It became a viscous cycle

Well I know this isn't much of a chapter, length wise that is but it should suffice considering my long break. I suppose one day off turned to several weeks off and pretty soon my whole summer was going by without me writing a single chapter. My muse isn't the kindest in the world, it's rather spontaneous and this summer it took a while to finally give me enough inspiration to write.

I found inspiration came in many forms for this chapter and I gotta warn my readers I watched The Dark Knight about three times while I was writing this so you might sense a bit more darkness in it than usual. I was too infatuated with The Joker to the point where I wondered about my own sanity.

Anyways I'm not the only one wondering about my own sanity but I suppose you'll learn about that in the chapter. Dedicated to the Dark Knight!

Chapter Eleven: Forest Fears

It was late at night and the hollow moonlight simmered through the windows with a magnificent sheen. Its luminous rays kissed his beige colored skin with amour making the dew of sweat around his neck seem more like star dust that has rejected its throne in heaven.

Sasuke's features were outlined boldly with the moonlight's aid. The sections glowing were vibrant to the naked eye while the contrasting counterparts meshed in with the darkness giving him the appearance of being half drawn.

Sasuke's eyes fluttered with every tick of the clock but sleep was as fleeting as nature's first green. He sat sedated in a red felt seat; it was abnormally comfortable for a couch. Its material was so soft and elastic that his body seemed as if it were being consumed by it. Its comfort however still did not lull his body to sleep; he had other things in mind.

Hinata's friends were troublesome, too interfering to be ignored. But what exactly was the solution to his predicament.

Murder was obviously the simplest. They have practically set the nooses upon their necks the moment they entered that dreaded forest, all Sasuke really had to do was pull the trap that would leave their feet in a metronomic swing.

After all when someone dies in a hanging it's not really the executioner that kills them, it's the weight of their own bodies. The weight contorts their necks until it buckles and snaps. Similar to what Sasuke was contemplating, it's actually their own naïve ignorance that would kill them; Sasuke would simply be playing the role of the faceless executioner.

Yet there was also the question of how to kill them.

Sasuke closed his eyes feeling his vision swivel within the safety of his eyelid, left, right, left, right, left, right, until the picture became vivid in his mind.

Kiba had gone mad with the loss of Hinata. He took his two unsuspecting friends into the forest in a last futile attempt to find her and when he realized that there was no way she survived he took out a knife and stabbed his friends to death then took his own life after seeing the horrible sin he had committed.

No one would dispute the motive or the blatant craziness in his character. One look at his extreme change of body structure had given Sasuke plenty of evidence to infer that Kiba would have snapped either way.

Sasuke continued to allow his eyes flicker back into a different vision. A more vibrant vision of Kiba's massacre flooded Sasuke's mind. He could imagine himself tasting the humidity of the forest, smelling the sickly moss growing on the pitch black leafy floor. Sasuke could feel the struggle in his body, the heavy take of breaths as Kiba realizes that he's not going to live, the strangled cough echoing in the bleak and dreary forest. He imagined a laugh escaping his throat as Sasuke would whisper in his ear, "take a good look Kiba, this is your cemetery" he would then force Kiba's mangled head towards a near by tree, "and that tree…" a mad cackle forced its way out of Sasuke, " that's your tombstone Kiba" and finally he would lift Kiba's limp head upwards towards the black canopy were a scavenging bird perched itself waiting for Sasuke to leave the body, "and see that bird there, perched all nice and feathery on top of your tombstone, that's your mortician, he's here to clean you up, nice and clean Kiba." The warmth of Kiba's body would seep into the cold dirt. The shrubs would practically thank him for watering their bubbling mouths with his blood. The stench of his vermin blood would desecrate the thick air, Sasuke could practically taste it due to the humidity, it tasted pathetic.

Naruto and Shino will be dead by this time of course, after all no one has ever really survived an all out genocide in that forest.

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes shaking the mental picture from his head. It was only a dream after all. He didn't need Itachi on him asking about bodies and he really did need to go to bed. Hinata was probably waiting for him in his room; Sasuke took notice that she wouldn't sleep until he was nestled right beside her in the bed, a sure sign that her devotion was only growing with every rise of the sun.

