(A/N: So. Hinata is so far out of character in this chapter that it's not even funny anymore. But in my defense, I think she could change the way she acts in a heart beat if it meant that she would be able to save someone she loved. This is just a heads up. XD I couldn't think of any other way to make it happen.
SPOILER!: And as for Itachi, we all know the only reason he killed the clan was because it was an order from the Hokage, and he defied orders by leaving his brother alive. He even killed his fiancee. There's got to be some serious caring going on there. So obviously {to me} Itachi has just buried all his feelings [DEEP down] and he's very passionate about those he loves. Otherwise, he wouldn't have defied orders to kill ALL the Uchihas. :END SPOILER
Well. You know. Since I've completely twisted all the characters' personalities to suit my story [ya know, since it IS ItaHinaDei and Akatsuki don't love] let's just say that all of them are unreasonably OOC. But that's what makes this interesting, right?... Right?... Okay. I'm wrong. But still. Effort counts for something? XD Read and review please!
Is my reasoning okay, or does it seem faulty to you guys? I can't really tell, ya know, cause I'm a bit biased. XD But either way: Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, because if I did, I wouldn't have to apologize for butchering their characters. I could just be like "they're supposed to be that way!")
Mysterious Captivation Chapter 10
"Make sure you're prepared." Kakashi warned them. "The person coming to meet us is going to be adamant at keeping us away from Hinata."
"Right," the other two responded before Neji realized that something was wrong.
"Wait. It's not an Akatsuki approaching, it's Hinata-sama!" Very nearly dropping his guard and rushing to meet her, Neji let his battle stance fall slightly.
"Hold on, Neji. Something fishy is going on here," Naruto pondered. "If she's out here by herself, then they are either threatening her, or she's not really alone."
This gave Neji pause. He lifted his arms again, watching as Hinata's chakra system leapt to the ground beneath the red-clouded cloak of the Akatsuki.
Recoiling more than a bit, the chocolate haired Hyuuga spoke. "Hinata-sama, what are you doing wearing the cloak of the enemy?" He exclaimed.
"The enemy? I'm not sure what you mean. My enemies do not wear cloaks, they wear hitai-ates similar to the ones you all are wearing," she paused for a moment. "Oh, my. It seems that they are not just similar, they are exactly the same." Hinata hummed, as though she were pondering what she should do.
"Hinata-sama, you have to return with us to Konoha before the Akatsuki catch you," Naruto demanded, stepping forward and offering her his hand.
Noting her lack of blush and stutter, Kakashi motioned Naruto back. "Explain yourself." He ordered.
"What's to explain, Kakashi-san? Are your eyes failing you, or are you already blind?" She crowed with laughter at his shocked expression before narrowing her eyes. "I won't let you pass any further."
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She had to make them believe her. She had to make them think she had been corrupted, lost to them forever. As much as it hurt for her to treat her fellow ninja –no, they were no longer her comrades; she had given them up – the way she was, she knew it was necessary.
In a moment of clarity several mornings ago, she had realized that to act evil would not convince them that she was lost. She would have to truly believe it herself.
She had gone to Konan and Itachi for help. Konan, because that woman would help her shut out her former ties with her companions. Itachi, because that man would help her speak cruel words to her loved ones.
Flashback
"Itachi-san, how did you say such awful words to Sasuke-san? You let him live because you loved him too much to kill him, but you still nearly destroyed him with your words. How did you manage it?" Hinata implored for his knowledge.
"It was for his own good. If I hadn't done that, he may have tried to forgive me and rationalize with me later on. He also needed to gain strength. If you want to keep someone away, you have to say cruel things." The eldest Uchiha replied, knowing his lesson would be the hardest for her to swallow, and regretting that he had to be the one to teach her.
"How could I possibly be cruel? I don't even remember a time when I spitefully made fun of someone," she honestly confessed.
