't have them," she joked. He feigned mock outrage.
"Are you implying that I don't have a brain?" he asked. She giggled furiously.
"I didn't say it, you did!" she crowed victoriously. His eyes widened.
"Hey!"
All right. Sooooooo busy today, I barely squeezed this in. So here you go, Now bye!
-Jeya-