I was very unhappy with this chapter, so I redid it.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any of the characters from the series, (belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and all the other companies.

Chapter Six

The Journey

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"No!"

Silence.

"Hey, Hinata"

"If you ask me one more time I'm going to tare your tail off and shove it in your mouth" Hinata was unusually grumpy today.

I whined again. We have been traveling for days on end, and I feel we are not getting anywhere. I'm starting to get the idea that Hinata has no idea where she is going and that I should have stayed home. It started off easy, I knew the trail well leading from my old town, but once we got off the trail we had to scale mountains, walk muddy roads in the rain, and we were slowly running out of food to eat in human form. Hinata says its unsafe to transform until we were in a safe distance. Though she has been saying this for two weeks now.

"Seriously Hinata, do you even know where your going?" She turned and glared at me.

"Give me a break, your family has been in hiding for years. I cant point my nose and find them on the spot. I can only use my memories to find them." Hinata pointed to her temple.

"What do you mean your memories?" I asked.

"I have met your parents in the past, and by using my memories maybe I can piece clues together from where I met them and it would give us a lead." She said.

I get it. But I suddenly became interested in Hinata's memories. And since time was moving oh so slow, maybe it could pass the time.

"Hey Hinata, I was wondering. Since you know a lot about me, why don't you talk about yourself" Hinata froze instantly at my request.

"You wouldn't want to know about me, my life is boring" She gave a nervous laugh.

"Please Hinata, at least tell me about your first transformation. I mean don't I have a right to know, we are mates after all." She sighed in defeat.

"Alright, but remember I transformed in a completely different time, different age, different from you. So don't think my story is over exaggerated." I nodded giving her my complete attention.

"Well it all started, back in the winter of 1938. Depression was still raging the world, armies were gathering in all the countries. Even Hyuuga allies were contacting each other like World War II was to break out any day. I was very naïve, and it was the brightest time of my life"

I awoke to the sounds of birds chirping next to my window, but my mood was down. I had a raging headache that rocked my entire body, every muscle I moved or anytime my eyes twitched side to side the pain would shoot down my body. I opened my window and scrapped some of the snow off the panel, to my surprise it melted right away in the palm of my hand. I felt nervous like I was getting really sick, something that frightened my parents since we lived in a time where diseases were more fatal. So getting sick and not knowing why, was normally a one way ticket to hell.

"Hinata, time to get up" I heard my mother call from the other side of my door. I didn't answer, it hurt to make noise also, "Hinata?" She knocked gently this time.

This time I answered her with sounds of my stomach contents leaving my throat out the window. Soon I heard my door burst open and my mother was now entering the room.

"What's the matter?" She shouted out loud.

"I don't feel so good" I held my stomach and head in pain.

She walked up to me quickly and placed her hand on my forehead. "Your burning up, you just stay in bed today. I will bring you a cold rag for your head. I'm going to have to tell your father that I wont be attending the meeting tonight." She rubbed my head as she laid me down in my bed. My whole body was burning like I was left naked on the hottest day of the year.

"Mother, am I going to die?" I asked her.

Her eyebrows raised at my question. "Why would you die?"

"Is it the same illness that killed grandmother and grandfather a few years ago?" I was nervous, when you wake up feeling completely dead, it makes you think. It has only been a few years since the plague ripped through the werewolves like a knife with bread. Many died, it started out with a raging headache, followed by a whooping cough that tore apart the toughest werewolf's throat. Moving into light seizures that turn into heavy seizures in a few hours. The final stage was internal bleeding. It started in the arms and legs, then worked its way into the center of the body. Soon enough the blood would begin to exit any hole in the body. Ears, nose, mouth, open cuts. Out the ass, vagina, penis, and if you were unlucky your eyes would bleed out also. By then you would just drain blood until you were dead. Some people didn't even last two days sick. And there wasn't a cure for it.

She smiled sadly, "No, you just have a slight fever, nothing that serious." To prove it, she bent down and kissed my forehead. "Try to sleep it off" I nodded and turned on my shoulder to try and went back to sleep.

Hours passed on, I would wake up every few hours. The fever getting worse as the day went on. My mother would return every so often to check on me, wiping my head and would lay with me until I would fall back asleep. When the night came, the pain was excruciating. Sweat poured from my face, my clothes stuck to my body like I went swimming. I looked out my window despite the pain and saw that it was snowing. Maybe the snow could cool me down. I stood up quickly and quietly knowing my father's meeting was taking place in the living room. And everyone knew better then to disturb him during this time.

