Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto, I forgot to send in the paperwork.
I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter and voted on names. I will decide on a name soon. If I didn't say it before, there will be a massive time skip coming up.
--
Don't Give Up on Me
Konan sat in complete silence while Pein read the letter.
It was just a piece of paper, read so many times and by so many people that it was wrinkled, the ink was running and fading, and it looked like it might crumble away at any moment.
It was a simple letter, nothing too fancy, delivered in the traditional way. The surprising thing though was that no other ninja villages had dared to contact Amegakure since hers and Pein's takeover. She was amazed that they even had any birds left who remembered where the village was.
Even more extraordinary though, was what was written on the paper. It was the reason she'd seen fit to summon Pein back to the village.
The letter was from Konoha, and it was stunning for a simple piece of paper.
Konan knew many things, she knew how to kill someone with paper cuts, she knew who Pein really was, she knew the Leaf Village was proud. Yes, she knew many things, one of them being, the hokage of the Leaf Village never had, up until this point, ever begged for anything from anyone.
However, as soon as this letter had arrived, much of what Konan had previously thought about the Leaf Village was shattered.
The paper, the letter, was a plea. A desperate, practically heart wrenching plea for help, from the proudest and most arrogant village Konan had ever known. It was written by the Leaf's current hokage, who Konan knew a great deal about.
Over the years when she'd been under his teachings, Jiraya had told her about Tsunade, the legendary sucker. Apparently Tsunade was a compulsive gambler, alcoholic, and a master at chakra control. She was also, as Jiraya said, 'So damn proud and such a know it all that no man on the planet wanted her'. Konan knew it would take every single piece of humility she had to write such a desperate plea for help.
"So this arrived two days ago?"
Pein's voice broke through her silent musings, forcing her to focus her jumbled thoughts.
"Yes Pein." she replied in her carefully practiced emotionless tones, stepping to stand next to him.
She leaned in close and rested her chin on his shoulder, reading the note again where it was clutched in his hands.
"To Pein and Konan of Amegakure,
I am sending this letter as a formal request for assistance and an appeal for your help. The Village of Konohagakure and I are formally requesting that you, and your village help us retrieve a fugitive. The fugitive in question is Hyuuga Hinata, the heir to the Hyuuga clan name. She is also an important shinobi and a member of community. However, I must at this time, as I feel it is pertinent, to mention her present medical condition. Hyuuga Hinata is currently pregnant with a child of an incestuous relationship. As you may well be aware, such relationships are forbidden in Konohagakure. We however do not seek to have her returned with the intention of imprisonment nor any other form of cruel punishment or mistreatment. We beseech you for help in the hopes that we will be able to hopefully recapture her in enough time so that the fetus can be terminated, and Hinata can return to a regular life. If you are currently thinking that the train of thought we are pursuing is cruel and illegal, I urge you to think about the well being of Hinata. Teenage pregnancy is dangerous enough, without the added stress of trying to fend off and avoid ninja. Added to that, is the fact that teenagers are not ready for the responsibility and the stress of being a parent. She is alone, no doubt afraid, and in danger of going into early labor, and dying of massive hemorrhaging. We ask because she is currently heading in your direction, no doubt hoping for asylum, or at the very least, indirect protection from the Anbu ninja we have sent to retrieve her. On a final note, I hope that your answer will be swift and I hope, for Hyuuga Hinata's sake, that it is an affirmative one.
Thank you for your time,
Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure
Tsunade"
"So what do you think Pein?" asked Konan quietly, looping her arms around his waist in a rare gesture affection, while at the same time, keeping her voice completely neutral.
After a pause, he sighed, and slumped a little, leaning into her embrace, before he said, "I do not fully understand what she expects us to do about it. This village stopped being a member of the five great villages as soon as we captured it. She cannot possibly expect us to be able to do anything."
Konan sighed as well, before asking, "Do you plan to answer?" in an emotionless voice, praying he was currently in a good mood, and that he would not rebuke her.
