Hinata was bursting with excitement. Gaara had sent two shinobi from Suna as guides for her. They'd gotten here two days ago. After a day of rest, they were scheduled to leave today. Hinata was all packed and ready to go; she was just waiting for her escorts. She couldn't wait to be reunited with her Gaara. In one of his recent letters, he'd said that he'd leave her with no doubt of his feelings when they were reunited.
'I wonder what he meant by that,' Hinata thought.
Just then, a knock on her door pulled her from her thoughts.
"C-come in," Hinata stammered.
"Hinata," Neji said as he poked his head inside the door. "The escorts from Suna are here. Are you ready?"
"Hai," Hinata replied with a slight blush added to her excited smile. She was finally leaving to see the homeland of her beloved. Words couldn't describe how excited she was.
She picked up her bag and followed her cousin out to the main gate of the complex. Waiting for her were two men in standard shinobi clothes for Suna-nin.
"Greetings, Hinata-sama," one man said in a friendly voice. The other man nodded in greeting.
Part of Hinata was nervous about traveling with two strange men, but these were men hand-chosen by Gaara, so they must be all right to travel with.
"If you are ready, Hinata-sama, then we can leave immediately," the friendly man said.
Neji turned to Hinata. "If you want, I can come with."
Hinata smiled, but shook her head. "That's alright, Neji-nii-san. These are men hand-picked by Gaara. If he trusts them to get me to Suna, then so do I."
Neji hugged his cousin and wished her safety on her journey. Hanabi, who'd also come to see Hinata off, also hugged her. She whispered to Hinata, "Go enjoy some alone time with your hot piece of Suna man-candy." This caused Hinata to blush madly, much to Hanabi's delight. Hinata's father didn't hug her or show affection, but told her daughter that he blessed the relationship. For Hinata, that was more than enough.
Hinata and her two traveling companions had been traveling, for the most part, in silence for the last day. It was a three-day journey at full pace, but the group was traveling at a leisurely pace so it would probably take up to five days. At the end of the first day, they set up two tents: one for Hinata and one for the Suna-nin who wasn't on guard duty. Usually on missions, Hinata was the one on guard duty due to her near 360-degree vision, but tonight she was a client not an on-duty shinobi. It was a nice change for her.
Hinata looked around at her surroundings. They'd been facing the sun all evening. That meant they had been going due west all day. But Suna was to the southwest of Konoha. So where we these men taking her? Hinata bid the men goodnight and went into her tent where she silently activated her Byuakugan. Something wasn't right here, and Hinata was determined to get to the bottom of it.
Neji had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something wasn't right. He'd had this feeling ever since Hinata's escorts had come for her. But what was it? What was wrong?
"Yo! Hyuuga!" a familiar voice called, disrupting Neji's thought. Before him stood the Kazekage's sister and student.
"Temari-san, Mitsuri-san, what are you guys doing here?"
"Picking up Hinata, duh! Where is she? We can probably head out tonight still."
"What are you talking about? Two men from Suna already came to get Hinata."
"What? Gaara told her we were coming to get her. He thought she'd be more comfortable with two girls as traveling companions."
"His letter just said that he was sending two shinobi. No names were listed. I read it myself."
Temari thought for a moment. "Someone must have intercepted the letter and forged a new one. But why?"
"Someone's trying to kidnap Hinata!"