Chapter 3: Rest & Relaxation
When there was a death in the field during a mission it was considered ANBU protocol to extensively debrief the captain of the squad that the casualty occurred in. In most cases it was Morino Ibiki who orchestrated these debriefings but considering the chunin who was taken prisoner by Captain Hyuuga Neji and his team Ibiki's hands were quiet full in terms of interrogation. So in his absence he left Mitarashi Anko to do what was needed to be done with Neji. These sorts of debriefings normally took a few hours but given the gravity of the current situation it turned into a all-night ordeal.
Even when someone like Anko was trying to ask questions in a gentle manner it still had a interrogation-like atmosphere that would make most uncomfortable, but it took more than that to phase Neji. He answered most of the questions she asked without much thought because he was so distracted by the idea of Inuzuka Kiba being in a hospital. Of course, if the Captain were to at least know the health status of his partner he would have been able to focus more on the task at hand. Unfortunately, after the situation had deescalated he was ripped away by Anko and her team while the medics hauled Kiba off to the hospital.
As if that were enough, the rookie that he had been taking on missions to give him more field experience before being transferred to a different branch of ANBU had been killed. Neji deemed this incident to be his fault for not being on his toes after the target had been apprehended, and that in itself was eating away at the young man's conscious. Then there was the weird woman who had ambushed them with enough power to takeout two of ANBU operatives. "Captain Hyuuga! Are you listening?!" Anko's harsh voice snapped Neji out of his trance as he looked back across the table at the woman with his pupil-less eyes.
"Yes, please continue." Neji answered with his calm and collected tone.
"Were you able to identify the woman who ambushed your team? Or even something that might make her easier to identify?"
Neji slowly shook his head, "Other than being a pale woman with black hair and red eyes I couldn't really identify any specific marking. Although, I did notice something weird when looking at her chakra system while my Byakugan was active."
"Oh? And what would that be?" At this point Anko had leaned over the edge of the table with obvious eagerness to obtain more information.
"There wasn't one."
"I see… Wait, what?!"
"There was no sign of a chakra circulation system or anything else for that matter. The only thing that I could see within the body cavity was some sort of black mist. Not only that, but the killing intent that she emitted was like nothing I have ever experienced before. It felt, for lack of better words, demonic."
The rest of the meeting seemed to go by pretty quickly after that, but Anko had a uneasy expression the rest of the time as well. Neji couldn't help but feel like he was being kept in the dark while everyone else knew something about this Toshiko. Eventually, the jonin dismissed him and hurried out of the room to report to Ibiki.
By the time Neji had exited the compound the sun was already peaking over the horizon. Despite the wave of exhaustion that had suddenly washed over his entire body, Neji simply ignored it and set out for the hospital. It didn't take long to find Kiba's room after asking one of the medical ninja who had been walking through the hall at the time.
Neji quietly glanced into the room he had been directed to and found Kiba laying on his back staring up at the ceiling, his upper torso covered in bandages. A twinge of guilt made Neji sick to his stomach as he examined his best friend's wounds. Finally he gave a light knock and leaned against the doorframe as the Inuzuka turned his attention towards the source of noise and a massive grin immediately covered his face. "Nice of you to stop by, Cap'n." If Neji only had the boy's voice to judge by he would have thought nothing was wrong.
"Sorry, I figured you were in the veterinarian's wing." It was very rare for Neji to crack jokes so Kiba really didn't know how to act so he just chuckled lightly.
"I bet they serve the animals' better food than what I've had to deal with this morning." Said Kiba with a grimace while gesturing towards a plate of half-eaten rice. Suddenly his mood visibly dropped as he clinched the blanket that covered his legs with both hands. "I got reckless out there last night and I'm sorry, Neji." The Hyuuga that stood before him simply shook his head and waved off Kiba's attempt at apologizing. "No need to apologize."
Kiba nodded while staring at his clinched fists, "What about the rookie?" The ANBU captain had been expecting that question and still hadn't formulated a plan on how to properly approach it. A low sigh escaped his lips as he looked at his partner and grimly shook his head. Kiba nodded once again as if he already figured as much and just needed some confirmation. With a desperate attempt to lighten the mood in the room he gestured towards the blond girl curled up in the chair across the room. Obviously deeply asleep because she hadn't raised her head one time since he had entered the room. "I see you have a admirer keeping you company."
The young ANBU had to stifle a laugh at his friend's presumptions. "Ino-chan? Been there, done that. We realized pretty fast that we were better as close friends. I guess she was just worried." Neji stared at his injured partner in disbelief. Kiba and Ino had tried to have a relationship recently and he knew nothing about it? Not that he cared, but usually Kiba didn't shut up about the girls he was trying to get with. "Besides, I've got my eyes set on someone else." Kiba explained while looking out the window on the other side of his bed.
