Since people keep asking me this, I'm going to lay the concern to rest once and for all. This story is not now, never has been, and never will be abandoned, discontinued, or forgotten. I will finish this story and nothing short of death will stop me. Maybe I can't update every month like I want to, but this story will be finished someday. So please, stop asking about the status of this story. It's in progress and gets worked on when I have the luxury to work on it, so just be patient between updates please.
"Who are you? What are you doing in my home?" Naruto asked, immediately threatened by this newcomer; though he did not look it, Naruto could sense some kind of powerful aura coming from this man.
The stranger did not even turn his head to acknowledge Naruto as he spoke; his shaded eyes never wavered from Hinata's person. "Be silent whelp. You are not part of this." His tone of voice made it seem like he saw Naruto as nothing more then an annoyance.
"This is my home and you are uninvited. You better have a damn good reason for this or else I'm going to kick your ass." Naruto snarled, not liking the tone of this guy or the way he kept staring at Hinata.
"Who are you?" Hinata asked, both to this man and to Lilith since her inner demon apparently recognized the man.
The man answered Hinata first. "I am Aru, and I am here for my mate."
"Hinata, this man is my One True Mate. He is to me what Naruto is to you." Lilith told her host. "I haven't seen him for more than a hundred years. He couldn't get me out of the sapphire, so we've been apart for far too long."
Naruto got defensive and immediately stood protectively in front of Hinata. "Well the only girl here is my girlfriend, and you're sure as hell not getting her."
Aru looked amused, he smiled and revealed his pearly white teeth. "Oh there's another girl here and I intend to take her." He said as he started to walk forward "Now stain aside whelp"
"I'm sorry but I can't help you." Hinata replied politely.
"Yes you can." Lilith said. "Let me borrow your body for a bit. That way I can have some time with my lover for once."
"WHAT?" Hinata was so shocked she briefly forgot there were others around her.
"I can sense Lilith inside you girl. I'd know her chakra anywhere; it leaks from your pores like a fine perfume. How do you think I knew to come here for her?" Aru claimed. "I followed you all the way from the cave to this village, the moment I saw that my sweet Lilith was no longer bound by that infernal crystal."
Lilith sighed dreamily in Hinata's mind. "Oh Aru, I knew you cared." She sounded so fangirlish right then.
The man continued to talk. "I intend to be with my mate. It'll go better for you all if you just allow it."
"He's right. Let me take over for a bit." Lilith agreed, there was nothing more in the universe that she wanted other than to just spring forward and wrap her arms around Aru, to taste his sweet lips and just let him take her in every possible position imaginable.
Hinata frowned. "No way. I don't care. This is my body and only MY mate can have it." She said, wrapping her arm around Naruto who looked equally determined if not more to protect Hinata.
Lilith was unhappy, bordering on angry. "Hinata, I helped you get to be with your man. The least you can do is let me be with mine for just a few hours."
"No." The Hyuuga said firmly.
"Hinata, I've waited longer than you. I had to endure 100 years of forced celibacy. Plus you owe me this."
"I said no Lilith." Hinata answered again firmly.
"Hinata, let me fuck my mate." The Succubus Queen growled.
"My answer's still no." Leaving no room for compromise.
"I wasn't asking for your permission."
Right then Hinata felt something new. First it felt like her brains were being boiled from the inside and that her head was going to split open. Next her body started to have strange spasms that she could not stop. It took only a moment for her to realize what was going on, Lilith was trying to take over her body by force.
"Lilith! This is going too far!" Hinata cried.
"I don't care! You're not the only one entitled to be with your loved one. I deserve some sex too, and if I have to take your body to get it, then too bad. Just pretend you're fucking Naruto."
Hinata resisted as best she could, but Lilith was putting up a good fight.
Naruto, worried, held her shoulders. "Hinata-chan! What's wrong?"
"It's Lilith. She's trying to take my body for herself." She cried out in both pain and fear.
