[A few Adjustments
"I need to inform you all about something very important." started Hiashi, his face looked rather pale. Hinata and her sister Hanabi were there, sitting beside her father, and so were Kiba, Naruto and a few guards. This was an 'emergency' meeting, as the clan leader had called it, and as expected, this meeting must be about the runaways.
"Yesterday, several guards that I sent out were killed..." His low voice seemed to trail off. Hiashi gave everyone a serious look and continued, "Only one survived and came back to report. Matsuri and her bodyguard have almost reached the borders that separate us from Suna."
Kiba and Naruto exchanged looks. "Wow, even I couldn't kill all of the Hyuga guards in such a short amount of time..." Naruto said and at that, Hiashi quickly shot him a death glare. "Uhh...please go on, sir." Naruto stammered, trying not to anger Hiashi, and the clan leader cleared his throat.
"Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of guards left." Hiashi looked troubled, "And so, I will most likely hire another experienced shinobi to help me with this job."
"Father, uhh..." Hinata said politely. Hiashi rose his eyebrows and the girl clutched onto her robe in a tight grip, trying to hold onto her anxiety.
"What is it, say it already!" Hanabi snapped impatiently, crossing her arms as Hinata continued stammering.
"I just thought that..." She wore a worried look on her face and then suddenly blurted out, "Will you stop trying to capture Matsuri-san and Gaara-kun?!" The girl bit her lower lip and looked at the others nervously.
Hanabi and her father gasped in astonishment, and everyone else had their jaws dropped wide open as if Hinata had an extra limb. The tension skyrocketed in the room and Hiashi scrunched up his eyebrows, looking as if his own daughter just went insane. Hinata's face turned all red and sweat beaded from her brow.
"Calm down, Hinata-sama, you're freaking us out!" Kiba whispered uncomfortably in her ear and place his arm on her shoulder but Hinata nudge him away.
"Father, please, why can't we just let Matsuri marry who she wants to marry? Why do you need to control everything?! I dont..." Hinata pointed out but her father interrupted her speech.
"ENOUGH! Hinata, who taught you to be so rude?" Hiashi turned to look at Kiba and Naruto with the most enraged glower on his face, "It must be your bodyguards...teaching you all these..."
"No, it is not!"
By now, everyone didn't dare move an inch, and the heiress stood up from her seat, "I want to...believe in my own ways. Please, listen to me..."
A loud boom was heard as the clan leader pounded the table in irritation, "I don't want another word from you! Now go to your room, you're not coming out until I tell you to!" He hollered at her, pointing straight at the doorway. The girl could only drop her gaze at the floor as she trotted out the room hurriedly. Naruto and Kiba (plus Akamaru) jumped up and chased right after the girl.
Hiashi heaved a sigh and went on, "As I was saying..."
"Arf!" The fluffy white dog barked as Kiba and Naruto knocked continously on Hinata's door.
"Let us in!" Naruto shouted, "Come on, Hinata-sama!"
Hinata couldn't help but her eyes started watering. How could father yell at me like that? She complained in her head as she sat down on her bed. She wanted to open the door for them but she didn't want them to see her like this, especially in front of Naruto.
"Are you mad us too?" Kiba asked as he and Naruto pounded on her door harder, "Hinata-sama, are you?" Akamaru started whining and pushing the doorway. Finally, the dog gave up. "Can you hear that? Even Akamaru's worried about you! Please, let us in, Hinata-sama."
Suddenly the door burst opened and Hinata stood there, tears running down her face. "I'm not angry at you." She said softly, noticing Kiba's concerned face. "I can't live like this anymore. Living in this prison. Trapped and unable to escape. Howcome father have to act like this all the time?"
The girl let her tears fall freely from her cheeks as she sat on the floor, hugging her knees close to her chest. Her legs felt numb and limp, as if she couldn't stand up anymore. Akamaru started whining as if he was crying too. Then the dog slowly cuddled next to Hinata, trying to make her feel better.
"Hinata-sama, even though we couldn't do anything to help you," Kiba's eyes caught Naruto's look, "Naruto and I, and of course Akamaru too, will always support your decisions."
