Okay, this chapter is really long so I won't do too much of an intro. This is the conclusion to the mini arc, The Thing in the Woods. I experimented with the story telling in this chapter and the last, and I would really like to know what you all think. Please pm me or leave a review. I also made a point of switching perspectives to less visited characters, and would be interested to know what you all thought of that as well. I'm really glad I was able to put this out before Game of Thrones premiered tonight, otherwise I would have had to put this out tomorrow. So here's my Sunday night gift to you, and remember the night is dark, etc.

Beki's plan was going swimmingly. The traps had all worked flawlessly so far; the Konoha squads never anticipated she would have time to leave traps. That was the lynch pin of it: she needed to eliminate all of them to be successful. If Ebisu sensei looked like he had misled the other squad leaders, that would be plenty embarrassing. His student emerging on top, having played dirty and kicked ass. Normally, she would never take measures this drastic, but in the Konoha forests she was at a disadvantage.

The woods she grew up in were mostly pine. The woods around Konoha were largely deciduous, meaning there was less light and more tree roots to trip over. If she hadn't cheated, the squads would have had her almost right out of the gate. She consoled herself with the idea that she was doing a good job as a kunoichi. If she had been given this information and not acted on it, that would make her lazy and a fool. Most of her thirty-minute head start was spent getting to a secured location: a hollow in a great oak where she had stashed all her gear. Beki covered herself in mud and put sacks over her shoes. From there, it was just positioning herself up in the trees to watch the chaos unfold.

Chouji, Shikamaru, and Lee had already been eliminated. Beki wanted to take out Neji and Hinata next because of their vision advantage. Her next priority targets were Kiba and Akamaru because of their superior senses of smell. She rifled through her rucksack from her vantage point. If she could pull this off, maybe Ebisu would be so embarrassed he would drop training her altogether. She would likely make a couple of enemies today, but this was war.

…

"Shouldn't we wait until Kiba-kun gets back?" Hinata hesitated as Shino and Ino started to walk off into the woods.

"Kiba will be able to track us, Hinata," Shino explained. "We're losing valuable time."

"He's right," Ino shook her head. "The longer we sit around here the farther Beki gets."

Hinata knew they were right, but part of her still wanted them all to go as a group. Beki had obviously planned this all out, and they stood the best chance of catching her and surviving as a group. Maybe that had been the point of this exercise. Right away they had all separated into their teams rather than coordinating and working together.

The woods were oddly quiet. Perhaps all the commotion they were making was scaring all the birds. Even so, as far back into her training as Hinata could remember, this was the most unnerving silence she had ever experienced. Up ahead the brush parted and Tenten emerged, looking confused.

"Tenten?" Ino called out.

She looked at them and blinked, the confusion drawing at her brow.

"Have you guys seen Neji?"

The trio looked at each other.

"No. Did you get separated?" Ino asked.

"Yeah," Tenten shook her head. "We were walking along and we sprung a trap. We were able to avoid it, but we jumped off in different directions and I lost track of him."

"Where is Lee?" Shino looked around.

"Oh," Tenten got quiet. "He was knocked out by one of the traps earlier. We took him back to Gai sensei."

Hinata clasped her hands. She hoped Neji and Kiba were okay.

"We should look for Neji," Hinata suggested.

Tenten fidgeted for a moment before she answered:

"As much as I want to Hinata, our objective is to find Beki. Once we find her, all this will be over."

"That's what Neji will be working towards as well," Shino offered. "We may run into him during our search."

"Okay," Hinata nodded. She hoped they found everyone soon. Even though Beki was the one laying all these traps, Hinata couldn't help but worry about her. Something wasn't right. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she couldn't shake the feeling they weren't alone. All Hinata hoped was that the person watching them was Beki.

The group pressed on into the woods. Hinata activated her Byakugan to look for tracks. It took some time, but eventually they stumbled across some strange footprints leading into a dense copse of trees.

"Okay, we'll surround the area and go in all at once," Shino ordered. The girls nodded and took up position.

