Hi everyone! I'm on a roll this week! Thank you all for your lovely reviews and support. I appreciate the time you take to let me know how you feel about my story. It makes me very happy to hear from you all. That being said, please enjoy this next chapter courtesy of a ginger ale and cheesecake infused sugar high.

When they reached the Raikage's office, C told Beki to wait outside. After he had disappeared inside the doors Beki finally remembered to breathe. Calm down, Beki, she told herself. The Raikage only looked like a giant because you were 8. Now that you're an adult, he's going to be just a normal old man. She was waved inside and her resolve instantly melted. The Raikage was exactly as she remembered him: a titan. He still towered over everyone and was built as solidly as a refrigerator. The look he was giving her could have melted glass.

"Well, I don't have all day," He growled.

Beki took a deep breath and dropped into a bow. "I don't know if you remember me, Raikage sama, but I'm Tsukimori Seiichiro's daughter, Haruka. I would like to personally thank you for how accommodating you have been of my situation and for allowing me the opportunity to participate in the chunin exams."

The Raikage gave a snort. "Yeah, I remember Seiichiro's daughter, but she called herself 'Beki', and she sure as hell didn't call me 'Raikage sama.'" Beki heard the pitch of his voice dip dangerously low. "Is that all I am to you, girl?"

She was instantly transported back to the time when she was eight years old and had hid under a table in the Raikage's office. She had thought that it was her father standing in front of it, so she had pounced out and tried to drop kick out his knees. It was like hitting a brick wall and as she laid on the floor, the wind knocked out of her, the Raikage had asked her in the same voice what exactly she thought she was doing.

"I'm sorry, Uncle A," Beki looked up with a panicked expression. "It's just I haven't been here for eight years and I don't know what protocol is so I'm just trying not to embarrass my father."

A gave her another hard look, "Beki, I know your father, and I know you. It would take a lot to do something more embarrassing than what you've already done scampering around town in your bloomers all those years ago."

Beki's eyes flashed to the assistants in his office snickering behind their hands. "Those were not bloomers and you know it!"

"All I know is your father had a hard time keeping you in pants." A folded his arms. "So much so that we would have to stop meetings and allocate my assistants to help you find where you had 'lost' them."

Beki felt her face getting hot. Here she was, just trying to be a grown up, and getting reamed the same as if her dad were doing it. The worst part was not that it was the Raikage ripping her a new one, but that it was in front of all his assistants. If they had been old people she wouldn't have cared, but they were all within ten years of her age wise. She would probably have to work with these people in a couple years.

"Since you have nothing to say, I have to ask," A gave her a challenging look. "You still wear bloomers with bears on them?"

"Oh my god, you know what? Where's Uncle B? He'll back me up," Beki looked around. "Where is Uncle B?"

"I sent for him as soon as I heard you were at the gates," A nodded toward the door. "He'll be here any second. Maybe he can help me remember. We had a nickname we used to call you. I can't remember what it was."

Beki swallowed hard. She couldn't remember what that nickname was but based on how this "meeting" had gone so far it wasn't going to be good. Fortunately, she only had to put up with two more minutes of C and the other assistants sobering up only to break into shielded laughter again as soon as someone said "bears" or "bloomers." B finally sauntered through the door and struck a pose. "Yo."

"Thank god you're here, Uncle B," Beki sighed and held out her fist for a bump. "Uncle A is tearing me a new one."

B bypassed her fist and bonked her on the head. "Fool! Ya Fool! You didn't come and visit your uncles for eight years and you show up all grown, Moonshine."

A snorted. "Moonshine. That was it."

Beki rubbed the top of her head and gave him a perplexed look. "Why did you call me 'Moonshine'?"

"Because you were always running around in your teddy bear skivvies, bending over with your little plumber crack hanging out." A looked like he was enjoying her embarrassment a little too much. Beki was aware her mouth had fallen open in horror. It seemed like she was fated to have legendary humiliating experiences in every village she visited. In Konoha, and probably Suna, it was incapping the Kazekage with a bag of flour. Now everyone in Kumo would know Beki had made a habit of mooning the Raikage as a child.

"Hey A," B cocked his head. "You up for a little catch."

The Raikage smiled knowingly. "I could use some air."

…

"What's taking her so long," Neji rapped his fingers on the glass.

"I'm sure Beki is fine," Lee smiled. "She is very capable."

Tenten nodded. "Lee's right. Didn't Beki mention she's been here before and knows the Raikage? She's pretty talkative. Probably just caught up in a conversation."

