Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. Naruto. If I did, there would be no Sasuke and Neji and Hinata would be married already.
Chapter Nine, Followed.
--
"Your mother, Aisei-sama is dead." Kana said in a dead voice.
"No!" Suzume screamed. "She was just fine last night! She was laughing and smiling all through the Festival! She can't be dead!"
"Suzume," Minoru said softly, gently reaching for her.
"No!" Suzume shrieked. "Don't touch me!" She sobbed then suddenly she was running down the path in a most un-ladylike manner, determined to prove Kana wrong when she saw her mother sitting in bed like always, a smile on her face.
Her breath was coming out in great sobs by the time she arrived home, tears blurring her vision as she stumbled over the doorjamb and down the hallway she knew so well. Her father was standing in front of the door, his expression guarded as he watched her stumble down the corridor to the room her parents had shared for so long.
"Where is she?!" Suzume sobbed. "Where is my mother?!"
Her father's eyes softened and the mask that he wore in front of everyone slipped away, allowing his grief to show through.
"She is in her bed," he whispered, his voice breaking. "Suzume, it will appear like she is only sleeping." His voice was barely above a whisper as he said this. A look of profound loneliness passed over his face then he opened his arms for her.
She went to him without thought, needing to feel the comfort of her father's embrace, her earliest memories of being in his arms.
"She's really dead, isn't she?" Suzume said into her father's robe which was already wet with her tears.
"Yes," came his one word reply, his arms tightening around her.
"When?" She asked, her world crumbling with that one word. "Why?"
"Suzume," Reiichiro whispered, not wanting to fight with her.
"Why is my mother dead?" Suzume cried, pushing away from him. "Why?"
"She was never very healthy to begin with," the Mie lord sighed, "but recently she seemingly gave up her will to live."
"Liar! My mother would have never done that to me!" Suzume sobbed. "She never would have left me if it was up to her! Why didn't you take her to the hospital in Konoha? They say that Tsunade, the reigning Hokage can cure any illness. She could have healed my mother."
"Suzume, your mother didn't want me to take her to Konoha. She refused me when I told her that I would."
"You should have forced her to go!" Suzume screamed, shoving her father aside and opening the door behind him. She entered the room at full speed, not slowing down until she flung herself on the bed next to her mother. "Why?" She sobbed over and over, burying her face in her mother's long hair. She lay like that for a long time, her mind numb to all things happening around her. Her father had stood over them for a long time but then he had left, not speaking but there as a silent pillar of support. Eventually a maid came in and asked if she wanted lunch and Suzume had stared blankly at her until Minoru appeared in the doorway and told the maid that if they needed her they would call for her.
"Suzume?" He asked, placing his hand on her shoulder. "How are you doing?"
"My mother is dead," she said dryly but her voice was trembling. "How do you expect me to be doing? All dandy and fine? You really are an idiot, Minoru."
"I'm here for you, Suzume. Always and forever." He smiled sadly. "Unless you don't want me anymore."
"Minoru!" She cried, throwing her arms around his neck. "You idiot!"
"Thanks, Suzume," he said softly into her hair.
--
Hinata stood numb with shock as she listened to Suzume screaming at her mother's nurse, feeling strangely cold inside. "Neji," she said softly, her stomach tying up in knots. His arms came around her, his chin resting in the hollow of her neck. "Aisei-sama is…"
His only response to her words was a tightening of his arms as Minoru said something to Suzume and she shrieked at him to not touch her. Footsteps pounded on the loose gravel of the road and after several seconds, another set was heard running after the first.
"Neji," she moaned again, her mother's smiling face in a picture was suddenly there in her brain, calling all the memories of how she died to the surface. "If I die, promise me that you will take care of the baby."
"Hinata," he said thickly. "You're not going to die."
"If I do, promise that you will take care of our child. Promise me," she whimpered, gripping his arm so tightly that the circulation started to cut off.
"I promise that I will be there, raising our child with you." He murmured, letting her unbound hair slip through his fingers. "What happened to your mother won't happen to you, Hinata."
"But my body is already showing signs of being much like hers. Problems getting pregnant, violent morning sickness, missing consecutive periods without a baby appearing… at least I haven't suffered miscarriage after miscarriage like she did."
