Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Big surprise.

Rating: T

Summary: Hinata is to be married to the highest bidder, but she isn't the timid girl they kidnapped twelve years ago. When forced to become Cloud's broodmare, Hinata's courage wakes from hibernation. With no ninja training, and only her eyes to guide her, Hinata must escape the Land of Lightning.

RUN

Chapter One: Love is a Touchy Subject

My bedroom was cramped with stark white walls and a revolting popcorn ceiling. I wasn't allowed to decorate, so my room only had the bare necessities: a bed with white sheets, a mirror, and an oak dresser. There was a small, circular window above my bed, but the view was obscured by clouds. I didn't mind. This was my home, my own personal prison, stashed away on the tallest mountain in the Village Hidden by Clouds.

Much of my life was spent sitting in that white room, looking out the clouded window. Tomiko, my plump jailor, caretaker, and wife-coach, didn't understand how a modest window could be so enthralling. I didn't expect her to understand. She saw the world through a different pair of eyes. She didn't have the Byakugan. Somedays, if I was being honest with myself, I wish I didn't either.

Today was one of those days. My stomach churned with anxiety as I weaved my long blue hair into immaculate braids. It took me days of practice to master the hairstyle I needed. The ability to see the back of my head helped, but the Byakugan's blind spot made it difficult to place the sleek, silver hair ornament. On my first try, I cut my thumb on the sharp hair ornament and Tomiko made a huge fuss. She turned it into a lesson, and taught me a medical ninjutsu to heal small cuts or scrapes. Tomiko said it was so I could heal the imminent future cuts on my imminent future children, but she had a knowing look in her eye that made me more than a little wary. While I appreciated the lesson, for once, this time I was more careful. The ornament slipped in perfectly, holding the overlapping rings of braided hair in place.

A sharp knock sounded and I instantly deactivated my Byakugan. Tomiko gently opened the door and flowed in my room. It still amazes me how someone so portly can be so graceful. Tomiko's short hair was a pure blond color, contrasting with her dark, tanned skin. She was dressed in black and held a lacy, white kimono in her short arms. Usually, I welcomed Tomiko. She was a kind woman, and helped ease my loneliness. Two are better than one, after all. But right now, I just wanted her to leave, and to take that horrid kimono with her.

"Hinata, how are you doing today?"

"I'm doing well," I lied. My smile felt fake, and I know the older woman could see through it. I wish we didn't have to go through this routine, but it wouldn't be proper. There wasn't much Tomiko could do to me anymore, but I didn't wan't to risk breaking etiquette. Swallowing my bitterness, I tightened my smile and fell into the delicate art of small talk. "I've never seen you in black, Tomiko-san, it accentuates your figure well."

"Thank you, I wore it especially for your big day. I can't wait to see how you look in your kimono." She held out the white garment expectantly. Her round face was open and kind, but the glint in her eyes betrayed her seriousness. Accepting it, the older woman helped me wrap it tightly around my petite frame. I haven't needed, nor wanted, help wrapping a kimono in years, but tradition trumps preference. The fabric was shiny silk, making the bright white almost blinding. It was edged with lavender, and had the crisp smell of new clothes. While it was certainly beautiful, I felt distinctly wrong wearing it. As if the perfect, white silk matched my fake smile better than my innocence.

Tomiko appeared behind me in the mirror and put a dainty, reassuring hand on my shoulder. Taking a deep breath, I straightened my posture and lifted my chin. Appearances must be kept.

"Are you ready?" The older woman asked, but it wasn't really a question.

"Hai, Tomiko-san."

She led me out of my small room and down a curved hallway. My prison was built around one of the mountain peaks, and the left wall was the mountain itself. I was tempted to trail my fingers along the cold granite, but that would break decorum. We stopped at a handleless, steel door. Tomiko knocked twice, and the door swung open. Following her onto the balcony, I took a deep breath. It was cold, and I could barely see Tomiko's black figure. Wisps of cloud blew around me, making me shiver and attempt to shrink into my thin clothing. Cold dew gathered on my skin and dripped down my kimono. Thankfully, the silk was waterproof.

