To Hell and Back
Narrator (Yoruichi): In the last episode, Hinata and Kiba are sent on a mission by Lady Tsunade to watch a group mysterious enemies. But when they get there Hinata senses there could be more to these enemies that meets the eye. Meanwhile, Orihime is having a normal day at school, but is that all about to change?
Episode 3: Nintei (Finding)
—Konoha(Hidden leaf)
Hinata and Kiba silently make their way toward their current objective. Hinata still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong with this scenario. She stopped suddenly catching Kiba by surprise, causing him to bump into her. "H-Hinata, what's up?" Kiba asked, wondering why she suddenly stopped. "Kiba, I think we should split up, we'll have less attention drawn to us that way. Plus, I have a bad feeling about this, so be careful." Kiba nodded. He broke away from Hinata and headed a ways away, but still followed closely making sure Hinata was still in his sight.
Hinata activated her Byakugan, the two hadn't moved. Hinata and Kiba had finally made it to where the two were stationed. From what she could see, they seemed to be sitting around a campfire. She and Kiba were perched behind two trees peering down at them. Hoods covered their faces so Kiba nor Hinata could make out who they were. Even so they both listened in close hoping to catch anything that sounded suspicious...
"How long are we gonna be here? We are pressed for time remember," one of them stated.
"I know, but you've already realized how hard it'll be to get "them" alone," the other replied.
"True, but there's got to be a way to speed up the process considering we've have to go to "that place" and collect what we need there." The other guy couldn't help but agree."Do not worry, I have a feeling we'll get what we've came for soon enough..." that was all Hinata and Kiba could make out. Hinata and Kiba gave each other confused look. This was definitely something Lady Tsunade needed to be informed of. As Hinata was about to give the signal to leave, her attention was quickly focused to a weird presence. 'T-they knew!', "Kiba mo—" before Kiba could even react or respond, he was sent fly towards a tree.
"Kiba!" Hinata cried out as she watched his body made direct contact with the tree creating a semi-large crater. Her instincts told her to go check on him, but they were quickly ignored as she felt another presence coming for her this time. She instantly jumped into the air dodging the attack. The branch that she was once standing on shattered to small bits of wood. Her attention now focused on her attacker. She tried to get a good look at who they were, but their facial features were still drowned out by their hoods. 'So much for not engaging the enemy. I hope Kiba's alright.' She thought. "Ah, it looks like we're going to have a bit of a challenge," said her unknown attacker a smirk hidden behind his hood.
"Who are you? And what do you want?" she demanded. Silence. Instead suspicious attacker waved his finger teasingly. Leaving Hinata utterly confused.
"Fang over Fang!" Hinata heard snapping her attention away from her enemy. She watched as a cyclone of wind ripped through the sky heading straight for them. Hinata easily back flipped out of the range of the attack. The mysterious figure however didn't even bother to move, heck he didn't even seem alarmed. Hinata watched as he just put his out hand as if to say "stop," she was totally befuddled. 'What is the guy—' before Kiba's attack could come about an inch toward him a bright white light emitted from his hand instantly nullifying and blocking the attack. 'What in the—' Kiba thought, he couldn't move. Sadly Kiba didn't have time to come up with an alternative... the white shield quickly dropped, leaving Kiba now exposed. Next, the guy emitted a red aura around his hand, as he was about to use it on a vulnerable Kiba, his attack was completely negated...or so thought.
"Eight trigrams sixty-four palms guard!" Hinata shouted. Her blue chakra shield, protecting both her and Kiba. "Ah, ah, ah. That's not going to work!" he stated. A shark tooth grin the only thing clearly visible through the darkness of his hood. His hand now turned purple and with a slight tap caused Hinata's shield to easily shatter without as much so much of effort on his part. 'W-who is this guy?' Hinata was honestly frightened; she knew just as well as anyone that defenses could be penetrated, but usually would some amount of force or precision, but all he did was give her shield a tap and it crumbling like nothing. Just who were these mysterious cloaked outsiders? "Hinata!" Kiba called out, but it was already too late...
