Chapter 8

The night Neji had confessed his love for Tenten had been a wonderful night for the two but for Hinata, it was different. She had slept for about a day and a half and was woken up halfway through the night by the sound of four voices. Though they were whispering, she could clearly hear them and luckily, none of them realised a fifth person listening, her. She could make out three familiar voices which probably belonged to Rika, Shiruko and Yoshiru but she couldn't make out who the last voice belonged to.

Suddenly that voice spoke up quietly but the tone was angry, "You idiots! How many times do I have to tell you people? I ordered it to be done and where have you gotten?"

The female voice stuttered, "For…give me….boss….but Kitano hasn't…arrived with the other Hyuuga…so we haven't….put the plan to action, yet."

"What a bunch of lame excuses, I asked for the top four ninjas and they give me, you lot!"

Shiruko whispered something that Hinata couldn't pick up but it wounded something like, "We should be quiet or else she would be able to hear us is she wakes up."

"Start the plan immediately!" the boss announced angrily to the three.

"But…Kitano and the other one aren't here yet," Yoshiru spoke up.

"Forget about him, he won't even be able to continue, such a pathetic ninja."

"Wh…why?" Rika asked hesitantly.

"He was killed by the other Hyuuga who you all called her a weakling. His body is lying cold on the forest floor. You are suppose to be the best but be defeated by a mere lower ninja is too far!" their boss informed them.

"Start the plan at sunrise, you know what to do and don't disappoint me. If you do, I'll hire a group of ninjas to hunt you down and bring me back your heads!"

"Ye…yes," the three replied, shaking a little from fear.

With that the boss, left at rapid speed leaving the three and Hinata stunned. Hinata decided to fake a sleep before they would realise she was awake. The sun was stating to rise and soon, Rika quickly woke up Hinata, telling her to get ready for a trip to somewhere she didn't mention. They ate their breakfast faster than usual and left within a few minutes, heading towards a forest.

Rika was leading with Hinata behind her and the other two behind her, seemingly guarding her so she couldn't escape. They continued in silence only breaking it to talk about small things but they never gave away, as to where they were headed. Hinata had no idea where she was, and all the trees just made it even more confusing.

Where am I! I can't even tell whether if we are headed north, south, east or west. If I'm lost here, where would Hanabi be? Last night, I swear I heard them say, that someone who was chasing after her had died. Hopefully she escaped and mad it back home, she thought.

Elsewhere, Sasuke and Hanabi were continuing their journey towards Konoha. Sasuke had decided to go back and hopefully be able to serve under the village again. But in return he wanted to know more information as to the whereabouts of his brother, Uchiha Itachi. They might allow him to stay in the village if he did something in return like returning the Hyuuga back to the village so Sasuke would not allow her to get hurt in anyway as it might shorten his chance of getting information on Itachi. The two continued in silence but Hanabi didn't seem to mind, she had been enjoying the time even when they were in danger. Like what had happened yesterday had been an experience to her.

Flashback

They were passing through a small village which wasn't well known but when one of the guards saw them he called out to them, "Halt!"

They stopped for a few seconds and more questions were thrown at them.

"State your reason."

"Not stating a reason, doesn't give you a pass to enter the village."

The man soon noticed Hanabi's forehead protector and on Sasuke's forehead was the same one with a slash across it.

"Konoha ninjas! What are you doing here? We haven't any request for ninja's, state you reason."

The guard had asked so many questions at once that it didn't leave them any chance to answer till the end.

"I have no intention in telling you. Someone from such a low village does not deserve my attention," Sasuke spoke coolly in his low voice.

"Why you! How dare you!" the guard called out angrily while grabbing a katana removing it from its sheath before motioning for others to join him.

"You will pay. I'll have you know this village may be small and unheard of but it is strong. Our ninja's are Chuunins or ranks above that. You will pay for your insult to the village" the guard said to Sasuke before charging at Hanabi.

"I'll kill the weakest one first and leave the fun for last," he called out.

Hanabi wanted to fight and was already getting into her gentle fist stance. She was about to lunge forward when she felt herself flying in the other direction. Looking up she saw Sasuke pulling her away from the battle.

"Hey I want to fight too!" she yelled at him but the Uchiha ignored her but after a few seconds replied.

"You will, later but stay away from the fight."

He placed her, a great distance away from the enemy and turned his attention to the approaching ninjas.

"You can't beat us, it is ten against one or should I say one and a half, since that lower ninja behind you looks like a weakling," the guard called out to Sasuke.

A smirk appeared on his face and he replied, "We will see about that."

This made the enemy fumed and they charged at Sasuke but being an S-ranked missing nin, he had no problems defeating them. One by one fell to the earth and Hanabi just watched in amazement as blood scattered itself on the floor. Sasuke was about to finish killing the last one but he stopped remembering what he had said a couple of minutes, earlier. He motioned for Hanabi to come over and said to her, "You wanted to fight. Here."

Handing the guard to her and he himself stepped back and watched as the young Hyuuga perform her Gentle fist on the guard. Within moments, the guard was left lying on the floor; he was clearly surprised how one ninja could defeat all of then at once. He turned his head slightly to see a girl with white eyes glaring at him and the man next to her, with onyx eyes, eyes that turned red for a second before returning to normal.

