Mine Alone

A Yang Production

"Hey Naruto?" I asked to no one. " How can you take all that by your lonesome? Doesn't it drive you crazy? I wouldn't be able to take it all." There was no reply and I think that in those moments I knew I would never have one. Whenever I saw Naruto after thinking this, I could see a shadow lingering behind him and it looked so familiar that it chilled me to the bone…

"Be careful, there are lots of sink holes around here." Tsunade said over her shoulder to Sasuke who was helping Naruto get unstuck. " The one place that was left intact was your apartment, so when the battle got too much you were moved Naruto."

He didn't say anything. There were people trying to get into their destroyed homes, but they didn't even look at him when he passed by, they were engulfed by their loss. He could see medical nins attending to the wounded and taking down information for the extremely critical patients. ANBU and other Shinobis were busy gather all missing persons documents as to begin the search in hospitals…and the morgue.

" You should have let me go…" Naruto released Sasuke's hand but Sasuke pulled him close.

" Don't blame yourself." He whispered before leading him towards the Hokage who stood impatiently.

I kept recalling that shadow every time I killed and I always saw it hovering over them. It kept growing bigger around Naruto…and I grew scared…

Neji heard footsteps grow nearer. He didn't care anymore. Anyone could just kill him now. He was already dead inside.

Every Shuriken and Kunai landed on their target. He watched in slow motion as his cousin fell to the ground, her eyes fixed on him. The replica of the Hyuuga heirloom dropped from his hand, where he had summoned it to do battle with his cousin.

"HINATA-SAMA!" He rushed to her fallen body. ANBU were about to step forward when the Hokage stopped them. Neji turned over Hinata and held her head in his lap.

" Get away from me." She managed to choke out. " I don't need you. I need Naruto. "

" Hinata-sama…"

" But he isn't here is he Neji…san?"

" Nii, Hinata-sama."

" It's just Hinata, Neji-nii." With much effort she was able to touch his face. She was cold. " Just Hinata." He nodded. " I ask a favor of you dear Neji-nii…" Her voice was low and he leaned down to listen. Now he wished he never had.

"Are you doing better?" It was the Hokage's voice.

" How can you ask me that Hokage-sama?" He shook as he spoke. " How can I be better!"

" You did what she wanted you to do." Sasuke added.

" No…I didn't want to do it. I thought I could do it, but I was just as human as any other person. I rather have gone instead of her. I was full of rage at first but seeing her, I could still remember Hinata before her horrible change. "

Seeing Naruto's bewildered look, the Hokage began to explain. " Hinata, it seems, began to develop a deadly Jutsu. We aren't sure if it was for the village or for any other purpose, but she used it on herself. The Jutsu requires a second party to act as a medium for it to work successfully."

"Wh.." Naruto was afraid to ask. "What was it?"

The Hokage and Sasuke looked at each other, debating whether to tell him or not.

" It was a killing Jutsu…" Neji answered. "And I was the medium."

"Neji…do you still hate me? Then do this, write the character for death on my face. Then watch as you kill me."

This was the moment that he had planned for. He had lead the Hokage and everyone else here, he had planned to kill her with a weapon that was of her family blood, he was suppose to kill her. But his thoughts told him that even if they hadn't attacked her, he wouldn't have killed her. She was still his cousin and he had grown to love her.

" Neji, I can read them, you don't want to." She jerked her fingers and Neji couldn't feel his hand. " Help me, then." His hand had her blood dripping, and clumsily she had him write the character for death, SHI…END OF LIFE. Once he finished, she smiled at him.

" Good-bye."

He and everyone else was thrown back by a surge of raw power. Her body tensed up and a thin wave of unknown chakra wrapped around her.

" They just climbed out of the ground and leapt on her." Neji recalled. " They wouldn't stop. We tried to stop them, the Hokage sent the ANBU out but they couldn't reach her, We tried, but we were driven back…."

An inhuman cry rang out as THEY appeared. Not just clones, but the true body. Hinata's victims in all their gruesome glory. Every scar, every wound, everything left intact. Those present could see the flesh of the first few victims threatening to fall, all ready starting to decompose. The recent ones appeared to not have died. At first they looked confused, having died but abruptly thrown back into their bodies. Then they spotted Hinata.

They were blurs as they started to attack and maul.

" Stop them! STOP THEM!" Tsunade yelled. ANBU ran forward but they were stopped by Itachi and Sakura.

