Demon's Bride Ch: 7

Hinata sighed softly as she lay in her bed. She felt warmth and protected as she slept. It was a terrible thing that she would have to get up from her bed soon so she could get ready for school though the young woman figured that maybe she could just enjoy this time in her bed just a little longer. Now that she thought about it, Hinata didn’t think that she had felt this much warmth this time of year from her bed which was saying a lot for her since her apartment was warm either way.

Letting out a soft sigh, the young woman slowly started to open her eyes as she tried to get herself to wake up. Hinata still had to get up, get dressed and make breakfast for herself and Naruto before she left. After all, the poor man was still trying to find a way to separate the two of them from the marriage law that had bounded the two of them…

Though at the same time, Hinata was a little sad about the whole thing. She was going to miss the company that Naruto brought her when she would get home from school every day… In fact, lately he had been very sweet. He had complimented her appearance the other day so she had stopped wearing glasses and keeping her hair pulled up like it had been normally for school. Giving a soft smile, the young woman sighed again when she thought back to when Naruto had told her a bit about himself, it had to have been hard for him to even share that much with her.

To think, he had to live with that every day… to have so much power that anyone and everyone wanted to kill him to take it for themselves. People only caring about him so they could get his fortune… then to have his original home taken away… there was no way that anyone could live through that without some kind of mental scaring or something else for that matter. Hinata didn’t think anyone for that matter would have managed that kind of life and yet, she felt like if that hadn’t have happened she wouldn’t have met Naruto in the first place. Not unless someone else was still after his power if he hadn’t been banished from this realm like he had been in the past.

Frowning a bit, Hinata wondered… if she could open his heart out a bit more. Maybe he would be able to trust other people, if she could gain his trust just to show that there are good people out there. People who could trust without wanting something in return for being his friend…? Smiling gently at the thought, Hinata let out a soft sigh as she thought to it. Allowing Naruto to know what it was like to let someone have his trust and their trust in return.

Yet… for some reason, she didn’t want him to trust other people like how he had gained her trust…? There was a great amount of trust that she, herself had in the fox demon man, but she knew that he also had a great deal of trust in her though… as for how much trust he had in her the young woman had no idea. Hinata closed her eyes once again for a moment as she tried to think… Naruto had changed a bit since he first woke up here when she was tending to his wounds. He was selfish, self-centered and so untrusting of others… Now though, it seemed like he was trying to change for her…

Why though? He’s had hundreds, no thousands of years to change, to earn trust of another and yet… he didn’t start to change until he met her… What was so special about her anyway? After all, she was just a human, humans didn’t have long lifespans, very much less like a demon’s who can live for millions of years it seems. No matter what, it just didn’t make sense to her that he would waste his time trying to help her when she couldn’t really do much for him other than to help him come out of the shell that he made for himself to keep him safe from any and all harm to his heart…

Shaking her head a little, Hinata tried to get herself out of bed and opened her eyes once again as she tried to push herself out only to feel something pull her back down and had wrapped something strong around her waist. Eyes widening for a brief moment, Hinata started to panic a little… She didn’t know what was holding her but felt nervous and scared that it was something terrible. Whatever was holding her couldn’t be good right now; she had to get away from whatever it was that was doing this right now.

Now, she felt something nuzzling her neck causing her to shudder. In a way, it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling but it still made her feel nervous as hell. Gulping a little, Hinata tried to turn her body around to face whatever it was that was holding her down right now. Inhaling deeply, Hinata slowly turned her head and stared in shock at what it was that was holding her… or, she should say, who was holding her.

Naruto was there, his eyes closed as he slept. Peaceful as if he belonged on the bed with her instead of the couch. Hinata did the only thing she could do… She screamed.

“What?!” Naruto shouted, his eyes had snapped open as if he was looking around as if trying to find a demon in the room and keep her safe. Hinata though just kept on panicking as she grabbed the nearest thing in her room… a lamp. “Hinata what are you doing with that lamp? OW!” She smashed it over Naruto’s head, causing him to fall over the bed and onto the floor. She had no idea how he got into her bed or why for that matter… “Hinata! What was that for?! Don’t you remember what happened last night?!”

Blinking a little, the young woman frowned as she tried to remember what it was that happened last night…

Hinata was having a nightmare… dreaming of a demon rushing at her trying to kill her… or worse, devour her. The young woman kept on trying to run as she tried, prayed, hoped, to escape from the demon’s clutches. Yet no matter what she did, the young woman just couldn’t escape and screamed as the demon shot something at her. Hinata shot up screaming, well screaming bloody murder.

“Hinata?!” shouted Naruto as he kicked the door open, only wearing a pair of flannel pants that Hinata bought for him to wear since he complained about being too hot while he slept.

