Hime Murasaki
Chapter 7: Dazzling Distractions

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto in any sort of fashion. What, are you happy now?

AN: Yay, seven months of no update. I must have my reasons. This chapter is actually an abridged version of two chapters combined together. I actually had another MS Word document but I somehow deleted it and so I lost an entire chapter’s worth of work before I had to recreate it again with whatever I had left. Yeah, that alone took around 2 months, yes, while I had to work and hang out with friends, and play WoW, and among other vital things that would keep a guy like me occupied.

I haven’t discontinued any of my fics, I am just suffering from both writer’s block and major lack of motivation to do anything. I was thinking of taking in a lot of caffeine so I could have the energy to do anything, but that hadn’t been working as well as I hoped to imagine. And yes, I realized that Hime Murasaki (HM for short) is progressing at a not-so-high-energy level, and I am sorry for that since my ability to BS has obviously contributed to the rate of how this fiction is progressing. Anyhow, I hope to fix that, and probably by chapter 8 the pace would resume as normal –unless I have some very legitimate reason why I would want the flow to be any slower.

Without further excuses, I am here to present Chapter 7 of Hime Murasaki.

(Local Café, around 8PM)

I knew accepting Tenten’s offer was wise; in fact, it was mandatory. As expected, Hinata brought up this topic during dinnertime at a local café. Needless to say she was inviting to go as her partner for this rare and exotic festival that this town had lacked for many years. For such an occasion, one would want to bring someone that they truly wanted as their date, and I was this beautiful girl’s lucky choice.

If I was Uzumaki Naruto of the retarded, perhaps I would’ve jumped at this opportunity and love Hinata for caring so much. As Sawachika Iori, the offer was welcoming but not exciting.

Sadly for her, I had caught the eyes of more women than she thought. Women were observant creatures, and some were just more initiative than others. After all, the early bird gets the worm.

Once she placed her offer, I had no choice but to reject it. Of course, she questioned my reasons, not understanding why I would discard such a chance to have fun, and more so regarding if she was the actual reason of my decision, as though she served as a problem. Hinata was starting to feel that she wasn’t wanted, which was not true by any means, and as her ‘self-inconfidence’ got the better of her I told her the story. Even though my points were quite valid and held no other motives, it didn’t mean that Hinata had to like what she heard, nor take the news calmly.

In fact, Hinata was outraged that it was Tenten who found me first, and she even had this look of morbid hatred for the woman as though she was betrayed. Tenten knew, Hinata said in her exasperated anger, that she wanted to ask me, and it was actually the very first thing she wanted to do once she got back to the cottage but she had to put the groceries away. Hinata cursed that it was by sheer luck that Tenten wanted to go in the backyard during that hour, and it was solely by chance that I was napping there (after tremendous sessions of erotic lovelmaking) and the two of us meeting another was nothing but a coincidence that Hinata was dying to experience herself. She blamed it on fate, on how it was toying with her, and the volume of her desperation just got heavier.

Today was one of those days where I kept my mouth shut, only spoke when spoken to, and speak when I was asked to speak. Hinata was angry, and I was sure that she was going to throw a fit of tantrums if I did not know how to deal with her properly. She even cried a little bit, too, catching some of the male population in this café, wondering what made one of the village beauties shedding tears and at the same time automatically assuming that I was at fault. Indirectly, yes, it was my doing –not that they needed to know that much.

“Hinata…” I choked on my milk tea. “Don’t cry… there is always next time…” I wish I sounded more empathetic, but the truth was, of course, that I was way too happy that I managed to avoid her fully on the big day. I could not laugh, I had to hold it in, and my God it was hard, and these lips of mine continually made an effort to curl upward, tempting me to crack.

“Next time?” she responded, and it suddenly made my temptation to laugh vanish in less than an instant. I became vigilant and aware that her tone was bitter and cold, a trait that did not fit well with her personality. However, that didn’t mean that she did not possess such a skill, and she was as feisty as she was dangerous especially with that snarl of disgust, hopefully it wasn’t directed at me. “Don’t give me that crap. There is no next time.”

“You don’t know that…”

“You aren’t coming back. You said so yourself.”

“There is always Sai and Kiba that would be more than happy to take you-”

“I don’t want them to take me. I want you.” And she stated with such a determined finality.

Such a provocative statement indeed, and the girl didn’t even blush or stutter even once as she stated it. She was honest with her feelings for certain, perhaps I should congratulate her for overcoming her fears rather than continue treading on the subject that she practically confessed that she held intimate feelings for me. In some ways, I was glad to be someone’s star; it made me feel vital and needed.

“Hinata, you’re good friend…”

“Aren’t good friends allowed to take another to festivals? Is it against some sort of unwritten customary laws of friendship?”

“It is because you are my friend that I don’t want to ruin-”

“Ruin?” she interrupted me sharply. “Naruto-kun, there is nothing to ruin, there is only more to gain.”

My eyes could not help but to open up, even if it were for a brief second, I knew Hinata noticed it and hid that fact from me in the best way she could by not reacting at all. Another bold statement, one that heavily placed elaboration regarding that she wanted more than friendship and was more than able to provide if I gave her the chance. Confidently speaking, Hinata was more than capable to offer more than just friendship, given her gentle nature, and a set of lust that could make any relationship exciting and addictive. She was, in lack of a better term, an incredible girl that any male should be desiring for and yet she planned to show this side to one selective person.

I knew this special person was I, no doubt. The tension was way too evident between us that I was surprised that I wasn’t suffocating.

“All of this is insane,” I said, making everything sound more generalized and simplified so I wasn’t hinting on what I thought was ridiculous. “Hinata, if you really want to accompany me, then I can just cancel it with Tenten and say that I owe you a lot in many ways and going with you would be more appropriate. How does that sound?”

Hinata, however, was not touched by the slightest. “A pity date? Save it, Naruto-kun. I want to have my pride, can you please not rob the only thing that I still have that is keeping me sane?” The way she said those words made my face fell with guilt. I didn’t think I would actually feel that way with her, but whatever she said did make an impact and it was lingering with no intention of fading. I made her miserable, and for what I asked? Hinata didn’t want to rape anyone, she just wanted to have fun with her friend and she couldn’t even do that when her wishes weren’t anything unreasonable. She didn’t even get it, and so what could she wish for?

I shouldn’t even be feeling this way, yet I was, continually pondering why I was such an ass tonight. Was I feeling something for this girl? No, that couldn’t be true. It must’ve been that cute sad face of hers doing all the work. No way could I really have this feel with Hyuuga Hinata; it could not be allowed (but not forbidden).

“Well, a shinobi always has their pride, and wouldn’t I be a monster if I was that cruel and inconsiderate to take the only thing that you value most?” I said while gesturing a fellow waitress to pass me the bill so I can pay for it. We both had finished our meals around half and hour ago and now we were hogging the café’s seats, and I was sure some of the customers waiting in line were irritated at our lingering, yet made no comment when Hinata seemed to be crying earlier. “It’s my treat, by the way.”

“I can’t let you do that,” said the Hyuuga girl, reaching into her jacket pocket for her wallet that was near her breasts. “It wouldn’t be fair. I’ll pay my share.”

“I promised to treat you tonight, remember? You’ll make me look bad as a gentleman if you insist on paying.”

“Alright,” she gave in with a sigh. “At least you still have that attitude that makes you so special.”

“Keeping promises is considered special?” I questioned with a smirk. “I am just doing something that I am supposed to do. No one wants to be a bad friend, Hinata. Come on, we should go, some of the people are getting pissed at how we’ve been hogging this table.” I extended my hand for her to hold it.

Without saying another word, Hinata latched onto my arm instead, squeezing it to cut off the blood circulation with her cute hands and luscious body, mostly her heavenly pair of breasts that was actually large on her delicate frame. Instead of behaving rudely, I only poked the girl’s forehead once as we exited the restaurant gracefully, Hinata’s beauty and wonderful giggles capturing many men who seemed to look at us with hints of envy.

Overall, to be brutally honest with everyone who might be reading my eventful escapades, Hinata was fun to be with. On our walk home, we actually had a good conversation, subjects involving clean things and not so clean things. She was no bore, I knew that even back from our old days, yet never would I thought that she would be able to break that timid barrier to this degree.

Just when I thought the best part of this evening with her was to spend some quality time alone in her cottage, have a bit of dessert, play some games of any kind, my hopes were immediately shattered when I saw two figures standing at the porch. The one on the left was a slim woman with beautiful long blond hair, her front was long enough and brushed to a way that it covered over half her face, leaving with only a bit of her nose, lips, and one light blue eye showing. Yamanaka Ino really knew how to make herself mysterious and pretty.

As much as I liked to compliment Ino, if she was here then that only meant that the second person was the person that I desperately needed to avoid, even more so than Hyuuga Hinata.

My heart felt like it virtually stopped beating for a few seconds, then thumped uncontrollably like a rush. Calm down, Naruto, I told myself in my head as a bead of sweat formed on my temple and ran down my cheek, this isn’t your first heart attack… you can do this… you’ve done it before like a pro…

“Hinata!” Ino exclaimed with girlish glee as she ran from the porch and greeted the two of us. Sakura didn’t make a sound and followed suit by walking instead. “Ooo, aren’t you cuddling too close to Iori-san here? You two look so cute together!”

“Come on,” I said, “I just took her out to dinner, and then she insisted that we stay this close to another.”

“See, she likes you!”

“I was just cold,” Hinata said playfully.

