Mari Makinami
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Chapter 6. Betrayal
Ox – Rabbit – Monkey...
"Didn't I tell you that I won't let you use any seals?" Before she was able to react, Hinata felt a painful kick under her knee and, at the same time, her hand has been twisted behind her back, the lightning in the girl's palm dying out just as fast as it had appeared.
She fell to her knees, crying both of pain and frustration.
They've been sparring every single day for more than two weeks by now while the two of them were on their slow way to the Land of Rice Fields. And despite pretty such short amount of time they had together yet, she was able to improve significantly: even with her low self esteem, there was no denying this fact.
The changes were obvious, even in her appearance: the girl now looked more healthy, more... Powerful than before. It wasn't notable for a stranger, but she could clearly see it herself: because of them being outdoors this whole time, her usually pale skin got some suntan - not much, but enough for her to be a little surprised whenever she looked at her hands or at her reflection in some river or lake they passed by.
During her not so long ninja career, the missions her team took were usually either too short for this to happen, or, since they were a perfect spying and observation unit due to the abilities of their bloodlines, they worked under cover in different settlements, which basically meant behaving like civilians, staying indoors most of the time.
In other words, she always lacked sunshine before.
Aside from that, her body also changed a little: it became a bit more prominent because of the insane physical work she had to go through in order to be able to use this certain technique Sasuke was teaching her, and well, even though Hinata would probably never admit it out loud, under her clothes she now looked more... Sexy than before. Not that it was any important to the Hyūga, but still, it was pleasant thing for the girl to notice for some reason.
Thanks to these changes, along with her new hair and clothes, it finally made her think that she actually looked pretty. Certainly more like a woman and more like a kunoichi than before.
But what amazed her the most was the improvement of her fighting abilities.
Back when she was still a child, Hinata believed that only a genius like her brother or Sasuke could learn an A-rank technique within just a few days. In their case, it was because of the natural talent the boys had in them.
However, Naruto later proved that he could do the same with determination, hard work and unbreakable will.
The Hyūga girl obviously never assumed that she had either of these traits, so never in her life she could imagine doing the same thing they did, but apparently training under a genius also actually meant quite something.
And even though she was impossibly grateful to him for his efforts with the hopeless case she considered herself, sometimes it seemed like he demanded absolutely impossible things from Hinata.
Through the history of their clan, Hyūga shinobi used ninjutsu pretty seldom since their specialization was almost always taijutsu. Only the most powerful offsprings of her clan were allowed to learn some forbidden and secret ninjutsu of their ancestors, and of course Hinata never considered herself worthy of receiving such knowledge.
Which was why she had never tried learning ninjutsu before, despite the obvious advantages it could provide to her considering the capabilities of her dōjutsu. She didn't think she was allowed to.
Sasuke, however, had a different opinion on this matter.
Once the Uchiha had found out that her natural affinities were lightning and fire, just like his owns, his mind became fixated on the idea of teaching her the techniques he used and developed himself in order for them to become the base for her further development later, and the first one obviously was his signature jutsu, Chidori.
As he told Hinata, after observing her fighting style during their sparring sessions he came to the conclusion that Chidori would be the perfect pillar for her to start developing her own, unique fighting style that would be based on combining this ninjutsu with Juuken.
And she had to agree with that, once again amazed by his creativity and ability to analyze others' abilities so fast: considering how versatile Chidori was, after watching him demonstrating her it's capabilities with Chidori Nagashi, Chidori Eisō and Chidori Senbon, if it was to be used by a Hyūga with great chakra control like hers... The girl could imagine the things she'd be able to do once she mastered the lightning manipulation of higher levels.
She got the base Chidori down in just a day after long training in order to increase her agility and speed, which was necessary for it's proper usage, but that was a performance of the same level that Sasuke showed during the chūnin exam years ago. She had to form nine hand seals before the technique became ready to be executed, which was obviously unacceptable considering their goals.
These were the basics that every chūnin well knew: seals were merely a way to shift the chakra flow within the weaver's body in order to direct it in the manner that is required for the technique one is trying to perform. If a certain technique has been used many, many times, the reflex is being formed: the body itself adapts to the usage of the jutsu, thus shortening the preparation time by decreasing the required amount of seals. This was a major part of mastering any ninjutsu, because even the simplest of them could be devastating if used fast enough.
But there were other ways to hasten the process, and even though Sasuke himself said that he didn't have what it takes to go for the one she was currently trying, in his opinion, she did have it.
It was the chakra control.
Being a Hyūga, she was really good at that. But he also said that even aside from her lineage and past training in her clan, she was exceptional on this part. Even though her chakra reserves were nothing close to his own, she was able to spar with him the whole day purely because of this... Talent? In fact, she never wasted more chakra than it was necessary, and, come to think of it, it was an incredibly useful skill. The girl never thought of it as of something unusual or rare, but now she could clearly see that even Sasuke himself sometimes wasted his energy for nothing when it could easily be avoided, in her opinion.
