Chapter Thirty-Eight

Hiashi has a Nervous Breakdown

Hiashi had been angry enough at the idea that he might have to play host to a horse for the rest of his life, but his irritation at Zeera was nothing compared to the mild explosion that occurred when they got back to compound (Gaara included, as he felt that he needed to try and defuse this before something else went wrong). Needless to say something else went wrong.

Jhimey, who had heard from his tribe that their Horse Mistress was doing something odd with the Hyuga heiress and one of the horses, had turned up at the gates. He was also being rather annoying and distracting with his constant pacing and grumbling. He was making the two guards, both branch members, extremely nervous.

When he saw them coming he took one look at Zeera and Hinata and seemed to recognize something. His gaze shot to his wife, who clenched her jaw and nodded curtly at him. Jhimey's eyes bugged out and he started to mutter something.

"Ho boy. He's going to explode. Excuse me; I need to go defuse my husband. Don't get involved." Katsu swung onto her horse and galloped towards Jhimey.

Jhimey's way of greeting was…unexpected.

"What have you done! What is that Leaf doing with one of our horses! Have you gone mad!" Jhimey bellowed.

Katsu leaned forwards on her horse and slapped him. "Shut it! I don't control who they bond with! Don't you shout at me!"

"And you are telling me you didn't see the signs! You the Horse Mistress! Are you blind then!"

"Didn't I just tell you not to talk to me like that!" Katsu bellowed.

"I can talk however I want! I'm the Huur!"

"And I am your wife! You don't talk to me like that!"

"I sure as hell do!

"You sure as hell don't!"

They walked away back to the tents, still arguing.

The ninja all stared at them.

"They are very loud." Gaara finally said calmly.

"Extremely." Hiashi said in almost the exact same tone.

In the distance they could see several Swooping Eagles vacating the premises, not exactly running, but defiantly moving away from the general area with some haste.

And that was when the rocks started flying.

With a snort Zeera gave Hinata one last little nudge, glared at Hiashi one last time, and trotted over to a group of horses which someone had given a bale of hay to. Hinata was secretly relieved that Zeera seemed a bit more independent then Akamaru seemed to be with Kiba.

Hiashi was looking at his daughter, extremely troubled, even though he did not show it. Was that wild woman right? Did his daughter really fear him that much? Sure he was stern with her. He had to be. He was a ninja and she was ninja. Even for the relatively kinder Leafs the life of a ninja was not one for the weak. He was stern because he knew that his daughter had to be strong to survive. For most of her life Hinata had shown shyness and reluctance that Hiashi knew was unacceptable for their kind of life. It was unacceptable for a ninja, and certainly unacceptable for the future leader of an influential clan. He had tried to discourage the shyness, but it seemed to make it worse. He was cruel at times, but what if someone attacked her like the Cloud ninja had done? What if next time they succeeded? Yes he had said to Kurenai once that he didn't care if Hinata died during training, but what was a little white lie when you were the Lord of the Hyuga clan trying to hint to your daughter that she needed to step up to the plate? But, but, now this crazy tribal cousin of his was telling him that his daughter was terrified of him? Had he somehow aggravated the situation?

It could not be true.

Could it?

A horrible thought then occurred to Hiashi. If that horse really was somehow channeling Hinata's feelings, and if horse hated Hiashi so much did that mean that Hinata hated him just as the horse did?

Hiashi was not sure even he could live with that possibility.

Without looking at either Gaara or Hinata, Hiashi turned away from his own home and walked off. He was not sure he could even look at it. For some reason the thought of the place was making him sick.

Where had he gone wrong? Was it the day he decided to overlook Hinata in favor of Hanabi? Should he have kept focusing on the older daughter? Or would that have just made it worse? Or was the problem further back? Should he have insisted on taking Hizashi's place? Could he have sealed of his own Byakugan and gone instead of Hizashi? He should have! Hizashi should have been clan leader! He was always the stronger of the two brothers, even without the Gentle Fist style! Stronger, faster, better, Hizashi was better in every way when compared to Hiashi!

