Title; Fading
Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.
A/N; I thought I should point out that this story isn't about heroes and is very much a grey and grey morality affair. Sasuke in particular is a Byronic hero at best and will at times border on being a villain protagonist in his actions. Bare that in mind with this chapter.
Chapter - 22;
Many languages exist throughout the Northern and Southern continents some sharing a style similar to the tongue used in Naru and others alien and foreign completely incomprehensible to a Naru native. The language spoken in Naru itself however is not exclusive to the citadel or even to the Northern continent itself.
The language of Naru's citadel in known as the Divine Tongue and is without a doubt the language chosen by the Divine themselves. Spread over both continents the language rules in dozens of seemingly unconnected cities. With the exception of six villages, two on the Southern continent and four on the Northern continent, every city that makes use of the Divine Tongue bears the name of a God. Most believe these cities to be cardinal points, bastions of Divine power or potential that the Gods struggle to gain the allegiance of.
Though there are exceptions, no cities bear any of the names of either Domos Miasma or Guidas Proest, the Reaper and the Traveller, the Eldest and Youngest houses of Divinity. Some theorise that this is due to their unique natures as obviously every graveyard could be seen as a shrine to Death and every campsite a homage to the Wanderer.
The cities or rather villages with the Divine tongue yet lacking the mark of the Divine Order are instead linked deeply to Chaos. All six villages bear the name Faerie and are the keeps of the Fair Folk.
"Are you alright?" I found myself asking the waiting Uchiha in concern as we stepped out of the cell only to be shushed gently by both of my former Raider companions.
Of course, I remembered it was highly advised to keep quiet whilst escaping.
Despite my own confusion at where we were heading and how we intended to get there Hanabi and Sasuke both moved in synergy the Uchiha stalking ahead silently whilst Hanabi hung behind me I suspected distorting any trail we may have been leaving behind.
I took the opportunity to take proper stock of the girl without her noticing. The most obvious thing of course was her new build, when I'd known Hanabi before my internment she'd been little more than skin and bones easily rattled by a gust of wind and always bent over with some ache or pain she'd try to keep hidden from me. Now however she appeared more akin to a lioness prowling through the darkened passage- even if she herself likely hadn't noticed her change. She had gained weight but not in a bad sense, instead taunt muscle flexed smoothly as she moved with an easy grace and confidence. The sight of her flat toned stomach had struck me with a surprising amount of envy when we'd changed earlier and I found myself bearing a sudden fierce resentment of my own baby fat.
Her hair seemed almost comical cut in a short boyish style that was I'd image completely intentional. It brought back memories of our youth when I'd wore my own hair short for convenience and the younger girl had teased me. When I'd begun work for the Nara they had insisted that I grow my hair out, I assumed to make me a more pleasing ornament whilst I worked.
We climbed for perhaps fifteen minutes before the still seemingly fresh duo allowed my wheezing sweating pitiful self to take a break. Caged as I'd been for the last few years I knew I should have been in no condition to try and keep pace with these two but I still felt a small pang a shame when Hanabi cast a surprised glance my way. Her dark partner however seemed more sympathetic and not at all surprised, which somehow strung all the more. To him I was ordinary and this was expected, it was normal.
"You were like that yourself once." He commented in a whisper drawing a cute pout from Hanabi.
"I started with Raider armour, that's way heavier." She whined back I thought half-heartedly, apparently I wasn't the only one seeking praise from the curt swordsman.
"And you barely made it up the barrack's stairs." Deadpanned the Uchiha though I thought I saw his lips flicker at their corners as he recalled the memory fondly.
It was strange watching them, sometimes they seemed to bicker on obscure points for no tangible reason but to tease one another and other times their eyes would meet and their conversations would become completely silent. Each small change in countenance every flicker of the eyes or quirk of the lips a poem to the other they seemed to read instinctively in their discreet dance.
This too sparked my seemingly endless envy and a challenge in me, as I finally evened out my breath and paused in my panting. I fixed the Uchiha a look hoping to express, well I supposed gratitude for both the sympathy and understanding during the on-going rescue. His brow crinkled in confusion.
