Hinata rebounded off of her opponent. She was fighting the woman who had mocked them. Ai was busy fighting the remaining three enemies several yards away from her. He was so graceful, she thought. Watching him fight was like watching a choreographed dance. He would weave in and out of his opponent, avoiding every attack, then land his own. She may have been in love with Naruto, but she couldn't help but notice how incredibly handsome Ai was. His shoulder-length hair whipped around his face as he fought with his opponents, and his headband, tied on the side like always, gleamed in the sun. Hinata had to forcefully tear her eyes away from the him, less she end up dead, and continued with her own fight.

Hinata had her byakugan activated and was attempting to shut of her opponents chakra points with her gentle fist style, but wasn't making much progress. She would make strike after strike, only to have them miss. She would have to be more careful, she was starting to run low on chakra. She struck at the woman's left side, but of course missed. The sound ninja grabbed her arm and threw her against a tree. Hinata hit the trunk hard, and had the wind knocked out of her. She tried to get back to her feet, but the sound woman got to her before Hinata could do anything. She grabbed Hinata by the throat and pinned her against the tree. Reaching into her tool bag, the woman pulled out a serated kunai and put it against Hinata's jugular.

"Now you're little boyfriend will have the joy of watching you die," she said. Hinata was unable to speak, the pressure on her throat was to great and her airway was being cut off. Tears began to run down her cheek as the realization of it hit her. She was going to die, without ever telling Naruto how she felt.

"Say goodbye, little girl. Oh wait, you can't," the woman let out a laugh just as she was roundhouse kicked in the side of the head. Hinata fell to the ground and began to cough.

"Hinata, are you alright?" Ai asked. Hinata looked up into his bright green eyes and for a moment, it felt as though her heart stopped beating. She felt her face turn bright red and quickly stood up.

"Y-yes, I'm f-fine," she stammered. The sound woman slowely started getting to her feet.

"You little bastard," she growled, "I'll kill you for that!" She looked around to see her companions all knocked out. "You idiots! Get your asses up and fight!" The three slowely got up and surrounded the two young ninja.

"Get behind me Hinata," Ai said as he removed the cut-off gloves he wore. He formed a couple of hand signs and Hinata could see through her byakugan that he was channeling his chakra into his hands. He formed the last hand sign and spread his arms wide. "Sonic blast jutsu!" he shouted as he slammed his hands together. A great sound wave exploded out of his hands and shot toward the four sound ninja. The woman managed to jump out of the way in time, but her three companions weren't so lucky. The attack hit them with enough force to shatter stone. Blood spurted out of their ears as their ear drums burst. They screamed in pain, and collapsed to the ground.

"A-are they... d-dead...?" Hinata asked.

"If they aren't, they will be soon," he replied sadly. "I've used that attack to shatter boulders, so imagine what it can do to bones. Or organs." Hinata thought she saw a small tear run down his cheek.

"Y-you little... you'll pay for that!" the sound woman spat from above them. Hinata looked up to see her bitting her thumb. She slammed her hand down on the tree branch she had perched on and yelled "summoning jutsu!" There was a huge puff of smoke and when it cleared, there were around a hundred crows surrounding her.

"Don't worry Hinata, everything will be fine," Ai assured her. She believed him, and for some reason, felt very comforted by this.

The crows took flight and several of them picked up the woman, so that she was suspended in the midst of them. "Now, my pets," she said to the crows, "show them why they call me the Songbird of the Sound!" All at once, the crows started to caw, but it was amplified by thier chakra, so that it was more of a siren. Ai and Hinata were frozen in place by the frequency of the attack. Hinata clamped her hands to her ears in a pitiful attempt to shut out the noise. She collapsed to her knees, and hugged her head.

"M-make it s-stop," she cried, "p-please, make it stop!" The attack went on for what seemed like hours before it ceased. Hinata removed her hands from her ears to see blood on them. Ai had faired a bit better than she had, but he had been brought to his knees as well.

"Hmph, not so tough now, are you?" the sound woman said.

"H-Hinata, I think it's time for that technique I told you about. You remember what I taught you?" Ai asked.

"Y-yes, Ai-kun. I remember." She just hoped that she wouldn't let him down.

