Lost Lullabies
AN: Hello! This is a rewrite of Lost Lullabies. Not sure how many of its original readers are still around or even remember the original version of the story but I decided to rewrite it completely. I thought about re posting it under a new story but I saw that there were readers who are still waiting an update even long after I discontinued the story back in 2016. This will be my first attempt of story for Mature Audience.
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Humans fascinated Hinata from a young age. It had been their short life spans that peaked her interest. The average human's life span was around 80 years, which was equivalent to approximately three years in vampire time. Human lives were so evanescent in a vampire's eyes. A human life often reminded her of the cherry blossoms in spring. The soft delicate pink blossoms lasted one to two weeks before all its petals were washed away by the oncoming rain. She never thought she would be attracted to a such fleeting flicker but she had been utterly enthralled by a human boy. Even though, she knew that their love could never be, that his bones would wither away into dust while she would maintain her youth for hundreds if not thousands of years to come.
She could have blamed her naivety but deep down, she knew she had been like a moth drawn to a flame, her fate seemed inescapable from the moment their eyes met. By loving a human, she had broken the cardinal rule of her kind. Although, there had been a time when humans could have been turned by other vampires but that age has long passed, it was now too dangerous to turn humans. The humans of the current age had too much suppressed rage in their blood that once turned, they lacked control over their new blood thirst and often ended up becoming monsters that killed humans and other vampires indiscriminately.
It was a hefty price she had to pay for the few years of happiness she experienced. When someone had discovered her meetings with the human boy, she was trialed and found guilty by the vampire elders. Her punishment was banishment from vampire society for indefinite amount of time. Therefore, for the past hundreds of years, Hinata steadily adjusted to being in isolation. In isolation, no one scorned or teased her about acting like a human. She could be as human as she wanted, and no one, especially her father, would care. However, she didn't always feel this way. The beginning of her banishment was when it was challenging because of her overwhelming guilt and the shame she must have brought upon her family. Especially when her family was one of the oldest and respected vampire families in vampire society. Her condemnation was considered one of the biggest blemish to Hyuuga family, vampire society scorned her proud family for producing a human lover.
At the outset, she was withdrawn, guilt-stricken, and even considered taking her own life. Although vampires' life spans were much longer than average human being but it wasn't impossible to kill one. Her kind could die in combat once its heart or brain stopped. Another way was to be exposed to prolonged sunlight, the sunlight would eventually them blind and their flesh would wither away into dust. It was a tremendously painful process to have the sun's rays to obliterate one's body, it was equivalent to being burn alive in human terms.
Her prison was a mansion that was once known as "Berceuses Perdue" had become no more than a rundown building that continued to exist in southern forest area of Konoha. The small town, which was once situated near the mansion, had been long deserted. Hinata had be the only person who remained in this town who continued to reside in the "Berceuses Perdue." She had silently watched from her glass window as the people fled and cursed the town that was once their home. About sixty years ago, it was rumored that a demon arrived in the village and it had begun to slaughter the inhabitants at random. The townspeople were terrified at the sight of more and more bodies turning up without a single trace of the culprit. This incident caused much of populace to flee the area completely or move to settle in a more populated city. Then one day the demon that had been terrorizing the town just seemed to vanish into thin air. Nevertheless, it was too late for the town to recover, and gradually the town was completely abandoned.
The townspeople never questioned the sudden disappearance of the killer, nor decide to pursue the incident any further since it was evident that town was no longer a safe and viable place to reside in. It was good thing that they never decided to pursue it, because they would have learnt a young woman that looked no more than twenty-years-old had been the vanquisher. Her long hair was still the same shade of shiny black-blue that resembled the night sky at the peak of midnight, and her eyes were two large, pale pearls set into a slightly round face. Her smooth, unblemished skin was as pale as the fresh snow, and it suited her delicate facial features, resembling a doll. At that point, Hinata had already been the sole mistress of the "Berceuses Perdue" for years.
The demon that had been terrorizing the town, had eventually wandered into the "Berceuses Perdue". The demon had nearly killed her with its demonic strength and agility. In a desperate attempt to save her life, she drew on every ounce of her psyche vampire abilities to take over demon's body and extract its spirit. Using her blood as a seal, she had managed to seal the demon spirit into a fox statue. The use of her blood and the demon's essence allowed the statue to come to life. Due to the blood contract, she formed during the sealing, this creature was bound to her, which meant as long she was alive, the demon's essence remained trapped in its container. At first, Hinata thought it was merely an average animal; on the contrary, she discovered this creature possessed intelligence and a distinct personality.
Hinata even dubbed the fox as "Kyuubi" after a while. Little by little, the fox became the official companion of Hyuuga Hinata in the lonely, rundown mansion. Kyuubi's existence helped to elevate the obscurity of her thoughts and even made her forget at times the reality of her indefinite exile.
Hinata lounged in the window seat of the upstairs parlour room, admiring the last ray of sunlight and enjoying the warmth it provided. She loved the last minutes of dusk and dawn. These were the only times when a vampire could enjoy the sunlight and not be afraid of being harmed by the sun's rays. The leftover warmth from the sun's rays reminded her of happier days of her life, it almost felt like she was with him. She looked out at courtyard of the mansion, watching the shadows play on the ground. Her browed furrowed suddenly narrowed in alarm, even though everything looked fine outside but a sense of uneasiness had begun to form in her chest. She wondered if it was because of the lack of birds or clouds in the sky.
