FINALLY, I updated. Sorry it took so long. I don't like this chapter much, I've written better, but I was reading Twilight while writing this chapter (not at the same time, you know what I mean!) so it kind of made me think of the idea for what would happen to Hinata...So please, be gentle, and know that there's only TWO SCROLLS LEFT. Zomg.


Scroll Nine — Capture, then Release

"What?! What would anyone want that girl for anyway?!"

"Well, she is quite pretty..."

"Shut up, Aiku! This is no time to make jokes. But...Neji-kun, what would they want with Hinata-san?"

"..."

"Neji-kun?"

"...Dammit. I don't know. But if we don't hurry, she'll—"

"Don't even go there..."

"Be more sensitive, Aiku!"

"N–N–Neji-sama...If you could u-use the B-B-Byakugan...It might be helpful in finding h-her—Hinata's captures."

"I did, Farhena-san. We know who they are and where they are, but I can't keep track of them all the time. They're just kids, but they're dangerous, I can tell. I just hope they don't really want her for more than hostage purposes."

The four shivered at the unwelcome thought, and Farhena whimpered a bit.

"We should hurry." Nynia's voice was hard and rough as it cracked.

Neji nodded weakly and Aiku stood. "The mission is to find and protect Hinata-sama — right? Come on, let's go!"

Neji was in utter despair. His depression of losing one of the most important things in his life made him slower and obviously weaker. Farhena kept glancing sadly at him, unsure if she could — or should — cheer him up.

But once they were near enough that Hinata's presence was detectable, it all disappeared, replaced by fury in his eyes as they popped and thrubbed.

"They're near." Neji hissed, walking forwards in the wooded landscape. Each step he took was careful as he tried to be unpredictable. Nynia, Aiku, and Farhena all stood at the edge of the forest, frozen.

There were a few moments of silence — and then:

"So! You have found..."

"Our fortress! Your woman is inside. Will..."

"You claim her? If so you'll have to...

"Get through..."

"Us! The Enemies Two!"

Suddenly, in front of Neji were two boys, who could be no older than twelve. One of them wore a Sound forehead protector, the other a Sand. They were identical, and the only difference between them were their headbands and clothes. Obviously, this had brought on the slightly awkward name, Enemies Two. Sound and Sand were not on the best of terms.

Aiku saw the kids and felt he could get through easy. "Move out of the way, twerps." he snapped. This was a very bad choice of words.

Aiku was flat on the ground in a second, the boy with the Sound symbol on his forehead growling, his foot on his throat. "Don't you dare underestimate us! WE may be young, but we caught a Hyuga! And no one even noticed!"

Aiku stood weakly as the foot was moved from his throat, scowling at the Sound boy. "Where is Hinata?" There was a hard edge in Neji's voice, which made the twins flinch flightly.

"That weak little thing? If you must know — she's inside. But you — you're not going to save her! You'll never save her! Got that?" Though the boy was young, his voice was strict, warning them of some danger. The Sand ninja was now standing besides him.

But before the Sound boy's twin could speak, Neji was — "Weak, you say?" His voice was poisonously quiet. "I suppose strong, according to your standards, is nothing more than sneaking up on your opponent and holding what it precious to them hostage!"

The fury in the voice by the boy calling Hinata weak was well disguised as disgust — though he still did find it disgusting, what they did and their definition for the word weak. The boys flinched again, but the one from Sound glowered back.

"So what?! We can't have out own opinion?! We captured her no? And you came! And she's going to die! SOON! She can't breathe! You've been wasting your time with us when you should be saving her!" he cried. He didn't understand why he had admitted their plan, but Neji was gone before he could stop him. His Sand comrade sighed.

I'm relieved you didn't let that poor girl die. I was scared. I didn't want to be a murderer." the Sand boy whispered.

"I'm sorry, Aka. I'm glad that Hyuga boy saved her, too, though. She was crying. She said something about being in love."

"Wow, Kane, that's so...mature of you. I never thought you would care about love."

Kane scowled, before his eyes darted to the three Sound Ninja, and he frowned. "You three...you were exiled. You really shouldn't be so close to Sound. But I guess you're just brave, huh?" None of them answered, for Neji and Hinata were walking out of the cabin.

Hinata was in a horrible condition. Rope burns covered her face. Her wrists were marked and bleeding slowly as Neji carefully took off the chains that had bound her. She looked completely weak and lost, her eyes dull. Her hair was also unevenly cut. The front was longer, but it seemed the hair she had spent time growing had been cut gingerly with a kunai, so that it was too short to pull up again.

Hinata was clutching pieces of Neji's ribbon in her left hand. Whether it was the whole ribbon or not was impossible to tell, but it most likely wasn't, considering the bits were slashed many times. "I'm sorry, Neji-kun...I lost your ribbon." Hinata said shakily.

"It's okay, I can just get another one." said Neji soothingly, stroking her short hair. Hinata closed her eyes tightly, trying her best not to cry. Neji hummed a soft lullaby as he stroked her chopped hair.

"It hurts..." Hinata suddenly gasped in a quiet voice. Her lavender eyes opened, wider and wider as she bit down on her tongue in pain. "It's burning...why is it burning? Someone put out the fire...please...please..." Hinata begged, as tears streaked down her cheeks and she clutched one of her bloody wrists.

Neji stared at his cousin for a moment, fear gathering. "What did you do?!" he yelled, turning on the two boys. Their eyes were wide with shock and Kane swore loudly, as Aka darted back into the cabin.

"We didn't do anything! It was Dante...Dante's sort of...well..." Kane coughed nervously, examining the pain that Hinata was in. He bit his lip and let the truth out. " A vampire."

Hinata's pained screams drowned out Neji's furious yells. Aka had brought out a very pale boy, who was tall with dark gold hair and very dark golden eyes. The boy was scowling and looked slightly guilty as he eyed Hinata's wounds. It was obvious that this was the vampire, Dante.

"Heal her! If she dies...worse, if she becomes something like you..." Kane snarled, not finishing his train of thought. The vampire sighed, then walked over to Hinata, taking her arms gently in his. She was still sobbing in pain as he leaned in and sucked the venom from one of her wrists.

Neji watched with wide eyes as Hinata's arms dropped and she started panting. There was now a scar across her left-hand wrist, almost as if she had slit it. Dante sighed weakly and helped her to her feet. But Hinata stumbled away, clinging with difficulty to Neji.

"I'm sorry." began Dante. "I just haven't smelled blood in a very long while — not human blood, at least — and umm, she was just so hard to resist. I usually don't feed on humans. But she was bleeding." The vampire shuffled his feet nervously and watched Hinata leaning her head shakily against Neji's chest as her pain subsided.

"As long as she's alive, that's all I care about." Neji murmured, lifting Hinata's pale face up in his hands. Her eyes were half opened, and it was obvious she barely knew what was going on. This made it easier on Neji — before she could protect, he had pressed his lips against hers gently. Even if she could only register what was going on by a little, she still thought her heart might stop.


Again, sorry it took so long to update...hope you enjoyed this story. Luff Simmeh.