It was quite weird to finally realize that she was talented in some area of ninja arts after years of considering herself trash, but Hinata wasn't going to deny it now. The times when she was berating herself were gone for good, and if at least her chakra control was that great, why not admit it and use this as an asset for her training?
Especially since Sasuke put it in the way he did...
On top of that, she had the Byakugan, her dōjutsu that gave her the ability to see the chakra inside of others' bodies. She could literally watch how her own chakra was flowing as she was trying to master the perfect usage of Chidori, and, what was even more important there, she could also watch his chakra during their training, which gave her deeper understanding of how the technique was supposed to work.
Now, after a few days of working on it, she could perform Chidori with just three hand seals, which made her very excited and, at once, a bit proud of herself.
And this was where the problem started.
Because unlike her, he wasn't satisfied with this result at all.
And since the very morning of that day, he kept beating crap out of the girl, forcing her to use Chodori without weaving any signs at all. Which was new to her, because before that day he was never that harsh during their spars, and the thought that he was probably losing his patience with her was only frustrating her even more.
Because she felt that the task he gave her was impossible: she just couldn't comprehend how did he do that, especially with such ease.
And it was irritating her. Under different circumstances, she'd think that the key to this secret was the Sharingan or some other Uchiha kekkei genkai she wasn't aware of, and that he was just mocking her.
But after everything she did to finally be accepted by him as his apprentice, after hours and days he spent on patiently teaching her and caring for her, this obviously wasn't the case.
And this made her even more angry, because it would be easy to blame him for her misfortunes. But she knew that she was just too stupid to understand what exactly she was doing wrong while he expected her to realize it a lot sooner.
Both of them grew impatient, and that was perfectly understandable: she wanted to become stronger as fast as possible, and Sasuke wanted to move on to teaching her something more interesting and complicated, because well, for him, this was probably about as hard as throwing a kunai. And according to the Uchiha's words, being able to use Chidori properly was the keystone for the real training.
Yes, she knew and understood it very well: the real deal was only to come later. What they did up to now, despite it seeming to her like a bloody hell, was merely a child's play, especially for him. He wasn't forcing her to do anything she wasn't capable of, and he also never punished her for her failures before, but it only made her realize how deep and wide was the gap between the two of them, and for the first time in her life she realized how foolish she was before, dreaming to become a jōnin like Neji.
Sasuke was still a genin, and he could obliterate any jōnin that came on her mind without moving from his spot.
Despite what they all have been taught since the day they started attending the academy, in reality, rankings meant nothing.
Which is why she wasn't afraid of the idea of being a nukenin anymore. It was just another shortcut to simplify everything for those who couldn't use their own brain and think.
A nukenin meant an enemy. A genin meant a weakling. A jōnin meant an elite ninja. A Kage meant someone of godly power.
In reality, things were very different. But to those who gave orders, it didn't matter. The cannon fodder was fed with this nonsense, blindly believing in their seniors' wisdom, only to either be lucky enough to survive before they'd become able see through these lies, or to die because of their misjudgement on their foes.
When she understood this simple truth, once again the Hyūga girl realized how cruel and twisted their world actually was. This system they all were parts of... It needed to be changed.
And this also made her finally understand the Uchiha a bit better than before, as well as strengthened her assurance of the simple fact: following him was her destiny. After all, she did everything right.
And despite all this...
She failed miserably, being kicked like a sack of potatoes on the thick grass of the beautiful glade they were currently staying at.
"Come on... Get up. I won't let you lie down and rest until you complete your task."
Hinata growled in anger that was mostly directed at herself, and rolled away from him, getting up on her shaking legs.
"One... Two... Three!"
He charged at her again, and she tried to block his punch, once again failing to do so: another burst of pain, and she was on her back, eying the evening sky.
The method he was currently using was rather simple: he was attacking her whenever she tried to weave hand seals or did nothing at all.
She didn't understand it, though: in order to figure out the way this was supposed to work, she needed to stay calm for a while, to test it, to analyze what she was doing...
But he never let her. In fact, he didn't give her a single break since the morning, and how on earth was she supposed to do what he wanted in such conditions?!
He kicked her on the ribs, making the girl curl on the ground, moaning of the increasing pain in her whole body.
"I said get up! Do you want to die?"
Another kick that made her spit some blood.
"If you don't do it now, then you really are a waste. Should I reconsider my decision of teaching you?"
She winced, letting out a deep growl, barely managing to roll away again and dodging another merciless strike of his.
"I can't! You don't let me think! I don't understand how to do that, I need time!.."
"You wouldn't have any time should it be some ANBU instead of me. Or some rapist like those Gatō 's dogs in Nami no Kuni." He punched her in the face, making the girl feel like she was about to faint. But no, she could still hear him, even though her vision got a bit worse than usual because of blood spilling down from her forehead to the eyes.
