"There's no way… She couldn't possibly be…"
"Who couldn't possibly be?"
Neji went stiff at the sound of the voice, not realizing that he had spoken aloud. He looked around to find the owner of the voice… Hanabi.
"Nothing, Hanabi."
"Oh come on! Don't be that way!" she said as she ran to catch up to him, fore he had started to walk away. "You can tell me!"
Neji stopped again, causing Hanabi to bump into him. He turned and looked down at her, "No I can't, classified information, ANBU, you know. Information that you are not privy to."
She sneered up at him, "You don't have to be snotty…"
"Don't you have something to do, other people to annoy?"
Hanabi was quiet for a moment, like she was deep in thought. "Nope!"
"Where's your mother?" Neji asked, just wanting her to leave him alone.
Hanabi sighed and looked down at the floor. "It's raining."
Neji recoiled as if he'd been slapped. Well he felt like scum now… like a complete and utter cad. He hadn't even noticed the rain on his walk up here. He now understood why she was so interested in what he was doing. Not that she normally wasn't. Unlike him, Hanabi had never had anyone her age to really play with when she was younger. He grew up in the branch house, where there were always other kids to play with. Hanabi and her sister had been the only children born into the main house in about twenty five years. But, because there fathers were twins, and heads of their respective houses', he and Hanabi were often each others company during the long meetings. Although not to the point of best friends. After all, Hanabi was six years his junior. Their relation ship consisted of love, hate, and extreme annoyance. It was one of a brother with an irritating little sister. Their parents never yelled at him for his treatment of Hanabi though, they even understood a little. After all, Hanabi had practically been his shadow for the longest time.
Hanabi was like his little sister, but she wasn't, could never be what Hinata was to him. Hinata had been his best friend, would always be his best friend. They had understood each other from the start. He wished she could have been here…
Wait… it could still happen. If Ren was Hinata. But he couldn't tell Hanabi, couldn't tell his aunt or uncle, or anyone for that matter. Not yet, anyway. Not until he knew for sure. What he did know was that he had to find Ren. To do that, he needed to speak to the Hokage, alone. Shizune would be the rational one and talk the Hokage and him, out of it.
"Well… since we're both bored out of our skulls, why don't we run into town? We can have lunch at the old restaurant? My treat."
Hanabi gave him a blinding smile and ran to get her shoes.
.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.
Sasuke made his way through the rain soaked village to his small apartment. After he had turned rogue to follow Orochimaru for power the village had decided to finally seize the Uchiha compound. He didn't really care that much because Sakura had saved his family house. She had fought tooth and nail to protect the house and keep anyone from moving in, the rest of the compound had been split up and sold to civilian families. He could live in the Uchiha house, but he couldn't stand to be there for long periods of time. Too many memories…
He understood now, why his brother had left him alive while he killed everyone else. It was because of the bonds they had, as brothers. He was Itachi's weak point. Itachi could kill hundreds of people, but he couldn't kill his little brother. The weird and twisted part of the whole scenario was that Itachi had done it for him. He had killed their entire family for Sasuke, because Itachi had it all planned out. He wanted Sasuke to kill him. He was always the obstacle that stood in Sasuke's way. The obstacle that Sasuke could never pass. The point that Sasuke was always compared to. When Sasuke had finally killed Itachi, he had broken every preconceived expectation that people had labeled him with.
Even though it was how Itachi had wanted it, it still didn't help to heal the broken heart, or the guilt ridden conscience that Sasuke suffered. Naruto tried to help. Naruto helped to fill the void of loneliness, and Sasuke filled Naruto's need for family. They were brothers. Not by blood, but brothers none the less.
He finally arrived at his shabby little apartment. He unlocked the door and made his way inside.
.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.
"Thanks for taking me out to eat, Neji."
"No problem, Hanabi."
"It was nice, kinda like old time. I never see you anymore since you became a… you know." Hanabi said, almost forgetting that she wasn't allowed to say that he was an ANBU. Actually she wasn't even supposed to know. "I have to go; Sensei wants the team to meet at 4:00."
"Bye."
Neji waved as he watched Hanabi disappear down the street, purposely jumping in any puddle she could in the process. He turned and began walking in the opposite direction, toward the Hokage tower. His expression grew cold and he became stiff. What could he possibly say to convince the Hokage to let him go and search for Ren?
.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.
Tsunade was currently sitting alone in her quiet office, reading, or trying to read the long mission report. Unfortunately it wasn't going too well, she would read one line, and then completely forget what she had just read. Her thoughts were somewhere else entirely. What was she going to do? What was the council going to say?
Tsunade scowled at the mere thought of those pompous windbags. Damn, did she hate those old bats. All they did was sit in their plush offices and criticize every move that she made, and pretend to know what was best for the people of the village. They rarely ever talked with, much less understood what the people wanted. When they talked to people it was all about them, not the other person. They barely even cared about civilian matters; all they cared about were the shinobi.
