Common Delinquents

Chapter 36

"Ugh." Neji groans as his muscles tense and tighten as he stretches. He rolls his shoulders rhythmically before slipping out of the comfort of his sheets and onto the floor. He begins his mornings by stretching and exercise. It wakes him up better than coffee.

His hair brushes the floor as he comes down for his first push up. Sometimes his right arm hurts-even though it had been weeks since he'd gotten his cast off. He pushes himself up again before pausing to tie his hair in a ponytail to rest against his bare back.

He hears the sheets rustle and Tenten peeks out from atop his bed, her shirt scrunched up around her torso. The bun haired girl scratches her exposed stomach and blinks tiredly at him, "Why are you awake so early?"

"Tenten, it's ten o'clock."

"Two hours too early." She grumbles watching him resume his position on the floor. He does a few pushups before pausing to watch, surprised, as Tenten actually gets up. She frowns at his incredulous look and shoves on her discarded pair of jeans over her underwear. "What?"

Neji lowers himself back to the ground, shaking his head, "Nothing."

She takes off her shirt and rummages through his drawers, "Want breakfast?"

The Hyuga man has to pause again, his eyebrows rising even though he knows the girl can't see him from across his bedroom. "You're going to cook?"

Yeah, like that would happen.

Tenten scoffs and flicks the strap of her sports bra, annoyed. "No stupid, we're going to go out."

Neji rolls his eyes, he should've expected that. He lies down on his back and puts his hands behind his head to do sit-ups. "We'll have to be quick." He raises his body up and then twists to touch his right elbow to his left knee. "I think I'll pick up Hinata from the hospital and then I have a mission."

Tenten picks up her phone, still shirtless and tosses it at the Hyuga. It hits his stomach and he looks down, confused. "Hina texted me earlier and said Sasuke would pick her up."

"Yeah? It's not like the guy ever left to begin with," Neji grumbles, tossing the phone away. The Uchiha is a little too close to his little cousin for comfort.

"Your mission can wait till later, right?" Tenten asks, still going through his drawers and unfolding everything he'd spent his time making neat and organized. "What do you have to do anyway?"

"I have to go to one of Tsunade's warehouses and pick up some stuff. Not too much. Apparently Sasuke and Naruto have more weapons being shipped in sometime next week."

"What are you getting then?"

"A pound of coke, probably." He sighs and raises himself up one last time before leaning against his bed. "We'll start trades again after this whole mess blows over, but it's good to have it on hand, I guess."

Tenten hums in agreement and delves into one last drawer, leaving the others in shambles behind her. She pulls a large maroon university hoodie out of it and stares at it curiously before shoving it over her head. "Say Neji...have you been thinking about college?"

Neji rubs his forehead and feels Tenten sitting on the bed above him. He lays his head between her legs and closes his eyes and her fingers come to comb through his hair, "Yeah. I applied to U of K and Suna University but..."

Tenten raises her eyebrows, "But?" Neji is too smart to not get accepted.

"I got accepted, but I can't afford it." His face becomes more relaxed as Tenten scratches his scalp. "The Leaf is already helping me pay for rent while I finish high school. I don't want to ask for anything else."

"The money we make is for us, you know?" Tenten frowns at Neji's logic. "So use it. Plus...you can always apply for scholarships. You're smart enough." She slides off the bed and sits next to him on the floor. "Okay, tell me. What's your major?"

Neji feels his lips turn up, "Hmm. I wanted to go into business, at first."

"Annnnd, what changed?"

Neji smiles as Tenten traces patterns in his leg, "Not appealing anymore. I decided that if I ever go to college-"

"-which you will."

"-that I'd go to med school."

"Mmm, Doctor Hyuga." Tenten tilts her head to the side and places her legs atop of his folded ones. "I like it. You'll make it big one day, I can see it." Tenten raises her arms gestures to her boyfriend. "'World renowned Doctor Hyuga travels to far lands just to save the Mizukage from sudden death'!"

Neji grins and reaches over to tickle her sides, "Yeah? And what about you, Mrs. I-don't-need-college."

When she stops laughing she pushes his arms away to cross her own, "I don't." She says defiantly. "I'll be a certified boxing fitness trainer, and open my own gym. You don't need a degree for that."

"You're right." He agrees, taking her back into her arms again, "But where will we get the money? With dreams this big we'll both be broke and in debt."

"Think of it this way, babe. We'll be broke together."

"That doesn't make it any better."

"It was supposed to be a romantic thing!"