"You aren't Hyuga Hiromi, no matter how much you look like her, Hinata. You are you and nothing will ever change that," he whispered softly in her ear. "You are my Hinata and I will never let anything ever happen to you."
"Neji, if something does, promise me that you will move on and give our child the mother he deserves. Find love and happiness again, please." She said with a catch in her breath. "Give the child the mother I always needed and didn't have."
"We should not think of such things, Hinata. I don't want anything to go wrong by our jinxing it because of this talk." He sighed heavily. "Hinata, I need you to explain the seal removal ceremony to me in as great of detail as possible."
"But Aisei-sama…"
"We will morn her passing, but if we do not do something about the men and women at the Settlement soon, I fear that there will not be a Branch house of the Hyuga left."
"I understand," she said. Taking a deep breath, she turned toward their shack. "Let us begin."
--
"So it's mi inu i u ne tora uma u inu tora ne u i tora uma?" Neji asked as he studied the scroll.
"Yes," Hinata whispered, gathering rags together.
"Then what happens?" Neji looked up at her with a frown.
"You then force all the chakra gathered in your hand and force it on the curse mark. It will be… painful." She tried to give him a reassuring smile but failed. "I'm sorry that I am making you the guinea pig."
"If this will rid me of the curse mark, then I am willing to bear with the pain. Think of it, the Hyuga without their curse mark… It is almost un-comprehendible." He stood and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "Our child will not have to fear this mark nor will any other child born into the Hyuga clan. We will be free."
"Yes, we will be free," she said softly, a slow smile coming to her face. "I'm sorry, Neji, but," she swallowed hard then forced a syringe into his arm. "But I need you in a deep sleep where you cannot feel pain."
"Brat," he sighed in her ear as he slumped against her.
"Oh dear," she sighed as she gently laid him on the ground. "Have a good sleep, Neji."
She retrieved the pan of warm water she had been heating and set it down on the floor next to her rags, intent on making sure that his body would be washed before he awoke. "I'm sorry, Neji. That was cruel of me to knock you out but I think that it is better this way."
She took a deep breath and then brought her hands together to perform hand signs that had been drilled into her memory since she was little. He made a groaning noise as she forced her chakra into the mark. She let out a gasp as her fingers started burning from where she had touched the curse mark and she jerked back away from his body, small whimpers coming out of her lips as she held her hands away from her body.
"Neji?" She moaned, slowly making her way back to her lover's side. Her hand groped for a rag so she could place it on his forehead.
"Hina-chan?" Yoriko's voice said from the doorway. "What is wrong with Neji-kun?"
"Yoriko-san, does he have a mark on his forehead?" Hinata asked as she gently wiped off his face.
"No, why? Should he?" Yoriko went over and knelt on Neji's other side. "What is going on, Hina-chan?" She asked as she saw that Hinata winced every time her fingers came into contact with anything.
"No, there shouldn't be a mark," the indigo haired girl smiled. "There isn't one anymore. The Hyuga are finally turning for the better."
--
Hinata stood next to Suzume the next day, holding her hand as Aisei was laid to rest. Neji stood on her other side still slightly woozy from what she had done to him but her research had proven true and he stood without his hitai-ate, for the first time since he was four-years-old he was proudly showing his forehead without fear of someone talking about the curse mark he had once borne.
She reached out and found his hand, giving it a squeeze as the priest's words came to an end. Suzume gave a whimper and then she moved away, Minoru glued to her side.
"Neji?" Hinata whispered as Suzume drifted away. "What does Suzume look like?"
"Hum," Neji said with a frown on his face. "She has silvery-blue eyes, almost steely blue and long silvery blonde hair… it almost looks like she had silver and gold melted together and then placed on her head, but her hair looks soft so that really couldn't have happened. Her eyes are kinda close together and she has freckles that are pale golden in color all over her nose and cheeks, her skin is very pale almost translucent- and she is short. She barely comes up to my arm pit. Did I do a good job describing her?"
"Yes, I have a wonderful picture of a beautiful young woman, a yuki-onna." Hinata smiled brightly up at him.
"I would think that you are a yuki-onna, too. Your skin is pale, you have long, dark hair and you seem to move with the wind, gracefully."
"The Hyuga are the children of the sea, according to Suzume." Hinata giggled.