"You have to put your own feelings aside to protect those whom you love." The statement, delivered without the slightest hint of emotion, was followed by a slight softening of his eyes. Knowing that his emotions had been supressed to keep the guilt at bay, and that he would keep them supressed for that very reason, Hinata frowned in concentration to end their discussion.
She watched as Kakashi, Neji, and Naruto clones flew through the window, Itachi's attempt to catch her off guard. "You'll pass no further," she told them.
Animating them with his chakra, Itachi allowed the Konoha nin clones to speak as though they were real. "You have to come back with us! Everyone is really worried about you," the Naruto clone pleaded.
Nearly breaking down and agreeing, Hinata's resolve faltered.
"This is going to take a lot of practice, Hinata-san. Are you willing to work on this for several hours in these next few days?"
End Flashback
Her training had paid off. She had prepared herself to cruelly rid herself of her family and friends forever.
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Turning to Kakashi and Neji, Naruto spoke quietly so that Hinata wouldn't hear. "This can't be Hinata. This is either a henge or someone has messed with her mind. What are we going to do?"
"What if something happened to Hinata-sama and now she thinks she can't come home with us?" Neji questioned, wondering at the change in his cousin's personality in the period since she had been kidnapped. It had been over a month since he had spoken to her, and he wondered what they had done to her in that length of time.
Growling aloud, he spoke again. "What if they threatened her with us? Maybe they told her they would kill us if she didn't make us leave."
Kakashi silently shook his head. "There's no way that could have caused such a personality shift in her. She's desperate for us to leave, even to the point where she's willing to hurt all of us. That in itself should be enough for us to be wary. Especially because she would be up against all three of us in a fight, and most importantly Naruto."
"What are we going to do, though? We can't fight her because we might hurt her!" Narrowing his eyes, Neji shoved Naruto to the ground, barely saving him from the kunai that had missed his forehead by centimeters.
"Are you done chatting it up over there?" Hinata mocked, holding out her hand with her fingers straight out and bringing the four together with her thumb in a 'talking' motion. "I'm ready for you all to leave, now."
"Why are you doing this, Hinata-sama?" Neji demanded. "We're here to help you,"
"Why, you ask? Simply because I don't care to return. I'm thrilled to be with the Akatsuki. They treat me with a great deal more respect than anyone else I've ever encountered. They can also make me far more powerful than any of you weaklings. In the time that I have been here, I have learned more than I ever thought myself capable when I was in Konoha. Why should I return?" Hinata carelessly flipped to the ground, flinging several shuriken from her pouch.
The only one to follow that movement was Kakashi because of his Sharingan. One of the stars drew a thin line across Neji's cheek, and the other lodged itself into Naruto's shoulder. Hinata merely laughed.
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Having to hurt the people she loved was killing her inside, but she had to convince them that she would not leave with them.
She really did care for the Akatsuki more than she would have thought possible. That wasn't what was truly keeping her there, though. Other than the fact that she loved two of the members, it was the fact that most of them cared for her in return.
To an outsider, it would seem that the Akatsuki had no familial connections, nor bonds of friendship or even acquaintances. To Hinata, now that she had lived with them and seen the inner workings of the organization, they were intricately tied to one another in a precarious balance located somewhere between brothers and enemies.
And they were gaining a sister, daughter, and possible wife.
Even if her loves for Deidara and Itachi didn't work out, she would still have her brothers to support her. She knew that after spending an extended amount of time with them, they would begin to see her as family.
Their care would be unconditional until death. She would be needed, irreplacable to nearly all of the members. That was why she had decided to stay.
She humanized the Akatsuki.
But to live to see the next sunrise, she had to get rid of her connections to the Leaf Village.
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"You will be considered a traitor to Konoha if we let you keep talking like that," Naruto shouted, for the first time feeling his anger boil over at the typically shy, feeble heiress. "There's no way you could abandon Konoha! You're too nice. The Hinata I know would have meekly followed us and not argued at all! Now, you're just pathetic," he spat, eyes burning a furious ocean blue.
