Chapter II: The Visitors
A/N: chapters will come more slowly as I am back at school and getting my butt kicked by physics. I haven't forgotten about here, just haven't got the same time I did during the summer. :)
Shoving some of the notes he'd found on the floor into a pocket, Neji stooped to pick up a little card that was partially tucked under a stack of books. In Kakashi's strangely neat hand, it said:
The Little Aprocrypha, Yume K.
Slipping that into the pocket with the notes, Neji combed the room again and found a jutsu-recorder tucked up inside the closet, which was flung open as though someone had burst forth out of it. It was a device with a jutsu on it that, when activated, recorded everything said in the room. Tucking this into another pocket, Neji looked around the room furtively before opening the door and going out into the hallway, lit through the windows by that same lurid golden glow.
As he turned a corner, Neji suddenly stopped, and pressed back against the wall behind him, because coming toward him was a tall, pale, dark-haired man. Orange goggles dangled around his neck, and a Leaf hitae-ate was tied around his forehead, pushing his spiky black hair up out of his eyes. There was a scar running over one eye, closed and useless. The other eye was the dark blue-black that he'd grown to know so very well.
This man is an Uchiha, Neji thought, as he tried to melt into the wall—although it appeared that the man was paying him no heed at all. But the roster listed no Uchiha—it couldn't, anyway, there's only-- he stopped, swallowing hard.
Whoever this man is, he's already dead.
The Uchiha's shoes made no sound on the floor as he walked, head held high and back straight, weight balanced forward. A true shinobi then, as expected of an Uchiha. He kept coming toward Neji, and then turned toward the bedrooms. Wide-eyed, Neji watched as he walked to Kakashi's room and opened the door. For a moment he seemed limned in golden light, as he walked into the room and shut the door.
Neji remained frozen for a few minutes, heart pounding in his chest. He wasn't familiar with the Uchiha clan, beyond knowing they were very distantly related to the Hyuuga clan, and that Itachi had murdered them all. Either way, as he calmed his shaking while he walked back to meet up with Anko, it most certainly had not been a ghost, because Hyuuga Neji simply did not believe in ghosts.
The Hyuuga were very spiritual, highly superstitious—as evidenced by their extensive catacombs under the compound and their elaborate ceremonies on high feast days. Their earliest ancestors attributed their abilities to a divine birthright and even as science evolved and pulled apart the cytosines, thymines, guanines, and adenines that caused the Byakugan, and could even pinpoint certain areas that told when the Hyuuga line had developed and branched off from the rest of the shinobi race, the clan remained attached to its rituals. Neji hated it; the rituals were designed to flaunt the perfection of the main family and used to justify the subjugation of the branch family, something that had angered him for many years. Naruto's influence had mellowed it some after the invasion of Konoha, as had Hinata's succession to the head of the family, but it still aggravated him every year. He was made to wear more demure robes and avert his eyes on these days. Nevertheless, all this ritual had seeped into his mind, and he was thoroughly of the belief that ghosts simply did not exist.
But what other explanation is there? He wondered, and fingered the recording in his pocket. Perhaps this will have answers. I shall have to listen to it tonight.
Stepping over the pile of debris from the door, Neji found Anko sitting in the same chair she had been when he'd arrived, hungrily devouring prepared field rations. She looked haggard, tanned skin paler than he remembered and stretched taut over her cheekbones. "Hungry?" she asked, looking up at him. "Have a seat."
Neji sat but didn't grab a field ration; the experience in the hallway had thoroughly unsettled him to the point of wondering if he could be able to keep food down at all. But he didn't let this on, preferring to sit and observe Anko, and think.
Perhaps he'd had it wrong, and that man wasn't an Uchiha; who, then, was he? He had certainly resembled every Uchiha Neji had known of or met. Who else could he be?
"Shizune is still in the lab, correct?" he asked. "I would like to ask her a few questions before taking a look around myself." Pulling off the light sweater he wore over his mesh armor, Neji pulled his hair back and tied it up; why was it so hot in here? He was sweating, but outside the sky was overcast.
"She is, and it's useless to try and talk to her because she won't come out for anything." Anko pushed some sticky rice around the little metal tray. "She is…otherwise occupied." Watching Neji, she asked, "What's wrong? You're pouring with sweat.
"It's hot in here," Neji mumbled, wondering if he should take off the mesh as well but deciding against it. He had felt naked enough taking his clothes off before for the shower, doing it again in a much more exposed place did not appeal to him. And since he was this jittery, having that extra protection would be a comfort…
"You saw someone, didn't you?"
Neji stopped, stared at her. "How did you know?"
"You have that same look the rest of us did after the first one came," she said. "That same look that says you're wondering if this a dream or not, or if you're crazy or not—but if you're crazy, you've been that way for a long time. You know what they say about geniuses…well, you'd know better than most, wouldn't you?" A lewd, snakelike smile curled across Anko's lips, and Neji was suddenly very uncomfortable again. "After all…"
"I don't want to talk about it," Neji snapped. "Those files are sealed."
