DISCLAMER: I own nothing but this story and the idea..... regretfully : (

As he sat there on his bed meditating, he couldn't help but be on edge. The air in the all white room was most dissatisfying. The air was cold, frigid and brought gooseflesh to his pale skin. The air made the hair on his neck stand straight and the bones in his body shake.

What was this feeling? It was foreboding and seemed to be warning him of some kind of impending doom. Like the ache of being sick.

It wasn't so much an ache, more like a stomach virus, (though he wouldn't have known what that felt like as he couldn't remember ever being sick) it was along the lines of a clenching in his stomach from the inside out.

This cannot be good if I am feeling it at a time like this, he thought.

It had happened before; the stomach clenching and the uneasy feelings. He liked to call it a Premonition. It started out as an ache in his stomach and from there it would ascend to his forehead, then the images would appear.

It would be nonsense at first; little things here and there. But in due time, it would all start to come together and the pieces would start to fall into place. By then, it was usually too late to do any good. However he had learned, over time that meditating helped sort out the crazy images, making them easier to interpret.

That was why he was here now, among his starched white sheets, sitting in Lotus Pose, his back was straight, legs crossed and breathing even. Slowly, in and out, in and out, he continued to breathe.

In

Out

In

Out

Once he was centered, he saw his mind; a blank sheet of paper ready to be written on and have its depths explored. One more breathe and he was the-

"Neji-san?"

His back stiffened as did the rest of his body. The voice was timid and it sounded unsure as if interrupting him had been a mistake.

Which it had, he thought balefully. He took a deep breath and tried to relax.

"Is there something you need, Yamanaka-san?" his voice, usually the epitome of calm held an air of annoyance.

Even though he was irritated at being interrupted, he didn't fail to realize that instead of being her usual loud and boisterous self, Ino was rather nervous, (clearly something she didn't normally do).

"Ano….." she trailed of as if not sure how to continue.

He popped open his moon colored eyes and took in the scene before him. Ocean blue eyes set off by blonde almost white hair was the first thing he saw. Ino stood there, dressed in her cotton blue tank top and long matching pants, nervously playing with the ends of her high ponytail.

He shifted his eyes to her left and sat up straighter. Behind her was Hinata, managing to look frightened and concerned all at the same time. She was pulling on her own tank top and shifting her lavender, gray eyes around, looking at anything but him. Her short violet locks seemed to glow a deep purple under the translucent lights.

"Neji, it's time," the words were drawn out as if they were too painful to speak.

To Ino's right, there stood Shikamaru who was about the same age as him, wearing the same cotton blue pants he was. His hands were behind his head lazily, slightly messing up his brown hair which was pulled back in a ponytail resembling a pineapple

At sight of the lazy genius Neji gracefully unfolded his legs and stood up from his bed. He then proceeded to stretch his stiff muscles, and gave a slight sigh when he was rewarded with a satisfying 'pop'.

"It seems the time has come for our escape" he stated, the smirk dancing upon his pale lips did not, at all, mess up his handsome features.

"Yeah, but how do you suppose we do it?" Ino with her attitude intact was back to her normal self; blunt and loud.

It's been years since we were brought here, she thought.

How many years? Even Ino didn't know. She had given up counting the number of months after she was brought here. She often wondered if they would ever make it out of the hell hole they called home.

"To put it bluntly," Shikamaru rolled his eyes at this, "we've honestly never been beyond this room besides down the hall. Other than that, everything else is blocked off."

Without removing her eyes from Neji, she slapped Shikamaru on the chest reminding him that she really did have all seeing eyes. Neji's smirk widened just a bit before he turned his emotionless eyes towards his cousin, who was twiddling her thumbs.

The other two turned toward the direction he was looking and Ino couldn't help but gape.

"Her?" she shouted, pointing her finger rudely in the direction of the nervous Hinata.

"No offense," Neji raised his eyebrow at this and Shikamaru was off to the side snickering

"but I doubt that Hinata would or even could hurt a fly."

She turned to Hinata looking slightly apologetic but at the same time determined.

"Hinata, you know as well as I do that when we leave here there aren't going to be butterflies and lollipops out there to greet us. We'll be up against something that won't think twice about killing us."

"Ino," Shikamaru knew what she spoke was the truth but he still feared for her safety as

Neji was rather protective of Hinata.

When he turned his mud colored eyes towards Neji, what he saw surprised him. Neji stood arms crossed over his bare toned chest, seemingly agreeing with what Ino was saying. As if sensing Shikamaru's gaze, Neji turned toward him and gave a slight nod.

"Iie, it is time for her to understand exactly what we are up against. If she dies, at least it would not be an ignorant death," although he said the words coldly with no feeling at all, everyone present knew he said those words out of respect for Hinata's well being.

Shikamaru sighed, uncrossed his arms and left them to hang limply by his bare side.

"Kill or be killed Hinata," Ino stated coldly, "that's how it is."

Hinata had the sinking feeling that she was being ganged up on. As she looked from Ino to Neji to Shikamaru, she couldn't help but feel a little hurt. Hurt because they didn't seem to have an ounce of faith in her.

No, she thought, if they didn't believe in you, they wouldn't be telling you this. They just want what's best for you. You can be strong; this is what you were made for.

"Do you understand, Hinata?" Shikamaru's voice was considerably warmer than both Ino and Neji's.

She looked around at the faces before her; they were her friends, her family and they wouldn't let any harm befall her. Just like she would protect them any way she could.

She walked over to the door of the room and put her palm out before her. Her hand felt so cold against the harsh yet smooth metal. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She could see the small grains and particles of earth compressed so tightly together that they formed the metal before her.

Without a second thought she willed the particles to expand.

BOOM

The wall in front of her was gone; turned into nothing but dust.

She turned to the people behind her and nodded her head softly.

"H-Hai," her voice was soft and almost hesitant, but it was still strong in its own right.

Even though the features of Neji's face never changed, she could still see the approval in his ivory colored eyes. He nodded his head to the others in the room and proceeded to walk out of the solitary room.

Without stopping or turning around, his voice still carried to the rest of them, "Ikou."

Behind him, Ino jumped up and pumped her fist in the air and 'whooped' loudly.

"Let's go kick some ass!"

Shikamaru sighed loudly, "Mendoukusai."

Hinata smiling slightly and followed the others out of the room with only one thought in her head.

They would live on, and they would win.


I hope you enjoyed this kind of new and updated version

Please read n' review, tell me what you liked and didn't like and I'll do what I can about it.

kyakya991