A man appeared in front of us. He was tall with dark eyes and a greying-black beard. The top of his head was wrapped in bandages, and his Cloud forehead protector covered his right eye. Even though it had been years since I'd last seen him, I recognized him instantly. This was the ninja who failed to steal my Byakugan, but succeeded in stealing my home.

"Hello, Ninja-san." Tomiko greeted formally. I didn't understand why she put on the honorific. I discovered Tomiko was a ninja years ago. Nothing can hide from my eyes. My kidnapper simply nodded in response. He turned to me, and I took an involuntary step back. I couldn't help it, I hated everything about him: his gushing self-confidence, his single calculating eye, his twitching fingers. What I despised the most about him, though, was how I remembered his face better than my own father's. But it didn't matter. Right now, hatred would get me nowhere. Stealing myself, I looked him in the eye.

"Hello, Ninja-san." I said.

"Let's go." His voice was a light tenor. High pitch for a man his size, but not strangely so. This time, when he approached me I didn't flinch. Not even when he scooped me up bridle style. The man was warm, and my treacherous, shivering body pressed against him.

Suddenly, the man crouched and we launched off the balcony. The swooping feeling returned to my stomach as we fell out of the clouds. All around us were jagged spears of rock stabbing upward. Blue and brown and white upside-down, conical buildings clung to the narrow mountains, connected by slack wires. Cloud had a brutish charm, I decided. The way the setting sun made the dark mountains look gold and cast long jagged shadows was almost romantic. For a second, I could pretend this wasn't my kidnapper, but a handsome shinobi from Leaf. My ninja-in-shining armor, here to free me from my mountaintop prison. Abruptly, our free-fall ended and we landed hard on a rooftop-balcony. My head would have whiplashed, but the ninja carrying me cradled my neck with one large hand.

Before I could get my bearings, the man jumped again. This time landing on one of the slack cables, he began running along it toward a massive blue building in the center of the village. 'Lightning' was written in large kanji on the front, and instead of having a balcony for a roof, there was a small forest. Trees can't grow at this high elevation, and their unnatural presence spoke of incredible wealth.

The wire led to an entrance in the middle of the building, with two ninja dressed in single strapped, white flak jackets standing guard. They nodded respectfully as we passed, but my kidnapper ignored him. The cocky jerk. He didn't set me down once inside, earning strange looks from passing ninja. My cheeks burned, and I knew I was blushing. The compound was crowded with shinobi. In front of us was a long desk with a number of secretaries all talking over each other. It sounded like the gathered shinobi were submitting mission reports, but it was too noisy to pick out any one conversation. My kidnapper brushed pass them all, and carried me up a staircase to the left.

We passed a few floors, before stopping at a pair of gold double doors with the Kanji for 'Raikage' and another pair of ninja guarding the door. Finally, my kidnapper set me down, and I stumbled to my feet. He continued on, strutting past the guards. Tomiko appeared beside me and helped me straighten my kimono and pull up the traditional white hood. I didn't even notice she was following us, but I shouldn't have been surprised. If she doesn't make any noise when she walks, why should she when she jumps off rooftops? When I looked presentable, we entered the Raikage's Office.

All the walls were made of glass, revealing the passing clouds and surrounding mountains. A red punching bag hung from the tall ceiling next to a pile of weights. In the center of the room a man with grossly bulging muscles sat behind a cowardly desk. He was bare-chested, exposing his unnatural physique and dark reddish skin. He had blond facial hair, and his face was creased with deep, imposing lines. Fūma Shuriken were tattooed on his bulging shoulders, and he wore thick golden arm guards on each wrist. My kidnapper bowed before the imposing man.

