Manga/Anime: Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto/Studio Pierrot
Words: 3 623
Publish: 11/20/2020
Summary: Canon divergence - When Hinata arrives next to Naruto, she looks for Pain. However it seems Konoha's enemy is gone. She then turns towards its hero, excepting to see a smile. But she only sees darkness in his sky blue eyes and she doesn't know where it comes from.

She couldn't see. The seal on the blindfold prevented her from using her Byakugan.

She had tried to get rid of it. Unfortunately, every time she fiddled with the fabric, a powerful shock wave would make her spasm, her throat becoming irritated because of her screams echoing between her cell walls. Pain pierced her retinas, provoking tears taking their time to dry on her frozen skin. Electricity then crawled along her nerves, creating an immediate headache.

Being unable to rely on her sight, her other senses had then got accustomed of her surroundings since she'd been here.

She was fastened. The sound of the chains on her wrists and ankles against the cold metal bars had given away the answer when she tried to escape, the length of her ties only permitting her to walk between her toilet and her mattress.

She knew how each stone of her cell walls felt and she knew one of them had a crack she intended to use when the right time would come.

She could hear her guardians' steps and voices. Omoi and Karui would say Naruto deserved the beating they'd given him, as if Hinata wasn't caged right behind them. It would happen the Raikage visited her too. His strides were different from the others'. Quick, but heavy. Like claps of thunder against the prison's stones charged with animosity towards Konoha.

Apparently, he hadn't swallowed the last events that happened in Kumo yet.

Darui had been named to become raikage after A's body had been found in his office.

"Naruto's been seen at the Kumo frontier. Team 8, I want you to go and lend Team 7 your support."

It was a S-ranked mission.

Track, analyse and capture the rogue ninja at dusk.

When she recognised his chakra - warm, bright and unhidden - with her Byakugn, her heart throbbed. Hinata rushed towards him, ignoring Kiba's and Shino's calls behind her.

But instead of coming back to the village with the one she had been running after for months, Hinata and her team found themselves on the crime scene.

The room was empty, quiet.

The atmosphere knotted their guts.

The sensorial ninjas they were were confused, unable to sense what was hidden.

The air was still crackling after having been in contact with his chakra and was running on their bare skin, the hair on their neck standing on end.

Akamaru whined and his owner too seemed to suffer the fox's strong scent.

What was left of his dominant presence weighed heavily on their shoulders, turning their breathing difficult, forcing them to focus on their inhale and exhale until they noticed the smell.

Blood.

The storm exploded.

Rain bumed on the roof.

Thunderclaps lighted the scene.

Once.

Twice.

The Raikage was still dead, murder, disfigured, opened in half behind his desk.

Hinata was never disturbed at the sight of blood or of Death cutting short somebody's life. It was her everyday life as a kunoichi. But, knowing he was the author of such carnage made her shudder, a hand covering her mouth and tears watering her eyes.

The three ninjas understood the message he wanted to express right away.

Satisfy the thirst for vengeance eating his heart.

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Uchiha Sasuke for the raikage A.

Showing that the Akatsuki must be feared and respected in this dark and cruel world belonging to the ninjas.

Security teams arrived faster than what the ANBU team had expected.

Hinata wanted to leave. Naruto wasn't here anymore, there was no need to stay. They must inform Team 7. Since they were outside the village, they still had a chance to catch him. Kiba proposed to fight back, but Shino was sure Team 8 could prove their innocence by talking peacefully with Kumo's council.

As team leader, he had the terrible surprise to see he was wrong.

The ninjas from the Land of Lightning attacked them without asking questions, all blinded by their hatred, their desire to make them pay for the dishonour of their raikage.

And yet they had been asked to stop.

Hinata should have known Kumo would take advantage of the situation to capture an ANBU alive. They were a precious source of information about Konoha and the Hokage.

But, when she'd been shown to her torturers and unmasked and they saw her eyes, the dignitaries demanded to see her.

As soon as Hinata met their small glazed eyes, she didn't need her Byakugan to clearly see they were taken aback. They were lost for words before the Hyuuga princess who had escaped the kidnapping attempt.

Kidnapping attempt they had orchestrated from beginning to end.

Her chakra was then removed from her. She was put in a cage, treated like an animal. Cut, manipulated like an object, jabbed, analysed, tested, she was watched from every angle by the scientists who wanted to gain the power of the Byakugan.

