catriana_fiction

Title: A Matter of Honor and Debt
Series: Naruto
Pairing: ItaHina, SasuNeji
Genre: Romance/Supernatural
Chapters: 8/9(?) (WIP)
Rating: M
Summary: Shameless. Disgusting. A monster. Never would he forgive himself for his moment of weakness, for almost murdering an innocent woman. He will do whatever it takes to atone - A life for a life. ItaHina. Birthday fic for Lady Crack. Very loosely based off of a RP I'm doing with someone.
Warnings: None.

xxxxx

“I’m all finished, Madara-sama.” A short haired brunette stood up in the cold stone room, carefully backing away from the markings she had just completed on the floor. Pink stained her cheeks as she neared her master, shyly ducking her head when the tall man’s hand rested on top. He smiled thinly at her.

“Thank you, Naoko.” His hand slid down to cup her cheek “I never would have been able to do this without you.” His voice was kind, gentle even “And you drew the image exactly as it was shown?”

She leaned into his hand. “Of course, Madara-sama. It’s perfect, I made sure of it because...” her blush deepened “I want to be the first thing you see.”

The thin smile widened a fraction “You will.” Turning to her, he pulled the woman into his arms and she sighed.

Which quickly turned into a gurgle.

“I’m sorry; it completely slipped my mind to mention the part about needing a sacrifice.” Madara said, the thin smile shifting to a grin. Her black eyes flashed crimson as she stared up at him in shock. He wasn’t looking down at her, of course; his empty gaze was on the wall behind her. He jerked his arm and blood spilled from her mouth “But if it makes you feel any better, you really will be the first thing I see...your corpse anyway.”

Wrenching the dagger from her chest he coolly counted the steps he needed to take to position himself in the middle of the room. Raising an arm, he sliced his wrist open, dark chanting filling the quiet room. Finally, after so many years of walking in darkness he’d finally be able to see the light. With his sight his plans to take over the vampire world and turn the walking meat sacks known as humans into the slaves that they should be would become a reality. Most importantly, he would be able to see his little brother.

Izuna. They would do it together; he’d follow him to the ends of the earth – always had.

He knew something had gone wrong the moment the warm glow that was supposed to emerge was instead cold and dark. No...had he done something wrong? He knew Naoko hadn’t betrayed him and she wasn’t incompetent, so what was going on?

The stench of carrion filled the room and assaulted his extremely sharp senses. The sound of raspy laughter was everywhere. No. No, no, no! This was all wrong! What happened?

Cackling. “Hello, little Uchiha.” The voice was female and seemed to carry with it the screams and pleas of hundreds of souls. He could feel hands grabbing at him and he tried to jerk back and away, only to completely freeze when his feet hit something squishy instead of stone.

No...this wasn’t right, this wasn’t how it was supposed to be. “You’re not Amaterasu!”

“What is precious to you?” there was the sound of rustling fabric and something cold and clammy touched his face “That thing; she is no sacrifice. Tell me little Uchiha, what is it that you cherish the most?”

This cold and dark feeling, the smell of carrion, the raspy voice and voices of the dead...no...no it couldn’t be...He had wanted Amaterasu.

He had tried to summon the goddess. He got a goddess, but she was the last one he would have wanted to respond.

Why? Had he done something wrong? Had he researched the wrong things? No, that wasn’t possible; he had gone through everything thoroughly...

Her disgusting laughter echoed off the walls that sounded as if they were moaning. The Uchiha shuddered.

“You weren’t what I wanted.” He said it low at first before his voice rose “Go back to the underworld; you weren’t the one I wanted!”

The goddess let out a high pitched screech that dropped him to his knees as he covered his ears to no avail.

“Not wanted?!” she was definitely enraged “Not needed, not wanted, you summoned me! You want eyes and I demand my sacrifice!” Her voice was low as she began to chuckle darkly “You will have your eyes, little Uchiha.”

Pain unlike he had ever felt before lanced through his skull and he screamed as he felt dark, malicious power fill him. Thousands of voices whispered in his head until he thought he’d go mad. He writhed and squirmed on the ground as he clutched at his head, wanting the pain to stop.

