Its the conclusion of the Fujiwara arc

Chapter 13: If I falter on my oaths, will it prove I'm more than skin and bones

Hinata fiddled with the sleeves of her kimono while everyone chatted around her.

They were in a large event hall the Fire Daimyo frequently rented out for events. All of the noble women she had met yesterday were here with their husbands as well as some other people she hadn't met.

Naruto's group had had another day full of meetings before coming back to pick up Hinata and Neji for the dinner. Naruto looked very handsome in an orange kimono that contrasted nicely against Hinata's own cornflower blue. Shikamaru was, unhappily, wearing a forest green kimono and Kakashi had his Hokage robes on. Neji, Tenten and Sai were fortunate enough to be able to wear black gear and stand at the outskirts instead of being required to engage with the guests.

Hinata hadn't seen Sasuke all day.

They were by far the youngest people here and Hinata felt herself bristle each time someone looked at Naruto a little condescendingly. Every now and then someone would direct a question or comment at her and she'd stumble her way through a response with as much grace as she'd managed to retain from etiquette classes. She found herself keeping an eye on everyone they spoke to beyond the needs of the mission. Trained eyes reading every micro-expression, keeping track of who was lying and who was genuine, information she could report back.

Hinata wondered if this is what life as wife of the Hokage would be like. It wouldn't be a bad life.

"Why don't us men go have a drink?"

Naruto's face paled. "Ahaha, I'm still recovering from yesterday."

The men around them laughed.

"You're next in line for Hokage, yes? You'll need to learn to hold your liquor."

Hinata's in-ear radio crackled to life.

"I can't believe you actually drank all of those glasses yesterday, Naruto. Shikamaru was obviously switching his full glass with the empty one from the guy next to him and Kakashi probably killed that bonsai." Tenten's exasperated voice filtered through the static.

"Did you really pass your jounin exam? There is an entire section on undercover work." It was Sai's cool voice this time.

Naruto sulked, visibly holding back from retorting.

Hinata pursed her lips to hold back a giggle, instead smiling amenably at the group. "Oh, please go ahead."

Naruto, Shikamaru and Kakashi were led away to another room. Hinata made a beeline for where she knew the Fire Daimyo's wife was.

Kakashi's main responsibility was keeping an eye on the Fire Daimyo, Shikamaru and Naruto were watching over the politicians and noblemen, Hinata was in charge of the safety of the Fire Daimyo's wife while Sai and Tenten guarded the rest of the guests. That left Neji and Sasuke to keep an eye out for outside threats.

Shijimi was with Yuka and when Hinata walked over to join them they both greeted her warmly.

"You look lovely, Hinata-san," Yuka said. Shijimi agreed zealously although she'd already told Hinata as much earlier in the evening.

Hinata blushed lightly at the praise. "You as well, Yuka-san." She really did. Yuka's features were plain, but there was an aristocratic definition to them and she knew how to dress to enhance her looks. Besides that, Hinata appreciated the specific sort of beauty brought out by the kind lines of Yuka's face.

Yuka thanked her courteously. Her eyes kept darting over to where the men were gathered and Hinata suspected her husband must be in that bunch. Looking around the room, Hinata noted there was a clear separation between the women and the men.

However, there was still one coupling intact. The beautiful woman from the luncheon who had made the frank comment to Yuka.

"If a man wants to spend time with you, he will find a way."

The man beside her certainly seemed like there was no place he would rather be. He was younger than her, face less lined as he looked at her utterly besotted.

Not for the first time, Hinata thought about her parents. The lavish setting and the pedigree of the guests brought to mind her mother and father. She wondered which couple they would have resembled.

She never really saw them together except at shared dinners, as long as one wasn't absent. She didn't remember them touching much.

Her mother was affectionate, gladly doling out hugs and kisses and letting Hinata cling to her in their limited moments of togetherness. Her father was stern and undemonstrative, an overbearing fixture that oversaw every aspect of her training and education.

Loved but not a priority. A priority but not loved.

"Excuse me ladies, I need to head to the restroom," Shijimi said.

Hinata blinked away her stray thoughts and smiled. "Oh! I think I'll join you."

The moon was full tonight. Sasuke glared up at the sky. Nothing good ever happened on a full moon.

Her approaching chakra had Sasuke turning around and moving closer.

She was like something out of a fairytale or the legends of old. Pale skin, dark hair, luminous eyes, and all wrapped in silk. Leaning against the veranda, she, too, was staring up at the moon, a troubled expression on her face.

He moved closer still. "Having second thoughts on giving up being queen of the moon?"

