Bwahahaha... I'm back! Yea, here's chapter 21. It's the last chapter of the second story arc, after this there's a timeskip and then the final story arc. Yep, that's it! ENJOY!

Oh, and since it's been soooo long. RECAP: last chappie, Sasuke confessed to Hinata, she turned him down, now Juugo and her are headed back to Konoha.

Beta read by: lil.ramen.lover! I serve up spicy seafood ramen!

CHAPTER 21: The Journey Home

"He said the north trail of the village," TenTen reminded her teammates as they walked through the village after their confrontation with the cloud shinobi.

"Alright then, let's go," Neji commanded as he sped up his pace. His teammates nodded and followed closely behind him.

They made their way up the small path that led out to the forest en route back to Konoha. The dirt path was relatively unruffled with little indication that a battle of sorts had taken place. Merely footsteps could be found on the path's dusty surface and there were too many of them to be distinguishable.

They kept a steady pace, while scanning their surroundings for any signs of the Hyuuga heiress, but came up with nothing peculiar.

"Neji, do you think there's a chance that cloud might not be involved in Hinata's disappearance?" TenTen fell into step beside him and observed his face for any reaction.

"No," he replied stoically, not even sparing his female teammate a glance. "Hinata would not just vanish like that… the fact that there were cloud ninja in the area is not a coincidence."

"I'm just saying that it doesn't exactly make sense that we're tracking cloud's trail even though we know that their ninja were disposed of easily by Sasuke," she paused pensively to find the best way to voice her thought, "and… we also know that Hinata isn't strong enough to do anything like that. It just doesn't make any sense unless we're tracking Sasuke…"

"We have no other leads to follow, this is the best and only one we have," Neji stated in an annoyed tone.

"I understand," TenTen said in defeat.

"Look at this," Lee's lively voice echoed to the pair. At some point during their short talk Lee had gone up ahead.

Neji and TenTen ran over the where the green spandex clad ninja stood. The dirt ground had recently been disturbed unlike the rest of the path. A few of the bushes lining the area had been deformed with broken branches and fallen leaves. There were a few dried blood stains. Neji suddenly regretted not adding Kiba to the team, he would have been able to identify if it was Hinata's and track it.

"Over here Neji," TenTen called from inside the forest.

Neji motioned for Lee to continue searching the area before he ran into the shrubbery of the forest to find TenTen. When he found her, she was crouched down on the ground. In one hand she held and charcoal coloured pack and her other hand brushed dead leaves off the Earth's surface to pick up a forehead protector.

"Cloud," she held up the forehead protector that garnered the cloud symbol.

"And the bag?" Neji crouched down across from her and pointed to the pack she held in her other hand.

"I haven't searched it," she handed it over to him.

Neji received the pack and immediately began searching through the contents. He pulled out various items that were clear indicators that the pack belonged to a shinobi. There were numerous scrolls, a few weapons, bandages, ointments, and… tea bags? He pulled out the small plastic bag filled with tea bags and gazed.

"Hinata…" TenTen said when she saw what he was holding up.

Neji nodded, "she loves drinking tea."

"Is there anything else?" she asked.

Neji nodded and continued emptying the bag of its remaining items. The more items he removed, the more it became apparent that the pack belonged to Hinata. There were some hair ties, lotions, and other feminine type items but what caught his attention was the light outer coat that held the Hyuuga emblem on the sleeve. He gripped a handful of it tightly in his fist and a new resolve materialized within him.

"We're on the right track." He packed the items away and stood to his feet, "we should hurry."

TenTen nodded and followed after him out of the forest to meet Lee on the path.

"What is it that you found?" Lee queried as his teammates came into sight.

Neji held up the bag blatantly for him to see, "it's Hinata's… did you find anything?"

"Yes." Lee nodded and grinned happily, "it seems that were two different battles that took place here."

"Two?" TenTen interrupted.

"Yes, there are multiple blood stains around the area. This one," he pointed to the one Neji had observed earlier, "is older than the ones over there." He pointed over to the other stains about fifteen feet away.

"So what does that mean?" TenTen asked with a puzzled expression.

