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(Disclaimer) I do not own Naruto. Characters and setting copyrighted to Masashi Kishimoto. All rights reserved, etc, etc. The plot and any character unrecognizable from the manga or anime are mine as well. Please do not use anything that falls underneath those categories without my permission.
(A/N) Okay, first off, I apologize to all of you for being away for so long. Even when I tried to get back into FFG, it wouldn’t let me. And it was only until now that I was able to really bring out the creative juices. Even so, I’m not entirely satisfied with this chapter, but you’ve all waited long enough, and here I am. :3 Hopefully, this next break won’t be as long, though there is no guarantee. I have a hectic life right now.
So, read and review, my darlings. :3 This one’s for all those who waited.
Note: I’m looking for a beta reader. Preferably one who will correct such things as awkward wording, sentence structure, plot things that don’t work… etc, etc. In other words, some one who will go beyond just editing grammatical mistakes. I wanted multiple betas. So please, e-mail me at taiyoukailady AT gmail DOT com or IM me over AIM at TaiyoukaiLady.
Sasuke shook his head, “No, that doesn't happen until you willingly drink my blood. This just lets me know where you are in case you get into trouble or something.” There was more, such as the fact that now he could sense her more extreme emotions, and that they now had a telepathic bond, but she didn't need to know that.
“Okay.” Silently, she rested her head against his shoulder, eyes distant as they replayed what had just happened. In her mind, one thought dominated.
What in the world was between them?
-
He smiled at her once more before turning and leaving the room, the door quietly closing behind him. Hanabi sighed in bliss as she bit into the perfect apple. Orochimaru may be a creep, but his right hand man was all she could ever ask for.
-
Temari frowned. Something wasn't right. It was more than just some declaration of war. Or something about Hinata or a message. The place had been attacked for a bigger reason. She could feel it. But Temari kept that to herself, instead asking, “Why would they want us to know that they know we have Hinata?”
The calm look Neji gave her was enough for her to understand.
Stand there, Temari could feel her legs start to weaken again.
“Oh, god.”
Fallen from Grace
Taiyoukai Lady
-
Chapter 9
Still, Tenten had a bit of pleasure from watching Sakura get riled up over these little things that didn’t matter anyways. The weapons mistress wasn’t overly fond of the pink-haired medic. Tenten recognized Sakura’s skills and acknowledged the other female’s prowess, but that didn’t mean she liked her. In her mind, Sakura was a bit too clingy, a little too dependent, for her to be good friends with.
For now though, she’d deal with it.
Earlier that day, Tenten had been approached by Chouji and Sakura. The two had told her that they were to go buy supplies according the list Sasuke had given Sakura. Tenten, assuming that Hinata would be perfectly fine and not knowing Temari would be gone as well, had gone along without much hesitation.
She hadn’t known that buying supplies would be this difficult.
Sakura insisted on the best brand of everything there was, and Tenten was appalled at such random spending. But Chouji, who was much smarter than he seemed, had explained to Tenten that this too was mainly on Sasuke’s orders, not just Sakura being Sakura.
“You see,” he had explained, speech dotted with crunches of chips, “we’re a group of the more powerful of our kind. All of us are bonded or have hit the level at which we no longer need to fear the need to feed. We’ve got so many spies set to watch us, and in such a world, hiding transactions for simple supplies is just a waste of energy and time better spent hiding transaction for other things. But you see, since we’re not hiding it, we’re using it to send a message to our enemies.”
It’d hit her suddenly, and she couldn’t help but admire the thoughtfulness and subtly of such a message. By only buying the best of everything and not seeming not to care for the price (Sakura hadn’t bothered haggling all that much), they were showing any spies that they had plenty of money and resources in stock. To not bother hiding it would mean that they were confident enough in their abilities to not even bother with trickery.
It was deep message, almost non-existent, but it was still there. Tenten had blinked a bit dazedly, wondering if she would ever be able to follow all the swirls in the worlds of shadows and more shadows. One would have to be a genius to follow every single little thing, to figure out every single little message that might or might not be there. Calculation, probabilities, information, spy networks… Tenten found her respect for Sasuke and the Shadows under his command growing steadily as she learned more and more about them.
-
By the time Hinata got back to her room, she was trembling. Several parts of her skin still tingled with that delightful feeling that his oh so gentle touch had brought. Sasuke had suddenly paused, frowning as he told her stay where she was. That said, he’d suddenly disappeared and Hinata had been left with nothing other than her own pounding heart and burning skin.
She’d run.
Plopping herself down on her bed, Hinata stared up at the ceiling, sprawled over the comfortable surface. It was amazing, really, the kind of response he managed to coax out of her body. Again, Hinata was suddenly reminded of a memory that she was sure wasn’t her own. A memory of a time with so much more heat… and much more intimate.
Reviewing the memory, Hinata promptly turned red, aghast that she even had this image in her head, never mind where she got it from. Still, it was so vivid… the caresses, the whispers, the moan and gasps… She felt her body tense and heat in a way she hadn’t thought possible.