Hiashi's thoughts kept whirling on these self destructive paths for hours as he just wandered around the Leaf village, earning stares and whispers as he went. He didn't even hear any of it. He was too busy feeling sorry for himself.

It was getting pretty dark out there, and Hiashi had wandered pretty far. in fact he was quite a long way from his home. A simple one story building caught his eye.

Hiashi recognized this place. A long time ago, before everyone he knew hated him he used to come to this place with his genin team. Him, his brother (who did not hate him at the time, in fact when they were genin Hizashi and Hiashi were quite friendly with each other), and Tsume. Their leader had been a rather large, intimidating shinobi called "Ogre" Maito Ogre, Guy's father. They used to be his friends, but something happened when Hiashi began to take on more of his responsibilities as leader of the clan. When he was learning clan leadership from his mother, which took up a lot of his time, his team had become more and more distant, and eventually it was like he barely knew any of them anymore. Hizashi hated him, and he never really figured out why, and Tsume refused to talk to him. He never found out why that was either. Ogre was the only one who treated him the same way, but Ogre was very much like his son in that manner (the biggest difference between the two being that Ogre was not as cheerful and had a tendency to refer to everyone as "shrimp", even his own son). Before Hiashi's mother's instructions on how to be a good clan leader he had practically ran wild. Part of it was Tsume. She was what his mother called a bad influence. It was her who introduced him to this place when they were of age.

It was a bar.

"Of age" for ninja was different than normal village people, as it was thought that if a kid could wield chakra, play with sharp knives and kill people then they were plenty mature enough to handle alcohol as long as their sensei was present. And Ogre had no problem with it. Encouraged it, even. He was kind of strange that way.

It had been years since he had been here.

Maybe it was time to get reacquainted. He would get no piece at home!

Might as well.

By about four o clock Hinata was terrified for her father. The noises from the tribe's area had gone from shouting to a series of strange noises that Hinata could not decipher at all. And, frankly she did not want to decipher it. In the end she decided to let the Iifernati take care of themselves. She, on the other hand, was going to look for her father. He had looked very odd when he had walked off, but she had been so concerned about the flying rocks and the screaming, not to mention the pots and pans that came later, that Hiashi's odd behavior had been thrust in the back of her mind.

Now, however, she was concerned for him. Despite the fact that she feared her father she did love him, in a kind of abstract way. She had always thought of him as a kind of unmovable mountain or a statue. She had never seen him act this way before. But, then again the situation was ore then odd. Despite the slew of servants in the Hyuga compound, the family was somewhat secluded and the place was usually quiet, as the servants knew how to be invisible. The only thing remotely exciting around here was the occasional political meeting and the training. However, it occurred to Hinata that this was the first time their home had been basically invaded by, let's face it, half wild tribesman. These people had rampaged into the compound and almost took it over. Add the horse incident to the that, and the fact that the Iifernati seemed to hold the Hyuga in absolutely no respect, then maybe it was not totally unexpected that Hiashi be a bit unbalanced by all of this.

Only one thing to do now.

Hinata had to find him.

Hinata headed for the main gate and nodded at the two guards, who were staring up at the wall with great suspicion.

"What are you looking at?" Hinata looked up. "Oh." It was Maro. For some reason he had decided to climb up the wall and was perched up there. Odd.

"He's been up there for hours." One of the guards said through gritted teeth.

"I am not going back to the tent with those two throwing heavy objects." Maro said calmly. "Or even when they are not. They can get rather disgusting when they make up."

Hinata nodded, and tried not to think about what Maro might mean by "make up". She turned to the guards. "I am going to look for my father." The two guards nodded.

Maro stared at Hinata for a brief moment, and then jumped down off the wall. "I'll go with you."

The two guards grunted in unison.

Hinata stared at him. "You hate my family." She noted.

Maro shrugged. "True. But if you are getting one of our horses I want to be familiar with the person getting her. I am not leaving a good horse in a stranger's hands. Best way to cure that is not to be a stranger."

Hinata shrugged. "Fine." She didn't see any flaw in that argument. Heck, Kiba would probably act the same way to a stranger getting an Inuzuka dog.

