one_long_mission

"I can't." he shook his head. "But I hold truth and knowledge, and I will take death before sharing any." this was as much as he could say.

As soon as they were out of range, he ordered her aside -just in case- and used a strange, never-seen jutsu, black flames launching themselves at the stone door and sealing it... or had they? They burned and burned even as they headed up the stairs, even after they were out of sight...

Surprisingly, as they emerged, Sasuke knelt before what may have been the sacred gate, if this wasn't rubble, and for all it appeared had started praying, eyes closed.

Her brow furrowed as she studied his mannerisms. Whatever had happened down there had changed him, and she had no way of knowing just yet if it was for the better or not. Instead, she exhaled and nodded, following after him. That jutsu was something never before seen, something almost beautiful in its overwhelming destruction.

She stood behind him as he prayed, activating her Byakugan again for a sweep of the area.

"Sasuke," she murmured, lowering her weight as she canvased the entire area, head turning more by reflex than actual need. "We need to get moving. There's a large force headed in this direction. Between fifty and sixty Shourisha."

This prompted a dry laugh from him. "So then, they were already made aware? This can't be a coincidence." his eyes had shifted back to his normal sharingan, in which nothing could be read but destruction and, strangely enough, a pinch of reverence.

"And you say we need to get moving?" he scoffed, leaping onto the highest pillar of rubble. "Those fools never learned to read then, if they don't know the prophecy." that odd purple chakra seemed to ooze out of him permanently now. "Time for them to bow to their undoer!"

He was not moving. Fifty to sixty Shourisha were headed their way and he was not moving. It could be folly, but he looked so firmly determined that it just might not be.

"Fifty-six," she amended a moment later, visible surprise crossing her face as he only made himself more of a target. That purple Chakra was... odd. Even without her Byakugan, she could almost see it wreathing around him, leaving her breath strangely tight in her throat.

"Sasuke, even you cannot take an entire platoon," she pointed out, leaping up to the narrow pillar beside him and touching his elbow warningly. "We must get back and warn our village."

"Reality is only what you perceive, and you haven't perceived nearly enough." he hardly seemed to mind that the advancing platoon was on the horizon. "I told you this was over. The new era has begun!" his voice was akin to a thunderclap, and those eyes were fearless.

"Why warn the village at all? Once I'm done with them, they won't be able to move..." his tone was icy. "If they love hostilities, I'll feed them that until they burst."

She shook lightly, catching sight of his expression. Whatever he had seen in that temple... Suicide was not an option, especially not when it would take her with him.

She didn't vocally apologize, even though she was aware it would shatter whatever tentative camaraderie they had managed to build. She only struck, quickly, bringing up one hand in an attempt to target a pressure point on the side of his head to produce unconsciousness.

She had masterfully masked her intent. had he felt the most minuscule hint of a threat towards him, he would have been able to stop her attempt, and from then on, things would have gotten only worse.
He, however, was clueless to her intent.

Suicide? He was not intending such a thing, and he also had no intention to take her down with him. He had a plan, a destiny... but then?

Then... everything suddenly went dark. He did not even feel himself lose balance as he lost consciousness.
Just as she had planned...

She was quick to catch him, clutching him to her with perhaps surprising strength as she used her Chakra to simply run down the side of the pillar. A moment to shift their positions to carry him piggy-back, and she was off at a dead sprint. From what she could see behind her, they hadn't noticed his attempt at grandeur atop the pillar, but she couldn't be sure.

So she just ran, back the way they had come, as far as she could until the Shourisha were beyond the scope of her vision. Sasuke should be waking up soon enough, and she wouldn't be surprised were he to attack her.

And stir he did, groaning lightly as he shifted, awareness slowly coming back.

At first he was lost, wondering if the enemy's attack had not gotten him, but then he remembered. No enemy at all was yet in range. The only one who could have done so, was...
A scowl drew itself upon his face as he gathered chakra for an unforgiving chidori. How dare she!? Letting her stick with him had been a miserable idea after all!

The moment she sensed his Chakra, she dropped to one knee and released her grip on his legs. Her own stopped momentum should send him hurling forward overtop her like a macabre game of leapfrog gone wrong. In an instant, she was on her feet, hands raised before her as adrenaline spiked and Chakra fueled her eyes. She had beaten him before, but that strange purple Chakra...

She wasn't certain if she could do it again.

