A/N: Okay, I think I've got the main plot sculpted out. And since the little intro thingy majigger ba-bopper is done, we can get on with the real story.
SilverWing129: Yes, there is in fact going to be more Lee/Neji. Not a ridiculous amount, since this story is mostly about Hana and the NaruSasuGaa children.
Dark-Princess-Hikari: I kind of fashioned Hana after Hinata. Hence why she's a bit calmer.
Chapter Two: Ato Uen Zushiki! Dau Hidoi! (A Devious Scheme! How Awful!)
Deep in the forest, close to the mountains and far from pretty much all civilization, there is a fortress. Half of it's underground while the other half is disguised using genjutsu. Inside the fortress, in the very center, a hooded figure knelt in front of a statue. He was mumbling words of prayer when another figure opened the doors and jogged in.
"Father! Father!" The man held up one hand and finished his prayer.
"Yes, my son. What is it?" The young man caught his breath before answering.
"We found them." The hooded figure stood and rounded on him, grabbing him by the front of his robe and dragging him closer.
"No mistake?" The young man shook his head rapidly.
"I-it's them! W-we're sure this time!" The hooded figure scrutinized him for a few more seconds before beginning to laugh. He turned to the statue he had been praying to and raised his arms.
"At last! The prophecy shall come true and your bidding shall be done!" As the hooded figure continued to laugh, the statue of a giant, nine-tailed fox demon loomed above them.
I AM A LINE PLEASE IGNORE ME BECAUSE I AM NOTHING MORE THAN A LINE
Kakashi watched his students from the safety of a particularly large tree. He had told them the rules of the test and they had instantly gone off in different directions.
Seeing as how they're friends, I sort of expected them to team up. Ah well. There are a few hours left. I'm sure they'll rack up some positive points.
Leaping down, he began to look for Irihi. He figured she'd end up being the first to attack. His assumptions were dead on. A carefully aimed kunai headed for his head. Still reading Icha Icha Paradise, which he had pulled out not long ago, he carefully avoided it. This started a series of events that caught his interest. The kunai Irihi threw turned into the girl herself. She threw three shuriken at him before activating a smoke bomb and disappearing. Aiji deflected one of the shuriken and sent it spinning towards a rope Hana had disguised with genjutsu. Putting away his book, Kakashi dodged the kunai sent at him by the trap. When he landed, two arms reached out of the ground and grabbed his ankles, holding him still.
Oh now this is interesting.
Hana came at him, followed by two more of herself.
Clones. How cute.
The three Hana's turned out to be all clones, used as a distraction. Kakashi, however, already knew this. The real Hana came up behind them, three shuriken in each hand. He was able to deflect them all and use one to hurl at Hana. It hit her square in the forehead and she turned into a log. The ground beneath Kakashi shifted and Irihi leapt up, latching onto his leg.
What is she-Oh.
She reached up and grabbed one of the bells, yanking it off. Her face curled into one of Naruto's trademark fox grins before she pushed off of him and retreated to a safer distance. Aiji and Hana followed, all three disappearing into the trees.
"…I do believe I've just been outsmarted by a bunch of cocky brats." I didn't realize it was really Irihi under the ground. She must have been under there for over a minute. Pretty impressive. Then again, she does have a sand demon.
Pulling out Icha Icha Paradise, Kakashi fingered the last bell.
"Very interesting, thought. They managed to get one of the bells. So what will you three do next?" That was answered in an hour when Kakashi fell almost headfirst into a trap.
It started with a rustle from a bush attracting his attention. It turned out to be a white rabbit that, instead of running away, leapt for his face. Seeing through the genjutsu, Kakashi grabbed Hana by the throat and threw her into a tree. She focused her chakra to her feet and landed on the tree safely, springing three traps that did three different things. The first one sent six shuriken at Kakashi; the second one sent three kunai in a completely different direction; the third one set off a flash bomb. The shuriken missed (Kakashi dodged) the kunai set off another trap and Aiji lunged for Kakashi when the flash bomb faded. It took the silver-haired jounin to realize something.
Where's Irihi?
When she didn't appear, he began to worry. Grabbing Aiji by the ankle, he dragged him closer until they were face-to-face.
"Aiji, where's Irihi?" The boy wrapped his arms around Kakashi's neck and did the most horrible thing.
"Kakashi-sama! You're the best ever!"
The fuck-!
Hana took his moment of surprise to sew his shoes to the ground with chakra strings and steal the bell. Grabbing her, Kakashi hauled Aiji off his neck.