“I could’ve given you my jacket, Miss Hyuuga…” I reminded her.

“I like this better,” the Hyuuga princess stated and held me tighter. She really liked hugs, it seems. Instead of standing here with a girl attached to me like a little pest, I took the initiative to invite the two guests in despite I was screaming at myself for actually giving Sakura a reason to linger around longer.

Once we made it to the living room, Sakura chose to comment. “In spite how… good…” Sakura spoke with disdain. “… how good you two look together right now, we need to discuss something quite important.”

“Like what?” questioned Hinata with great curiosity.

“We need to plan when we are going to do shopping for the grand festival of course. A girl must look most splendid on such occasions, not giving your best is as serious as sinning against yourself.”

I blinked once, and with a good cause. Did Sakura try to use uncommon words to make her statement brilliant? Such an attempt only spoke of her desperation to create a better image; of course now it was all ruined when I saw through her little ploy. “Wait a second…” I mumbled. “What are you talking about?”

“Girls don’t cut themselves short if they are to show off themselves, Sawachibi, and so the three of us must work our hardest for the big day. You don’t want Hinata to look ugly now, would you?”

I smiled despite myself. “Of course not…”

“Glad you see things my way. We are going to plan our future shopping trip now, and since you are a guy, you couldn’t possibly comprehend the vitality of this planning, so I am afraid that I am going to have to ask you to excuse yourself.”

What a bitchy way of getting rid of me. If I weren’t disgusted with her, I would’ve attacked her for being so insolent. If I acted on my emotions, then I wouldn’t be able to gracefully exit if I did something that rash, so I decided against it. Besides, if she offered me the perfect chance to leave, why would I throw it out the window?

“Point taken,” I said, as I disengaged from a now pouting Hinata, which a sight that made me grin, “I’ll leave this evening in your hands then, Sakura.”

“Ah, I am glad you agreed.”

Hinata, however, had other plans. “No,” the Hyuuga princess stated and took my hand in hers. “He’s staying.”

“What?” Sakura and I said simultaneously in spite that our tone was quite different. Didn’t Hinata sense that both of us wanted me to leave?

“Of course Iori-san has to say,” Ino reasoned. “He is Hinata’s date, and I bet he must be so anxious to see her in something cute!”

Not in your life, woman…

“Ino… I am not Hinata’s date…” I told her slowly. Ino and Sakura both paused, but their expressions were completely unlike another’s. Ino was just wide-eyed and a bit shocked; Sakura was dead silent. That silence was what bugged me.

“He is Tenten-nee-san’s date,” Hinata finished the rest for me, her tone dripped with a bit of envy, yet overall it sounded like she gotten over the fact that I was going with Tenten and not her.
“Wow, Tenten got to him first?” Ino clarified. “Damn, Hinata, I thought you would’ve found him before anyone when you two practically live with another. How did you let this slip up? You weren’t initiative enough, right? Holy, I can’t believe you managed to fuck this up!”
“I don’t see this as fucking up,” retorted Hinata, her grip on my hand increased despite by the topic of this conversation Hinata should be keeping her distance if I was already occupied. “Iori-kun could spend more time with other friends, Ino, I am not his only friend, you know.”

Well played, Hinata… Your attempt to mask your true feelings for me would not go unnoticed; especially those words were clearly maddening to you. Just my friend, you say? No, you want more, you need more than that, little girl. Were those words earlier pure anguish? It certainly looked like it, your left eye was twitching as you said it, and you know you can’t hide anything from my careful observations.
“Whatever you say, Hinata, whatever you say…” Ino waved it away, clearly not convinced but had no power to persuade Hinata to admit anything.

Haruno Sakura, on the other hand, was miraculously and devastatingly outraged.
“That bitch is taking you out?!” Sakura roared, demanding me to respond honestly. That outburst caused the other two girls to jump whereas I moved and took a step back.

Now was the time to be afraid…
“Miss Tenten is not a bitch,” I defended Tenten’s honour and reputation willingly.
“She is, and you know she is when she crawled right under Hinata’s nose and asked you out!”
I wasn’t going to take any of this crap. “That’s ridiculous! Crawled under Hinata’s nose… that’s absurd. What, is she not allowed to ask a friend out? Who the hell made you the boss of her life? Is she supposed to come to you every single time she makes a decision? You don’t play God with anyone’s life, ugly hag!”

“That bitch yelled at me today at the club!”

“Because you were a fucking sore loser! You don’t go telling people what to do or what they can’t do, because you have no right. You don’t go on a rampage when you lost a game where you don’t lose a thing if you don’t win! You don’t make a total fucktard out of yourself and your friends by simply exploding and neglecting where the hell you were; you were at a clubroom, not your home! Just because Hinata and I are good friends, that doesn’t mean that we are a couple. She has no commitments to me, and I don’t expect her to. Start worrying about your own issues before you start making a mess out of someone else’s. I bet you don’t even have a partner for the festival!”

Hinata gasped loudly at that direct insult whereas Ino tried to be as small as a mouse. Was it me or did Hinata’s hand feel really cold all of a sudden? She even seemed to have suffered from some sort of magical chill, frozen so in place that I was almost convinced that she turned into a statue. This room was filled with a lot of tension now, really, was it something I said?

Then it all happened.
“You fucking scumbag!” screamed Sakura with evident hate smearing all over her expression, causing her to look like a vile witch that cursed herself with her reckless magic. “First you denied that you have done wrong and now you accuse me of not having a date? I hate you!”

She then took the lamp that was on the side table and whipped it at me. With amazing reflexes that I did not even know I possessed, I caught the piece of furniture with only my left hand and then tossed it right at the small mountain of cushions that was on the loveseat a several feet away from me. Sakura didn’t stop there. Taking the next best thing, she then lifted the side table and flung it right at Hinata and I with full force, attempting to kill us both although I was quite sure that Sakura only meant to kill me.

Releasing Hinata immediately, I raised a leg to make a twisting roundhouse kick that shattered the table into useless pieces of wooden junk. I winced at the contact, for the power she used to throw was immense, and I was silently glad that my body could withstand such pressure –all thanks to Kera.

Sakura would not stop this easily. She was going to throw another piece of furniture for sure until there was no more to toss. Once that happened, she would level this place to create a cave in, burying anyone unfortunate alive. There was no telling how far she would go.

If she wanted to fuck up her life, then at least don’t try to ruin others’! I didn’t know what hit me but I knew that I reacted for the sake of protecting this small cottage that Hinata worked hard to call a home.

A home was something even I wanted… and I couldn’t see it being destroyed regardless of who it belonged to!

“Come on!” I screamed in fury, take one boosting step before ejecting myself towards Sakura and reached for her collar. Sakura gasped at my speed. As I nearly ripped her zipped up red outfit with my aggressive grab, I immediately pulled her harshly (just so she couldn’t fight back for that one second) before hurling her right towards the porch. For once, I was glad that none of us bothered to close the door when we entered.

Sakura landed disgracefully on her back, unable to recover in time to avoid impact.

This was not over.

She made sure of it.

“Omaie (You)… Itzumo (Always)… itzumo, itzumo!” Sakura screamed in rage, jumping back onto her feet and lashed out for me at deadly speeds. I winced at the murderous intent before I leapt forward, jumping above and over her as her reckless rampage attacked nothing but thin air. That did not stop her, however, since she whirled around and tried again in more fervour and determination. Those eyes even splashed a devious shade of blood.

Pulling Seraphim out of Her sheath, I immediately pointed my blade towards Sakura and fired one Stun Edge beam at the incoming obnoxiousness. I blasted with a good doze of ki and chakra infused in the beam, and my usually half-closed eyes widened in stun when my attack practically fizzled upon contact. Okay, maybe fizzled wasn’t the right word… she resisted my attack. Her obnoxiousness made her charge right through it as if it wasn’t an obstacle to be avoided.

“Kuso…” I swore as I leaped backwards to dodge a punch where she made a small crater out of it when it hit. I sensed no chakra emitting from her body, then was she just so ridiculously powerful in nature? Or was it that she was able to conceal the fact that she was using chakra? No, Sakura was no master at subtlety, so it couldn’t have been the latter.

“Stop running away!” Sakura roared in a bloodthirsty frenzy.

I switched to my defensive stance and expected to take the blow (or defend against it) once I found myself not able to be as agile as her. Charging up Seraphim with lightning energies that spread out into a form of a shield, Sakura punched right into the safeguard of raw electricity, which should’ve shocked her back in return for touching something hazardous. Whether my lightning shield was damaging her as she unwisely smashed her fist into it, I couldn’t tell the difference if her zeal was as incredible as ever.

Sakura kept on smashing, giving blow after blow on the lightning shield, making great effort to break the shield before her hands could grab my neck to strangle out the life from me. The shield was clearly losing strength as the chakra was depleting quicker than I could regenerate.

I had to react fast.

Suddenly, out of boldness, I slammed the Seraphim (in Her shield form) right into Sakura’s chest, making sure that the timing was accurate as she pulled back. I struck her cleanly in the chest, dazing her in the process as a great surface area of her body made contact with electricity. If she wasn’t feeling pain back then, well, she was now, evidence from her screaming. Deactivating the energies to form the shield, I pulled Seraphim back and held in offensively, simultaneously switched into a more aggressive stance and make a forward flip to keep up the melee distance.

