It Was You, Hinata
folder
Naruto › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
18
Views:
2,020
Reviews:
2
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
1
Category:
Naruto › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
18
Views:
2,020
Reviews:
2
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
1
Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto, nor any of its characters. I will not make any money by publishing this.
The Ultimate Betrayal
Hey everybody!
Sooo…I skipped out a day of work for my classes and worked on this instead. I updated two days in a row! :P Merry Christmas! Hahahahaha! Hope you like it. :3 -K.
Shikamaru Nara groaned as he sat up, clutching his head. A throbbing sensation was pulsing at the back of his skull; it was enough to make him realize that he had been struck from behind and knocked out. The last thing her remembered was jumping across Suna’s rooftops with Temari in hot pursuit of an unauthorized ANBU entering Hinata’s room. Temari had shaken her husband awake because she felt a chakra signature flare, and in an instant the two were in the room, confronting the man. His behavior was unusual for a guard, and his intentions were unidentifiable until the ANBU turned to gaze at the husband and wife duo, his eyes flashing yellow. It was only when the man had disappeared from the room and his silhouette could be seem making its way across the rooftops did the two realize that they had a legitimate problem. The Nara genius narrowed his eyes as he took in his surroundings; unfamiliar as they were, they were completely familiar. He had been abandoned on the outskirts of the village, in the middle of the dunes, bound so that his movement was restricted. The gears in the genius’s mind started turning as he quickly formulated several different possible motives for the ANBU’s doing so:
1) He knew that the ANBU was fleeing Hinata’s bedroom when he was caught in the act; obviously attention was unwanted on his behalf. There was only one reason for that: he had something to hide.
2) Because he had something to hide, it made sense that he would want to slow Shikamaru’s return to the village. He would want to keep all information delivered to the Kazekage as delayed as possible.
3) If the ANBU’s true intention was to indeed delay information, why not just kill him and ensure the safety of the traitor’s retreat?
Gaara straightened from his slouch against the waiting room wall as Kankuro and Baki stood from their seats, turning their attention to the exhausted Hyuuga female that had just entered the room. With one look into her sorrow-filled face, they could tell that Temari’s condition wasn’t what they had hoped it would be. “How is she?” Kankuro hopelessly croaked. He had always leaned on his sister for support in the past and felt guilty about it. He desperately hoped she would be okay, so he could in turn let her lean on him in the future. He still hadn’t had a chance to prove to her that he was a good brother, and he secretly begged whatever higher power there was to give him the chance. Baki and Gaara both sported perfect stony expressions, but both were unreasonably tense, their jaws clenched. However, even without these physical clues Hinata knew both of them well enough to know the worry was probably eating them alive. Doing them a kindness, she did not waste any time with the typical medic apology before answering Kankuro’s question. “She’s lost a lot of blood,” Hinata ran a newly disinfected hand over her face tiredly, “and there is a lot of internal damage. It looks like someone took a kunai and stabbed her pretty good in the stomach…it nicked her kidney and that’s what caused her to bleed out so badly.” Hinata paused for a moment to choke back tears, and then continued, “After they stabbed her, they repeatedly drew the kunai, knife, whatever it was—across her stomach like they were drawing on her or something. We got most of it patched up, and with the exception of some of the deepest gauges, the scars are almost completely gone. I’m afraid whatever scars are left after today will remain permanently.” The boys sighed, somewhat relieved. “Is she going to be okay?” Gaara quietly asked, reinforcing the seriousness of the question. This was what really mattered to the boys, after all. Scars they could deal with, but… “What worries me most in her head injury,” Hinata furrowed her brow, “Whoever attacked her really knew what they were doing. They not only hit her extremely hard—hard enough to cause some serious trauma around the wound, but it hit in just the right spot to cause some bleeding in her brain. Nothing serious,” Hinata backpedalled quickly, after seeing the men’s look of horror, “I did what I could. I’m mentioning this because the blood that was drowning her brain particularly affected the memory center of her brain. I’m not sure how