AERY'S NOTE: Alrighty guys! Below these words is my first story. I'm so glad you've decided to give my story a chance and I hope I won't let you down!

Enjoy!

~AERYFORM:3

Disclaimer: AERY does not own Naruto.

AEON 1

UNTIL ETERNITY ENDS

"Sadao-sama, we have found your daughter."

The head of the Kogane clan looked up in mild surprise, taking a dainty sip from his china teacup. He surveyed the pair before him: an oriental-looking girl with a cache of weapons dangling from her clothing and a stony-faced Hyuga male bearing the infamously pale eyes and dark hair.

Who would have thought they'd actually find her?

His chambers were a somber dark gray, the only source of light and warmth coming from a flickering fire in the hearth, its ethereal glow illuminating an area of only a few feet in diameter. High-backed ornate chairs adorned with unearthly carvings set into onyx littered the cold marble floors, like fallen leaves on the ground. The curtains were drawn together and seemed to melt together with the shadows.

Slowly, he set the cup down with a clink and rose from his seat. "I see. You've finally made sense of the enigmatic clues?"

"Hai."

"And where do the trails point?" The Kogane Head arched an eyebrow.

"An abandoned temple right on the borderline of your land," the Hyuga reported.

"Did you investigate it yet?" Sadao asked, his voice suggesting a hint of threat.

The girl's eyes strayed towards the door, indicating that she'd rather be anywhere than here. "Not yet, Sadao-sama, but give us the order and we will go."

"No need." The Head swept up his robes and settled into an armchair by the fire.

"No need?" Tenten repeated but stopped when Neji gave her a warning look.

"None at all." He looked pained but his voice was steady. "You've done your work and now it's time for you two to return home."

Tenten frowned, deeply perplexed. "Sir, your daughter still hasn't been found and…"

"That's enough," Sadao commanded. "I thank you for your services and now you can leave. The Kogane clan is quite familiar with its territory and it would perhaps be better if you allowed us to retrieve her ourselves."

"Now look here," Tenten began hotly.

"Tenten, stop." Neji's eyes were fixated on the man. "We should just go."

Sadao nodded. "Here, take your pay and leave."

Neji caught the little leather bag with ease, shaking it a few times to ensure that it was full, and dragged his female partner out the door despite her protests.

He listened as they retreated down the hall, the female's voice rising to a pitch of fury as the Hyuga sternly chided her for being so meddlesome. Sadao only breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the heavy, cast-iron front doors slam shut behind them, the sound resounding throughout the mansion.

The Head of the Kogane Clan closed his eyes. They shouldn't have found her. She's supposed to be lost.

"She's not lost. She's right here."

Sadao's eyes flew open and landed on the little girl who had entered through the door the Konoha shinobi had just left through. She was a slight thing of six with straight black hair and the signature golden eyes of the Kogane clan. But they were…different.

Oh, dear God…

In her tiny hand she held a makeshift dagger, the blade as big as her palm but curved to a deadly point. Sadao recognized what it was.

I thought…the rumors said…

"It's your dear Daddy."

The whispery voice reverberated throughout the chamber, spoken by an invisible person.

Sadao swallowed as he stared into his daughter's eyes. "You're supposed to be…in the abandoned temple," he managed to say. "The shinobi…said…"

"They were mistaken."

The Head felt a shiver run down his spine. "I did as you asked! I did not disobey you!"

Yes, but your purpose in this life has been fulfilled. It's time for your reawakening.

"Go on, child," the voice persuaded. "You know why…"

"Immortality," the little girl whispered, her eyes devoid of any soul. She stroked the edge of her dagger, almost caressing it, almost lovingly.

"That's right. Eternal life that has no end. But to live you must…?" The voice trickled off, silently instructing the girl to pick up where it left off.

"Kill."

Sadao saw the silver streak of the blade before he felt it.

"Come join me in eternity."

.

.

Tenten stretched her arms high above her head, holding them loftily against the clear blue sky as she and Neji strode through the gates into Konoha a few days later.

"We should probably report to Tsunade before briefing Gai and Lee," Neji suggested.

"There's really nothing to report," Tenten pointed out. "It was only a C-rank mission, after all."

Neji nodded, agreeing with her. "Playing detective and sniffing around for clues concerning the disappearance of one little heiress isn't really my taste. I'm glad her family sent us away after we finally found the location."

Tenten looked doubtful. "Though they didn't seem competent enough. They should have allowed us to retrieve her."

"Relax," Neji ordered. "She was just in some old temple on the outskirts of their land, probably playing 'House' or something of the like."

"You're right," Tenten finally concluded. "As always," she added under her breath.

"I try." Neji smirked and they continued walking through the streets of Konoha, marveling the village in the morning sunlight.

