NOOOOOOOO!!! I have writer's block. Or, actually, I think I just have block. That's why it took forever to update.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, b/c if I did, Sasuke would be MINE!!! Oh… by the way, I saw the CUTEST thing yesterday. One of my friends had the shirt that Sasuke wears (the blue one with the Uchiha crest on it), but it was tiny and her water bottle was wearing it. Isn't that so CUTE?? Tell me it's cute!! Haha. Jk!
Many a thanks to my awesome reviewers!!! - Takky-san . tenten hyuuga . tenjichan . whitephoenix13 . Mina . Pure-Rose-Kunochi . Uzumaki Sharuto . Gabbyrella . xxX POISON Xxx
Chapter Twelve
Neji stumbled through the doors of Konoha Hospital, the unconscious Hinata on his back earning attention from all the nurses in the lobby. She was rushed into a room and medics were called on immediately to heal her.
As members of the staff pushed past him, Neji managed to make his way outside the room and found a seat just down the hall, where a row of chairs had been set up for visitors.
He plopped down in the first seat and sighed, then rested his elbows on his knees, back bent, head down.
The throbbing in his head had disappeared, although he was unaware of when it had gone away. All he knew was that he felt somewhat better than before, although he was still very tired.
It was late evening now, and he missed his bed more than anything. He mentally ran through everything that had happened in the past few hours and decided that, for the most part, he'd completed his mission.
But, as the squad leader, and as a member of the branch family, he knew he still had a few responsibilities to take care of.
His first step was to find Kiba, who Neji hoped had made his way back safely.
The hallway around the corner was bare, and as Neji walked along the corridor, his footsteps echoed slightly off of the whitened floor and walls.
With the help of a directory, it didn't take Neji too long to find Kiba's room. He stood in front of the door, fingers resting upon the handle, but refused to move any further.
There were low whispers coming from the room, two female voices, and Neji wondered vaguely if this was really the right room.
A second later, the yapping of Akamaru confirmed that he was right and Neji reached up to knock.
As the door opened, Neji realized that the two female voices he'd heard belonged to Kiba's mother and sister, who had simply dropped by for a visit.
"Uh- I-Just checking to make sure you're in good condition", Neji lowered his head slightly into a nod, then turned to leave. He didn't want to intrude on whatever family reunion they were having.
"Wait! What about Hinata?" Kiba's voice sounded surprisingly strong and demanding.
"She's been brought back. She's under the care of our medics", Neji replied.
"So she's safe", Kiba repeated, as if he wanted to make sure he'd heard it right the first time.
"Yes"
"Heh. What about the other two? Shikamaru and Ino?"
"I haven't seen them yet", Neji admitted. He now faced the door, back turned to Kiba, eager to lave the room. With an inward sigh, he added, "I'm going to find them right now".
There was no reply, but a silent agreement hung between the two shinobi, and Neji walked out the door, feeling like some of the tension had left them. He wandered outside the hospital and towards the Hokage's tower, where he expected Shikamaru and Ino to be.
As he began his ascent up the long flight of stairs, he sensed a rushed presence just around the corner. Just a moment later, Neji found himself face to face with his uncle, followed by the Hokage and her assistant..
Neji's first instinct was to back away as Hiashi's towering form neared him. He'd thought they were on good terms again, but the repeated pain that Neji had felt in his head during their mission told him otherwise.
It seemed that no matter what, his duty to the head branch would continuously haunt him.
Neji's mouth was half opened, ready to demand why his uncle had used the curse seal on him during the mission, when Hiashi quickly motioned for Neji to follow them.
No one gave any explanations and Neji was, without a doubt, beyond confused as to what was happening. But really, it wasn't like he had a choice except to do what he was told.
He was led back to the very hospital he came from, and his face molded itself into a frown. What the heck was going on?
As they entered the doors of Konoha Hospital, the very same ones that he'd stumbled through not more than an hour ago, Neji felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Shikamaru and Ino.
They looked slightly scratched up, but it was nothing serious.
"What's going on?" Neji asked, motioning towards the three adults in front of him.
"We don't know either", Shikamaru replied.
"We only heard that they wanted to see you and Hinata", Ino shrugged.
"And it sounded pretty urgent", Shikamaru added.
Neji's frown grew even more and he quickly hurried away, trailing after the three adults as they paused at the check-in desk, then proceeded down the hallway towards the patients' rooms.