much she is going to remember…of, well…anything.” Hinata’s gaze shifted downward and she shuffled her feet nervously. “I’m sorry, boys.” Suddenly the staunch, white walls of the hospital seemed even less appealing than they already had. Kankuro slowly sat back down in his seat, his hand clutching at the arm of the chair a little tighter than normal. Baki just stared ahead at one of the many cliché, ugly paintings that hung on the wall to try to brighten the atmosphere, his expression empty. Hinata and Gaara just stared at each other, hoping that one would tell the other that this was all just a dream, that this wasn’t really happening. The reality of the situation hadn’t even really sunk in yet when Shikamaru finally came running into the waiting room. When he saw expressions on the others’ faces, he immediately turned to Hinata, his expression begging, imploring her to tell him Temari was okay. It was only when Hinata saw the look of desperation and fear on Shikamaru’s face—a fear she knew as his losing another person he loved more than his own life—Hinata wrapped her arms around her stomach and she fell to her knees, choking back sobs. Suddenly, Temari’s condition suddenly became all too real for her. When Hinata had first been summoned, the staff yelling that Kankuro had brought his sister to the hospital and she was in critical condition, Hinata had thought it a joke; surely the sand siblings were just playing a cruel prank on her. When Hinata had rounded the corner and saw a clearly distraught Kankuro holding a very bloody Temari, she instantly went in to medic mode. She didn’t even remember a lot of the smaller details…her mind had closed off all emotions, only focusing on her duty to save the life of a patient, and she was the best medic in Suna at the moment. It was her duty. The seriousness of the situation hit her all at once. Temari-san was incapacitated—worse, her future state of mind was in jeopardy. How much of her life would she remember? Would she still have the few memories she had of her parents? Even the most precious ones of her mother? Would she remember what happened to Gaara and Kankuro and their father—would she even remember that she has brothers that were worrying about her? And Shikamaru—oh, poor Shikamaru—her devoted husband, waiting anxiously for her to wake up to see if she would even remember him, their marriage… Hinata trembled. Oh, God. The baby that she had lost. Temari had only been two weeks along…too soon for her to notice any symptoms at all. It would only have been another couple of weeks before they had found out. Hinata could only imagine the joy the two would have shared when Temari could finally tell Shikamaru that the baby for whom they had been trying so hard was finally on its way. Four years now they had been trying…they were beginning to think it would never happen. And now an innocent life was gone. By now Hinata realized she was in Gaara’s arms, and his shirt was now drenched with her tears. He was patting her back and softly saying something to her…obviously trying to calm her down, but it wasn’t working. Hinata was just as hysterical as she was moments before. Her eyes were squinted shut, trying to block out the pain, to keep the image of the men in front of her hurting out of her head. This was all her fault. If she hadn’t been born a goddamned Hyuuga, if the whole ninja world wasn’t constantly targeting her for her eyes, if she was stronger an unborn child wouldn’t be… Guilt, horror and devastation ate at Hinata relentlessly. This was her fault. She could hear Shikamaru talking, now...now that Baki had told him about Temari’s state, Shikamaru was relaying last night’s events to the boys, and he had mentioned golden eyes…just like the night that the village had been attacked and they had left that note in her room. This was all about her fucking eyes. Eyes she didn’t want, eyes she didn’t need…eyes that cursed her very existence. Hinata broke out of Gaara’s grasp, desperately wiping tears out of the eyes she hated so much at this point in her life. Never had she hated herself more…she wished she could gouge the damn things out. She would happily blind herself at this moment, ridding herself of her ninja career and her eyesight completely, but she couldn’t. There was something she had to do first. Gaara wrapped his arm around her waist, and turned her gaze to meet his. She realized that he had asked her if she was alright; she knew that he genuinely cared for her well-being, but for now it was imperative that he sense absolutely nothing out of the ordinary in her demeanor. If he realized what she was about to do, well…it could get very messy, because she was not going to let him keep her from it. She nodded her head affirmatively and quietly stepped to the side of him. After taking an appropriate amount of time to clean herself up and to get a