Neji slowly arched a eyebrow in confusion, "Who is the unfortunate girl?" The only reply he got was a very sly grin that seemed to hint at something that the Hyuuga captain did not want to know. He quickly decided that it was best not to pry because if Kiba said it was his cousin he would be forced to injure him further. "What did the doctor say?" He asked after standing up straight and got ready to leave.
"Doc says I had a couple of broken ribs and some pretty bad contusions, but I'll be ready to roll by tomorrow!" The dog-user almost shouted with clear excitement. Neji simply nodded once again, "Good, I'll see you tomorrow then."
The next couple of days seemed to drag by due to the constant patrols and research sessions in the ANBU information center. Neji had still not found anything on the woman named Toshiko or the kanji sign of death, it was almost like someone had taken the information already. As if that weren't suspicious enough, Lady Tsunade had hulled herself up in the sacred Hokage library. It was pretty obvious that she too was studying up on this mystery woman and that was probably why the ANBU captain couldn't find any of the books he needed to learn things.
After a short nap in his apartment in the Hyuuga compound area of Konoha, Neji began to put his ANBU attire back on for patrol when a ridiculous pounding resounded from his door. With a sigh, Neji walked over and opened the door to discover Kiba standing there in his jonin attire with a very mischievous look about him. "Guess what?" he asked quickly as he walked past Neji and took a seat in the living room without asking. "What, Kiba?" Neji reluctantly asked despite the feeling that he didn't really want to hear what the boy had to say.
"Lady Tsunade called me over to the tower and told me to tell you that our squad has two days off of duty, because apparently a certain captain hasn't been taking the breaks he was supposed to take." His expression became more and more mischievous with every word that came from his mouth. Neji scoffed at the Hokage's orders but knew that if that was what she wanted then he had no choice but to do so. "We need to take advantage of this downtime and pay a visit to Gai-sensei for training in taijutsu." That was just like Neji, to be a stiff and take a request to relax as a opportunity to work even more.
Kiba gaped at his partner for a few moments, "Honestly, are you really that much of a stiff or do you just act like it around me?" The Hyuuga prodigy narrowed his eyes at the man and grunted. "We already have plans tonight, so Gai-sensei will have to wait until tomorrow." The shock quickly melted away into Kiba's typical grin.
"Oh? And what are the plans?" Neji's uneasy feeling since Kiba has entered his home only grew by the second as he waited on him to explain just what he was talking about.
"We are going drinking with a couple of old friends! Don't try to be a dick about it either, Neji. You need to let loose every once in a while other wise you're going to have a head full of grey hair before you're twenty!" Neji opened his mouth to protest but shut it knowing that it was impossible to argue with Kiba when it came to things like this. Sometimes he wondered how exactly the two ended up being best friends. It seemed like every time they got into a situation that Neji really didn't belong in, it was Kiba's idea in the first place. "See you in a hour!" The Inuzuka boy exclaimed before standing up and leaving just as quickly as he came.
Neji slowly sat down on the cushion where he typically meditated and let a loud sigh. He knew they were going to meet at the restaurant beside Ichiraku's and also knew that the last two times they had went something happened. Tonight was going to be very interesting and not in the way that Neji liked.
The restaurant that Kiba frequently visited to let loose with friends was a pretty rowdy place which was part of the reason the young man liked it so much. His group typically didn't get into any altercations with other people under the influence because it common knowledge that they were all extremely dangerous.
He had left Akamaru with Hana because she had several vaccinations that she needed to give him, and a giant ninja dog really didn't fit in at a place where shinobi came to drink sake. When the young ANBU entered the restaurant a group immediately yelled to get his attention and he immediately made his way through the crowd over to them. Tenten gave him a pat on the back while Hyuuga Hinata simply stared down at her cup of tea with a obviously shade of pink spread across her normally pale cheeks. Before anything could be said a large bottle of sake was slammed down on the table which caused everyone to look up to see who owned the hand wrapped around the bottle. Kotetsu Hagane was staring at Kiba with a huge grin, "Good to see you aren't dead, Inuzuka! Heard the bitch gave you a real good beating!" Izumo Kamizuki immediately walked over after realizing his intoxicated best friend had migrated across the room and patted Kiba on the back.
