Special thanks to everyone who reviewed, and I hope you guys are enjoying this story!
I'm enjoying writing it, but I definitely don't think it's one of my better works. It just seems so…dis-spirited..O.o? Is that even a word? And I'm not too happy with the scene below…but, whatever, I won't hold y'all up anymore. Enjoy!
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The midnight sky was overcast. Thick, dark clouds blocked out the moon's light and snuffed the twinkling stars. A light snow blanketed the village, heralding the coming winter. The pure whiteness lightened the darkness, making everything cast in shades of grey instead of black. But with no light, it was hard to see, even for well trained shinobi. And it was cold.
The perfect night for murder. Ten-ten shifted on her perch, the branch not even creaking from her careful distribution of her weight as she stared at the massive wall surrounding the Hyuga compound. Soon, it would be time for the changing of the sentries; time for her to make her move.
Hinata hadn't visited Neji for two weeks; two weeks ago, he'd woken up. He was groggy and weak, but still able to be taken home. At dawn, he would be given the poison. She knew Neji would fight, but without his Byakugan, he had no hope against the entire clan.
Ten-ten tightened her grip on her sharp, metal shurikens held between her fingers, ready to be launched. This was not murder. This was tenchu; justice from heaven. She was not like Itachi at all. She wasn't slaughtering the entire clan; only those who stood in her way. And she was only doing so because they were going to kill Neji, who had done no wrong except be born into the cadet branch. If the hokage and the others wouldn't interfere, then she would. She would be the blade of justice.
The guards scanned around them once more with their Byakugan, checking for intruders. Ten-ten leapt swiftly, silently, always two leaps ahead of their roving gaze. No other shinobi could do it, but she'd trained with Neji for so long, she knew how the Byakugan worked. Satisfied, the guards walked away from the wall, retiring for the night.
She launched her shurikens; four bodies, those of the old guards and the new, fell silently. Not dead, just wounded enough that they won't be doing anything for a while. The morning relief would find them. She hurled over the branches, pushing more chakra into her feet, giving her enough power to leap over the wall.
Kunais and shurikens hailed her arrival into the court yard. They thunked loudly into poles and stone, and thudded dully when metal met flesh. Hinata had given Ten-ten a layout of the compound; she knew exactly where she was going. She flew through the main complex, where the Hyugas trained and held formal meetings, into the side corridors, where the Hyuga elders and main branch members lived.
The closer she got, the tighter the security became. The sentries posed little to no problem for her. Hinata had drugged the food, not enough to arouse suspicion; just enough to make sure everyone's movements were slow and sluggish. Showers of kunais and shurikens preceded her, thunking into everything and leaving a mess behind her as she sped along.
The thumping of the throwing stars as they hit their targets alerted the guards ahead of them, and the few Hyuga main branch members still up at this late hour. But thanks to Hinata's drugs, they posed little threat to her. Until she rounded the last corner, kicked open the rice paper sliding door, and found Neji.
TBC…
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Oooohhh…nasty cliffy there! Sorry, I couldn't find a better place to cut off…