I don't own Naruto...
Chapter One: Coming Home
It would just so happen that, the day before Tsunade's meeting with Kokuzoku, three ninja from Konoha had been sent on a month long mission. Now, four weeks after Tsunade sent out the notice, said ninja crested a hill one mile from the gates of the village. Nothing could have prepared them for what they were about to see upon entering their beloved village.
"Alright!" Sixteen-year-old Naruto Uzamaki punched a fist into the air. "We made it!" He started dancing and jumping around on top of the hill. One of his flailing limbs managed to collide with a certain shadow master who was walking behind Naruto.
"Ah!" Shikamaru grunted when Naruto's fist smacked him in the nose, but left it at that, too tired to further the conflict. Besides. They were home. After a whole month, the three were home. Shikamaru let out an exhausted sigh as his dark eyes took in the village. His thoughts wondered to a certain blond kunoichi who he had missed more then he was willing to admit. I wonder if she missed me…
Neji Hyuuga, now seventeen, rolled his eyes when he saw the incident and stood next to Naruto, but not close enough to be smacked. He too looked at the village, at the high wall that protected its inhabitants from any outside danger, the forest surrounding it on all four sides. Using his byakugan, he saw the white, sprawling Hyuuga mansion. The Hokage's tower stuck up from the rest of the city, silver flags hanging from it gleaming in the morning sunlight.
Wait…what are those flags? They weren't there before we left.
"Naruto, Shikamaru." The two turned to Neji.
"What?"
"Do you see those flags, over on the Hokage's tower?" Neji pointed.
Shikamaru and Naruto squinted, searching for said flags. "Oh yeah…I wonder what they're for?"
"I don't know and I don't really care! Let's just get going!" And with that, Naruto ran down the hill. Shikamaru exchanged a look with Neji, let out a sigh, and then the two ran after their friend.
Hinata let out a small sigh and leaned against the wall, her white eyes carrying a worried look. Neji, Naruto, and Shikamaru had been gone for a month now. When the three had left, the village had been normal, Tsunade had been Hokage, and everyone was free and generally happy. The village the three were returning too, however, was completely different.
It was because of the differences that Hinata stood where she was, waiting on the wall for the three. She would need to explain to them all of the changes that had been made. The last thing she wanted was for them to come home after so long a trip, only to be arrested upon entering and punished. She put a hand to her face, where a half-healed cut ran along the top of one eyebrow. The Chaita guards, now stationed all over the village, held back for no one.
The sixteen-year-old had been coming to the wall like this for the past few days, as Neji, Shikamaru, and Naruto were supposed to return some time soon. She had started doing this alone, coming every spare minute she had. But her other friends, learning what she was doing, also joined her, so that there was at least one of the Konoha Twelve waiting for the boys all day long. All of them, whether they were particularly fond of the three or not, had enough of a heart to want to keep them from immediate reprimandment. And harsh punishment.
Hinata waited there for an hour. She started feeling sleepy and began to daydream.
I wonder if Naruto has changed at all… The blond boy was never far from Hinata's thoughts, whether it be during training, or meal times, or when she lay awake at night in bed.
I wonder if he missed me...
Hinata missed Naruto desperately, but not as much as she guessed Ino did Shikamaru. The blond kunoichi would never admit it, but Hinata bet that Shikamaru appeared just as often in Ino's mind as Naruto did in hers. Through out his absence, Ino had become even more outgoing and snappy then before and, in the past two weeks, had taken to resting under his favorite tree, gazing up at the clouds.
But Ino and Hinata were not the only two who were missing someone. The Hyuuga mansion just did not feel the same without the cold and quiet Neji around. Hinata missed her cousin, but a certain weapons mistress missed him more. Tenten was going through some sort of Neji withdrawal. At first, Tenten had joked about finally being able to sleep in instead of getting up for training. And she had done just that. At least, for the first few days. Then she started getting restless, doing extra training by herself, even getting up at the time she did with Neji to train alone. When she discovered that too much alone time made way for uncharacteristic daydreams about herself and a certain Hyuuga prodigy, Tenten searched for a substitute training partner. Needless to say, no one was quite up to Neji's par.
But, the girls had only half a mind to spare for the boys, as the recent, abrupt changes in government had occupied the other half. Ever since Tsunade's decree, distributed two days after the boys left, dramatic changes in the Konoha way of life had been made. Tsunade, once so forward with running Konoha, had slid into the background, leaving Lord Kokuzoku as Hokage in Second and in complete command. Soldiers wearing the Chaita Clan colors of silver and black had come to Konoha from their outer estates and were positioned all over the city, put there to enforce the new rules made by Kokuzoku. These rules ranged from very big and important to very small and insignificant. There were so many that Hinata had trouble keeping track of them.
A curfew had been issued in the past week, stating that all civilians had to be indoors by ten o'clock and that all ninja, after making sure no civilians were out, had to report to the assembly hall in Hokage tower. Kokuzoku would then talk them to for an indefinite amount of time before they were all sent home. Anyone found by the Chaita guards after curfew was punished. That was how Hinata had gathered her cut, having been caught two nights ago, waiting for the boys. She was more careful now, though, as were the other watchers.
She was not the only one of the Twelve to be punished. During the first week of the Chaita soldiers' stay, Kiba had made some snide remark to one of them after they told him off about letting Akamaru walk freely. Kiba's broken wrist was in a cast for three weeks, only having been removed yesterday. Tenten, out training early in the morning, had been caught and reprimanded. She walked with a limp for the rest of the week and her lower lip was slightly swollen.