Being tied hand and foot, Hinata didn't know how Shino, Kiba and Akamaru were doing. She was trying hard to not think they were dead.

She didn't know where Naruto was now. She hoped Team 7 was still on his tail.

She didn't know if Tsunade was going to act. She was praying the gods no war was on the leaders' minds and lips.

She could control nothing. She felt powerless. Exactly like the day she'd understood Naruto was turning his back on the village.

When she heard he'd been badly affected by the news that Kumo had killed Sasuke, she went to convince Tsunade to send her to the Land of Iron.

Unfortunately, she was too late.

Naruto had already disappeared.

"Uchiha Madara?"

"He tricked us with his genjutsu." Yamato reported. "As we had taken aim at him, he started to talk about Sasuke and Itachi. Naruto was in one hell of a state. But as soon as Kakashi noticed the fraud and we broke the genjutsu, they were both gone."

Shino was carefully listening to the captain while Hinata was watching the white horizon with her Byakugan, but she was elsewhere, looking at the last marks of Naruto's chakra being wiped away by the harsh wind of this cold country.

Until she felt a hand on top of her head. "I'm sorry, Hinata." Kakashi looked down. "Maybe if you had been here sooner, you would've been able to get him to listen to reason..."

Still today, she wasn't sure whether or not Kakashi knew about them.

But what difference would it have made?

She wasn't his teammate like Sakura. She wasn't the first person he bonded with like Sasuke. She wasn't an extraordinary ninja who could stop a powerful jinchuuriki.

She was weak.

And now that the only person she had ever loved was gone, her world had never been so bitter, colourless.

"Chin up, Hinata-san!" Rock Lee exclaimed.

They were sharing the same hospital room after their defeat during the chunin exam and he seemed to feel her growing worry.

It was the night before Naruto and Neji's fight.

"He promised he'll show Neji that losers can still win and I'm sure it's because you've inspired him."

Red cheeks and heart pounding, it was hard for her to believe it. "M-Me...?"

"Yes! Naruto-kun even said you were incredible during your fight against Neji! You were the perfect example of what it means to have the power of youth!"

She remembered she'd felt so much joy that the next day, she gathered all of her courage to cheer Naruto up. To remind him that he was strong in her eyes. That no matter what, she would always admire him. Love the smile that saved her when she was feeling down.

And she'd never go back on her word.

She gave herself a mission; she had to speak to Naruto.

And if to succeed, she had to be Kumo's test subject for several days, weeks, and months, then so be it.

As a ninja, she must endure.

With that in mind, she started a new series of push-ups, counting to not imagine his cheerful laugh, controlling her breathing to not think about his bright smile stretching his whiskered cheeks, pushing on her arms to not feel the absence of his rough but delicious touch.

She rolled on her back, chains following her movement, clicking against the hard and uncomfortable floor she was exerting herself on. Feet on the floor and arms crossed on her chest, she kept the pace of her crunches steady.

Her heart was beating faster and faster. Her wounds hurt. She felt dizzy. Her body was close to the rupture, but she didn't let go.

She had to be ready for D-day.

The day when a mistake will be made in this power struggle between her and Kumo.

This day, she won't hold back.

Suddenly, the door at the end of the hall opened. Two loud man voices hid the sound of her chains when she changed position.

Feeling her way along the wall, she went back to the bottom of her mattress and sat, knees against her chest as she was attentive at each noise resonating.

This scraping against the floor vibrating in her toes meant it was time for dinner. She also heard pleas from other prisoners asking to get out, begging to end this nightmare.

She started when she heard her food tray scraping against the stone, didn't move from her corner where she was feeling safe and tightened her arms around herself a bit more as the two men made gross comments on her exposed curves under her thin one-piece.

"See? Told you she wasn't interesting to watch. I don't know what they're doing to her in the lab, but she's become a real wreck."

"I don't mind. I like it when they're submissive."

"Idiot! It's forbidden. She's Raikaga-sama's property. Her eyes are too important for you to mess up."

When the door closed, solitude took back its reign upon the prisoners and Hinata stood up, stretched her muscles, and made her neck crack.

You both idiots. Try to touch me and see. She wasn't going to say no for some action.

She smiled, imagining their expression of surprise when they would realise she was nothing of what she'd let them believe. It was so easy to fool them that it wasn't fun anymore.

She picked up her food tray and took back her seat on her mattress. Sniffing each meal, she tasted with care tonight's dinner. It wasn't exactly an extravagance here, however each bite mattered. She did feel she had become thinner, weakened, but she couldn't just give up.

