alright. This is lucky number seven, cuz seven is my favourite number so I have a funny feeling that you'll like this chapter, even though I have no idea what I'm gonna write yet..aha. :( anyway..yeah, enjoy the chapter, that's what I'm here for!!

I Hope you loved my last chapter. I'm aware that it was a little boring but I think I liked the end. lmao.

Disclaimer: F U!


Clip my Wings

The ceiling was becoming pretty interesting to him as he began to memorize every curve and crevice. She was still there though, haunting his mind. But the wierd thing was, he didn't even like her, so why the hell did he have to think about her? She was annoyingly quiet and extremely self-absorbed, keeping to herself all the time. She could talk every once in a while, it couldn't kill her. And when she did, she could make it so that you could make out whatever the hell she was saying.

He sighed heavily and turned over on his side.

It was no use. It didn't matter whether or not he was thinking bad thoughts about her, critisizing her in his own mind, he was still thinking about her, and it just scared the hell out of him. But the worst part was that he didn't really think those things about her. Sure she was annoying, and it was true that he didn't really like her, but he didn't want to go out of his way and spend time telling himself what a rediculously idiotic person she was. It was almost as if he was trying to reasure himself that he hated her.

And that was even scarier.

It wasn't so much that he cared about the cloud leader's ceremony anymore. They could have simply avoided the ceremony. But no, he just couldn't go. It was simply that he couldn't be around her when she looked like that.


She wandered. And that was it. She didn't want to admit it, but it was extremely boring. Thoughts of Neji were unusually flooding her mind as well. She just couldn't stop thinking about what he'd said.

"And he tried to abduct you! What do you think would've happened if he'd gotten away with it, Hinata? Would he have let you go? I don't think so. You would've been killed. Don't try to tell me that I don't care about that."

Those were his words.

"Don't try to tell me that I don't care about that."

"Don't try to tell me that I don't care about that."

"Ugh!" she groaned, earning a few strange looks from the villagers. She turned a corner swiftly into an extremely narrow alley between two shops. Rubbing her face with her hands, she did her best to reasure herself. "He didn't mean it. He was just...saying it to argue with me; to make me leave."

She sighed, taking a deep breath before peering around the corner of the stone building. It was beautiful tonight. The stars were out and the streets were flooding with men and their ravishingly dressed wives, girlfriends, sisters, and daughters. Radiant lit japanese lanterns were flooding the roofs of countless shops and homes. It had become so late since she'd seen Neji and there was really nothing else to do. She played a few games and watched a couple shows, but the time still seemed to pass by at an annoyingly slow rate. She wasn't just trying to go through hour by hour anymore, it was more of a second by second thing by now.

Just then, she heard a low, rumbling growl. Looking behind her, she couldn't see anything that would've made that disturbing noise. But as she looked down to her belly that was excruciatingly sucked in by the tight obi she wore, she noticed that she was just a little bit hungry. She hadn't eaten! How stupid. She was on a mission and not eating every couple hours or so was almost a death wish.

She crossed her arms over her anorexic-looking tummy and made her way out of the narrow alley. Walking through the busy streets, she did her best to scout out any stands where she could actually have a meal. There was nothing. The only places where she found she could sit in and have dinner were bars and drinking pubs, and she wasn't about to get herself into a sticky mess involving drunken, horny bar men. Though, her stomach seemed to defy her as it slowly led her into a small pub, seemingly obtaining a mind of it's own.

She sat at an open booth for four people, it being the only table available. She had a gut feeling as if it were rising up into her throat when she saw two rather burly men speaking to eachother in the corner of her eye. They stole a peek over in her direction every once in a while as well, smiling as if they were blood-thirsty hunters and she was fresh game.

She was about to leave when the men approached her table, but she was much too slow.

"Well, well," said the man with a bald head and a boney face. His expression looked rough even though he was smiling. He wore a black muscle shirt over his muscular body and had a piercing on his left eyebrow. "Now what would a little girl like you be doing in a bar?" he asked as if he were concerned. He sat beside her at the table and she uncomfortably scooted over, feeling a blush creep upon her face. "How old are you, anyway?"

She narrowed her eyes at the question. The man still smiled, but raised his eyebrows in slight shock of her reaction.

"She looks to be only a young teenager, barely," said the other man who came to sit across from her. The man let a hicup escape his lips. "I like teenagers," he implied clumsily.

