one_long_mission

"...the one of being forced to rebuild a clan." he murmured. "They shouldn't have... to worry about any proper way, about having to build their lives with a given predetermined person.."

"While you should?" Her brow furrowed again, hand touching near the corner of her eye again. "Sasuke... Do not trap yourself in a fate of your own making. You have the freedom I lack. Please do not waste it."

He gave a heavy sigh. "I don't even know if I love anyone enough for that..." a pause. "You know, it,s been a few hours. You can try taking them off if you think it improved."

You do not have to was the obvious answer, but it wasn't her place to say so. A beat, then she brought a hand up to slowly unravel the bandages, keeping her eyes closed for another long moment before starting to crack them open.

She immediately hissed in pain at the comparative brightness, but held up a hand so Sasuke wouldn't think something was terribly wrong. "I can see... shapes," she answered finally, after she had given her eyes time to adjust. "The outlines are hazy, yet I am well enough to function on my own, should have you have other responsibilities."

As much as she wanted to hope that he wouldn't leave her here, now that she had had a taste of the freedom of staying elsewhere for a night... she could hardly force him to stay any more than she could easily leave.

"I don't have other responsibilities... or at least, not ones that I care to go to now." besides, should he be summoned for battle, he could be found. Besides, he did not think shapes and hazy outlines was good enough yet. "..unless you're tired of my company."

"I am not." She wrapped the bandage around her eyes again and rose to her feet. "The only thing I would be able to do in this condition is meditate, and that can be done at any time."

A beat of hesitation. "I apologize for being a poor host."

"I wasn't entirely that great either... never had much practice." he snorted. "Goes for both of us, doesn't it?" he tried to forget how much they had in common.

"I have been trained for such things. To be a proper wife for them to give away, someday," she shook her head and let her palms rest on the table, though her lips quirked into a soft smile. "Please do not take offense, but when I am with you, I do not feel the need to be so formal as I have been trained to be."

"Taking offense? I wouldn't After all, if it's less a burden... you can be natural." he murmured. "I'll never say anything against it." he gave the lightest of smiles.

"Sometimes I wonder just what being natural is for me," she mused aloud, fingertips rubbing briefly against the table again before she forced herself to still. "In any case, I am... grateful that you accompanied me here."

"Don't mention it. You'd have done the same for me, I feel." he was about to say something else, when suddenly there was an explosion, the tremor from the blast felt throughout the village.

Their warning about spies may have been too late. The weapons depot in the village had been set on fire.

She smiled, opening her mouth to respond, when the explosion was heard. Immediately she lunged to her feet, turning her head toward the explosion and activating her Byakugan by reflex. Immediately she let out a sharp sound of pain, hand falling to clutch the table with the sudden vertigo, but it was enough.

"Two hundred meters north-northwest, female, slender, sprinting toward the southern exit of the village," she reported, collapsing back to her knees and bringing both hands up to either sides of her eyes as she was forced to shut them off. "Get her before there's any more damage, Sasuke!"

It looked as though they were out of time.

A look of worry was painted across his face for a few seconds, but they knew. They both knew.. the best course of action was for him to race towards their enemy and dispatch it.

He took off without any hesitation to intercept her. The southern exit was quiet... too quiet.
With a light hiss, he realized there were no guards. Could they have been spies as well..? Since how long had they set their plan up if this was the case? Perhaps the guards had simply been removed.

Anyone available with a high-enough level water jutsu was mobilized against the fire, but the damage to the weapons was already made from the blaze.

Spotting the fleeing female, the Uchiha unforgivably made a beeline for her, intending to end her while another explosion occurred closer to the Uchiha compound, the fire quickly spreading thanks to the dry wood kept for making planks and build houses.

Things were going from bad to worse if their enemy had somehow become this organized, destroying the village from within even as they fought near its borders..

She heard him leave, exhaling heavily through her nose as she rubbed at the sides of her eyes, expression scrunching into pain now that there was no one there to watch. And there was nothing for her to see, either; suddenly using them as such had strained the little progress she'd already made.

