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Hana was exhausted. Her hair clung to her skin, dampened by sweat, her eyes were baggy and her teeth were perhaps a little sharper the necessary, and she was excessively fidgety as she tried to work leftover adrenaline out of her system.
The mission she had just returned from was an unexpected hell; it was only a C-rank, after all! She only just started medical training a month ago, and her hands were still trembling after she had been forced to take Choromaru's life in her hands long before she ever expected to.
She was so tired that she could barely keep her eyes open, and her feet automatically took her to the nearest house that her nose identified as 'pack', not even bothering to tell who exactly that was. Screw writing a report; she'd be hard pressed to hold an ink brush. At that moment, the only thing that mattered was that she was somewhere she felt safe with someone she cared deeply about, asleep on the warmest surface in their house. Snow country was horrible.
Really, she didn't notice she had neared the Uchiha compound until, out of nowhere, there was an overwhelming stench of blood, and she snapped to attention as she stood barely a block away from the gates. Blood had filled her nostrils so suddenly and with no warning, she collapsed behind some large and decorative plant in front of a civilian shop. Her hands covered her face in an attempt to dampen the smell, but it didn't work. She started hacking and coughing and wheezing, certain that she was choking on it.
She was only a genin, but she still knew better then to be so loud when there was such a close potential (probable) enemy. She took deep, even breaths and prevented herself from hyperventilating, letting loose a conclusive snarl to cut off any further noises. She calmed herself and inhaled slowly, clenching her fist to keep herself from going over the edge again.
The smell of blood had been somehow contained; even as an Inuzuka, she hadn't smelled it until she was a block away from the compound. There were short shouts and whimpers from inside the compound, but it was, for the most part, eerily silent.
Still, by far the most unsettling thing was the lack of killing intent. She could smell bodies piling up by the second, but there wasn't any oppressing aura, and she couldn't even smell any bloodlust or similar emotions. If anything, it was just waves of guilt occasionally suppressed by duty.
She had to go get someone. She had to. Someone was killing the Uchiha, she may be the only person who knew, and she had to tell someone.
Hana stumbled to her feet, trying her best to stay quiet as she stared towards the Hokage Tower with a one-minded attentiveness. She took a moment to plan out the quickest and stealthiest route and tensed her muscles, ready to run for it-
She froze before she could move a single step.
A scent caught her nose. A scent that she knew as well as her own, a scent she could pick out of a crowd of a thousand, a scent that smelled like Pack. Instinctively she took a longer inhale, trying to get a better read on the scent.
Izumi. She could smell Izumi in there, and she was more erratic then Hana had ever smelled before. She was so sad that Hana's eyes watered. She was so scared that Hana froze mid-step.
Before her brain could re-evaluate the action, before she could determine exactly how dumb of a move it was, Hana let out a feral growl and dashed into the carnage. She was exhausted and terrified and confused and a million other bad things, and she wasn't thinking clearly enough to stop herself. All she could think about was Izumi being scared or hurt or killed, and Hana not doing anything to help because she was busy running away with her tail between her legs.
Fuck that.
She ran straight for the Uchiha compound, heart filling with relief as she got close enough to pick out Izumi's chakra signature with her sub-par sensing. Thank Sage, she was right next to the gate. Hana was shaking and only barely biting back bile as it was, with the smell of blooddeathfearbetrayal-
Betrayal?
"You aren't supposed to be back from your mission for another week." A smooth-but-flat voice drawled, and her hand went to her kunai pouch even as her racing thoughts stuttered to a stop. She knew that voice.
She didn't want to look up- she didn't- but she couldn't help herself. Her eyes rose until they were staring at the top of the Uchiha compound gate, where Izumi stared down at her with a disinterested expression.
"I-Izumi?" She wheezed, eyes darting around and looking for anything that would give her a better grasp of the situation. "What the hell is going on- why are you sitting there?! We need to get help theUchihaaredying-" She fretted, gasping for air. Now was not the time to go off the deep end emotionally. She was raised better then that.
Hana took a step forward, crouching to jump up to where Izumi sat- sage she was covered in blood was she hurt was she dying- but was immediately halted by a flash of silver that had her jumping back.
