(Takara pokes a sleeping LMD with a long stick, but the only reaction is tightening the grip on Gaara plushie and rolling over)

Sigh… ah well, she's been busy recently so (shrugs) enjoy the next chapter anyway I'm gonna have a bit of fun.

(renews poking with a long stick and giggles at the weak attempts to bat away the pole)

Orochimaru's Pet

Hinata met up with Kiba and the overgrown puppy Akamaru out in the street.

"Where are you heading?" she asked.

"To Ichiraku's, mums on a mission and I can't cook to save my life so…" he shrugged.

Kami help the poor girl who gets him! Hinata thought to herself. The two teens and dog reached the ramen stand and placed their orders and after Kiba negotiated with Tenchi for a tasty piece of meat for Akamaru the sat to enjoy their meals. With genin on her mind Hinata turned to Kiba and asked,

"How are you dealing with the new guy?"

"He's really getting on my nerves, he keeps trying to take the lead in simulations and getting us into trouble. He's even getting under Shino's skin. Why?"

"Seems no ones happy with their current teams at the minute." Hinata blew on the noodles curled around her chop sticks before shoving them in her mouth. Kiba gave a grunting replay and handed the lump of pork provided down to the waiting dog. They finished up the meal and with nothing better to do headed on to the flat. Hinata left her backpack in the bedroom to the amusement of Kiba.

"What!?" she asked.

"Nothing…" he said with a sly grin and continued on into the living room. Hinata jumped over the back of on of the sofas and stretched out on it, claiming it for the time being. Kiba pilfered a drink from the fridge and set down a bowl for Akamaru. He then claimed the other sofa, since it was only them there they may as well.

"Check it out, latest issue, it came out today." He produced a plastic wrapped manga volume from his jacket.

"Don't say a word! I haven't got that far yet." Hinata warned she was a number of issues behind Kiba but she'd soon catch up as she was back with team three. Kiba chuckled over the prospect of having something over Hinata before ripping open the packaging and flipping it open to read.

Hinata glanced to the shelves that made up the entertainment centre that took up the entire rear wall, an item also provided to the flat after it was handed over to the genin group, Kiba's manga took up an entire shelf. Scanning the titles she fixed on the volume she'd left off on, sighing she knew she couldn't just yet. Pushing herself up to a sitting position she pulled out the file on team three, she needed to do some team planning to try figure out how to proceed with them, it was obvious from the exercise that they were not aware of each others abilities and the advantages of each. Hinata fetched a pencil and a blank piece of paper to make notes, and after shooing the giant dog off the sofa, she retook her seat and started work.

"Whoa, who got toasted?" Tenten came into the room holding up Hinata's flank jacket that she lifted from the coat hanger in the hall. She was followed by Lee.

"Me, had a close call earlier." Hinata said shifting her legs so Tenten could sit next to her. "I'm fine though." she caught the file as it slipped off her knee.

"What's this?" Tenten looked over the top of the file,

"The source of a migraine in the near future." Hinata sighed and spun the file around so she could see it as Tenten was about to steal it anyway. The weapon mistress scanned the file.

"Why do you have genin stats?"

"Keep reading…" Hinata said, Lee was now leaning over the back of the sofa to read over Tenten's shoulder. Tenten started to giggle and Lee grinned, Kiba looked up from his manga.

"What's so funny?" he asked

"Team Three Jounin: Hyuuga Hinata." Lee read aloud from the file.

"I've got the team permanently now…" Hinata told him snapping back the file, Kiba suppressed a snigger behind his manga. "yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Why do you all think this is so funny anyway?" Hinata said with a bit of a huff.

"Well come on, Hinata. You're 15, the same age as us and you're basically doing our sensei's job."

"I'm 16 soon enough, and last I heard you thought it was amazing that Kakashi and Takara were promoted to this level at young ages so what so funny about it being me." Hinata was getting defensive now.

"Take it easy we're just teasing." Lee said, "so what happened to your flank jacket?" he asked changing the subject.

"The new twat on Asuma's team for the exams shot off a fire ball into my training ground, I had to get my genin out of the way." she answered.

"Speaking of Azuma, why did he and Kurenai stop me and Tenten in the street and asked up about our strengths, they mentioned something about an idea you had." Lee asked.