"Okay, points for the original way of catching me off guard, and points for being able to create chakra strings. Minus points for letting me catch you again." Irihi chose that moment to appear.
What followed could only be explained as a certain amount of chaos. The other jounin (whom had finished) didn't hear the arguing or the screams. They did hear Irihi's war cry (which was FOR DEATH!) and they did see the giant fireball erupt from the forest. The fireball was courtesy of Aiji. It was badly aimed, since he hadn't exactly mastered it yet. There was a loud scream, closely followed by a promise of death, closely followed by a second fireball. This one was courtesy of Irihi, whom was also learning it. It wasn't as impressive as her brothers, but it was enough to make Kakashi wish he had never gotten up. There was silence for a long period of time before Hana, Irihi and Aiji, in an attempt to reclaim their bells, accidentally blew up a river. They weren't quite sure how they managed to do it (neither was Kakashi) but they agreed never to do it again. Mostly because it didn't work.
The clock finally went off the three genin trudged back to the log, soaked and charred at the same time. Other than needing new shoes and soaked to the bone, Kakashi was fine. He watched the three collapse in a pile of freezing, burned, hungry and eternally pissed genin.
"I suppose that could have gone better. You three are certainly worse off than my last team when they tried this. Of course, my last team didn't work together." Aiji glared at him. Irihi had taken off her jacket and was squeezing the water out of it while Hana tried to get water from her hair.
"None of you got the bells. But I do have a question: since there are only two bells and three of you, what would you have done if you had gotten the bells?" Irihi snorted and shook her hair out.
"Easy. Hana would have stood in the middle and held both bells while Aiji and me held her hands." The silver-haired jounin felt his lips twitch into a smile.
"I wanted to hear that. And I'm sure there's something you want to hear. You three…" They watched him expectantly.
"…Pass."
I AM A LINE PLEASE IGNORE ME BECAUSE I AM NOTHING MORE THAN A LINE
Kurenai, Asuma and the other jounin (along with some Academy teachers, Shikamaru included) waited for Kakashi to appear. All the while, they talked about if he was going to pass his team or not.
"Do you really think he'll fail the Hokage-sama's children?"
"Probably not. I mean, the Hokage was one of his students. One of his favorite students." Shikamaru refused to take part in the conversation. He knew Kakashi didn't give a damn if his students were the kids of God or his own kids. He would fail them if they sucked and pass them if they deserved to pass. Naruto wouldn't punish him for it either. That was how he was. Kurenai shook her head.
"The Hokage-sama's fair. He'd understand." Asuma inhaled on his cigarette and exhaled the smoke.
"He'd be distressed, but he'd get it." Now the lazy nin was getting a bit annoyed.
"You are of course assuming Kakashi-sensei will fail them."
"Come on Shikamaru. Besides the team the Hokage-sama was on, how many teams has he passed?" Everyone knew the answer to that. It was zero, zilch, nada, nil. No matter how you looked at it, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were the only students Kakashi ever taught.
"It's always possible." Before anyone could disagree, the door opened and Kakashi stuck his head in.
"Yo." Immediately, everyone hounded him.
"How bad was it?"
"Did they really cause those fireballs?"
"Who screamed death?"
"Are they really demons?"
"Does Hana act like Lee?"
"Why are you wet?"
"What happened?"
"What happened to your shoes?" Shikamaru caught his eyes and, without words, asked the question he was dying to know. Kakashi nodded slightly.
"Maa, you people really have nothing better to do. If you really want to know, it wasn't bad, Irihi and Aiji caused the fireballs, that was Irihi's war cry, no, no, they blew up the river, long story and don't ask." Now everyone was on the same question.
"Did they pass?"
"They…" He let the silence drag out a bit before answering.
"Passed." There was a three second pause before an uproar started.
"They passed!"
"How could they pass!"
"Are you going soft?"
"How good are they?"
"They're like your old team, aren't they?" Waving them down, Kakashi answered the questions again.
"Yes, they worked together, Hell no, they're better than I expected, and yes. But that's not why I passed them. They're half decent ninja already." Asuma, head of Team Six, snorted.
"Of course they are. Two are the kids of the Hokage."
"That's not what makes them as good as they are." But I'm not telling you what really makes them that good.
I AM A LINE PLEASE IGNORE ME BECAUSE I AM NOTHING MORE THAN A LINE
Neji wrapped his arms around Hana's waist and nuzzled her hair.