That's what he would've expected from her.

"You can take off your mask. We're alone."

She did what she was told. Placing her mask on his coffee table, she accepted the colours to brighten up her world.

Heart clenching, Hinata noticed he wasn't completely healed. He still had wounds on his face. But she had only just made one step when Naruto reduced the distance their statuts forced them to keep between them when they weren't alone.

His height and broad shoulders prevented the sunlight from caressing Hinata's cheekbones, possessively protecting her in his shadow she knew could be frightening.

She had witnessed his fight against Pain.

Yet, she would always feel whole when he was with her, turning her brutal world into a paradise as he hugged her.

Butterflies erupted in her stomach when his hands slid on her porcelain skin, cupping her delicate face, his fingers playing with her dark hair, his thumb dancing on her cheeks.

They eyes met.

If playing her act became easier and easier in from of others, feeling nothing when she drove in this intense and unleashed ocean that was his gaze was impossible for her. It held so many unsaid things she loved to read in the peaceful silence their eye contact would give them.

They will fight the violence in this world.

They will protect their love.

That's what they wanted to say to each other out loud...

But, they stayed quiet and he led her towards his bed.

Not as usual, his touch was much more lingering, his kisses deeper, his tenderness extremely imposing. He admired her pupiless eyes others would fear so fondly. Distance between them was no more due to his hand on her nacked lower back.

"I have to go to the Land of Iron. I'll ask the Raikage to forgive Sasuke. I don't know how long it's going to take so..."

His hands went behind his neck and detached his necklace. The blue gemstone shone under the rays of the setting sun when he gave it to her. "Na-Naruto-kun, what are you doing?"

"I need you to watch over it for a while, Hinata."

"But... it's your promise. Are you going back on the words you gave Tsunade-sama?"

"Nah, don't worry. I'll still want to be Hokage."

She looked at the pendant in her palm and brushed against it before gently closing her hands around it. "Then, I'll take care of it." She promised softly.

His flush was almost as distinct as Hinata's, but his smile was unequalled. That's what made her fall in love with him and she had vowed to herself to do whatever it takes to cherish it.

To protect it.

Dawn exploded their small bubble, reminding them they couldn't be young adults in love.

And yet, her hands kept marking his skin. She let him breathe her warmth, listen to her heart beats and embrace her one last time before going back to reality.

It's only when they moved back, got dressed and that she put her mask back on her face that black and white stained her sight again.

A piercing alarm rang in her ear, dragging her out of her sleepy state. Under the sole of her feet, she recognised the vibrations of hundreds of steps running towards the source of danger. She also felt the tension and the agitation of her cellmates thickening the air.

It was not an exercise.

Something was escaping Kumo's control and she should take advantage of the situation to set herself free.

She had a mission to go back to.

Feet on the wall and hands around her chains, she was about to pull with all her strength when the whole building shook, as if it was experiencing the effects of an earthquake.

A detonation on the left of her cell made her start, but a growl resonated on her right. She failed to know where to turn her head, but she was ready to defend herself even though she couldn't see a thing.

Then the slow creaking of her door was heard.

Body trembling, her breathing got caught in her throat. "Na-Naruto-kun?"

She heard him inhale loudly through his teeth, a dangerous hiss betraying his displeasure. "Hinata."

If she hadn't been sure it was him, the caress of his low voice, the sound of his muffled steps, the feeling of his body against hers, the woody smell of his boiling chakra would've wiped her doubts away, but just his solid presence kneeling before her shook her heart.

Unable to speak, she just let herself snuggled into his arms while his hands traveled on her skin to heal her wounds with his warm chakra, making her quiver with pleasure.

Under the pressure of his fist, her chains broke. He then smoothed her raw wrists and ankles with one hand, the other in her dirty and sticky hair brushing against the fabric of her blindfold.

Hinata waited for the familiar pain to strike, but something completely different came. Like the suffocating heat of a wildfire, Naruto's chakra melted the sealing jutsu. She still let out a small whine caused by the pain when the pressure around her skull disappeared into thin air. Right after, his fingers massaged her temples and she blinked, groaning in front of the extra light clouding her sight.

Through the veil blurring her hurt eyes, she found his thick whiskers on his tanned cheeks. His gaze usually sky blue displayed a dark but worried red. The shade of orange on his eyelids stood out much more than normally between his black forehead protector and his high-chin cloak scattered with red clouds. His hair had grown out and sparkled a luxuriant blond that for sure made the sun envious of the attraction it received.