He stiffened slightly in her embrace, and Konan felt her heart freeze in fear for an instant, before he relaxed again, reaching down and lightly grasping her hand, "Yes, I think I will reply to her. The Leaf does not beg unless they are desperate. It is the least we can do to help them." he said, amusement and satisfaction creeping into his voice as he continued to muse on the Leaf's current predicament.
Konan allowed herself a rare smile, holding Pein closer, "Thank you Pein." she said, allowing the merest hints of gratitude and happiness find their way into her voice.
Pein smiled, resting his head against her own, in a very forward, and rare gesture of affection, "Of course Konan." he replied softly.
Neither spoke another word, for they both knew what the other was speaking of, without needing words.
--
Hinata awoke the next morning feeling somehow much happier, as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
It took her a few moments to remember why she felt this way, then the previous nights conversations and revelations flooded back into her brain. She sat up suddenly, looking around, and sure enough, there was Otando.
He was sleeping on his back, limbs sprawled in all directions, still clad in complete ninja gear. His head lolled back, his mouth half open as he snored away. His eyes were closed, and his face was the picture of tranquility.
He didn't even mind sleeping on the hard ground without any blankets. He did however have a kunai gripped loosely in his left hand, ready for some nonexistent attack.
She watched the rise and fall of his chest, and was reminded painfully of that night she had spent with Neji all those weeks ago.
She sighed dejectedly, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around herself, resting her chin on her knees.
"What's up?" the still apparently sleeping Otando asked, his eyes closed, his chest still rising and falling rhythmically.
She jumped slightly, jerking her head up to look at him, "O...oh...n..nothing!" she stuttered quickly, hoping not to seem weak to him because of her sadness.
His face twisted into a smirk as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, finally opening his brilliantly colored eyes, "Soooo...why so blue?" asked Otando, grinning like a fool.
"Oh it's nothing." said Hinata evasively, turning away from him slightly.
"Hn." he snorted, leaning in closer, and poking her forehead "You're lying to me. I bet it's about that cousin of yours."
Hinata looked at him, eyebrows raised, "Well, you certainly are forward." she said dryly, reaching up and pushing on the symbol his headband until he toppled over onto his back, before she stood and walked into the trees.
"Hey!! Where are you going!?" yelled Otando in dismay, pushing himself up with his elbows, "You shouldn't be walking in your condition!!"
"Oh please, I'm pregnant, not dead!!" she yelled back, waving him concerns away.
"But you could get hurt!! How can you walk!?" he yelled frantically, jumping to his feet and hurrying after her, concern painting his features.
She stopped suddenly, turning to face him, drawing herself up to her full 148cm height, looking up at him, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Now I am going to speak slowly and clearly for you," she growled threateningly, her eyes glinting dangerously "Now, while I appreciate your concern, I'm warning you, I am a ten weeks pregnant woman. I have cramps so bad right now that I want to die. I think I am going to puke, and I have to pee so bad I think I'm going to pee myself. Now, if you even think about following me when I go to do this, I will make sure that you are never able to reproduce. Ever. Am I making myself clear?"
Otando gulped, taking a step back and nodding mutely, his eyes wide and terrified.
"Good."
--
One Hour Later...
Hinata was feeling a little better as she and Otando traveled steadily north.
"So, you don't mind, about me and Neji? I mean some people...they...uh...," asked Hinata, flushing slightly from embarrassment, avoiding his gaze.
"Well why would I?" asked Otando nonchalantly, putting both of his arms behind his head and casting his gaze skyward.
"Oh...well...most people think...that you know...since we're related...," she began, embarrassed and blushing furiously, her head hung low.
He cast his eyes sideways to look at her, "You should stop doing that." he said bluntly, watching her blush deepen, "And I told you I wouldn't judge you, remember? I don't really give a damn about what intelligent, hard working people do on their own time. If you loved him, then no one, and I mean no one should be able to tell you it's wrong just because they're a bunch of narrow minded pricks."