Anko pushed up her sleeve. "ANBU, special jounin. I have access, should you ever become a threat to the security of the great and praised village of the Leaf. But," and she took another jab at the rice with her chopsticks, "S'not important here. You saw someone; who was it?"
"An Uchiha, I think. Not who you think," Neji said, cutting Anko off before she could crow something triumphant. She shrugged.
"They usually arrive when you're asleep, anyway," she mumbled, and made a 'go on' gesture with her chopsticks.
"Short black hair, one eye…"
"Oh, Kakashi's, then—Obito, I think his name was," Anko said. "Where did he go?"
"Into Kakashi's room. But he's not there anymore."
"No, he's not. We found him huddled in the closet, dead—he'd taken one of the panic pills." They shuddered together; the panic pills caused violent and painful deaths and were only to be used in the case of absolute emergency and utter loss of hope of rescue when in enemy territory.
"That's not like Kakashi-san, though," Neji said. "He would never have—"
"You don't understand," Anko said, laughing hollowly. "Here, anything is possible."
Neji thought of how he had looked around in the closet, and shuddered. "You found him this morning, you said?"
"Yes, his heart was still beating."
"And you didn't try resuscitation?"
"Shizune was locked in her lab already."
"Anko-san, we are all trained in methods of resuscitation—"
"Is this a fucking enquiry?" Anko shouted, and the look in her eye was enough for Neji to stop and back down. "You have no idea what's been going on here, so don't even try to understand us! Not until you've seen it too!" There was a moment of silence. Anko sat back down, and Neji cleared his throat. She continued, "Kakashi's body has been put in an impromptu cold storage in the basement until the effects of the panic pill are concluded. Once they are, we will burn his remains, as per regulations. I've drafted a post-mortem report you can send off to the Hokage with your contact report." She handed him a scroll, and Neji unrolled it, reading the characters easily.
"Suicide?"
"Yes, for various reasons. Depression…"
"He took a panic pill. That indicates either a severe threat on the integrity of the mission with far-reaching effects to the Leaf country, or he was paranoid, or he was—"
"Insane? You can't say that one anymore, Neji. You would have to take the pill yourself."
"The Hokage won't make that assumption. So why not just write the truth?"
"Do you think we would be believed?"
"No, but—"
"What's the point in trying? What can knowledge of these events do? Anko laughed hollowly. "But you're too young to think of that. Maybe another time yet."
"I want to speak to Shizune."
"You don't be able to get her to come out."
"Where did Uchiha Obito come from?"
"I don't know."
Neji snorted and turned on his heel, marching out of the room. Behind him, Anko said, "Don't you believe me? I don't know!" Her voice was wheedling, trying to get him to stop and listen, but he kept going right out the door.
Mulling things over on his way to the upstairs laboratory, Neji took a left after climbing the stairs and found a library, organized by author. The scrolls had been brought along by the team and were all on Tokiean studies, or some aspect of the local flora and fauna. Checking the appropriate spot, he found that The Little Apocrypha by Yume was missing from its spot. The table in the middle of the room was strewn with papers, just like every other surface in the house, and Neji rifled through these as well. He came across what looked like notes for a n experiment, blasting chakra at the lake, and read it over with a furrowed brow. What effect would chakra have on water except to manipulate it? Unless the water had chakra in it already, which was absurd, because there was no chakra in the waters of Toki. Hoping to find some kind of clue, he pulled over a volume of history of the lake and opened it.
The first research expedition to the lake had been made of a consortium of the most powerful hidden villages; two from Leaf, two from Sand, one from Waterfall, one from Rain, one from Mist, one from Grass, one from Rock. Aside from some troubles when the team had gone out onto the lake—their communication equipment had failed earlier that morning, and after reports that one of the boats had capsized, a thick fog descended on the entire area and the search had to be called off. The boat and one of the two nin that had been in it drifted back later that afternoon, the occupant shaking and incoherent.
He was Yume Kakyou, from Mist, and there was absolutely no reason why he would be so scared of fog. Mist-nin controlled it, lived in it, were one with it. But he had been terrified. But when he'd been pulled from the boat after it had washed up on shore, he'd run around like a madman, babbling, and it had taken a judicious application of medical ninjutsu to keep him calm enough and knock him out. He slept for three days and was calm and composed upon awakening, but when he was returned to Mist he was kept under watch for fear he would hurt himself.
More than a little disturbed, Neji put the volume away and went out of the library, going back the opposite direction toward a tightly shut door. When he tried it, it was locked. "Shizune-san?" he called. There was no answer.
"Shizune-san, it is Hyuuga Neji." He heard rustling from inside, as though someone was pulling on clothes hastily or like someone was being tucked in to bed. "Shizune-san, are you going to open this door, yes or no?"
More of the rustling, and then a clatter of metal against metal, like instruments hastily being shoved away. Growing more annoyed every minute, Neji shouted, "Shizune-san, I have broken an explicitly stated rule on my record and traveled a week out of Fire Country to be here! I will break down this door if I need to—you know my abilities as a Hyuuga!"