"Y-you're drunk," she wispered.

"Good call," he replied, chuckling lightly. "...and like every drunken man here tonight, I'm horny."


He gathered the information he'd needed now. He found out that there was a strange group of Cloud Chuunin and a couple Jounin rank ninja heading out into the forest just beyond the lightning country gates. A few men had brought it up in casual conversation while waiting in line for food at the festival.

He left the hotel and checked out about half an hour ago, and the closest clock to him read 11:14. He couldn't stand staying cooped up in that damn room for too long anyway, besides, he'd been planning on getting this information. It was a pretty good lead, too. Why the hell else would Kumogakure send out perfectly good ninja to scout out the area before their gates on such a night...only if there was something to find. Neji smirked.

People would start to head in now. It was the perfect opportunity to find Hinata and stage their scouting for tonight around midnight. They would definately find it before the Cloud ninja, they a had their Kekkei Genkai advantage after all. Now all he had to do was find the indigo-haired girl.


"Why not?" the bald man said with a sly smirk.

Hinata pressed her lips together and turned away from them. The best thing to do in this sort of situation was to show them she wasn't afraid. So much for that plan. Hinata could feel the anxious look on her face growing more and more terrified with each second.

"We promise to be gentle. I don't go hard on the little ones," the other said as he brought his hand over to stroke the forearm that Hinata had crossed over the table. Her eyes widened in fear and she jerked it away quickly. Why was she losing it? She could probably take them, so why was she so afraid? "Aaw, c'mon, sweetheart. I don't bite," he stated in a drowsy voice. "Well.." he continued. "I might if you stripped off the front of that kimono of yours and let me-"

There was a loud clapping sound, skin against skin. She'd slapped him right across the face. Immediately withdrawing her hand, she sunk back into her seat and held her wrist close to her body. As the man stood up abruptly after the shock, she could feel her horrified look, feeling her eyes shut tightly.

"Don't ever slap me!" he yelled down at her. "You're my little bitch, so act like it!" she could see through her eyelids that his fist was raising in the air. "You worthless-"

"Hey, now. You don't have to be so rough, she's just a girl." The man ceased his attack and looked over to find a casually rested boy leaning against one of the pillars of the bar. "And you know," he continued, pushing himself off the pillar and trudging toward him in a bored manner. "I'm almost positive she doesn't want to lose her virginity to some drunken piece of crap in a bar."

"Oh yeah! And who the fuck are you!" the man yelled, raising his fists towards him now. The smaller boy's casual smirk faded into an angry frown.

"I'm your little bitch's cousin, and unfortunately for you, I don't approve of you having your way with her. So you'll just have to go through me first." Neji's narrowed eyes stayed firm as the bulky man's lips curled up into an amused smile.

"Unfortunately?" he chuckled. "Yeah, it's really unfortunate, but not for me!" he yelled as he charged at the boy who still stood unphased. The whole bar was watching in fear now.

"Neji!" Hinata called out as the big man threw a fist in his direction. Neji smirked and brought his left hand up to match his fist, stepping aside and using his other hand to push him over his head by his upper arm. The man let out a strange wail as he was brutally sent on his back.

The bald man stood up abruptly, charging at Neji as well. He tried a few kicks but the young ninja stopped them with his forearms. He went to punch the smaller boy then, but was stopped when Neji simply dodged his blow and let him fall over top of him. But before he could squish the small boy under his weight, Neji placed both of his hands on the man's left shoulder and pulled him down quickly, speeding up his fall. He then used his right knee to place a swift kick to his gut.

The man fell to the ground with a thud.

Neji's angry eyes then fell on the shocked young woman. He quickly made his way over to her and grabbed her wrist, pulling her out of the bar. Many shocked spectators kept their eyes on the teenagers as they left.

"What the hell do you think you were doing in there!" Neji yelled at her, pushing her lightly against the bar wall. He leaned in with an enraged expression, placing his right hand on the wall as well, inches from her face. "Do you have any idea what they would've done to you!"

"I know," she replied quietly. "I'm not stupid."

"Heh," Neji implied. "Could've fooled me," he mocked with fake ease as he removed his hand and began to walk away from her. Her jaw dropped lightly and she eyed his retreating form with slightly raised eyebrows. She ran and caught up with him.

"I-I wouldn't have let anything happen to me." Neji simply shook his head, though he seemed calmer than before.