It really did not hurt if the method I used to follow her was also an offensive attack. As I flipped, my feet were already empowered with lightning, and I did not hesitate to use my heel to slam her shoulder blades. The ‘Reverse Cresent’ was always such a convenient move, and the usefulness only reflected from the torturing cries as heel hit body.

And to follow up, I wildly smashed her gut with another violent kick just in case.

Sakura’s reaction was immediate; she curled up, making vomiting sounds but not necessarily spewing out anything yet I could sense that she was close in doing so. Or so I thought. Once my leg was within reach of her hands, yes, I should’ve been really careful regarding her hands, she captured my extended foot and gripped onto it hard. If I did not have any shinobi or warrior training, she would’ve broke my leg for sure.

And the worst was yet to come.

Hinata gasped (nearly screamed in fact) in absolute horror at what happened next.

The abomination then yanked me right towards her, and if I was smaller than her, which I wasn’t since I was towering over her by at least six inches when we stood up properly, then she might’ve crushed me with her incredible strength in a body hug. In my case, it was not so possible, and therefore she resorted in whirling me like she would to a boomerang and relentlessly threw me towards the forests. My back slammed hard into a tree before I let out a painful grunt and fell butt first to the ground.

“Kuso…” I groaned out in a natural way, as though swearing was my way of living, in which it was technically. Despite throwing me like a toy just now, Sakura still intended to rip out my guts before playing jump ropes with my intestines. And what better way to claim these jump ropes than by getting it herself? In that spirit, she ran for me with rage and passion, now dedicated to tear up my body to gain her just reward.

“Iori-kun!” Hinata could no longer withstand the reality before her and screamed out my name, trying her hardest, yet not stupid enough to stand in the middle of Sakura’s blood frenzy to get herself brutally wasted, to get her voice reaching my ears if that did anything to help. “Hang on!”

“It would be a lot better if you came to help me…” I grunted with clear agitation, but my words failed to reach her from our distances. Not that I wanted her to hear it, of course, since I was not to fond of imagining Hinata willing to commit suicide for my sake. Besides, my attention was immediately stolen when I noticed that Sakura did not stop in her pursuit; hell, she seemed to be accelerating to get into melee range sooner, and to prove it she had her right hand reaching out like a claw, ready to slash out the first things (whether it was my face and my manhood, which both were precious for two completely different reasons) those fingers touched. I instantly jumped away to the left, not pondering about my pride for a second, and successfully avoided a possible death when I saw her making the tree timber when claws slashed bark.

The entire tree fucking fell over! And it still had four deep wounded claw marks on them! My skin was nowhere as hard as a tree, even the baby ones, and coldsweat instantly formed rapidly as my imagination pictured the possible horrors. Seriously, I could’ve been cleaved to pieces just now if my body did not possess such reflexes.

What happened next even made Kera’s eyes open up fully, to see Sakura suddenly lifted the fallen tree, swung it once, then twice, and lastly grinned at her possession of the new gigantic weapon. Despite the size, she was holding it like the weight of a regular baseball bat, and those sporting equipments weren’t terribly heavy.

How I wanted to buckle down on my knees and beg for mercy. My pride, however, suggested against it.

“Shi-ne-nassai! (Die)” roared the prodigy of Tsunade, wondering what the Hokage even saw in this barbaric beast. Too bad I wasn’t the Hokage, or else I would’ve demanded my student to be someone with reasonable taste. Next, she swung the tree at me with full force, nearly having enough power to gust up a whirlwind under that raw power. I obviously did not just stand there waiting to be struck, so I jumped high to the skies, hoping that my evasion would not fail me and grant me safety. Luckily, my timing was so good that Sakura only managed to swipe the air under my feet, and it was most unlucky for me when Sakura pulled back, the tree club rushing right at me from my left.

She smashed me hard, like a bus just ran over me at sixty miles an hour. I was shot up in the air, very much like how victims were sent airborne if something of great speeds hit them, totally vulnerable, completely defenceless, and Sakura licked her lips deliciously as she pulled back her massive weapon and whacked a homerun, with my body serving as that baseball where fans would do everything in their power to catch and scream like little fangirls once they did.

I didn’t notice until a second later, but Sakura did not hit me far away, she was aiming for hitting me high so the damage would be significant when I reached ground zero. The five seconds of rest (if I could call it that) did not help me regain my strength, and instead I disgracefully, poorly, shamefully crash landed five feet before Hinata and spewing out the most amount of blood yet.

“Iori-kun!” Hinata rushed to my aid, kneeling and checked on my health and stability. “My goodness…” The timid girl gasped when the ground thundered, a result from Sakura releasing the destroyed tree.

“Get away from him!” commanded Sakura, slowly coming for my body with intimidation and expected the Hyuuga girl to listen. “He’s mine!” Usually, this sort of provocative statement was used in a welcoming circumstance, but inviting me to meet my death was, in more ways than one, a horrible prospect.

“You’ve done enough!” Hinata yelled, surprised at herself for a newfound courage to stand up to this monster. Ino paled up, completely angry with herself for not able to aid Hinata and I despite how much she wanted to. “What did Iori-kun do to you? Nothing! I will never forgive you if you killed him!”

“This bastard…” Sakura stomped on my spine once to make her point. “Always… always making trouble… always doing things that is not in your favour… I will teach him!”

“No!” the Hyuuga princess firmly stated, which caused Sakura to send a glare of disbelief and rage. “You will not hurt Iori-kun! You don’t know how good he is as a friend and as a person… How could you do this!?”

“Good person?” challenged Sakura, right before she roared. “Naïve you are! You know nothing!”

With one swing of her arm, Sakura smacked Hinata across the cheek and stumble on the ground a few yards away. What triggered me to open my bloody eyes was when Hinata yelled out in pain. I didn’t expect this to happened, but I was deathly angry once I saw Hinata being struck.

Kuso… who the hell did she think she is… Just because she had superhuman strength, she believes that she could just abuse them? Cleaving me…? Murdering me…? Hurting Hinata when she just wanted to make peace…? This bitch… she would murder Hinata right after she dealt with me… Sakura was going to kill off my only asset in my plan… she made a fool out of Seraphim’s user… I could hear Seraphim’s mocking laugh as my negativity sank in… She must’ve been losing confidence in my abilities… Seraphim would abandon me… I would be left defenceless and to rot… and someone unworthy would claim Seraphim from me… and just because of this repulsive maniac with an untold arrogance!

I hate her…

I will kill her…

She would learn to never fuck around with me!

I slammed my grasping hand near my eyes and forehead and gripped on my skull like a maniac. “Kuso… Kimi-wa… Ore-ga! (Damn it… You… I will!)”

My eyes opened to reveal a deathly flash of red.

I suddenly jumped to my feet, my expression resembled a maniac’s, glaring hatefully at Sakura as I gripped on to Seraphim before charging at the bitch dangerously. Sakura was dumbstruck, clearly did not anticipate such a risky counter at such an intimate distance, and before she knew it I slashed her shoulder with a one-handed overhand swipe. A terrified gasp escaped her lips as the pain kicked in, followed up by my left foot that made a slicing kick right to her face. Pulling my right arm to go across my front, I attacked her with something that looked like a reverse hand slap, yet it was obviously not a slap if I had a sword in hand. Sakura screamed as the electrified blade slashed right above both her breasts, and just when she thought everything was over I nailed her left hips with a heavy spin kick, knocking her a several feet away.

“Koi-ete! (Take this!)” I shouted a battle cry that energized me, if not briefly. Taking matters into my own hands, I fired off the electrical charges from Seraphim, calling them Stun Edge. To my disbelief, Sakura rolled to the right to dodge, causing my attack to miss by a whole margin. Getting irritated, I leaped high to the skies and fired beam after another in a style of a lightning shower. Sakura might’ve dodged the first Stun Edge, but the second hit her directly at the back, sending a very unpleasant thrill of electrocution. As she stayed still from the pain, I did not hesitate to attack some more, each Stun Edge drilling into her, shocking her very core, endlessly tormenting her for all the damage she had done to me.

“Damn you, damn you, damn you!” I yelled my cursed in a roar, now relenting in torturing Sakura. Then I energized Seraphim with much more power than normal, but not to a degree where it would be deathly lethal. “One more blast…!”

“Kono… getting all cocky…” Sakura grunted in her pain, silently gathering up her strength.

“Like I’ll let you!” I recklessly released the concentrated beam downward.

“How dare you do that to me!” Sakura howled with heated fury, but it was cut short with an explosion. Ino and Hinata quickly searched for some cover, where as I dived down to the clouds of burnt smoke to attack the energy presence I still sensed within. Today… I had to get her for sure! In a wild fervor, I jousted Seraphim right in, hoping to hear flesh being pierced apart. I did hear something though… a scrape. I only glanced her… that means I missed. I could’ve sworn I heard Sakura snicker, but the smoke blocked my vision, and it proved to be even more of a problem when a fist came out of it and socked me right in the face.

With a force like that, it was a miracle that my jaw didn’t break. Once more, I crashed ungracefully to the ground before rolling a several more time, and then trying hard to recap what just happened. No, that would be pointless, of course it was Sakura’s doing, and simultaneously I realized that Sakura was no longer inside the smoke, her energy was detected elsewhere.

“Die!” A cry came from above. So Sakura was trying to gain a height advantage and using gravity as her weapon to make her heel stomp a crushing blow, promising to break anything apart in its path and turn it into dust if that was even realistically possible.

Not the best time to wonder about that now, of course, not when Sakura was not shy to enhance her abilities.