More and more memories began to push themselves forward, and Hinata scrambled to keep them all in order. One here, two there. They were all mixed up, and they were definitely not all hers. But who else could that girl be, other than her?
Suddenly, there was a knock on her door. Hinata tensed, but relaxed when she realized the chakra signature was not Sasuke’s.
“Come in,” she called out. “The door’s unlocked.” She didn’t know why she had left it like that, but she hadn’t really wanted to lock it. Part of her still ached for his touch, and she didn’t know what to do with that part except lock it away deep inside of her. And leave the door unlocked so it would be easier for him to get in… though that wasn’t the reason, of course.
The door swung open, and in staggered her two very best friends, with very, very hostile looks on their face.
They’d found out.
“Oh dear,” Hinata mumbled.
-
It turned out she didn’t have anything to worry about. In regards to her little Sasuke problem, at least. However, Temari was in a fine mood, and Tenten wasn’t much better.
“Thatbastard,” Temari spat out with clear disdain. “How the fuck can he be so callous about the entire thing? I can’t believe him! The entire species is completely messed up!”
Tenten nodded in agreement, “I can’t believe that that even happened at all!”
Hinata stood off to the side, completely confused. “Wha...what?”
Two furious pairs of eyes suddenly shot in her direction. Hinata involuntarily took a step back, her hand coming up in a defensive position, eyes wide, expression unsure and hesitant.
Temari's mouth twisted into a wry grin, “No need to do that, Hinata. We're pissed at the damn Uchiha, not you.”
“O-oh,” Hinata stammered out. “What for...?”
The two exchanged a look. Tenten gave a little sigh, before launching into a quiet, sober explanation, “Remember that village we went to a long, long time back, Hinata? It was during a festival. Me, you, Temari... back when your family were still... y'know. Kinre. Children running in the streets, laughing. Us, going from stall to stall, running around and around. That other little girl with white eyes and that sad smile that we made a mission to turn into a sincere grin...” Tenten's voice trailed off, soft, wistful. She bit her lip, staring at the wall.
“That village is gone,” Temari supplied, voice low with controlled fury. “That village has been murder and hacked up and completely slaughtered. That village has seen the blood of all its inhabitants spilt by these Shadows.” Temari looked up, glaring at her own spot on the wall. Her expression was tight and hard as stone. “They killed them all. The old, the young, male, female, couples, pregnant women... they killed the children, Hinata. They butchered the goddamn children.”
Hinata was gone.
-
Sasuke wasn't surprised to see Hinata gone when he returned. It was Hinata, after all, and she was confused and thus he respected her need to be away from people - specifically, him. He didn't like it, but hey, he didn't really have much of a choice, now did he?
And thus, he was rather surprised when he turned around to confront whomever had once again burst into his room - and found her.
“Hinata,” he said carefully. Her eyes were a bit narrowed, confusion shining through. The door closed behind her.
“What,” she said, voice with an unnatural edge, “is this I hear about Kinre?”
‘Ah. So she heard about that. No wonder…’ “Kinre was massacred,” Sasuke told her bluntly. “It was destroyed. It’s people were murdered in cold blood. Every last one of them.”
“Did you know about the attack?”
Silence.
“You did.”
“Yes.”
“Youbastard.”
“What would you have me do?” Sasuke snapped back, an icy fire in his eyes. “I had no idea it would be this severe. I had no idea the attack would cause damage to this scale.”
Silence.
“Is that not enough for you, Hinata?”
Narrowed eyes. Lifted chin. Pale porcelain face. She couldn’t believe she had let this… this Shadow touch her.
“No.”
She left again.
-
“Did you have fun with that, Anko?”
The woman turned, grinning at the sight of silver-haired Kabuto. “But of course,” she purred, “I always do.” They were in her quarters, back at the base. She was at the door of her bathroom, only a towel wrapped around her, just having finished a shower. She could still hear the wonderful shrieks from the people she had killed, the melodious sobs and pleads of mercy. She knew what Kabuto had come for, and could not think of a better follow-up.
He walked towards her, where she leaned against the doorframe, grinning wickedly. Her towel had begun to slip but she made no effort to catch it. As he stopped, a mere breath away, the cloth fell to the ground. Her arms lifted, and she pressed her body to him as she pulled his head down to hers. She bit his bottom lip, then pulled away, knowing how alluring her nude figure looked to him.
“Take off those cloths, Kabuto.”
“Gladly.”
In the back of his mind, there was a vague stirring as Hanabi’s name passed like a smoke in the wind, scattered to pieces. He didn’t even notice, as he and his lover slipped into the primal ritual solace they found in each other.
-
Life was confusing. Kakashi thought he’d understood thing. Apparently not.
He glared at the wall form his position sprawled over the bed in an seated position against the headboard. Itachi had gone out again. He was vaguely annoyed. The time he’d been able to spend with the other had slowly diminished. Kakashi had a wound, and thus, Itachi was just plain faster at whatever tasks Sasuke threw their way, or they decided to take on themselves. It was mainly information gathering, and while he knew Itachi would be fine without him, Kakashi didn’t like being away from him for so much time. It irked him.