"Alright then," Ai said as he formed his chakra. He went through a complex series of hand signs then activated the jutsu. "Sense negation jutsu: Deaf Man's Curse," he said, and the world went quiet. A look of pure surprise and shock came over the sound woman's face. She attempted to perform the siren technique again, but when the crows opened their beaks, nothing came out. Ai smiled and looked at Hinata.

He nodded as if to say, "ready?" She nodded back in agreement. Ai formed more hand signs and activated the next jutsu. The world went black.


"Alright Hinata, now, we're going up against sound ninja, right?" Ai said after he swallowed his rice. They had stopped about an hour after they had left Konoha to eat dinner, and Ai had something than he needed to try out.

"R-right," she replied, setting her bowl down.

"And sound ninja specialize in sound techniques, right?"

"Y-yes."

"Do you know why Tsunade picks me to take care of sound ninja?" he asked.

"It's because of your abilities, r-right? Although I've never actually seen it with my own eyes, I've heard its really something." she answered.

"Correct," Ai smiled. "Do you know what it does?"

"I-it's a form of genjutsu, isn't it?" she asked. Ai chuckled.

"No, that's the beauty of it, it's a reagular ninjutsu," he said with a smile.

"O-oh," she said, feeling bad that she didn't know that much about his techniques. He didn't seem upset about it though, so that made her feel better about it.

"My technique is two parts," he began. "In the first part, Deaf Man's Curse, I nullify any sound waves in the air using my chakra as a dampener. In the second part, Blind Man's Curse, I absorb all light waves in the area, leaving it pitch black. Now, the first part is extremely effective against sound ninja, due to the fact that they use sound techniques. However, using both of them drains my chakra and leaves me without any energy left to fight. That's where you come in. Your byakugan can see a person's chakra points, so I think that you'll still be able to see even when I've absorbed all the light. If I have to resort to using this technique, you'll have to take out any remaining enemies."

"I-I don't th-think..." she tried to say.

"You can do it Hinata, I know you can," he said. She didn't understand how he could have so much confidence in her, but looking at his face and knowing that he believed in her, somehow made her feel like she could do it.

The spent the next few minutes testing Ai's theory. He had to keep the range of his technique small, or else he'd drain all of his chakra and he wouldn't be able to continue pursuit. But with some precise chakra control, he managed to only drain the light in the five or so feet between the two of them. And sure enough, Hinata's byakugan could see through it without a problem. Ai released the jutsu and sat down exausted.

"Whew, reminde me to never pick a fight with you, Neji, or any of the Hyuga clan. I'd be a gonner," he joked. Hinata giggled. Ai slowely got to his feet and brushed off his shirt. "This is great!" he exclaimed, "with your byakugan, we'll be able to take out those sound ninja without a problem!" Hinata still wasn't so sure.

"Ai-kun, w-what makes you s-so sure that I can... th-that I can h-handle this?"

"Because, Hinata, I trust you. I know you would never let anything happen to me," he answered with a smile. Hinata's face burned and her heart started to beat really fast. She at that moment realized that no matter what, she wasn't going to let Ai down.


Hinata activated her byakugan and the world came into focus. She could see now. She looked over to were Ai had been and saw him crouching on the ground. He was breathing heavily, and his chakra network was almost completely drained. She turned around and looked up to where the sound woman was. Hinata crouched, ready to attack, but hesitated. Could she really do this? Yes, she told herself. I can do it because Ai believes I can do it. With that, Hinata attacked. She quickly leaped up to the sound woman and struck her in the gut. The crows that had been holding her in the air dropped her in surprise and she fell to the ground. Hinata landed on the ground and faced her opponent. The woman stood up and looked around, trying to determine where the attack had come from.

Hinata walked over to her and stood right infront of her. This jutsu really was amazing. She was only inches away from her enemy, and yet she couldn't be seen or heard. Hinata readied her sixty-four palms technique. She would have to make this count, Ai was counting on her. Building up her chakra in her hands, she she struck at the first two of the woman's chakra points. A look of surprise and pain washed over her face as she was being attacked. Two palms, Hinata thougth. She changed position and struck at another four. Then at eight of them. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two and finally sixty-four of the enemy's chakra points, closing them all and rendering her unable to perform even the most basic jutsu. Then, to Hinata's surprise, the darkness cleared and she could hear the wind rustling throught the trees. She looked over to Ai to see that his chakra reservers were completely drained. She rushed over to him to get a better look.

