To my readers - Sorry that I haven't reviewed sooner, 'cause i was ill. To shunie102, she will find out in due course, but a lot more is going to happen before that. So with that said i present to you chapter 7.


CHAPTER 7:

The door to Neji's room creaked open. Neji, who was usually a light sleeper, immediately woke up and tried to sit up. Every inch of his body seemed to protest as he leaned back on the cool metal bars of his head rest, breathing heavily.

The person who had entered his room sat on the edge of his bed, resting a pitcher of water and a clean glass on his bedside table and turned on his bedroom lamp. His room was flooded with a dim yellow light, which was emitted from his lamp, revealing the intruder to be none other than Natsumi, one of the members of a lower branch family, who took care of Neji after his father was killed.

She placed a cool hand on his sweaty forehead, while Neji just stared at her with his lavender eyes. After a moment, she removed her hand and activated her Byakugan. Her eyes roamed the extent of his body for a minute and the bulging veins framing her shrewd eyes disappeared. Her eyes shifted back to Neji's face and they just stared at each other.

For what seemed like minutes, the only sounds that were heard were his panting and the sounds of the night creatures, filtering through his open bedroom windows. Neji was getting frustrated that Natsumi had spoken a word and decided to speak.

"Well? What's my condition Natsumi?" he asked. Natsumi's gaze shifted from his face and reached for the pitcher of water and poured him a glass of water.

She handed him the glass and watched him sip from it. "When you arrived home all of your chakra was depleted. You shocked us all that you were still able to move on your own," she paused when he stopped drinking and returned the glass to her, which she placed next to the pitcher. He closed his eyes and leaned his head on the bed head as she continued with her soft voice, "Hinata told us what happened. She said it was an S-class jutsu that did this to you." She paused again as if looking for some sort of confirmation from her ward, but seeing as that Neji had not responded, she continued, "Lord Hiashi and the elders were furious! Everyone was against that Sarutobi girl from returning to the village, but the Hokage didn't listen did she?" She said it so spitefully that Neji forced his eyes back open and they narrowed on the woman.

"Natsumi, it was an accident nothing more," he said sternly.

Natsumi cocked her head to the side and asked haughtily, "Oh was it? So why did she choose to use that jutsu on you, a Hyuga, and not any other of your comrades? You could have died Neji!"

"But I didn't, so drop it already!" he exclaimed, snarling at her. He didn't mean to but the pain had just struck him suddenly and he sucked in some more air before he stated, "And by the way, it was my fault. If I didn't challenge her then she wouldn't have tried to teach me a lesson."

Natsumi rolled her eyes and countered, "That still isn't an excuse for using a jutsu that can harm your subordinate just to teach him a lesson!" She exhaled and sighed, "I know that you've only been asleep for a couple of hours but your chakra signals are weaker than usual. Normally by this time you would have returned to full or almost full strength, but it's three in the morning and you not anywhere close."

Neji smiled slightly at the worried expression on her face and patted her hand, which resting on the bed next to his and said, "Natsumi, I'll be fine. You worry too much."

"Yeah, sure, and you will try telling Lord Hiashi that in the morning and hear the colorful response he will give you."

Neji grinned and Natsumi shook her head and rose from the bed. She poured another glass of water and set it on the small table and turned off the lights. Before she exited, she paused at the door and told Neji, "If you need anything, just call for me." Neji nodded and slid back down onto his bed as she close the door. It didn't take long for the Hyuga prodigy to slip back into a deep sleep.

Sunlight was barely filtering through the windows of the Hokage's office, when there was an abrupt knock on the door and Shizune entered frantically. Tsunade had, yet again, fallen asleep on the job and had jumped awake when she had heard Shizune, pacing in front of her desk while muttering strings of words and curses, which was not registering in the Hokage's half-asleep mind.

"What's wrong Shizune?" Tsunade asked yawning.

Shizune stopped abruptly in front of her, with an outraged expression on her face. "Lady Tsunade, weren't you listening to what I have been saying?" She didn't even wait for her mistress to make a comment before she burst out, "We have a problem! Two of the elders from the Sarutobi clan are here and they want to know why we're allowing Yuri to become head of the clan!"

That got Tsunade's attention. "What! Who the hell alerted them?" she yelled hysterically.

"We did Tsunade." The door opened wider revealing the two elders and councilors of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. "They have a right to know what you have unleashed onto this village," said Koharu Utatane, while Homura Mitokado nodded in agreement.

Tsunade stood up from her chair and scowled at them saying, "Unleashed? You both make it sound as if I've allowed a great terror on the village."

"Well in that girl's case she isn't to far off," Koharu retorted.

"Look you old bat," started Tsunade angrily, "as an S-class shinobi, that girl would be able to join the ranks of our top jonin to help us protect her home from the snares of the growing threat. Or have you already forgotten that the Akatsuki are after Naruto? And once they learn that we are protecting him, they will get him at all costs!"

Homura knocked his walking stick impatiently on the floor. "Yes but that still does not give you the right to allow a banished Kunoichi back into the village without probing her mind of information…"

"Information on what?" Tsunade asked irritably, cutting the councilor of. "Yuri has been living in the Cloud village long enough to know the secrets of that place and its native jutsu and by extracting this information it can cause us to on the wrong side of the Raikage, himself!"

"So let me get this straight Tsunade," argued Koharu, "You don't want to know more about that Lightning style jutsu Yuri used against Mr. Hyuga?"

Tsunade was dumfounded. She opened her mouth only to close it again, obviously confused on how word of the little mishap the night before had already reached their ears.

"It was an accident and Neji Hyuga was not harmed," stated Tsunade calmly, but with a slight edge to her voice.