“I’m back,” the soft words said, just a trace of exhaustion upon them. Itachi tossed a scroll nonchalantly on the table, taking off his cloak.
Kakashi’s eye flickered to the scroll. “What did you find?”
“I assume you already know Kinre’s gone? And I assume you’ve already connected this to that incident several years back?”
“Of course.”
“Well, that’s most of it right there. The rest is simply that, there are noticeable forces gathering in small, but strong groups to our north. Jiraiya and Tsunade’s whereabouts are currently unknown, as are that man’s. The attack on Kinre was clarified to have been led by Anko, and you know what that means.”
A sigh. Kakashi nodded. “Well, if that’s it, come here.”
For once, Itachi didn’t argue, and he sank into the silver-haired man’s arms. Exhaustion touched him more than physically apparent, and he was soon asleep. Kakashi sat there, playing with the black hair.
Kakashi changed his mind. He understood life.
He didn’t understand Sasuke.
-
No one did.
God knew Hinata didn’t, at least.
She was in her room, lying on her bed. She managed to get all the information she could out of Temari and Tenten, then gone to Neji in the training grounds, Ino and Chouji in the kitchens, Naruto and Sakura in the supplies room… none of them had given her enough to satisfy her, although she was slowly piecing together pieces of the whole. The situation was suddenly looking so much more complicated than she had once thought, and she was only looking at it from the outside!
Kinre was gone. Attacked by Anko, who was apparently the daughter of two very powerful Shadows. This was to send a message, although Temari hadn’t given up the information as to what the ‘message’ was, saying that Neji ( and thus, Sasuke ) had told her to be quiet about it. There were forces against Sasuke gathering in the north. Two Shadows who could apparently be very useful allies could not be found.
It wasn’t enough.
Only Sasuke knew it all, Hinata knew, but she refused to go back to him. He had known! And he could’ve prevented it! Even just Temari and Neji and Naruto would’ve been enough to make some kind of difference! They could’ve saved people! The village wouldn’t have been so utterly and completely demolished.
It was disgusting. They had been attacked by Shadows. Hinata understood that they were of a different group, but still! Sasuke could’ve done something, should have done something.
But…
Hinata had never heard of a Shadow raid that had caused such severe consequences. There were stories of fires, and murders, but never to this scale. A raid took the weak, but never children. A raid left raped young people bled dry, not a massacre. This… raid, was wrong. It was different.
“They wanted to send a message,” Temari explained, eyes dull and distant as she revisited the graveyard that had once been Kinre. “A message to Sasuke.”
What was so special about Kinre?
“I remember the old tales of Kinre. They used to have a powerful clan there, but they dwindled,” Hinata’s mother sighed. “I used to live there, Hinata-chan. But I fled, because I felt it was dangerous. And now, I think I’m the only one left.”
A clan…
“A clan with white eyes, and white skin. White hair, and white everything else. Then their bloodline got diluted.”
Where had that come from? Hinata didn’t know. But here eyes narrowed, turning this information around in her mind.
If their blood had been diluted, then would the pure white features disappear slowly over time? What if nothing had been left, but white eyes?
This was what Temari wouldn’t tell her, Hinata was certain of it. She had white eyes. Was this a message to tell Sasuke they knew he’d found her? Why was she so important? No, it couldn’t be that.
“Sister! Brush my hair for me, please? Mother’s sick and she can’t do it.”
Hanabi.
Hinata remembered the tales now. Of how a women who could See married into the clan and had children. Hanabi had always had a knack for knowing what would happen if they didn’t something. But Hinata thought Hanabi had been murdered in the raid on her house ages past. As far as she had known, only her, Temari, and Tenten, had survived.
“A Shadow’s Gift is really just a more powerful, magically amplified form of something the vampire already has within him or herself,” Ino told her. “So, a killer wouldn’t be given healing powers, neh?”
Hanabi knew what would happen if something happen. If she had been captured instead of killed, Changed, would her Gift have manifested itself as the ability to See? Whoever had Hanabi might possibly See through her.
“Kinre was a message. A message to Sasuke.”
No. That was wrong, Hinata realized with chilling clarity. Kinre wasn’t a message. It was an example. This is what will happen to you, the example said. This is what will happen if you defy us. You know it. We See it.
Hinata’s eyes closed despairingly. Who were they up against?
Sasuke would know.
Her eyes opened again as guilt began to set in. Sasuke hadn’t known, she realized now. Well he had, but he hadn’t known that the raid was to be made into an example. He’d probably gotten information of a normal raid, and that wouldn’t have dire consequences. He hadn’t known it would be a bloodbath. She’d been too hard on him.
Hinata slipped off her bed, and padded to the door.
He would be waiting for her.
-
Jiraiya sat outside the cave entrance. Tsunade was inside, deep in Reverie. She needed the rest, and the meditation, away from outside influences. She needed the distance to decide what she would be doing. So Jiraiya did what he could to help, and guarded her as she slept as only vampires could. She needed to be away from everyone, especially -
“You fucking bastard.”
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