AUTHOR'S NOTES:

THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS!

harukakanata: thanks for adding this fic in your fave stories list! I really appreciate it! –hugz-

crazy-antman: Hehehe… I'll take that as an advice. I'll try to omit the italicized thoughts in between lyrics in my next fanfictions! Thanks pal!

tenten-kun: Don't worry, it will be there soon after this "episode" of AUTHOR'S NOTES!

FireDragonBL: No, I can't make Tenten kick butt because she's "sick". But I'll take that as a suggestion for A Curse to Kill's SasuSaku sequel, Homebound. I can't promise you anything yet but I'll try to make Tenten kick butt in Homebound.

By the way, thanks for reading Silver Winter 1 and 2. Yeah, I really don't like it when they call any girl ninjas in Naruto weak. But it's a fact that I have to accept, well except for Tenten's case. Tenten is pretty strong, if she was to fight with Ino, Ino might have been killed because of Tenten's wide arsenal of weapons. I nicknamed Tenten "weapons mistress" because she's pretty good at kunais, shurikens, daggers, knives, sais, whatever the weapon be, she's still, what I praise her for her impressive talent, "THE DON'T-EVER-CALL-ME-A-WEAK-GIRL".

And yes, it's kinda hard for me to accept that she lost to Temari in the series. That made me quite sad, you know. :(

ALSO, thanks for telling me what's OOC and R&R. That's very kind of you.

APOLOGY TO ALL: I'm sorry that I have to break this down to all of you but I'm afraid that after this chapter has been updated, read and reviewed by you, the following chapter will come up late. Why? That's because I have to start working on Homebound, finish writing A Curse to Kill, edit my novel and write other fics.

I can't promise you anything yet but my goal is to finish A Curse to Kill and Homebound before April ends. If that's impossible, then I'm very sorry in advance. –sigh-

So, I won't delay this chapter any longer. I present to you, A Curse to Kill, Chapter 9:

(Chapter 9 – A Fight for the Beloved)

At noon, Sasuke and Neji reached the village of the Sand.

Then again, they were immediately blocked off by ninjas.

"Look who we have here!" a female ninja said, "Hyuga and Uchiha…"

"What a coincidence," a male ninja said, "I thought the two of you were rivals?"

"But look," another male ninja said, "here they are in our village."

Then, the three ninjas showed their faces and much to Neji and Sasuke's surprise…

"Hey, I never expected that the three of you will block us from your village," Neji smirked, "what a happenstance isn't it, Temari, Kankoro and Gaara?"

"Hey!" Temari exclaimed, "So you do remember us like we remember you."

"What do you want from our village?" Gaara asked.

"We want to see the oldest advisor of the Sand's leader." Neji replied.

"Temari, Gaara and Kankoro," an aged voice said, "let them enter the village."

"As you wish, Wasudo-sama. " the three answered.

The ninjas made way to the two Leaf ninjas and the old man replied, "Ah, you must be here to face me, young men."

Then, they went into a secluded area full of greens.

"Actually," Neji said, "I alone will face you."

"What the hell?" Sasuke exclaimed, "Then why am I sent to this mission?"

"Shut up, Uchiha." Neji said, "I'm still talking to this old man."

The old man laughed and said, "I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Himnara Wasudo. And I am indeed, the oldest advisor of the Sand."

"I am Hyuga Neji." Neji replied, "And I am here to get a cure from you."

"Ah, you must be a representative of that girl!" Wasudo said, "Then, prepare for a rough fight with me, young man."

"I am so ready," Neji answered dropping his backpack under a tree, "I am much ready than you thought."

"Actually," Wasudo added, "I know whom you are fighting for."

Neji fell silent, but the determination to defeat Wasudo was still seen in his features.

"I am practically an old man," the old advisor continued, "perhaps I am nearly a hundred years old, but I can still fight! A very complex curse that has said to have no cure... Well, I formulated the cure perhaps six decades ago, but I can tell who are the receivers of the cure."

Neji furiously said, "Just stop talking! Let's get this over with!"

"Ah, don't be excited, young man!" the old man laughed, "A very determined fighter, I see! You are fighting on behalf of the brown-haired woman who survived a tragic past, aren't you?"

"Who knows?" Neji smirked, "Perhaps, perhaps not."

"I know. Among all the receivers of my cure, only five did not directly receive the cure. The first one who fought me for the cure has successfully swept me off my feet, as a reward, I gave him the cure. And the next three were merely weak, and those who entrusted them with their lives for the cure died. And here you are, fighting for the young woman who never received the cure. Are you ready?" Wasudo explained.

"Like I said," Neji said, in his fighting position, "I'm very ready."

"Very well," Wasudo answered, as he went into his fighting position, "how to get the cure from me is very simple."

Wasudo placed the small bottle in his kunai pack, "you just simply have to sweep me off my feet. In other words, you've got to knock me down."

"Yeah, yeah," Neji answered, "let's just do it."

Unbelievably, Wasudo was amazingly agile, but Neji can catch up, after all, he is a well-known jounin at Konoha, just like his rival, Uchiha Sasuke.

Wasudo threw a shuriken at Neji but Neji dodged it by throwing a kunai at the shuriken.

Sasuke prepared his kunai but Neji said, "Uchiha, this is my fight! Stay out of this!"

Sasuke grumbled and just stood and watched, "Darn Hyuga."

"An Uchiha you say?" Wasudo said, eyeing Sasuke.

"Hey, don't disregard me, old man!" Neji told Wasudo, throwing a shuriken at him, but Wasudo was able to evade it.

"I think this will take quite a while." Neji thought, "I have to get that cure…"

Neji landed on the ground, and so did Wasudo.

"Oh, that was fun!" Wasudo laughed.

"I know…" Neji smirked, "That's of course, my first priority. But I have to reserve my Byakugan for later…"

"Wanna do it again, old man?" Neji arrogantly said, "C'mon!"

Neji leapt off the ground and as he expected, Wasudo followed.

"Hey Uchiha, wanna do something?" Neji answered, "Just wait for my signal!"

"What signal!" Sasuke shouted back as he watched Neji throwing kunais at Wasudo.

"Just wait!" Neji yelled back.

In Konoha…

"Why do I have this uneasy feeling?" Tenten thought, as she was sitting on a branch of a tree, waiting for a target to fly by.

A bird landed on a perch of a tree just in front of Tenten. She threw a kunai towards the small creature but it flew away before the kunai landed on the place where the bird was sitting.

Tenten sighed, "Why do I feel this kind of sensation when Neji is fighting?"

A sound echoed through the sky; Tenten jerked her head up and saw a murder of crows darken the sky.

"Is this an omen?" Tenten thought, "That Neji is in trouble?"