'Kyuubi, is this what you were warning me about?' Naruto asked himself.
"Stop fighting it girl, let her win." Aru suggested as watched this with fascination, confident Lilith would succeed.
Naruto glared at the man. "You're getting my girlfriend over my dead body."
Aru simply smirked. "If you insist, boy."
Naruto growled angrily before grabbing a kunai from his pouch and lunging at the man.
Very suddenly, large black bat-like wings appeared from Aru's back and then quickly moved to cover his front, effectively stopping the kunai like they were shields rather than wings. "You didn't think it would be that easy did you?" He taunted.
Naruto followed with a re-aim of his kunai to nearly slash the man's face off, which did force Aru to back away. "And you didn't think I'd stop that easily did you?" Naruto asked, deliberately using the same basic phrasing.
Aru smirked. "Fight all you want, it's not my house so I don't care what damage this place takes because of your recklessness." Naruto surprised him by making another effort to slash him.
"If you think I care more about protecting this place than protecting her you're an idiot." Naruto stated before creating a clone then together the two of them started to create a ball of chakra, the rasengan.
It took only a quick moment to form and when the clone vanished Naruto came running at Aru with a rasengan ready.
Aru looked unafraid, he waited until Naruto was only an arms length from him when suddenly, moving faster then the human eye could see, Aru grabbed Naruto by the throat and threw him toward the wall.
It was the rasengan that connected with the wood first, the wall was solid one moment and then next it exploded into a hail of a thousand splinters which Naruto went thru as he fell towards the ground outside.
Aru smirked as he made his wings return to his body. He then slowly walked over to the hole and jumped down, following Naruto.
Hinata meanwhile was still making an effort to keep Lilith down. She was winning, but the succubus was putting up a good fight. "Lilith why are you doing this to me?"
"You know very well why. I helped you be with your man so it's only fair you help me be with mine. And I don't have the patience to wait until I'm out of here so I'm having my turn now. "
Hinata was getting mad. "Lilith, I completely understand your desire, but this is my body not yours. There is no way in hell you're taking it from me like this."
"You want to fight? Fine, let's do this." Lilith said before Hinata felt her vision go white.
Naruto had hit the ground face first. He lay there for a moment, his body covered with the splinters and pieces of dry wall. With a groan though he pushed himself up off the ground and slowly got to his feet.
The blonde heard a thud from behind him, he turned around to see Aru standing on top of a trash can.
"Your determination and desire to protect your mate is admirable, boy. However it is foolish. You have no idea who you are dealing with."
Naruto brushed the splinters from his body. "Then why don't you enlighten me?"
Aru smirked. "You have the honor of addressing the King of all Incubi, the master of all dreams, and one of the lord of demons."
Naruto did not seem the least bit impressed. "You seem to have forgotten the titles of 'Arrogant Prick' and 'Major Douchebag'." His voice brimming with anger.
Aru's brow lifted slightly. "You are impertinent, boy. Perhaps I shall teach you a lesson in humility and respect towards your betters." He said as he flexed his fingers.
Naruto withdrew two kunai from his pouch, one for each hand. "Bring it."
The two of them charged at each other in full force.
Hinata looked around and saw… nothing.
She was surrounded by what appeared to be an endless and empty void of darkness. She had no idea where she was. She had been in Naruto's apartment one moment and the next she was here.
"What is going on here?" She asked aloud.
Then she heard a dark and evil sounding giggle coming from… all around her.
Hinata looked in all directions, trying to find out from where the noise was coming from.
When she could not she closed her eyes and attempted to activate her byakugan, but nothing happened.
"What?" This had never happened to her.
The giggling continued. "Sorry, but no jutsu's or special abilities allowed here my dear."
It was then that Hinata recognized who the voice belonged to. "LILITH!" She screamed as she looked around. "WHAT IS GOING ON?"
"It is very simple Hinata. Since you would not be nice enough to share your body so I could be with my mate, you have left me no other choice really. I am going to take your body for myself and lock you away here."