Then he knew nothing.

Slowly, Uchiha Madara stood, eyes opening to reveal a glow down to the whites with red. He smiled.

“I know what’s precious to you.” The goddess said in a sing song voice as she moved in the Uchiha’s body, walking up the stairs “And I’m going to take it.”

White filled Hinata’s vision as the dark scene abruptly faded, leaving her in a blank void. She hugged herself, trying to shake the disturbing images from her mind. Having watched it from a third party perspective she had been able to see what Madara hadn’t in that room...and it would haunt her for some time to come.

“Forgive me, but it was unavoidable.”

The voice was male and familiar so when she turned and faced Izuna she wasn’t terribly surprised. Thankfully, his eyes were in their sockets. He smiled.

“I can finally reach you now.” He looked relieved “You bonded with him then.”

“What?” how did he know about that?

He shook his head “I have but little time and this is important. That night was when it all began, the night my brother tried to summon Amaterasu. He had always been ambitious but after that night...he truly did lose his mind.”

Hinata nodded, remembering the vision “He failed.”

“No. He didn’t.” the smile quickly disappeared “The spell had been done perfectly; it was just that the goddess who answered the call was the one his soul called out to the most. It is nearly impossible for one to truly commit the act my brother did but his desires and ambitions were great and while they did not appeal to Amaterasu, they did appeal to someone else. Were you able to discover who?”

Another shiver went through her at the sight of the haggard old woman; her insides rotting out with maggots and other disgusting creatures. She had been so full of hatred and bitterness, especially when he had claimed he hadn’t wanted her...

Gasping, her hands flew to her mouth in realization and Izuna nodded.

“Izanami. The sister and wife of Izanagi who created Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, and Susanoo when he cleansed himself after leaving the underworld...and subsequently his dead wife that he had fled from upon seeing what had happened to her there. She had been enraged by his rejection of her appearance and had chased him in a desire to kill. The same goddess that had promised to kill a thousand humans every day; to which her husband had promised to have a thousand and five hundred born in their stead.”

She understood now why Izanami had wanted what was most precious to Madara. Hinata also realized why Madara had gotten her instead of Amaterasu. His soul had already been dark; there was no way he ever would have been able to reach the sun goddess.

“Why me?” she blurted out. She didn’t want this. There had to be someone strong enough to take someone like him on because she wasn’t it.

“I tried to reach the other, but I couldn’t...I still cannot even though he bonded.” Izuna seemed disturbed by this, Hinata was just confused. “My brother is coming, keep him at your side. Tell him what I cannot.”

“What?” she didn’t understand “Tell who?” Itachi? Was that what he meant by keeping him at her side?

But he was beginning to fade away. She tried to reach out to him but found herself unable to move. What was this?

“Guide him.” Were his last words.

xxxxx

A disgusted noise came from Neji as he awakened to the disgusting smell of cigarette smoke. Rolling over, he tried to pull the sheets over his head and when he reached over he found the other side of the bed empty. This caused him to snap out of his groggy state and he sat up on the massive bed in Sasuke’s massive bedroom.

Suppressing a yawn, the Hyuuga slid out of the bed, taking the top layer of the sheets to cover the lower half of his body. His sharp gaze caught the Uchiha sitting on the windowsill, one leg propped up and a cigarette between his fingers. His gaze was outside the open window and he took another long drag before his dark eyes slid over to the other male.

“I was not aware you indulged in this particular...habit.” One would think as a vampire with sensitive senses they’d avoid something so disgusting, but they tended to do things that defied the laws of science and common sense in any case.

“Only once a year.” He admitted and the Hyuuga pressed forward until he was standing beside the Uchiha “My mother was killed by one of Madara’s guys this night.”

It was amazing how he had known Sasuke for almost thirty years and yet knew nothing about him “I...am sorry. I didn’t realize.”

“I never told you.” He looked back out the window and there was somewhat awkward silence. Neji decided to try and lighten the mood up slightly although it really wasn’t his forte.

“One would think that your mother would not have approved of such a habit.” He said lightly, earning him a snort.

