I've been busy as shit.

There's probably a f-load of grammar mistakes and plot holes in this, seeing as I wrote it in a fit of inspiration last week at like one in morning.

Lemme know if you catch any of them.

TITLE: Hyaku no Kotoba

Chapter Five: Rot

Author: Dreameratheart

Pairing: SasuHina

Theme: 5. Rot

Summary: If he wasn't going to rot in a prison cell, she certainly wouldn't allow him to rot here either.

Rot:

- "To endure the effects of complete neglect."

- "The process or condition of decaying."

Kiba is by her side in a moment, his fangs bared and his arm wrapped around her waist. He feels solid and strong and real and a little bit of air returns to her body.

"And what the fuck do you think you're doing here?" He growls, and she knows his teeth must be bared because his nails are extended, just threads away from tearing the delicate fabric of her yukata. She quickly places a hand on his chest – it would be bad if that damned Hokage arrests him for insubordination.

The dark-haired man in front of her draws out his smirk and his eyes flash. He's enjoying this. Prick. "I'm moving in." He jerks his thumb toward Kakashi. "Just ask him."

Well, fuck.

Hinata can practically hear Kiba seething at this point, and his claws have torn through her clothing at this point. He hasn't scratched her skin yet, but she'd rather it not get to that point, so she tightens her hand into a fist. His arm stiffens around her and she can feel his nails detract, but his anger certainly hasn't lessened.

""She just finished taking care of his comatose ass!" He hisses. "Find someone else to do it!"

She can't help but agree, but due to the fact that the thought of taking care of the horrible, cruel man in front of her is about to make her sick, Hinata withholds her thoughts.

"You're the only one qualified enough," The silver-haired man's voice is quiet, and he looks almost sorry. For a brief second she doesn't hate him, but then that second is over. Then his voice lowers to a mere whisper. "You're the only one who can really…read him." He finishes lamely. "I can't trust him with anyone else."

This is true, but it doesn't matter. She won't do it, what he wants her to do. Not ever again.

Kakashi's voice suddenly grows louder again, most likely for Sasuke's benefit. "It's only for six months, Kiba-san." He tries to appease her partner, whose hand at her side clenches into a fist. "Then we'll make him someone else's problem."

"Someone else's problem!" Kiba's voice rises an octave. "She's got enough problems as it is, you fuckin' bastard! No fuckin' way!"

Kakashi lifts up one side of his hitai ate to show his one Sharingan eye and neither of them flinch. Genjutsu hardly works on her, and Kiba…

"Your fancy eye trick doesn't scare me," He snarls. "You forget exactly which genjutsu user thought I was her enemy and kept me trapped for three straight days."

Hinata doesn't want to think about this, but she does. She thinks about his writhing form strapped down to a hospital table (they didn't want him to hurt himself, after all). She thinks about Kurenai's grief when she realized she had trapped one her own students in one of the worst genjutsus she had developed. She thinks about the sound of his terrified screams, the sound of her own name escaping from his lips...

Kakashi's normal eye darkens and his jaw clenches. "Kiba…" She almost wants to smile; pissing Kakashi off is fun. "This is an official mission from the Hokage, got it?"

Kiba snorts and Hinata makes a split second decision to keep the peace. "It's alright, Kiba-kun."

She won't back down. Not then, not now, and not ever. So Hinata looks the Uchiha directly in the eyes. "I would never turn away from a mission.

The Uchiha crosses his arms over his chest and it looks like there's a challenge in his eyes.

Then Kakashi yanks his hitai ate down over his eye and smiles in that fake way of his as he slams his hand down on the Uchiha's shoulder. "Thank you, Hinata-san!" His voice is unnervingly cheerful. She wishes someone would punch him.

"Now, he only has to live here for six months, and he's made an agreement with the Council to serve as a Konoha shinobi. He's still too weak to take any high-level missions immediately, but not too weak to start as a genin. Escort him to my office tomorrow and I will brief you on the rest of your mission."

Out of the corner of her eye Hinata sees the Uchiha leaning against the doorway. His eyes are closed, but he looks more thoughtful than tired. His body trembles for a brief moment, and for a moment she wonders why, but then she senses a familiar chakra.