Lilith's voice sounded like it was getting closer now, Hinata had to keep her guard up. If she could use neither her jutsu or her byakugan she would have to rely on her taijutsu. "Take my body? You cannot do that."
"Oh but I can my dear. You see this is your own mind." Lilith said in a matter-of-fact voice "If I defeat you here… well let's just say that the winner literally takes all."
"Why are you doing this Lilith?" Hinata demanded. "I thought we were friends, I thought we had a deal."
"It's nothing personal Hinata, really it is not. I like you and take no thrill out of harming you this way. But, as you would recall I told you that in order to reform my body I need energy. Energy that is drawn and stored from sex."
"Yes, I remember you said that."
"And while your little sessions with Naruto have been a great help, it is not enough. At the rate the two of you are going combined with the rate you're using my power, it would take several years before I could get the strength needed to reform my original body. But…"
"But what?" Hinata asked, though she was afraid of the answer.
"Just a few rounds with Aru in your body and I could have my body back by tomorrow. Maybe two days just to be safe. So quit resisting and let me fuck my mate. It's for your own good as well as mine."
Hinata shook her head. "Lilith, I promised that I would help you get your body back. But this is going too far. I will not let you use my body to have sex with another man. My body is for Naruto-kun and Naruto-kun alone. If that means you have to wait several years, then so be it."
Hinata heard a single sigh. "Then you have left me with no other choice. I am sorry Hinata, but you brought this on yourself."
Then, for some reason that Hinata herself could not quite understand, she looked up.
What she saw was Lilith in full demon form flying straight at her, claws extended. On reflex Hinata readied her juuken to defend herself, knowing this would be possibly her most difficult battle of all.
Though Aru loathed to admit it, even if it was just to himself, Naruto was good. Though the boy lacked any real style or finesse his attacks were nonetheless powerful, strong, and determined.
Still those aspects alone would not be enough to defeat him. The moment the Incubus King saw an opening he grabbed the blonde by the shoulders, pulled him forward, and slammed his knee into Naruto's stomach.
Naruto let out a loud grunt as the wind was knocked out of him, but he still kept a strong grip on both his kunai. Taking a deep breath and moving quickly he drove one of the blades deep into the left thigh of the demon.
Aru hissed in pain before he flung Naruto away from him, momentarily distracted while pulling the ninja weapon from his thigh, which was bleeding thick purple-colored blood; he did not notice Naruto running up to him.
But he did notice when Naruto's fist connected with his face, right between his eyes. There was a loud crunching sound as the shades Aru was wearing were crushed by Naruto's fist.
The dark shades remained in place for a moment longer before the broken halves fell to the ground, finally revealing Aru's eyes.
Naruto felt a shiver of fear course through his spine.
Aru's glowing eyes were like fire, a swirling mixture of yellow, red, and orange. In the center of them were snake like slits that were as black as pools of ink. These were eyes of a demon.
And these eyes narrowed at Naruto with a deep intense fury; when Aru spoke his words were filled with malice and rage. "You have hurt me. Hurting me was a mistake."
"But you can be hurt. That's all I need to know." Naruto replied, semi-taunting.
All of a sudden there was a cluster of kunai thrown at Aru from the rooftops from several directions. The incubus was unable to react in time and took several hits, making him yell in pain. Before Naruto could ask what just happened several Anbu appeared by him ready to fight, one of them being Kakashi released from the hospital.
"Naruto, who or what is this thing you're fighting?" Kakashi inquired.
"He says his name is Aru and he claims to be a demon. He wants to take Hinata-chan and turn her into his sex toy." Naruto answered carefully, trying to avoid any delicate information.
"Then he'll have to kill us all to do it." One of the Anbu announced, rallying them all into standing against Aru.
The Incubus King would have looked amused as if he wasn't upset about having his blood shed, though internally he was pretty pissed that his suit was now stained. "Not smart." He growled.