"Are you feeling ill?" he pressed the question to me and I felt my cheeks ignite in a blush…that went well.
"N-no." I answered climbing to my feet in what I hoped amounted to a display of vitality. As I did Hanabi drew my attention as her head suddenly cocked to the side and she pressed her fingers to her temples rubbing them to sooth some invisible pain.
"They've noticed our absence." Remarked the youngest member of our entourage with a small grimace encouraging us to begin moving again at I noticed a much swifter pace than before as both Hanabi and Sasuke gave up any attempts to hide the sound of their footfalls or cover their tracks. I gave voice to the observation.
"We were doing that earlier so nobody would notice us, since they know we're out already they can just track our magical signatures. I can hide mine well enough against most but yours is quite the giveaway." Remarked Hanabi without venom, she didn't have to mention that Sasuke would obviously be completely invisible even to the most talented magical tracker.
"I can't hide mine, its unique so it doesn't function like any regular Gift." I defended against an accusation that didn't exist in between gasps, another point against my particular 'Gift' which seemed intent on only causing me woe.
"Here." Called the Uchiha stopping us and crouching to shift some rubble away from a particularly desolate wall to reveal a darkened opening descending deep into the grey floor.
"They'll be blocking the ground floor and likely the basement and first floor too. Using this we can get directly to the lowest level and the underground passage." explained the older Raider drawing a length of rope from his bag, he cast one end down the hole and tied the other carefully around the base of a nearby column.
"I'll go first." Offered Hanabi climbing easily into the pit before either the Uchiha or I could argue, she vanished in a second and we waited in fear for a sound of trouble or a sudden crash. I took the chance to glance at the stoic man and tried to summon the courage to say something.
"What's bothering you?" he asked dully without facing me, his eyes still entirely focused on where his true interest had vanished into the unknown. The lack of interest stung for a moment before he faced me and I felt my breath hitch as his scarlet eyes regarded me with sole unwavering ardour in the way he had always looked at me during his visits to my cell. I had feared I would never again see that gaze after the reveal of his and Hanabi's relation.
"You are Hanabi's lover…and I tried to trade you sex for favours." I spoke one of my main concerns, a shame that had plagued my mind since it had happened and had filled me with the miserable mix of feeling revoltingly unattractive and morally worthless at the same time. Of course it paled in comparison to the thought, the question, truly playing on my mind- 'What if you had met me first?'
"You were unaware. And you tried to sacrifice yourself for the escape of children, hardly a damnable trait." Answered Sasuke gently, more gentle than I had expected of him and I got the suspicion my desperate situation was not the first of its kind he had seen. The mention of the lost Sara and Orca however soured the praise as guilt ripped its way through my heart.
"Sacrifice had it been anybody else. But I would have been glad to feel your touch." I found myself speaking opening my expression and begging whatever forces would take pity to allow him to see, the truth that from the moment we'd met he'd stolen some piece of my soul and bound my future to his, because I didn't have a future without him. I really was wicked and horrid despite his words because I knew this was wrong, to feel as I did for my sister's lover but I…
Sasuke's expression was veiled as he seemed to ponder how to take up my words, a careless compliment or a whisper of earnest desire.
"You really are quite bold." Commented the warrior with a gentle smirk.
He thought I was bold? Hardly, I knew I was shy and inverted but he didn't. No the Uchiha seemed to always either encourage or witness these rare leaps and had somehow misconstrued those rare bold moments to be my regular attitude. He didn't realise how much it just wasn't me, he didn't see how desperate he made me. He didn't know that coming from Hinata the Hyuuga those words were all but a poorly put love confession.
He didn't see me.
Three sharp tugs on the rope signalled Hanabi's safe descent and the Uchiha gestured for me to go next apparently, I gripped his hand tight as he helped me climb into the hole.
"Sasuke…" I whispered something weighing on my tongue as I considered all the things I wanted to say. That I'm not bold or flirty or outgoing that it was just around him I became that way. That I seemed incapable of remaining me instead reaching for different guises in hopes of one drawing his attention to me. The foolish ever dancing and twirling girl too thick to realise that getting his attention that way would only have him watch the dance but never see the girl.