-:- -:- -:-

He really should not have eaten those eggs earlier. He feels like he's going to vomit. His stomach churns and twists inside of him and has his fingers tightening on the steering wheel.

"You alright?" Tenten turns concerned brown eyes on Neji, noting the tightening of his expression and the lines gathering around his eyes. Her fingers come to lie against his arm.

"I'm fine." The Hyuga mutters, "It's just something I ate."

Tenten raises her eyebrow and peers at him, "Are you sure...? You hardly ate anything anyway."

That's right. He hadn't eaten anything, and yet the feeling had still been there, even with him at breakfast. It was naive of him to blame this feeling on a plate of scrambled eggs. He knows this feeling well enough.

It's not the feeling he hates-it's the cause of it that worries him.

It's that tense feeling...that something's-going-to-happen feeling. That feeling that keeps you up for three nights, the one that makes you lose your appetite. It's that feeling. A horrid dreadful feeling, and the worst part about it is that you never know what the cause of it is until something happens.

It's anxiety. It's that gut feeling-that 'this is a bad idea' feeling.

Something is going to happen.

Neji feels nauseous.

"It's not the breakfast." He lies as he loosens his grip on the wheel, "It's probably the tuna I ate last night."

"Hm, I ate some of that too." Tenten twist in her seat and pokes her stomach, "You think I'll get sick too?" When Neji doesn't answer she frowns, "I guess you don't want your leftovers then?"

"You can take them."

The bun haired girl jostles the bags in her lap, frowning even more. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. After I do this mission I'll head home and rest."

Neji turns his eyes towards the road before he can see Tenten's face twist with uncertainty. "Maybe..maybe you could cancel it?"

Neji grunts, still not noticing her fidgety nature, "What would I do that? It's just a little stomach ache."

Except it's not. It's not just a silly stomach ache. He had felt this very same feeling when his father died. He'd been closed up in his room for hours that day, rolling around on his bed, wondering what was wrong with him. He had walked to his father's bedroom at least ten times that day, even though he had known that the man was out on 'business.'

And then...and then his father was dead.

And the feeling went away.

It came back when Hinata had been kidnapped, but it hadn't been as terrible as it was before. It had never been as terrible as now.

"It feels weird," Tenten explains, her fingers fidgeting with the plastic bags holding their leftovers. "I don't know how to explain it-it just feels weird."

Neji's eyes snap towards Tenten worried ones and he sighs. "I can't just cancel because you have a weird feeling."

She huffs, "Yeah you can. It's not that important."

"Exactly. It should be easy enough, so I might as well get it done."

"Yeah? That's what they said about Hinata and Sakura's mission."

Neji just shrugs.

Tenten grimaces at her boyfriend's passivity. "-And it's off turf. That's even more dangerous."

"Technically it's on Tsunade's turf, which is as safe as our own." The Hyuga argues back patiently.

Tenten crosses her arms and outs, "Fine." She glares out the window as Neji turns the car down her street. "Do your little mission then."

Neji doesn't really see what her problem is. He parks in front of her house and pokes one of her buns, "It'll be fine. Don't be mad."

"'M'not mad." He can hear her mumble, "'Just worried."

"It'll be fine," He repeats. It feels wrong when he says it, as the feeling is still there. "Trust me."

Tenten huffs before turning to the Hyuga. She gives him a chaste kiss before grabbing their food, "I'll see you later."

"Okay."

She looks angry as she walks away from the car. Neji just looks at her, his eyes almost apologetic as he watches her fume in front of her house. He almost asks what her problem is but decides that that question would just start an argument.

Tenten hears Neji turn on his car again and pauses as she walks up the stairs to her house, "Neji...?"

He looks away from the rearview mirror, raising an eyebrow and lifting his chin. When Tenten doesn't answer immediately he frowns and runs his hands through his hair. "Yeah?"

The bunhead just closes her eyes and sighs, shaking her head. "Never mind. I'll tell you at a better time."

"Okay." The Hyuga agrees easily enough, but with a tiny hint of confusion. Tenten rarely stops herself from saying anything. He sits outside her house until he sees her walk safely inside and then quickly drives away from her neighborhood. He drives off turf and towards Tsunade's, running the mission details through his head.

He grimaces and drives towards the expressway coming up. Should he really go if he's feeling uncertain?

The answer is no, and he knows it. Tenten was right about him staying, he'll have to call and apologize later. He's felt this feeling enough times to know when something is wrong, and he's no idiot. He'll just have to call Sasuke and tell him that it's a no-go. Something isn't right, and he's not going to walk into any situation like that alone.

