Chapter Eleven

A/N: Once more, sorry for the brevity and the long wait, but I haven't gotten to watch Naruto for most of the summer, so my inspiration is a bit lacking to say the least. I cranked this out because I knew you would want to see some more and it is absolutely horrible of me to withhold it from you for so long.

Following Neji from the forest had not been an easy task. The older man had been running at an insane pace, and the wounds in his leg slowed him down considerably. Kiba had stayed behind to actually carry out his mission, while that nagging voice in the back of Sasuke's mind that occasionally protested his natural coldness and reminded him of the pain he had suffered at his brother's hands urged him on to find Neji. He couldn't shake the painful feeling that something terrible was about to befall the Byakugan master, not that he cared. He just didn't want to be blamed when all of this was over.

Despite the amount his peers respected his skills, they did have a habit of considering him as a selfish bastard and most of them didn't trust him any further than they could throw him, not that he cared. His fanclub had diminished considerably over the years, especially after his bout of selfishness and dismay in his weakness had resulted in some of his friends being seriously injured. Ino had been the first voice her newfound dislike for him, considering she had nearly lost both of her teammates. Soon afterward TenTen, a girl he barely knew began to glare maliciously every time she saw him, but he found that he didn't care. Sakura was the lone hold-over from his more talented kunoichi admirers, even that Sand-girl had suddenly forgotten about him, wherever she had disappeared to.

Nevertheless, despite the suddenly gaping hole in his life left by the sudden decrease in the drooling, sex-crazed girls who followed him around at every opportunity, Sasuke found that he was able to somehow move on with life. He pursued his quest to become stronger, but was determined to use his own power and not rely on handouts from others.

In the middle of his thoughts he realized that he was standing in front of the Hyuuga apartment and stared up at it. His gut feeling had been right, something was definitely amiss. The front door was broken off of its hinges and smashed to kinder and the windows were shattered. Now worried, a huge feat for someone who convinced himself that he didn't care either way about Neji's safety, Sasuke climbed the stairs and crawled in through one of the bedroom windows. A young boy was sitting on the bed in the darkness, his eyes shut tight and his hands plastered over his ears.

Sasuke ignored his shaking figure and proceeded out of the room, opening the door that led out into the living room as silently as he could, still with preoccupied by taking whatever intruder had broken the windows by surprise. Three kunai whizzed at his head and the dark-haired teen dodged without conscious thought. He drew his katana from the sheath on his back, activating the Sharingan at the same time. He wouldn't allow whoever just tried to take off his head a second chance to aim at him. He charged around the corner into the view of his attacker and nearly skidded to a stop when he took in the situation.

The Hyuuga family was obviously bruised and maybe broken in a few places, but they were otherwise alright. Sasuke kneeled near the only vigilant member of the household, Neji. "What the hell happened here?"

White eyes bored holes into red ones. "I chased Fuyuki off, but not without consequences. I don't know what he's planning, but he's in Konoha with backup and I've got reason to believe the Shiratoris are here as well."

"What about her?"

"She hit her head pretty good on the floor, she probably has a concussion."

"And you?"

"Wounded pride mostly, but I haven't eaten in days,"

Sasuke's voice took on a no-nonsense tone. "It's settled then. I'll take you both to the hospital."

"You can take her, but I'm not going anywhere."

"Don't be stupid Hyuuga. It's for your own good."

"If you think that's true, then you don't know the half Uchiha. Konoha is now under threat because of a decision I made when I was thirteen. I have to deal with this before it gets out of hand."

"Will you at least wait for Godaime to assign someone to help you?"

"I don't need her help Uchiha. I'm more than strong enough."

"Sure Hyuuga," he remarked sarcastically. "That's why you've been such an overwhelming success so far."

"You're one to talk," Neji countered. "You haven't exactly wowed the village with your display of skill against the one you seek vengeance from."

The Uchiha heir reached down and jerked the man to his feet, not caring that his action caused TenTen to hit her head on the floor once more, or that he may have caused her even more damage. "Take it back Hyuuga."

"Take what back? The truth burns, doesn't it?"

"Careful Hyuuga," he tightened his hands into fists. "You don't want to take this there."

"Wrong Sasuke-kun, I think you're the one who can't own up to your own weaknesses. Your quest for revenge is hopeless, but I'll succeed in protecting my family."

The two men who should have understood each other better than they did continued to stare each other down, angry chakra swirling around them. Neither of them wanted to be the one to throw the first punch, but they had both committed their minds and hearts to being the victor.

Luckily for both of them, or none of them, their fight was not to be on this day. There was a loud protesting noise and then a blonde and orange blur sped into the apartment, settling himself between the two glaring ninjas. "Hey Neji, I've been looking all over for you. Hinata-san's birthday is coming up and I wanted to know if you could help me pick something out."

"Get out of the way dobe," Sasuke snarled.

Naruto seemed not to hear him, or perhaps he had an innate skill for ignoring when people were angry with him. "Seriously Neji, I really need you to help me, if I don't get her the world's greatest gift we might break up. I saw her with Kiba the other night and I think he's trying to make a move."

Finally able to get a word in edgewise Neji shook his head almost imperceptibly. "This isn't the best time Naruto."

Disappointed, Naruto glanced around the small apartment, finally taking in the destruction around him. Neji looked pretty beaten up, not to mention the missing windows and surprisingly absent door. He knew it had been odd that their door was open, but hadn't thought about it. His wide blue eyes stretched to an almost unimaginable diameter as he saw the dark-haired woman lying unceremoniously on the floor, blood pooling around her head. "What happened?" he turned to face the two men who were still facing off. "Sasuke, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything dobe, I only got here a couple of minutes before you." Sasuke backed away, finally realizing that his battle with Neji would not continue with Naruto standing there, his mouth hanging open dumbly. "Stop staring dead last and help me get TenTen to the hospital." He turned his back on Neji. "Whatever you're going to do Hyuuga, you should hurry up."

Naruto continued to stand there completely lost as the white-eyed ninja nodded and leapt from the window. Finally catching himself, he ran to the window, shouting after the departing figure. "HEY! I really do need your help!"

"Leave him alone Naruto, he's got something he has to do."

At the words of his former teammate Naruto turned from the windowsill, examining the fallen ninja with azure eyes. "We shouldn't move her."

Sasuke lifted the sleeping infant into his arms. "Then what should we do?"

"I'll go get some medics, you wait here."

Before Sasuke even had the chance to protest Naruto was long gone, leaving him alone with TenTen and Haruka, two people he didn't care for at all. All he could do was hope that the idiot Hyuuga wouldn't get himself killed and cause these two any more pain.