~...~
—Karakura High
Orihime was lazily staring up at the clouds as she continually sipped on her juice box. Tatsuki and Keigo were arguing intently about something while Ichigo stared off into the city in thought while occasionally sipping on what was left of his juice. Lunch was usually more proactive if not a lot more rowdy, but with Uryu and Chad helping with their club actives not that Chad talked much and Uryu and Ichigo would be at each other's throats for one reason or another, but for everyone it held a sense of "normalcy", and today that "normalcy" was off and it was bothersome—or maybe it was a sign of them getting older and drifting apart...
"Orihime?" Ichigo called.
"Hm?" Ichigo walked over to where Orihime was sitting and sat down next to her. Orihime felt her cheeks heat up slightly. A small silence built up between the two before Ichigo spoke.
"Orihime... does today seem kind of off to you?"
"Off? Off how?"
"I don't know how to explain it...but..." Ichigo's eyebrows furrowed in frustration. "The air feels heavy slightly."
"H-Heavy? Like the feeling you get when a hollow appears?"
"...Sort of—but this feeling is different it's either Hollow, Espada, not even Soul Reaper, but something else entirely."
"Have you talked to Uryu or Chad about what you've been feeling?"
"No you're the first person I told." Hearing this Orihime felt flattered knowing that after all they've been through Ichigo trusted her enough to come with her his problems. Usually he'd go to Rukia with this sort of stuff. Lately, however, with less Hollows around Rukia's been hard at work in the Soul Society helping her brother with important business, so she hasn't been around much, because of this Ichigo's been out of it slightly even though he won't admit it. Ichigo probably didn't realize it, but his eyes are his worst weakness, they ended up conveying the emotions he tired so well to hide. Orihime knowing this tried her best to make Ichigo smile any chance she got, but...the distance looks Ichigo would have pretty much spoke loud and clear, he and Rukia had a bond; bond that she could only dream of having with Ichigo.
Orihime hadn't realized it but she'd zoned out and Ichigo was vigorously shaking her to get her attention.
"—Hime! Orihime!" Ichigo stopped shaking her and gave her a small a 'bop' on the head seeing as shaking her wasn't working. Bopping her seemed to do the trick however... Orihime flinched slightly rubbing the now somewhat sore spot on her head.
"Ow, Ichigo-kun was that for?" she asked giving him a small pout. Ichigo gave a small chuckle, "Sorry Orihime but it was the only way I could think of getting your attention." Ichigo wouldn't openly admit it, but Orihime was pretty cute when she tried to give of impression she was mad at someone, it never really worked to her advantage which made it all the more cute. "Anyway, the bell rung during your little space-out. Time to go back to class, c'mon." Ichigo extended his hand, Orihime took it and pulled herself up.
"Thanks." Orihime gave Ichigo a warm smile as she proceeded to brush off any dirt that may have accumulated on her skirt while she was sitting on the ground. "No prob." Orihime looked around and noticed Tatsuki and Keigo were gone and that they must have already headed back to the classroom. As Orihime and Ichigo made their way back to the classroom, Orihime gave a small glance at Ichigo; his brown irises distance and flickering slightly. "It's still bothering you...Ichigo-kun, I—" Orihime was about to say, but Ichigo cut her off.
"Don't worry Orihime, I'm probably just—" Orihime shook her head. "No, I-I'm your friend I should be doing more to help," a determined look in her bright round silver irises. Hearing this caused Ichigo to chuckle, "Orihime, you are helping me."
"I am?" she asked confused.
"Yeah. You just sitting with me and listening to me was."
"It was? But you still seem bothered by it..."
"Yeah, I am, but not as much as before after talking with you about it."
A warm smile made its way on to Orihime face. "Well, I'm glad." The orange head students were so lost in conversation that they hadn't realized that they had made it back to class. Ichigo pulled back the door and let Orihime go inside first and soon followed, closing the door behind him. Tatsuki and Keigo watched as the two entered the class sly grins on their faces. Orihime blushed and Ichigo glared as well as gave them his trademark scowl as they made their way to their respective seats.