It's like suicide.

Just as he's taking out his cell phone, he notices something in the rear-view mirror. He squints and sees that there's a familiar looking black car trailing him a little too closely. The windows are tinted too dark for him to see inside and it immediately makes him suspicious.

Instead of turning off the nearest exit to go home, like he planned, he keeps straight for a couple of miles before driving off a random exit.

The black car follows him, but it's still not enough proof for him. Neji narrows his eyes and makes a left turn into an alley, noticing that the car doesn't follow him down it. When Neji exits the alley and merges into a different street three blocks over, the car is there, just turning down the same street as him.

The small black car quickly springs to life when Neji passes it and his assumptions are confirmed. He is definitely being followed. The person behind of the wheel of the black car isn't half bad at it either...who knows how long they'd been trailing the Hyuga before Neji noticed-and they even knew not to follow him into the alley! The guy Neji's dealing with isn't stupid.

But he still got caught.

-:- -:- -:-

Sasuke watches amusedly as Hinata tries to take baby bite out of a cheeseburger the size of her head with one fully functioning hand. She can't quite grasp the whole thing but Sasuke isn't going to help her.

"Uh...Can you cut this for me?" She looks down at her right arm, resting in a sling by her side. Her free arm carefully puts the burger down.

"Nope." Sasuke says, smirking. He continues to watch her struggle, trying not to laugh.

The Hyuga's pout turns into a glare, "You don't have to be mean." Her left hand pokes her burger before she picks it up and shoves it at her face again.

"Why did you have to get the biggest one?"

"Hospital food s-sucks." Hinata mumbles in a way that doesn't at all answer Sasuke's question. She wipes her face with the back of her hand, "And I was really craving a cheeseburger but like, all t-they fed me was soggy rice and hard bread. I was starving."

"You were only there for like three days, it couldn't have been that bad." Sasuke remains unsympathetic. "Just finish your greasy food already." He makes a disgusted face as Hinata shoves a handful of fries in her mouth.

"Don't look so g-grossed out. G-Go eat a tomato or something and l-leave me alone."

"You should never tell your ride to leave." The Uchiha lectures, placing his elbows on the table and staring at her boredly. "Especially if he just bought you bunch of nasty-ass fast food."

Hinata puffs out her cheeks, "I have apple slices too…that's not nasty.." She nudges the apples at him.

"Gross."

"What? It's not o-organic enough for you?" Hinata snatches them back, "For a gangster you're really picky and stuck up..."'

"For a shy girl you're really annoying and talkative."

Hinata frowns and snatches the packaged apples, she leans over to that her right hand could grasp the baggie without actually moving it and tries to rip it open. Watching her struggle, Sasuke rips the bag from her grasp and opens it for her.

"Pathetic."

"R-rude."

"Shut up."

"You f-first." Hinata pops an apple slice into her mouth and turns away from Sasuke. She focuses all her attention on her burger in front of her. She takes another couple of bites and then suddenly, she feels sick.

Sasuke notices her pause and pokes her face curiously, "What's up, stupid?"

Hinata bats his fingers away, holding her stomach. She ignores Sasuke's mean teasing for the moment and frowns, "I feel weird..."

She feels nervous, suddenly. Like something is going to happen.

"It's probably all that shit you've been eating. I told yo-" Sasuke cuts himself off as his phone vibrates loudly atop the table. He gives it annoyed glare before picking it up and inclining his head, "What's up?"

Hinata looks on curiously, eyes widening as Sasuke's narrow at whatever the other person is saying. She mouths, 'who is it' to him.

"It's Neji." Sasuke tells her, running a hand through his dark locks. He turns his attention back to the phone. "You sure, Hyuga?" He nods a little to himself and says, "Fine. I'm on my way. Don't stop driving until we can figure something out." He hangs up the phone and stands abruptly.

"What's going on?" Hinata questions, watching Sasuke shove the pieces of her meal back into the paper bag carelessly.

"I'll explain in the car."

Hinata grabs her stuff from him, frowning. People are always only ever explaining things in cars. It's annoying. Why can't he just explain right here?!

"I probably shouldn't be taking you with me. You're still injured." Sasuke casts her arm a worried glance. "But there's not time now." He grabs her left hand and rushes towards the car, his thumb brushing over her knuckles. When he notices her other palm on her stomach he pauses, "'You still feel weird?"

Hinata waves her hand at him and plops down in the passenger seat, wincing when her right arm hits the side of the door. Sasuke rolls his eyes at her and slides in more graceful than she had. He exits the fast food joint parking lot and raises an eyebrow at her.