" We need to kill her." Itachi said, his face was half covered in muscle and less in skin. " It is our duty." He seemed to stare at them through his empty sockets.

" We rather have remained dead…" Sakura looked up, her face distorted by the cruel experiment done on her. "…but she brought us back to kill her."

They stood side by side and placing one hand behind the other, palm out, they were able to send the whole fleet of ANBU back. They yelled in pain as scars appeared and skin fell off.

" Stop this!" Tsunade yelled, never having seen such a Jutsu. " You can go back, but leave her alone!"

" But isn't this what you wanted…?" Something rolled to her feet. Orochimaru looked up. " You would kill her too." His body was still helping the others rip Hinata apart. He opened his mouth and out slithered snakes and they snapped at anyone who tried to cross their path.

Like a ghostly chorus, they all yelled, " WE ARE BOUND BY BLOOD TO KILL HER! TO KILL AND DESTROY HER AND DRAG HER SOUL TO HELL!"

"Leave my cousin alone!" Neji got up only to be blocked by his dead cell mates.

" Neji-kun…" Tenten smiled. " Stop, we don't want to hurt you."

" You had been a good companion." Lee added. " So stay were you are."

" Get out of the way." He tried to push past them, but they grabbed both his arms and kicked him in the stomach with their knees. There wasn't anytime to try and catch his breath as they kicked him under the chin, the sky and earth seemed to blend as they jumped after him and slammed their heels into his body.

" We didn't want to hurt you."

Tsunade had managed to dodge the snakes and got past Itachi and Sakura but she didn't see Ino behind her.

" You're not going anywhere!" Ino held out her hand and vines shot out towards the unsuspecting Hokage. Tsunade was able to land on her hands and pull Ino along with the vines. Her fist was able to go through Ino's stomach.

" One down." Tsunade said simply yet sadly as Ino slumped forward.

" Do you really want to believe that?" Ino snapped as she pushed off the Hokage. Roots could be seen in the gapping hole that the Hokage had left, and they intertwined with each other to close the hole. " You won't stop us. After we have finished with her we are ordered to destroy Konoha completely…but all we really want is to go back."

Sand flew in every direction as Gaara joined in. Temari, faced Shikamaru as he and the others finished with Hinata. Her headprotector lay on the ground with two black books and a small object stained red. Kankuro was enjoying himself as he puppets fought Shino and his colony of bugs.

" Only one person can stop us and that is Neji. He needs to die also."

A single wooden cross marked a grave but there was no body inside.

" These," The Hokage pointed to the headband that had a slash through the leaf symbol while Neji held two black books in his hands, " are the only thing that were left of Hinata."

" Her clothes, her body, it was all gone when they finished." Sasuke helped support Naruto as he seemed to lose strength.

I was scared. No one could know I was scared. I had to kill. To protect Naruto. That was my only thought, to protect Naruto. I HAD TO PROTECT HIM. He needed me and I needed him…

" She wrote down everything in this." Neji flipped through one of the black books, her words coming to life in his mind. He could recall everything she had written by heart. " This was her journal."

" But we aren't sure what that second book is. It won't open, no matter the Jutsu…and Neji couldn't see anything."

It wasn't that I didn't see anything…I just can't tell you. Neji vowed to keep her final thought hidden. He had given that book to her, a gift he made so that any secret of hers would stay hidden from any but the maker and the writer.

What I realized was that I saw a little of myself when others put down Naruto. I was trying to save both of us. But who really needed to be saved?

" Hinata…" He whispered looking at the leather bound book.

Hinata was sitting on the steps that lead out to the main yard. Neji had been looking for her all morning only to find her in the first place he had looked.

" Hinata-sama!" He called out.

" Neji-nii! I told you, HINATA."

He smiled as Hinata tried to look mad but failed. " Here." He held out a small black book. " It took longer to make this, but it's a gift."

" Really? What for?" Hinata reached out, her arm bandaged from the wrist up.

" For what ever you want, you can write any thing in this and only you and…well you can read it. No one else." He didn't want her to know he could see to.

" Thanks. This is so nice Neji-nii." Hinata was overjoyed to receive such a gift from her cousin who until not too long ago hated her.

" Oh, this is your birthday gift." He held out a small pin that held a dried violet in a clear stone.

" It's so pretty!" She held it to her chest. " I'll take good care of it!"

"Hinata!" Her father stepped out. " It's time to go train. Hello Neji, are you well?"

