Disguised Curses

Ok, So this was a fast update since the last one, but it'll be a bit longer before I update again. I'm hashing some things out in the to-be-filled holes between the major points of the plot again. As a reminder, the action has been picking up and will continue for a while longer. Right now any time skips that have been happening are a few days at the most; the time between Naruto asking for Hinata's hand and his return to Konoha to the abduction situation was approx two weeks, and the last few chapters have all been over the course of just a couple days. The short time frame skips will continue a bit longer, I will try to keep the time flow as obvious as possible without detracting from the story.

This chapter picks up right where the last one left off.



Warnings for branding/ marking, Naruto being possessive, and other young adult elements.

 

Chapter 44

 

 

 

Neji left the room in Tsunade’s wake, some excuse about checking on Hanabi, but his scent was all nervous panic. The seals snapped tight when the door slammed shut, once again securing the three in silence and protection.

Naruto would have loved to track that scent all day if he hadn’t been so torn already. Anger at whoever had made Hiashi to disappear, because he knew in his gut Hanabi’s abduction and Hiashi’s disappearance were related, and concern for the mate falling apart in his arms. These swirled inside him, biting at his attention like a swarm of flies, driving his need into one solid knowledge: Protect his mates. He wouldn’t let anyone else get away right now. He would give Hanabi a clone, a dozen clones, if she needed them, would sleep in Hinata’s room, in the corner, even, but he would not leave. He could not, reputation be damned. This was bigger than anything else. This was everything.

He glanced at Sasuke and was unsurprised to see how gray-scale his vision had become. Colors had been muted, all but those damning red eyes, and he snarled at his beta without thought. Sasuke bowed his head, breaking eye contact, deferring to his alpha’s will. Naruto stared, lips still raised to reveal punishing canines, waiting for the slightest threat, any threat, any challenge.

He flinched when a delicate hand wound into his hair and found the sensitive scratch- spots around his ears. But he melted, as he always did, while Hinata’s scent wrapped around him, as she coaxed and calmed him down from the edge of near fury. He relaxed into her arms, purring when a hand stroked along his back. Didn’t care that the hand on his back was bigger than the one scratching his ears. He was surrounded by his pack, by love and warmth and reassurance.

He wasn’t done with the sharp edge of anger, but it was pushed back, a simmering of violence contained within his body. All that deadly potential, held back by will and trust.

“I’m not killing anyone today, am I?” The words lingered, falling slow and smooth. Hinata gave him wide eyes, for the voice or the words, he didn’t know.

“No, not likely.” Sasuke’s voice, strong and sure and just the tiniest amount of hesitation.

“Tsunade won’t let me at whoever ordered this, either?”Just a little hopeful, and more than a little resigned. He could imagine what Tsunade would look like if he asked for rights to whoever had master-minded Hanabi’s abduction. She wouldn’t be happy.

“Naruto… No. I doubt it.” Whatever Sasuke was going to say he cut off, simply answering the question. Naruto brushed off the words after a moment and wrapped his arms around Hinata once more. It was her turn to melt against him, to let his arms cradle her protectively.

“I don’t care who this threat is. No one is taking you two away from me. I won’t let Hanabi go. She’s not mine, but her loss would be too much. I… I can’t do anything about your father, Hinata. But I refuse to let anything else happen to us until this mess is cleaned up.”

Her breath was shaky exhale along his throat, sending shivers down his spine. Naruto was too wrapped up in the moment for the sensation to be more than a reminder of who and what he held, his wife-to-be, his mate, the woman he’d protect against anyone and anything. It was a dark edge in his soul, sharp and bright and dark all in one. Another time, maybe, feeling her breath on his skin like that would call other urges, but for now he held her, careful to not sink claws into her skin, and watched his beta stand over them. Sasuke was watching the room, not them, thumb of one hand stroking over the other wrist.  Naruto watched him, hugging Hinata so close, so carefully, and felt a cold drop of certainty in his gut.

He could not lose either of them.

He couldn’t lose Sasuke- the promise and the bindings on the other man’s skin would keep the raven from wandering, would draw Sasuke back home if he was dragged away. They were like a calling card, the feel of Naruto’s chakra on Sasuke’s body, and Naruto at full attention could track that, if he had to.