"No, something isn't right." Neji activated his Byakugan and took a closer look at the Raikage's office. Nothing seemed suspicious but as he increased his magnification he noticed that neither Beki or the Raikage were present. "They aren't in his office," In fact, the office was all but deserted. Neji instantly went into panic mode and began to scan the surrounding area. He detected movement up on a ridge nearby the office. There were two huge men standing across from each other on neighboring mountain peaks tossing something large back and forth. When Neji zoomed in further, he saw that the "something" was Beki.

"They're playing catch with her!" Neji cried out.

"What?!" Tenten shouted. "What do you mean?!"

"I mean the Raikage and some other large man are throwing Beki back and forth over a damned ravine." Neji slammed his fist into the wall and started heading for the door.

"That sounds like a great idea for training!" Lee looked at Tenten. "Can we try?"

"No, Lee." Tenten closed her eyes and sighed. "Neji, wait."

Neji balled his fists and stood by the door. "What is it, Tenten?"

"Did Beki look like she was in danger?" Tenten asked.

Neji sighed. "No. It looked like they were being careful with her."

"Then maybe they're just playing? You know, like how we play with Lee sometimes?" Tenten offered. "Why don't you keep an eye on it. You can't just go and bum rush the Raikage without a reason."

Neji looked at the door as if considering doing just that. After a moment, though, his better judgement won over and he took up watch by the window. Just give me an excuse, he thought bitterly.

…

"Don't flail around or we'll drop you, fool," B caught Beki and tossed her back bodily through the air. Beki was trying her best to keep her cool, but getting tossed around like a human ragdoll takes its toll. Her heart was racing and a cold feeling was creeping down her neck. The wisps of hair that tickled her face as they came loose from her braid were getting darker by the minute. After about two more tosses, A held her by the ankle and dangled her upside down. "What's the deal with your hair? It's gone black."

"I have a condition," Beki said and A dropped her instantly. "OW."

"What kind of condition?" He said as he wiped his hand on his pants.

"It's not contagious," Beki sat up and the world whirled painfully. She laid back down flat on the ground and closed her eyes. "Its my mom's kekke. It kicks in when I get nervous."

"We weren't going to drop you, ya fool." B folded his arms.

A looked down at Beki. "How does that work? I saw your mom fight in the chunin exams years ago. Her hair turned white when she went full…monster."

"Her hair was dark, right? So it went white. My hair is light, so it goes dark, I guess." Beki focused on her breathing to keep herself from upchucking on A's shoes. "You know, it's been…it's been just swell seeing you guys again, but I have to get back to…to my peeps."

"Aight, yo. You'd better come and see us while you're here. Otherwise Uncle B is gonna have to come and find you, ya fool." B pulled her to her feet and gave her a gentle shove towards the path. "I'm inclined to remind Moonshine she be lookin like a landmine."

Beki waved as she walked away. "Can't you see I'm happy to be back with Uncle A and Uncle B?"

"Not bad," B nodded his head. "Needs work on her delivery."

A shook his head. "This is going to be a long chunin exam with you two running around causing problems. At least I'll have two heads to knock together."

…

Beki staggered back towards the hotel. She hoped she would have a little time before her uncle and her teammates arrived to recover from being used as a human volleyball. Before she even made it across the street to the hotel, Neji came bursting out of the doors looking angrier than she had ever seen him.

"Aren't we supposed to stick together?!" He yelled. "Don't go anywhere alone again."

Beki threw up her hands defensively. "I knew where I was going and I was coming right back, I figured it was no big deal."

"You may know where you're going around here but we don't," Neji fumed. "If something had happened, how would we have found you? Or what if something happened here and we needed your help?!"

Beki stared at him wide eyed and looked at Hinata and Tenten, who had followed him to the doors of the hotel. They both shrugged and shook their heads.

"Sorry?" Beki shrank away from his angry stare. He took a deep breath. "I'm going to get some air," He said. "Stay close to the others."

Hinata and Tenten walked out of the doors to stand beside Beki she watched him stalk off. "What's his deal?" Beki asked them. "I've never seen him angry. Like, actually angry."

Hinata shook her head with a worried look. "I don't have the slightest idea."

"He saw the Raikage tossing you around," Tenten offered. "That seemed to upset him. Maybe he's stressed out we're stationed in another village. We had a lot of crazy stuff happen in Konoha the last time we held chunin exams."

Hinata nodded. "Neji is the worrying type. That's probably what it is."

Beki sighed. "He doesn't know Kumogakure. I'm going to go follow him and lead him back."

Tenten nodded. "Alright. We'll let the others know."

Beki jogged off after Neji. She caught up to him and right away he shot her a dirty look. "I told you to stay with the others."

"Yeah that idea doesn't sit so well with me," She shrugged. "I know my way around and you don't. It's a big village, and some of the neighborhoods are on the rougher side. I don't want you getting jumped."