In the middle of the clearing was Beki, hunched over and covered with a grass blanket. It was a very basic form of camouflage, but Hinata supposed as they were all running through the woods, she would be easy to miss. Beki was hunched over something. It was well past midday, so Hinata figured she was eating something. Her stomach turned. She hoped the girl hadn't grabbed any poisoned mushrooms.

Shino nodded to Hinata, and she used her Byakugan to sweep the scene. It looked like Beki had a can of soda in her hand. She nodded to Shino, and he signaled everyone to attack. In a beautifully fluid leap, they were all upon her. Shino was closest, so he reached her first. He grabbed ahold of her arm, and she instantly burst into a spray of murky water. The girls shielded themselves against the spray. There was a clank as her soda can hit the ground.

"Clone," Shino spat.

"Dammit," Ino stomped her foot.

Before anyone else could say anything, there was a soft hiss and a pop as the soda can broke open.

"SMOKE BOMB!" Tenten yelled, and they all leapt back a safe distance.

That wasn't much of a trap, Hinata thought. Maybe Beki had this location set up as a diversion, or if she was being pursued she could use the smoke bomb to escape. She looked at the others to see what they thought when she noticed not everyone had made it out.

"SHINO!" She cried and leapt toward the smoke.

"No!" Tenten grabbed ahold of Hinata's arm and held her back. "Let it clear first. There could be something else in that smoke and we don't need to lose another person."

Hinata clenched her fist in frustration and closed her eyes. Everything Beki had done was harmless, she knew, but having her teammate taken out a few feet away and being powerless to help made Hinata feel helpless and vulnerable. As they stood there waiting for the smoke to clear, Hinata swore she heard singing. It was soft and low, almost a hum, but in the absence of birdsong it was clear. It was a song she had never heard before, and it was just far enough away she could only make out a few words. It was something about secrets and lovers and rain.

"Do you guys hear that?" Hinata whispered.

"The singing? Yeah." Tenten shook her head.

"That Bitchi is so cocky," Ino hissed. "When we find her I'm going to make her sing a different tune."

Hinata shuddered. Beki had her moments, but this was downright creepy. She would have to talk to her about it later. This was a training exercise and she was acting like it was an actual life or death mission. The smoke had finally cleared, so the girls moved cautiously towards Shino. He was laying on his back, coughing steadily. At least he's conscious, Hinata thought.

"Are you okay?" Hinata leaned over him.

"Fine," he coughed. "Damn, she's smarter than I thought."

"What do you mean?" Tenten was watching the trees, just in case there were more surprises waiting for them.

"Smoke bomb," Shino pulled down his cowl for more air. "The bugs…They're dazed."

"You sound pretty dazed yourself," Ino looked at the can. "It probably has a sedative in it."

"Let's get him back to the senseis," Tenten said as she helped pull him to his feet. "Can you walk?"

"A little," Shino coughed again. Hinata supported him under one shoulder and Ino supported him under the other as Tenten ran point.

"This was supposed to be easy," Ino complained. "A thirty-minute exercise. Leave it to Bitchi to turn this into the damned Shinobi Olympics."

Hinata was reminded of their experience in the Forest of Death during the chunin exams. Except, instead of trying to get to the safety of the castle at the center, they were hunting someone. Someone who didn't want to be caught. Hinata got that weird feeling they weren't alone again and scanned the environment with the Byakugan. Nothing. She was just getting paranoid. To be honest, she was surprised Beki could put up this much of a fight. Maybe they had all underestimated her. Then again, as Ino said, this was just supposed to be a basic exercise and Beki was turning it into a mind game.

When they arrived at the entrance of the woods, they found Chouji, Shikamaru, and Lee all conscious but laying low.

"Another one," Ebisu's face was grim.

"Beki smoke bombed us," Ino growled.

Asuma looked at Ebisu.

"Your student is taking this exercise pretty seriously, Ebisu."

