Dreamcatcher
By Airyo
5
Hinata closed her eyes and - screams erupted. The killing intent was heavy and sickening like oil, and it pressed in until it was hard to breath or move. Hinata whipped around, half-forgotten instincts forcing her body into the first stance of Jyuuken. The chakra veins at her temples throbbed, dusty with disuse, as her Byakugan struggled to life. Behind her, she could almost see Hana stumble away from her stall.
The crowds of people convulsed, and then parted violently, like flesh ripped with claws. Two dark figures broke through. The one in the jounin uniform of Konoha chased the one wearing dirty, indescribable robes and a slashed hitai-ate around his neck.
Missing-nin. Why was he so far inside the walls of Konoha?
The missing-nin fired off a blast of energy and it rippled outwards. The jounin flickered through a series of seals, barely in time to deflect the worst of the blast from the civilians. Several stalls exploded moments later, showering the crowd with deadly splinters of wood.
Hinata moved automatically, clumsily knocking away the most dangerous pieces from their trajectories towards Ryusuke, Hana, and the others rendered frozen by the heavy killer-intent.
The lone jounin was stretched thin between protecting a large crowd of helpless people and battling someone who moved with the deadly grace of an S-class nin. Hinata had never had training beyond that of an Academy student, and could barely followed the movements. There was one long moment, when the jounin turned his head, and Hinata caught of glimpse of crimson eyes with black windmills. Then he looked away, and the rest was lost in the blur of blades and fists. It almost looked like there multiples of the missing-nin and jounin.
Where were the other ninja? Where was everyone else?
She was the only one with any sort of training. Jyuuken was out of the question, and she never wore kunai anymore. Hinata's eyes glanced over a few heavy barrels, the sturdy daikon radishes...maybe those could serve as a distraction - her gaze turned to the civilians. They will be killed in the crossfire.
Save them.
NOW.
Hinata jolted into action.
"Move!" she barked. The contrast of her usual demeanor to the urgent fury on her face now seemed to shock the civilians near her out of their trance. They scrambled away, retreating to the safety of the distance, and the rest she forcibly pushed into the narrow alley away from him-
It was only just in time. The S-class nin landed in front of her, rendering the stalls that they cowered behind to matchsticks with a blast of chakra. Proximity to the missing-nin amplified the effect of his killing-intent and Hinata could only grit her teeth in fear as she watched him approach.
She couldn't move...why couldn't she move?
The cacophony of his aura surrounded, terrified her. Her knees locked.
Why was he targeting her?
Suddenly, she was five years old again, and the Bad Man was going to hurt her and she didn't want to go with him but she couldn't run and she was so scared and-
There was flash of a katana. The missing-nin slumped. Warm, slick blood splattered her, burning and cooling simultaneously when it touched her skin. She barely heard the thud of the body hitting the ground. The metallic smell of the blood was suffocating her, choking her.
Then there was only Uchiha Itachi facing her, with the missing-nin at their feet and a street of broken wood and broken produce. Hinata stared forward with wide, blank eyes, caught in a kaleidoscope of crimson and ink as - she clenched her fists, shaking as everything rushed back into cold clarity, clicking neatly into place like a key and a lock.