Dreamcatcher
By Airyo
Secrets in a Memory - 7
Hinata peeked around the corner. Father seemed agitated when he returned from the emergency village council meeting. Several council members followed him into his office. Hinata pressed her ear to the wall - the unique acoustics of the hallway made it sound as if she were pressed right up against the door. In a house of glass where everything was always on display, people sometimes mistook looking for seeing.
"What happened, Hiashi-sama?" Father sat in his chair and massaged his temples.
"One of the ANBU assassinated Danzo-sama."
Hinata forced her chakra to match her surroundings, hoping that they would not discover her. She had to hear more. Her first thought was of Mouse. He had seemed so sad even he comforted her. Did he know that someone had put an order out?
She knew of Danzo. He was a grumpy, old man with bandages all over his face. He had been one of the many challengers who'd examined her mind, trying to find a root to all her worthlessness. She remembered him in particular because she didn't like the baku, the dream-eaters, he summoned in his genjutsu.
According to myth, baku were supposed to be benevolent creatures that protected against nightmares. She even kept an amulet or two of their likeness under her pillow.
Until Danzo had one of his baku riffle through her mind, ripping through her every thought like gossamer spider webs, roaring - WHERE IS IT? WHERE ARE YOU HIDING IT?" The voice echoed throughout her mind, jarring every bone in her body. Hinata kept running, tripping, stumbling, falling, but still running. She couldn't stop because then the Bad Man will catch her and pry her secrets, her soul, her everything from her. She could hear his footsteps chasing her.
She will not let him catch her. Never.
This wasn't an illusion. She had to run, because she knew she will never escape and yet she knew she must escape the -demands in her head. It took her weeks to recover. She hadn't felt the same after that.
If it was Mouse, she was glad he did it. The very next moment, she scolded herself for celebrating someone's death.
"...after long deliberation they will not persecute him beyond officially discharging him from the ANBU. There is no place for a soldier that doesn't follow orders, even if he was acting in the best interests of Konoha."
"But that's preposterous!" one of the councilmen protested. "The nature of ANBU makes it possible for him to simply re-enlist under a different mask. That's not even a slap on the wrist! For assassinating one of the most influen-"
His words trailed off. Even through the wall, Hinata thought she could feel the chilly glare that Hiashi leveled on the speaker.
"I would be careful how you speak of that man now. The ANBU soldier was not persecuted because he brought in evidence of a terrible treason. The Hokage is launching a full-scale investigation regarding all the missing bodies of those who had bloodline limits, namely Hyuuga and Uchiha. If he would keep so many for himself, how many more has he given away?"
There was a long silence before anyone spoke.
"Hiashi-sama. Do you think there is a chance that Danzo was involved with what happened four years ago?"
"There is a possibility," was the clipped reply.
Hinata jerked her ear away and the voices faded. Her head was beginning to hurt, compounded by the hard throb of her heartbeat in her eardrums. She didn't want to hear any more of the twisting and turnings of politics.
Mouse was okay.
That was all she needed to know.
AN: My glee knew no bounds when I realized that Danzo's summon was a baku, aka one of those mythical creatures in Japanese lore that eat dreams. How perfect...