Kairo Chapter 4

It was 1:00 pm and Hinata was on her way to the front gates. Hinata gritted her teeth ferociously as she made a beeline for the front of Konoha. After a few more minutes of non stop running she started to slow down a bit, sensing that she was almost there. The first thing that Hinata's eyes saw were the two sets of colossal leaf green doors, along with the walls of the village. As she came closer, a few figures came into her range of vision. 'That's my team.' She thought as she slowed down her speed even more. Chai, Tenten, Sakura, Ino, Rock Lee, Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, Shikamaru and Neji were already there. Hinata smiled as an idea came to her. 'I'll sneak up on them! That'll surprise them! I can probably sneak past Neji-niisan too! He-he time to test my skills.' She smiled widely before darting to the side of the gates, all the while keeping a watch on the group, and a hawk eye on Neji. She ran to the closest Sakura tree and jumped straight onto the highest branch. She tries not to make any noises as she gripped a branch to her left, the pink leaves acted like a veil.

Neji tapped his foot on the dirt impatiently, and looked around to see if Hinata was coming.

"Where do you think Hinata is Neji?" Neji looked over, and Tenten walked towards him. She had a concerned facial expression. Chai walked over and looked at both Tenten and Neji.

"Hinata will come, it's not like her to leave us hanging here." She glanced at the sky. "Besides, it's still noon" she added.

Tenten nodded at her then looked back at Neji, who was still staring off into the distance. Sasuke was standing near on a log near by and was also looking out for Hinata. Lee was watching a squirrel tilt it's head up to look at a near by Sakura tree, as if it had spotted something. Lee ran over to it. He knelt down beside the squirrel.

"What are you looking at?" he looked up into the branches of the tree and saw a shadow-veiled figure kneeling on a branch. Lee immediately jumped into a fighting stance and positioned his open palm in front of him.

"Show yourself!" he shouted at the figure. Though Lee could only see the outline of the shadowed form, it was clearly female. There was hair jutting out in all directions from the ribbon tied pony-tail. The obi like belt tied into a bow around the stranger's waist spread out behind her back. Her head towards him and she jumped off of the branch, landing in front of Lee. The squirrel which was standing beside Lee scurried away. Lee side stepped a bit to get a better look at the figure's face, for it was still hidden in the branch's shadow.

The stranger stepped out of her hiding spot and grinned at Lee with straight white teeth. She cocked a dark eyebrow and fixed her brown eyes on his face. Lee widened his eyes and his own thick eyebrows shot up in realization.

"HINATA-HIME!" he hollered and turned to the direction where the others were standing, waving his hand around in a frantic like manner.

"HINATA HAS ARRIVED!" he shouted again. Hinata looked over and saw the rest pf the group walking towards them. Lee grabbed Hinata's gloved hands and smiled widely. The grin never left Hinata's face as she watched each of her teammate's expressions. They were all surprised at her second appearance change.

"Hinata-sama?" Neji asked softly. "Is that really you?" Hinata looked towards him and nodded her head. Sasuke was gaping at her like no tomorrow. Hinata looked at him giggled.

"What's the matter Uchiha? Don't recognize the weak one?" her grin faded as she said the last part. Sasuke blinked twice. Naruto and Kiba both did double takes. Lee who was still holding Hinata's hand gazed down into Hinata's fiery eyes. Hinata's frown became deeper as she released her hand from Lee's and stalked up to Sasuke. Sasuke watched Hinata as she pushed past Sakura who glared at her. He noted how her hips 'swished' as she walked. She was directly in front of him now, her crimson orbs burning holes into his onyx colored orbs. 'She looks as if she possesses the Sharingan…' he thought as he fixed his eyes on her face. Hinata frowned even more deeply, if that were possible and just narrowed her eyes into slits and walked past Sasuke. He followed her every move to the gates. Ino, Chai and Tenten looked at Hinata's walking form then at Sasuke who gazed after her. Sakura glared at her, and Shikamaru and Neji also looked at the two.

"Are you guys coming or what? We don't have all day! Let's go to the Sand Village already!" she turned to shout at them. "Yeah, yeah we're coming!" Chai called out ad began running up to the gate, everyone followed suit. Ino smiled and ran up to Hinata.

"Hey Hinata, are those contacts?" she asked her friend. Hinata smiled back and shook her head. "My former eyes were the fakes; these are what my eyes were like since I was born." This caught Neji' attention and he walked over to the two kunoichi. He stared at Hinata. "What do you mean they were like that since you were born? They are supposed to be like mine, you're a Hyuuga." He said in confusion, which was very rare for Neji. Hinata smiled weakly at him before saying "I'm not one hundred percent Hyuuga, Neji." Neji's eyes widened. "What do you mean?" Sasuke also heard and looked at her, expecting an explanation. Hinata shook her head for like the fourth time. "It's complicated, I'll explain on the way." She replied, eager to get going. Neji nodded and focused hi attention to the gates. Tenten was already reporting the group's departure to the ANBU standing by the door. Tenten turned to them and smiled. "Let's go!"

Okay, that wraps up Chapter 4! A bit longer? Don't worry, I pledge to work extra hard on the next one. Sorry for updating late, my computer is so dang SLOW. Okies, see ya'll next chapter!

Suzume K Hoshi