A million questions were running through his head, but Neji kept quiet. As much as he wanted to know what was happening, he found it unnecessary to ask so many questions. The way he saw it, things would soon explain themselves.
Tsunade led the group towards what Neji recognized as the room Hinata was in and he watched with a wrinkled brow as the medic pushed open the door, allowing Shizune and Hiashi to step in before her.
"Hurry, hurry", she ushered Neji inside as well before shutting the door behind her.
They were standing in a well-lit room, staring at the backs of three highly-trained medic-nin as they stood, hunched over the bed where Hinata was laying. She appeared to be in a stable condition as the medic's repeatedly drew a glowing green chakra in and out of her body, cleaning away the poison that laced her systems.
"She'll be fine", one of the medics turned and gave Tsunade a little nod.
A small silence fell upon the room. Neji watched Hiashi look at the girl lying on the bed, his eyes narrowed and strained. He was still waiting for an explanation from someone… anyone, but he knew better than to speak out.
Finally, when he was sure his daughter's condition would be stable, Hiashi turned to his young nephew and beckoned him outside.
The old daimyo stepped outside his house, half leaning on his cane and half supported by his daughter. He watched as the three young shinobi from Konoha walked ahead of him, scanning the area immediately outside his home for any signs of danger.
"We are ready to go!" Lee announced, grinning widely.
"Yeah, c'mon", Sakura smiled at the daimyo as his daughter led him to the gate.
"You'll be fine, father", she smiled and handed the old man over, "thank you".
The daimyo set off with his three shinobi guards down the path that led away from his large mansion and towards the forest that led to Konoha.
They traveled at a relaxing pace, able to enjoy the fresh forest air without needing to worry too much about any danger. Since the group was traveling with someone who had a relatively low profile, they didn't seem to worry too much about what could happen.
"So, who exactly are you meeting with?" Sakura asked cheerfully, hoping to make some light conversation.
The daimyo proceeded to talk about the people he would be meeting with and explained in great detail the business they would be going over. It was simple conversation, just something to pass the time as they shuffled along the forest floor.
When they reached the halfway mark to Konoha, Tenten proposed that the group stop and have a rest. Sakura took the opportunity to suggest a food break as well and Lee enthusiastically agreed.
They sat under a large tree, retrieving food from their packs and eating it, while the shinobi took turns scouting the area. When it was Tenten's turn, she wandered through a part of the woods that led away from both Konoha and where the daimyo lived.
As she moved through the trees, enjoying the simplicity of just whizzing by each branch, a sudden feeling in the air stopped her. There was someone there- no… more than just one someone. And for some reason, one of the presences felt strangely familiar.
Tenten quickly retreated to their resting site and whispered her discoveries to Sakura, who looked at her questioningly, then decided it would be a good idea for them to check out who the presences belonged to.
"We'll be right back", Sakura grinned cheerfully. As she and Tenten passed by Lee on their way, she hissed quietly, "Lee! Get him to safety, fast".
The two kunoichi sped through the trees, Tenten leading the way while Sakura occasionally glanced back to see what Lee had done. Judging from the chakra that she sensed, Sakura guessed that Lee and the daimyo had begun moving already, and at a rapid pace.
Tenten stopped a bit away from where she'd felt the presences and Sakura concentrated until she could fell two shinobi standing on the opposite side of a cluster of trees.
"There's only two of them, and they're injured", Sakura whispered. Tenten nodded and the two girls slowly made their way closer, concealing themselves cleverly amongst the shrubbery.
When the two unknown presences came into view, Tenten immediately recognized one of them as the female kunoichi who had attacked Hinata and her during the Chunnin exams. This was the mission Neji was sent on! Where was he?
Her heart sped up and began to beat in excitement. She was so close… so close… but was Neji still here? No, he had to be. She assured herself that he would never leave a job undone.
So where was he?
"Tenten, c'mon!" Sakura rapidly motioned for her teammate to come closer and Tenten obeyed, creeping near the other girl as she peered through the leaves. From their hidden spot, she could see two spider-like shinobi struggling to walk. They seemed to be heavily injured and talking in low tones as they trudged through the forest, heading in a direction away from Konoha.
Well, at least that meant they weren't on their way to attack someone.
