This chapter is, I believe, the first of the special character features. There are also responses following the chapter.

Chapter Nine: Broken

"S... Sasuke-kun!"

He glanced over his shoulder expressionlessly, not slowing his run in the slightest. Panting, Sakura couldn't manage to make herself say any more for some time. When she managed to catch her breath, she continued.

"We've been running for days," she breathed.

"Do you need more breaks?" Sasuke asked. Seeing Sakura couldn't answer, Ino stepped in.

"It isn't that. It's just that we haven't done anything else for so long. Couldn't we do something different to break the monotony?"

Sasuke paused, then nodded briefly. "In two kilometers there will be a medium sized city. We're running low on supplies. When we stop there we'll remain for the rest of the day."

Motivated, Ino and Sakura slid back away from him and continued running. Behind them, Hinata gulped; what would she do for the rest of the day? She was certain Sakura and Ino had their own ideas, and Sasuke would probably vanish like he usually did, but she would be left alone. As usual.

Two kilometers really wasn't that far, at their speed, and Sasuke halted some distance before the city anyway. Dropping his pack heavily, he sat back against a tree, focusing on breathing deeply. The other three halted as well, just grateful to be off their feet. For a long moment no one could speak as they all recovered from the run.

"So what are we going to do tonight?" Sakura asked. "We can't need that many supplies, so we probably have a lot of time."

"I think I've been to this city once before," Ino commented with a sly expression on her face, "back in my Chuunin days. If I remember correctly, it had a great nightlife."

"Really?" Sakura's expression abruptly made Hinata wonder if this hadn't already been planned. "That's a pretty good idea, for someone like you. Why don't we go clubbing?" Both of them glanced to Sasuke; his cloak hid his face and his hair shadowed his eyes. Without looking up, he spoke simply.

"You can if you want."

"But, Sasuke-kun," Ino begged. "It won't be any fun without you!"

"Then don't go. If you're going to be in town, get the things we need." With that he stood up and vanished into the forest, leaving Ino and Sakura pouting.

"Now what?" Sakura's voice dripped with venom.

"I wasn't counting on that," Ino muttered. "You'd think he'd want to have fun some of the time."

"Are we still going to go?"

Ino shrugged. "I don't see why not. Hinata-chan, do you want to- ah, why am I asking you? That isn't your type of thing, is it?"

"I-I'd rather stay here," Hinata told her unnecessarily. The very last place in the world she wanted to be was in a nightclub, certainly not with them. Of course, she still didn't have any idea of what she was going to do here.

"Fortunately, I thought to bring along a decent dress," Sakura grinned, pulling her pack nearer her.

"Aw, that's not fair," Ino grumbled.

"Hah!"

"...but I still have what I was vacationing in. Hah to you!"

"I'm going on a walk," Hinata told them softly. She was mostly ignored, so she left by herself. Sasuke had gone north and the city was to the west, so she went south, hopefully away from everyone. He wouldn't want to be followed anyway. The voices of the other two planning and chatting faded behind her as she moved deeper into the forest.

It was an old one, covered in deep green mosses. She hadn't really noticed when they had come this way before because they had been rushing so much. In a strange way, it was very beautiful. There was a silent sense of ancientness that she didn't want to break. For what seemed like a long time, she continued walking.

Eventually she came to a small clearing. Hinata quietly leaned back against a tree and sighed. Getting away from everything was so nice. Being around other people almost always made her nervous, uptight and fidgety. But here, she didn't have the slightest inclination to fidget or shrink away from anything. So peaceful...

While she was here, however, she might as well train. Training in groups always made her uncomfortable as well, because she couldn't help comparing herself to the others. Raising a hand, Hinata activated her Byukagen and focused. Her sight sped forward, scrying through the forest she had walked in at incredible speed. She briefly dwelled on the campsite long enough to realize that Sakura and Ino had left, then shifted her gaze.

At nearly the end of her range she found the city and did her best to pinpoint the two of them. She managed to, but not nearly fast enough to suit her. After that she tried for a much more difficult task: finding Sasuke. After searching the northern regions of the forest, however, she came up with nothing. He was probably hiding his presence.