"Suzume likes to say weird things." Neji sighed, looking away. "Hinata, I am going back to the Settlement."
"Oh," she sighed. "Okay. Be safe."
"No resistance?" Neji frowned, touching her cheek.
"Just come back safely," she smiled as she pulled away.
"I can do that and maybe I'll bring a friend or two back with me."
She gave the secretive smile that he had first encountered the morning after he had first made love to her, the smile that told him she wanted something from him and was going to hold it about his head until he gave it to her. Then her smile faded away and was replaced with a frown. "Take the herbs I gathered. They will dull the pain."
"Always thinking, aren't you?" Neji gave her a peck on the cheek and then turned to walk away. "Hm, the clouds are pretty today. Maybe now I understand Shikamaru's obsession with them."
"Be safe, Neji," Hinata giggled as she started drifting over to where Yoriko and Jiro stood.
"I will." He grinned.
--
"Was my mother really a tennyo?" Suzume whispered as she gazed down at the fresh grave.
"I do not know, little Rin." Reiichiro replied, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze.
Suzume winced at the nickname; it's old and familiar presence enough to make her want to cry. Her gaze slowly took in the graves around her, the names on the headstones only that, names; they couldn't tell her about the people buried beneath. "Kaoru, Noriaki, Yui, Masashi, Jiri, Aki, Aya, and now Aisei," she said, gazing at her father through her tears. "All of them. All of our family, buried right here. Soon I fear that I'll be the only one left and then what? What will become of me?" She sobbed.
"Suzume," Reiichiro gave her a hapless look.
"I'll always be here," Minoru said from behind her.
She spun around and glared at him. "No you won't!" She cried. "You'll leave me too! How are we supposed to know whether or not I'll ever die? The yuki-onna that gave me life might have given me more than that!"
"Suzume," Reiichiro sighed, trying to smile but failing. "The yuki-onna of your mother's story had a name. Do you wish to hear it?"
His daughter gave him a suspicious look before nodding.
"Her name was Senju Tsunade, the most brilliant medic-nin that any of the five great nations has ever produced. She wasn't a yuki-onna, just a normal woman. Just like you," he whispered as he drew her into his embrace.
"Then what about my mother? Is she a tennyo?" Suzume demanded, forcing away from her father.
"I do not know, Suzume, but she never had a hagoromo. A tennyo can never return to the skies without one."
"I know," Suzume whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. "I just want her back."
"So do I, Suzume, so do I."
"But she won't ever come back." Suzume closed her eyes. "Ever." She opened them slowly and saw Hinata standing at the edge of graveyard, her face raise to the sun. No conscious thought went through Suzume's mind as she suddenly ran over to the other woman and hugged her. "How? How do you deal with your mother's death? Please tell me!"
"You don't." Hinata replied. "It is something that you can never get over. Even now I wish for my mother even though I was a little girl when she died and I didn't know her that well. Her smiling face sometimes greets me in the morning, but I find myself unable to tell anyone what she looked like if I was asked. The picture in my mind is from her memorial picture, not of her living face. I am told that I look like her, but I just can't remember her face."
"Will I forget my mother?" Suzume sobbed silently, her shoulder's hunched forward in defeat.
"You are a lot older than I when your mother died. She will be clearly etched into your memory." Hinata pulled Suzume closer, their tears mixing. "Never let yourself forget. Always fight to remember."
"I will," Suzume murmured. "Thank you, Hinata-chan."
"You are welcome, Suzume-dono." Hinata smiled.
--
Hyuga Hiashi sat in the middle of the room that had been his office since he had taken control of the Hyuga, the cup of tea that was always delivered at ten o'clock in the morning sitting untouched at his side, fate telling him that it was his day to die. Memories of his beloved wife came to the surface, holding their first child, the daughter that he had always loved but was disappointed in because of her place and inability to rise above her fate. Hiromi had told him that Hinata would be a late bloomer but he had always disregarded her comments, expecting his daughter to show the same genius that his twin's son had.
No, he corrected himself, Hizashi wasn't his twin and he had been aware of it since they were small children. His mother's hate of Hizashi only the beginning of the signs that they weren't twin brothers like their father claimed. The climax of the supposed twin's relationship hadn't come, as some suspected, when Hizashi was branded, but when Hizashi had met and fallen in love with a certain main house member that was in the contention for the bride of the Hyuga heir, not his younger-or if the true birthing order was revealed-older brother's bride. They had kept a secret friendship up until this incident and then, to Hiashi's chagrin and deep hatred of himself, he broke all ties with his brother.