Hinata didn’t have that. No mate-mark, no taste of chakra, just his body scent rubbed into her skin, something that could fade and be washed off. Her love would bring her back, her devotion, but there was no way to find her if he needed to. No secondary tracking means, and her human scent could be covered up, her clothing used to lure him away while her body was dragged elsewhere. No.

He could lose her. The possibility was there. He couldn’t afford to, though. He wouldn’t lose her, couldn’t let her slip through his fingers if someone thought she was a good target.

He’d be damned to a rampaging hell if someone stole her from him.

“Naruto. Whatever you’re thinking, stop.” Smooth, calm, Sasuke’s voice, not quite commanding but cutting through the haze starting to build back up. Naruto rolled his eyes up, staring at Sasuke’s face for a moment as he decided whether or not his beta was challenging him. Sasuke was holding his gaze, but there was no threat there, no challenge, no red iris. His posture was defensive, but not against him, not like it would be if Sasuke was expecting him to attack. And that stroking motion, still a slow slide of skin on skin.

No. Skin on mark. Sasuke wasn’t stroking his wrist. He was stroking the circle of flames branded onto his arm. Naruto’s mark, permanently etched on his skin. Naruto’s. His.

“Mine,” he breathed. Sasuke merely offered him a half smile and a bared throat before extending a hand. Naruto accepted it, pulling himself and Hinata up off the floor. He kept one arm around her, still holding her close as she pulled herself together. But he tugged on the hand in his, pulling Sasuke closer to snap that hand around a pale neck and drag Sasuke’s face to his.

He didn’t kiss Sasuke at that point as much as dominate his mouth. And Sasuke let him, not fighting him except for the firm press of tongue and lips against the invasion. Fast, brutal, and fierce, a claiming of his beta in the only way he could at that moment.

A soft noise had him pulling away, greeted by the flooding, precious scent of his Hinata. It took his brain a moment to catch up to what his nose was telling him, and he grinned wide enough to expose both sets of pointy canine teeth. His little mate had liked watching him with Sasuke. It was a very nice thing to know.

“Alright. I think we have things to do. Before any of us get distracted with things like closed doors and private rooms.” It took a minute to make sure they were all figured out and let Hinata stop blushing an amazing, sexy shade of flushed red.

Naruto didn’t regret a moment of it.

 

 

The day passed in the otherwise relatively quiet, dangerous lull after a storm. A routine was established, rounded out with Kimi and Neji, so none of them were truly alone at any point of the day. Between the six of them, Takeshi, and Naruto’s capability to make as many clones as needed at a moment’s notice, they were well covered.

Hanabi had refused the offer of a guard in her room, but had changed her mind and permitted a collared Takeshi entrance. Kimi, to everyone’s surprise, had taken sentry duty directly outside, up in one of the tree. Her hawk form granted her night- perception that was only rivaled by Hyuga eyes and Inuzuka noses. Neji settled down in his own room, merely a hall away, and had grudgingly accepted a Naruto clone- under the rule it kept its mouth shut all night and stuck to the far side of the door as much as possible.  

Naruto knocked on Hinata’s bedroom door after everyone else had been accounted for. He had a designated room near Neji’s, one he could share with Sasuke, but neither planned on using it much. Between the rotation schedule and the high alert level, there was little time set aside to truly sleep. Naruto longed to spend as much of his rest time as close to his mate- or both of them- as possible.

Hinata opened her door, all wrapped up in a bath robe over her sleeping shirt and pants. “Naruto,” She chided. He gave her a broad smile that countered the glimmer in his eyes. “You may come in. But I will kick you out if I have to.”

“I just want to talk.” He slipped into the room, letting the door close softly behind him. Immediately he was in her arms, Hinata hugging him fiercely as he leaned his back against the wall. Her scent met him, honey-sweet as always, a hint of honeysuckle from the shampoo she’d used not even an hour before. He wondered if she knew it complimented her own smell perfectly. He fisted his hands in her robe and resisted the urge to peel it off her. He wanted to, every bit of him wanted her.

