Hey all

Hey all!

Chapter 11 – late, but at your service! It isn't very long, and it's a transition chapter, but I hope you like it!

Also: I made three illustrations for this fanfic.

This one, incomplete, and the scene will actually occur around ch20, perhaps… mimozablooming./art/NejiHina-Touches-81518479

This one, complete, and you can probably tell what the work originated from: mimozablooming./art/SasuHina-companionship-81580758

Third one, complete, and this scene will come up in 2 or 3 chapters:

mimozablooming./art/NejiHina-Caught-81820695

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A pleasing sight opened up to Neji as team A and the client's party finally arrived at the Fire country's main port. The ship fated to reunite the Leaf shinobi proudly stood in the harbor, its ramp lowered invitingly to all those willing to pay a fee for passage and bed. There were many people on board already. Out of the passengers (those people who somehow did not look like crewmen) some were walking the decks, but most appeared to be dragging their luggage into the rooms on the second story, taking bunk beds. Neji saw Shikamaru examining one of the rooms closer to the nose of the ship; after additional scanning, Lee could be found on the lowest floor, enthusiastically helping the sailors load the cargo. But Neji could not place Hinata.

That's what he got for loosing team B in the crowd on the dock. Charka systems all looked fairly alike. Lee's and Shikamaru's he knew well; and even if he couldn't identify their chakra coils, he knew their mannerisms, the way they walked. It was easy to find them again. He didn't expect Hinata to be separated. Perhaps he should have watched her closer – then at least he could try to identify her charka patterns… Neji looked over the ship twice, checking every passenger, looking for the characteristic distribution, or an unusual chakra rush to the eyes, but in the end, something entirely different helped him identify his cousin. At a point, just as he was about to give up the search, a line of movement caught his attention: an inhale, an extended neck with slightly mounted shoulders, and a rise of face to the sun– exactly the gesture he witnessed Hinata make as she twirled before meeting the Inuzuka.

Yes, there was no doubt; the girl standing on the highest deck, overlooking the harbor was her. Hinata in a kimono…

Neji switched off the Byakugan, and found himself transfixed by the sight.

-"What a pretty picture she makes." Yes, exactly my thoughts, Neji was almost about to agree when he realized that he was being addressed by their client, who somehow had appeared exactly next to Neji's left without the shinobi's noticing. I got carried away again… This was no good. Reunion with team B was supposed to ease his urge to watch her, instead of reinforcing it.

- "Who are you talking about?" Although Neji had found himself unready for the old's man's approach, an attempt to rescue his poise could never hurt.

-"Ah, but the girl you were watching! You looked so intense I was thinking perhaps you saw an enemy, but behold – it was a hime!" Perhaps he was not ready for the old man's humor too. However, Neji could not leave a conversation feeling like a kid.

-"She could be an enemy."

-"With a smile as wide as that?" the client looked at Neji with an expression which showed that the old man was pretty sure Neji's reply would only reinforce his point. But Neji wouldn't relent.

-"Perchance she is acting."

-"Young man, when you're as old as me, you'll be able to see through a fake smile," the client confronted with a knowing nod, laughing lightly. "That smile, even from this far away, is real."

-"Just because she is happy about something does not eliminate the possibility that she is here to hurt you."

-"Young man, you are too stubborn. A second's worth of glance reveals she is enjoying the sea. An assassin would be too attentive to exhibit so openly a joy over such an irrelevant thing. Come, use your eyes for something other then looking!"

-"…which would be?"

-"Seeing, perhaps?..." The old man seemed extremely content with the opportunity to bestow guidance upon a member of the younger generation. At least the advice given still hadn't touched on the way Neji did his job. The old man suddenly continued, "Excellent, excellent… my wife and I will finally have someone to speak to without breaking protocol…" and then proceeded in the direction of the said wife.

to speak to…?! Weren't they supposed to keep team B in low profile?

Neji felt slight panic creep into his mind.

