Broken Helix: part VIII: Blood

Something icy hit his face… something like cold water. Neji's eyes snapped open and he shivered slightly.

"Cold are we?" came the unfeeling voice of his uncle.

"…Where…" Neji said weakly. He looked around and only saw dark walls. He was in a very dark room, and he was strapped and chained down to a table.

"One of your friends provided the perfect opportunity," his uncle smirked. "It's too bad, really, to have one of your friends lead to your torment. If you live, be sure to thank him for allowing you this opportunity."

Neji tried to look around, but he felt so weak. His body was heavy. His clothes and hair and body and face were covered with mud and his own blood. His white eyes shifted to the table near the one he was lying on. It was covered with blades of all kinds. Some sharp, some dull….

"And someone else saw fit to betray you as well," his uncle chuckled. "Hinata is going to try to turn me in. She will fail of course, but it is the principle of the thing." He reached over and took a kunai from the table, then approached Neji and glared down at him.

"She is doing the right thing…" Neji said, his voice a whisper. "This is not betrayal…."

"Let's see how long you think that," his uncle smirked. "Now, let's begin way back where we started in your cell, shall we?" He started to cut Neji's clothes to shreds. "How often did you lay your hands on Hinata?"

"Never," Neji said, his voice growing in strength slightly.

"How often did your lips touch her?" his uncle asked, as he cut faster.

"Never," Neji repeated.

"How often did you defile her body?" his uncle asked, his voice growing darker.

"Ne… ver…" Neji winced as the blade started to cut more than his clothing. He felt his blood rise from his body in several places.

"Filthy boy," his uncle hissed. "You have no right to be a part of this honorable clan." Roughly, he grabbed what he could of Neji's long hair and sliced away at it with the kunai until his hair was near shoulder lenth. He threw the long strands on the floor and stepped on them.

But Neji didn't get angry. Rather, he appeared to be content. It was because he thought Hinata was safe. This only frustrated his uncle.

"Why?" his uncle growled. "Why you? You who have been a stain on our family! You who have committed so many wrongs against us! You who have sinned against everyone you know by trying to drag them into your darkness!"

"That is the past," Neji replied calmly. "And I am forgiven."

His uncle punched him across the face. "There is no forgiveness for you. You deserve to be hated and shunned for the rest of your life. You have deserved that for years. Yet people insist on loving you…."

Neji's expressed changed, though only in his eyes. There was something new there. It was pity. Neji pitied his uncle. He was still angry deep down for the way Hinata was treated, but the pity in his eyes was overwhelming. He saw his uncle's jaw tighten in anger, as Neji hadn't even realized the expression he was showing to him.

Neji flinched against his will when his uncle drove his hand between his legs.

"And here is the foul appendage that was used to defile her…" his uncle said with a mad glint in his eyes. The sound of a metal object could be heard sliding away from the table of weapons. "The object used to pollute her body so that it was no longer fit for me as anything but a toy."

"She was, and will always be, too good for you… or for me," Neji said, his eyes unwavering.

His uncle started to chuckle darkly. "She is mine now, and forever."

Neji saw the blade cut through the air. He thought he could brace himself and bare the pain, but it was more than he imagined it would be. He let out a sharp cry, though it was short lived. He gritted his teeth, though nothing could hide the fact that his body was feeling the full shock of what had just happened. His breathing was ragged and sweat started to pour from him. And all the while his uncle smirked down at him.

"Now you can no longer carry out your desires with my dear Hinata," his uncle laughed darkly as he tossed the bloody appendage to the floor.

"Hadn't… had the chance… to… use it yet…" Neji said through his teeth. "Less… reason… to miss it…."

His uncle's expression darkened a great deal. "Still playing innocent?" he glared. "Very well then. We'll examine another aspect of your loathsome life. How did you manage to learn the secret techniques of the clan without aid?"

"Prac…tice…" Neji said.

"Your eyes are too strong for someone of your lowly status," his uncle scoffed.

Another metal instrument being removed from the table. Neji didn't like this one bit.

"I'll leave you in darkness as black as your soul," his uncle said lowly, as the knife moved closer and closer to Neji's face.

Inwardly, Neji panicked, though he tried to calm himself. His body wouldn't move. He was too weak to fight his uncle off. For whatever reason, he couldn't draw the strength to break himself from these bonds, which would normally have been no issue from him. The lack of food, water, and sunlight was weighing on his body, as well as the loss of blood.