A last burst of the rustling, and then a thin voice called out, "What do you want?" It was too high and shrill to come from Shizune, he was sure.
"I want to talk!" Neji shouted.
A moment later, Shizune appeared against the door and leaned against it. Her hair was in disarray, as were her clothes; it looked like she'd hastily pulled on the blue robe she was wearing, because it was rumpled and the obi was too loose. "Hurry up," she snapped.
Neji was taken aback; this was nothing like the Shizune he was familiar with. "I'd like to know about Kakashi-san's death," he said, much more meek than he'd planned to be.
"You probably got it from Anko," she said. "Why are you bothering me?"
"Were you the one to find her?"
"Read her report."
"What is Kiba's position and the call number for his radio? I'd like to call him back into talk to him."
"Neji, you're well-intentioned, but you're harassing a senior shinobi. I'll have to file a—"
"—Complaint?" Neji snapped. "Who are you going to complain to? Have you gone mad?" He kept going, railing against the older woman for who know how long, venting his frustrations on her. She remained still, surprisingly, pressed back against the door. When he paused for breath, he realized she was pouring with sweat.
"Go away, please, just go," she moaned, and Neji suddenly noticed the door was rattling, shuddering as though it was being struck by some immensely strong force.
"What's going on?" Neji demanded.
"I'll tell you later—please just go!" And with that she disappeared, just as the door was shoved open. Neji leapt back and looked up just in time to see a bright glint, as though off of glass. Then the door slammed shut, and he heard the terrifying sound of a man's laugh.
Mind reeling, Neji fled back to the library and its comforting ambiance, running to the back of the room where all the expedition's equipment was stored. Rummaging through the desk it was laid out on, he pulled out several pieces of paper.
An adult shinobi's chakra system pulsed at a rate that was contingent on clan, sex, age, and weight. Pulling out a slim volume, Neji looked up the rate of pulses for a Hyuuga male, and got to work. He ignored the pulse sensor on the desk. If he were mad, hallucinating, or dreaming, the numbers would not correlate when he let the sensor measure his chakra pulse. For almost an hour he worked the equations, taking his time. Not since he'd tested for jounin had he done mathematics this complex.
Finally, trembling, he pressed his palm against the sensor of the device, letting it feel his chakra system. The sensor beeped, and the reading popped up.
As he'd dreaded, they were exactly the same. He was not mad, or hallucinating. With that last refuge's hope extinguished, Neji went back downstairs, pushing hair out of his eyes in a tired, sad way.
Just where am I? he wondered. Going back to his room, he hesitated before he simply turned the lock. There wasn't any point in barricading the door. Stripping down, he crawled into the bed and was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
Hinata shivered, and Sasuke automatically tensed beside her. It was a posh assignment, guarding someone who could kill with a touch. But over the week since Neji had been gone, their job had been more as confidantes than guardians. And to that end, Sasuke though, Naruto was far superior.
Even now, he leaned over and whispered to Hinata as the Elder kept talking. She smiled and sat up straighter, and Naruto smiled too. Perhaps it was better that it was the blond as well. Given Neji's history, Sasuke could be trusted to remain neutral. Of course, Sasuke's most impressionable years had been spent in the company of a man almost everyone saw as a monster, including Hinata. Her compassionate streak did not extend to Orochimaru.
When the meeting concluded, Sasuke hung back and glared round at the Elders as they left the room. They weren't pleased, to have one of the cursed bloodline in the walls of their home. That was why, when Neji had been caught, they had been so livid.
Catching up with Naruto and Hinata, he found them laughing together. "Shut up," he grumbled, rubbing at his seal. "How you got into ANBU—"
"Same way you did!" Naruto grinned, and Hinata flushed a pretty pink about her steel-grey kimono.
"It is nearly the third hour after noon," she said softly. "Would you two like some tea?"
"You and Naruto go on," Sasuke said. "I'll go patrol." He leaped off before they could protest.
Being among the harsh, traditionalist Hyuuga reminded him painfully of his years in Sound, and again his mind bent to Orochimaru. Even all these years later, even with the old snake all but dead and all his followers murdered, Sasuke's skin still crawled at the thought of them, pale hands (doctor's hands) on his skin and gold eyes (black eyes) watching him so carefully.
The seal throbbed slowly, and in the very darkest recesses of his mind, Sasuke thought he felt the snake stir. Holding very still, he closed his eyes and focused on keeping the barriers up, mental walls of stone and seal and chakra. And slowly, slowly, he relaxed, letting his breath out in a sigh past pink lips. Sometimes he envied Naruto for being able to almost commune with the fox. They were one more than he and the entity that lived within his head would ever be one.
That night, as Naruto was preparing to take the night watch, Sasuke said, "You should ask her hand. She's clan head now, she doesn't have anyone but the Elders to answer to and she can easily sway them."
"Nah. She doesn—"
"Naruto, if you say she doesn't like you, then you're more idiotic than I thought." Sasuke took off his shoes, set a kunai under his pillow and his sword by the side of the futon, and went to sleep before Naruto could protest.