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 and will at times border on being a villain protagonist in his actions. Keep that in mind with every chapter.

Chapter - 32;

An ancient belief among certain scholars concerning the Gods was that they were in fact always a part this world. Constant. The God's realms, they said, were all in one place in this world. A kingdom of the Divine where each God kept a hold. At intervals it was said that they all gathered at some special point to hold council and their kingdom turned scarlet in response to the gathered magicks.

The world of the Divine they believed was inside of the moon, or on the surface of the moon and invisible. The belief system was rather occult and unclear.

It was a belief shared by the star gazers, the ones who still believed in the Old Gods. They thought the current Gods were bastard understudies of the Older ones. Where the Old Gods had rode the stars and travelled the night sky freely the New Gods were weaker, lesser. They were forced to band together, surviving on a lonely rock the Older Gods drew from the Earth for them to survive on.

And there, hidden safely inside the new moon, they had avoided the calamity that had turned the Old Gods into nothing more than memories and fed off the Divine Blood that had drifted to their rock. Envious of that that poured over the Ancient Gods old spells fuelling them past even their masters' demise.

Some others including the Phalanxes' believes shared the idea that there was a physical kingdom in this world but they believed it was deeper, hidden far beneath the Earth.

I still hadn't seen Hanabi. I tried to reason it out as I dragged the washcloth over my sore thighs, they might very well only be sore now for the insistent washing more so than the muscle fatigue. I couldn't find any real reason good enough though, I knew she had asked for me and I knew she wouldn't be angry at me.

A heavy footstep caught my attention and I twisted to see the Uchiha turning on his heel. I called him back covering my chest carefully with the washcloth as he turned. I didn't exactly mind if he saw anything but I knew he'd be more comfortable if I kept an air of false modesty.

"You can use it too Sasuke." I pointed out gesturing to the well, he blushed brightly but complied drawing to the opposite side of the well and beginning to scrub harshly and obviously rushed. The fact that my eyes all but drank in the sight of his shirtless torso didn't seem to bother him as much as my own partial nudity, despite the fact he'd seen it more than enough times already. I stepped closer and slapped his hands away from his own body.

"Gods Sasuke, I'm surprised you survive your own after care never mind the Daemons." I joked in mock exasperation forcing him to sit down and beginning the careful process of unwrapping his wounds, something the Wraith hadn't bothered to do in his own haste. He pouted cutely glancing away, I think I might have stung his pride.

"They had baths in the keep." He reasoned and I paused in my work for a second.

"You just jumped right in then?" I asked and was rewarded with a swift nod. I really was starting to worry about how he'd survived until my mind recalled the friend that Hanabi had mentioned. The prostitute Sakura that had tended to his wounds. I risked a glance up to his eyes and realised there was some sadness there. How many times had she put him back together I wondered. Been the only one who seemed to care for him. Had he cried in front of her, held her close in trembling arms, kissed her?

Somehow I found it in myself to be jealous of the lost woman, because what she had with the man was more than I did and the sadness in his eyes told me she still owned some part of his heart.

"Probably should use a fresh cloth." I mumbled to myself as the last of the bandages came away. The wounds were somehow still closed now but they'd clearly been agitated earlier and dried blood obscured the Uchiha's stomach and back. I turned, intent on my basket and the spare wash cloth it housed.

"Hinata…" I paused at the tone and a second later as cool fingers ghosted my back. I barely supressed the shudder or the urge to push back against his fingers. I had forgot about those scars, hidden on my back they rarely made themselves known to me. I wondered what emotions they drew from the stoic man. Pity I feared, or repulsion. But just maybe they'd earn me a measure of respect, Hanabi wasn't the only one bearing scars.

"Akame's work…" It wasn't a question and I wasn't surprised he recognised the handy work. His fingers pressed slightly firmer against the marks but were still gentle, careful. As if I was made from some form of ceramic plate and were he to push too hard, I'd shatter along those cracks. I finally released the breath I'd been holding since I'd turned, the Uchiha seemed to mistake the shudder and pulled back looking apologetic. I offered him a smile but couldn't keep the sadness entirely from it.

There was a moment of silence while I soaked the fresh rag and once again adjusted my towel to cover my chest. To the Uchiha's credit and my disappointment he hadn't taken in the view. Sure the ugly scars he notices and touches, a heaving breast is on the other hand dutifully ignored.

