Title: Through the Forest
Author: May Chang
Warnings: angst, violence, POV
Pairings: None (unless you REALLY want to read into it, Neji + Naruto)
Disclaimers: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto Masashi.

Through the Forest

Neji believed that it was fate that gave him such an interesting mission. It also appeared to be fate's cruel joke on him to assign his partner for the mission as Uzumaki Naruto.

Neji could already feel the headache coming on.

One would assume that with age came maturity. Apparently, not in the case of Naruto, as memories of the nineteen year old jounin still cursing and charging head-first into fights rose. He idly wondered what Hinata found so attractive in Naruto to this day. Naruto grinned and waved at Neji as he approached the blond.

"Neji!"

Neji winced inwardly as Naruto gave him an affectionate hug. Even after four years of working with Naruto, Neji still did not like being hug. He was sure that Naruto was only doing this to irritate him. Neji also hoped that Naruto would be much quieter and serious when they begin their mission.

Then again, knowing the blond, that would be a miracle.

"I can't wait to go on this mission!"

"Naruto, are you ever quiet?" Neji asked and winced inwardly. He hadn't meant for that question to come out. He watched as Naruto turned and stuck his tongue out at him.

"Well, I'm always stuck with the ones who just don't talk, what the hell am I suppose to do about that?"

Neji quickly ran that line through his head. Sure enough, it would seem that most of Naruto's missions were with the silent types.

It was probably another one of fate's joke on the blond jounin.

"Damn, I'm hungry! Hey Neji, want to get some ramen before we go?"

Neji quickly translated that as "Neji, feed me please!" in his head. He sighed.

"Alright, then we need to get going."

"Yay, Neji's going to buy me lunch!"

Neji decided that a quick stop at the pharmacy was in order.

-

They met Shikamaru at the ramen store, where both Neji and Shikamaru had tea and watched Naruto down two bowls of ramen. Neji supposed that if could have been worse – Naruto could have eaten four bowls. It was a good thing that Naruto seemed to remember the importance of their mission.

After saying good-bye to Shikamaru, the two agreed to pick up supplies and equipment and meet at the west gate by two. Neji made a beeline to the first pharmacy on his way back to the Hyuuga household and bought some headache medicine. He then returned to the household to pick up both supplies and equipment for the mission. Pulling up a small pack, Neji tucked in some bandages, a few scrolls and a couple more daggers in case he lost his kunai, an event that would never happen in his life-time. He also placed a packet of dried beef into his pack in case he wanted to eat something on the road.

He even paused for a moment to accept some healing salve from Hinata who blushed and stammered out a good-luck to both him and Naruto.

Neji gave her a nod, allowing a faint smile to cross his face before moving off to meet Naruto.

He found Naruto waiting for him by the gate, chatting happily to Sakura. He slowed his steps as the two bid farewell and watched as the pink-haired girl jogged off towards the marketplace. He then turned to look at Naruto who was grinning cheerfully at him.

"Ready, Neji?"

Neji merely nodded and the two set off.

The mission was one that Neji thought he could have done by himself, but it would have been most difficult. It was, after all, an assassination mission, and there were eight targets to terminate. One of the targets in particular was a paranoid man and had actually hired some ninjas from the Hidden Grass Village.

It was of utmost importance not to kill any of those ninjas.

Neji mentally grimaced as he glanced at Naruto while they continued on through the forest. While he trusted Naruto with his life, he did not know how Naruto was going to handle the other ninjas. Neji felt that he was more prone to violence than anything.

"Neji, I think we better stop for the day."

Neji looked up at the sky and realized that the sun was already setting. He turned to Naruto with a nod and the two moved off the path to set up a small camp. While the forest was deprived of any human, there was always a chance of bandits – who would never be able to defeat either Neji or Naruto in a fight – and small game was easier to catch. By the time Neji had set up a tent, Naruto brought back a couple of hares and some sort of bird. While Neji started a small fire and started dinner for the two of them – Sakura moaned that the only thing Naruto could make was definitely just ramen - Naruto went off looking for more firewood. They ate, Naruto filling the silence with his inane chatter.

Neji realized that throughout the trip, Naruto had not once shut up. Perhaps he had grown so use to the other that the chatterbox no longer bothered him.

