A/Note: Readers and reviewers alike, you've done a wonderful job; to inspire me! Now I can see where this whole thing is going - although I have a rough frame of it beforehand - and I promise you it will be fun. Although in this chapter I broke a few cardinal rules of the original manga, I hope it somehow fits. Read on and review too, please!
Hinata's already wide eyes became as round as saucers.
Sakura meanwhile cupped her lips. She did not believe she had just said that to Hinata. She would be the worst possible person she could have told, and now she just did. Dammit, Sakura, don't you ever try to THINK before you open your rotten trap!?
The Inner Sakura was of course the vulgar voice. She was merciless. Of all the people, why do you have to tell her?! Don't you know who she is?
Of course Sakura did. Beyond her wildest dreams, Hinata was among the earliest ones who became promoted to be one of the Anbu team after her Jounin examinations three years ago. (Neji had also achieved the Jounin Rank, months earlier, although not as an Anbu.) Although she rarely went on missions because of her health, the ones that she did go were extremely hard, with high percentage of failure and death. Somehow with all these, she had gained the name Calmness. Sakura never had the honour to see her in action, but from word of mouth, Hinata was a force to be reckoned for.
Still now, under the March sun, with the wind catching her super silky hair and one arm still unconsciously rubbing the spot between her breasts, Hinata looked nothing like the word of mouth Sakura had heard of. She looked more like a pure, prudent virgin who had never handled a kunai.
Hinata had dropped her basket softly on the roadside and moved toward her. "What do you mean by that, Sakura-san? You – you met him yesterday?"
Now Sakura was having second thoughts about her previous outburst. And third, and fourth, and so on. "Hinata, I –"
"Did he come to your place? Why – how is that possible?"
"I should go now," Sakura said quickly as she turned away from Hinata. She felt Hinata's hand tried to grab her right shoulder but she moved quickly out of reach and walked on.
"Sakura-san!" Hinata called, but Sakura ignored her. As she quickened her steps, Sakura felt her legs go numb. It was slow but still she could feel it, and in no time Sakura found herself rendered immobile. When did she disturb my tenketsu point? Sakura thought nervously. Stories she heard about Hinata now became disturbingly clear. Sakura bit her lower lip as Hinata's soft footfalls became audible, closer and closer.
"I'm sorry, Sakura," Hinata said, who appeared in front of her. "I need to know whether you are telling me the truth or simply playing a cruel joke. Now tell me please; did Naruto come here yesterday?"
Hinata was looking at her, almost pleading. Sakura had to be firm; she did not want Hinata to do something impulsive. Slowly she said, "I – no, Hinata, I'm sorry."
Hinata's hopeful face became suspicious. Sakura almost felt sorry she lied, but swallowed the guilt inside. It was like swallowing a horse. Before Hinata could ask further Sakura quickly said: "Really, Hinata, I must apologise. I – I must have been hallucinating. They gave me a lot of drugs for the wounds, and I suppose you knew I was held for over six days at the hospital in a coma. That should be enough to make someone imagine things. Imagine about – well, him."
Hinata nodded slowly as she tapped Sakura's right shoulder apologetically once. "I'm sorry, Sakura," she said. Just as her hand slid away Sakura heaved a big sigh, relieved after being released from the numbing touch.
I didn't even feel that before. She must have done it when she tried to touch my shoulder, Sakura thought, her eyes on Hinata who was lost in her thoughts. This is an Anbu? This is Hinata the Calmness?
Meanwhile, absorbed in her own thoughts. Hinata remembered the time when Neji had defeated her. Following that, she had also been in a coma, and once she had recovered, the drugs made her unable to distinguish between dreams and reality. And all of her dreams were about Naruto. She started to say:
"I should have not used that move on you, but –"
Sakura shook her head. "It was my fault, anyway. I should've told the truth." Gosh, another lie, the Inner Sakura taunted her. "I'm fine, Hinata. Say," she said, ignoring the taunts and trying to wash away her guilt over the lie she had just told Hinata, "why don't I send you back to your home?"
"Really? But, Sakura, it's far from your home!"
"It's nothing," Sakura said, while in her mind the Inner Sakura continued to taunt her: Besides, you're lying through your teeth TWICE and need to make it up to her. "It's been quite a while since I had a good walk around the village. Besides, I have to see Satoshi."