"Kinda..." Hinata takes a deep breath but it still does nothing to calm her stomach down. "Just drive. What did Neji want?"

"He said someone was following him." Sasuke frowns, "I bet they were trailing him the minute he left our turf."

Hinata feels her stomach tighten and she grabs the bottom of the seat to stop herself from nervous movement. Her fingers tighten on the leather, "Will he be okay?"

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Sasuke grunts out, weaving through traffic on towards the street Neji had told him. Downtown. By the big library. Whoever is following Neji can't be stupid enough to cause a scene in the middle of the city. "He's smart and knows what he's doing."

"I guess we're lucky we weren't too far away though, huh?" Hinata muses out loud, watching the traffic go by. The hospital she had been in is closer to the downtown area than their turf. She continues to dig her fingers into the leather as she watches the traffic build up. The feeling in her stomach has only increased by about a thousand. She wiggles in her seat, filled with nervous energy. "Can you...go any faster?"

Sasuke throws her a terse look, "I'm trying the best I can." He slams his palm on the horn for good measure, smirking as Hinata winces. "We're almost there anyway."

Hinata moves again, bringing her legs to her chest and then dropping them to the floor again. She runs her hand through her hair and twists in her seat to peer at the Uchiha, "I feel really wei-" She cuts herself off when shrill ringing cuts through the hair. The Hyuga jumps a foot in the air but grabs Sasuke's phone out of the cup holder before he can even move. "Hello?!"

Sasuke sends her an unimpressed look at her hurried response and erratic behavior as he goes around a group of slow-as-hell pedestrians. She sticks her tongue out at him.

"Hinata?!"

"Uh. N-Neji." Hinata breathes into the phone, "Neji! Are you alright?"

"Hinata!" Neji says again, "Why are you on Sasuke's phone!"

She winces, "'Cause...h-he's busy..."

"What I meant was...why did he take you with him?"

Hinata frowns, noticing the hard edge in his voice. Something must be going on. She twists in her seat again. "M-more importantly...are you alright?"

"I'm fine." His voice fades out for a bit, "Where are you guys?"

"We're just pulling up by the library."

"Good. I just took that street down. Go straight and you'll see me." He pauses and Hinata squints, trying to see his silver car ahead, "The problem is...I don't know where the guy went."

"Maybe you lost him?" Hinata asks hopefully, but instead of the pain in her stomach going away, it just intensifies. When Neji doesn't reply, Hinata turns to Sasuke, more and more worry etching across her face. "He says he lost the guy."

"No...it feels too weird." Hinata can finally see Neji's car pull up to a red light. The feeling is back, and it's killing her. She feels her bones shake and her stomach twists some more.

"Give the phone to Uchiha."

Hinata does as she's told, pressing her nails into the seat, watching as Sasuke gets closer and closer to Neji but still not close enough.

Hinata bites her nails as the light turns green, knowing that Neji will drive further and further away. She sees his car inch forward and then...

And then the world explodes.

Everything is red, orange, black and loud. The world is on fire. Hinata blinks at the sudden mass of color before her eyes, watching everything in slow motion. Hinata stares, too shocked to move as black smoke billows out of both cars and into the air. Scared pedestrians and drivers alike run across the street, weaving through cars and across her line of vision in a mass of blurred shapes. She sits calmly in her seat, only a few yards away, just starring.

Neji is in that silver car.

Neji is in that silver car that just exploded.

Neji is in that silver car that just fucking exploded.

Sasuke moves before Hinata does. She makes for the door but his arms encircle her own before her fingers can even reach it. Hinata screams and screams and screams, trying to wretch out his grip and get to her cousin-her brother.

"Fuck." Sasuke grunts as Hinata lashes out, using her good arm to scratch his face. He grabs her waist and pulls her out of the car and away from the wreckage. She kicks at him as he continues to pull her away, her eyes fill with water and she wipes them irritably.

"Lemme go! Sasuke! Let me go!"

"I can't." Sasuke says, his arms tightening around her stomach as she squirms, looking at the flames. An ambulance siren flares up somewhere behind them. He takes a deep breath and buries his face into the crook of her neck for a minute, trying to pull himself together. "I'm sorry. I can't."

Hinata turns so quick she almost gets a whiplash. She punches the Uchiha in the stomach and rushes towards the vehicle. She fights through crowds of people running the opposite way, pushing and shoving, crying all the while.

When she finally gets near the cars, a fireman stops her. "Sorry, miss. No one is allowed passed this point."