Watching her step falter slightly, Neji felt slightly proud of the idiotic blonde. Only the Uzumaki could have that kind of affect on his cousin, and he didn't even know it. All Naruto had to do would be insult Hinata, and she would blush, possibly pass out, and they could be on their way home and forget all the words she had spoken.
Neji was physically pushed backwards by the stunning smile that she crooked at the boy. "And you thought that would make me sob and come crawling back to your way of thinking? Wow, what a wasted effort," she giggled. "For a moment there, I thought about going back. I haven't felt that indecisive since my last training session with Itachi-kun."
Kakashi's eyes widened, not just at the fact that she had trained with the legendary elder Uchiha, but also at the suffix she added to his name. "Just how do you expect us to believe that you were allowed to train with Itachi?"
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"Don't be rude!" Hinata ordered, her voice rising an octave. "He should be treated with respect. But to answer your question, what reason would there be for my lying? You don't honestly think I'm your weak little Hinata anymore, do you? Unlike you three, I have been gaining strength since the week after the moment I was captured," she lectured.
"We aren't going to just leave you here, despite what you say. Either we must bring you back willingly, or beat you into submission," Kakashi claimed as he watched her eyes, waiting for the fear that he knew would arise.
He was disappointed, however, when a blonde Akatsuki with grey-blue eyes literally dropped out of the sky.
Turning to Neji, Kakashi demanded to know why they hadn't known ahead of time. "He arrived in my blind spot," was the whispered reply.
"Ne, Hinata-chan, un! Are you almost done here, yeah?" He inquired, completely relaxed, with his back to the Konoha ninja.
Hinata replied with a short bark of laughter. "Of course I am! How could I possibly take too much longer? They're just insignificant little bugs."
The blonde Akatsuki bent slightly to press a kiss to both of her cheeks as a late greeting, which was reciprocated. Clearing his throat in what Kakashi knew to be anger, Neji spoke up. "What do you think you're doing, you fool?" He remonstrated.
"Greeting my good friend," he indicated the girl slightly behind him, "and receiving a greeting in return, un. How about you, hm? What are you doing, yeah?"
Kakashi would have laughed at the off-balanced look that Neji wore, but he was worried at the new addition to their party. His eyes widened at the sentence next spoken by the blonde. "Well, I'll see you later, Hina-chan! Don't take too long, mm," he nagged, smiling slightly as he kissed her forehead.
"Aa, ja ne, Deidara-kun. I'll be along shortly." Pointedly glaring at Naruto, the ex-Iwagakure ninja pressed hands together in a gesture to quick to follow and leapt onto the back of the newly appeared clay bird.
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All three Konoha nin turned their eyes upward to make sure he left. Neji, with his Byakugan active, was the only one to catch Hinata's slight glance toward one of her kunai.
As his gaze shifted, he watched a smile flit across her face and knew that she had meant for it to be that way. His eyes narrowed, but he knew his cousin. He would play along until it got dangerous – for her, that is.
"We should fall back for the day," Neji suggested, getting ready to back himself up before they could speak. "She might just need to think on what we've said for the night," his quietly spoken words were accepted by the team and repeated more loudly.
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Hinata agreed to their terms: she would return to Akatsuki for the night, and they would stay away from the hideout.
She nearly weapt with relief as she realized that Neji would go along with her plan and not share anything with the other two. Then again, she knew he would do that. It was why she had decided to tell only him the truth.
Someone had to know the real reason she was staying. Then, in the years to come, they could share it, and she could be known as less of an enemy and more of a strong woman.
She would have an escape plan, should it ever be needed.
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With his Byakugan, he read the small note that had been attached to the kunai she had thrown. It was too small for normal human eyes to read, but his chakra-filled gaze was sharp, discerning, and could clearly see the kanji written.
Meet here at midnight.