“Kuso…!” I cursed, my body completely acting on its own to provide me with an evasive back flip, causing Sakura’s stomp to create a small crater but dealing no damage to me whatsoever.

“Damn it!” the pink haired girl screamed out in frustration. “Why can’t you just die?!”

I switched to my offensive stance quickly. “You’re the one to talk…” I pointed Seraphim right at her, the tip already glowing with energy. “Seraphim… Nightmare!” Sakura’s face filled with terror at the incoming attack that was meant to completely annihilate her, the sky blue essence, beautiful and dangerous, piercing blast of pure death. The best part of it was how Sakura was engulfed in the entire lightning blast; she didn’t even bother to dodge it! My happiness was short lived once I saw white smoke pops from her direction, it reminded me of bunshins when they explode upon a clean hit.

Shimata! She must’ve used the duplication process as a source of evasion!

The nerve of her…

“Just as I thought… You are nothing!” I shouted out with a maniac-like laugh.

That was all the encouragement she needed to manipulate her wrath.

A tortured yell came from my right, knowing that must be Sakura with a crazed look for desiring my blood. I sidestepped just in time to avoid a kunai jamming into my kidney, which would kill me without question. As her body zoomed by my own, leaving her vulnerable to any sort of attack, I seized this chance and raised my knee upward to smash into her gut. Even as blood left her lips I wouldn’t have cared, so I kicked her hard at the same spot to make sure she stood up right (despite the pain) before I attempted to joust Seraphim into her again so She (Seraphim) could taste the reward of sweet blood.

“Owari-da! (It’s over!)” I cried out in excitement, finally today was the day that Haruno Sakura will die. Spinning Seraphim on my fingertips a several times, I gripped onto the handle tightly, making sure that I would not lose my hold, then finally rushing the electrified sharp end towards her face. Again, Sakura moved her head the other way just in time that I didn’t even manage to pierce through her ear, and needless to say I would pay for making such an obvious opening. Without manipulating any chakra, since Sakura had extreme physical strength, which was abnormal, she jammed her fist right into my ribs.

Vomiting was my first reaction; lots of blood escaped my mouth when the initial force was beyond human tolerance. I was surprised that I was still able to breathe after all this.

Even if I was in pain, this was still a good position for me. Sakura might be like an impenetrable tank, but having such an intimate distance with me would never have good results. I faked to lean forward, my upper body helplessly fell on Sakura’s left shoulder, and she even smirked once she found me defenceless. Did she think that she won? It was far from it. My left hand rose from being limp before opening it to attach right on her right breast.

I didn’t grope her though, since there wasn’t anything much to grab.

Hinata’s, on the other hand, goodness, that would be a heaven…

“Thunder Javelin…” I said in a horrid voice, blasting the energies I gathered right at her in a form of a white beam. It toasted her at the chest, shocking her to a degree where she never even thought electricity could produce right before the force blasted her away. Sakura screamed in agony, clearly she did not expect such a bold attack from someone so confrontational and direct.

“Nanda-kore-wa… (What was that…)” Sakura choked out her words, feeling her right side of the body was burning in pain, she needed to hold her right arm with her left just to feel secure.

I wasn’t going to let her rest though. “Thunder Javelin,” I announced flatly, my palm blasting another crippling white beam, this time aiming for her left side of the body. The bitch didn’t even scream, for she couldn’t. All she was able to let out was a pained wheeze, her mouth was wide open but nothing came out, her feet were shuffling clumsily like she was going to fall on her ass, and as she was struggling I was inhaling pretty heavily since I was feeling drained.

Thunder Javelin was a semi-perfect jutsu. It deals amazing damage, yet the cost of the jutsu was too high for that level of lethality. If I continued to blast with it, I would be putting my own life in danger by depleting my ki and chakra. What pissed me off was that it drained both energy sources, but as long as I partially disabled the monstrosity before me, I guess the two blasts were worth the minor exhaustion.

With both of Sakura’s sides messed up, this would be the perfect opportunity to put an end to our little game of unnecessary rivalry. Spinning Seraphim once around my fingers, then gripping onto her firmly, I powered up the blade with a lethal amount of energy, stepping slowly forward to the prey who I was about to slay, finally ending all the misery she had made me go through for the past few days. Since my back was turned to Hinata and Ino, they failed to see the satisfied grin on my face, a true replica of dark evil, something that made my blood alive, and yes they would be strikingly frightened if they dared to lay eyes on me.

“Nani-dayo omira… (Who the hell are you?)” Sakura seethed through her teeth, taking in deep breaths as her agony continued to burn her.

“I am Sawachika Iori, Haruno Sakura… It was fun while it lasted…” As I was now towering over her with both my tall height and the fact that she was on the ground, I pointed a charged sharp end at the ungraceful Sakura, preparing myself to end this little charade that lasted for a number of days.

Not giving any warning, not even a smile, I fired, followed up by a massive ki explosion that had the strength to eliminate anything that was remotely fragile. Hinata and Ino shrieked simultaneously at the power, somewhat worried about Sakura’s well being and their own safety, although I wondered if Hinata actually found some delight seeing Sakura’s final demise. After all, Hinata must’ve found Sakura to be some sort of rival despite that it was only one-sided during our young days, and how Sakura relentlessly tried to kill Uzumaki Naruto at any given opportunity should create an untold amount of anger than admiration.

“Did I get her?” I asked myself out loud.

My answer was given when the right side of my vision saw a flashing red. To increase my dilemma, my left side did the same, including the top part of my eyes. I was completely surrounded! They were Kage Bunshins, and trying to triple team me…

Four kunais were whipped at me from each humanoid, making a dozen of them in total, aiming all for the different vital enough spots that would either kill me or immobilize me so I can be killed later. Switching into my defensive stance, I instantly leaped backward, causing the shower of daggers from the sides to miss mostly while two of them still struck Seraphim’s energized shield due the angle problem while the aerial assault ones were completely nullified by the electric currents before exploding into useless scrap fragments.

The Sakura in front of me then gave a wild punch to the shield, and even when I tried to stand my ground with Seraphim taking most of the force away, the brutality of the pink haired kunoichi was proven too much as I was forced to take steps back. As I attempted my best to get a solid footing, another humanoid, as I would call it, gave a wild kick. Blocking it seemed to be the most logical thing to do, so I did. Given that kicks usually held even more power than punches, I was sent flying a few yards away, my left arm now numb from the sheer attack power she had and Seraphim’s shield was rapidly weakening after taking too much damage.

I had to get in a ranged fight, given that I lacked the necessary strength to engage her in melee.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp kick right at my back as I was airborne. This had to be the worst blow yet, given that I had no protection whatsoever this time around. Oh my fucking god, it hurt like crap, and another blow would be quite enough to break my body in half from the spine.

Damn Sakura, I was sure that I got her from the last attack. She must’ve used the Bunshin transformation evasion technique again to cheat death.

Still airborne, my eyes, thanks to Kera’s vigilance and willingness to keep my safety as first priority, began its flashing again, once more coming from both directions at the sides. Kuso, her clones still weren’t dealt with yet…

Feeling rather impulsive, I swung Seraphim to make a 150 degree crescent-slash, hoping to strike both bunshins in one attack. Due to my prior carelessness, I timed my attack incorrectly, and to make matters worse than they already were, I made an evident opening. The Kage Bunshin Sakuras quickly took this as a chance as they both rotated their bodies with a small twist before whipping out their legs to smash my hip and the other striking my upper chest. In this scissors-like crush, I gasped in agony as I was sandwiched between two powerful legs right before they temporarily released me and smashed me in the face to send me downwards to the earth.

In three hits, my strength was starting to fade.

Someone in my head, however, did not feel the same way.

“You have to use it, Naruto!” yelled Kera as her words flowed in my head like a chaotic, brainwashing chant.

“It uses up too much chakra though,” I argued. “I haven’t fully mastered it like Night has!”

“You cannot afford to reveal Night,” Kera insisted with some force. “You just have to end the fight fast. Improvise then!”

Then, slowly, Kera disappeared from my mind.

Improvise… that was always our best resort, wasn’t it, it was our trademark…

Having no hesitation, I slammed pointed end of my sword to the ground before I hit bottom, using Seraphim as a support pole before using the freefalling momentum to whirl myself once and flinging my whole body back to the skies to engage the two Kage Bunshin Sakuras head on. Position my right hand to my left I made a quick backhand swipe, slashing the clone on my right cleanly in half. As for the other one, I hurriedly made a spinning kick by rotating my body to increase the momentum, and as luck would have it I hit that one in the face directly, causing it to disappear in a white cloud of smoke.

Now deadly enraged, Sakura, after gathering a great deal of chakra to her feet, ejected herself to the skies at frightening speeds, hoping to use this element of surprise and brutality to cut me in half with a combined effort of strength and agility when she had a kunai in hand. Using any momentum I generated earlier, I thrust my hips to pull my whole body away from Sakura when she zoomed by. I blasted one Stun Edge at her just to throw her off, knowing that in her healthy state it would be impossible to shoot her down.

To agitate, however, was something else.

As expected, Sakura blocked the beam by placing her left arm up front defensively, and while at the same time I was telling my body to commence another command: to flow my chakra into my belt pouch into the two long pistols. After receiving the energy charge, the two guns flew out of their safekeeping as they floated around me like miniature guardians that only served to protect the master. These were, in fact, identical to Night’s armaments. In one single order, the dual pistols fired out a thin lightning ray aimed directly at the poor girl. Luckily for her, since Sakura was descending the rays managed to miss her by inches.

