a/n: Thanks to everyone for staying with me so far! Also, thank you to my lovely reviewers—even if it's just a 'good job' or 'omg update soon' or 'you suck' or 'what is even happening in this story?' I'm excited for any feedback you guys have to give me, so don't be shy about reviewing after you read! Anyways…this chapter will definitely have a lot of things that I don't think most readers will expect. I hope everyone enjoys.

Only one warning: dragons.

Chapter Four

"What do you mean, you can't find her?" Hiashi roared at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru refused to be intimidated force of the fury of the king. "I mean, I can't find her!" he snapped back. "I've tried every means of tracing her, and I can't find her."

Hanabi groaned lowly in her throat and sank to the floor. "What does that even mean?" she whispered. "Does it means she's dead?"

Sasuke came to her aid, and lead her to a nearby chair. "It doesn't mean she's dead. It just means that she seems to have vanished off the face of the Earth."

"So she could be dead!" Hiashi roared. "This is my daughter, we're talking about here!"

"It means that anything could have happened to her, your grace," Sasuke said wearily. He and Orochimaru had thrown every ounce of their strength in to the spell to find Hinata, and they were both bone tired. "I've sent for Kabuto to return from the Sarutobi estates. He might be able to help us gain new perspective when he returns."

"When will he be back?"

"He should arrive in a few hours."

Hiashi paced furiously back and forth Orochimaru's work room floor. "I don't understand," he muttered frantically. "How could this have happened? I ordered Zabuza to guard her rooms until she came out, but Zabuza wasn't there, and Sakura said that she'd left Ino and Hinata to fetch dinner a few minutes before, but when she returned she found Ino on the floor. Someone was with Hinata at all times."

"Obviously, someone attacked the girls after Sakura left," Hanabi said faintly.

"But how?" Hiashi roared. "There is no one in this castle with ill intentions towards our family. Orochimaru's wards, and my observations have taken care of all of that."

"You will have to conduct an investigation, my lord. Only then will things become clear. Have your secretaries collect a list of what people were doing when right before the time of the incident, and then have them go through the lists and mark up anyone suspicious. While they do that, you can also issue a proclamation to the land to have villagers search for Hinata, and to bring her back if they find her."

Hiashi bowed his head, and then wiped his face with his hands. "Of course," he said in a broken voice. "Of course—gods, what would I do without you, Orochimaru?"

Orochimaru sent him a comforting look, and then turned to Sasuke. "Could you fetch Princess Hanabi a glass of water, please? Actually, why don't you take her up to the infirmary? Someone should take a look at her."

"I'm not ill," Hanabi exclaimed violently.

"You're experiencing shock, my princess," Orochimaru said mildly. "Kindly follow Sasuke up to the infirmary. It's for the best."

"What—I don't want-" Hanabi kept protesting

Sasuke sighed, and laid a glowing hand on top of Hanabi's head. "Come this way, my lady."

"What? Oh, well…" Hanabi struggled faintly, and then gave in to Sasuke's spell. Hiashi decided to go with them; he didn't want his second daughter out of his sight for a good long while.

While Hanabi was bundled up in blankets and given plenty of cold water to drink, Hiashi organized a search of the castle. "Bring me a list of suspects when you're done," he ordered his secretaries. "It is highly unlikely that one of us kidnapped the princess, but do try and be unbiased all the same."

The secretaries nodded and spread themselves out through the castle; everyone was anxious to find the princess again. Hiashi gathered his scribes and issued a proclamation for anyone who had seen, or found Hinata to return her to the castle at once, but then he hesitated. I'll wait one more day. Perhaps this was all some kind of prank, and Hinata will turn up in the morning.

So, the proclamation waited.

The secretaries were quick at their work, and had gathered all of their information by the following morning. However, a downside of the secretaries' brusque interrogations of the entire castle made everyone suspicious of each other, as only the mages and the royal family knew what was going on.

Neji burst through the doors of King Hiashi's rooms. "Uncle!" he gasped, looking terrified. "Someone said something happened to Hinata. Is she alright? Where is she?"

"You will address me as King Hiashi, and nothing else." Hiashi sighed, and shifted in his seat…he had long grown weary and bitter, having stayed up the whole night. "You know, I have been considering naming you the third heir, Neji."

"That's immaterial!" Neji snapped. "Where is Hinata, Un—your grace."

"Hinata is also above your station."

Neji grit his teeth; it seemed that Hiashi was intent upon reminding him of his social status today. "Your grace, could you kindly inform me of Princess Hinata's location?"

"Why should a servant know?" Hiashi asked bitterly.

"Because this servant is family," Neji said coolly.