Oh, thank Kami.

She wants to throw herself in her friend's arms, but Shikamaru has his arms full with both his – their – god-daughter. He gives her a small smile and then his eyes are fixed on the Uchiha.

The Uchiha's eyes are open once more, and Shikamaru has him locked in a staring contest. She can almost see the gears turning in the genius's mind, the calculations flashing before his eyes.

Shikamaru drops his eyes, and she knows he's pissed.

"How troublesome." He mutters. She has to stifle a laugh; judging by the tensing of his jaw and the fact that he hasn't used the word troublesome in about a month, he'd like to slaughter the Uchiha where he stands.

Well. The time for standing around is over now, and despite the Uchiha's presence, she has things to do. She lets out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding and pushes past the Uchiha to meet her…comrade? Friend? Boyfriend? Lover? She doesn't really know what Shikamaru is at this point.

Hinata's breath catches when she reaches Shikamaru…and her god-daughter. Kami, what was Kurenai thinking? How could she entrust her with something this important?

"How is she?" Her hands are shaking at her sides. She loves kids, everyone knows that, but Minako is her sensei's daughter, her own daughter now that Kurenai is…dead. She swallows. It's still so hard to think of her pseudo-mother as gone.

"Good." Shikamaru keeps his voice low. "Cries a lot. Keeps me up at night. She misses you." He pauses, and his low muttering turn into a whisper. "I miss you."

Her heart clenches. "I'm sorry." She whispers back.

"I know." He sighs heavily, and she knows that if his hands were free he would be running a hand through his hair.

She quickly tries to change the subject. "How did you know I was off duty?"

The corners of his mouth twitch upwards. "Kiba."

She smiles wryly. "I'll thank him later."

"So what's Uchiha doing here?" He shifts Minako to his other hip, and the little girl wiggles in his arms for a moment, though her eyes stay closed. Her arms itch to take the dark haired child into her arms, to whisper lullabies and promises that it will be ok, even if it's not.

Hinata swallows again. Shikamaru is not going to be happy about this.

"Kakashi's orders. Uchiha somehow talked the Kages into allowing him to be a Konoha shinobi again. I'm not sure of all the details, but…" She trails off, only putting off the inevitable.

Shikamaru raises an eyebrow. "But?"

"But he needs to be watched."

He doesn't say anything, but his eyes speak volumes and his head shoots up. She knows his steely gaze is aimed at the Uchiha beyond her shoulder, and she knows his hands are itching to form the seals for his signature jutsu, the one that would choke the life out the bastard standing on her front porch. But this is not the time for violence, so she places her hand on his shoulder and his smoldering brown eyes snap back to connect with hers.

"We'll make this work." She says softly.

His jaw clenches and unclenches. "I'll room with him. I don't want his dirty hands near you or Minako."

"Kiba and I already decided that he would room with him. Akamaru will watch the door, and Minako will sleep in my room…as will you." She knows her cheeks are probably red, but she tries not to let it bother her. Isn't she supposed to be a grown-up now?

Shikamaru's mouth opens as if he wants to say something else, but Minako begins to squirm in his arms again and her eyes flutter open.

Hinata inhales and the crimson eyes of her sensei blink up at her. Then, the small girl stretches her arms out wordlessly and Hinata takes the child into her arms. The feeling of Mina's head on her shoulder is a comforting one.

"Hey, baby," She rubs Mina's back and the little girl makes a happy little cooing noise before yawning.

"I think it's her bed time." Shikamaru chuckles. When Hinata looks back up, her brunette friend's eyes have softened.

"I'll take her in now."

She turns on her heel before he can respond, and as she passes the Uchiha, she gives him the news: "Kiba-kun will be rooming with you, Uchiha-san."

The large Inuzuka male in question is already inside and his eyes light up at the sight of his "niece".

"She's gotten so big," He says, his voice unnaturally quiet. "God, are we really going to have her in the same house as that…as that monster?"

Her heart skips a beat. If the Uchiha tries to so much as touch her adopted daughter, she'll slice off his balls and feed them to him.

"They won't ever be alone. When the others –" Oh dear god, she forgot about her other guests. It's not surprising, seeing as they've been on a mission for the past two months, but they won't be happy about this.

