Chapter 4: Spiders, Hyuuga's and Uchiha's
Neji was sitting in front of Shikamaru, still in shock after what happened. Then he realised that he was breaking the rules of the Temple, he was riding on a horse with someone. He made fists of his hands and closed his eyes, begging for mercy of his Gods. He never meant this to happen.
Shikamaru noticed the way Neji was.
"There's no other way of travelling Neji. There are just two horses." He said, trying to comfort Neji.
"But it's not allowed Shikamaru." Neji said. He felt very uncomfortable.
"We can't travel another way, we lost two horses." Sasuke said as he and Temari gained in on the rest.
Neji was silent for now, still praying to his gods in his head. Temari shrugged and made her horse run harder.
"We change horses." Sasuke stated. There was no way he would ride with someone else, let alone a girl.
Temari grinned.
"Afraid of me? I can get Shikamaru over here, then you can ride with Neji."
"I am not afraid of you. You're a girl. Which is exactly why I won't ride with you. Now stop those horses." Sasuke said as he already jumped of his horse.
Shikamaru let out a sigh and stopped his horse, getting of.
"Great. I can't even have my own horse." He said as he walked to Temari.
Temari looked at him with a 'yeah whatever' look on her face. She then grabbed Shikamaru and pulled him up, so he was sitting behind her.
Sasuke got on the horse and kept Neji in front of him.
"You stop whining now. If the gods hated you they had killed you by now." Sasuke said, annoyed of all the people he had to travel with now. He gave the horse a tap and started moving further.
"I'm not whining, I'm not even talking." Neji snapped to him, now not being comfortable at all anymore.
He even leaned forward a bit, so he wouldn't sit against Sasuke's stomach.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and kept quiet. He didn't feel like discussing it with Neji or any of the others. He just wanted to get rid of them as fast as possible.
They travelled further in silence, not knowing what to say to each other. Everyone was being silent, being busy with their own thoughts.
"You know, since we're travelling together, why don't we get to know each other? At least this trip wouldn't be as boring as it is now that way." Shikamaru said, finally breaking the silence.
Temari nodded.
"Good idea, but how do you want to do that?"
"It's called talking. Just tell us where you came from and what you want." Shikamaru sighed and looked at the rest.
"Oh. Well I come from the east, I want to search a way to defeat the evil one and become the strongest female warrior in the world." Temari said, shrugging.
"I've been born in the Temple and grew up to be a Priest. You could say I reached my goal already." Neji said as Temari looked at him, expecting him to answer.
"I have no idea what I want, how I want it or when I want it. I just fled my city." Shikamaru said lazily. "What about you Kiba?"
"I'm searching a teacher. I come from a fighter family, and all of us go to find a teacher when they reached the age of eighteen." Kiba answered, looking proud.
"And what exactly do you wanna learn?" Sasuke asked. He himself had no intention whatsoever to tell these guys what his goals were and who he was.
"I want to learn how to master the strength of brute force and perhaps magic. What about you?" Kiba answered, while patting Akamaru's head
"Whatever my goals are is no business of yours." Sasuke said as he didn't give any of them a single look.
"How nice." Neji said, sarcastic. Kiba looked at Neji startled and Temari groaned. Temari didn't really felt like dealing with two fighting boys. Sasuke looked at him.
"I have no intention to be nice to any of you. After we dropped you off we will all go our own ways and I will travel on alone. I don't have time for other people." He said as he kept his face uninterested.
"Then why didn't you run away long ago?" Neji asked. He didn't get any of that warrior. He didn't understand at all.
"I am not someone who runs from battle or missions. So what else should I run from?" Sasuke asked.
"Perhaps before you got the mission." Neji answered.
"You helped me, I help you. It's what us warriors have been taught." Sasuke simply stated. He had no intention as to hurt the priest. He'd be ridden of all of them easily once they reached destination.
Neji became more comfortable as he noticed that Sasuke had no intension of hurting him. This made Neji trust Sasuke for a bit. A little bit.
"Good." He said. Kiba snorted. "Let's travel on and search a place to sleep once it's getting dark." He said. Temari nodded.
"We should do that yes."
They travelled for a few more hours in total silence.
"There's a little house, it looks like it's abandoned. Let's sleep there." Kiba said, when he saw an old house at the edge of the forest.
"That would be smart. It's already dark." Shikamaru said. Sasuke drove his horse to the house and got off.
Neji dismounted too, looking at the house with a look of disgust on his face. Kiba stretched and got off Akamaru's back too.