"It's okay, I'm right here Hinata." He offered softly hoping to reassure me about the climb downward that was far from my mind at present.
"Don't go away." I pleaded weakly knowing he wouldn't understand my hidden meaning, I needed him to stay with me so that when all this madness of escape attempts and frazzled nerves ended then maybe I'd manage to be me again and he could finally see what I truly was.
"I won't." he promised softly, I'd hold him to that.
The short climb had seemed to take a horrendously long time trapped in the dark cramped passage with only touch and the dull noise of my own limbs knocking off the loose stones to inform me that I was actually moving. Now however at the bottom of the passage with my feet cool and soaked where I had stepped in one of the many puddles occupying the floor it seemed to take an eternity longer for Hinata to descend. Or at least I assumed it would be her next.
A noise to my far left alerted me to a new presence and I darted into the shadow of a nearby rubble pile as a patrol came into view. The first of the pair held a torch aloft and I easily made out the Raider armour they wore. With the knowledge that they were Saints I began to worry that they had tracked my magic signal but fortunately they seemed unaware of my precise location. I stretched out my sixth sense just enough to read their magic type. The first felt frozen and cold, Water I imagined but his spells were probably ice constructs. The other felt sickly with Diseases power and I made the decision that if I had to fight I'd kill him first, in the long run his magic was more threatening.
They glanced about the room but seemed content to move on until a rough bang drew their attention and they stalked closer to myself and the passage way.
As Hinata's surprised stained face popped out of the passage I made my move springing from the shadows. My Titans Arm active my blade easily pierced though the weak joint in the Disease Mage's armour just below his arm pit, at almost the same time I threw a living ball of my First Flame fire at his companion startling but not outright killing the man as he drew away clutching his badly burned side and attempted to strike out at me with his spear. I wretched my weapon free, deflected his strike with my buckler and impaled him through the thin portion of the armour just above his hips. He did not die however until after he released a bellowing death cry to alert him companions.
I could hear Sasuke in the passage now climbing swiftly and I feared carelessly, no doubt he had also heard the echo of the man's scream.
As we heard a squad closing quarters to us the panting Uchiha flew from the opening and we began a frantic run through the maze like floor of the prison. After the forth turn we caught a glimpse of a search party across the other side of a spacious hall. We shot down another winding corridor Hinata seemed almost ready to collapse as we waded through a foot deep pool that spread along a good seven metres of the passageway ending at a somewhat high ledge.
I felt Sasuke's hands push me roughly on my behind and saw him snake one arm around Hinata's waist and another around her legs as he all but threw the blushing woman up to join me on the ledge. Then he turned to face the approaching soldiers and roared a warning drawing not his swords but the alchemic dagger on his belt. It crackled viciously announcing its prowess to the approaching men. I heard the distinct splashing of the soldiers retreating onto dry land before the Uchiha without much drama dropped his weapon into the pool. The water pulsed electric blue as the unaffected Wraith climbed from the now fatally charged pool.
"Clever." I remarked catching my breath and offering my canister to Hinata, assuming Sasuke didn't accidently touch it in the meantime its alchemic properties meant we had a princely supply of water for the coming weeks.
"Maybe, what am I going to shave with now though." Remarked Sasuke I was pleased to note struggling to get his own breath back too. His point did spark a note of incredulity in me however.
"You were using it to shave?" I asked. A weapon imbued with Divine power useable only by those with exceedingly rare Wraith blood and capable of killing a man with its handle as easily as with its blade…and Sasuke used it to shave.
"Yeah, it would have been weird for me to keep a second dagger just to shave with don't you think." He made as a valid counter point, still I couldn't help but suspect that whatever God- likely Torent Hason- held patronage of that weapon they were offended and very likely distinctly pissed off with my partner.