"Huh, oh right, well they both had new genin in their teams for the exams but they hate them. I pointed out that you two have an incomplete team since Neji was promoted and it would be better if team ten and eight had someone they knew on their teams instead of idiots." Hinata shrugged. "Why, didn't you too want to be in the next exams?"

"Well yeah!" Tenten said. "We didn't know what was gonna happen but this is good."

"Azuma was gonna go to Tsunade later on today, we'll see what happens." Hinata said.

"Sweet…… hey Kiba…." Tenten started.

"What?"

"The Playstation's free…"

Later that night, once she was alone in the flat, Hinata dug out the thick file she took from the box in the dorm. Setting it out on the bed she flicked through it randomly at first just to see how thick it was. As she did another file slipped out. The tab read 'Royki Olpin'. Opening it she found a picture of Takara's father starting up at her, he was a shinobi as well, a skilled fighter and clan leader. Under current status was listed 'retired due to injury', the details underneath told of how he was injured during the Kyuubi attack which resulted in him being paralyzed from the waist down. From there his career as a shinobi would have ended so no further details on him where in the file. Hinata set it aside and tackled the big file.

The first few pages noted how a few shinobi and civilians had gone missing and some had been last seen with Orochimaru, it also listed times and dates where Orochimaru's whereabouts couldn't be accounted for. The next subsection started with a warrant to allow ANBU surveillance on the sannin and it had been signed by the Third. The following pages contained reports from the ANBU as well as pictures. Most reports listed that they had lost track of the sannin or had been noticed. Hinata looked at the pictures attached a number of them also had the young Takara in them. These were the only one's Hinata looked closely at. Most of them were taken around the Royki village or on a hill top with a small shack which seemed to be their training ground. Hinata knew that Takara was trained by her uncle Orochimaru during her genin years and for a while when she was a chuunin. In most pictures Takara was grinning up at her uncle with obvious adoration. In later pictures Takara would sometimes look drawn or pale with shaky stances when she was with her uncle. In one picture there was a ring drawn around Takara's head and a line led to a paragraph beside it.

'In recent months the genin apprentice has begun to disappear along with the target, suspecting she is also involved with the disappearing shinobi or she has distinct knowledge of their whereabouts. Requesting permission to detain and question.' scribbled in the margin next to this was 'denied'.

Hinata turned the page to continue reading the report.

'Continuing to follow the target. Target is spending more time with gennin and both continue to disappear for extended periods of time. After being relieved of watch over main target began surveillance on second target. Genin is vague in relaying details of 'training sessions' to others, on a few occasions stories do not match. Requesting permission to extend surveillance to second target' scribbled next to this was 'approved'.

Hinata reread that last bit again, was Takara really working with Orochimaru back then? She read on to try make sense of the report.

'Second target continues to closely associate with main target, Yesterday second target disappeared with main target and has yet to reappear although main target has been recently seen.'

Takara disappeared? Hinata thought and skipped on through the report until Takara was mentioned again.

'Second target has reappeared and looks to be in poor health, main target escorted genin home. From there the genin was taken to main village hospital by parents, main target did not accompany.'

'Main target has not visited apprentice for several days, hospital reports indicate that second target has potent poisons in system. Reports indicate the levels are excess the dose require to kill full grown adult, natural poison resistance found commonly in Royki blood line prevented childs death.'

Takara had been poisoned? Hinata read on the hospital report listed that the cause of poisoning was mislabelled containers in the Royki poison works.

'Main target came to hospital while other members of family are gone, target seen drawing blood from child while she is sedated.' a photo accompanied this statement, Orochimaru was leant over a very pale Takara in a hospital bed, an oxygen line was running to her nose and an IV was in her arm, while he had another needle stuck in her other arm. Hinata gritted her teeth this wasn't a pleasant slight. She flicked over a few pages until Takara was again mentioned.