Hinata though kept on screaming as she tried to get away from the memories of the nightmare that had plagued her dreams. Rushing toward the screaming blue haired woman, Naruto wrapped his arms around her and placed her head on his chest and held onto her tightly. Not enough to hurt her, but enough to stop her thrashing as he tried to get her to relax and calm down. “Hinata, it’s okay! It’s only a nightmare, it can’t hurt you!” cried Naruto as he prayed his voice reached her in her panicked state.

Hinata’s screams started to grow softer and softer until she had finally, managed to stop. Tears though pooled in her eyes before spilling down her cheeks. “Naruto?” Hinata said with a sniffle as she looked up and tilted her head at him for a moment before wrapping her arms around his neck and sobbed softly. Naruto rubbed her back with one hand, and running his fingers through her hair with the other. Hinata sniffled as she remembered the nightmare that plagued her the last two nights. The first time though, it didn’t bother her as much because it was just a mere glimpse… this time though… it was more vivid and painful to the point that it brought physical pain to her.

“Hinata… what happened? You can tell me…” whispered Naruto as he soon started to rock her back and forth.

Sniffling, Hinata started her tale. The nightmare starting with her going to school… a strange shadow following her as if getting tabs or seeing when she would be alone. A strange demon, mostly its shadow going to attack her. The only thing that she didn’t understand was why it wanted to attack her in the first place. The young woman had said that the demon was saying something but she hadn’t been able to hear it properly… The only thing that made sense to her was what it wanted… It wanted to kill her in some way. Either by eating her, or by shooting its power at her much like how Naruto can control wind and fire, the demon can control something… though she wasn’t sure what it was as of yet.

Naruto of course listened to every word that she said about the nightmare. The young woman had even mentioned how the demon shot something at her before she woke up screaming. Blinking slowly, the young woman sniffled and wiped her eyes of her tears before she looked up and stared at him in shock… he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

Blushing darkly, Hinata looked away yet Naruto kept a firm hold of Hinata wanting to make sure that she was safe and comforted. Hinata blinked her tears back hoping that she would be able to stop the tears from flowing. “Hinata… I won’t let anything happen to you, or hurt you for that matter.” Naruto whispered softly as he pulled her closer to his chest. In fact, the young woman sniffled a little; she felt so much comfort from Naruto holding her… She could even hear his heart beating under her ear.

“Please stay Naruto… I… I’m scared it’ll come back. I know it’s childish but…” Hinata whispered softly, knowing that it indeed, sound a bit childish but the nightmare had really shaken her up. In a way it almost reminded her of the nightmare she had before Naruto came into her life though she didn’t bother to question it right now.

“Hinata… I don’t see it as a childish thing. You’re scared… I’ll stay until you fall asleep okay?” Hinata looked up at Naruto for a moment, as if trying to see if he really meant his words though to be honest she didn’t find one trace of dishonesty. He was being honest, caring and trying to care for her in her time of fear. Naruto’s eyes were a little hazy as he whispered “I never want to see you so full of fear Hinata. Seeing that… it… it…” Tightly shutting his eyes, the young man tried to get himself to relax and breathe deeply trying to get the words to come forth.

“I care about you a great deal Hinata… after all I… I…” He stopped himself from speaking. The young woman couldn’t be sure what it was that he was going to say though it also seemed like he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Hinata frowned a little as she went to reach up to try to comfort him enough to say what it was that he had to say. “I care about you, because you’re my best friend.” Hinata frowned a little as she tried to think on what it was that he was really going to say…

Though figured that maybe it was best not to bother him about it for now. If he was comfortable wanting to say it he would have already. Letting out a soft yawn, Hinata rubbed her eyes as she felt Naruto lower her on the bed until her head on resting on the pillow. “Sleep Hinata, you’re tired and I promised to stay here until after you fell asleep.” Hinata just smiled gently at him before whispering her thanks to him and started to drift off to sleep.

She never knew that Naruto would come so far from how he was now trying to do what he could to comfort her… Even though it was nothing more than a nightmare, but at the moment she was just happy that he would do what he could just to keep her safe and happy. Soon, Hinata had drifted off into a blissful sleep.

Hinata blushed a little at the memory… Naruto must have fallen asleep after she did… It made sense that he would since after all he did wake up in the night from her screaming all because of a terrible nightmare. “I’m sorry…” whispered Hinata as she went to help Naruto up onto his feet. She’ll have to make it up to him when she gets home from her classes. Taking a deep breath, she walked with Naruto to the kitchen and started to make them some breakfast.