Hinata could see her friends perfectly from the ship's deck. Naruto's blond flock and Sakura's pink hair could not be mistaken. Sasuke was not very difficult to locate either; Hinata wondered when her aloof friend happened to get the leadership position on team A. At least, at the moment he was the one to direct two of the client's men to stay in Fire country with the mules, the horses, and the carriage. Hinata's friends and the client's guards were collecting luggage and getting boarding passes according to the instructions of the client's wife. And the client himself was speaking with…Neji. Ah. All in place. Now all she had to do was to inconspicuously make sure everyone boarded safely and then somehow find Shikamaru and Lee without using her bloodline limit. Shouldn't be too hard.

Perhaps it was the perceived ease of her task which occurred to Hinata as the perfect excuse not to make a single change to her position. In any case, her immobility apparently occurred to the client as the perfect reason to put his grand plans for intelligent conversation into motion: the second his feet reached the ship's deck, the old man released his wife's elbow with a wink, and proceeded directly at Hinata with a lighthearted, yet determined stride.

And now Hinata was still maintaining her pose, but no longer was it her choice. Hinata was frozen. The realization that the client was approaching her first, right after they boarded (instead of her making the acquaintance upon Shikamaru's explicit instruction and signal, sometime later on) pushed all coherent thought out of her brain somewhere overboard, leaving Hinata only with an ability to gape at the nearing old man; her consciousness waving a white flag, embroidered with a flashy resignation: "Anticipating doom's arrival".

She wasn't ready. At all. She needed some time to tell herself that speaking with this stranger will not be as terrifying or significant as it seemed to her at the moment, that disaster did not loom behind those kindly smiling eyes, that she would not make a fool of herself just by opening her mouth. She always needed time, and the client had just unwillingly robbed Hinata of her precious mental preparation. She felt so morbid that her mind had even missed the fact that team A was cautiously following the client with expressions that appeared very humor evoking to a careful observer (Sakura's – deadly attentive, Sasuke's – interested, Neji's – quite openly troubled, and Naruto's – confused and petrified).

Hinata's own face deserved a photo shoot: it mirrored Sasuke's usual aloofness in everything but her eyes, which opened to a dangerous roundness, almost as if their continuously growing size could deter the unwelcome invasion of her inside world. Somebody please kidnap me now!...

But the sky was not taking pleas for salvation at the moment. Thus, seconds trickled into what seemed like an eternity, and very quickly Hinata found herself gazing up into the client's face (who turned out to be extremely tall for an old man), surrounded by her comrades of team A.

And then the client was bowing and saying his greetings. Liquid horror spread through the flustered girl like a curtain of freshly melted snow; her limbs stiff, teeth clasped, hands white from the force of the grip on the ship's board. The man kept smiling and addressing her with questions. Yet the more kindness and patience he showed, the less Hinata's brain was willing to process the information it received. By the third time the client asked for her name, Hinata had downright forgotten how to speak.

Neji was slowly admitting that Makoto was exceedingly right regarding Hinata's status a potential enemy. Even if a happy smile could perhaps be faked, an assassin wouldn't exhibit such dread simply at being approached. Not even wouldn't – couldn't; this was the essence of his cousin, as he had remembered her since childhood. Only Hinata could face real enemies with idiotic fearlessness, and then fall apart when approached by a harmless human being. Her face was becoming so amusing that Neji had forgotten his own discomfort at such an abrupt meeting of the client and team B. Perhaps all would turn out well.

Sakura hadn't truly been worried about the client's sudden hunt of their teammate. And she couldn't find another word to characterize his actions: he had the air of a hawk that saw his prey and descended upon it with a faltering of an arrow. If he approached everything in his life with such sweeping determination, it was no wonder that he became this successful and influential. As long as it doesn't cause us any problems. But Sakura wasn't really worried. Mildly alarmed at most, specifically for Hinata's mental health. The Hyuuga heir seemed so out of her body that she did not notice Lee's and Shikamaru's return. The two disguised shinobi were now standing closely behind their statue-like teammate, putting on their best animosity faces. But the guys were poor actors – Shikamaru merely looked annoyed, and Lee - as if he was trying to touch his eyebrows with his lower lip. At least Shikamaru would definitely handle the situation. Herself, Sakura needed to assess the ship for any potential health hazards.

