It was a thing from the nightmares of her childhood where sense and physics did not merit it's attention. Body made of rippling muscles and sinew that looked patched together the puppet body rose high above them and shrieked with rotting fetid breath that shook the crumbling citadel.

Arrow at her fingers and heart battling with her lungs Hinata jumped to the side as the beast launched forward, rolling out of the way to get a better look at the monstrosity as she lifted her bow.

Rasu snarled and bellowed a growl that echoed with Sasuke's crackling lightning.

"What is it?" Hinata's scream had too much terror in it to pretend she was all right and loosing an arrow at the twisting coil of the beast she gasped, watching as the shaft lodged itself within the torso of the child corpse, drawing it's vacant rotting eyes with curiosity that did not seem particularly concerned.

"It's an orphio." Sasuke flicked the blade of his sword, sprinkling tendrils of magical sparks in a chaotic swirl from the blade tip. "Corpse puppet of whatever thing calls itself god here."

No sooner had the words rushed out of his mouth than the slithering husk of the body attached to the knitted and patch work trunk of muscle slammed forward again, forcing him to sidestep sharply, wings tucked tight against his body now more a hindrance than a help.

Hinata winced, rushing forward to better focus her aim. The creature moved in jolts and starts, never where she expected and with a gut wrenching twist of her stomach she realized the fleshy tentacle that the child's torso was attached to pulsed as though it was a giant vein.

Eyes narrowing she took aim, focused on the obvious stitching of a tattered piece of skin. Praying this was not a mistake she breathed in, drew and released.

The hiss of the arrow made Sasuke turn, kicking the rotting mandible of the corpse away from him as it chewed furiously in his direction, decaying arms reaching to grab and tear and gorge.

Glinting in the pale moonlight the arrow head sliced through the stitching at the base of the muscled trunk and as the flap tore open Hinata cried out, mouth open in shock as an endless spill of glowing spiders in a brilliant purple exploded from within.

Rasu's startled snarl followed the tinkling sounds of a million tiny feet rushing over the debris, an army of violent purple bodies fat and hairy, the terror of their relentless unstoppable hoard making Hinata's mind bombinate with terror.

"Climb!" Sasuke shouted furiously. His wings flared as he shoved forward, driving his sword hard into the neck of the monstrous thing still struggling to reach him even as it deflated from within. With a wrench on his blade the head came flying off the shoulders and flicking his hand to dissipate the blade he launched into the air.

The spiders seemed to shriek at the flood of air that knocked them away in a wave. The gusts from Sasuke's wings threw them back in a semi circle of clear stone where they had been aiming at his feet. Bodies cartwheeling they tumbled in piles of tangled legs but seemed overall unaffected as they righted themselves and moved forward again towards the place where he had been only a moment before.

Black wings beating furiously Sasuke rose, watching as Hinata threw her bow over her shoulder and began the unsteady climb up one of the brick inlaid pillars, wincing as the entire thing swayed with her frantic movement.

Below the spiders festered and moved, assessing the base of the pillar before beginning their chase.

At the base Rasu snarled and twisted, squashing and thrashing as the spiders began to rise on his paws and tail.

With a shriek Hinata drew his gaze again, and had he not been sure the pillar would collapse if he so much as touched it with his wings he would have shot forward to grab her. Her feet dangled, boots kicking furiously at the feel of the purple creatures tickling their way up her toes and to her ankles, a tsunami of orachno .

"No! No, no, no!" she sobbed, banging her legs against the pillar to dislodge half a dozen at a time.

Breathing in, Sasuke slid his fingers into a twist of unlocking runes, heart pounding in his ears at the thought of Hinata's body slamming to the tile floor to be covered in twitching mass of pincer happy insects.

Taking a deep breath that coated his tongue in the ashes and dust he felt the fire build in his throat and then he roared.

The flames poured from his mouth in a river unlike anything Hinata had ever seen. The fires he whispered by contrast for the sake of their nightly warmth were nothing compared to the sea of flames that tore at the darkness.

The spiders shrieked, tiny voices rising in horror as their bodies burned and stank, the thick pulsing flesh that had been their home lay deflated on the rocky ground and seeking shelter from the flames they made a beeline for the destroyed body of the monster.

Rasu whined softly, flat on his belly in defeat where his legs had been bitten and with one velvet ear torn.

Shoulders aching from the forced flight in such dead air Sasuke landed, shattering more of the stone with the force of his irritation, wings withdrawing in a screaming chaos of knives.

"And you thought you would be fine on your own." He snarled, pausing only a moment to press a hand to Rasu's head before walking over to the pillar HInata still clung to.

The spiders were busy trying to escape,making the fleshy tube that had been their home bulge thick and disgusting with their writhing bodies. Without even glancing to see when her grip finally failed Sasuke caught the falling heiress and was mildly surprised when she refused to be put down. Arms iron solid around his neck she panted, breath hot against his neck.