Hizashi had only given a sad smile as Hiashi told him that he never wanted to see his face again and then given him another sad smile when he presented his four-year-old son to his brother for branding. Neji had shown the same spirit as his father and Hiashi had tried to repair the bridge burned with his nephew, but the damage was already done, Hizashi was already dead and Hiashi suddenly realized how lonely it was to be the head of the Hyuga, to be on a pedestal that no one else was allowed to touch.
Soft footfalls were heard outside his chamber and Hiashi picked up his cup, bowing his head in memory of his wife and brother as the door opened without a sound and Hitachi entered with several other Hyuga ninja.
"So, you have come." Hiashi said softly as he studied the green liquid in his cup. "I expected you to come sooner when I realized that you already had Hanabi under your control."
"For all your strategic brilliance, Hiashi-sama, you are incredibly naïve." Hitachi chuckled as he studied his nephew.
"My poor mother." Hiashi said with a sigh as he downed the lukewarm tea. "To have such a disagreeable brother as you."
"Do you think that such insults will work, now of all times?" Hitachi peered at his nephew in disgust.
"Hitoshi was always my favorite uncle," Hiashi said as he stood. "You were just a tagalong that managed to stay in the main family because of a lucky marriage, nothing more. I have no love of you."
Hitachi recoiled as if he had been bitten then a sadistic smile came to his face. "Hyuga Hiashi, as per the power given to me by the head of the Hyuga clan, Hyuga Hanabi, I, Hyuga Hitachi, on this day, the Twenty-fifth of May, do here so bring forth the order for your execution. The method chosen is seppuku so you may retain honor in your death, though you had none in life."
"You are wrong, Hitachi, it was you who had no honor," Hiashi said as he was handed a katana. "I realize my mistake, now at the end of my life. Hinata should be laughing at us right now, watching the power struggle going on while she holds the key to removing the curse mark." Hiashi chuckled softly as he exposed his belly and with a swift movement drew the sword over the bare flesh.
"Hinata, what?" Hitachi hissed.
"She had been studying the old scrolls," Hiashi said with a cough as his life slowly left him. "I know that she had uncovered the secret and that she would free the branch house. That is why I allowed Hanabi to become head, but now, I wish for her return so she can right all my wrongs. She will defeat you, Hitachi. She is strong." Hiashi let out a gasp and fell to the ground, unmoving, his last words still ringing in everyone's ears.
"Hamato," Hitachi hissed. "Find the best bounty hunter that all the nations have to offer and pay him triple the amount he charges to find Hinata, and bring her back to me, alive."
"Yes, Hitachi-sama," the man bowed and left.
"You think you have won," Hitachi spat at the body of his nephew. "But I've only just begun this game."
--
"Why now, of all days have the decided to increase the number of gate keepers?" Neji groaned as he hid behind a tree close to the main entrance of the Settlement. "What is today, anyway? It's May… Twenty-fifth? Nothing important happened today, did it? Or," he shivered as a new thought occurred to him. "Are they receiving new members of their zombie tribe? Please no."
A guttural hiss escaped his lips as he dashed to the gates and went through them, completely ignoring the guards that now had their chakra points blocked. His kekkei genkai told him that there was a large gathering of people in the meadow where the deadly drug was being grown, but a quick glance told him that Hanashi wasn't among those gathered. His eyes were moving around quickly, searching for another large concentration of people when he saw what looked like a prison cell buried deep in the earth with a single person in it, his back pressed against the wall as he labored to breath.
"Hanashi," Neji whispered, glaring at the various passageways, looking for the entrance to the underground prison. Everywhere he looked he encountered a dead end his frustration growing by the second. A fast glance at the main gates told him that the guards were starting to stir with help from their companions, all yelling about the intruders.
"Ha, if only they knew," Neji shook his head as he moved into position over the cell that held his friend, rationalizing that if there were no entrances to been seen with the byakugan, the only way to enter the cells was by earth based jutsu and since he didn't have more than a basic knowledge of it, he decided to steal the one of the Hokage's best known techniques and destroy the ground above the cell.
