The Key to One's Soul
By: SuperHyuga Yoshi-chan
Chapter 11: Living Nightmares walk among us...
After every single Chibi that was staying at the Hyuga Compound was fed, bathed, and taken care of as far as hair was concerned, they all settled down for bed. Hinata had taken the time to borrow a spare mattress from an empty bedroom in the Hyuga Compound. She was also able to get some silk blankets and pillows as well. So after a long day of exploring, running, planning, and fun, the Chibis were all ready to go to sleep.
"Okay, everybody! Time to rest those sleepy little eyes of yours." Hinata smiled.
"*Yawn!* Okay, Hinata-san." Pebbles rubbed his eyes sleepily.
"Hinata-nata-nata?" [Mama, are you gonna read us a story?] Little Hinata asked.
"Not tonight, baby. Maybe tomorrow night." Hinata squatted to her Chibi's height and rubbed her hair.
Hinata then took care to tuck in and kiss goodnight each and every Chibi.
"Goodnight, little Chibis." Hinata cooed.
"Goodnight, Hinata-san." Most of the Chibis said.
As soon as they couldn't hear Hinata's footsteps anymore, they sat up in their spots. Little Neji, Teddy-Bear Tenten, Little Hinata, and Pebbles were on one side, while Little Naruto, Little Sauske, and Little Sakura on the other end.
"Little Neji, go grab the scrolls." Little Naruto said.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Little Neji pulled out the scrolls. "Pebbles, you have the 3-D glasses, right?"
"Right!" Pebbles pulled out all of his funky glasses.
For the next 5 minutes, Little Neji spent his time trying on all of Pebble's funky 3-D glasses. However, he had no luck at all. As a matter of fact, he even tried twice just to make sure.
"Man, this is hopeless!" Little Neji sighed in frustration. "We'll never figure out what this stupid seal does at this rate."
"Don't worry, Little Neji. We'll try something else tomorrow." Teddy-Bear-Tenten rubbed his back reassuringly.
"Alright." The pearl-eyed Chibi sighed. "Let's just get some sleep for now." "Now you're talking!" Little Naruto yawned. "Goodnight, you guys."
"Goodnight to all!" We all said in unison.
Little Neji went to sleep, but with an unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach.
{Little Neji's Dreamland}
Little Neji was sitting in the Hyuga clan's nursery, playing with his stuffed bunny. It wasn't often that his dreams took place here.
'Huh. I wonder what i'm doing here.' He thought.
"Usually, most of my dreams take place at Chibi Camp." He shrugged his shoulders. "Ah, well. Things have to change sometimes."
Suddenly, Neji walked into the room with a big smile on his face.
"Daddy Neji!'' Little Neji squealed as soon as he saw him.
"Hey Chibi dove! How are you?" Neji squatted to his Chibi's height.
"Oh daddy, daddy, daddy! I MISSED YOU!" Little Neji yelled.
"Me too, Chibi dove." Neji picked up Little Neji and kissed his hair.
"Daddy...why are you back so soon?" Little Neji asked.
"Why? Did you want me to stay in America forever?" Neji tickled him.
"No! No, I didn't want you to stay in America forever!" Little Neji laughed.
"Of course not." Neji held him closer.
That's when Little Neji got that same unsettled feeling in his stomach before he fell asleep. At first, it started out small, but then it grew bigger.
"Daddy..." Little Neji whined.
"Ssssshh...it's okay, Little Neji. I'm here now." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you."
"But i'm not worried about anyone hurting me. I'm worried about someone hurting you."
"Nonsense, Chibi dove. No one here is going to hurt either of us." Neji cooed.
Unfortunatly, Neji was so wrapped up in cuddling his Chibi that he failed to realize that one of the Hyuga Heads walked into the room. So he didn't notice when he made a few hand signs in order to activate something.
"AUGH!" Neji yelled. "Ow! That...it hurts!"
The Hyuga prodigy dropped his Chibi and collapsed to the ground; writhing in pain as he did so.
"DADDY NEJI!" Little Neji ran up to his Chibi owner. "Daddy, what's wrong?"
The only thing Neji could do was scream and howl in pain. That's when Little Neji noticed him scratching at his headband.