She yanks herself out of his grip, trying to go around him. The graying fireman grabs her again, repeating more sternly, "No one is allowed passed this point."

She can feel the heat on her skin from five feet away. She can see the burning metal. The smell of burnt rubber assaults her nose and she fights even harder. "Let me through! Please!" A spray of cold water hits her and the officer, but it does nothing to calm her down. "My brother is in there!" Her fingers come to shove the officer harshly aside. "I have to get to my brother dammit!"

She stumbles forward the first few steps before stopping altogether. The firemen finally have the flames under control and one brings out a large set of pliers to get the metal door off. Hinata watches in silence as the men delve in a pull a limp man out the destroyed vehicle.

Out of the silver vehicle.

She screams.

She screams and she does not stop.

-:- -:- -:-

He stares at his reflection in the windows of a building. His lips are pulled into a smirk as if he's enjoying himself, but his eyes tell another story. He ignores this part of him and reaches into his pocket to pull out the lone cigarette that rests at the bottom. He flicks the lighter a few times before returning his gaze towards the windows.

He can see the people running. They move around him in packs like ants or cattle or something. And they're too damned loud-screaming and hollering like he'd just set the building on fire instead of a little car. They are louder than the bomb itself.

His ears hurt from all the noise and his head feels light from all the excitement. He presses the cigarette between the curve of his lips, closing his eyes; listening.

Some guy is worrying about terrorists from the city over, another woman is scared that her lost dog might've run into the accident, children exchange excited words over the whole ordeal, and a news reporter is just starting his segment. One voice carries over through the chaos the most though. He takes another drag and listens to some girl yell about her brother.

Then there is a sound so horrible that his last goddamn cigarette falls right through his fingertips and onto the ground. The glass windows shake, the reporter pauses, the civilians hold their breaths. Shivers run down his spine and the hair on the back of his neck stands up. He opens his eyes.

Everything stops to listen.

The noise happens a second time, and his fingers clench. It is a scream like death. It's like someone is dying over and over again and they won't just stay dead.

Did he do this? Has he caused another human being to make such a horrible sound? It's so heartbreaking that it chills his bones and he starts shaking.

Deidara turns to the sound, his finger brushing the silver detonator resting just in his hoodie. His hair is mostly out of sight, tied up and hidden inside the big hood. His eyes glance past the cars, searching for the person who is producing such terrible noises-the person who has managed to lock his muscles and make his heart beat seven times faster than it should be beating.

When he finally finds the source of the noise, he feels himself break.

Piece by piece, he comes apart as he watches her. He watches her fall to her knees and touch her head to the ground. Her screams are like little wails now, no longer loud enough to catch anyone's attention. Deidara feels this terrible pain in his chest again.

She shouldn't be here. She isn't supposed to be here. She's not supposed to be here to see this. She wasn't supposed to watch her cousin die by his hands.

"I-I should leave, yeah." Deidara mumbles to himself, trying to get his body to work again. He shakes his head. "I can't move." He mumbles. "I need to move, un. Now."

No matter what he tries, he's stuck there. Deidara feels his eyes moisten and he shakes his head again. He can't help it when his eyes return to Hinata.

Amongst the smoke and the wreckage, she slowly stands up, wiping her face. When she lifts her head to look around, the most terrible thing happens.

She looks right at him.

Deidara feels it in his stomach; he feels the fear and hatred for his gang rise and pound into his ears. He is a mess of a person.

Can he even be considered that anymore?

Blue eyes connect with opaque ones and Deidara sees a thousand emotions flash through her white ones before they become blank.

Just blank. There's nothing there. No anger, no sadness, nothing.

When he blinks, her face crumbles into a million pieces.

She knows it was him.

Deidara bows his head and turns away from her. His body finally works, and he makes his way through the city, trying to stand tall…trying not to give it all up right then and there.

'Kill the Hyuga.'' Was what he was told.

He still thinks he's killed the right one.

-:-

An. OH MAN. It's been a long time guys. I'm like 200% sure that this chapter does not make up for it.

For the life of me I couldn't get this chapter out. It was so hard to write for some reason, I probably rewrote this three times and it's still not exactly where I want it to be.

ALSO IT'S THIS FICS BIRTHDAY. I cannot believe I've been writing this thing for a year! And it's a huge coincidence that I decided to update today, I hadn't even noticed until I went to check today. Thank you all for sticking with me for one year!

Anyway, that's enough enthusiasm for a terribly depressing chapter. Imma go now.

Review please.