Disclaimer: Naruto? Why would I want to own him? He's a stupid annoying blonde kid who constantly make a fool of himself. Now, Neji on the other hand… I own him! glomps protectively You can't have him!
Neji: eye twitches Get your hands off me.
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Chapter 2 -
I can't believe this…
Neji had returned from an extremely difficult solo A-class mission just an hour before. What was supposed to have been a simple information retrieval from sound had quickly turned ugly when he crossed paths with a couple Akatsuki members. He had entered Konoha with every intention of crawling into the dark sheets of his bed and not emerging for at least a day, but that hope was dismissed when Hiashi put him on guard duty a mere 15 minutes after his arrival and check-in. The injustice of it made him want to rip that bastard's head off, but he wasn't one to complain. Only the weak complain and he, Hyuuga Neji, was not weak.
So here he was, injured and exhausted, sitting in a tree while watching his timid cousin practice her kunai-throwing on a small target nailed to a tree in the distance. She was improving greatly, but he still didn't think that the ninja life suited her. She was much too fragile, quite unlike a certain strong-willing kunoichi by the name of Haruno Sakura.
Actually, he had thought she was a weak one at first when he saw her during the chuunin exams, and she was. But everything changed when that Uchiha bastard abandoned the village, and her. After that day, she trained under the Hokage and worked so hard to become stronger. She succeeded, in a sense. Her fighting skills were still pretty average, but her proficiency in healing was outstanding. Her determination intrigued him, almost as much as she herself did.
Neji's thoughts were interrupted when he spotted two dark figures approaching his cousin.
Fuck! he thought, moving to leap out of the tree. Why did I not notice them before? Due to his injured state, he landed roughly on the ground.
By the time Hinata had noticed the enemy chakra, it was too late. She turned to face the new adversary only to have a thrown Kunai lodge into the soft flesh above her collarbone. Crying out in pain, she stumbled backwards until she hit a tree.
"No, you moron!" one of the two enemy ninja shrieked, shoving the other. "We need her alive! Knock her out."
They both began to approach the terrified girl as she pulled out some of her Kunai in an attempt to defend herself. Before they could do anything to her, however, a blur of movement was all they saw as they were both slammed into the ground by an unseen force. Stumbling back into standing positions, they were now faced with a young man, who was standing in front of their target defensively. They noticed his pure white eyes and realized that he was a Hyuuga also.
They were weak, minor jounin at most, but due to the excessive injuries Neji received from the previous mission, his movements were slowed majorly. In other words, he had a difficult time. One of the bastards had even managed to lodge a senbon needle into his left forearm. By the time both of them were dead, he was quite exhausted.
"Neji--" Hinata began quietly.
"Don't move." he ordered, approaching the timid girl. "This will hurt."
Clenching the handle firmly, he wrenched the kunai from her shoulder, causing her to briefly cry out in shock and pain. He pulled out some bandages and pressed the whole roll to the wound.
"Hold it there firmly." said Neji. Hinata complied and smiled at him.
"Thank you for saving me, Neji-niisan." the lavender-haired girl said. He looked away.
"I didn't do it for you, Hinata-sama." Neji replied coldly. Her smile faltered. "Its my job."
His words stung but Hinata said nothing in reply. She merely looked at him sadly, wishing for the old Neji, the one who befriended her and played with her when no one else would. Being a Hyuuga, and so shy, she never had many friends when she was a small child, but he was always there for her, like a real brother... Until the day of her third birthday. Now, he hated her and anything to do with the Hyuuga clan. He was far more pleasant towards her since the chuunin exams, but was still quite cold.
"I must take you back to the Hyuuga estate." he said, turning towards the village and wrenching the senbon needle from his forearm. "There may be more after you."
"Hai..." Hinata turned to follow him, giving one piteous look to the two dead ninja on the ground soaked in blood. She turned back towards her cousin and gazed at the many injuries he had in shock. She hadn't realised that he had received that many during the fight. Those enemy ninja must've been good if they could do this to the genius of the Hyuugas. Her eyes widened even more when she noticed a small trail of blood he was leaving behind.
"Neji-niisan…" she began again.
"What now?" Neji snapped.
"You… You're hurt."
"…Do not concern yourself with my welfare, Hinata-sama." he replied, voice not losing its coldness.
"But it was my fault you got hurt in the first place…"she said, worry evident in her voice.