“My mother was a chain smoker.” He turned and smirked at his lover’s surprised expression before looking back outside “When my dad died my mom became...reckless. Daring even. She got into all sorts of crazy things and since Itachi was too much of a stiff to want to do them, I always tagged along with her. I had always been closer to mom anyway.” The roll of his shoulders “We partied, bullshitted; tried a lot of things we probably shouldn’t have and I always made sure I was with her.

“Everyone knew she did it because it was her way of coping, and maybe she thought one day she’d get knocked off and join my dad, I have no idea. Anyway, around the eighteen hundreds she got into smoking and so I got into smoking. She had always been really into fashion so we’d travel a lot; posing as the rich, party hopping and doing whatever else we wanted. I was running the clan but I somehow always managed to make time for her.”

“I see.” Neji’s own mother had been killed but he had never been very close to her. As a prodigy and genius; most of his life had been spent learning everything he could learn about the Hyuuga secrets. When she had died he had been sad but probably not as devastated as Sasuke had been with his mother. He didn’t know what to say so he remained silent.

Sasuke continued anyway “When she was killed I stopped doing everything she and I had done together. Pissed Kiba off for a while but I just hadn’t felt like it at the time. Then one year on this day I found myself lighting up and I smoked the entire day. Next day the urge was gone. So now every year on this day I smoke.” He flicked the butt out the window and pulled out his pack, sliding out another one “Sorry if it bothers you.”

The Hyuuga snorted, mostly because Sasuke really wasn’t sorry; he did whatever he felt like doing – other people’s feelings be damned. “It is disgusting but not enough for me to walk away.” When he moved closer and leaned against the other male the Uchiha smiled. When he raised his hand as if to shield a flame from the wind he noticed the small bit of black fire that had flickered and then he was puffing once more. He did not resist when Sasuke wrapped his arm around his waist.

“Sasuke, why did you never tell me about this ability of yours?” because really, finding out decades later that one’s boyfriend was his own personal lighter was...well shocking.” He smiled sadly “Did you not trust me?”

“Nope.” The admission stung but Neji remained silent because he really had no right to say anything and he knew it. “I trusted you as far as you trusted me and you told me jack shit about the Hyuuga. Everything I learned I either got when I had been interacting with you guys or through my own research.” He took a drag from his cigarette and Neji turned to face the far wall.

“Well, I certainly understand then, considering.” He sighed “But it wasn’t because I didn’t trust you that I remained silent about my people and our...” he cut himself off when Sasuke’s arm around him tightened. When he looked down the Uchiha’s expression was unreadable but his aura told him what he needed to know. Neji put an arm around his shoulders “You may ask me whatever you wish, if you’d like.”

This got him a look and Sasuke’s brow rose “Stop trying so hard.” He looked back out the window and the Hyuuga fought the urge to strangle him or do something equally violent.

“You have been complaining for years about my attitude and now you’re telling me not to try?”

“No, I said stop trying so hard. The last two words there were important – changes the entire dynamic and meaning of the statement.”

Smartass. “You make it very difficult not to feel homicidal in your presence.” The Uchiha snorted again and this time the silence that fell upon them was comfortable.

When Sasuke spoke again, however, the words floored him “So, about these prophetic dreams your cousin’s been having...”

“What?” he actually tried to take a step back but the grip on him was firm “Hinata-sama has...what are you talking about?”

Flicking the used cigarette out the window he gave Neji his full attention “Your cousin’s been having these crazy dreams about Madara – you didn’t know about it? Itachi told me.”

“No...” once again he felt a little hurt. He had thought that the two of them had grown somewhat close, Neji had truly wanted that. “I suppose she doesn’t trust me still. It makes sense, we are still practically strangers.”

The raven haired man looked thoughtful “No, I think maybe she just didn’t want you to worry about her. She comes off as the self-sacrificing type.”

Well, it made him feel a tad bit better, but not by much. Even though he and Sasuke were ‘close’ now their relationship was still strained and awkward due to the amount of years that had passed between them. Hinata had somewhat helped fill the gap that had been his loneliness and for some stupid reason he felt alone all of a sudden. “Please tell me these dreams she’s been having.”