"Yeah, I'll always be by your side, Hinata-sama!" Naruto gave his usual silly grin that makes his eyes form a line, and the heiress let out a light chuckle.
He can feel his most treasured katana by his side as he slowly entered the Hyuga complex. The dark haired boy had his typical 'like-I-care' expression on his face, and his eyes were like deep pools, drowning whoever stares into them. Suddenly his path was stopped; two guards stopped him.
"Who are you?" One of the guards asked him as they attempted to push the stranger aside. "Why are you here?" The boy gave them a cool stare and walked past them as if nothing happened.
"Why...you little..." One of the guards said under his breath, grabbing a few shurikens out. Then the next second, ten shurikens whizzed through the air, but not a single one injured the dark haired boy. "What?! A bunshin?! How could he be so fast?!" The guard cursed outraged.
He continued and finally stopped in front of one of the rooms, knocking on it several times before entering. Hiashi was there, giving the stranger a queer glance.
"I heard that you needed a professional shinobi to help you with a job."
"That's correct, and you are..." The clan leader rose his eyebrows when he saw the confident and unruffled look on the boy's face.
"Is name that important?" The stranger mused and Hiashi let out a quiet chortle.
Once again, Hiashi was render speechless with the boy's attitude. He couldn't help noticing the stranger's mysterious eyes; those were definitely one of a kind.
Finally, the clan leader replied, "Well...perhaps you're interested?" The boy nodded his head. "I noticed what you did with my guards, and you surely do have great speed." Hiashi paused for a while, and the boy shot him an annoying look.
"So?"
Hiashi studied the stranger for moment until he decided at last, "Fine, you're hired."
"What is the purpose of this mission?" The stranger asked.
"I want you to find Hyuga Neji, and this young girl named Tenten." Hiashi started, and the boy gave a lopsided grin, "Neji has black hair and..."
The boy cut in immediately, "I'm pretty sure I know who he is. But that girl...is she with him?"
"Uh...yes, if you find him, you'll find that girl. Capture them and bring them back to me. Understood?" Hiashi rose from his seat, "I want this job done as soon as possible."
"You want them dead or alive?" ,The stranger questioned in a casual voice.
"Hyuga Neji must be alive." Hiashi exclaimed, "As for that girl, you can do whatever you want with her."
The boy's lips curved into a slight smile, "That's great. But...in return, I'll want some money."
"Sure, money isn't a problem." Hiashi answered in a contented voice, "As long as this is done without any mistakes."
"You got it." The musky haired stranger just nodded and left.
When he was just about to go, a familiar voice startled him in front of the main door.
"Sa...Sasuke?" The stranger spun around and saw an astonished, blonde boy looking straight into his eyes.
"Uzumaki Naruto," The boy shifted weights on his leg and smirked, "You are here as a guard all along, and I thought you were dead."
Naruto wanted to smack him on the face, but he tried to cool down a little, "I haven't seen you for a long time since the 'incident'."
Sasuke thought for a moment, "Oh right."
"I still haven't forgiven you for doing that to Sakura," Naruto said heatedly, "You changed her completely..."
Sasuke had the most 'laid-back' look as he shrugged carelessly, "Whatever, she'll probably get over it."
"What do you mean 'get over it'?! Did you know that she lost her..."
"Shut up, Naruto. I don't care about what happened to Sakura after she fell off the cliff or any of that crap." The dark haired boy hissed. "I'm not here to listen to you rant." Sasuke alleged, turning to go. Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing, and plainly gawked at him.
"Hey, you're not..." Naruto couldn't even finish his sentence and Sasuke had already left. "That bastard, someday I'll make him pay..."
Shikamaru walked tiredly downstairs to the kitchen as he yawned continuously nonstop. He couldn't go to sleep the other night and Shikamaru hated that, making his eyes look like a panda's for the entire day. He yawned one last time as he spun around the corner for the dining room until...