"Spiders!" Her gasp was accompanied by a full body shudder he felt through to his sternum. "I never minded spiders before!"

"They likely never tried to eat you before."

Rasu keened pathetically for attention, favoring the most chewed of his four legs. "They will be returning to whatever sent them." Sasuke muttered as Hinata slid from his arms to examine Rasu's ear. "It will be coming."

"Please." Hinata closed her eyes and pressed her face against Rasu's forehead. "Please, let it not be a giant spider."

Sasuke's tensing shoulders and the snap of his head towards the darkness made Hinata freeze, arms wrapped tight around Rasu's thick neck, smears of dirt and his blood tracing lines over her cheek.

The now immobile corpse lay torn to shreds where Sasuke had left it, the pulsating flesh still wriggled with the stragglers of the spider hoard but from the very black first one pair and then many pairs of eyes opened and blinked. They were an inky black much deeper than the darkness within which it hid and all crowded together into one place.

"How very rude these guests are, to enter my abode uninvited and then slay my darlings with no qualms."

It was a female voice that spoke, elegant and calm despite the topic she had chosen to ponder out loud. Slowly the many eyes inched forward until the slim torso of the speaker came into view. Shaped as a woman she moved with a gliding gait that seemed impossible. Prettily, she blinked her dozens of eyes, all crowded together on a small heart shaped face lacking in nose and studded with a wide mouth filled with an overabundance of teeth.

Her long neck swept down to a flirting collarbone peeking above a dress made of some glittering fabric that looked as delicate as spun glass.

It gathered just beneath her breasts hugging her slim waist then swept out around her large hips.

If you could get past the teeth, and the uncanny number of eyes she might have been beautiful, even with her short tufts of salt and pepper hair sticking in every direction from the top of her head.

Wordless, Sasuke flicked his hand and his sword solidified, drawing the magic thick into the room so that the spiders wriggled with more earnest to hide behind their mother or burrow deeper into their fleshy home.

Hinata stood behind him, arrow drawn and hands steady despite the flick of her eyes to the spiders still in the room rushing to settle within the folds of the woman's dress.

"They come uninvited, they come with no manners, bearing blades, bearing torches." She hummed and walked, slowly and elegantly towards them, forcing Sasuke and Hinata to move in a circle away from her, keeping her in their sights all along.

"Are you the thing the villagers of the Amir worship?" Hinata finally dug her voice out from the depths of her throat, surprised to find the lack of shake within it's tones. "Have you been slaying children?"

"Slaying, they ask? Is it slaying if the child is left on the shore? Is it slaying if the child dies of fright at the door? Bones and flesh they leave in my home. Perhaps I gorge on the livers and bones but..." she cocked her head and all of her eyes blinked at once, shifting between Sasuke's impassive face and HInata's pinched one. "Slaying? No."

"There are bodies to contradict your story."

"Ah, weak ones, frail ones, incapable ones." She shrugged. "My children must eat."

"Enough." Sasuke muttered, letting himself shift to battle stance. "If we're ridding the village of this scourge let us do it now. I am growing impatient."

"Ridding?" The creature cocked her head. "Ridding? I, Portia a pest? Not me, surely you seek another. For I am the villagers savior. None other."

"Savior?" Sasuke and Hinata's voices chorused then. Behind them Rasu bristled with dislike, teeth baring at the creature who moved so elegantly in their sights.

"Yes. Perhaps you are confused, but I take no offerings. No, it is a fee." She smiled then, wider than necessary and displayed the sharpened teeth at the edges of her lips. "I hold back the Rot. They give me slaves."

"No one can hold back the Rot." Hinata choked, bow lowering as she stepped forward, her eyes wide. "No one can keep the Dryness from spreading."

"No." The creature mused, pressing a long taloned finger to her cheek as she thought. "No, it's true but then... " she smiled again. "They do not know that."

Annoyed with her coyness Sasuke snarled, launching forward in a rush that made her gasp. Arms spreading she hissed loud and a web thick as mist sprouted from her fingers.

"Careful now little mage. Touch the web and lose your skin. You are too big and too feisty for my taste but because they sent me three I will overlook this years fee."

Hinata's arrow snapped from her hand, slamming past Sasuke's abrupt charge into the chaos of the glittering web that was expanding from the creature's fingers.

What happened to the arrow shaft was startling enough to give Sasuke pause.

Like passing through a laser beam the wood and arrow head, even the steely black of the fletching from Sasuke's wings seemed to fall apart like a puzzle thrown against a wall, pieces clattering in every direction as more and more of the see through strings of web came into contact with the weapon.

In the end a pile of chunky sawdust, pieces of torn steel and feathers littered the ground. The creature smiled at Sasuke's abrupt stop, his brow furrowed to think through the problem. Glad to have hidden his wings he stepped back, blade still raised.