The battle might have been taking place on a mental level, but the blows still hurt like real physical wounds. Whoever said "Pain is all in your head" sure wasn't kidding.
Lilith seemed to be pulling out all of the stops in her attack. She was not going to let up nor would she show any mercy to Hinata. Not when they were fighting for such high stakes. But Hinata was fighting back just as fiercely for the same reason.
"You can't beat me. We both know I'm stronger than you." Lilith taunted to undermine the girl and make winning easier and somewhat sweeter.
Hinata frowned, fighting more than she ever had before, even against Neji. "You're wrong. I've always been strong, I've just never been good at showing it."
"Oh yeah, you've always been strong. That's why you needed me to get you where you are today." Lilith said, slashing the girl and hitting her by the collarbone. Her jacket tore but the mesh shirt under saved her skin from breaking.
"You forget where I was before I found you Lilith." Hinata noted, bracing herself. "You forget I became a chuunin without you. You forget that it was me not you that stood up to my father and the hokage. You may have motivated me, you may have helped me, but I did the actual work. And there's one more thing you're forgetting."
"Oh yeah. What's that?"
"You're within my range." Hinata answered with a smirk. Lilith caught the reference far too late. "Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" Hinata almost shouted as she attacked the demoness with all her might. "Two palms. Four palms. Eight palms. Sixteen palms. Thirty-two palms. Sixty-four palms."
The attack finished and Hinata breathed heavily a bit, that move still wearing her out a little. Lilith looked and sounded just as worn, but not as much as Hinata had hoped.
"Nice try girl... 'pant'... but remember my chakra and physiology... 'pant'... is different than that of a humans. It's... 'pant'... going to take a lot more than just several good hits... 'pant'... to take me down."
"I can... 'pant'... say the same to you." Hinata stated, trying to sound less tired than she was.
Forcing herself for one more move, Lilith pounced forward in a dark blur and pinned Hinata down, pressing the Hyuuga's face hard against the ground, even digging her claws into her skin and drawing blood.
"Lilith… please… stop this." Hinata pleaded, feeling like her skeleton was going to snap.
Lilith simply pressed harder. "I did not want to do this. If you had not been so selfish we could have avoided all of this. But no, you would not allow me to be with the one being in the universe I truly love. So I am forced to do this. If you were in my place, you'd be no different than I am now. You know it to be true." The Succubus Queen snarled as she raised her free hand, intending to slice Hinata apart with her claws.
Hinata felt tears form in her eyes; she was about to lose everything. Her mind, her body, and even worse… she was going to lose Naruto. Out of sheer instinct she closed her eyes and waited for the blow to come that would finish it.
But after a moment, she felt nothing. The finishing blow never came.
Slowly, she opened her eyes back up, wanting to see what had prevented Lilith from finishing this.
What she saw both shocked and confused her.
"MOTHER?!"
"Hello sweetie, my you've grown into a lovely woman. But for now, let me help you here." The newcomer, Hitomi Hyuuga, said to her daughter.
"But... but how...?" Hinata was utterly but flabbergasted. Even in her wildest dreams she could never have predicted that her mother would just randomly show up within her own mind like this.
Hitomi ignored her and looked to Lilith. "Hello Lilith, I thank you for the help you have given my daughter, but giving her help does not give you any rights or claims over her. And even if it did, this is going too far."
Lilith was confused as hell but hid it very well. 'I never felt another presence inside here and there's no way this is another Yamanaka showing up. Could this just be a mental manifestation of Hinata's memory of her mother?' The succubus broke free of Hitomi's grip. She jumped up and began to hover in the air, or at least off the ground in this case since it was hard to say if there was actually air or ground in a mindscape of not.
Hitomi had no fear as she looked at the succubus. She raised her arms above her head and did a hand sign. "Purge."
Lilith felt an incredible shockwave hit her, pushing her back and burning her, chains began to wrap around her body, moving like snakes they constricted around her. "No, you can't beat me! I will be with my-" She was then silenced, disappearing from sight.