Kiba entered the house, looking around for enemies.
"It seems that it's really abandoned." He said, while walking around the small room.
"Let's just get some sleep here then so that we can move further tomorrow morning." Shikamaru said as he mounted of his horse and got inside too.
Neji walked in, looking around too, while listening if he could hear something suspicious.
"Are we going to wash ourselves tomorrow?" He asked, being used at being clean always.
"Do you see water?" Sasuke said as he walked in and sat on a dusty chair. He looked Neji in the eyes.
"No, but we can search for it." Neji said, defending himself again. He was looking around for a chair to sit on too.
Kiba was walking upstairs, since there were stairs in the small house.
Temari just sat down on the ground.
"We're not going to look for water. If we run into some, fine, but we're heading straight to where you need to be so I can dump you all." Sasuke said as he placed his swords and weapons beside him. Shikamaru sat down on the stairs, seeing there was no other place to sit.
Neji frowned and looked at Sasuke.
"Is there a reason why you are so rude?" He asked.
Sasuke looked back at Neji, his face not changing one bit.
"Not at all. I just don't like company." He simply answered.
"Then why didn't you walked away when you met Kiba?" Neji said, still not getting it.
"I didn't think that by accepting Kiba's help I'd be having to look after three more nuisances." Sasuke picked up his sword and started polishing it.
Temari smirked, not being hurt by it at all. Neji nodded.
"I understand. I brought some bread to eat tonight from the Temple, should I get it from the horses?"
"We need to save them for tomorrow. People get hungry over night." Shikamaru said. He stood up and walked upstairs too.
Temari stood and followed him. Neji watched her climb up the stairs and then looked at Sasuke again.
"Can't we take the horses inside?" He asked.
"It'll smell. They'll be fine outside." Sasuke answered and pulled a tiny, wooden table towards him and placed his feet on it. He might as well sleep in the chair.
"But what if the enemy sees them? They'll know we are inside." Neji sputtered. He just couldn't leave the horses outside.
Sasuke shot him a single glare before returning to his sword.
"Fine. Go get them. But as soon as they start smelling, they're out." He answered, getting annoyed again.
Neji nodded.
"Good. Thanks."
With that, he opened the door again and walked outside, to the horses.
Sasuke kept a close eye on the door where he could see Neji. He didn't make a sound in case he could hear something. It was dark, and in the dark most horrors appeared.
Neji freed the first horse, patting it's neck carefully. He said small words to the animal and took it with him inside. The horse bowed his head so it could walk through the door and Neji let it in.
Neji walked out again and disappeared from the eyesight of Sasuke to get the other horse, which stood a bit more to the right. Then, after a few seconds of silence Neji let out a yelp of fear.
Sasuke immediately got up and ran to the door with his sword. As he got outside some kind of huge spider was right on top of Neji, trying to cocoon him. Sasuke held his sword in two hands, gave out a low growl and cut of one of the paws of the beast.
The beast gave a furious yelp of pain and spit some of his cobweb on Neji's hands, feet and mouth, and then advanced on Sasuke, now his victim couldn't get away. It gave a hissing sound, coming closer and closer. This creature wouldn't be able to talk, it almost was like a real spider, but then with some human features. Definitely a monster. It hissed again, trying to scare Sasuke away so he could cocoon his victim further in.
Sasuke looked the beast in the eyes, holding his sword towards it. He would probably have to kill this thing to save Neji and that was exactly what he would do. He ran towards the spider and tried to hit it with his sword.
The spider ducked it and then spit some of his cobweb into Sasuke eyes, with some sound which sounded like a scream. While it saw Sasuke was distracted, it made his way back to Neji, and continued to spin him in, getting Neji's arms together in front of his stomach and making them stay there with cobweb. It bound Neji's feet together too, and now it seriously started to bind him up into a cocoon. Neji felt himself starting to panic more and more and tried to scream, but only got cobweb into his mouth. Where were the others?! Why didn't they heard this?
Suddenly a battle cry was heard and Sasuke had managed to get the cobweb of his eyes. He jumped on top of the spider and pushed his sword dip into it's back. No spider would be able to win a battle of him.
The spider screamed and screamed, trying to attack once more, but it crumbled down onto the ground, getting up and falling down again. It made all kind of moves, trying to get the pain away, but the blue substance which had to be spider blood, came from the huge wound in his back. There was no saving him. It. Whatever. While the spider was dying, Neji was still trying to get loose and looked at Sasuke with a desperate look in his eyes which had to lead Sasuke to free him.
