Summary: Hinata worries about her cousin and discovers something that she wasn't expecting. Neji feels that there's something not quite right. To top it all off, Himura's army is only a one day march away from the village.

Chapter 10

Hinata Hyuuga had always been a worrier. When she was child, shy and quiet, she'd worried about absolutely everything, from how her hair was brushed to even how her cousin, Neji's was. As she'd gotten older some of the worrying had gone away, but some of it had stayed. On this particular morning, she was doing just that: worrying. She'd seen Neji leave the compound the night before and was shocked to find that he hadn't yet returned.

As she walked through the street, she glanced at the people around her, searching for the familiar white eyes. He wasn't at the training grounds nor was he at any of his other favorite spots. No matter where she looked, Neji wasn't there.

About to give up, she decided to try one more thing. Activating her Byakugan, she searched for her cousin's chakra signature. Finding the white blaze of chakra, she headed in that direction. What surprised her, however, was that she discovered it to be coming from an apartment designated for foreign diplomats. Frowning, she walked up to the door and knocked. When no one responded, she knocked again.

Sighing, she turned to leave when she noticed that the balcony she stood on wrapped around the side of the building. She followed it and, glancing around the corner, found that each apartment had its own separate, private balcony extended off of the back. Smiling, the Hyuuga leapt from terrace to terrace until she arrived at the correct apartment.

Normally, Hinata was not the kind of person to pry into other people's lives, let alone their homes -or temporary apartments, in this case- but she was too concerned about her cousin to think about the consequences of what she was doing.

Deactivating the Byakugan, Hinata easily opened the lock with a flash of chakra and silently stepped into the apartment. She noticed a pile of clothes that lay against the far wall and, frowning, walked over to it. Kneeling down, she was about to pick up the familiar tan shirt when she heard a faint rustling and moan. Raising her head, Hinata glanced to her left and leapt backward with a yelp when she met her cousin's sleep riddled eyes.

Blinking, Neji looked at Hinata and, suddenly, a wave of shock ran through them. He quickly sat up and felt something resting behind him, something with skin.

"Fuck," he hissed, rushing to find something with which he could cover himself.

Feeling Gaara stir behind him, Neji quickly laid his hands over his crotch and glanced back at his boyfriend.

"What is it, love?" Gaara murmured, pulling Neji tighter against him. "It's too early. Go back to sleep."

"Um, I'm sorry, Gaara, but, I don't think that is a good idea," Neji replied shakily.

"Why not? Do you want another round or some Gaara asked, opening one eye a crack.

He stopped when he saw the horrified look on Neji's face.

"What

Quickly, he sat up and, seeing Hinata, blushed heavily and dropped the hands that were around his boyfriend's waist to cover Neji's own.

"Shit," he muttered as Neji turned his head to look back at his cousin.

The Hyuuga heir had a look of complete surprise on her face. She was, in fact, too surprised to even be embarrassed by what she saw. Never, in all the time she'd known Neji, had she guessed anything like this: that he was gay. Sure, he had never been interested in girls, but she'd always supposed that it was because he was too focused on his training or something like that.

"W-well t-this is a sur-surprise," Hinata stammered.

"Uh, yeah," Neji replied dumbly.

For the first time in his life, he didn't know quite what to say.

"D-does f-fa-father-r kn-know about um y-your-"

"Sexuality? No."

"W-well u-um-"

"Hinata?"

"Y-Yes!"

"Are you going to tell him?"

A slight blush spread over Hinata's face as Gaara sat up slightly from his position behind Neji.

"D-do y-you want me t-to?"

Neji and Gaara exchanged a glance.

"We'd appreciate it if you didn't," Gaara replied as his lover turned deathly pale.

Taking one of his hands off of Neji's, Gaara wrapped it around the Hyuuga's waist. Gaara was sitting completely upright and pulled Neji into one as well. The Hyuuga scooted back into Gaara's grasp as he sat between the Kazekage's legs, his hands still covering himself. Gaara almost seemed to hiss defensively at Hinata when she didn't respond, tightening his protective grasp around his boyfriend.

"I-I won't t-tell him any-anything," Hinata squeaked under the Suna leader's stare.

"Good," Gaara replied, his voice softening slightly.

"Thanks, Hinata," Neji said.

"N-no problem, Neji-nii-san, but um, I would suggest putting some clothes on. We have training in a few hours."

Neji blushed fiercely as Hinata quickly left the room, closing the sliding door behind her as she stepped onto the balcony. She jumped over to the other terraces, making her way back to the front of the building. When she was down on the street, she made her way to an alley a few blocks away, her steps as quick as she could make them without breaking into a jog. As soon as her foot stepped off of the road and into the alley, she squatted down, her back resting against the wall of the building.

"Oh my God," she murmured. "Holy shit."

Then she broke into a sudden fit of light laughter.