The sun was just beginning to make an appearance over Hokage Mountain, bathing the village in a warm light, rousing the sleeping shinobi from their Dreamland. They left their warm beds reluctantly and greeted the new day with a yawn and sleepy eyes.

The pair trooped into Hokage Tower together, leaving their bags and weapons in a heap by the entrance and telling a startled Izumo to watch it, and headed up to Tsunade's office.

"You know," Tenten began as Neji placed a hand on the doorknob, "I just hope she's sober enough to comprehend our report…or else coming all this way would be wasted."

"Tenten, nobody gets drunk at ten in the morning." Neji said it as if it were the easiest thing in the world to understand.

He twisted the doorknob and allowed Tenten to go first, pulling it shut behind him. Tsunade was, in fact, sober but in a foul mood as Shizune was handing her a thick file of paperwork she needed to see to. She scowled up at the dark-haired lady and took a swig from the bottle at the corner of her desk, silently daring Shizune to protest.

"Shizune," the Hokage snapped bitterly as her assistant made one last fruitless attempt to pass over the papers, "just give it to me later." Tsunade's eyes focused onto Neji and Tenten and they brightened, perhaps glad that she now had a liable excuse to skirt her responsibilities. "Look, I've got to listen to a mission report so give the files to me later…after I've finished hearing about their failure."

Tsunade's amber eyes showed strained sympathy as she turned to look at them. "It's alright, kids. Sometimes you're bound to fail."

"Actually," Tenten spoke up, hurt that Tsunade would have such little faith in them, especially on such an easy mission, "we've succeeded. Kogane Sayuri of the Kogane Clan has been found."

"I see." Tsunade's eyes narrowed to slits as she exchanged an unreadable look with Shizune. Her face suddenly hardened. "Then, do enrich in me in full detail. Did you two find her?"

"We only discovered her location," Neji clarified. "She was in an old temple somewhere north of their estate. As we set out to retrieve her, the Head of the Kogane Clan insisted that we return, telling us that they could handle it from there."

"It was odd," Tenten remarked. "Normally clients want their money's worth. Any other mission and we'd be ordered to not only bring her back but to subsequently guard her for another week."

"Perhaps they have a secret they do not want outsiders to know about," Shizune spoke up, her tone harsher than usual.

"Perhaps," Neji echoed distractedly.

He knew Tenten could feel it, too. There was an unfamiliar aura in the air, one that was laden with a thickness that suffocated all sagacity. It was suspicious, looming over them like a monstrous bird of prey about to strike. But that was the wrong feeling, wasn't it? This was their Hokage, for crying out loud.

But still…

Maybe something happened while they were away, big enough to distress their leader in an unknown way but small enough to avoid telling others. Yet Neji doubted there was such an event.

If I could turn away just for a second…

"Hyuga Neji!" Tsunade's voice was dangerous. "Are you attempting to use the Byakugan on your Hokage?"

His face was empty as he bowed in respect. "Of course not, Hokage-sama. Perhaps you misinterpreted what you saw."

Tsunade studied him in silence before the anger vanished unexpectedly and she waved them away. "Yes, yes, that must be it. Thank you for checking in with me anyway. You're free to do whatever until later this afternoon."

Neji looked back at her. "What's going on this afternoon?"

"It's a secret," Tsunade announced, taking another gulp of the liquid encased in her bottle. "And even if it weren't, I still wouldn't tell you. It only concerns Tenten, after all."

Tenten glanced at her Hokage quizzically before nodding once and leading her partner out the door. Best not question her in this tense atmosphere, she thought to herself. For a strange reason, she was unnerved.

Tsunade waited until the door had shut all the way and the footsteps had retreated down the hall before turning to her assistant. "They're suspicious," Shizune said at once.

"I know." The Hokage stood up and walked over to the door, locking it.

"You shouldn't have sent a Hyuga on this mission. Byakugan," Shizune added.

"I know," Tsunade snapped, "but there were no other shinobi available. And I had to address the situation. More villagers would have gotten suspicious if I didn't."

"Instead there are only two."

"They may be young and too thickheaded to actually realize what's happening around them-" Tsunade broke off into a nasty chuckle. "-but that doesn't mean we drop our guard. We need to get rid of them. They're the only ones left."

"Well there is…"

But Shizune was cut off when Tsunade angrily swept the papers off her desk and sent them plummeting to the ground, creating a sound not unlike thunder. "No, there isn't. He left years ago. I've officially declared him a Missing-Nin and if he's so foolish as to return, I will kill him myself." Tsunade panted for a moment before easing herself into her chair, trying to regain her composure.

"As for the girl," she continued, "she will be taken care of this afternoon. Her skills are impressive for a seventeen year old and I will not let that go to waste. There's still time to change her perspective."

"And the Hyuga?" Shizune prompted.

"I'm not taking any chances with those prestigious clans. They're dangerous to me," Tsunade answered. She reached down and pulled up a heavy wooden chest. "He needs to go."