"Perhaps I won't eat you." Portia pondered, hips swaying as though dancing and with her sharp eyes Hinata noted the slash up to her thigh on her dress, letting her peek into the folds where an excess of legs teetered forward. Sharp and black and thin they rustled the fabric of her dress with each step, explaining finally the unnatural aspect of her elegance.

"You might just please him. Yes, perhaps you would." She cocked her head then, her many eyes sliding from Sasuke to Rasu leaning painfully against a pillar, side heaving. "Well, I'll eat the dying one at least."

"Hinata." Sasuke called, without taking his eyes off the enemy. "Take Rasu. Go."

"But-"

"You are not going to want to be here for this." Something about his tone made Hinata wince, her pale eyes taking in the silver flecks of light as the sword in his hand dissolved and his strong hands flicked through the runes she had grown to recognize.

He was right. She was not going to want to be there.

"Rasu." Voice pinched she scrambled back, throwing the bow over her shoulder and pressing a hand to the horkney's head to encourage him to move. "Time to go!"

Portia let out a laugh, pretty and girlish and foul as it rang. "Oh please, sacrificing yourself for their getaway? The furry one will be dead in ten minutes with the poison in his flesh. You may as well give him to me to put out of his misery. It burns like fire in the veins."

"Sacrificing myself?" Sasuke muttered, mostly to himself as he drew in a long breath. "Selflessness is not a habit of mine."

The flash and heat of the fire exploded once more, earning a myriad of shrieks from the spiders still straggling and trying to find a safe place to hide. The monstrous female flinched, her smile washed away as the flames licked and jumped onto the endless tangle of web that had spread around her, licking with animosity and anger.

"Flames?" She snarled, although by the light of the fire her face and the numerous eyes showed less calm and more ferocity. "You think flames will deter me? Oh little mage, you are a fool."

"Stop calling me a mage." Sasuke spat, watching as the fire took on a life of it's own, licking ever closer to where the webs were anchored to her fingers in tight coils like rings. "I'm no mage."

Hinata struggled in the dark, with the flames making her shadow and Rasu's dance wild jigs as they pushed past bones and stone, half standing pillars and collapsed arches to a pile of rock steady and large enough to reach the floor above.

"Hurry, hurry!" Hinata sang the words with her fear, pushing on Rasu's enormous side in an attempt to help the stumbling horkney up the shaky incline.

Behind her Sasuke watched as the creature cut the coils of the web before they reached her fingers, as she tightened into a ball of muscle ready to jump from the wall of flaming webs she had made to protect herself and now threatened to burn her alive.

Wings sprouting with a scream of metal on metal, flaring wide and dark Sasuke watched as her face slackened, her many eyes round black orbs of shock.

"Angel star."

One final twist of his fingers, and the rune which had always brought forth flame from his mouth changed the already spitting fire that dripped from the twisted tangles of the spider silk turning the orange glow to midnight black.

"No!" Portia's cry was desperate, her eyes shining by the black light of the dark fire, a fire that Sasuke realized she recognized. Her terror was merited, the black flames were an endless curse, a never ending burn that would scorch the very fat on her muscles, turning her marrow to dust, erasing her from the soil as though she never existed.

"Who do you take slaves for?"

"My master! Please... please, not the ebony flames."

"Who is your master?" Sasuke stepped forward, allowing one flick of his wings to send the already anxious flames towards her like a dangerous tongue lapping at her with heat.

Flat now against the wall of the ruins behind her and abandoned by her many glowing spider children Portia made noises of discontent.

"I... I cannot say!"

Sasuke's answering flap of wing and the superheated smack of air to her face had her screaming again, closing her eyes to protect them against the heat wave.

"Answer."

"The Lord of Hell! The Wielder of the Veil Blood, the Weaver of the Veil Threads, the master of us all! Please! Please not the fire!"

The frown on Sasuke's face was instant, his steps rapid as he moved forward. "How does the Lord of Hell have a minion here?"

"Please! Not the fire!" Portia screamed as the lick of black flame landed on her dress, and her flapping hands did nothing to quench it. Instead it spread to her fingers, and as she flailed into her hair, dancing upwards, catching so that her gaze screamed as her mouth did.

"Damn it." Sasuke hissed, stepping back as the stench of her burning exploded. "Damn it all."

From above where the hole of their fall let light flood the brutal view an arrow flew, precise and glowing with a gold magic that stank of mercy.

With a grunt the black fletching stood from Portia's chest and her scream died, her body collapsing as the flames grew higher, ignored now as Sasuke turned to look up to where Hinata stood with her brow furrowed and her jaw tight, lowering her bow.

"You wasted an arrow." He met her pale gaze with his own shakeable darkness, unsure of what her pinched tight expression was trying to convey. He did not have to wonder long.

"Mercy is not a waste."

"Leave them be." Tsunade said as she closed the dining room door. In the corridor Ino, Sai and Shikamaru stood crowded, their faces all held tightly so that nothing but their anxiety showed. Even Sai clenched his jaw.

