Dreamcatcher
By Airyo
House of Glass - 7
"Hinata!"
She opened her eyes with a sobbing gasp. Itachi steadied her by the upper arms as she slumped forward. Her knuckles were white as she clutched at the fabric of near his elbows.
While there had been none of the strange pulling of his chakra, he could almost feel the warping of his own jutsu inside her. Even though he'd expected something like this, it was shocking to see the fear that rippled across her face, like the surface of a calm lake torn by the intrusion of a large boulder.
He'd hated it. He'd torn down greater minds for lesser reasons, yet this sickened him more than the gruesome effects he'd wrought on previous opponents. He couldn't make himself hold it more than a few seconds.
Maybe they should just stop this.
Yet, Itachi could only bite back his doubts and let Hinata hold onto him until the trembling of her hands was no longer visible.
"What did you see?" he asked the top of her bowed head softly. She looked up with a surprisingly composed expression on her face.
"My father," she reported. "We were playing a game of hide and seek before he grew fangs." She made the motion of a smile, though it didn't quite warm her eyes the way the real ones did. The lighthearted words almost fooled Itachi, but more than anyone else, he knew the asphyxiating politics of a noble clan, and had to wonder how much she was glossing over what really occurred in her mind.
He found himself afraid to dig for that answer, though the implications of what she said quickly scattered from his mind when Itachi realized how close Hinata was as she peered up at him with clear, lavender eyes. The dark frame of her hair only made them seem larger and beguiling - he couldn't seem to look away and was drawn forward almost against his better logic. He'd never noticed just how lovely her lashes seemed against the paleness of her pupils and skin (he'd noticed, but never just howlovely).
Did she cast a genjutsu on him?
Itachi stopped himself with a jerk. What were they doing? Moments after him, Hinata seemed to realize the intimacy of their position and bright red colored her cheeks as she delicately extricated herself.
"I...think that's enough for today," he said, almost flustered by the strange effects of today's experiment. "I need to go back and reanalyse the side effects of using the Sharingan. Please let me know if there are any nightmares or other side effects." She nodded.
Dutifully, he walked her back to her favored side gate, thought the silence was worse than when they'd first started this agreement.
"Good night," he said stiltedly.
"Good night," she replied in kind, barely able to look at him. The door shut behind her with a click. Itachi stared at where she had stood, lost in thought.
More and more, he was inclined to believe that Hinata's "condition" wasn't a weakness, but an unusual and powerful ability. Normal victims fell helpless to the Sharingan, yet here was a girl who could warp the effects of his genjutsu without even realizing what she was doing. Even more admirable was how gracefully she bore a noble clan's displeasure.
Was her clan so deeply entrenched in their traditions that they couldn't see the possibilities?
The Hyuuga compound was a strange place. It's occupants were blessed with the vision to see all, and for that, they didn't seem to notice very much at all. When there was too much on display, Itachi concluded, people often forgot to see what they were looking at in the first place.