Mausoleum Muse
Chapter 1: Dragged
Hinata looked up at her mother who just paused in the middle of story telling. Immediately, Hinata realized this was a dream because her mother has been long gone. Nevertheless she allowed the woman to keep on telling her the bedtime story she was almost too familiar with.
"The alliance of tomb robbers agreed to a truce, each family of tomb robbers are in charge of a specific area of land. They made a pact to guard their own area until the end of time so that the secret will be safe."
"But mother, what is the secret?" Hinata furrowed her eyebrows; she could never remember this part.
"My dear, the secret is-"
Hinata opened her eyes and shifted her head to look at the clock on her bedside table, 5:59AM. She stared at the ceiling thoughtfully, this dream has been plaguing her for years but only on occasions. It was also one of the few memories of her mother she could clearly recall so it became that much more special.
Hinata's mother died when she turned six, her father explained to her that it was due to a deadly virus which was spreading quickly during that particular winter. Her older brother Neji took the news pretty badly, not saying she fared any better. Neji who was ten at the time started looking to join the local teen gangs; Hinata remembered seeing him climbing over the courtyard walls at night to go to the gang meetings. Their father threw a fit when Neji's actions were discovered and they ended up moving out of the area, in fact they moved to another country. Neji managed to stay out of trouble most of the time after that, he went to university like what most of the family expected but what was unexpected was that he chose the subject of Archeology. Hinata was surprised at Neji's choice in studies but their father was more vocal about it, she thought it was strange that father was almost opposed to Neji's direction of studies but after a while father seemed to relent and just let Neji did whatever he wanted.
Well, maybe Hinata should thank Neji for wearing down their father's "iron-grip way" in the family. She was pretty sure if Neji had not mentally prepared their father beforehand with his own bizarre career direction, their father would have suffered a stroke when she broke the news that she got herself enrolled in the National Army College. So in the end everything turned out well after all.
Now Neji has moved to Europe for some reason and busied himself in various "digging projects" as Hinata likes to call it. Everytime they talked on the phone or send emails, it was about the types of earth being dug up, what ancient civilization secrets have been uncovered or what sort of new artifact have been displayed at a famous museum. As much as Hinata loves her big brother, she holds the firm belief that his fascination with the dead and buried was beyond unhealthy. Hinata herself has what she regards a very healthy lifestyle, both mentally and physically. She has a good sized circle of friends, she regularly participates in outdoor activities such as hiking and mountain biking. Hinata works in the National Defense Force for months at a time. In her spare time which was when she's not on training programs or missions, she's trying to meet guys just like all other single girls her age, so far that seemed to be the only area she's failing in. The guys that Hinata finds seem to like the "damsel-in-distress" kind of females more, and Hinata found that strange. She even hinted to Neji to introduce a few of his male friends or co-workers to her but Neji merely brushed her off by saying no one he knows was remotely up to Hinata's standards. That really annoyed her. In fact, she might tell him that when she sees him at the airport in a few hours.
Neji had contacted Hinata a week ago about taking some time off work. That alone was such a rare occurrence that Hinata had to ask him to repeat his plans to her three times. Neji wanting a holiday – that happens maybe once every three years. Neji wanting a holiday on a separate continent to where he works – that never happens. Neji wanting a holiday to spend time with his younger sister Hinata – the end of the world has come and gone, a new era is upon the Earth. Although Hinata was technically still in awe at her brother's decision, her army training kicked in and poker face mode has activated. She shall just do what he asked and he might start talking about this sudden change in his whole personality. Hinata suspected it's to do with a girl.
After getting ready, Hinata headed to the airport. She wondered if this new change in Neji meant her brother also changed his looks in anyway. Her hopes are dashed when she spots him tugging along some luggage at the arrival gate.
"Hinata! Long time no see little sister," Neji stepped forward in his typical t-shirt, jacket and jeans combination. He paused in front of Hinata and it became awkward when Hinata realized Neji didn't know whether he should be shaking her hand or giving her a hug.
"You have not changed much big brother," Hinata hid a snicker before throwing her arms around Neji to give him a bear hug. She smirked to herself when she felt his whole body go rigid from nervousness. "Don't be so tense Neji, we're family."
"Uh, no I'm just not used to all these…muscles on your arms," Neji stammered and Hinata just wanted to crush him with the very muscles he just spoke about. A blond young man about her age walked up to them, he was wearing a navy colored hoody, had several travel bags and he looked uncertainly at Neji.
"Oh right, I almost forgot. I bought along a co-worker like you previously asked, Hinata," Neji struggled out of the bear hug to introduce the blond man. "This is my colleague Naruto. Naruto, this is Hinata my sister."
"Nice to meet you Naruto," Hinata reached forward to shake Naruto's hand. The young man named Naruto smiled politely and shook her hand but didn't say anything.
"Naruto is a mute, Hinata. Don't expect him to talk much." Neji explained as Hinata raised an eyebrow. "He still hears exceptionally well and his writing ability probably surpasses me. So communication shouldn't be a problem."
Hinata could not believe it. Only her dear brother Neji would consider bringing a mute colleague to visit his sister a holiday. It seemed like Neji's always going to be Neji. She took them to the motel Neji booked beforehand to check in and then all three of them went to a nearby café to chat, well one of them was writing instead of chatting.