His first thought briefly wondered if it was a trap. His second, whom she would bring. Then he realized that she was still his cousin. When he told his team they should back off for the day, he watched her eyes soften, making her seem more like the girl whom he had known.
She wouldn't call him back to kill him. There must have been a reason.
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"Well. What are we going to do for the rest of the day? We can't go any further into the woods, and we can't wander around looking for food or supplies with the possibility of the Akatsuki in this forest. We can't train, either, because we don't want to call attention to ourselves," Naruto whined a half hour later. "I'm bored."
Kakashi sighed, knowing this was a normal part of missions with the Kyuubi-inhabited boy, and wondering how Neji would deal with it.
Neji rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer finger, then spoke. "Grow up," he merely stated in his most scathing tone. "We are on a mission that could very well end our lives, and you are saying that you're bored? You exasperate me," he snapped.
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Several hours later, after talking with Deidara, Hinata met up with Itachi for training.
"How well do you believe that went?" He questioned emotionlessly.
"I think your teaching paid off. Only Neji-nii-san was convinced that I was myself and not one of you under henge. The others only believed him because he can see chakra." Hinata gave him a bitter-sweet smile.
They sat in silence for several moments before Itachi suddenly spoke again, this time with a worried tinge in his question. "Do you understand the true import of your actions today?"
Hinata paused, surfacing from her deep thoughts, and frowned. "I do. Though my reasons were far less noble than your own, I have betrayed my village, gravely injured those I care for, and possibly made several hundred new enemies by abandoning my village. I will have no home to turn to should I leave Akatsuki, and I shall be considered a missing, wanted, S-class criminal now. I will be unable to fight the ANBU who will be sent on missions to kill me, as I will not be able to match their strength.
"But I have also gained a family who cares because I am me, not because I am heiress. I have gained acceptance, and a place where I can help instead of hinder. I will be the medic here; I will eventually be needed, irreplaceable, once everyone accepts that I am one of you." Hinata vowed passionately, never before having the feeling of belonging that she had obtained upon being told she would be an Akatsuki.
"Can you honestly tell me that you can go into battle to fight and kill your friends?"
The thought cut to the center of her heart, but she knew that there would be a time when it would happen. "I cannot. But I can tell you that I would delay them. I would injure them and render them immobile until they became less of a threat. Should one of the Akatsuki fighters come along, I would not hinder them. Neither would I help though. I can honestly tell you that I have thought through every possible situation my mind could come up with and have no less desire to become a part of this organization."
"The world outside will be a much darker place with you hiding away from it." The unexpected kindness in his voice broke the wall that she had been holding in place since the moment she woke up that morning.
Her eyes filled with crystalline tears; she tried to blink them back, but she couldn't. Falling to her knees, the ex-Hyuuga heiress sobbed.
Feeling warmth envelope her body, she leaned into Itachi. "I-I'm s-sorry. Th-This h-horrid d-display of e-emotion m-must be p-pitiful, b-but I-I can't h-help i-it. I-I'm going t-to m-miss th-them s-so m-much! I-I can't st-stand th-the th-thought o-of h-hurting th-them!" She wept into his shoulder.
He stroked her hair with one hand and held her body close to him as she cried with his other.
Leaning down to cover her body with his own, he whispered comfortingly in her ear for a period of time during which she lost count of the minutes. He told her how he had managed to live with himself after he killed all the members of his clan. The worst, he told her, was how to live with himself after making his beloved brother hate him.
Gradually, listening to how he had managed to move on from his anger and guilt, Hinata began to calm and the shudders wracking her body began to decline.
"It's going to be okay. Whether you believe it right now or not, you will be okay in the future, as long as you don't forget who you are and why you made this decision. If you ever need reminding, I will help you no matter what." He lifted the hand resting on her head and gently wiped the tears from her cheek with his thumb.
The Hyuuga sniffled, pulling her hands away from their confinement between herself and the Uchiha, and raising them to wrap around his neck. "Y-Your words m-mean more t-to me than y-you could e-ever know. Who was th-there for y-you when you w-went through th-this?"