“Well, the biggest one that struck me was the one about Madara and the grand master of the Hyuuga.”

White eyes widened at this “She had a dream about that night?” no one knew what had happened, only that the man had been found dead and everyone had known the Uchiha had been behind it. “What did she see?”

“Well, apparently the guy placed a binding spell on Madara...I guess that explains why he’s always wearing a mask. He cursed him.”

“A binding spell?” he looked curious “Interesting...it explains much, I suppose. But this means we have his weakness, correct? What was she able to discover about the curse itself?”

He shook his head “Nothing too much; just that it’s an individual of his direct lineage and they have to have some sort of ability or something he had that apparently no one else...” he cut himself off as Neji’s eyes had widened just a bit before he turned his back to him.

“I see.” His voice sounded flat but the amount of fluctuating colors shifting through his aura told the Uchiha that something was seriously wrong. He didn’t really understand the colors but two flashed rather brightly and he was sure that red meant anger, right?

“Neji...” the Hyuuga knew something “What do you know?” when all he did was drop the cloth covering him and reached to grab his clothes, Sasuke was up and on his feet, closing the distance. He couldn’t see his face but it was obvious he was tense and upset. “Neji.” He said it more forcefully but was ignored again. Highly irritated, he used his speed to stop him as he tried to leave clothed only in his pants. His hand shot out, gripping the other man’s arm. “Neji! What the hell?”

Onyx eyes blinked at the calm and cold rage within the Hyuuga’s eyes. The veins around them were increasing and the aura flared.

“Madara’s after the wrong Hyuuga.” Was what he said and the Uchiha could only blink in slight confusion. “All this time...he killed...” he let out an irritated sound and scowled, trying once more to leave. Sasuke kept his grip tight; he had a feeling if he let Neji go he would do something stupid. “Let go of me, Sasuke.”

With a growl he pulled the other close enough to where their noses were almost brushing “I got Madara’s forces building up for a massive attack to come pounding down my door and you know something. I got a clan to protect; you will tell me.”

They glared at each other for a long moment before the Hyuuga looked away “Because Madara thought he killed all the Hyuuga, he’s been going after Hinata-sama thinking she’s the one who’s the threat but in reality...” he shook his head “I don’t know why she received the images but the bottom line is that she has absolutely nothing to do with Madara’s defeat.” His smile turned sad “You...shouldn’t have bonded with me.”

“This shouldn’t have happened.”

The grip on Neji’s arm dropped abruptly and Sasuke stood up straight, his expression becoming cold “That’s not an answer.” He forced himself to remain detached; he didn’t know what he’d do if he actually decided to react to another rejection. Not after everything.

Shaking his head; Neji looked as if he was forcing himself to remain calm. Turning, he looked at Sasuke “You’re taking it the wrong way; stop getting angry.”

He bristled “Yeah well, the last time you said similar words you avoided me for over two decades.”

Something flashed in Neji’s eyes “You didn’t exactly seem that upset about it at the time.”

The temperature in the room increased dramatically and without warning the vampire moved. There was a loud crashing sound as Sasuke pinned Neji against the wall, his arm against the other man’s throat, his eyes blazing crimson.

“I won’t ask again.” Stop doing this, Neji. I have my limits and fuck, I can’t do this anymore.

Instead of looking angry, Neji looked sad and his aura reflected it. Raising a hand, he brushed his fingers along his lover’s jaw line “The ability my great-grandfather had was the ability to completely control and manipulate another’s aura. He was the only one recorded to have the ability. I make number two.”

Eyes widening, he backed off but not away, dropping his arm. “You’re the one Madara’s been scared of all this time?”

He ignored the question “When two individuals bond,” his eyes shifted to the side “if one dies, the other dies. I’m sorry, Sasuke. If you hadn’t bonded with me, eventually you would have moved on...”

Sasuke cut him off with his lips, a hand grabbing a fist full of chocolate brown hair. He didn’t know what the hell was going on beyond the fact that apparently Neji was the one who could set off the curse and that the Hyuuga fully expected to die doing it.