Drawing her vision back to herself, Hinata parted from the tree and turned to face it. Now to see if she could still do this... she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying her best to believe that she could. She had done it before, but it was such a daunting task. Regulating her breathing and trying to calm herself, Hinata opened her eyes and focused her Byukagen to a greater degree.

She slid forward to the tree, slapping both her hands to its trunk. Withdrawing the next instant, she hit it four times, then eight... sixteen... thirty two... sixty four! The tree trunk was mostly unharmed by her gentle touches, but she was satisfied that a real opponent would have had their chakra flow completely shut off. Of course, a real opponent probably wouldn't have let her waste that much time, but she could work on the speed if-

"That was Neji-san's technique, wasn't it?"

Whirling, Hinata found Sasuke standing at the edge of her clearing. His presence was nearly invisible, and the shadows nearly enveloped him. His voice had been soft and he made no sound now; it seemed almost as if he were a part of the forest.

"Yes," she answered with a timid nod. "He t-taught it to me a while ago."

"Good," Sasuke answered vaguely. "Do you want a sparring partner?"

"I wouldn't want to k-keep you from doing what you need to do," Hinata insisted, shrinking away subconsciously.

"All I do when I leave is train. I need to keep the edge on my skills."

"But... but wouldn't I just pull you down?"

"No." Sasuke emerged from the shadows to stand opposite her. "It's important to be ready for soft-styled shinobi as well. I need the practice."

"Alright," Hinata managed to make herself say. Taking a deep breath, she dropped into her fighting stance, just moments before Sasuke attacked. Startled, she managed to break away from his blow, though just barely.

Already his leg was kicking at her, but by this point she wasn't surprised at his speed. The best she could do was block the attack. Before she could use the contact to inflict an inner coils strike, however, he jerked his leg away and was hitting again. This blow she was also able to turn aside. She was about to block his next punch as well, but suddenly remembered what he had said about being too timid.

Instead she slid around the blow, getting closer to him and hitting him in the chest, directly over the heart. He stumbled backward, blood welling up in his mouth. Despite herself, Hinata winced and drew her hands closer to her mouth.

"I-I'm sorry..."

"Why?" Turning his head aside, Sasuke spat out blood, then wiped his mouth. "I was asking you to attack me, wasn't I? In any case, it will take a lot more than one inner coils strike to kill me." She had forgotten how tough he was and immediately felt guilty for giving in to her reaction. Shaking herself, she moved into an offensive position and waited for him. His eyes were shadowed heavily by his hair. "In real combat," he told her, "I'd stay out of your range. But for the sake of training, let's try this again."

When he glanced up at her his eyes glowed red, Sharingan spinning within them. She tried to attack before he could completely activate them, but found she was easily dodged. Reading her movements carefully, Sasuke evaded her strikes. This time, she was attacking swiftly, probably realizing that if she gave him a chance he'd hit back.

Not fast enough. Before her hand could strike his forehead, he grabbed her wrist firmly. His other hand drove into her chin before she could even gasp. As she fell back from the blow, however, she managed to break away from him.

Instantly Sasuke tried to capitalize on his advantage before she could escape; he barely missed. Faster than he could react to, her hand traced its way over his arm. Before she could escape his range, Sasuke hammered a kick into her stomach, sending her flying into a nearby tree. Bursting off the ground, he followed up his kick with a punch, but realized her hand had left chakra across his shoulder.

As fast as possible Sasuke broke away. Hinata was already raising her fingers, ready to activate the chakra implanted in his body. Just before she could do so, Sasuke closed his eyes tightly and expelled the chakra into the air around him. It burned harmlessly away, but Sasuke could only open his eyes in time to see Hinata's foot flying for his face.

Falling backward, Sasuke flipped in midair and landed agilely on his feet. None the less, he had taken damage. Hinata watched him carefully, and realized that there was the slightest expression on his face. Almost... almost like he was enjoying this.

Building her chakra around herself, Hinata attacked again.

