In an instant, Kurenai, Asuma and Kakashi had kunai in their hands and Gai was in a fighting stance. Shizune gasped; Tsunade and Anko stared. Anko was the first to move. Cautiously, she stepped toward the frightened and pained genin.

"Anko, no!" Asuma ordered, eyes never leaving the female genin. "We don't know what she might do with the seal ruling her mind!"

Anko glared back at him. "Shut up. You don't know what she's going through right now. I do."

Asuma growled. "You're different."

Ignoring him for the time being, Anko slowly walked forward and knelt next to Kyiara. Gently she touched the girls' shoulder comfortingly. Slowly, the black marks retreated from her skin. Once she was sure Kyiara was okay, Anko looked up at the others. "You're right, Asuma. We are different. Kyiara was given the curse seal and held against her will by Orochimaru. Before he left Konoha, I was his willing student. If anyone deserves your actions, it's me, not her."

Once Kyiara had the seal completely under her control, she opened her eyes; at once she saw Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma, weapons still in their hands and Gai in his fighting stance. She flinched, eyes flickering around the room, searching for a way out.

"Put down your weapons!" Tsunade snapped, angry at herself for not stopping them sooner. "She is a loyal Konoha ninja and doesn't deserve your suspicion."

Reluctantly, the did as they were told. Anko helped Kyiara to her feet. "May I see your seal, Kyiara-san?"

Fear-filled black eyes flicked over the still on-guard jounin and then over at Anko, searching her face for any sign of anger or hate. Seeing none, she lifted her hair off of her left shoulder, revealing the seal. Anko raised an eyebrow, head cocked. "He gave you a heaven seal, just like Uchiha Sasuke and mine."

Kyiara looked up at her, startled. Anko smiled at her crookedly. "Yes, I too have a curse seal. You probably know that Orochimaru was once from Konoha, right?" Kyiara nodded. "He was my sensei. He taught me different forbidden techniques and gave me this cursed seal that I hate." She looked over at the other jounin, then at Tsunade. "Who will teach her, now that she's back?"

"As I was trying to say earlier," Tsunade answered, "I was going to ask if those four" - she motioned to Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai and Asuma - "If one or more of them was willing to train Kyiara with their own students. But now I'm reconsidering my request." She looked over at Kyiara, who's face was an emotionless mask. "Kyiara, normally I'd have Genma take up teaching you again, but right now I need him for a special mission that will take him a few months to complete."

Kyiara nodded. "I understand, Hokage-sama." she eyed the jounin. "I also understand why none of you want to teach me, someone who is related to a traitor of the village. I would make that person a despised citizen of Konoha, just like whoever the sensei of Naruto must be. Though from what I've heard he's being trained by one of the Sannin instead of his true sensei. So I guess that person must be worrying more about where he stands with the villagers than training a genin who was entrusted to him or her." She looked back at Tsunade. "I am willing to do the best I can at training myself in everything, Hokage-sama. You don't need to worry about anything."

Tsunade took one last look at the jounin teachers before returning her attention back to Kyiara. "Very well, Kyiara. Maybe Anko can train you after she returns after her mission with these other idiots. It should only take two to three days at the most."

Only one of those she mentioned spoke up in apology. "Tsunade-sama," Kurenai said, "I apologize to both you and Kyiara. It was a reaction to seeing someone with a curse seal that was out of their control. I am more than willing to train Kyiara. Especially when I saw how well she got along with all three of them this morning."

Tsunade nodded. "Does that sound okay to you, Kyiara?"

Though it didn't, she nodded. She wasn't too sure about how Kurenai felt about her. Kurenai's reaction at seeing the activated curse seal made Kyiara very uneasy. Speaking of the curse seal activating itself… "Hokage-sama, why did the curse seal activate itself?"

Tsunade smiled mirthlessly. "Knowing Orochimaru, it was his idea of a joke." seeing no one understood what she was saying, she explained. "He probably thought that if by the off chance that Kyiara made it back to Konoha it would be funny if the first time she met up with his one-time student Anko that her curse seal activate itself."

Anko said something, but Kyiara didn't hear what. A type of bug she didn't recognize was flitting in front of her face and then toward the window and back again, almost like it wanted to show her something. She ran over to the window and looked out, activating her Byakugan. Colors reeled in her vision as she searched the outer areas of Konoha. It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for. In one of the practice fields outside of the walls, Neji was pummeling Hinata while three bushins kept Shino, Kiba and Akamaru from reaching their teammate.

Kyiara cursed vehemently as she realized Shino had sent the bug to get her before vaulting out the window, using Orochimaru's 'gift' of Wind Riding.