Unacceptable. He just got Neji over his bullshit so they could be together; the Hyuuga owed him a good forty years of kissing his ass to make up for the past two decades at least. He had every intention of collecting. Something was going to be done about the situation; he didn’t care what he had to do.

“Sasuke...?” Neji sounded confused as they parted and the Uchiha began to trail lips along his neck. White eyes became hooded as he tilted his head “Sasuke, I –“

“Neji.” Lifting his head their gazed locked “Shut. The hell. Up.” He sealed the distance between their lips once more.

xxxxx

“I’m...I’m sorry Neji-niisan,” Hinata sighed “I wasn’t...I mean I just...”

Her cousin put a hand over hers briefly but his smile and aura was tinted with sadness “It is fine, Hinata-sama. I understand why you did it and I am not angry.”

Just hurt. She thought to herself and felt even worse. Neji had been nothing but kind to her since her arrival and had been teaching her many things she had never known about herself or her powers. His approaches had been genuine; he truly wished to connect with his only living relative. Even though she hadn’t kept the truth from him out or malice or spite she still felt awful. More than likely, he probably thought that she didn’t trust him, which wasn’t the case at all.

“I am assuming,” Itachi leaned back slightly in his chair as he regarded his brother and lover “that since you understand the curse that you understand your role.” He frowned thoughtfully “Hinata truly has nothing to do with this at all?”

Neji shook his head “Not exactly, otherwise she wouldn’t have gotten the dreams she did.”

“In the dream...” she looked down at her hands “Izuna-san said he tried to reach you but couldn’t.” when she flickered her gaze back at him she caught the mix of emotions playing and her heart went out to him. It seemed that her cousin was always in pain somehow or another.

Then again; she had no idea how she would feel if she had watched everyone she had ever loved die...only to find out that had she known the truth, she could have stopped it. Anger, remorse, and guilt was bright within him. She could see Sasuke’s aura trying to heal it as Itachi’s had hers before, but the wound was obviously too deep and it wasn’t even making a dent.

In Neji’s mind, he could have stopped the genocide. Hinata had a feeling that was something he would never be able to forgive himself for – even though it hadn’t been his fault at all.

“I see.” Was the simple response “Anyway, to answer your questions Itachi-san, yes I am aware of what I need to do and no, Hinata-sama does not need to get involved. For whatever reasons –“ from what Hinata could tell she had a feeling Neji knew why “the spirits could not reach me, so they approached Hinata-sama so that she could guide me to the right course of action.”

“Guide him.”

“And what exactly is that?” Itachi wanted to know.

The Hyuuga seemed to hesitate, turning to Sasuke briefly whose expression was unreadable. He turned back to Itachi “Our great-grandfather’s unique ability was that he could completely control another’s aura. This is not the same as surface manipulation and it is not the same as hitting particular points of the body to damage or immobilize. He could change people. If you were happy he could make you depressed, if you were sad he could make you feel elated. He could make you hate something you loved, love something you hated. Anything that he wanted you to do he could just by delving deeper and actually controlling your soul.”

“What...a frightening ability.” The older Uchiha said. The entire room was stunned but Neji shook his head.

“Nothing that powerful comes free.” He continued “To do something of that magnitude you have to sacrifice something in return. The individual has to force its own spirit into the other’s to manipulate them. There is a reason why he was the only Hyuuga that actually looked as if he was aging; doing something like that deteriorates your own spirit. For us, we become mortal by shortening our lifespan where before we were as ageless as the vampires. Depending on what you are trying to do depends on how much of your own spirit you must ‘push’ inside the other to control and manipulate it fully.”

“And if you push enough, you’ll die.” Sasuke’s voice sounded bland and uninterested but Hinata could see the myriad of emotions playing there. It looked as if he wanted to say something else but refrained.