"It means that the most recent battle was likely the one where the cloud shinobi encountered Sasuke, leaving the prior as our best bet for finding Hinata." Neji explained then turned to Lee, "have you found anything we can track."

"Yes, there are two trails that branch off that we can track. One is fainter than the other because it appears there was only one person and he or she moved quickly. The other one leads back to the village and we can presume that it belonged to the cloud ninja," Lee explained.

"Then we take the trail that leads away from the village," Neji slung Hinata's pack over his shoulder and motioned for Lee to lead the way.

Hinata shut the door behind her. Had the stoic Uchiha just asked her to bear his children? Had he tried to kiss her? Had she just turned down Konoha's heartthrob for the loud-mouthed blonde?

She sniffled and wiped away the tears that laced her flushed cheeks. Hinata took a few steps forward but stopped to give into temptation, she needed to know if all that had really happened. She activated her Byakugan and looked into the room for Sasuke. He still stood at the same spot and remained unmoving. His eyes staring into the plain clay walls and his hands clenched tightly. He appeared to be in deep thought.

Hinata sighed deeply and deactivated her bloodline limit. Their exchange had indeed occurred and their last farewell was anything but perfect. She wiped away the few more tears that leaked out the corners of her pale eyes before scurrying off to the entrance of the lair to meet Juugo.

Juugo was perched on a boulder outside the lair with a bird seated on his shoulder. He smiled brightly at the Hyuuga heiress when she exited but his smile was soon wiped away when he noted her tear-stained cheeks. She smiled weakly at him but continued to walk right past him in favour of walking ahead of him as a means of hiding her tears.

"Are you alright?" Juugo inquired.

"Y-yea," she stuttered through short sniffles.

"You're sure?"

"Y-yea," she nodded and pulled on another smile.

"Alright then," he fell into step beside her. He had contemplated asking about Sasuke but decided against it, figuring that things probably didn't go all too well.

The first bit of their walk was mostly silent, neither one daring to speak. It was almost like an unspoken agreement that nothing good could come if anyone broke the silence, but it wasn't like Juugo cared all that much so he spoke anyway. He had only known Hinata for about a week but he knew what she would willingly talk about even if she was a relatively quiet person.

"So what is the first thing you plan to do when you arrive?" he asked in hopes of cheering up her mood.

She blinked at his question which seemed to materialize out of the blue, "um… w-well I guess I would n-need to report to the Hokage first and th-then probably get you settled in somewhere."

"Aside from the business," he corrected his earlier question.

"Hm," she thought as she kept her steady pace. "I'd go home first to see my family."

"That sounds nice, you have siblings?"

Hinata nodded with a sheepish smile as she reminisced, "yes, I have a younger sister, Hanabi and an older cousin named Neji."

"And what about that Naruto kid?"

"N-Naruto?" Hinata stuttered nervously at the thought of seeing Naruto again.

"Yea, are you planning to visit him?"

"N-no…" her voice quietened, "I o-only see h-him when we r-run into each other."

"So you're not good friends?"

She shook her head, "he a-actually l-likes Sakura…"

A prominent grin grew on the blonde's face, he would've plugged Sasuke's name right about here but decided against it considering the recent events, so he just nodded.

"Hey Juugo… could I ask you something" Hinata said timidly.

"Sure" he looked down at the kunoichi.

"When you told m-me about your c-curse… um… y-you said that you couldn't c-control it and that y-you stayed with Sa-Sasuke because h-he could control you," she paused to swallow the lump in her throat and look to see if her companion was comfortable with the topic of discussion, he nodded for her to continue. "How come yesterday, S-Sasuke wasn't able to st-stop you?"

Juugo's nose scrunched and he scratched the back of his head, "I never really thought about it… maybe the supposed cure that Karin gave me was more potent and therefore resulted in more adverse side effects that Sasuke couldn't control" he shrugged.

"B-but you were able to stop yourself" Hinata pointed out.

He mentally relived the moment, what had compelled him to fight his unprovoked rage? He could vividly remember throwing Sasuke through the wall and then… Hinata tried to protect him but he turned her around and used himself as a shield to protect her. Sasuke had risked his life to protect another, who would have ever thought that Uchiha Sasuke would risk his life for a girl. A smile crossed over Juugo's countenance as he remembered the scene.