"I'm so proud you passed." The girl smiled brilliantly and snuggled into her mother's chest. Lee, sitting behind Neji, wrapped his arms around the both of them. All three were enjoying a relaxing bubble bath together. It was something of a ritual for them. Hana inhaled the scent of her mother and her father. The two overlapped, but managed to stay separate and unique at the same time. Her mother smelled like flowers and spices while her father smelled like wood and berries. Closing her lavender eyes, she let their comfort wrap around her. She must have fallen asleep because she remembered being carried into her bed. Her father was wearing boxers and holding her like a baby. Her father always was strong.
(Switching POVs)
Neji watched as Lee gently laid Hana in her bed and tucked her in, kissing her forehead. Every time Neji looked at Hana, he would see where the Hyuuga curse mark would be if he hadn't married Lee. Every time he saw that, he remembered his own curse mark was still in place. He was pulled out of his thoughts as he felt Lee picking him up and carrying him to their room.
"Hana's asleep. It's time we turn in for the night as well." Nodding, Neji rested his head against Lee's chest and smiled. Every time he thought about his curse mark, he got sad. Every time he got sad, Lee would do something goofy or romantic to make him smile again. One time, Neji had been depressed and Lee walked around wearing bunny ears all day and hopping. Neji's laughed so hard he almost cried. As he was gently laid on the bed, Neji began to wonder what he had done to deserve Lee.
"Neji-koi?"
"Hm?" Lee lay on his stomach next to Neji.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Cocking his head, Neji gently stroked the taller male's head.
"What I did to deserve you." Lee chuckled and began petting Neji's hair.
"Funny. I was thinking the same thing. Course, my thoughts were sort of along the lines 'what in the world did a weirdo like me do to deserve this heavenly angel that is Neji?'" The Hyuuga laughed and moved closer to him, kissing his cheek.
"Lee, you're weird, but I wouldn't have you any other way." Lee smiled.
"Even if it included smaller eyebrows?"
"Okay, screw what anyone else says, I like your eyebrows. And your ridiculous speeches on youth. And your thumb pose and nice guy pose. And your teeth sparklies. I love every bit of you."
"Down to the eyebrows?"
"The eyebrows are more up, but yes. Down to the eyebrows." Lee grinned even more and kissed Neji on the lips.
"And I love every bit of you." The brunette's smile faded and he looked down.
"Even the curse mark?" This took Lee a bit by surprise, but he reached up and removed Neji's headband. The curse mark was a constant reminder that Neji was part of the Branch Family. Leaning forward, he planted a firm kiss on the 'X'.
"Even the curse mark. I think it draws attention to your eyes, which I could stare into for hours on end." He paused and thought.
"No, scratch that. I could stare at all of you for hours on end and not get tired."
"Ever?"
"Ever." Neji smiled a true smile and crawled into Lee's open arms. There were times he needed reassurance from Lee and the bushy-browed male always gave it. As they cuddled, Neji tried to remember a time they had ever fought. They bickered a lot, but it was over silly things like, oh, say, the color of Hana's room. Neji giggled as he remembered it.
"Ne? What is it, Neji-koi?"
"I'm just remembering when we argued over the color of Hana's room. I wanted it to be blue but you wanted it to be green." The taller male grinned.
"Oh yeah. We argued for the longest time and I kept going on and on about youth. Gaara-sama's the one who suggested lavender, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. Oh, you know what? I just remembered why I didn't like the green idea!" Lee chuckled.
"Yeah, you said, and I quote, 'No way in freaking Hell are you going to turn her into a youth-spewing spandex wearing female version of Gai!'" They both laughed at the memory.
"I'm sorry Lee, but could you imagine a female version of Gai?" Lee laughed again and shook his head.
"Looking back on it, you were right. My first reaction for the longest time was to be Gai-sensei. I'm glad I married you so you could stop me from sculpting her into another youth-obsessed spirit." Grinning, Neji thought of what Hana would be like if she were like Gai.
"Oh, that would have been horrible." Lee pictured it too.
"Yes it would have. Could you imagine if she had drawn on eyebrows?" They both laughed even harder.
"Oh, God no! That would have been awful! Big, uneven things, terrifying everyone who saw her!" Lee laughed again and then thought of something else.
"Oh, what if she turned out like you? She would have this long, drawn-out 'You Are a Loser' speech."
"Oh lord, if she had turned out like me…that would have terrible! I was the worst child anyone could have wanted! She would have been so difficult! Thank God she took after Hinata-sama!"
"Hey, what if she turned out like Kakashi?" And on it went. The two kept laughing hysterically over ideas of their daughter turning out like their friends. It was midnight when they finally calmed down. Lee turned out the light and nuzzled Neji's cheek.