The electricity chirped madly as he stood after rolling to the ground, eyes red with -she may be thankful- the three-tomoe sharingan. "On whose side are you?" he hissed, enraged. "If you were that scared of a battle, nothing kept you from HIDING and shaking in the shadows!" apparently, he was still convinced he could have taken up that platoon... alone if he had to.

"Fifty-six against two!" she snarled, lowering her weight further. With that lightning technique crackling like that, she'd have to open with the speed of Rokujuuyonshuu from the very beginning. "We do not have the supplies to take on an army, Uchiha Sasuke, and if we fall, there is no one to warn Michi of their impending arrival."

She obviously didn't believe that he could take that platoon. What single person could?

"Then why are you still standing here and not running to warn them?" he asked, keeping his stance, ready to go against her if she moved towards him and meet her with that lightning. "Fifty-six against me isn't even a challenge!" those red eyes had a sheen like glistening, fresh blood for an instant.

"I will not permit you to hurl yourself against an overwhelmingly numerically superior foe. You may weaken them, you may cull their numbers, but they will kill you. And I am not about to see that happen."

"Kill me? Kill me!?" he was outraged. "I could go against a force twice as massive and emerge victorious! You clearly underestimate me, Hyuuga!" he spat out, the chidori still chirping angrily.

"Or it is you who overestimate your own ability," she returned without missing a beat, flexing her palm open. "Will you kill me to take your chance to die against a platoon, Uchiha Sasuke? You will need to."

As shocking as it may have been, after a second, eyes narrowed, the chidori faded. His scowl only was more venomous though.
As far gone as he might have seemed at first, he was not willing to kill her. "You're annoying." he snorted.

"...and it looks like we have a village to warn."

She only slowly relaxed from her stance, watching him carefully. His intent didn't seem to be that of killing, yet she wouldn't put it past him to attempt a similar trick to what she'd already done to him.

"Then let's go." She gave him another critical look before adjusting her pack on her shoulder and starting to run again.

"You forgot night's approaching. We'll need at least one more day of travel after this, even at top speed.." he followed behind, smirking. "If you can't think of ways to detain them or mow down their numbers on the way, I can..."

"They aren't moving at top speed, and they will need to stop for the night as well."

She glanced behind her and just shook her head once before returning her attention forward. "Our duty is to warn the village. I will not compromise that."

"How annoying." he snorted, lips curling in disgust, although he still followed. "It looks like I have no choice. They won't thank you for prolonging their measly lives though."

And it was only then that finally, the purple chakra dissipated, eyes returning to black after a blink.

She just huffed herself, feeling the tension in the air ease slightly with the dissipation of his Chakra, and kept running. Let him think as he wished, but she would not permit this kind of foolish combat.

And she'd just keep running until it grew too dark to see clearly, scouting out another cave and placing the traps more carefully than before, now that she knew there were enemies in their wake. Even if they weren't being pursued as it was, they were still following almost the same path.

He remained close all through their return run. As this evening revealed, even though he had gotten what may seemed to be an amazing power boost, peace still eluded him in sleep, and nightmares still had their way within.

Everything still burned, everyone still screamed... and he still was greeted by burned corpses, still reaching out and grasping nothing.

She inwardly snarled at being woken once again by his nightmares. Sleep had been hard enough to come by with how low the temperature had dropped; it felt as if with the dawn it would rain. For all his talk, for all his attempts to drive her away, she still shared that same damn empathy with him. The past two days had only deepened it, and even the confrontation earlier...

He could have tried to kill her. He hadn't. Not even when she dared him.

A long pause as she thought of the way her family would disapprove before she stubbornly opened her bedroll. Let them disapprove. A small act of defiance against her uncle was a small price to pay to ward against the chill of the night and the way he writhed in his nightmares.

She reached with one hand to lightly touch his shoulder. "Sasuke."

And she took his hand, shifting aside in her bedroll in wordless offer to permit him to join her.

Movement stopped at the contact, dark eyes opening wide.

Fear, loss, loneliness were plain to see for a second until the twin glistening orbs shut again. The offer was there, and even if for one second he shuddered, he did shift unto her, robe mostly left by itself as he invaded her bedroll.

It was uncanny just how he quieted once the warmth of their bodies slowly combined, kept within this comfortable space. As usual, once they had visited him, the nightmares did not come back.

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