Chapter 6: Revelation
Pain seared through him like nothing he had felt before. It burned his core like fire then tore into him like ice. The fear that it would kill him soon was strong and very real. Neji had never been forced to face the horror that was the pain of the cursed mark but now; by the hands of the head of the family he faced the cold sweat of death.
As sharply as it had begun it ceased and the dark voice of his uncle creped forth into his head. "Not only did you break your vow to defend the head family by attacking my daughter you even failed to prevent her escape." Neji slowly opened his eyes to the blurred vision of the room as Hiashi turned to face him "when was it you became so pathetic Neji? Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I Love you"
Hinata's words echoed around the empty cabin. It was the third time she had spoken those words without stammering and was still preparing herself for when Naruto returned from his travel into town for supplies. She had decided that it was time, her world was collapsing around her and the only support left was Naruto. If she couldn't tell him now it would be never.
Hinata lent back where she was sat on the floor and rested her back on the wall, her eyes drifted closed as her mind shifted to thoughts of Naruto. Inside her head she played over a thousand different ways the coming event could go, the happy, the sad, the fearful, the uncomfortable, the pleasurable and the painful. She longed for him to return to her but feared it all the same. Her eyes opened as her gaze drifted out the window to the clear skies through the canopy "where are you Naruto?"
Neji rose to his feet, his head bowed, and awaited instructions. Hiashi stared daggers at him for a moment before speaking "Your orders are to head out with the rest of the Hyuuga family and find my Hinata and her suspected 'abductor'. Don't let anyone know anything about the events of her escape the last thing we need is for you to screw it all up again." Hiashi paused briefly before continuing, his voice sharp and snakelike as he bit at the facts he spat like venom "As of noon yesterday Hinata Hyuuga is of the Branch family. You are no longer bound to nor expected to protect her. Understood?"
Neji understood all too well. Bringing her back was priority #1 her safety and even life came second to that. She was of the branch now, she was expected no special treatment. Neji bowed in acknowledgement and left the room through the sliding doors. Once he was alone outside he let the anger of the event flood into him, his muscles tightened, his teeth clenched to near breaking, his fists drawn so tight into fists that his nails split the skin of his palms "I will find you Hinata Hyuuga of the Branch Family, even if it costs me my life."
The sun sat behind the Hokage monument sitting like a halo above the head of the Third, down on the dusty paths below Naruto walked blindly as he stared at the list in his hand his thoughts drifted as he read each Item in his mind 'Bread… easy enough, milk, water… why do we need water there's a stream nearby? Bah best get it anyway, what else, what else?' His thoughts continued on this running tangent till the thought arose 'how much money do I actually have?' this was the point that Naruto realised his wallet was at home.
Naruto span on his heals and headed back the way he came so as to head to his apartment so he could see what he could pick up there as well. It was on his way back to his home that he noticed that the people he passed in the street stared at him in fearful ways, even more so than usual, it was as if he had just attacked someone and carried on his way. Naruto shrugged it off as people acting as usual and he was just a little more on edge, until he saw a small piece of paper pinned to a wall that bore the words 'Wanted' across the top, in the centre was a picture of Naruto and the text accompanying it read 'Wanted, any information that may lead to the capture of Uzumaki Naruto. Wanted for Assault, abduction of the Hyuuga heir and attempted murder of Hyuuga family members.'
Naruto snatched the poster off the wall and looked about in fear. He read the poster again and again as the weight of it sank in. Uzumaki Naruto was a wanted criminal. Naruto started to run towards his apartment but this only drew more attention from the people he passed, his eyes flicked from fearful faces to angry ones, he saw the posters pin up along every road and ally he passed through.
Neji watched carefully, with Byakugan active, for any sign of his target. It took only a few moments to spot the commotion of several people chasing the target. Uzumaki Naruto was running for his apartment as expected 'Idiot'. Neji breathed deep and waited for the perfect moment to engage his target, he made sure he could disable him with minimal effort and extract the information he would need. Naruto rounded the last corner before his apartment, it was now or never. Neji darted out of the tree where he had waited for so long and made ready to attack.
Naruto charged headlong into his apartment and pressed his back against the wall beside the doorway, his heart pounding in his through, sweat dripped from every pore after the sprint here. As soon as he had breath back in his lungs he began raiding his apartment for anything he could find that wasn't stale or useless. He grabbed his extra ninja tools from the cabinet where he kept them, before shoving as much food and water into his rucksack as possible. He heaved the bulging bag onto his back and headed out the door again.
Naruto charged on away from his apartment and took to the roofs as soon as he could, the bulky sack slowing his movements he continued on under the strain of his pack. After 15 minuets he could see the tree line ahead and darted onto the streets below, he rushed down alleys and side roads to try to loose any Ninja who had followed him so far before disappearing into the overgrowth of the forests.
Hinata's heart pounded in her chest as the time drew near that Naruto would return, she repeated the words over and over inside her head, it had been a few hours since he left and since that time her determination had only strengthened. Today was the day that Uzumaki Naruto would know that Hyuuga Hinata Loved him. She looked out the window once more again, staring into the forest around her when a flicker of Orange passed in the distance. Hinata moved to see if it was Naruto but it passed so quickly she thought she had imagined it. The dart of Orange flicked past again between the trees drawing closer, she rushed to the door and threw it open to greet him on his return.
He was running at speed towards her she began to call out to him "N..Naruto, I..I…-" her well rehearsed sentence was cut short as the blonde haired fireball of a boy ran into her tackling her to the ground inside the Cabin. Hinata lay on her back looking up into the crystal blue eyes of Naruto, she slowly raised her head from the floor moving closer to him with every passing moment, she closed her eyes and moved closer to him and just as she was about to feel his lips he heard him speak, the words however where not what she expected "There's a problem" He got up off the floor leaving Hinata rather disheartened by her leap of faith, Naruto helped her up before pulling the poster out of his pocket and presented it to Hinata.
"There after me now, we can't even get supplies from Konoha now." Hinata drew her arms close in shock of what she saw before her; Hinata began to attempt to comfort him "B…b…b..but" Before she could get a second word out Naruto cut in "At least I got some stuff before I had to escape" He placed the bag on the floor and unzipped it, he pulled 5 bottles of water out and then tipped out the rest of the bags contents… 78 packets of differing types of instant ramen. Hinata was about to pass comment but was interrupted by an unwelcome sound, the sound cut deep and made her blood run cold, her eyes widened as she turned to face the door where a figure stood in the now open doorway.