26: Masterpiece of my mistakes.

I had roamed Kyoto's streets often enough in sleepless nights. Most of the time I had stayed close to the Hyuuga estate, but every now and then I had been drawn to other neighborhoods. I didn't have to walk three blocks north from Genma's house until I reached a major intersection and knew exactly where I was. From here it was less than a twenty-minute walk to the university. I set off quickly.

With every step I became more nervous. My heart beat not only because of the movement at a rapid pace. Maybe I was facing King soon. I would look him in the face, see in his eyes what we meant to each other, I could fall into his arms and stay there forever. What would I say to him? Simply "I love you"? We should definitely talk, clarify everything between us. And this time, I wasn't going to let either of us chicken out. Kakashi had pushed me away from him before, he wouldn't be able to do it a second time.

Halfway through the route, another thought came to me. What if it wasn't Kakashi at all? Then I'd be standing in front of him with a crazy look and a bruised face after I didn't show up for lectures for a day without explanation. What would he think? Would he draw conclusions? Would he heroically throw himself on me and want me to be safe? No.. If he wasn't King, he didn't want to have anything to do with me. And then I wouldn't care what he thought of me and my appearance. He could label me as insane. Either he loved me and we were striving for a future together, or he could shove his opinion of me up his tight ass. It was as simple as that. There were only these two options.

It was shortly before nine. The first lectures were about to start and Kakashi was most likely in his office. I rushed over the paved path that led to a side entrance, lost in thought, just trying to get something ready to say to him – maybe "King, let's fuck everything" or something like that? Hm – when I slammed into a body, stumbled backwards and fell elbow first to the ground. "Hah fuck," I exclaimed, startled, immediately looked at the chafed area on the sleeve of the sweat jacket and scolded myself inwardly for destroying borrowed clothes after less than a few hours. Tsunade would certainly be angry, wouldn't she?

"Hinata?" asked a familiar voice somewhere above me.

I looked up. Shino stood in front of me, didn't seem any different than usual. Yesterday had passed him by without a trace, as it had probably done for everyone else. I had almost forgotten that only I had experienced so much shit and that it had been a normal Tuesday for everyone else. For me, it had felt like a whole life. Shino looked at me with a frown. "What happened to you? You look.."

".. terrible? I know," I interrupted him immediately and scrambled up with his help.

"Is everything.. Are you okay?" he asked surprisingly timidly. Despite the dark glasses, I saw concern in his black irises. "Why didn't you come yesterday? I.. well.. People have wondered where you are."

What was I supposed to answer now? Definitely not the truth, that would be stupid to the highest degree. But somehow I had to justify my visible injuries, otherwise I certainly wouldn't be able to get rid of Shino. And I had to see Kakashi before he started his lessons. "Uh.. I-I.. I had an accident," I stammered and wondered where this stuttering suddenly came from again. Actually, I was quite good at lying, but maybe my guilty conscience was just making itself known, because Shino didn't really deserve to be lied to at all.

He knitted his eyebrows further together and I noticed his eyes flitting to my neck. Yeah, an accident that leaves handprints? Best idea in the universe, Hinata, well done. I decided not to go into this problem any further. "Have you seen Hatake-sensei today?"

"Huh?" The change of topic probably tore Shino completely off track. "Hatake-sensei?"

"Yes," I nodded and waited eagerly.

"No.. We don't have him today. Why—"

"Mhh," I growled impatiently and grimaced. "I'm sorry, Shino, but I have to go, talk to him urgently. See ya, kay?"

"Shino?" someone behind me asked. "Shino Aburame?"

I froze in the middle of the movement. With my foot half in the air, I stared at the glass door next to Shino's head, which had been my target just a few seconds ago. However, with the sound of that calm voice, it was clear to me that I would never reach it. Several pairs of feet approached us. One was quite heavy and I knew that they were Jirobo's; a scary guy, tall, broad, lots of muscle and fat. The lightest were from Tayuya, the only woman in their ranks. Four feet almost danced over the cobblestones. The twins Sakon and Ukon had always been jittery, especially when action was ahead of them. A shuffle certainly came to Kidomaru, whose gaze I had seen gliding through our hallway often enough when my father wanted to use their services again. And then there was Kimimaro. He was the origin of the voice and leader of the four. Why they called themselves "the Four" when there were six of them? Nobody knew, but I knew that their presence here meant nothing good.