"Oh," Hinata remarked. "Thanks." As they went back to the junction and began walking, her arms wound around Sakura's, Hinata asked in a whisper: "Why didn't you imagine about Sasuke instead?"
Sakura hoped to the gods that Hinata didn't feel her whole body froze for a second. "Well," she replied in a nonchalant manner, "he's always been there for me, you know. Maybe that's why."
And as they walked in silence, both thought how true that statement was. Quickly, though, they began talking about each other.
"Iruka-senpai, stop it."
Iruka was possessed. He lifted his hand that had a small disc and let it fall upon the man's back. He let it run on the skin and the man began screaming his throat out. There was only one light in the room; focused on the man's face without revealing his tormentors.
And Iruka continued to run the disc down the captive's back, pressing it as he did so. In the darkness, his eyes were unseen, but Kiba could smell his bloodlust, his madness. The disc is a smooth metal on the upper side, but its lower side has a multitude of tiny teeth. Each is no smaller than a sliver of the fingernail, and sharper than a medical scalpel. Kiba had to grit his teeth when the captive screamed again and again.
Earlier this morning, Kiba had been making rounds with Akamaru. At the town gate he had spotted a suspicious man. He had a sack on his back and was making his way hurriedly through the gate. Wondering why the town gate guard did not sound the alarm, Kiba had followed the man to a small clearing not far from the main road that leads back to the town gate. In silence, Kiba and Akamaru observed the man's movements while making some preparations, completely undetectable.
He went to and fro between the
sack and the heart of the clearing. Finally under the dawn light the content of
the sack was revealed.
It held a guard's unconscious body. So,
that's where the gate guard had been all along, Kiba thought. Also, Kiba
noticed with interest that there was some sort of lines drawn into a circle on
the ground. As the man placed the naked, unconscious guard in the middle of the
circle, Kiba instructed Akamaru to stick an explosive note on the man's path
while he readied himself to spring, with a kunai between his teeth. Akamaru did
his job stealthily and quickly moved away when the man saw him, passing off as
a stray dog.
Angered by the dog's presence, the man shooed him. Akamaru refused to move, and the man quickly moved toward him, stepping upon the explosive note which sent him flying about five feet in the air. Only then Akamaru moved away. Kiba quickly grabbed the unconscious guard and instructed Akamaru to carry him back to the village.
When the man recovered, he saw Kiba and rushed to him madly, which made things easier for Kiba. He waited until the man tripped upon a trap he had set and the trap did its job, snaring the man in a net. He then had the man hauled back to the daimyo court.
Now he regretted it somewhat. Not that he was against torture, but this was too much, even for the animal inside Kiba. His feet felt sticky with blood flowing from the captive's back. In the small room the stench of acrid blood was almost unbearable. Akamaru had long left, and so did Mai, the other ninja who was along in this mission.
"Will you tell me why should I stop?" Iruka asked him.
"That's enough for today," Kiba said. "Besides, there are other ways to make him talk."
"And I suppose you know how?"
"Iruka-senpai, although you are older and wiser than me it doesn't mean that you know everything," Kiba said angrily. "There are other methods to make him talk. Bloodletting him to death only makes things irresolvable."
"Then I suggest you try it, Kiba-senpai," Iruka said with the deepest scorn. He threw the disc with a loud splat on the captive's body. The disc stuck there for a moment, then fell off his back, like some metal leech.
No more scream was forthcoming. Either the captive had passed out or died Kiba did not know, but he hoped that this man could hang on for a little more while. Iruka was out, signalled by the blinding flash of light that lit up the foul room. For a moment Kiba saw Iruka as he had never been: heartless, maddened by anger and distant. Blood covered half of his face, which he wiped clean with a cloth handed to him without any emotion.
The door closed, and Kiba was left with more fear than ever. Fear, not of Iruka, but for Iruka.
"I'm sorry, Mrs Inuzuka," he said, bowing again and again. He had entered the compound while Mrs Inuzuka was training her dogs, and felt very intrusive. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine, Shino. Besides, I should have hit Kiba in the head before going off to missions without informing me first. Can you believe the nerve of that boy? He accepted a mission without consulting his own mother first! Hush, Yayoi!" She quickly slapped the nuzzle of a huge husky who had begun snarling at Shino. It quickly whined afterwards.
Shino grinned. "Well, Mrs Inuzuka, I have to go, then. I think Kiba did tell me about this mission, but I didn't realise he was already gone so soon."