"Some injuries are from a previous mission."
"But still…" she trailed off, not sure of what else to say. Neji glanced back at her and she saw something in his eyes a little softer than his usual glower before he turned his back to her and continued on towards the village.
"You are too soft to be a ninja."
----------
"She WHAT?" Ino, Naruto, and Kiba exclaimed, staring at Sakura in shock. Shino, having been pelted with Naruto's bowl of Ramen during the excitement, stood there covered from head to toe with noodles while Shikamaru remained seated at the table, mumbling things about 'noisy' and 'troublesome.' I don't think I have to tell you what Choji is doing, but just in case, his was indulging himself in a bag of potato chips.
"I said…" Sakura replied, slightly irritated about having to repeat herself. "…Hinata was attacked this morning while training by herself. Tsunade told me."
"B… But--" Kiba began but was flattened by Naruto.
"BUT WHAT HAPPENED? DID SHE TAKE THEM DOWN?" the overactive blonde exclaimed. He, of course, was the most concerned. He and Hinata had gotten quite close, and he fit into the 'overprotective boyfriend' category perfectly.
"I'm not sure about the details." Sakura replied. "All she told me was that a few missing nin who were after the secrets of the Byakugan tried to kidnap her, but failed. She wouldn't tell me anything else."
"Is she hurt?" Ino exclaimed.
"I. Don't. Know." Sakura said in exasperation.
"We should go and see her." Shino said in his usual calm voice. "I am worried for her welfare."
"Yeah! Let's go!" Kiba added, having recovered from Naruto's outburst of energy.
"Wait!" Sakura cried. "Are you sure we can just waltz right up to the Hyuuga mansion?"
"I don't care what they say.!" Naruto yelled, waving a fist in the air. "I want to see Hinata-chan!"
"Then let's go!" said Ino.
"Troublesome…"
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"Wow! That place is huge!" Naruto exclaimed.
As the party of seven approached the Hyuuga mansion's gate, they were stopped by a pair of guards. They had white eyes, the trait of the Hyuuga family, and cloth covering their forehead, possibly hiding the cursed seal of the branch members.
"State your name." one of them said in monotone. He had black hair that reached his shoulders. Sakura was the one to speak.
"Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Akimichi Choji." she replied.
"Purpose of visit?" he asked, writing their names down on a clipboard.
"We're here to see Hinata!" Naruto yelled cheerfully, launching a fist into the air. Sakura gave him a glare of death.
"My apologies, but Hinata-sama is indisposed. She was attacked earlier this morning." was the guard's reply.
"B-But--" Naruto began but a quick blow to the head by Sakura silenced him.
"We're here to see her for that reason." the pink-haired kunoichi urged, ignoring the resentful glare Naruto was giving her. "We wanted to see if she was okay. We're her friends, she'll be happy to see us." It sounded logical enough, but still wasn't enough for the guards.
"No can do." the other Hyuuga replied.
Ino was now up to bat.
"Please, sir…" the blonde put on her sexy voice and stepped forward to the one with black hair. "It would mean so much to me."
"Uh-oh. She's at it again." Choji whispered in Shikamaru's ear.
"Troublesome…" he replied lazily.
"Sorry." The guard said, slightly unnerved. "Orders are orders…"
"Oh, darn." Ino replied with a pout. "I was hoping we could get to know each other better." She placed two fingers at his temples and ran them down his cheek and neck. She stopped at his collarbone and inwardly smirked when she saw that he was visibly sweating. Tugging on the bottom of her shirt to expose more cleavage, she leaned in and began to whisper in his ear.
Sakura watched in amusement as the guard's face couldn't decide if it should pale or blush. Ino pulled away from him with a smile.
"So… Can we go in?" she asked sweetly.
"U-Uh… um…" Due to an overload of kinkiness, he was having a difficult time forming sentences. "I g-guess it would b-be okay if you had an… an escort. Taisho here w-will t-take you." he indicated to the guard on his right who was looking at him with a look that clearly said 'you pussy.'
"Thank you!" Ino said in reply. Giving one last wink to the extremely flustered guard, she, along with everyone else, followed the other Hyuuga into the mansion.
In the distance, they heard a loud 'thump', indicating that the former guard had fainted.
"Geez, Ino!" Naruto exclaimed. "What did you tell him!"