"I know," Ebisu shook his head. "I hate to say it, but I didn't think she would. She's fairly applied, but this is almost excessive."

"I like it," Gai gave a dashing smile. "She's taking this opportunity to demonstrate the burning passion of her youth!"

Shino took a seat next to Shikamaru and Chouji, still coughing occasionally.

"Do me a favor," He looked up at the girls. "Sock her for me."

"Will do." Ino smiled wickedly.

"Has Neji been through here?" Tenten asked.

"Or Kiba?" Hinata chimed in.

"We haven't seen Neji," Asuma frowned slightly. "Kiba dropped off the boys and headed back into the woods about ten minutes ago."

"We must have just missed him," Tenten looked at Hinata. "We'll probably run into him out there."

"I hope we run into Neji too," Hinata said as the three girls headed back into the woods.

…

Kiba and Akamaru were bounding through the forest. Akamaru had caught Beki's scent and was tracking her down in full bloodhound mode. Kiba smiled to himself. If he and Akamaru could corner Beki, the two would make short work of her. They had speed, numbers, and the home court advantage over her. Akamaru was picking up speed. They were close. Look out Beki, here we come, Kiba thought.

A thin weight pressed into his chest, right below the collar bone. He collided with the steel cable, knocking him off of his mount. Akamaru bounded a few more paces before turning to check on his master. Kiba landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him. The wire was strung between two trees and was multiple wires wrapped together. This made it thin enough to miss with the naked eye, but strong enough to withstand impact and knock him down. Akamaru whimpered empathetically and Kiba scratched his head.

"I'm okay boy," Kiba sat up gingerly. He was completely unharmed aside from his pride. "She's got to be close by. Let's find her, boy."

They sniffed the air. Kiba detected the faint smoky aroma of a campfire. That was pretty cocky of her to be cooking, not because of the light but because of the smoke and the smell of food. Perhaps she didn't know about their keen senses of smell, or it was just a factor she had overlooked. Regardless, the boy and his dog approached the scent from downwind. In a clearing, she had set up a small campfire and had a pot of something over it. It looked as if she had stepped away and would be back at any moment. The boys laid in waiting in the brush. Sure enough, Beki reappeared from the woods with a bunch of mushrooms and what looked like roots. Kiba signaled for Akamaru to circle around on the other side.

Beki went about washing the mushrooms with her canteen, completely oblivious to their presence. Kiba gave the signal, and the boy and his dog charged her. Beki looked up and smiled at him. Instantly Kiba realized this had been a mistake. He and Akamaru began to change direction, sensing impending danger, when she covered her mouth with a cloth and opened the lid of her cooking pot. The entire clearing was suddenly filled with the funk of a pound of cooking natto. Kiba had never smelled so much natto being cooked at once. It was agony. It got in his eyes, his nose, his mouth. He could almost taste the rancid beans. Akamaru began to whimper and paw at his nose. Kiba crashed into the ground and started gagging. While they choked. Beki took a wad of the simmering natto, blew on it, and then hurled a wad of it at Kiba. It connected directly with his leather jacket and splattered all over him. The rank intensified a thousand fold and he began to gag. Akamaru sensed his distress and powered through the awful smell. He bounded up to his master, who clumsily mounted him, and they took off toward the entrance.

Kiba was so nauseous it was all he could do not to hurl on his dog. If it had just been his shirt, he would have tossed it aside and left it there, but Beki had gotten the beans all over his favorite jacket. If he could wipe it down and leave it in the shed to air out, it would probably be okay. In the meantime, the stink had given him an intense migraine. There was no way he or Akamaru could track like this. They would have to leave the glory of taking Beki down to the others.

…

Beki couldn't stop grinning. There was nothing better than getting to use the natto she had been sentenced to eat as part of her revenge. Unfortunately, it was a double edged sword. The same smell that had driven Kiba off the playing field now hovered over her like a raincloud. With more than half the Konoha ninja hunting her now, and less than half of her traps activated, Beki thought her odds were good to get cleaned up. It was too risky to just mask the smell with perfume, so she would have to try to wash it off. There was a nice deep river nearby she could hop in real fast, wash with unscented soap, and be back out and on her way before anyone noticed.

