Sweet Dispositions

-Chapter 50-
Medicine

Ding.

Ding.

Ding.

Hinata woke up under a sky of crystal, metal, and darkness. Her head on a soft silk towel, her hands snug in white gloves. The smell of cherries wafted around. Hinata's head hurt, in a dress, under a diamond chandelier. The room was worth more than her life. An odd taste of sulfate and medicine lingered in her mouth.

Ding.

She saw the face she never imagined; Bunya Jimpachi with a caramel voice and a sly, foxy smile.

"Dinner has commenced. You have to be awake to have your first meal, doll-face. Hey honey, my name's Bunya Jimpachi, your highly esteemed serial killer," he bowed, chuckling lightly, "at your service."

What... was she doing here?

Jimpachi's left eye was, of course, patched up since she remembered stabbing it the first time they met.

He was immaculately dressed in a black suit, his chin-length purple hair was shiny and he leaned beside the man at the head of the table. The long table had food piled atop it.

A man, with black hair sticking out behind a mask said, "Welcome to dinner, Hyuuga Hinata. It is best if you remain awake," He carried a silvery glass goblet with a glittering fork.

Her limbs became lead but her mind was as soft as charcoal. Why was she here? Why can't she remember anything? Where were her children and Sasuke?

She tried to get up but her movements were barred. Her legs were chained to the table leg. She's been kidnapped.

"Release me!" Hinata yelled to him.

"Please refrain from yelling at your master." Bunya Jimpachi snapped.

Master?

"Every person owns themselves. I don't know anything about you! Why have you cuffed me anyway?" Hinata demanded.

"I don't intend to release what is mine..." The masked man said.

"What's yours? I am my own soul, my own being. I am mine to me..."

"I don't believe we got off on the right foot. You are Hyuuga Hinata, currently twenty-four years old, the sister of Hyuuga Hanabi and the daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi. You have four children, two are adopted. You also work as a book writer, a teacher and sometimes a doctor of the elite. How can I forget? You are currently with Sasuke Uchiha in terms of a sad relationship that could be declared as romantic."

Her throat was dry. It made it hard to swallow. "Why do you know... this?"

"I pledged to keep you safe. You just have a knack of getting into trouble."

"Who are you? What are you? When did I get here?"

"All the who's, the what's and the when's, why don't you ask how I am?"

Because she didn't care. It was odd looking at a black mask with ridges. Hearing his equally mysterious, silky but monotone voice was strange too. There was a rasp to it like he's spent ages screaming.

"Where am I?" Hinata gulped.

His mouth wasn't blocked. "In paradise of course. We have a celebration of your coming to me to attend to." he began eating. Casually.

As if he hadn't kidnapped her.

Paradise?! There were guards at every corner of the room. Two maids standing like church mice behind her. Cameras. Fish bones in her wine.

This place wasn't safe. She ruined millions of people's lives... "Did the people die?" Hinata asked, tears hot but not shed.

He stopped eating, suddenly angry. "A person dies every thirty-four seconds in this mad world. Shouldn't you be asking why people died because of you?"

"Hyuuga Hiroki said if I went with him, not everyone wouldn't die," Hinata snapped.

He took a few moments to look at her then picked up his knife again. "Yes. We need you. I need you," he cut his steak.

"You need help. You're insane for kidnapping me..."

"If this madness includes rebuilding the world and keeping my people safe, then so be it..." he shrugged.

"Are you sure that you're not driving us to extinction? That's what you're doing."

Jimpachi sat beside her on the table. "Hinata- you are innocent, your eyes are fresh and you a warped idea of what is supporting the right cause. What needs to be done all the same," Jimpachi smiled.

Hinata flinched, reaching for a weapon/metal so she could remove the other eye. She realized, she was weak with fear and... chakra withdrawal.

She felt nothing- no iron in the air, no magnetic field and no tugging of her senses... She doesn't have any... control.

"Why don't I have chakra?" Hinata demanded.

The man tilted his head, confused at her outright fury. "You are utterly safe here. Any defenses you have or need are disabled. I will be your chakra, strength and eyes."

"I need chakra to function. What did you put in me?"

He shook his head. "Enjoy your meal. Or sleep, princess."

And she slept again. 

∆∆∆

The rich scent of smoked wood and apple tea got inhaled in her every second breath. The gentleness of koto music played. A singular teardrop was a gem. Green. An emerald. She dreamt of ivory dolphins falling into a glass pool of tears.

The mild taste of turmeric burned her tongue as she looked at the emptiness of the pool. Hinata felt someone was supposed to remind her of something. Someone. She's in a magical crystal fantasy.

Who am I supposed to go to? Who am I to love in a wretched place? They're supposed to save me... Who will? Hinata asked herself, looking at the ribbed glass.

She tapped on it. Let her out of this frigid mirror world. She needed to return to her home. Her children. She didn't mean to freeze up and be carried away without a fight.

She's still in the expensive dress that allowed her breasts to spill out of the garment. She felt suffocated and scared...  

Sasuke. A gentle laugh that didn't mock but soothed and rescued her vibrated her beating chest. Sasuke was bright and beautiful and there. All her worries float away in pieces.

He held her smaller hand with two fingers. She felt better now that he was here. He leaned beside her ears. His cologne was saving her.

Then, he smiled through his awful words. "Why did you betray my trust and ask to marry? Why have you pushed me away like that?"

Hinata jumped back, cracks in the glass world. "What do you mean?"

Overwhelming guilt made her stop moving.

"Why have you left all those who love you?" he asked calmly while it ended her life. Calmly.

"I didn't mean to!"

Tears pricked the corner of her eyes.

She tried touching him, to say something. To do something to wipe away those cruel words but as soon as she reached him, her hands were blades and she cut him each time they touched. Blue, blue wet blood spilled from his ribs. She's losing him. All the sorrow came.

"This is all your fault. This is all your fault. Accept it."

Accept it? Wait- Sasuke! He was ripped away from her.

"My Lord! My lord, she awakens!" A loud voice yelled.

Hinata woke up, feeling heavy. The room wasn't well lit.

"Ah. Leave her be." A lazy but authoritative voice responded.

A beautiful woman blinked over her. She had blood red hair and an air of overbearing attitude. She was in a maiden's outfit, a black apron with puffy shoulders- and extremely close to Hinata with her pretty face.

There it was. The chakra withdrawal. She was weak- and restrained by bindings. No matter how hard she fought or jostled...

She looked at the figure inside her relatively huge room.

It was styled in a Victorian manner, foreign and expensive. The sheets were velvet, something pricey. The king sized bed was heavily decorated with detail and precision in its frame. It felt like a coffin. 

The ceilings were high, there was a dresser, a walk-in closet, two desks, a large glaring window that let in the light glow of nighttime and destruction.

A man, beside the window was in a flowing black cape. Black hakama, black gloves. Everything he wore was the embodiment of darkness. 

The woman clapped, gazing at the man. "Master, Master, how shall I treat her?" She reached out to touch Hinata.

The woman's pale fingers had seen a lot of fights and battle, as they were calloused. She trembled, not out of fear but with vigour. Excitement.

"With ultimate respect and care. She is now a prisoner." the man said, his voice slithering but stern.

"What do you want?" Hinata spit out.

The woman jumped back. "Hello. Your voice is quite melodic. You look ravishing."

The man peering out the window cleared his throat. "Ah. So many bodies were mounted to see you laying freely in the room I prepared. You are here, pitifully without potential but that is the way we need it to be until you learn control. Control is the basis of everything. You are in my control." he looked at her. "You sweet, sweetheart killer. Your lips will taste of lust."  

Hinata didn't believe she was made for that. All of his possessive words cut through her like a Ginsu.

"I am mine to me."