"Trade secret." the blonde replied with a toss of her hair. "If I tell you, I'd have to kill you. Thoguh, I do admit, he was pretty cute." Shikamaru visibly winced at this.
----------
Hinata sat in her bed reading an extremely boring book her father had given her. Because of this morning's events, she was not allowed to leave her room due to the fact that more shinobi could go after her. In fact, many ANBU squads were sweeping the town for more of them at this very moment.
To her surprise, she heard a knock at her door, followed by a lot of scuffling sounds. What in the world…?
"Come in!" she called. Her eyes widened as the door flew open and in tumbled Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji. Shino merely stood in the background shaking his head at the large number of people sprawled out on the carpeted floor.
"You… You guys!" Hinata exclaimed, staring in shock as her so-called friends tried to get up while cursing profusely. Upon hearing her voice, Naruto launched to his feet, effectively flattening Shikamaru, who was beneath him.
"Hinata-chan!" he cried, running over and glomping the flustered girl.
"N-N-Naruto-k-kun!" Hinata sputtered.
"Dammit, Naruto! Now look what you did! You're making her stutter again!" yelled Ino as Sakura punched him in the back of the head.
"Itai!" Naruto rubbed a growing lump and shot a look at Sakura. "Sakura-chan, what was that for?"
"For being an overzealous jackass, you moron." the pink-haired kunoichi replied. Naruto merely scowled and looked away as his girlfriend gave him sympathetic glances.
"So, Hinata-chan, what happened this morning?" Ino questioned as the guard left the room and shut the door behind him. "Are you hurt?"
"Not really…" Hinata replied, moving her shoulder so they could see the well-bandaged wound. "Just this and a few bruises, but other than that I'm fine. Just stings a little."
Sakura couldn't help but smirk as Naruto clenched Hinata's hand protectively when he saw the wound. Stepping forward, she removed the bandages to get a closer look. What she saw was a nasty wound that was most likely caused by a kunai knife.
"May I?" Sakura asked.
"Um… I don't want to be a burden…"
"You're not a burden to me, Hinata-chan, and you never will be." the young medic replied, rolling her eyes. Placing a hand over the wound, she began to channel chakra into it as the others bombarded Hinata with questions.
"So what happened?"
"Did you take them down?"
"Where did they attack you?"
"Were they trying to kidnap or kill you?"
Hinata was a bit taken aback by the sudden outburst of noise but answered their questions anyway. They listened intently as she recalled the mornings events. By the time she had finished, several of them were gaping with their mouths ajar.
"You said NEJI saved you?" Naruto exclaimed.
"Y-Yes…" Hinata replied awkwardly.
"B-But… No offense, Hinata, but he never really seemed to care for you much." Ino said. "I mean, didn't he almost kill you during the chuunin exams?"
"It's his duty, as a branch member, to protect the Hyuuga heir with his life, remember?" said Sakura, pulling her hand away from Hinata's now completely healed shoulder. "All done. There won't even be a scar."
"Thanks, Sakura-chan." Hinata smiled slightly and recovered her shoulder with her shirt.
"No problem." Sakura grinned back before continuing. "Anyways, if Neji had just sat there without lifting a finger to help her, the head of the Hyuuga family would have killed him without hesitation."
"Brainiac…" Naruto mumbled, only to get another large blow dealt to his head. "Ow! Geez, Sakura! Why do you have to be so violent? Why can't you be more like Hinata?" said lavender haired girl flushed at that comment.
"Dumbass…" Sakura muttered angrily. "Hey, speaking of Neji, where did Mr. Ice run off to? Didn't you say that he was injured?"
"Yes." Hinata said in reply. "Even before the fight, he looked as if her were bleeding. I think he had just gotten back from a mission."
"So where is he?" Naruto asked curiously. In reply, Hinata shrugged and shook her head.
"I'm not sure." she said. "Neji-niisan tends to do that when he's hurt. He just disappears. He refuses to let a medic touch him."
"Shit…" Kiba muttered, trying to revive an unconscious Shikamaru. "Damn, Naruto. You didn't have to get so excited. If he's not awake by the time we leave, you're carrying him."
"Aw, man…" Naruto whined while Hinata giggled.
"Hey, be glad it's not Choji."
"Are you calling me fat?"
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Author's note: Yay! Chapter two is done! Now for my happy dance: (" ) ( ") ('') (" ) (v"v) ( ") (" )…etc.
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