Hinata lifted her head, "Do you really think so?" she asked, beaming at him.
"Yup, and another thing, I don't get why anyone would make something as trivial as incest illegal, I mean, what with all the murders and robberies out there, you'd think they could find a more productive way to waste jail space," he said fiercely, glaring straight ahead at thin air.
"Well, they have a good reason," said Hinata, looking at him.
"Yeah, what is it?" he snorted contemptuously. Clearly this was no longer about just her and her current problem.
"Well, as I understand it, incest was only made illegal after the annihilation of the Hagira clan," she said slowly, trying to recall her fourth year academy history classes.
"Oh, and what did they do?" asked Otando, his dark demeanor vanishing instantly, looking interested and excited at the prospect of another good story.
"Well...from what I remember, there were two siblings, Reidan and Hikari Hagira. Apparently, they fell in love, and consummated an incestuous relationship," said Hinata slowly, struggling to remember the story, "And that was fine with everyone back then. Then Hikari got pregnant, and that was still fine with everyone. She gave birth to their son later on, and they named him Reitaro."
"Cool, but I don't see what this has to do with outlawing incest," said Otando, scratching his ear in confusion, his gorgeous eyes clouding.
"I'm getting there, don't interrupt," Hinata softly chastised him, "Now, of course, Reitaro grew to be strong, and was enrolled in the ninja academy. Now even though no one had any real objections, incest was still considered unusual back then. The parents of the other children feared that something wasn't right in Reitaro's mind, so they forbade their children to talk to him. Reitaro didn't understand why no one would talk to him, and soon, he grew depressed. After a few years, he was tired of being depressed, and started to get angry. As he got angrier, his actions became erratic, causing the members of the Hagira clan to shun him and his family. His parents, rather than be shunned, abandoned their son instead, and they rejoined the clan, leaving Reitaro to fend for himself."
"Whoa, harsh," said Otando in disbelief, "Is that what they expect all children of incest to end up like? Abandoned? You wouldn't do that."
"That isn't why they instigated the law," she said patiently exasperated with his interruptions, "What happened was that the parents of the other children were right. No one knew it, but the Hagira clan had a terrible genetic disorder in their clan. It had never presented before because it required a certain 'doubling' of genes for it to present itself. The only way this 'doubling' would occur was if a child was born to two closely related members of the clan. Reitaro was born with this condition. It caused a brain malfunction, and his brain began to slowly dissolve away, leaving him with gaping holes in his memory, feeling, and impulse control centers of his brain. This disorder also caused his chakra network to malfunction and produce massive amounts of the 'super' chakra the Hagira clan was famous for. It is believed that this 'super' chakra production is what melted his brain."
"Gross, and how could they tell he had this disorder?" asked Otando in interest, keeping in step with her perfectly.
"They couldn't, and please stop interrupting," Hinata said sharply, before continuing, "They didn't know he had this disorder till after. He kept getting weirder and scarier the older he got, but everyone just said it was because he wanted attention now that the Hagira had abandoned him. Then, one day, he came to school, and he was half dressed because he'd forgotten how to dress himself. The other children began to make fun of him and he snapped. His impulse control was already shot, they said. Plus, he told them later, that all he remembered was his parents abandoning him, his clans shunning him, and how mean the other children were. Then he said, he didn't remember anything else except for hurt and betrayal. So he completely snapped, and before anyone realized it, he had a katana, and he was swinging it, and children were dying."
Otando sucked in a breath, his eyes wide and amazed, "He killed them?" he breathed softly, looking at her in horror.
"Yes, he killed all the children who were in the schoolyard, then he killed the academy teachers who tried to stop him," said Hinata quietly, "Then, he completely lost it they say. He went rampaging through the village, until he reached the Hagira clan base. Reitaro killed every single Hagira. Then they finally captured him. They were able to calm him down and talk to him before he died. He told them why he did it. It didn't make any sense, he was only babbling about, 'I couldn't get dressed...their fault'. Then he died. They were able to discover after he died about his condition, and how it had come about."