“Yes, that is correct. If what Hinata-sama said about him practicing the forbidden arts is true, more than likely the goddess he ended up summoning has some hold over his soul. When he dies, she’d going to want it. This means I would have to sever the bond first. What the curse, basically, will allow me to do is the impossible. Manipulating and controlling souls is one thing, destroying them is another. I am almost one hundred percent positive that’s what the curse does; it will give me the ability to kill him by destroying his spirit.”

Itachi looked impressed “Is that even possible for you? Severing his tie to a goddess and destroying his spirit?”

“Theoretically speaking, yes. That is assuming that the goddess has her hold on him. If not, it will make things much easier.” He sighed, leaning back in his chair of the small conference room “Since this is Izanami, I sincerely doubt it, but all I need is to touch him. If I can get close enough to do that I can end this once and for all.”

The other Hyuuga fidgeted a bit “But...I mean...if he’s so powerful...”

“He doesn’t know I exist, so that helps. All I will need to do is conceal my eyes with colored contacts; Hyuuga cannot be sensed by other creatures so he would overlook me. The problem is getting to him. He’ll be hiding behind his army, waiting for a chance to strike.”

Silence descended over the small group as everyone tried to come up with some sort of strategy. Hinata tried to go over everything that she had been shown since her arrival. She remembered how there had been the sensation that there was more to the curse that had been important. For some reason, she had a feeling Neji hadn’t touched on it. Something was missing, but what?

If Neji went after Madara alone and succeeded, he would die; everyone in the room knew it and could feel it. Going off his words, there was no way a mortal could sever the bond between another mortal and a god, then turn around and destroy the other’s spirit. Not and survive. Everyone in the room also knew that Neji was going to do it, regardless of whether or not he had help.

She looked over at Sasuke and frowned. What would happen to the clan head if her cousin died? Just the two of them fighting their bond for so long had made them almost go mad...what would one’s death do?

Once again Hinata began to feel useless. While she was glad lives weren’t resting on her shoulders it didn’t mean she had wished it on someone else. Her cousin had gone through so much; watching his people die, being forced to live underground, learning that he had held the power to stop the genocide, his bond with Sasuke...and now he was going to die? It didn’t seem fair to her. That couldn’t be the way it would end, but what could she do?

“Guide him.”

“I’ll be the bait.” She blurted out and three sets of eyes snapped to her. She fought the urge to shrink in her seat. “Madara thinks I’m the threat, right? I-I could lure him out a-and then Neji-niisan could...”

“Absolutely not.” She turned to Itachi who actually looked upset “You do not have to be placed in danger and so we should –“

“Let her do it.” The Uchiha clan head leaned forward, resting his chin on his joined hands “Madara will suspect an ambush but he won’t be expecting Neji. If we play our cards right we can make it work.”

The two brothers crimson gazes met and the room temperature began to increase.

“I refuse.” Her lover shook his head “There are many other ways we could go about this that don’t have to involve Hinata. All of us are warriors, she is not; putting her in danger like that –“

“Is her choice.” Sasuke shook his head “Aniki, use your head, this is the best plan because it has the highest chance to succeed. Anything else Madara could figure out and avoid easily; having the element of surprise in our favor is key. It doesn’t matter if the ambush is obvious, if anything that’s the best part of it – we can make it an ambush within an ambush. Hinata won’t be going out alone, we’ll be there; Madara will be expecting it anyway.”

Gently, she put her hand on Itachi’s arm “I...” he looked at her and for a second she almost reconsidered because what she saw broke her heart. She didn’t, however, because she knew this was the right path. She could feel it; there was something she could do. Somehow she was important to the equation even though it wasn’t a direct involvement in Madara’s defeat. “I w-want...no...I have to do this.” She shook her head “It’s...I feel that this is right.”

He took her hand “Hinata...” he looked as if he was going to try and talk her out of it again when Sasuke spoke.

“Aniki.” Eyes turned to the clan head and Hinata started – he looked so tired. “You’re not the only one with something to lose in this.” Neji stiffened at the proclamation but Sasuke stood, avoiding everyone’s gaze “It’s almost morning. We’ll discuss this more on the next rising.” He quietly left the conference room and suddenly a feeling of dread filled her at his words.

Why did it feel like she had just missed something very important in those words?

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