"Naruto," he spoke when the blond jounin paused to breathe. "Our mission—"

"Oi, oi, are you worried about those Grass nins?" Naruto asked, tilting his head. "Don't get your panties in a bunch, Neji, I won't kill 'em."

Neji gave Naruto a look and watched as Naruto flashed him a smile.

"Trust me," Naruto said. "It's my ninja way!"

His ninja way.

Yes, Neji did trust him.

-

The next two days were like that of the first. It was the fourth day that the two began to move through the forest cautiously. It was luck that Neji had decided to use his Byakugan and discovered Grass nins moving through. He and Naruto had quickly hidden themselves and watched as three of the Grass nins move through.

It had been going a little too well, in Neji's opinion. At least now the mission was interesting.

When the danger was over, Neji and Naruto both began to cautiously move through the forest. Neji was constantly on alert, as was Naruto. They would hide themselves from the Grass nins so that they would not be alerted to their presence.

It was cold that night. Neither Neji nor Naruto lit a fire since if would have alerted all the Grass nins crawling through the forest where they were. The two shared a cold dinner with Neji ignoring the quiet grumbling from Naruto.

He blinked in surprised when Naruto sat down next to him and yanked a blanket up around them. He looked at Naruto and the blond looked back.

"It's cold," he whispered and Neji felt Naruto move closer to him. Neji didn't move, just nodded his head as he looked out into the darkness.

Neji realized, as he felt Naruto nodding off, that he had never used the headache medicine he had bought.

They arrived at the compound before noon the next day. Neji used his Byakugan to find out that the majority of the Grass nins seemed to be in the forest rather than in the compound. Neji and Naruto exchanged a confused look.

"Maybe they think they could catch us out there," Naruto whispered with a shrug. The two then began to form a plan, one that would eliminate the Grass nins in the most non-lethal way and how to find the eight targets. Neji was surprised that Naruto had the forethought of asking Sakura for some sleeping powder. While Neji had no need of it – his taijutsu training with Gai allowed him to render his foes unconscious easily enough – Naruto had deemed that his way of knocking people unconscious was both too bloody and noisy.

Neji had to admit that, once the plan went into action, Naruto was one of the best people Neji had worked with. While he worked with Lee and Ten-Ten for most of the time, memories of working with Naruto rose and Neji smiled inwardly. On first impression, Naruto was all brawns, but as they moved into the compound, Neji found Naruto to be extremely devious.

Once they had eliminated the Grass nins – and none of them died, much to Neji's relief – there was still the problem of trying to find where the targets were. It was just luck that as they approached one of the rooms, raucous sounded. Neji and Naruto both shared a look.

Then, without much tact and much to Neji's vexation, Naruto kicked the door open. Their targets all jerked in surprise, some of them moving to grab for weapons. Neji and Naruto moved in at an incredible speed and exterminated the men in the room.

It was too easy. Far too easy.

Neji counted. There was only six in the room.

"Where are the last two?" Naruto asked quietly as he cleaned off his kunai.

Neji frowned and shook his head. He turned, Naruto following close behind and watching his back. Making their way quickly through the compound, they reached an area that led downstairs. They silently slipped through the doorway and moved down the dark hallway. Neji's attention was pulled over to his partner when Naruto motioned to one of the rooms. The two peered in.

Neji felt his stomach clench in horror.

Instead of the two missing targets, the room held cages. And in those cages they held…

"Sons of bitches!" Naruto growled angrily. Neji looked away from the room, scanning the vicinity then activated his Byakugan.

In all of the rooms, as far as he could see, they all held caged children. The cages were all small and in each and every one of them, they held two children. The children looked far too big to be placed in the cages that seemed to be used to cage large dogs.

Neji vaguely heard Naruto talking quietly to the children in the room, telling them that they would return to free them. He could only see the children dressed in rags – Neji couldn't even call those pieces of clothes rags – and looking at them with huge, dead eyes.

They were the same eyes he had seen once in Naruto when he couldn't bring Sasuke back. Neji hated that look because it wasn't the Naruto he fought against so long ago.

Neji agreed; they would return to save them.

-

They had found the final two targets at the end of the hall, examining a few of their latest acquisition. Unfortunately, the targets were also accompanied by three Grass nins. Neji noticed that the Grass nins seemed surprised at the sight of the two of them.