"You belong to me now. Until this business is sorted out. You will remember the day you will have this understanding." 

Hinata defiantly looked away. She'll do no such thing. Isn't she a prisoner? Why wasn't she treated like one?

"A woman is a jewel that should be locked up in a safe. You are in my world. You are my gem until Kozakura gives me back what is rightfully mine. You are in a family movement... My family unit and you will act accordingly," he said. "Reize, do not scare her."

"Articulately put master." The woman clapped her hands. "My name is Reize. I will groom you so that you love thy master as much as us servants do. Make you a doll. You are the nicest thing I've ever seen but you will be all prettied up," Reize's trembling hand hovered over Hinata. Whiffs of cold and frostbite wafted all over her.  

"Reize, be gentle with her." the man warned. 

Hinata's pulse jumped. She couldn't watch both of them at the same time. This man was dangerous. She had to escape.

Reize scanned Hinata's mildly terrified expression. "You seem so disinterested but you'll be happy, my lady." Reize smiled.

Hinata felt the mint sting her eyes from Reize's panting breaths.  Reize was about to stroke Hinata's hair like a plaything.

"Don't worry, my lady. I shall take c-care of you," she said shyly, her cheeks red.  

Hinata changed emotional realms from cautious to illogically scared. A flight or fight- some panic fled through her. She shirked away and banged her head against the headboard. 

Everything went white for a moment. Her mouth tasted like metal. The taste sat stagnantly on her tongue. Her head felt bashed in. 

Reize was drained of colour, eyes filled with tears. "My lady- I apologize." she bowed, looking to Hinata and the lord. "I'm so sorry my lord-" Reize was cut off, her wet pouting, expression ignored.

He swung back his powerful hand and struck her. "You useless cunt."

A forceful and complete slap that drew blood. Reize had a soft, thankful smile on her face. There was no hate, no rage or any feeling associated with that- just... Just pure adoration in the blackness of her eyes.That terrified Hinata more than anything.

"Say goodbye or I will kill you, she who harms her lady. You are facilitating a crisis. I am whereby obligated to kill you." he snarled.

A black aura flowed around the man like air. A real killing intent came off of him in waves. He seemed ready to kill Reize as if she were nothing. His fingers flexed in a menacing manner, cracking, popping. He was willing to kill people for Hinata. 

"Are you okay?" the man asked Hinata.

"Hinata, your eyes are beautiful. I want to keep them in a box. Will they sparkle when you're dead? Probably not. As a specimen, they won't even have any use if you were dead or injured." he tilted his words to Reize. "You shouldn't allow her to be in pain under any circumstance."

Reize dropped to her knees and cried, sobbing for forgiveness. "Master, master, forgive me. No harm shall come to her, please do not let me not serve you! I have no purpose other than to serve you. I have no master to guide me. I have no family to shelter me. This place is my temple. You are my faith, my being, and my life. Please don't make me leave you."

After a minute or two, her cries became softer and softer until she was almost swallowed up by sorrow and the fabric of his cloak.

"Please. Please. Please. I will keep in line. If you forgive this grave mistake, I will forever be grateful."

Surprisingly, he forgave Reize. He was more than lenient. An enigma. "Alright, Reize. You are to not leave her sight..." he ordered.

Reize stood, snot-faced but beaming like the sun. "Your abundant generosity and clemency is expected as a supreme being. I will seize this chance to make my lady happy. I will make you proud."

"As expected of a pawn," He looked over at Hinata. "My name is Akuma-oo-sama."

His words were water dripping down her back.

The infamous man. This is the person who burned down her house. Fought Sasuke and won. Brainwashed Benjiro's mother to want to kill her child and get impregnated. Kidnapped and molested children like Someina with the other leaders. And did business with Orochimaru...

To traffic a bunch of slaves to use. Her body trembled.

"Hinata- I can smell you from here. It's lovely."

"My lord, shall I use the perfume made by that grasshopper?" Reize called out, velvety with happiness.

"Yes. It will greatly reduce her chakra. Our pet has a revolutionary technology, ne, Hinata?" He went to the door. "Reize, show her around. Make her comfortable. She deserves a bath and other luxuries of cleanliness."

Reize clapped her hands together. "Of course, master! I will do anything."

The man left the room, wearing the mask. There probably is a reason he always wore the mask. A creature must be under his skin since he bathes everyone in his poison.

  ∆∆∆

Hinata felt weaker due to the perfume. Her limbs were sore from disuse and the perpetual taste of blood sawed through her mouth.

The chakra perfume smelled like wood chips and oddly like cranberries. The fleeting smell reminded Hinata of Mitsuyo and her tennis shoes, her alcohol and fascination with mahjong.

After pills and some dressing up, Hinata sat by Reize's side as they were in the washroom.

The decorated washroom was beautiful. The huge golden tub glowed under another illuminating chandelier.

Hinata's nails were being done by Reize.

Observing Reize up close, how bright and energetic Reize was while sleep deprived baffled Hinata. Reize's hair was dishevelled, spots of blood and other substances were tacked onto her black maiden uniform. How long has Reize been awake?

"My lord intends on taking care if you. You should be grateful he has taken the time and measures to allow you in this castle." Reize smiled, enlightened to be on her knees while carefully pampering Hinata.

Reize was slim like a figurine. Her scarlet hair was curled in ringlets in a half up, half down hairstyle. Her eyes... were a peculiar deep shade of black.

Reize praised Hinata for everything and manipulated her words to do so.

Reize kept on calling Hinata's hair silk from the gods she wished she could taste. Not feel, run her fingers through but taste. Furthermore, Reize sneakily plucked a single hair from Hinata's scalp. The sneaking suspicion that Reize tried to gobble it up weighed heavily on her mind.

All of her previous attempts at conversation fell short so Reize spoke.

"I know the way you think of my lord. He takes and collects souls. He could show you a real massacre. He's a crude, sadistic, madman with daydreams of killing everyone. People die here. People are eaten here by his procedures. People are taken hostage. People grovel at his feet when he yearns to destroy civilization. He loves to break down people's self-esteem," Reize laughed.

Hinata waited for the punchline. The time when Reize verbally disagreed and promised she was only doing her job so as not to get brutally murdered. So she wouldn't die. So she would live.

That's reasonable. There is no way someone would willingly partake in something like this-

Reize sucked in a loud breath. "Isn't he amazing?"

Amazing?!

"The Lord knows now why I considered him dangerous, powerful, and unstable. I love working for him. I love the deaths, the torture, the hierarchy and someone to keep the world in line. I believe in this cause."

Hinata was wrong after hearing Reize's voice of treason. Monsters gather and they hunt and ruin those around them.

"My lord says you come from Konoha."  Resize smiled. "Demons often crawl from there to go to hell. There is the life here. I love hostile environments. My casual cruelty shows but it's all the same here. Everyone is beautiful here and I need it. The loss of control. That is fine wine and art."

She was trapped with a lunatic. Hinata played another game of forceful tug of war when she unsuccessfully tried to pull her hand away. Reize's cold touch fixed Hinata's cuticles. Her fingers should have fallen out of their sockets by now.

Reize was more enthusiastic about crushing Hinata's fingers in the name of beauty. "I've been with my lord since I was sixteen. I was the daughter of a small village official who sold me for marriage to goons. Goons who would take advantage of me, take what they would like and eventually kill me. They didn't care what age I was. A meagre fourteen is too young for anything. How I had a mission. All those who wanted for me to have a better life did nothing to change it." she paused for a smile. "My mother was to be executed on fake charges, including not handing me over. So, I killed everyone in that village, including my mother."

Hinata gasped, jerking her hand away. She can't touch hands that murdered a full village!