Silence had reasserted its control over the forest. The clearing was mostly still intact, with only a few trees with scraped bark and some limbs snapped off. It still maintained its aura of ancientness and dignity. Sasuke and Hinata sat in the center, backs to the opposite sides of the tree in the middle. Both were slightly slumped, catching their breath and letting sore muscles relax. It was a long time before either of them needed to speak.

"You did better," Sasuke told her eventually. "But you're still afraid of what you can do. Don't be; it's stupid. You seem to have difficulty with that lesson, but if you master it you'll be much more effective."

"Al-alright," she agreed, nodding even though he couldn't see her. They both paused again, with little else to say.

Finally Hinata made herself speak up. "May... may I ask you a question, Sasuke-san?"

"Go ahead."

"I head about some of this from Naruto-kun, but I'm not sure I understand. For a long time," she began slowly, not wanting to actually ask her question, "you were trying to kill your brother. But, but now... what are you fighting for? What makes you keep... I don't know, I'm sorry; I'm not making any sens-"

"I'm not sure," Sasuke interrupted her. "I don't care about rank. Naruto-san is best suited to be Hokage anyway; it is a fool's job, and he would like to be a fool. Without my brother, you could say I don't have any motivation." He closed his eyes. "But I know why I keep training, why I keep forcing myself to grow. I want to make sure that no one can ever kill the people I care about again."

His pronouncement left another silence in the clearing. Something about the statement seemed as old as the forest itself. Hinata couldn't bring herself to speak, startled by his words. It was the most she had heard him say at once in a long time, and the first time she had heard him talk about himself. Against that, she found that she had absolutely nothing to say, yet she felt as if she should say something. She began to fidget again...

"Enough rest," Sasuke said, pushing himself to his feet. "Again."

When Sakura and Ino returned to camp the hour was late, they were noisy and possibly more than a little drunk. Sasuke had already gone to sleep, his back facing the fire, unmoving as a stone; Hinata stood watch, standing to prevent herself from falling asleep as well. She barely noticed them before they got to the campfire, and immediately reprimanded herself. If they had been enemies, they could have attacked before she had realized they were there.

"...had a smashing good time," Sakura was saying, leaning partially on Ino's shoulder.

"Too bad Sashuke-kun didn't come," Ino slurred, glancing at his silent form. "No fun that way."

"Poor Sasuke-koon. All alone back here."

"He won't always be alone," Ino snickered. Sakura looked as though she was about to make a comeback, then shrugged and partially collapsed onto her bedroll. Ino staggered to her own and flopped down heavily. Fidgeting, Hinata faded into the shadows a few moments too late to avoid being seen.

"What about you, Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked sleepily. "Were you bored?"

"I-I was fine."

"Well, that'sh good. You should come with us next time..." her voice trailed away. Both of them fell asleep surprisingly quickly, leaving Hinata alone once again. The campfire barely cast any light, as it had been carefully created to be unnoticeable by others. Its light was strange, and put the entire scene in a strange light. Very unreal.

Starting slightly, Hinata realized that she had done nothing but stare at the fire for a long time. At this point she was having trouble keeping her eyes open. She blinked rapidly a few times and struggled to stand a bit straighter. Sparring so much today had left her completely worn out, far more so than the running. Exhaustion had always been difficult for her to overcome. But she had to get to the end of her watch safely, before she would wake Sasuke. Maybe he wouldn't mind if she woke him a bit early... but no, he would mind.

"My turn." Both Hinata's eyes widened as she heard the voice and focused her vision behind her. Sasuke was in the shadows just behind the tree she was leaning again, still nearly invisible. Wow, she was sleepier than she thought, if she hadn't even noticed him get up.

"I don't think it's your turn yet," Hinata whispered back. "I-I should finish my watch."

"You need your rest. Right now, you won't be much use on guard."

"Thank you, Sasuke-san," she blurted before she could convince herself otherwise. As usual, his eyes said nothing and most of his face was hidden by his dark collar. But the fact that he hadn't ignored her thanks meant he at least wasn't upset.