" Yes Uncle."

" Good. Has your wound healed yet daughter?"

" It is much better."

They both continued to talk as they left Neji in the courtyard, Hinata slipped the gifts into her jacket pocket and winked

Was I mistaken to have killed all those people? I don't think so. I had to stop them from harming Naruto, even if it cost my sanity. Even if that shadow was me. Even if…I was just protecting myself.

Naruto walked towards her grave and just stood there. It was the end of a long and tiring nightmare. Konoha would be rebuilt, people would go on living, and no one else had to die because of ….them.

" There is a thin line between love and hate and it's called forgiveness. I don't hate you Hinata, but I can't love you. I do, however, accept to forgive you, because that is what you need right now."

Neji reached into his leg holster and fingered the tiny pin he had given Hinata. A gift is meant to be with the owner, always. He crouched down and placed the small gift at the base of the cross.

Hinata smiled at everyone as they all gather for dinner. Neji and a few other from the branch house had arrived. It was then that he saw that she had the pin on, and she looked wonderful. She never took that pin off after that.

Maybe later today, he would write down the last words that Hinata, the real Hinata, had said to him.

I still love you Neji-nii.

With mixed feelings, they all left to help with the construction of Konoha. The next few weeks would be spent trying to rebuild everything that was destroyed. Neji would have to take over the Hyuuga estate, Tsunade would spend time trying to train the ANBU and try to figure out a way to prevent everything (that and she would owe a big favor to the sand siblings for helping through everything.) Sasuke would finally be at Naruto's side and Naruto would have someone who loves him.

Neji looked back once more and he thought he could have seen his cousin, sitting near her grave, wearing his pin and singing.

" You know Neji-nii…sometimes you can die and yet still live. When I sing, I die. When I am with father, I die a little."

He remembered what she had said. But how would that help him?

"Hey Neji-nii, when you attack, it reminds me of dancing. Especially when we both attack together."

She was at his side even now, as he got into his usual stance for the gentle fist. " If you want me to die, then I will, beyond what I already am."

He did die a little, on the inside as he 'danced' for Hinata. No, with Hinata.

The grave was left alone. Leaves fluttered in the wind as the four walked away, talking about the future. A single leaf landed on top of the pin, and it lay there quivering before taking flight in the next breeze. Now there was only a cross, an empty grave, and an old headprotector of a betrayer. Hyuuga Hinata was now left behind in the past, a forbidden topic.

A Year Later…

" Look at that sunset!" Naruto leaned over the rail to get a better look.

" You're gonna fall if you lean any more." Sasuke held onto Naruto's shirt.

" You two seem to be enjoying yourselves." Someone remarked.

" Oy, it's Neji!" Naruto turned around to see the Head of the Hyuuga, Neji, walking towards them on the platform above the Hokage's office. " Did you talk with the Hokage?"

" Yes and I agree with Sasuke. You could have fallen off." He brushed past the two and rested on the railing. " It's been a whole year."

" …Has it?" Naruto acted innocent.

" But you can still feel her affect on the village. It's going to take a while…but I'm sure one day we can all stop feeling her. Do you believe that I think she's still lingering around here, close to you two?"

" Hey, Naruto!" A guard waved to them as they ran over. " The Hokage needs to talk to you about rooming. She still doesn't want you to leave her all alone in her home."

" We have to go, but we'll met up later okay Neji!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder as he dragged Sasuke along with Neji just a little behind.

" See you later then." Neji walked off.

Sasuke looked on as Neji disappeared behind a corner.

Hinata…it's over.

Everything you did, it didn't help.

After all Naruto's mine…

And Mine Alone.

" Hey Baa-san! What do you want!"

" Naruto! You're suppose to knock and address me as Hokage!"

Sasuke looked on as the two bickered with a content smile.

And I plan to keep it that way.

Ferret-san: As much as Yang-chan wanted to be here to celebrate this last chapter, she is still recovering from the beating from her other story. But, she sent us a lovely statue made of some plaster.

(Statue is really Yang-chan in a full body cast)

Ferret-san: I hope you have had some fun reading this story, Yang-chan enjoyed writing this for you all. Now she did ask me to ask you the Million dollar question:

Is there any chance you would want a sequel?

Not that she has one in mind, but there have been those stories that are meant to be over, but there was a demand for another. She was just wondering. Leave your final review and thanks for reading MINE ALONE