Mrs Inuzuka sighed as she rubbed the furs of the huge husky. "Kiba is a lot like his father. Men are fools, no offence to you Shino. Whenever they want your help, they'd be around until you feel stifled, and when you want them to help, they'd be gone in seconds. It was nothing, really! I asked them when will they repair the roof and the next thing you knew both were gone."
Shino nodded accommodatingly. "I should be going, then," Shino said.
Mrs Inuzuka nodded her consent and returned to her dogs that began yapping for attention.
Shino wondered as he travelled down a small backstreet. Did Kiba join Iruka's mission? If he did, he had better be prepared. Shino himself had firsthand experience of Iruka's relentless pursuits. He was driven to the edge of madness in finishing missions. It was a good quality to have in any ninja if it were not tainted with almost a hint of madness.
Whenever somebody changes almost in an overnight, people will start yakking. Then, from yakking, it will change into stories. From stories it will almost certainly mutates into impossible stories, which would remain impossible if not for the small facts that deemed its validity. In Iruka's case it would have seemed that his change of attitude and descent into what others claimed to be gradual madness had been caused by one thing that had two words: Uzumaki Naruto.
Ten years seemed to Shino a very short time. The marks were still there, and nowadays people avoid it if they could, saying that even remnants of evil chakras remained there, corrupting anyone who as much pass the spot.
Shino had tried and failed to become corrupted. There you go. Another bad legend.
This spot lie between the great walls of Konoha Village and the area which used to be the Sound Village. The fight ten years ago had removed the village from history and erased it from the map. Although so, threats still abound. The residual, die-hard followers of the Sound Village still lingered, and now and then there would be an odd attack which would be credited to these residual members and followers.
While doing his missions, Shino often came across bad guys who posed as Sound Nins and realised how much the Sound Nins were demonised nowadays. Although the Sound Nins themselves were really evil when there used to be the Sound Village – and Shino was no Sound sympathiser – the impostors were nothing compared to the real thing. They could have been killed by mere village folks if not for them claiming to be Sound Nins. That was effective to put fear in people.
Shino made a turn when he realised he had come to the village centre. He was going to see Rock Lee in the Centre for Taijutsu Learning today, since Kiba was not at home. He needed to see someone concerning his problems, and since Kiba was not available, Rock Lee would do just fine.
"Hanabi!"
"Yes, Neji-nii-san!"
Neji quickly grabbed hold of her wrists and attempted to throw her down. To his surprise, Hanabi made a horizontal twirl in his mid-throw that loosened his hold and quickly spun in the air, directing a solid foot at his head. Neji didn't have the time to turn and the foot connected, throwing Neji off balance and onto the ground. Faster than Neji could react, Hanabi was over him, her palm stretched outward on Neji's heaving chest.
She was breathing heavily, as did Neji. That could have been a direct hit and damaged my whole system, Neji thought with pleasure. I don't sense her chakra turned on, though. He smiled as Hanabi moved away from him, pulling back the outstretched palm and grabbing his hand to aid him standing.
"That was great, Neji-nii-san!" Hanabi said enthusiastically. "Is there any time left for another spar?"
Neji looked at the sun; they were sparring outside, under the protection of a huge oak tree. Their house looked very small from this tiny hill. "I think that's enough for today, Hanabi-chan."
"Hey, I'm not a child anymore! Don't call me like that."
Neji only smiled. Hanabi was Hinata's direct opposite, and that was why he liked her enough to spar with her. Hanabi was eager to learn and a fast learner at that, which made things easier between them. Just now she defeated him, and Neji once thought that that could never happen to him.
No, never… until Naruto happened on him. That guy taught him about defeat, about the fluidity of destiny, about other people, and ultimately about forgiveness. Neji had never spared these matters a glance before Naruto opened his eyes. And that had opened Hinata's eyes, too, who had strived to be where she was today.
When Naruto disappeared on a self-imposed banishment, Neji was one of the people who tried to stop him. It did not work, obviously, because he was not the person that should have stopped him. How can you stop someone from going when you don't have enough wisdom in yourself to do so?
Neji thought he heard someone at the other side of the small hill. Making a silencing gesture at Hanabi, he pulled her aside. The tree was tall enough to be climbed and yet with thick foliage enough to hide the two of them, especially the long and lean Neji. Just as then voices began to float to them.
"… never did that to me. But he's an okay guy if you get to know him real good."