"Maybe one of us should go." A guard growled at Maro, who glared right back.

"No, it will be fine." Hinata said. If she did not at least try to get Maro to settle down…well it was worth a shot.

Maro gave her a surprised look, and started to follow Hinata.

So, for the next few hours, Hinata searched the places she would have expected her father to be which were upper class places benefiting a Hyuga. The search was helped with the Byakugan, but since Hinata had a shorter range then her cousin she had to walk around a lot. Maro did not, could not, use the Byuakuan, and he seemed to spend more of his time watching Hinata then looking for Hiashi, but Hinata did not let that bother her.

Two hours later and Hinata still had not found her father, and now she was starting to panic. She decided that she had better check every cranny of Konoha, just in case Hiashi was in some sort of trouble. She had no idea what kind of trouble that would be, as she was half convinced that her father was invulnerable, but…

Where could he be?

"Why, young Hinata, what are you doing out so late?"

Hinata turned. She had seen Guy approaching, though she had pushed it to the back of her mind as unimportant. Guy was not her father, and that is who she was looking for.

"H-hello Guy-sensei." Hinata stuttered. True Guy was not her sensei, but he was a teacher and her cousin's sensei. She did not know him as well as she knew Kurenai, but the man had a tendency to drop in on the Hyugas at odd times to check on Neji. Hinata did not really know why, but he did, so while Hinata did not know Guy well she did know him. The most they had interacted with each other was once right after the chunin exams when he had actually come to her hospital bed to tearly apologize for Neji's "unacceptable unyouthful behavior" (coincidentally nearly finishing the job his student started by almost giving her a heart attack). Two other times she found herself in temporary teams with some of Guy's squad. She remembered when Naruto, Neji and Tenten had gone to the Land of Birds she and Shino had found themselves paired with Guy and Rock Lee. Hinata had come from that mission a nervous wreak, and Shino had sulked for a week. Neither of them could handle the presence of both of the Leaf's green beasts. The next mission that involved Guy was a bit better, but not by much, mostly because that time it was with Neji and Kiba, no Rock Lee. While Guy had not been as startling with Rock Lee around to act as his chorus, she had spent the entire mission warily watching her cousin and waiting for a kunai in the back. Kiba had almost been as tense, glaring and growling at Neji every time he came close enough and Akamaru had shown his displeasure by chewing Neji's shoes and marking inappropriate places. Hinata was certain she had never seen Akamaru smirk as much as he had during that mission, and yes Hinata was convinced that the dog could smirk.

"H-h-have you s-seen my father? H-he is m-missing." Guy and Rock Lee had a tendency to bring out her stutter almost as much as Naruto, not due to attraction, but because they were both…so…them. "I-I've been everywhere he usually g-goes b-b-but I can't find him." She could feel Maro hovering nearby, staring at her in surprise. He had not really talked to her that much, and the speed in which she had gone from normal talking to nervous stutter surprised him. Fortunately for him Guy was not even looking at Maro. That was fine by him. Guy did not look like someone eh would want to talk to anyway.

Guy looked a bit startled at the news of Hiashi's disappearance. "Hmmmm, really." He actually looked thoughtful, a strange look for the normally jumpy and hasty Guy. "I wonder."

"H-h-he also swore. Later today." That, more than anything, was bothering Hinata a lot. Her father never swore, and right after that the look on his face was so odd. And now there was that thoughtful look on Guy's face, almost as if he was thinking about something.

"Do you know something?" All at once Guy's almost knowing look raised Hinata's suspicions, enough to eliminate the stutter.

Guy looked startled, as if the stutter lack had thrown him off. "Well, it has been years, but maybe! Yes! Do not fear, little one! I think I know where he might be" and now there was that blinding teeth thing. "You go home and relax, it will all be fine!"

That was way too convenient. Hinata could not help but be suspicious of this. As Guy whirled off, heading in the opposite direction, Hinata felt a surge of courage. This was her father, after all!

"Wait!" The courage surge had pretty much swept the stutter away "How would you know where he could be! You don't know him!"