As we all seemed to finally recover enough to move on Sasuke took point again leading the way as I formed a minimal rear guard Hinata sandwiched between us in some of the more crammed spaces. After twenty minutes of seemingly random wandering through different passages, once I was fairly certain the Uchiha had gotten himself completely lost, we entered what appeared to have once been an administrators room. Among the various rubble and relics littering the room Sasuke signalled out the large stone chair resting against the back wall. With our combined force we managed to move the seat an inch or so before the other Raider switched tactics using his blade as a lever we forced it to topple forward. It hit the crumbling with a rumbling crash.
"Well done." Commented a voice shocking Hinata and myself into a defensive come frightened position. Naru Guard Captain Kakashi Hatake stood arms folded observing us in the centre of the room. Sasuke did not appear surprised to see him at all.
"The Earth Walker spell right, allows you to pass through rock and soil." Commented the younger man stepping to stand opposite his mentor. For my part I couldn't tell what Kakashi's emotion was at the moment, he'd lowered his mask but his expression was completely blank. Then he reached for his sword.
I don't know what I had expected to achieve but with a bitter resolve I darted forward searing my limit further to completion as I threw a ball of fire toward the silver haired man and lashed out with a horizontal strike. One swing of his alchemic blade dissipated my fiery assault and as it continued in its arc slammed into my side sending me crashing into the corner of the room. He'd used the flat of the blade but its magical lightning had still shook me and now numbed my body.
As I glanced up I saw that Sasuke had been the only one not to move. Hinata now stood before the Uchiha embracing him and covering his body with hers from Kakashi's blade. The Hatake's weapon hung just over both their shoulders poised to have split them both into pieces despite Hinata's gesture.
"This is your prisoner Kakashi. Her only crime that she's of more benefit to Naru dead than alive." Offered Sasuke gentle removing Hinata from her position clamped around his shoulders as she seemed to shake. I tried to raise myself up but found my legs too numb to move. Kakashi's blade swung back and returned to its resting place a tired expression on his suddenly old features.
"I have just executed the fleeing prisoner and her liberators, the woman bearing the false name Gin and Sasuke Uchiha the man whom murdered thirty seven men all of whom had families depending on them in order to free a woman who's death was to serve to protect food for a starving city." Spoke Kakashi solemnly and I realised with a certain note of dread that right now, we were likely the bad guys. Kakashi was perhaps doing an evil act sacrificing a life, but he was doing it to potentially save hundreds more. We'd done the opposite.
"I murdered no one, had they been stronger they would have lived." Returned Sasuke harshly. That was the difference I supposed between him and Kakashi,, as contradictory in terms as it seemed to say Sasuke was the romantic…as well as a hard-core Darwinist. Kakashi believed in the needs of the many, Sasuke in his precious people above all else. Had it not been for me or perhaps now that he knew her I had no doubt Sasuke wouldn't have cared in the slightest about Hinata's execution.
"Is that what you are? Strong?" asked Kakashi his voice releasing in a long dragged out hiss of disgust at the idea. Sasuke remained silent I knew because he didn't believe he was strong. He wouldn't believe himself to be when compared to the man he was chasing and since nobody else's strength mattered to him that was it. There were only two positions and only two occupants in his mind, Itachi and Sasuke, the strong and the weak.
"Then what will you do once your enemies are dead? When there's no one left to fight?" continued Kakashi pressing questions to the younger man as he stood there in silence.
And I thought I heard another question whispered silently between the others with Kakashi's judgement. As far as I knew Sasuke had only ever had two teachers, Kakashi and his own brother, both of whom were powerful beyond compare and both of whom it seemed had fallen apart from there constant battles. Kakashi was asking Sasuke which he'd become when the fighting took its toll, would he implode like Kakashi had struggling for redemption and drinking away his war stories or would he explode like Itachi murdering and killing the innocent by his own personal justification…there was no doubt whom the younger warrior seemed to be following.
"Are you finished Kakashi? If you think what I've done today has been unjust then redraw your weapon. I'm not here to answer your moral dilemmas." Responded Sasuke frostily, he I knew could not understand Kakashi's point of view and didn't care too. Those men had been the enemy, Orochimaru's soldiers sent to keep him in line and possibly kill him, staying alive in his wake was their responsibility not his.