The other laughed briefly. "I don't think he's that good. Just look at him when he watches people. It's like he wants to eat them whole."
"Neji always have that look about him, but he's a good guy. Believe me –"
"ATTACK!!!!"
With that loud scream Neji jumped off the branch on which he had remained hidden, and so did Hanabi. Neji jumped onto Sakura, while Hanabi jumped onto her sister.
"Neji-nii-san!" Hinata shouted as her basket fell away while the weight of her younger sister pulled her down. "Hanabi! What are you two doing?!" Turning to Sakura with concern, she realised that Sakura did not need any. It was the other way around.
Sakura was looking at her fist, then at the man on the ground in stupefied disbelief. Neji was lying on the ground with his hands covering his nose. "By dose," he moaned through his hands that cupped the nose. Blood had begun trickling down the side of his cheeks. "By tamed dose!"
"Neji-nii-san, have your nose stopped bleeding?"
Neji nodded while looking upward. His nose was stuffed with two tissue rolls. Hanabi made fun of it endlessly while Sakura placed a steady finger on the wide bridge of his long, fine nose. She touched it, pressed it, and finally when Neji was about to scream in frustration, she released her finger and said, "Your nose is okay, Neji-san. It's not broken."
"Felt like you did just then," he said, finally looking at Sakura who sat before him. "Ugh. It still stings. Why did you have to hit me so hard?"
"It's your fault," Sakura said. "You shouldn't have done such a childish thing to us, not to mention an Anbu and a medic who happens to know how to concentrate her chakra when and where it is needed the most."
"Fine, fine. And stop calling me –san. I'm young enough to be your husband," Neji said as he stood up and stretched his long frame. Sakura had the grace to blush; Neji was touted as one of the most eligible bachelor in Konoha Village after… well, after ten years ago. He turned to Hinata and peeked into her basket, sniffing. "I hope you bought lots of haddock for dinner, Hinata."
"Smoked haddock, Neji-nii-san," Hinata replied confidently. "I bought it just in case you decided to become human again." Neji turned to her with a surprised look.
"You know that, too?"
"Hanabi told me," Hinata replied with a smile and a quick nod.
"Oh really?" He stood up and turned to the teenager. "Think you're smart, Hanabi-chan?"
"Don't call me that!"
Neji grinned. "Come on, Hanabi, I'll race you to – "
Both had disappeared before Sakura and Hinata could blink their eyes. Only dust remained behind. Sakura let out a short laugh. "Well! I'll never. Neji, making pranks, and stranger still, on you! Is he dying?"
Hinata got up as she gathered her basket while Sakura moved in to help. "He's changed a lot since – ten years ago. When he left, it was like Neji became a kite without its guiding string. While my father feared that Neji would slip deeper into depression and do something harmful to us, or worse, to himself. Somehow… he didn't."
Sakura placed the last leafy vegetable inside Hinata's basket. "What happened? What did he do, then?"
Hinata turned to her and shrugged, but her face was beaming. "One day he came to our home and demanded an audience with my father."
Sakura was surprised. She considered herself as rather widely informed, but this particular news was new to her. "I'm sure I never heard of that before, Hinata."
"The whole Hyuuga clan was gathered that day, but not a word was to be said about this meeting, which was why you didn't know about it. In fact, nobody outside of the Hyuuga clan except for the Hokage herself knew."
Hinata started to walk and unconsciously Sakura followed her. "Well, after the clan members were gathered, Neji stepped forward and did something no one could have suspected coming from him:
"He took off the Konoha headband, revealing the seal of 'Bird in Cage' to everyone there, and, turning to my father, he knelt and began saying:
" 'For as long as I have lived, sir, I have been living with the impression that I am no more than a secondary member of this clan, an inferior tool used only when danger comes to the main family, a servant whose sacrifice is expected of him even when he is not willing. Even if I tried to be the best, and when I did get recognised as the genius of this clan, I never felt... peace. Living under such impressions, I have become what you all see me today; a bitter, cold man who hates the main family to the extent of almost killing its successor, Hinata-sama.
'But after recent events, I realised how much chance has been presented to me in ways I couldn't see before because I have been blinded by my self-taught inferiority. Those chances are long gone now, sir, and although I regret their loss, I am not by any means out of redemption. I still have another chance, a final one.
'So, before I lose that chance again, here I am today to offer myself and the main family a chance to mend this familial tie. We are one family, sir; I am your brother's offspring, and Hinata-sama is my sibling, as you were my father's sibling. That is an undeniable fact. Let what had happened, once, long time ago, be not repeated in the future, sir.
