Author's Note: I'm feeling really good about my reviews so far. Juugo x Hinata is not very popular to say the least but I'll try. I got the idea in a conversation with one of my besties lol. Just so people are clear there will be no Sakura bashing cause I'm one of the few people who actually like her. (yes it's true)

Disclaimer: I own nothing by the name of Naruto or the story would have been very different at this point. *sighs*

Chapter 3: Turn of Events

"Hinata!!" Neji shouted. The Hyugga girl was focused primarily on the large berserker before her. He had the most blood-chilling grin on his face. She activated her Byakkugan as he lunged for her, leaping gracefully over him with the help of his shoulder. He reared on her only to have three kunais in his calf, courtesy of Shikamaru. To the groups horror he hadn't even flinched simply gave a toothy grin at the sight of his own blood! He made for Hinata again. She ran out of his arm range for a moment before charging for his charka points.

He was too big for any effective show of force. Force had never been a strong point for her anyway. She had her mind. To her shock the technique only slowed him down significantly. What was he? Anyone else would be immobile by now. She had to knock him out. "Juugo listen to us!! You're going to harm yourself and everyone else!!" Tsunade attempted to bring him back to reality. To none avail as Hinata dove off to the left. A grotesque bunch of markings began to form along his face and arms. "I have to…kill." he smiled eerily. Hinata figured she would have to knock him out already but how? Gentle fist was not working quick enough. He was still human though. If she could hit him hard enough in the back of the head maybe she could do it. She longed for the Hokage's super strength at that moment.

She was getting tired as he persistently attacked. Her comrades all helped. If the advisors heard about this, Neji would be toast. She took advantage of her agility and leapt over him aiming a kick to the back of his head. When her ankle was caught in a painful vice-like grip she felt the first twinge of real fear. She was swung into a wall, and hit the ground with a thud. She could make out the sound of panicking. A foot was suddenly pressed onto her ribcage and began applying pressure. "You were pretty cute too, shame." he commented while slowly attempting to crush her chest cavity. It was getting painful. 'Need. Air' she thought. "GET OFF!!" a booming voice was heard. The foot had come off of her and there was a loud crash. Tsunade stood in front of her protectively, fist raised. Neji beside her.

"You're in the way." Juugo growled. "Juugo we don't want to hurt you." she warned. "The HELL we don't!!!" Neji snarled vengefully. "You two look alike." the sinister being in their presence commented, tilting his head at an awkward angle to look at Neji. "Care to take her place?" he hissed. "N-n..eji-kun.." Hinata refused to have him killed for her. "Hush, Hinata. I am a shinobi and I made a promise to you….I will fight him." he stated getting into position. "He'll kill you all alone like that." Shikamaru blunted. "I'm helping." he added in a way that clearly meant Neji had no choice in the matter. Before the discussion could be debated any longer the monster lunged once again. It was a blur of ANBU black and green…meshed with red-orange.

Hinata sat up in frustration, leaning against the wall to regain her bearings. She could do this. She had to protect her cousin. Prove to him that she could hold her own without him if need be. There was a startled gasp as Shikamaru was suddenly gripped by the throat. "Stop him!" Shizune yelled. In the blink of an eye Hinata tossed a kunai which imbedded itself in his already broken wrist. There was a roar of pain before the shadow-nin was dropped gasping and sputtering to the floor. Juugo ripped the weapon from his injured limb and advanced only to be tripped by a quick thinking Neji.

Unfortunately he grabbed Neji's ankles and yanked him to the floor. The two shinobi struggled violently. Neji's long hair now loose and unruly. Hinata charged herself at the offending ninja's back. He hit him behind the neck paralyzing more chakra. He hissed and turned on her again. Suddenly there was the sound of doors swinging open and a blur of black and white blocking her view. "Juugo." an impassive voice broke into the fray. "Stop this now." The red-headed berserker swayed exhaustedly as he stared at the man before him. Uchiha Sasuke. "Is everyone okay!?" Sakura burst into the room behind him. Hinata felt relief like no other to see that the pink-haired medic had used her quick thinking to save them after all.