Nigaska-ne-ze… (You won’t escape)

I then commanded my guns to pursuit her with the limited amount of power it had left, diving downward as it released a few more rays, all aiming at vital enough places to keep her still. Of course, Sakura had no intention to become a prey, and soon dodging became a primary concern if she wished to stay alive. Remembering that the guns had no more energy from the upper nozzle to shoot rays after seven shots, I smirked a little as I released the energies from the second nozzle in the form of an electric missile. The missiles struck the ground Sakura was standing on, erupting in a violent explosion that sent her flying a few yards backward, losing her needed composure in the process.

Seeing this perfect opening, the pistols launched the second missile from the grenade launcher nozzle at the bottom of the upper one, both flying directly at Sakura’s chest and exploding and electrocuting the victim once it made contact. The pistols then used the remaining energy to fly back to Seraphim, absorbing copious amounts of electrical chakra (due to my inexperience of wielding them) for two seconds before flying back toward Sakura, surrounding the girl before firing beams from above her and from the side.

For someone so reckless, she had a formidable skill in evading. Just watching her leap, dash, roll, pivot were enough to make me applaud her efforts for being so quick; I knew I was sadistic that way. What a dance it was, perhaps she could pursue a career in that path if she ever managed to survive this night with me. She tried to evade, she tried so hard too, and yet it was all in vain when the fifth beam scraped her shoulder once she made a duck, and that tiniest bit of hindrance caused the other pistol’s shot hit her effectively in the breasts, paralysing her for that one second as I took on this chance to take her down for good.

“Keep your eyes open, bastard!” I exclaimed with a sadistic happiness as I whipped out a crushing blade of raw lightning from Seraphim that was much more concentrated and powerful than normal. “Sacred Edge!”

The girl had no time to evade, so she only moved her energized arm across her chest to protect herself, hoping that it would reduce the damage done if she braced her body defensively. Sakura cried out sharply once the lightning blade first drilled right into her arm and after five seconds of ruthless brutality it exploded upon contact, completely destroying her defence and ruining her arm severely, the massive force shooting her farther away as her strength gave her no control to stop or brace herself for collision when her body virtually smashed itself to the ground.

She did try to sit back up, but I heard a terrible snapping sound when she applied minor weight on her terribly wounded arm. It was dislocated, not torn off unfortunately, but that in itself spoke of the outcome of this duel. In such a state, she was no longer able to continue –as if her ragged breathing wasn’t already a good sign. Critically weakened but still not defeated, Sakura attempted to find her composure, yet I would have none of that. Then two lightning missiles that struck her upper thigh and knee, and the impact shot Sakura down again to the ground pitifully, whimpering painfully as she did so, her only functional hand trying to ease all the parts of her body that were electrocuted or exploded upon but to no avail. Having that left arm barely able to move only added to the agony.

No, I got to hold it in… I can’t laugh yet… This was too much…! Just looking at her made me smirk right now, witnessing her crumpled up form, so defenceless and fragile, was impossible to keep my face straight right before I laughed out loud, even if it was no louder than a chuckle. So now the mighty Sakura was finally down, in spite that she was still conscious, only gasping and snivel occasionally when she moved a bit too much trying to nurse her wounds, and then cry out when I could see that she was trying to generate chakra to heal herself as I would blast her legs with the dual pistols that were still floating around the poor witch, ready to pursuit should she move from her spot.

Finally, things were going my way… This was the moment I had been hoping for!

“Well, well,” I said, spinning Seraphim around my fingers for one moment, then gripping it firmly on the next, my delight was reflected perfectly from my actions. “You have been a fierce contender, but your reign, I am afraid, has come to an abrupt end.” I knew she was at her limit for her fiery aura had died down considerably. Her will was still burning with enthusiasm, yet the body was clearly speaking otherwise, it was crying out in surrender and begging for my mercy which she did not deserve.

“Damn it…” cursed Sakura, angrily wiping her lips from the dirt.

“What’s the matter, woman,” I mocked my respect by calling her ‘woman’, “No more surprise attacks?”

“Fuck you…”

In most circumstances, I would’ve been a gentleman and stop this fight after my opponent was defeated. I rarely harmed people when they were unarmed or unable to battle. However, in this case it was different. Sakura was no opponent though; she was an enemy. She was unlike all my enemies, too, for she managed to live time after time from our encounters, causing severe troubles and injuries on every account, and then I would be nursed by Hyuuga Hinata so she could have more alone time with me… Yes, Sakura was the reason why Hinata had gotten so close to me, it was like a conspiracy, yes! Sakura and Hinata might have thought this through, to have Sakura wound me severely and then Hinata would come in and be my doctor, it all made sense now! Then again, neither of them could’ve been this bold to come up with such a dramatic strategy. Kera blamed Hinata too much, and in reality Sakura was equally at fault, and so she needs the discipline! I am not wrong in classifying this pink haired bitch as my enemy. Like all enemies, I do not stop until they stopped moving permanently. This was when Hinata and Ino got on alert when I was slowly approaching the defeated girl.

“What are you… d-doing…” groaned Sakura weakly.

Making an offensive forward flip, I engaged her in melee combat with a Reverse Crescent, ready to slam my electrified heel upon any part of her body that would hurt. To my great pleasure, I stomped on her face. Her reaction was instant; the screaming and yelling had only encouraged me to grin wider without any consequences, and the helpless sight of her head smashing against the dry soil fuelled my desire to do more harm. I leapt a few yards back, and in a diligent fashion, I dived in close with one might joust. Sakura barely made it in time to move away from Seraphim as it scraped the surface of her skin, and so I pulled my weapon back as I readied my body to perform the Impala Hunt, which essentially was an impaling technique that swept my enemies off the feet, sending a deadly charge of energies while doing so.

Having no resistance left of any sort, my victim fell down again painfully, not fully aware of what just happened to her, only realizing that her chances of winning slipped further away from her grasp while finding it more difficult to force herself to sit up. Seconds later Sakura’s green eyes shot open in pure fear once she suddenly saw Seraphim being raised right above her, the blade gleaming with lightning energies, dancing ferociously, completely ready to plow right into her face should I let my arm drop down.

This was it… It was over! The deed was done!

Sakura moved her head out of the way in a quick fashion to evade, therefore my blade slammed the ground next to her ear.

Kuso!

In my outrage, I grabbed her collar, pulling her from her lying position and then ramming my knee right into her gut. I did not just do it once, no, I did it again to test her resilience, and the moment that she didn’t cough out anything I jammed it right into her again. My face cringed in anger. She was persistent to refrain herself from giving that reaction I was seeking, like she was actually trying to save face, as though she had something of value!

What nonsense! The moment she humiliated herself she would never receive my respect ever again, so why bother to redeem herself? Did she think that I was going to appreciate her persistence? Never. I would make sure that this Hiza Geri was going to cause permanent damage to her organs, and then I will rip it out of her to play jump rope with at my own discretion!

I will see how long you can fuck with me, Sakura! I will make you realize who you’ve been trying to mess with and make sure you suffer the very last inch of my wrath! Uzumaki Naruto’s life will always be more valuable than anything you can comprehend!

Kick.

No blood…

Kick.

A pitiful choke… Almost there…

Then I raised the stakes by giving three rapid jams in succession.

That did it.

She spewed all over my good pants, vomiting out her precious, delicious blood profusely as her refuge crumbled.

Finally I released her, and then violently made a twisting kick at her left kidney area to send her crashing to a tree, leaving her completely helpless as she fell unconscious right after that. I was ruthless and merciless; damn, did it feel good!

I was about to blast her with a deathblow, and damn was I anxious to do so… Victims deserved no mercy, no special treatments… However, something held me back out of my own accord. Needless to say there was only one bothersome person who was bold enough to do that.

“Iori-kun!” screamed a panting Hinata, given that she sprinted as fast as she could from her cover and right to my side, embracing me tightly.

“What are you doing…!” I tried to yell, but it ended up as a loud serpentine-like hiss.

“Stop it… please…”

“You don’t understand, girl…” I growled fiercely, my lust for blood and the general satisfaction of murdering was dominating my thinking in a rather horrific rate. Not killing Hinata right now for that obnoxious interruption was already a miracle, and yet she still didn’t get the message that I was going to go berserk at any second! “Once she is dead, everything will be over! No more of this senseless fighting, no one would disturb you ever again… Her death will mean so much to us!”

“Killing doesn’t solve anything!” insisted Hinata firmly, although she was momentarily convinced with whatever I said before her sense of good judgement kicked back with a full force. There, she twitched, yes, I shall use that well when the time comes.

“Nothing?” I challenged with an uproar. “Killing solves everything in battles! Why do you think you are a soldier? You just use ninjutsu instead of a rifle, there is no difference!”

“Don’t do it, Iori…” she then warned with moderate authority. “Murdering a shinobi in their home country is much more severe than killing them on a mission.”

I made a common Japanese one-syllable-curse. Hinata only gave me the lecturing look.

“Right…” I silently agreed, regretting that my fighting had to come to such an unwanted end, leaving me so unsatisfied. She convinced me so well that I even sheathed Seraphim back to Her rightful spot, ending Her desires for blood and death. As much as I wanted to please Seraphim, concerning over my own safety might be more beneficial in the long run. After all, who was going to give Her the fulfillment of murdering if anything happened to me? Any other unworthy people should never touch Seraphim… and even Hyuuga Hinata had touched Her once without anyone’s consent…!