That statement twisted his face even more. Neji clenched his fists and clammed up. Neji looked almost violent in his rage. Beki sighed. "Hey, come on. I know a place. You don't want to look so pissed right after you get here. People will take offense."

"I don't care if they take offense," Neji mumbled but relaxed his face somewhat.

"Okay," Beki took his arm and led him through a turn. "Something big is going on here. You're going to tell me what's going on."

"It's personal," Neji said through clenched teeth. "I thought I'd be dealing with it a lot better, but…"

"We're here," Beki motioned to a ledge that had a great view of the mountains. The benches there had been nice at some point but over the years they'd worn away to rough boards and metal so rusty it was a tetanus shot waiting to happen. Beki motioned for Neji to sit down on the dirt with her. He resisted but she plopped down and tugged on his arm until he gave up. Neji sat down on the dirt beside her with his arms folded. Beki sat quietly with him for a while to let him calm down.

"So are you going to tell me why you're so put off?" Beki picked at a dandelion.

"Let's just say I'm not happy about being in the Cloud Village," Neji said evasively.

"You're going to have to do better than that," Beki put a hand on his arm. "I'll keep it between us. Cross my heart."

"When I was four and Hinata was three, the head ninja of Kumogakure tried to kidnap Hinata," Neji explained. "Hiashi caught him and killed him. Kumogakure demanded Hiashi's body be turned over to them. They did all this because they wanted the Byakugan. Rather than give them Hiashi's body and essentially what they wanted, access to the Byakugan, Hiashi's twin brother, Hizashi, allowed himself to be killed and sent over instead."

"That's…that's harsh," Beki stared at the ground. "Like, holy crap."

"Hizashi…He was my father," Neji clenched his fists. "Konoha and Kumogakure were at war at the time. The head ninja was supposedly there for a peace treaty but it was just a farce."

"So you feel like your dad died for nothing?" Beki asked.

"No," Neji shook his head. "My father died for his brother and for the clan. He did it willingly. He did all of it for the right reasons." Neji closed his eyes. "But what led to his death, the Kumogakure ninja's treachery, the fact that they tried to kidnap a three year old girl and then got all offended and demanded a pound of flesh-"

"You're upset," Beki hugged her knees. "And completely understandably so. Now we're here, in the village that was behind the reason your dad died when you were so young, and it's forcing all this to the surface."

Neji shook his head and shuffled uncomfortably on the dirt. "You boil it all down to sound so simple."

"I get it, Neji," Beki looked over at him. "Orochimaru killed my mom because of our kekke genkai. He was trying to kidnap me. I grew up afraid for most of my life that one day I would walk into my room and he would be there, hiding in my closet or under my bed to snatch me up and take me away like he did my mom."

"I'm not afraid, Beki, not for myself anyway. Do you know why they sent Hizashi instead of Hiashi?" Neji lifted up his headband so she could see his seal. "You've been with our family long enough I can let you in on a secret. The branch family members are sealed. When we die, the Byakugan is destroyed." He let his headband drop again. "If I get taken, it is no matter. I will gladly die for my village and for my clan. But Hinata's here…"

"Let me take a guess: she doesn't know anything about this whole cover-up?" Beki asked.

Neji shook his head. "No. The Hyuga Affair is only known to high ranking officials in Konoha and the members of the family that were old enough to have been involved when it happened. I myself didn't find out about it until I was fourteen."

"Well," Beki put an arm around him. "Between you and me, any asshole who thinks he can mess with Hinata is gonna have a bad day. Kenji Hidiki tried to hurt Hinata on my watch and look what happened to him."

Neji sighed and leaned into her a little. "I suppose if I can trust her safety to anyone else, it's you."

"Speaking of which, we should get back," Beki clapped his back and stood. "Can't leave the Hyuga Princess unattended if we're her sentinels."

Neji sighed. "Thank you Beki. Can we keep all this between us? All of it?"

Beki blinked at him and then smiled. "Duh, dude. You've got enough blackmail on me at this point I pretty much have to just do what you say. On that note, let's get going."

As they walked back to the hotel, Neji felt strangely relieved. All he had done was talk to Beki. She had given him no precious wisdom, no poetic words of consolation; she had just listened. He had been able to share with her his most painful secret and she had accepted it all unquestioningly. Now that she was aware of what was going on it made Neji feel less alone. If he was having a rough time, or if he thought Hinata was in danger, all he would have to do was let her know and she would support him. Out of nowhere, Beki looped an arm of his shoulder and pulled, almost knocking him off balance.

"Get out of your head, worrywart," Beki grinned. "You're gonna have wrinkles at twenty at the rate you're going."