"Good Morning, Shika-kun!!!!" Ino's voice could be heard through the whole area and her voice raised higher as if it wasn't high enough, "What do want for breakfast this morning?"
Shikamaru's wife 'attacked him', as he calls it, whenever Ino pops out of nowhere and gives him a tight squeeze. Shikamaru hated that even more than sleepless nights.
"I want anything... it doesn't matter. As long as it's edible, it's fine." He said, slumping down on a nearby chair.
"You always say that, Shika-kun..." Ino complained, and returned back to her oven.
The Hyuga sat opposite of Shikamaru, and he looked up from his glass, giving his tired friend a brief greeting, "Hey."
The boy waved a short 'good morning' and went on slouching on his chair. Then there was a short silence, with Neji looking up once in a while. Every two seconds, Neji would open his mouth as if to say something, but nothing would ever come out.
Then out of mere patience, Shikamaru finally asked, "What is it? Stop giving me those queer looks."
Neji smirked, "It's nothing really. I was just...wondering something."
"...go on, Neji."
"When is your wedding?" Neji blurted out of the blue, and Shikamaru wore a perplexed expression on his face.
It seemed extremely doubtful of Neji to ask this, yet, Shikamaru didn't exactly know the answer. He never had the time to think about it. His wife would ask him once in a while and the boy would simply answer, "When we have time." Or "When we're ready for something this important..."
Neji continued gazing at him. "So?"
Shikamaru scratched his head and gave a wayward grin, "Haha...I've never thought about that yet..." He noticed one of Neji's eyebrow rising.
"Right..." Neji cooed.
"Actually," Shikamaru sat up straight now, looking the most serious his face could get, "I don't even know why I'm in this mess."
Silence.
"I mean," He went on, "I don't know why I'm going to marry Ino."
"I don't know a lot about relationship but," Neji leaned forward, "A simple question, Do you love her?"
Once again, the quietness drowned both of them.
"I don't know. I only felt responsible for the injury that she gotten from her arm...it was partially my fault, and now she had to leave being a kunoichi..."
CRASH!!!
All of a sudden, a loud crashing noise was heard and interrupted their conversation. Both the guys spun around, realizing that Ino had hurt herself. The girl seemed to have dropped her tray of utensils on the floor.
"Ino, are you okay?" Shikamaru quickly ran to her side and asked. Ino didn't respond. "Ino?"
The girl grasped onto her wounded arm tightly as she felt her arm going numb and frozen. She could feel the pain acting up for the millionth time.
"It's your arm isn't it?" The boy asked again. "Uhh...troublesome..." He started reaching for the pieces of broken glass, and scattered forks and knives on the white kitchen floor as Ino went on not saying one word. This started scaring Shikamaru.
"Hey Ino..."
"I don't need your help." Ino snapped abruptly at Shikamaru, and she picked up the fragments by herself, as if she wanted to hurt her arm even more.
"What?" Shikamaru gave her a blank stare.
"Do I need to say it again?!" Her voice started to go faint, "I don't need your help." Ino tilted her head enough to let Shikamaru see the tears in her blue eyes as she persisted on fixing everything alone.
"I never knew I was such a burden," She clenched her teeth and uttered disappointedly, "Until I heard what you just said."
"Hey, I never said you were..."
"Then why do you want to marry me, Shika-kun?" Ino questioned him, looking straight into Shikamaru's dark orbs. "Tell me then."
"Because I really like you, Ino."
"Stop lying to me!" She exclaimed, jumping up from her original position. Her voice was toned with annoyance and Neji quickly left to look for Tenten, not wanting more of this.
"You told Neji that you only wanted to marry me because of my injured arm." She felt her grip on her arm tightening. "I could take care of myself. You don't need to feel responsible at all!"
Shikamaru looked as stunned as he ever was, and he took a step towards the girl, yet she receded quickly. He could see her light eyes glistening with tears.
"I don't need your pity, Shikamaru."
Then she left the room.
A/N: Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! I haven't updated a long time...since my computer went insane...!!! Even though this chapter didn't come out as thought, I still hope you'll enjoy it! Reviews are greatly appreciated!