Hinata turned her frown on him, but Sasuke didn't miss the slight tug at her lips.

"Too soon?" he asked with a smirk.

Hinata turned away from him, but not before he saw the quicksilver smile break through. "Yes. That was a very…traumatic experience," she reprimanded with little heat in her voice.

"My sincere apologies, then."

They stood side by side in silence. Sasuke's mind was stuck on the upset frown Hinata had been wearing. Before he could think of how to broach the topic, she spoke first.

"Um, you look better rested," Hinata said tentatively. "I'm glad you were able to get some sleep."

Sasuke felt an involuntary flush work its way to the tips of his ears.

When he'd arrived back at the safe house, he'd found Hinata curled up on the couch in the midst of a nightmare. He'd only meant to wake her, but her distressed whimpers had quieted with his touch, so he'd been afraid to move away. The next thing he knew he was waking up to the distant sound of the others arriving back by carriage.

It was the most rest Sasuke had gotten since Hinata sat beside him in the tent.

He'd deposited Hinata in her bed and then grabbed an empty room for himself, but had been unable to fall back to sleep.

"Mm." He simply nodded, forcing his face to stay blank. After a moment, he said cautiously, "What were you thinking about?"

If Hinata were anyone else, he'd just have to wait and she'd unload all her troubles on him.

"Um, nothing important," Hinata said, shaking her head. The gesture was less dramatic with her hair up.

Mild annoyance flared at her reticence with him. Sasuke stared at her challengingly until Hinata met his gaze. When she did, the annoyance immediately quelled under those round, lavender eyes. He quirked a brow. "Well?"

"I've just been having useless thoughts lately. I knew Neji-nii-san would be back on the mission roster soon, but I had hoped…that he wouldn't get put on another mission with me." Hinata played with the sleeves of her kimono. "And being here, for some reason, I keep getting worried that…I'm going to repeat my parents' mistakes." She abruptly released her sleeves, eyes widening. "Sorry, that doesn't really make sense. I'm not thinking straight."

Impulsively, Sasuke tugged on one of the locks of hair framing her face.

Hinata's mouth dropped open prettily as she gaped at him. Sasuke bit back a grin, feeling like a mischievous schoolboy.

"Wha— You?" Hinata spluttered aimlessly.

"It's annoying when you preface your thoughts with self-deprecating nonsense. I don't care if you say something foolish as long as you say it."

Hinata's mouth closed in a pout. "Sasuke-san doesn't seem like someone who would tolerate foolishness."

"I'm not," Sasuke agreed easily. "I'm only saying it to you because you're not the type to spew rubbish anyway." He paused for a moment, then said, "Besides, my brother used to call me foolish all the time. So I must have a high tolerance for it." A feeling of melancholy took over him as he stared out into the night.

Sasuke felt a gentle, barely there tug on his hair. His jaw dropped open in surprise more than at the sensation. He whirled around, finding Hinata hiding behind the long sleeves of her kimono.

"I thought I'd try it too," she said. It would almost have been classed as cheeky if it weren't for the softness of her voice.

Sasuke put on a grim expression. "So you can pull my hair, but you can't address me informally?" he asked, adding a calculated amount of gruffness to his voice.

Hinata flailed, holding her hands up in a pacifying manner. "Oh! I didn't —"

A grin stole across Sasuke's face without his permission. Their last few encounters, especially the scene in the Fujiwara house, had left Sasuke feeling exposed. He'd expected to feel some level of unease being near her, but somehow right from the start all he'd ever felt around Hinata was comfort.

Perhaps because she was usually nervous enough for the both of them.

Sasuke leaned closer to Hinata. "We're friends aren't we?" he asked. As he held eye contact, he didn't notice the smile slip off his face, replaced with a serious expression.

"Um…"

A loud crackle made them both rear back.

"Seven white zetsu spotted. Four on the west side and three on the east." Neji's tinny voice filled the space between them through the radio.

"Tenten, Sai, escort the guests into the north wing. Calmly without raising suspicions. I'll protect the Fire Daimyo. Naruto, Shikamaru, stay on the west and handle things there," Kakashi commanded. "Neji, you're on the east?"

"Yes."

"Good, take care of the east-approaching white zetsu. Hinata, Sasuke, can either of you provide backup on the east?"

Hinata's mouth moved wordlessly. Sasuke saw the same expression of panic from after they burned the white zetsu nest begin to settle on her face.

"I…I need to help nii-san," Hinata whispered urgently. She looked back at the detached restrooms beside the veranda. "But someone needs to protect Shijimi-sama. And if I go to nii-san, what if…what if he…" Her hands were shaking.