She checked her traps along the way. They were all holding up well, and none on this side of the river had been triggered yet. So long as they approached her from that direction, she would have plenty of warning if they were headed her way.

Beki set up her kit on the side of the river. She laid out her bag, her soap and a smoke pellet, just in case. First she peeled off the covers on her shoes, which were now saturated with mud and leaf detritus. Her shoes were next. She felt instant relief once her feet could breathe. Blood had been pooling in her feet from how much running and squatting she'd been doing. Even though it was unlikely she'd have to make a break for it, she decided she wouldn't fold her clothes so she could pull them on quickly. She set them up in the order she would put them on, so first she took off her pants and underwear and laid those out. Next went her shirt and her bra. If there was an emergency, she wouldn't have time to pull on her shoes. She put them in her bag, so if she did have to make a break for it, she could put them on later. Nothing was worse than being barefoot in the woods all day.

She was stark naked now, and it was exciting and made her nervous at the same time. Beki had bathed outdoors before, which was always exhilarating, but the added danger of being hunted made it that much more intense. The water was cool and felt good on her skin as she slowly slid walked into the river. It would leave too much of a trail if she got a good lather on, so she would just have to wash her skin enough to get the natto smell off.

…

Neji had been looking for Tenten for twenty minutes. He would have been happy to find anyone, but this nerve rackingly silent forest seemed empty save for himself. Not a single deer, bird, or person had made an appearance since he had triggered the last trap. He sighed in frustration. Leave it to Beki to turn a run of the mill training exercise into a nuisance. It was good that she took her practice so seriously, however Neji was quickly beginning to suspect that she had more than thirty minutes to prepare for this exercise. Either that, or she had been incredibly lucky that someone else had left all these traps out here. Based on his experiences with her, he suspected it was likely the former. Tsukimori had some of the worst luck he had ever seen.

At last he heard something. Someone was singing. It was low and soft, as if they were singing a lullaby. Neji was immediately leery; it was likely another trap. He activated his Byakugan and saw nothing suspicious. The sound was coming from a short distance away, so he crept along to draw closer to its source. Soon the soft babbling of water joined the melody and he stumbled upon a river. There, sitting on a rock that split the stream, was a naked young woman. He was stunned and found himself unable to look away. For a moment he thought it was an illusion; the way she combed through her impossibly long tresses gently with her fingers was so graceful, her skin looked like pure porcelain, and her hair glowed the color of starlight in the rays of the afternoon sun. Her back was to him and he was some distance away, but the gentle curves of her body were evident. He knew he should look away, he wanted to look away, but there was a part of him that had to know who this beautiful girl was.

A bird took flight on his side of the river, startling the girl. She turned to the sound and Neji saw that it was Beki. Shame and guilt instantly washed over Neji. He stumbled backwards in shock, flushing with embarrassment. He had been transfixed by the song before and had failed to notice the rope trap a few feet behind him. His feet caught in the rope and he was launched upside down into the air, suspended by his ankles. The trap was set in the trail leading up the stream. Neji was left swinging in the air directly within view of Beki. In spite of all the noise he had made, she had failed to notice him. Having sensed the bird was no danger, she had gone back to bathing.

Neji, his face beet red and now overwhelmed with regret over his spying, felt compelled to call out:

"Uh, Beki," He averted his eyes. "I can see you."

She froze solid and then slowly turned to face him. For a moment she was stunned in place, Neji an audience to a full frontal view of her dripping body. Beki didn't race to cover herself, she just slowly leaned down and picked up the soap, her eyes never leaving Neji. With a throw that would have impressed a professional baseball player, she hurled the soap full force between Neji's eyes. As he lost consciousness, he saw her dive into the water. His last thoughts were a debate on whether that really had been Beki, or a vision after all.