Returning to her own bedroll, Hinata lay down and instantly began to give way to sleep. Now that she wasn't fighting it, her weariness overcame her surprisingly quickly. Her eyes opened briefly before closing in sleep; her last sight was the eerily lit camp, Sasuke standing guard with his body half in light, half in shadow.

Hooking his fingers on the loops in his pants, the restaurant owner glanced over the empty bar. Still only one person left. He was supposed to close at nine, but he hadn't had any customers since after seven. Except for that one guy, who was still sitting at the end of the bar, like he had most of the evening.

After they'd forced him to stop eating the all-you-can-eat buffet, he'd just remained there. Later in the evening he'd started ordering drinks, and now seemed to be in a partially-drunken stupor. The owner hadn't really seen this guy before, and by inquiring discovered that he'd been kicked out of all the other restaurants in town. He couldn't really blame them, either; this guy was obviously a bum. Fortunately it seemed he'd gotten money from someplace, because he had been able to pay for what he bought. As long as the fool had money, he could stay.

Normally he would have closed up shop a long time ago, but this guy was still there. It was really beginning to annoy him. He'd washed all the dishes, cleaned all the glasses, dusted the bar and the chairs... and now he had basically nothing to do. Owning a ramen shop was such a pain at times.

Being bored, he did one of the few things that he was able to do: observe the man slumped by the bar. He was rough-shaven, and when his eyes had been open they had been bleary. The few times he had talked his voice seemed whiny and depressed. Most obviously, he was hideously overweight. Shuddering slightly, the owner looked away from the folds of fat.

"Hey, buddy," he said loudly, shaking the man's shoulder. The customer mumbled something and glanced at him, eyes unfocused. "It's time to go home."

"Shop doesn't close until nine," was the only response, muttered against the table.

"You haven't ordered anything in a while."

"Gonna wanna eat later."

"Okay, no offense, but you don't need to eat any more."

"Hungry." With that the obese man slumped further against the bar. His stool seemed to be bearing the weight quite well, and the owner congratulated himself on buying such a quality product. But this guy was still here, and not inclined to leave. Even at his best, the owner wasn't sure he could move that much weight.

With a sigh he pulled up a chair to his side of the bar and sat down opposite the other man.

"Have it your way, then," he grumbled, pouring himself a drink. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Chouji."

Briefly the owner cocked his head, then shrugged. "Huh. Never heard of ya. Where're ya from?"

"Konoha."

"Really? That's a creepy place, if I don't say so myself. I thought everybody from there was all them real skinny ninjas. Not a guy like..." his voice trailed off as he realized what he had been about to do.

"A guy like what?" Chouji demanded, lifting himself from the bar with supreme effort. His fat features glowered when he didn't get a response. "What were you going to say?"

"Well... just that... I didn't think they had guys there quite your size, if you know what I mean..."

"That's what they all say," the other responded bitterly, dropping his head to the table once again.

The instant he did so, the owner caught sight of someone dressed entirely in black robes standing on the street, staring toward him with intense eyes. This new man was only still for an instant before making a violent movement with one hand: something silver flashed toward the owner. In that instant, he abruptly realized that he was seeing one of those ninjas, that the projectiles were going to fly forward and into his head, killing him instantly. Was it really going to end like this? Ho-

A razor sharp point hovered a short distance away from the owner's face, which was still bathed in sweat. Slowly he became aware of his own heavy breathing, and realized that the bladed weapon wasn't moving, and that it wasn't going to kill him. He managed to look away from the sharp edge and saw the hand of the man at the bar clenched around the back end of the knife.

Slowly he pushed himself up, then swiveled around and glanced toward the man in the street. The two of them kept eye contact for some time, neither saying anything. On the street, the assassin was grinning; the owner couldn't see his customer's face.

"Even me?" Chouji finally asked, voice seeming desperate. "Don't you ever give up?"

"Yes, even you," the robed man laughed. "Even a lazy, washed-up shinobi like you. I can't believe they assigned me this... how pathetic. The last few times I at least had a bit of a challenge."

