A/N: How is everyone doing? Great I hope! Thank you all for your patience. I just want to say congrats to those who have kept up with the Naruto manga, which has now officially ended! Whoohoo! Okay, on with the story!

Chapter XXV: Don't Look

Hiroshi, a Hyuuga with little ambition, finished his breakfast. He rose from the tatami to wash his plate thinking about and dreading his promotion. All he wanted to do with his life was go out on simple missions, marry a nice side-branch Hyuuga girl, have kids, then die quietly, but the Fates didn't plan that for him. The Fates being the Hyuuga Elders. He was to guard a prisoner brought in about three days ago, and that didn't seem too hard until the Elders threatened to "silence" him should anything go wrong. Now, what should have been a simple task felt like he was walking on a tightrope that happened to be hanging over a volcano. He broke out in a nervous sweat as he walked out to head for the main house, his feet feeling as heavy as lead.

He gulped when he made it to the sliding door, his jaw tightened and he grit his teeth as he prepared to knock. He knocked three times and entered when he heard a voice say "come in." He entered the room and was shocked at how normal it was. Cream walls with coal-colored accents welcomed him, cabinets filled with medical utensils and drugs were the only things that were odd to him. The person who called him in was a small Hyuuga woman with a ridiculously short haircut, her eyebrows scrunched as she looked intensely at a medical chart, and her lips drew into a thin line. 'Oh, this is a medical ward.' Hiroshi mentally sighed in relief.

"Hyuuga, Hiroshi of side branch three correct?"

"Huh, er, yes." Hiroshi jumped at the sound of the medical chart slamming onto one of the counters. "I was told to come here."

"Mm, yes." The female Hyuuga went over to a drawer and picked out a file that, from what Hiroshi could see, had his name. "I am the main branch's physician and your superior, Reiri Hyuuga. You will refer to me as Doctor. Only Doctor. To add Hyuuga would be confusing for my fellow colleagues. They would prefer to be called by their first names."

"Right, being all Hyuugas." Hiroshi chuckled nervously, but shut up when she raised a thin brow at him.

"Yes." She looked back down at his file, looked up at him occasionally, then looked back at the file. "You don't look it, but your reports prove you to be reliable and diligent. You've never been any trouble to the main branch... in other words you're boring."

"Huh?"

"You really have no hope in your own freedom. I guess this is good. Okay, you pass." The doctor turned to one of the walls and bit her finger to draw blood. She bit deep enough to have a steady stream curl around her thumb, but she didn't even flinch in pain. She drew a small seal on the cream wall, the blood glowed before fading away as if it was never there. Hiroshi looked confused when nothing happened. "Watch your step."

Before he could ask Hiroshi anything the cream wall split open and a secret passage revealed itself. So shocked by the opening he didn't notice the doctor already going down the stone stairway leading into a black abyss. The doctor yelled for him to hurry up and he ran to catch up. With each step they took a series of torches lit on their own, lighting the way and revealing just how far below they had to go, and it was far. Occasionally between torches there were sealed rooms, and Hiroshi wondered what was inside, but the feeling of uneasiness kept his curiosity in check. After what seemed forever the doctor stopped in front of a large door with five paper seals on it.

"This is where the ward is, and this is also where you'll be staying. You will watch over her the entire time, except for when she is being... observed and studied. At that time you will be allowed to go up to the surface to eat and shower." The doctor explained as she performed an un-sealing technique.

"She?" The door clicked open.

"She is very important to the clan. That is all you need to know." With a soft push of the doctor's hand the door opened to reveal a large room with half of it caged off, a slab in the middle of the cage was blood stained, with someone laying on top of it. Hiroshi gulped.

"That is lady Hinata. W-what is she doing here? And why is there a blade in her chest? She'll die if you leave it there!" He leaned forward, but was harshly pulled back by the wrist.

"Don't you dare touch her! You don't understand what is happening here, she is our prisoner. For now at least. She is vital for the Hyuuga clan to advance."

"But!"

"No! Just do your mission, if you can't I will have you terminated! Very few in our clan know what is going on, and the Elder's will make sure no one will until our experiments are done." Her grip tightened around his wrist. "Will you complete this mission?" The doctor practically growled out.

"Yes. I will complete this mission." Hiroshi replied in a low voice. "Well, I've never questioned the higher up's decisions before; no reason to start now I guess." He smiled weakly at the doctor whose grip loosened, but hadn't removed her hand.

"Ah, that's good." The doctor smiled back at him, her face now far more feminine. She became pretty to him, her smile making her bloom. He looked away, feeling heat rise in his cheeks. "Are you alright?"