The girl clenched her fists, desperately avoiding another hit as she was trying to focus her last energy to defend herself.
Was he really considering killing her now? Did he decide that she was unworthy?..
Wasn't she?..
But it didn't make any sense, it was unlike his usual self...
"Pathetic. You're trash. A worthless weakling who knows nothing of being a real kunoichi."
That was the truth. Yet still, his words hurt her deeply. And there she thought that the two of them were actually getting along...
A mistake that was now going to cost her life?
Oh, the irony. And this was happening just after she promised herself to not rely on anybody ever again...
"That's right..." Just when Hinata was about to fall down to the ground as she felt how the last crumbs of power were leaving her body, he caught her, forcing the girl to stay on her knees by holding a few strands of her hair. "You're nothing. Just like that foolish brat you called a brother who died a pointless death when he tried to protect your useless life. I guess you'll enjoy having a nice, long chat with that idiot when the two of you meet in the afterlife..."
Hinata wasn't able to see anything but the bloody veil that suddenly covered her eyes.
She was going to be killed by him? Fine, then **** her life. **** everything, she was indeed a waste, and she always knew it anyway. It couldn't be helped.
But he... The Uchiha wasn't allowed to say such things about Neji.
She wouldn't allow anybody talk bad of him.
He was going to pay, even if it would to be the last thing she did in her life.
Letting out a loud growl of primal rage, she charged at him, only to gasp as she did so.
Because a few things happened simultaneously.
First, she realized that her hand has pierced his chest like a hot needle could get through a piece of butter: as if it was nothing.
The girl then noticed, looking through him, that her arm was covered in chakra of lightning element.
And only when the realization that for some reason she finally managed to use Chidori without forming any seals at all hit her, before she could somehow react to this revelation, the world around her began literally shattering into pieces, and just a second later the girl could see that she, in fact, wasn't hurt at all, but her hand was indeed bathed in the sparkling lightnings.
And, on top of that, Sasuke's strong fingers clenched her wrist, and he wasn't reacting to the supposedly hurtful effects of her technique at all.
Oh.
Apparently he was using the Preta Path of his Rinnegan, absorbing her chakra to prevent the damage.
And everything she went through for the last hours was merely his genjutsu. She didn't suffer any of his blows for real - the only part of her being hurt was her mind.
It all made sense now. Thas was his intention: to make her believe that he decided to kill her, while in reality he was simply driving her to the extreme point to make her do something extraordinary under the effects of the adrenaline rush.
He smiled warmly, uttering with clear satisfaction in his voice:
"Well done. It took you a bit longer than I expected, but great job nonetheless. Now we can move on to something more..."
He was taken aback by her suddenly slapping his face: Hinata took her arm out of his grasp, looking infuriated for the first time as far as the Uchiha could remember.
"Don't ever say anything like this about Neji-niisan again."
She turned away from Sasuke, carefully striding to their tent to pick her flask of water that rested under it along with her other stuff.
Since her Byakugan was deactivated at the moment and she was too overwhelmed by the swirl of emotions concerning the things he did to her, the girl never noticed the expression on Sasuke's face.
He was smirking in relief, looking at her with apparent joy in his eyes.
An hour later, Sasuke and Hinata were walking the narrow road that led to Tanzaku-gai, the small town north from Konoha where Sasuke planned to stay and rest before finally moving on to Orochimaru's land.
Of course, he wasn't going to pass through the Hidden Leaf village or anywhere nearby, so they skirted Konoha through the tracts in the eastern part of Land of Fire, which costed them an additional week of traveling.
After receiving the message from Kakashi, which Sasuke decided to not share with his newfound student just yet so that she wouldn't get distracted from her training, he tried to spend their daytimes in relatively aloof areas that were rarely visited even by shinobi, not to mention civilians, and since they were only traveling at nights, that also slowed them down quite a lot.
The Uchiha was by no means a fool, and after reading the Hokage's words, he realized that Hinata was being searched, mostly unofficially since there was no solid evidence that could lead to the conclusion that she had been abducted, and yet, on the other side, there was no official reason for her to leave the village all of sudden.
One didn't have to be a genius to realize that the sealing issue wouldn't be announced in public, since it was a private matter of their clan. Considering how awful this measure was, it also became obvious that the Hyūga Clan wouldn't want anyone to find out what they intended to do with the girl, and especially they wouldn't tell the Hokage about it, considering how big could be the following impact, knowing Kakashi and his crew, not to mention the fact that he might as well enlist other Kage's support in this case.
This meant that the Hyūga were in a pretty delicate position right now: in order to initiate an international search, they had to provide a very convincing evidence of something specific. If they simply said "she's missing and we have no idea why and where she is", they'd be forced to allow ANBU into their compound to investigate it there, which was out of the question for such a secretive and closed clan like theirs.