"Stay still, my lady," Reize laughed so innocently. "I understand that you are shocked but my, what an accomplishment and what fun it was. Women are far too easy to kill."

Hinata shouldn't be shocked that Reize, someone who Akuma-oo-sama likes, isn't sane. They're barbarians who are trashing humanity... Crude heretics that don't fit in with society... With anyone. Hinata's heart broke for all the people...

Reize was the one behind the Iron country's massacre just a few years back. No wonder Reize tried to act warm no matter how cold her hands were.

Horribly, Reize continued. "As I stood on the blood and the gore, guts spilling and rolling underneath my sandals, I realized that life is only there to end it. The only master told me I wasn't crazy. That I had a place by his side as long as I used my ice release ninjutsu. As long as I used my feminine charm to help ease the suffering of the women he chose to love and discard. I think you shall be around for a long time."

Awful...

Reize gave a kind, bubbly laugh. "I'm more than a delinquent. I know what I need. All souls are on a quest to connect and I found my niche... and I didn't hasten my death. I'm sure you'll stay within our circle of survivors to protect yourself and your children, ne, my lady?"

Hinata looked away. A house of murderers. She needed to escape.

"It will literally be a crystallization of beauty if you died. So it's not that bad here, right?"

Reize's echoing laugh was warm, so were her actions but Reize's hands were ice cold. It made everything so insincere.

∆∆∆

Reize's legs were as long as galaxies but she walked slow, to show Hinata around like a museum. A curator from hell.

Hinata tried hard to swallow the vomit. It was impossible to blink away the bad stuff. The external pain that she could watch.

It was probably a museum of terrible acts against humanity. Aside from her luxurious room and the dining hall as Reize called it, the rest was derelict.

"Oh. We must show you this and that... I must show you his typhoon of accomplishments from our supreme leader." Reize told Hinata.

Reize's strong grip while looping arms was immeasurable. Hinata couldn't escape. 

They saw the torture chamber. Gore and blood all over the walls, stone floors, and the stench. A sewer and the iron of blood and the rotting of souls. Akuma was the most comfortable there. When he needed release... people fall victim to his killing urges.

They had torturers, who acknowledged Hinata. They attempted to entertain her by telling her the cruellest, most blood-curdling stories of how people lost their lives. Slowly.

Tongue loose without her usual eloquence, Hinata couldn't do anything but sigh.

When Hinata left Konoha, the identity of the princess died and all that was left was this exploding sense to be free. Now she was here, essentially treated as a princess with glasses slippers, getting followed and of course, being waited on hand and foot.

Princess don't see humans... Like these.

Three men weren't men when they look like that. They had leashes. All but one of the tortured men passed by, attached to leaches. Full height men tipped their hats and smiling to Reize.

The hallways were unpleasant with dirt, urine and other less than desirable substances coating the wall and the paths. And they made him crawl...

Reize's dark eyes shone brilliantly. "You gotta love daily walks. Did you know your underground hallways have about ten kilometres of path? Not that you will see all of them. You aren't leaving. Ever." Reize chuckled dangerously.

Hinata couldn't be bothered, rejecting all the words of devotion by Reize and her crazy mind.

A man who was left behind with a torturer- not even a man was on four legs. His knees were scarred and red, bruised from walking on all his hands and knees. His teeth were knocked out like odd, missing windows in a building. His pale body was thin and scarred.

Hinata froze in place.

His skin was purple, permanently skeletal. He swelled with pus and this nakedness. He was stripped of clothes... 

"It looks like a lowly beast." Reize tsked, as if talking about him brought sorrow to her life. "It lived out in the sticks and we gave it a new life. Do you have affection for Master Arazo's pets? It forgot how to walk on two legs like a human would. It finally knows its place."

Master Arazo has a leash on a human who shouldn't be leashed!

Reize squeezed Hinata's arm. "It looks like an insect. A flea on the waters of Akuma. If you like it, I shall upgrade its status to one of a small animal."

Pulsating anger throbbed in her. Reize saw Hinata's disposition change as her steps slapped against the cold stone, pulling Hinata to the man.

"Ah. Even my lady wants you to be punished, insect-chan!" Reize hollered into one of the man's chewed off ear. "You begged for playtime!"

The dry understanding settled over them; Reize, she's death. Master Arazo nodded, in accord with all of the she-demon's words. The leashed man whimpered, trying to get closer to Reize.

"Yes! Pain. Imagine how much you injured my lord when its acts were condemned." Reize smiled.

In his eyes, a sky of ocean blue and pleads, they made eye-contact. Acid flooded her mouth. He blinked a lot, eyes black around his many scars and partially jaded. He was trying to tell her something. Hinata ached to save him.

Reize stomped on his fingers.  "It can. It whines like a dog when it gets a chance to. Ne, insect-chan?"

He wheezed, breathing rapidly like a dog would. He jumped to get touched by Reize's cruel hand. His tongue didn't hang out nor did he lap at her skin.  An empty cave without tongues was his.

I need to help him. How- can I do... anything? Hinata asked internally, voice and thoughts shaking.

Reize clicked her tongue. "He? I know how your pretty eyes deceive you. My lady, know your terminology. It is an it. Address it with proper etiquette."

Hinata jumped in front of him. She heard her thoughts.

Reize's spirited and animated way of talking became frigid and cold. "Ah. It was caught dirtying the world with soiling my Lord's name. Its ugly mouth kept on running and running and running!"

Reize lurched forward, dodging Hinata. Reize kicked the man in the mouth. His whole body was a rag doll, as he had not much weight. He let out a strangled cry as he fell.

Reize pointed to his bleeding fountain of a mouth. "That is an it. 3/5ths of an insect of that lower species."

Hinata's fist curled.

"Insects don't need the use of ribs. Tongues. Left eyes. Sleep. Once caught, its children, siblings were gourmet food. My lord said resistance was futile and it is here. It drank, breathed in his graced air and ate with the devil and forgot its name."

Reize smacked the man, nails racking against his jaw.

More redness poured from the man's chin. 

"You have to cut off resistance. Let it bleed. As an offering to the earth, the Lord enriched by standing on it. My lord left a permanent mark of his hate. Live on and die as an insignificant bug."

After that, Master Arazo tried shaking Hinata's hand. Hinata dropped to her knees and ripped cloth off of her heavy, suffocating dress. She had to help the man. He was a person. A person.

Hinata quickly wrapped her cloth around his swollen elbow and exasperatedly tried to use her chakra. She's a doctor darn it. She will save him. How could she do anything or live if she couldn't heal people?!  She has chakra control. She was in control.

"I will save you and get you out of here! I promise you to escape. I promise you!" Hinata said frantically.

Crashing waves of panic and tears filled the man's eye. He was trying to do or say something, incapable of doing so! She will use her skill. 

She wiped away some blood and held his face. "Look at me, you are human. You are a person who deserves to walk on two feet with a tongue and food that isn't trash! You are with a heart, thoughts, and good times. My love will come for you. I'll fix you. I will. I will. I'll help you through your- ow!"

Hinata's words were interrupted by stinging coldness racing up her neck and getting pulled to her feet by her hair. 

"You have publicly humiliated the Lord. My lady, if you weren't special, I would have given your blood to the stone but no." Reize seethed.

The pressure and temperature dropped. Everything was colder. Hinata saw her breath. The temperature dropped when Reize got mad. Hinata won't submit to this life. Reize's hold was inescapable. She held Hinata up by her hair within a tight, shuddering fist. 

Burning pain engulfed Hinata's senses. Her scalp cried for help. Hinata's lack of chakra made her more susceptible to pain.

Reize's flinching fingers with pointed dagger nails floated around Hinata's face. Reize let out a cheerful chuckle that might have been masking all of her pain and restraint. Hinata met Reize's glare face to face. When Hinata didn't shift her gaze away, Reize stared a little longer.

