Forced Paths

Treason

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A servant brought food minutes later like Itachi had promised. He never came back. Sasuke believed that it would be stupid to even touch the plates, they were been held here, they were brought here against their will. He was drugged just an hour before. Anything that the enemy offered was dangerous. Then he heard the spoon. His head was turned and as Hinata was ready to bring it to her lips, he grabbed her wrist.
"Tell me you are not that stupid."
She looked at him with surprise.
"Because seriously I can't decide."
She looked at her plate and then at him. She made a move and placed her spoon down. Sasuke left her hand after that.
"He seems charming and harmless, but don't let that fool you." He said, looking at the door.
"I just thought that if he wanted to harm us, he had plenty of chances." She spoke with uncertainty.
"You don't know what he is thinking. Noone knows." He said emotionless.
Silence fell after that. He was angry. Because he knew he had hesitated. He could have killed him before she had attacked. But deep in his mind there was a thought that numbed his muscles just slightly, enough to prevent him from snapping his brother's neck. And that angered him more than Hinata's response, than Itachi's calmness. Because he believed he had shed away that thought, that emotion already.
"Sasuke.." Her voice was low but a look from him made it disappear all together.
She was brought to this situation because of him. Because Itachi was his brother. Because he was still reluctant to let him go.
He got up. He felt the tension building up until he no longer could sit still. He was stripped from his weapon in advance. If he had learn that technique that the Hyugas possessed, maybe he would have a chance. But it was difficult and he could not understand how it worked no matter how many times his wife had tried to explain. He could defend himself against it but his opponent was no Hyuga. It was useless. He was trapped again in a situation that the golden boy of his clan had caused, unable to do anything more than watching the events unfolding.
He hit the wall. To breath out his frustration. To feel less incapable. To master his power into a physical move. He should have killed him when he had the chance.
"I don't think he wants to hurt us." Hinata finally spoke.
"Of course you don't." Sasuke answered harsly. "As much as you believed that your sister came just to see you." The bitterness of his mockery left his mouth and hit her on the face.
"Yes. I know." He said to her widened eyes. "I have known from the start."
She seemed like she was trying to gather her thoughts.
"So what do you think now?" He said before she could. "That this is another family reunion? That he missed me so much that he felt the need to abduct me? Use your head for once." He raised his voice.
"I believe that if you had killed him you would never know." She said and crossed her hands.
"Seriously.." He began but the door behind him opened and cut their conversation in the middle.
A man bowed, the same one that had brought their food.
"If you would follow me please." He said.
"Where?" Sasuke asked.
But the man said nothing. He just bowed his head again and turned, leaving them no option but to follow him.
They past through a corridor, he could see some of the same strange paintings that filled the room they were previously at. Light wood covered the entire place and their feet echoed through the hall, announcing their arrival on each step. He felt his breath sticking to his throat and turned slightly to see his wife. Like he wanted to make sure she was there.
The man stopped outside a door, compelling them to halt their movement. He knocked then and a voice answered. One that Sasuke didn't recognise. The guard or servant, he wasn't sure anymore, turned the handle, opening the door, as he walked to the side for them to pass. He took a last look at her and moved inside.
It was a study of some sort. A large one, because the people inside were sitting quite comfortable. He heard the sound of the door closing but didn't advert his gaze. Itachi was standing next to a fireplace. Tall and grant. The flames made his face to seem more sad and more terrifying. On a chair in front of him, sat a man that Sasuke didn't know before today. He was the one that had grabbed Hinata. His hair were silver and he seemed relaxed, like he owned everyone of the participants. At his left a man at his late forties with white long hair and a well built body, was relaxing against the wall with his eyes closed. Next to him another with a face that resembled more one of a snake and a skinny body was whispering something to his ear. He could have not known who these two people were if it wasn't the woman who occupied the seat in front of them. Tsunade Senju. She was staring at him directly, with her green cape placed at her shoulders and her fist inside her other hand's palm. He averted his gaze to the other side of the room, where the people seemed familiar, but their presence was as much unexpected. The belly of the woman had grown from the last time he had seen her at her wedding. He wanted to laugh because Hinata was right. She was indeed pregnant. Her husband had his palm on her stomach as if he was protecting her and the unborn child. On the side of her chair sat a man with spiky black hair and crossed arms, seemingly bored but his choice of placing himself next to her, suggested a protectiveness.
It took him a moment to absorb the sight. Another to speak.
"What is this?" He asked in a voice that he believed his own father would have spoke if he was here. "Some kind of treason?" He said, challenging with his stare anyone who was participant.
"You are in no place to ask questions young man." The man with the white hair spoke, his voice was rusky but Sasuke found no real malice despite the threat.