'Whatever under his headband must be bothering him!' The terrified Chibi thought hurriedly.
He yanked it off his forehead, only to see his dad's seal there. But it was what the seal was doing that shocked him.
"It's...it's glowing!" He exclaimed.
Then a sick realization had hit the poor Chibi. The Caged Bird Seal was hurting his dad.
"So...this is it's purpose? This is what the seal was created for?" Little Neji turned to the Hyuga Head. "This is what you've been turning them into?!"
By now, his Byakugan was activated.
"*Hee-hee-hee!* Foolish little Chibi. You know absolutely nothing about the Hyuga Clan or it's history." He chuckled.
"I don't care about this sick clan or it's history! I just want you to leave my Daddy Neji alone!" He charged towards him with a Juyyken in his hand.
Before he could land a hit on him however, the Hyuga Head vanished into thin air; thus leaving Little Neji to fall forward.
"*Ouch!* Damn...I missed." The Chibi then remembered his Chibi owner who was fighting his demon of a curse mark on the floor.
"Chibi dove-*Augh!* save yourself before-*Nngh!* b-before it's too late." Neji was heavily cringing in pain.
"NO!" Little Neji ran to his Chibi owner, the person he considered his father. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! I'm not leaving you, Daddy Neji! NO!"
Little Neji wrapped his arms around his Chibi owner's body as tightly as he could. The poor Chibi was unnerved at how cold to the touch his skin was. To be honest, he didn't even know if he was breathing or not. One by one, the Hyuga Heads started popping up, surrounding the two and crowding them quickly.
"Daddy, don't go. Wake up Daddy Neji, wake up. Wake up!" Little Neji screamed, his eyes full of tears. "Dammit Daddy, WAKE UP!"
"Little Neji..." Neji stroked his Chibi's cheek for what Little Neji was sure would be his last time.
Then he heard a more worried, concerned voice coming from an unknown place. However, it wasn't coming from his Chibi daddy. And for some reason, everything was feeling wet and looking swimmy.
'Little Neji...Little Neji...Little Neji...LITTLE NEJI!'
{11:45 p.m. at the Hyuga Mansion-Little Neji's point-of-view}
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" I screamed. "DADDY NEJI!"
"Little Neji, calm down! It's just us! Don't worry." I head a soft, warm voice.
"Little Hinata-nii-chan?" I looked up at her.
"Yeah, it's me. Don't worry, it's just us."
"*Phew!*" I sighed. Then, I looked at my side of the bed. "Um, guys? Why am I-"
"Wet? Well," Little Naruto sighed. "Shaking you wasn't working, so we had to use liquid."
"Liquid?" I asked.
"Um, unfortunately, the Hyuga guards only gave us Bacardi." Teddy-chan rubbed her ears sheepishly.
"I should've known." I sighed.
"So Little Neji, are you going to deactivate your Byakugan?" Little Naruto asked me.
"Deactivate my Byakugan?" I asked.
I scanned around the room only to notice that my Byakugan was in fact activated. That's when my eyes landed on the scroll with the code I couldn't comprehend. For some reason, something about that scroll was pulling me towards it. I stood up and walked over to pick it up.
"Little Neji, what are you doing?" Teddy-chan asked me. "We said that we would try again tomorrow."
"No." I picked it up and opened it. "Tommorow will be too late. I have to do this now."
I started reading it again...
"The Caged Bird Seal is a form of protection from outside forces to preserve the Byakugan and all of it's secrets. It is also created for the protection of the Main Family and the Clan Heads."
"The Seal is a way to make sure that no one gets the secret of the Byakugan. When one with the Seal dies, the seal destroys the eyes and any traces of the Byakugan. However, if a Branch member is to defy a Main House member, then the seal may be used to..."
I gulped as I read the next section.
"...the seal may be used to destroy the person that has defied them."
"This...this seal..." I began. My mind burst into overdrive as my nightmares started to become true.
"What? What about the seal, Little Neji?" All of my friends asked.
"This seal is used to destroy people." I whispered.
"WHAT?!" They all screamed, shocked.
"T-that...that can't be true!" Little Hinata exclaimed.