"The people will want answers in the morning. I am surprised there aren't men waiting outside." Shikamaru put forth tacitly and Tsunade nodded.

"I too am surprised."

"I told them to leave." Ino explained softly, rubbing her hands on her hips to rid herself of the sweat condensing there as she thought. "They were not happy but then neither is anyone in this situation."

"They cannot stay." Shikamaru's tone was firm. "They are not like the Hawk Eyed. They came after Lady Hinata had already built a foundation for their entry with the debt we owed them. They had no history of violence in connection to our people." He shook his head. "These are different circumstances."

"Will you toss Jirobo out with them also?" Ino frowned at him. "Let the horkneys have them after we've patched them together?"

"Enough." Tsunade snapped, earning silence before Shikamaru could retort sharply. "That is enough. They stay the night, Sai you and Chouji will guard. Ino, go to bed. You and I will be doing some work on Jirobo in the morning and I need you rested. I trust you will finally sleep with Sai in the hall to keep your worries at bay?" Brows raised the healer watched her apprentice stutter for a moment before continuing. " Shikamaru, come see me after Sai fetches Chouji. We have some things to discuss."

Striding purposefully down the hall the Chancellor left them, missing the discontented sigh that left Shikamaru's mouth. "Off you go then, Sai."

"Captain." Sai nodded, glancing at Ino who was flushing red and at the feel of his gaze shot off towards her room.

It had been hours since the Chattels arrival and Sai could see the slight change of tone at the edges of the tree tops that hinted at the coming morn. There would be little enough rest for Ino despite being sent to bed.

Thoughts of the blonde felt strange in his mind, like holding something spiky and small in his hands. Any attempt to grip the thought ached and visciously he buried it instead, stalking out of Tsunade's front door and into the dark empty street.

The racket of the Chattel's arrival had gone down since their disappearance into the Chancellor's home and although lights were still seen glimmering behind the shutters of several homes all the doors were firmly shut against the coming cold.

It kissed at Sai's skin where sweat was glistening and rubbing the condensing beads on his upper lip he let his eyes shift through the dark and stumbled, wincing into the darkness of an alley running behind many squat shabby little cottages.

Hand to his mouth he walked, ignoring the slap of the wind on his sweating face until he reached the smallish court yard that was Tsunade's private garden. Tended by the towns people it was a regaled place. Much of their medicines were grown here, and although half the tilled beds were empty after the summer the winter crop was rising against all odds from the soil, stubborn as the healer who would pluck them for her use.

Here no one would be in the night and breathing fast and hard now he collapsed against the small waist of a young tree, naked of leaves and groaning in the growing blast of cold wind.

"Veil curse it."

Inside his mouth a brand burned, sitting happily on his tongue. Asleep it was nearly invisible. Just a darker bit of flesh always tucked inside his head.

Awake, the spell burned white hot and turned his tongue to molten lava. Heaving for air he collapsed on the scraggly autumn grass, hands tightening to fists on the soil.

"No." The moan was half defeated, even as he fought. "No, no, no... I won't."

But the spell within burned brighter and brighter, so that the very brain within his skull boiled. Agony pierced through him in a torrent and now crumpled on his knees with his head in his hands he gasped, succumbing to the burn.

"Veil forgive me." Voice broken he groaned, releasing the spell on his tongue with the whisper of words in the heavenly speech he had been taught long ago.

The sigh doused the pain so that only the smoking plumes of the fire were left for him to agonize over, and with hands still digging into his hair he listened as the spell brought him forth.

He was a shadow, he was a voice. Within the tree something bubbled black and putrid and thick as pus. It cracked the bark, it seeped like blood and as it dripped it coagulated into a shape much like a mouth and two eyes, features too unsteady to be clear but sharp enough to display the grimace that marked them.

"You would fight against your Lord, weak one?"

Wincing against the voice Sai closed his eyes, pressing his forehead and hands flat to the ground in a reverence that made him want to throw up.

"No, my Lord."

"No, indeed. What news have you heard that needs repeating?"

The tree shuddered as though alive, it's branches twitching like arms held in a vice and slowly Sai lifted his head to watch it's many branches shaking. Even as he watched the ends curled and decayed turning to ashes in the breeze.

Not speaking now would merit his own demise, his own limbs turned ashen to dance forever on the wind.

Swallowing the awkwardness of the feeling in his chest he began.

"Three girls have arrived. They call themselves Chattels, past slaves of the Scaled Worm. They bring news of the Fallen Star."

The face within the tree's bark and blood stilled. This was enough for Sai to realize he had said something of importance and the emotion inside festered ever more painfully. He realized after a moment of holding his breath what it was.

Guilt.

"Continue."

