Title: Behind the Mask
Author: rallybabe89
Rating: G ( K )
Challenge: Fearless Hearts
Pairing: ItaHina

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Dying, that's what everything around Hinata was doing. The trees, the grass, the pretty blue flowers (that reminded her of the boy who she was risking her life for) and her teammates were all dying.

Her team had been trailing Itachi and Kisame for a while but during the chase Hinata had split up from Kisame and her boys, Kiba and Shino, while keeping tabs on Itachi. She knew that if she could follow the Uchiha then her long time crush would be able to get his best friend back. She was doing well up until she saw two swirling red dots then everything became dead and dark.

Hinata didn¢t fear death for herself. In fact she welcomed death everyday of her life since the dreaded day her father left her to train with Kuranei sensei. Waking up every day to hear her father¢s taunts and to be eyed with glares and belittling expressions hurt her. Being subjected to her cousin¢s hatred openly since the chuunin exams so many years ago, made her sad when she hadn¢t actually died that time. She would love an easy escape called death. Hinata didn¢t fear death but that didn¢t mean she was fearless.

The one thing she did fear was leaving this world without making an impact or being strong enough to save her friends. And right now she was living her worst fear, becoming a burden on her dying teammates.

And Itachi knew that and used that to his full advantage.

As his active Sharingan spun, trapping the Hyuuga heiress in a self imposed prison, he contemplated whether he could ever invoke that fear in real life.

He wondered if he had the heart to break and shatter the delicate person that Hinata was.

But as he watched her struggle against the bindings that her own mind had put on her body, he saw that she was much stronger than he was. Her fear was also her biggest strength, turning her weakness into her desire to become better. Her strength also provoked his fear; fear that he had done wrong by murdering his clan and listening to the Elders.

To him, she had the innocent mindset that everything that the village and the elders did was right. She believed that her family and clan could never be wrong.

But then again Itachi hadn¢t been watching the heiress battle her own kin against the threads of destiny. After all Hinata had fought against her clan and the elders before. She had tried to fight her cousin and knock it into his head that the clan could be changed without violence. She was innocent to avoid murder but she still fought against the Council and the elders when they tried to give Hanabi the title of heir.

The cool autumn wind smacked him hard across the face as he realized that indeed the sweet and innocent Hinata was breaking away from his Sharingan, a feat that only the pink-haired apprentice of the Hokage had done before.

Breathing the fresh scent of the darkening forest in, he released his Sharingan and looked at the frail yet much more powerful being that lay on the ground in front of him.

Walking slowly over to her, he wiped off her sweat and helped her up. Smiling slightly he let her lean on him as she had no power to fight him or escape.

Even if she wanted to escape, he couldn¢t let her.

Hinata opened her eyes and saw the smiling face of Itachi. For a moment she was shocked and tried to tell her that her mind was playing tricks on her again but when she had no strength and leaned herself on him she came to the conclusion that she couldn¢t even fight him.

Turning to see his newly exposed face, Hinata could see years being lifted off of the nineteen-year-olds¢ face. The mask he wore to cause fear among others was lifted and Hinata could see the pain that was hidden behind it.

She summoned up her strength and wiped a tear from Itachi¢s eyes as she listened to his heart breaking tale of a clan, loyalty to a village and a brother who hated him beyond belief.

And that was the day that Hinata no longer feared anything as she left an impact on the Uchiha¢s heart. Maybe this wasn¢t really autumn but spring in disguise for the two of them, bringing a new beginning and a birth of a new relationship and understanding.

Because the death and destruction of autumn and winter prepared everyone to look forward to the birth that came with spring.