"But why destroy them? I mean, that can't be right. There's got to be something more to this." Little Sakura took the scroll. "It's so..."
"...Wrong." Little Naruto finished for her. "It's like enslaving your own family."
"Well, we didn't exactly finish reading the whole thing." I beckoned them to come to the moonlight streaming in through the window. "There has to be more to this."
"When necessary, a Branch member can be sacrificed in order to protect the Main Family."
"I knew it!" I almost shouted. "I knew there had to be more to this."
"Huh? *Yawn!* What's going on?" Pebbles woke up at that moment.
"Little Neji was able to decode the funky code!" Little Naruto spoke up.
"Shhhhhh! Do you wanna get us caught?"Little Sakura punched him in the head.
"Ouch! Sorry, Little Sakura." Little Naruto said.
"So what do we do now?" I asked.
The room was silent for each other. Then, Little Naruto's ears twitched.
"I know," He spoke up. "Let's consult the Pervy Sage about this. He knows a lot about seals. Maybe he can help us break it or seal it over."
"That's a great idea, Little Naruto. We'll go to his place early in the morning tomorrow. For now though, we need to get our beauty sleep." I fluffed my hair and yawned.
"Agreed." We all mumbled.
"Wait? Isn't anyone going to fill me in?" Pebbles asked.
"Just wait until morning, my friend. That's when we'll explain everything." I replied. "Goodnight to all."
"Goodnight to all." Everyone responded.
I laid back down, closed my eyes, and fell into a despondent sleep. It made me feel scared being one step closer to the truth. However, I feel better now that me and my friends have hope to fix this mistake; a chance to do the right thing.
Despite this, I fell asleep knowing that nightmares walked among us.
{Outside Neji's room}
"So they do have the scrolls. Just as I thought." One of Hiashi's guards was using his Byakugan to see through the door, while the other was eavesdropping.
"We should report this to Hiashi-sama. After all, this could be treasonous." The other one said as he started to walk away.
"Woah, partner. Hold on a sec, Yuki." The first guard who spoke grabbed the one known as Yuki by the back of his collar. "This may not be as bad as it seems."
"What the hell do you mean, Kazuki?" Yuki asked.
"For all we know, they could be one step closer to getting rid of the Caged Bird seal for good."
"B-but-"
"Oh, come on Yuki! I doubt anyone is going to miss that wretched seal at all. Even Lady Hinata hates it; we all know that much. Do you want to follow Hiashi-sama's orders, or do you want to lend a helping hand in getting rid of this terrible curse that's been plaguing this clan for generations?" Kazuki shook Yuki's shoulders. "Do you!?"
"Yes, but even so, we could get fired for not informing our leader about these kind of things." Yuki protested.
"Oh, I'm so scared!" Kazuki wailed sarcastically. "What's the worst he can do? Disown us? Hang us? Chop our heads off with a guillotine? Place the curse mark on us? I don't think so." He scoffed.
"Oh no. I can actually do a lot worse." Another voice came from the end of the hallway.
"Hn. I doubt it." Kazuki stuck his nose up in the air.
The two did a double take. The person who spoke was Hiashi himself!
"Thank you Yuki, for almost being treasonous. I'll be giving you a raise by the end of this week." Hiashi patted Yuki on the shoulder.
"Goody-goody-two-shoes." Kazuki muttered under his breath.
"Now Yuki, keep a close eye on those Chibis while they're still here. Follow them if you have to. Especially Little Neji." Hiashi instructed.
Then he turned to face Kazuki. "And as for you, Kazuki-san," He growled. "It's off to the bars with you! Today's you're lucky day; 'cause yo' ass is gettin' caged!" Hiashi cackled evilly.
"Aw, man! Come on! You trifling!" Kazuki shivered. "I don't deverve this! I'm too young to be caged!
Hiashi cackled evilly as he dragged the poor guard to his fate. "Oh, and Yuki," HE turned around. "Don't drink on duty."
"S-sure." Yuki stuttered.
Hiashi then continued to drag Kazuki to his unfortunate sealing.
"*Phew!* I'm just glad it wasn't me this time!" Yuki sighed as he looked through the wall with his Byakugan.