"Save the insect? Your gaze on him is gift enough. Fixing him would be undoing the social order your Lord put in place. How dare you?" Reize screeched.

Hinata dared. She would dare over and over again.

Reize's pretty eyes twitched then she hung her head in shame. "Taming you will be harder than master said. An ocean of difference between what I thought it was. This will hurt me more than it'll hurt you."

What will? Right in front of Hinata, two small icicles (one smaller than an inch and as thin as a needle and the other was as long as a javelin shot) were formed.

"You are testing me, my lady. I do not like being tested." Reize hummed, jerking hand down to her side.

Reize's obviously choppy movements were in protest of her lord's request. Reize couldn't kill Hinata. As long as she has that over Reize's head, a sense of victory was in her mouth. Hinata finally had an edge.

Master Arazo's eyes darted between Hinata and Reize. He gulped, his adam's apple bobbing uncertainly. He was half entertained and half terrorized. He stepped from foot to foot, white knuckles compared to his darker complexion around the leash.

"I must report this to the supreme one." Master Arazo said nervously.

"You shall not tell the lord of her actions and disloyalty. Master Arazo." Reize ordered, authority firm and loud as she stomped her foot. It echoed in the empty corridor.

Hinata's scalp was on fire. The flicker of the lamps on the wall reflected his doubt.

Master Arazo, big and mountainous with beefy arms, shook like a leaf under her blood-tainted look. "But Bishop Reize, she clearly-"

"Ah. Shut up!" Reize snapped, growling through her teeth. "Are you questioning my words, my resolve, my lord's trust in me? Do you go against him? A god while we are mere insects compared to his majestic powers? We grovel for the chance of redemption he fights tooth and nail for. For that, you shall be punished."

Master Arazo's eyes became saucers as his jaw hung. The two hovering ice weapons shot through Master Arazo's larynx.

Hinata heard every big bubble and gurgle of the man drowning in his own blood. The ice came back around. They hit the kneeling man on his knees. Killing him with a small thud as his body fell.

"A simple death for simple beings and minds," Reize said, dropping Hinata.

The blood spray of both of them were Hinata's clothes, making it feel heavier. Hinata sunk to the ground. All that victory tasted like a poignant loss. Poignant loss. They're bleeding out. If she did one stitch if she had her chakra- she could change... What would it have changed?

Hinata silently wrenched her fingers around her skirt. Damn it.

Reize dropped to her knees and inspected Hinata's dress disapprovingly. "Our Lord mustn't see you in this manner. This dishevelled and uncouth. You must be on par with him in terms of looks."

Reize watched Hinata stare at the puddle of blood that was warm. And the ice weapons melted, making everything worse.

"They're dead. Death... is as simple and a natural as murder. War is a natural state of human affairs and killing is as used as breathing." Reize nodded.

This was Hinata's fault.

Reize sighed, calm and sorry. "I apologize for letting you see that. It was a mistake on my part. I didn't know how you would react to something that would give my lord such joy and you... None." she paused, trying to change her wording. The tenderness in her voice was undying. "My take on the Lord's power is that it's nefarious, sexy and powerful so I think he should get a kick in destroying those who defy it!"

Hinata couldn't see her through the drapes of her bangs. Her hair was morphing into a deep blue. She felt the same; weak and useless.

Reize tried grabbing Hinata's hands.  Don't ever touch me, Hinata screamed in her mind, jerking away. Her hand brushed the floor.

A pebble or shard of glass cut along her palm. Normally, she could heal herself unconsciously or get a healing balm of something to lessen the pain but nothing was here. Hinata had no chakra. No jutsu. She had nothing.

"My lady! Your hand- allow me to-"

Reize reached out to help Hinata but watched her shaking body and rapid breaths and gradually retracted her hands. 

"I apologize," she said softly, voice quiet and filled with emotion.

Reize's sorry for what she's done? She is... sorry.

Hinata casually looked at the woman. Her heart sped up with the sliver of hope piercing through. Maybe Reize's getting mind controlled and she didn't want this. Reize was doing an act. She was trying to survive. Hinata imagined what being and staying in a place like this could do to a person. They're trying to fit in the environment.

When she noticed Hinata's stare and pleading eyes, Reize lifted a hand to her heart, eyes like shadows trying to search for light.

"I would still do it again but I apologize for that cut."

Hinata's heart broke. How stupid was she to hope?! Kami.

Hinata missed Sasuke and the kids and... everyone. She forgot to say goodbye... It's soothed by the fact she saw him every time she closed her eyes. If he were here, they would have the best of times and the worst but she would still be with him and that would be enough... The joy of meeting him wasn't worth a thousand goodbyes... But not like this. Not being a prisoner.

And she's hurt and she felt numb. Ah. It's so confusing. Her whole body was tense with frustration. She never thought she would be the cause of so many deaths! Those millions. These two. 

In the stretch of verbal absence, Hinata ground her teeth, vowing to get stronger without chakra.

It hurt but Hinata curled her hand into a fist, despite the dull throb and discomfiture it offered. Something in her died too and she let her blood dripping into the rest.

Resize and Hinata sat in awkwardness and melancholy. Life substance colored red slowly soaked their dresses... Dying the once pure whiteness of their clothes a dark shade of suffering and two colors shy of pain. 

∆∆∆

"You smile to trick the fear inside of you." Resize said earlier, putting Hinata into another regal dress.

Hinata was dizzy, everything tipped to one side.  Everything, from sound to sight to simple receiving of touch, was delayed.

Reize held Hinata's hand so as to stop the blood that seeped out from her wound. Reize was quite wary of Hinata and the small acts of defiance she carried out.

First, Hinata hadn't eaten or drunk anything since she woke up. She bled and was out of chakra.  She was caught by Reize and her super strength when escaping.

"Akuma-oo-sama  patiently awaits for you in the art gallery." Reize also said, to add to the horror.

Akuma showed her an extensive collection of priceless artifacts. Some were paintings, sculptures, one was an embroidered shawl adorned with baby teeth. Some depicted a massacre. A common theme through the "exhibit" was the prevailing theme of redness.

Then she moved onto the next photo. She sunk like an anchor. It's a large, tall frame of Benjiro when he was just a baby. A small, tender thing.

It left her broken in tears. The beige of his skin, the gentle red of his flush from she guesses crying. Oh, she just... she can't feel this awful longing, she can't touch him. Anyone.

Hinata pressed a hand to the softness of the paint and canvas. For a moment, it felt sandpaper rough then razor sharp. On the bottom of the frame, it was written:

Kazuo Ryuota Uchiha
Born: Feb 14th.

Hinata celebrated his birthday on December 2nd or December 3rd because that is when she found him  and kept him. His real name is Kazuo.  Wow... Kazuo Ryuota Uchiha or Benjiro Aoi Uchiha... How could Akuma separate her from her child? 

"You made what was borrowed your own. Our child, Kazuo-tan." he rumbled, looking at the photo.

Hinata felt acute hate... absolute distaste for the sick man beside her. He stood so casually after all the lives he's taken. All the families he's separated. All the harm he's done just by existing!

And how dare he say that Benjiro is his- their child?! He is the one who left him! Benjiro was filled with trauma, healed cigarette burns and the doubts that would forever impede his ability to love truly. Akuma isn't a father.

"He is not your child. You are not a father. You are a kidnapper who expects me to learn to love you. You must take me to Konoha!" Hinata demanded.

"Konoha is warped in vanity and corruption. You are the sacrifice.  Be here. What other purpose do others have if they do not serve me?"

"They have the purpose, the intrinsic belief to stop the world from dictators like you!" Hinata snapped.

