6.11

    Keeping the seals in my bones suppressed had never taken much conscious effort. The key Orochimaru provided drew from my chakra to suppress the ongoing kill effect. I should have asked this question before, but what would happen if I ran out of chakra? Well, as it turned out, the damn thing was trying to eat me alive in an excruciating way.@@@@

    A detached part of my mind watched the seal at work in fascination. I wasn’t a fan of the Snake Sannin, nor did I approve of his methods, even more so when those methods were directed at me, but I couldn’t deny that his work was exceptional. Beautiful even.

    It was a level of mastery I could only dream of. My seals looked like a patchwork of cobbled-together dirt. No, that was just my depressed side getting out of control. There wasn’t a good way to compare my seals with the Snake’s. They were different paradigms. Oro’s seal was like a well-oiled machine designed to use every iota of fuel available, while mine somehow had a better conversion rate. My seals had trouble converting the chakra into energy, but the small amounts it did, somehow had better output.

    All of that was to say that now – out of chakra – the seal was converting my life force into fuel to kill me. It was devious, brilliant, awesome, even. And it hurt like hell.

    I was aware of movement around me. I heard voices—one deep and rumbling, Karin’s gentle and insistent, others squeaky and chattering.

    “Bite, Hinata-chan,” Karin whispered, “but gently this time.”

    Even with the whole dying situation, that one threw me off kilter. Not hours ago, I had chomped down on her arms to the point we had to bandage the entire forearm to hide away the gruesome teeth marks. And now, here she was, offering me the other one. That inflicted me with a severe case of feelings. Not the good kind.

    I was tired of being the damsel.

    Teeth found flesh, and sweetness poured again in my mouth. I didn’t chomp this time. I wasn’t that far gone. The groan-slash-moan from Karin told me she wasn’t doing well either.

    The chakra top-off gave me enough to avoid the draining of my life force. It didn’t, however, stop the seal. For that, I had to work on the key again. But I had already done it once. I could do it again.

    Even if I was days too late to help, I could at least try to learn what happened with the rest of the team.

    No, that wasn’t the real reason. That was just the lie I told myself to make me feel better. What I was worried about was the revelations I learned from the laboratory. Was I a clone? I still thought I wasn’t, but on the not-zero chance I was, where was the original Hinata? Could she be, for example, being held, for years, in some dank, dark prison Orochimaru used to keep his captives? Like the one in the Land of Waves?

    My moving around attracted attention.

    A small shape approached from the darkness. It was also a tiny bundle of chakra. I placed the bowl down, sat up, and waited. It didn’t take long for the interloper— or was I the interloper?— to approach.

    Small — maybe a bit bigger than a Miniature Pinscher—, stocky, triangular head with beady eyes and small ears. Dark fur covered most of its face, with white hair from above its eyes to the end of its short tail. It had wicked claws on the front paws. It also wore what looked like a shinobi’s uniform, with dark-colored fabric covering parts of its body and a utility belt around its torso.

    A honey badger. A mini ninja honey badger.

    It stopped, got on its hind legs, and stared at me. Still stunned, I could only stare back. Why badgers, of all things? I wasn’t going to lie. It looked cute as heck. I wanted to pick it up, cuddle, maybe pet it.

    The badger raised its paw; its wicked claw pointed at my face—no, not at my face, at my eye—the one with the snake pupil. My hand moved, tracing the skin just beneath said eye. The badger tilted its head, tittered. It was so cute. Then it spoke, a soft, squeaky female voice.

    “Imma gonna gouge out that eye and eat it up.” The tittering rose into laughter. “Just wait till pops says you’re food.”

    I take back what I said. She wasn’t cute. She was freaking adorable! Like a creepy-cute-little-murder-ninja. I wanted to cuddle her. I might even have tried.