"…No one knows where Hinata is. She got kidnapped last night," Hiashi sighed in to his hands.

"Kidnapped?" Neji gasped. "But—but how?"

"No one knows that either."

Neji's eyes softened when he finally noticed his uncle's weariness. "Your grace, you've had a long night. Why not get some rest?"

"I'm not sure if I can sleep," Hiashi admitted.

"You'll find sleep will come easier than you think. As Kakashi is incapacitated at the moment, would you like me to stand in his place?"

"I had Gai in Kakashi's place," Hiashi mumbled.

"Would you like me to send for Gai, then?"

"No, you can do it." Hiashi hoisted himself out of his chair and stumbled in the direction of his bedroom.

"Would you like me to send any orders to the guards, your grace?" Neji asked delicately. Why did he suddenly seem to always be in the position to help sleep-deprived people?

"The guards?"

"Perhaps you would like a guard on Princess Hanabi? And yourself?" Neji prodded gently. "The safety of the royal family is paramount to all else, your grace."

"Yes, that would be…nice," Hiashi yawned as Neji began to change him from his dinner clothes in to pajamas. "Did you know that I posted Zabuza at Hinata's door today?"

"Really?" Neji struggled to keep his voice calm. "Where was he during the attack?"

"I guess I'll find out when someone reports to me," Hiashi yawned.

Neji finished dressing Hiashi, and gently led him to the bed. Hiashi slowly got under the covers, and stared up at his nephew sleepily. "You're a good boy, Neji."

Neji blinked back tears from the rare praise. "Rest well, your majesty. I'll have a servant wake you in a few hours."

Hiashi was already asleep.

XXX

Kabuto returned to his quarters to find Orochimaru and Sasuke passed out in the work room. "Teacher?" He gently poked Orochimaru's arm. "Sasuke?" He and Sasuke were close friends, but sometimes he wondered what went on between Sasuke and Orochimaru behind closed doors. He sighed, and wandered over to the fire roaring in the hearth; he reached under his close and pulled out his familiar, a fire salamander named Karin. He spoke to her quietly, and then dropped her in the fire where she happily settled down in the flames.

Orochimaru grunted, and then roused himself when he realized that Kabuto had returned. "Kabuto. Did you have any time to investigate the fire at the Sarutobi estates?"

"I was in the middle of the investigation when I received Sasuke's message. I didn't have time to do it thoroughly, but there were heavy implications of magical properties in the fire."

"It doesn't mean it was a dragon," Orochimaru murmured. "It could have been a magical child whose powers manifested."

"It left different magical traces behind," Kabuto shrugged. "I think that the villagers were telling the truth."

"What did you tell Lord Asuma?"

"I told him my suspicions. But really, there's not very much he can do if the dragon attacks again other than to send the villagers for cover," Kabuto sighed. "Now, why did you call me back so urgently?"

Sasuke blinked sleepily when the sound of voices roused him. "Kabuto?"

Kabuto smiled down at him, only to recoil in shock when he saw Sasuke's eyes. "Sasuke!"

"What?"

"Your eyes are out again."

"Oh…sorry," Sasuke yawned, and blinked again. When he opened his eyes, they were back to normal black.

Kabuto hid his shudder of distaste; Sasuke had special magic that he could perform through his eyes due to his Uchiha lineage (the Uchiha clan was famed for its mages). Personally, Kabuto found it creepy that Sasuke's eyes could go from black to red in a matter of seconds, but he supposed that those eyes had their uses. "Now, why was your message so urgent?"

"Hinata got kidnapped, but we couldn't locate her."

"Princess Hinata got kidnapped?!"

"Apparently."

"And the tracing spell won't reveal anything," Kabuto frowned, "even though we made a point of marking all of her possessions in a way that made them easily traceable?"

"Quite so," Orochimaru yawned. "We hoped you might be able to shed some light on the matter."

"How would I know where she might be taken?" Kabuto asked defensively. "I couldn't have kidnapped her—I haven't been here all yesterday, which is, I assume, when she was taken."

"We weren't accusing you of anything," Sasuke sighed. "Teacher meant that you might have some ideas about why the tracking spell didn't work."

"Why are you both so tired?"

Orochimaru looked sheepish. "We might have run the tracking spell multiple times last night."

"That shouldn't have made you tired, Teacher," Kabuto stared at him blankly.

"We also might have put more energy in to it than usual to make the spell run faster."

"Ah." Kabuto blinked, and then clapped his hands. "Well, I think some nice, strong tea is in order, don't you all?"

An hour later, the mages were seated around their worktable once more with steaming mugs of tea in their hands.