Right where her foot had been only half a second earlier, a shuriken was embedded in the ground. She immediately looked to where the shuriken came from, readying for an attack-
And realized she was staring at Izumi once again, hand purposefully still outstretched from throwing the ninja-tool. Her eyes were unhesitating voids, even though if Hana had moved a milisecond slower she's have a shuriken lodged in her foot by Izumi's hand, and even her smell didn't change. Though, to be fair, Hana wasn't sure the drowning stench of guilt and determination could get ,much stronger. If she tried to focus on it, she might even be able to block out the smell of the carnage behind her.
"What the fuck is wrong with you! You almost hit me!" She cried out, only barely remembering to try and keep her voice down. She took a deep breath and unclenched her fists. Izumi was acting weird as hell, and Hana wanted to freak out and mother hen her and get to the bottom of her concerning dispostion, but it would have to wait. "Damn- whatever. We don't have time for this- your clan is dying, Izumi." Hana emphasized, because that was the important thing here, "Get down from there so I can make sure you aren't bleeding out, and then go to the secret ANBU base you won't tell me about while I go get Hokage-sama." She laid out, twitching with the need to do something.
Izumi didn't move- she didn't even blink. She was frighteningly still, and it made Hana nervous in a way she never had been around her girlfriend. She opened her mouth to yell again, but was cut off.
"You'll do nothing of the sort." A willowy voice claimed, barely carried to her by the wind. She didn't even see the ravenette's mouth move. "And neither will I."
"What do you mean?" She growled, stubbornly refusing to fear the girl, no matter how creepy she was being. This was Izumi- caring, kind, protective, soft-spoken, beautiful, strong, perfect Izumi. Hana had nothing to fear from her.
"Exactly what I said. I won't be running off to tell anyone about this, and neither will you. There's no point, anyway- they're almost done."
"We still have to try to help!" Hana insisted, and then froze. "What do you mean they're almost done? How did you- don't tell me-"
"I'm on guard. Making sure no one interferes." She confirmed, and it was chilling how unbothered she sounded. For the first time that night, Hana saw her face move as she frowned a little. "You weren't supposed to get back to the village this week. Did your mission go poorly?" She prodded, as if there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about the situation, and Hana snarled.
"Why?!" She growled, stepping forward and sidestepping the shuriken thrown at her foot again. "Why would you do this? That's your Family! Your Clan! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"
"Well, that's just the thing. They aren't my family, or my clan- they've made that clear for years. I'm just doing what I always do. I'm keeping the people close to me safe." She shrugged.
Hana went blind with rage, eyes squinted and ready to pounce, sentiment swallowed as she'd been taught, feeling the Kuromaru Brother's absence like a missing limb-
She didn't notice the senbon until it was too late.
"I'll miss you. I'm sorry." Her girlfriend whispers without any feeling, standing over her now-paralyzed form. Hana listened desperately for her words to take on a tone, portray something.
She wished she could move so she could curl up and sob. She wished she could move so she could claw her girlfriends unshaking arms to ribbons. She wished she could move so she could at least kiss her goodbye.
"Don't come after me. And- take care of Sasuke." She breathed, and there. Finally, her voice broke a little with that last plea. "I love you. Don't come after me." She repeated, and Hana couldn't decide between glaring at the kin-killer and drinking in her appearance for what may be the last time.
Izumi still looked breathtakingly beautiful. Her eyes were a deep red that she could drown in, and she was both one of the most dangerous people Hana knew and one of the kindest. Even standing before her, splattered with blood and mouth set in something that was almost a snarl, she was the prettiest girl Hana had ever seen.
The Uchiha leaned down and Hana tensed, heart aching with betrayal as she realized that this was how she would die. She had always been afraid of dying in the arms of someone she loved, but she'd never thought of it like this.
With a whimper she squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the moment Izumi killed her, too cowardly to see Izumi's reaction. Too scared that there wouldn't be one, that Hana would be nothing but another notch in her blade.
Instead she felt the feather-light, heart-wrenchingly tender and careful and soft press of lips to her cheek, almost touching the corner of her mouth. Izumi whispered something else, but Hana couldn't tell what it was as she drifted off.
She was too busy listening to the faint screams and cries of the clan that was destroyed in front of her. The clan she failed to save from the love of her life that she failed to stop.