Asunder

-

Neji still scares me to write. Really, he does. His personality is hard for me to grasp, and I'm not sure why. Ah well, what're you gonna do?

There's some stronger language in this than other chapters. Not much, but it's there. Just a heads up in case you don't like that kind of stuff.

As always, comments and criticisms are always welcome.

-

Chapter Four: On Top of the World

-

Neji ran, jumped, dodged and all-out bolted across the desert in his haste to find Hinata and Gaara. And he was angry. Either at himself for being careless, at himself for not stopping the Sand-nin earlier when he'd kept them from the passive girl, at Hinata for being foolish, or at Gaara for being weird.

He decided just being angry was enough and left it at that.

How could we be this stupid? This was all probably a set up to whittle us down, and we played right into Sand's hands.

But he had to admit it seemed odd for Sand to do something like this. Taking Naruto he could understand—the boy was weird and had some kind of power to him, although what it could possibly be he had no idea. But…Hinata was the weakest member of their team, and while he was (very slowly) accepting her, he couldn't quite understand why Shikamaru had insisted on bringing her along.

Hinata-sama…

"Neji-niisan… It-it's okay…"

He was worried about her. She had forgiven him in that way that only she seemed able to do, and he had made himself a promise to keep her safe. And he'd broken it already by letting something happen to her, in former enemy territory, no less.

And it made him angry that she would probably forgive him for that, too.

She needs to stand up for herself. We won't always be here to help her…

Which led right back to him breaking his promise to protect her.

Of course, there was also the possibility that the Sand had nothing to do with any of this and were being set up. Neji wasn't so biased against them he couldn't realize coincidences when he saw them. Perhaps Gaara had nothing to do with Hinata's disappearance. The anti-social Sand-nin could be being his anti-social self and be secluded in a cellar, for all Neji knew.

Either way, the possibilities weren't particularly pleasant.

Cursing a few more times, he hurried on, Byakugan engaged.

And the desert spread out before him.

She collapsed to the sand, energy spent. All day. She'd been searching uselessly all day, and now she was lost. Her water was nearly gone and her rations wouldn't help if she had no water, there was no way she could contact anyone because she didn't know where they were, and she was terrified. She'd never tried to go out on her own before, never done something this reckless since her fight with Neji. And even then, at least there had been people around to help her when she'd gone too far.

There was no one around to help her now.

And the sun was beginning to set, taking all the heat along with it. Curling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around herself, Hinata tried to fight down the chill and terror.

She was a fool. Even more than anyone had ever thought, she was a fool. Why had she not waited for everyone? Why had she let his words affect her so much? She cared for Naruto and would do almost anything to help him if he needed it, but she had acted blindly. She'd let herself be goaded into action. And lost as she was now, her resolve to help him was nearly gone.

What can I do now? I…I made it worse for all of them…

"So what will you do?"

She shuddered, pulling her legs tighter around her. I can't just end it here… She had to think; there had to be some way to find out where she was, some way to reorient herself. Then she could start searching again. First she'd find Hidden Sand, then she'd start her search for Naruto again. His forehead protector was wrapped around her arm, like Shikamaru wore his, and she touched it lightly with her fingertips.

I don't go back on my word… That's my ninja way… She'd told herself she would help him, and she would. If she ever wanted to change herself, she couldn't give up, especially not when things got difficult.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, focusing inward and releasing the Byakugan. If she could just find some sort of…

She stopped, frozen. Someone was there, behind her and to the left. And from his chakra pattern…

Wh-why… What's he doing out here…?

Standing slowly, shoulders rigid, Hinata turned around, not surprised when he didn't move. He knew he'd been found because he'd done it on purpose.

"Gaara…san…?"

The Sand-nin stared at her from where he sat in the shadow of a dune, saying nothing. Hinata bit her lip, clenching her hands at her sides. He was an ally, there was no reason to be afraid of him.

"What are you doing here?"

Still no answer.

She closed her eyes and took another deep breath, trying to calm herself. When she opened her eyes he was still in the same place, face still unreadable.

"Why… Why did you follow me…?"

The sand at her feet shifted and she flinched, hands crossing over her chest. But nothing happened, and she slowly brought her arms down as Gaara stood, face still unreadable.

"Gaara-san?"