Indeed, they deserved death… Isn’t that right, my blade… Destroy those who have come to destroy our dreams, that’s what you are telling me, isn’t it, Seraphim? Just as unforgivable as Sakura, Hinata would learn punishment the hard way!

Boku-wa (I am)… boku-wa…

“Iori-kun, are you listening to me?” Hinata’s voice rung louder than the voices inside my head, my insanity gradually slipping away as my mentality switched back to reality.

“Nanda… (What…)” I grunted, my combat enthusiasm decreasing along with the chakra that I had exponentially increased in order to enhance my fighting skills. And as I dropped it back to the usual mediocre level I preferred, the injuries that were tolerable in my stronger form came back to me at full force. The effect was so instant, pain shot through every part of my body so sharply that, in fact, I wasn’t able to stand even when Hinata was holding me intimately, and as I fell my superior height and size dragged her along with me.

“Ino-chan, help me!” squeaked Hinata helplessly as she collapsed on her back with my fainting body right on top of hers. “Help!”

“My goodness,” I heard Ino groan with a heavy sigh, something telling me that she was supporting the unconscious Sakura. “Wait until I get Sakura back inside, okay?”

“Okay…” the blushing girl replied ever so meekly, but then my ears picked up a pleasant sigh and a victorious moan. Was she enjoying this, I wondered, trying ever so hard to stay awake, and yes, Hinata was wonderfully soft in more aspects than one. It felt so heavenly to be sleeping, well, on her, and it made me quite curious at how lovely she was in bed. “Naruto-kun,” she whispered carefully, as though she was making sure that she should be speaking only if Ino was out of sight. “Naruto-kun…”

I didn’t answer her, pretending to be asleep although resting wouldn’t be such a bad idea when my body ached all over. I seriously needed a break, and even if Seraphim called me weak and useless I would not listen to Her insults. I knew that I had limits.

“Naruto-kun,” she called again, this time her hands on my arms and shook me a little. Again I did not respond. When she stopped shaking me I thought it was over, my mind greatly relieved at that prospect, yet it was destroyed the very instant I heard a giggle from her lips. Not just any giggle, no, it was one that suppressed her inner most naughtiness and desire.

It was maddening.

Her left hand, given that I was lying more on the left side of her body, rose up slightly and ran through my blond hair. My entirely body went stiff noticeably. Hinata didn’t care, for she dismissed it as the fact that my muscles might have tensed up from her shaking or that she was trying to rub her body more into mine. Her right hand, a second later, reached up to my back and stroked it lovingly. In between her strokes, she moved her lips close to mine, I could feel it so strongly by the faint smell of her fresh breathing, and soon I even picked up the pleasant heat that was radiating from her gorgeous body.

With no warning, she kissed my cheek deeply, firmly pressing her lips with a soft passion like a tiny vacuum, a style that I was not too familiar with yet I was soon finding it to be incredibly enticing and comfortable. Even in her affection Hinata was stunning at it. Indeed I wanted to bolt right up the instant she slipped her tongue out from her mouth to lick my cheek.

The princess was nowhere being done though.

In a bold move, Hinata took my head with her feathery hands, lifted it slightly before resting right in between her perfect sized, enticing, attractive large breasts, making an undeniably wonderful pillow. What caused my mind to panic was that she was going to make it all look like an accident, the most ideal plan to shadow the fact she harboured feelings for me, and at the same time hiding all her sexual desires beautifully. With my head in between her glorious cleavage that her small tank top failed to hide, my breathing (whether I liked to or not) gave her a powerful sensation that caused a great deal of pleasure, my ragged breaths from fatigue were hard and raspy, thus the feeling was even more powerful than the times where I would be calm and collected, ultimately pleasing her even further.

This girl was very womanly; she embraced her attributes willingly, and especially when it came to sex.

Hinata was not innocent, I believed it with a strict finality, and she wouldn’t even discard any chances to feel dirty or violated whether her love interest was assertive or helpless. The Hyuuga girl needed pleasure, as though she was repressing her wants for too long, until finally it would explode and overwhelm her in every aspect before she would only respond to anything that satisfied her terrible urges and painful addiction (which she was trying so hard to deny), and my head nuzzling in between her gorgeous globes was clearly not enough, but it was all she could do for now and she totally relented in it.

And holy god, Hinata had such a pair of marvellous breasts, rivalling Kera’s so fiercely, still modestly clothed when it should be free from all restraints, and for a minute there I didn’t want to disengage from my pleasant spot, just sleep on the world’s most comfortable pair of pillows while letting my dreams take me elsewhere…

To Kera’s fury, that was exactly what I did.

(Several Hours Later)

I woke up with a heavy groan, too annoyed to move when my muscles burned in response to every minor movement. Damn it, I should really remember to heal myself first before dropping my ki and rage, given that the state I tend to present to Hinata and the others was absolutely inferior in comparison to the warrior that actually managed to defeat Haruno Sakura. I could not keep hiding it from Hinata, and as much as she loved to believe that my strength came from desperate moments in need like some sort of crappy anime cartoon, the Hyuuga girl must’ve had her suspicions on how powerful I truly was.

I hated to disappoint her, but as skilful as I was in swordsmanship, marksmanship, stealth, taijutsu, lightning arts, ki-manipulation, I didn’t truly excelled anywhere to a degree I could be classified as being particularly awesome and feared. Versatile, yes, indeed that was what I was and I was very adept at it, but at the same time one should be able to realize what my weakness was quickly. It was that because I could do everything I could not beat anyone else at their strengths. I could not defeat Sakura at brute force indeed, and my win from Sakura was sheer luck when she had no ranged capabilities and the fact that she was just a reckless berserker that charged right into combat, hoping that her opponent cannot outlast her. In short, Sakura was a simple fighter and still incredibly.

In this respect, I knew that the Hyuuga princess posed a great problem.

Hinata was another melee combatant, but with a wonderful combination of incredible offence and defence that could be used simultaneously and deadly speeds that would force her opponents to engage her at melee range if they cannot outrun her. Hinata, despite being a close ranged fighter, valued cunningness and wit before lethality in combat, and thus she makes the fights very complex while she did have the necessary brutality to make one-shot kills.

However, something told me that dealing with Tenten, even if I do end up winning, had a dire cost to pay.

Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted as I felt a pair of soft hands cupping both sides of my face, and then pulling my head up guided by those same smooth, cute hands along with my whole body. Now I was sitting up even though I was only half-awake, I could detect a very happy, relieved, grateful, and undeniably sexy aura right in front of me, and I knew it would be no one other than Hyuuga Hinata. She instantly kissed me on the cheek and then embraced me tightly, never wanting to let go if she didn’t have to. I didn’t react as actively as she did, of course, but to the very least I rested my frail arms around her incredibly sexy and slim waist. Now that I was able to touch her more freely, Hinata did indeed have a body that many people would lust and envious for, she was so gorgeous that I was starting to have problems controlling my sanity while around her, and this contradiction of emotions for her clearly made me want her even more when she was definitely one of a kind: a paradoxical beauty.

“Kuso…” I heard myself curse out loud as the pain got worse. Oh yes, it was bad… terrible even. Strangely enough, this pain was paralysing me, making it nearly impossible for me to move when it hurt so much to even flinch. A boiling heat roared in the depths of my stomach, a clear sign of my body starting to malfunction before fucking up beyond repair. Yes, I was quite familiar with this kind of agony, in which usually happened when I demanded my body to work exceeding its limits, mostly involving battles with overwhelming odds.

In my excruciating pain, I managed to miraculously sit up with my right hand clutching my heart like I was suffering from some massive heart attack. Instead of gasping in pain, I was laughing hysterically, a perfect comparison to a maniac and damn was I one convincing bastard –if I took acting as my profession, of course, and which I didn’t. Damn it, I need to heal myself or else I would go insane… and Seraphim was not at my side!

Where the hell is She?!

Someone robbed her away from me! Hinata… what did you do… If anything happens to me, I would make sure she was directly responsible! So… where was it?

“Hinata…” I ragged out her name, nearly collapsing back onto my pillow but somehow I kept myself from actually doing it. “Give it to me… Stop keeping Her away from me!”

“What are you talking about?” the startled Hinata questioned, slightly trembling but her confidence and care made her overcome it. She was more worried now, and with a good cause.

“My blade… My magic!” I screeched in an airy hiss. To Hinata’s perception, I must’ve look like an addict, and having me shaking her did not make matters any better; in fact, she was more convinced in her beliefs. My magic… was I actually painfully addicted to the energy and mana that emitted from Seraphim as well, when the only thing I should be admiring is Her beauty? Some may say I have issues; I call it extreme loyalty. After knowing that I was ever so committed to Seraphim, why wasn’t She in my grasp?

Hyuuga Hinata… you’re getting in my way…

To my honest surprise, Seraphim was presented to me in a hurry, as was I to take it in my hands and wield its magic. I unsheathed it with a desperate rush, then powering chakra into the blade to manipulate the healing powers it contained. Swiping with my right hand, given that Hinata was on my left side, I activated the heal with many bluish pink hearts floating upwards around me, signalling that a great deal of my vitality had been restored. Still I panted, but in a much more limited desperation, and Hinata only watched me worriedly before I sat back straight up after a minute’s worth of gasping. My eyes were fierce, I knew that much, the occasional twitching and teeth baring reflected how much I despised being in such a condition, and it was caused by Haruno Sakura…!