I threw a jacket and dashed out the door hoping the cold air could cool me down. I ran deep in the woods and rolled around in the snow trying to cool myself off. Though my body was still on fire. I rolled onto my back in pain but not from exhaustion.

But something caught my attention as I took deep breaths in the deep snow. I couldn't see my breath, like I normally could.

Suddenly a rip tore through my stomach and chest region like someone slit it with a sword. I screamed in pain as it continued on down my back. My nails began to become notably longer, my teeth began to pull out from their places. I looked down at my arms to find them becoming bigger and hairier. When I tried to stand, I fell. My legs could no longer support my weight standing up. Though I don't know why, the pain began to recede a little. Only to be brought back full force when I felt my whole spine shift out my backside. I turned around to find out, I had a tail coming out my ass. I panicked and tried to find a voice, when I yelled to my mother. The only thing that came out was a long howl filled with angst.

My now small clothing was becoming to tight on me, out of frustration I turned my head and took the ragged clothing in my teeth. And with one swipe I was freed of my restrictions. I balanced on my four legs and tried to walk, only to fall flat on my belly. I looked up at my dark pawls, sharpened nails, and my own nose was in my vision. And I was really hairy. Could it be? Was this the time where I would become like the rest of the clan and earn my claws. Well that's going to have to wait, cause I have the huge urge to catch my tail all of a sudden. Which I began to do, and I passed my expectations when I was able to catch the fury demon.

Soon I heard a howl tare through the wind. I looked up to see a black wolf running at me. I panicked, this thing was going to kill me. At first it's head saw the ripped clothing and then looked back at me. It snarled and approached to attack. I submitted and walked backwards. But the creature stopped and started sniffing me. Its head shot up and instantly ran up and nudged my head with its own. When I started to sniff the wolf's neck I found it was my mother in her wolf form who came to save me. She heard my scream of pain and rushed to find me. The pain was gone though, and was replaced by love and warm provided by the woman in front of me.

We ran through the woods together, through the snow, up till we came across the estate of the Hyuuga. She stopped me by the back entrance and phased into her human form. Her clothes were lightly burned but her long robe remained. She covered me quickly, I tried to fight against to save my new found freedom but I soon found the pain return. I looked down and I was human again. She carried me into the house and rushed me into her room trying her best not to disturb father's meeting. She, however, failed when my father entered the room a few seconds later.

He did not yell when he found me in pain on the bed.

"She's hurt Hiashi" My mother wetted a towel in the bathroom and rested it on my burning head.

"How did this happen" He finally spoke.

"She was too young to transform, her body wasn't ready" My mother laid down next to me and held me. My father looked down and soon joined us in bed. The pain lasted all night, my parents went all night without sleep to make sure they could put me back to sleep and to make sure I was still alive. It was the beginning of the end that night.

XX

I gave a sad laugh at Hinata's story. I had the same urge when I transformed, but I didn't have the time to chase it like she did. It hurt to know the pain she had to go through. But one thing that crossed my mind, was why did it hurt so bad for Hinata? I didn't go through any of those symptoms, nor was she even bitten like I was. I still had many questions to ask, and her story sure pointed me in the right direction.

"I assume you have many questions for me, right?" We started down a long steep trail.

"Yes, I do" I nearly slipped on a rock. "How is that you felt and went through a painful transformation, mine didn't really burn at all"

"I was way to young to transform, my body wasn't mature enough unlike yours, my bones weren't strong enough and were very weak" She told me.

"Oh" I said softly.

"Any other questions?" Hinata asked.

Another point in the story was World War II was on the brink, what side was she on and what side was my family on. From what the history books tell me the Axis Power were the no no's of history. Was my father one of them? Did my mother nurse the health of enemy soldiers?

"Were my parents good people?" My voice broke.

Hinata stopped and turned to me with a serious look on her face. I could only picture the worse.

"Your parents were the kindest and bravest people that have graced this earth" The words hit me, they were good people. But why were they spoken in past tense? "I haven't seen them in 40 years, yet their memory never fades from me." I guess that's why. I wonder what they did to give Hinata this admiration for them. I turned to look at her once more and found she had a dreamy look on her face.