Which made Sasuke realize that most likely only a small amount of Konoha's forces were assigned for the search duty.
And most of those who were now looking for Hinata were from her very clan, since they would naturally want to deal with this problem on their owns considering all the conditions they were put in.
But even though that was a relatively small amount of people, each of them possessed the Byakugan. If they were dispersed through the Land of Fire in a smart way, they could likely cover the whole country's territory with their field of vision.
Which made both of them potentially being in a huge trouble.
He didn't know what exactly they would do with her should Hinata's clansmen have found them, but somehow he was sure that their intentions were far from being any good. And she was too weak for a clash with them yet. He'd probably need at least another six months of training her to make sure that the girl was able to protect herself against her clan, and even that was questionable since he didn't know how powerful were their best shinobi.
Until then, he wasn't going to let his guard down. The Uchiha realized that he was the only person around to protect her from a very unpleasant fate: after she ran away that night, he was pretty sure that the cursed seal would be the least of her problems should she get caught.
Which is why he did everything to hide both of them from any potential threat, even if he had to come up with a very questionable way of doing this.
His Rinnegan's Gakidō gave him the ability to absorb any chakra. However, after mastering this technique, he also realized that it actually worked both ways. In other words, he could take someone's chakra and give it back to them later.
Of course, a person would die if there was no chakra left in the body, so he had to be careful to always leave a small portion of it so they would survive the extraction. Being careful enough, he could basically turn a shinobi or a kunoichi into a civilian that didn't have any chakra-based abilities for continuous amount of time. And even though it left them absolutely unprotected to the threats of shinobi world, there was also a very handy side effect that he relied on these days, draining Hinata's chakra by holding her hand.
Without her chakra, she became a very difficult target to track down, even with Byakugan.
And once her chakra got into his own system, he could cover with his energy with ease, considering how low the amount was compared with his own.
Which was a perfect trump card for them: since he could protect her from anyone and anything on their way, she only needed her power during their training, which he granted her when the Uchiha considered them relatively well hidden from any scouts.
Walking down the crooked road with her hand in his, Sasuke smirked as he imagined how they must have looked from a stranger's point of view. Probably like some lovely couple enjoying their trip...
But then, should the person take a closer look, one would realize that something was off with them.
Ever since the end of their spar an hour ago, she refused to talk to him. Apparently he hurt her feelings deeply, but there was no choice - even though he disliked this way, there hardly was any other at the moment. Her usual defensive reaction was submission and self blaming for everything bad caused to her. Such agenda needed to be changed, because, unlike anger and hatred, these emotions never motivated one to do something extraordinary, but, on the contrary, they destroyed any motivation to do anything at all.
That's why he was getting on her nerves in his genjutsu in every possible way, trying to enrage the girl. And he was very pleased by the fact that he managed to make it pretty easily: all he had to do was to find the right buttons to push, which he successfully did.
It meant that she wasn't as self-contained as he originally thought. Which in turn meant that he wouldn't have to do much to help her to get out of the abyss of her depression and despair. After all, she had a spine: the girl was only convinced that she didn't. Convinced by the others.
Hinata, on the other hand, most likely didn't understand his reasoning just yet, seeing as the girl was walking ahead without watching at him at all. If anything, she's been ignoring him ever since their training session earlier was over, and this was pretty unusual of her. Even though they didn't talk much during their travel, the two of them always shared words from time to time, here and there. Despite his usual, calm attitude, he was pretty kind to her until that day.
What Sasuke didn't realize himself was the reason of her being so locked up all of sudden.
He assumed that this all was because of his words about Neji and him suddenly behaving so harsh and cruel during their training, but that was a misconception.
In fact, he didn't understand what was going on inside the girl's head at all.
In reality, she felt conflicted about her feelings for the Uchiha.
It was always so... Bipolar. So weird. So complicated.
And it disturbed her quite a lot.
Sasuke was doing everything for her, giving her the light of hope she craved so much, and that made him become the center of her world, the person Hinata would gladly give her life for, after all the things he and his guidance gave her when she thought that her life was already over...
Hell, he made her feel alive for the first time since she day was born! And that alone was more than enough for her to pledge her allegiance to him forever.
He was also her master now, and she had sworn to follow all of his instructions and to do everything he told her without any questions or hesitation.
She had no romantic feelings for him, and Hinata actually doubted that she would ever have them for anyone again, especially considering the recent changes in her mind and soul. But when the girl asked herself that question one night, gazing at the stars, she realized that if she was ready to die for Sasuke, it also meant that her life belonged to the Uchiha now. Both her soul and her... Body.
Should he ask for it, she was ready to do anything in her power to please him, too.
And when she realized it, some part of the girl was frightened. How could she be so calm when it came to such things?! Would she really do it if he asked her to?.. She'd be afraid to even think about it just a month ago, and what was she turning into now?.. His toy? His slave?
