A/N: A certain reviewer pointed out a couple of things to me. Yeah, the Inuzuka will be out for blood. Yeah, Hinata could have easily used the caged bird seal, but she isn't that heartless. Take note that she said, "I, too, want to fight destiny!" or something like that, so he probably wouldn't do that.
And I just cannot kill Naruto, so don't worry. That loveable blonde is still alive.
And in case you were wondering what I did to my classmates…nothing. I didn't yell at them, scream at them, or whatever. I calmed down over the break.
On to the last chapter!
Chapter 9: Final ProtectionSakura stared blankly at the scene, hardly daring to believe it. Neji was flat on the ground, Hinata was standing over him, fist bloody. There was something seriously wrong with this picture.
She turned to Shikamaru. He looked so grim. "I told you," he said softly, "she's stronger than we gave her credit for."
"I never…I didn't think…Hinata, she…"
She trailed off, unable to get her words right.
Kurenai looked at Neji's body, then at Gai. "He…he will get up," she said tentatively, "won't he?"
Gai nodded, although he didn't look so sure himself. "Of course. Hinata was able to survive that. Neji will as well."
Shikamaru heard all of this. No, he thought, slumping against the wall, his hands falling to his sides in a defeated sort of way, he won't. He knew better than they did.
He would never get up.
Everyone waited, their eyes on Neji. Seconds passed, then minutes. He never moved. It slowly hit them, one by one.
oOo
Slowly, Naruto opened his eyes. His midsection hurt like hell. Slowly, he pried the kunai from his gut, trying not to cry out.
He wondered why everything was silent. Maybe the Chuunin exams are over, he thought, trying to get up. I wonder how Hinata…
Hinata!
He looked up, hoping, praying that he wouldn't see a dead body of a girl in front of him.
There was a body all right, and for one second his heart nearly stopped beating. Then, he saw Hinata standing over it, her fist covered in blood, clothes torn, wounds all over.
He glanced at the body one more time. It's…Neji? He shook his head. There was something wrong here. Hinata would never kill…that wasn't like her. Neji was only unconscious. He had to be.
Sakura's instincts as a medic nin kicked in. Slowly, she made her way down the steps and into the stadium. She approached the two of them. Hinata seemed frozen, rooted to the spot.
She knelt down next to Neji and softly put her head to his chest, trying to listen for any sounds of life.
She could only hear the same emptiness she could feel in the air.
Emptiness.
He was gone.
Slowly, she stood up. All eyes were on her. She wanted to cave under the pressure. To scream at them: "Find out for yourselves if he's alive or not! Don't let me be the one to tell you! Don't force that responsibility on me…"
She sighed. She didn't have a choice.
She shook her head…
…and all hell broke loose.
TenTen broke into tears. Lee numbly gathered her into a hug. She sobbed into his shoulder. "No…please, please, no! No, no, no…". Whispers and mutters could be heard among the whispers and bystanders.
Angry yells erupted from the Hyuuga branch family. Only a few clan members had shown up, but rest assured the whole clan would know.
One branch member broke free from the crowd. He jumped into the stadium and ran over to Neji, pushing Hinata roughly aside.
He tenderly picked Neji up, and for one brief moment, all time seemed to stop. They saw the look on his face as he looked at Neji. It was so full of pain and sorrow, like his own son had died.
Then again, perhaps…that wasn't far fetched at all. Perhaps Neji had been like a son to all the branch members. Their pride after all…
After a few moments, he steeled himself, then turned and glared at Hinata.
"How dare you," he hissed, voice full of venom, "you killed him, you cold-blooded murderer. He was your own relative and you killed him."
"I didn't…" Hinata tried to explain, but her voice faltered.
And her words died.
"You'll pay for this," he warned, breathing hard, "you'll pay for this. KAMI, I SWEAR YOU'LL PAY!"
A hush fell over the stadium. This was open rebellion. This could completely destroy the Hyuuga clan. Yet, the one who held Neji didn't seem to care. He ran out of the compound, the other branch members following.
Hinata watched their retreating backs, rigid as waxwork. Naruto got to his feet, wincing slightly. He walked over.
"Hinata-chan…"
Her knees buckled, and she nearly toppled over. Naruto caught her and gently eased her into a sitting position.
"Hinata-chan," Naruto said softly.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, worry plainly etched on her face, her eyes shut tight, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"
"Hinata-chan, calm down," he said tenderly, "It's over now. It's all over."
"I didn't mean to kill him…I swear, I never meant to…I didn't want this…please…I'm sorry…"
"It's alright, it's alright," he said, holding her tightly. His heart nearly broke just to her the pain in her voice. "It's done. Nothing left to worry about. It's over."