One look and she realized how serious it was. He was suffering from chakra depletion. If she didn't get him to a hospital soon, he would die.

"Ai-kun, Ai-kun!," she called out anxiously. Ai slowely raised his head and looked at her.

"S-sorry, Hinata," he said weakly. "I-I couldn't... give you more... time."

"It's alright, Ai-kun," she said comfortingly as she took his hand. She gave it a slight squeeze and he squeezed in return. "Don't worry, I'm going to get you home and to a hospital," she assured him. He smiled in reply, and Hinata thought she saw something in his eye, something about the way he looked at her. What was that? Was it...?

"Hinata look out!" Ai yelled as he shoved her off to the side. Hinata hit the ground hard and looked back at him. Ai knelt on the ground with several shuriken sticking out of his torso.

"Ai-kun!" Hinata yelled, as Ai collapsed on the ground. She looked toward where the shuriken must have flown from to see the sound woman proping herself against a tree. She pulled out a kunai and slowely made her way over to Hinata. Her mask had torn and most of her face was now exposed. She had jet-black hair that ran past her shoulders, and very white skin. If it weren't for the murderous gleam in her eye and the crazed look on her face, Hinata would've found her to be excedingly beautiful. The woman slowely advanced and Hinata backed up. She was running low on chakra herself, and she could barely stand up, much less fend off another assault. Hinata sat down next to Ai and put his head in her lap.

"I'm sorry, Ai-kun," she said as she stroked the unconcious boy's hair, "I'm sorry that I wasn't more help." Tears began to flow down her cheeks, as death slowely made its way toward her.

"You two have been more trouble than I thought," the sound woman growled. She reached the two and stood over them with the kunai raised. "I was surprised that two little Leaf shinobi could do so well against four Sound jounin. You've earned my respect, so I'll make this quick," she said as she brought the kunai down. Hinata screamed and clutched Ai's head in her arms, but nothing happend. She slowely opened her eyes and looked up. The sound woman stood there, kunai still raised, with a look of utter surprise on her face. She turned around and moved her hand to the back of her neck, only to fall down right besides Hinata and Ai. Hinata looked at what the woman had been grabbing for. There were four poison needles sticking out of the back of her neck.

"Looks like we got here just in time," said a familiar voice. Three ninja appeared out from behind the trees and a wave of relief went through Hinata.

"T-Temari-chan... Kankuro-san... Kazekage-sama..." she said weakly.

"Easy Hinata," Temari said as she knelt besides her and Ai. "Don't worry, we're gonna get you back to Konoha."

"A-Ai-kun, he n-needs... a do... a doctor," Hinata mumbled.

"Yes, he does, and so do you, so just take it easy, okay?" the blond Sand shinobi said.

"O-okay... make sure... Ai-kun..." Hinata said just before she passed out.

"Kankuro, take the boy. Temari, the girl," Gaara instructed. Temari made to separate the two unconsious chunin and had to smile. They were holding hands.


A/N: i think i did a bit of a better job in describing Ai's physical appearance in this chapter, but for those of you who are still havin a hard time, just go to my page and click the link, itll take you to a drawing done by me of Ai

more back story will be given in future chapters

what i did, as you can read, was switch the P.O.V to Hinata. while this helped with describing Ai's appearance, the real reason was to show how Hinata felt about Ai, and how she was beginning to feel about him. i plan on switching the P.O.V back to Ai for the next chapter, but i might go back to Hinata in a future chapter.

it took me a while to come up with the exact details of Ai's abilities, but i like the outcome. its powerful and effective, but leaves him drained and unable to do anything else, especially considering that he also uses sound techniques

i was debating on what kind of bird i wanted the sound woman to summon. i originally thought of some kind of songbird, but thought that a parakeet would be to cutsie for a ruthless sound shinobi, so i went with a crow cuz crows are really dirty birds and i hate the sound of crows cawing