Hinata was getting tired, she hadn't stopped all night. Now, judging by the position of the sun, it was midday. She hoped that she was going the right way; her only directions came from Kiba's description of the mission. Plus, after she crossed the Land of Fire's border she would have to follow the traces of Orochimaru's destruction back to the Sound Village.

Finally Hinata had to stop for a short break, so she settled down on the branch of an oak tree on the edge of a small clearing. The sun was on her face as she lay there, and it caused her to doze off.

She was woken by a rustling coming from the bushes below. The sun's position had hardly changed, so the Hyuga knew that she couldn't have slept for long. The rustle grew louder and Hinata's Byakugan activated upon her instinct. She almost gasped at what her eyes showed her, it was Shino. Instantly Hinata's guard dropped, and she jumped down to confront him.

"S-Shino-kun, you can come out n-now," she stuttered as Shino stepped out into the grassy area, "What are you d-d-doing here?" The girl dropped her gaze and studied the grass around her feet.

Shino stared at her for a moment, then he calmly said, "I've come to take you back to the village." Hinata was quiet for a moment, she knew that someone may have come after her; she just didn't expect it to be her team member. On the other hand, maybe Shino would understand, at least better than a stranger would.

"Why s-should I go back S-Shino-kun?" she whispered quietly, ""N-Nobody there c-cares if I l-live or die, and if they do t-then it's only because of the B-Byakugan, not m-me. I have m-my reasons f-f-for leaving and it shouldn't m-matter because n-nobody c-cares." For a moment Shino looked stunned by the Hyuga's words and there was a long pause.

When Shino finally broke the silence, his words sounded hesitant and unsure, "I……I have always cared… cared for you, and….. and even l…loved you Hinata-chan." Hinata was shocked, had Shino just said that? Surely he doesn't mean that, he's only saying that to get me to go back with him, it's his mission. Hinata tried to convince herself, but Shino looked sincere, embarrassment plastered on his usually straight face.

She knew she needed to reply, but her tongue felt too heavy to allow her to speak.

The next few moments Hinata was only vaguely aware of, one moment she was looking at the slightly embarrassed look on Shino's face, and the next, upon instinct she was closing her eyes and moving forward to meet Shino's on-coming lips. Then, in just one more moment, everything changed again.

The Hyuga's eyes were almost closed and her thoughts were reeling, until she felt a heavy weight descended onto her, and she struggled to keep it lifted. Her eyes shot open to see Shino's body slumped against her. A bloody stain was spreading across his back, seeding from a kunai knife buried in all the way up to its handle. She screamed and heard a cold-hearted snicker from the trees.

Suddenly, rage exploded within Hinata, she wasn't scared, she wasn't sad, she felt nothing but hate, something that she had never truly felt before. She whirled around to face the direction that the snicker had come from, activated her dojutsu, and saw the form of a person knelt down in a holly bush. The ninja bore a headband with the symbol of the Sound Village.

Ripping into her shuriken holster Hinata pulled out several, and flung then into the bush. She heard a satisfying gurgle, her aim was perfect.

Hinata heard the bushes rustle on the other side of the clearing, and saw another shinobi jump out into the open, and another, and another, she was up against three.

Charging, the Hyuga slammed her gentle fist into the gut of one of the sound shinobi; he hacked up blood and fell to the ground. She felt a sting across her left shoulder, and turned to confront the attacker. Fully facing the two remaining opponents Hinata saw the fist coming and tried to block, but she wasn't fast enough.

The blow sent her flying backwards and before she knew it the ninja had bound her ankles to her wrists with thick wire used to lay traps. She spit out blood and looked up at the sound-nins, she recognized one of them.

The man standing over her had white hair tied up into a ponytail and wore glasses, which he now pushed up further onto the bridge of his nose. Kabuto. She had seen him during the chunin exams, but hadn't he worn the mark of the leaf village then? Hinata's mind struggled to dredge up memories that seemed so far away.

Now Kabuto looked down and spoke to her, "You killed two of my three men, impressive, but make no mistake, you won't be able to face me and live, so don't try anything." He smirked at her, and then spoke again, "You posses the Byakugan, Orochimaru-sama will be pleased with this new kekkei genkai to experiment with."

With that said he barked some kind of an order to the one remaining shinobi, who was raiding the fallen Shino's weapon pouch, and turned to leave.

The other ninja walked over, gagged her, and then slung the Hyuga over his shoulder hurrying to catch up with the already retreating Kabuto.

As Hinata caught a last glimpse of her fallen teammate, the rage she had felt so strongly just moments before drained away and was replaced with grief. Tears started streaming down her cheeks. Aburame Shino, her comrade and friend, was dead. And she couldn't help but blame herself. It's all your fault; it's all your fault.

----

Whoops, I guess I lied in my last author's note, sorry 'bout that. I do know for sure that the next chapter's longer. (That's actually a fact, I swear!)

With a longer chapter next time:

UchihaHyugaGlow