No. He never forced her to do anything she didn't want to.
And that was another sign of his nobility.
No matter what they said about him, Uchiha Sasuke was a great man. Sure, he was pretty harsh and sometimes could be very cruel, especially with his enemies, but everything he did was for the greater good in the end.
But perhaps he just didn't find her attractive enough?
This thought made her pretty sad for some reason, and she didn't understand why. She wasn't interested in him liking her, right? She was merely his student, his tool, if he wanted it... Hopefully she would become his loyal weapon in future.
But then again, he never showed any sign of interest in any female what so ever. Perhaps he just didn't care at all? But he was a man, was this even possible?.. Guys always chased girls, or at least had crushes that they silently watched, too hesitant and shy to approach. Her teammates were the prime examples of both sides of this coin.
Maybe he was just too good at hiding his emotions?
Or perhaps he already was in love with somebody?
Yes, that had to be it...
He was just too loyal to look at any other woman when he already had somebody waiting for him. Being put this way, it all made perfect sense.
Hinata remembered how when she was a child, she heard the tales about the love of Uchiha.
They said that there were nobody in this whole world who could love as deeply as the Uchiha men and women did. Once an Uchiha fell in love with somebody, his or her mind and heart belonged to the chosen one forever, and their feelings only strengthened with years passing.
She could also remember how some girls of the Branch House of her clan dreamed to marry an Uchiha when they became adults, just because of these tales. Back then, all of them wanted a prince from this glorious clan to come for them and save them from the destiny of caged birds they were all being prepared for...
It all ended with the Uchiha Clan massacre: their naive, childish dreams being destroyed just like Sasuke's very family, even though the comparison was probably wrong, in a way.
But Hinata still remembered those cute, naive stories, but Sasuke's example made her want to actually believe that they were true. Which is why the girl now wondered who Sasuke loved so much. And this also made her respect him even more.
Perhaps they will meet his beloved one during their travel?
She didn't understand why, but this thought made something inside of her twitch unpleasantly.
But anyway, summarizing it all, Sasuke was obviously wrong in his judgement concerning her emotions.
But not completely wrong.
What he did in that genjutsu really enraged her so much for the first time in Hinata's life, and it only made this whole bunch of emotions and new impressions even more complicated for her. She liked the feeling of relief and tranquility after her outburst, though.
She also loved the fact that she was able to overpower the barrier in her mind that blocked her from achieving what he wanted her to achieve.
At first, the Hyūga girl wanted to ask him why he had to be so brutal with her mind back then, but after she gave it some thinking, she understood his reasoning.
He wanted to push her psychic and her body to their limits in order to break her inner barriers that blocked her from advancing, her strong emotions serving the catalyst for the forming of the necessary reflexes.
And it worked.
No wonder it did, because his ideas always worked.
He wasn't called a genius for nothing.
Now when he was back to his usual behavior, Hinata found it ridiculous that she had sincerely believed that he was going to kill her just an hour ago. This was absurd: Sasuke never even hurt her before... Well, at least on purpose. She should of realized that it was all just a part of his plan... She could've seen through his illusion if she was smart enough.
But if she did, would his plan has worked?..
Probably not.
She guessed that she should just trust the Uchiha on this matter.
So, basically, she was being torn apart between her past self that was yelling that what she did every day now was absolutely wrong, and the new self that loved these new experiences and wanted more.
Much more.
Seeing how conflicted she appeared, the Uchiha didn't want to initiate any conversation with her concerning the recent events. In his opinion, it was better for Hinata to overcome her inner struggles on her own, without any help.
He wanted the Hyūga girl to become a person that would be able to stand alone on her own, and if he interfered too much, she would only exchange one way of hiding from reality to another.
To him.
And he didn't want it, of course.
That's is why he deliberately pushed her away from time to time, sometimes in debatably harsh ways, only to get closer with her afterwards, not realizing that it only made her mind more and more captured by thoughts of him... After all, Sasuke didn't know much about how hearts of women work, so he couldn't predict such effect.
Both of them deep in their own thoughts, the Uchiha and the Hyūga didn't notice how they approached Tanzaku-gai in just a few hours of silent walking through the darkness of the chilly autumn night.
The town itself was pretty welcoming considering the time they came there in: it seemed like people in this place lived in their own rhythm, so the small town that was also well known as the lair of all the gamblers in Hi no Kuni seemed to be equally alive any time of the day.
People on the streets scurried here and there, each of them with their own business; some vendors already tried to sell some garbage to Sasuke and Hinata, and barkers called from everywhere for them to visit different pubs, bars, casinos, brothels and other wonderful establishments this town was filled with.
It was very much unlike Konoha, and Hinata seemed to be a bit shocked by her surroundings, looking a little lost: apparently the girl has never been here before.