"I don't understand you," he said softly, walking towards her. She tried to take a step back but something held her, and she didn't need to look down to know it was the sand. He stopped a few feet away, close enough where he didn't have to raise his voice but far enough away to stay out of touching distance. "You're like him, and I don't understand."

"Um… I…"

"I don't like not being able to understand," he cut her off, voice soft. "Why do you keep going when there's no longer any reason to?"

Hinata shook her head, lost to his meaning. "I…"

"Three years ago, he did that too. And for three years I haven't understood." He took a step closer, eyes narrowed slightly as the sand at her feet lifted as though it wanted to swallow her. "So why?"

"B-because… He's my friend."

He paused, just looking at her for what felt like forever. But eventually, the sand around her shifted, closing in, and then pulled away just as quickly, leaving Hinata stunned. Gaara stared at her with that impassive expression of his, and then he turned away.

"The village is back east. If you go now you'll reach it within an hour. The desert is cold at night, I suggest you hurry."

He disappeared, leaving Hinata alone and confused. There was never any way to understand what the Sand-nin was thinking, and that was why he scared her most of all.

But he hadn't lied about how cold the night was, and so she cast one last confused look where he'd gone, then turned east and headed back to camp.

Neji found her a little bit later, expression calm, although there was a glint in his eyes she recognized as anger. Whether at her or the situation, she wasn't sure, but she didn't ask about it. Instead she gave him a weak smile that he ignored, taking her arm and leading her back to the village.

"Where were you?" He finally broke the silence, voice not unkind but still cold.

"I-I was looking for Naruto-kun…"

He cast her a glance backwards out of the corner of his eye. "You know better than to go alone, Hinata-sama."

"S-sorry…"

"If something had happened to you, no one would know. And on top of looking for someone else, you would have just made things worse."

She looked down at her feet, face heating up as he berated her. It wasn't as though she wasn't aware of the dangers, but…

"How would it look if I let you run away and die, Hinata-sama? It's like you're trying to make this difficult…"

"I… I can take care of myself, Neji-niisan… I know some healing jutsus… And I have my medicines..."

"Regardless, the Hyuuga heir can't just run off on her own. I'm responsible for you, and I'm not going to let something happen to you."

She frowned, stopping suddenly and pulling her arm out of his grip. Neji turned to look at her, eyes narrowed, but Hinata stood her ground. I can't just back away… Not now…

"I'm not a child anymore, Neji-niisan. I…I'm stronger now. I'm not as weak as I used to be."

His eyebrows drew together as his eyes narrowed more, but Hinata backed away, shaking her head slowly.

"Let me do this myself, Neji-niisan. Please…"

"Hinata-sama, you…"

"I'm sorry…" She backed away slowly, hands held before her, and then she turned and dashed off, leaving her cousin behind.

The door slammed shut, much to Ayaru's pleasure. It felt good to let out her aggressions on inanimate objects like that. For one, they didn't talk back or kick her. For two, she could do it repeatedly without any kind of complaints. And for three, they couldn't yell at her repeatedly like a certain someone she wasn't going to name.

Stupid annoying little pissant…

Rubbing her leg—it was so going to bruise and she was so going to kill him for that—Ayaru managed not to hobble into the small room where she'd be meeting with her "Sand benefactors."

Benefactors my ass. More like pawns. That thought, at least, made her smile, and the pain dulled, if only a little.

Sitting down in the one chair in the room, she leaned back, arms hanging loosely at her sides as they draped over the armrests. She hated these meetings. In fact, she hated meetings in general. They bored her.

The door clicked open and she turned her head, a lopsided smile gracing her face as Hanzo stepped inside, shutting the door firmly behind him. The Sand-nin looked a titch nervous, she noted gleefully. She liked nervous. Nervous she could play with.

"Hello, how are you, please sit down," she monotoned at him, smirking in delight at his glare. "Oops, sorry, you can't do that last bit, can you? You really should work on furnishing the rooms better."

"You don't say."

"No actually, I do say, but that's beside the point, now isn't it?" She leaned forward suddenly, eyes narrowed. "Now hurry up and get this over with so I can get outta this stuffy gods-forsaken room and go get some food."

One of his eyebrows rose at that. "You eat?"

"Fuck off, prick."