After stabbing the spider once more to make sure it would die Sasuke walked to Neji. He stood above him and pointed his swords at Neji's chest before cutting of the cobweb carefully. After a while he finally got most of it off and looked back at the spider, which was dead now.
Neji sat up straight when his hands had been loosened and started to get the cobweb off his mouth and hair. The stuff was everywhere.
"It's just cobweb Neji. As long as you can talk, see and move, it's no big deal." Sasuke said as Neji was desperately trying to get all of it off.
Neji glared at him . There still was a huge amount of it on his mouth, he still wasn't even able to talk. He got most of it off his legs and stood, still being busy with taking the cobweb off his face.
After a few more tries it finally succeeded.
"Thanks. What was that?" He said, pointing to the dead spider. Or better said, monster.
Sasuke looked at Neji and grabbed the bridles of the second horse.
"Just a forest monster. They hunt in the night." He said and grabbed Neji's arm, pulling him and the horse inside. There could still be others. It wasn't safe for them to stay outside.
Neji was silent and closed the door.
"I never knew they even existed." He said, still plucking some of the cobweb out of his hair.
"Well they do. And lots are worse then what you just saw, so prepare." Sasuke said as he sat down in his chair again. That spider wore him out and he had to get up early in the morning. No one would get in between him and his sleep now.
Neji frowned. "Then what kind of creatures can we expect?" He asked.
Sasuke sighed. That stupid priest just had to be all foreign with the world.
"All kinds. Insects, beasts, half human-like creatures, whatever you can think off. You'll see. Now get some sleep." He said, annoyed that he couldn't just lay down and get some rest himself.
Neji sighed and then walked out of the room, into the one where the stairs were. There he found a low but long table and laid down there. It was better then nothing. He hoped he could get some sleep in here, with those creepy spiders around..
Sasuke gave a look to the place where Neji had gone out of his sight and then closed his eyes. He could finally have his well deserved alone time. He fell asleep almost right after.
They looked at the huge Temple in amazement. They had traveled further this morning without any interruptions, and now had arrived at the city. They were standing in front of the temple where Neji had to be, and they already knocked. They were now waiting for someone to come.
"It's huge." Kiba said, looking at the Temple in awe.
"I've seen bigger. Why can't we just go in? It's a temple, everyone should be welcome." Sasuke said, annoyed by all the waiting and travelling they had done. He just wanted to get in, drop of Neji and get it all over with.
Suddenly the door opened and a tall man appeared in the doorway. He looked at all of them, and then his eyes rested on Neji. Everyone immediately noticed that they had to be family, since they had exactly the same eyes and hair. Even their faces were alike.
"Ah Neji, you made it. Please do come in. Who are your companions?" The man said as he raised his arm beside him, showing them the way in.
"Goodday uncle. These warriors guided me here, protecting me from the enemy. They slept in the Temple and in change they brought me here. Do you want to stay here the night?" Neji answered and the last sentence he asked of the warriors.
Kiba nodded.
"That would be nice." He answered. He really was in need of a warm bed.
Sasuke gave out a slight grunt but kept quiet. He could use a good rest before he would head out again, having to sleep outside.
Neji's uncle nodded.
"You are all welcome here for bringing Neji safely to this temple. Now please enjoy your stay here, while I talk to Neji in private." He said and bowed to the rest. The man looked really wise and serious. He probably was head priest of this temple.
Temari even got the shivers of him. She didn't liked wise men. Not at all.
"Thank you. Can we just walk around?" She asked.
"Yes go ahead. You can all come back here tonight. Your rooms will be made ready in the mean time. Now please excuse us." The man said and gave another bow. Sasuke thought of him as a little 'too' polite.
Neji instead kept looking very normal, his face not changing a bit. Kiba noticed that Neji still had some of the cobweb in his hair. He decided to not tell Neji while Neji walked away with his uncle. When they were out of hearing field, he grinned.
"Neji still has cobweb in his hair." He said. Temari let out a snort.
"He'll be happy to know that they have baths here." Shikamaru said and smirked. "Why don't we go explore now?"
Kiba nodded.
"Good idea. You want to come too, Sasuke?" He asked, seeing that Sasuke was looking highly annoyed."
"How about I skip this and explore the city instead? I need a break from the loads of you." Sasuke answered, an annoyed pitch to his voice. He looked at the rest. There was no way he'd spend the rest of the day with these guys.
Kiba looked a bit offended.