"We should get to sleep." The Hyuuga pouted cutely and looked up at him with adorable eyes.
"Do we have to? Couldn't we stay awake for just a little bit longer to do…other things?" In all his years of living with Neji, Lee had learned something: whenever Neji began pouting, Lee would turn into a total sucker and do anything he asked. Neji discovered his power over the bushy-browed male, but luckily only used it every so often. This was one of those every so often times.
"Well…we do have the day off tomorrow…" And that's how Neji's boxers ended up on the ceiling fan while Lee's boxers ended up on top of the dresser. Hana, whom had been listening outside the door, quickly returned to her room to get some sleep. She knew her parents stayed up late to talk to each other and she loved to listen in. Sometimes they would catch her and she would sleep with them. Other times, they wouldn't and she would get to listen to them until they finally decided to sleep. As she crawled into bed, Hana wondered if she would ever find someone to love like her parents loved each other. An image of Irihi crossed her mind and she blushed, wondering how the demon girl felt about her.
I wish she loved me as much as I love her…
I AM A LINE PLEASE IGNORE ME BECAUSE I AM NOTHING MORE THAN A LINE
Irihi, meanwhile, was sitting by her window. It was a full moon and she found she could never sleep on these nights. When she asked Gaara, he said that it was because of her demon. On full moons, she wouldn't be able to sleep easily. Looking over her shoulder, Irihi smiled. Aiji was curled up with their baby sister, Gina. The five year-old girl was the cutest little girl in the world. She had big, sky blue eyes and long, silky blonde hair tied into pigtails.
She's as cute as Hana-chan.
Irihi smiled even more, glad she had such a cool family. Her smile disappeared when a shadow crossed over her brother and sister. Whirling around, she saw a figure standing on her windowsill. He had a large straw hat shading his face, but she could see two red eyes.
Red like Sasuke-papa's Sharingan…
There was a loud slam and the figure disappeared just as the door to their bedroom opened. Sasuke, Sharingan activated, glared at the place where the figure had been. Naruto came in behind him and scooped Irihi up, carrying her away. Gina and Aiji, awoken by the sound, looked confused. Gina, still sleepy, rubbed her eyes.
"Mama? What's wrong?" Sitting on the bed, Naruto pulled his children into his lap. Gaara came in next to Sasuke, whom was looking out the window.
"Sasuke."
"It was him." Aiji, face pulling into a glower that matched Sasuke's, frowned.
"Who?" Naruto shook his head and rocked the three back and forth.
"Someone bad." At the worried looks on their faces, Naruto smiled happily.
"But don't worry! Your mama and papas will protect you. Okay?" The three nodded obediently and Gina immediately fell asleep. She liked to sleep when it was dark out. Aiji took a bit longer to fall asleep, but soon his eyes drifted shut.
"Irihi? Aren't you going to sleep?"
"I can't sleep on the full moon, Mama." Gaara took her from Naruto and nodded to his wife.
"I'll be back." Carrying Irihi, the redheaded male climbed to the roof of the house and sat her next to him.
"Gaara-papa can't sleep on the night of the full moon either, Irihi. Do you know why?"
"The Shukaku."
"That's right. Do you know why you can't sleep on the full moon?"
"My demon."
"Right. When I was your age, I couldn't sleep at all. I was afraid the demon would eat me if I slept. Be thankful that isn't the same with you. The reason you can't sleep on the full moon is because the demon is more awake and wants to feed."
"Feed on what?" Gaara gave her a careful look before motioning to the village.
"Humans. It wants to feed on humans, Irihi." Irihi looked out over the village, her eyes resting on Hana's house. She shifted chakra towards her eyes and could see the girl sleeping peacefully in her bed. Something in her chest stirred and writhed with pleasure.
"Irihi, listen." Irihi tore her gaze from Hana and looked at her father.
"Don't let it control you. If you do, you could hurt or kill someone close to you."
"Like Mama?"
"Mama, Sasuke-papa, Aiji, Gina, even Hana." That thought made Irihi stiffen and retract into herself. Gaara knew the defensive reflex and began to speak again.
"I wasted a lot of my life killing humans and allowing the Shukaku to feed on their blood. Don't make my mistake. Dominate the demon inside you. Do not take advantage of it. That will end…"
"Only in blood." Gaara nodded and looked back over the city. Watching from a safe distance away, Itachi secretly plotted the abduction of the Hokage children. An equally safe distance away, members of an ancient cult plotted the abduction of their 'saviors'.
End of Chapter Two
A/N: Guh. Horrible. But you're getting an idea of the main plot. Reviews are welcome, as always.