Sasuke was about to get up from the lush red felt seat until he noticed something very odd. He hands felt wet. They stuck to the seat with a foreign sense of stickiness that struck him dumb. He returned to the depression that he embedded in the couch and brought his hands towards his face. With the dim lighting it was almost surreal to fathom but dripping from his protruding hands, was blood.

They were covered in blood.

His breathing rattled terribly, as if a stone were rolling around in his lungs, the sound of it smashing against his ribs echoed into the empty room.

The smell was sickening, brittle and metallic; it infiltrated the air, a pesticide tormenting his nasal cavities. The wet feeling in his hands dribbled on his palms, its humid texture stuck to his skin like a disease leaving behind a ruby sludge. His fingers quivered gently with robust shock.

Sasuke, in a fleet of panic, scrambled with great effort out of his seat only to stumble on something bulky that was on the floor. His long legs got tangled in the enigmatic mass on the floor as he fell into a crumpled heap. His face made brutal contact with the floor; the friction caused by the collision rubbed his cheek raw. Sasuke growled with contempt as he turned his head to see what caused his disgraceful fall but instead what he saw caused his pupils to dilate and his lungs to collapse.

There was a corpse on the floor.

Sasuke's entire body turned cold with distress. The damp feeling in his hand did nothing but remind him of the blood staining his fingers. However, he saw no traces of blood on the body, not only that but the body had a familiar look to it.

Sasuke crawled to his knees and shuffled towards the stiff cadaver where he slowly turned its body. His hand touched the skin to find it was mildly warm –meaning the body was killed not that long ago- it also had a stiff aura to it, an obvious sign of rigor mortis impending its bones. By the obvious stature of it, Sasuke identified the body to be male. The lighting in the room prevented anymore identification other than the fact that the body had a thin bony frame.

Sasuke stumbled towards the light switch and skewed his vision as the blinding florescent lights flickered to power, waiting seconds for his vision to return to its full potential Sasuke cried out in utter shock as the face of Kiba Inuzuka stared blankly at him. His face looked frozen in terror, the glazed look in his eyes were fixed on the floor as if there was a petrifying bug crawling towards him.

"This is impossible" he whispered. Sasuke gagged at the sight of the corpse refusing to believe the actuality of the situation.

He was just dreaming about killing him, he didn't actually do it, did he? No, no Sasuke hasn't left the house all day. His gaze fell upon Kiba, he saw no blood on his body, no discolored bruises, no sign of a struggle at all. He was just there, sleeping… with dead open eyes.

Even if Sasuke did kill him, where did the blood dripping from his hands come from?

Nowhere, nowhere on the floor did he see blood. Yet there it was as real as the heartbeat thrashing wildly in his chest.

The oxygen ceased to flow to his head and his vision became clouded with darkness and soon everything became dark.

And he fell.

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"Did you guys hear that?"

Naruto's eyes crept to every dangling leaf dancing in the non existent wind with a nervous tremor.

"It was just a bird Naruto" confirmed Shino; sweat trickled down his neck in a chilling embrace. The forest was frigid. Their breaths escaped their mouths in humid puffs and their teeth chattered with reverent quietness as they opened their ears and eyes for any sign of human life.

Kiba recalled reading a novel, The Crucible. A scene played in his mind about the new arrivals that came to the Americas. They had an instinctive fear towards the forest; literally saw it as the devil's last reserve. The last place on earth that was untamed and savage. Kiba never did understand this concept of fear towards nature. Nature, in his eyes, was life. Soil was the womb that conceived all forms of life. No satanic form could every mar the beauty that was nature.

But this ideal, this child-like dream, this was all before Kiba entered this forest.

This forest, that caused the skin to ripple across his back, was in every form satanic. It was in every form disgust and fear and all that was evil. Kiba only wished he could slit his throat just so that he couldn't breath its putrid air, he only wished he could burn the soles of his feet just so that he wouldn't walk in the devil's filth. These- needless to say- extreme suggestions were nothing short of what everyone felt.

This forest was an abomination.

