AN: Hello all! Long time no see. I am putting my other story on hiatus and had this other one I just had to jump on. It's different than anything I have published so far and should elicit some sort of feelings (most likely negative but hopefully positive in the chapters to come).

Rated M for Violence

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto :P

Chapter One: Hope

The stench of musk filled the air. Faintly, she could hear the sound of dripping water. And occasionally, there was the sound of rust withering away at the chains that cut deep into her wrists. She could feel the flesh that had healed open up again as she shifted her weight. Her lips felt dry and her body ached as her feet barely touched the ground.

The fabric covering her eyes made it very difficult to decipher where exactly she had been or how long she had been there. She couldn't tell night from day or remember whether or not she was awake or dreaming. Everything felt like a dream to her. But those dreams were only wishes that would never come true for her. Those false realities became coherent and more real than she'd ever imagined.

Her nightmare was a man without a face. And every day that man reminded her of the terror he sought to bring upon her. This torture had gone on for such a long time that often times she'd forgotten what they'd been torturing her for. What information did they seek to pull from her? She had refused to speak in the beginning, but the more the negative actions continued against her the more she forgot what it even was.

In the distance she could hear the rustling of grass and then eventually the nearness of footsteps. The sound of feet sliding against the floor was not something she was completely unfamiliar with. Her body stiffened the closer they became. The footsteps slowed to a stop and a low chuckle reverberated throughout the room. "This long and you're still afraid of me coming near? By now, you should be used to it." The voice was low and wicked. It was as if his words were lashing at her skin and then lacing around her throat.

Her breath was caught. She thought that she'd become attuned to this. Again, Hinata knew that these were false realities that she'd somehow imagined. She exhaled and tried to relax her body. She knew exactly how he'd get if she hadn't and it only made things more difficult for her. He moved closer to her and she could feel his breath against her neck. She hated it; she hated it when he came so close to her. He made her skin crawl and her mind uneasy.

There was nothing he wouldn't do to her.

There was nothing he hadn't really done to her.

Well, almost nothing.

"What a pretty little Hyuga. You have such fair skin and beautiful hair." He mused as he ran his fingers through her damp hair. "I surely wouldn't want to have to hurt you anymore. We've been going at this for days and you haven't said a peep. But it doesn't take much for a shinobi to break especially a female one. Just tell me. Tell me exactly what you've exchanged with the Sunagakure and I will let you go. You won't be tortured any longer and you are free to go back to your family and live the life of a princess once again." His fake kindness was masked by his malicious intentions.

She knew that she couldn't speak. It was their code that they never speak. She would never say a word about what had been going on between her village and the Sand. The information that she'd been holding on to had been very important. It was a task in which she knew that she could end up dying doing. But that didn't stop her from doing it, now did it?

The Hyuga remained silent. She would never say anything. She would keep her vows and remain seemingly impassive. Her mind remained blank and the only thing that she focused on were thoughts of escaping because if she stopped, she knew that she would give up. Hinata knew that she would break and lose hope of ever being saved.

Irritated, the man sighed. He rubbed his jaw and paced around her. He was really getting tired of playing these games with her. "Do you enjoy me inflicting pain on you, hm? Do you like being tortured for the greater good of your little village?" There he was. There was the man that she'd come to know. She could hear him rummaging in his bag and then jumped at the feeling of cold steel against her flesh. Hinata began to wiggle instinctively as if she were going to break free of what bound her.

Nothing she could do or try to muster up would save her. They had done something to her, placed a seal on her, to make it impossible for her to use her chakra. She felt weak and helpless. "Not again…not again…" She muttered as she wiggled her body.

"Not again? You brought this on yourself!" He spat as he stabbed her in her side. The dark haired screamed in agony. She continued to writhe and dangle in the air, her skin breaking again. Her legs kicked outward and the man simple moved out of her way. "So you do have something left in you." He laughed as he withdrew his kunai. "Perhaps what's left in you is the information that I need. Speak up now and we could end this."

Hinata grunted and whimpered silently. Somewhere in the dark corners of her mind, she was trying to pull those happy thoughts out. She had to think that way or else she would lose all hope. Yes, she had to remind herself of what good would come out of this. She would remain silent on the subject and take whatever he tossed at her, because she couldn't allow another invasion of the village. Their faces reminded her of what she wanted to protect. So she grunted through the pain and held back her tears.

He scoffed. "That's not enough for you?" Her breathing quickened as she anticipated the next assault. He jabbed his finger in her wound, digging around in her flesh. Hinata gasped and cried out once more, her body trembling in pain. The enigma grabbed at her cheeks and squeezed as he removed his finger from her open wound. "Are you going to speak up now? Hm?"