Kiba took the bottle from Kotetsu and took several large gulps of before placing it back on the table. "She caught me off guard that's all.." His excuse caused everyone at the table to burst into laughter but Kiba knew it was all in good fun. After taking several more large drinks from Kotetsu's bottle Kiba gave it back to him and the two chunin went back to where they had been seated before. "Where's Neji?" Tenten asked with a small hiccup showing that she was a bit intoxicated herself. Tenten may have been all business when she was on duty or training but the girl really knew how to cut loose and have fun too. Kiba shrugged, "He said he was coming, but he is such a hardass I wouldn't be surprised if he is training instead."
Hinata quietly took a small sip of her tea watching Kiba converse with Tenten. Ever since Naruto had been dispatched to train with Killer Bee Hinata had found her feelings shifting from the blond jinchuriki to big-hearted dog-user, and this time the feelings were actually mutual. They had grown up together and Kiba had always flirted with her but the girl had been blinded by Naruto until now. Kiba took a seat next to her and ordered a bottle of sake and several glass. "How are you Hinata-chan?"
"I-I'm doing good. How a-about you, Kiba-kun?" Her nerves were once again getting the best of her.
"Can't complain, I'm still kickin'!" He shouted over the noise while the waitress sat his order down on the table in front of him.
It wasn't long before Neji showed up and found his way to their table and took a seat on the other side of his cousin. His attention was obviously on how close Kiba was sitting to Hinata, but decided not to say anything about it just yet. He gave everyone a polite smile while Kiba filled up the cups and pushed them to everyone. Tenten immediately took hers and placed it against her lips while Neji slowly sipped his. It didn't take a genius to tell that Tenten was a bit inebriated and when she sat the once full cup down empty it became even more obvious. She gazing over at Neji as if he couldn't see her, "You guys sure have had your hands full lately." Her words were slightly slurred but she still knew what she was doing.
"It has been a eventful couple of days." Neji's words were smooth as they rolled off his tongue. Suddenly Kiba slammed his cup down on the table and looked over at Tenten with a rather drunk expression. "One hell of a week! Thieves every which way and one baaaaaaad bitch!" Neji stared at his partner and slightly shook his head. This was going to be a long night.
After several hours of drinking and conversation Hinata decided it was time for her to get back to the Hyuuga compound before Hiashi sent a search and rescue party to find her. Kiba immediately strung several slurs together that sounded like a offer to walk her home. Neji was fixing to object but Tenten grabbed his arm and squeezed tightly. Hinata graciously accepted and they left but not before Kiba stumbled several times trying to get to the door.
Neji was going to give the bastard a beating of a lifetime tomorrow during their training session and go out of his way to make it very clear that Lady Hinata was off limits. Once they were gone Neji turned his attention back to Tenten to find that was giving that odd stare once again. "Is there something you want to say, Tenten-chan?" Neji asked before taking another drink of sake and savoring the warm sensation in his chest as the liquid made its down to his stomach. The question seemed to catch the woman off guard as she immediately averted her gaze elsewhere as if there was something she wanted to say but couldn't.
"You could've died the other night.." She said in a low voice as if she didn't want him to hear.
Neji arched a eyebrow and turned towards her, "We have been in many life-threatening situations like that. What made that one any different?"
Tenten shook her head and stared down at the table with a flustered look. "That woman, Neji-kun.. You are going after her aren't you?"
The concern in the woman's voice wasn't something Neji expected, "Yes, once we have located her I will apprehend her. It is my duty to this village." When her hand found its way to the top of his that was resting on the table he couldn't help but blush slightly.
"Be careful.. I don't know what I would do…. Without you." She then removed her hand and stood up. Before Neji could ask where she was going the jonin planted a kiss on his cheek and hurried out the door. Stunned, Neji just sat there trying to figure out what exactly had just happened. After a while he chalked it up to too much alcohol and paid his tab before leaving as well. Although the ANBU captain would not admit it, he couldn't deny that the small kiss on the cheek somehow felt very right.
Tenten was right to be worried about this mysterious woman who had attacked them. Neji had a very uneasy feeling about the whole situation and the extreme power that Toshiko demonstrated didn't help at all. Tomorrow after beating the hell out of Kiba for trying to make a move on his cousin Neji would pay a visit to Hiashi, the Hyuuga clan head, and see if he had any wisedom to be shared. Surely a man of his age and power would be able to give Neji more information than what he had been able to find so far.
Author's Note's
Sorry that there was not very much action in this chapter, I pretty much dedicated this whole chapter to character development. Big thanks to 'That Guy' for suggesting the KibaxHinata idea! I think it is a great pairing and will also give the story a bit more comic relief as Neji confronts him about the whole ordeal. I hope everyone liked it! Action will resume in the next chapter, promise!