The forest had no visible light, even at the highest peak of the day with the sun beating its infamous rays, nothing entered this opaque thresh hold. Even with the aid of flashlights their vision was limited only to the things the light touched, everything else was unknown and hence it was to be feared.

The leaves they stepped on made no noise; it had no crispness to it, no life. As dead as the corpses buried in the sterile soil, the trees were large; they were as old men rooted in the ground, they bore no faces but their limbs were knotty and jutted. The trunks had seen many life times and vise versa they have seen many lives taken time and time again.

"Kiba…"

Kiba's ears perked to his name and turned with a stiff name. It was Shino who called him.

"What?" he snarled. The forest was making him tense, he was playing by instincts and instincts told him to run.

He pointed his flashlight at Shino but only a got a solemn look in return. He read his face trying to analyze what Shino was trying to tell him but it didn't take long to see what was going on. The look that Kiba saw was a misinterpretation; it was not a look of solemnity but rather a look of terror.

Naruto let out a gasp.

"What the hell is that?!"

Kiba immediately turned his head toward the direction of their horror stricken faces only to mimic their actions. He eyes bulged and his mouth gaped as he beheld a body lying stiffly by the roots of a tree.

The corpse was that of a woman but it was hard to tell since her face was blue and already bloating to the size of a melon. Her limbs were contorted in indescribable angles and her face was cut across the lips giving her the appearance of having a Cheshire cat smile. She wore no clothes and Kiba could only fathom what tortures her body had to endure before she was pleading for death. Her hair was long and stark black. But not all of it was on her head as Kiba noticed several clumps of it lying around her body.

Her eyes, well they were the worst thing to gaze upon, worse than her bent arms, worse than her sick 'smile', and worse than her tortured body. Her eyes were sewn shut but it seems they were sewn shut while she was alive because what was supposed to be her upper eyelid was attached to her lower eyelid yet they were still able to see her horrified eyes; she literally ripped her eyelids apart. For what, they could only speculate, perhaps she wanted one last look at her murderer, or perhaps she wanted to have one last look at the world.

Whatever the reason was they were sure that she regretted doing it; Kiba could only think that sewing her eyes shut was her murderers final courtesy because no one was so cold hearted to leave this dying girl here with only the devil's lair to keep her company.

Kiba heard Shino's breath hitch suddenly. "Kiba you don't think… this could be her right?"

Kiba gave the body another look down, this time forcing himself to look at the color of her mortified eyes. They were milky white but not by birth rather by death. They were grey and bleak and there was no trace of Hinata within them.

"No Shino, those eyes aren't hers." He whispered.

"This is enough Kiba" Naruto's voice was hoarse and thick. "I thought this trip could give you some sort of closure but this is, madness. We should have known the moment we saw it that this forest can't support life. Hinata is dead Kiba, I truly wanted to believe she wasn't dead believe me I did. But once I saw this place. Once I saw this hell hole. Are you telling me she can survive this" He pointed at the bloated corpse with a trembling finger and Shino, he just stood there biting his lips with fervor

Kiba bit the inside of his cheek refusing to allow this mutiny to get under his skin. Not even he was so idealistically naïve enough to believe that Hinata was strong enough to live through this. Kiba was only in the forest for a few hours and even he felt that death was eminent if he didn't get out.

The only thing that could really live in something like this would be the sociopaths who have rejected humanity completely and have given themselves to the wickedness of evil. Satan himself must have set this place just for them so that even hell, which was the home of chaos and pain, would have some balance of peace.

The vision of Hinata flickered through his eyes. It was hard to remember her now; he couldn't tell whether her hair was a burnt black or stark brown. He couldn't remember whether her eyes were lilac white or simply had a reflecting hue. Did she ever get over her stutter? He couldn't remember, he could recall her using perfect English but in his mind her lips always trembled. How stronger had she gotten? He never saw her fight, he never saw his Hinata show her true colors. How proud he would have been seeing her throw a good right hook.

It was frustrating but maybe his mind was trying to help him out, after all it's easy to forget someone you can't remember isn't it?