That seemed to break something within him. Her voice, yelling, echoed. "I could end your life in a moment or less. These hands have killed many, many people just for you to stand here and insult me..." he lowered his voice so all that was left were the scratches of the harsh rasp.

When he suddenly approached her, she stayed strong. She didn't react until his large, twitching gloved hands that pressed into her larynx, gently. With a threatening power. Just then, heat. Toppling, rippling, unbearable heat seeped through his gloves and onto her skin.

"I could make your world revolve around me. Time would be meaningless. Only when I leave, when I arrive, when I breed you would be important. Your life ends and starts with me. I would be your beginning."

Hinata blinked, heart clutched in terror.  Her chakra wasn't available. She was capable with a sword she very much didn't have. He could end her life. Just by lashing out. Just by simply touching her. The power balance made her feel the ache of it deep and heavy in her chest. 

"I could taint your mind and make it mine. I could read your thoughts and stay in the purple of your wet eyes all day, Hinata. Color me yours."  his voice was so soft for the volatile conditions of those words. Passive delirium and cooperative fear.

Never. I will never, Hinata thought.

His breathing became even. "Give in. It's in people's nature to submit to those who hold all the power and for those who dominate to provide for the inferior. It's in your nature, my nature. Our nature."

She panicked and avoided his supposed gaze. Her breath hitched a bit when he tightened his grip.

He purred a bit, more affection sewn into his words. "You were thinking of how powerless you are when it comes to me, my palace and my jutsu. Your resistance is quite endearing. Why do you torture yourself with these thoughts and choices? That's my pleasure and job now." He leaned so their faces almost touched. "Do you like being so weak for me now?"

Hinata recoiled.

"My sharingan could make you move your body and do unspeakable and see unspeakable acts against humanity. But I would rather you obey me, willingly, without giving it thought. I would wait for that weakness after I have given you enough fear, adoration and time. I would culture that weakness and know you would love me and destroy the world, devour it whole just to say "Yes master,". Would you like being so weak for me?"

A silence hung in the air, Hinata's regressing and he was pushing all this onto her.  If she dies, so be it. She won't play his games. She won't do anything to make him happy.

"I will never bow down. I would much rather cut my legs off at the knees than serve you." she spat.

The intensity of her statement was ephemeral. He broke it all with a laugh. He kept a balance; some harshness then utter and brilliant confusion all pushed onto her as well.

"I like your determination and fiery resolve but not the direction." he tilted his head. "Challenge. I think using the sharingan would strip me of the sense of reward."

"You have the sharingan. You are an Uchiha. You are supposed to help fellow shinobi! Uchiha Sasuke is practically your brother! You do not treat family this way! You even kidnapped Kaiya to hurt Taiyo! He was parentless until we stepped in-"

He turned back to the huge portrait of Benjiro. "If you do not know the true situation, do not make baseless assumptions. You believe in such words as family and innocent. No one in the Uchiha family is innocent."

"So what, you wanna kill them all?"

"No. Particularly three Uchiha have my death wishes. Including your caretaker Uchiha Kozakura or her infamy as Mitsuyo has grown." he shook his head. "Life becomes much more purposeful when you have someone to punish. Killing the weak and foolish is sweet."

Hinata winced, she had no sense of time or the date. "What... What day is it?"

"Time matters not in paradise, does it?"

Hinata shook her head. "Vision narrows for someone who has pent-up resentment, I know that. Konoha will be in flames. Time stays still for you, only your rage and fury moves on. Return me to my family and my children!"

He hissed a bit. "Your child is my child. Sooner or later, you shall have me as your only love when the plan has been taken over. You can't leave me. I won't let that happen. Konoha is in line for being destroyed should you return there."

That's how he'll play it? If she leaves, he'll tear Konoha apart?!

"Konoha is not favorable for destruction. It primes itself on defeating crazy lunatics like you. Partners do not hurt purposely hurt their partners. The day I become your partner is the die I die. You're as crazy as Madara and you will get punished. I don't know when or how but you will. Sasuke has a knack for defeating scum like you. That's why he won the war."

Akuma's whole body locked up. "You can't tear down Konoha's corruption walls, you hide behind them! Madara served Konoha historically, not just honorably. He wanted to change Konoha and her ways. That Uchiha sought it out and ended in violent, gruesome ways."

"My one greatest accomplishment is making Benjiro unlike you. He won't activate his sharingan because I will never give him a loss or a reason to become like you." 

"You will never let him know power. You will never let him know struggle? You will never let him know greatness?" 

"You gain new resolve and that's how you protect and serve a dying country-"

She stopped abruptly when he held up a hand. An odd smile colored his voice. She immediately got alarmed and on guard. 

"You say you and I aren't partners but we are fighting over how to raise children and dominate countries. I surely think that's what partners do." Akuma said. He made a self-satisfied noise.

Hinata opened her mouth to refute it but she closed it with a snap. This... That isn't what happened. He just twists everything. Kami! She hated him so much! And the marks on her throat burned as she reached to touch the tender flesh. He noticed and softly caressed her skin. 

"I apologize. I shall have you see our doctor. Reize!" he called out.

"Yes, Lord?" Reize chirped.

Hinata jumped at the perky voice. Reize's voice was as sudden as her presence. Hinata whipped around to look at the maid. Hinata forgot Reize was here; she hadn't heard protests when she mouthed Akuma off.

"Add checking her skin and health conditions every night to your daily schedule. I don't want to see any other marks other than the ones I give her." he hummed, laughing at Hinata's expression. "Heal all other minor infractions with chakra. I am sure it will work."

"Scum," Hinata muttered under her breath.

They moved along with the paintings and it started being so suffocating. Time dripped so slowly.

One thing that struck her as odd was... a vase that went missing three years ago. From her living room. The more she prodded around, the more she saw missing things that were lost from her house. The second koto instrument she seemed to have misplaced. A perfume bottle.

There was an art piece of... Her. Her when she was sixteen, training at the garden. Her scrapbook that went missing. A picture of Ino and Hinata sleeping on each other. Ino was mostly cut out. 

One lewd picture of her. Another closeup. One picture with blue hair. One picture with flowers. One picture in the dark? One picture in the office, sleeping. One picture with a picnic basket surrounded by flora. One picture on the dark Mitsuyo porch. One picture with red showing her outfit, cloth clinging to her curves. One other picture of her purple eyes. One picture in a yukata.

A photo of... her dismounting from Sasuke's summon when they came to Konoha. The kids were in the background. Sasuke's face was scratched out, so was Mitsuyo. There was that odd flash and the threat of someone watching, when they first came. It was Akuma who told Hiashi that he had grandchildren! He was the one who stalked her and started a feud. 

The most significant photo was Hinata at the third Hokage funeral, crying over the death of Neji. Her... tragedies were all printed out... Here.

She didn't even... notice... that full head of black hair behind her... It was... him at the funeral. He even touched her shoulder in commiseration. 

Her hair lengths exposed their timestamps. Has this... gone on... This picture-taking process gone on since after... Neji's death... nine years... ago? Her hands turned fizzy as she held her stomach. All this. Was his doing? And when he couldn't get any creepier.

"Amazing! Distance can not hold back the love of my master." Reize smiled, clapping in the distance. "Most of the pictures were taken by our skillful, stealthy pawns. You look so innocent and happy within all of these."

Hinata looked at the ensemble of her faces. Pale. Tanned. Happy. Sad. Smiling. Frowning. Hinata... never felt this violated in her life! This has to be a dream! Really. It does because no maniac would follow her for nine years!

"Don't turn your eyes from me. Isn't it romantic?" he sighed.

"Nothing about stalking is romantic."