"Holy shit, Father can't know about this."

Back at the apartment, Neji was throwing his clothing on in a rush. His hair was in knots, but he didn't have time to brush it out. He was frantic, fear pumping through him. Gaara sat on the couch, dressed only in his pants. He watched his boyfriend closely.

"Are you regretting it?" Gaara asked slowly as Neji quickly pulled his shirt down over his chest.

"What? Hell no!" Neji shouted.

He turned towards Gaara, a shocked look on his face.

"Are you sure?" Gaara asked.

"Of course, you idiot," Neji growled as he walked over to the seated Kazekage. "I'm just fucking scared alright!"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry," Gaara sighed.

He rested his forehead against Neji's stomach, wrapping his arms around Neji's clothed hips.

"It's okay," Neji laughed, running his fingers through his lover's red hair.

"You'd better get going. I have a feeling that she's going to have a whole fuck load of questions for you."

"Yeah."

Leaning down, Neji lightly kissed his lover, running his tongue over the thin lips. Gaara smiled and met Neji's tongue with his in midair. Their tongues intertwined in a battle of love and lust before they both pulled away, groaning at the loss of each other.

"I'll see you later," the Hyuuga sighed before taking off.

"See yah," Gaara called after him.

As Neji left the apartment, a strange feeling hit him. He frowned and looked up, his hand still on the doorknob. Maybe describing it as a feeling wasn't quite accurate. It was like an outside force that had seeped into his body through every pore in his skin and filled him with a sense of apprehension.

"What the hell?" he wondered aloud.

He walked to the edge of the porch and, setting his hands on the railing, leaned over to look down at the street.

"Nothing unusual," he murmured, frowning.

Straightening up, Neji sighed and jogged down the steps to the street. As he made his way through the crowd, the feeling only got worse. Swallowing hard, the Hyuuga broke into a run, heading towards to nearest isolated body of water. Cutting through the training grounds, Neji ran into the trees, following a familiar path. When he reached the small pond, he flung himself down onto the bank, breathing hard, though not from the run. The feeling of apprehension had filled his entire body, making it ache.

"Minoru!" he shouted, leaning over the water. "Answer me, God damn it!"

"So you're feeling it, huh?" his reflection asked.

"Feeling what? What the fuck is going on?" Neji cried.

"He's coming," Minoru said mysteriously.

"You mean Utake?" Neji asked.

Minoru nodded.

"Why-"

"-It's your DNA warning you that he's nearby," Minoru said.

"My DNA? What the fuck?"

"Utake has a done a lot of shit to our kind."

"Our kind?"

"Shh! Someone's coming."

"Neji, what are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked as he walked out of the trees.

"Nothing," Neji replied coldly, setting his Hyuuga mask in place.

The Nara gave him a suspicious look, but Neji just stood up and turned to him, folding his arms over his chest.

"What are you doing here?"

"Nothing."

Neji rolled his eyes when Shikamaru smirked.

Himura Utake was sitting in his tent, a book sprawled out on his lap. He was grinning as he flipped to his favorite page. It was a detailed family tree that gave names and dates of birth as well as death. Some of the names even had second names written next to them in parenthesis.

"Sir, would you like anything to eat?" his retainer asked as he poked his head in through the flap.

"No," Himura said, laughing a little as he ran a finger over one of the names at the bottom of the page.

"What are you reading, Sir?" the retainer asked, walking up behind his master.

"The Ookami family tree," Himura murmured.

Frowning, the retainer glanced at the book. A glint of recognition lit in his eyes before he turned away.

"Water, Sir?"

"Fine."

The retainer poured a mug of water for his master.

"Who is it that we're looking for again?" the retainer asked.

"Sugata," Himura replied as he ran his finger over the name again. "He's a direct descendant of the Umi line."

"So he's powerful then."

"Very much so."

"Aren't you worried at all, Sir?" the retainer asked, handing his master the mug of water.

"Why would I be?" Himura asked coldly.

"I mean, do we really want a repeat of what happened with Fuyu?"

Narrowing his eyes, Himura turned to his retainer and hissed, "There won't be a repeat of last night, now will there?"

The retainer nodded furiously before he exited the tent. Sighing, he quickly made his way through the camp, heading for his own tent. As soon as he was inside the confines of his own space, the retainer threw himself down on the pile of blankets that served as his bed.

'Fuck, I was once a prominent doctor. How did I get so far removed from my initial goals? I have to serve that asshole like some sort of slave,' he thought angrily. 'When we get to Kohona, shit is gonna change. That asshole is going to pay for all the shit he put me through, but how to do it. Maybe I can sneak away and find someone in Kohona who will help me. What would they want to know?'

Suddenly, he had an idea and he smiled. He had the perfect information for the ninja of Kohona.

'Fuyu. They'll want to know about Fuyu.'

Preview: Tensions are high as Himura's army arrives.