But unlike her, Sasuke knew full well where they were heading to, so the Uchiha ignored everyone and everything on their way to the nice, humble hotel in the outskirts with a seemingly decent pub on the first floor of the building.
Walking inside, he told Hinata to sit down at one of the empty tables and went to make an order for them: some soup and salad for her, and onigiri with fish and shrimps for himself. He also spoke with the hotel's manager and ordered a room for them to stay during the upcoming day: she needed a good rest and sleep, and he was pretty tired himself, truth to be told.
They ate in silence, both of them lazily watching people around them and interior of the hall they sat in, too tired to initiate any conversation - and not that either of them wanted to talk at the moment anyway.
The pub was rather nice, to Sasuke's taste: he didn't like pompous restaurants, and, at the same time, he also didn't quite enjoy staying in gloomy hangouts like he had to a few times years ago when he was on his search for Itachi.
Apparently the Hyūga girl didn't mind this place, either. But he wasn't quite sure on this, seeing as she was still too absorbed by whatever thoughts were swirling in her head after their latest training.
Once they have finished their meals, Sasuke took a keyring out of his pocket.
"I ordered the room number seven for us. I see you're pretty tired, you should go and have some rest." He handed her the keys, finally getting Hinata out of her inner world.
She looked him in the eyes for the first time that night, a bit worried.
"And you?" She mumbled as if the girl wasn't sure if she was allowed to ask such question.
"I'll stay here for a while, just in case. I have a bad feeling for some reason, and I don't wanna sleep just yet anyway."
She could see that he wasn't completely honest with her at the moment, but Hinata was too tired to venture into it any further, and it was up for him to decide what to do regardless of her opinion anyway. She was nobody to object.
Taking the keys, she thanked him for the food and walked upstairs to their room. Watching as Hinata left, Sasuke waited a little to check if some drunk goon or any other idiot would decide to follow her up there – it would be really bad if he didn't notice one, considering how defenseless she was now without her chakra and being so tired physically.
But nobody seemed to care about her. In fact, the atmosphere was rather friendly and warm, too much to his expectations of a place like this, in a town like Tanzaku-gai.
Well, anyway, he didn't mind pleasant surprises. The less problems he... They had, the better.
Getting up from their table, the Uchiha walked to the barman, ordering a small bottle of sake.
He was going to sit there for a while, to listen to what people around him were talking about. To feel the atmosphere better, to get the feeling and understanding of their lives. That was the original goal of his journey, after all...
Taking a sip of sake, he fixed a strand of his hair that was covering his left eye. He didn't want to scare any civilians with the Rinnegan, which obviously looked quite frightening to them – he already witnessed it back in Nami no Kuni.
Feeling the warmth that filled his insides with his drink, the raven haired teen smiled for the first time in a long time.
He was slowly adapting to such easy life. A life without revenge.
Before, he couldn't understand how simple people, civilians, lived at all. They were useless, they did nothing interesting, they decided nothing in this world. They were just some miserable bugs for him.
But now he realized that one could live just for the new impressions, for the joy of life. For simple pleasures like tasty food and hot sake, or for chatting in a good company of beautiful women... Or gambling. Or whatever.
Even though it would probably take him quite some time to learn to live this way, he was now sure that he'd like it... From time to time. It was a great relief and relaxation after all the nightmares and hardships of shinobi life.
After all, he, of everyone else, surely deserved some small moments of sweet oblivion, without a doubt.
But...When he told Hinata that he had a bad feeling, he wasn't lying.
And apparently his mood was destined to get ruined that beautiful and peaceful night.
Because only an hour passed since Hinata went to sleep, and he was already hearing familiar voices behind his back.
Turning his head a bit, he watched as the three shinobi sat at the table not far from his current position, discussing something pretty loudly.
"I tell you this, Shino is never wrong! If his bugs felt her chakra around this place, then we're at least going in the right direction!"
"But I can't see her anywhere around. Aburame-kun, can you still feel it?"
"Affirmative. The trace of her chakra here is clear, despite being pretty weak. She's either very well hidden, which is probably false since you can't see her with your Byakugan, or she was here a while ago... A few days, maybe. I'm not sure."
"Oi, oi... Akamaru, calm down! What's wrong, buddy?.." Kiba tried to calm his dog that was barking now... Looking at his direction.
Damn you, Inuzuka.
Slowly getting up from his spot, Sasuke started walking to the stairway that led to their room on the second floor.
He realized that there was no way out of this conversation with them now, but he still wanted to try – perhaps they were a bit more stupid than he always thought?..
"Hey! You there! Wait!.."
The Uchiha silently cursed as he ignored Kiba's voice, continuing getting up.
He needed to warn Hinata at least.
But hey actually managed to exceed his expectations, though in a different way: before he was able to enter their room, they were already there in the corridor, peering at him dangerously.
It was only then when he turned to face them, sighing in defeat.
They all gasped, seeing who it was before them.
