Hinata watched the two men before her, sitting under the fragrant branches of an ancient pine, plucking the dried mud from her body and shivering in the pre-dawn chill. They had been traveling all night and at such a fast pace that Hinata wanted nothing more than to give in to her body's demands of rest, but she knew that her (captors? They weren't forcing her to go anywhere, but she couldn't exactly call them saviors or even companions…) would not wake her if she did. So thus, when they did decide to stop at a small grove of trees on a mountain in the middle of nowhere, she flopped down and began to clear away the grime covering her flesh, looking for wounds to heal so that her body would not have to exert any excess energy fighting off disease from infected wounds as Kisame began attempting to argue with Itachi (who wasn't offering much of a fight).

So engrossed in her task of healing was she that she didn't notice the way Itachi's eyes followed her every moment, widening ever so slightly at the glowing, healing light of her chakra. He paced away from Kisame (ho was growling out something about a fire) and up to Hinata where he stated quietly, "You know healing jutsu."

"Aa… yes. I-I trained with Tsunade-s-sama for a wh-while."

"How much do you know?"

"A-ano… I can heal most n-non-lethal wounds and speed up the recovery of a broken leg, b-but nothing too major." She turned her gaze to the ground and Itachi was surprised to hear a soft growl pass her throat as she grumbled scornfully, "I would have learned more but… Father –" she spat out the word more like a dirty curse rather than a family term "– took me away. Said it wasn't proper for females to…" Suddenly, she flushed a deep red and her eyes flicked up to Itachi's emotionless face. "I-I'm sorry. I s-shouldn't have said… that…" She brought her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms about her calves, resting her chin on her knees, and peered off sadly into the dark recesses of the forest.

Itachi continued to watch her for a moment longer before retreating back to Kisame, telling them, "We will rest for another hour and a half. We will continue on immediately afterwards."

Kisame quirked an eyebrow but decided against saying anything. If Itachi was willing to spend an extra hour of rest for the Hyuuga girl, then she must have something he wanted. All he had to do was figure out what it was.


The hawk watched from afar, the buzzing of insects relaying a message. He turned to the tiger that prowled the ground and spoke without sound.

They're nearing the border.

The tiger's body shifted slightly, asking, Will we reach them by nightfall?

Unlikely, if we were to reach them before so, we would be low on energy and most likely die.

A wolf stalked out to stand under the hawk's perch, and a grin could almost be seen on the frozen white and crimson face.

That is the most I've ever seen you "speak".

The hawk stilled completely, but the tiger motioned, If we can not reach them, we will have to go back to Konoha so that Tsunade-sama can put out a new warning for all the villages.


Hinata cast a furtive glance behind her as she followed as close as she dared to the duo ahead, feeling sadness welling her heart when she realized that she couldn't see the walls surrounding the village she once lived. The village she had protected. The village she had… left.

"Don't look back," Kisame said, jarring her out of her nostalgia trip. "It only slows you down." The young woman blushed and stammered out an apology, but it only deepened the scowl on the shark's face. "And stop fucking apologizing – it's damn annoying."

She lowered her head, watching the ground pass her by with speeds that could snap bones – if not outright kill her – if she were to trip. A dying leaf was kicked up by the wind and she watched it flutter over her shoulder as she mumbled, "I'm sorry…"


Tsunade stared out the window, the wilting rose shifting in its vase at the soft brush of air that came from three ANBU suddenly appearing in her office. The tiger removed his mask and Neji told her, "They (she didn't have to ask who "they" were – no one did) are currently at the country border. They will pass over it in less than an hour."

The Hokage lowered her eyes, looking her true age for a moment as the light fell from her eyes and a deep sigh passed her lips. The words in her mind tumbled, start-over-end, echoing with finality she didn't wish to voice aloud. Silence descended on the quartet and Neji mutely slid his mask back into place.

Finally, Tsunade's eyes flicked to the dead flower on her desk and she said, "Send two Jounin out to each village with an ANBU squad accompanying them. Have them inform the village heads that Hyuuga Hinata, age twenty-four, is now and S-class missing-nin."

The ANBU nodded and vanished with a bow.

Tsunade rested her elbows on her desk and buried her face in her hands.

The final petal fell off the rose.


They were traveling in the Dead Land – the narrow, rocky valley between Iwagakure no sato and Takigakure no sato neither country claimed – when Hinata, the most tired member of the trio from a mixture of high speeds, little rest and doing more healing than she was used to, looked at the others and asked, "W… Where are we going?"

Itachi was too busy examining the large canyon wall, eyes flickering over the solid, brown-gray rock, so Kisame turned to the trembling girl with a toothy grin.

"We're going to Hell."

"H-Hell?" Hinata's already pale face whitened. "T-then, you're g-going to… to…" Her legs threatened to give out beneath her. They were going to kill her! The had dragged her out into the armpit of the continent (never mind that she had followed them willingly), tired her out (she didn't have to heal all their wounds – she had merely wanted to do something useful instead of just being a burden), and now they were going to kill her! She should have expected this, really. She had killed too many to remain on the living plain. She should just accept that –

"We're here," Itachi's cold voice announced. He raised his left hand and Hinata vaguely noticed a small gold ring on his finger before there was a blinding flash of crimson light. She blinked rapidly, trying to remove the bright green and blue splotches from her vision and gasped.

The rock wall they had just been standing in front of now sported a large, man-made tunnel. There the sun's light ended, she could see a flickering orange glow – very possibly from a candle or a gas lamp – hidden partially by a sudden, sharp turn.

The two men brushed past her, entering the cavern without a second thought. As they were leaving the sunlight, Kisame looked over his shoulder and said, breaking Hinata out of her thoughts, "Welcome to the village of the Akatsuki. This is Tartarus."


Yay! It didn't take eight months to update this. And since I have to get to school in a few minutes, I'll just go ahead and load this without arguing with the bastards (AKA muses). I'll just say that I don't own Naruto and be done with it. So, till next time!