hold of herself, she turned back to the boys and announced that she was going to go take care of some of Temari’s things, and the boys, distracted, only nodded as they worked out a plan of action for capturing the attacker(s). Hinata turned back through the ER’s wing’s doorway and walked steadfastly to where Temari lay on her bed, still unconscious. Nurses passed Hinata by, but thankfully none of them bothered her with questions about other patients or to express their sympathy about Temari-sama’s condition. They knew to give her space for now, and Hinata was thankful for that. When she reached Temari’s bedside, Hinata was hit with an overwhelming sense of kinship. The blonde’s hair was nearly obscured by the bandages wrapped neatly around her head, and some blood had already managed to seep through. The nurses had removed Temari’s torn, dirty clothing and had washed her with a washcloth to get most of the blood off of her skin, replacing the blood-stained rags that were left on her body with a clean hospital gown. Although Temari looked undoubtedly better than she had when Kankuro had brought her in, the guilt was still palpable. Hinata walked to Temari’s side and held her hand for a moment, lightly squeezing it before tears threatened to spill over her and onto the bed beside Temari’s hand. Hinata was crying again…Gods, this pain was unimaginable. “I-” Hinata barely managed. After clearing her throat to rid herself of the lump, she tried again. “I’m going to fix this, Temari,” Hinata managed through her tears, “I’m going to fix everything so that you and Shikamaru, and Gaara and Kankuro and all of the others aren’t hurt anymore. I’m sorry for ever coming here and putting you through all of this. And most of all, I’m sorry I didn’t tell Shikamaru about the baby. I just…I couldn’t bring myself to tear this family apart any further. It’s best kept a secret.” Hinata gave a pained smile to her friend and she gave her immobile hand another light squeeze. With a heartfelt apology, Hinata finally let go of Temari’s hand and made her way to the cabinet, where Temari’s dirty clothing sat as carefully folded as possible. Hinata quickly pulled Temari’s pants from the bottom of the pile and checked the pockets, but nothing was in them. Furrowing her brows, Hinata checked the pockets of her jounin vest next, but still, to no avail. Exasperated, Hinata turned back to Temari’s sleeping form with a heartbroken yet somehow marginally amused expression. Even whilst she was unconscious Temari was trying to protect her. Hinata took a few precious seconds to close her eyes and think; time was of the essence. In a few minutes the boys would be allowed in to see Temari and Hinata’s plan would be useless. She needed the element of surprise, and Temari’s unhelpful knowledge of shinobi tactics was unhelpful at the moment. ‘If I wanted to hide something on my person where a shinobi couldn’t find it, where would it be…?’ Hinata thought to herself, brows furrowing in concentration. Temari wasn’t the sort of person to just leave something valuable in her pockets…even street thieves were skilled enough to successfully take something from a pocket without the person noticing. The only obvious choice would be… Hinata sighed as she resisted the urge to smack herself. Of course! Reaching out, she pulled open the drawer directly below the folded clothing, and as expected, found a bag on top neatly labeled, “Personal effects”. Inside the bag was a ring, a necklace, and a couple of kunai that were probably left in her jounin jacket when Kankuro found her. Recognizing that her time was running out, Hinata hurriedly opened the bag and removed one of the kunai. Thankfully Tenten had shown her this trick years ago…she had almost forgotten! Hinata turned the kunai over once, twice to inspect it. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, Hinata pulled out another kunai and did the same thing. Still nothing. Frustrated, Hinata pulled the last kunai out of the bag and hoped fervently that she was right. She could hear the nurses talking as they left the E.R…they were going to collect the boys to let them see Temari. Yes! A small red code was printed on the bottom of this kunai, and Hinata practically wept with relief. Quickly charging a small amount of chakra into her finger and running it along the circular end of the blade, it twisted and popped off, revealing a hollow cavity inside. Wasting no time, Hinata upended the kunai, and a small key fell neatly into the palm of her hand. Relishing her small victory, Hinata squeezed the key tightly within her palm, and replaced the kunai in the bag, returning it to the drawer. Making sure everything was in perfect order and she had left no evidence of her presence in the room, Hinata ducked out of the other side of the curtain, making her way through the hospital and out the door.
