Tai: Okay please don't kill me for this one, but it's technically a filler chapter. Technically. I just kind of wanted to show what Neji was up to while Kiba was telling stories. Anyway, there is sort of a reason for it. Sort of...yea...

I'm being strange, I know. I was iffy about uploading a chapter when I don't have the one I wanted ahead of this finished. Mainly because I feel lazy if I don't manage to update every now and then. I'll have chapter 8 hopefully finished before the next one comes up. Sorry about the gap between updates as well; I started back at uni a couple of weeks ago, and I need to make sure I can sort myself on the work stuff before I get back to writing. I'm getting there!

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

The coffee haired male sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose tightly as his head continued to pound. It was already getting dark, it was raining, and things weren't getting any easier, making the male wish he'd read the request a little more closely.

While speaking with the Hokage, she'd handed him the mission scroll. While skimming over the message he'd picked out the words 'missing', 'locate' and 'several'. After accepting the mission he'd taken off immediately, passing silently behind a familiar pink haired teen as she spoke to a sleepy blonde. 'Glad I'm leaving it to Kiba; looks like they're trying to get an early start on things.'

Getting several kilometres clear of the village gate, he stopped and read the request carefully, groaning at his own impatience, although Tsunade had mentioned she was about to send for him. "Several children from within the village of Kumogakure have gone into the surrounding forests over the past two days and failed to return. Searches of the surroundings have proven fruitless. We ask for the assistance of Konoha shinobi in our attempt to locate the missing children."

He swore loudly, the pale eyed teen slipping the message into his bag and continued on toward his destination. Hinata would've been a better choice for the mission, or even Kiba, he did not like children. Even academy students were irritating for him, but the year they became genin they suddenly stopped being the bratty little children. Then, and only then he could stand having conversations and doing tasks with the younger individuals.

Children probably indicated that the missing individuals were between five and ten years of age. Several meant there was a group of them he had to locate.

He swore again; the colourful language he possessed not largely spoken by the male, though he thought it fitting considering he was going to be dealing with a mob of children.

He'd left his bag back in the village, leaving him with only his tool pouch and the clothes on his back, and gone out to meet the man who'd sent the request. The pale teen was hoping for some lead on where the children had disappeared, but it seemed like luck definitely wasn't on his side. They'd disappeared after going in multiple directions, and nothing had been heard from them since. Six children were missing, and they couldn't leave it any longer.

Neji hadn't waited any longer to act; it'd taken him until lunchtime to reach the village, and sunlight was already diminishing behind some clouds, not that he really needed the light. Activating his bloodline ability he moved out into the trees directly around the village, using the kekkei genkai to slowly survey the surround area.

He started out with his Byakugan range close, taking his time to look around the area and identify any movement that caught his eye. It was continuing to get darker, though he thought nothing of it and continued it focus on the trees. Extending his vision out to his full range, he sighed. No sign of anyone just yet, forcing him to reduce his range and move onward, heading sideways to where his vision had ended out to his right.

Reaching the edge of his vision did produce some overlap, but it was necessary; he couldn't risk missing one small area while searching. It would take time to search the entire area around the village but it was his job.

That brought him back to his current predicament; he was standing out in the rain, halfway through searching the village outskirts for any sign of the missing children, and he was not happy. Cold, wet and looking for a group of six children somewhere around the village, the Hyuuga was not happy. He was seriously reconsidering his decision to leave discussing their non-relationship to Kiba; he liked his privacy, but he'd prefer to be talking about that to standing in the rain looking for children.

He sighed and continued his search pattern, moving once more to where his vision had stopped and looking around, submitting to a yawn that was more than slightly eager to escape. He'd been up most of the night and left Konoha at sunrise, having eaten both breakfast and lunch on the move. It was already sunset and the coffee haired male added 'hungry' to his list of complaints, about to yawn again when something moved at the corner of his vision.

Shinobi instincts jolted the tiredness from his system and he focused in on the movement, searching desperately for the exact location it had come from. Dedicating his attention to the general area, he extended his range out and sighed, finally spotting a collection of chakra networks within a cave. Neji took a moment to focus his attention on the group, counting to ensure that the entire group was there.

He was relieved to see all six group safe within the shelter, though he was concerned as to why they hadn't returned to the village. There was nothing to indicate they were being forced to remain in the cave, however dragging his vision back in to comb the area he realised the denseness of the trees. It seemed highly likely that they'd been caught out there and were unable to find a way back into the village through the trees.