She hadn't made even two steps away from the little group when her medic's ears registered a hushed wheezing, almost barking noise; whirling around, ready to administer any sort of procedure to get rid of the ominous symptom, she rushed to the source of the sound. Her eyes met an unusual situation: Neji was shaking ever so slightly, roughly clutching a line to prevent himself from toppling over, croaking every few seconds as if clearing his trachea. Sakura grabbed his shoulders, forcefully turning him to face her and about the free his air pathways, only to hear:

-"Is...is…is she… acting?"

-"What?" Sakura's eyes were roaming over Neji's uncommonly red and twisted face. The medic took in the Hyuuga's partially closed eyelids, the dip of cheeks being bitten from the inside, the cringed up nose, and came up with a diagnosis. The bastard is laughing! "What!?"

-"Hi..hi…H-inata?" he finally breathed out.

-"Oh!" Sakura slowly released her grasp on the man, glanced at the source of Neji's delight, and chuckled to herself: "No. That's our Hina-chan."

The sight truly held some amusement. There was a peeved looking Shikamaru, clearly indecisive over whether to let Hinata do the talking (silent gaping, in this case) or take over himself. There was the hyperactive Lee, who kept throwing his attention from the tall man to the fairly small frame of his teammate, making all those watching his swinging black hair feel dizzy. There was the client, still pleasantly smiling at the petrified girl, holding her limp palm on his large fist, and then there was Hinata.

Hinata, whose hand had just been taken and kissed (under the excuse that Makoto heard that this was the proper method to greet a hime in some overseas county). Hinata, whose face mirrored a reaction of a child, whose round lollipop had just been unceremoniously stolen right from her mouth, and who still hasn't realized the implications of the theft. That was the expression that made Neji laugh – an expression of utter confoundedness.

But the show did not end there. Hinata's mind was finally coming about; her body thawing. The kissed hand gently retracted, her ring finger finding comfort in being chewed on. The shocked eyes gained a tint of coherency, shifted, took in the sight of team A, hesitated, perhaps sensing Shikamaru's and Lee's presence beside her, and suddenly locked upon the client with a renewed mortification.

The next instant Hinata almost fell into a deep bow. Ah, of course. For a Hyuuga, to forget manners – why, a higher crime is yet to be committed, thought Sakura with a trace of adoration for their youngest comrade. A barely noticeable smirk on Sasuke's features reaffirmed her opinion. And surely our dearest Uchiha can relate. But to focus on the client

Makoto obviously took Hinata's awakening as a great success on his part. Bowing slightly in return (since Hinata clearly did not register the two bows he initiated upon his approach), he generously gave the girl a chance to reestablish herself in his eyes.

-"And I was almost ready to think that the hime was as spoiled as she is pretty", voiced he with mischievous courtesy. "I am Makoto. My wife and guards are currently on the lower deck. These young people here are my companions. I'm sure you'll get along well. Now, finally, what is hime's name?"

-"Hinata….Makoto-sama." Now that she understood everything the man was saying, Hinata felt bewildered. Other then Jiraya-san, no one she had met gave out compliments with such arrogant ease. She supposed that on the whole, the client appeared to be a refreshing man. In a collect-your-things-and-run way.

-"I take it hime is not traveling all alone," continued the client, not even glancing at the shadow and taijutsu masters. "Even so, what is your purpose in visiting the Water country?" Nevermind, Makoto was much worse than Jiraya. The latter was too lazy to alarm new acquaintances with straightforward prying questions. Although one had to give Makoto credit. Somehow the content of his inquiries could barely be noticed – the intonation of the questions coated the context with an air of genuine good intent.

-"My friends and …I… are hoping to enjoy the festivals that will be held at the capital of the Main Island during the election week…."