As she attempted to catch her breath and ignore the pain passing through her body, she could hear the grass shuffle again and eventually the footsteps became louder and closer. Perhaps it was another one of his cronies coming to save her from this agony. Well, perhaps save wasn't the best word to use. It was more like take his attention off of her for a few moments so that she could reel herself back into a calm state.

"What is it?!" He spat, his voice filled with venom. He removed his hand from her face, allowing her head to drop.

"S-sir, I think we need to speak in private." His underling muttered. They were silent for a few moments and then she could hear them shuffle off into a corner, still not too far from her. Hinata attempted to listen in on as much as she could while storing away the pain momentarily. It must have been important if he couldn't say with what he felt like was within direct earshot of her.

"What is it?" She heard the boss begin the exchange.

"Sir, our information tells us that Leaf Shinobi have found where we are."

"How am I just now receiving this information? How long have you known this?" His voice only rose slightly, but Hinata did not stir. She couldn't let them know that she could hear them. Leaf Shinobi? She thought as her heart beat quickened.

"We've only just found out. I don't know if they are camped around here or if we'll be able to relocate." There was another silence and then she could hear the boss exhale before giving out his next order.

"Scour the area. Don't leave a single rock unturned. Find them before they can confirm this information. Based off of what we know, they may not have had the chance to send off the intel back to their village. You'd better hope that that is the case." He warned.

"Understood," Then, there were shuffling of footsteps and more silence. At first, Hinata presumed that she was alone, but she knew that was a mistake. She could feel his presence and then his heat emanating from his body. He was close to her almost pressing against her body. He ran his fingers up her spine and then down her front.

"I'm not done with you." He whispered in her ear. Her body shuddered and rejected the very idea of him being that close to her. She clenched her jaw and tried her best to withstand his presence for a moment longer. She would have much rather suffer in silence than have him as company. "I'll be back pretty lady."

She listened as he made his way out of the area. When she could no longer hear his footsteps, she wiggled against the chains again and then sighed. Her mind began to wander and imagine all the things she could've been doing or the things she would like to be doing. She loved to press flowers and the smell of wisterias in the spring. She could feel the rays of sunlight against her cold skin and see the smiles of many civilians as she walked through the village.

She smiled to herself and felt her eyes water. Would she really ever be able to see any of that again? Her friends? Her family?

Her last flicker of hope was just that, a mere flicker. The scope of light that she had in the beginning had begun to dim and eventually it was going to fade.

She felt like she was going to die.

This man was really going to kill her.

Everything had been extremely hectic in the village. There were stacks of paperwork piled on the Hokage's desk. None of which she had seemed to be able to focus on because of a certain shinobi in the village. And here he was, walking in for the third time today and who knows how many times this week. He placed a sheet of paper in front of her, his face filled with determination. There was no way he was going to let her do anything else, but view the circumstances of this mission.

Everyone was worried and it was his job to make sure that everyone in the village remained safe. As troublesome as it was, the Nara couldn't bear to see everyone so dismal without the Hyuga around. Who knew the girl would land such an impact on everyone. She had always been so quiet and caused very little trouble compared to the other women in the village. Perhaps that could have been part of the reason why everyone had been acting the way they had.

Being the senior to all his friends, it seemed as though the task lie on his shoulders. Other than that, he had always been on the front lines for all the major missions. If Sasuke was important enough to attempt to retrieve, then so would Hinata. He couldn't, however, accept the fact that Tsunade made the assumption that she'd already been dead. No one was able to accept that conclusion.

Hell, he couldn't even accept it.

So in the end, he ended up doing a lot of the footwork and providing Tsunade with a lot of stress and complaints. He hated complaining and being complained to, but this was important. And he would do everything in his power to see to it that they all received the answers that they all needed.

Where was she and was she okay?

When only a day had gone by and she hadn't returned, no one thought anything of it. As a matter of fact, everyone's response to her absence had been normal. They expected her to return within two or three days, especially since she had spoken to everyone about it being a reconnaissance mission. Those types of missions never took long considering all she needed to do was observe the rogue ninja's base and report back. However, not everything goes according to plan. Hinata never returned after about five days and all of her comrades became extremely concerned.

Hinata had never been the type to take on missions like that. But since there was a shortage of ninja, she took on the job. Tsunade hadn't denied her offer, simply because Hinata had all the tools for going on the mission. She had her vision which could see at long distances. Hinata had been able to even surpass her cousin, Neji after his death. She had shown promise over the last few years in the village and had gained even the respect of her own clan based on her strength.

Hinata had not been the frail individual that everyone had grown to love as kids. She had matured as a young woman and continued to push herself every day. This, however, did not mean that people were opposed to her mission. Shikamaru had been over many of plans of action regarding the shinobi in the village. This particular mission had been giving them trouble, so Hinata's vision would have been very viable in this situation. Shikamaru, however, also knew where she would be headed and the dangers she would be engaging herself in.

