A/N: To celebrate my passing of my Completion Project required to graduate from high school next year, I've decided to test a little bit of a newer writing style I'd planned on saving for my next work- a style which uses a bit more stream of consciousness. (Completion project is also why I haven't been able to update this in some time, for which I apologize profusely.)
In related (not really) news, I now have a livejournal I'll be primarily using for fanfiction news and such. The link is in my profile, and you're all welcome to visit (in fact, I encourage it).
Hachi – Nigeru (Hitori Dake no Tamashii)
--Eight – To Flee (Lone Soul)--
"Halt!" Easily half-again her age, the shinobi raised one hand, his face hidden by the animal-mask of the Land of Lightning's ANBU. "This area is off-limits, by order of Raikage-sama!" Resisting the urge to shift uncomfortably as indigo eyes stared him down as if piercing his mask, he surreptitiously tightened his wrist to allow a hidden shuriken to drop into his palm, his other hand pressed against the thick wooden door set into the rock face. Snowflakes drifted through the air in a white haze.
"I know very well what's going on here," though her voice was soft, its edge reached her ears clearly. "I've come to see the Hyuuga prisoner."
His head jerked back. "I don't know what..." he trailed off and peered at her closer. The indigo-eyed girl met his unseen gaze unflinchingly; a flash of recognition crossed his mind. "Yume-san, desu ka?" he questioned. "Go ahead in; I apologize for the delay.
By the time he had straightened from his bow, the girl had disappeared, the heavy wooden door closing behind her without a whisper.
-xXx-
A land of nightmares opened before him, black, clinging to his skin like oil. There was nothing to be seen; there was no sound; there was no sensation. As if all the nerves in his body had been deadened and his soul floated alone, in nothingness. He was afraid to breathe, afraid to coat his lungs with the slick suffocation. Within this terrible realm he drifted; if not dead, then impossible to be alive in for very long.
That was the inescapable horror of genjutsu. Unless one were to realize he was in it, it could not be broken, could not be fled. That was the inescapable fallacy of the mind...
if it were to believe something to be true, it would become true
And so Hyuuga Neji drifted, afraid, subconsciously knowing that all his deepest secrets lay naked...
-xXx-
Itatsu stalked the hall, fluorescent lighting flickering above him, morphing his shadow into demonic forms against the rough-hewn stone. Adjusting his glasses with one finger, he slammed his palm against the wooden door. In stark relief penetrated the sun, flooding the area in cold light.
"Itatsu-sama!" The ANBU snapped to attention and didn't look down to see his leader, eyes straight ahead.
"Never mind that!" Itatsu snapped irritably, eyes flashing behind lenses. "You let Yumiko in?" His fist clenched and unclenched at his side, the only sign of stress he revealed beyond his voice.
"Hai," he responded quickly.
The only sound was the door slamming shut behind him.
-xXx-
Flickering fluorescent light cast deep darkness across her face. Brown eyes gleamed, the uneven glow lending them a red hue, moving from shadow to shadow. Tenten hugged the rough-hewn walls, making her way further into the maze of tunnels she suspected ran under the entire village. Her masquerade as Yumiko had been pulled off successfully enough to allow her to bluff her way inside, but she had no desire to continuously expend her Chakra to keep this form, to maintain this illusion, this...
unclean skin
worn in an attempt to hide herself. In addition, she knew it was only a matter of time before Yumiko's body was discovered and an alert sounded- Tenten planned to be long gone by the time that happened, Neji behind her.
Her weapons scroll again secreted away but within easy reach, she clutched in her hands Yumiko's twin kodachi; their heft and length were similar to the short sticks with which she'd often practiced. By running her Chakra through the metal of both blades simultaneously, she could replicate the paralyzing effect-
to full advantage
Her purpose twofold, she made her way cautiously along the stone, melting into the shadows as cleanly as only a true shinobi could; one, to rescue Neji, two-
revenge
guided one footstep as surely as desire to save her companion drove the other.
-xXx-
Within the darkness, he heard a young woman's voice. Hyuuga Neji blinked, though there was no hint that his eyes had closed; the darkness as opaque as obsidian obscured his vision.
"Why not Byakugan?" she questioned.
The voice was familiar, caressing his ears with promise of escape. "Tenten?"
She didn't answer, but her question resonated in his ears or his mind- he wasn't sure which. Why not the Byakugan, indeed? Perhaps it could penetrate this never-ending dark-
"Iya yo!" From a distant corner of the blackness, Tenten's voice screamed, its quality somehow different from her previous words as if someone else entirely spoke. "No!"