And that's an understatement.

"When the others get back, we'll set up a system so at least two of us are with him at any time. I'll teach everyone the seals –"

"Not Karin. She'll kill him."

She grins. Kiba makes a very good point. Her newest red-haired friend has a temper that rivals Sakura's, and she isn't going to forgive Sasuke for nearly killing her anytime soon.

"Not Karin. Juugo might be the only one of Team Anko that can handle it." Her smile fades. "I don't know how I'm going to tell them."

Kiba shrugs. "Well, they shouldn't be back for at least a few more weeks – the recon mission Kakashi sent them on isn't the easiest. You'll have some time to think about it. It's not like they'll be living in the same building, anyway. The guest house you put them in is on the outskirts of the compound, right?"

"Mmm." Hinata makes a tiny nodding motion. When Kakashi had allowed the Uchiha's former teammates to become Konoha shinobi, she had taken the three under her wing. Karin had been working with her on her new…abilities, while Juugo had assisted her with the development of the seal that now graced the Uchiha's shoulder. Suigetsu had proclaimed himself her eternal ally after her battle with the Uchiha, and as she was the only one who trusted and cared for the three, she had given them a place to live. Then, the recently-rescued Anko announced she was returning to duty as a team leader, and Team Anko was born.

She wants to say something else, but at that moment Shikamaru walks through the door.

"How many months is he staying here again?" He mutters before the dark-haired man in question walks in behind him.

Hinata giggles; Shikamaru is pissed, but she knows he'll get over it soon.

The Uchiha is still, his night-black eyes carefully observing the room. Trying not to startle him, she brushes her hand against his back before speaking. "Shikamaru-kun will show you to your room."

It all changes in a matter of seconds.

He swings around and his hand is a vice on her wrist. She tightens her grip on her god-daughter and a thousand ways to disable the man in front of her run through her mind. Then furious midnight eyes are replaced by massive shoulders and all she can see is Kiba's back.

"Don't you touch her, you fucker," She imagines Kiba's teeth are bared, and something in her tells her she shouldn't let him get angry. But she's really more concerned about the sleepy child in her arms than the mass murderer standing beyond her teammate. "Or I'll cut your hands off."

"Then don't touch me." The Uchiha replies. "And besides, it's not like that's the first time I've touched her."

And then Kiba is gone and something hits the floor.

She lets Kiba get out his anger for a brief moment, but failing her mission in the first few minutes is probably not a good idea.

"Shikamaru."

The shadow wielder nods and his hands flash. Kiba unwillingly rises off the Uchiha's limp form, and Hinata places her hand on his shoulder.

"Kiba, get your temper under control. " Shikamaru says under his breath. "Hinata needs you to be calm right now."

"He deserves it." Kiba hisses, and there's a wild look in his eyes that is almost frightening.

"All he did was grab her wrist. He wouldn't try to hurt her with us standing here; he's not that stupid. And those bruises on his neck are going to be there awhile – do you want Kakashi questioning Hinata about them?"

Kiba snarls and Mina shifts in her arms. She should probably go put the child to bed. "Yeah, well, now he can match!" He's shouting now and Shikamaru looks confused.

And then Kiba seizes her by the waist, though he is cautious not to wake Mina. He yanks her sleeve up, exposing the blue-black bruises on her wrist.

"Look what the fucker did to her, Shikamaru. He nearly broke her damn wrist!"

The Uchiha mutters something, but she can't hear very well as Kiba continues to shout.

"And then there's this." He drops her wrist and pulls her neckline down.

The look in Shikamaru's eyes is one of pure, cold fury.

"Kiba-kun, it's ok." She taps Shikamaru's wrist and he releases his jutsu on Kiba, but his eyes still linger on her neck. "He was punished for hurting me, and you know you aren't the only two who will be living in this compound. I considered the safety of all of us before accepting this mission, and I need –" She takes a deep breath. "I really need your help."

Niether of them say a word. Shikamaru is still staring at her wounds, and Kiba has his arms crossed over his chest and a pout on his face. Then Mina begins to squirm in her arms and a moment later, she begins to cry. It's most definitely someone's bedtime.