Juugo suddenly fell to his knees looking around frantically. "What…happened? What have I done?" The sight of the disheveled group of shinobi confirmed his fears. "I tried to kill again didn't I? I'm sorry! I'm so very sorry." he apologized. Hinata was unnerved by how quickly he had changed from feral to a submissive, normal human being. Sasuke looked around at everyone, seeing nobody dead he put himself at ease. Or as at ease as a Uchiha could get. "When Juugo loses himself the only one who can bring him back to his senses is Sasuke." Sakura explained. "I'm sorry but I had to let him out." she added. "It's fine Sakura." Tsunade sighed. She was getting to old for all of this excitement. "Hinata…are you badly injured?" Neji asked impassively not bothering with his hair.

"I'm fine." she smoothed out her shirt. "Oh Juugo." Sakura kneeled and looked at his wrist disapprovingly. "It's all my fault." she muttered. "I'm sorry Sakura-san." he apologized. "It's okay." she sighed. "We should have picked a different way to do this." Hinata was perturbed. What could possibly be wrong with him that a standard curse-seal binding had this kind of effect on him? "Hn." Sasuke muttered plainly. His face showed obvious disdain for this preventable situation. "Where is Suigetsu?" Juugo asked. "Still in his cell." he answered simply.

"Hokage-sama?" Shizune stepped forward timidly. "What is it?" Tsunade asked, still massaging her temples. "Word is spreading through the hospital like wild-fire…the council…" she trailed off worriedly. "They will want to kill him." she nodded. "No!" Sakura protested without thinking. "You know getting them to agree to this was already a stretch Sakura." Tsunade told her with a shake of her head. "Yes but…well- what if we could completely obliterate his problem?" she asked. Sasuke suddenly looked at them sharply but kept his mouth shut. Neji narrowed his eyes at him with suspicion. The two began glaring at each other challengingly. Hinata, noticed this stepped between them authoritatively.

"Before we can discuss this any more I think certain ears should be put back into their respective cells." he said harshly over her head at the raven-haired shinobi. "Hn." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him. "He's right." the Hokage agreed. "Let's go Sasuke." Sakura sighed. He showed resistance. She rolled her eyes. "I am not playing games, unless you like me to dislocate your other shoulder." she narrowed emerald eyes threateningly. When the Uchiha faltered Neji smirked to himself and looked at Shikamaru who had a grin tugging at his lips. They were pleased that she had gotten over her sad childhood infatuation with the Uchiha. Hinata was proud of her. Grudgingly Sasuke let out a frustrated 'Hn.' at being ordered around by his ex-fan-girl. "Move it Uchiha!" she rushed. He walked a little faster as she led him away. "Juugo, come with us please okay?" she smiled at the red-head with assurance. He nodded and followed after the pair.

Hinata watched them leave with interest, still breathing heavily from the close call. He was absolutely insane. Whatever gave him such power had to go. "I apologize for this inconvenience Hyugga-san." Tsunade said calmly. "No need." she answered. "I only wish we could do more to help." she looked at her disheveled cousin, knowing he might not share such an opinion. He remained silent however, unwilling to show any sign of being contrary toward his leader. Neji simply stared at his cousin. Was she really so forgiving?

"At least nobody died. Then there would be absolutely no hope for this…'Juugo' character." Shikamaru commented. "I don't think there is." Neji folded his arms in thought. "Perhaps it would be an act of mercy to kill him." he added. "If Sakura-san thinks we can help him then I trust her." Hinata stated confidently. "If not then, execution would be inevitable." she nodded. Neji felt a surge of pride that she spoke without so much as a pause. She was getting more and more sure of herself as the days went on.

"After I deal with the council. Sakura and I will discuss what to do more. I would like it if at least one of you two could be here as well." she motioned to the two Hyuggas. "Hai." they both nodded. "Not me." Shikamaru shook his head. "I haven't dealt with such a troublesome prisoner in months and I'm in need of a nap." he stated. "A nap?" Neji frowned at him. "But…it will probably be days from now when Tsunade-sama needs us next." Hinata furrowed her brow in puzzlement. "Yeah and…?" the lazy leaf-nin failed to see their point. Everyone in the room sweat-dropped.

"We wont ask." Tsunade shook her head. "You will not be a necessity anyway. I wont however have you sleeping for days on end, you may still be needed for missions after all." she waved a finger at him. "Tch." he rolled his eyes. "Don't you 'tch' me, Nara." she warned. "If I so much as hear rumors of snoring coming from your house, I will send Miss Yamanaka to wake you up herself. Bright and early too and you know how Ino behaves when she's awake bright and early." she smirked as Shikamaru's face dropped nervously.