"Hinata, you may be a ninja, and they may not be, but that still doesn't mean you can take them down. They were ten-times your size," he exagerated.

"But- But that doesn't mean anything! You should've seen the looks those people gave you. You looked so...so little compared to-"

"But I'm strong. Something you're not, and frankly, Hinata, I'm starting to believe that you need a little more protection than your father gives you credit."

Her eyes widened lightly and she touched his arm to stop him. He jerked his arm away abruptly and turned to her, looking angered again. She ignored it.

"Wh-what?" she spoke lightly.

"You're far from strong, Hinata," he explained. "Someone like you shouldn't even dare to go into to a bar alone like that, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I didn't think that..." she trailed off. He sighed at that, his expression softening slightly.

"Nevermind it, alright? We need to get moving if we want to find the scroll, there are enemy ninja scouting along the gate perimeter. If you make one sound..." he threatened.

But she didn't even reply. She simply nodded with a dismal face.

"Okay," he hesitated. He turned towards the gates of the village, with Hinata quietly following behind him.


They swiftly leapt from branch to branch, scouting the outer perimeter of the Lightning Country's gates. With their byakuugan activated, they assumed that they'd have the upper hand. Neji had let Hinata change back into her normal wear just before they went on their search.

"N-Neji?" she called from behind.

"What is it?"

"Are you certain we're going in the right direction?" she questioned.

He didn't reply to her question as if letting her know that it was idiotic. Of course they were. She should know that he had everything under control.

"Neji?" The hint obviously wasn't clear enough.

"Quiet, Hinata," he said coldly. "If you'd had your bloodline active, you would see the enemy ninja in the area up ahead. Chances are that they have a lead to where the scroll is. Why the hell would they be out here looking for it if they hadn't a clue..."

"Oh," she replied. But she kept glancing back behind her. This wasn't the right way, she knew it, but Neji would never do what she said, she always screwed up anyway, why would he trust her now? Hinata shook her head. Maybe he was right. His facts against her gut feeling - he usually proved wiser when it came to those elements. Unfortunately, her urge to argue was much too great.

"B-but- but, Neji... hold on a moment." He stopped on a nearby branch, sighing quite dramatically and turning to her with the most annoyed expression she'd ever laid eyes on. But she still continued as she stood next to him. "I don't know," she began, peering behind her again. "I have a feeling...that this isn't the right way. Maybe we should head in the other direction."

Neji's eyes narrowed greatly.

"A feeling..." he stated, pure disgust lacing his toungue. "You're going to tell me to trust your gut rather than my head - during a mission. Hinata how dull can you get!" Hinata narrowed her eyes at his comment.

"W-well," she began, raising her voice. "Maybe if y-you'd trust me once in a while... we could quit fighting! Y-you don't e-even know for sure if I'm wrong, you just assume!"

"Yeah, because there aren't many times when you're right! You're an annoying, frail, self-absorbed burden! The last thing I needed was to be placed on a mission with you!"

Hinata stopped and simply glared at him. He calmed down as well when he saw a slight glint in her eye.

"You really hate me, don't you," she said, keeping her eyes on his. His nose wrinkled lightly. She shook her head as if to question her own words. "B-but... but what about tonight, at the festival. You saved m-"

"Hinata, I don't care," he stated firmly. "And I only did it because I had to. You...are a complete failure - at life in general. I am not, and yet somehow I serve you and your control-obsessive family. The way life works is simple. The failure serves the better, but not in my case - fate is just cruel to me that way. Your father would have my neck if you were hurt or died on a mission with me. Besides, my father told me to always protect you, and I'm not about to disrespect his corpse by letting you join him."

She looked to her feet.

"But...you can disrespect me, right?"

His eyes narrowed. Hinata let a small, sad smile grace her lips.

"I see," she sighed, turning away from him and jumping to the branch before.

"Hey, where are you going?" She turned at that and shrugged.

"I'm off to find the scroll."


Wow, boldness is a good look on Hinata:D I'll just have to show those colours much later on in the fic, huh! tehe!

Anyway, I hope you guys were alright with that chapter. Is it just me, or are the chapters getting gradually more boring as I go along. I'm soo sorry! But if you'll stick around for a little while I might just surprise you with some exciting stuff. So pleaeaeaease! And may I remind you people, that this is an 'M' rated fic, so you know their's juicy stuff to come!!

luv melanie