"Second target has returned to training with main Target and shows no hostile actions or change in attitude towards target, suspect that if target was source of poison in genin's system the genin doesn't know about it.' The report continued, focus on Takara dropped as a result of the poisoning but still made passing references when ever she would disappear with Orochimaru. There were numerous occasions when Takara was noted to look 'ill' or 'unwell' and two more instances of her being hospitalized over the next four years each was given a good reason, and made to look accidental. A number of ANBU looking in to the case also turned up missing. The report was disrupted for some time due to the Kyuubi attack but once the investigation was back on track the latest ANBU made noted observations, on a picture of an older Takara with Orochimaru red marks where visible on her wrists and neck, also ringed on the picture were the insides of Takara's elbows which where irritated and red, in this picture Orochimaru was looking directly at the camera and that was the last report made by that ANBU. In the next few pictures Takara began to look at her uncle in a different way, the adoring smile of a favourite niece was gone, replaced by a look of suspicion. In another picture Orochimaru was sneering at an old looking Olpin in a wheel chair who seemed to be arguing with Orochimaru, the last picture in this report showed Takara in a chuunin vest standing by the memorial stone talking to Orochimaru, he had her arm in his grip with his other hand pointing out of frame, he was taking her somewhere. The surveillance reports ended there. Hinata thought to herself if there where numerous signs that Orochimaru was doing something to Takara then why didn't anyone get her away from him.

A summery by the Third on the last page answered that question. Each report had gone missing with the ANBU that wrote them, so none of this information was passed on to the higher levels until it was found in Orochimaru's home after he disappeared along with the masks of the ANBU, like twisted trophies.

The next subsection was an incident report. Listed at the task force was three ANBU and Jiraiya, the criminal was, of course, Orochimaru and listed as victims was Takara and her father.

(A/N, Takara's POV (point of view) in 'Extended' chapter 30)

The first report was written by one of the ANBU that had been present at the time,

'Information was passed to us from the Third Hokage that Orochimaru had another possible lab hidden in the hills above the Royki clan village. We passed this information on to Jiraiya-sama and he knew where to look, he got me and two others to come with him in an attempt to prevent Orochimaru from escaping the village.

'Jiraiya-sama's guess was correct, we located a hidden tunnel way under a shack on the eastern hill. When asked how he knew of this Jiraiya-sama replied that Orochimaru spent much time in this area with his niece during training as well as when he was younger. We entered the tunnel mindful of traps or alarms but one must have been triggered anyway as a loud buzz warned of our approach. On entering the lab we found that Orochimaru had already fled.

'Jiraiya-sama called me forward urgently to attend to a victim on an examination table in the centre of the room. The victim, later relieved to be Royki Takara the suspect's niece, was strapped to the table and in toxic shock.

'The victims skin was beetroot red and hot to the touch, the victim was also convulsing uncontrollably and pulling so hard on the restraints that they where cutting into the skin, also displaying upturned eyes and foaming at the mouth. Jiraiya-sama attempted to release the victim but was unable to due to the convulsions. Having obtained an antidote from the raid on the suspects other lab it was necessary to administer it immediately. It required both Jiraiya-sama and another of the ANBU to hold the victim's arm still enough to allow for the injection. The effect was instantaneous, the victim's convulsions subsided and I, along with Jiraiya-sama, tended to her while the remainder of the team searched the lab, however no sign of Orochimaru or another exit was found.

'The body of Royki Olpin was found in a cell in the corner of the lab, having been killed not long before hand. Cause of death seems to be a sharp blade severing the spinal column between the 3rd and 4th cervical vertebrate (A/N just behind the Adam's apple), a short sword was found next to the body and belonged to the victim's daughter (also Royki Takara). A search of the lab resulted in finding several experiments concerning poisons and blood works, a research journal lists Royki Takara as the main test subject in regards to the poisons, the goal seemingly was to concoct a poison strong enough to kill a Royki.

'After recovering from the toxic shock I conducted a medical exam on the chuunin as requested by Jiraiya-sama. Victim showed signs of an altercation with both offensive and defensive wounds on hands and arms as well as several injuries to the head, stomach and back. She didn't come quietly. Other injuries included deep friction burns and torn skin on wrists, neck, ankles and deep bruising across torso due to restraints. Victim was unable to speak coherently or focus vision for the better part of an hour, More than likely due to sedative effects in the anti-toxin. Injuries treated on site by myself, victim was then accompanied by Jiraiya-sama to inform the Royki clan of the death of the clan leader.