"Get out, Shino," I whispered and gave him a penetrating look. "Please, I beg you, run away."

Shino looked at me irritated, but realized from my tone how serious I was, turned around and hurried through the door into the interior of the building.

"Follow him," Kimimaro ordered immediately and I heard Jirobo's massive figure about to start moving, but I whirled around and shouted, "No! Please.. He has nothing to do with it. You're here for me." There they stood in front of me. The Four, unscrupulous mercenaries, for whom anyone who had ever put a toe in the world of Kyoto's yakuza knew: If they were after you, there was no escape.

"Aaaactually..", Tayuya purred and the madness sparkled from her eyes, ".. we are here for that little scarecrow." The fact that she called Shino "little" was quite cheeky, after all, he towered over her by almost twelve inches.

Sakon – or Ukon, I don't know, I had never been able to tell the two apart – gave a restrained giggle. "But we also to be satisfied with you."

"Will you come with us voluntarily or do we have to use force?" Kimimaro asked in his usual way. Although each of the Four was scary in their own way, I had always had the most respect for him. At first glance, he seemed quite harmless with his quirky demeanor, but he had an aura that promised death. He only had to look at me with his cold, mint-green eyes and I had already made up my mind. I was well aware that they were capable of causing a bloodbath on this campus, and like Shino, they all weren't meant to be dragged into my world. I could barely move in fear, and it felt awful to start a march that I feared would be my last, but I had no choice. As I moved towards the Four, I only regretted that I wouldn't find out who King was now. Could he have saved me?

I had always hated the sight of this house. It fucked me off with its beams, the large gravel garden in front of the main entrance, this traditional appearance on cramp. Even the cherry blossom trees I had never really found beautiful. They lined the wide path along which, flanked by the Four, I walked towards the wooden door with its kitschy carvings. I had been afraid of this building for almost my entire life, but now sheer panic flowed through me. I tried not to let it show, as if I didn't know what was coming. In fact, this was the case, but I had a dark hunch and if even a fraction of it came true, the whole thing would end anything but positively for me.

The Four led me through the empty hallway. There was no one else to be seen, none of the few employees, not my parents or Neji. Kimimaro led the group towards the west wing. When we passed the door in front of which I had crouched and sweated not too many hours ago, my gaze automatically wandered up to the flashing camera. Madara had hacked into the security system. Did he notice all this? Was he sitting in his study right now, looking into my frightened eyes and already reacting by mobilizing his men? Or was all hope really lost?

Kimimaro walked purposefully to the shelf on the back wall of Hiashi's office, pulled on a book on nineteenth-century Western history, and the massive desk whirred to the side. I wondered how the Four knew about the Hyuuga's panic room, where this was supposed to be one of the clan's best-kept secrets. The deeper we went into the catacombs, as I always liked to call them, the number my body became. I felt my trembling and cold sweat on my skin, but when we reached a thick steel door, my brain hardly received any signals. It blocked everything, every thought, every further feeling.

To see my father rise with an enthusiastic expression from the thick leather chair by the artificial fireplace and look at me and my escort sent a shiver down my spine that I hardly noticed. Think of King, Hinata. No matter what he does to you, think of him. Hanabi is safe, she may mourn you and not understand all this, but she will be fine. He can do her no harm anymore. Only you are here, and even though you will stay here for the rest of your life, you still have him. He has saved you from the pain before. He will do that again.

"Oh, like all the holidays become one," Hiashi purred. His kimono blew around his legs as he approached us. "I am sending you to find this Shino, and you are bringing me my daughter. Excellent work."