'My offer to you is my lifetime service to the main family, and in return, I hope that the main family protects the branch family as much as it would to the other. The main family is the main family, and the branch family is the branch family. But, sir, aren't we all of the Hyuuga clan, every one of us? And more importantly, aren't we all ninjas of the Leaf? Leafs grow together in spring, and so would Leafs fall together in autumn. That is the way we all should be, sir.
'That is my offer and demand, sir. Should you choose to deny it, I understand, and will leave the clan forever. I will never set my foot in the Konoha Village because I am ashamed to be in a clan that claims to be the noblest clan in this village; yet, do not follow its first rule. Should you –'
"Neji never finished those words then, because Father rushed up from his seat and hugged Neji bodily then and there, saying that he would accept his conditions and offers no matter what. I've never seen Father so – so emotional that day." Hinata smiled at the memory. "He has always been a cold, distant man, pretty much like Neji before that day. Now I find him ginning every morning on the sparring field, sparring with Hanabi and Neji. But whenever outsiders arrive Father would put on his cold demeanour, just for the sake of it. He couldn't afford to look goofy in front of other people."
Sakura turned to Hinata, whose eyes shone with happiness. Those grey-white eyes had never been so full of joy before, and Sakura found it odd to see such emotion inside them. Once again she looked to the direction of the great walls of Konoha, whose tips could be seen amongst the thick green canopies from where they walked upon.
But she was not looking at them. Her mind's eyes were looking beyond the walls, beyond the thick forests of the Fire country, trying to pierce its unyielding greenery.
Trying to find Naruto.
Naruto, if only you knew how many lives you've touched here…
Lee was trying to put back a scroll on a high shelf when a hand suddenly took it from his and placed it properly there. "There," said the owner of the hand, "that's done."
Lee turned. Shino stood before him. "Afternoon, Shino."
"Hi, Lee-san. I was wondering whether you care to have the afternoon tea with me."
"What's the occasion?" Lee asked as he hobbled toward a table laden with scrolls. "I have students coming in about an hour."
"Don't you take afternoon breaks?" Shino asked him.
Lee stared at the table and suddenly smiled at Shino. "Well, why not. But you're paying."
Shino nodded as Lee got up and walked to his side. "I was afraid you'll say that, but what the hell. Come on."
They went down at the canteen and asked for a round of fresh rice cakes and steaming hot jasmine tea. They chatted idly for some time before Shino decided to get to the point.
"Lee, do you remember – well…" His voice dropped down a notch, became a whisper. "Do you remember Sasuke?"
Shino had anticipated the reaction; Lee's eyes widened and he directed a dangerous glance at him. "Why do you ask?" he whispered back. "You know very well that he's forbidden to discuss."
"I have to," Shino said. "You may very well remember that I once had tracked him down using only his chakra, right?"
"It was during the Leaf-Sand wars, yes." Lee nodded. "Sakura had told me once."
"Well, it so happens that once my bugs recognise the chakra, some remembered it for life and passed the knowledge down to their children. Mine are like that."
"Do I have to listen to the whole lecture about bugs before you're going to tell me what are you going at?" Lee asked bluntly.
"Fine." Shino sighed. "In my missions I often stumbled over a few places where my bugs would suddenly begin making small groups outside of my body – I mean on the ground, on a tree, anywhere except in my body – and stayed there for a few hours. At first I didn't know what to make of it, but when it happened last week, in a hotel room in this neighbouring town, I asked the hotel owner about the previous lodger. He didn't only give me a good description, he even gave me this."
Lee saw as he pulled out a video tape. "Do you have a video tape player?" Shino asked.
"We have one in the rec room. Come on."
His excitement growing with each passing minute, Lee finally sat down in the rec room after locking the door behind him. Shino had already switched on the VCR player and inserted the video. The TV screen flickered to life and it showed a hallway. A figure came from below the camera view and showed only a head full of black hair. The figure went in and closed the door. Shino fast-forwarded it and then played it at normal speed when the door reopened to let its occupant out. He froze the screen quickly.
Lee's mouth hung open with astonishment.
Uchiha Sasuke was glaring at them from within the recording, with those unmistakable Sharingan eyes. But that was not only the thing that shocked Lee.
The eyes had three commas concentrated at each pupil.
To Be Continued...