All she could do, as much as she hated to even think about it, was rely on Sasuke to take care of the saboteur -- or saboteurs, as seemed likely from the second explosion. She could hear the other Hyuuga mobilizing to defend their village, while she... sat there. And listened. And cursed her own weakness for being useless at a time like this.

The stench of fire and smoke made its way after a while, Michi no Sato plunged into a series of random and unpredictable blasts. There was more chaos, more screaming, and after what may be half an hour, someone entered. It was one of her direct cousins. "What are you still doing here? Our clan is evacuating the village."

There was such chaos and such a force to fight outside that of course the Hyuuga had chosen to go into hiding to protect themselves and their eyes. If this decision had been taken, then the village was in a dire position despite their warning. "The order has been given." and orders were absolute. their Clan's safety came before anything else, even the village's defenses.

"Evacuating," she repeated numbly, jaw clenching with an anger she refused to let show beyond the small movement. They couldn't evacuate, they were needed! If the battle were truly that hopeless, the rest of the village would be leaving as well.

"To where? Is this decree of the elders, or has the entire village given up the battle for lost?" Already on her feet, she moved without the aid of her eyes to start securing her belongings. At the first smell of fire, she'd gathered what was precious to her, so all that remained was to sling the bag over her shoulder.

If that was the case, where was Sasuke...? After everything, she couldn't believe he would leave without finding her first. She refused to imagine that he had been killed.

"Our Elders' decree isn't anything you or anyone can go against. We're going to be trapped like rats if we stay here! The south gate is falling, and--"

There was a shout, a warning...

Behind him, somehow, a being had materialized from seemingly thin air, a killing blow coming straight to him that no one in was in range to stop, and he knew he'd never be able to evade...
His life flashed before his eyes, and then...

Then there was a hiss and faster than even lightning itself, a large snake had slithered forth to crush the intruder into its jaw.
A chorus of shocked "Uchiha!" gasps, and shouts came from all over town as somehow, a friendly snake army with familiar-looking red eyes had appeared to their aid and turned the tide back in their favor.

Little did they know these were far from real snakes. They were right on the 'Uchiha' matter though, and she better than anyone would have recognized the unmistakable -although thin?- chakra signature. The snake lunged into the room, knocking past the half-awed and half-terrified family member of the Hyuuga still at the door. In mid-lunge it poofed out into a cloud of smoke, and Sasuke landed into a roll on the floor before ending up near Neji, impeccably spring back up to his full height.

"Neji... you're safe" he sounded immensely relieved., although immensely drained. Not that she could see it, but that purple chakra was still leaking out of him, visibly.

Her cousin could though, and he was terrified, still at the door. "W-what are you?"

She sensed the incoming killing-intent too late, wheeling and relying on her other senses to try to aim Hakke Koushou toward the attacker -- but before she could, there was another crash, leaving her pivoting to face the new threat. Before he even spoke, she relaxed, sensing the by-now familiar Chakra. Weaker than she'd expect, and that purple...

It was then she became aware of the strange senses of... something outside, something that was pushing back the tide of the battle.

Without hesitation, she moved forward, footsteps careful to avoid any kind of debris, to touch his arm, sightless eyes turned toward where she imagined his face to be as she ignored her relative. "You are overexerting yourself. Is the village evacuating? Command me."

Going against the Elders' orders in the heat of the moment was something that could get her ostracized from the clan at the very least, but right now, none of that was important.

"What are you saying? Neji!" her cousin was enraged. She just ASKED that Uchiha for a command!? He was about to say this was treason, but soon enough the raven-haired youth spoke with some effort.

"Evacuating... is something the weak do. If the village falls, I'll fall along with it." a pause, a light tremor coursing his body. "I have every intention to win, however." he rumbled rumbled. "I will not fall, and this village won't." he then turned his head back to Neji.
He was no longer fighting alone. "I've figured them out. The enemy is using some form of advanced camouflage and melding with the earth to spring into our village and attack from within." he added that those that used such a mysterious technique had no armor, which made them easy targets if uncovered and even easier to strike down. Since they had no chakra, it wasn't easy to find them under the ground, however...