"That was pure coincidence, but hey, we're not complaining," Kidomaru shrugged.

Hiashi's eyes narrowed and bored into mine. "Coincidence, eh? Ks ks, Hinata, you stupid, stupid girl." He circled me, which the Four allowed him to do by making room for him. His long fingers stroked through my disheveled hair, the numbness disappeared for a moment and I had to swallow my emerging stomach acid, which proved to be difficult because my heart was pounding in my throat. "You stupid.. peewee.. cunt..", his voice murmured close to my ear. "What were you thinking? Did you think you would get away with betraying me and stealing from me? Did you seriously think I would let you go, not look for you to get you back, and show you the consequences of your wrongdoing?"

He grabbed a tuft of my hair and forcibly pulled my head back. A croaking sound left my throat and a lonely tear ran down my cheek. "I thought I would have had you educated better. But you prove once again what a disappointment you are as a daughter. I should have listened to the midwife and strangled you right after birth, but I was too soft, too sure, I could still do something with you." He growled discontentedly. "That was my mistake, my failure."

He let go of my hair, but I didn't dare to move. I continued to stand there, staring at the ceiling with half-closed eyes and begging my mind to finally carry me away. I didn't want to see, hear, feel anything anymore. I didn't want to have to be anymore. My existence had become superfluous. I had done what I had to do, now I could go. If only the cocktail had worked back then.

Someone, I knew it wasn't Hiashi, pushed me to the ground from behind. Panting, I landed on all fours and several drops of some liquid landed under me. I closed my mouth, took the saliva from my lips and begged inwardly for a knife so that I could put a quick and almost painless end to my suffering. I had never condemned seppuku.

Rough hands pulled me half to my feet again and dragged me over the rock-hard concrete to a high radiator. I whimpered involuntarily and instinctively kicked my legs, but it was useless. There was no escape from Jirobo's grasp. He rammed my wrists against the heater, which made a tinny sound, and fastened me with thick handcuffs. The ice-cold metal dug mercilessly into my already battered skin and I couldn't suppress a sob. When, oh, when will this pain stop..

"Bring him in," Hiashi ordered someone and all of a sudden every muffling buzz in my head disappeared. Him..? Had they caught Shino after all?! But.. No.. That was not logical. The Four had been with me the whole time, had taken me directly to their van and had driven off. Shino wasn't here, but who..

A door other than the one through which we had come was opened, and four figures entered the dim room. Neji led the way. Two tall men in gray suits pulled a third by the arms between them like a sack of potatoes. I opened my eyes wide. They threw him in front of my uncomfortably bent legs and a groan sounded when the head with the gray-streaked hair hit the floor. Almost completely swollen, light gray irises in a completely deformed face searched my body, as if they could no longer recognize me, and a hoarse voice whispered, "Hinata-sama.."

"Kou," I breathed in horror. Please, deafness, return! I closed my eyes.

"Hinata," Hiashi said far too calmly. "Look."

Like a small, stubborn child, I shook my head.

This time it was other fingers that grabbed me, narrower, cooler. Kimimaro's lemon-like smell penetrated me like an acid that burned my airways. They tore at me, forced me to lift my eyelids, almost pressing my eyeballs into my skull. I whimpered, spitting.

Kou lay there and stared at me. His lips moved as if he were muttering something to himself, but not a single word reached me. My vision blurred with tears and I tried desperately to blink, which Kimimaro denied me.

"That, dearest daughter, happens to people who oppose me," Hiashi said slowly. A metal clang sounded and my breath caught in my throat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bright flash and my father's kimono pushed into my field of vision. ".. who disobey my orders.." A blow, a muffled scream and Kou's arm still bobbed slightly through the swing and without the connection to his body.

".. who you exploit for your own purposes.."

A second blow. Kou's left arm was closer to me and warm blood splashed on my knees, sucked through the fabric of my leggings.

".. who want to do good and play the hero."

A third blow. I flinched in shock, slipped from Kimimaro's grip and immediately closed my eyes again. I didn't want to see it, but unfortunately I heard the smacking of the neatly cut flesh and the soft rumble as Kou's head rolled away from his neck.