Within minutes the teacher entered the room ready to deliver the final lecture of the day.
~...~
—Konoha(Hidden leaf)
"Rasengan!"a familiar voice yelled, a spiraling ball of concentrated energy held tightly in their palm as they ascended down at break neck speeds hoping that their attack connected with who they perceived to be enemy. However, the enemy effortlessly avoided the attack like clockwork, thus causing the attack to unavoidably collide with the dirt ground below creating a crater sized hole.
"Hinata, are you alright?" they asked. Hinata however took a moment to respond as she was still in shock at the events that had transpired earlier. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. But, Naruto-kun what are you doing here?" she looked over at Kiba and saw he was just a baffled as she was. "Well, I was on my way to Ichiraku ramen to go get a bite to eat, when my senses kicked into overdrive and told me something was wrong and decided to go check it out. Good thing I did, huh?" Naruto's trademark grin plastered on his face. But it quickly evaporated as he focused on the unknown enemy in front of them.
"Wow, this is surprisingly easier than I thought. Hey, bro!" the guy called out. The other guy that Hinata and Kiba had fought earlier appeared beside his brother instantaneously. "Yeah?" "It's him," he stated point at the young teen with bright blond hair, cerulean irises, whisker marks and a bright orange and black jumpsuit.
The other guy, who Hinata assumed was the older of the two gave Naruto the once over. Striking brown eyes clashed with cerulean. "What do you guys want?" Naruto demanded. The younger of the two gave a small laugh.
"It's funny that you ask that...well...we're here for you..."
Hinata felt her blood run cold at the mention of this news. 'They want Naruto-kun, but why? Do they work for the Akatsuki?' these questions plagued her mind. She knew firsthand what these two were capable of and to be honest, she was scared, not for herself, but for Naruto...these guys were unlike anyone had faced before; it was as if they didn't belong of this world.
Hinata gave Kiba a knowing look and he nodded back in compliance. Hinata focused back on the confrontation in front of her to make sure these guys didn't pull any underhand tricks and to make sure she didn't draw any attention to Kiba while their plan was underway. This plan only had a one tenth of chance at being successful seeing as Shino wasn't here, but Hinata had faith that it would work; it had to, otherwise, they'd get their hands on Naruto and Hinata wouldn't allow that to happen, she could stake her life on that!
"Me? What do you want with me?" Naruto questioned. "Sorry, but we can't tell you that, but just know that we know about your..." the younger brother stated, motioning toward Naruto stomach. Naruto eyes widened slightly and he became somewhat pale. 'They knew about the Kyuubi? How just who were these guys?'
Hinata's eyes narrowed as she watched as Kiba and Akamaru positioned themselves over their targets ready to go when Hinata gave the signal. 'Please, let this work!' Hinata silently prayed.
Hinata slowly reaching into her weapon pouch and pulled out two small round black balls holding them in her fingers and then used her other hand to softly grab onto the back of Naruto's jacket. 'Sorry Naruto-kun.' Naruto feeling this slight tug, looked to see it was Hinata.
"Hinata, what are you—" but before he fully had a chance to ask, Naruto felt himself being forcefully tugged backwards and two small bombs being thrown in his place.
"Kiba-kun, now!"
"Right! Akamaru, do it boy!"
Akamaru nodded and nimbly jumped of the branch he and Kiba were perched on. Seeing as the two were blinded by the smoke, he spun in the air a green pungent smelling liquid excreted from his fur showering the two below in the horrid stuff. Akamaru then swiftly made his way back to Kiba. Kiba gave his faithful companion a small scratch behind the ear and then proceeded with the next part of the plan.
Kiba then turns Akamaru into a shadow clone and thanks to 'Dynamic Marking' that Akamaru had sprayed on them earlier, it worked out to their benefit seeing as Kiba had a keen sense of smell. Kiba and clone Kiba (Akamaru) jump down into the dense smoke thankfully still shrouding them and without a moments doubt start a flurry of unrelenting attack chains. Cries of pain echoing through the slowly evaporating smoke.