"I'm not quite sure how this works," he chuckled dryly as he gathered his chakra into his hand, "but I do know that you need precise chakra control and that I have; all thanks to those idiots that are now imprisoning my friends." Taking a deep breath as he stated to hear calls around him, he pulled his mind above all outside distractions into the trance-like state needed to perform the Jūken. Nirvana felt close at hand but he ignored it, knowing from the only other time he had been close to it that it was nearly impossible to return from it and only Sakura's precise and cold treatment of his wounds, not to mention the slap on the cheek, had been able to return him.
"Hanashi, here I come." He hissed as he threw his fist at the ground, his eyes picking up the slight faults in the earth just like the weaknesses in the chakra network. He was pleased to find that his mind had almost become disconnected from his body and he now could feel his body moving downward and also see it in his mind's eye. The arc he was on was perfect, the timing of the release of the chakra perfect, the amount released just right to punch a whole in the earth, but not enough to bring the ceiling down on the prison. With a smile he stood back and admired his work.
"Poor damsel in distress Hanashi. Always making me rescue you. One would wonder how you ever became a jōnin." Neji laughed as he dropped through the hole he had made into what appeared to be more like a torture chamber than a prison now that he could see everything up close.
"Hanashi? Neji called, the inky darkness leaving him feeling like he had lost an arm. With a wry chuckle he realized that was how Hinata had felt for the last several months and pride surged through his veins as he thought about how much strength she had shown during these last months.
A grin came to his surface as he waited for his eyes to adjust and he slowly became aware of something hanging around his head. A frown replaced his smile as she realized that they were chains hanging from the ceilings, iron clamps at the end making eerie noises as the moved back and forth.
"Hanashi?" Neji called again, pushing chains that were hanging around his head out of the way. The walls of the cavern were not an earthy brown, but a chalky grey leading Neji to believe that the underground room wasn't something that had been recently constructed. "This place is giving me the creeps." Neji muttered as he made his way across the room, carefully making his way over to where his friend sat upright against the wall, his clothing hanging off his starved-looking frame in tatters.
"Hanashi!" Neji yelled, dropping to his knees next to his friend.
"Neji-kun," Hanashi smiled without opening his eyes. "You are always so loud in the morning," he said heavily as if his lungs weren't getting enough air.
"You are the loud one," Neji gave a slight smile as he gazed at his friend. "Where are you injured?"
"Where aren't I?" Hanashi sighed, opening one eye, the other swollen shut. "I think the only part of me that doesn't hurt was my eye, but now that I am looking at your ugly face…" he coughed, gasping for breath. "Why are you here, Neji? Shouldn't you be as far away from here as possible? Shouldn't you be protecting Hinata-sama?"
"She is fine. Do not worry about her; we need to get you help."
"From whom? They are the ones that did this to me. They aren't going to help anytime soon." Hanashi gazed at him for several long seconds before turning away. "Let me die in peace at least. I don't want your ugly face the last thing I see in this world. I want it to be the face, or more preferably, the chest, of a beautiful woman. Despite all they say, you just wouldn't cut it as a beautiful woman, even with that hair."
"You must be perfectly fine if you are making a joke like that." Neji said dryly, swinging the pack he had on his back onto the ground and opening it.
"Whadda you got?" Hanashi asked suspiciously. "Morphine?"
"No, though Hinata assures me it will work like morphine." Neji said grimly as he pulled out a sickly green potion. "This stuff will have you not feeling anything for the next twenty-four hours or so. I know that I can still feel the side affects."
"So what are you going to do to me?" Hanashi sighed, trying to sit up straighter.
"I'm going to remove the seal." The Hyuga genius said nonchalantly, swiftly stabbing his friend in the thigh with the syringe of painkiller.
"That's a nice thought." Hanashi laughed without hope. "Thanks for being the one to joke around for once."
"It's the truth. Hinata figured out how to do it." Neji gave his friend a pleading look. "I want to do this for you, Hanashi. As a thank you for all the times you have helped me keep my head on straight."
"Well, if you put it that way and you give me another dose of this miracle medicine, I'll allow you to even do weird and perverted things to me." Hanashi winked at his friend and closed his eyes. "Shouldn't I be lying down?"