A dark aura approached me, something hot dripped on my thighs and Hiashi roared loudly, "LOOK, HINATA!" Kimimaro forced my eyes open again. A once loving, now distorted face hovered right in front of me. I whimpered softly and tried everything to move Kou's head out of my field of vision. I kicked again, kicked Kimimaro and my father, wanted to break free from my shackles somehow, but Jirobo rushed to help, pushed me against the heater with all his might, squeezed every air out of my lungs. Now I saw nothing but Kou. His dislocated jaw, his completely dented nose. I didn't want to imagine the pain he had had to suffer. And all because of me.

Hiashi thought similarly. "This is your work, Hinata," he whispered menacingly and kissed me tenderly on the cheek. "Look at it closely. Just look at this precise brushwork. You have done a great job with him. He did not say a word all night. Respect. You are a master of manipulation, I never expected that from you, daughter."

He jerked up, threw Kou's head somewhere else and lifted his yoroi-doshi up. He swung the short, bloody blade through the air, stabbed it into Kou's motionless chest and continued to speak in his stretched way, "You had help yesterday. Someone was with you, a man. Who was it?"

Whatever Hiashi might do to me, he would never get anything out of me, even if it meant my death. If I betrayed Genma, I would also put Hanabi in danger. No..

"Who was it, Hinata?" Hiashi repeated. He crouched down in front of me. Kimimaro shook my head, as if he wanted to squeeze the words out of me. "I listen?"

I smacked my lips a few times and indicated that I wanted to talk. My father leaned forward so that his long, blue-black hair brushed my jaw.

When he was close enough and I didn't need more than whispers, I gathered all my courage, my death wish, my trust in my fellow human beings that they would take care of my sister in my place. "Fuck you."

Hiashi didn't react at first, then he snorted contemptuously and stood up. "You had always been way too petulant. I should have unpacked the riding crop more often, I guess. Another mistake I made."

He slipped his hand under the haori and pulled out a kaiken with a nobly decorated handle. He let the tip of the curved blade circle on his index finger with relish and tilted his head with a diabolical smile. "Let her go." Kimimaro and Jirobo obeyed immediately and joined the others of the Four, who stood a little apart next to Neji, Tokuma and Iroha, watching the action with a fiery eagerness in their eyes.

I hardly wanted to enjoy my little freedom of movement. As if petrified, I hung in my shackles, hoping, praying that a miracle would happen or that it would finally be over. But something in me sensed that Hiashi hadn't even started. His gaze, which glided over my upper body, told me. There was a greedy sparkle in it that I had never seen in him before, and instinctively I pulled my legs up – as if it would do any good.

Hiashi didn't miss this reaction. His smile widened. "Oh.. Mh-mh.." His devilish giggle ate into my bloodstream. "Do you think I would offend you? Ks, daughter, you ought to know me better. I do not do anything like that. Or did I ever take advantage of you when you were vulnerable?"

I didn't answer him, although my silence said as much as a "no". It was true, he had never done anything like that. But did that make him a good person? Definitely not.

"Sir, may we—" Tokuma began, but Hiashi thundered, "Silence! You can watch, that is reward enough for you." As if to tease Tokuma, Hiashi cut through all the layers of fabric that covered my upper body in one fluid movement, revealing more of my quivering skin to the clearly lecherous audience by pushing the shreds aside with his blade. Once again, I was hanging somewhere and couldn't resist strangers staring at my breasts. This has become a habit of mine.

"Mhhh..." Hiashi growled, sliding the edge over my chest, leaving a fine, red line that I didn't even feel. "It was a man. Was it the same man as last time? Whom you wanted to sell to me as 'Shino'? Your client?" Slowly he drilled the tip into my flesh just below the last rib, which elicited a sound from me for the first time. "Who is he? His name is not Shino, we both know that. So, who is he?"