"Are you alright, Naruto-kun?" she asked as she let go of Naruto's jacket and stood up. "Yeah, I'm fine." Hinata held out her hand for Naruto to take, a light blush on her cheeks and he placed his hand in hers and she pulled him up. "Thanks, but—" cries of pain could be heard inside the smoke. "Hinata, there headed toward you."
"Right." Hinata's conversation was cut short as she swiftly moved into action. Naruto watched utterly blown away as he watched the raven-hair hyuga move with the grace and fluidity of a snake. She wasn't hitting major vital spots, just ones to immobilize her foes. Naruto watched as the two brothers fell to the ground desperately trying to move, but to no avail.
"W-what did you do?" the younger brother spat. "I attacked your pressure points, rendering you useless, it's over." Hinata stated. The older brother gave a small sinister laugh that caught even his younger brother off guard.
"I commend you and your partner, for being able immobilize us like you did, really I do, but—"
Hinata, Kiba, and Naruto were baffled at what they were seeing, he and his brothers bodies began to dematerialize like water droplets.
"C-clones? H-how?" Hinata choked out. 'If these guys were clones, then...' Hinata without a second thought activated her Byakugan and begun to feverishly scan the area. "Kiba, do you or Akamaru—" Hinata felt a strong swift kick to her abdomen as well as heard a 'crack'. She coughed up slight blood as the force of the kick was so strong it didn't give her body time to respond and was sent headlong into the trunk of a tree creating permanent dent.
"Hinata!" Naruto and Kiba cried out in unison.
Kiba and Naruto were furious, Akamaru growling teeth bare.
Hinata felt a wet substance running down the back of her head, mentally informing her that she was bleeding. Her vision also continuously blurred much to her chagrin. She needed to get up, no she had to. These people were going to take the person she found the most precious to her without even a thought, she couldn't allow it, she couldn't! "N-Naruto-kun, I—" her voice barely a whisper. She tried to stand, but her body felt sluggish and weak. She slumped back down to the ground, tiredness suddenly and quite rapidly begun to consume her, she felt as though she was being wrapped in warm and secure blanket.
Hinata felt her eyelids droop the last thing she saw was a blurry silhouette being dragged into darkness, reaching out for anything; anyone, but it was already too late. 'Naruto-kun, please forgive me.'
~...~
"Damn those dumb brats!" the younger brother said annoyed as he was covered in bruises and a variety of different size cuts. "I didn't think they'd put up such a fight, especially that raven-haired girl."
"Yes, she could prove to be a problem...however..."
"Eiji, are you—?"
"Yes."
A glowing red circle materialized in front of him. Golden streams of light shot up from the red circle combining into one massive ball before quickly dispersing into powdery dust and covering all of Konoha.
"Do you think this will work?" Eiji's younger brother asked.
"Have a little faith, little brother. Anyway, let's go."
Eiji held up two fingers, the tips of his finger had a magical black glow. With one swift motion he made a horizontal slice in the air creating a portal. "Hopefully this world won't be as much trouble as this one..." with that said, Eiji and his brother without any hesitant headed through the portal unsure of what awaited them.
Unknown to the two brothers however, a bright green necklace lay abandon on the ground. The key that'll force everything into motion...
Narrator (Yoruichi): Events have been set into motion, paths are soon to cross. Two girls and two boys soon to be thrust headlong into a conflict they couldn't even imagine. A conflict that'll effect our heroes and heroines in ways they never thought possible...
Next Episode: Gūzen no deai (Chance meeting)
A/N: Hey guys! (Crickets chirping) Oh, boy...sorry, I know it's been forever and all, but college got in the way among other things and I honestly for a while hand writers block when it came to this fic altogether. (Please don't hate me ) Anyway, I honestly have to thank you guys who have stuck around with this story for as long as you have, so from the bottom of my heart I thank you profusely and for any new comers, thank you for taking time out to read my fic and I hope I don't disappoint.
I've also put links to the main theme done back in Episode/Chapter 1. As well as the first OP and ED song on my Bio page if you wanna take a listen to those. Anyway, thanks again everyone for all the support and hope to have more for you soon.