I could never let something like that happen to Naruto, or Neji, or Shikamaru. Thinking of the three, she looked out over the wall again, using her byakugan to scan the trees more closely. She took a sharp breath, focusing her eyes on a spot several hundred yards away from the gate. Is that…yes! They're back!
Hinata turned and ran along the wall, then jumped down to land gracefully in front of the gates. There were not enough Chaita guards to post everywhere, so instead two of Konoha's ninja were watching these back gates tonight. Both stiffened, raising their weapons, but then they recognized Hinata and relaxed.
"You scared us, Lady Hinata." The older guard leaned back against the wall.
"What are you doing out so late, Hinata?" The younger guard, whose name was Tyron, asked Hinata, running a hand through his flippy red hair. Hinata and several of the other Twelve knew Tyron from around the village. He was two years ahead of them age wise, and he was often sent on missions with them. Before she discovered her feelings for Shikamaru, Ino had had quite a crush on Tyron. Maybe that was why Shikamaru never fostered a friendship with the redhead…
Hinata smiled shyly at the two before she said, excitedly, "Shikamaru, Neji, and Naruto are home! I just saw them from up on top."
"Really?" Tyron closed his eyes, feeling for the three's chakra. "Oh yeah! Here they come."
At that moment, Naruto's voice could be heard from right outside the gate. "HEY! OPEN UP!! IT'S NARUTO UZAMAKI, HERE, BACK FROM HIS MISSION!! HEY! COME ON OPEN UP!! OW!"
Two low voices could be heard also. Hinata used her byakugan to see through the gate and saw Shikamaru bop Naruto on the head. Neji was looking through the gates with his byakugan and saw Hinata looking at them. He said something to Naruto, who was sitting on the ground, yelling at Shikamaru. Hinata saw her name form on her cousin's lips. Naruto stopped yelling and looked up at Neji, then looked at the gate. Hinata felt her stomach flutter.
"Can you open the gates?" Hinata asked.
The older guard and Tyron slid the bar off and pushed open one of the gates. The three boys squeezed through the opening, which was barely big enough for a child, let alone two sixteen year olds and a seventeen year old. But those gates were heavy!
"Hinata! What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, looking a little confused, but not looking unhappy to see her.
"I was waiting for you guys to come back." She smiled and blushed a little.
"Why? Is something wrong?" Neji noticed that although his cousin was happy to see the three, there was something that was bothering her. Then he noticed the cut on her eye. So did Naruto.
"Hey, what happened to your eye, Hinata?" Naruto looked at the girl before him, concern in his eyes.
"Oh, well, that's why I came to meet you." The heiress' expression changed to one of nerves and unease. "You see, there have been some changes, while you were gone."
The gate closed with a loud thud. Tyron came up to stand with the four, looking surprised. "Wait, they don't know what happened?"
Shikamaru looked from Tyron to Hinata. "Why, what did we miss?"
All three boys looked at Hinata, obviously confused.
"Well, Tsunade-." Tyron cut her off.
"Maybe you should tell them on the road, Hinata. The Chaita guards will be coming soon to take over for us, and they'll probably wonder why you're here. And the meeting is starting in fifteen minutes."
Hinata gasped. "Really? Thanks, Tyron." To her year mates and cousin, she said, "Come on, I'll tell you as we walk."
The four started off down the road. Hinata told the other three what had been happening over the last four weeks, talking more than Naruto had ever heard her at one time. They listened intently, not really believing what they were hearing. When Hinata finished, there was a stunned silence.
"So you're telling us," Naruto said, as though restating it for himself, "That for some reason, Tsunade decided to give the head of some powerful clan power over the entire village and that he has been changing all the rules and that his ninja are all over the city, physically punishing people for not listening to the rules, or just because they feel like it? And they're the ones who gave you that cut?"
Hinata nodded. They emerged from the trees. Below them lay the urban part of the village. The Hokage's Tower, adorned with silver flags, was clearly visible from their position.
"Well that's complete-."
Neji, Shikamaru, and Hinata all sensed the presence around them at the same time. They reached for their weapons immediately, but before they could even touch their holsters, they were surrounded by ten Chaita ninja, all with spears pointing right at the four. And none of the ninja looked afraid to use them.
Well, that was chapter two! I'm sorry it took so long to update, those of you who actually read the first chapter. Not that many people did, but I don't care! Even if no one likes this fic, I'll continue writing it, just for me, because I want to. I have really good ideas for later on, it's just taking a while to get to them. I can't really do the exciting parts if there's nothing leading up to them, can I? Or if there's no plot!? It just doesn't work that way.
Actually, several people did take the time to review, and I thank them right now!
Hugs and Blackberries, Someone I don't know, and Tenten Hyugga, you guys are the BEST!! You each deserve a huge, ice cream sundae.
Now, about the actual story. It took me forever to actually figure out how to continue, but eventually I got it! For anyone who is confused at all, I'll try and make everything clear later on. There was more romance in this chapter, but there's plenty more to come, as well as lots of action and other amazing stuff so PLEASE continue reading. I like writing about Hinata a lot, so she's gonna be kind of big. But more people will come in, and the story will be told from many different people. So if your favorite character isn't here yet, most likely they will make an appearance (except if it's an akatsuki member, or some obscure character. It'll be pretty much the Konoha Twelve, some senseis, and maybe the sand sibs. I haven't decided yet.)
So, please review, review, review! They are greatly appreciated!
Reading Maid, over and out