It was true that the shinobi were very important to the village. They protected the village, worked to repair things, and brought in commissions. But the civilians were an equally important part; they're the foundation of the village. The families of the shinobi. Tsunade sighed as she recalled the unpleasant memories of the last very long and very difficult week. The raids on the supply carts, the whispers of conspiracies within the Hokage's own organization. Then there were the strange disappearances! People were disappearing out of their homes in the middle of the night. When people went in to check to see if everything was alright, total destruction met their eyes! The doors were hanging off the hinges, sofa's had their stuffing ripped out and thrown around the rooms, furniture was upturned and broken. Such destruction and no one had heard a thing! People were scared. Rumors had started to spread like wild fire that the Hokage and the shinobi were behind it all, because every one who had disappeared had been a civilian. Until Thursday, when Hito Mato had been taken. He had been one of her best chinning, about to make jonin. The abductions were so random, absolutely no method or systematic approach. No common variables between the victims.
A short knock at the door startled her out of her inner ramblings. Welcoming the distraction she yelled out for the person to enter. The welcoming feeling quickly dissipated when Neji Hyuga walked through the door.
"May I have a word with you, Lady Hokage?"
"Sure…" said Tsunade, noncommittally. She did not like that look on his face… he wanted something. He knew how to control his face into not giving away his emotions, and yet he dropped his defenses. Why?
She waved a hand toward the empty chair in front of her desk and he shuffled forward and quickly sat down. He was nervous… but he had a plan. He had the setting; he made it look like he was nervous… now all he needed was the words. How do you tell someone that someone who you thought had been dead for over seventeen years might still be alive?
"What do you want, Hyuga?" Tsunade snapped, not in the mood to wait.
Neji took a deep breath and began, "Lady Tsunade, I would like you to make it a mission of extreme importance to find Ren Maki."
Well, she certainly was not expecting that… "Why?"
"Because I think she might be…" he paused, suddenly unsure as to whether he should be completely up front and honest on the subject. In case his suspicions got back to his uncle. "I think she might be Hinata Hyuga."
Tsunade just gave him a look of pure confusion. "Just who the hell is Hiyana Hyuga?"
He heaved a great sigh and rubbed at the corners of his eyes. He could have just kicked himself! How could he be so stupid? Of course she wouldn't know how important this was. Tsunade wasn't there! Wasn't even in the country! She probably had never even been told.
"Hinata was my cousin. She was abducted when she was three years old, no one ever found any trace as to if she lived, or died."
"Okay…" said Tsunade, still not seeing as to what he was getting at. He probably had many cousins, but they all had seals. Ren didn't. A lost child was always sad, but there was no way that Ren could be this Hinata.
"She was taken from the fully guarded Hyuga compound in the middle of the night." He added, seeing that she didn't believe that Ren could be Hinata. He needed a different strategy.
She was interested, she had to admit, but still not convinced. But she did get a bit of pleasure in the thought that the Hyuga's were not perfect, but it was sad that it was at the expense of a child.
"No one even knew she was gone until morning. No one… not even the guards at the village gates, where it has been proven that that was where the intruder escaped with her. Drops of her blood were discovered outside the wall." He continued.
She was more interested, and a bit uneasy. The intruder got in and out of the village without raising an alarm? While carrying an injured child?
Neji caught a short glimpse of unease in the Hokage's brown eyes; he went in for the kill. "Her room was almost completely destroyed, but no one heard a thing. Not a single sound."
Now she was just perturbed. This was sounding much too familiar for her likes.
"Hinata was also the first born of Lord Hiashi." Neji added quietly.
Now she was just shocked. She had never heard about this. Why hadn't she heard of this?
Instead of ranting on her lack of information on the subject, she said, "So your telling me that Ren Maki might be the long lost Hyuga heiress?" at Neji's nod she continued. "Does Lord Hiashi know of your suspicions?"
Neji flinched slightly, his body language telling her plain and simple that he hadn't been able to bring himself to include his uncle in this situation. Hadn't been able to raise his aunt and uncle's hopes, just incase his theory proved to be false.
"Are you going to make it a mission to find her?" he asked, hesitantly.
"Yes, she needs to be found. I'm making you captain of the squad. It will be S ranked, and must remain confidential. Pick your team wisely and head out as soon as possible."
"What do we do when we find her? Am I to bring her back?"
"If you find her, which I'm not sure you will, you are to bring her back here. But tell her nothing."
"Lady Tsunade, she won't like that. She's as stubborn as you in that respect, in a positive sense of course. She won't come blindly."
"Everyone has something… or someone that they will follow anywhere. Do what ever you need to, but she can not be told. If others found out… she'd be on every bounty hunters list faster than you could say 'mine'."
With that, Neji turned and left. Tsunade turned to look out her window and watched him walk down the rain pelted street.
'The game has begun…"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once again…DONE!
I have something to ask of you all…
Please visit my profile and vote in the poll. It is a poll to see what Ren's new undercover name is going to be.
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLZ!!!!!