"If that makes you comfortable." Neji nodded, helping Hanashi spread on the ground.
"Neji, if I die, tell your mother I always thought she was hot. And then tell Hijiri-san that I wanted her to have my children."
"You aren't going to die, nitwit," Neji growled, smacking Hanashi's head. "My mother is hot? What perverted wet dreams have you been having? And you tell every woman you meet that you want them to have your child." Neji shook his head, all thought of being kind to his friend leaving his mind as he brushed brown hair away from the curse mark and quickly made the hand signs Hinata had told him. "Mi inu i u ne tora uma u inu tora ne u i tora uma," he said to himself as chakra gathered in his hand. "Idiot," he hissed as he forced the chakra into the curse mark.
"That feels weird," Hanashi commented as the green marks that had marred the skin of his forehead since he was a young child started fading. "It kinda, tickles."
"Good thing for you that Hinata didn't put her super strong knock out drug in this mix as well. You wouldn't wake up until next week." Neji muttered as he stood and offered his friend a hand. "What do you think, can you stand?"
"I think I could take on everyone here and still be flying above the clouds. Hinata-sama is really onto something with that concoction."
"She could also kill you if she wanted to," Neji rolled his eyes as he pulled Hanashi into a standing position. "She has already shown a fortitude for drugging people."
"Yeah," Hanashi said dreamily. "Seriously, though. I really can't feel my legs. My head feels like it's up in the clouds."
"Get yourself together. I'm not going to help you out of his hellhole." Neji grumbled as he walked over to the hole in the ceiling.
"Did I tell you that your aunt and cousins are here?" Hanashi asked as he somehow managed to jump through the hole after Neji.
"Yeah, why?" Neji frowned.
"I think we should find them. After all, Hanko-oba-san is the granddaughter of a revolutionist and has royal blood in her. Plus, Haji is having a hard time of it. He was told the story of how his father died." Hanashi shuttered as he said this. "Neji, we gotta find them."
Neji bit his lower lip as he glanced up at the sun, noting that sunset would be soon. Hinata's words of concern came to his mind, but so did her strict stance on how she believed that the branch family members and main house members were all equal and should be treated as such. "Darn woman," he growled as he activated his byakugan.
After several seconds searching he found his aunt standing next to a door leading to a small bedroom and when he extended his sight further, he saw the small form of his young cousin laying atop the bed, his body shivering even though it was coming up on the summer months.
"What do you see?" Hanashi asked, his byakugan never could, or would, see as far as his friend's. "Oba-san? Hijiri-san?"
"Haji, but he looks sick. Come on," Neji muttered, grabbing Hanashi's arm and pulling him down the most direct path to where his cousin was.
"Haji-kun is sick? He's always the ray of perfect heath." Hanashi said as they passed several other branch house members that stood around like zombies.
"That is what worries me," Neji murmured so softly that Hanashi couldn't hear him. They pushed through what looked like a game of shogi only people were being used as pieces while two main house ninja, their foreheads exposed and clear were directing them, laughing at other's misfortune. Neji almost stopped but then he remembered his cousin lying in bed and he forced his way through, only stopping to knock out the main house members.
"Harsh; me likey," Hanashi chuckled as they arrived at the room in which Haji lain in bed. "You are such a brute."
"And you are too soft." Neji replied as he opened the door and went inside. His aunt knelt at her son's side, her eyes wide with fear as the door opened, then growing even wider when she saw her nephew.
"Neji," she squeaked, glancing around in panic. "Not you too." She moaned and then she saw Hanashi behind Neji and his unmarked forehead. "Hanashi?" She gasped. "How?"
"Neji-kun did it, though don't ask me how." Hanashi smiled.
"Neji?" She squeaked again as Neji knelt next to Haji and took is hand in his own.
"How long has he been like this?" Neji asked softly, his eyes falling closed as he concentrated on his cousin's flow of chakra.
"Yesterday he collapsed, but then he was up again this morning then this afternoon he fell over and I have not been able to wake him." Hanko gave her nephew a distressed look. "Will he be alright?"
"He has been poisoned. Even now it spreads through his veins, doing damage." Neji looked up at his aunt. "We need to get him the antidote fast or he will die."
"Die?!" Hanko cried, her hands fluttering around her as her eyes tried to deny his words. "No! Haji can't die! He's all I have!"