Hitomi relaxed, but collapsed on her side.
"Mother!" Hinata yelled before going to the woman's side. Hitomi was alive and conscious, but she didn't look well.
"Hinata, you've grown up so lovely." Hitomi said with a smile.
"Mom, how can you be here?" Hinata asked.
"Call me paranoid, but when I was alive I feared that someone would try to brand you with the Caged Bird Seal despite every reason not to. So I sealed a bit of my own chakra inside you to remain unnoticed, so that if someone ever tried I could destroy the seal from within to keep you safe. I did the same thing with Hanabi. Is she okay?"
Hinata nodded. "Yes, she's unbranded. Sometimes I think she was never truly at risk in the first place. There are people in the clan who seem to expect too much of me but not her."
"I feared such a thing would come to pass. The Main House puts so much pressure on itself to be above normal, but if they were really as good as they thought they were there wouldn't be a need for branches in the first place."
"What did you do to Lilith?" Hinata asked.
"I sacrificed myself to get rid of her. Like with the seal, I instead got rid of her, at least for the moment. The method I used won't hold her forever; just stop her from trying to take over your body for a while. But she will break free and you need to find a way to get her out before that happens."
Hinata's eyes hardened. "Oh don't worry, I will. Because, Lilith has officially worn out her welcome."
"Hinata, now that I did this, I won't last much longer. Nor can I protect you if someone does try to apply the seal to you after this. I imagine that some people in the clan would not approve of your associating with a demon." Hitomi warned.
"I have no regrets. Lilith went too far, but I wouldn't be where I am today without her. And anybody trying to hurt me will have to go thru Naruto-kun first, clan affairs or not." Hinata said.
Hitomi smiled. "I'm glad you were able to find love. I hope he's good to you."
"He's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I only wish I had made an effort sooner." Hinata admitted wistfully.
"I hope your happiness lasts my dear. I hope... everything works out of you." Hitomi said as she began to fade away then disappeared entirely, leaving Hinata to cry a bit before the mindscape faded away and she returned to reality.
Whatever Aru wanted to do, the Anbu weren't giving him the chance to start. They attacked him relentlessly with weapons and taijutsu, but no ninjutsu other than simple attacks, this was still a residential area and there was too much of a chance of a civilian getting hurt. Not all of the attacks were working, but the Incubus King wasn't as invulnerable as he had wanted them to believe.
The fight had drawn more attention and more ninja, including more of the Rookies and their senseis. Many of them joining the fight against Aru; it was amazing that one person could hold their own against so many ninja.
Kurenai ran up the stairs to Naruto's apartment, her mind racing at a mile a minute. She kicked down the door with one good shot and she immediately noticed Hinata crouched down on the floor on her side holding her head and came up to her.
"Hinata? What's wrong? Did that freak in the suit hurt you?" She got no answer, as if Hinata couldn't hear her. "Dammit, I knew letting you keep that demoness was a bad idea." Kurenai rued, trying to make sure that Hinata was alright.
Meanwhile the others were fighting against Aru, including Ino. "Mind Destruction Jutsu." She tried to take control of his body to give everyone a chance to deliver enough damage to stop him.
Her attack missed, but it certainly caught his attention, making him look at her intently for a moment, studying every part of her body and when he finished he smiled. He darted towards her at an amazing pace. Both Neji and Lee got in his way, ready to stop him. Aru did not even break his pace, first he grabbed Neji by his long hair and delivered a strong uppercut to the boys jaw, knocking him aside. Then when Lee tried to slam his leg against Aru's chest, the demon blocked it with one hand and used his other free arm to drop his elbow down hard on Lee's leg, there was loud crunch as bone cracked, and Lee was down.