It took him a while but it finally came to him, the man was none other than a person of Uchiha blood and the girl belonging to the famous Hyuuga Clan. Inside his mind, he was thinking how stupid he was underestimating the two and how he has caused the village's strength to drop. But nothing could be changed because soon he too, passed away.

End of Flashback.

The two soon stopped for lunch and continued with their journey in complete silence.

Hinata and her group also stopped for lunch; they chose to have a break near a flowing river where they refilled their water bottles before heading onwards. Not once had told Hinata where they were headed yet they all seemed to know where, except for her. She remained silent only to talk when asked a question.

I have a feeling something bad is going to happen. I have to think of a way to escape soon or else I could get into a heap of problems, she thought to herself.

After lunch they continued to their destination where Hinata was still confused about.

Hiashi was deeply worried about his two daughters even if he didn't show it. He had informed a close family member about it but every time he came to report on the topic, it was always the same. The scroll was kept safely with him and at night it was guarded by both branch and main family members. Though none of them knew about Hinata and Hanabi, many were starting to get suspicious and even more with the leave of the branch prodigy.

He sighed and was wondering how long it would take for the mission to be accomplished but he doubt that it would take long with Neji conducting the mission. Neji had grown stronger as the years went by, and trying to defeat him was going to be hard. His nephew trained in every free time, either if it was with himself, him or his female companion. Hiashi soon saw a new light from Neji, one that was only for his bun-headed friend.

The friendship with his female team-mate had grown a lot stronger and maybe into something more but Hiashi was grateful to that. As their friendship grew, Neji's hatred for some main family members started to subdue.

I really need to have a talk with that Tenten girl, after she comes back from the mission, Hiashi thought before drifting to some other thoughts.

The six man team were planning to rest up after their long day of travel, they would be able to arrive in the sand village by early afternoon tomorrow but now they needed to rest up. They had found a nearby clearing were they had decided to set up camp for the day. In order to cover more ground, they had skipped lunch so their dinner consisted of more than usual. During dinner, Neji and Tenten couldn't help noticing the stare they were getting from the other four. Sakura nudged Tenten softly where as Naruto, Lee and Kiba kept sending strange smiles to Neji. This continued for about ten minutes until both were getting really irritated and a dangerous aura was appearing from the two.

"What is wrong with you four!" Tenten yelled at them, clearly annoyed.

Lee answered for them, "TENTEN! YOU HAVE BECOME SUCH A BEAUTIFUL FLOWER! but not as beautiful as my Sakura-san. I'M HAPPY FOR NEJI AND YOU BECAUSE SOON THERE WILL BE MORE SEEDLINGS WHICH WILL GROW INTO BUDS AND LATER INTO FLOWERS."

Lee had gone a bit too far because soon a fist from Neji and a foot from Tenten connected with him, leaving him with two huge bruises.

"Lee, your annoying, shut up," Neji spoke in an angry tone.

"Well you two are together, aren't you?" Kiba asked, "So you don't have to deny it."

"W..what! How! When!" Tenten asked who was clearly shocked.

The four again gave off smiles that were starting to scare her a bit.

"Last night!" an excited Naruto answered for them.

That left the two blushing like mad turning into tomatoes, ones that were too ripe.

"We're all happy for you two, you are meant for each other," Sakura spoke up trying to save them from being embarrassed for so long.

Hinata's group had been travelling for a long time and the sun was setting leaving a minimum amount of light. They had spotted a small clearly just ahead and were planning to stay there, for the night. Hinata still hadn't thought of a plan to escape yet but she told herself she would think of one, tonight.

Sasuke and Hanabi were getting worn out from their journey to Konoha and they had spotted a small clearing up ahead to stay for the night.
The team of six were about to head off to bed when they heard two rustles on opposite sides. The group quickly go on their guard and grab a weapon from their holster, ready for action. The rustling subsided and from the two places, out stepped Sasuke and Hanabi from one; and the three with Hinata from another.

The twelve people stared at each other with their mouths hanging open, except for Sasuke and Neji who were trying their hardest to stop the facial expressions to appear. But that failed because soon a chorus was heard, "WHAT!"

A/N: Finally done! I know this is a short chapter, Sorry! Hopefully you liked this chaper! There will be some Sasuke and Sakura fluff in the next chapter, i promise and maybe some others but there will definatly be SasukexSakura. I've posted up a ONESHOT of Neji x Tenten. Reviews please!

The Gandhara- Thank you for the reiview. Tenten probably is the best character here, but i'm not excatly sure. I'm glad you like the love scene of Neji x Tenten. Anyway, thanks again for the review.

Swaying Mercury- I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for reviewing!

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz- Their will be more of the triangle soon. Thanks for the review. Ja ne.

Tears like Crystals- Sasuke has finally met up with the others. Thats what you wanted, right? I hope this will make you happy. Thanks for the review.

Other reviews/readers- please continue to read and reviews will be very helpful. Thanks fro reading!