"What you want." He said and then walked the other way. Akamaru happily followed every step he made. Temari shrugged and dragged Shikamaru with her, walking after Kiba.
Sasuke turned around too and got outside. Finally he could be on his own again.
Neji and his uncle walked through the halls of the Temple in silence. Finally, Neji decided to stop the silence and he spoke up.
"Uncle. I have to tell you something about the forest." He said.
The man looked at Neji as he opened a door to a room. He let Neji in before walking in himself.
"And what might that be Neji?" He asked, and sat down on a chair.
Neji sat down on a chair too, putting his legs over each other.
"Well. When we were staying in an abandoned house for the night, I've been attacked by a huge spider. You can still see the cobweb in my hair. It's not safe there anymore." Neji said, with a tone of worry in his eyes.
The man got an even more serious look on his face as Neji said that.
"The forest hasn't been safe for decades Neji. The forest monsters are taking over fast because there are not enough humans to stop them." He said, looking Neji in the eyes.
Neji was silent for a while.
"I wasn't aware of that." He answered, a bit ashamed.
"It's OK Neji. We priests don't get out much and it's hard to witness the horrors of the world that way. Are you OK though?" He asked, a bit of a worried tone in his voice.
Neji nodded.
"It almost cocooned me, but Sasuke saved me from that beast. We were attacked before, and then Sasuke saved me too." Neji said.
The man looked at Neji with a bit of interest in his eyes this time.
"Who is this Sasuke guy you are speaking of Neji?" He asked as he folded his hands together.
Neji was a bit surprised at hearing the interest in his uncle's voice.
"Well, he's one of the warriors who came here with me. Sasuke is.. a very special man, who doesn't like company at all. But he's very strong and a great fighter. He's a true warrior. He's the one with the black spiky hair." Neji answered.
Neji's uncle looked at him and after a while of silence he finally spoke again.
"Do you perhaps know his family name?" He asked.
Neji frowned and thought about it.
"..No, I don't know." He answered, a bit surprised himself. Why hadn't he bothered to ask the family name of that guy?
"Hmm. Then I want you to ask that as soon as they all get back and tell me immediately." His uncle said and looked into Neji's eyes demanding.
Neji nodded.
"How come you're so interested in him, if I may ask?" Neji asked, being curious.
"Well Neji, you must have heard about the chosen one." His uncle said with a serious tone in his voice, even more so then normally.
Neji nodded.
"Of course I did. Why... Do you think it could be Sasuke..?" Neji asked.
"It could be anyone strong and he looks and sounds like he could be a potential chosen one. Other then that, I sense he could be." Neji's uncle said.
"Yes, but.. I don't think he's the chosen one uncle." Neji sputtered. He couldn't even think of that.. rude person to be the chosen one. 'The' chosen one! That just wasn't possible.
"You just ask him his family name and we will find out Neji." His uncle said demanding.
Neji sighed.
"Very well. Should I ask him in private?" He asked, letting his hand slide over his knee.
"You ask him once you get back. And report to me immediately." Neji's uncle said and stood up.
Neji stood as well and bowed.
"I will, uncle." He said politely.
"Good." His uncle said. "I will tell you why I called you here after that." The man walked to the door and opened it, signing gracefully to Neji that he could go.
"Alright." Neji said. "Goodbye. I'll pray for the country tonight."
"Please do. Thank you." The man said and bowed as Neji walked out.
Neji bowed another time too and then left.
That night, Neji walked through the halls of the Temple, heading for Sasuke's room. When he got there, he knocked on the door three times.
"Can I come in?" Neji asked.
Sasuke was sitting in a big chair near the chimney. He was, once again, polishing his sword.
"Sure." He said, as he figured it was Neji's voice on the other side of the door.
Neji opened the door, walked in and closed the door behind him.
"I wanted to ask something of you." He said, looking at Sasuke. He didn't knew if he should take place at an other chair, which he didn't saw at the moment, or had to stay at the door.
"Ask away." Sasuke said, not really interested in anything Neji had to ask from him. He just continued polishing his sword.
"What is your family name?" Neji asked. He had to admit, he was curious about this too. What if Sasuke really was the chosen one? But it still couldn't be him. He was too.. barbaric.
Sasuke shot his head towards Neji. No one ever asked him his last name. And if people heard it, they would go on and on about the whole 'chosen one' shit. He really didn't feel like getting himself into that again. Then again, he wondered why Neji wondered about his family name.