"S-Sasuke-teme!.. What are you doing here?.." The Inuzuka boy looked a bit lost now: clearly he didn't expect to see the Uchiha here, of all people.
"None of your business, really." Came the cold reply.
"Yeah, like hell it isn't!.. We're here looking for..."
"Shut up, Kiba." The Aburame boy suddenly barked, and Sasuke's respect for this weirdo increased just a bit as he did so. Of all his former classmates, this one was probably the least irritating to him, and arguably the easiest one to deal with. "Sasuke, I believe you are aware why we're here and who we're looking for. Seeing as you have fresh traits of her chakra on your body, I suggest you tell us where she is. It is very important for us to insure her well being, as her teammates and friends, we're very worried about her. I hope you can understand it."
Sasuke clenched his teeth in frustration. Of course he knew what he meant. And well, of all the people he saw in Hinata's memories, these two almost didn't do anything bad to his student. If he was to let someone meet her at all, that would most likely be these two.
But there was also the third man...
"I do. But who is this clown?.." He nodded at the Hyūga man with short, black hair, who looked quite a few years older than the rest of them, probably around Kakashi's age.
Before the Hyūga managed to reply, the door to their room slowly opened and the sleepy Hinata showed up, dressed in her long, white shirt that looked suspiciously similar to Sasuke's own, along with a pair of black shorts. Her hair was quite tousled, and she looked as if the girl wasn't sure if she was still dreaming or not.
"Sasuke?.. What's going on?.." She mumbled, not noticing how she suddenly forgot to add the "-san" suffix to his name like she usually did, which made him wonder for a second what was she dreaming about before they woke her up.
But he didn't take any time to think about it, because the expressions of her teammates were much more entertaining: they were indescribable, just... Priceless.
He smirked.
"Not much... We have some guests, I believe you know them. I was about to let them enter our room, but I wasn't sure who this third guy is... And I didn't want them to ruin your rest. Sorry about that." He smiled, too tempted to play with their minds a little. It was pretty obvious what they thought about the two of them sharing the room, with barely dressed Hinata showing up and talking to him without any honorifics, as if they were...
He preferred to leave it up for them to decide what exactly they were seeing at the moment.
Apparently still not completely awake, she smiled warmly to him, which made Sasuke second guess what on earth was this girl seeing in her sleep.
"Guests?.. Who are the... Oh..." She finally noticed the three of them, her expression changing he instant he recognized the shinobi. "What are you doing here?" She asked, her tone suddenly becoming indifferent, almost rude.
There was a long moment of silence, for her teammates were obviously too shocked by the show they've just witnessed. The first one to open his mouth was, as always, Kiba:
"What do you mean what are we doing here, Hinata?! You just disappeared that night without saying anything to anyone, and where the hell you've been at?! We were so worried about you, and you just ran away with this bastard to... To... To sleep with him?!" He yelled in rage, pointing at Sasuke with his finger.
The Uchiha was simply having fun with this situation. He was wondering now what would be her response: after all, he did spend quite some time working with her, and he knew damn well that she was now pretty different from the Hinata they knew.
Her face remained expressionless as the girl simply shrugged.
"So what if I did? I never asked you to come for me. And why are you worried anyway? I'm fine." The Uchiha was barely able to hold a laugh, glancing at her only to narrow his eyes in an interesting revelation: she wasn't looking at Shino or Kiba, her eyes were focused on the third man.
And apparently the said Hyūga guy noticed this, too.
"Hinata-sama... Please, follow me back to our quarters. Hiashi-sama is impossibly worried, he assigned the whole clan to look for you, he wants you to be safe..."
"Is that so? Last time we talked, he wanted to put the cursed seal on me so he could sell me as a slave for some rich man later for his political benefits or whatever else he could come up with... I wouldn't quite enjoy such safety, so I guess I'll have to refuse."
Shino and Kiba gasped, taking a step away from the Hyūga shinobi.
To Aburame, it all became obvious and clear now. This scene she was playing here with them, it was for the Hyuuga man. She was testing his intentions, which were clearly no good now that everything finally made sense when they found out why she left. Putting the seal on his own daughter... It was terrible, and now Shino understood why she decided to leave Konoha. And the bluff about being sold away... Of course, it was nonsense. Nobody would be able to legitimately make a slave out of a kunoichi. The worst possible thing that could happen would be serving to some mediocre feudal lord as a bodyguard for the rest of her life, which was considered the worst possible assignment among shinobi of Konoha... A job for weaklings and those who are not trustworthy. Basically, if the Uchiha wasn't a friend of their new Hokage and Naruto, he would most likely have been put in such position for his crimes.
Apparently Hinata thought that he this member of her clan would believe this and it was supposed take some effect on the male Hyūga. She wanted to see his reaction to make a decision wether she should trust him or not.
What a surprisingly smart and cunning move of his female teammate...
