The Lilac Heiress & The Bronze Trident

Silence Disrupted By Screeching

Chapter Four:

Hinata stood, her lilac eyes scanning everyone for fatal injuries, as they stood up with pained groans while an aircraft grabbed Wiress' dead body and lifted her up into the aircraft. Johanna glared at her with hate and jealousy blazing in her chocolate brown eyes as Finnick, Peeta, Katniss, and Beetee looked at her with awe and amazement. She blushed under all the attention and turned to Akamaru who barked angrily at the glaring Johanna. "A-Akamaru! Calm down, please!" She demanded with her soft, angelic, and gentle voice raised up in a soft yell. Akamaru looked up to see the Hyūga frowning down at him and he whimpered, laying down and looking down in shame. It didn't matter if he disappointed people he didn't know or hated, but disappointing Hinata, Kiba, Shino, or Kurenai-sensei hurted, especially Hinata. She sighed and placed a gentle hand on his head, ruffling it slightly in hopes to assure him that she wasn't mad at him, as she softly whispered so only he could hear her, "Gomenasai, Akamaru, I shouldn't have yelled at you." Akamaru whined as he looked up at her, silently telling her that it wasn't her fault at all; she was trying to keep him from attacking the brash woman after all. He barked and gave what looked like a toothy grin at Hinata who giggled, smiling brightly at the ninken. She looked back up to see Finnick return with bloodied wire and watched as he cleaned it off with Beetee looking down as if praying that his district partner would have a happier life wherever her soul decides to reside in. "Well," Johanna started while discreetly glaring at Hinata, "We're fucked." Hinata inwardly rolled her eyes and looked around, taking everything in and as minutes passed, her lilac eyes narrowed in thought. Wait a minute, she reminsced as she walked towards a tree, ignoring everyone's questioning stares, and jumped up the branches until she reached the very top. The wind caressed her as her hair fluttered to her left, her eyes on the arena. Slowly, veins bulged from her temples all the way to the corner of her eyes, lines pronouncing her pupils ever so slowly. Her vision faded of color and imerged into black, white, and grey as it stretched all around and beyond her. She felt her lips lift and she questioned this until a realization hit her.

She was smirking. And at how she got her theory right: this arena was a clock.

She jumped down from her perch on the tree and landed onto the ground in a low crouch and slowly-gracefully-stood up, her Byakugan deactivated. She made her way towards the group until she saw Johanna glaring, ready to strike a growling Akamaru with her axe. Hinata, in a flash, was in front of Akamaru, her Byakugan activated as she gave the famed Hyūga glare at Johanna, her palm stopping the axe in mid-swing with chakra pumping into the axe's blade so she wouldn't get wounded. The shock of Hinata's speed and blocking the axe faded slowly from the District Seven victor and in turn, turned into a furious glare that met the Hyūga glare full on. "You dare to hurt my ninken?" Hinata asked with such calm, it scared the group watching the interaction between the loud, sarcastic woman and the shy, gentle teenage girl. In response, Johanna growled in anger, "You dare stop me from doing so? You're mutt needs to be kept in line." Hinata grunted in disappointment, her Byakugan deactivating as she shook her head. "Are you sure my 'mutt' needs to be kept in line? Or is it just you?" Was her intelligent retort, her eyebrow raised in question, as her face showed nothing. Johanna growled loudly, her eyes blazing with anger, before throwing a fist aimed for Hinata's face. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as Johanna's fist neared Hinata and Hinata activating her Byakugan. Hinata simply leaned back from the punch and twirled, her hand still on the axe, as she brought her right heel towards the back of Johanna's neck while her left leg attacked Johanna's side...where her kidney was. Johanna yelped in pain and Hinata grunted before throwing her weight back, making both of them fall. She bent her back with her hands pressed against the too-warm-for-comfort beige sand and in one fluid motion, made a handstand and twirled, throwing Johanna off and threw her axe that was now in her hand, the axe flying towards Johanna. The axe grabbed Johanna's shirt and harshly pinned her against the tree with Hinata cartwheeling so she stood upright. She turned towards Akamaru and checked if Johanna injured him. She was glad that he was alright, but turned towards Johanna, her eyes narrowing dangerously. She said one thing that made everyone shiver with how her voice dripped with annoyance and the foreshadowing threat in her words,

"Do not underestimate me."

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

The group set up camp in the beach and Finnick and Katniss went to go find food, leaving Beetee, Johanna, Peeta, Hinata, and Akamaru at camp. Silence hovered above them in its uncomfortably cold embrace, their eyes away from each other, as Hinata stroked a sleeping Akamaru's head that sat on her lap. Her head was down, watching Akamaru sleep peacefully and she inaudibly sighed, her eyes dimming in sorrow. I hope they're all right, she thought as she thought back to her friends that were fighting in the gruesome war of her homeworld.

"Katniss!"

She looked up and watched as Peeta ran towards a crying Katniss, only to stumble from the forcefield placed between him and her. "Katniss! It's not real! You're going to be okay! Just hold on, I'll get you out! Just please hold on!" Peeta yelled reassurances as Katniss sobbed and screamed and banged on the forcefield with Finnick banging as well, his eyes screwed shut. Katniss slid down to her knees, screaming, as she grabbed fistfuls of her hair with eyes screwed shut. The forcefield collapsed and Peeta immediately scooped Katniss in his arms as Finnick just sat there with dead eyes. Hinata walked up to him and kneeled to his level, her lilac eyes shining with concern for the Odair. "I-it sounded s-so...real," Finnick got out as he took deep, silent breaths. She frowned, "Finnick..." "S-she was screaming...Hinata, screaming, as if in agony...and I couldn't do anything about it." Finnick looked down, his bronze hair creating a shadow over his face. His body shook softly, tears falling onto the ground like drizzle of a rainstorm. "Annie..." He whispered solemnly as he silently cried. She hesitated before wrapping her arms around his neck and shoulders, caressing him like a mother would. She let him cry on her shoulder as he buried his face into her shoulder, his hands clutching the back of her tattered indigo shirt as if it were his lifeline. She rubbed his back soothingly, whispering words of comfort as she did so, thinking on what she had heard. Johanna, Beetee, nor Peeta heard what she heard. They didn't hear the agonized screams of Finnick and Katniss' love ones begging for mercy. They didn't hear the haunting cacophony those screams made. They didn't hear the silence that was disrupted by screeching.