A cackle resonated like a whip across the entire forest and all three boys whipped their heads up like deer. A mad cackle howled like the wind and in an instant the boys were running like Olympic sprinters. They sped past branches so quickly that their cheeks were marred by the sheer intensity of touching them.

The stinging coldness of the forest set their lungs aflame and if they weren't sure that death was snapping its jaws at their feet all three would have probably thrown up from the putrid air invading their lungs.

It wasn't until they were completely sweating from the sunlight's fierce radiation that they finally stopped to empty their stomachs.

"Let's go home guys" Kiba heaved. His protruding ribs ripped through his skin begging for oxygen to enter. As the most malnourished of the group Kiba was already down on the ground panting on all fours waiting for his body to regain its composure.

"We gotta go back to old man Jiraiya to tell him about the body." Naruto answered, his breathes were heavy and scared. He took in another deep breath before he continued, "we might not have found what we were looking for but she probably has a family looking for her." He gazed at each of their eyes waiting patiently for their approval and they did not disappoint. Kiba and Shino vigorously nodded their heads. Naruto and Shino both eyed each other and decided to take one of Kiba's arms around their necks so that he wouldn't rush himself to breath and with trembling feet they walked back to the town.

Hinata was dead to them now and her corpse would forever rest in peace inside the devil's last reserve.

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He opened his blurry eyes only to see Hinata's worried face looking at him. He could tell she was crying by the pink rims around her eyes.

"Sasuke your awake" she smiled and threw herself at him.

Sasuke started dizzily at the room only find that he was on the floor where he originally collapsed only this time he had a pillow propping his head and a blanket to warm his body from the chilly wooden floor.

"Hinata where is it?" he whispered hoarsely. He lifted himself from the floor searching for Kiba's dead body with feverish eyes but found nothing even relatively close to enough to point that there was ever a dead body lying on his floor.

Hinata looked at him with nervous eyes and searched around the room trying to get in on the joke.

"Where is what?" she squeaked. Her eyes were full of concern.

Sasuke saw the truth behind her concerned eyes and realized that it had all been in his mind. He wanted to kill Kiba so badly that his mind literally fooled him into thinking so.

Sasuke stared at Hinata and shook his head. "Um, nothing."

Hinata saw the finality in his statement and didn't push it any further. Instead she wrapped her arms around him laying her forehead in the crook of his neck softly giving him kisses.

"Maybe you should go outside for some fresh air it's a bit stuffy in this house" she suggested. His face did not betray any sense of worry or concern for himself but Hinata could sense that he was shaken up. When she noticed that he didn't return to bed she got up to go see if he was alright and began sobbing when she saw him sprawled on the floor.

She was so infatuated with him that leaving the house never passed her fretting mind. His welfare was all she could busy herself with. He was too heavy to carry to bed so Hinata comforted his head with a pillow and brought a blanket to shield his body from the foreboding cold.

Sasuke felt her nestle herself on him and cradled her body with his arms.

"You stay here. I'm going to go for a walk and I'll bring you something to eat on the way you look hungry."

Sasuke heaved his body up and retrieved his shoes for a walk. Nobody would bother them at this time of day especially not Naruto and his friends; they must be neck deep inside that forest and in all honestly Sasuke wasn't too sure they'd make it out alive. Besides even if they did Hinata knew better than to let them come near his house, she was a changed woman. Not quite a hostage but not a free soul either.

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Many thoughts passed through Kiba's mind. Hinata's memory was escaping quickly from him. He realized how extreme he had mourned. The carpet burns on his back would probably fade slowly but none the less leave several scars. His sister was probably furious with him for leaving; he would have to apologize to her when he returned. His body was truly a sad sigh to behold, weak, frail, and anemic. That needed to change as well.

It was certainly going to be a trail getting back to the way he was.

They were carrying him arm and arm down the path near Sasuke's house. Kiba stared at the large cottage from the distance and realized that he wasn't all too kind to Sumire. If anything he should apologize to her before he left.

With a grunt he asked Naruto and Shino to let him go so that he could walk himself.