"I know," Neji said coolly, contemplating all his options with his eyes closed. Finally when he came to his decision, he opened his eyes and caught his aunt's gaze. "Hanko, we are leaving. Gather all you need, clothing, tools, anything Haji will need."
"But!" Hanko's eyes widened as Neji stood then took Haji in his arms. "What are you going to do, Hyuga Neji?"
"I am going to save your son at risk to my own happiness." Neji said with his back turned to his aunt. "Make haste. Haji doesn't have much time left."
"Neji, Hijiri," Hanashi said, dropping all honorifics in light of the tight atmosphere.
"Find her. We must get Haji help that they would never offer here." Neji growled as he went out the door, Hanashi training him.
Hanko glanced around in confusion before grabbing a sack and forcing the one change of clothes she had, her only possessions, and all Haji's clothes and homemade toys before following her headstrong nephew out the door and away from the life the Settlement offered her.
--
"Hina-chan?" Minoru called when he saw her sitting in the middle of the large meadow that broke into the line of the forest. "What are you doing?"
"Gathering flowers," Hinata said in thoughtful tone.
"For what?" Minoru questioned, walking over and crouching next to her. "It's supper time, you know."
"Yes, but I have a feeling that I will be needing these," Hinata's face tilted slightly, a frown marring her brow. "Neji will return soon and he will have people with him."
"Return with others? When did this happen?" Minoru glanced around, for the first time realizing that the annoying Hyuga protégée wasn't anywhere to be found. "How long has Neji been gone?"
"Since this morning," Hinata replied with a sigh. "He went back."
"There?!" Minoru jumped to his feet. "That's crazy!"
"Hanashi-san is Neji's best friend. I would never stop him from helping his friend."
"But there are…"
"I know the dangers." Hinata cut him off as she slowly stood, one hand pushing off the ground and the other clenching her flowers over her large belly. "But I could not stop Neji, ever. They are his friends, his fellow branch members."
"They bear the curse." Minoru's words weren't a question.
Hinata's head whipped around in surprise before she nodded. "Yes. They bear the curse, but I know a way to remove it. That is what Neji is doing now. Freeing his family."
"Only his family?" Minoru said, shaking his head.
"We can only do so much at one time," Hinata murmured, looking away. "I can't help in my condition and even if I could, I would never set foot in that place. I couldn't. They would take me hostage and send me back to my father. They would get their wish."
"It's time for supper," Minoru finally muttered after a long silence. "You above all need to eat. We can't have your baby starving."
"Yes, I know," she said, turning her face toward the Settlement. "Please, can you escort me to the shack first? I need to hang these flowers to dry."
"I can do that," Minoru nodded, not picking up on her tense stance, not knowing that she felt the presence of four highly trained ninja approaching fast.
--
"Hinata!" Neji yelled as he forced his way through the door to the shack. He saw her sitting next to their futon, herbs gathered all around her and a pot of hot water steaming on the stove. "Haji," he managed to say as he laid the boy on the bed. "He's been poisoned."
"Yes," she said the look on her face fuzzy as she touched the boy's brow. "It has done much damage. I will heal him to the best of my abilities."
"What?" Hanko screeched from the doorway. "I do not want that woman touching my son!"
"Hanashi, Hijiri, please restrain Hanko-oba." Neji said, nodding at the two other Hyuga. They both inclined their heads and gently took Hanko's arms and pulled her screaming and protesting out the door.
"I need your help, Neji. I need you to be my eyes." Hinata swallowed hard then gently pulled a knife out of her pack. "I need to make a small incision near the ribcage, but first I need you to tell me the path of the poison, where it is concentrating the most."
Neji gave a slight nod then he activated his kekkei genkai, focusing his eyes to a level that he had never before, seeing the growth of cells and then the destruction as the poison seeped through his body. "It's, amazing," he whispered. "I can see it destroying everything. But the main part it is attacking is his kidneys."
"They would have been in overdrive, trying to filter the poison," she said thoughtfully as Neji deactivated his byakugan. "Grind up some of the pink flower over head and add water to it. Make him drink it." She commanded as she laid her hands on Haji's chest.