The Hyuuga considered his options; he was soaked through to the bone, it was dark, still raining and he wanted dinner, but he'd located the children. It was unlikely he could get the group back to the village easily in this weather, and at least two of the group had been missing for two days, so they were likely hungry. 'I'll take them something to eat, make sure they're all right and stay with them.' The Hyuuga decided, heading back into town.

Neji knew he couldn't leave the group out there alone; the oldest was only eight years old and unlikely to be mature enough to look after a group of kids his own age. Reaching the room he was booked into, the slender male headed straight for the bathroom and turned on the shower, glad when the room quickly filled with steam.

Stripping off his soaked shirt, Neji quickly squeezed as much of the excess water as he could from the white cloth before doing likewise with his dark pants and boxers. He'd never been so glad of packing a complete change of clothes; he normally deemed it unnecessary to carry so much clothing. His eagerness to leave prompted him to pack extra, simply so he could have a hot shower and put some clean, dry clothes on.

Pulling off his forehead protector, he glanced over his reflection and sighed; two large bruises on his chest seemed black against his pale skin, a gift courtesy of his crushes' pet. Shaking his head quickly, he stepped under the hot spray, warming up and washing himself quickly. The Hyuuga had no time for such thoughts; he had a mission to complete.

Shutting off the water he grabbed a towel, the pale eyes slipping closed as he buried his face into it; now was definitely not time to be thinking about the tanned Inuzuka. The lies Kiba had undoubtedly told about the two of them and their supposed nightly activities, explaining away the pair of them being shirtless and the Inuzuka on top of him.

Shaking his head he dressed quickly, grabbed his waterproof coat and ensured he had everything he'd need to survive a night in a cave. Hanging the wet clothing up in the bathroom he headed out once more, gathering some food for himself and the kids. With the bag of supplies slung over one shoulder, he activated his Byakugan and relocated the cave, bounding through the treetops toward it. No light reached his eyes from within the cave and he sighed; this would be an interesting night.

When he finally reached the cave he watched carefully, noting that the children had huddled at the back of the opening in the mountain for warmth and, he assumed, safety. Flicking on his torch he shone it toward the floor of the cave, cautiously entering. Finally one of the group stood and headed toward him, looking up at him curiously.

'Gods I wish someone else were doing this.' Despite the light from the flashlight Neji kept his Byakugan active, watching the kid thoughtfully. "Are you one of the kids from Kumo?" The shorter male nodded but remained silent, causing the teen to sigh and deactivate his bloodline trait. "My name is Neji, I'm a shinobi from Konoha. I was sent to find you all and make sure you got home safely."

The words seemed to relax the male, who turned back to the rest of the group. "He's a ninja come to take us home." He grinned happily, grasping the Hyuuga's wrist and tugging him further into the cave.

It only took a few moments for the group to warm up to him once they realised he had food, the group gathering closer to the older male happily chatting away. He handed out food out to the group and made a small fire for warmth, glad to finally have light in the area without needing to steady it himself. The Hyuuga settled himself near the fire for warmth and started devouring his own dinner, silently listening to the group.

"Mister ninja, what's wrong with your eyes?" one of the girls questioned, staring up at him. His full attention turned to the girl as he tried to think of the best way to answer her. 'Nothing' probably wasn't going to be an acceptable answer for these kids; his eyes were almost completely white after all. Within Konoha no child bothered asking; they knew about the Hyuugas and their unusual eyes, but it wasn't such common knowledge outside the village.

Deciding he wasn't going to correct her and try get them to call him by name, he sighed. "Nothing really; they just look a bit strange." Neji stated, almost cringing as a second girl looked up at him curiously.

"Why?"

He looked between the pair of young females, holding back a sigh; this wasn't going to be a short conversation, particularly considering the four boys had also taken an interest in the topic. "It's a family trait; my father and mothers eyes both look like mine."

"Can you see?" The girl questioned, earning a raised eyebrow from the male.

"Yes."

"In colour?" the smallest of the group questioned, his eyes fixed on the Hyuuga's pale ones.

"Yes."

"Why were the veins around your eyes sticking out in that weird way earlier?" the oldest of the group questioned, clearly remembering the unusual look from when he'd first entered the cave.

This time Neji couldn't help himself, sighing at the question. "I have a bloodline trait that I can turn on and off, and it allows me to see different things to normal people. When it's turned on that happens."

"Why?"

Neji held back a yawn, looking at the back of the cave. "Increased blood and chakra flow to my eyes."

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

"Why not?"

He blinked at the question; he'd never thought about it before; it was his kekkei genkai and he'd used it for years. He doubted any Hyuuga thought about the fact that the small physical change didn't hurt. Finally shrugging, he answered. "It's just how my body is."

