Much, much love to Katrin and DumDeeDum for reviewing!
Enjoy!
ooOOoo
Day 6: If You Fall, I Will Catch You
When Hinata realizes who the prisoner is, she wants to vomit all over his captor's shoes. It has been two years since he joined the Organization and she left. She has not seen him in that time. But he moves his head and she recognizes something in the curve of his cheekbones, the swell of his bruised and cut lips.
He is clearly still a spy for Tsunade, and he is in trouble.
Hinata's own mission parameters are clear. This company is suspected of stealing information from other pharmaceutical companies. She is supposed to simply connect a USB into one of the system's computers, establish a relationship, and leave.
Hinata is a corporate spy. Things are far less violent.
Usually.
The woman showing Hinata around is actually the CEO and explains Sasuke's presence. Hinata only listens with half an ear. Her mind is racing. She needs to get him out, but how? She can steal a keycard, but once she leaves with Sasuke, her cover is blown. They will leave this place for a different country and she will never find them again.
They walk away from the cell and Hinata still is frantically trying to figure out what to do. Her guide stops in front of another cell.
"Another spy that didn't make it," the woman sneers.
Hinata covers her mouth and nose as the smell of the corpse hits her.
"However, his genetic information was useful. I'm sure your shareholders will appreciate how far we're willing to go for the pursuit of results."
The other woman's eyes gleam while Hinata's narrows. Hinata is dealing with another Orochimaru.
Her intelligence gathering operation has changed to an elimination mission.
Hinata coughs delicately. "Who was... he?"
The CEO turns back to the cell. "Oh-" she begins.
But her back is turned to Hinata. Hinata strikes.
ooOOoo
Sasuke looks so, so bad. Hinata refuses to think why that is. She can only think of the moment. Right now, she needs to get him out of here.
When she puts him into the wheelchair, his breath stops for a painful moment.
She starts to gasp out: "Sasuke!" However, she catches herself before she can use his given name in enemy territory. "Sweetheart, please."
Please, please, please, she chants in her head as she runs.
Please, please, please, she chants as they ride the painfully slow cab to Kabuto's hideout.
Please, please, please, she chants as she waits for Kabuto.
The irony of finding shelter with Kabuto does not escape her. She is aware of Kabuto and his connection to Orochimaru. However, she came to him because he is the only qualified doctor who will keep her presence here a secret.
They are stuck in a tiny waiting room surrounded by dark wooden doors that lead to hallways and more rooms. There are no windows other than the tiny one in the entrance door. Hinata feels trapped. Her body hums with nervous energy.
Kabuto ambles out of a nearby doorway, hands shoved in his pockets. He looks her over, sniffs to dismiss her, before peering at Sasuke.
"Oh dear," he simpers.
"We're Konoha," she says, lifting her chin defiantly.
"And why should I help a Konoha nin?" he asks.
"Because I have information on Orochimaru's DNA."
Kabuto freezes and Hinata swears the room gets colder. She shifts and her shoes squeak on the old, gray linoleum.
"How?" he demands, his voice deep.
His head is angled downwards, his eyes hidden by the glare of his glasses. He looks like a bull lowering his head in preparation to lunge forwards. Hinata hates being here. He terrifies her.
"I've memorized a part of a genetic sequence. Once I return home, I will discreetly send you the rest of the sequence electronically. I swear it on the honor of my clan."
Her voice never wavers and she considers that to be a miracle.
"Who is your clan?"
Hinata rubs at her eye and pops out a colored contact. Kabuto sucks in a breath and raises his face. They can now see each other clearly.
"Hyuga," he breathes. "Of course you would." A long moment of anticipation passes. "Follow me."
He turns without pausing to wait for her and strides off quickly. Hinata lunges for the handles of the wheelchair and jogs after him.
ooOOoo
Kabuto emerges from the surgery theater in bloody scrubs. He smells like sweat and copper as he paces towards her. He peels off his bloody gloves and hands them off to a nurse who is trailing after him. The nurse pitches them into a large trash can.
"Your nin will survive," Kabuto says. "He'll need a minimum of five days of observation here with me to make sure he doesn't get an infection or tear his stitches."
Hinata must grimace because Kabuto looks at her over the top of his glasses.
"I'm assuming you're taking him back to Konoha," he says flatly.
"Yes," she admits.
"Do you want him getting sepsis and dying on you on the way home?" He does not give her time to answer. "You can stay here tonight and we'll talk tomorrow." He waves over another nurse who seems to appear out of nowhere. "Show her to a room."
The nurse glances at Hinata quickly.