***

Hinata sighed softly as she started to make her way to the library to gather some books for her project. Ever since Naruto had complimented her on her appearance without her hair being pulled back or wearing those big glasses on her she stopped doing it completely. Sakura had asked her why she stopped doing that and Hinata just said that Naruto believed she looked better without them. Though, Sakura assumed that Naruto threatened her to stop wearing them. Hinata of course had a hard time explaining that he didn’t force her at all, he was shy telling her that in the first place and she made the choice on her own.

Now though, she couldn’t help but wonder why she felt a sense of dread. No matter what she just couldn’t shake the feeling that something big was going to happen. There was anything really, that could happen but she just couldn’t figure out what it was. ’Or maybe it’s because I keep thinking about that stupid nightmare…’ thought the young woman before shaking her head. She had to stop thinking about it because that was when she found Naruto on her bed this morning.

Letting out a soft sigh, Hinata ran a hand through her hair as she was surprised how odd it felt to not have her hair pulled back anymore… Yet, at the same time it felt right now to have it pulled back. Giving a small smile, the young woman kept on walking toward the library as she wondered if they had books on the central nervous system. That was what she wanted to focus on for her project just like how the nerves can cause pain when a person believes they are in pain when really, they aren’t.

It was amazing just how the brain and nerves can control pain, pleasure, joy, anger or anything really and the nerves will react to the muscles in the body which can also cause the person pain if they believe there is pain in the body.

Maybe that’s what’s happening to Naruto? He looked like he was in pain before she left for her classes earlier… She did ask him if he was okay but he kept denying that he was in any kind of pain at all and told her to just go. It had her worried when he would try to hide his pain though that was also assuming he was really in pain in the first place. Rubbing the back of her neck, the young woman wondered if demon’s had the same kind of systems as they did, it was a little hard to tell since he could change his forms even though he only told her that he could change forms…

Why do demons have to be so confusing sometimes?

Maybe he was in pain because he takes such long periods of time before he would feed again? That was the only thing that she could think of since he did hold onto his stomach before she left… She would have to get him to feed when she got home, there was no way that she was going to let him starve, even if he told her that he couldn’t really starve to death from not eating chakra when he could easily live off of normal food.

Letting out a soft sigh, the young woman arrived at the library and started to look around for the right book for her project. The library was huge, rows among rows of books that reached the thirty foot ceiling to the floor. It was hard to get some of the books sometimes since most of them were so high up but at least there was a lift that helped to get the higher up books than a ladder or else there was a high chance of falling to the floor and possibly breaking her neck.

Shuddering at the thought, Hinata made her way to the shelf that held onto cards that told her where certain books were. It would take a while to gather all the books on the nervous system but at least it was something that would be perfect for the project. She didn’t really expect an A+ on her project but she just hoped that it would be a passing grade. After all, there were better students here than herself.

Smiling, she grabbed the right card she needed before making her way over to the correct section of the library that she needed… This was at the far back of the library. Did anyone ever use this area at all or had it been forgotten…? Maybe people were just too lazy to even bother coming back here to get books anymore and it just served to piss people off enough to not even bother going back here. It was a good possibility anyway.

Inhaling softly, Hinata went on the platform and started to make her way high up near the top shelf and grabbed one of the many books that she would need. As she collected books, Hinata couldn’t help but think about Naruto…

Was he okay? Did he need to feed? Was he bored that he had nothing to do at home because she didn’t really have all that much to do in the first place? Maybe… though she hoped that he was okay. She could call him after getting the books to make sure that he was okay. It had to be hard for him to just stay at home more so, when he was in pain. Rubbing her forehead, Hinata grabbed the last of the books that she needed before she heard a voice calling out her name. Frowning, she looked around until she saw someone on another platform staring at her. His green eyes glowed in the darkened area of the library which made her nervous right now.

His eyes were almost toxic looking…

“Hello Hinata Hyuuga… I hope you had fun… on your last day of living…” Said the man before he smirked at her.

Hinata screamed and hit the button to lower the lift and get herself to the ground. The man though jumped from his perch and aimed right for her hoping to grab her. Acting quickly, Hinata ducked, holding onto the bars as she prayed that he wouldn’t have been able to get a hold of her. The demon cursed but then there was a dark laughter as she looked below wondering what he was going to do. Was he just going to wait for her or was it something else?

Eyes widening Hinata saw the man placing his palm on the lift’s support beam that held the platform up. His hand glowing acid green as he started to melt the metal! Hinata cried as the platform started to fall forward. Bracing herself, she held onto the bars and once it was close to hitting the ground, he jumped, rolled onto the ground though winced a bit when her heel on her shoe broke. Removing her shoes quickly, Hinata started to run.

“What’s the matter? I just want to have some… fun… before I drain you of chakra!” shouted the man as he started the chase.

Hinata ran as fast as she could. The fall had caused her to scrape her knee a bit when she landed but at least she had learned some pain tolerance thanks to all of those beatings. Scrapes were nothing compared to bruised ribs or a broken arm.

