Chapter THIRTY EIGHT

Sakura streaks through the trees, right behind Neji, towards the approaching group of mercenaries.

For the moment, it is just the two of them, far from Konoha.

A sudden thought hits her, and her mouth goes dry. "Nii-sama-" she begins, but Neji cuts her off.

"We are getting close," he says, not looking back. "Do not let down your guard."

We're free out here, Nii-sama. We can just take off, by ourselves.

Sakura wants to push through anyways, because she knows Neji knew what had been about to say, but she does not. Instead, she nods, knowing his Byakugan will allow him to see. "You too," she says.

They land on a branch overhead a path. Sakura shifta her focus to the approaching xhalra signatures. The mercenaries will be marching past below them in a while.

"There is another path towards the bridge," she murmures. "Was it wise to not cover it?"

"Too late to wonder now," Neji replies. "Besides, non-shinobi or not, this group is not small enough for either of us to take on them by ourselves. We will have to hope the rest of our teams are not that incompetent without us." There is a hint of amusement in his tone and Sakura smiles.

Neji drops down onto the first man that appears below him, with only a shift of clothing and a glint of white eyes to signal he is there. After his target goes down, though, the rest of the men realize what exactly had happened and they all turn to him in unison, weapons raised.

Still, they cannot come at him together because the path they had settled in wait was pretty narrow and three men, at best, can barely squeeze through at once. Neji blasts them back with a vacuum palm, then being to lure the men back the way he had come. He checks with his Byakugan to make sure that Sakura is now hovering overhead behind the last few men, then turns around to face the mercenaries. He hears several more shouts of panic and notes that Sakura had descended as well.

The path is narrow, and he trusts his sister to hold her ground. The two of them begin fighting towards each other, trapping the group of men between then.

His hands flash out towards the next man that approaches him. Hakke: Sanjuuni sho!

The thirty two palms is more than enough to take down the man and as he goes flying, he sees the men behind him falter a little in their attacks.

Apparently, they really weren't shinobi. Perhaps Gato had been counting on Zabuza to be able to handle them, and then had hoped that sheer numbers could overwhelm them when it became apparent that that wasn't the case.

Neji kicks away another attacker, then twists around to dodge a fist before grabbing onto said offending limb and jamming his fingers into a pressure point on the arm. The owner of said arm lets out a screech of pain and drops.

Finally, he catches sight of a flash of pink in between Gato's men. Soon, as more mercenaries fall, his sister emerges, Byakugan eyes glowing. Neji wonders if his own eyes look like hers.

It is not much sooner when the last man falls, and Neji rejoins his sister's side to overlook the pile of dead or unconscious bodies. His Byakugan tells him that none of them will be joining the bridge battle anytime soon.

At the thought, Neji focuses his vision back on the bridge. From this distance, the rest of their teams are just about within his range. He instantly noticed that there is a group of people standing behind the shinobi, facing off against a group of mercenaries, probably having taken the other path, on the bridge, but there does not seem to be any fighting. In fact, the mercenaries are running away from the bridge site. He also notices that there is a chakra signature missing, and another is quickly fading.

"The hunter-nin is dead." Neji tells his sister. "Zabuza is close to following him."

Sakura nods stiffly. Her white eyes flicker, before they melt back into piercing green. "I guess Gato was among the other group," she says. "Why do you think so many men were prepared?" She asks. "If he planned on having Zabuza slaughter us all, there should have been no need for him to do so."

Neji shrugs. "Perhaps he thought Zabuza would not be able to," he suggests. "Maybe it was a just in case decision."

Sakura nods. "I guess we will find out once we get back." She glances around. "Do we leave them here?"

"Hired mercenaries will probably not clean up their dead," he says. "After all, most probably do not even know each other. Perhaps they can receive a proper burial if we ask the village."

"Let's ask Kakashi-sensei," Sakura agrees.

Neji pauses, then ruffles his sister's hair in a rare moment of affection. "You are not hurt?" He asks. There is a small splatter of blood on the girl's clothes, but he had seen her whip out a kunai to combat an opponent weilding a sword, and said opponent was no longer alive, so Neji could assume she had drities her shirt when she had slit his throat.

Sakura's eyes follow his gaze and she almost sheepishly rubs at the red. It is starting to harden, but it still smudges. "It's not mine," she says, confirming his thoughts. "I have spares in my bag."

Neji nods, and allows her to give him a once over as well. "None of them were skilled enough to land hut on me," he says, almost sarcastically, and Sakura laughs softly.

"Let us head back," she says, and Neji nods.

Hanakotoba:

Daisy:

Hidden feelings/Peace/Hope/Beauty

Darque: So, I know where this is going to go now.

Raven: Oh?

Darque: Yeah. I think some people won't like it though.

Raven: O.O I'm sure no one likes your face, but no one says anything about that, so it'll be fine.

Darque: No one like your face but I make sure to tell you, so maybe it won't be fine.

Raven:...

Darque: Anyways. Yeah. Just saying.

Raven:...

Read and Review~

On a side note, I, Darque the amazing, has uploaded the first chapter of my original story over on Wattpad (Yay!) It's under the same name (Darquedeath4444), but I'll put the link on our profile page, so if you are interested, please check it out!

Here's the summary:

The Oath of the Fallen Stars,

In a world where every living thing has a corresponding star in the sky, Flynn Balgair, a former street rat, has given everything to build himself a name and a position within the Kingdom of Zephania. At the young age of nineteen he is the face of Zephanian diplomacy, and after having known the harshness of life in poverty, he believes himself willing to live a life of stability despite how boredom threatens to consume him.

What many do not know is that everything he has built up is a result of the special power he holds. When he smiles, people turn to look and when he speaks, people listen. Years ago, he had been one of many street rats fighting for survival in the Gadael slums, and it had been these powers that had first caught the eye of the royal family. A 'Constellation' is a person with more than one corresponding star in the sky, and Flynn is told he is one of the rare people who has been granted unexplainable powers by this phenomenon. He is offered a life and a role within the royal palace in exchange for him using his powers for the good of the kingdom and it soon becomes a game for him, a game where understanding human desire gives him power and only he knows the rules.

However, things change when one day, when a stranger arrives in the palace. Driven by curiosity, something he hadn't felt in a long time, Flynn allows himself to be lead away from the comfort he has long gotten used to. Revealing that he is a Constellation himself, Erkhaan leads Flynn into a world where fellow Constellations are family and their kind are hunted by the very Kingdom Flynn has served.