"Then do what you have come to do," Chouji said heavily, slumping on his stool, fat redoubling.

"Imagine some of your kind being so reasonable," the other shinobi snickered, sliding another kunai to his hand with a rasp. The next instant he charged forward, something like a wind going before him and knocking the restaurant owner backward.

When Chouji moved, he did so in a single snapping motion. One flabby hand clamped around his opponent's wrist, preventing the kunai from striking his head. Gracefully the other shinobi flicked a kunai to his other hand and slashed, the blow going through Chouji's side. Probably didn't strike much more than flab...

Just as the assassin was about to kick, Chouji stepped heavily on his foot, at the same moment he got a hold of the man's other wrist. The two remained locked there, neither moving. For the first time the assassin was somewhat surprised; there must be at least some muscle under all that fat.

"I suppose you think you've won because you've stopped me," he snickered. "But do you really think this is all the strength I have?" His opponent seemed confused, eyes trying to focus on him. "We know you have shinobi training, Chouji; we're not going to send an ordinary assassin after you. No, no, we sent someone who can kill a Chuunin." With that he pulled back at full strength... and didn't budge.

"Chuunin? What do you mean by Chuunin?" Chouji asked, mist swirling around him. When he spoke his voice had changed, becoming deeper and resonant. His would-be assassin started slightly as the hands on his wrists grew and lost their fat. The angle was changing, too... and suddenly he found himself in the grip of a gigantic man. How... how is that possible? He has to be at least seven feet tall!

Before his newly transformed opponent could attack, the assassin whirled off the ground, his remaining free leg aiming to smash into his opponent's temple. With reflexes far quicker than before, Chouji used his leverage to move him away. Not fast, enough, though. The assassin grinned as he realized his blow would still strike his opponent's shoulder.

It did... and Chouji didn't even move. Still in midair, the assassin realized that the Leaf shinobi's shoulder and arm looked like chiseled granite. His foot actually hurt from the impact.

Not as much as Chouji's knee hurt him. He flew backward, crashing heavily into the street. Instantly Chouji was attacking again, but he was too slow to hit his opponent, who nimbly dodged out of the way. Landing on his feet some distance back, the assassin wiped away blood from his face and growled.

While they faced off, Chouji raised one hand. Confused, the other shinobi raised his eyebrows. What was he trying to do? He could sense chakra being spent, but it wasn't powering his opponent up in any way. All it seemed to be doing was shifting about normal fat and muscle cells. Worthless. Besides, he could always stop the jutsu with a hail of shuriken.

Before he could consider such a maneuver, his target stamped on the ground. Raw force split through the street, forcing the assassin to leap from it. Chouji was directly in his face the next instant, his fist flying. When it hit, it felt like a stone wall had punched him. His hand has to weigh more than a ton...

Considering replacing himself with a clone and ditching this assassination attempt entirely, the shinobi could only gape in horror when Chouji shifted into being above him. One massive leg smashed into his chest. The blow took him all the way to the ground and knocked him through a level of the street. Concrete flew in every direction, and the body of the assassin splashed into the sewer waters below.

Shooting a glance down into the hole, Chouji checked to make sure his opponent was dead and nodded curtly once. He strolled back to the ramen shop, now ducking to get beneath the slight overhang and sit in one of the now undersized chairs. On the opposite side of the bar, the owner stood frozen in astonishment.

"So," Chouji rumbled, slapping down a bit of gold onto the bar. "How about that ramen?"

Well, it seems I am now listed in a C2 as its 100th story. I'm not really responsible for that, but thank you for the honor none the less.

Regarding "Feh": It is a sound effect indicating a dismissive noise; I believe it far predates Inuyasha. I used it merely because I felt it effectively brought across the effect I wanted.

Scented Candles: Thank you for clarifying. Your general impressions of characters arefairly accurate. As for the spelling, I will admit that I didn't look up Byakugen and merely went from memory on the theory that most people gloss over the word. In any case, thank you for pointing that out, but I think I will remain consistent, if wrong.