Running even faster, Hinata tried to find a place that she could get to, anywhere really that she would be able to hide. Making a sharp turn, the young woman made a way toward the exit… only to scream when the man appeared from the window. “Now, now… I can’t have you just run outside yet, I have so much fun in store for you!” shouted the man as he made his claws grow and sharpen and slashed at her. Hinata tried to block the attack but thought better of it and made a break for it. Sadly, the man’s claws had slashed her arm. Blood staining her sleeves as it poured from the wound.

Wincing from the pain, Hinata started to run once more, holding onto her wounded arm hoping to stop the bleeding. At least the wound wouldn’t cause her to bleed out since it wasn’t deep enough… It didn’t bubble like the steel beam from the man’s acid touch but… no she didn’t even feel worse pain than before so he couldn’t have poisoned her so leave that idea out for now.

Gasping for breath, Hinata looked out to the window and decided to take a chance. The floor wasn’t that high off the ground… She could handle the second floor but any higher would kill her. Taking the chance, the young woman jumped out of the window letting out a scream. Landing in the bushes, she made a chance to make a break for it only to scream and fall over and gasp for air. Her ankle, she must have sprained it from the fall… Did her foot hit the ground when she landed or had it been a little sore from the first fall she did? She had no idea but now making a break for it was only going to get tougher for her.

“Looks like the lamb can’t get away now hm? That ruins the fun! Chasing you was so much fun and now you can’t get away…” The man said as he jumped from the window and let out a sigh and a pout. What was with this guy?! “Oh well, I think it is better if I drain you of your chakra now while I still have a chance to. My boss wanted your chakra when you were ready but I think I’ll have more fun with you.” He had this crazed grin on his face as he walked over to Hinata and grabbed her by her wounded arm causing her to scream out in pain.

“Let go!” cried Hinata as she struggled in his grasp.

The man just smirked as he said “pray… pray to your god or whatever and beg that I Gaidoku will release you.” Hinata begged and pleaded that Naruto would come and rescue her. The demon smirked as he said “whoever this Naruto person is, I don’t think he would be able to save you from me.” Laughing he tossed Hinata like a rag doll as she rolled on the cement sidewalks that went either toward the school or out through the gates.

Rolling on the pavement, Hinata winced… her right arm felt like it was broken… her left arm was still bleeding and she felt that the fall may have caused some bruising on her ribs. Carefully grabbing onto her right arm, Hinata tried to get up though it seemed that she couldn’t manage that with her ankle being sprained from the fall. Tears sprang to her eyes as she tried to get herself to stand… tried to get herself to get up and make a break for it though it seemed that she would only end up falling over from her attempts.

“Having any fun yet? I know I am! It’s so much fun to beat up humans before I devour their chakra!” laughed Gaidoku like a child in a candy store. Hinata looked up at him, her lavender coloured eyes filled with tears as she stared at the demon. “Awe, don’t worry! After I drain you of chakra I won’t let your body go to any waste! You do have an amazing body for a human that I will always have fun with you even after you’re dead!”

Eyes widening in horror, Hinata tried to crawl away, screaming out for Naruto’s name. Screaming for him to save her before this monster killed her! Was this what demons were like in Naruto’s realm? Were they just monsters that loved to feed off of humans until they died or was there only a few like that? Either way, she was scared, scared out of her mind. ”Naruto!!!!!!”

Just as the demon was about to reach out to feed on Hinata, something orange zipped by and grabbed her. Hinata blinked in shock as she looked up and stared at the face that she had wanted to see. “N… Naruto…” whispered Hinata with tears in her eyes. Naruto though looked down, his once blue eyes red as crimson as he held her up onto her feet causing her to wince from her ankle. “Naruto you came…” whispered Hinata. He didn’t answer… instead, he was inspecting her. Noticing the scrapes, bruises, and the blood that stained her clothes. Then of course her broken arm… the more injuries he saw, the more he growled within his chest and the more deadly it became.

“So… you’re Naruto? To be honest, didn’t think you’d be a demon. Maybe we can both feed on this girl. My master wanted her but I thought that maybe I should have her instead after all, a beautiful woman should be fed with caution.” Said Gaidoku with a grin on his face.

Carefully, Naruto set Hinata down on the ground, leaving her his jacket before he turned around and growled at the demon. “You… how dare you hurt Hinata. How dare you scare her, make her cry!” Naruto’s nine tails soon sprouted from his back, his nails sharpening into claws, his fangs growing to overlap his lower lip. The wind whipping around him so much that it was amazing that he could even breathe at this point. “I’ll fucking rip you apart! Do you hear me?! I’ll rip you apart until there is nothing left of you! I’ll fucking kill you, you son of a bitch!”