"Those men idolised you Sasuke, the legendary Raider, they chose to join your squad." Spat Kakashi, not yet finished with his attempts to get through to the Uchiha that he'd taken the first step onto a dark path.
"They were ordered to." Returned the warrior but I wasn't so sure recalling the way those Saints had taken so quickly to mimicking the man's behaviour and in retrospect trying to impress him with their drilling, their practice and discipline. When I thought about it wouldn't spies have masked their soldiering habits at least a little. Was what we'd believed them tracking us instead young men stealing glances at their hero.
"You could have come to me. I could have helped you free the girl with no casualties." Uttered the Hatake finally giving up in freeing the Uchiha from his steadfast belief that nothing had been wrong with his actions. I however wasn't so sure, I felt shaken at the thought of how much damage we actually had committed. It had been for a noble cause but could the end truly justify the chaos of our means. And we could have tried reasoning with Kakashi, hadn't he helped Sakura?
"You wouldn't have, not at the risk of hurting Naru. I did what was necessary, I have no regrets." Returned Sasuke causing the Guard Captain to spin on his heel stepping heavily on his way to the entrance, he paused in the archway apparently one last thing to say.
"Don't come back to Naru Sasuke. There's no place for the man you are now. Return…and I'll kill you."
I couldn't help but notice the darkened mood as we moved further through the passageway. Hanabi in particular. I believed the silver haired man's words, his accusations, had hurt her most of all. Perhaps it was because this had all stemmed from her original plan to begin with, or that Sasuke had played his part only because of her.
She rested now mounted on the dark swords-man's back her face buried in his shoulder as I knew the events of the day played on her mind. She was trying to consolidate the opposing nature of her actions and their outcomes, murder for freedom.
I felt almost distant from it myself perhaps owing to my inactive role, I certain felt bad for the men and I suspected if I delved deeper into that swirling mass of dark emotion I'd find guilt more than plentiful. But it felt more akin to my youth at the moment, people died around you in the harsh environment and beyond the sadness you were simply relieved it wasn't you. And it had been them or me.
Sasuke though didn't seem to care whatsoever and that might have been a major contributor of my own detachment. It wasn't as if I felt whatever Sasuke believed was right or something foolish and dependant like that. Rather it was the thought that compared to the deaths of several dozen and potential famine in his former home my life was unquestionably more important to him.
We continued to trek onward though the dark passage until finally we came to a stop.
"The passage leads out soon enough, we should eat and rest first." Commented the Wraith lowering my sister down and beginning to set up camp, I followed him learning and gaining instruction as we set a small fire.
"Sasuke…I'm scared." Whispered Hanabi as to my slight envy he helped her with her food, she'd regained movement but couldn't keep her hands from shaking enough to eat alone.
"What of?" he asked oblivious it seemed to the obvious fears surrounding us or perhaps intuitively knowing that she meant something else.
"That I'm going to become something cruel and twisted. I didn't even think about who we might hurt today." She confessed in a small voice seeming to return to the younger Hanabi who'd asked me at her lowest why we had to be hungry, or cold, or scared.
"You didn't consider who you might hurt because you're too innocent Hanabi. Aiming for a noble goal you didn't know so many worthy ends require blood to be spilled." I didn't think that she accepted that, no something it Hanabi had died in today's success.
"What's done is done, don't let what ifs haunt you." He added and while I agreed with the wisdom it seemed to simply bounce off the girl. She'd need to come to terms with it herself though beliefs like the Uchiha's or some form of penance. The words though had me wondering if the Uchiha really was unaffected or if like me he was ignoring the unpleasant thoughts to keep from falling apart.
Three deaths they said, she was no longer a Raider.
And that's in for the emotionally charged final chapter…involving Naru and the Raiders. Naturally my favourite little story is going to continue with its grim world and dark character interpretations.
Anyway I'd love some feedback on this one notably Hinata's feelings, Sasuke and Kakashi's parting and Hanabi's guilt at the conciquences of saving her sister the only way she could see to.
R&R