She kept her arm around him the rest of the way back, occasionally throwing her weight or pulling on him to try to set off his balance. She almost succeeded in a few of her attempts, forcing Neji to put an arm over her shoulder to stabilize himself. Admittedly, it successfully kept Neji from stewing on the whole situation. As the approached the entrance, they saw A small group standing outside the hotel. One of them, a shinobi about their age, spotted them first and his face instantly twisted into one of anger. He was average height, medium build, wearing a uniform similar to the one Beki's father had given her but in dark blue and with no crest on the back. He had brown hair and brown eyes under eyebrows thick enough to give Lee a run for his money.

"Hey asshole, what do you think you're doing?" The young man stalked over to them.

Beki rolled her eyes. "Daiske, this is my friend, Neji. Neji, meet Daiske."

Neji looked at Beki. "Is he one of your teammates?"

"The Getsu headband didn't give it away?" Beki knocked on her own forehead. Neji realized it was strange seeing Beki in full shinobi gear. She was usually in clothes that could just have easily been used as sleepwear. Here she was, with a headband, a kunai bag, and garments that might actually provide some protection in a fight. As he took his arm off her shoulder he noticed she was even wearing some padding.

"Are you wearing decorative shoulder pads?" Neji asked, and with the look of embarrassment that flew across her face he burst out laughing.

"They make me look tougher!" Beki socked him in the arm. "I don't make fun of your mermaid tail!"

"My what?" Neji blinked in confusion as she pointed at his hair.

"Any siren would kill for locks like this!" Beki grabbed a hunk and shook it. "It's f*cking beautiful!"

"Did…did you two just forget I was here?" Daiske grumbled. "Hey. HELLO. Sasaki Daiske. Team Honey." He held out his hand.

"Hyuga Neji," Neji shook his hand.

"Sorry about Daiske," Beki sighed. "He can't decide if he's our big brother or if he's in love with us."

"Us?" Neji looked over at the group as Beki waved one of them over. A child skipped over from the group and jumped up to hug Beki.

"Beki! I missed you so much!" The girl nuzzled into her neck. Neji knew Beki was an only child and the girl didn't look like she was related to Daiske. She had short cropped black hair and skin paler than Beki's. When the girl finally let go of Beki she turned her attention on Neji and he realized she was their age. The girl's eyes grew wide and she backhanded Beki's stomach. "Beks, is this your boyfriend?"

"No, Ren, this is one of my friends, Neji. I live with his cousin, Hinata."

Ren punched Neji's chest with the force of a toddler. "Good job keeping her out of trouble. I know what a fulltime job that can be."

"So where the hell is Kobayashi sensei?" Beki looked at her teammates.

"His wife just had a baby," Daiske folded his arms. "He's on paternity leave."

"Your uncle came along with us in his place. He's at the hotel bar or something." Ren waved dismissively.

"I'll go find him. You all get friendly," Beki gestured to the whole group. "We're gonna be together for a couple of months, so…yeah."

"Beki, wait up," Daiske chased after her as she walked in the hotel doors. "I haven't seen you for a year!"

Ren watched them go and turned her attention on Neji. "So why aren't you her boyfriend?"

Neji gave her an odd look. "Excuse me?"

Ren rolled her eyes. "I saw how you were looking at her," Ren scooched up close. "And she's single. PAINFULLY single. I tell you what, you're a hell of a lot better looking than a lot of the boys in Getsu, and based on the fact that of the girls you all brought with you from Konoha, your cousin is the hottest, I'd have to say you two are pretty evenly matched in that regard. You're taller than her, stronger than her, which," Ren laughed. "I can tell you she's beat up about seventy-five percent of the boys we grew up with, so that puts you in her league,"

Neji had started moving slowly towards the rest of the group. He was completely blindsided with the forwardness of this strange woman-child. While she was distracted with her tangent, Neji planted himself behind his teammates. When Tenten shot him a questioning look, he whispered "Hide me." Ren finally stopped talking after another minute and noticed he had snuck off. She searched until she made eye contact and then gestured "I'm watching you" and quietly joined the rest of the group.

As they finished making introductions, Beki and Daiske came running back out of the hotel. Beki unceremoniously pushed herself into the center of the group and popped a squat.

"Bek," Hinata blinked. "Beki, what are you doing?"

Daiske had put his arm around Lee and his other arm around Shino, bringing them together to block the door's view of Beki.

"When they said that they stationed the Getsu ninja here with the Konoha ninja, they didn't mention that they put ALL the Getsu ninja here," Beki hissed. "Team Hunter is here!"

"Team Hunter?!" Ren froze. "Shit. Shit shit shit!" She crawled into the huddle with Beki.

"Who's Team Hunter?" Kiba asked.

"That would be us," A female voice purred.