"What kind of different things?" the oldest of the group was definitely curious about his eyes, and the coffee haired male bit back another yawn.

"I can see inside people and look at their chakra networks and look in more directions than most people without turning my head." Looking around the group he spotted one of the children yawning and he sighed as his own escaped. "All of you need to get some sleep."

The children thankfully agreed and curled up where they were next to the fire, Neji standing to stretch briefly. His better judgement stopped him from simply settling down with the group and sleeping alongside them, the Hyuuga instead heading back to the mouth of the cave and activating his Byakugan to check the area. He was unsurprised to see no signs of life directly around them, and finally settled down for some sleep.

Neji had barely laid down when he dropped off to sleep, curling up tightly near the fire and finally resting.

"Mister ninja…mister ninja…wake up…."

Neji groaned at the disruption but opened his eyes anyway, glad that his back was turned to the source of light flooding the small area. It was past sunrise, not that it bothered him, and the Hyuuga sat up, looking at the small group of children. He was glad to see they were happily devouring the remaining food he'd brought with him and glanced back at the young girl who'd woken him.

"Is something wrong?"

The girl looked down at her feet, unable to meet his gaze. "We thought you might want something to eat before you take us back into town."

Managing a gentle smile, he shook his head. "I'll have something to eat once I've gotten you all back." Standing, Neji stretched and looked out over the forest, glad to see that it was sunny with no indication it would rain. 'Now, easiest and fastest way to get all of them back is probably me carrying them on my back one at a time.' He decided, heading to the mouth of the cave to check his suspicions. Activating his Byakugan he could see the denseness of the trees would mean walking the group would be slow. No direct path existed between where they were and the village, and he sighed. 'No chance for sore legs, I can get all of them into the village within an hour; definitely the best plan.'

"Mister ninja how are we getting back into the village?" The oldest of the group questioned, finishing his sandwich.

"I'll be carrying you in one at a time." He told them, somewhat glad none of the group disagreed with the idea. "There's no direct path back to the village on the ground, and it would take more than two hours to walk there."

"So we get to ride on your back?" one of the boys asked, earning a nod from the older male. "Cool!"

"If any of you are finished eating I can take you in now." Neji told them, earning a nod from one of the boys. He waited for the male to stand and led him to the mouth of the cave, kneeling down to allow the male to climb onto his back. He felt the short arms wrap around his neck and quickly slipped his hands under the boy's knees. "Hold on tightly."

The boy did as told, tightening his grip just in time as the Hyuuga used his already crouched position to leap into the nearest tree, easily bounding across the tree branches. "Wow…"

Neji didn't bother responding to the boy's amazement, and it only took a few minutes for him to reach the outskirts of the village. "Where do you live?"

"Over by the big roundish building."

Activating his Byakugan it only took a few moments to locate the aforementioned building and they were in front of it within moments, the Hyuuga setting the young man down. "Head home; I need to go and bring the others into town."

"Thank you, mister Konoha ninja."

He smiled briefly as the boy ran off, watching him with his Byakugan until the child reached a house and knocked on the door. The woman who answered seemed incredibly relieved to have her son. He didn't waste any more time watching the boy as he took off toward the cave once more; he had five more children to return to the village after all.

Dropping the last child in the village he moved to the rooftops, glancing around for the male who had requested Konoha assistance on the matter. It didn't take long to spot him, and Neji dropped onto the street in front of him. "Sir; all six of the children have been returned to the village and sent home."

"I'm glad you found all of them; my son returned home not half an hour ago and I was relieved to see him. I figured you had located and returned them all, where were they?" the older male asked, the Hyuuga turning side on to the male.

"There's a cave at the foot of the mountains, just past the thick grove of trees that extends around approximately half of the village." Neji informed him, pointing in the direction of the cave. "It's likely they wandered past the thick trees and got caught out there, unable to find a way back in."

"I see, I doubt we'll have the issue again but I'll be sure to check that area if it ever happens again. Thank you, Neji." Nodding, the Hyuuga took off back to the room he'd booked for the night, mainly to collect his bag.

Upon reaching the small room he checked his wet clothes from the night before, glad to find they were dry. Deciding against a shower he packed away the items and glanced at the bed, tempted to grab a few hours' sleep before heading back to Konoha. 'No, I can sleep when I get back.' The coffee haired male decided stubbornly, grabbing his bag and readying himself to leave.

Stopping briefly on his way out of town, Neji grabbed some fresh bread and devoured it as he moved, somewhat glad when he left the village behind.