…

Beki could not have put her clothes on faster. Although Neji had been eliminated as a threat, the run in was enough to remind Beki she was being pursued. She slid on her shoes but packed up the sacks; at this point they were so dirty they would attract more attention than her footprints. She took to the trees and tried to locate her remaining pursuers. All that remained after Neji's elimination were Tenten, Ino, and Hinata. They had been out looking for her for at least two hours judging by how the sun had dipped in the sky. She wondered if Ebisu was getting weird looks from the other senseis yet.

The girls had heard the commotion in the nearly silent forest and eventually tracked down Neji's unconscious body.

"Neji!" Hinata and Tenten cried out.

"Another one, out cold," Ino grumbled. "This bitch has to go down."

"We can't leave him out here," Tenten sighed in frustration. "One of you will need to carry him back with me."

Hinata and Ino looked at each other. Ino shook her head.

"You two go. I'm going to finish this once and for all."

"Are you sure?" Hinata looked up into the trees. Beki was out there. Was Ino really the best person to bring her in?

"I want to do this," Ino glowered out into the trees. "Its personal."

"Alright," Tenten cut Neji down, and Hinata helped her lower him to the ground. Tenten took his arms and Hinata took his legs, and they began the long walk back to the entrance. The girls heard the soft singing again.

"I hope Ino finds her soon," Tenten looked around nervously. "I'm done with this forest."

"Yeah," Hinata's Byakugan scanned the tree line. "Me too."

…

Beki saw Hinata and Tenten hauling Neji's body back towards the entrance. That meant the only person left on her tail was Ino. Beki wasn't sure exactly what she specialized in. From her understanding, each member of the Ino-Shika-Cho team was fairly weak on their own. They were most dangerous when encountered together. Beki had hoped Ino would get taken out with one of the traps. She didn't have anything special in her kit to take Ino out the way she had been able to take down Shino and Kiba based on their specialties.

Beki figured her best bet was just to blitz her and take her out one on one. In a fistfight, she was sure she would have the upper hand against Ino. Beki slid down the trunk of the tree she was scouting in, and headed towards where Neji had been strung up. Beki arrived only to find the location abandoned. Ino's tracks headed off into the woods. Beki turned to follow when suddenly she heard a cry:

"MIND BODY SWITCH JUTSU!"

The world almost instantly went black. Beki could feel her body moving, but was powerless to do anything about it. She heard Ino inside her head:

"I'm just going to borrow this for a while."

"What are you doing?!" Beki cried out in her mind, to which Ino laughed manically.

"I just hijacked your body, Bitchi. You're going to carry my body to the finish and I'll be the one who brought you in."

"Fuck." Beki thought.

"Watch your mouth." Ino said as Beki felt her body hoisting up a heavy load.

"God you're heavy," Beki thought as loudly as she could. If Ino was hanging out in Beki's head, she was going to make it as unpleasant as possible. "Or am I carrying Chouji?"

"You shut your whore mouth," Ino growled. "You're just angry I beat you."

"With some bullshit secret technique," Beki sighed. "I bet if I wasn't so worn out from taking out the serious threats, I could bust out of this in two seconds flat."

"It's almost impossible to overcome this jutsu," Beki could hear Ino smiling. "You're welcome to try though."

It was traumatizing to lose control of your body. Beki was struggling against it as much as she could, but she didn't know how to struggle. It was a terrifying combination of two things Beki hated: Being trapped in darkness, and losing control. She could feel herself panicking. The cold chill of adrenaline was creeping up her spine, but she did her best to control it. She had no idea what would happen if her body activated her kekke genkai while another person was in control.

Beki gave up fighting Ino and just focused on keeping the panic at bay.

"You're suddenly very quiet," Ino smirked.

If Beki could roll her eyes, she would have.

"Shut up Silicone. I'm focusing."

"Silicone?!" Ino screamed into Beki's head. "Who are you calling Silicone?!"

"You, boob job. Now shut up, I'm concentrating."