"I think it's lovely. It's the romance in waiting on the occasion of something sweet. A glimpse of the reward you get for watching."  he let out another sigh without despair. "It's nice to love and be loved but I'd rather know what a God knows. I needed you to make my debut as an Uchiha and the next possible ruler of the five great nations. You're essentially a pawn in the greater game of chess,

"Your piece is in my hands. Your life and death is controlled by my will. If they find us, they can't kill you to get to me. No one will kill the potential heir of the Uchiha clan and the Hyuuga clan.  No one would dare if I have the choice of killing you. Neither Uchiha Sasuke nor I would let anyone do that," Akuma stroked his chin through his mask, some neutral self-satisfaction in his attitude.

"When did you decide all this?" Hinata asked, feeling small.

"When you breathed for that fellow- Naruto? I believed if the strongest man in the world loved you back, you would be great to be kept alive since he would fight and negotiate with a terrorist to get his dearest back. Bargaining. Bending to my whims. Keeping both of us alive. But then you did the unthinkable and went with the prince of darkness... Who happened to be an Uchiha I hated." He looked at her.

Sasuke. She chose Sasuke...

"When I was sixteen... At the funeral. You decided. A-almost nine years ago? You did it..." Hinata whispered.

He nodded, proud and smug. "When you were sixteen, I needed a way to carry my plan out for restoring the Uchiha. By impregnating Niko, Kazuo's mother, I had an heir. I needed connections and a wife, though you were too young, you seemed like a good option for breeding and power plays... I never wanted you to raise Kazuo. I meant for Kaiya to raise him but she convinced Kozakura to color your hair gray to make you impersonate her. It's quite a pity but you just got caught up in this."

"You put me here... I got involved." Hinata raised her voice and stomped her foot.

"I think no man can keep you together. You've been broken since you were born. Sometimes, lovers breathe each other and they choke. I thought you would choose to stay celibate and crawl into the arms of darkness and dark power. You did find Uchiha Sasuke and that wretched pair; Kozakura and Kaiya by some freak slim chance." he shrugged. "Your life story should have made you a willing partner to me and the villain of a story but you found happiness and joy in all this mud."

Reize held back a loud gasp. Hinata curled her fist. "Aren't you related to... Kozakura Uchiha? Mitsuyo?"

That would make him either Kaiya's son or Mitsuyo's son.

"No," he said but the air around him became sombre. "Sadly, I know Kaiya and had a connection to her. She used to help Orochimaru kill and capture Uchiha. She also used to help me round up potential pawns. That was a short-lived alliance until it was crumbled by her lying to me."

"How did you not find out sooner? That your slave wasn't raising your child?" Hinata hissed, crossing her arms.

"My faithful pawns have a vision that fails them. You both look similar but Kaiya lacks in the patience and kindness to raise someone." he rolled his shoulder and looked at one of the creepy photos. "When you were sixteen and grieving, Hiashi offered me a chance to meet you because I posed as an entrepreneur... interested in strengthening the economic ties of Konoha with Iwagakure. I had no cares for it but Hyuuga Hisashi brought his daughters. You impressed me with your chakra abilities and your... softness. I thought, there's someone who is easily controlled and filled by emotions. Easy target. You were also from a prominent family with very needed allies,

"One of my best undercover pawns, Lazio, began impersonating Hyuuga Hiroki until I took over the month you were in Konoha. I had impersonated Hiroki for the month or two after you left with Sasuke five years ago. I needed enough information, genetic and personal, to make two sufficient clones of your darling face." he whistled. "You had a small bedroom. A shoebox. Now you have a kingdom of a bedroom. I made sure of it."

No matter how someone decorates a cell, it will always be a cage. Who is he kidding?

"Why did... you clone me?" Hinata asked, her heart sinking even more.

His stream of talk bit into her like claws on a beast. "Sasuke needed a way to keep the deceit going onwards. I also needed to test someone's abilities and chakra control. You went on a mission to heal a chakra disease, that's what you used as a smokescreen when you snuck into Kumo. That's what you needed to report and do so as to not make anyone suspicious. Your pregnancy was a miracle. Twins. Hyuuga/Uchiha twins with dual dojutsu... That was an international treasure that needed to be left at peace."

Hinata felt the gears churn in her tired and dazed mind. "Your sharingan separated Someina from me the day I found Benjiro. You... tricked me into getting... my stomach analyzed! You put propaganda in my brain and manipulated me."

"The twins were a national treasure and I needed a way to see you. To release some frustration."

Did... he use her? Sexually assault her?

He let out a groan and probably rolled his eyes. "No. I didn't do anything. It was nice to see your body had matured more." he said, shaking his head.  "Your detachment to me is interesting. You must trust me because I own you... Time can't quicken or hasten anything but... hmmph." he faltered off. "Your clone treated me like wine."

"About my clone, you needed another me... To allow the sharingan children to keep safe?"

He nodded. "One clone went to your job and became famous for her skills. Kakashi wasn't alarmed. That delicious clone was used to personal desires and curing the diseases Yakushi Kabuto released into the elemental nations. She did all the missions and healing the real you was supposed to do until rumours and suspicion arose. In February, we tortured your second clone to the brink of death and she died. She was buried beside your cousin for symbolic reasons."

"What happened to my...  dead clone. Lee, my friend, said that the body was taken away three years ago and no one knew where the body went. What have you done?" 

"Ah. You don't have to worry, darling girl." 

"Huh? What about my live clone? Is she alright?" Hinata asked. The clone... had her face...

"It isn't a person. She is merely a holding place until you came back. We trained her too well as she went missing after your clone's death. We have yet to find her." he waited for a belligerent comment but Hinata had trouble breathing. "Then... I focused on Hanabi falling in love with the lively Hiroki. I had to train Lazio/Hiroki with the byakugan and in the ways of a teenager directed by the hunger for power and the need for sex."

"Hanabi's great love... is you and some pawn in disguise?" Hinata gasped, barely loud enough to show her true anguish.

"Of course, Lazio grew sympathetic and almost told his dear Hanabi everything..." he let out a mock sigh of pain. "A shame. I liked him very much but as much as my pawns endear me, I must sacrifice them to reach my goal."

Hinata looked down. All of this was too much. He chose her as prey when she was sixteen, manipulated everything so that she would come to him and killed everything good...

"Hanabi, instead of you, fell in deep love with Lazio and I. The wedding will pass without a groom as I am here." he looked at her, a smile probably touching his lips, "deeply enamoured with you. I saw you smile at the funeral. That's when I knew."

Hinata didn't answer. Her eyes welled with tears and her heart was too tight. It might burst out of her chest? A hole was carved into her soul and she's never felt so... empty. A lot of things started to fall into place and everything is so gross and creepy.

It was like her brain was cut up by this. And now her thoughts had major injuries. She's moving slow.

Her throat was so thick with tears and something that she couldn't swallow. "I don't want to be a queen. You can't, in a million years color me as yours. No matter how much blood you spill or paintings you collect, you will never have me." She whispered, her voice a decibel above the muteness.

"We'll see," he said, coughing lightly.

They walked around but Hinata walked at a snail pace, dragging her feet. Her mind spun and the moments between the next were taking an eternity to pass. She's never had anything great and now that she does, the world had to do something to take it away because fat, dumb and stupid Hinata doesn't deserve good things.

She was kidnapped by a mass murderer who claimed her loved her for smiling at a funeral. She was cloned, lied to and kidnapped after having something good. It was a punishment. Is her happiness a punishment?

Reize hasn't said anything since she noticed how strange the cowed Hinata was acting.

"She's... subdued. What's wrong with her?" Akuma asked Reize.

"Anyone would lessen their thoughts and outward energy because they are internally processing all the information you gave them. She is simply thanking you for the gift of time, direction and supervision. Silently." Reize said like she believed it to be. She laughed awkwardly.