I was silent again and fought with all my might against every tone that tried to escape me when Hiashi pulled the blade into the depths.

"Did he take you, Hinata?"

My stomach trembled with every cut.

"Have you given yourself to him, like the little whore that you are?"

He started again. I squealed desperately. It burned like hell when the blade crossed a previous line.

"Did you enjoy it?"

He stabbed me. I gasped. My body cramped and wanted to escape the knife but couldn't.

"Did you enjoy it when he fucked you?"

YES, I DID. I spat in my father's face. "F-fuck you.. you bastard.." It would have sounded more impressive if I hadn't stuttered, but try to breathe sensibly when a kaiken is stuck in your stomach.

Still much too calm, Hiashi wiped away my saliva and shook his head in disappointment. "Hinata.. You are practically begging for it, right? You want to be redeemed. But I have to disappoint you, daughter, I will not let you die until you tell me who helped you. This is about Hanabi. Please think of your sister before you make me angry. Or do you want me to take my grudge out on her, huh? Would you like that?" He pulled the knife out of me. "ANSWER ME!"

Suddenly he climbed half on top of me. Our faces were very close and I smelled his breath, which had crept down my neck too often. My father was the reason why I had never enjoyed green tea. He clasped the little finger of my left hand and I felt the cold, sharp blade on the lower joint. "Hinata..", he murmured menacingly and pressed the edge a little into my flesh. "Hinata..." He only breathed it. "Tell me who he is."

With vibrating lungs I gasped, "G-go to hell.."

Hiashi grumbled again. As he chased his kaiken through my finger, he picked up my cry with his lips. I had never touched them, and right now they made me choke. His tongue penetrated me, thrusting against mine demandingly. I whimpered only in response.

Gasping for air, he broke away from me and I felt his or my saliva, it didn't really matter, on my chin. "Tell me.." He leaned next to my ear and I felt like I was breathing in a few strands of his hair. "Your resilience may be heroic, but it will not do you any good. You have nine more fingers and so much more that I can cut off you without you dying."

Without warning, he rammed his fist into my stomach. I groaned, felt blood seeping out of the wound. "I am not going to make it easy for you." With these words he stood up again, carelessly threw my finger aside and turned to the spectators. "Tokuma, as I see, you enjoy the sight."

"Excuse me, Hiashi-sama," the bodyguard apologized with a deep bow that briefly blocked the view of his prominent erection.

Hiashi addressed the Four. "Kimimaro-san, do you think my daughter deserves to be violated for her actions?"

I could still see how mint-green irises greedily lay down on me before I closed my eyes. The pain was almost unbearable anyway, and now something like that? King.. Where are you?

"Yes, sir," Kimimaro replied in an icy voice.

"Tayuya-san," my father said with almost childlike curiosity in his voice, "do you think my daughter is pretty?"

"Kst," Tayuya blurted out contemptuously. "I don't mean to offend your genes, sir, but she has a fucking perfect porcelain face. She's TOO pretty."

Hiashi let out a thoughtful hum. "Mhh.. you may be right. I have only ever seen her flaws, her fat, her unsightly imperfections in her skin, but at first glance – yes, she is indeed too pretty. She appeals to the men's world, right, Iroha?"

"Yes, sir, definitely."

"Neji."

"Yes, Oji-sama?" I could literally hear my cousin's bow.

"You recently asked me for my daughter's hand in marriage.." My breath caught for a moment. My cousin, son of my father's twin brother, wanted to marry me..? That was.. ".. and I refused, because she is useless as a wife. She cannot give you offspring as she should." AND WHOSE FAULT IS THAT?! All of a sudden, I realized that my father would never have married me for business reasons, precisely because of my infertility. At some point I would have become useless to him, so it was quite good that I had resisted, so at least Hanabi could still develop in a healthy direction. "But you still want to take her, right?"

Neji sounded like he was grinning cautiously when he said, "Yes, Oji-sama, very much so."

"You did not do it the day before yesterday, why?"

"I did not want to take anything away from Tokuma-san."