The elder Uchiha's scarlet eyes shifted from her opalesque ones to the ground. "No one, until I shared with Konan-san how I came to leave Konoha. Did you know she thinks of us as her children?" He altered the subject; she knew he was unwilling to talk about his past when it would not help her to get over her pain.
"I did," Hinata gave Itachi another small smile. "I love the fact that the Akatsuki cares more about each other than the Hyuuga clan. It's like having a real family for once."
Itachi merely chuckled and responded, "Only we are a lot more destructive when we argue. You should have seen Hidan and Kakuzu when they first found out neither could kill the other. It was a blood bath for a week."
Hinata knew that he was trying to lighten her mood, but her sense of hilarity was not yet skewed enough to find it as funny as her friend apparently had.
He seemed to realize this, though, and he joked, "I would tell you that it will come eventually, the twistsed humor, but I'm not sure that would be a comfort. Honestly, I'm not sure it will even happen to you. You bring out the best in all of us, you know."
Hinata's smile widened slightly. "I told my cousin to meet me back where I found them earlier at midnight tonight."
Itachi's eyes widened in worry. "Why? What if he tries to kill you because you won't go back with them?" He tried to make his tone neutral, but after sitting with the previously crying girl for over half an hour, he couldn't hide his feeling.
"He won't harm me. He's my cousin, and moreover, he has been my protector since I was only three. Loyalty to me will come before that to the village. He has been protecting me longer than Konoha. I trust him."
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"You also trust Konan, Leader-sama, Deidara, and I, which may be a mistake on your part." He wondered if that would scare her away, but sincerely doubted it since he had heard her well-thought out reasons for staying.
"No, I know exactly who you are, and I know for a fact that I would have no regrets should you betray me. The same can be said for my cousin." Hinata demurred.
"At least let me follow you so that I can help if you need me," Itachi urged, silently praying that she would allow it and giving her the nearest thing to puppy dog eyes that the silent assassin could manage without destroying his pride.
Here, Hinata faltered, knowing she would have to tell him something else, also. "D-Deidara told me he would follow me no matter if I agreed or disagreed. You may do the same if you can stand being around him for that long. I cannot stop you." Her eyes shuttered slightly, revealing less emotion to the Uchiha.
He knew she was backing away from him, afraid of his reaction to the explosives idiot and his brash personality. He knew she thought he would be mad that she had told him first. And she was right about being afraid, but he wouldn't let her know that. He was all of that, but he could get over himself.
He knew that she trained with him first, so he should have known she would tell the ex-Iwa nin when she went to train. Same as she did with himself.
"I'll put up with him," he growled, not willing to let her go out alone with the blonde in the middle of the night.
Hinata's smile was hesitant, but well worth holding in his anger.
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Night was falling, and she had told Konan where she was going, what she was doing, and that her two male protectors were following her.
That woman had given her permission to go, and would make sure the rest of the organization knew also.
"Be careful, Hinata-chan, yeah. You don't know whether he kept your secret or not, hm. What if he attacks you, un?" Deidara worried, moving alongside her as they nearly flew through the darkness of the forest.
His head whipped around at a mocking noise from Itachi. "That's why I'm here. Baka," insult was added to Deidara's pride's injury.
"I can't stand you, mm."
"The feeling is mutual."
"Please don't fight," of course, the most stubborn, hateful men in the Akatsuki were the ones who were the nicest to her. None of her friends could ever get along.
She thought of Shino and Kiba and their opposite, clashing personalities, but immediately brought herself from her musings when she heard a twig crack below her.
"Neji-nii-san is here already. Stay up here and away from him, no matter what it looks like. Unless I call, that is," she demanded, even though it felt strange to be telling the two superior ninja what to do.
Both agreed before glaring at each other and moving to opposite sides of the clearing.