"Temari's getting impatient, her brother's more passive but still…" I trailed off unsure of exactly what I was saying. Hanabi had just woken up and here I was inspecting the Uchiha's still grievous wounds, we were hardly ready to confront a possessed greater Mystic. I wiped the cloth over the freshly knitted skin surprised to see the wounds were further along than I'd originally thought, all but the worst practically healed.

"I only need another two days." I broke from my task to glance up at the Uchiha. I was suddenly bashful to realise that he'd been staring at my face the entire time, despite my attempts to close my expression I always felt naked under his gaze as if nothing I did went unnoticed. No emotion went undetected. I'd had men stare before but always in an impersonal way, eyeing up the pieces they liked, but I felt as if this swordsman saw so much more and all through my eyes. My eyes that were supposed to see into peoples souls couldn't pierce his defences and left me open and vulnerable to him.

"That's just not possible." I whispered returning to my task. Despite myself though I knew I'd already accepted his will. No if anything I may even have been excited at the prospect. My fingers ghosted the muscles of his stomach over the rag and I had to hide my smile. He'd survive no matter what he found out in those sands, as long as he had a weapon in hand and I- no Hanabi- waited for him he'd survive. I'd seen him do it even when it had went far past impossible.

"I've got a plan, though I'll need your help for it." A powerful arm encircled me for a second and then withdrew, a pouch from his weapon belt in hand. A bright blush decorated my features while he poured the contents out into his palm. Each ring glittered with a strange light, one in particular seemed to have more…substance than the others. I reached out to touch one but the Uchiha's hand caught mine well before I could reach it.

"They absorb Gifts, I don't have one for Naru's Gift but the Ocean ring might still effect you." I pulled my hand back. I hadn't heard of anything like this inside the tower but then again they probably weren't too keen on letting prisoners know about any of their weaknesses. I guessed they were likely linked to Wraiths, the ancient mage hunters were taboo within the castle. An important question came to mind though.

"Why do you have them?" It seemed unlikely that he'd picked them up for self-defence, no matter how potent it might have been there wasn't a form of magic that could affect him. The obvious answer then was that he'd acquired them to dispose of Mystics.

"A friend of mine had a tainted Gift, it was killing her." Answered the scarlet eyed man glancing away from me for the first time since he'd arrived to the well. From the way he spoke I knew he hadn't been successful and I didn't doubt it still stung. I also knew of only one friend he or Hanabi ever mentioned regularly.

"I think he's Earth, but it could be anything really. Neither sibling knows much." I didn't think they were hiding any more from me, rather they just had never been present when Garaa had been frightened enough to bridge the gap to his magic. The Uchiha nodded and returned all but two of the rings to the pouch, they both had the same glow that I supposed meant Earth.

"He's probably possessed too. I hear all Demons are pretty amazing at fighting even without magic. You sure you wanna face him half blind and half cut open?" I did want to see him do it though, I may have been developing a weird fetish.

"I'm going to set up some oil patches on the beach for you to light up if things get dicey. The fire will be magical so it'll allow me an easy retreat. Beside I've been healing fater since…that night." His expression twisted painfully and I knew why, I'd been fully conscious for all of it and yet I could barely decide exactly what had happened. The long thick wound on Sasuke's stomach that I now tended to was proof of the encounter though, it was the only wound besides his eye that hadn't regenerated yet.

The rain hit us in torrents but it was far from undesirable. No, it had been getting progressively hotter as we went further south, swelteringly hot and the cool rain was all that kept me going. It seemed to invigorate my muscles washing away my fatigue and even my panic at the sight of Hanabi's limp form.

She was clinging to the Uchiha's back with her remaining arm and whimpering loudly even over the rain. Not matter what we'd tried she hadn't woken and Sasuke had instead opted to carry her. How he could baffled me though, the rain had washed away the blood and I could see the extent of his wounds. He'd refused my offers to carry Hanabi a little more forcefully than I'd expected and I was left to wonder just how far his willpower would take him.

Thunder roared above us cracking the night sky and it was a few minutes until I realised there hadn't been any lightning. The Uchiha was already ahead of me scanning the sky and then our surroundings. I couldn't see anything against the black backdrop but he must have as he started leading us toward a nearby rock formation.