Ino's barking inside her head was making it really hard. She could feel her hair starting to turn. The sensation was similar to having lukewarm water poured over the crown of your head. It trickled down from the roots all the way to the ends. Her body sensed it had been hijacked and it was not happy about it. They must have finally reached the entrance, because Beki heard voices.

"Beki?! What did you do to Ino?!" Ebisu cried out.

"It's alright," Beki heard her voice from far away. "It's me, Ino. I hijacked her body."

"Good work, Ino," Asuma said. "Let the poor girl go."

Beki felt her body gently set down its load. As soon as she got control back, she was going to kick Ino.

"Bye, Bitchi." Ino sang. "We'll set up your naked romp down Canal Street after dinner tonight."

Oh god, that's right. Beki cursed herself. She had said that. Slowly she felt Ino's presence leave her body, like a bandage being slowly peeled off her brain. Her vision was slowly returning, and she could wiggle her toes and fingers.

"Beki, are you okay?" Hinata whispered. "Your hair…its almost turned black."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Beki said in low tones. "I was freaking out on the inside. That jutsu is bullshit."

"Okay, we're glad to see everyone is finally back," Ebisu sighed. "This wasn't supposed to be an all-day training, but, oh well."

"Let's go eat," Asuma slapped his students on the back. "Good work, you guys."

Gai nodded and gave an award winning smile:

"My students demonstrated commitment to one another with the passion that only youth can provide. I'm so proud!"

"Me too!" Lee bear hugged Neji and Tenten. "I'm so proud of you!"

Gai sensei hugged them from the other side, he and Lee crying manly tears of pride.

"Okay you two, that's enough," Tenten peeled them away. "Neji just came to. Don't knock him out again."

"Are you okay Neji?" Hinata asked, concern in her voice. Since he had come to, he hadn't said a word. It was as if he had seen something out there that traumatized him. "What did you do to Neji, Beki?"

"I didn't do anything to him," Beki shrugged and looked away, the faintest hint of color playing at her cheeks. "Nothing that he didn't deserve, anyway."

Hinata could sense there was more to it than that, but now wasn't the time to pursue it.

…

The walk back into town was quiet, partially due to exhaustion and partially due to angry feelings between Beki and the crew. Once they were all seated in the diner, however, and the delicious aromas of their upcoming dinners had washed over them, they all finally began to relax. After another ten minutes or so, conversation was freely flowing back and forth between the senseis and the students.

All except for Beki. She stared into her mug of tea. There was a bitter taste in her mouth, and it wasn't her drink. For days she had planned, prepared, and executed her plan flawlessly. Ebisu wasn't embarrassed, the senseis weren't angry, and she had gotten her mind violated in the process. It went beyond disappointment. She was going to be punished, she knew, but she wouldn't get to experience any gratification to make it worth it. She sighed heavily and rested her chin on her hand and listened to the kids her age chatting merrily about their lives. To make matters worse, Ebisu came over and sat down beside her, cutting her off from the rest of the group.

"Bekiko, do you understand what the point of that exercise was?" He was using his teacher voice. Beki hated it. He used It when she did something wrong and he was going to be the better person and not be angry about it. Use it as a "teachable moment". He said all kinds of crap like that. It made her want to knock his teeth in.

"No, sensei. What was the purpose of the exercise?" She was too tired to do anything but say exactly what he wanted. That would make the encounter go by at double speed.

"Out here you are acting on your own, and you yourself have admitted to having little to no field experience," Ebisu explained. "This was a chance for myself and the other senseis to see how you handle yourself in the field."

"Why would you want to do that?" Beki was having trouble keeping her eyes open. She had been running on almost pure adrenaline all day. Now that the exercise was over, she was realizing she was exhausted.

"So that we can send you out on training exercises with the other squads," Ebisu squared off with her so she was forced to look him in the face. "I learned a few things about you today, you know that? First, I learned can't tell you anything you can use to your advantage and that you'll cheat to win. Second, I learned that I have seriously underestimated you. Even with knowing what you were up against ahead of time, you were able to hold your own out there against 9 shinobi of your rank or higher."