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I guess I was wrong about her. She really is planning an attack. Neji thought, watching her confer with two men in Akatsuki cloaks before they met each other's eyes and moved to opposite sides of the clearing.
He watched his cousin pause for a moment and slip from the tree to the ground in one fluid motion.
"Shoushi*, Hinata-sama," he greeted warily in his formal manner, wondering where the other two men were. He had shut off his Byakugan mere moments before Hinata had dropped to the ground, hoping that if he didn't acknowledge the attack, it wouldn't happen.
"It is, Neji-nii-san," she replied, equally formal and wondering why his eyes were shifting around the clearing. "You might as well know that I have two other Akatsuki members with me," she rolled her eyes visibly. "They think they're my protection detail," she admitted with a smile.
"Are you going to attack me?" He decided that he would bluntly question her motive for calling him out in the middle of the night.
She looked shocked and affronted. "Of course not, Neji-nii-san! Why would I want to hurt you?"
"You can drop the 'normal' act, Hinata-sama. I'm not stupid. There is no way you could change from the person you were earlier back into the old Hinata without some trigger," he alluded to her being a completely different person earlier.
A strange look that Neji had never seen before entered her eyes. "That was me. Aren't I a good actor when I'm desperate?" She attempted a laugh, but it came out as more of a sob. "I'm going to miss you, Neji-nii-san. And Hanabi-chan, too." As she spoke the last part of her sentence, she threw herself into him with a hug.
He allowed this strangely emotionally confused Hinata to stay in his arms for a short while before pushing her away from him and looking into her eyes. His hands kept a firm grip on both of her shoulders. "If you really are Hinata, and you were earlier, then why won't you just come home with us?" He demanded, searching her face for an answer and wanting to shake her in frustration.
"I can't. I made a promise. I learned too much, and I made a promise that I refuse to break, Neji-nii-san. I have friends here. They're more like a family to me than that place that you call home ever had," she admitted softly, averting her eyes from his ever-widening ones.
"I won't believe that you could turn your back on the village that raised you so easily. You've always been a good girl, so how could you abandon us now? If you will miss myself and your sister, just go back!" His shouted whisper increased in urgency as he spoke.
Breaking away from him, Hinata brought her hand up as though to hit him. "Stop!" She said, causing a rustle in the tree where Deidara was hiding because he halted on that word and nearly lost his balance. "Neji-nii-san, I told you. I honestly don't think you would want me to show you my promise. And the other reason? Even if I wanted to, I can't return now. I know too much about Akatsuki. They would kill me in a heartbeat, and I won't do that to my friends. I won't force them to hurt me."
"We could protect you from them, though!" He was acutely aware of the growling that was audible from the tree that had rustled before.
"No, not even Tsunade-sama could have me protected twenty four hours a day, every day. I would be killed, and you would have wasted your effort. Though, you already have. I'm not leaving them. I could send those two away and my answer would be the same."
"Then send them away. I want to hear you say that when we're completely alone," Neji's demand, though strict, was not unreasonable.
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Hinata raised her voice, calling them into the clearing below. She watched her cousin back several steps away from her, calling out, "I said to tell them to leave, not show themselves!"
"I want you to watch them leave," she turned to the Uchiha and ex-Iwa nin. "Itachi-san, Deidara-san, please leave me alone with my cousin. I swear he won't hurt me," she smiled softly at them, wondering how Neji would react to her relationship with them.
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"Hinata-san, we have no reason to trust this boy. Give me a good reason, and I will gladly leave," the eldest Uchiha proclaimed, clearly positive that she wouldn't be able to find one.
"Because I trust him. That should be enough," the ex-heiress replied, seemingly smug that she had beaten him at his own game.
Neji watched in awe as Itachi actually looked defeated and spun to walk away.
"I never said I would leave, un," Deidara claimed loudly, as though making fun of the other man.
