"We're almost there." Neji stated as he and his cousin hopped through the skin crippling desert; sand clogging their vision and windpipes.

"Right." Hinata panted, trying to keep herself standing as she also tried to keep up with Neji. They had been going for several hours.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked her with concern. She had been telling him she was fine and could keep going for a couple of hours, but as time passed by, so did her strength.

"I can make it. We're close aren't we?" She blinked away the dizzyness.

"Yeah but we can still take a break. We still have a couple of hours in the evening to kill..."

"I said I'm fine-" She tried to state groggily, until she tripped, causing her to fall on her face. The sudden force that pushed her to the ground shocked her. Making her realize how tired she really was. Needless to say, she couldn't get back up.

"Hinata-sama!" Neji immediately came to her side to aid her. He wrapped her arm around his neck and flipped her over, holding her in his arms. "You were pushing yourself!"

"I-I thought I could catch up to you... I didn't want to drag you down..."

"Even if you took a small break we would have still got there on time..." Looking into the blue eye contacts she was wearing, he lifted her up. "I'll carry you. It's only 15 minutes away."

"I'll be fine in a minute..."

"No, you won't. You'll still be exhausted in a minute." He made sure her backpack was still tightly strapped on and that he had a good grip on her before continuing.

"Neji nii-sama." She stopped him.

"Yes?"

"You look nice in a high ponytail." She complimented him with a weak smile. "You should wear it like that more often.

Neji turned red, and not because of the dry heat. "M-maybe I will." He began hopping on their trail, getting to the village at high speed.

Once they approached the gates, Neji put on an act of desperation. He ran up to the guards of the entrance; pleading. "Please let me in!" He makes it very convincing that he's worried. "My wife is sick and we need a place to stay!"

Hinata was actually asleep in his arms.

The people behind the guards were stopping to see what the commotion was about. Neji quickly handed a permission slip by Lady Tsunade to enter the village into the sand ninja's hand. The guard red it and immediately let him pass.

"Thank you!" He ran past them and the crowd of people, searching for the Isago Kimu Inn sign. When he finally found it, he noticed the outside. It was a massive building that looked very... luxurious. "They must have stolen a lot in order to build such a huge inn..." Brushing off the fact that the place was almost like a palace, he dashed through the front gate and into the inn. "Someone please give me a room! My wife is very ill and she needs rest."

The cashier quickly stepped in front of him. "Hold on a minute, you can't just barge in here and beg for a room. We don't give service for free, kid."

Neji gave him a very angry look, making it look like it was coming from distress over his 'wife'. "If it's money you want, then take this." He handed the cashier a medium sized, but heavy, bag of yen. "Count it. I'm sure it's more than enough. You can even take the change."

The cashier's eyes lit up as he shoved the bag of money in his in his oversized Hakama. "Right this way, sir."

"Thank you." He followed him.

The cashier led them into a fairly large room on the fourth floor. It had plenty of floor space, a queen sized bed, a dresser, and a balcony. The wall pattern was black with magenta sakura trees and petals. The floors were finished tatami mats and the decoration was very oriental. "For rogue's, they put a lot of money into this..." He unstrapped Hinata's backpack and laid her gently on the bed. Once he caught himself smiling at her, he blushed. "I shouldn't be staring...!"

He sat down next to her, pulling his hair out of the ponytail. He noticed her hair that was tied up in a bun. 'That must be really uncomfortable. I should take it out.' He gently turned her head and pulled the indigo silk tie that was holding up her hair. He took out the long pin that went through it as well, admiring how beautiful she was with her hair down. Then it hit him again. His hand was burning from touching her cheek. His mind was going crazy. Crazy because he was looking at her lustfully, and crazy because of this whole situation! He didn't know if he could make it through... However long this mission was going to take.

He changed into his bedtime kimono and climbed in bed next to her, trying to calm his thoughts down. He was just about to fall asleep when suddenly two thin arms wrapped around his arms, pulling his back close from his shoulders. Hinata was dreaming about something, causing her to link her arms around his like a chain. She rested her head on his neck and curled up.

Neji was trembling with restraint. He kept himself quiet, but was having a hard time silencing his own beating heart that kept rising into his throat.

"Maybe I should sleep on the floor after all.." He said to himself, but her grasp got tighter. He was practically about to rip his pillow in half from how tight he was clenching onto it.

Needless to say, he didn't sleep that night.

At about four AM, Neji finally pried himself out from Hinata's arms and replaced himself with the pillow he almost tore in half. He climbed past her and walked out the door, trailing off through the halls.

"-We can't waste anymore time. The opening is clear, and we should be able to attack."

Neji quickly hid behind the corner of the hallway, listening in on the conversation.

"Headmaster Junichi told us to stay on hold for that raid. I'm as pissed off about this as you are, but there's nothing we can do about it."

"Then let's go talk to him! We can probably get him to change his mind. I've waited a month to do this thing and to get paid!"

"Undo that wedgie of yours and keep it down! We have guests sleeping in here. You don't want to wake them up."

"Like I care about that."

Neji looked down at his feet. 'So they aren't attacking yet...' He was just about to walk off when he heard another pair of feet running towards the two that were conversing. He halted himself.

"You two! I just got word from headmaster Junichi. It's about the plans for the raid in Konoha."

'Konoha?' Neji thought to himself.

"What about it?" The calmer one of the two asked.

"He wants us to gather in the meeting room at midnight. I think he's finally going to make this plan active." The messenger replies.

"I hope so. We haven't acted in weeks. I was startin' to get aches in my body from sitting around too long."

Once the trio walked off, Neji stood there thinking about what just happened. They were going to attack Konoha, and Hinata and him were the only ones in the sand village to stop these guys.

'They're meeting tonight... I'll talk to Hinata-sama once she wakes up and send word out to Lady Tsunade immediately.' He calmly walked back to his bedroom. His eyes were bloodshot. He decided once he got back he would just take a pillow and camp out on the floor. Maybe he could get at least 2 hours of sleep. Knowing Hinata, she'd probably even let him sleep in from guilt over the fact that he had to carry her all the way over to the inn and take care of her.

Neji walked in their room and saw Hinata crushing that pillow he gave her. He sighed in relief. 'I'm glad I left while I did.'

Pulling out a small blanket from their cargo, he grabbed one of the extra pillows off of the bed and layed on the floor next to Hinata's side. His deep thoughts putting him to sleep.