Kabuto rolls his eyes as he stands next to a trash can to deposit his disposable scrubs. "She's not a prisoner. She's a guest. At least make sure she has a fucking toothbrush and if she's hurt..." he trails off menacingly.
The minion swallows and bows deeply to Hinata. "Follow me, ma'am."
Hinata wants to see Sasuke first, but she follows anyway.
ooOOoo
Hinata is sitting alone in a small office kitchen and has just finished her last bite of breakfast when Kabuto sits across from her. He holds a small plastic cup filled with a clear liquid. When he puts it on the table and slides it in front of her, it looks like it has the consistency of cough syrup and not water.
"What is this?" she asks.
"It will help you speak the truth," he replies.
She peers up at him. "Truth serums aren't real."
He smirks and adjusts his glasses. "No, but this will lower your inhibitions enough that I know you're telling me the truth. Side effects include dizziness, nausea, memory loss, the feeling that you need to urinate, and heart palpitations."
Those do not sound that bad. He is basically giving her a roofie. She took a drug like that once during training. That time went okay.
She picks up the drink. It smells like cherries. Throwing it back, she swallows it in one go and grimaces. It feels like snot.
Blood rushes to her head. Her vision goes blurry and the room spins. Kabuto grabs her elbow and hauls her into another room that houses two desk chairs and a desk with an old-fashioned computer. He places her in a chair that spins and makes her want to vomit every time it moves.
"Why are you here?" he asks while he boots up the computer and opens some kind of software.
"To keep Sasuke from dying."
Shit. Fuck. This stuff really works. She did not mean to use Sasuke's name.
Kabuto pauses and looks at her. He raises an eyebrow. "Sasuke? An Uchiha. No shit. Huh… He's one of Tsunade's?"
"Mm-hmm." She nods then regrets it.
"Interesting," he murmurs before returning to typing. "And why did you come to me?"
"You're the only doctor in the region my father trusts." Hinata grits her teeth in frustration. Why is she saying so much?
"Hm. How does your clan have information on Orochimaru?"
Hinata's voice falls into a strange chant as she repeats the words her father recites to the clan during meetings. "The Hyuga know everyone and everything that occurs on the banks of the Nakano. We watch. We wait."
"That's fucking creepy."
"Thank you."
"Do you really have his genetic sequence?"
"Please just ask me to recite it to you."
Kabuto laughs. "Fine. Give me all the information you have on Orochimaru's DNA."
She sighs in relief before giving him all the information she has.
ooOOoo
After a nap in her room, she is able to finally visit Sasuke. She is escorted into the clean hospital room. It is larger than her guest room, and everything is white and spotless. The rest of the building looks old and a little run down. This room is modern with updated monitoring machines and a hospital bed that looks like it should be in some kind of space station, not hidden in a medical office in a bad part of town.
Sasuke is asleep in the bed. It is a medically induced coma, but he'll be weaned off those drugs starting tomorrow morning.
She walks up to him and inspects his face. He does not look peaceful. His face is sallow and the cannula pumping oxygen in his nose makes him appear frail. However, he appears so much better than what she remembers of him. She will take "frail" over "half-dead."
For a moment, she simply ruminates on his presence in her life. When they were children in training, she believed him to be too good for her. He was so talented and perfect. It made sense to her that girls swooned over him.
If not for Naruto and her own hangups, she probably would have admired him too. But he was too good for her and she was tired of being rejected by her father. She was not going to seek out more rejection from Sasuke by admitting romantic feelings when she did not have to.
Because of course he would have turned her down. He did not even know her name, she thought.
Until he asked to be on her team. In the space of an afternoon, all those years of training were put into a new perspective. He knew who she was and he wanted to be on her team.
Immediately, she wanted nothing less.
And then he left.
Then came back right as she was leaving.
They keep missing each other.
Hinata reaches out and carefully clasps his wrist just above the bandages on his hands. Her fingertips press into the warm beat of his pulse.
Maybe this is their chance to finally work together. She does not think he came with a team. But if he did, she will find them - or their remains - and bring them and Sasuke back to Konoha. Not because she owes him. But because he made her feel wanted once.
No one has made her feel that way before. Her brows furrow. It makes her feel... possessive. She wants to take care of him and take him home and never let him get hurt again. What this means is unclear, but she will figure it out.
She has paid off her debt to her father. After this mission, she is a free agent. She can do whatever she wants.
And right now, she wants to stay with Sasuke. It will have to be enough for now.
ooOOoo
Coming up: Sasuke and Hinata finally talk.