-xXx-
"Can he break out of this?" Itatsu hovered over the shoulder of one of his ANBU men, peering down at the female ANBU kneeling before the prisoner in deep meditation.
Naught but thin ropes and simple knots bound Hyuuga Neji to the rickety wooden chair in the center of the stone dungeon. But for Itatsu's voice, the only sound was the constant, steady beeping of the medical devices lining the wall, connected to the many leads and wires snaking from the young man's body.
"He fights hard against our intrusion into his mind," the ANBU admitted grudgingly, "but not much more than any well-trained shinobi. If he were going to escape on his own, he would have managed to do so before now." Silently, he added that they'd already suffered setbacks- they had originally intended to trap him in a genjutsu of his home town, but Hyuuga's mind had refused to accept it, forcing them into their backup plan. He didn't say so, understanding that revealing such information would not ease their commander.
"I see." Itatsu, looking no more relieved, nodded.
The ANBU resisted the urge to sigh at this man's- no, this mere impudent boy's micro managing. "Was there anything else, sir?"
Pause. "Yes, actually, there is." A curious tone crept into his voice. "Should Yumiko come in here, don't let her leave. Inform me immediately."
It felt as if the room cooled several degrees. "Yume-san?" he repeated carefully. "Is there a problem?" Most of the ANBU corps were rather fond of the little ninja girl; she always treated them with the respect they deserved.
Itatsu was well aware of this, and he phrased his words carefully. "She hates Hyuuga with a passion. I just don't want her doing anything... drastic."
"Hai." The ANBU snapped a short bow in confirmation. "Don't worry, sir."
"Hm." Itatsu adjusted his glasses, fluorescent light gleaming from the lenses. "Don't give me cause to."
-xXx-
Her heart pounded in her ears, but a thrill tingled in her palms. Infiltration, the main art of the shinobi, always excited her on a primal level, the throbbing sensation of forbidden danger tugging on her soul. That same forbidden danger was what lured her to Neji, she's come to realize during the years of their partnership. Though a branch family member, he was still a son of the most distinguished and powerful clan in Konoha, setting him high on a pedestal that she, clanless, could never hope to mount.
Thinking during those long campfire-lit watches in the dead of night as her team slept, she'd come to realize that she wanted his respect and acknowledgement not because they were so different, as she'd originally assumed her attraction to be, offering her a door to a world she'd only glimpsed from the outside, but because he was her friend whom she could trust with her life.
Footsteps echoes down the corridor. She pressed herself against the stone, barely breathing as two masked ninja, laughing and chatting idly, passed her spot on the wall. All it took was for one to-
And then they were gone, disappearing farther down the hall and turning a rough-hewn corner. Releasing her held breath, Tenten continued to stealthily wind her way deeper into the labyrinth, her thoughts spiraling in her mind.
Hyuuga Neji possessed a grudging countenance, an utter air of dispassion that drew her to him even as it pushed her away, and as he came to terms with his past during their first Chuunin exam, his walls began to come down. Either that, or she'd simply begun to climb them, growing closer to him than to Rock Lee just from the sheer amount of time she spent with him. Though she counted both of the young men on her team as close friends, it was Neji she understood both the most and the least, mystifying and intriguing her in a way Lee never could. It was Neji she spent the most time with, Neji who'd saved her life on several occasions.
Neji whose life she was going to save now, even at the cost of her own.
Because, after all, it was Neji who she loved.
And there was the forbidden- it was frowned upon for a noble family member to love a "commoner". It was dangerous for a shinobi to love another shinobi; being on missions, constantly living with the fear of, not only one's own death, but the death of one's beloved...
And, she had decided long ago that Neji held no similar feelings toward her, so sure that the emotionless exterior was who he was.
Until this mission.
Until he had almost kissed her.
All her cold logic sundered, shattered by the simple realization-
He wanted the forbidden as much as she did?
Perhaps. Perhaps not. Tenten shook her head briskly and narrowed her focus. There was no more time for such thoughts now. She was deep enough into the complex that she should be coming upon them unaware and not expecting enemies.
It was here she would strike.
A/N: And we're coming to a close, my friends. About two or three more chapters, and I'll be done. Finals approach, but they shouldn't interfere too much.
I'd like to thank my eight(!) reviewers from so long ago and hope you're all still with me:
Merciless Ruby, KazeRose, Kibamonkey777, JanuaryFriend, whitepheonix13, Kratos Wilder, iAtRI, and siriusju.