He suddenly thought of Hinata's face, and it was like a vision of beauty that flooded his mind. He only tried to think of her. But his other friends appeared as well. He imagined all of their faces. Every detail of their expressions. The way his powerful eyes had seen them smile and laugh and cry and hope. He was glad he got to see them that way….

His screams were unlike anything his body knew it could make. The sound echoed off the walls and lingered as the blade cut. His uncle went slow, and the blade was dull. Neji's screaming wouldn't stop. He tried to will himself to stop but his will was crumbling. The only sound he could hear were his continuous, tortured screams.

"Naruto!" Hinata said, running up to the blonde. "Naruto," she said, dropping her voice to a whisper. "Neji… have you seen him? We have to look for him again! He could still be alive! The execution was--"

"He's alive," Naruto said.

"Y… you know where he is?" Hinata blinked.

"I took him somewhere to get help," Naruto smiled. "No need for you to worry anymore, Hinata."

"Where?" she asked anxiously. "Where is he?"

Naruto looked down at the ground for a moment, then back to her. "I'm sorry, Hinata," he said with a slight smile. "I can't tell you. Just trust me though. He's alive, and he is receiving treatment right now."

"Naruto please," she said sadly. "I have to know where he is."

"I can't," Naruto said. "I made a promise. I trust you Hinata, but I made a promise. It's for Neji's own good. But it's okay, because no one will find him."

He smiled at her and she sighed softly and nodded. She trusted Naruto, but something felt very wrong. After a moment of thinking, she continued her search.

Blackness. Darkness. There was nothing else. And Neji's body was too shocked and exhausted to allow him anymore screams. His body wanted him to cry, but Neji knew there was nothing left to cry with.

"It's too bad that your body wouldn't let you die from the pain sooner," he heard his uncle say. "Twenty minutes of cutting and you're still conscious. I would cut your hands from you know, but you'd die much too quickly."

Neji's body was shaking violently. He couldn't even tell where the pain was coming from anymore. But his body wouldn't allow him peace.

"Fear not, Neji" his uncle said in mock sympathy. "You won't suffer alone. One of your betrayers strayed a little too far while searching for you."

A muffled voice, struggling footsteps, then a sharp gasp. "Neji! No!" Hinata cried.

Neji turned his head slowly toward the direction of her voice. He could hear his uncle holding her as she struggled against him.

"Neji!" she cried. "I'm so sorry! I… I didn't think…!"

"Hi…na…….." Neji whispered, the pain ripping him to the core.

"Shall I gut him next?" came the cold voice, and then a sad whimper from Hinata. "Or shall we make another bargain? Maybe this is all the punishment he requires? Maybe, if you do as I say, I can release him after this?"

"Anything!" Hinata cried.

Neji heard this, but only as though he were dreaming it at first. He told Hinata to run, but it was as though the words never made it through the pain and out of his mouth. He could hear her clothes being torn away… or cut away. Against his pain, he tried to break his bonds and rise, but his body felt his struggles and started to shut down in protest.

There was brief silence all around him, and then Hinata's cry of pain… and the sound of flesh hitting flesh… again and again. Neji could hear Hinata biting back her cries, but she couldn't control her whimpers or the breaths that she could barely catch.

"Enjoy it while you can, my dear," her uncle whispered to her. "He is no longer capable of doing this for you."

There was the sound of weight hitting the ground, and now Hinata's cries erupted from the cold floor of the room. With every cry and every struggle that Neji could hear, he tried to make his body rise. But there was no chakra left to use. No strength left to summon. No amount of meditation or mental strength left to dull his pain. He knew it was hopeless to try, but he kept trying, and even when his body seemed to stop moving, his will was trying to make him rise.

Hours passed. Hours of Hinata crying and screaming and gagging and begging and struggling until Neji could only hear his uncle pounding into her. She was silent.

"Still alive, Neji?" the cold voice asked as the pounding stopped. "Hm. Still struggling I see. Well, let me help you."

Neji felt his bonds loosened and removed.

"I'll leave you two alone to suffer in peace," his uncle laughed before his footsteps grew faint.

Neji's body wouldn't move, even with the straps and chains gone. "H… Hi… nata?" he said hoarsely. When she didn't respond, he felt panic rising. Slowly, after about half an hour of frustrating, painful effort, he managed to roll off of the table. He fell hard on the cold floor, his stomach and chest resting on the rough cement.