"Raikage-sama, I present Hyūga Hinata and her keeper Takahashi Tomiko." Then my kidnapper walked to the right where a big-busted blonde stood by a short man with squinty eyes and red hair. Tomiko and I stepped forward, and bowed deeply.

"Good day, Raikage-sama." I greeted. It wasn't true of course. This was far from what I would call a "good" day, but my feelings were of no consequence. The Raikage's dark eyes pierced mine, his frown lines darkened and eyebrows furrowed. Then he inhaled deeply, appraising me like an aged wine, fresh out of the cellar. Part of me wanted to look away, but I refused to be intimidated.

"Oita, do you have the money?" The Raikage's voice boomed and the short red-head stumbled in surprise. He shuffled beside me and set two large suitcases on the desk. Cloud politics was one of the few subjects Tomiko drilled in me over the years. All my bidders were from major clans, and ignorance is 'socially unacceptable.' The Oita were one of the richest civilian clans in the Land of Lightning, mostly due to their age-old monopoly on leather. Their good name, recessive genes, and fierce loyalty made the Oita a prime candidate to introduce a kekkei genkai such as my Byakugan. But I was surprised to only see two cases of ryō on the desk. One would think a 12 year bidding war would raise my bride-price higher. Maybe this was just the downpayment?

"Very well," the Raikage continued. "We are gathered here for the wedding of Hyūga Hinata and Oita Haru. Do you, Hyūga Hinata, intend to marry and submit to Oita Haru?" I almost scoffed at the question. Everyone here was aware of my situation. This wasn't a marriage, it was an auction. Instead, I smiled and looked down at the man beside me. Oita Haru was old, at least 30. His first wife died only a year ago, but I knew he started bidding on me long before her death. Apparently, a year was a socially acceptable grievance period.

"I do." My voice sounded weak and unsure in the large office. I heard Tomiko release a small sigh of relief.

"Do you, Oita Haru, intend to marry and provide the Village Hidden by Cloud with no less than 10 children with Hyūga Hinata?"

"I do." The short man shot me a perverted grin. A wave of nausea crashed over me, but I couldn't say I was surprised. Most of my lessons with Tomiko were on childbearing, and children with Byakugan would be beneficial to both the Oita and the Cloud. Ninja were looked up to, quite literally, in Cloud, and Haru's clan would gain tremendous social standing through our children. In return, the Village Hidden by Cloud would have a clan of loyal Byakugan wielders. Everyone wins, except me.

"Very well. In front of these witnesses, this couple has declared their intention to join their lives in marriage and we now accept them as husband and wife." He then signed a document on his desk, and handed it to his blond secretary. "You may kiss the bride."

I looked down at Haru. To my horror, his eyes were closed and lips puckered expectantly. He wore a long black cloak with a blue circle containing a white rose embroidered on the breast. Hesitantly, I leaned down and gave him an innocent peck. His lips were thin and chapped, and I pulled away before the pedophile could get any ideas. From the lecherous smirk on his face, I probably didn't succeed.

"Dismissed. She's all yours, Oita."

Haru grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. His hand was smooth, a testament to a life of luxury. Or, as in my case, a life of captivity. We went back down the stairs, and into the entrance hall. By now, all the ninja had left and the only sound was the scratching of secretaries. Instead of heading to the portal I came from, Haru led me to an elevator at the back of the room. There was only a down button, and the door opened immediately when he pressed it.

Inside, I looked at the array of golden buttons as he hit the number one. At first we were surrounded by dark walls, but when our decent took us out the bottom of the building the walls were replaced with glass. Neither of us said anything, and the awkward silence was almost palpable.

"I've never ridden in an elevator before." I admitted, breaking the silence. Haru's perverted grin returned.

"Then tonight will be a lot of firsts for you."

My eyes widened at the implication, and I turned away from the man. Maybe silence was best. I distracted myself by watching the town below grow larger. The sun had set while we were in the Raikage's office, and the only indication of a town were the clusters of light, like dying coals. For some reason my ears felt clogged. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Haru yawning dramatically. Mimicking him with my own large yawn, I was surprised when my ears popped back to normal. When we reached the bottom, the elevator stopped and a prerecorded female voice sounded.

