Chapter 1: The quiet doll and the great chase

August 17, 1868

Tenten's pov

Well, how do I start? I have had fear rule my life ever since the day I saw the savages. My parents didn't fear them, but I did. I saw settlers from the town carried back in body bags all because they wandered too far. Too close to the uncivilized beasts. I am sixteen now. I'm not naive anymore. When I was younger my classmates and I always used to play cowboys and indians at lunch time. I was always the indian chief and all the others were my army. We pretended sticks were our bows and rifles. That was then and this is now. Now we realize the reality that death could be a tall red skin standing at our door ready to steal our food and shoot us to the ground. I heard enough talk from the townsfolk to know that is how it really is.

Neji's pov

They are monsters. Those sick twisted creatures of the new world. They killed him. They killed my father. They killed my mother too. I don't care whether she was one of the white women or not. They will pay for hurting our sister tribe. The monsters plow through the land like everything is theirs. I'm am old enough to join the men in battle now. My father has left me his bow and with it I will seek my revenge.

We plan to raid their great lines. Everyday, more and more of them ride by in lines of these wagons and horses heading to nearby civilization. Places that were once ours.

Today is the day that I will finally join my brothers and attack these monsters.

Tenten's pov

Well, this is just great. I have to go with this cursed woman in a wagon for six hours to live with relatives settled farther west. My parents think it's the proper thing for me to do considering our relatives were the ones who lent us money to move west. The sun is blazing down on me like a room of a thousand candles. This despicable woman will drive my insane. She plays innocent. She's so quiet. I hate women who keep quiet like this all the time. They act so fragile and stupid. Like a doll. She reminds me of a doll I had possessed when I was younger. Her long black hair braid cascading down her back and gleamy eyes made her almost identical to my little doll. I dropped that doll in a river and didn't shed a tear.

From the moment I climbed onto the wagon, I knew this would be a long ride. Because of this, I did the only thing that would put me at ease (besides killing her). I slept until we would switch off and I would drive the wagon.

Neji's pov

It has begun. We ride. We ride together like a great wolf . We ride with power and pride. I feel vengeance seeping through my veins. I am ready to kill. We will down on them with the wrath and honor that runs through our blood. The blood of a warrior has been passed down to us by our ancestors, the blood of our ancestors that wasn't lost in battle.

Tenten's pov

The worst thing about wagon rides is that the scenery never changes. I swear to it that the nether worlds couldn't be as horrible as this day. Nothing could possibly make this any worse, until three men that appeared to be soldiers came riding towards our wagons.

"Indians! Indians are coming about a mile ahead! Empty your wagons and ride!"

It was happening. Within moments all I was wishing for was quiet once again. I wished for the doll girl to stop screaming and help me empty the wagon. I'm trying so hard just to make her shut the hell up. I could hear the battle call of the Native indians in the distance. Screw it all I was wasting time unloading this cursed cart. I grabbed the saddles out the back of the wagon, untethered and saddled up the horses faster then I ever had in my entire life and began to ride. Doll girl was riding beside me, bawling her eyes out. At least she wasn't shaking. If she was, the horse wouldn't have her on. I wasn't gonna wait with that wagon. Waiting for them to pass would be hoping not to die.

"Heeyah!" At this point we were riding as fast as we could. We could only grab a few things; some food, a bag of clothing, and the map I had drawn up for myself. I knew the way. Now we needed to ride to the closest stream and get some water for ourselves and the horses. I didn't plan on dying. Especially not by the hand of one of those savages.

They were a mile away when we left. We could also assume we had some extra time considering the fact that they stopped and raided the wagons. They might not even be chasing us, but I won't take that chance. We had been riding for about a half-hour when I signaled to the doll girl that we should take a break.

"I see a stream ahead. We'll stop there and then ride through the woods for coverage."

All she gave was a nod. Here she goes being all quiet again. I hated it then and I hate it now. I thought I might as well acknowledge her.

"What's your name mousey?"

"Y…you want to know my…my name?"

"Well, yeah."

"My name is…" She had said something but her voice got so quiet I couldn't hear.

"What? I can't hear you."

"My name is Hinata."

"Well, my name is Tenten and you better not forget it because I hate repeating things. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Let's get going."

We had only stopped for five minutes. I wasn't going to relax, not until we were close to town. We still had a long ways to go. There was plenty of time for the indians to catch up if they were chasing us. I guess I did feel a bit of excitement. How many of my fellow female peers could say they escaped Indians and rode for miles on their own across the vast plains? I felt like a hero. If it wasn't for me, Hinata would be laying dead on the ground with an arrow in her chests. I could have left her. I should have left her. But I have a feeling it would've haunted me if I did. I would never admit to being nice, but i'm sure as hell not evil.

Judging by the sun it was about six or seven o'clock, which means we'd been attacked at four. I guess I didn't sleep as long as I thought when we were on the wagon considering we left at three.

" We still have about two hours of riding ahead of us and it will get dark soon. Let's find a clearing and set up camp for the night."

I guess the positive side of having such a quiet companion was that she didn't talk much. She listened to what I said and did what I told her to do, no questions asked. She wasn't a prissy afraid of nature so we had no problems camping out. There were sleeping bags on the backs of the saddles, so we laid those out on the ground for the night. The horses were tied only ten feet from us out of my fear that we would have to make a quick escape. Laying down staring up at the thousands of stars through the opening in the trees, my adrenaline finally started to settle. Hinata was already fast asleep, tucked up like a cocoon. We had decided to take shifts, and I agreed to stay awake first. I now realized that after two hours of sitting and whittling a stick with the pocket knife I had stolen from my father, I didn't trust that Hinata would stay awake during her shift. I wasn't very tired anyway. I did wake up late this morning and had the chance to sleep in the wagon. So out of boredom I've decided to take a little walk around the woods. I won't to far and the savages have to sleep too. We shouldn't have any problems.

Neji's pov

We've been running all through the night. Elder Nakota says he is going to teach us the lesson of discipline by not stopping until we track the horses that got away. After the attack we realized that one of the wagons was empty and the horses were gone, but nobody was insight. None of the others had attacked this wagon, so we knew one thing: two of the white men escaped alive. The underestimated our tracking skills and our will. Nakota says we won't give up until we've hunted them down and killed them.