"They claim the Scaled Worm's defeat at the hands of the Star, his journey continues North, towards Hell's Maw. In the steps of his brother, they said. The Apostate." Words lingered at the edges of his mind. Words with a Hawk Eyed girl's name. Desperately he pushed them back, hoping against hope that they would remain hidden, half forgotten.

"And so he has found his way, after all these years." Placid, the face gazed out into nothingness, almost like Sai had been forgotten and content to be so Sai stayed perfectly still, muscles tense as bowstrings.

"You shall remain where you are. And you shall, when more information becomes available, speak willingly. Lest I send someone to fetch you. To drag you back to where you belong."

Face slack of any emotion Sai stared, noting the way his heart stuttered, tripping until it raged to a horrified beat that made the blood rush in his ears.

His mouth moved, and his voice spoke then, flat and unshaken despite the roaring in his ears.

"Of course, Lord Danzo."

The black mess melted, and the face with it so that it poured off the tree where it seemed the trunk spat it and Sai watched, body limp with relief as the branches shuddered and broke, coming apart in ribbons of bark as though peeled by invisible carpenters. Dust rose in plumes as the breeze pulled on the decaying tree so that minutes later nothing remained but a half scarred stump sticky with a black sap that sucked the light and the smell of Rot heady through the fibers.

Pain still lingered at the edges of his tongue where the spell pulsed like a reminder of his binding and slowly, achingly he pushed himself to his feet.

Letting his face fall into it's usual placid unmarked mask he turned, rubbing at the sweat with his sleeve, wishing he could likewise take the sins from his heart with it.

The monster's head was not what Hinata would have prefered to take with her to the village, but she had to admit that if they wanted to make a point and a strong one then it would do the trick.

There were not a lot of other options for scaring them into honesty either, besides threatening out loud and although Sasuke would have been as comfortable with that as carrying Portia's head by the charred tangles of her hair she rather prefer not to hear him hiss his displeasure.

Their arrival was coincidentally at dawn, when the light shone bright and turned the trees to sparkling jewel encrusted poles against the blushing sky. Through the chaos of the reflected light they walked, out onto the green pastures were the giant elk of the village chewed on grass contentedly until they smelled Sasuke on the wind and rushed to get as far from them as their corral allowed.

Much like their livestock the villagers waited in huddles beneath the shelter of their Altar, rising and fluttering like pigeons at the sight of Sasuke storming towards them, stinking of burned flesh and ashes.

Behind him Hinata walked more slowly with Rasu, patting his head as the painful poison of the spiders seeped from his paws and legs where they had bit, chased out by Sasuke's blood on his tongue.

"This is no god." Sasuke snapped, throwing the head of the creature at the feet of the elder woman and Headman Oicken. "And you are not wise."

Flutters of discontent rose from the crowd of a hundred or so, the cries of fear not just in result of the monstrosity that was the head rancid and dead at their feet but also what it meant.

"Nothing keeps the Rot from encroaching. Certainly not a many legged demon half breed. You have been sending your children to slaughter for nothing." At a flick of Sasuke's hand the sword he favored flourished to life, the magic punching at all the chests in attendance so the people gasped for air that was too thick to draw.

"You were counting on it slaying us."

At the sight of the sword Hinata moved forward, words caught in her throat when Headman Oicken stepped before Sasuke, fear draining the color from his face so his dark beard stood painfully to attention

"Fallen One, I was not to tell you the god-...the creatures location. I did so selfishly in the hope that you would slay it where I could not."

Dark eyes sharp as the edge of his blade Sasuke studied him, watching the displeasure that bloomed on the elder woman's face at the confession. "I do not want my grand daughter to die."

"Now we face the coming of the Rot that so pillages the South." The elder snarled, her gaze travelling behind to the other members of her village. "Thanks to the selfishness of one headman and his brood."

"Nothing can hold back the dying of the world." Hinata snapped suddenly, watching as the animosity began to rise like the fear had before among the village people. "We have been searching for a cure, and that creature was not it. She was lying, she said it herself."

"Leave. We want nothing more from the Heaven Spawn." The elder woman pointed at Sasuke, her staff like a spear. "We did not wish for your interference."

"Tch." Sasuke hissed, waving a hand to let the sword disappear, turning away with a flurry of his dark cloak he pressed a hand to Rasu's side as he passed.

"Hinata." His call was sharp, and had Hinata pausing as her thoughts tumbled with guilt and fury and disbelief at the faces of so many people so lost. Headman Oicken watched her, the words thick in her mouth and very softly shook his head.

Letting out a sigh she turned, following after her Star back to the river that would take them away.

As the village turned to leave, murmuring worriedly and casting furious look in Oicken's direction only the discarded head of Portia watched Hinata's retreating back.

Rasu was a furnace, his body burning with fever that was familiar and envied even as he shifted with discomfort. Sasuke's blood was somehow different, somehow more. She was sure of it. It's mint and petrichor scent was heady when he slit his palm, letting the horkney lap just once on the silver that pooled before wiping away the ichor and letting it seal shut.