"Why do you wanna know?" He asked, trying to sound as uninterested as he could.
Neji frowned a bit because of Sasuke's reaction. But he stayed calm.
"My uncle wants to know." Neji said, by the truth. He was only letting one part away. Sasuke looked at Neji.
"Then why does 'he' want to know?" He asked. Stupid Neji. He should've seen 'that' coming.
Neji looked at him with a stern look in his eyes.
"He has his reasons. What's the danger to just tell me your family name?" He asked. What could be so bad about that?
Sasuke gave out a grunt. There was no danger, but there sure as hell would be people questioning him to the point he just wanted to kill them all and leave. But it would be fun to see the look on Neji's face though.
"Uchiha." He finally said.
Neji immediately got a look of disbelief in his eyes.
"...It's not nice to lie about this kind of things you know." He sputtered, not believing Sasuke at all. He 'couldn't' be the chosen one! That just wasn't possible!
"And 'why' would I lie about my family name? I only do that when I want to get out of hours of questioning and people who tell me to 'save them all'." Sasuke said with a whiny voice.
Neji frowned.
"But.. you can't be the chosen one, that's just not possible! The chosen one would be a hero who's loyal and friendly to all his comrades, and helping everyone he can help." Neji said, still with the same expression in his eyes.
"Or 'maybe' that's what they made of me instead. Because you know, I was six when they thought of that." Sasuke said, already getting annoyed of the whole picture people draw of him. It was just a fairytale people wanted to believe in, just because they wouldn't have hope otherwise.
Neji frowned.
"So you aren't going to save the world at all?" He asked, feeling his hope fade away.
"Tell me this Neji. How can one single eighteen year old save the entire world of those monsters?" Sasuke said. He never saw how people could believe such a pity lie.
"They say that you will kill the leader of those monsters. And if he is killed, they say, all the monsters will die." Neji answered.
"Oh yeah. No that explains it all. I mean, one boy is 'so' much stronger then an entire family of experienced warriors who were defeated by that monster in the first place. That makes total sense." Sasuke said with a sarcastic voice. Stupid, stupid Neji. He fell for the dumb lie just like everyone else had.
"Do you not know that in this world, all the magic of your family goes to the youngest one if one dies? It's like that in our world. Think, Sasuke. Your 'whole' family was killed at the same moment. Think about how many things you could do. Your clan and family was the strongest of the world. If all those powers are in your body now, you have to be a lot more stronger then the most powerful lords of our world." Neji snapped. He couldn't stand those guys who didn't even knew how everything worked in this world.
"I might have power, but my family is dead, and you need someone of your own family to teach you. I can't do anything with that magic and I never will." Sasuke answered, already annoyed by Neji, who thought he knew it all better. Wasn't 'he' the chosen one? Shouldn't 'he' be the one who knew the most?
"The first of your family didn't had a teacher." Neji said. He knew he should go by know, but he just couldn't let this Sasuke talk like this. He might be the chosen one, but he didn't had Neji's respect. Although Neji knew he should be on his knees by now, he didn't do it. He refused to do that.
"Maybe not but that was hundreds of years ago. You never knew my family and it was taught to people. I never even learned to make a single flame and I need my family to teach me because they were the only ones who used that kind of magic. No one else would know. Do you get it now?" Sasuke snapped. He had enough of Neji already.
"I learned myself to heal and I'm the only one who is able to make a defending shield. It's not impossible. I guess I'll leave now." Neji said. He didn't felt like staying here either.
"You forget here that I'm not you. And even if I could, I would never learn it well and I don't want to learn it half, it would be a disgrace to my family." Sasuke said and finally continued polishing his sword again.
Neji stood still again.
"You would be more a disgrace when you disappointed everyone." He said bitterly. That guy didn't had the right to be the chosen one. Being the chosen one was an honour, and he was talking about it like a curse, or something he could choose of.
"I wouldn't 'have' to disappoint them if they didn't have that stupid idea of the chosen one in the first place." Sasuke said. It was everyone's own fault they wanted to believe the lies. He shouldn't be blamed for it.
"You're the only hope everyone has." Neji said silently. He too had prayed a lot of days for the chosen one to survive. To defeat the enemy.
"They put themselves in that position, I didn't ask for it." Sasuke said and placed his sword beside the chair, only to grab a new one start polishing again.
Neji decided not to talk again. He looked away and then he opened the door again, walking out and closing it again.
A/N: Well that's it for the fourth chapter. I got more then 48 grammar mistakes out of it, I'm ashamed