Guy slowed and actually sighed a bit. "Actually, I do. You know that ninja will often train those whose parents were their teammates or sensei?"

"Yes, that is why Kurenai was chosen as my sensei. She was trained by my father before he became the Hyuga Lord."

"Indeed. Well, Hizashi, your uncle was my sensei before he died, and for a couple of years after that Hiashi took over my training. That is why I took Neji. And, before that, my father Ogre trained both your uncle and your father. He told me a few things. Now, I take it that Hiashi was upset today? He does not have a youthful spirit, and the Iifernati seem quite the hot-blooded bunch! No doubt he is overwhelmed. I have a pretty good idea of where he might be from the stories my father told me."

"Oh…that makes sense…"

"Go home, Hinata." More grinning and now Guy was doing that strange thumbs up. "I will find him."

Hinata was not about to do that. But, she was a ninja to. She agreed, and then when Guy had rushed off she and Maro followed at a distance.

Gaara had found a nice spot on the Hyuga's roof to look at the stars. It was something he always did every night, even after he lost his demon. He liked looking at them, though he did not know why. Perhaps it was their constancy. Even here he could look at his favorite constellations. Yes the expanse was not as magnificent with all the trees in the way, but they were there.

Gaara heard a scrambling and looked to his left, only moving his eyes. He did not quite groan as he saw his uncle climbing up. He was not in the mood tonight, but then again he was never in the mood for uncles these days. They had a tendency to explode around him.

As Jhimey got his balance on the roof Gaara ignored him. Perhaps if he pretended Jhimey was not there he would go away?

"Hi Gaara." Jhimey said. Gaara did sigh a bit there. So much for that idea!

Gaara ignored Jhimey.

Jhimey, to Gaara's irritation, did not take the hint but sat down beside him. Not to close, but close enough to talk. Gaara was determined not to communicate with his uncle. Not a word.

For about thirty minutes the two did not speak.

"Shall I guess why you avoid me like I am a plague victim?" Jhimey finally said.

Gaara said nothing.

"Funny thing, nephew. I bet you think I am like Yashamaru, am I right?"

No response.

"Strange that a boy that should know enough not to judge so harshly should do so. After all, you are the one Yashamaru used to call a monster. He said it all the time, you know? Said that when you were young that you used to chase the children around with your sand and try to hurt him. He said that you loved to see others in pain." Jhimey shrugged. "I didn't believe him. You always seemed like a normal child to me. You were quieter than your brother and sister. Kankuro was a fussy little kid. Drove your mother nearly bats. And Temari was all over the place when she learned how to crawl. Your parents had a devil of a time getting her away from the furniture. You, however, were always well behaved. I can't say I was there all the time. I do have a tribe to take care of. You know what it is like to be responsible for an entire group, don't you? Still, Hajeem believed Yashamaru before he would even try to listen to me. I was his brother, but big brothers rarely listen to younger brothers, right? Interesting thing, that. We are both the younger brothers. Our line usually has children in threes. Supposedly it's a sacred number, kind of like how the Night Owls will only let the seventh son of a seventh son become their Arrl. People like numbers, for some reason. Anyway, I had a big sister to, just like Temari. She was the middle child, though, and Hajeem was the eldest. He wasn't a bad brother, you know. By the time you were born he was becoming more and more paranoid. There is a reason for that, but I bet you are not even interested, are you?" Jhimey's voice was getting more and more angry. "It's still so funny! Here you are, and people called you a monster, but deep inside you were a just a little kid with no friends who had been hurt by those you loved, but you won't even give me a chance. And you won't even listen to me! I can sit here all night and tell you why your father became a paranoid nutcase and you will just sit here like a rock! Damn it!"

Jhimey got up and swung down off the roof. "Why do I bother?" He muttered as he went down.

Gaara stared at the space that Jhimey had once been, feeling horrible. He had not wanted anything to do with his uncle. It had never occurred to him that he was doing the exact same thing to Jhimey that had been done to him for years. He had judged his uncle before he had even met the man.

Maybe he needed to change that.

A/N: And I better stop there before someone breaks out the emo music or something.