My father was panting. "There is truly enough to her, as you can see. You may be the first to take her."

"Thank you, Oji-sama." Neji's slime seeped down to me.

"Do you feel this too?"

I couldn't and didn't want to see who my father was talking to. Whatever he was up to, I was already sweating with fear over my fucking perfect porcelain face.

It was one of the twins who answered. "Are you just asking me if I find your daughter fuckable?"

"Yes."

"Oh hell yeah. Her lips around my cock? Hallelujah."

"Hm," Hiashi snorted amused. "We seem to agree." Footsteps moved towards me again and I felt my father's aura, smelled his matcha breath. "Hinata, you are too beautiful for this world. You sedate men with your face, your imperfect body. They are at your feet. Mh-mh" – again that giggle – "like Kou right now. Whoever your little helper is, he is just as addicted to you as everyone here. Oh Hinata, my pretty little Hinata. You have too much of your grandmother."

Now I opened my eyes again. I had always suspected that incest was common among the Hyuuga, but to what extent, I only just became aware of. In this family, everyone did it with everyone. And soon everyone here would do it with me. I finally had to die. I had tears in my eyes as I whispered in a trembling voice, "I hate you. I hate you so much. You took everything from me. And you wanted to take Hanabi from me. I'll never let you get your hands on her. She should lead a normal life, away from you and this madness. If I have to, I give my life for this chance. For her."

Hiashi had listened to me with an expressionless face, waited for a moment and then burst out laughing. "What do you hope to achieve with this, Hinata? Are these supposed to be your farewell words? Do you want to bravely leave this world? Oooh, you stupid child. I have already told you that I will not let you die. The last thing that comes out of your mouth will be a name. Until then, you will stay alive and conscious, I will make sure of that. You should not miss anything, daughter." Only in passing did I register how his arm lifted, but when the kaiken hit my forehead, I flinched. "You should experience everything that happens here." My chin began to tremble as soon as the blade ran through my flesh. "You still have to do your duty and give meaning to your miserable existence." A red veil settled over my left eye, distorting Hiashi's face to a matching grimace. "Hinata, who helped you?"

I couldn't talk anymore. If I had opened my mouth, I would have screamed, and I wanted to avoid that by all means. I didn't want to give them that satisfaction. They should not continue to get horny about me. It all ended here. It was over. I closed my eyes, released a tear along with the blood and felt the pain in my face, on my hands, in my stomach subside, disappear, became a white noise of nothing.

It was warm. Unexpectedly warm. I realized that I was naked, but I wasn't freezing. My eyelids lifted slowly. Sunlight blinded me and I raised a hand to my uninjured, clean forehead. I blinked a few times. My eyes only slowly got used to the brightness. A meadow opened up in front of me. Lush green grass, interspersed with bright buttercups and a few purple geraniums. I knew this place. It was not far from the property and as a child I had often played there.

"Hinata-sama, not too fast!", I heard the voice of an old woman as if from far away. I still remembered her well. Her name was Natsu Hyuuga, she had been the one who had raised me until I was five years old. I smiled as I looked at her wrinkled face. She had always been so kind to me, so warm. She had done her best to make me the Hinata I was today. Her influence, positive and yet so short-lived compared to the rest of my puny existence, had shaped me.

How I would have liked Hanabi to have met her. But one day she just didn't show up anymore. I had always wondered what had become of her. Little Hinata, this innocent creature who played among the buttercups in her little white dress with the short, black-blue hair that barely covered her jug ears, would soon think that old Natsu would no longer like her. Soon her laughter, which was so honest, so detached from everything else, would disappear. Soon there was nothing left of her.

"Kinda peaceful, isn't it?" said another, deep voice next to me.

Wind rustled through the tall grass and I closed my eyes again. The breeze stroked my pale skin, which showed no marks, and drove King's woody scent into my nose. "I'm so sorry for her.."

"Mh," King said, and I couldn't figure out where that sound was coming from. "Do you want to go to her?"