This was where the snake transformation came in. With this, he could feel the earth's minuscule shift and the air's changes when an enemy sprang. "With those foes out of the way, we should win... They took out our strongest fighters from within, but... they are being treated." of course, he had one of those snake-clones of his guarding the hospital grounds from any foe.

"We'll... go lend our strength to the force at... the main gate."

She listened carefully to the explanation, still ignoring her cousin, before she moved in, an abrupt motion, tracking the sound of his voice to first touch his lips, then near his eyes. He was starting to exhaust his Chakra, that much was obvious even without her sight.

"Then be my eyes," she said simply. It defied logic, defied common sense; Sasuke would be distracted if she were there, less likely to protect himself. But at the same time, it would enable him to conserve his Chakra.

"And we will win."

He was dangerously low on chakra, but he was not going to let their enemy take any more buildings or lives out.
And so, taking her hand, he guided her to the main gate.

The foes within the village dealt with, he was able to allow his clones away. He did let the sharingan fade then, wincing against sudden pain and fighting the dizziness. He couldn't spare any more chakra... but he wasn't the only one fighting. "Forward!" he commanded, voice sharp even against the screams of battle. It was easier to notify her of the enemies' locations and let her strike.

"Three paces left!" With him directing her every strike, she did not even have to spend any chakra to try and see where the enemy was at. "Directly right!" He could see the last waves closing in. "Kaiten!" he shouted.

The other fighters redoubled their efforts, amazed at what these two could do. "Hey, wasn't Neji temporarily blind?" one asked his companion.
"Whoa, that's the Uchiha shouting orders!"
"Didn't he have those snakes from earlier too?"
"Check out the Hyuuga! There's Shourisha flying everywhere!"

The amount of trust was staggering, something she'd think on when time permitted. For now, there was only Sasuke's voice, his shouted commands to keep her open palms impacting flesh. She trusted him to guide her and protect her from harm.

She didn't know how long they were there, how much fighting they had to do or how many Shourisha she ended by Sasuke's command, but it was unimportant. Until Sasuke gave her the all-clear, she'd keep fighting.

Let her clan flee. They would see where the true strength of the Hyuuga laid, and that was with her hands, her blood. The offcast child the clan hadn't wanted in the first place.

From dodging to attacking, and even some amazing parries, it was a marvel how their teamwork was. Flawless, impeccable. Their opponents fell to well-practiced strikes and decidedly unforgiving hits.

The battle raged on for what may have been twenty more minutes until the other side sounded the retreat, the remainder of their fighters limping or running away Sasuke's voice was hoarse from the yelling, his body exhausted but still whole... he wasn't even sure how or when, but one moment he was standing on top of the main gate, and the next he had gathered Neji in his arms, among the shouts of victory.

They had done it. Their village was saved... and they had shaved off a number of their opponents before the others had given up. Their losses outweighed Konoha's in numbers.

He wanted to praise her, but found he lacked breath to do so.
Other people were doing it for him, however.

She wasn't sure who was supporting whom more in that moment as she clung to him, resting her weight back on her heels in case the strain was too much for him. Through the darkness of her lost sight, she could hear the cheering of the villagers, the way they praised not only her as a Hyuuga, but him. The Uchiha who had come to their rescue and kept fighting when all seemed lost.

Maybe it was the thrill of the moment, the adrenaline only slowly fading away coupled with the rush of having defied her family, escaped their control for even just a moment. Maybe it was because even if she could hear the voices around them, she couldn't see them. Whatever the reason, she brought a hand up to find his face again, fingers tracing up his neck to find the curve of his jaw and settle over his lips. Once found, she leaned up for an impulsive kiss.

There was a light muffled noise of surprise, but somehow, he oh-so-easily melted into that kiss.

His grip shifted, an arm looping around her waist, while another went fro a shoulder to support most of her back even as fingers tangled into that long hair. The exhaustion was numbed out, and his lips soon moved against hers.

He had never cared what others thought. The only thing that ever mattered was his wished.
His wish to change this village.
His wish to get stronger by finding out his family's secrets.

His wish to protect the village.
....and his wish to protect her.

She was someone he could count on, brave and wise, and her physical beauty paled in comparison to her mind's, along with her boundless courage.

Edited 2013-07-04 16:21 (UTC)

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