"Hinata." Sasuke took her face into his hand, forcing her panicked eyes to meet his gaze. "Stay here. I'll go to Neji." He wanted to say something like 'I'll protect him' or 'I'll make sure he's okay', but Sasuke didn't want to make a promise to Hinata he couldn't keep. Instead he said, "Trust me."

As she stared at him, slowly the fear started to recede from Hinata's eyes. Finally, she gave him a determined nod. Her hand reached for her earpiece and her radio crackled to life.

"Hinata reporting. I'm outside by the restrooms with Shijimi-sama. I'll stay with her. Sasuke will be able to assist on the east." She said all of this with her eyes still locked onto Sasuke's, making no move to step out of his hold.

Sasuke held them there for a moment, her face still cradled in his palm.

Then, he let go and turned towards the east wing.

When Sasuke arrived at the grounds outside the east wing, Neji was surrounded by white zetsu and was keeping at them bay with swift jyuuken strikes that didn't quite hit their target enough to keep them down. One of the white zetsus evaded a palm by retreating into the earth. When it resurfaced behind Neji, Sasuke was waiting. He cut it down with his kusanagi.

"Careful, Hyuuga, or you'll make your cousin cry," Sasuke said, looking back at Neji.

The veins around Neji's face were raised, so the glance he shot was entirely for Sasuke's benefit. "Same to you," Neji said.

Following the Hyuuga's line of sight, Sasuke cursed lowly. The white zetsu he had sliced was re-growing from the wound, white roots snaking out and twisting into a contorted shape. This time, he cut through its head in one sharp motion and it dropped.

The chakra needles exuding from Neji's kaiten ripped through the other two white zetsu, but there was little time for reprieve.

"Incoming," Neji said, still in a low stance. "Six more. One is…strange."

Sasuke turned to face the direction of the chakra signatures as they rose up from the ground and grimaced. There were five more mutated white zetsu, each larger and uglier than the last.

The sixth however...Sasuke didn't need the byakugan to see what was strange about it.

The gnarled mokuton roots twisting out were undeniably those of a white zetsu, but the body they were growing out of was a scrawny, scowling child.

Sasuke immediately matched the hair colour and facial features. A Fujiwara.

The last Fujiwara.

Neji paused. Sasuke didn't.

He went straight for the throat with his kusanagi. White roots shot out, trying to wrap around his blade at the same time as Fujiwara Minoru turned his head away. Black eyes peeped up at Sasuke, a warped white zetsu face growing out of the boy's neck with a mad grin.

Kusanagi cut through regardless, its edge too sharp to be to be stopped, but the roots succeeded in deflecting Sasuke's aim away from Fujiwara Minoru's deformed body.

Undeterred, Sasuke kneed Minoru in the gut and brought his sword down.

A hand tried to shove him out of the way. Sasuke jumped back and had the sense of mind not to retaliate.

"Hyuuga," Sasuke growled.

"Fujiwara Minoru is a civilian," Neji said evenly. "We do not have the authority to kill him."

One of the five white zetsu in Minoru's entourage swiped out at Neji. He flipped out of the way and spun into a roundhouse kick at a second white zetsu.

"Did you read the report, Hyuuga? Because then you'd know that the white zetsu didn't slaughter the Fujiwara," Sasuke said without taking his eyes off the fifteen year old. "No, Fujiwara Minoru did that all on his own."

Light brown eyes glared back at Sasuke, filled with hatred.

"I did," Minoru said. "They were a pathetic waste of space. A clan head greedy enough to throw his family into ruin, but too cowardly to claw his way back up. Siblings too pampered to know how to do anything for themselves. And a mother who didn't need another child, but an indentured servant!" By the end of his speech he was shouting, voice cracking unevenly.

Sasuke snarled, darting forward, sword in hand. He slashed down at Minoru, once, twice, three times. Each time a white zetsu interfered, extending mokuton roots to take the brunt of his attack. Sasuke raised his arm again and struck down a fourth time, only to force himself to redirect at the last second.

"Hyuuga, do you have a death wish?" Sasuke snapped. "Or are you that eager to have your cousin mourn you?"

"Watch it, Uchiha," Neji said, emotion entering his voice for the first time. "You are out of line. We both know what it is to be an angry child, however neither of us are children anymore. Our orders are to capture and contain."

But Sasuke wasn't listening. All he could focus on were those hateful eyes, the full moon, the blood splattered walls, the fallen corpses of his family.