"You guys go on ahead. I'm going to stop by the Uchiha's place to apologize. I was a real asshole to his fiancé."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders and continued walking. "Alright man." Kiba noted that his face had lost its color and was replaced by a chalky pale color. Shino was no better. Kiba could only imagine how distraught his face appeared but brushed it off. He didn't blame either of them for looking the way they did. Just remembering that place brought chills to his spine. He could still hear the mad laughing echoing in his mind. He didn't know what conjured that chilling noise but it didn't sound human.

Kiba went of in a tangent and headed towards the cottage at a sluggish pace. He only hoped his eyes wouldn't tear up seeing her. Her face looked impeccably like Hinata to the point where it was too painful to bear.

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Sasuke kept his pace steady as he strode down the trail. The leaves on the floor crunched like gravel under the weight of his feet.

He was mentally making a list of the things he'd need for dinner tonight.

I'll need milk, eggs, flour. Hmm that should be about 8. But I'm running out of confectioner's sugar, I'll have to get that. Then the total would be about 10. How much changed did I bring with me?

Sasuke did a quick frisk of his pockets to see how much money he had in his wallet when he realized that he didn't bring it.

Damn. I left it on the nightstand.

In an instant he pivoted back to his house anxious to get his wallet so that he could prepare her some pancakes.

He quickly picked up the pace until his house was in total view. Yet in an instant a thrashing cold sweat beat hard on his neck. If he knew that he didn't have perfect vision Sasuke might have mistaken him for a ghost but there he was, Kiba Inuzuka walking sluggishly to his front door.

He acted on instinct and sprinted towards his house but it was already too late. Hinata must have realized that he left his wallet because she opened the door holding it tightly in her hand. But the man at the door wasn't Sasuke and he could tell she was nervous.

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Kiba smiled weakly at Hinata and bowed his head in mild respect.

"I'm sorry for coming out of no where but I'm leaving today and I wanted to apologize for acting like a jack ass the other day."

It was worse than he thought. She was the spitting image of Hinata. The memory he had forgotten suddenly spawned to life in his head. He now remembered, her hair was burnt black and her eyes were lilac white. Her lips trembled but there was no sign of her stutter. This woman was in every sense Hinata but Kiba new that it was a ploy. He knew that his mind wouldn't allow for any more grievances.

The woman he loved was right in front of him but she was not Hinata. She was an imposter. He shut his eyes and continued but she interrupted him.

"You don't look well, where have you been?" she whispered. Her entire body was shaking and Kiba wanted to hold her, even if she was an imposter she looked too much like Hinata. His Hinata was crying but he dared not touch another man's woman. Suddenly like ice she froze, her eyes bore into him steady and cold.

"I accept you apology. Please leave. I d-d-don't feel comfortable with men visiting without Sasuke accompanying me."

There was her stutter, it was too much. The memory within him spurned to revive several emotions. Emotions that struck his innards like fire and in an instant Kiba fell to his knees holding her body while sobbing hysterically into her torso.

"Hinata why did you die?!" he wailed.

Hinata was shocked and jumped several feet in the air when he touched her. Her hands shot up in the air away from his crying countenance and before she knew it she was crying too.

"I'm n-not your friend. She's d-d-dead. P-please just leave me alone."

Kiba held tighter refusing to let her go. His grip was like steel.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Hinata. I wanted to save you. I love you."

Before she knew it Hinata was yelling. "I love Sasuke!" Her voice rose several octaves and she stuttered even more as tears ran hotly down her face dropping on his matted hair. But he refused to budge. She could see his muscles throbbing under his skin and she felt her hips shake under the pressure of his arms.

Kiba dug his face into her belly. His voice was muffled and hard to comprehend.

"I know. I know. She's dead. I can never hold her or tell her I love her. But you look like her, you sound like her, even your smell is like hers. I'm so sorry but please just let me hold you for a while longer" he pleaded. He was like a child who had lost his mother.

But Hinata couldn't oblige to his demands. There was an emotion inside her burning to be released. She wanted to bury him in her bosom and tell him everything would be okay. She could never see him again but she was alive.

But she didn't. She couldn't betray Sasuke, he was like her life-force now. She could not exist without him. If there was no Sasuke there was no Hinata, simple as that.