"Believe me. It's over."
oOo
"Unacceptable!" Hiashi screamed, his voice full of bitter fury.
"Please," Naruto said, trying not to back down. Hiashi was scary when he got angry. No wonder Hinata never felt comfortable around him, "you really can't blame Neji for this."
"He's right." TenTen said, finding her voice, "You know Neji's had issues with the clan ever since."
"I've been tolerant of his 'issues' for long enough!" Hiashi roared, causing TenTen and Sakura to jump and hide behind Shikamaru and Naruto "But to openly challenge my daughter is-! To forgive the branch family of this is unthinkable. Unacceptable! He was part of them. They will pay for his disobedience and rebellion."
"Would you stop for a moment and think that that's the attitude that got him so annoyed in the first place?" Shikamaru spoke up. "This is only my first time to go face-to-face with the Hyuuga members of the main house and the Elders, but I can already see why Neji could have gotten so pissed off. Your high-and-mighty attitude is enough to make me gag!"
"Way to go Shikamaru," Naruto whispered, watching Hiashi's face turn even paler than usual, "I bet he'll be after the Nara clan next."
"It's the truth," he whispered back.
"I don't tolerate insolence," he said, his voice a deadly whisper, "and rest assured, if you were in this clan…"
"Well, he's not!" Sakura stepped in, "but Neji was. And I bet you're just disappointed that you can't be the one to kill him since your daughter got to him first."
"We don't kill members just for rebellion!" one of the Elders spoke up. He, too, was getting annoyed with this insolent bunch of Chuunins.
"Funny," Naruto snapped, "you gave of the impression that you do!"
"What were trying to say," TenTen said quickly, "is that we'd like you to reconsider before you punish the branch family."
"Neji made a serious mistake," Naruto said, his voice softer, "and we know you're angry because he nearly killed the heiress to this clan, but you can't blame an entire part of the clan for something one member did. I bet they're angry as well, because Hinata killed him."
"What they think is not important," one Elder spoke up as well, getting to his feet, "we have always followed tradition when dealing with delinquents, and we will certainly not stop now. Especially on the plea of four insignificant Chuunins."
"What they think is not important!" Shikamaru echoed incredulously. "No wonder Neji had issues."
"Hyuuga-sama," Naruto said softly, "you promised your brother, didn't you?"
A hush immediately fell over the group. Hiashi looked at him, milky eyes wide.
"You promised you would take care of his son. Is this how you're going to repay his sacrifice? By failing to protect his son, and punishing the part of the clan in which he was a part of?"
He turned his back. Shikamaru, Sakura and TenTen turned their back as well. It was obvious that Naruto had hit a spot.
"Think about that," TenTen said softly, "when you're deciding the punishment of the branch."
"If you'll excuse me," Naruto said curtly, "I'd like to see if Hinata's alright."
oOo
"You're finally awake," Naruto's voice seemed so far away. "I was getting worried."
Finally, everything swam into focus. "N-Naruto-kun," she murmured. She looked around to find Shikamaru, TenTen, and Sakura looking at her with relieved smiles on their faces.
"Wh-what are you all doing here?"
"We wanted to see if you were feeling better," Shikamaru explained.
Hinata blushed and smiled. "Thanks. I do feel better, just sort of…drained."
"Well," Naruto said, relieved that she wasn't yelling at him, ignoring him or whatever, "maybe you ought to go down and talk to your father and the Elders."
"Why?"
"Well, the other reason we came here was to talk your father out of…punishing the branch family."
"What?" Hinata sat up bolt right. "He's going to what!"
She was out of bed and out the door in seconds, the others closely following her.
Everyone looked up as she slid the door open.
"Ah, Hinata," Hiashi, too, looked relieved, "you're awake."
"I-is it true," Hinata asked softly, looking directly at Hiashi, "you're going to punish the branch family because of what Neji did?"
Hiashi sighed as the Elders exchanged looks. "Hinata, you have to understand. Once a branch member shows open signs of rebellion or disobeys the desires of the main, they're to be punished. It's tradition."
"And you don't think death is a suitable enough punishment to the guilty?" Hinata said, her voice growing stronger and angrier, "you have to punish others as well?"
"Look, the branch members didn't stop Neji the moment he challenged you," Hiashi said, trying not to explode, "they should have, but the didn't. That's reason enough for us."
"They didn't want to take the risk!" Hinata nearly screamed. "Neji-nii-san threatened to kill anyone who came near. He killed 6 medic nins! He nearly killed Naruto-kun. He…he killed Kiba-kun! They knew he was serious, and they didn't want to wind up dead. They knew Neji-nii-san's abilities."