Everyone present ran to the window, but Kyiara was gone. Without a word, they left, spreading out to search for what she had seen.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Neji shoved a chakra-glowing palmheel into his cousin's chest, sending her crashing back against one of the tree trunks used for target practice. She coughed up more blood, adding to her already blood-covered outfit. Both Hyuuga's had their Byakugan activated, but at this severe blow to her body, it deactivated as she curled up, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Neji, you bastard! Leave Hinata-san alone!" Kiba yelled as he once again tried to fight with Shino and Akamaru against Neji's three bushin. Even Shino's bugs could not reach the real Neji and bring a halt to his assault on Hinata.

Ignoring them, Neji stared down at her scornfully. "You are weak, Hinata. You are not fit to even be a Hyuuga. It would be best for your little sister to become the heir in your place. You should just die."

Hinata gasped and looked up at him. "N-Neji-niisan-"

"Shut up." Neji spat. "You are worthless trash." He raised his hand to strike her again. A blur of black seemingly arrived on the wind, scooping Hinata up before vanishing again on the wind. Looking angrily around, Neji saw his three bushin disappear.

A black-clad figure stood between Neji and Shino, Kiba and the barely conscious Hinata. The figure's palms were still glowing with chakra. But it was the figure's eyes that startled Neji. They were the crystal color of the Byakugan, but each eye possessed three Sharingan pinwheels. There was a depth of mercilessness in her eyes that made even Neji shudder.

It was Kyiara.

"What the hell were you doing?" She growled, her voice thick with hate.

"Does it matter to you, traitor?" Neji retorted, his voice equaling hers in loathing.

Her eyes flashed Sharingan red, her normal black and back to their strange form of Byakugan. "It does when you try to hurt one of my precious people. I will not allow you to hurt her. That is my way as a Konoha ninja."

Neji started slightly, her words ringing his memory of what both Hinata and Naruto had said while fighting him during the Chuunin Exam. He ignored the guilty twinge of regret of what he had just done to his younger cousin. "If that is your way, then fight me. You can't scare me with the powers that are not your own that you can't even use!"

"I refuse to take part in a lengthy battle that might further endanger the life of my precious person, the one whom you wrongfully attacked. But I will grant your wish, in a speedy fight." When she finished speaking, black marks made their way across her skin. "And by the way, I do know how to use what Orochimaru put into me. That includes Byakugan, Hyuuga Neji."

Neji stepped back in alarm. "You--you have a curse seal?"

"You wanted a fight. So fight me." Kyiara spat. "I'm waiting."

"No. I refuse to lower myself to fight someone who must rely on a curse seal to fight me." Glowering, he turned and sauntered away.

"I'll get you later for this," she muttered. "Hyuuga Neji!"

She turned and ran over to Hinata, the curse seal marks retreating. Shino and Kiba looked at her oddly but said nothing. Shino was holding Hinata in his arms while Kiba gently stroked her face, trying to comfort her. Akamaru was sitting next to his master, worried eyes on Hinata.

"Shino, I need you to lay Hinata on the ground," Kyiara ordered. He did so immediately. Kneeling down next to Hinata, she held her hands over the girls' chest, hands glowing with chakra. Almost immediately she encountered something she never expected to find. A familiar power was still very much present. One she had not felt since before she had been captured by Orochimaru.

Ignoring this for the time being, she gently washed her power through Hinata's body, finding mainly closed-off chakra points and many severely bruised internal organs and a few broken ribs. The bones and bruised organs she healed, though she couldn't do much for the closed-off chakra points; Hinata's body would have to take care of that.

Coming out of her trance-like state, she found that Hinata was unconscious, but that was not the problem. Kiba, Shino, Hinata and herself were surrounded by ANBU nins and Tsunade. That was all she noticed before her vision went black.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kyiara blinked. Everything was so white. Slowly, she sat up and glanced around her. She was in the hospital. Again. Hinata was on the other bed and already awake. Noticing the older girl was awake, she smiled, a blush spreading across her cheek. "T-thank you for saving me, Kyiara-san."

Kyiara smiled in return. "You're welcome, Hinata-san."

Then she remembered the familiar chakra she had felt. "Hinata," she began slowly. "When was the last time you were healed by someone? Before me, I mean."

Hinata frowned, thinking. "The day of the third part of the Chuunin Exam and the day that Orochimaru attacked Konoha."

"Who healed you?"

Hinata shrugged. "I don't know. During one of the fights I started coughing up blood again. An ANBU nin wearing a cat mask said he was trained in healing jutsu and healed me. He was very nice. Why?"

"Just wondering." Kyiara lay back on her pillow, her mind reeling. Why, on the day he was to betray his own village, would Kabuto have healed Hinata, saving her life?

A/N - I need ideas as to why Kabuto healed Hinata - I will not accept ideas of HinaKabu no way no how.Sorry.