He also noticed that the Grass nins seemed not to be not on their guard. Neji wondered briefly if they disliked the two slave-traders behind them.

Naruto instantly used his Kage Bushin no Jutsu and, with Neji, attacked the three Grass nins. It was fairly obvious to the two Leaf nins that the Grass nins not only did not want a fight with them, but were actually quite willing to let them carry on with their mission. In fact, the three Grass nins let Naruto's clones knock them out so they would not be witnesses to the deaths.

With the Grass nins out of the way, Neji turned to look at the final two victims. They both look scared.

Good.

"I hope you like warm weather." Neji heard Naruto growled. "I hear it's nice and warm for bastards like you two."

"Your fate has been sealed," Neji intoned.

And then they struck.

The Grass nins agreed to take the captive children back to their village. They would send runners out to other villages to notify the parents. They also agreed to keep the presence of the Leaf nins quiet.

In fact, they were quite glad they had killed those eight slave-traders. Neji had asked one of the Grass nins why they were protecting them.

The Grass nin said that they were hoping that the slave-traders would return to them their children. They had lied and when they had finally found out, Neji and Naruto had arrived.

Neji and Naruto had also found some children from Konoha. They would bring those children back with them. Neji decided to have Naruto send the children home while he wrote the report. He did not like handling children. He actually opened the headache medicine for the first time since he bought it so long ago.

Besides, it appeared that the children all loved Naruto.

Neji found he was quite wrong, as by the end of the day, about a third of the children were chatting at him, trying to get him to pay attention to each and every one of them. They were all extremely lively as they chased one another, tripping over rocks or scraping the barks of trees as they run by. Neji was glad that Hinata had given him her healing salve as the children seemed to get scrapes and scratches on their knees and elbows.

Neji found himself wishing they were all as quiet and obedient at Hinata one night as he tended to one child's scraped knee. The kid – Michio – had tripped over a tree root while chasing Eri. It wasn't fun dealing with Naruto and twenty other children who seem to be bent on being Naruto clones. Neji was quite amused when Naruto asked if he had any headache medicine.

They had arrived to Konoha and, while the children all wanted to go home, Neji and Naruto had ushered them all to the hospital. They were all received with surprise and joy as the doctors and nurses all quickly gave the children a check-up.

Sakura was there. Neji was surprised to see her at the hospital, but found out that she had been helping out the medical nins there. She gave both himself and Naruto a hug in appreciation for saving the children. Neji actually felt his heart swell in pride and watched as Naruto grin and rub the back of his head at the compliment.

Neji in the end helped Naruto return the children to their homes. They were all rewarded with tears of happiness. Neji couldn't help but notice how the families were all uneasy in Naruto's presence though. Naruto, after all, just met them for the first time and had help in the liberation and return of their children.

Naruto surprised Neji when he offered to help write the report. Neji surprised himself when he offered Naruto to come back to the Hyuuga household to have some tea while they wrote their report. He wondered if the mission had affected him that much or perhaps if it was something about Naruto. He glanced at Naruto out of the corner of his eye, noting a sad look in the blond's eyes because he changed back to the usual chatterbox.

Hinata served them tea and red bean paste mochi, listening to Naruto as he told her what had happened during the mission as they worked on the report. Neji would glance at Hinata and Naruto from time to time, noting that she was still blushing faintly as she talked to Naruto. As soon as they finished their report, Naruto bid Hinata farewell, flashing a charming smile at her.

Neji wondered if that smile alone was the reason Hinata loved Naruto. He would have to ask her one day.

They went back to the office, Neji to hand in the report and Naruto to tell Iruka that they had returned. Neji also figured that Naruto would be trying to con the man into buying him ramen for dinner tonight.

"Thank you for your hard work!" Iruka said cheerfully. "And thank you for returning those children!"

Neji could feel Naruto swell with pride from Iruka's words. They meant a lot to Naruto, Neji decided.

In the end, Naruto did not get his free ramen dinner from Iruka. Neji could feel Naruto pouting behind his back as they left the office.

"Come Naruto." Neji watched as Naruto looked up in complete surprise. Neji allowed himself to give the blond a faint smile. "Let's get dinner. My treat."