The war of the world was coming to a painfully slow end. Years of fighting has left nothing but destruction throughout the world. A storm blew ahead the pack as we stood on the edge of a ridge looking down on the battle field. Soldiers climbed through the mud trying to eliminate each other. It was a sad scene, seeing humans tare one another apart.

"This is the end" Some one finally spoke up.

"There is no point to continue fighting, we have already caused enough damage to the Namikaze." A woman spoke this time.

"She is right, half of their population was wiped out in Europe alone. Why waste the energy trying to hunt them down in the rest of the Pacific. It would be too time consuming." Another answered her.

I sighed deeply. They were right, we have been fighting for a while now. We had no energy left, nor the numbers to continue fighting. I looked down at my clothes to find them burned, torn, and covered in mud. I was tired of the fighting and wanted to return home and sleep. Something no thirteen-year old should witness or even participate in.

"Alright, we are moving out. Split up so the humans cant track us" My father's voice boomed over the pack.

I followed the pack until we were forced to split, I phased and continued to run down the hidden path to home. Rain began to fall, making the track harder to follow. Stopping suddenly when a scent reached my nose, I turned my head in the direction of the smell. I crept slowly to find a half burned down house. I quietly hopped on the porch and crawled in unnoticed. A baby's wail filled the one room house. I took a quick glance around the room and phased back into a human. My clothes were worse then before. Though it was only a one room house, it was long. I walked carefully through the hall, making sure I didn't fall through any weak cracks in the floor.

I stopped when I heard someone shush the baby. I crouched and hid behind rubble. I continued to walk further and found the back of someone treating a civilian's wounds. The victim was in shock from blood loss, and couldn't speak. The baby looked fine, it was just scared from whatever went on. Though the helper did not notice me.

I got a little closer to see that the helper had long red hair that traveled freely down her back. It looked too familiar. The victim saw me and started to gasp, lifting his finger up trying to alert my presence.

The helper turned around and locked eyes with me. She stood up and prepared as if I was going to strike her down any second.

"What are you doing?" I asked a naïve questioned.

The woman gave me an odd look, stuttering before speaking. "I-I'm uh helping this man, he was injured in a raid." I looked down and found he had a huge slash down his chest.

"Why would you do that, my parents told me civilians were just casualties waiting to happen"

She gave me a sad smile, "These people don't deserve what they got. I just cant leave victims behind like this" I tilted my head at her response. She was too nice of a person.

She spoke again. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm suppose to meet up with my pack, but I caught a scent and followed it here." I explained, this woman didn't seem like a threat.

"Your pack?"

"Yes, my dad said to split up and go back home" I said.

She eyed me up again. "Who is your father?"

"Hiashi" I told her.

"Hiashi what?"

"Hiashi Hyuuga" The woman's eyes widened and backed up. I guess she didn't know that much about the Hyuuga.

Soon enough I began to feel the shack begin to shake and soon collapsed under itself. Pieces of hot wood fell and crashed on my small body. Burned through my already destroyed shirt. I tried to pull myself out from the pile. I found that my pack was fighting with other wolves. I caught sight of my mother and father attacking others that dared to challenge them. I looked over to see the woman from before struggle to get out from under the large portion of the roof that fell on her.

I ran over and lifted the large piece up enough so she could slide out. When I finally pulled her out, an older cousin of mine pounced on her. I was shocked this woman wasn't our enemy, why was he attacking her. Soon more of my family members were joining in and attacking her.

I couldn't do anything, I was frozen in place. Until a force knocked me down and placed his paw over my neck, cutting off air. Both packs froze and looked at the hostages. I was being held down by Namikaze leader himself, Minato Namikaze. And it seemed my parents had his mate, Kushina, as a prisoner also.

My mother whined in panic, when she found me being chocked. My father snarled in anger, he always thought whenever he went a step forward, he would have to take a few steps back. My mother continued to whimper to my father to release Kushina. She had a certain amount of damage to her, the Hyuuga showed her no mercy. While Minato, though blocked me from breathing, he wasn't trying to harm me. He just wanted his mate back.

Finally, my father barked orders for the pack to back away. They reluctantly stepped back, and my parents followed. Minato took his paw away and nudged me with his nose to start walking. I didn't dare run, I wouldn't even guess what he would do to me. When we reached the body of the fallen woman, I was free to run to my family. More of the Namikaze scampered over to help the unconscious woman onto Minato's back. And soon enough they retreated back into the forest. My mother rubbed her head on me, it was one of the most scariest moments of her life. Father barked more orders over the pack to move out. He was angry, a golden opportunity to destroy the Namikaze slipped out of his hands once more.