Feet scraping against the soil beneath him, Sasuke shot forward. He launched himself into an attack. The white zetsu dispersed, attacking him and Neji from all directions. Sasuke and Neji fought back, their taijutsu nearly on par after Sasuke's recent training. They kicked and blocked in sharp movements, flipping across the yard as mokuton limbs advanced on them. Sasuke used his sword to slice through the encroaching white roots while Neji numbed them enough to break off and drop to the ground as useless as tree branches. But despite their efforts, the white zetsu only seemed to continue to mutate, growing more and more limbs.

Sasuke weaved through the roots using shunshin, just barely managing to get close enough to bring his sword down on Minoru. But before he could make contact he heard a disturbance in the rustling of his cloak.

Irritation mixed with adrenaline. Frankly, Sasuke seriously considered stabbing Neji. He'd cut through a teammate before for far less.

But…

"Stay here. I'll go to Neji."

Sasuke wasn't that person anymore.

In the blink of an eye, Sasuke swapped places with a white zetsu. Neji was deemed a prodigy for good reason, he adjusted instantly. Chakra flared out from his palm and blocked the tenketsu in the creature's heart, stopping it dead.

Now closer to Minoru than Sasuke, Neji spoke directly to the boy. "Surrender, Fujiwara Minoru. You will not succeed here. Not against our team."

"You're the one who doesn't know who you're dealing with! I was born to be a prince!" Minoru shouted, a crazed look upon his face. "After I finally killed them all, the white zetsu found me, chose me! I've already gotten rid of everyone that crossed the Fujiwara name. All that's left is the Daimyo. With him out of the way, I can take my rightful place."

As Minoru's rage mounted, the white zetsu seemed to go into a frenzy. They multiplied. Sasuke couldn't tell if there were simply more appearing from the ground or if the existing white zetsu were dividing and increasing their number, or both.

Sasuke ducked under an extended limb only to get cuffed in the shoulder by another twisting at his side. A third root struck right through where his left arm used to be, ripping through the fabric of his cloak and sleeve. Their attacks were coordinated, like they shared a single body, a single mind.

Naruto's voice rang through the radio. "Uh, guys? The white zetsu we were fighting just sank into the ground and disappeared."

"If you come to the east side, I think you'll find them," Neji responded before spinning into a kaiten, repelling the white zetsu crowding around him.

Sasuke was getting nowhere, too busy evading the roots of the white zetsu to make any headway. Fujiwara Minoru was flanked protectively, out of reach. He heard the loud arrival of Naruto and, presumably, Shikamaru.

Eyes narrowing, Sasuke raised his arm, drew it back and then threw kusanagi across the field with all the power in his muscles. It sailed through the air, sharp blade shredding everything in its way. When it drew near to its target, a white root extended to try to wrap around its hilt.

Sasuke's lips stretched into a deadly smirk. "Amenotejikara."

In a split second, Sasuke was in the place of kusanagi. The sound of chirping birds filled the air, electrified chakra destroyed any stray roots that dared to get close.

Sasuke landed on the boy, knees pinning Minoru's arms into the dirt, chidori held to his throat.

"Sasuke, stand down!" Shikamaru yelled.

The chirping grew louder as more and more chakra gathered in Sasuke's hand.

"Uchiha, this is not the way," Neji called grimly.

Fujiwara Minoru glared up at him with empty eyes.

"Bastard! He's just a kid!" Naruto cried out.

Sasuke raised his arm.

"Sasuke!" Hinata's voice cut through him as cleanly as the blade of kusanagi.

The frozen smile on Itachi's sickly face flashed behind Sasuke's eyes. In the dark shadow of the night, Sasuke saw his brother's mangekyou sharingan threatening to pull him into the tsukuyomi.

Then the wind blew, stirring the hair hanging in his face and Sasuke realized with a start that it was his own sharingan reflected in one of Fujiwara Minoru's dull brown eyes.

Blinking, Sasuke stared down, meeting an expression of grim determination. The boy's cheeks were sunken, malnourished.

"I keep getting worried that…I'm going to repeat my parents' mistakes."

Sasuke grit his teeth and slammed his fist down. His chidori tore through the unnatural white flesh spreading from the boy's neck. Screams erupted from both Minoru's mouth and the mouth of the misshapen white zetsu growth in his neck.

The remaining white zetsus shriveled into husks, crumbling to the ground.

Slowly, Sasuke got to his feet. The sound of chirping eased as Sasuke's chidori dissipated.

So Fujiwara actually killed his family before meeting the white zetsu and Sasuke feels a certain way about it.

The chapter title character limit is killing me (╥﹏╥)

Thanks as always for reading & reviewing!

MVH