Naruto bit on his lip, held her and slowly counted. He made it to twelve before she let go, and eighteen before the whimper crawled out of his throat.

“Words, Naruto.” She reached for him, a hand curving along one whisker- scarred cheek before he wrapped his arms around himself. Anything to keep from reaching over and either removing the offensive pajamas or letting her slip in close again. Her body pressed against him was playing hell with his control. Instead he dropped the careful illusion, baring himself in a way he only did for her, Sasuke, and Tsunade.

“I want you. I need you, and I’m so scared of losing you.” The crimson starbursts had swallowed most of his iris, something he’d realized had recently become permanent. Her hand strayed up to stroke at one drooping, fuzzy point still half- lost in his hair. “Sasuke, I can find him if I need to. He’s got my marks and my scent so stuck on him, I think the whole damn village knows. But you… if someone took you, I’d break. And knowing that doesn’t make it less terrifying.”

“Everyone knows I’m yours. Even without a wedding, people know.” She was obviously going to continue, but he shook his head, losing the gentle touch of her hand for a moment. 

“You don’t wear my scent like he does, nor any marks. He has chakra- branded tattoos all over him. Anything with enough of a brain can tell he’s claimed, and I can use the feel of my chakra burned along his flesh as homing signal.” Naruto pulled away, turning his eyes off her. “It’s helped him, so I can heal him even with the red stuff. I couldn’t heal you the same way right now, even if I had to. And I can be fooled if all I have to track you with is your scent.”

“You want to mark me like you did him… so you don’t lose me?” Slow words, and he took in the sound and pace of what she said and the lingering feeling of something unsaid.

“I would have marked you eventually, a mating mark. Nothing as complex as Sasuke’s brand, that’s to show he’s my beta, and that he’s bound to my will. But with all this craziness,” he paused and swallowed at the curiously blank look in her face. “I can’t lose you. I want another way to find you if something happens, a way to heal you in an emergency. I want my scent smothered into yours so deep I never have to worry about it. I want a lot of things. But I need a way to settle some of these things in some way so I don’t lose control and do something we may both regret later.”

Naruto stood there with his back to the door, watching while Hinata moved from him to her dresser. He crooked an eyebrow when she moved toward her bed and realized she was pacing. It did nothing for the need itching through him, watching her pace in pajamas and a bath robe.

“How close to the edge are you?”

He met her penetrating gaze, smiled slightly in return. “Honestly? I’m torn between ripping that robe to shreds,” he glanced at the bed to finish the thought without words, “or clinging to you and never letting you out of my sight. Close enough I probably shouldn’t be here, but I can’t make myself leave.”

“What would it take to calm you enough to keep control through this?” She held up a hand and continued, impressing him with her ability to speak the words without flushing. “We cannot have sex until I can talk to Tsunade- sama about health concerns and pregnancy.”

“Yeah, of course.” It made sense. They weren’t anywhere near ready for kids, and in Naruto’s mind he associated trying to have a baby while all this chaos was going on. He rubbed the heels of his hands against his face to clear away the images and thoughts. No, no children yet. “Would you let me mark you?”

She stepped closer to him, within his arm’s reach if he bothered to try. He didn’t, not yet. “The chakra brand, for tracking and a mark of claim?” He nodded, even though it was unneeded. She’d continued. “Will it be enough?”

“I hope so.” He cringed a little at the words. “It has to be enough, at least for now. I just need a way to know you’re safe, even when I can’t be with you.” He didn’t need to put words to the things swirling in his head and gut. The little voice of urgency in himself he couldn’t dare deny, that chanted ‘mine’ in heated tones, full of violence and possession and dark pleasure. Oh yes, that part of him would love to see her decorated in swirls of color, marked with his chakra, littered with bites and small bruises, signs of his passion and obsession.

“Then yes.” She stepped forward, and he opened his arms immediately. He held her close, breathing in her scent as she wrapped her arms around him. “I am yours, and not ashamed of it.”