We started back, out of the all the chaos I looked back at the now destroyed house. And I finally noticed, there was no more wailing. It was just silent.

Thunder cracked over us while we were in the field, soon followed by a heavy down pour. Reflecting the moods of the two people under it.

"Should we stop and find a shelter?" I suggested. Hinata did not answer me, she just kept walking through the mud forming path. She didn't speak a single word for a while. And she told me at the beginning of the trip to not disturb her while she was in a deep thought. So we just kept walking in the rain. My feet would get stuck at some points from the thick mud. Or I would slip and fall and slide a few feet. Even bumping into Hinata at some points. Still she didn't speak.

Soon we exited the valley and walked through a long trench of rocks. My hands were scraped and tired from the constant walking and climbing over ridges. When I was soaked to the core I would have to shake off like a dog. At least to get rid of the extra water. Despite my protests to stop, Hinata would keep pushing. She held bags under her eyes. She began to turn pale from the lack of sunlight we were getting. But still we kept moving.

What came next I thought God was just pissing on us. Snow. At first what started off was a light flurry. Turned into the blizzard from hell. We had to trudge through knee deep snow. Our clothes became stiff and uncomfortable. Our jackets no longer protecting us from the nipping cold. It was this time we stopped for a few moments, only forcing us back on our feet since it was colder to sit down then up and moving. It was horrible the worse feeling in my entire life hands down. Hinata had her hands jammed in her pocket trying to keep what body heat she had left.

We stopped once more, the snow had stopped momentarily. Hinata sat on a cut down stump. Blowing into her hands. I leaned against a tree and sighed deeply.

"Cant we just transform into werewolves" I whined.

"No, we are too close to a Hyuuga household. It would be too dangerous." She always had an excuse for something.

The exhaustion, the elements, and the unknown finally got to me. "This was a huge mistake! I should have stayed home and lived my life like nothing happened. Everything was fine until you showed up." I started to walk away.

Hinata continued to sit on stump. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going home, I don't care for the Hyuuga. As your sister said, you're the only one in trouble, they all think I'm dead. So I'm free to leave" I continued to walk away. My toes were frozen, face numb, and I had no sense of direction. I probably walked a mile away, only to turn back when I felt Hinata's presence weaken. Problem was, I was becoming delirious because when I got back to my original spot. I found Hinata perfectly fine on the stump, like nothing happened. It must have been the cold getting to me. I would have left her there if it wasn't for that moment.

"Are you done BMSing?" She said to me.

"BMSing?"

"Bitch Mood Swings" She got up from her spot and continued walking.

I blushed providing some heat to my cold skin. "You know, you need an attitude tune up" I yelled at her retreating form and quickly caught up to her.

XX

What would have been months of traveling was only a few weeks for us. We finally came to a boating dock that was Northwest of my home. Hinata said my parents wouldn't be in this country, so we would have to go to the next. She had an old buddy of hers, who is some perverted guy in his late 50s, help us on our journey through the rough seas by boat. The next problem, was that the boat was a piece of shit. Almost like a soft kick would make the boat collapse into itself.

Hinata tugged at my arm. "Here we are going to get cleaned off" She pulled me down to the bottom of the boat. "Would you like to shower first?" She asked.

"Oh no, ladies first" I was frozen head to toe, I reeked of mud, but I still had my manners." I sat on the floor of my small cabinet. It wasn't much, probably 4 feet in length in both directions. A small bed taken up the wall. The other sides were storage. The bed wasn't really a bed either, it was a board that hung from chains against the wall. Again I was hit with the reality that I was no longer home in a comfortable bed or warm food already prepared.

The door behind opened and I fell backwards.

"I'm all done" Hinata said above me. I slowly pushed myself off the ground to stand up. The girl in front of me was still went from her shower and was covered by a small towel. My eyes wandered for a second before she grabbed my chin and yanked it up. And gave me a slight slap on the cheek. As she walked away she pulled her towel off her body to dry her hair, my mouth nearly dropped to the floor.

"You're a perv" She said from down the hall.

Catching myself off guard, "Yeah well, you're a tease"

The bathroom was a disaster compared to my cabinet. The shower had mold all over, small tiles were barely hanging on the wall, the toilet had left over waste in it. I was about to puke when I found a note on the counter.