“Naruto-kun…”

“What…” I grunted with evident hate. I was beyond pissed off and out of control of my situation. Sakura was alive, I was in pain, Hinata was still here right in front of me, absorbing this pitiful display with front row seats! I was a man, I need some face damn it!

“Are you feeling better…” the girl was so shaken up by my previous respond that she was speaking no louder than a mouse.

“I’ll live…” I said, my tone calming down as well as my emotions following suit. Kuso, I was really losing it. I had to be calm, I could not afford to freak out Hinata, Hinata was my friend… my only friend! That did help me a little for I was now acting with a purpose. Breathe in… breathe out and not get excited… It was hard to demand such a state when my emotions were in such disarray. “Hinata…”

“I’m here for you, Naruto-kun,” the Hyuuga girl silently said, eyes softening sweetly, her arms wrapping around me as she pulled me into a very caring embrace, but given that Hinata was very beautiful in more places than one, I got a very good feel of her when we were that close. Somehow, I melted into it, knowing that it would help me diminish some of the rage I still held or else I would be exploding. Come to think of it, this was the same method Kera used to calm me down whether we were in turmoil or when we were arguing over something that involved tempering with my stubbornness. “Everything’s okay…”

“Sorry, Hinata…” I grunted with a small sigh. “… for being my free nurse…” She was better than any nurse, actually, and I was more than willing to admit it. However, that prospect troubled me. I tried leaning back, but the girl held me still; probably didn’t want my head to hit the wall that carelessly.

“Don’t be sorry,” Hinata told me as she voluntarily kissed my cheek like she would do to her own child. I didn’t resist; in fact, it felt good. This girl would make a wonderful mother someday, and her husband would definitely be the luckiest bastard known to humanity –unless Hinata was a lesbian or a bisexual... Oh, that was an appealing thought indeed, and with two completely different reasons. “I am more sorry than you can ever be…”

“Hinata, you didn’t do anything wrong…”

“You were so hurt and I didn’t a thing to help you…”

“You knew how to value your life…” I laughed despite the pain in my throat.

“I didn’t know how to be concerned for yours… but I learned… I’m more than happy to take care of you.”

“How is Sakura?”

“Do you care?” Hinata asked as she tilted her head to the right slightly.

“I just want to know the damage report.”

“Detailed or abridged?”

“Up to you,” I said.

“I am surprised that her left arm isn’t torn off from all that damage…” The Hyuuga girl spoke in a small whisper, more of pondering actually but unintentionally let her thoughts slip to her lips.

“Does that mean she won’t be fighting for a while?” I inquired.

“A while… for around three days at most…”

Three days? That was it? I crippled her arm for crying out loud! And that only disabled her for three days, damn that was short. That healing rate was beyond demonic, not even Kera could get a nearly destroyed arm up and functional in just three days!

“I know what you are thinking, Naruto-kun,” said Hinata the moment she saw my empty stare of confusion. “Three days, right, what the hell? Sakura is an extremely skilled when it comes to druidic healing, for her chakra type is Nature, meaning that she has many talents when it comes to nature’s blessings, which includes many forms of rejuvenation, growth, recovery. Besides, you didn’t bust both her arms, so she could continue to heal herself over time with just one.”

I totally didn’t know that. In that case, Sakura had powers of at least three typical medics. Damn her, this was a troublesome fact to absorb.

“Fuck…” I cursed.

“Don’t worry about her now, Naruto-kun. You know that I would take good care of you.”
She paused her words for a second before she leaned in closer with a very specific glint in her pearly eyes.

I wasn’t all too thrilled at that thought. “Hinata, you’re my only friend here… Friends don’t do such crazy things with another… I don’t want you to do something that you might regret…”

“Let me make you feel better…” she murmured her words lovingly before her arms snaked more intimately around me, her head inches away from mine, her large breasts rubbing against my left arm, grinding ever so sensually to prove her desires and darkest wants that were masked with a touch of genuine concern to bolster her skills as a dangerous kunoichi. But one that was so endearing and sexy! Without much warning, she took my cheek and kissed it with a several licks, then moving onto my lips when she could not stand her own teasing for much longer.

In my absolute weakness, I kissed her back hungrily, like I was using her as a fountain of health and needing to drain as much as my greedy soul needed in order to be satisfied. After all this horrific events, I needed someone to help me, anyone would do. Hinata only moaned in delight, clearly realizing that I was trapped right in between her grasp so tightly that she only wanted our relationship to be stickier, which was very much like ensnaring me in a web. As she slipped her tongue in, obviously waiting to longer to finally taste me, I almost heard her sigh victoriously when I met her tongue with mine, battling another with pure affection.

She had me; she knew she did.
To my horror, this session lasted until dawn as Hinata’s arousal was off the charts, along with a pair of dripping panties and puddles on my blanket.

It only ended when Hinata wanted to do (emphasize on the word ‘do’) more, however I wasn’t budging anymore to her suggestions and yet she was still so hot. She smiled at that time, a grim one at first before brightening up darkly, one that showed that minor setbacks were only part of the game, and eventually her patience would be rewarded with marvellous riches that the sheer thought of it made her arousal magnify. Seeing how I wasn’t going to satisfy it, she had no choice but to retreat, but not before she licked her fingers once and then kissed me a final time on the lips ever so lustfully, hinting that my company was gloriously welcomed despite no words were exchanged in between.

Kera then volunteered the spy on the girl, and I didn’t really know what I told her to do; probably just allowed her to do whatever she wanted when my mind was in such a mess.

Kera not only observed; she watched Hinata intently.

Minutes later, I came to realize that Hinata was a woman with very womanly feelings. The aura of sin filled the air so thickly that I was intoxicated by it, completely astounded at the fact that Hinata was such an addict to her wants. The fact that it actually made my curiosity stir made my blood cold. I froze at the prospect of me actually wanting Hinata willingly. Was I scared? No, I was terrified, and even more so when I heard her screams of climatic ecstasy across my room.

Her eagerness was naturally scary; it was scary by nature.

And it was becoming an exhilarating thrill…

(Next morning)

Sleeping for three goddamn hours was clearly not enough for a wounded eighteen-year-old guy, and within those three hours I had plenty of nightmares involving a girl, the same one who was gracious enough to share her roof with me, doing something that made her a woman to begin with. No way was I aroused, no, I was far from it, and the cold sweat that was dripping from my head down was clear proof of my emotional turmoil. Next, I tried lifting my hand just to find them twitching occasionally. It was either the nightmares or the fact that I did not rest properly; somehow I strongly believed that it was both. As if that wasn’t enough, how could I meet anyone today while my body was motioning like a zombie? Hinata would find this as a reason to cling over me; no, that thought was too much, too realistic, too likely to happen! For my sake I had to straighten up myself and had to do it quick.

Easier said than done… How was I going to do it? Even as I spoke, I was shaking with no sense of control. Perhaps feeling some pain was my answer, so I unsheathed Seraphim and powered it with raw lightning energy, and finally unleashing it upon myself to feel the sensations. Nothing lethal, of course, I wouldn’t want to find myself even more wounded than I already was, but this small shock was enough to rejuvenate me. This small exchange of pain to get rid of my twitching, hey I thought it was a good trade.

After completing my morning rituals with no hassle whatsoever, silently thanking Hinata for getting me new clean clothes although I never told her my sizes, I took my long white trench-coat and put it on to hide that I was carrying Seraphim. Then I thought about it, considering my way of dressing for a normal occasion. Fashionable, yes, I knew I was vain and I liked to dress ever so stylishly that didn’t border on the lines of obnoxiousness, but were my tastes too unique, did they stand out too much? All of this was to protect Seraphim from being seen, yet at the same time I wanted to fit into the crowd and not have any residents look at me for a brief second each time I pass by them.

That, my friends, was calling unwanted attention.

Perhaps Seraphim wanted to disagree with whatever I planned on next, yet for the sake of our safety I could not let my elegant master to be in this long sword form of Hers. She must appear correct for the occasion. Generating a small portion of energy, I caused Seraphim to glow a beautiful sheen of bluish light, and while radiating so wonderfully my blade gradually shrunk into a size of a large dagger before I hooked it on my belt. It would look like I didn’t need my coat now, and dressed in this grey T-shirt certainly did not make me stand out at all.

Inhaling the first breath of air with pure relaxation and calmness, I left my room and headed straight to the kitchen and poured myself a cup of water, smiling at the fact that Hinata was not awake yet; most likely it had something to do with the tremendous sexual releases the previous night. Kera was hot last night after spying on Hinata, and she was suddenly so horny that she demanded to be taken and raped as long as she relieved that sexual tension. However, once she saw me so horrified as my eyes starting to grow those dark rings from the lack of rest, Kera decided against it despite that the itch and throbbing heat in her sopping loins were getting stronger and stronger. With no choice, she retreated to the sweet reverie on my mind and did the exact same thing Hinata did just moments before Kera came back to me.

So two women pleasured themselves on the same night with a distance no more than ten meters. Bravo, Naruto, bravo, don’t I feel loved…

Even in my private reverie I had interruptions. This time it was the doorbell and not the presence of anyone else suddenly entering a room. I wondered who that could be, should I actually open it for this intruder? I closed my eyes and began to concentrate, given that if I was calm enough and focussed with no interruptions I could differentiate chakra signatures.

To my surprise, it was Tenten’s.