Naruto had to capture her lips at that, one hand cupping her jaw and tilting her face up. He tried to stay so very careful, keep his fangs from scraping her mouth too much, but her admission, his amazing mate’s acceptance smothered him. He fought to keep from scaring her, felt the surge of red chakra from his core crawling up and swallowed back the burning urge to draw blood. His fingers swept under the edges of her robe, shoving it off her shoulders. Her sound of protest made him draw back slightly.

She had that look in her face, lusty, and stubborn, and loving, but her hands had grabbed at the parted edges of her robe and pulled it closed. She looked good like that, aroused and defiant. “Just this,” he managed, tugging on the robe an inch above her hands. “I don’t want to risk ruining it.”

It took a moment for her to consider before she let go, even allowing him to help her peel it off and lay it over the foot of the bed. She was nervous, now, biting her lip when he wrapped his arms back around her. “Trust me,” he whispered. Another kiss, gentle and chaste, and she relaxed against his arms.

The chakra broke, spilling around them in a tight funnel. She inhaled sharply, the first stirrings of fear tainting her scent bitterly. “It’s okay,” he murmured. He drew a finger of each hand along her collarbone, meeting at the base of her throat. Blood- red color followed the path, spilling into a five-petal flower where his fingers met. He bit his lip at the decoration, trying not to grin stupidly, and turned her enough to get to her right shoulder blade. A single finger at a time, until four drops of red pooled along each other in a short arc, and then three fingertips against each other underneath. Together they formed a crude paw-print. He snaked a finger under the ‘foot’ of the tattoo and exhaled over the line. The red scattered slightly, until a bushy tail appeared.

He wasn’t going to apology for the way the shirt had charred and peeled away from his fingers, leaving a smoldering hole in the shirt over his mark. He also was going to refrain from putting the same rich swirls up her back that decorated Sasuke’s.

“Hold on.” He warned, before pressing a finger from each hand against the largest point of each mark and channeling the chakra straight to her skin. He wasn’t actually certain that he was supposed to do it this way, and if the way her mouth fell open in a silent scream was any sign, it hurt like hell. But he wasn’t binding her the way he’d bound Sasuke, by oath and chakra and crimson reminders that etched into the majority of his body.

Then, suddenly, her chakra stopped fighting and he filled her, letting the crimson chakra swirl down through her and back to his hands. He pulled away, yanking his control back until every bit of flickering chakra was tight under his skin again. She’d managed to turn enough so her collapse would be onto the bed, and he stared at her for a moment before drawing close. “Are you okay?”

“That hurt.” She answered him, breathless and stunned, but without any signs of regret. “Do we have to do that again?”

Naruto shook his head and offered her a hand up. “Not unless I have to use that to heal you. And I’ll try to keep it for emergencies.” He hadn’t meant to hurt her, after all. Merely a side effect of carrying Kyuubi’s chakra. The demon chakra burned humans. How the over-dose Sasuke had gotten when Naruto had claimed him hadn’t burned the man, Naruto didn’t know, but now Sasuke didn’t even flinch when Naruto used the stuff to patch him up. He’d hoped Hinata would have a similar immunity to it, at least, in time. It was half the point of the marks, after all- a means to track her and heal her if something should go completely wrong.

She laid her hand in his, but instead of lifting herself off the bed she tugged at him. Naruto couldn’t deny her. He lowered himself onto the mattress beside his mate and spent a moment simply reveling in being right there. A hand crept into his hair and started scratching at his scalp. He arched in pleasure under the attention before leaning forward and stealing another kiss.

“Thank you, Hinata.”

She gave him that heart-rending smile again. “I love you too.”

*****

Djargo: Thanks, as always, for the review. (They really do feed me!!)  Admittedly, Hanabi's abduction wasn't supposed to be 'internal' but having Danzou do it and the Hiashi thing managed to both promote the plot (and what I need for certain things to happen) and still stay true to the anime/ manga (as last seen and read, which has been a long while). Hiashi was supposed to just disappear, no one the wiser. If things had gone to his plans no one would even be looking at Danzou with anything worse than the usual amount of suspicion and concern. Also.your.theory.on.Takeshi.is.most.likely.correct. *nudgehintnudge*