After strapping on my pouches and silently saying goodbye to a sleeping Naruto, I knew it was time. I carefully stepped over his body - which was sprawled out on the floor - and slipped through the glass double doors to the balcony. I stood on the balcony for several minutes breathing in the cool night air, trying to slow my heartbeat. I went over the plan a thousand times in my head. I had no idea if it was going to work - but I hoped to Kami it would.
I stood there, waisting time, thinking of Naruto-kun. He slept so loudly and moved around too much. I imagined myself sleeping next to him, holding onto him gently with my head on his shoulder...And then the daydream turned to hell, and Naruto went to roll over but accidentally hit me in the face, breaking my nose. He didn't wake up. I was laying there, dripping blood from my face, Naruto was snoring loudly. I couldn't wake him up and he was too heavy to push off...
I shook the thought from my head. Of course that wouldn't happen! If anything, he'd roll himself off the bed. I figured that's what he usually does. I'd feel him fall, and laugh, then look down at him from our bed. He'd wake up and his eyes would look tired and he'd look up at me, then we'd both start laughing...
That's what I wanted to happen. If only I could be brave enough to tell Naruto-kun how I felt, then maybe all of this wouldn't be happening...just maybe.
When I thought I was ready, I slipped onto the next rooftop over and started my journey to the Hyuuga Mansion. The cold air numbed the pain throughout my body but I didn't shiver. I was nervous but I knew this was what I had to do. It was time for the shy Hyuuga Hinata to become brave - to stand up and fight for herself and her sister. To face the fear that she was heading directly to - Otousan.
When I reached the mansion it was quiet. With my regular vision I couldn't see any movement or light - it was completely black within the premises. I activated my Byakugan to see where Otousan was, but as soon as I did, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and fell over onto the ground. Someone had hit me with something.
Neji was sitting in a pool of his own blood against the back wall of the cellar. He was taking shallow breaths, his eyes were slightly open but it looked like he was lost in a genjutsu. He heard someone walking down the stairs to the cellar, carrying - no, dragging- something with them. He knew it was Hiashi, but he still had some hope that it wasn't. He listened to the loud thuds of the object bumping against the steps and Hanabi's whimpering in the corner.
Neji wished so bad that he could move to defend himself. But Hiashi had broken nearly every bone in his body, and Neji was faint from the loss of blood and chakra. When the person emerged from the stairs, Hanabi let out a cry.
"Oneechan!" It was a painful cry, one Neji had never heard Hanabi let out before. He heard Hanabi start crying, and knew at once what the object was. He did everything he could to glance up towards his itoko and see the condition she was in. Hiashi had dragged her body down the stairs and into the cellar.
"Neji, how are you feeling?" Hiashi asked sarcastically and walked over to Neji, crouching over him. Neji didn't move at all.
"Not answering me, huh? You must feel defeated. I understand, a member of the branch family is supposed to feel defeated when in the presence of the main family. And all of that training I put you through was for nothing... I should've known I was waisting my time on you. You're as pathetic as your father was." Hiashi kicked Neji hard in the stomach and then left without another word. Neji coughed up more blood, the pain was overwhelming. He tried to bear it and stared down at his itoko's body, wondering if she was alive or not. He couldn't activate his Byakugan in his condition, so he fixed his eyes on Hinata's chest, looking for a sign of breathing.
Seconds went by, possibly a whole minute, before Neji saw a slight movement in her chest. He let out a painful sigh of relief and, wincing, clutched his stomach gently.
I woke up on the stone floor of a dark, cold room. I lifted my head and looked around, trying to ignore the sharp pains in my head. Whoever hit me got me GOOD. It was extremely dark in the room, but I sensed chakra in two spots of the room. One in the corner, one in the middle of the back wall.
"H-hello..?" I whispered so softly, I'm surprised anyone even heard it.
"Oneechan?" Hanabi's soft voice ecchoed from the corner. I smiled a little and crawled towards her, reaching my hand out to embrace her. But I found myself hugging metal bars. I reached my hand through and found my sister's. It was cold, but I held onto it tightly and heard her whimper a bit, crying.
"Hanabi-chan...What has he done to you?" I said in the lowest volume I could manage.
"Oh, Oneechan, horrible, horrible things...But you mustn't worry about me...Neji-san..He's hurt badly." I felt her trembling. I looked over in the direction of the other chakra, assuming it was itoko's.
"Over there?" She nodded. I crawled over to Neji-kun and blindly touched his arm. He moved his arm back fast and I heard him try not to yell, instead he attempted to speak.
"H-hinata-chan.." He was panting, but slowly, like he was unable to breathe correctly. "P-please, do something about Hiashi-sama.."
"Neji-kun, what did he do?" I was knelt over him, my eyes searching frantically for anything I could see. I felt too blind down there.
"Just go get Tsunade-sama...someone...he has to be defeated, gomen, Hinata-chan..gomen.." He stopped talking after that as if he had fallen asleep. Assuming so, I used the walls to search for the staircase. When I finally found it, I worked my way up slowly. At the top of the staircase I sat with my hand against the door, wondering what I should do next. This certaintly wasn't how my plan was supposed to work out. I needed to think of a new plan, and fast.
