Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Hinata walked along the paths of the compound, which were blanketed in pure darkness, there were no stars and the moon's light didn't shine on the path before her. Curious, she continued her trek along the dark path. Suddenly, a lion's roar pierced the night, but unlike the lioness, this sound struck fear into her very bones. She turned to see a huge black lion bearing down on her, its eyes seemed to be made of living flame. Fearing she was about to die, Hinata braced herself for the impending threat, but the lion flew straight passed her. Startled, she turned to see the lion was attacking an old falcon. The falcon was putting up a good fight, but was no match for the lion's strength and the flames of his eyes scorched and burned the old beast. As Hinata moved to aid the falcon, she felt strong jaws clamp themselves on her shoulder. It was the white lioness. The white beast, with Hinata firmly secured in its powerful jaws, fled the area, as the cries of pain from the old falcon echoed in her ear along with the thunder crashing in the night sky…
Hinata sat bolt upright in her bed, her body covered in a thin sheen of sweat, panting she realized that someone was pounding on her door, frantically. Activating her Byakugan and turning towards the door, she saw that it was Sujiko. She looked at the time; it was 2:30 am.
"What on earth?" Hinata wondered as she made her way swiftly towards the door. Upon opening the door, she was startled to see that Sujiko's face had a look of pure abject horror on her face.
"S-Sujiko-san? What has happened" Hinata asked the very shaken woman.
"Its horrible, Hinata-sama! Just horrible! Oh, what will become of this? Will another of the branch family have to die?"
"Calm down Sujiko, what has happened?"
"I-It's Elder Noburu, Hinata-sama. He was found dead, murdered!"
"WHAT!?" Hinata was stunned. "A clan elder? Murdered? How? When?"
" I do not know Hinata-sama, I was awakened by one of the guards who gave me a message from your father to inform you of the situation…Hinata-sama, are you all right? You look pale, almost white"
"I-Its nothing Sujiko-san, I just had a very realistic dream. Does the rest of the compound know about this?"
"They will come morning" came the prompt reply
"I see, thank you Sujiko-san, you may go"
"But Hinata-sama, you still seem quite pale, are you certain you don't want me to stay?"
"Yes, I'm fine Sujiko-san"
"Very well, Hinata-sama"
As soon as Sujiko had left Hinata gazed up at the black night sky, one thought coursing through her head.
"As soon as morning comes, all hell is going to break loose"
She then sat down on her bed to think recent events through, the news of Elder Noburu's death having effectively killed her sleep.
Across town, the one responsible for the coming uproar was just arriving at his group's headquarters.
"Why hello Hikaku, did you accomplish your mission?" asked Hachico
" Yes, Hachico. The man responsible for my dear sister's death…is no more"
"No more? You mean you…?" Kajiko asked wide-eyed.
" Yes Kajiko, I killed him, I killed the murdering piece of trash"
"A murdering piece of trash who just happens to be a Main Branch member! Hikaku, do you realize what you have done!?"
"Of course Kajiko, I have finally exacted justice on the scum responsible for taking away the one family I had left after my parents died"
"You killed a Main Branch Member!" Do you realize how much hell that's going to cause!?"
"Kajiko, this is exactly what our little group is about, justice, righting wrongs. If that requires us to take someone's life then so be it" Hikaku answered with an icy edge to his voice.
"He's right Kajiko" put in Hikara " sometimes those who bring justice to others have to do unpleasant things, we can't let the fact that our targets are members of the Main House get in the way of justice."
"Hikara, I'm worried that our 'justice' is slowly giving way to vengeance, how long will it be before we attack someone in the Main Family who has never hurt anyone in the Branch Family?"
"Kajiko, don't speak such foolishness. Everyone in the Main Family has done something to hurt someone in the Branch Family, they are all guilty in some form or fashion, don't let that bleeding heart of yours blind you to the truth of things" said Furio.
"While this conversation is highly interesting, I want to bring up a note of concern" spoke up Hachico. Everyone in the room turned to him.
"The White Lioness, has anyone been able to figure out who it could be? As long as she is still alive then our crusade for justice is in serious jeopardy."
"I haven't been able to find anything," answered Hikara
"Nor I" said Furio
"Negative on my end" replied Hikaku
"Nothing" said Kajiko, everyone else made similar comments.