Her world was painted with bright colours once again.

Tears tried to soften her emotions.

He was the enemy now. She'd heard it often to not forget it and the leaf symbol crossed out on his forehead protector was another proof of it.

And yet...

She closed her eyes, refusing to cry before him. But, he took advantage and kissed her eyelids with his soft lips, getting rid of the seal's side effects a bit more.

Gradually, the warnings of her teammates, her Hokage, and her family were collapsing as he tenderly pressed moist kisses on her face.

Until he found her parted lips.

Once.

Twice.

She gave in.

Having the intensity of his lips back made her light-headed. Her arms wrapped themselves around his neck and she would've liked it to be enough to hold him back. That the way she was giving herself to him could tell him what she was feeling right now. That her will was strong enough to change everything.

But a clone approached them to report the situation, "Backup's coming. It's the Raikage." He sounded amused, not impressed at all.

Her hands still clung to him on their own initiative.

"Hinata..." he kissed her again. "I have to go, Hinata." He kissed her for the fifth time and only then, he moved back.

But he was still before her when she opened her eyes again. Then, a shade of blue caught her gaze and she saw the necklace. The one Kumo took away from her before locking her here. The one she had to keep safe because it was still Naruto's.

The gemstone was located in the valley of her breasts once again when his hands moved along her neck, capturing her face for one last languorous meeting of their lips. "Please, don't die."

Her eyelashes still quivering with pleasure, she only reacted when she didn't feel his warmth against her anymore. She stood up on her wobbly legs before looking for him with her blurry eyes.

Even wearing the Akatsuki uniform, he kept being radiant, "Naruto-kun!"

Her tiny hand caught his wrist and this time, she didn't hide her quiet tears when he looked at her.

Was she crazy or could she feel his erratic heartbeats echo with her own?

She couldn't believe he was standing before her right now. "What are you doing here?"

"You can't pay for my actions, Hinata. You're too good for that. So I came to give you a little help since Tsunade's apparently decided to play it fair and square this time. As if we had time to waste." He sight and dramatically rolled his eyes. "By the way, Kiba and Shino are held down stairs, but I let you take care of that, okay? I know you're strong and-"

"I have to take you back to the village."

She would've wanted for her voice to be firmer. She would've wanted for her sentence to be an affirmation, but she could already feel his wrist breaking free from her fingers.

With a lingering hand, he pushed back her hair from her face to take a good look at it before looking at her in the eye. "We both know you won't."

She swallowed the second made-up lie she was about to tell him.

It's true, she was selfish.

"I'm sorry I wasn't with you when you needed it... But, I won't give up on you, Naruto-kun. One day... I'll catch up with you. I want to be able to walk with you without being worried someone might see us. I'll choose you, again and again, because I lo-"

His nail polished index finger sealed her lips, then his thumb drew the contour of her lower lip, and he leaned to confess loud enough for her to be the only one to hear him through the battle sounds in the background. "I can't let you say that, Hinata... Not yet, not here. Walls have ears."

She was too confused to notice that Naruto and his clones weren't the only danger.

It's just that, his presence was so overwhelming and bright, she had to rub her eyes. The sensation was worse than facing the sun with her wounded Byakugan.

Beautiful and painful.

But...

This gleam in his gaze. His meticulous choice of words. He was hiding something behind his attitude. She knew it but couldn't put her finger on it.

As he kissed her forehead, she looked down on their intertwined hands slowly parting and saw his necklace.

"Please, wait for me a bit longer, Hinata."

Her hand that had held him for her to enjoy his presence a bit more was now empty. She was alone with this small piece of him around her neck.

His new promise.

His own confession of his feelings for her.

The representation of who he'd been and of who he'll become, but of who he couldn't be right now.

No matter how long his absence was going to last, Naruto will be back.

However, will he be able to get rid of his darkness that seemed to gradually dig its claws in him before shining and shouted his dreams again?

Hinata didn't know, but she believed in him.

And if she had to place herself between him and the rest of the world, then she would do it again and again.

Oh boy, this plotless one-shot completely got out of hand (I don't even know if it still can fit in the Crime AU theme/prompt) It's nothing I had planned but I still kind of like it (meeting/reunion scenes are my thing!) 

Anyway, thank you for reading :)