"I'm going to go take care of Minako. Kiba…" She glances over to the Uchiha, tracing a trail from his torn yukata up to the tiny rivers of blood streaming down his next, and then finally to his eyes.

It's funny. As evil as he is, as bad as she wants to see him dead…he really does have pretty eyes, even when they're glaring at her. "Clean up your mess." She says finally. Then she heads toward the bedroom. Kiba can deal with him now.

She can hear Shikamaru's footsteps behind her, and then once they are safely behind the door to her bedroom she can feel his arms around her.

"He touched you." His voice is muffled by her hair, but his words are still somehow loud and clear.

Mina has fallen back asleep at this point, and she feels so warm against her chest.

"The seals worked." She mumbles in response.

"If he ever touches Mina like that…"

"I'll kill him myself."

Then Hinata steps away from him and places their god-daughter gently into the crib Shikamaru had brought over while she had been asleep.

"I have to go back to the hospital and get my wrist healed." She says softly. "I think it may be broken."

"Oh." He pauses. "I'll wait for you. Hurry back. And tell Kiba I want to talk to him."

She nods, and then it's back to living room and her prisoner.

"Are you all done, Kiba-kun?" Her eyes dart to the Uchiha. He looks decent. Kiba did well. "Shikamaru wanted to speak to you about something."

Kiba looks confused for a moment, and then he nods. "Oh. Probably security measures."

And then they're alone again.

"I wouldn't aggravate Kiba much more," She says after a few moments of silence. "He has a short fuse and he really would love to kill you."

"Hn."

Oh Kami help her, this is not going to work out. He sounds like Neji, pre-Chunin exams. Or maybe her father. She hates those kind of men.

But if he's her responsibility, then she's not going to let him sit around on his ass all day and spout nonsense about revenge and death and fate. "We don't like this anymore than you do, you know."

"Then why accept the mission?"

The question suprises her. Why does he even care? But he asked, so she'll answer.

"I can't afford to piss of Kakashi, and…" She bites her lip, and contemplates giving him an honest answer. The real reason she accepted this mission.

Well, honesty was always Itachi's policy in the end anyway.

"You owe a debt to many people, Uchiha-san. I believe you would do everyone much better attempting to pay off those debts rather than rotting away in a prison or grave or hospital…or here, either. Please, just…don't throw away your second chance. Your brother would not have wanted you to."

He doesn't speak, so she continues. "I have to head to the hospital. Shikamaru will be out shortly to show you to your quarters."

As she heads out the compound, she wonders if he'll listen. She kind of hopes he does, even if a large part of her wishes she could kill him.

After all, she owes Itachi that much.

Sasuke isn't that shocked. Kiba's probably just as dumb as before.

"I'm moving in." He draws out his smirk and then jerks his thumb towards Kakashi. "Just ask him."

The dog-man's eyes dart to Kakashi, and when the Hokage nods Kiba's slanted eyes return to bore holes into his own.

"She just finished taking care of his comatose ass!" He hisses. "Find someone else to do it!"

The girl hasn't actually said anything, he notes. She actually looks a little green now. Perhaps she'll throw up. That would actually be pretty funny.

Then he rolls his eyes while Kakashi explains that Hinata is the only one "qualified enough" to keep him contained.

"It's only for six months, Kiba-san." Kakashi assures him. "Then we'll make him someone else's problem."

"Someone else's problem!" His voice rises an octave. "She's got enough problems as it is, you fuckin' bastard! No fuckin' way!"

Either the Inuzuka has balls of steel or is just really stupid, because he doesn't flinch when Kakashi lifts up his hitai ate to reveal his Sharingan.

"You're fancy eye trick doesn't scare me," Ok, balls of steel then. "You forget exactly which genjutsu user thought I was her enemy and kept me trapped for three straight days."

Her? Sasuke runs over the other genjutsu users in his mind-oh, duh.

Their dead sensei.

"Kiba…" Kakashi sounds like he's speaking through gritted teeth. "This is an official mission from the Hokage, got it?"

And then the Inuzuka snorts. He considers reevaluating his assessment – perhaps he is just really stupid after all….

"It's ok Kiba-kun."

