Exaltation

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Chapter eight.

Eyes engulfed by ink stared to the wall opposite of them without really looking.

Emptiness.

He felt it.

He felt it clearly.

A gaping hole within him, sucking in the few emotions he had left and devouring them until there was nothing more than hollow anger. His defence-mechanism. The shield that surrounded him and let nobody in. He didn't care for the feelings of other people; he no longer had them himself, so why bother thinking of those around him?

Tsch.

They weren't worth his time.

Pathetic.

His head turned slightly to cast a glance towards the sleeping form on his bed that was every once in a while turning and tossing heatedly in their sleep. Tears stained the pillow, and he already knew why they were spilled. Not that he cared about it. Or her.

Sasuke was disgusted with himself for calling Haruno. Again. He didn't need her, he just needed the sex. But that was just as bad; he felt weak for giving into his cravings; weakness wasn't something he liked to feel, for it only called shit upon you. Look where it had brought his parents. Look where it had brought him. He sighed.

Hinata was vulnerable. Emotional and always thinking of others, the exact opposite of yours truly. But she was the only one who he could bare to tolerate in his presence.

Why? He didn't know and he didn't care; the only thing he thought of as important was how to get her with him as soon as possible. His weakness would fade. And his other weakness would return. Hinata would be his only soft spot he didn't mind having.

The creaking sound of a mattress springing when some weight was lifted was heard, followed by the closing of a door. Emerald eyes opened immediately and stared at the closed door before closing again, a silent tear escaping quickly.

'He's going to leave me…'

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A mental grin was spread widely on thin lips.

His eyes widened to an inhuman width as he saw the life slowly seeping out of her fragile body. It excited him to see it, to experience the look of terror that was present in the lavender before being locked off by trembling eyelids, to feel the power as it was in his decision if she were to remain among the living or would die.

It made him feel alive.

He needed it. He wanted to be alive.

Fingers released their deathly grip and lifted from her throat, letting her body limply fall back onto the ground with a thud as if she were a mere doll; the wooden planks creaked with a sigh as dead weight fell upon them. He stared as dark purple bruises began to appear on the pale flesh where his nails had dug into it, letting her sickly white skin stand out even more in the dark.

Her lips, blue due to lack of oxygen, slowly began to return to their vague pink color again in a slow phase. His own lips were tugged back into their eternal scowl as the emotionless mask he always wore was put back on. He knew it held no avail when being around that girl; apparently she could see into his soul.

Gaara had not seen into it for a long time. Didn't plan to do it anytime soon, either. He looked at the unconscious heap of human on the ground and frowned slightly as he realized that maybe, even if it was for just a little, he needed her.

He clutched his red hair tightly as a headache decided to come up and pester him.

How could he need her? He didn't want to need anything. Or anyone. No one. No one but himself. Anything else was nothing. Everyone else was a mere waste of space. His space.

He wished for her to go and die in the shadows for all he cared, her lifeless body being torn into pieces by wild animals. But as he thought about it, he came to the conclusion over and over again that her being in his presence made him feel the touch of life again.

He was the one that decided if she was going to die, when she would and how. Her life was in his hands, she was dependant of him. She needed him.

She needed him.

The smirk returned again.

She needed him more than he needed her. That made her more interesting than any other. Perhaps she wasn't as useless as she looked like.

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A trace of red splatters could be distinguished from the dead leafs on the forest floor. The sun began to rise in the azure sky and rays of morning light shined upon the ground, highlighted dust dancing in strange patterns in-between it. Although it was very early, the heat of summer could be felt heavily.

A few miles ahead, a group of colorful birds arose from the trees and flew away, screeching alarmed as something that didn't belong into the woods had neared. And surely, a silhouette appeared between the trees, clutching its stomach a little as it strolled further.

Dark eyes seemed to stare down impassively, not caring for their surroundings but only directed to the greasy mud on the ground, earlier that night slippery puddles of slick from the rain but now dry and slightly cracked from the early heat.

But the sun wasn't the only one to have left its imprints on the forest floor.

Footsteps were barely noticeable, but they were still there, imprinted in the earth; almost washed away by the heavy rainfall from before but slightly visible for the human eye. Visible enough for a certain Uchiha to follow.

Itachi took silent notes in his mind of the trails as he continued to walk, not caring that red blood trickled through where his fingers rested on his stomach and left a trail on their own.

And suddenly he halted. Two feet neatly standing next to each other, the Uchiha crouched down as far as his body could assess and languidly reached his free hand out. His fingers closed around a piece of fabric; he stood up straight again, opening his hand to examine the cloth. His face remained emotionless as always, safe for the tiniest hint of a smirk that tugged at the corner of his lips.

There lying in his hands, dirty from all the mud and slightly torn, was a part of a white nightgown. The gown of someone he was looking for at this very moment. His hand closed around it again and he let it fall at his side.