"Down!" his shout came rough in his throat but I followed it without hesitation. Curling grey flames tore apart the soil in front of us kicking debris into the air. It had been a warning shot though, if whatever was in the sky had wanted to it could have caught us with that attack. Sasuke didn't waste any time grabbing my arm and dragging me into the dust cloud, I heard another crash but it was far away, another warning shot.

We reached the rocks through the clouds and the Wraith began pushing me under the cover. There was enough room to crawl easily and the Uchiha followed me half carrying Hanabi, he pushed my sister into my lap and I only just managed to grab his arm to prevent him from disappearing back outside.

"Give me your bow." Woodenly I passed the bow to the man. I didn't want him to go back out there but I could recognise refusing as futile, he only took three of the arrows and then disappeared. I waited only half a minute before I leaned Hanabi down on her uninjured side and followed.

I heard another thunderous roar and caught my first glimpse of the creature. Black wings blocked out the bare moonlight as the draconic thing swooped for Sasuke, he fired off a shot clipping the creature but not stopping it. I crawled closer to the Uchiha over the flat rock as the creature landed barely missing the former Raider with its claws. I shouted to the swordsman and stood dashing to reach him.

"Don't look at its eyes." Managed the Uchiha as he coughed and spluttered righting himself up. He didn't seem all that surprised that I had followed him. I kept my eyes low as I turned back to the creature. It was surprisingly tame, just waiting for something. Above the downpour I heard the stomp of boots smacking against the stone before my eyes found the source.

Dressed in leather armour and resting a long golden spear over his shoulder the figure brushed his dark wet hair out of his bright red eyes and pinned us with a look of absolute confusion. I had to admit I was just as confused and glanced toward Sasuke.

"Brother?" the question was directed towards Sasuke as the other Wraith stepped a little closer. As he managed to draw that bit closer his eyes flashed with recognition but Sasuke's countenance didn't mirror the sentiment. Instead the Uchiha forced himself to his feet and stepped just in front of me. It was clear that the man was putting Sasuke on edge.

"Brother Itachi, when did you make contact?" the friendly airs dropped suddenly as Sasuke raced forward in a ferocious assault. Despite the injuries the Uchiha hit hard and fast whipping both blades in a vicious messy onslaught. I was sure only the absence of his left eye saved his opponent as the other man rapidly moved to the blind flank defending himself desperately. The swordsman's stamina faltered though and the other Wraith countered him striking him once across the jaw with the end of the spear.

Sasuke fell back redrawing his guard but failed to account for the spear's reach. The tip of the cross spear shattered the Uchiha's armour cutting into his stomach as Sasuke twisted too slow. The Uchiha tumbled curling in around the wound and I raced to his side, even through the thick rain I could see the blood spilling out of the man. His one remaining eye had went wide and he was shaking almost to the point of trashing. Instinctively I knew that he was dying and I grabbed him foolishly feeling that if I stopped the shaking and pressed tight enough on the wound it would help. His teeth clenched tight the Uchiha half howled as I pressed on the wound. My palm stung as the torn armour cut into my hand but I couldn't tell if any of the blood was mine so much was spilling out of the man in my arms. I was doing a poor job steadying him as my own hands started to shake, more and more blood seemed to leak free and I couldn't get it too stop.

"It's alright, come on look at me, it's alright." I was babbling and barely making sense as I hung onto the shaking man. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Come on mistress." It was the other Wraith. As he fixed Sasuke with a look of disgust I took the opportunity to reach into my quiver, palming an arrow and attempting to stab the spearman. He fell back dodging my initial swing but I caught him on the second driving the arrow head in to the flesh of his inner thigh. I was half blinded the next second as his left hand whipped across my face hard.

"Don't be troublesome mistress, I'll take you one way or another." He sighed resigned. The spearhead crashed against the rock as I tried to move back near Sasuke and again just at my feet. The threat was clear as he slipped closer. I didn't hear the growling for a couple of moments until it turned into full blown deranged howling. A little shaky I turned back to the Uchiha and watched as he thrashed harder and harder steam raising from his body.

"You?" I heard the growl from the other Wraith before his hand tangled in my hair yanking me roughly towards the still quiet beast. I wasn't ready to go though, something was happening to Sasuke and it wasn't that he was dying. I twisted and swung hitting whatever I could reach desperate to break the man's grip. I was slapped twice more before the grip slackened and I fell, as I glanced up in search of the Uchiha I found nothing but blood slicked rocks.