Said man was suddenly in front of the blonde with his fist raised in the air; the blonde was cradling his jaw in his hand with a burning anger in his eyes. Neji watched him start before he was interrupted by Hinata.
"Gentlemen, please. We have an audience who doesn't need to see just how disagreeable you both are. Calm down, Itachi-san, and do as you said you would. You're both so stubborn," she scolded.
Again in awe, Neji watched Itachi leave the clearing in a more downtrodden manner than he had ever seen from a ninja.
"And as for you, Deidara-san, let me see your jaw." She took his chin in her hand and felt at the place on his lower cheek where the bone met the skull. Shifting his jaw bone slightly, Neji heard a crack as Hinata put it where it belonged and a green light suffused her hand to heal it completely. "Now, will you leave, or will I have to call Itachi back and have him make you leave?"
Neji watched the explosives artist scowl before thanking her, placing a kiss on her cheek, spinning on his heel, and pridefully striding away.
She laughed under her breath and turned her attention back to him. "I'm sorry. They're just worried about me. Why did you want them to leave again?" Her eyes followed the blone man's progress, shining brightly.
Neji's Byakugan activated, making sure they were gone, before he posed the question that had been bothering him since the morning when they had met again. "What is the real reason you are staying?"
"Because I am in love," she replied, sighing longingly. Her eyes appeared torn, though.
"How could you fall in love with the enemy?" Neji's exclaimed question nearly sent her into a panic.
"Don't shout, you might wake the others!" She urged, then sighed. He wondered if she was searching her mind for a way to explain it. Taking a deep breath, she spoke and answered his unasked inquiry. "What would you do if Tenten-san suddnely killed a fellow Konoha nin, the fled the village? Would you still love her?"
Bringing up his long-time crush on his teammate was a cruel tactic, but he thought he saw where she was headed. He had thought he hid his crush from his cousin, though…
"I would. She would still be the same person I have always known," he admitted.
"These men are the same as they have always been. They were loved by their villages, treasured even, before they betrayed them. These men didn't change, it was just people's perspectives. You of all people should know that. There is more to my family in Akatsuki than meets the eye. Please remember that and help me get the others to leave. I'm truly happy here, for the first time since Haha-ue** died. I don't want to leave them. Please help me convince the others to leave," she bowed before him, pressing her face to the dirt as she begged.
Watching her plead, and his own thoughts of Tenten made him make a decision he hoped he wouldn't regret. "Are you positive you want this?"
"I have thought of every possible outcome, and would choose nothing else. I wanted to make sure you knew the real reason, though. I didn't want to make you think I really had changed as much as I acted like I did," the Hyuuga confessed hesitantly, lifting her face to speak.
"How did you act so cruel and against your nature earlier, by the way," Neji asked, lifting her from the ground to stand in front of him.
"With lessons from Itachi-san and desperation to make you leave. If you had passed me, all four of us would have died,"
"Ah. You are doing everything you can to make this hurt the least bit possible for all of us, aren't you?"
Hinata frowned and backed away slightly. "It's my choice to leave. Why shouldn't I make it easier? Just help me tomorrow and we'll all live happily in our separate lives," giving her cousin one last hug before they became mortal enemies, Hinata smiled and leapt into the trees.
(A/N: I'm going to end it here. Since I've been creating so many cliff hangers lately, I figured I would attempt to save the poor guy and not make one. If any of you have seen Between the Lions [do not own!] then you'll get that reference. XD That, and I feel really bad making you all wait three weeks for an unsatisfying ending. But at least I'm prompt with the chapter delivery, right? I've only missed one deadline so far, and that was only by one day! All the other times, it has been exactly three weeks since I've updated! (: I'msoproudofkeepingmydealines! I've never done that before, and it's pretty good practice for my future writing career. XD I hope I have a future there, anyway. So, before I bore you with my life's story and "when I grow up" hopes, I'll end my ranting and say that I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to the next one! Ja ne!
*Shoushi: midnight
**Haha-ue: mother [formal/polite])