Beki couldn't be sure based on Ebisu's facial expression, but that sounded like he was giving her praise. That made her suspicious. She watched him carefully as he spoke.

"I think you're more than capable of training along with the shinobi of the Leaf your age. I also think that we can cut your training back to once a day," Ebisu smiled at her. "You've made it clear you have a solid grasp of the basics."

"So what is my next training exercise going to be?" Beki could hope he'd fall for the same trick twice.

"Oh, that's easy. You're going to be going through those woods with me and disarming all the traps you left behind." Ebisu's face was unreadable.

"Tomorrow?" She smiled nervously.

"After we leave here, Beki." His face was still as blank as paper.

"Wait, you called me my name," Beki's eyes went wide. "You never get my name right."

Ebisu chuckled.

"Of course I know what your name is. You just make the grouchiest face whenever I use the wrong name. It's hilarious."

Beki made the face.

"I hate you, sensei."

He reached over and ruffled her hair, and she tried to bite him. All was well.

…

Beki didn't get back from disarming the traps until well after 9. Hinata had waited up for her. There was a chill in the air that night, so as soon as she heard her friend coming through the gate she put a pot on the stove. Beki came in the door as Hinata was pouring her a cup of tea.

"Oh, thanks Hina chan," Beki accepted it gratefully. "What are you still doing up?"

"I wanted to talk to you about today." Hinata sat down on the couch and Beki followed her lead.

"What about it?" Beki sprawled out in her corner of the sofa.

"Well, a couple things," Hinata toyed with the bottom of her shirt. "So what happened between you and Neji?"

"Why do you ask?" Beki watched Hinata over the top of her cup as she sipped her tea. She was definitely hiding something.

"He hasn't said a word since we got back from the woods," Hinata watched Beki carefully. "And you've been acting strange about it, too. Did you two fight?"

"We didn't fight," Beki relaxed. "We did have a run in. He surprised me and I knocked him out. He's probably just embarrassed."

"Oh," Hinata knew there was more to the story, but she couldn't push Beki too much all at once. She was the type that gave more away while filling a silence than she would if directly pressed.

"So there's something I've been curious about," Beki rested her chin on her hand. "How is it that you got engaged to Naruto so young?"

Oh, here it was at last. Hinata sighed with frustration. Beki had been around the Hyuga long enough that she had picked up on how old everyone else got married. She supposed it would only be fair to tell her a secret to get her to tell Hinata one of her own.

"The Hyuga have an ancient law," Hinata began. "That if someone of the opposite sex sees one of our young unmarried clansmen naked, they have to be wedded."

Beki's eyes grew wide as the realization dawned on her.

"So Naruto saw you naked, and now you have to get married," She put a hand to her head. "Wow. Was it an accident?"

Hinata blushed fiercely.

"Of course it was an accident! I was…I was out training under a waterfall in the buff, and he…he stumbled across me. We were young and didn't know what else to do so we told my father. The arrangements were made immediately."

"Well, what would have happened if you had seen Naruto naked?" Beki cocked her head curiously.

"It would have been the same," Hinata explained. "It's not like if we see someone naked with Byakugan we have to marry them. It's really more about being in close proximity to someone when they or we are naked and unmarried. It's a propriety thing."

For some reason, the color had drained from Beki's face.

"What is it Beki? Are you okay?" Hinata asked.

Beki shook her head and regained her composure.

"I'm fine. Just got caught thinking about something. So, you uh, you had another question about today for me?"

"Oh," Hinata pulled her legs up on the couch. "I wanted to ask you about the song."

Beki's brow furrowed and she frowned slightly.

"What song?"

"The song you sang in the woods? The one about lovers and secrets and rain."

Beki frowned at Hinata harder and shook her head.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"When we were in the woods, there were several times when we were trying to find you," Hinata cocked her head as she tried to remember. "It was usually when someone had just been taken out. We heard you singing nearby. We thought you were teasing us."