In his blindness, he reached out in front of him and felt her long hair at the ends of his fingertips. She was so close to him…. And he couldn't even see her anymore. Barely able to move, he ignored his pain as his fingers slid up slowly to her cheek. He wiped her tears away the best he could, and somehow knew that her eyes were closed.

"…Hinata…" he whispered, wishing for a response, a movement, anything at all. She said nothing and was completely still. He hated it. His body was shaking as he slid a hand down her cheek, his body too far away to put his arms around her. He very slowly moved his fingertips down to her neck to feel her pulse.

There was none. Neji's breathing grew heavy and his soul started to crack.

The problem wasn't so much the lack of a pulse… as the lack of a neck altogether. Neji's hand landed in a sticky poll of blood.

"If you're looking for her body," his uncle's cold voice echoed above him, "it's on your other side."

Neji's will was gone. His strength was gone. His reason to keep going through the pain was gone….

"But," said his uncle, "it would be best for me to bring the body to you." The sound of a sword being pulled from the table caught Neji's ear. "It's time I took those hands now."

The sword made a low ringing sound as it sliced the air, and Neji heard it hit the concrete. But the pain of losing his hands was dull compared to the pain of losing Hinata. The pain of his blood draining from his wrists was nothing to him now….

He was kicked onto his back, and he felt something heavy thrown on top of him. He knew it was her headless body. Completely shattered, he started to scream. And through his screams he saw flashes of people through his mind. An image of chaos and people running, an image of flames flying through the air, the image of Kakashi reaching out to him, the image of his uncle glaring at him with red eyes instead of white, the view of the ground as someone carried him off somewhere, and finally Naruto's face grinning down at him.

Neji bolted upright, screaming and clinging to the body in his arms.

"Hey! Relax… relax Neji," he heard Gai say as strong arms wrapped around him..

The headless body was no longer headless. Neji could feel his hands clinging to fabric. He could see the bright room around him.

"You're okay," Gai said, sitting on the side of the bed and holding Neji against him. "Everything is okay."

To Gai's shock, Neji started to cry against his shoulder. He was clinging to him and shaking violently. Gai held him as a father comforting his child or an older brother comforting a sibling.

"You're okay, Neji," Gai said. "You're safe. It's okay."

"…A… a dream…?" Neji asked, his voice quivering.

"No…" Gai said. "Not quite. Some people would call it a breakdown, but now we know the source."

Neji's tears were dying down as the feelings of pain melted away.

"Neji," Gai said, still feeling Neji's shaking, "you were a victim of Mangekyo Sharingan. Your breakdown before, and what you experienced recently were products of that."

"…Sasuke…?" Neji whispered.

"No," Gai said. "Your uncle."

"You must drop the charges against Neji," Tsuande said to Hinata's grandfather. "Kakashi and other witnesses saw the executioner's eyes turn red. If you have a Sharingan user in your clan it easily explains the handwritting similarities in that so-called evidence you showed me. It would also explain Neji's previous mental collapse if he was a victim of Mangekyo Sharingan."

"Preposturous," the old man said. "Byakugan and Sharingan cannot co-exist in one person! Another intruder was spotted during the execution! That person must be the key! He must also be responsible for the disappearance of the man you are accusing! This is all too convenient, if you ask me! Neji probably set it up! And we demand to know Neji's location!"

"I cannot tell you his location," Tsunade said calmly. "I only know that he is alive. But really, where he is now is not my problem. What I am concerned with is the Hyuuga clan being torn apart by Neji's execution, which is now based on shaky details and false evidence."

"The evidence is not false!" the elder roared. "It is fact!"

"No," someone said from Tsunade's doorway. "The evidence is most likely false. If one letter is proven to be false, then all have the possibility of being false. The charges will be dropped until further notice."

"How dare you--" the old man began as he spun around.

But he drew back in silence. There, standing proudly, was Lord Hiashi.

"I did not write that sentence for Neji," Lord Hiashi said with a stoic expression. "Our clan has no business hunting him down."

"But the letters from the girls that he killed--!" the elder spoke up.

"The investigation will continue as Tsunade sees fit," Lord Hiashi said. "She may also, if she chooses, sentence us for our crimes."

"What crimes have we committed?" the elder scoffed as he turned to stare at Tsunade.