His eyes had lifted to catch her staring, lips parted and body tense. Flushing red at the sight of him studying her she had turned away, frantic for something else to catch her eyes. Even after returning to their camp, to the food they had abandoned and their ship still tethered to the water she could not get the jitters to fade.

"You wanted to go." Sasuke snapped when Rasu keened once more, his pathetic whines for compassion thrown back at him with Sasuke's displeasure. "You wanted to go with her. If anything, blame her." He glared at Hinata then, sitting with Rasu's head on her lap and her boots pointing to the fire where another pot of stew was simmering, hopeful to thaw her cold toes.

Wrinkling her nose she traced Amaterasu's features with deft fingers. "I said I would go alone."

"Hn." His grunt signified much and Hinata frowned deeply, rubbing a little more roughly on Rasu's dark head.

"You... you did not have to come with me, I know that you dislike it when I ..." The words were out of her mouth before she let herself think through their consequence too much and Sasuke simply raised a brow, shaking his head very slightly as he glared from the other side of the fire. Little flames danced within his dark eyes and Hinata forced herself to look back at him, at least for a moment before lowering her gaze.

"When you help?" He waited, the feel of his gaze as heavy as a hand on her head and sighing deeply she glanced up, saying nothing.

"They did not seem particularly thankful." Behind him the day had worn on and was turning to dusk, a whole day had been wasted on their adventure. With Rasu ill and needing rest and Hinata herself sleep deprived and shivering, most of the day had been spent drinking water and trying to warm up by a relit fire. The suns did not last as long in the sky in the north and already darkness was hinting at coming, bits of the moon peeking eerily through the gray blue of the sky.

"I do not do it for their gratitude." Hinata grumbled, her tone just exasperated enough to draw an unseen smirk to Sasuke's face that he hid with a turn of his head. "That little girl will not die, no more children will and that is enough."

Unable to reply with anything in response to that Sasuke poked at the fire, watching as cinders rose in the cool air. The scent of the resin within the lingering needles of the branches they burned was still new enough to seem like perfume and he welcomed it. The stench of burning spider clung to his nose despite the thorough scrub he had given himself at the edge of the river, wringing soot and dust from the rag every time he rubbed his skin.

There would be no sleeping for him, and that was fine. Already, Hinata looked worn, the dark circles beneath her eyes reminding him of the paleness and thinness of her face not long ago.

"You should sleep, while you can." He murmured finally by way of peace offering. "At first light we should continue on down river."

"Will you wake me when it's my turn to watch?" Already leaning against Rasu Hinata sighed, eyes heavy as his warmth seeped into her.

Sasuke did not reply, watching as she waited in silence until her breaths grew soft and regular with rest before rising to throw her cloak over her.

It had wrapped around her waist while she dozed with a hand in the water of the river.

Baiting.

She had been baiting. Her fingers had likely looked like edible morsels and in her growing defeat with the lack of suns to warm her skin she had let down her guard.

Black above, black below, black all around. The only point of light ever in the never ending horror of the mountain's catacombs was the Star.

Sasuke's veins glowed. They shimmered in the expanding ebony that was now her world. They sparked beneath his skin in patterns like elegantly twisting roots, thin and beautiful along his cheeks and forehead, pulsing with growing thickness at his wrists and jugular.

Sometimes she wondered if beneath his tunic at his chest the light condensed where his heart beat. Would she be blinded if she ever saw him bared?

These thoughts, lazy and morose had been tossed from her head at the sudden sharp squeeze around her middle. Her sore joints protested, her lungs choked at the force of the thing that now held her tightly.

Before she could scream it dragged her from the boat.

Tentacles, ribbons of them twisted in the water around her wrists, around her ankles. Bone white and almost translucent they threaded through the darkness in barely visible swirls, sliding over her throat, curling around her neck, prying at her lips for entry.

More terrifying than the touch of the creature now knocking to enter her body and tear her apart was the look on Sasuke's face at the sight of her being dragged into the water.

Terror.

He was terrified.

Her body had gone rigid beneath her cloak and curled around her like a furnace Rasu shifted, lifting his head to examine his sleeping mother with one open gold eye. The fire had gone out, it's glowing embers the only flickers of light but for the moon that shimmered down over their camp.

No scream rose in her mouth despite the fear that woke her. Teeth clenched and back painfully tight, Hinata stared into the dark, searching the shadows for his shape and finding nothing.

Slowly, she opened her mouth, feeling the shift of her clenched jaw so the joint cracked painfully. Her nightmares were grinding away at her teeth. Every night since entering the belly of the mountain to escape the Scaled Worm's Palace the horrors came to her mind. Memories she tried not to think of but which refused to stay in the depth of her heart.

Hand lingering at her side, where her hunting knife still lay sheathed she pushed up slowly onto her elbow and breathed to calm herself, to dispel the pressure in her chest while Rasu nuzzled her with his wet nose.