When word got back to him that she hadn't returned to the village, he pushed Tsunade every day to search for her. The area that she last reported in had come up empty and the only lead that they had was hearsay from a rogue ninja that they had interrogated in the woods. It was their word that guided his decision and his careful planning. It wasn't until today that he'd finally gotten a breakthrough. Yes, finally. He was able to show Tsunade that his efforts weren't for nothing. If this was their hideout, then not only were they possibly able to liberate Hinata, but also take down the head of all negative operations against Konoha.

He was taking down two birds with one stone. Or at least, he was making it a bit more appealing to their Hokage. He had been trying to send people out there, but she wasn't having it. After losing Hinata in the midst of it all, she refused to put anyone else in danger. So, when he began his investigation, he made a deal with her. He would go out there himself to find her and that was definitely something that she couldn't turn down. It was only because she knew that he was more than capable of handling himself. He had excelled beyond his peers in a short period of time and had headed many important missions while she had been in office.

What more could he add to his resume to prove his worth? Besides, Hinata was one of his friends. He couldn't just idly sit by while knowing the possibility of her current status.

"Back again, I see. I'm assuming you have something that we can use?" Tsunade began reading the report.

Shikamaru reached back and rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, I've got a few things. This time, it's stuff that we can go on. I found out where they're hiding out at. I'm not sure if she's there or not, but this is a big lead. This is the best thing we've had for days."

Tsunade continued to read the document. When she was finished, she placed the paper on her desk and then leaned back in her chair. "I don't want to waste our resources on what might be. I want to make sure she is there and that nothing has been jeopardized. There was a lot on the line when she went out there to begin with…"

"If I may, this might be out of turn, but I don't think we should be focusing on the politics of it all. If she's been out there for this long, I would say that she hasn't said anything. Right now we should be more focused on saving her from whatever hell hole she's trapped in." Shikamaru's voice was filled with a slight irritation. If there was anything that he hated more with the Hokage, is her inability to see the true side of things sometimes. She was always so focused on her job, which he always appreciated. She had done a great deal for the village over the past few years but sometimes he wished she was a bit more empathetic to these things. He knew he had to do his job and stick to his duties, but there were times that he wished she understood that these people were more than just comrades, but friends and family.

Tsunade sighed. "Fine, you are permitted to go on this mission. If she is there, make sure that you get her and get out. We don't want anyone else caught up in this mess and have to go on another rescue mission."

Shikamaru nodded as his face lit up. "Thank you."

"And another thing," Tsunade began as she lifted the piece of paper that she handed him. "If you find her there and she's…" The Fifth trailed off. Her face became grim and eyes filled with a quiet mourning. It was not something that she particularly wanted to think about or assume, but every angle had to be probed.

"If it's the Hinata that we all know, she's fighting to live. I'm going to bring her back." Shikamaru simply replied as he turned heel to leave her office.

As he made his way down the stairs, both Tenten and Ino awaited for him at the bottom. They both looked at him expectantly. "The mission is a go, but I can't take you guys with me. You weren't approved to set off on the mission."

"What do you mean we can't go? If she's out there you're going to need a medic." Ino snapped, seemingly becoming impatient with him.

"Besides we're her friends too. We have to be there for her." Tenten's eyes were filled with worry.

"What a drag…" He sighed as he rubbed his neck again out of habit. "Listen, I can't take you with me because you guys weren't approved to go. You know how Tsunade is. I had to pull teeth just to get this going. Just trust me and I promise I'll bring her back."

Ino simply smiled. Deep down she knew she could trust Shikamaru with this task. He had never let anyone down before. If there was one person in the whole village she knew she could trust it was Shikamaru. "Alright, I trust you'll bring her back." Shikamaru nodded towards her and then looked at Tenten who still seemed a bit apprehensive.

"Fine, if I know you're out there going to get her then I know you'll bring her back. I just hope she's okay." Tenten muttered.

Shikamaru sighed as he rubbed the side of his jaw. He hoped that she was okay as well. For all he knew, she could've been dead and the promises that he had been making were ones that he couldn't keep. He had run the idea through his mid several times before actually presenting it to the Hokage and telling any of his friends about it. The possibility of her being there in one piece was slim but life had always been about chance. Many of the decisions in his life had been made based on those slim chances. Planning ahead until he got tired and examining all aspects was a part of his job.

Now all that was left was to gather up the ninja that he needed to go to the camp. And since he received the approval just now, he knew that he had no time to lose. Hinata had been there long enough and he would bring her back as promised regardless of her status.

AN: Well this is but the start and then I'm posting the next chapter immediately. XD