I shook my head. "She should keep this memory as it is. One day it will become her sanctuary, the fucking last safe corner in her brain."

King snorted softly. "You and your cursing.."

"That evil devil's tongue," I smiled and looked up at him. "These teenagers all curse, ya know? You have to live with that if you want a young thing like me."

Madara smiled back. "I know, Buttercup. I've already come to terms with it."

"Did you?"

Kakashi lowered his eyes. "Yes.." He grimaced. "I'm sorry that I hesitated for so long."

Soothingly, I put a hand on Itachi's shoulder. "King.. You had your reasons for doing so. I kept something very important from you and you had every reason to demand a pause to think about it."

Genma sighed heavily. "But if I had been clear about my feelings earlier, we wouldn't have this dilemma now."

"Mh," I made this noise myself and couldn't really identify the origin of it either. "Don't blame yourself. I was just stupid. I have put you above everything else. I could have waited, told you the truth, but instead I just rushed off heedlessly, without thinking about consequences. I should have known that Hiashi would do everything he could to find Hanabi and me. I mean.. It was pretty stupid to go to university, wasn't it? He knows the place, connects it with me."

Kakashi took my hand from his shoulder and clasped it tightly. "You followed your heart, just like me."

I laughed and a tear escaped from my eyelashes. "And where did it take me? Away from you and into my certain death."

"You don't know," Itachi murmured.

"I do, King." I looked at Madara seriously. "I do. I won't betray Genma."

Genma grinned crookedly. "I appreciate that."

I pinched his upper arm. "Idiot." My short smile disappeared again. "But that means he will continue to torture me. My body may not really die from it – my father is many things, but he is smart and knows how to harm people in order to hurt them and not kill them in the process. But my mind.. He broke it a long time ago."

"But didn't you repair it?" Kakashi asked.

"I tried," I answered honestly. "I tried to be strong for Hanabi. Because of her, I gave up my numbness. And with that I was able to save her, but for me any help came too late."

"So, mine too..", Itachi murmured depressed.

I twisted my mouth. "You kept me afloat for two years, King. Without you.. Oh fuck, without you I would have tried again. So actually" – I laughed trembling – "I owe my life to Hidan. If he wasn't that crazy maniac who would have talked to me for hours with his enthusiasm about Kakuzu's cock, I would never have registered on this site and I would never have met you. At some point, I know, I would have given up."

Genma smiled faintly. "So we thank that crazy maniac."

"Yeah." I wedged my fingers with his. "Hidan brought us together."

Madara squeezed my hand. "Are you giving up now?"

I closed my eyes and turned my face forward again, where little Hinata's laughter still wafted across the meadow. "Yes, King. I am giving up. I want the pain to go away. And it won't do so until I'm dead."

"Or if I save you," King breathed with a slight tremor in the dark timbre.

"Don't give me hope, it didn't end so well last time."

"Buttercup, I'm serious. I'm on my way. I still need a little time until I get to you, just hold on a little longer."

"King.." I lowered my head. "Please.. I would like it to be different. But I can't go back there. Nothing but suffering awaits me. You won't come in time."

"But you can't die by sheer willpower either." King sounded almost defiant, which made me grin. "Why not?" I watched as my younger self stumbled, fell down, and Natsu rushed to her aid. "Can't I command my body to stop all functions? Just stop breathing? Stop my heartbeat?"

"No," King replied. "Hinata, I won't let this happen. You must not do that. Please. I beg you. You have to persevere. Just a little more. I love you and I want to tell you at least once to your face."

"You only called me 'Hinata' once before. That.. Somehow it feels strange because I don't know your name."

"You know it."

"Yes, of course, I have a one-to-four chance of scoring."

"My name is King. I will always be that for you. You can call me something else"—he snorted amused—"you can give me any title you want."

"Stop it.."

"Buttercup. No matter when we see each other. If I'm sure you're okay and I'm okay, then I'll call you this. Then we will start our life together. You're my Buttercup. And I'm your King. Always."

"Yes, you are my King.."