What could she be doing here so early at (I took this time to look at my watch,) eight-fifteen in the morning? Damn it, didn’t people like to sleep in these days in their cozy beds and elegant bedrooms? Did they always snap up to attention, as though this sort of ritual was indoctrinated in their skulls, right when the sun rose followed up by knocking on their friend’s doors half an hour later? These people were crazy! These habits of theirs spoke of insanity!

Yet I was still going to open the door for her.

Once I did, I saw Tenten in her more casual, yet attractive, clothes, which was just a flowing white dress at knee length with a low collar that exposed enough cleavage that wasn’t immodest, supported with delicate white silk straps on her shoulders that went around her neck and then down her half revealed back, stopping at where her bra should be. She wasn’t wearing her typical shinobi footwear, needless to say, but a pair of open toed white high heels that framed her beautiful feet as it also tempted me to look at her stunning legs as well. Along with the light coloured purse she was carrying on her right shoulder, she also had her hair down.

Tenten looked absolutely gorgeous. Definitely amazing… I actually forgot to breathe.

“What took you so long to open the door, Iori?” she asked, a grin never leaving her glorious visage.

“I am kinda not awake…” I answered.

“I thought I said it would be better if you tried to sleep earlier for today. We promised to go shopping, remember?”

“I did try, but things didn’t end up that way unfortunately.” I pointed to my arm and head. “See these?”

“How did you get these bandages?” Tenten questioned as she entered the house, closing the door behind her as she did so. “You didn’t have them when I met you yesterday…”

I sighed once before I answered. “Sakura came over last night and we kinda had a fight… She was pissed that I am taking you out to the festival and leaving Hinata all alone and stuff… I guess she was just mad that you yelled at her so fiercely last morning that she couldn’t accept that, well…” How shocking… I couldn’t even state the reason properly, just because I didn’t even know how to explain it. Why Sakura initially attacked me last night didn’t make any goddamn sense.

“You don’t need to find her a good reason, Iori,” said Tenten as she checked on my damaged left arm. “Chaos and terror spread through Konoha because there is no reason. Sakura doesn’t act with rationality; she acts with unpredictable feelings, okay? Destruction happens just because she is in the wrong mood at the wrong time, which is too often for everyone’s liking.”

“Hasn’t anyone tried doing anything about it? I mean, the Hokage does know about this, right?”

“Sakura is the only thing she has left, Iori. Tsunade-sama lost her best friend because of his drinking and partying ways. He also had an apprentice, but because he was so irresponsible no one knows the whereabouts of him… Tsunade-sama presumed him to be dead. Sakura is very valuable to Tsunade-sama, and in due time her thoughts began to shift around, always siding with Sakura in almost anything. You know where I am getting at, right?”

“I think I do…” I said, “But the accidents and damages… isn’t that evidence of Sakura’s irresponsibility? What if someone was injured by her, does she get away with it, too?”

“Tsunade-sama minimized the penalty on Sakura to degree it is like a slap on the wrist,” said Tenten carefully. “And eventually Tsunade-sama just advised Konoha to be more careful with Sakura, such as not to bug her, or watch her moods, kind of like peasants appeasing to their country’s princess. It spoiled Sakura greatly, so much that she always got her way and people did not dare to do anything about it because she was Tsunade’s daughter, and of course Sakura did have natural monstrous strength that is unbelievable even without chakra enhancements. People are scared of her, Iori, and I guess the reason why Tsunade cannot take action is because Sakura never explodes deliberately at someone, yet she can explode at any time and anywhere. Even if Tsunade-sama does see the damage… people are too scared to point a finger at Sakura and drop the charges knowing that Tsunade would probably rule against them if Sakura was involved.”

“In short,” I said, “This ruling is indoctrinated by fear…”

“Not exactly, no, it’s just Sakura… And I guess she did this to you? Why don’t you report it?”

“Who am I to report?” I retorted. “I am an outsider, and my injuries are my own responsibility.”

“No, you can’t say that,” objected Tenten as she held onto my hand caringly. “It’s because you aren’t from here that she cannot be reckless. Offending you is the same as offending your country, there are consequences to pay, Iori! By brutally assaulting you, you can sue her; you can go back to your village and report it to your Kage and demand justice! You have the right to even declare war! Why should she get away with this? She might hurt your arm and head this time, but she may break your legs on the next argument! Hell, she will kill you!”

You didn’t understand, Tenten… if I ever revealed myself with this case, everyone would know I am Uzumaki Naruto. With any grace and mercy you may have on me, Sakura would never forgive me for masking my identity as someone else and continually spew revolting insults and fighting to the death on almost a daily basis. She would kill me no matter what I did, and chances were she would be that much more difficult if she possessed the knowledge of my true identity.

“You think declaring war is fun, Miss Tenten?” I inquired, holding her shoulders so that she would look at me in the eye despite that she still had to tilt her head upward. Tenten’s cheeks burned when she saw my eyes. “For your sake, for Hinata’s sake, I don’t want to see Konoha in a desperate state of such chaos. If your Hokage sees that her little daughter’s obnoxiousness can cause wars, then Konoha will definitely collapse from within. Your Tsunade-sama will go insane. Konoha will have no leader, and then your beautiful home will cease to exist, and it will happen before troops even start their bombardment. Is it worth it?”

“Konoha is already in chaos! Tsunade-sama will one day learn to accept the facts and she will still go nuts! There is no winner here!”

“Then at least do it when there are no outside pressures. I don’t want to be the one to start any commotion, Miss Tenten, because I know by doing so I will ruin your life, Neji’s life, Hinata’s life, and everybody else who doesn’t deserve this kind of shit. For you guys… I can withstand a several beatings… besides, it’s not like I am letting her hit me… I fought back too, so she will know not to mess with the wrong guy.”

“Iori…” she murmured, and then she began to tremble, then lastly melted in my embrace. “I want teach her a lesson so bad… I want it so badly no matter what it takes… Does that make me a bad person?”

“Shh, don’t be like that, Miss Tenten. A beautiful, elegant girl like you shouldn’t be weary and sad, especially not when she’s so dressed for the occasion. And no, I don’t think that makes you a bad person at all, Miss Tenten, I think you are wonderful because you have kept everyone together for as long as you have with that psychopath walking among you guys everyday. You must be very angry the whole time and kept it inside yourself without sharing it too often… Such thoughts can drive anyone to their limit, Miss Tenten.”

“So I am not disgusting to you?” she snivelled in inquiry.

“If that’s the case, then what does that make me? I would be an unforgivable sinner then. I actually went up to her and beat her senselessly, and as if that is not a crime. Come to think about it, why didn’t she report me?”

“Because you can press on charges once the authorities sees your injuries. Doing something like that is a double-edged sword, Iori, and it would be best to keep it quiet between both parties until it becomes too drastic.”

“It sounds like a mature thing to do…” I agreed, somewhat. “Let’s not talk about any depressing stuff, Miss Tenten, we should be happy to go shopping.” Although I hated that ‘sport’ deep down, she didn’t have to know. “We are going to have a great day, starting with breakfast, then cruise around town together, then have lunch, you name it and we will do it. It’s going to be a good date for sure.”

“I expect it to be excellent,” teased Tenten as she nudged me with her elbow while smiling playfully. I couldn’t help but to grin back in response.

“Alright then, let’s go.” I said as I gently pushed Tenten towards that general direction with me right behind her.

“Going where?” I heard this question from behind me, a female voice that I haven’t heard throughout this whole conversation. Tenten and I stopped dead in our tracks and turned around, just to find Hyuuga Hinata standing, well, leaning, on the wall slightly with only her flimsy nightgown on with silky white panties that were barely on her hips. Thank goodness that the nightgown wasn’t that translucent, or else I could see her upper assets through the delicate fabric. Nonetheless, by the way how Hinata was standing, she was actually a bit sleepy.

“Hinata…”

“Good morning, Hinata,” Tenten greeted with a sweet smile, completely immune to a beautiful girl’s beauty in their more intimate sleeping clothes. Perhaps she slept with an even more revealing nightgown to believe that whatever Hinata had was nothing special, and that if she wished to be daring to seduce her victim then Tenten would surely pick something even better. I would know soon enough, I just knew it.

“Are you two going somewhere… without me?” asked Hinata, tilting her head to the side cutely, although this was actually a very demanding question that commanded honesty.

Hinata was not going to let this go…

This was bad… She had no intention whatsoever to let Tenten get away with this. When Hinata had eyes on one person, this person was everything to her, and she was willing to show it.

Hinata… what the hell are you doing…

‘I told you this girl is something else… Isn’t she stunning?’

‘Shut up, Kera…’

AN: I know I am a Sakura basher, but never would I have imagined that I would use Tenten and Naruto to elaborate on the girl’s obnoxiousness (in this story only, of course) during a friendly conversation, which ultimately convinces Naruto and the fellow readers to despise Sakura, but to also bring Tenten and Naruto closer together to make Hyuuga Hinata a very, very jealous girl. I know I like to see Hinata jealous, I guess I am like a harem person, but I don’t need to see such a huge group because that puts a lot of pressure on me in terms of making individual enough personalities. In short, it takes my creativity to the maximum, which is not as high as I would like it to be.

And the big question regarding if Naruto is evil… If I were kind enough to answer that question for you all, will you still read this story? I will leave it up to you guys to decide, and maybe I can have some pointers to improve his character, and perhaps Kera’s and Hinata’s as well. It makes me wonder if Hinata is evil in my story…and you know it is a lot of fun to twist Hinata around.

Hopefully my next update is sooner, and most certainly I hope I will finish SiC before this year. I am so behind…!