"Anytime you want to, little lady," he smirked right back at her, and she felt her eye twitch ever so slightly. Either the man was a complete idiot or he hadn't been laid in a long time.

She was betting on both.

"Anywho," she continued, leaning back in the chair as he took a step towards her. "You wanted to know what the Akatsuki would exchange for the Uzumaki boy, right?"

Hanzo grunted, leaning against the wall and folding his arms across his chest. "We give you that boy you want, and you help us destroy Konohagakure. Not that hard of a deal, is it?"

She pursed her lips. "If you," she finally began, waving a hand in his vague direction, "believe your Sand village is so great, why do you need us to help you defeat some hicks that signed a peace treaty with you? And agreed to help you rebuild after Orochicheapass went to town on your, uh…" Crap, that was a bad pun. "After he ruined your village."

"Who?"

"Orochimaru, dumbass."

Hanzo's glare, while he gave it an admirable try, really sucked. He stood up straight, tried to bore holes into the back of her head, but she just grinned up at him, eyes hard. She'd learned long ago how to deal with guys like him who thought they were the best, but were really as low as they got. His glare faltered at the undisguised threat in her eyes, and only when he backed down did she let herself relax a bit.

"That's much better. You should really watch your temper, especially around girls like me. We're very fragile, you know."

"Keh."

She laughed coldly. "Yeah you're right, I'm not fooling anyone. Now. Business. You give us Uzumaki and we rid you of your problem, right?"

He nodded, eyes shining in what she was quite sure could be the beginning stages of insanity. That definitely wouldn't do.

Although, she amended as she stood, fingers already moving to form the familiar jutsus, sane or insane, it didn't really matter where he was going.

"Lovely, really," she said, smiling brightly. "That's just what I wanted to hear."

He gagged as she finished the jutsu, his hands flying to his throat and then his face as her genjutsu took hold. Eyes bulging, he managed to throw her a glance, and while he couldn't quite speak (the poor dear), she could tell exactly what he meant.

"Kill two birds with one stone, my papa always used to say. We want Naruto, you want your problem to go away. Well, you won't have any problems where you're going, now will you?" She gave him a little wave as he continued to gag and rip at his skin, trying to remove the thousand small needles and threads from his body.

He finally managed to scream before she made it to the door. Throwing a quick glance over her shoulder, she couldn't help herself. She smiled at the writhing man and blew him a kiss and winked.

"I'll just let myself out. You don't mind, do you?" The door closed behind her with a click, then opened again right away as she popped her head into the room. He was still writhing on the floor, and she noticed with some distaste that he'd managed to claw one of his eyes out.

"You might wanna watch that, there. Dig a little deeper next time so you rip the nerves, too. I hear it's very painful otherwise. Just wanted to give you a word of advice, is all. Oh, and to thank you for the boy. The boss is very pleased. Laters."

The door slammed shut with a resolute click, and she hummed as she made her way down the hall and to Uzumaki Naruto's cell, managing to kick a dead body every now and then.

Sometimes, she had to admit, she didn't mind when she was screamed at.

Shikamaru looked up from where he sat, frowning as Neji sulked into camp. Alone.

Raising an eyebrow, he didn't even have the chance to ask before Neji shook his head, biting out a sharp "She's not listening to me," before he stomped his way across the camp and sat apart from everyone else to sulk some more.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Hyuugas.

"Shikamaru," Chouji said softly, sitting down beside his friend, finishing off a bag of chips. "What'll we do now?"

The Chuunin sighed, shaking his head. Across from them, Sakura sat with her chin on her knees and her arms around her legs, glaring out into the night, Shino and Lee sitting quietly beside her. She'd finally managed to calm down, but she was still touchy, and Shikamaru was more than happy to leave her alone in her funk. He didn't need any more women surprising him.

Most definitely not.

"I guess…" he finally said, looking over at his best friend with a tired smile on his face, "we get as much sleep as we can… And then we start out again tomorrow."

"Is that ok? To do that, I mean. What about Hinata-chan?"

Closing his eyes, Shikamaru leaned his head back against the rock Gaara liked to sit on, sighing.

"It has to be ok, Chouji. It's all we can do."

The chubby boy nodded, looking down at his empty bag of chips with a forlorn expression. Then he stood and walked away, leaving Shikamaru alone to think.

He was still lost in thought when the sun came up.