The pale eyed bitch finally speaks and her eyes lock onto his. "I would never turn away from a mission." She says, her eyes still on his though her face is pale, too pale to be healthy. Not that he cares about her health.

So he was right about earlier – she's lost her stutter, though her voice was still as too-sweet and too-soft as he remembered.

He crosses his arms over his chest while Kakashi yanks his hitai ate back down and grabs onto his shoulder roughly. "Thank you, Hinata-san!" He says in a cheerful voice that made Sasuke's ears throb. "Now he only has to live here for six months, and since he's made an agreement with the Council…"

Now he leans back against the doorway and tunes out the rest of the conversation. He was there during the meeting; he certainly doesn't need a recap.

He'll have to make this situation work to his advantage. Really, he came up with that shit on auto-pilot. Itachi must have been controlling him from the grave or something. But he can make this work – all he has to do to get out of Konoha is knock some girl up.

Which would require touching one.

Now he shivers (and not because the images in his head are arousing - hoards of girls trying to molest him are anything but) and suddenly senses another person in the area. A shinobi.

When he opens his eyes, he recognizes the lanky form of Nara Shikamaru standing in front of the porch with a large bag on his back and a dark haired baby in his arms. He stares up at him with those beady black eyes.

He stares right back. Nara means Deer, doesn't it? He's pretty sure that this man was the ANBU who pushed him around earlier today.

And whereas Kiba is still just as much of a dumbshit as Sasuke remembers, the Nara is still as much as a genius. And as a genius might do, he quits trying to stare down an Uchiha and instead sighs heavily, his shoulders dropping visibly.

"How troublesome." He mutters.

The Hyuuga lets out a deep breath from behind him and then suddenly pushes past, going up to meet the Nara.

"How is she?" She seems to be referring to the dark haired baby, and Sasuke internally raises an eyebrow.

"So they're a couple raising their sensei's kid? Maybe it's actually theirs…" He doesn't voice his thoughts on penalty of looking like a moron in case he is wrong, so instead he carefully observes the way the pair keeps their heads close together in conversation. They speak quietly so that he can't hear what they are saying, though the Inuzuka with his hearing abilities probably can. Suddenly the Nara's head shoots up and those dark brown eyes seemingly get darker, and the index finger on his right hand twitches. The girl puts her hand on his shoulder, drawing away his attention.

He guesses that the Hyuuga has told him about their new living situation. It appears that he's not too pleased.

Well, fuck him. He doesn't care about their comfort.

Then she takes the baby girl from the Nara and the child rests her head against the Hyuuga's shoulder. Judging from the girl's blood red eyes, she is definitely not their love child.

"Kiba-kun will be rooming with you, Uchiha-san." She says in passing, not even sparing him a glance as she whisks the baby into the house.

He can't help but chuckle darkly. This really is going to be fun.

The Nara gives him a hard glare and nods his head toward the Hokage. "Hokage-sama," His voice is flat and not quite emotionless…a bit angry, he would guess.

This should prove to be an interesting conversation.

"Shikamaru," Kakashi nods in return. "So you're moving in?"

"She does have a clan to run," The Nara drags out the 'clan' bit. "And then there's her sister and Kurenai entrusted her with Akane…and now you've saddled her with a babysitting job."

"Babysitting job?"

He nearly protests, but then he remembers that it's basically true. It almost pisses him off. "Six months," He tells himself. "I survived Orochimaru for four years, I can do six months of this."

Kakashi doesn't respond to Shikamaru's words, and instead turns his back on both the Nara and himself before heading out the compound gates. But then he turns slightly toward Sasuke before he exits:

"Be in my office the day after tomorrow. We'll discuss the terms of your freedom in detail."

"Hn."

And then he's alone with the extremely tense man beside him.

"If it were up to me," Nara says suddenly, breaking the silence. "I would've just let you rot in prison. You're way too troublesome."

And then he goes through the door and leaves it open, apparently expecting Sasuke to follow.

He goes to shove his hands in his pockets before going in, but then remembers he's wearing that stupid kimono, so instead he lets his hands hang at his sides and enters the house.

The first thing he notices is that it's abnormally warm inside. The second thing is that the house is abnormally white. The walls are bare and painted a sterile, harsh white all around the main area, which includes a living space, a dining room, and a kitchen. There are two hallways at either end of the room, which he suspects lead to a meeting room and bedrooms. His old home had a similar layout.