"We must find out who the lioness is!" declared Hachico, " while she still breathes, our plan could fall apart!"
"Everyone, you must be especially vigilant in the coming days," said Hikaku " when we find out who the White Lioness is, mark her for death."
Hachico looked up at the assembled avengers " With her dead, the Main House will be powerless to halt the flood of justice that comes toward them. We will sweep through them like a fire through dry grass"
"What of the Hokage?" asked Kajiko, " if the Hokage gets involved, things could turn ugly for us real quick"
"Even if the Hokage does get involved, she can't make any moves against us. The Main Branch doesn't even know who we are! We will reveal ourselves when our crusade is complete" replied Hikaku
"When will that be?" asked Hajiro
"When our crusade against the Main Branch is fulfilled"
The sun rose over a very busy sight in the Hyuuga Compound, news of Elder Noburu's death had sent shockwaves through the entire compound. Every member of the clan, Main and Branch was talking about the murder.
"I can't believe it"
"Elder Noburu? Dead?"
" A Main Family member has been killed!? Oh hell…"
"Which of us will be next?"
"When will this terror end?"
"What is the Main House going to do?"
Hinata was still reeling from the news of Elder Noburu's murder; all training had been put off for that morning. She next to her Father on one of the porches of her home, her mind trying to make sense of what was becoming to her a series of strategic strikes against the Main Family.
"Well Hinata, it seems that this mysterious group has started to kill rather than attack, do you think this will be the only death in the Main Family?" Hiashi asked his eldest child.
"No Father, I fear that from now on, there will be a combination of attacks and deaths." replied Hinata.
" What I can't understand though, is why? Why are they attacking us now? What has happened to allow this to occur?" Hiashi mused aloud.
"Indeed," thought Hinata "What has happened?"
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud booming voice echoing from the front of her home.
"And here comes old war-hawk himself" thought Hinata
"HIASHI-SAMA! HIASHI-SAMA!"
" I'd better go and quiet him before he breaks something" muttered Hiashi as he stood up and walked into the house, Hinata following at a slightly slower pace.
"Yes, Elder Hanzaki. What is it?" Hiashi's calm question only seemed to infuriate the already furious Elder further.
"WHAT IS IT!? I'LL TELL YOU 'WHAT IS IT'; AN ELDER OF THIS CLAN HAS BEEN BRUTALLY MURDERED! I WANT TO KNOW WHEN WE WILL BE GATHERING TO DECIDE WHAT TO DO ABOUT THIS OUTRAGE!" Hanzaki roared. His furious gaze found Hinata, who was standing behind her father.
" Leave us at once child, this matter is nothing that someone of your age can handle, leave it to those who are not clouded by the inexperience of youth. I don't need your petty conspiracy mongering right now."
"Elder Hanzaki," stated Hiashi firmly " Look at what has happened recently, your granddaughter and four members of the Main Family have been viciously attacked, and a clan elder has been murdered. How on earth can these events be separate from each other?"
"Not you as well Hiashi-sama! I seem to be surrounded by theorists, instead of leaders"
"That will do Elder Hanzaki!" Hiashi stated angrily," There will be a meeting in three hours to discuss this most recent event, and trust me, we will thoroughly discuss it."
Elder Hanzaki gave a contemptuous " humph!" before spinning around and stomping out of the house; slamming the door behind him so hard it ripped the screen.
"Oh dear, and I liked that print too" stated Hinata calmly. Hiashi turned towards his daughter.
"Hinata, I want you to be at the meeting. With this most recent attack, our clan's stability is severely compromised. I need someone there that can see from all angles."
"Won't Elder Hanzaki object to that?" asked Hinata
"Don't worry about him, I'll see to it that you stay in there from start to finish, I hope that whatever we decide to do will curb these attacks."
"I fear that it is already to late for that father"
"Hmm, what do you mean Hinata?"
" I mean that it's already to late to hope to curb these attacks, with the death of Elder Noburu, I fear that whatever has already begun will only continue to grow"
Chapter 10 up finally! Sorry guys, I've been up to my ears in schoolwork. I'm on break now so hopefully I can get a couple more chapters in before school starts back up. Thank you all for being so patient and for reading and reviewing my work, I really appreciate it!