"Simple," Tsunade said, a smile crossing her lips. "You see, ever since all of this started, Neji's comrades have done some investigation using documents that are public and legal. It was brought to my attention that Neji is not directly related to the head family in any way."

"And what of it?" the older man asked gruffly. "He is a lowly branch member from some distant, unrelated family. He has no blood ties to the head family and deserves no special treatment."

"Actually," Tsuande continued, "he never deserved ill-treatment from your clan either. The seal on his forehead is a breach of Konoha law, as Neji is not bound by the laws of the Hyuuga clan. I can have the head family members involved sentenced if I so wish." She no longer looked patient. She stood up and walked around the desk and stood between Hiashi and the older man. "Neji's father, Hyuuga Hizashi, adopted Neji. Neji's bloodline limit is from his mother, who was a Hyuuga of ancient and very distant relation to you all. Neji's father is from another clan. As you know, clans have laws. Children of people who marry into the Hyuuga clan must raise their children as Hyuugas with few exceptions. However, there are some clans, few and far between, that override these laws if their bloodline limit is strong as well. Neji's natural father is from the Hidden Village of the Mist. His family's rules and laws override the rules of the Hyuuga clan. All children born from that family, without exception, belong to that clan."

"Impossible!" the elder roared.

"There was some disaster in the Mist Village," Lord Hiashi said. "Neji's mother and father had to flee. Their marriage was forbidden because of the difference in family rules, but they continued their relationship nonetheless. They made it to Konoha and Neji's father died of injuries from the war. But there were ninja still after his child, thinking that Neji might possess the bloodline techniques of The Mist. Wanting a child of his own, and in an attempt to save Neji, Hizashi adopted Neji before he was born." Lord Hiashi looked down. "I allowed this to continue, and as a result, even though Neji shouldn't have had to bare it, I went as far as to place the seal on his forehead. He has suffered since."

The old man stood silent, his white eyes wide with fury.

"As you can see," Tsunade said, "the Hyuuga clan has breached the village laws. It is forbidden to place clan seals on people outside of that specific clan except in extreme circumstances. Neji's case is not an extreme circumstance. So, the matter of how his life will be handled falls to me, not your clan. Anyone from that clan caught trying to harm him will be punished."

The old man shook his head slightly and headed for the door. "I will call them off…" he said gruffy before disappearing.

Tsuande looked to Hiashi and grinned. "Naruto found Neji," Tsuande said. "He took him to Akimichi Chouji's to be treated for malnutrition. I made him promise to keep Neji's location a secret, but now that doesn't seem necessary."

"When the time is right," Lord Hiashi said, "I will go see him. And once again I will have to explain all that was kept from him."

"So then Shikamaru found the records about your birth and ended up telling Tsunade," Chouji said to Neji. "Oh, eat some of this, it will help you gain your strength."

"Your family history is troublesome," Shikamaru added.

"Everyone was researching!" Ino chimed in. "Even Naruto!"

"Yeah," Chouji grinned. "But it was giving him a headache! And -- drink some of this -- Sai was helping a lot too."

"Man, Neji," Ino blinked. "You eat a lot…."

"Havem eatin like thish ima lon time…" Neji said with food in his mouth, though still looking ironically dignified enough for the sight to make Ino fall out of her chair laughing at him.

"Eat some of this too," Chouji said, pushing more food at him.

"Thank you for taking care of me, Chouji," Neji said (after swallowing.) "And thank you guys for trying to save me."

"We'd do it again," Ino shrugged.

"Hopefully next time it will be for someone who doesn't have such a pain in the ass family," Shikamaru smirked.

Just then, the door opened, and Sai walked inside.

"Your father let me in," he said to Chouji. And without another word he walked over to Neji's bedside and started at him.

"What are you looking at Sai?" Ino asked.

"I was told to do this," Sai said. He looked into Neji's eyes, and Neji looked back at him.

Sai waited for impatience to appear in those white eyes, but received none. He saw no hatred or anger, or even the trace that those feelings had ever been there. He didn't even see annoyance, which was the general emotion he seemed to get from Sakura and Naruto… and Chouji… and Shikamaru… and… well, the point was, he didn't see it now with Neji. Sai realized that Neji's negative feelings, like Naruto's, faded soon after the moments that called for those emotions passed. Neji was one of the most naturally serene people he had ever seen. But Neji knew more of emotions than Sai ever could, and somehow, Sai saw this in those white eyes as well.