The little furniture is white as well – a white couch, a glass coffee table, and a white television set. The only other furniture is a dark traditional dinging table with several red cushions scattered around. Actually, now that he looks a little closer, the table and cushions are the only things that look to have been used. The cushions are certainly worn, and the tabletop has a number of scratches.

Maybe she's just moved in – she definitely hadn't been clan head before the war, and if his memory serves him right (which it certainly does; his memory hasn't failed him yet) then she had lived with her sensei after becoming a genin.

"Shikamaru-kun will show you to your room," Fingers barely brush against his back and on reflex he swings around and grabs the offender's slender wrist.

Silver eyes widen and pale pink lips freeze mid-sentence until they're suddenly replaced by harsh black eyes and snarling fangs.

"Don't you touch her, you fucker," The Inuzuka growls, putting the Hyuuga behind him - and the dog-man is more beast than anything else and as such is pretty big, big enough to hide her from his view completely. "Or I'll cut your hands off."

"Then don't touch me." He doesn't – and won't - apologize to the Hyuuga; she shouldn't have touched him in the first place. And then, just because he feels like being a bastard: "And besides, it's not like that's the first time I've touched her."

The next thought that goes through his mind is "OW."

The Hyuuga apparently invest in some extremely hard floors.

His second thought is that either he is much too thin for his own good or that the Inuzuka needs to lay off the beef jerky, because it feels like there's a fucking boulder on his chest.

His third thought is that if he ever gets the chance, he's going to cut the nails of every single Inuzuka. Claws like the ones that are currently wrapped around his neck should be outlawed.

And then the pressure is gone. He sits up, gasping for air, and begins rubbing his neck. It feels slightly damp and when he takes his hand away, there's blood.

The fucker actually cut him.

The Nara appears to be trying to calm down the furious beast-man, and that's when he sees the reason that the weight lifted. The Inuzuka's shadow stretched out on the floor towards the Nara.

"Shadow possession…I'll keep that in mind."

"Yeah, well, now he can match!" The Inuzuka shouts angrily in the Nara's face. When the other man appears confused, the Inuzuka drags the Hyuuga over and yanks up the sleeve of her yukata.

Oh, shit.

"Look what the fucker did to her, Shikamaru." He's practically spitting now. "He nearly broke her damn wrist!"

"Ouch." Sasuke winces internally - he doesn't feel bad about it, but it does look like it hurt. There are dark purple-blue bruises where his fingers had been, and he must've squeezed pretty hard because it looked swollen, too.

"And then there's this." The fanged man pushes back the Hyuuga's long blue-black hair and forcefully turns her so that the light from the setting sun that streams through the windows highlights the dark bruises on her neck. Her skin is already pale, almost paper white, and the nearly black imprint of his hand looks all the more menacing.

"Kiba-kun, it's ok." The Hyuuga pulls herself away and then tapped the Nara on the wrist, signaling him to stop the jutsu. The Nara obliges, but he doesn't take his eyes off of the Hyuuga's still-exposed neck.

"He was punished for hurting me," Punished? Is that what she calls that seal that can bring him to the ground? A fucking punishment? "And you know you aren't the only two who will be living in this compound. I considered the safety of all of us before accepting this mission, and I need –" She inhales sharply. "I really need your help."

Both of the men beside her are silent for a moment. Then the sharp cry of a baby rings through his head and he winces. He could seriously use some pain meds right about now, and blood is still streaming down his neck in tiny rivulets.

"I'm going to go take care of Minako. Kiba…" She trails off for a moment and her eyes, those pure fucking white eyes bore into his. It's ironic how it all worked out; white and black and yin and yang and all that shit his mom used to go on about. She's his opposite, right down to her pupil-less eyes. "Clean up your mess." She finishes, her eyes still on his.

Then she is gone in a swish of silk and indigo hair, and his ribs throb.

"I'll…go see if I can help." The Nara mutters before following her, shoving his hands in the pockets of his black pants.

Both Sasuke and the Inuzuka keep their eyes on the two as they disappear down the hallway, listening to the sound of their feet slapping against the hardwood floor.