"First Floor: Civilian Office of Internal Affairs."

As the doors opened Haru grabbed my hand again. His palms were clammy now, and I felt unclean touching him, but I swallowed my objections and let him lead me through the Civilian Office. The floors were a reflective, black tile, and our wooden sandals clicked loudly as we walked toward the front door. There were only a few people milling about in the building. They probably went home for the night, back to their ordinary loving families and cookie-cutter lives.

We stepped out of the office and down a few marble steps onto a wide road. Each side was lined with buildings lit up and overflowing with noisy conversation. Signs in every color advertised shops and restaurants and I couldn't stop my eyes from darting as I tried to take in the bustling nightlife. Sure, I'd seen it before with my Byakugan, but the Byakugan was limited. In my mountaintop cage I couldn't smell the scents bubbling out of restaurants, or hear the musical harmony of laughter, or feel the gum sticking to the bottom of my shoe.

Haru was decidedly unaffected and pulled me down the street. Some passerby's wished us insincere "congratulations," but their only response was Haru's trademark grin. We took a left off the main road onto a cobblestone path. A couple smokers watched us suspiciously as we exited the commercial district. After a few rows of apartment buildings we reached a row of single homes followed by a tall, black gate. When we approached, a skinny shinobi opened it. For a civilian clan to have a ninja guard spoke well of the Oita's vast wealth. For a civilian clan to have a ninja doorman spoke poorly of the Oita's personality. The man nodded to Haru as we entered the compound. I'm sure it was meant to be respectful, but there was a distinct undercurrent of resentment festering beneath fake professionalism.

Tall multistory homes were arranged in a circle around a bubbling center fountain. It was much quieter within the compound, the only sound was the gurgling water. Haru must have been getting excited, because he started pulling me faster. We passed the fountain to the house in the back. It was the largest and while the night made it hard to see, I could tell it was painted blue. All the other houses were white and significantly shorter, making this one stand out distinctly as the Clan Head's home. Haru's home.

We entered the house and took off our shoes. A maid greeted us at the entrance. She was dressed in a blue and white uniform and had dull, brown hair. Her expression was haunted, with sunken eyes and dark frown lines. I sympathized with her. We were both condemned to a life serving the Oita clan. Haru handed the maid his expensive black cloak, before taking my hand and leading us across the cold wooden floor to the back of the house. He slid a paneled door to the side and pulled me into the master bedroom.

The bedroom was spacious. On my right was a mountain of a bed, big enough for four or five people. In front of me was a wall of tinted windows looking out at a small rose maze hidden at the back of the complex. Everything was swathed in dim light coming from the crystal chandelier hanging in the center of the room. There was a musty scent in the air, and white rose petals were scattered across the floor and on the bed. At least he tried to be romantic, but odds are it was the maid that scattered the petals.

My observations were cut short by the sound of Haru's obi falling to the ground. Regrettably, I looked over at him, and saw his naked chest covered in a carpet of curly red hair. I restrained myself from looking lower, I was already scarred enough. Before he could take control, I pressed one hand against his fuzzy chest and pushed him toward the bed. His lecherous grin returned, and I felt his greedy hands pull off my own kimono. The back of his knees hit the bed, and we fell onto the mattress, with me on top. His eyes strayed down to my chest, but I ignored him. Gathering my courage, I leaned forward and kissed him hard on the lips. Absently, I noticed his stubby arms curling around my wast, and I lifted my hands to my head. Removing the silver ornament I let my hair cascade around us. Haru's eyes were clouded with lust, and I used one hand to tilt his head up before kissing him again.

Then, in one quick motion, I slit Haru's neck with my sharp, hair ornament.

Author's Note

What should the pairing be?

Did you have a favorite line?

Thanks for reading.

-Thomas River