He shivered. "Fine. I'll set my damn alarm clock for an hour or two happy?" he almost pouted. "Good." the Godaime nodded. "You are all dismissed for now." she waved them off. They all walked out of the hospital room dazed with slightly shaky limbs at what they had just been through. People gave odd looks at the hot mess these ANBU looked like. Never mind the Hyugga clan leader herself.

……………….

"Ugh. Need. Sake." the busty blonde plopped onto the operating table exhausted. It had been such a sudden outburst. Why hadn't the method worked? It worked every other time. What was different about this sound-nin? They were missing something. Tsunade thought back to how it all happened.

Flashback:

"I don't think he will like that." Sakura had said to her. She did not like being questioned so she answered. "Do you see any other alternative?" she did this mostly to assure her pupil rather than scold. She agreed reluctantly. "I'll get the needle ready." she had said to show that she was willing to try. Once they had placed the needle into his skin it seemed as though he had been properly sedated as his eyes relaxed visibly.

"Okay then." she said to the people around her. "Let's do this." To begin she needed to draw some blood from herself. So she bit her thumb routinely. She felt the tell-tale pain of breaking skin and let go. The tension was thick and nobody had any idea why. She professionally took his arm to see the mark on the palm of his hand. It did not look like a curse-seal. At least none that she'd ever encountered. She paused allowing a look of puzzlement to come over her features. She touched the mark and started to make signs of her own…but that was when it happened.

His eyes had opened, completely alert despite the drugs in his system. "Blood." he had said in an eerie tone. Not sure that she had heard correctly she raised a brow. "What?" she asked softly. Shizune stepped forward with a tissue. "He said.."

"Blood! Kill…I must kill!" he had tackled the dark haired assistant to the floor causing a scream to erupt from her lips. "AAAAAAHHHH!!!!"

The doors were kicked open and Shikamaru flew in distracting him from instantly ripping Shizune to shreds, only to be smacked into a wall, blood spurting from his lip. Neji bolted in only seconds after with Hyugga Hinata right on his heels. "Juugo! Stop it!!" Sakura screamed at him. The rest was migraine enticing history.

End Flashback

"How the hell am I supposed to explain this to the council?" she muttered to herself. How did they expect her to help Juugo without coming up with solutions that were less ambiguous. This thought brought to mind Sasuke's sudden alert to Sakura's suggestion earlier. He knew something. Not only that…he was holding said knowledge back. "Shizune." she called softly. "Yes Hokage-sama?" she asked. There was a silence as she pondered. "…Nevermind. I'll talk to Sakura later." she finally murmured. "We should get back to the tower then." her assistant suggested with concern. "Yeah. Back to all that damn paper-work." she growled standing up. Snatching up the clip-board she stormed off with Shizune close behind her.

………..

To say that Hinata was intrigued would be an understatement. Her inquisitive interest was itching to get to the bottom of this issue with this….Juugo. Neji did not take very long to smooth out and re-tie his hair. Honestly he was as vain as Ino deep down inside even though he'd refuse to admit if she ever mentioned it out loud. Hey she knew that everyone else was thinking of it too. One time she could have sworn that she'd seen him purchasing strawberry scented shampoo while practicing her Byakuggan. Of course being the understanding cousin she was she didn't ask him about it.

Back on topic. "Neji. I have a feeling that…I.." she began to twiddle her fingers again. He raised a brow, knowing that when she did this she knew he was not going to like what was coming. "I-I…would really like to help Sakura and Tsunade with…you know…Juugo." she murmured. There was a long silence. Long and penetrating. "No." he stated flatly. "They need help removing seals!" she protested. "I-I gomen..I feel that it's my duty to offer my assistance to my village." she reasoned. "If you were injured-"

"I wont be." she said confidently. "Remember that you have n-no choice in the matter…I'm sorry."

"I don't want you to do this. I'll have to tell the o-"

"You most certainly will not say anything." she said suddenly very calm. He raised a brow. What was she up to? "I have to-"

"If you utter a word about this discussion. I will tell Ten-ten what kind of shampoo you use." she folded her arms. Deep inside she was surprised at her own cheek. His eyes seemed impassive to anyone else but Hinata caught the subtle change in them. So she had been right about what she'd seen after all. Kill two birds with one stone. "Hm." he grunted looking ahead. Taking this as an agreement she nodded pleasantly. "Tell Hanabi I will be back in a few hours." she ordered. He nodded grudgingly.

Step 1: Get away from the baby-sitter: Check

Step 2: Get information: Commenced.