Hinata noted that Akuma came to Reize for counsel. She didn't know what to do with that information...

There was an odd pause before Akuma nodded staidly. "That could be a reason. She will be grateful," he whispered, careful for Hinata not to hear.

Hinata could. Every syllable.

"This is the time when people... You know, my lord, break down. Sometimes, my lady will have all this pressure build up until a geyser of hate and disloyalty will come to head. It happens in most of the conquests you give me to train. They... bubble and bubble until some heat or angry thing makes them... explode. They either become completely loyal to you after the episode or they let their wild run free... and riot."

"Ah. I have noticed too. She's... I guess we will wait."

She won't break down.

Hinata stopped to look at this one painting that stood out. For some sinister, terrible reason... It smelled strangely like iron and metal. Rose red. Mahogany. Black with hints of it. Scarlet. Lipstick. Wine. Cherry. Berry- and... Was it?

No...

Reize interrupted her train of thought by imputed some useless information she didn't need.

"My lord had an early obsession with your artwork since you were constantly painting. He was inspired by your work ethic and lovely attitude towards painting," she said loudly.

Akuma watched her, somewhat amused and shifting. Nervous.

"He uses a lot of paints and pawns from the pit." Resize watched as Hinata bit down on her lip. "You don't know where that is... My lady, I shall show you it, it would be a good show." she clapped her hands together. "Yes, it will be fun for me and my lady."

Hinata... couldn't resist but touch it. It looked like he used some type of power or a special type of paint. Acrylic? Oil? Watercolor and the canvas is grainy.

What... brush created this clots and bunches?

Hinata recognized this strange consistency and the way the substance became cracked...

She's seen it on the hospital floor after the nurses didn't clean well enough. When she had donors and they hated looking at it flowing outside of her body. On Sasuke's sword after a long day after a mission. On the chest of Neji when he sacrificed himself for her and she wouldn't let go of his body. It was on her cheek, her face, her arms. In her hair.

It clicked into place when her knees buckled a bit. She turned to the monster. Akuma-oo-sama... Don't say... it is what she thinks it is.

"It is. Blood." Akuma said so smoothly, her ears almost dismissed it as casual talk she would ignore between the two.

Oh. Yes. It is.

Reize gave a loud laugh. "Amazing!"

He came behind her and guided her not bleeding right hand to touch the power, bloody canvas. Oh. She trembled while he looked over her.

He rasped beside her ear, "What do you think I use my painters for? The most perfect red is found in the color of blood." he said. "The smell is still fresh. The smell of death never fades and I come to look at all the portraits because it smells like the victory of the strong and the defeat of weakness."

It smells like a crime scene. Oh Kami. She breathed. It wasn't even breathing. It's anxiety. It's a panicked attack. All this... red. She... He. She complimented... Oh. Oh Kami. She will throw up. Oh, it's not coming out.

She offered a vacant stare and something snapped in her. 

The masterpiece, the ugly art. She couldn't take it anymore. She needed to escape. She hated all these portraits. She pushed a vase down, she smashed the glass with the broken frame of another and cut a line through the paper, defiling three others.

In the distance, Akuma sighed loudly. "It's the riot... She must have been adorable at playtime with all that energy."

"Master, shall I stop her-"

Akuma held his hand up. "No. Let this tantrum run its course. All that energy in the short-term is good. All that spite and hatred, if not released now would be troublesome in the future."

"But... all your hard work..."

"Let it be. I could always make another painting or use another pint of blood. The mind cannot be coaxed out of madness. At least not easily and put back together perfectly."

She felt crazy. Paint and blood were under her nails, her chest heaved. Hinata panted, in a pile of floating dust particles and gentle scraps just lazing down.

"I find your neuroticism very intriguing. Go on. The blood on your hands has been further abused by you and by me."

∆∆∆

Shortly after his last sinister words, Hinata was directed to a pit. There was a balcony with two large, majestic thrones. The thrones were metal, by the sight of it, iron, gold, and slivers of green jade on display.

On the right side of the king, she sat on a throne, a supercut of all the good things that happened with Sasuke running with her. It was a sheer distraction to all the fighting that went on.

She was looking down on this, the pit.

The fighting, as an onlooker, was violent and gory and spawned nightmares. Many lost limbs and chewed off ears and eyes that might have saved them from death.

However, they were on a black stained concrete ground. There was a cage, its silver metal string colored by blood and other substances. Many others held on to the cage, watching the fight that went on, cheering, screaming, crying.

All this stands alone in its menacingly ugly fights.

 Now she knew why the civilians called shinobi barbaric. 

All of them had tattoos. Put plainly in easily accessible and seen spots. It was a crown over the letters KPPF. It was unsettling. Akuma made them bow to her, their new queen and sing praises. 

Hinata hasn't said a word. Many people bowed but they weren't bowing out of respect. Those who didn't were cut down on the spot. They experienced death because of their confusion of her identity.

Akuma-oo-sama allowed her to look away, cringe and recoil away from the violence. All the sounds of gore were amplified and everyone loved it. All their breaths that were drawn were loud and strained.

She wasn't everyone. Frankly, the sentiment disgust was an understatement. Even food was placed beside them. Guards stood, watching her every move.

Reize manned the fights, as a scorekeeper and announcer. She commented with glee all the injuries that might have not been seen by those in the back.

All those in crowds were badly dressed with more scars than someone falling down a mountain after a long hike. Their clothes were torn, their eyes sunken and their fists curled in a perpetual state of extreme aggression.

Some are like calves that cannot coordinate their legs properly. They fall, when they try to run. Others are the predators, the apex beasts who dominate. She's never been so abhorred in her life.

"Isn't the entertainment divine tonight? I put in the best gladiators to impress you with their sheer brawn and skill. You mustn't look away, all our subjects try to please you through these cryptic means." he rasped, leaning to whisper into her ear.

Reize put another strange perfume on Hinata that smelled faintly of raspberries and sulphur.

"Release them immediately." was all Hinata could say. It's the only honest way to stop this.

One pawn screamed, much less brawny and skilled than the mountain he tried to crumble. One strike to the much smaller man's neck paralyzed his vocal cords.  Another hit to his ribs. Another punch to his shoulder. A parade of pain and pummels seemed to hit the smaller man.

A villain methodically taking apart his opponent. This isn't entertainment. This was cruelty.

Hinata was unable to look at Akuma head-on. Her mind was swimming through a pool of dreams.

Akuma-oo-sama looked back at the forms battling it out. "A little bit of competition means so much. My pawns are proving to me who could fight for me. Put aside the pain for the greater meaning of life."

Hinata shook her head. It looked like two scorpions in a bottle. "Stop this." she raised her voice, pointing to him with a single index finger.

Akuma-oo-sama grabbed her wrist, the sudden act of control shocked her. His sheer speed was dangerous.

"Let go," Hinata whispered calmly.

He remained silent and perceptive. An air of mystery still profound and floating around him.

"Let go or else I will do something to stop this myself." Hinata snarled.

"Your threats are as meaningless as the shine of a candle beside the sun. They have no heat or truth to them."

"I will find a way to end you," Hinata growled, trying her best to keep her voice even.

He kept silent, his mask perfectly still. "Hyuuga, when you are like this, all I want to do is kiss you then see how red your bruises can be."

Hinata recoiled a bit more. The more she moved, the harder and tighten his grip. It was starting to hurt and a contrived expression of pain started to show.

"You are in no position to make such demands. I own your thoughts, your flesh, your choices."  With every word, his pressure became greater. Her wrist felt like it was split. And she knew, this was a tiny fraction of a fraction of his power. He tilted his chin up. "However, I will amuse you." he looked at the fight down below.