"I remember wanting to kill both of you and then something inside my head clicked when Sasuke threw himself over you," he looked down at the Hyuuga heiress who didn't seem to completely grasp the implications of Sasuke's actions. "Sasuke was willing to risk his own life to protect you… I guess I had to do my part to protect you as well… to protect both of you."

"Hm" Hinata nodded in understanding, "your will to p-protect those you care about h-helped you overcome you urge to kill?"

"Yea, I guess you could put it like that," he smiled.

"You're strong Juugo," she commented cheerfully.

"Thank you, but so are you Hinata. You gave Karin quite the beating." He chuckled loudly, his bellowing laughs echoed through the forest.

"Karin's just not much of a fighter." Hinata reasoned, "I'm sure if it were anyone else I would have been done for."

"I highly doubt tha-" Juugo responded but was cut off when a flash of white passed his vision and Hinata was swiftly taken away.

Juugo watched at the tall male figure dressed in white robes carry Hinata away to land several metres away. Hinata kicked and fought against her captor. Juugo found himself held in his spot, one arm adorning green spandex wrapped around his throat and the other held his arm painfully behind his back. In front of him stood a kunoichi who wore her brown hair in two neat buns atop her head, she held a kunai to his neck.

"L-let g-go," Hinata protested against the person holding her in place. Her face held a grimace and her eyes were tightly shut as she fought to release herself.

"Hinata." Juugo called out to the Hyuuga heiress, eliciting curious glances from the three strangers.

"Let go!" she yelled out more confidently though her voice remained relatively quiet and could only be heard by those in the immediate area.

"Hinata, calm down," said the person holding her. The familiar voice seeped into her ears and she immediately stopped her thrashing to open her eyes.

"Neji-nii-san?" she looked up into eyes identical to her own.

"Who else would it be?" he released her only to be smothered in a tight embrace.

"W-what are y-you doing here?" she inquired.

"We are here to return you to Konoha" came Lee's vibrantly happy voice.

"Hinata, a little help?" asked Juugo who was still being held by Neji's teammates.

"Oh Juugo!" Hinata ran over to the blonde, "p-please let him go."

"Are you sure?" TenTen asked.

"Y-yes, he's a friend."

They looked over to Neji for the final decision, who looked like he would say no but upon seeing Hinata's pleading expression he motioned for them to release Hinata's apparent friend.

"Are you al-alright?" Hinata asked the blonde. He nodded.

"Who is this man Hinata?" Neji stood beside her protectively.

"Um…" she paused to rethink what she had decided to tell everyone. "H-he saved me… w-when I was attacked" she fibbed.

"Attacked? By whom?" Neji asked sternly.

"C-cloud," she stuttered under his harsh gaze.

"I knew they were behind this," Neji seethed.

"You knew?" she blinked at her cousin's deductions; they don't call him a genius for no reason.

"We met a team of three cloud shinobi in the village," TenTen added.

"Three?" Hinata only remembered two, "I w-was attacked by two."

"So they must have sent those three after the two you encountered were defeated" Neji reasoned, "so this man saved you?"

"Um… y-yes." She nodded meekly.

"Then a thank you is in order for protecting my cousin," Neji bowed slightly to Juugo.

"I didn't really do all that much," Juugo responded, he wasn't going to take credit for Sasuke's good deed.

"We are grateful for what you did anyway; you saved Hinata's precious springtime of youth!" Lee added enthusiastically.

There was a short awkward silence that was eventually broken by the Hyuuga prodigy, "you may leave now. We will escort her back to Konoha."

"A-actually, Juugo d-doesn't really have a h-home," Hinata said shyly. "I w-was going to speak to Tsunade on h-his behalf… I t-thought maybe h-he would be welcomed to Konoha i-in exchange f-for saving me."

"Are you sure about this?" Neji intently eyed his cousin for any doubt she might be hiding.

"Yes," she met his eyes with her typical bright smile and a confident nod.

"Very well then, he will come with us but ultimately if Tsunade declines then he would be asked to leave," her cousin informed.

"I understand."

As always, thanks for reading and reviewing! Please let me know your thoughts!