"Yes," he said, moving away to complete the task given. They worked in silence for the next twenty minutes, one acting as the eyes for the other. Halfway through the procedure Neji noticed that Hinata was sweating heavily and was going to comment on it, but at that moment Haji cried out and Hinata ordered him to give the boy a dose of the painkiller she had mixed up.
Neji watched his cousin and lover in growing wonder as she fought to save a boy, not only of branch member status, but also the son of a woman that had openly stated her distaste for the young heiress, a woman that would probably have taking any opportunity to kill her.
"Hinata, you are tiring." Neji said, wanting to stop her but knowing that she would not allow it.
"I'm almost done," she gasped as she pulled another small bit of poison from Haji's small body. "After that I need to analyze the compound and figure out an antidote. I can't stop now."
"Hinata," Neji whispered helplessly as she let out a sigh and stood. She took the pan of poison she had extracted and went over to the only table in the shack.
"Help me, please?" She asked. "I need you to tell me the colors it is going to change."
He gave himself a light lipped smile before standing up and going to her.
"Color?" She asked as she threw something into the pail.
"Red." He answered.
She pressed her lips together and then threw something else in. "Color?"
"Pink."
"Bright or pale?" She frowned.
"Pale." He said, watching her closely.
"Hum, maybe…" she muttered to herself as she put something else in. "Now?"
"A sickly pale creamy color."
"Good." She smiled, putting something else in. "Now?"
"Clear." He said in amazement. "Now what?"
"We go herb hunting." She smiled as she turned to him. "Call Hanko-san."
"Okay," he said, going over to the door and opening it. "Hanko." He said, noticing that Yoriko, Jiro, and Minoru where also standing around with the Hyuga. "Hinata wants to talk to you."
Hanko's eyes narrowed as she pushed past her nephew into to the shack, noticing that Haji lay on top of a futon, his breathing coming out in normal intervals, not the gasps it had been. "What did you do?" She hissed at the girl she considered the reason all was wrong with her life.
"I removed most of the poison, now what is in his body will not kill him, but I must gather some herbs to help his body get rid of the rest of it. I need you to have him drink as much water as you can. We must flush out his kidneys." Hinata said with her back to the other woman.
"Are you serious?" Hanko's eyes narrowed. "Why are you doing this? You are just a spoiled princess. The branch house is just made up of expendable people."
"I have never thought of the branch house as such, Hanko-san. Please, if Haji doesn't recover, I will place my life in your hands." Hinata whispered.
Hanko glared at the younger woman's back before kneeling next to her son. "I do not wish for you life, Hinata-sama."
"Thank you," the blue-haired girl said softly, turning around slowly so the woman could see the tears in her eyes. "I will go gather the herbs now."
"Hinata, it's dark out there." Neji protested.
"So?" She smiled as she walked out the door.
"Very true," Neji sighed as he exited the cabin after her and saw she had grabbed Hijiri's arm and was explaining what plants she needed to make medicine for Haji.
"So," Hanashi said from beside, barely containing his laughter. "You did get her pregnant."
"Not now, Hanashi," Neji growled at the other man.
"Fine, fine," Hanashi chuckled, holding up his hands in mock surrender. "That still doesn't change the fact you did."
"Hanashi, if you weren't my best friend, I would seriously gut you right here, right now." Neji rolled his eyes as he followed Hinata down a path to a woody area filled with all the plants Hinata would need. Something caught the corner of his eye and he turned, noticing what looked like a person hiding among the trees.
"Oh, no." He whispered, knowing that he had been followed from the Settlement and that the person had now seen Hinata in all her pregnant glory.
--
Next chapter is called Finis, Neji sees a bounty hunter and makes plans to leave Mie with Hinata, but Hinata is captured and Neji goes back to Konoha willingly with them. They are then taken before an enraged Hanabi…
--
A/N: whOOt! This chapter was 2,000 words over the normal limit I put on myself! Yay for you the readers!
First: An explanation about Hinata's fingers after she removed Neji's mark. During pregnancy the body does some strange things, like mess up signals to the brain and such, so Hinata used a little too much chakra right there and burned her fingers slightly. Don't worry to, the burns were just like touching something hot and jerking your hand away as soon as your brain tells you it's hot. I hope that explains what I was thinking about her fingers and why Neji didn't have the same problem when he removed Hanashi's mark.