"Ah! Yes, fine!" He answered a little too loudly. His voice echoed off the walls, and the sound made Hinata's form on the slab twitch. The doctor practically slapped her hand over his mouth, her other hand's index finger was pressed over her lips to symbolize him to hush up. "Mph erphin."

"What?"

"I said 'I'm sorry.'" He reiterated after removing her hand. She smiled at him before laughing quietly as not to disturb the prisoner. Hiroshi marveled at how much a smile could change someone.

"Okay, enough horsing around." The doctor coughed as she schooled her face back into a no-nonsense expression. "Alright, so your job is to make sure that the ward doesn't escape, which is very unlikely since her arms and feet are chained up. You just need to watch her really, and don't talk to her. If she tries to talk to you don't pay her any attention, alright?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, then I'll leave you to it. Oh, before I forget! Don't look at her either." Hiroshi raised his brow. "Just don't. Trust me."

"Alright."

"Good." The doctor gave one final smile before leaving up the stone stairway, the door sealing shut behind her, and a cold gust crawling across the floor with the sound of the door clicking shut.

'Well, what now?' Hiroshi looked around, his eyes following the metal bars that confined Hinata to half of the room. He tried hard not to look directly at her, but he couldn't help it. Her body was lying on a giant slab like a corpse in the morgue; how can he not look at her?

His eyes crawled from the door to the ceiling and then slowly descended to the cell that took up the majority of the room. A wave of goosebumps rose all over his body, he wanted to look away, but the scene was far too intense to just turn your head.

Hinata's body was wrapped in a simple white sleeping kimono with a slit purposely made to accommodate the blade piercing her body, with way too much blood dripping from her, thick chains arrested her to the slab she was resting on with enough length to probably allow her to sit up when conscious, but little else. The last thing he noted was two gauzes covering her eyes, their centers red with blood. 'Did they...cut out her eyes?' He reached up as if to touch his eyes, his mind wanting to confirm he had his own, but instead covered his mouth to stop himself from letting out a strangled cry. He suddenly didn't want to be there with his fear was growing like a tumor in his chest. Hiroshi jolted when he heard Hinata moan, his eyes shut tightly so as not to look at her, his hands flew to his ears so not to hear what would come when she regained consciousness. 'Oh gods.'

It started as a quick gasp, progressed to a low groan, and then a horrified cry that pierced his covered ears and made his chest constrict. Hiroshi bit his lip, feeling like he was about to burst out crying, but he couldn't. If he did then she would know he was there. He couldn't have that; he wouldn't know what to tell her. So he stood close to the wall, his hands pressed against his ears, his mouth shut tight, and his eyes tearing up as he listened to her muffled shrieks and it continued this way until he felt something touch him. Tentatively he opened his eyes, and he saw Hinata sitting up with her palms covering her eyes, her shrieking having dialed down to thick sobs. Hiroshi released his ears now, his ears ringing from the tiny Hyuuga's cries and the sound of his own heartbeat.

The doctor had told him not to speak to her, but he had to say something, anything to get her to calm down. He opened his mouth, but as the syllable for 'Hi-' formed he felt the touch of something again. He looked around, but there was nothing. He turned back to Hinata, but again there was a touch and this time when he turned his head to search the room he saw the door he came through suddenly fly open.

The frightened male ran over and shut it with trembling hands. "What the hell is going on?"

"Who's there?" Hinata turned her head sharply to Hiroshi's voice.

A nervous sweat was building as he slowly turned to look at the young Hyuuga. He swallowed the ball in his throat, unsure of what to say or how to really start.

"I know someone is there! Please! Where am I? How did I get here?" Hinata cried. Her body shifted and the sound of her chains rattled loudly. Hinata paused as her mind registered the noise while her hands slowly searched for the source. Deftly her fingers located the chains that were fastened onto the slab she was sitting on, her fingers tracing up the links and found them locked around her wrists and ankles. As if she could see, Hinata turned her head toward the wall Hiroshi was pressed against. "Answer me!"

"Ah...er...I do-" Hiroshi felt something cold grip the sides of his face, and then he heard a quick snap. 'Huh?' He couldn't breath and his vision was blurring. Something, or rather someone, lowered themselves to his face and whispered into his ear.

"Sorry, I snapped your head off. Forgive me?" It almost sounded like the person -who most likely was a guy since the voice was deep- was laughing as he said it. "This is better, you won't get to see what comes next," the voice said, picking up his head. Hiroshi felt his facial muscles slacking, his brain graying from the lack of oxygen, and his eyes could only see two red spheres looking back at him.

A/N: Finally, done here. That must have been a tad boring, but just bear with me! Big thanks to my followers and readers. I'll see you next time.