"So, I still don't quite understand," he said slowly, mulling over the whole story.
"Well, after he died, the council met," Hinata explained patiently, "They discussed the massacre, and they reached the conclusion that it would not be an isolated incident. There had never been any sign of the disorder before Reitaro, so if the Hagira had one, who's to say the Hyuuga didn't? Or the Inuzuka? Or the Uchiha? The thing was, they couldn't be sure, and even the slimmest chance of something like that couldn't happen ever again. Konoha had lost one of it's strongest clans in a day, so they couldn't afford anything like that ever happening, so they outlawed incest."
"Hmmm...I still don't think it's right to limit the way people feel about one another, but yeah, I have to agree, that's a better reason than I thought they'd have," he mused, scratching his head absently.
"So you see, if I am recaptured by Konoha, then I will be forced to terminate my son," said Hinata miserably, "I didn't want to leave, but I can't let him die."
"I know what you mean," said Otando in a tired sounding voice, reaching out to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "It's tough."
She sighed, "And I'm afraid it's just going to get harder. I need to reach Amegakure before the Leaf ninja find me, and I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep up this pace, and still not put my son at risk," she mumbled in misery.
"Well, I could come with you, and help you until we've reached Amegakure," Otando replied in a very practiced offhand voice, avoiding her gaze as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment.
"Really!? You'd do that!?" she cried excitedly, turning to look at him fully, tears of gratitude finding their way into her eyes.
"Sure, why not?" Otando replied, looking into her lavender eyes.
"Oh thank you!!" she yelled happily, throwing her arms around him, and beginning to sob hysterically in gratitude as she clutched onto his shirt.
His eyes darted back and forth in confused alarm and embarrassment, as if expecting a Rain ninja with a camera to jump out of the bushes, point and laugh at him.
"C'mon, there's no need to cry...c'mon now...this is embarrassing!" he mumbled, a blush spreading across his whole face, turning him a beautiful shade of crimson as he awkwardly wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back, attempting to soothe her.
"I...I'm...s...s...sorry...!!" choked Hinata hysterically, clinging tighter to him, "I...I...th..think...it's...th...the...h..hor...hormones!!"
Then she began to wail all the more hysterically as she clung tighter to him.
"Hormones...?" he said faintly, gulping, all the color draining from his face, his left eye twitching, "You never said there'd be hormones!"
--
"Lady Tsunade, we've received word," Shizune gasped breathlessly as she stuck her head into the meeting room, "Oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting?"
Tsunade's eyes flashed, standing up instantly, "No, not at all, we we're just finishing," said Tsunade hastily, eager to escape the room full of accusing lavender and white eyes.
She hurried around the table, sliding out the door behind Shizune, and walking quickly down the hallway.
"Do you have the letter?" Tsunade demanded, increasing her pace even more.
"No, the bird wouldn't let me get near it," Shizune panted, almost having to run to keep pace with Tsunade, "Who were those people in the meeting room?"
"Oh, that was just the Hyuuga council of elders," Tsunade said in disgust, "And they were just reminding me how pertinent it is that we recover Hinata, or more specifically, her Byakugan, before too many people learn about her absence."
"It sounds like they don't even care about her at all," said Shizune in surprise.
"Most of them really don't, I think Hiashi and Hamara are the only ones who do." said Tsunade darkly, glaring ahead at nothing, "The rest are just concerned about someone learning the secret of their precious Byakugan. None of them care about Neji though, he's been thrown out of the house, and disowned from the family."
"Lady Tsunade, who is Hamara? I thought Hinata's mother died years ago," Shizune asked, increasing her pace even more to stay in step with Tsunade.
"She did. Hamara is one of the more odd elders. She's the oldest member, and she lives by herself outside the village. She is actually worried about Hinata. Apparently she's her great aunt or something like that," Tsunade replied dismissively as she finally reached her office door.
She pushed it open, and was greeted by the sight of the massive Black Kite perched on her open windowsill, a the cylindrical message tube attached firmly to his back.