Sakura and Tenten followed the pair quietly, listening in closely on their conversation. They could only catch certain words, but it was enough for them to figure out parts of what had happened.
Upon hearing the words "Hyuuga Neji" and "massive explosives", Tenten froze in her spot. The paranoia that had plagued her before the Chunnin exams had returned and she feared for Neji. Her heart sped up and she could feel it pulsating throughout her chest.
Her senses told her that the enemy was still alive, her teammates were not in sight, and that something about an explosive had taken place. Her mind could only conclude that something bad had happened to Neji and almost immediately, Tenten felt a rush of horrifying images cross her mind.
Sakura grabbed her teammate tightly by the shoulder and shook her, bringing her back to the present. "We don't know anything for sure yet", she warned.
Tenten nodded and swallowed hard, but the thudding of her heart had neither slowed nor quieted down.
They continued to trail after the enemy, catching more of their conversation. When Sakura was sure that Neji's team had all returned to Konoha safely and accomplished their mission, she realized that whatever they'd used in an attempt to defeat the enemy had failed.
These two were still alive.
"Tenten, you understand what we have to do, don't you?" Sakura looked over at her teammate. Tenten nodded. She, too, understood that the only reason these two shinobi were still alive was that Neji and his team had failed to kill them.
"I know it's not part of our mission, but we have no choice", Tenten agreed.
The two girls poised themselves upon the trees, then prepared to attack.
Neji and Hiashi had stepped into the empty hallway, where their conversation was safe from prying ears. They stood, facing each other, both with his back against a wall.
The glare in Neji's eyes had yet to fade and Hiashi knew that at the moment, the boy held much hatred for him. But, that was exactly why he had something to explain.
"Neji, I'm sure you've felt the effects of the curse seal during your mission", Hiashi began slowly.
His nephew nodded, the anger in his eyes refusing to leave.
"I only discovered today", Hiashi paused to take a breath, "that an elder of the main branch has been performing the seals without my knowledge. I had no intention of harming you in any way".
Neji's eyes narrowed at the newly acquired information and he immediately began to mentally list the names of people who had the ability to perform that certain seals. There were actaully quite a few elders in the Hyuuga household.
"When I learned of this, I immediately went to the Hokage. Coincidentally, she had just received news that you and Hinata had arrived at the hospital, so we came here right away". Hiashi's eyes looked sad and Neji could understand the guilt his uncle now held within him.
"I just wanted to let you know", Hiashi finished speaking and returned to the hospital room, leaving Neji by himself in the empty corridor. He sighed and leaned heavily against the wall, allowing his head to droop and his hair to fall in front of him.
So, that's what had happened?
He meant you no harm. It was just a misunderstanding. Neji had to admit that he felt somewhat better… almost a feeling of relief, in fact, that Hiashi had not been the one to execute the curse upon him. It certainly made things a lot easier to deal with.
As for the elder who did perform the seals… well, let's just say that Neji didn't want to deal with that at the moment. Or, at all, actually. It was rather difficult to speak out against the elders in the Hyuuga Clan and Neji really didn't need more stress at the moment.
He waited for a few more minutes, then left his spot and headed for the door, lifting his hand to knock and wait for entrance. But, from down the hall, two voices stopped him and Neji turned to see Shikamaru and Ino walking towards him with rather quick footsteps.
"What did we miss?" Ino asked.
Neji attempted to fill them in on everything, explaining that Hinata's condition was stabilized and Kiba and Akamaru were safely resting in a hospital room nearby. He checked again to make sure they were unharmed as well, then declared that the mission had been accomplished.
Ino cheered and set off to find Kiba and Akamaru, while Shikamaru lingered behind, waiting for an opportunity to speak with Neji.
"Something's been bothering me", Shikamaru began, tugging at his collar, "it's troublesome, but it's necessary".
Neji looked at him seriously, waiting for more of the explanation.
"The explosives", Shikamaru stated.
Neji nodded.
"How can we be sure all the enemies are gone?"
"I had the same feeling", Neji agreed, heaving a small sigh. He had mentally run through the plan several times and the one thing that bothered him, the same thing that bothered Shikamaru, was that there was a possibility that the explosives wouldn't be enough.
"We succeeded in hindering the enemy, but that's really all we did", Shikamaru added.
"Go back. We have to go back", Neji decided firmly.
"But, isn't the mission over?"
"They might not know about it, but we know it hasn't been completed".