The pawn was curled in a fetal position, protecting his stomach as the mountain villain kicked his spine. His body trembled and distant sobbing was heard.

"In this... I see ecstasy. You see the horror. I see the art of violence. You see the blood. They give me their everything. As will you." he chuckled, easing his grip.

Hinata tried wrenching her hand away but the man used one simple, humorously weak tug and she catapulted onto his lap. His body was warm, unlike what she thought it would be. She immediately tensed, in this lockdown mode.

"It is sympathy to allow the weak and the strong to admire each aspect of life. The weak do not deserve to live on and carry this species. It is also kindness for the strong to end their lives of misery and humiliation." he said.

His voice was like an ant crawling across the rise and falls of her skin.

"You must think of them as small animals. They perceive no real pain nor do they deserve to be saved, ne, Hyuuga," he whispered onto the nape of her neck. "This is justice."

"Nothing like this or about this is justice. You can't see what justice is since all the bodies and corruption is in the way!"

"You are quite poetic when you are acting dumb. Another thing that I adore." he laughed a bit. "Imagine how you will plan to kill me when your chakra returns. I can hardly wait for that trial. That tribulation. That elation. That premeditated murder."

When Hinata jostled too much, it irritated her wound on her hand.

He tried to grab her injured left hand but she flinched. Grunting slightly, all of his playful energy evaporated. It condensed into this...frantic, investigative behavior.

He noticed how raw her skin was... just how long it sliced brought her palm and growled slightly.

Reize, who watched the situation her their reactions' seriously, hung her head in shame. She stopped commenting on the fight, which made all the people below aware and quiet.

A pin could drop and it was comparable to a cannon sound.

He glared at Reize. "Reize! I gave you strict orders to deaden any threats including yourself against her. Why haven't you fulfilled my wishes? Why has her skin met harm?" he growled.

Reize sighed, down on her knees. "My lord, every order allows me to subsist. However, my lady's wound was self-inflicted and she hadn't allowed me to aid her." Reize watched Hinata with defeat and a sense of loss. "Every time we would change her into one of your gorgeously hemmed dresses and meticulously maintained gifts, she refused to wear it and bled into the garments. It was my failure. My failure. She is not as durable as her clones, sir."

Everyone began whistling and bowing at their leader who humbly waved.

That went on for a minute as he said, irritated, "Go on with your fights. Carry the forth and flame of death and collect their corpses for me to... utilize."

All the pawns or whatever shrieked with glass-sounding laughter. It ripped through her like claws.

"Resize, amplify my healing ability," he grumbled, shifting to get a better  access to her wound.

Reize nodded.

She made a sole icicle and stuck its sharp end into the stone floor. It glowed a weak aura and fresh waves of coldness brushed Hinata's bare ankles.

Three beautiful, airborne seals like a magnetic field shining green and lovely writing illuminated the atmosphere. The intensity of the chakra and the refinery of his skill is extremely impressive and... scary. Such advanced healing techniques. She's never... seen this. She never wanted to.

Akuma snapped and Reize handed him a handful of leaves. One sole leaf was smaller than her fingertips. A handful made its awful aroma sting her nostrils. It's acrid and smells like rhubarb.

It doesn't seem poisonous but she has never seen it before. They weren't afraid of cloning her, moving and violating her body by playing dress up and she assumes, kidnapping her with such immobility drugs to transport her.

Akuma, who had his gloved hand tracing her skin, patted her hand with a firm touch. "Don't be alarmed." Akuma smelled her neck before peppering feather-light kisses in the baby hairs and goosebumps.

Akuma moved his gloved hand and precariously brought the foreign leaves closer to her face. "Don't make this harder than it needs to be. Do not bite my fingers either... It will aid you, ignore the taste and swallow it all, like a good girl. Swallow me and the leaves."

A hidden innuendo was hidden in that... ill-timed sentence and thoughts... The scent of medicine the odd rough leathery aroma from his black gloves choked her up.

She twisted and turned, in protest of this. His solid arm went around her middle. Her heart pounded when it closed her in, pressing against him against her.

She won't do it!

Another pretty maid that also seemed sleep deprived, stepped forward. She unceremoniously reached for Hinata's nose. The leaves were shoved into her mouth.  In vain, Hinata took one shallow breath as she sealed her lips.

The maid pinched her nostrils. Hinata was fine at first. It gave her flashbacks of... slow drowning. Water filling her lungs. Hinata's vision dimmed as the medicine sat on her tongue. She tried to launch away. She couldn't.

Her body frantically jerked but the maid yawned and squeezed tighter, noting the wild prey eyes Hinata had. Her body was stapled to his.

She had to breathe. Inhale. Get all that oxygen. She needed to. She can't die over a cut. She can't lose this single fight, not when she had to fight a war to get back to her kids.

Her throat spasmed and she tried to dislodge his hand.

"Ah. Your lips are blue. My blue Valentine. I might rather like red on victims..." he chuckled into her neck.

As she breathed, some of the leaves got caught in her airpipe and she fought the wave of greens invading her mouth.

The maid wouldn't release her nose. And her mouth was covered by his huge hand.

It tasted bitter and resembled the texture of moss and algae. Grainy, stringy fibre stuck in her teeth as Hinata chewed and chewed, desperate for air.

Her lungs were about to explode.

He removed his hand.

Her coughs reemerged every few seconds. Her vision stopped narrowing, the blackness receeding to nowhere...

She panted.

Akuma petted her hair, long strokes as if she were a child he needed to save. "That was meant to speed up the healing process and encourage chakra to pool in the injured part of your body. For some reason, your chakra flow has been greatly decreasing by the hour."

That's what it was? He slid his much larger hand under her left one and held it up, so her palm was in the direction of the three emerald seals.

"I will commence healing you."

All of its power was focused into Hinata's hand. It was like watching a detached limb get trampled. No change occurred.

Nothing happened. Her hand is irritated. Her lungs burn with fire. She's exhausted. The crowd's cheers and yells play on, like a band, in spite of everything. 

Akuma does his work or witchcraft while his grip becomes even more tight. She wanted to fall asleep. She's about to drift off, hearing these vibrations and awfulness but not paying heed to it.

"I've forgiven your ineffective and overly powerfully deadly chakra diseases, your experiments gone wrong and heck, your attachment to that child,  Mitsuki. I will not forgive your miscalculation and failure of allowing Lady Hyuuga not being able to use or accept chakra. Face your punishment!" A shout from Akuma comes out.

Punishment? It snapped her lids open. She glared into the eyes of someone. Kabuto.

He looked rugged and his whole persona was changed. His white hair was silver, like a snow pile on his head. His pale skin made glaciers look stunningly cream-colored. His skin was almost translucent. His rippling locks reached his chin and swayed with his movements.

He was barefoot and his bones were thin but muscle highlighted some health. He had some type of hexagons, cracked appearance on his cheekbones- scales... Like huge scales of a snake. His straight white teeth distracted you for a moment but brought attention to his honest, straightforward fangs.

He had sinister eyes, angular aquiline features and the most chilling, cold expression. Almost as cold as the ice Reize freezes.

"Is it possible to break a broken man more, Lord Akuma?" Reize asked, Chuckling a bit. "Do play with him more."

And for some reason, a fluid spear came as a torpedo right at her ear. Akuma shifted enough for her head not to be impaled. He was caught off guard. Her ear caught the worst of the assault. It was almost ripped off.

Her hair, a full weight compared to the heaviness of the whole situation.  All she remembers is the satisfied smirk on Kabuto's lips as she was knocked out.

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A/N- I am almost done editing. The last two chapters haven't been edited that well so I'll fix that over the next three days. I am not enjoying the angst and sadness of these chapters but like- it has to happen.