Yet this was Kiba who she was talking about. Her best friend in the entire world, she had to give him hope. He could keep a secret.

Hinata bent down to his ear and whispered. "Kiba, I'm hin-"

"Am I interrupting something?" Hinata jerked her head upwards to see a nerve wrecked Sasuke. He was looking at Kiba with feral eyes. His face winced several times seeing the scrawny adolescent sobbing like a child on his knees. He heard enough to infer that Kiba had completely lost his mind; he couldn't recognize Hinata even though he was holding her tightly in his arms.

Kiba heard Sasuke's voice and slowly released Hinata. He wiped his face in a last attempt to regain his dignity and stood with wobbly legs.

"I just came by to apologize to her." His eyes were on the floor as if by force, he ducked his head similar to a member of a wolf pack facing the alpha. His voice cackled several times.

Sasuke replaced his nervous look with his usual cool demeanor. "Ah. I see, well you certainly know how to grovel don't you?" he sneered; now staring at Hinata.

This time she spoke up. "He was just came to apologize. There was no harm done."

Kiba averted his eyes and bided his good byes. "Sorry if I was wasting your time Sumire." He walked past Sasuke and tipped his head in acknowledgement, "Sasuke."

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"It's time we set off back home Hinata." Murmured Sasuke. Ever since Kiba left his eyes had not left her sight. He was watching her for any sign of fault in her loyalty to him.

Hinata shoved another morsel of pancake into her mouth and nodded. She had not once looked at him in the eyes.

There was an awkward moment of silence as she pushed the plate away from her, too nervous to eat. Sasuke had been staring at her and she knew why. She almost betrayed him; such an act only imposed some form of punishment.

"Perhaps I've been too lenient." He hissed. He stood up hovering over her cupping her chin with his calloused hand. "Should I remind you who the hostage here is?"

Hinata averted her eyes and shook her head. He was angry but she knew this tirade was caused by stress, he wouldn't really hurt her.

"He's not right in the mind Sasuke and I begged him to let go." She whispered.

A spark of fury flooded his vision and he grotesquely pushed her face from him. "Oh is that right."

Sasuke clenched his teeth and shut his eyes. He was throwing his anger at the wrong person. She certainly held to par, he wasn't sure if she noticed but that could possibly have been the first time that Hinata had said that she loved him. It caused his heart to flutter in fact.

"We're leaving tonight" he muttered. He took her hand and cradled her lovely face with his other. She drew near as he kissed her. Her lips were soft and caused his throat to light aflame. She fit perfectly in her arms as he brought her closer to his body.

She tiptoed as much as she could to gain better leverage but he was simply too tall for her. Her lips always seemed to slip from his at every pause but he nudged her back upwards helping her as he was already craning his neck down to her height.

Feeling that he was getting nowhere Sasuke fell back down on the comfortable red felt couch allowing Hinata to rest her body in top of his. She took several clumsy moments to finally get nestled on his waist. Sasuke had a curtain of hair surround him, the smell was enticing. His hands ripped across her back and she let out a soft hiss at the suddenly roughness but her kisses never ceased to be gentle and serene. He wanted to coax more out of her, this time he brought himself up so she was sitting on his lap only taking breaths when it was necessary and with the technique of an expert flipped their positions so that he was hovering over her petite body ravishing her mouth with a feral roughness.

She twisted under him trying to reverse it so that she would be in control but Sasuke pinned her down by the shoulders refusing to move a centimeter.

Feeling as if she were trapped in a corner, Hinata nervously bit down on his lip hoping to ease his aggressive nature but instead heard a low growl vibrate deeply from his throat.

He released her lips and lowered his lips to her neck suckling on it like a starved animal. The light nips from his teeth released sharp sensors from her body making the sensations more and more enjoyable.

Suddenly Sasuke lifted himself and carried her in his arms to his room.

"Let's move to a more comfortable place" he purred. But Hinata felt things were moving too soon too quick.

"Wait, Sasuke. I don't know about this"

She held tightly to his neck but she tried to release her legs from his hold so that she could place them on the ground.