I wouldn't touch anything in here, plus don't take off your shoes and risk getting foot fungus

This was horrible, was every rest stop going to be like this on the road. I sighed and turned on the shower. I screamed bloody murder when the freezing cold water hit me. It was just one big nightmare all together. I wanted to cry so bad. Everything was a mess, yet Hinata went through it all with a smirk on her face. Why did this come easier for her. Finally I bit my lip and concentrated on washing the muck off my skin.

Later, I walked slowly down the hall, changed in a new set of clothes that were packed away in my bag. The rocking of the boat on water didn't help my cause later. I have never been on a boat and I don't think I will get on one in the future. I came by Hinata's open cabinet door. I peaked in to find her laying awake. I tapped the door open and walked in.

She looked up. "What's the matter?"

My face twitched a little trying to keep the tears bottled up inside. It was no use, I broke down right next to the bed and bawled my eyes out like a newborn baby. Hinata threw the covers off of her and pulled me close for a hug.

"Its ok" She told me while rubbing my back.

"I didn't think it would be this hard" I covered my face in her long hair.

"Relax, don't cry. We are going to be alright" She tried to comfort me.

"Alright? Look at us Hinata, we are in the middle of no where. Surrounded by God knows what. In a filthy old boat." I snapped at her.

She kept staring at me with her old eyes. She grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the bed board. Our faces only inches apart.

"Its going to be hard, I'm not going to lie. It was horrible when I had to go through it, and it will be harder for you. But if I could do it, then you can. Just don't give up" The tears began to lighten. Hinata leaned in and brushed her lips against mine. What came next I'm not going to recall, the only thing I can say was, that it was a night of uncomfortable shifting, a lot of oopies and sorrys, and the best stress reliever ever.

Days passed while on the ship, it was the same hellhole everyday. Wake up with a bad back, eat poorly prepared food that had some insects crawling in it, stare at the sea, bathroom, stare at the sea again, eat more bad food, then go back to bed. Days soon turned into a few weeks. With no end in sight.

Once we got off the boat, I jumped right on the ground and kissed it. Promising never to leave it again.

Hinata thanked the perverted boat captain and walked down to meet me.

"So where to, Miss Walking Compass" I gave her a new nickname a while back.

"We head south, they like to be in heavily forest areas." We started down a stone path that lead away from the dock.

The trees continued to grow as we walked down the path. "They're beautiful trees, where are we?" I said aloud.

"We are in the most northern part of Japan" Soon the path ended and we had to go through the woods. It was the perfect scene to apologize to Hinata for my behavior the last few weeks.

"Hinata I just wanted to say, If it wasn't for you, I don't think I would have made it without you" She smiled at me and grabbed my hand. "You're the best mate ever"

"You're the best guy I have ever been with" Hinata nudged her head against my shoulder.

"Wait, you have been with other guys?" I said in disbelief.

"Naruto I have lived through the 60s, 70s, 80s, and I have been frozen this age since the 90s. You look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't have been with other girls in that time."

I was jealous, and kind of worried. "How many guys were you with?" I asked. I expected her to get offended and punch me or something. But I didn't expect the next thing that came out of her mouth.

"I think 15, and I don't think this would count but I went to third base with this girl" My mouth dropped open.

I covered my mouth with my hand. "I should have worn a condom"

"What you say-" Hinata was interrupted.

The skinny trees began to shake and soon we were joined by eight Hyuuga wolves. They circled around us, to make there was no escape. Hinata threw off her pack and jacket and phased quickly for protection. Snarling like the devil was on her doorstep. I had a bad feeling about this fight.

XX

I remember the call from Naruto's parents a few months ago. Over one night, Naruto packed his stuff and hit the road. Leaving his cell phone behind, so we couldn't contact him. It hurt knowing Naruto was gone, I think it hurt Sakura the most out of the group since they were both dating. And I had feeling that the Hyuuga girl had something to do with this. But I had no proof that she was behind Naruto's disappearance.

I guess I would have to stand up and be the leader of the group now. But its no longer the same without Naruto. He was the closest thing to a brother since my real one left for school in another country. I looked up to notice storm clouds rolling in, this was usually a bad sign ahead. I hope Naruto is safe wherever he is.

Next Chapter should be out soon.

Next Chapter-

Mother, Father