"Fucking stupid genes." The mutt-man grunts.

"Excuse me?" What the hell is he talking about now? Crazy bastard makes almost zero sense.

The mutt laughs deeply and darkly, so much so that it comes out more like a bark. Fitting. "I'm an Inuzuka. I had to learn healing shit the moment I could be counted on to stick needles in the dogs instead of myself. I already had the healing base when I became a shinobi, and when we decided our team needed a medic…well, I was the obvious choice. And I broke two of your ribs, so it's kinda my job to heal your pathetic ass."

Oh. So that's what's making it hard to breath.

It's sort of surprising that the mutt is the medic of Team 8. Almost every kunochi he knows – Sakura, Karin, Ino – is a medic (or was, in Karin's case). But for now he grunts in response and quickly removes the kimono, tossing the robe over the side of the couch. He's still got pants on, so he's decent, not that it matters.

The dog-man mutters something under his breath and then his palm begins to glow green before he places his rough, callused hand on Sasuke's chest.

It feels awkward, having another man's hand on his chest, but when his ribs stop aching he decides it doesn't matter.

"She should've killed you." The mutt says quietly. Sasuke doesn't bother responding.

"You've caused everyone so much pain, and I mean, I get that you wanted revenge and that the cursed seal was making you insane and so you weren't really responsible for all your actions, but if you ever touch her again.."

Um, what?

"He doesn't blame me for my actions?"

The Inuzuka drops his hand, and Sasuke rubs his ribs. It actually feels better.

Then the brunette beast with the red tattoos stares him down, and Sasuke stares right back. "If you touch her ever again, I will make you wish she had ended you that day during the war."

He doesn't fight back a chuckle. "Sure."

Mutt just smiles, but just like the Hyuuga, his smile is dark and is more beast than human. His fangs flash in the dim light of the lamp hanging above them. "Did you know that there are two hundred and six bones in the human body? The hand contains twenty seven. That's a shit load of bones, and even if just one breaks, it hurts like a bitch. If I find that you've hurt her, I'm not gonna kill you. I'll just break your bones, one at a time. Then I'll heal you, and then I'll do it again and again until I'm convinced you've suffered enough. And then I'll do it again, and then maybe I'll hand you off to Shikamaru. He's a lot more creative with torture than I am, and he's a lot smarter too."

Dear god. It's like Naruto all over again. He talks just as much.

"Are you all done, Kiba-kun?" The Hyuuga is back in the room and her eyes dart to him and then to the mutt. "Shikamaru wanted to speak to you about something."

The mutt's brow furrows together, and then realization comes into his eyes. "Oh. Probably security measures."

And then a moment later he and the Hyuuga bitch are alone.

"I wouldn't aggravate Kiba much more," She says after a few moments of silence. "He has a short fuse and he really would love to kill you."

A minute ago he would have scoffed, but the mutt is strong and he is currently weakened by that fucking seal. So goal number one is to get it off. Then, he'll slowly tear out the mutt's nails one by one, and then maybe his fangs too. And then he'll kill him.

"Hn."

"We don't like this anymore than you do," Her voice is soft, but he hears the steel and the pain and the backbone that the little bitch has developed in the last six years.

"Then why accept the mission?" It's not like he really cares, but he hates having questions go unanswered.

"I can't afford to piss of Kakashi, and…" She bites her lip, and suddenly he flashes back to a small girl he used to play tag with in the Uchiha gardens, to skinned knees and quiet tears and how she always bit her lip. He shakes his head and then his thoughts are clear.

"You owe a debt to many people, Uchiha-san. I believe you would do everyone much better attempting to pay off those debts rather than rotting away in a prison or grave or hospital…or here, either. Please, just…don't throw away your second chance. Your brother would not have wanted you to."

He's still trying to process her words when she speaks again. "I have to head to the hospital. Shikamaru will be out shortly to show you to your quarters."

And then she's gone, her long hair swinging behind her as she heads out of the Hyuuga compound.

Sasuke blinks, still trying to process what she just said.

"What the hell does she know about my brother?"

He sure as hell doesn't understand her, but she won't let him rot away.

She promised.

Fin.

You know the deal.

- dreameratheart