Disclaimer: unfortunately, I don't own any of the characters- except for Them, of course
I've updated so quickly because this chapter was virtually finished when I posted the first one.
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Blood on the Door
Chapter 2
"So, Hyuuga Neji is missing and Hyuuga Hiashi is injured?" Tsunade summarised "How did you find out that he had been attacked, Shizune?"
"A passer-by saw him lying in the doorway and alerted medic-nins straight away." Shizune replied. "I don't know how long he'd been there by the time he was seen, though"
Hinata and Hanabi were sitting in chairs in the Hokage's room, listening to Shizune's report to Tsunade. Neither of them had said anything since exiting the Hyuuga estate.
"So," Tsunade turned to the Hyuuga girls. "Neither of you saw any strangers or visitors in the estate until the medic-nins arrived?"
It was more of a statement than a question but Hanabi shook her head and Hinata replied, "No, I didn't see anyone."
"Did either of you hear anything? For instance, any thuds that you may have passed off as someone training?"
This time, Hinata shook her head but was surprised when Hanabi said
"Well…I think I saw to-san go to the door earlier, but I thought someone had just come to ask him something or to visit, you know, but I went into my bedroom before I saw him open the door and I didn't hear anything after that."
"What time was that? How long before Hinata and Shizune came?"
"Uhhh… I'm not sure…about half an hour, I think…"
"So that was probably when Hyuuga Hiashi was attacked and it seems that the intruders then entered the estate and found Hyuuga Neji. Do either of you recall when you last saw Neji?"
"I last saw him last night" Hinata said, "I didn't actually see him at all today. He goes into the woods to train very early and he'd probably just got back from training when the…ah…intruders came."
"So it seems very likely that both incidents were caused by the same people."
"It must have been Them!" Hanabi blurted out, before she could stop herself.
"'Them'? Who do you mean?" Tsunade questioned, one eyebrow slightly raised. Hanabi blushed faintly and looked at her sister for support.
Hinata sighed, and explained, "They are very powerful ninja, almost like a clan except They're not related. I think They base in a secret location near Takigakure no Sato (Hidden Village of the Waterfall) in Taki no Kuni (Country of the Waterfall). If ever referred to using a name, rather than as 'Them', then They are called the Kuragari no Ooi- meaning the Shroud of Darkness. They're called that because of specialised jutsu they use. I don't know anything else about them or what Their jutsu are, this is all what to-san told me about Them."
"Do you know if there is any reason they would target you, the Hyuuga clan? For instance, do you know if the Kuragari no Ooi have a grudge against your clan because of some encounter in the past?" Tsunade questioned.
Hinata shook her head "No. I know from what to-san told me that Konoha had something to do with Them about twenty years ago and our clan had some major part in it but I don't know what happened then or what the result was."
"Right," Tsunade shuffled some papers on her desk and picked up a folder. She looked through it briefly and then said "Shizune, take Hanabi back to the Hyuuga estate and then go with Hinata to collect Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru and Tenten and bring them all back here." A completely mixed- up team but they're the only ones available at the moment. Tsunade thought.
"Hai, Tsunade-sama," Shizune replied. Hinata and Hanabi followed her out of the building and onto the main street.
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This time, as Neji opened his eyes, there was a small chink of golden light permeating the room. It appeared that someone had forgotten to fully close the door as they left. Neji raised his head and tried to discern his surroundings. There wasn't much in the room to see: an ancient desk at one end with an unstable-looking chair next to it. Neji turned his head to look behind him and saw only a blank, dust-coloured wall.
Wait a minute, Neji thought, I turned my head! I can move a bit! Does that mean that the chakra cell They've got me in is wearing off? Is my chakra that They stole running out? Neji tried moving his arms and legs but found that he could only make them twitch a centimetre or two. Well, it's a start, he thought to himself, if I wait long enough and keep trying, I might be able to escape. He tried moving his arm more forcefully and succeeded in lifting it up a few more centimetres. I wonder if by moving just a few centimetres at a time, I could move further? Neji tried out his theory by trying to move around into a position from which he might be able to stand up. Well, it's working so far, he thought, now to try and stand up- but slowly…
He gingerly put one foot flat on the ground and put his weight on it so he could gradually straighten out the other leg from where it had been curled beneath him. At that moment, Neji heard footsteps approach the door and barely had time to get back down into a position relatively similar to his original one before the door was flung open and light flooded the tiny room.
"Good," the larger of the two men in the doorway breathed, "Boss said the chakra might 'ave started wearin' off and the 'ostage might've been tryin' to escape. But 'e's still on the floor unconscious. Guess 'e's not as strong as Boss thought."
"I think he has been awake," the shorter and seemingly slightly more intelligent one corrected slowly, "the chakra field has been disturbed."
"No it 'asn't! It's the same as it always was! 'Onestly, you're so paranoid sometimes…" He tailed off into mutterings and Neji only caught the odd word such as "always suspicious" and "'onestly".
"I applaud you on the successful broadening of your vocabulary," the allegedly paranoid man drawled sarcastically, "I mean, it must have taken you weeks to learn such a long word as 'paranoid'." With that, he turned and walked out of the door- having apparently forgotten that Neji had been awake. The remaining man blinked, closed the door and followed the sarcastic one; he, too, seemed to have a rather poor short-term memory.
Neji waited until both sets of footsteps had receded and then shuffled round to resume his attempts at standing up, wondering simultaneously who 'Boss' was and how those two memory-challenged goons had ever managed to become members of such an elite ninja organisation as the Kuragari no Ooi.
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Elsewhere in the labyrinthine network of passages concealed behind a waterfall, a tall, shadowy figure sat plotting his organisation's next move. He eventually decided on the group's next target. The target would be a heck of a lot easier to attack than the last one and the loss of that person would affect the head of the Hyuuga clan so much more than the last one had. Not that the head of the clan would know of the first loss for a while- he'd probably still be unconscious for a day or two…
The man smirked as he thought of the pain he must be causing the Hyuuga, such a humane emotion as pity had never had a place in the organisation.