"Hi there birdie," said Tsunade, unable to mask her excitement as she hurried to the birds side, reaching for the tube.
He squawked and shrieked at her, turning his back to her to present the message tube to her.
"Thank you very much," Tsunade said excitedly, petting his head gently as she unsnapped the clasp that secured the tube to his back.
He grunted, puffing his feathers out, looking for all the world like a grumpy old man, mumbling and muttering soft squawk sounds. Finally though, he turned to face her as she finally removed the tube, and he gave her a critical look with his only good eye, and seeming to find her satisfactory, shrieked softly, and nodded his head solemnly.
She smiled, "Thanks again birdie, I know my Grandfather the shodaime hokage would be very proud," she said gently, stroking his proud head.
He grumbled to himself again in bird speak, looking slightly embarrassed and looking like he was trying to brush it off, before nodding again, turning, and jumping out the open window, spreading his wings wide. A second later, and Tsunade watched him soar away towards the post office.
She smiled to herself, reminded somehow of her grandfather, who had owned the great black Kite when he was alive. After a moment though, she turned away, and pulled the top off the scroll tube, and dumping the message into her hand.
She slowly unfurled the message, and read the neatly written words.
"To Honorable Hokage Lady Tsunade of Konohagakure,
We send you are deepest regrets concerning the plights of Hyuuga Hinata. At this time, we have received no word from any of our ninja about a person in our territory. We are writing to say that we will not openly negotiate with Konohagakure at any time. We will however keep an eye out for Hyuuga Hinata, and we will search for her. If we find her, we will, after considerations, most definitely return her to your custody. We hope that you can understand why we cannot openly negotiate, for we believe that it will not only tarnish your reputation, and credibility with the other villages, but ours as well. We will however send you any information we find that pertains to your shinobi, and if we capture her, she will be returned. Thank you for your generous message, however, we ask that you do not contact us again. Instead, if we need you, we will initiate contact with you first. Thank you again, and we do hope you find your shinobi before she enters Rain country.
Most respectively signed,
Pein and Konan of Amegakure"
Tsunade re-read the message three more times, her frustrating growing each time. She ground her teeth in frustration as she finally finished the letter, and dropped it onto her desk.
"What does it say?" asked Shizune timidly, taking a baby step forward.
"It says don't call us, we'll call you," snarled Tsunade furiously, slamming her fist onto the desk, cracking the polished surface, "I can't believe this!"
Shizune crept forward slowly, indicating she wanted to read the message.
"Go ahead," spat Tsunade venomously, waving her hand and glaring at the paper like it had personally angered her.
Shizune scooped it up and quickly read the message three times, before dropping it back on the desk, "It's not as bad as it sounds," she said hopefully, trying to convince Tsunade.
"Oh really, tell me, what's so not bad about it?" growled Tsunade furiously, turning away from her, facing out the open window.
"Well...," Shizune began slowly, taking a step closer to her, "They did say if they caught her, they'd send her back. Don't you remember how skilled those Rain ninja are at tracking? They'll probably find her easily, then they'll hand her over."
"Do you honestly think they'll waste their time on that?" snapped Tsunade, her back still facing Shizune, her arms folded across her chest.
"Actually, I do think that they will make an honest effort to find her," she said bravely, her voice faltering slightly as she heard Tsunade snort in disbelief, "I mean, can you imagine what would happen if the rest of the shinobi villages found out that fugitives could simply flee to the land of Rain and be safe. It would be chaos."
Tsunade considered her words, before slumping slightly, and turning to face Shizune, somehow looking older, "Yes, I suppose you're right." she said in an exhausted voice.
"Yes, and it won't matter soon anyways, if she goes within the borders of the land of Rain, we won't be able to go get her anyways, and we'll have to let them search for her," said Shizune calmly, resting a hand on Tsunade's arm to comfort her.
"Yes, I suppose you're right about that too," sighed Tsunade dejectedly, "I just wish there was something we could do!"