"So, when are we leaving?" Shikamaru finally asked.
"Now. Just us".
"Right. There's no need to worry the others".
The agreement was settled between them, and, without breathing another word, both shinobi tore out of the hospital and back into the forest.
As she stumbled through the forest, clutching a bleeding arm, Leiko faintly sensed two shinobi presences surrounding her and her companion.
"Don't stop walking, but listen to me", she suddenly dropped her voice, turning slightly to look at the shinobi walking beside her. He, too, was grabbing tightly at an injury near his shoulder, trying to lessen the blood loss.
"What is it?" came the reply.
"There are two shinobi, hidden, watching us", Leiko replied quietly.
"Then-"
"Sh! Keep moving and follow my lead", Leiko decided. As always, her mind was working, planning out the steps ahead of them.
She suddenly plunged to the ground, releasing a fake cry and clutching her wound even tighter. With her head turned towards the two shinobi who were hidden, she began talking about poison, thus explaining why she'd suddenly collapsed.
Her companion did the same, moaning about his shoulder and poison. Leiko snuck a peak at the trees behind them and caught sight of a flash of pink. It had only been there for a fraction of a second, and she could very well have imagined it, but the small bit of optimism in her mind told her their plan was working.
They continued to act weak, slowly struggling to inch forward, while carefully keeping track of where the two shinobi were as well.
The flash of pink appeared again, this time, followed by a shinobi who Leiko could clearly see had brown hair, tied up in two buns.
"They're coming", she whispered. Her companion nodded and slipped out a kunai. It was time.
Tenten and Sakura leapt out from among the trees, a line of shuriken advancing towards the enemy before them. The metallic weapons were easily deflected and Tenten's sharp senses and experience with weapons told her that the two enemies were in a better condition than they seemed.
"They tricked us!" she said to Sakura, "the way they deflected those shuriken… they had a lot more energy than it seemed!"
"It doesn't matter", Sakura replied, "we can still do this".
The two enemies drew out more kunai and aimed at the two girls, who deflected them and jumped back at the same time. As one of the foreign kunai landed beside her, embedded in a tree, Tenten noticed the strange coloring of the weapon.
Rather than the dull colors of the weapons often found in Konoha, this kunai was a golden color, brilliantly reflecting the light.
"There's chakra in these!" Sakura called out. One of the golden kunais had found its way into her arm and Sakura, with what knowledge of chakra she had, could tell there was foreign chakra that was now embedded in her skin.
They continued to fight with long-range tactics, neither side willing to get too close. On Leiko's side, she and her companion were mostly worried about their own injuries and knew that engaging in a short-distance fight was too much of a risk. For Tenten and Sakura, they simply couldn't get closer.
The enemy had surprised them and they'd walked right into the trap.
As the time dragged on, both kunoichi found that their chakra reserves were slowly being drained. While Sakura could fall back on her extreme ability to control and conserve chakra, Tenten had a hard time keeping up. She had a tendency give it her all, and in this case, that was her weakness.
Sakura caught the signs in her teammate's movements that told her she was slowly weakening and a string of cuss words ran through her head. They'd made a mistake. They'd both misjudged the circumstances and now, to put it bluntly, they were screwed.
As Tenten found her back being shoved into a tree, her vision slightly clouded, she heard the clanging of metal surround her. Sakura was definitely putting up a better fight than she.
The floor erupted from underneath her and Tenten, without having to look, could tell that Sakura had sent one of her chakra filled punches straight into the ground, causing a long crack to separate the floor they were standing on into two halves.
C'mon, keep going, a tiny voice urged in her head. Tenten groaned and pushed herself off the tree, shooting forward while grabbing two scrolls tucked away in her pocket. She was focused only on the male enemy and had lost track of Leiko. Thus, Tenten was unaware of a lurking shadow behind her, followed by several pairs of arms and a bloody body pinning her to the ground.
She had enough of her vision to see Leiko bent over her, a large, golden weapon of some sort slowly forming from her mouth. When it was completed and raised high above her head, Leiko smirked, "I remember you. You're from Konoha".
The pointed end came flying down towards her. Tenten heard Sakura's frantic voice in the background, then closed her eyes.
HAHA! As I was proofreading this chapter, I noticed that "Sakura" and "chakra" rhyme! ok, that was lame, I know... go review!!