Chapter II
Hyuuga Neji resisted the urge to roll his beautiful eyes. He and his old team were at the gates waiting for the sannin Jiraiya who would accompany them. Their mission? To defeat once and for all the members of the organization called Akatsuki. Apparently, the "bad guys" were tired of waiting to finally get the Kyuubi (since they already had the other eight bijuus) and had decided to invade Konohagakure no Sato. If the information they had was correct, two of them were already dead, as well as Sasuke's new companions. The rest of Akatsuki were believed to be divided into two groups that would attack from different fronts.
The two Uchihas should be about to face each other, that is if they hadn't started already. An unknown Akatsuki was believed to be with them. As predicted Team 7 had demanded to be sent to that location and had already left.
Lastly team Gai, accompanied by the Ero-sennin (who claimed to know who Pein was and how to kill him) would fight against the Leader of the cursed organization and against the only known female wearer of the red clouds insignia.
Hyuuga Neji hated to fight against women. No, it had nothing to do with chauvinism, it was about chivalry. Being the member of a prestigious and ancient clan he had always been taught to respect and protect women. Not because they were weak, but because they were important. They were the ones that gave birth to the world, they were the ones that made peace possible, they were the ones that healed the wounds of the fallen… They were also damn good warriors! After all his own current Kage was a female and her student had beaten the crap out of him a couple of times during their training sessions.
His own teammate was a force to reckon with, especially when she was mad. He was one to know.
Ah, Tenten.
They were finally an item. They had been for six months now, even if most of their friends didn't know about it. After all, being a Hyuuga is being the soul of discretion.
Neji allowed himself a smile as he watched his girlfriend smack Lee on the head and fight the urge to do the same to their former sensei Gai.
A loud noise brought him out of his reverie and alerted him to the fact that their last team member had arrived.
At last, the hunt began.
"Lee, are you okay?"
Tenten kneeled beside her beaten comrade.
The battle against the blue-haired kunoichi was finally over.
Just a few feet from them their other teammate fought to regain his breath. The battle had been tough and they all wanted to rest. But first there was something that needed to be done.
Ever since they had been separated from the rest of the team they hadn't heard anything from them except a few explosions.
They needed to make sure everyone was okay and then regroup before they could return home.
The pearl-eyed shinobi tied his hair back again since it had come loose by the end of the battle, before calling his friends.
Even with the byakugan by their side, it took more than fifteen minutes to find the others. And things did not look good.
Lying around the battlefield were the bodies of five men that looked like the one Jiraiya was fighting.
Leaning against a tree was Gai, suffering from chakra depletion and blood loss.
With a second look at the sannin, Neji knew something was not right. Behind the white-haired man was a creature that resembled a ghost… and inside its belly…
Neji's eyes widened. He knew what this was, he had heard about it. The perverted man was sacrificing himself to seal his enemy, just like the Sandaime Hokage had failed to do to Orochimaru during their first chuunin exams.
He could see it, Pein's soul. The jutsu was almost complete.
There was a bright light and then… nothing.
When Neji opened his eyes he saw the bodies of Jiraiya and Pein and knew that the war was finally over. The Akatsuki were no more.
A thump signaled that Gai had fallen into the ground. Tenten and Lee had already rushed over to him, but Neji stood his ground. He could sense a familiar chakra signature… it was someone he knew but he couldn't pinpoint exactly who it was.
Puzzled he activated the byakugan and saw a flash of pink.
There was hope after all! Pink meant Sakura, it had to. And Sakura meant the second best medic-nin in the world.
The coffee-haired shinobi rushed forward deciding to catch up to her and make her stop.
He paused right in front of her giving her plenty of time and space to stop, but she seemed too distracted to notice and ended up going straight against him.
Neji was the first to get up, surprised at catching the girl so off-guard.
The pink-haired kunoichi hastily got up and finally seemed to realize what had happened.
"Hyuuga-san! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you…"
The girl forced a smile and Neji decided to save the lecture she deserved for later. Gai's life was on the line and every second counted.
"Gai's hurt."
Sakura's eyes widened. She seemed to be torn between two choices. She looked at the path continuing behind him and then looked back at him as if trying to decide what to do.
"Lead the way."
He did.
When they arrived Sakura took no notice of her surroundings and concentrated on the person she was supposed to be helping.
Tenten and Lee got out of the way and let her do her job.
Half an hour later the Godaime's apprentice stopped what she was doing and exchanged a meaningful look with Neji. There was nothing else she could do. Gai was dead…
Understanding dawned upon Tenten who threw herself into Lee's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Lee looked at his beloved sensei's body, refusing to believe he was lost forever. It simply couldn't be true. He would get up at any minute with his bright smile and talk about youth.
Lee waited and waited… but Gai never got up…
Sakura's eyes lingered on Gai's body. She felt useless. First Sasuke and now Gai…
At least Sasuke should be okay, he should be at the hospital already if Naruto had used the power of the Kyuubi.
With a sigh, she closed the eyes of her sensei's "eternal rival" to the world for the last time and finally took the courage to look around.
When her eyes fell upon a particular corpse her body froze.
And then… she cried. She knew how much her shishou loved that man even if the older woman never admitted it. How could she tell her?
Somehow, deep inside, she knew she didn't have to. She had the feeling that her shishou already knew, that she had known the minute she assigned him to that mission.
But there was someone else who would need to know, someone else who would suffer greatly with the loss.
'Oh, no! How am I going to tell Naruto?'