-"Oh, excellent! We are heading for exactly the same location; how about we join forces until the destination is reached. And the festivals do promise to be topnotch. Although I would expect your own town to hold a rice festival in less then a month…. So strange for a young girl, unmarried too as I take it, to travel with two men and so far – a bit dangerous too, isn't it?" Oh, the talkative old goat! Whatever good intentions he had, meddling to this extent – Hinata started to understand how Shikamaru had felt often. This was so troublesome!

-"We….wanted to see the land beyond our province's boarders and… I am… well protected. Thank you for your concern," she gave a slight bow, even though the client had too gutsy for her taste.

-"So you hold these two young men here in high regard and trust, I see…What are their qualifications?" Oh, Kami, surely he does this on purpose. If he is so conservative, shouldn't he also address Shikamaru and Lee instead of me? It felt awfully uncomfortable having to speak for her comrades although they were clearly present. What did Makoto want to achieve with this interrogation?

-"Lee is…an excellent fighter, and Shikamaru is…" somehow 'genius' did not sound very helpful at the moment, "…not so bad himself…" Arg. Now Shikamaru will be annoyed with me as well…

-"I see," the old man chuckled, "Then you and your companions must join me for some tea later today. My wife would enjoy your company. Now I must leave you," and with a small bow he was off. Just like that. As if he didn't just behave in a most uncommon, even rude manner. How right was Sasuke….arrogant, self-sufficient rascal! If he always acted this way, the tea would be torture!

Minutes later, team B was dangling their feet off the beds in the cabin Shikamaru had rented for the voyage. Their travel bags laid forgotten in the corner; an oil lamp weakly illuminated the area around the wooden box it was standing on – the one the passengers were expected to use as a table. There were no windows, not even small round ones Hinata hoped she would find there. The cabin was small, to put it mildly. Three bunk beds barely fitted in, leaving just enough space next to the walls to allow a restless sleeper to fall in and get stuck. Overall, it felt like one of the shelter rooms in the Hokage Mountain – dark, tiny, threatening containers that were created to protect you, but where it was easier to close ones eyes then to face the imposing lack of light. The only thing which could keep one sane in such spaces was the knowledge that there were two doors; that if one was blocked by the enemy, you wouldn't starve or suffocate, that you could still escape from the self inflicted prison. Hinata mildly wondered if she could kick a hole in any of the ship's walls.

-"….So ….why do you think the client had taken such an interest in Hinata…?" began the shadow user.

-"Because he is a person who values youthful spirit!" was Lee's theory. Hinata was surprised to see that Shikamaru did not disagree completely.

-"…maybe so in the beginning…but once she became normal again he asked too many pointed questions…and disregarded us completely…"

-"Are you suggesting that Makoto-sama interrogated me…because I..."

-"…acted in a unacceptably unprofessional manner…?...yes… a shocked girl is much more likely to give honest answers than an excellent fighter and a guy who isn't so bad himself…"

-"Sorry…"

-"…at least you didn't tell him I'm brilliant…we're still good…"

-"I take that back – you don't sound too different from the client."

-"…and that is bad because…"

-"Nevermind. So why those questions in particular?"

-"…don't know yet…he seems to doubt our purpose for traveling…"

-"But now we're stuck with him for the whole trip, just like we wanted, right?" was Lee's second contribution.

-"..almost… it would have been better to be the ones to initiate the meeting…that way we would have been the ones with the dominant information…right now we are at his mercy…"

-"Are you sure it is necessary to keep our shinobi status unknown to him? After all, won't he find out the first time we protect him?"

-"…have you never taken instruction on acting undercover?... the fewer people who know your real identity, the smaller the chance of it becoming a problem during the mission. …let him stay clueless for as long as possible…"

Hinata forbid herself from feeling offended at being chastised by Shikamaru. He was having trouble hiding the frustration of being responsible for making everything right, even through things were not going according to plan. And if she didn't check herself, the adrenalin rush from the recent exchange with Makoto would result in more dangerous things then temporary boldness. Like talking back to an annoyed man. Never talk back to annoyed men – Hinata's extensive experience with Naruto and her own teammates taught her that if an annoyed man suspects that you doubt him, he stops listening. And something told her that a deaf Shikamaru would translate into impossibly high expectations. And as it was, she was already disqualified.