Kiba wasn't that clever, though, but apparently he didn't want such horrible fate for his friend and teammate, the girl he was used to protect during their missions together. Even though he didn't see through her gamble there, well... In his opinion, Sasuke was a douchebag, but the Hokage trusted him, and so did Naruto. And apparently Hinata trusted him now, too. Even though he, Kiba, disliked the Uchiha...
In his opinion, she better be with him than spend the rest of her life serving and doing gods know what to some random civilian scumbag filled with money and nothing more.
But the Hyūga man looked pretty surprised himself by her words to say the least, laying his hand on his heart in shock once he heared her reply.
"Oh, gods... Hinata-sama, what are you saying?.. I'm sure it must be some mistake..."
"I'm telling the truth. Or do you want to try to convince me that you were not aware, Kō?" She asked, narrowing her white eyes, her own arms crossed on her chest.
"I... Hinata-sama, I swear I didn't know!.. If only I could assume that... That such... I..."
Her features softened. Apparently she knew the man well enough to trust him now after seeing his response, which Sasuke didn't really mind. He was her family, after all, and even in such a twisted clan like Hyūga there had to be some trustworthy, normal people.
"Maybe you didn't. But now you know why I'm not coming back. Kō, Shino, Kiba... You better go back to Konoha and pretend that you couldn't find me. It will be better for all of us. I can't get back. And I'm safe with Sasuke-san here." She nodded at the Uchiha, relaxing a little.
"O-of course, Hinata-sama! I will do as you please!" Kō fell down to his knee, bowing his head down in submission and respect.
Shino seemed like he understood what she was saying, too.
Kiba, though...
"Something had to be done about it, Hinata! This... Your bastard of a dad can't just do that to you!.. Why do you have to be on the run and hiding because of this moron?! We can do it, and I'm sure Sasuke will help you, too, even though he's a jerk, but still!.. Together, we can come up with something!.."
"We already did. The Hokage is aware of the situation, and we're working on the solution. The two of us must lay down for now, it's a part of the plan. Don't worry." The Uchiha suddenly said, making Hinata gaze at him in surprise, but not saying anything. "It's indeed better for you guys to come back to Konoha and pretend as if you've seen nothing. You can ask the Sixth to confirm my words here, he will do it, be sure on this."
The search team went silent for a moment. They didn't want to go away, obviously. And they didn't really trust the Uchiha, but seeing as Hinata herself agreed with him... And after all she said... It was probably their only option right now.
The Hyūga girl suddenly stepped forward, coming closer to her teammates and smiling assuringly.
"Don't worry. I'm in good hands, and we will find a way out of it, eventually. We'll see each other again, I promise."
Kiba sighed, hugging the girl.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Hinata... And damn, why Sasuke, of all the cool guys like me?.." He chuckled, jokingly, before nearly whispering, suddenly looking worried: "And what about Naruto?..."
Before she could reply anything to him to finally clarify the misunderstanding about her relationship with the Uchiha, they all suddenly heard a venomous hissing:
"Perhaps because traitors like to stick together?"
Sasuke's eyes widened as he heard it, and he felt confused for a split second, which was more than ample for Kō : the man sliced Hinata's leg with a kunai, making the girl shriek as she fell down to the floor, moaning of sudden burst of pain and trying to stop the streaming blood.
"Sasuke! No!" Shino yelled, which made the Uchiha flinch a little, holding his sword half of an inch away from the Hyūga's throat. "You can't kill him now! If you do it, we won't be able to say that we found nothing, the whole cover up story will fail - they'll realize what happened! It will be only a matter of time then!"
Damn it!
The Aburame's words were reasonable.
Quite unlike Kō's actions.
Why just cut her with a kunai when he had a perfect opportunity to kill her?..
Sasuke grabbed the man's neck and roared demandingly:
"What have you done to her? What's on that blade?!"
The Hyūga smirked, meeting his eyes that were filled with hatred for the first time since the end of the war.
"It's the Hyūga clan's way of exterminating the traitors and sealing the Byakugan at the same time... But I won't tell you anything more, Uchiha. Do whatever you want now, it's all over now anyway."
"Over?!.." He gasped, turning his head to Hinata who slowly got up with Kiba's help.
"Sasuke-san..." She uttered, surprisingly calm. Too calm for a situation like this, really. "It's the poison that works on genetic level... Saigo no Nerumi. I'm going to die within an hour."
"What?!" Sasuke, Shino and Kiba yelled simultaneously, refusing to believe what they've just heard. "It can't be." The Uchiha snapped, looking in the girl's empty eyes. "There has to be a cure!.."
"There is no cure. It's developed specifically for Hyūga, Sasuke-san... I'm afraid you can do nothing to help this. I was foolish enough to trust my family again, and this mistake costed me my life in the end... I guess you were right, Sasuke-san. I'm trash... And I deserve such death." There were no tears in her eyes, only calmness and...
Resignation.
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