It was not like Sasuke to let the fire go out. His presence alone seemed to keep the flame alive, dancing to the rhythm of his wayward thoughts, blazing with his frustrations and irritations. So, with the flames asleep and the darkness deep where had he gone?

Rising slowly to a crouch, and then as silent as the breeze to her feet Hinata moved towards her bow now discarded beneath the cloak that fell from her shoulders.

The cry made Rasu's own ears prick, turning into the darkness of the wood to listen. It was a man's cry but not Sasuke's. This voice was terrified, a howl of shock and then a long string of curses before the words became impossible to understand in their terror.

"Hunting." Hinata muttered, grabbing the bow and setting off at a brisk trot towards the sound. "He's hunting."

In the shadows of the trees the moonlight spilled like milk among the needled branches, leaving spots of brightness in the clearings and spaces where the canopy dispersed. He was not far into the black. Looking elegant and slim despite the power of his shoulders and back he pinned the man to the tree trunk by the neck. This alone would be a painful thing, with the rough scales of the tree overlapping like armor and sharp as raw metal his back would be in ribbons if Sasuke dragged him along it.

Wincing, Hinata recognized Headman Oicken's face because of the beard. The fear would have rendered him a new creature but for that distinguishing feature.

"You must have a death wish, to be hunting a Star your village has so foolishly insulted." Sasuke murmured when his grip finally silenced the man hanging from it.

Hinata bit her lip, watching as Oicken's eyes flashed to her and back to Sasuke, the whites showing with his fear.

"P-please, Fallen One. I... I beg your forgiveness. I came to help." Choked and barely understandable he gasped, earning a frown from both Hinata and Sasuke's brows. Like dropping something filthy Sasuke let go, stepping away the way a panther moves.

Coughing hoarsely Oicken flopped onto his back on the forest floor, chest rising and falling rapidly.

"Speak quickly." Sasuke snapped, glancing at Hinata stiff as a young sapling in the shadows where she watched, her pale eyes luminous and wide as an owl's in the dim light. "You have woken us from slumber."

"Forgive me." Oicken rose to his knees, rubbing at his neck where bruises would form later. "I come bearing information. You seek Hell's Maw, is that not true? I know not where it is but, I may know someone who does."

Brows furrowed Sasuke watched him breathe for a long moment, calculating the trustworthiness of his face before turning to leave.

Walking past Hinata without a word he stormed towards camp, leaving her to smile tentatively at the confused man he left behind. "Come, Headman Oicken. Let us have some tea."

"It will not be long before my village exiles me and all my kin." Oicken swallowed the tea that Hinata offered. The fire was already blazing at her return. With Sasuke's presence it flared and sprang to life like a disgruntled peacock on display. Rasu, still feeling less than well remained with his head on his paws, studying the escapades of his parents with a sort of amused exasperation.

"For sending us after the...thing?" Hinata mulled over what to call Portia. To call her a river god was abhorrent. To call her a monster seemed childish. Thing seemed the only correct title for a creature that ate children or enslaved them.

"Yes." Oicken sighed, staring at his reflection in the sturdy tin cup filled with the fragrant blooms and dried bits of flowers he had never seen in his northern lands. It smelled better than it tasted, but it was warm and sat in his freezing intestines with a sort of comforting blaze. "I am sorry for the hand I played in that... but my granddaughter..." he winced.

Sasuke remained brooding in silence, arms crossed and face shadowed just out of the edges of the fire's blaze. Hinata ignored him, smiling a little weakly at Oicken from her place in the firelight, arms wrapped around her knees making her seem smaller. "We volunteered. Or...I did, rather-" she mumbled, dropping her gaze to the ground. Sasuke made a stern noise that cut off her ramblings.

"What do you know of Hell's Maw?"

Oicken swallowed, not his tea but his nerves as he glanced towards the Star, lowering his gaze quickly as Hinata had.

"We heard of you coming from the South, touching on all the settlements along the river banks from a trader known as Ookbe. He wanders up and down the Northern Isles, along the coast and through the river on canoe through the summer and spring." he swallowed. "His tribe is nomadic and lives in the far reaches of the North, along the tundra's outskirts... he says they are the last people before the Circle."

Hinata frowned at the way he spoke, his hesitation and nerves. "The circle?" With a tilt of her head she let her eyes focus more carefully on his face, watching as his mouth pinched beneath his furry mustache.

"The Circle, Ookbe says is the perimeter none of his tribe dare to enter. It is hundreds of miles wide and stretches through moor and tundra alike, with ruins at it's center. Though how he would have this information, I know not. He claims his tribe have forbidden entry and will stop wanderers from passing the unmarked borders of the Circle."

"Why?" Hinata took the word from Sasuke's mouth, his heart already rushing with the knowledge that now they were onto something.