'Further investigation into…'

Hinata stopped there, and just stared at the page the words stopped registering in her mind. Takara had nearly been killed on several occasions by her uncle. But why did she let him, she couldn't understand, in the pictures and reports she seems clueless to what Orochimaru was doing. Hinata skipped over the reports over the other two ANBU that were present, there where a number of pictures of the lab behind them, small dark and dirty. There was a blood pool in the cell and traces of blood on the restraints on the table as well as a number of wicked looking needles and bottles of unknown poisons. On the next page Takara's wounds were pictured. She was badly beaten and looked very ill due to the after effects of the toxins still in her system.

There was a transcribed interview with Takara, she explained what had happened in the lab, Orochimaru took her there and showed her father to her, he was alive but weak. When she attempted to stand up to Orochimaru he attacked her and she, as a chuunin, stood no chance against a sannin and was quickly subdued but before she passed out Orochimaru forced her to watch him kill her father with her own blade. When she woke she was on the table and restrained. When asked where Orochimaru had went she was unable to answer, she didn't notice him leave or the entry of the ANBU, she was into much pain. Due to doubt cast on her by other members of the Royki clan and because of her close relations to Orochimaru, Takara remained a person of interest and she submitted to a mind probe under hypnosis to clear herself. The interrogation expert came across several seals in her mind, locking away memories. After the seals where released it was clear that Takara had no insight to Orochimaru's goals but was merely another person to be used and cast aside. The surge of forgotten memories of previous experiments carried out on her left the young Takara visibly shaken and the Third berated the ANBU for unlocking them all without checking them over first, some things were better left forgotten. The Third tried to comfort the girl but she only stared at the far wall with wide tearful eyes and gripping tightly at the table.

The words on the page blurred as Hinata's eyes welled up, she dropped the report and furiously rubbed her eyes. It was no wonder Takara never talked about her past. Behind all the official paper work there were several pages written in familiar hand writing. A list of were Orochimaru had been spotted in an attempt to find him. The list was written by Takara, it looked like she was trying to hunt him down for revenge but gave up after a while as he couldn't be found.

With this insight to Takara's past Hinata finally understood why Takara put herself out for the young Hyuuga at the beginning. Both of them, through no fault of their own, had been abandoned by their clans and left to fend for themselves, both of them had been victimised from within their own families and attempts on their lives had been made by those people that they had thought cared for them. Takara experienced physical abuse and Hinata experienced mental and emotional abuse, and had been forced from their homes. It seemed that out of all her friends Takara was the closest to knowing what Hinata had been put though as she had been put through it herself. This was why Takara was more open to Hinata than anyone else, whether it Takara knew it herself or not it seemed she had allowed the one person who could truly understand her into her life and had become attached and had allowed Hinata to see segments of her real personality.

Despite the grim information she had just read Hinata gave a twitch of a smile it showed that Takara trusted her more than anyone else, and in turn Hinata trusted Takara with her life because she had been there when no one else had been. As Hinata pondered over this while she drifted off to sleep she never quite grasped that Takara had known exactly what it was she was doing.

In the dorm Takara was laying in her bed thinking over what Hinata asked her earlier. It was true that she did care for Hinata, more than what was expected between sensei and student, earlier on Gai had made a joking comment that they seemed to be more sisters than anything. Once she had got an insight into what had happened to the young Hyuuga she wanted to protect the girl not only from the assassination attempts but from the loneliness that nearly destroyed her own life so that it wouldn't crush Hinata as well. Even with Takara there Hinata still fell into a depression after they fled the village, but it didn't take long for her to come around and enjoy the freedom she had outside the village. It seemed that Takara's method had worked Hinata wasn't resentful or spiteful as Takara had once been, and in all honesty Hinata's presence had had a positive affect on Takara as well her fun loving front became genuine. Takara smiled to herself perhaps the two of them ending up spending so much time together had been the best thing for both of them.

"What are you grinning about?" Gai asked as he folded his t-shirt.

"Nothing…" she said innocently, but the grin didn't fade.

"Nothing? Oh well…we'll have to fix than…" he said and leant in to kiss her.

The blond yawned widely and lay back on the deck of the boat. The sun was setting so the water and sky had a beautiful orange glow that faded to pink then the deep, clear, blue of the sky. The bobbing of the boat lulled him into haze of content bliss as he listened to the gentle lapping of the water on the hull.