Sasuke cooed quietly in her ear, "Don't worry. You just lie down and enjoy. I won't hurt you."

Hinata opened her eyes and shook her head dangerously. Now this was really getting out of hand. "No Sasuke. I'm not ready"

Sasuke let out a loud groan in discontent. He seemed to have forgotten that she was only seventeen years old. "You're a huge buzz kill you know that?"

Hinata smiled at his playful banter and gave him a small peck on the lips. "What happened to the whole 'we're leaving tonight' plan?" she huffed. Sasuke smirked lightly and answered, "Well I could have made an exception tonight but it seems the wet blanket thought other wise."

Hinata blushed a healthy shade of pink and pouted her lips. Sasuke was about to comment on her blush when suddenly his phone set off in a ringing chime. He sighed and gently put her on her feet as he reached for his phone on the counter. He glanced at the caller id only to snarl with menace at the name.

Itachi Uchiha.

He snapped the phone opened and coolly answered.

"Yes? What do you need?"

"Hello Sasuke, good to hear you're alive I haven't heard from you in a while." His voice was just as cool only it was complimented with a superior tone.

Sasuke's eyes fell down to Hinata's bandaged hand. It was finally beginning to heal but the wound inside him throbbed like a venomous snake. "Yes well I've been preoccupied. I had to play doctor for a while. Knife wounds are tough to heal." He accused.

"Now, now Sasuke. I didn't call to argue about your love life. Big brother took care of it for you, you can thank me later. Now you and your beloved can be together forever, aren't I considerate. When you think about it a knife wound isn't really that much of a big deal."

"Yes Itachi it really isn't. I'm sure you'll say the same thing when I jab one through your hand. 'It isn't a big deal'" he mimicked harshly.

Sasuke heard a light laugh over the phone an obvious sign that Itachi took his threat as some sort of joke.

"Like I said I didn't call to argue. I'm simply curious. You've been gone for a while and mother has been hounding me to contact you. When are you coming back, don't raise suspicion when things are going so good for you Sasuke… and speaking of hounds the one you left in my charge is still waiting for you to come back. If you feel the need to retrieve it contact mom, although she's grown rather affectionate towards it so you might want to just leave it there."

Sasuke's gaze fell on Hinata. She sat silently on the couch rubbing her hand. They really have been at this place far too long.

"We're leaving tonight."

Itachi answered mildly surprised. "Is that so? Perhaps I should warn you then, father has grown suspicious of something. He wants to see you the moment you get back. I don't know how safe you're house is to intruders so if you need a safe spot my pent house has more than enough room for your blushing bride."

Sasuke answered with a voice foaming with distrust. "And why would I take her to the guy who bled her like an animal?" he hissed, keeping his voice low so that Hinata couldn't hear.

There was a slight pause at the other end of the line. "…Because whether you like it or not I'm your only option for getting away with this. Besides I'm curious, I want to get a better look at this girl. It was hard to get a good look with her screaming bloody murder under me."

Itachi chuckled a little at his last comment, as if he were laughing at his own inside joke. Sasuke however dropped his cool countenance like a hot piece of coal and roared at the other end. "You bastard!"

Itachi's silver laughed chuckled softly. "I'll see you soon Sasuke, give Hinata my love"

So I hoped everyone got to enjoy the chapter.

I probably could have finished it sooner but I was up for two days straight reading Breaking Dawn the new and final book to the Twilight Series. I have to say I am not disappointed. Jacob Black rules foo!!

I might add the new and highly anticipated story Lead Me Not into Temptation before the summer but I wouldn't count on it. I may be a nerd at school but I procrastinate as much as the next guy and I haven't done diddly of my school work. Sigh, school is just getting crazier and crazier. I think I go in August 25th.

Anyways, adios mis amigos ya me voy dormir. Buenos noches.

THANK you… readers, reviewers. Especially you guys who told me to get off my butt and write. Nothing better for a motivation!

-misery.loves.black.sheep-

PLEASE REVIEW (Dogs have so many friends because they wag their tails, not their tongues. Before you beat a dog, find out who its master is- Chinese proverb)