"Not harmed?" asked Koharu scandalously. "Lord Hyuga and his council have already informed us that Neji's chakra signals have been knocked out and he is in a great deal of pain. And they are demanding to knock what the hell they used on the boy!" Old Koharu frowned at Tsunade when she didn't answer immediately and she egged her on.

"Well Tsunade what was it? What was the name of the jutsu?"

"Electromagnetic Murder," replied Tsunade quietly.

Both Koharu and Homura gasped. "That's the last straw Tsunade," snapped Homura. "You will organize for her to have a session with an ANBU mind probing specialist of your choice and her inauguration ceremony, which was scheduled for tonight, will be postponed until further notice.

Both elders made their way to leave the Hokage's office, as Tsunade had refused to make a comment. Homura turned to face Tsunade before exiting saying, "Be warned! Yuri Sarutobi will not become head of the clan if she does not pass this examination."

The door closed with a bang and Tsunade sunk into her chair with her face in her hands.

"Shizune! Get in contact with Yuri and Asuma now!" she shouted to her assistant. "And bring me another bottle of sake!" she added just before the door closed.

Yuri woke up at the sound of someone trying to break her door down. She was lying on her couch since she was so tired she couldn't even walk up the stairs. She slowly got up and while rubbing the heel of her right palm in her eye to walked slowly and clumsily to the front door.

Note to self, she mumbled to herself, do not use jutsus that can drain your chakra in one go. She opened the door and cringed at the bright sunlight that was obscuring her vision. She didn't make out the visitor immediately it was only when he spoke then she realized who it was.

"Um, I … um," stuttered Asuma.

Yuri held her door open a little wider and she said while squinting her eyes as she looked up at the man, "Asuma what the hell are you doing at my house so goddamn early?" She rolled her eyes and gestured for her uncle, who acted more like her older brother, to follow her into the living room.

Asuma didn't follow her, but instead he cleared his throat uncomfortably. Yuri yawned and when she recognized that Asuma was not following her, she spun around and frowned at him. "What's the matter?" she asked as he was scratching his head in embarrassment.

"Well, you, um… you're not um," he stammered gesturing to her torso, causing her to look down at her body only to see her bare, toned stomach and black lace panties, which was (thank god!) covering everything that should not be revealed. Her upper body was still wrapped in her bindings from the day before, but during her sleep was slackened and it unraveled a bit showing a little too much cleavage. Her eyes widened with shock as she raised her head only to see Asuma's back turned to face her.

Yuri shrieked and ran to her room in top speed where she pulled off the bindings and tied her sleeping yukata tightly around her. She walked into her bathroom, where she splashed cold water onto her face. No wonder Asuma was so freaked out!

She took a deep breath and returned to the living room, still wiping her face. Asuma looked up at her with a grin on his face, "You must have been really out of it. Or do you always answer the door in your underwear?"

She sank in the arm chair opposite him, patting her neck daintily. "What's the matter Asuma? With that blush on your face, it's easy to assume that you haven't reached to second base with Kurenai, huh?" she said causing his blush to intensify.

But his blush died away, when he smirked and countered, "And you haven't with your jonin commander?"

The expression on Yuri's face turned to slight grief; an expression Asuma had never seen before. "Yuri what's wrong?" he asked and looked at him once again and walked towards her little kitchen.

He heard the clang of dishes and she called out, "Want some coffee Asuma?"

"Yeah thanks," he replied an entered the kitchen, only to see her staring out of the kitchen window shivering slightly with her back towards him.

"Yuri?" he said tentatively and she turned around only causing Asuma to be even more shocked than the fact he'd just seen her half naked; she was crying. But not obviously; one tear escaped the corner of her right eye and trickled down the side of her cheek.

They stood in silence for a moment and Yuri started to speak. "Why did you come here Asuma?"

"I came by to drop this off," he said slapping a coin bag full with 2000 ryo onto her counter top. "The Hokage send this, seeing that you need a formal kimono for your inauguration tonight." She nodded and poured them both a cup of hot black coffee each.

They sat in silence for a minute and then Asuma asked, "Why is it that Commander Hiroshima is such a touchy subject to you?"

She looked at Asuma and replied, "Two years ago when I was caught and my subordinates were either captured just like me or dead, Commander Daichi Hiroshima was in charge of sifting through my memories, looking for any shard of evidence to connect me to the mass murders of merchants traveling to and from Lightning Country. While he was doing that, he found out that I was the granddaughter to the Sandaime of Konohagakure no Sato. He was also the one responsible for helping me gain asylum in Kumo." She sighed and continued, while absentmindedly stirring her coffee, "If it wasn't for him, I probably would still be in that dictator's mind control. I was able to live a normal life, even though all of my childhood and adolescent experiences were taken away."

She got up from her seat and walked back to the open kitchen window, cradling her drink in both hand. "Asuma, do you know what it's like to love someone, only to have them taken away from you?"

Her question shocked him. He didn't know how to reply, but Yuri continued without waiting for an answer. She said with her back towards him, "You ask me what the jonin commander was to me Asuma and just because you are the closest thing to a father I still have, I owe you the right to tell you what really happened in Lightning country."

She spun around to face the shocked silent jonin. She placed her cup back onto the counter in front of her and reached around her neck to remove a thin gold chain that was always concealed from sight. It was removed slowly from her neck and, hanging from it, was a gold ring.

She dropped the ring onto Asuma's open palm. Asuma held the ring up to eyelevel when he noticed the inscription engraved into the precious metal.

He read it aloud, "Two souls, one heart. Love always, D.H."

Yuri's slender fingers took it from Asuma's hand and placed it on her left hand.

"Before his death, Daichi Hiroshima was my husband."


T.B.C