The color was draining out of Beki's face again.

"Hinata, I swear to God that wasn't me. I don't…I don't ever sing."

A silence fell over the room as the weight of the facts came down on them.

"So someone else was out there with us," Hinata said softly.

"Or some THING," Beki looked around the room uncomfortably, her eyes wide.

"What do you mean, some THING," Hinata could feel herself getting nervous.

"When you heard…singing, did you look around with your Byakugan," Beki slightly pleaded.

"Yes," Hinata didn't like where this was going.

"Did you see anyone?" Beki was flat out pleading now.

Hinata thought about it and a chill went down her spine. She hadn't seen anyone or anything near the source of the singing, any time it happened.

"No," Hinata whimpered.

"Other people heard the singing, right? It wasn't just you?" Beki whimpered back.

"YES," Hinata cried louder.

The two stared at each other in horror for a moment before they desperately began looking around the house. Beki sprang off the couch and up the stairs. Hinata followed close on her tail, feeling like a child again. When she was young and had stayed up too late, she remembered the terror she felt running to her bedroom in the dark, feeling like something was hot on her heels. Hinata had the very real sense that she was in danger until she got her light on and her door closed. That was exactly what she was experiencing right now, and she was sure that's how Beki felt too.

Instead of going to her own room, Hinata followed Beki into hers. Beki closed the door behind Hinata and locked it, then raced over and threw open the curtains. Cool moonlight filled the room and cast strange shadows across the walls and floor. Beki dove under her covers fully clothed and Hinata followed suit. The two huddled together under the sheets, jumping at every sound and cringing at every shadow.

"It was about secrets and lovers and rain?" Beki asked, terror making her voice squeak. "Was that all you heard?"

"I-I re-really d-d-d-don't want to try to remember it," Hinata stammered.

Silence fell between them again. Hinata couldn't remember which of them dropped off first. In the morning, when they both woke up, they were back to back with the covers up to their eyes, like children cowering from monsters under the bed.

"You know, I bet there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for why you heard that singing yesterday," Beki said with her best grown up voice.

"Yeah, you're right," Hinata agreed. "Something completely rational."

The two stayed in bed for another ten minutes, neither of them moving from the safety of the covers.

"It's broad daylight, Beki. Aren't you going to get up?" Hinata asked.

"You're the morning person. You go first." Beki's grown up voice was wavering.

They sat there another minute before Beki said:

"On the count of three, we both get out of bed and run for the door."

"Okay," Hinata knew what they were doing was silly, but she was frightened just the same.

"One…two…three!"

On three they both jumped out of bed and ran for the door. Beki fumbled with the lock and Hinata squealed for her to get it open. Once she finally threw open the door, they took the stairs two at a time and ran out the front door squealing in terror. When they finally reached the outside, they both tripped and fell into the grass, laughing. A shadow crossed over them, and they opened their eyes to see Neji standing over them, worry on his face.

"What are you two running from?"

"Ghosts," They said in unison.

Neji sighed and helped them to their feet.

"You two are too old for this nonsense. Here," He led them inside, activated his Byakugan, and looked around. "See? Nothing. What started this foolish conversation, anyway?"

"Do you remember that singing in the woods, Neji?" Hinata asked.

He pondered a moment and then nodded.

"Yes, it was like a lullaby. What is it about, Beki?"

Beki smiled sheepishly.

"See that's the thing, Neji. That singing wasn't me. And we don't know who it was."

Neji's eyes grew wide after a moment and he took the girls by the arm.

"How about you two get dressed and we'll go have breakfast…somewhere else. Anywhere else."

"Sounds good," Beki said as she followed Hinata up the stairs. "Wait, Hina chan, you can't go alone! It's dangerous to go alone!"

Neji face palmed, then realized they were going to be changing their clothes together. He was instantly transported back to the river, picturing Beki naked in broad daylight. His face began to flush at the memory and he ran outside, deciding they were probably safe enough and he needed some air.