"How?"

Tsunade fitted the key into the keyhole and lifted the lid, smiling down at its contents. "Kill him, obviously.

.

.

Tenten rushed out of the Hokage Tower, only stopping to retrieve their bags and share a few muttered curses with Neji after discovering that Izumo had abandoned their belongings before gratefully stepping out into the sunlight.

"Neji…" She glanced at her teammate. "There was something strange. You felt it too, didn't you?"

Neji nodded.

"Did you discover anything? With your Byakugan?" She concentrated on the dirt they were walking upon.

"I couldn't…not without Tsunade catching me." Neji sighed and looked around at the other villagers.

"Everyone else looks completely normal," Tenten observed quietly, "but Hokage-sama and Shizune-san obviously aren't."

"Gai," he muttered, quickening his pace, "we can ask him. They were here the whole time, weren't they? They'll tell us."

Tenten nodded her approval and quickly followed him. "The Training Grounds…they'll be there."

"I know," he replied simply, not looking at her.

"What if something bad happened?" she wondered.

Neji gestured around them with a wide sweep of his arms. "Look around you, Ten. Does it look like something terrible happened?"

"Not exactly," Tenten admitted, "but there's just this feeling of foreboding."

He didn't answer her.

He didn't want to admit that she was right.

.

.

"You have returned!"

Lee consumed Tenten in a tight squeeze and sent Neji a blindingly white smile.

"Save your antics for later," Neji deadpanned, his pale eyes scanning the woodsy Training Grounds. "Where's Gai-sensei?"

"I do not know." Lee's bushy eyebrows drew together in confusion. "He told me that he was off to help Tsunade prepare for a meeting with the nominees and then ordered me to train here until you two returned."

"Nominees?" Tenten repeated. "For what?"

"Gai-sensei did not say."

"Look, Lee," Neji started, "we need to know what happened during the last few days while we were gone. And you're going to tell us."

"I am?" He looked incredulous. "I would be honored to be the one to enlighten my teammates."

"Go on, then," Tenten encouraged, sharing a smirk with Neji.

"Nothing extremely important occurred," Lee mused whilst staring thoughtfully at the sky. "A few Genin breaking into the Academy after hours, Kurenai's child was born, a little girl from the Kogane clan visited unaccompanied – of course Tsunade dealt with that straight away, Jiraiya took Naruto away for yet another round of extensive train-"

"Stop," Neji demanded, holding up a hand. "What was it you just said?"

Lee thought for a moment. "I said that Jiraiya took-"

"No, Lee," Tenten interrupted, although much gentler than Neji, "before that. About a little Kogane girl?"

"Oh, oh, yes." Lee nodded vigorously. "The day you left on your mission, she arrived, alone but determined to speak with Lady Tsunade. She told us only that her family did not know she was here and that it was urgent."

"Nothing else?"

Lee shook his head. "If there was more to the story, I was not told."

Neji grabbed Tenten's wrist and pulled her aside, out of Lee's earshot. "You heard it, too, right? Kogane?"

"Could it be…?" He could practically see the gears turning in her head. "Do you think…it could be the same girl we were assigned to find?"

"It makes no sense at all," Neji growled. "Why would we be sent to find a girl who was in Konoha this whole time? Why did the Head of the Clan insist that we return home? And why did all the clues lead to an abandoned temple when they should've pointed to Konoha? Was it all a fabrication so that we wouldn't see the hidden truth?"

Tenten shook her head despairingly. "Neji, this is ridiculous. It must be a different girl than the one we were ordered to search for. It must be a coincidence."

"Coincidence?" He scoffed. "I thought you were smart enough to recognize a predicament when it's staring you in the face."

"It's not a predicament," Tenten protested. "We're over-thinking things. Maybe…maybe Lee heard wrong. Maybe she isn't a Kogane."

Neji's face was flat as he answered. "And maybe the sky is blue."

Tenten struggled for words. "Should we tell Lee?"

"We tell no one," Neji decided. "If we start asking around, word will travel back to Lady Tsunade and, right now, I don't trust her."

"Neji!" Tenten cried. "How can you say that? She's the Hokage!"

"I don't trust her," Neji repeated. "And neither should you. We need to watch our backs from now on. Though I don't know how, Konoha has changed drastically."

AERY'S NOTE: Ah, and there you have it! Yes, this story is going to include some OCs simply because there weren't any existing character that were suitable for what the plot ordered. If you don't enjoy OCs, I hope you'll be able to overlook it or please send me a review telling me how I could change this story to more to your liking.

Neji's slightly OOC in this story. I think he talks too much. But then again, his silence does rather annoy me in the manga. XD

Review, please? It would totally make my day! Constructive critisism is appreciated, of course, but no flames, please!

~AERYFORM:3