With both of them out of his way he got up right in front of Ino and making her highly uncomfortable with his presence. "I can sense you've come in contact with Lilith. Maybe when all of this is done we can-"
Aru was cut off by Chouji's giant fist grabbing him from behind and crushing him in his grip. "You leave my girl alone!" He yelled with much anger as he lifted his hand then thrust his captive down hard into the ground, attempting to crush him. Chouji pulled his hand back, revealing Aru laying face-up in a small crater.
"Okay, that one hurt." He groaned as he pushed himself up.
"Shadow Possession Success." Shikamaru said when he felt his shadow connect with the winged demon.
Chouji went right up to Ino. "You okay? He didn't hurt you did he?"
Ino smiled gratefully and held him, melting against his body. "Thank you Chouji-kun."
One of the Anbu faced Aru now that he couldn't fight. "Who are you, what are you, and what were your intentions?"
"In order, none of your business, fuck off, and to make your mother scream my name when she reaches orgasm." Aru replied with a smirk, in no mood to cooperate.
"Take him to T&I. They'll make him talk." One of them said.
"Take me to T&A then I'll really talk." Aru joked.
"Chain him up real good, I'm not sure I can hold him that long." Shikamaru said. 'It's already taking a lot just to hold him down now. What is he?'
Aru raised a brow "Chains? Sorry, I don't do chains." He then looked at Shikamaru with his demonic eyes and grinned. A grin which caused the boy to shiver.
Suddenly to Shikamaru's shock, Aru actually raised up his hand; but was worse Shikamaru's own hand raised up with it, against his own will.
"What the hell? How is this possible?" Shikamaru thought, nothing like this had ever happened before.
Aru smirked, answering as if he had just read Shikamaru's mind. "Because the shadow possession jutsu is a contest of wills boy. And my will is stronger." It was then that Aru punched himself in the face, hard. Forcing Shikamaru to punch himself as well.
The boy lost his focus and the jutsu was broken freeing Aru who looked around at all the ninja. He smiled and gave them a brief bow. "I'll be back for Round Two." He said and suddenly vanished in a cloud of black smoke, stunning everyone there.
Hinata finally managed to sit up, her mind finally feeling calm.
Hinata?" Kurenai said happily but still concerned.
A moment later Naruto leapt up through the hole in his wall and came running over to Hinata, kneeling down next to her.
Hinata looked into frightened blue eyes, frightened for her, hoping she was well and safe. "Naruto-kun!" She said happily as she engulfed him in a tight hug. "I'm okay, no need to worry anymore."
"You're my girl Hinata-chan, how can I not worry?" He asked, hugging her back. His words warmed her heart.
"Hinata, what did the demon try to do to you?" Kurenai asked, sparking some anger in Naruto because her words sounded unintentionally like she was referring to him.
"She... she tried to force me to sleep with another man. I said no and she said 'too bad' and tried to take over my body. I fought her off, and she stopped."
"Is she gone? Did you get rid of her or just suppress her?" Naruto asked, looking her in the eyes.
"I think she's just suppressed. We'll probably find out soon enough. If she is still here in me, we need to get rid of her right away. But without me seeking another man like that. I'm yours and yours alone Naruto-kun, for now and ever."
Naruto smiled and hugged her, touched by her words and wondering what exactly the full extent of her words meant. 'Does that mean someday she wants to be more than what we are now? Like married or something?' Rather than being nervous, he was strangely calm. 'I guess being married is no different than how we already are. The only thing we haven't done that married people do is have kids, and neither of us are ready for that.'
"Excuse me." One of the Anbu who helped fight Aru said, drawing both of their attentions. They looked and saw that this one was a member of the Hyuuga clan because he was unmasked. Naruto had never seen him before, but Hinata thought she had a couple of times but never caught his name. It was hard to keep track of everyone in a clan after all, even if you were part of it.
"Hinata's fine now. She's in no trouble." Naruto defended.
"Oh, once the elders learn of this, she will be." The Hyuuga seemed to threaten before disappearing.
Naruto frowned at the challenge and Hinata closed her eyes. 'If it's not one thing it's another.'