"So, why do you think the spell didn't work?"

"I don't know. Everything she wore, down to the slippers on her feet, had the potential to be traced," Kabuto frowned as he traced the rim of his mug. "It doesn't make any sense at all."

"Her captor could have removed anything we might have traced to her," Sasuke suggested.

"A fine idea, Sasuke, but her very skin is traceable. Hiashi had me place a small tattoo on her skin as a child for this very purpose. If we can't trace her, I don't know what's happened," Orochimaru sighed.

"…The princess has a tattoo?" Kabuto asked in fascination.

"Yes."

"Curious," was all Kabuto said. Sasuke smirked in to his hand; it was obvious to anyone that looked that Kabuto was absolutely besotted with Hinata. Sasuke wondered how Kabuto was holding on to his calm; nearly the entire castle was in an uproar, but one of the people who cared about the princess the most sat calmly in his chair, sipping tea. Sasuke strongly suspected that this was all the calm before the storm; undoubtedly, he would poke his head in to Kabuto's room later and find that he'd destroyed his bed again.

"Is it possible that her captor might have taken her to a place where she can't be tracked?" Sasuke tried again. "Maybe they put her inside a magical barrier."

"Why has it occurred to no one that Hinata might have run off herself?"

"If she wanted to run away herself, she wouldn't have attacked Ino to do it."

"What?"

"Apparently, Sakura found Ino lying on the floor with various injuries and screamed for help. Ino had scratches all over her hands, and someone had knocked her out with a blow to the back of her head. Hinata, is of course capable of all of these things, but she wouldn't attack Ino in such a manner."

"You never know," Kabuto shrugged. "I suppose Ino will tell us the whole story when she wakes up."

"Back to the topic at hand," Orochimaru said somewhat testily. He felt a flicker of triumph when both of his students flinched guiltily.

"Blood tracking is the strongest form of the tracking spell. No magical barriers can get in its way, Sasuke."

"I think Sasuke's on the right idea, though," Kabuto said suddenly. "Maybe she isn't behind a magical barrier; you were teaching us about this earlier, Teacher, which is why I remembered. Is it possible that someone moved Hinata in to a separate magical dimension? Outside of this world? Which is why we can't trace her?"

"That's a thought," Orochimaru murmured. "And it would prevent us from tracing her because she has to be on the Earth for the blood magic to work…she would need something else if we were to trace her through different dimensions."

"Why would someone go to all that trouble to spirit her off to a different dimension, but not hold any ransom?" Sasuke asked in puzzlement. "And if she's in a different magical dimension, Kabuto, I doubt she's there of her own free will."

"I have to agree with you on that," Kabuto admitted.

"It takes a powerful wizard to be able to build, and safely transport a human being in to a separate dimension." Orochimaru looked worried. "No doubt, if any ransom is to be held, we'll find out about it soon."

All three men stiffened when they heard a rumbling in the distance.

"What was that?" Sasuke asked sharply.

"I don't know." Orochimaru frowned in consternation. "I've never heard anything like it before."

The three men flinched again when they heard screams, and a distant roar. Kabuto turned white, and then a sickly shade of green. "Don't tell me," he choked out.

"I'm afraid so."

"Dragons," Sasuke whispered in horror.

"I'm going to be sick," Kabuto muttered, and lunged for the wastebasket. It was curious, how sudden fluxes in power made Kabuto feel queasy. Sasuke supposed that all of this was due to Kabuto's sensitivity to magic levels around him…which made him a good companion to have in dark alleys. No wizard would ever be able to sneak up on Kabuto.

Except, apparently, dragons could. "How come you couldn't tell the dragon was coming?" Sasuke got up and grabbed a glass of water so that Kabuto could wash his mouth out. "You can usually sense things like that a mile away."

"I don't know," Kabuto rasped as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "It just…it just suddenly hit me like a brick wall."

"Uh huh." Sasuke handed Kabuto his water, and then turned to his teacher. "What are we still doing here? We have to help fend off the dragon!"

"Nothing can fend off a dragon, Sasuke."

"Well, we should at least be there for moral support," Sasuke said tartly. "Don't you think?"

Orochimaru hesitated, and then grabbed Sasuke's sleeve as he passed by. "Promise me you won't do anything stupid."

Sasuke just scoffed and shook him off before racing out the door.

By the time the three mages arrived at the scene, the dragon had destroyed half of the castle.

Hiashi looked grim as he orchestrated evacuation plans of the members of the castle to go underground.

"I want to stay," Hanabi said fiercely to her father.

"Hanabi, you will go downstairs with the rest of the staff. They need someone to command them."

"They are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves!" Hanabi shouted.