"Oi… time to get off." Naruto glared over at Jiraiya, the sliver haired sannin stepped out of the boat on to shore as he got off he leant his weight on the side and caused the small boat to list to the side, the sharp change in angle made the boy roll off his perch on the side of the boat and nearly into the water.

"That was uncalled for!" the boy protested. Jiraiya grinned at him as he scrambled on to dry land. He muttered under his breath as he followed Jiraiya down the road. The sun was sinking below the mountains leaving the surrounding countryside in approaching darkness. It was getting late and they should have stopped to set up camp long ago, but the old man wanted to get somewhere tonight. Naruto had fallen asleep on the boat from the south and when they switched to another boat he fell asleep on that one too, so the blond was too tired and disorientated to figure out were he was. In the far distance he could see the lights of a city starting to light up, but it was still far it would take them hours to get there. When they got closer he was able to pick out landmarks that were known to him. He was back in Fire and currently on the main road leading towards the village. He grinned to himself in the darkness, that meant he was closer to Hinata again, his pace quickened slightly. By the time they did get to the village it was the middle of the night, Jiraiya let the knackered boy go home after they were cleared to enter the village by the night guard.

"How long are we here for this time?" he asked through a yawn before leaving.

"I don't know, Tsunade wanted to see me about something so we could be here ten minutes or a month." Naruto tried to stifle another yawn, "but then again she doesn't need to know we're here yet. I'll go see her in the morning all your yawning is making me tried." He tried to suppress his own yawn.

"Okay then, I'm gone" Naruto left him standing in the street and headed home. The lights were all off so no one was in there, he shoved his door open and stepped inside out of the cold winter air, it would soon start to frost over. He didn't even bother to turn on the lights, he stumbled into his room dumped his bag by the door, pulled off his jacket, shirt and trousers. Then shuffled over to the bed and slipped under the covers to get comfortable. The bed was warm, he snuggled deeper into the pillow and scooted into the centre of the bed and closed his eyes to sleep. His hand grazed something soft and warm, curious he opened his eyes to meet a pair of equally groggy pale ones.

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Both teens jerked backwards. Naruto went right out of the bed taking the covers with him and Hinata flattened herself against the wall. She had a hand on her chest as if to keep her heart in there. Naruto pulled the covers off his head to look up at the bed.

"Na..Na..Naruto!!!" Hinata stuttered looking at the blond head peeking over the covers. She thanked the fates that she had put on her trouser-jacket combo pjs instead of the barely thigh-length night shirt. Naruto squatted on the ground under the blankets looking up at the figure left on the bed, he reached over and turned on the desk lamp. Hinata was staring at him in shock, she was dressed in powder blue pjs, with a white kitty curled in a ball pictured on the chest with the caption 'ssshhhh… Sweepy Time…'.

"Hinata!?" the boy blinked several times and looked around, he was sure he was in his flat. "what are you…"

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun… I didn't think you'd be back so soon and I needed somewhere to sleep…" she said quickly and relaxed her position. Naruto thought for a second then grinned.

"You don't mind?" she asked.

"Nope… I was looking forward to seeing you again so you being here is perfect." She giggled to herself, Naruto rocked forward and stood up letting the blankets fall away and Hinata noticed he was in nothing but his boxers. Her eye's widened and the blood rushed to her face as she blushed, Naruto noticed the reddening and quickly snapped up the blankets to cover himself, but it was too late Hinata had already passed out.

"Hinata!" he used his quick reactions to catch her before she fell off the bed, "dam…. She hasn't done that for a while…" he muttered and lay her back on the bed. He pulled his trousers back on before attempting to wake her. He shook her gently and she stirred.

"Hey… you okay." He said softly. Hinata nodded and a faint blush remained on her cheeks from the embarrassment of fainting and because he was not wearing a top. The whisker marks on his cheeks curved upwards as he smiled. The moment was ruined by Naruto's stomach growling. He clutched his stomach with one hand and gave Hinata an apologetic chuckle.

Out in the kitchen Hinata perched herself on a countertop while Naruto helped himself to some food. As he ate she explained why she was in his bed.