He looked at his brother unconsciously but his eyes were on something that the man in front of him had just said.
A quick look around and he was sure that the glares of the participants of this strange gathering were not friendly.
He moved in front of his wife just a bit. She had yet to utter a word and he hadn't found the strength to look at her from the moment they entered.
He heard a sigh. It was from the bored looking man. Shikamaru Nara was his name. An orphan that had grew inside the Akimichi clan after his own had lost in the battle and the remands had been scattered across the land. A skinny looking boy around a clan of giants. Everyone knew the story of his rising, and the trust the Akimichi had on him. His father had laughed when he told them.
"I guess someone has to explain." He said and his voice matched his looks. He looked at the woman on his side and then at the man, sitting in the chair next to her. The future head of the Akimichi. The long brown hair moved along with his head as he nodded.
"A few weeks back, at the start of the month someone attempted to murder my wife." Choji Akimichi spoke and the room fell silent. Sasuke observed as he took his wife hand inside his own. He was sure he heard an almost quiet grasp from behind and he imagined Hinata had covered her mouth to stop the sound.
"The culprit was never found but they had left something behind to indicate who that someone was. Or who had sent them." He felt the stares all around him but his eyes were on the man speaking.
"What does it have to do with us?" Sasuke asked, making his irritation visible.
"You were gone for a few days. Both of you left your ground and returned, without anyone knowing where were you." It was Nara that spoke and his eyes had cast away his bored look.
"Shikamaru I told you both that Hinata.." Ino Yamanaka addressed to the men on her side as if they were the only people in the room.
"My love, I know but.." Her husband spoke, but the other man said nothing. Not to her anyway.
"We want to know where you had been." He spoke, looking Sasuke in the eyes.
"That is none of your business." He raised his voice and turned to look at his brother with fury. This time the man looked back with sadness. He knew he shouldn't have trusted him.
"You see." A voice was heard from the other side of the room. The skinny man above Tsunade spoke. "The evidence show that the attack came from your clan." He said and Sasuke felt as if he was almost enjoying it.
"What?" This time Sasuke yelled but the man remained unfaced.
"Furthermore, the uprising and the uneasyness your father had expressed for the union had disappeared. It makes one to wonder." He said with a smirk.
"What evidence do you have?" He addressed to all.
"The weapons that were found belong to your clan. Itachi has confirmed it." Tsunade responded. Her authoritive voice, her anger even didn't stop him from adverting his gaze from her to the man that shared his blood. He was right all along. He wanted to hurt his family once again.
"Excuse me." He turned around. He wanted to stop her from talking, he wanted to grab her hands and run away, because the situation was dangerous and her life was at stake. Itachi was dangerous and she had already decided that he wasn't.
"But your theory is incorrect." She said calmly.
Then she turn to the pregnant woman.
"I'm sorry for what happened. I hope they didn't hurt you." She said as she took the blame from something she wasn't responsible.
The woman smiled.
"I'm fine. I told them that you wouldn't have anything to do with that. I am a great judge of character." She said as her previous cocky behaviour emerged.
"My husband had nothing to do with that either." She said as if felt the accusation hunging in the air.
Sasuke wanted to stop her. He didn't need her to defend him. Especially not in front of this crowd. Not in front of him.
"I feel the sincerity of your words but it's just words. We need something more than that." The white hair man spoke. Sasuke was trying to recall his name. The loyal dog that followed Tsunade. That was how his father described him.
"I have nothing more to offer." She said. "Jiraiya-san."
That was his name. If he had tried really hard, he might had remembered it. But Hinata was teached history, almost every day before she got married. She knew about names and even faces she had never seen.
"And I don't find the need to." Sasuke continued after her.
"How brave. Foolish nevertheless, but brave indeed." The other man spoke.
Tsunade's lackeys. Less than dogs. Surely no men. Because no true man would had freely decided to let a woman guide him. To be her errand boy. His father's distate echoed in his ears. Maybe that was why he couldn't recall the names like she did.
Tsunade got up and put her hand on her hip.
"It's better to talk boy, because I don't tolerate anyone who tries to bring down the peace I created."
Sasuke took a step forward. He didn't like the malice in her voice.
"He stopped because I told him that Yamanaka-san is pregnant." His wife voice reached across the room. "Uchiha-sama learnt that the pregnancy was the reason of the marriage so he concluded that they weren't a threat."
He turned around. Her eyes were on the floor.
"I'm sorry." She said and Sasuke didn't understand the reason for apologising.
"Still it's suspicious that you dissapeared the same time as the attempt." The man next to Jiraiya spoke.