"How have you been Hinata? Father says he's worried about you getting a proper boyfriend," Neji leaned forward to whisper the last part like it was some shameful secret. Hinata mentally sighed at how reserved and weird her brother was.
"I think he should be worried about me getting a boyfriend period," Hinata replied nonchalantly, ignoring the visible wince on her brother's face. "It's funny how he doesn't worry about you even though you're the eldest." Neji grimaced and rolled his eyes.
"That's because you don't hear about it, father has been on my case since two years ago."
"No candidates yet?"
"Not many girls in this line of career. God forbid they break a nail while digging…"
Naruto had gotten absorbed in a scientific magazine which Neji brought along. He was obviously not interested in the siblings' conversation about their family woes. Hinata felt a bit bad about excluding him in their talk. She tried a new subject.
"So what new exciting new project have two of you been working on this time? It has actually been a while since I heard Neji ranting on about his current 'digging project' which is strange."
For some reason Hinata felt the atmosphere suddenly getting tense. The dark looks on both Neji and Naruto's faces told her the answer was not going to be pleasant, and they were right.
"Actually we were going to ask you about this properly later but since you already brought it up," Neji shifted uncomfortably, he looked across at Naruto who had tucked away the magazine and now seemed a lot more focused. "We're here to offer you a temporary position on our team to work on a big project."
"…What?" Hinata frowned. It was not like her brother to joke around like this. "You have totally lost me."
"Well, here's the deal sis," Neji rubbed his palms together and lowered his voice. "Naruto's mentor professor Jiraiya recently made a breakthrough in translating some ancient language depicted on certain murals inside burial chambers of some tombs located in the northern region. Both Jiraiya and Naruto reckons the writing describes the existence of a very precious artifact which was regarded to have magical properties by the people of ancient times." Hinata leaned back to throw an incredulous look at Naruto who only nodded in earnest.
"Ok, magic? I'm sorry, I don't do magic so I'm afraid you're going to have to look elsewhere."
"There is no magic Hinata, I only meant that the people regarded the thing to be magical when in reality some science must be behind it. Back then people didn't have as much technology to unravel mysteries, remember?" Neji had the audacity to sound annoyed. Naruto was scribbling something furiously on a writing pad he got out of his bag. Hinata only felt like those scribbles will further confuse her.
"I still don't get why me, shouldn't these types of missions be reserved for archeologists or specialists of some kind? If you haven't realized yet I don't have a qualification for digging anything out of the ground." Hinata wanted to grab Neji's shoulders and shake her brother until he sees that this was a terribly bad idea. Naruto in the mean time has shoved a page of writing into Hinata's face.
'There are not enough scientists who are convinced of professor Jiraiya's findings. No funds given for the expedition but we're convinced this is a solid lead and due to lack of human resources, we are recruiting anyone we can trust. Neji and I are sorry to ask this of you but as you can tell, we're very desperate.' Hinata looked up from the note to see Neji scowling at Naruto who looked sullen.
"Seems like you guys really are desperate since big brother usually never asks me for help," Hinata commented as she eyed the two men in front of her. They both cringed and refused to meet her gaze. Hinata just recently got back from an overseas training exercise, her next few months were completely free and she was getting bored so it seemed like a good opportunity to help out her big brother. "You owe me big time bro."
Neji somehow managed to look both troubled and relieved at the same time and Naruto finally released a breath he was holding without realizing it.
"Right, so I will give you all the details regarding the expedition right now," Neji reached into his pocket and produced a notebook full of writings and newspaper cutouts. "We leave tomorrow morning."
"Excuse me?" Hinata froze. "Tomorrow? That's way too soon. I don't even know where we're going!"
"It's unfortunate but this job really requires speed, it is essential we get to the location ASAP." Neji was getting up while Naruto was writing up another note. "I'm really sorry but this is the way it is."
Hinata stared dumbfounded at the note Naruto gave her, it read 'Thank you so much, you have no idea what it means to me.'
The two men went back to their motel afterwards and Hinata went home to pack. It was a good thing the army training taught her to efficiently pack the necessities for survival in the countryside; she was also given a list by Neji to prepare some digging equipment. She should have seen all this coming what with Neji's obsession with the past.
From the notebook given by Neji, Hinata managed to grasp some basic idea that this strange ancient relic they were trying to locate was supposed to be mask used by a queen of ancient times. The queen's subjects and her people feared her because she had a strange power enabling her to eliminate all who opposed her. That power was linked to the mask which she used to cover her face entirely. The passage of writing professor Jiraiya had translated described that the mask was buried with the queen in her tomb; in addition there was information on the approximate location of the tomb itself. The tomb was said to be in a very desolate area named Qing-Ming, it's also near some impressive mountain ranges.
The team of three met at the train station in the morning and they boarded a train bound for Qing-Ming. Hinata stared out the window at the trees whipping past and wondered what had she gotten herself into.
References:
Inspirations from Gui Chui Deng and Dao Mu Bi Ji. Two popular Chinese fiction series regarding grave robberies. Plot, scenes, locations and characters will be absolutely different but some minor details will be shamelessly incorporated.