***
Why are you in the evidence room? What are you going to DO with the information you got from your little trip to the evidence room? Yep! All fun questions that Hinata would very much love to answer, naturally. After rifling through some papers that Suna had on her person—was that her birth certificate?—she finally found that for which she had been looking: an all too familiar yellow envelope. It had already been opened, naturally, but she doubted that Gaara had found out what it said yet. He had been having some problems with what his shinobi were and were not telling him, and he hadn’t said anything about it to her yet, which was unusual. He was always very truthful about this whole thing to her. A pang of guilt struck her as she thought of the betrayal she was about to commit. She would forfeit his trust, their relationship, and quite possibly her life. It would all be worth it, though, in the end. A quick scan of the note had been all she needed to know. The note had instructed her to meet the shinobi at the Northwest corner of Suna’s border two week’s from the date the note had been sent, which had been well over a month ago, or there would be serious repercussions (which Hinata had guessed was what last night was supposed to be). The Hyuuga woman let out a cry of frustration; well there went that idea. Still, this could be used to her advantage. The ANBU now knew that the enemies wanted to meet her on the Northwest side of the border, but Shikamaru was saying that last night he had followed the enemy to the dunes, where he was then knocked out. The dunes were one the Northeast side of the city, and if that was the last place they were sighted, then that would be her best bet. The freshest tracks are the road to the beast’s lair, no matter how confusing or perilous the trail may be. Hinata had no doubt that even though a time or a date had not been set to meet the rogue shinobi, if she wandered into their area they would be happy nonetheless. Hinata replaced the note within the envelope and filed everything back in its original place—all was done very quietly and very neatly so that no one would suspect a thing. ANBU were very tricky to deal with; as she would rightfully know, since she is a certified Konoha ANBU member now. Show no fear. Hinata navigated her way back through the halls of the ANBU headquarters, laughing with the members every now and then, careful not to act out of the ordinary or arouse unwanted suspicion. When she did manage to get out of the building, she hastened her step and made a last stop at the Kazekage mansion to throw together a last-minute pack for her journey. With 8 years’ experience in hurriedly throwing together packs for late-notice missions, she was done within 30 seconds, but paused at the end of her bed, staring at where she had found the yellow envelope weeks before. ‘Even the bad guys write notes last minute,’ Hinata thought miserably, ‘Don’t I owe him at least that?’ She only allowed herself for a fleeting moment to think of Gaara…a very, very quick moment indeed, or else she would be too caught up in another kind of guilt that would result in her staying rather than finally doing something to protect the people she loves. That’s what this is about, isn’t it? Finally protecting them rather than having yet another loved one die to protect her. Hating the fact that even in a crisis her guilt controls her, Hinata yanked open her ornate secretary table’s drawer and ripped out a piece of paper from her stationary. She paused for a precious moment to think of what to say, what she could possibly say to spare him even the slightest hurt when he discovers that she had left, but the realization came from within the deepest part of herself: there was not a thing she could say that would make his hurt lessen in the slightest. Bowing her head, tears fell onto the paper…even more tears fell from those evil eyes of hers, eyes responsible for so much blood, pain, death and suffering. How fitting. Apparently even the most evil of people can hurt. On her pillow, she left only three words: his favorite three words in the whole world, and she hoped they would bring him the smallest bit of solace even if she knew they would not. She also hoped he would see the tear stains on the note and know that it hurt her to leave—that it tore her apart to do so—but this was the only way. It would be the only way. She would allow nothing else. It was as a result of this last stand that she finally left her room, clambering out the window and running toward the dunes as fast as she could. She could not afford to waste any more time—it was almost sunset, and along with the day’s last rays finally kissing the soft sand of the earth, a bright orange glow hit the note that lay neatly upon her pillow and a small key that now lay beside it. These were the last things she could give to him as the woman he loves, her loyalty and her last words glowing with the radiated strength of the sun. I love you.
Can’t talk. Crying. LEAVE ME ALONE…I CAN CRY OVER MY OWN WRITING! TT.TT But seriously. The usual drill. Leave me things, hand me a tissue for my tears, and it’s 3:45 in the morning so I want an internet cookie. GIMMEH. Later loves, and I really hope you enjoyed it. :3 Merry Christmas!!! -Kasie.