"So, that's it," Sai said as he turned away and walked through the door. "No evil at all…."

Neji blinked. "I'll thank him when he isn't being so--"

"Cute?" Ino smiled.

"Freaky, Ino," Shikamaru said. "The word you were looking for was freaky."

Footsteps came down the hall again and they turned, waiting for Sai to do something weird. But instead, Naruto stepped into the room.

"If it isn't Naruto!" Shikamaru grinned. "Look who woke up," he said, pointing to Neji.

Neji met Naruto's eyes, and Naruto stood there, looking as though there were a million things he wanted to say. Shikamaru suddenly remembered what he had told Naruto, and he motioned to Ino and Chouji to follow him out. They did so, not understanding the situation, but knowing that it had to be important. Neji tilted his head curiously as they left and looked to Naruto, who slowly approached a chair and sat next to his bed.

"What's wrong?" Neji asked. "You look miserable. It's unlike you."

Naruto smiled a bittersweet smile and shook his head. "Gimme a minute," he said.

Neji passed Naruto his plate of food and Naruto finished it off before setting the plate aside.

"Thank you for believing in me," Neji said, breaking the silence.

"Of course I wasn't going to believe a stupid story like that," Naruto grinned.

"You're pretty smart for a dropout," Neji chuckled.

"And you're pretty nice for an asshole," Naruto smirked.

"So how bad did I look when you found me on your doorstep?" Neji asked.

"Pretty bad," Naruto said, his smile fading. "Took me a few seconds to realize it was you…."

"Naruto, before I forget," Neji said. "You didn't fail Sasuke, or me, or anyone. My clan is my burden to bare. Sasuke's decision to leave is his burden to bare. And your path to Hokage is governed by you and no one else."

Naruto stared for a moment. "You heard me," he said with a small smile. "After that 'breakdown'… you heard what we said to you?"

"Yes," Neji nodded. "Nearly all of it."

"You heard me do all that whining and still support me for a future Hokage?" Naruto asked, hanging his head a bit.

"Of course," Neji smirked. "I'll support you, even if only for my own entertainment. I wish be glad to deliver your mountains of paperwork just to see the look on your face."

Naruto smiled, and any negative feelings he had melted into nothingness. Naruto realized that he had worried for nothing. Neji didn't know anything of the information Sai and Shikamaru had found. And even if he did know, Naruto knew that the information wouldn't affect their friendship. Neji would always be Neji. Naruto would always be Naruto. Naruto had only been upset over what he had learned because he was insecure with his own abilities. Neji had done nothing wrong, and he hadn't been hiding anything from Naruto or trying to destroy their friendship behind Naruto's back.

But it didn't matter now. Sakura was right. Sitting with Neji for this short time solved everything and told Naruto a lot about where he and Neji stood as friends.

So it was okay that Sai and Shikamaru had discovered that Neji was a candidate for Hokage. It only meant that Naruto would have to try that much harder.

A young boy, mature and obedient as most boys his age in the Hyuuga clan, slowly opened the door to Lord Hiashi's hospital room. Tsunade had insisted that Lord Hiashi stayed for a while to get further treatment, and his clan knew where to find him. The guards on duty easily let the young boy pass, as Tsunade was in the room now.

"Lord Hiashi," the young boy said as he stepped into the room.

"What is it, child?" Lord Hiashi asked, his eyes softening a bit. "What can I do for you?"

Suddenly, a flow of blood gushed from the young boy's mouth.

"What happened?" Tsunade exclaimed as he ran over to the boy and laid him down, opening his robes to heal him with her chakra.

"Clan…" the boy muttered. "Some left…. There was a fight…. Several have gone away…. My brother… he went away…."

"The clan has split, then?" Tsunade asked softly.

Lord Hiashi sighed deeply. "It is time to end this."

"Hostages…" the boy muttered.

"Who?" Tsunaded asked. "People from the clan?"

"No ma'am…" the boy responded. "Cousin Neji's… teammates…."

---To Be Continued---

(Hi guys! No need to worry too much about Neji's previous family. The Mist was mentioned mainly to explain that shady things happen in the clan all the time, and have been happening for a long time. I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far! All of the comments are really appreciated! The chapters take longer to write now that there is so much going on, so bare with me!)