Thankfully, there was a great means to pacify an irked male: let him talk about his area of expertise. Conveniently, the topic of Shikamaru's expertise was very pertinent to their actual situation – strategy.

-"So… What are we doing next?"

-"…for starters, let's go over the ship's construction plans. We're located on second floor, above the cargo level, below both decks. As you saw, our level can be entered from two sides from the first deck, and it is impossible to get into the cargo area from this floor. ..better for us…Our level is nothing more then a hall with small cabins lined up on both sides. The corridor itself isn't very wide – just enough to open a door and peek through the gap it makes with the opposite wall… barely any space to fight. There are no windows - the enemy will come from the inside of the ship. They must be taken out before they get to the client's cabin. If they get in – our chances of success drops dramatically. Even though someone from team A will be staying with the client, it would be hard to execute techniques without hurting the client as well as the enemy. Thus, again, they must be taken out as soon as they descent to this level." Men. Ask just one right question, and they might never stop talking, grinned Hinata, secretly proud of her success. Shikmaru went on, paying no attention to his comrade's respectful, warm smile.

"There are ladders at each entrance. It is pitch dark in the hall; thus, for surprise, we can hide between the ladder and the wall during guard duty. If you'll be guarding, don't kill anyone. I need to know specifically who's behind the attacks. So disarm, hit them over the head, whatever – as long as their brains and ability to speak are intact. All that said, I doubt if we'll be able to see all the passengers, and all the crewmen. It's also possible that the attackers would board the ship sometime during the voyage, without actually taking the ship over hostage. In other words, anyone could be an enemy, and we really have no one to pinpoint until they actually attack. We also can't assume that everybody who descends the ladder at night is an assassin – there are no curfews for passengers. So…how about this: in addition to posting guards on the first deck near this floor's entrance to prevent any surprises, we spill oil in front of the ladders… passengers, who are more likely to climb down facing the wall, are less likely to slip, and if they do – you'll be there catch them, right? Assassins are less likely to expose their back to an open hall; they are also trained enough to keep their balance even if they slide – there are the two things you will be looking for. In the end, do everything necessary to keep the client safe."

-"Should I go let Naruto know of the plan?"

-"…no yet Lee…let's have that tea with Makoto first. Perhaps things will get easier. For now, you and I will search the ship anything that could help us. And Hinata, if you stay here you can use your Byakugan, and then report your observations to me when we get back. Find out where the client will be sleeping, which rooms are reserved for team A and his guards… "

-"Wait for us, Hinata! We'll be back as swiftly as the wind!" and with an enthusiastic wave, Lee followed Shikamaru out of the cabin.

The dark little room was not bad at all when one could see through walls. Byakugan activated, Hinata relaxed into the technique; being able to use it once again was like a breath of cold mountain air – refreshing, reassuring. It felt secure. The realization that she relied too much on her bloodline limit came with a tint of disappointment. Others didn't even have this ability; they trusted the information gathered by their common senses about their immediate surroundings…what if she couldn't use her eyes. What if her chakra was sealed and her usual vision obscured? Would she be able to assess her environment? …Once the mission was over, she'd ask Kiba to train with her to develop the other senses… It was too dangerous to rely on her eyes so much.

But that aside, using Byakugan again was a relief. It allowed her to connect things. It meant that somewhere just above her, Sakura was yelling at Naruto for climbing on one of the masts against permission. It meant that the client and his wife were speaking to the captain not far from the captain's cabin, at the saloon. It meant that when the sails were let down and filled with the first gush of wind, and when the ship, free from its grip on the harbor's floor, commenced its voyage, then – sitting alone in the dimply lit wooden room, Hinata was with her friends.

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I hope you enjoyed it! Better things to come in next chapter. 