"That is hardly important!" Hiashi thundered, standing up. He didn't need his daughter's insolence right now. "What's important is that he openly challenged to heiress of this clan, and they failed to stop him!"
"At least I'm alive!" Hinata yelled, striding forward, "I'm alive and he's not! If you ask me, that's reason enough for them to punish me!"
"Don't say such things!" Hiashi strode forward so that father and daughter were only inches apart.
"Why not?" Hinata challenged. "I killed the clan member that meant the most to them. The only sign they had of hope, and I don't care how crappy that sounds. They have every right to be annoyed and angry at me. They have every right to kill me!"
"Well, I won't let them!" Hiashi yelled. Hinata opened her mouth, then stopped.
"Wh-what-?"
"You don't know," Hiashi said, his voice softer now, "how happy I was that he didn't kill you. You don't know how guilty I feel for having broken the promise I made with my brother. You don't know the remorse I feel every time I think of how much he cared for his son, he was willing to go along with that stupid plan, just to make sure his son would be safe."
The silence in the room was deafening, and Hinata felt like kicking herself. It was obvious that she didn't know her dad so well. She wanted to take back everything she said.
Suddenly, the door slammed open.
"Damn you!" An angry voice erupted from the doorway. "You main house people have shunned us for too long."
Hiashi, Hinata, and the Elders whipped around to face the doorway.
There, framed by the moonlight, was the same branch member who had picked Neji up. The same one who had screamed that she would pay for Neji's fate.
Behind him were at least a dozen other branch members, all looking furious as well. They followed suit as the one in front stormed inside. He glared at Hinata.
"You feel no guilt in taking his life, don't you!" he snapped. "you people from the main house are all the same."
"I won't have you talking to my daughter like that." Hiashi thundered, glaring at him.
He hardly seemed scared. "Or else what? You'll use the seal on me? Go ahead! See if I care. You main house people are all cowards! You didn't want to face us and risk dying, so you created this…this…" he reached up and yanked off his forehead protector, "this damnable seal! You wanted the easy way of dealing with us! You're all cowards!"
"SILENCE!" Hiashe roared, infuriated.
"No, you be silent, you piece of SHIT!" he screamed back, lunging forward. The other branch members caught hold of him and held him back.
"We've been silent our whole lives! It's time the branch family found its voice and spoke against the unfairness of it all! Just like she," he glared at Hinata, "was more dangerous than we gave her credit for, we are worth more than you think!"
"Please…" Hiashi said, trying to pacify him.
"No!" he screeched, his voice climbing to a more hysterical note. "Neji was the pride of the branch family! You just had to destroy him, didn't you!" he turned to Hinata. "You were scared to, weren't you? You were scared of the possibility that he would become heir of this clan!"
"N-no…" she said, her voice slightly panicked, "that's not…"
"It's always been that way. You knew he would be a better heir than you would be," he said, voice dripping with unwonted venom, "and so, you killed him! Face it. You've always wanted to kill him. You were jealous of him, because he was always better than you!"
"SHUT UP!" Hinata screeched, slamming her palm into his gut.
"Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled, trying to reach her, "Hinata, calm down!"
The man fell to the floor, clutching his midsection.
"I never wanted to kill him!" she screamed, hitting him across the face, "Don't you think I feel guilty enough as it is! Kami, I never wanted to kill my own cousin!" she slammed her foot into his shoulder. "Listen up, you bastard. I don't care how much better he was at techniques! He was my cousin, and I loved him. I was jealous, yes, but not enough to make me kill him!"
"Hinata!" Naruto and Shikamaru got to her at the same time. They grabbed hold of her arms. "Hinata, stop this! You're not…"
They trailed off as they saw the tears run down her face. "I…didn't want…to kill him," she whispered, "I'd…rather…it had been…me."
"Hinata," Naruto said softly, "don't say things like that."
"He's right," Shikamaru said, "please don't."
All was silent. The atmosphere was so heavy. Empty. Slowly, Naruto and Shikamaru let go of her.
"Share his fate." A voice said.
They looked up to see the same man charging toward her, arm aglow with blue chakra. His eyes seemed wild, ready to kill.
He drew back his arm, and lunged, ready to do the killing blow.
Naruto felt sick to his stomach as he watched the crimson mist spray everywhere, splattering everything.
Hinata's eyes were wide as she heard the connecting thump. Everything seemed frozen. There was a soft thud, then silence.
Total and complete silence.
A/N: Okay! It's done! It's over!
Just joking. Still one more chapter to go. Sorry if this chapter was too much like an edo-period drama.