The foreign yet familiar sensation of a vampire's psyche tapping against the barrier of her mind. The other vampire's psyche produced a dull pressure that pressed into her flesh, as if a body was being pressed into hers. She closed her eyes and focused on trying to push the unknown entity from her mind. Psyche penetration was considered an intimate action amongst her kind, the unspoken rule was one needed to be invited or at least be willingly, therefore, it was practically considered as an assault when an uninvited and unwanted stranger attempted to infiltrate into her mind in such a manner.
"What's wrong?" asked a raspy, rough voice across the room. The red fox rested on a chair, watching her with lazy, brown eyes.
"I-I h-have an uninvited g-guest," she muttered without opening her eyes, her fingers starting to grip the cushion beneath her. Her ears were starting to ring, threating to drown out other sounds around her.
"A demon?"
"No. I-it's - ah," she cringed as the unsolicited psyche shove harder against the barrier of her mind, the barrier of her mind straining under the intensity of the intruder's force. Whoever was trying to break into her mind, this stranger possessed an extremely strong psyche power, it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep him out of her mind. The ringing in her eyes was replaced with a clear voice.
"You are a few hundred years too early to keep me out."
Hinata's eyes snapped open, realizing that she had lost the fight. Her wrists were fasten down to the arms of chair that situated in a poorly lit bedroom decorated lavishly in black silks and satin. The metal chains dug into her wrist, making it impossible to move. She could tell someone was standing the shadows of the room, watching her every move. She narrowed her eyes, trying to make out the features of her attacker. The only thing she saw was a pair of scarlet eyes that glowed in a dark, reminding her of a predator monitoring its prey.
The last time that Hinata had engaged in psyche struggle like this was when she sealed Kyuubi, but at that time she had been the aggressor, the aggressor tended to assert the dominance in these types of struggles. However, she was also aware it wasn't impossible to break free from the intruder's hold. A psyche struggle came down to the battle of realities, a battle of sheer willpower of imposing one's own reality over the other.
The current room that she was trapped in must be a place where the intruder was familiar with because the sheer details of the room astounded her. From faintest cracks on the wall to the smooth, polished wood floors beneath her feet. She had a vague feeling, it was her intruder's personal bedroom. Most realities, if not, all realities were created from one's own distinct sense of smell, taste, sight, sound and touch.
"Who are you?" she asked, hoping the question could distract the intruder. She didn't know if the intruder pretended not to hear her question or if he didn't bother to answer to her. Those scarlet eyes never leaving her as if he was trying to memorize every part of her from the top of her head to bottoms of her feet. His stare was so intense that made unwelcome heat stain her cheeks, she couldn't recall the last time that someone had looked at her in this way.
She chastised herself silently, embarrassment wasn't going help her situation, in fact she swore her flash of embarrassment had made her situation worse because he must have noticed the change in her face. The intruder seemed to start to take cautious but steady steps towards her. She lowered her head, trying to hide her face by looking down at her lap, she forced herself to focus on the pain in her wrists. The pain caused by the binds made her reminiscent of when she was chained to the wall while waiting for her trial. The memory of her imprisonment so vivid in her mind that she even remembered the feeling of the dull, endless drips of icy water that fell in her hair and ran down her face, reminding of her impending fate. The floor beneath her feet begin to feel rough and cold, her heart thud in her chest in anticipation, the vividness of her reality was slowly edging into the one she was in. The room was already dim seemed to become even darker but all these subtle changes to the surroundings went unnoticed by the intruder as it seemed his sole focus was on her.
He was getting closer, she could see the tip of his shoes as he stalked towards her. Her throat felt dry as she subconsciously tested the binds that her wrist down, her breath hitched in her throat as she realized she almost had control over the binds on her wrists. The intruder was in front of her now, she could see the patterns on his shoes as he stood in front of her. She frozen, watching as he slowly reached out his hand towards her chin. It was that moment, she felt the slight waver of his control over her mind, it was a brief flutter but it was enough. His hand was only a hair away from touching her chin, when the loud crash could be heard behind him.
The intruder finally noticed the changes of the room but it was already too late, the crash was caused by a falling icicle. Hinata watched as the intruder's attention was diverted towards the sound. It was at this moment she pulled hard on her binds, breaking free of them in one swift motion. She didn't even to bother to look at the intruder as she leaped from her seat to grab another falling icicle. The icicle felt hard and cold in her hands, steeling herself for a fraction of a second, before she plunged it into her heart with as much force she could manage.
The pain was so intense that she was still clutching at her chest, gasping for air, as she opened her eyes to see the familiar parlour room. The sudden release of her mind by the intruder caused her to fall off the window seat, her body was limp on the cold wooden floor. She felt a wet nuzzle against her forehead, she could tell Kyuubi was trying to tell if she was still alive. The searing pain in her chest seemed to suffocate her, taking away her ability to speak, the pain forcing her to curl up in fetal position. The fox seemed to noticed her discomfort then proceeded to bury itself into her chest, trying to comfort her. Kyuubi must had taken an educated guess of what she must have done to escape. She hugged the fox to her chest, her fingers dig into its soft fur. Whoever this person was, she knew there was no chance in defeating him. So, in a last-ditch attempt, she decided to gamble with her life. She didn't know when she had developed such courage to take on such a gamble. All she knew was that either he released her from his control or let her impaled herself with the icicle. Perhaps, all these years of isolation had finally driven her into madness?
"Your little stunt won't work so easily next time," said a familiar voice from the shadows of the room. Her blood ran cold at the sound of his voice, his tone was icy, filled with disdain at the gamble that she just took. She felt as if she was experiencing a déjà vu, watching his shoes approach, her eyes tracing the patterns. She didn't have the strength to put up a struggle when he picked up her in his arms. The thing she thought before she lost her conscious in his arms was she wished he had let her impale herself on the icicle.