Sasuke was ready to answer. This thing seemed almost a farse. All these people gathered in a place, hidden, addressing him and not his father about this matter. It was ominous at least.
"I shared her secret but nothing more." Hinata spoke again.
"So where were you?" This time it was Tsunade that spoke.
He felt as if they were circling them with every question. He felt the tension building up.
"Let's stop this." The man with the silver hair spoke. "I think that's enough." His voice was smooth and calm. In a way it reminded him of his brother, who hadn't spoke in the entire time.
"Kakashi." Tsunade addresed him.
"Why are we tormenting them? We have already conlunded that the Uchihas aren't behind this." He gave him a stare. "And we have a theory of who the real culprit is."
Tsunade looked angry. The man behind her dissapointed. Yet the one they called Jiraiya was smiling.
"It is Kakashi's house. We might want to be respectful." He said.
The lady of the land sat down on her chair.
Sasuke looked lost. At first as to why this whole façade was necessary. Then on the words that this house belonged to the man at the fireplace. Because Itachi had told him that he was the host. Another lie perhaps. He looked at his brother and then he saw that his hand had reached the chair on his front, enough for the man called Kakashi to raise his own and touch it. And then he understood. When the realisation came, the blood on his veins went cold, only for a moment before it boiled.
He was the one. He was the reason that his brother had left everything behind.
"I'm sorry for all this trouble." He began talking. "But my companions found it necessary to clear the water before we could talk truthfully. In case we were wrong." He said calmly, friendly even, more than any other that had already spoken.
Yet Sasuke barely heard what the man said. He could only see his hand that touched his brother. Perhaps Itachi noticed, because a moment later he broke the contact and put it in front of his mouth to spot a cough.
"Wrong about what?" Hinata took the lead.
"About you being involved." Nara spoke as if she was stupid.
"And now we are somehow cleared?" Sasuke almost yelled.
"You are." The man stared at him. And only him.
"What does that suppose to mean?" Sasuke took a step at his direction.
"Sasuke calm down." It was Itachi's voice.
He snapped his head at the direction of the man.
"We just want to talk to her." He said then. "To clear some things."
He was ready to attack him with his bare hands. He destroyed everything when he left and now..Now he was ready to destroy her.
"Perhaps we should explain from the start." Kakashi spoke.
He didn't want explanation. He wanted to see them all bruised and him out. He wanted to drag his brother back, to beat some sense to him.
"That would be nice." Hinata said as if she was in a party, surrounded by friends. The same person that had been muted under her own roof.
"Please sit down." He smiled and Sasuke pictured his mouth without teeth.
He heard her steps as she walked to the spare chair at the desk beside the door. He imagined it was there from them to sit from the start. An orchastrated environment for them both to face all the others. It was screaming of Itachi's doing.
He didn't sit. Because the other chair was across the room. A way to separate them. He wouldn't have it. It would not work as they had planned. They could say whatever they wanted and then they were obligated to let them go. Because if they wouldn't, another war would break. It would anyway, when he returned back and informed his clan, his father about what had happened. Sasuke would be the first one to raise his weapon.
"Do you want something to drink?" A chuckle was heard but Kakashi remained unfaced.
Hinata opened her mouth but Sasuke was quicker.
"No. Explain."
"See, he is more likely to have done it." The woman's voice was annoying enough without the statements she made.
"Ino." Nara spoke.
Then a cough was heard and the attention was brought back to the man in the centre. The owner of the house.
"There are evidence scattered around that indicate treason. Until Ino's life was threaten there were too small, almost invisible for anyone who didn't pay enough attention. I did. As well as Shikamaru here." He made a gesture towards the man. "And I am sure that Orochimaru-sama already knew before I contacted him." A small laughter was heard but Sasuke didn't advert his gaze.
"What evidence?" He looked at his brother but the other man spoke.
"That doesn't matter at this point. The thing that matters is that we were right. The attack on Ino proves that. As well as the attempt to frame your clan."
"I would have been on my way to your grounds if Itachi didn't stop me." Choji spoke in a completely different tone than before as he stared at him.
"So I should thank you?" He addressed his brother with mockery.
"Why did you want to talk to me then?" Hinata put the conversation back on track. "If you know that my husband and my father in law have nothing to do with it."
Silence followed her words. He looked at her as she tried to catch a glimpse of an answer in anyone's face. Then she stopped and looked directly at the man. He had an odd expression.
When he looked back, Hinata was white as the snow that covered the ground around her land. Her eyes widened as if she saw something that wasn't there.
"You want to talk to me not as Sasuke's wife." She said. "But as the daughter of Hiashi Hyuga." She stopped and waited for confirmation but none came so she spoke again.
"Because you believe that he is the traitor."