His eyes were cast back to the ground again, continuing with their search for their prey of that day. Itachi decided to find Hinata the same day, so that he could take her to his final destination. This of course would take place after he had killed the obtuse fool who had dared to kidnap her and thus brought a postponement in his schedule.

He detested delay.

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Shikamaru let out a deep sigh that clearly stated how annoyed he was.

He didn't know what issues that Uchiha had to deal with, but he wasn't going to get too involved with it. There were better things to do.

Like getting Ino off his back.

"Shikamaru… Why exactly won't you open the door?"

She sounded a bit pissed. How aggravating. "Ino, I'm busy right now. So why don't you…"

"Too busy to spend some time with your girlfriend?" The last word was emphasized between clenched teeth.

The brown-haired man grimaced. God, he hated it when she used that word. And he knew that she knew this particular little fact. Damn her and her female intuition. "Ino…Look. I will call you later on."

"Are you seeing someone else?!"

Another irritated sigh. "No. One woman is already troublesome enough."

A loud gasp was heard from the other side of the door. "You did not just say that! Nara Shikamaru, open the door right this fucking second or I will break. It. Down!"

...Why did he date her again?

A loud bonk indicated that she was ready to execute her threat.

Oh, yeah. Because she was Ino …And maybe because her father had threatened to pull his limbs out one by one if he dared to dump his beloved daughter, at their first meeting. Yes, you didn't need to be a genius to see where Ino had her …fiery personality from.

Not wanting to pay for a new door, Shikamaru reluctantly slouched to the hallway in a slow phase and turned the key so that the door opened. As soon as he had done that Ino busted through the doorway, knocking him over in the process. The blonde didn't bother to help him up as she immediately waltzed over to his bedroom, apparently checking if there really wasn't another female in the house.

Shikamaru, although the possibility of staying there was very tempting, helped himself up from the floor and walked after his girlfriend, only to make sure she didn't tear his bed apart to see if anyone had hid themselves under it. "…See. I told you, there's no one besides you and me…"

Ino turned around and sighed, biting down on her glossy lips slightly. "I guess you're right. Maybe I owe you an excu…"

Her apology was interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone. Shikamaru, who recognized it as his, walked over to his night table to get it, but Ino was closer by and beat him to it.

"Yes?"

"Ah, I'm sorry! Did I call the wrong number? I was looking for Nara Shikamaru."

Shikamaru, upon hearing his colleague, wanted to snatch the phone out of Ino's hands, but the look on her face stopped him. Light blue eyes had narrowed to a dangerously low level as their owner had clearly heard a female voice throughout the ear piece. "This is his cell phone. He's not around at the moment." A protest from the owner of the phone was smothered by a warning glare. "Who can I say has called?"

The other was silent for a few seconds upon hearing the honey-sweet tone, but decided not to ask. "Please tell him Sabaku Temari has called and ask if he calls back. It's very urgent."

Shikamaru inwardly shuddered at the expression on the face of his girlfriend. "All right, I will! Bye-Bye!" A click was heard and slowly, very slowly Ino turned around, the phone almost being crushed in her right hand.

The normally lazy man felt the temperature in the room descend faster than he would fall asleep and hastily decided to say something before the situation got too violent. "…Ino, this is not what you…"

"Who was she?"

"Well, in any case not my secret mistress or anyth…"

"Who. Is. She?"

The tension was so think you could cut it with a knife. Even Shikamaru, who normally was as sensitive as a rock when it came to touchy situations, was slightly affected by it. "Temari's a co-worker of mine. She's…"

"HA! A co-worker! Are you telling me now that there's a woman working at that office of yours?! Don't make me laugh! And besides, when I asked for a job, you told me there was currently no vacancy."

Oh, crap. He had forgotten about that little white lie. But telling the truth, confessing that he had said that because he didn't want her around 24/7, didn't sound too appealing either. "Yeah, but right now we're short on people and…"

"Never mind! I don't want to hear it." Ino pointed heatedly towards him. "You, Nara Shikamaru, are the most lazy, selfish, cheating, sleazy, lying, double-crossing, lousy, impertinent, incapable BASTARD I have ever met! I never want to see your face again! Jerk!" She dramatically swayed her hair behind her back and turned around, 'accidentally' letting his phone fall on the ground and 'accidentally' stepping on it, before she walked out of the room with a huff and smacked the already abused door closed.

Shikamaru let himself fall on his bed and groaned loudly.

Jesus Christ.

He would never understand the female race.

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End of chapter eight

A/N: Well, this hasn't taken me too long, right? …Argh, who am I kidding… -.- Chapter nine is coming up a.s.a.p. but I'm going on vacation on the 30th of July for two weeks, so then I won't be able to answer you guys. So, an apology in advance. :)