There was a clash and I twisted onto my back feeling deja vu at work as I saw the Uchiha again assault the other Wraith. The attacks were less wild this time though and somehow stronger as each swing buckled the other man. The pace shifted gear in a second though as the Uchiha fainted a stab then twisted dragging his curved blade over the other warrior's eyes in a carefully debilitating attack. As the other Wraith gave a pained cry Sasuke gripped and pulled away his weapon.

Sasuke collapsed backward a moment later.

His wound was still open but had stopped bleeding and I could see a difference in his eye as he stared up at me. The eye was brighter and I saw the iris shifting drawing back into a single inky dot where it had somehow split into three. I gripped his clammy hand in mine and squeezed it comfortingly.

"Ask…" he choked before he could finish the request and I shushed him. I thought I had plenty of time to interrogate the now blind warrior. About why he'd came after me, what he wanted from me and this Itachi, I had questions for Sasuke about that too but they would wait.

There was a howl as the winged beast raised itself on its hind legs, a burst of smoke bellowing from its nose. It's tail passed just above us and I shielded Sasuke with my body. I was deafened a second later as the creature roared and snatched up its rider.

I swore and glanced back at the Uchiha. He'd blacked out and it took me a couple of panicked seconds to assure myself he hadn't died. Shivering from something more than the rain I began dragging the heavy swordsman's limp body back down the rock.

"I had meant to ask about that actually." His wound was entirely clean now and I began bandaging it carefully. The Uchiha was quick to shrug apparently as confused as I was.

"The books mentioned deeper forms, but they were vague on the details. I feel a little stronger, a little quicker and I'm healing faster. It wasn't clear what would cause the change but I guess something did it." There was a lot more I wanted to say. The fact that he'd almost died in my arms and yet how he was so calm after it. Of course what had to go unsaid more than anything was that I wanted to hold him now, pull the still breathing man close and feel his heart beat in time with mine. I made do with tending to the wound, and trying again to swallow what I felt for the Wraith.

"Is Hanabi alright?" I finally asked as I tied off the bandage. The Uchiha was already raising himself up a spare pail in hand I guessed to offer Hanabi the same service I'd just given him. He paused at my question though his expression tightening. Bring up him getting his guts torn open and miraculously surviving death and he reacts with indifferent confusion. Just the mention of Hanabi's wounds though seemed to agonise him.

"She's…fine." He was gone a second later and I wondered if I shouldn't have followed him. My sister had saved me for certain death in Naru and here I was hiding from her when she needed me the most and still stealing glances at her lover and rather thinking of him less as her lover and more like my knight.

"And I thought I looked bad?" My sister's head darted in my direction so quickly I was certain she strained the muscles, the way she rubbed her neck and the cringe of pain confirmed my theory.

"H-Hanabi." She squeaked shakily eying me with poorly hidden worry, well I thought it was poorly hidden but I had spent a lot of time with Sasuke and similarly paranoid soldiers. Still any kind of deception was far removed from the older sister I had known as a girl. More and more I was beginning to look at Hinata now as an entirely different person, they may not have been as obvious as mine and Sasuke's but she was carrying her share of scars and they were all that remained of some deep wounds that had altered her.

"Calm down Hini, it was close but I'm not a ghost." I joked but it did little to ease the other woman, if anything she might have been knocked further off balance. I offered her a smile as I took a seat to wait for the Uchiha.

"You ah, you look good Hanabi." It was a bold faced lie of the highest order, I did not look good. Sasuke had specifically kept all shiny objects as far away from me as possible but I still had an idea of what I must look like, I hadn't eaten properly in far too long and running a fever for a week on end rarely improved ones features.

"So please tell me there's something better to eat. I've had all I can eat of that sloppy paste." I moaned finally drawing a laugh from my sister. I'd passed and been introduced to the lady of the family outside and she'd mentioned Hinata was working on dinner. I got the impression I wasn't well liked, probably due to my holding up of proceedings. Sasuke had vanished to talk to her brother about something leaving me to confront Hinata on my own. Maybe confront wasn't the right word, but Hinata certainly seemed to think that's what I was doing.