"Because..." Oicken's left eye twitched lightly as he lifted the tea and sipped. "Because Ookbe says at the center is the gate to the third realm."

"Hell's Maw." Sasuke murmured to himself, pressing a thumb to his lip lightly as he thought. Hinata pursed her mouth tightly together, brow furrowed as she studied Oicken some more.

"Yes. It is nearly time for his tribe to gather back North. With the rivers growing colder it is no longer safe for them in their small canoes. Falling into the water midwinter results in a quick death. If you follow the river to the sea, and then the coast further north that is where his tribe is said to dwell. "

For a moment there was silence as Hinata and Sasuke contemplated this new information. They had been told that if Hell's Maw was anywhere it would be north. Always north. Stories had risen from village elders of holes that led to hell. Ancient crevices where the demonspawn were able to sneak out of their realm to make the hybrids which became more common the further north one wandered. These stories were often edged with unreliable embellishments. The only thing that was of consistent nature was the claim that North was the way to go. Always north.

"Would you tell me what there is to face in the South?" Oicken finally dared, nodding his thanks to Hinata as he passed her the empty cup. "I fear with the village growing their hate for me having a hand in the slaying of their god I will need to have a plan. My son, my wife, my daughter in law and their children... they cannot survive the winter without the village. But we also will not have a choice to stay. I must find something...somewhere else."

Hinata put the cup down absently, glancing at Sasuke who was clearly no longer paying attention, his thoughts retreating deep within where she could no longer read them on his eyes or face.

"The back of the Scaled Worm's Mountain is coated in frost from crown to shoulders. Below it the earth is still dark and the forest thick but there are signs of hybrids in the land. We were not at the mountain base long enough to encounter many, but enough." She swallowed.

"You climbed over the mountain?" Oicken leaned forward, one part curiosity and one part desperation. "Would we manage it before the winter came?"

"We did not climb." Hinata whispered then, blinking away flashes of memory that filtered through her thoughts. A darkness impenetrable and ravenous, a black so deep it ate at her soul.

"We went beneath." Sasuke put in suddenly, surprising her that his interest still lingered on their conversation. Oicken lifted his face to the Star then, mouth open in surprise. "Beneath? Is it passable? How long did it-?"

"We do not know." Sasuke lifted a hand to the fire, and Hinata watched as she always did as the flames danced across his skin and instead of burning lit the veins within to glowing silver that seemed to grow hyper with the heat.

"The pass beneath may have taken us days, or weeks. Time did not move normally. Do not go beneath the mountain." His eyes slid, like the blood had slow and thick over his face in the darkness of the catacombs, towards Hinata. "No one should ever go into that place."

Holding his gaze, Hinata let out a breath that whispered with mist as the cold reached its greedy fingers and wrapped themselves tight around her heart.

"Go over. Leave now. Follow the river up. If you are lucky you will reach the mountain before the snows are falling. If you are not the base is not an unsafe place to stall for the winter. There is game, and water. If you are quiet and maintain a close watch over your kin you should not attract the attention of those things which might make a meal of you. Once the snow thaws go over and to the palace of the Scaled Worm." Pushing away from the tree he had been leaning on, Sasuke motioned to the man towards the darkness of the forest. Their meeting was over.

"The Scaled Worm?" Oicken stood, dry lips pulled down at the corners with anxiety. "But-"

"He has been defeated." Hinata whispered softly, to ease his trepidation. "There will be two who lead there who go by the name of Kabuto and Anko. Tell them we sent you. They will have shelter and food for you in exchange for work."

"Work?" Oicken stepped back as Sasuke's menacing stare sharpened. "What... what kind of work?"

"Kabuto and Anko are friends." Hinata soothed still, unmoving from her place at the fire as he stepped towards the dark. "The work will be fair, and contribute to the feeding of the people who they care for. Which shall include you, and your kin if all comes to pass as I pray it would."

Bowing half heartedly Oicken nodded, eyes shifting nervous from Sasuke to Hinata and back.

"I...I thank you, Lord Star... Princess Hinata."

Bristling at the last moment as he turned and ran Hinata sighed, annoyed with the title that seemed determined to follow her.

"Who do you pray to?" Sasuke's voice made her start, surprised as he turned to look at her, curiosity and arrogance mixed heavily on his face. "Who do you pray to now that you slay gods?"

"That was no god." Hinata muttered, noting that she sounded much like he had earlier in the day, throwing the head of Portia at the villager's feet. "But something created the realms, something breathed us all to life." She shrugged, the movement awkward on her small shoulders as she studied the flames.

"Hm." He hummed, sliding down to sit a little ways from her.

Grumpily, Rasu rose and came to curl around her again, flopping his massive head on Sasuke's lap so that the star grunted with displeasure. Smiling, Hinata watched him berate the relaxed horkney in scathing tones. Despite his bristling nature he too was proof of there being something godlike, after all...

Something great must have made you.

TBC