"Onee-san was injured?" (A/N Naruto calls Takara Onee-san, first because she doesn't allow him to call her Nee-chan because he is not as close as Hinata, and second Onee-san is a more respectful term, he also can get away with it because of his affiliation with Hinata)

"Yeah but it's not anything serous she just needs to rest up a bit." Hinata swung her legs into the hollow under the counter she sat on. Naruto finished up his snack and dumped the dishes in the sink.

"So, did you miss me?" he asked playfully coming closer to Hinata on her perch. She smiled down at him.

"You know I did…" she replied, Naruto tired to kiss her on the lips but she sat too far back on the counter so he couldn't reach. Hinata giggled while he pouted childishly. He put his hands on her knees and spilt her legs apart so he could step closer then cupping under her knees slid her closer to the edge of the countertop making it easier for him to reach her.

"There" he said as Hinata giggled at him, he gave her a quick kiss. Hinata played with the cord of his necklace as she asked,

"How long will you be staying this time?" Naruto shrugged lazily,

"I dunno, I won't find out until tomorrow though." He replied and nuzzled his head into her neck, he was tired. Hinata picked up on this and stroked his head as it rested on her shoulder, her other hand snaked around his back. She felt his lips curve in a smile against her neck and his arms reached around her.

"You need to get some rest" she said into his hair.

"…aye, you can have the bed, I'll get a spare blanket and sleep on the sofa." He muttered with his face still buried in the hallow of her neck.

"You sure?" she asked, he nodded and she laughed as his nose tickled her.

"Okay then…" she replied, that being settled it seemed that neither of them even had the energy or the willingness to move from the comfortable position. "Eventually one of us will have to move…" Hinata said softly into the boys ear. Naruto gave a protesting moan and dug his head further into her neck, nuzzling his nose into the fold of her pyjama collar and tightening his grip around her waist his hands had pushed up the hem of her pj jacket and where now resting on the bare skin of her back. Hinata smiled and let her forehead rest on her shoulder, she didn't really want to move yet either, she hadn't seen him in so long. After awhile she ran her free hand down his back, brushing her fingers lightly over his spine. He jerked up right.

"That tickles…" he said looking at her in the face again, she chuckled and placed her hands on his chest and gently pushed him a few steps back and out from between her legs so she could slide off the counter top. Then she led the way into the bed room. Naruto went to find a spare blanket in the wardrobe while Hinata returned to the bed. They was only one problem through, Naruto didn't have any spare blankets.

"I was sure I had one…" he muttered pushing to the back to look again.

"If you don't you can have the bed, it is yours after all." Hinata said flicking the blankets off her legs.

"What about you?" Naruto asked coming over to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Well… it's nearly half five in the morning anyway, I could use that time to catch up on the training I missed while Nee-chan is restricted to bed-rest." Hinata started to rock forward to get out of the bed and swung her feet to the floor.

"Or… we could share the bed…" he said, Hinata blinked a few times then laughed again.

"Good one Naruto, I'll go get dressed" she kissed him then stepped out of the bed scooping up her bag on the way to the bathroom. "You were joking right?" she asked over her shoulder.

"…… Yeah of course HA HA HA" he rubbed the back of his head and forced a laugh, Hinata disappeared into the bathroom to get changed. Naruto shook his head roughly 'Idiot' If Hinata caught on that he wasn't joking it wouldn't have ended well, he had said it before he knew what it was he was implying. He took off his trousers again and jumped and into bed and pulled the covers over his legs because it was more than likely Hinata didn't want another look at his boxers. Naruto wiggled around to get comfortable, the bed was warmed up from Hinata being there a few moments ago. When she returned to the room he was perfectly comfortable and half asleep. Hinata left her bag by the bedroom door, she'd collect it later, then sat on the edge of the bed.

"I'll catch you later on then" she said and leant down to kiss him.

"Okay then…" he said when they broke apart, she swept her hair into a plait and left, Naruto heard her struggle with the front door and she was gone. He snuggled down into the pillow to sleep, the pillow smelt like her.

End chapter 11

Well since I was so rudely awakened, (glares at innocent looking Takara who's concealing a pole behind her back) I decided to have a say.

(poke, poke, poke)

(ignores) anyway, I found a Hinata plushie Yay, unfortunately, I'm broke so I have to wait till payday… sigh…

(poke, poke, poke)

(ignores) read and review please and thank you! WILL YOU STOP POKING ME!!!!!

Hee hee hee…