"Yeah, there's some better stuff. This is all that's ready to eat at the moment though." She answered resting a pink almost sharp looking fruit on the table in front of me. Naturally I poked it, then offered Hinata a confused look.

"They call it a dragon fruit." She explained cutting me a sliver. I also poked the sliver.

"Since when were you picky?" she asked with a giggle taking a bite as if to prove to me it wasn't poisonous. Wisely I insisted she swallowed and proved she had swallowed the suspicious food before I took a bite of my own. It wasn't bad and compared to the pulpy mix Sasuke had been spoon feeding me it was downright delectable.

"She's been picky since I met her." Muttered a deeper voice as Sasuke stepped into the room what appeared to be some scrap metal tucked under one of his arms. I offered him the slice recalling that he was just as picky as I was. Well he'd eat the disgusting stuff quicker but not any less unhappily. He glared at the offered slice but took it anyway for prides sake.

"What did you get me then?" I asked the Uchiha as he settled himself down across from me, Hinata returned to the stewing food monitoring it carefully. I'd have to ask how and when she'd picked up her culinary skills…and if we did settle down maybe a request to teach me a little. Sasuke looked surprisingly hesitant.

"A replacement." He answered dumping the metal on the table. I finally managed to recognise the tangle of iron and leather as a prosthetic limb albeit a very rough one. It was completely ridged without any moving parts and wouldn't pass for a real arm even to someone mostly blind.

"Kankuro makes puppets. This is just really a bigger version of one of their limps." Mentioned the Uchiha. That made sense looking at the thing, it would be a couple of inches too big and thick but I didn't mind the extra weight in the short term. It would do until I could hunt down an alchemist and have something with real potential crafted. A small pin caught my eye half way down though.

"What's it hiding?" I asked slightly excited as Sasuke tried to untangle the straps. The dark man's lips curled into a smile no doubt happy that I'd noticed the oddity. He pulled out the pin and pulled on the chunky hand, it came dethatched revealing a dark rugged blade. I gave an excited 'aw' and ran a finger over the blade, it wasn't pretty but it was sharp. I liked that.

"When did you learn to cook Hini?" I had noticed my sister's attempts to sink into the wood work while I'd been introduced to my new toy. It was sort of adorable the way she was acting and I briefly toyed with the idea of messing with her a little more proactively, there was the risk of giving her a heart attack though.

"The higher levels in the tower are self-sufficient, with their own kitchens and stuff. There were cooks but they were happy to let us prepare the food ourselves. The older Mystics taught us." She answered and I thought I saw her smile a little bit to herself lost in a memory. Somehow it triggered a sense of nostalgia in me too, how much had I gained in that tower. Sasuke, my first real friend, how to fight, to read and write…there was a lot of fond memories for someplace I had convinced myself that I hated. I glanced at the Uchiha as he tightened another buckle to secure my new arm. I wondered if he felt the same way about the tower in Naru or the brothel in the lower district.

"How come you never taught me to cook?" I whined to the Uchiha pouting for added effect. He tightened the last bind and shrugged.

"Can't really cook. You should have asked Sakura, she can stitch much better than me too." I did seem to recall his idea of cooking when I thought of it now, hold the meat over the flame until brown or black depending on the desired flavour. I also couldn't help notice the use of 'can' rather than 'could', I didn't really see any reason to bring up that maybe he should be speaking only in the past tense now.

"Fine, Hini can teach you then." My sister was quick to blush at the suggestion, presumably she never got over she distaste for being put on the spot. Sasuke frowned at the suggestion though.

"You're the woman, shouldn't you learn to cook." He disturbingly parroted back my own whiny tone, adding the pout for extra affect. I doubted he was serious, we'd both gotten sick after the last time I was in charge of charring the ration meat on a Raid. Still just in case…

"…I'll fight you for it." I challenged earning a grin from the Uchiha and a slightly strangled gasp from my sister. I guessed a couple deciding on chore distribution via fighting was against some unwritten code Hinata likely followed.

Okay there's number thirty two up and done. A couple of hints about things in this one. Actually there were supposed to be quite a few more in there but I decided to go more vague, it just sort of went that way.

Little fight scene here and the next one should have a bigger battle, namely this worlds Garaa of the Sand a possessed and crazy Mystic.

To avoid similar possession it's recommended you review, top scholars have found reviewing prevents demonic possession up to ninety-nine percent of the time.

R&R