Hiashi whirled around and seized his daughter by her shoulders and shook her roughly. "Isn't it bad enough that Hinata has already been kidnapped?" he cried. "I don't want to lose my other child. Go underground with the rest of the castle, please."

Hanabi scowled, but moved to do as she was told. Finally, Hiashi spotted the three mages, who were staring up at the dragon in awe as it let loose another jet of flame. The dragon was a gorgeous creature; it was as long as the castle grounds, with shimmering red wings, and an arched graceful neck.

Unfortunately, Hiashi failed to appreciate the beast's beauty, as the dragon had currently caved in half of the castle, and trapped many of the servants in the wreckage. He shuddered as the dragon attempted to set the stone aflame, and prayed for the servants. "I don't suppose there's anything you can do about all this?" Hiashi waved his hand at the dragon.

"No," Orochimaru said softly. "Nothing at all. Dragons are the greatest mages, Hiashi. It would take more than the three of us to do anything about it."

"I see." Hiashi sighed as the last noble scurried down the stairs. "So we just have to watch it destroy half the castle?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I don't want to catch its attention; do you?"

Suddenly, the dragon suddenly turned its eyes on them, as if noticing their presence at the edge of the wreckage for the first time.

"Which one of you is Hyuga Hiassssshi?" it hissed lowly.

Hiashi gulped and tried to look over at Orochimaru, but found that he couldn't turn his head. He was trapped in the creature's gaze, and he couldn't move.

The dragon chuckled harshly. "Don't worry; I can ssssssee you can't ansssswer," it hissed. "I have a propossssition to make to you."

Hiashi felt himself slipping and sliding deeper and deeper in to the amber depths of the dragon's eye. Right now, he couldn't care less what the dragon was saying; he just wanted to move closer to the dragon and inspect its lovely eyes. Orochimaru had told him long, long ago that dragons often had mismatched eyes. Hiashi desperately wanted to know what the other one looked like, but couldn't move his feet.

The dragon's gaze shifted to an amused look, fully aware that Hiashi was probably experiencing the same feelings of the deer he'd eaten on the way here. "I have your daughter," the dragon hissed. "I will return her in exxxxxxxchange for the one named Hyuga Neji. I will return tomorrow; if you do not give me Hyuga Neji, I will wreak havoc acrossssss your home onccce more."

"Oh great one," Orochimaru said suddenly, pushing himself off of the wall, and successfully pulling the dragon's attention towards him. Hiashi felt as if his head had been dunked in cold water; what had he even been thinking? What was going on—the dragon had said something about a ransom and…

He gawped openly at Orochimaru who seemed to have no trouble speaking to the dragon, even though it had turned the full power of its gaze upon him. "Oh great one, who sent you here? And why do you require Hyuga Neji?"

The dragon laughed harshly. "You are the one called Orochimaru," it chuckled. "He told me that you were powerful. I will not be informing you of my motives, or of my employer's name as he wishes me to reveal neither," the beast laughed. "You were brave for assssssking though." A small jet of flame leapt from the dragon's nostrils and fell in to the wreckage of stone. "Give me Hyuga Neji tomorrow, when I return. If you do not, I will dessstroy your home," it hissed. With that dire threat, the dragon took off in to the skies, until it was nothing more than a speck of red on the horizon.

Orochimaru let out a shaky breath.

"You talked to it," Hiashi said in astonishment. "You talked to it. How did you resist-"

He was cut off by Sasuke launching himself at his teacher. "You stupid idiot!" Sasuke shouted. "What happened to 'don't do anything stupid'?!" he wrapped his arms around Orochimaru in a tight hug.

Kabuto breathed a sigh of relief, and then dropped to all fours while he tried hard not to vomit; just when he'd gotten used to having such great power on the edge of his existence, it had vanished and he was feeling quite nauseous.

Hiashi sighed as Orochimaru and Sasuke began to squabble lightly, and decided that he might as well go let his people out from under the castle. He patted Kabuto's back, saying, "When you've finished vomiting, and they've finished fighting, why don't you three put your heads together and see if you can do something about the wreckage?"

Kabuto moaned weakly, and started vomiting again.

a/n: And so events keep unfolding! More weird family angst scenes; I apologize if it didn't make sense, but basically Hiashi was feeling conflicted about making Neji a prince, and took out his confusion on Neji even though Neji was trying to be nice to him…hence the weirdness of their interactions. Also, the dragon! Will Neji find out about the price on his head? Cliff-hangers and suspense all over the place! ;) Thanks to everyone for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and feel free to leave a review on your way out! See y'all next week in the next chapter, and again thanks for reading.