Chapter Four: Cantaloupe: In Which Neji Starts To Lose It

Someone had finally come across some matches to light the candles again. Neji turned back to the ballroom and saw the glowing light through the shattered windows. He walked slowly back inside like a dead man ignoring everything—the shards of glass poking through his shoes, the guests who shrieked from their glass-related injuries, and the people who switched from panicked to perky almost instantly.

Neji didn't stop until he reached Artsuma Takeda who looked at him with little alarm. "Strange storm, eh, m'boy?"

"Just how many enemies do have?" Neji asked harshly.

"W-what?"

"Someone took her," Neji replied coldly.

"But… but she's a—"

"I know. So I'm asking, just how many enemies do you have?"

Artsuma Takeda sank down in his chair as his legs weakened. He was not worried about Tenten. No, he was far too selfish for that. What worried him was that someone capable of subduing and kidnapping a highly ranked kunoichi had easily entered his hone and made threats against his family. Not only that, but since the real Kuma and Shou were in all likelihood being held against their will, he had threats coming from two distinct parties.

Neji did not pretend to believe that Artsuma Takeda cared. The man looked up at Neji. "This is bad. What do I do?"

"You should send all these people away. Do not let any servants clean the area. I want to look at the uncontaminated scene. I'm going to request more help from Konoha. To warn you, tracking two threats to your family is likely going to increase not only the rank of the mission, but the cost as well."

"Money is no object as long as I have my children and their safety," Artsuma Takeda said absently.

"Then I'll go write a letter then," Neji said curtly, leaving Artsuma Takeda to regain his own composure.

Neji was soon seated at a desk in an uncomfortable chair with a pen in hand and a sheet of paper before him.

Hokage-sama,

The situation with Artsuma Takeda has quickly become quite complicated. During an event with approximately one-hundred guests on the evening of our arrival, Tenten was abducted. I can only imagine what sort of enemy could subdue such a skilled kunoichi and escape me in such a short duration of temporary chaos during which the lights were extinguished and the windows shattered. From the moment they left the building, I could not track them.

Being that the mission has expanded to the investigation of two threats and the recovery of three kidnapped persons, I request additional aide (cost is no object for Mr. Takeda). It is my suggestion, if they can be spared, that you send me my genin team as well as Rock Lee and his team. If they are not available, ninja of the equivalent ability would be extremely useful. I believe the situation requires it.

-Hyuga Neji, Branch Family

Neji sighed and put his pen down. "This isn't good," he said softly and sealed the envelope. He stood up and left the room to go find Artsuma Takeda, giving the letter to one of the servants he met along the way to be mailed by the fastest post possible. Neji found his client in the ballroom, gazing at the ruin of the splintered windows.

"Could we clean the glass at least?" Artsuma Takeda whined.

"No." Neji released the genjutsu he had been holding. It seemed to be very unimportant at this point. "Do you still want me to pretend to be your son?" he asked as an afterthought.

Artsuma Takeda shook his head. "No, rumors about Kuma have already leaked. No one expects to see Shou and your presence will not be questioned."

Neji nodded, vaguely relishing the fact that he could feel his long hair moving about. "I've sent a letter to Konoha requesting the support of my genin team as well as my friend and his team. Seven more ninja on the job should help considerably."

"Thank you."

"You are lucky I have a stake in this with a missing comrade," Neji said, no longer caring if he insulted the man (Tenten would have been screaming hours ago if their roles were reversed), "I think you are a fool."

Artsuma Takeda gaped at him.

"I'm investigating the scene now. I am not to be disturbed." Neji walked away with very little concern for the various scathing looks Artsuma Takeda directed at his back; the stupid man was unaware of the fact that Neji had nearly three-hundred and sixty degree vision. The shinobi quite simply and frankly did not give a damn about the rich man's opinion.

Neji walked over to a point towards the middle of the room where he and Tenten had been when the lights went out. He closed his eyes, recalling the screams of alarm which quickly multiplied when the windows burst inward. Neji had felt Tenten fumble for weapon. Before the party, Tenten had coolly informed him that she had a few kunai and six shuriken hidden on her person if he needed to borrow any of them during the evening.

And then Neji had tried searching the area with his Byukagan which failed miserably. There were so many people running around that it had been impossible to pick out anyone who was acting in a particularly shifty manner. For all he knew, the kidnappers had been at the party the entire time. The more Neji thought about it, the more it made sense. He made a mental note to ask Artsuma Takeda for a guest list.

He turned back to his reenactment. Soon after the Byukagan failed, someone had crashed into them and shoved them apart. Tenten had been swept up by the crowd and Neji had lost her. Five, maybe ten, minutes later he had heard her scream his name and had gone running after her.

Neji looked to the spot where Tenten had been dragged out the windows. Somewhere between those windows and where they had last stood together, Tenten had been attacked and subdued. He glanced around, a silvery metallic substance catching his eye.

He walked over to the spot and picked up a kunai. Neji turned it over in his hands, finding what he hoped he would: the number "10" engraved on the handle. It was Tenten's alright. He couldn't help smiling as he saw the tip was coated in red blood that though dry was still relatively fresh.

"At least she got some sort of attack in," he mused aloud. "But that still doesn't explain how two people managed to hold her long enough to knock her out."

Neji ran his fingers through his hair as he thought. Could one of the men have the ability to drain chakra? But then Neji would have felt some of the effects as well and he hadn't. And why send a chakra drainer to kidnap an ordinary woman like Kuma was supposed to be? Unless Kuma wasn't an ordinary woman, but that hardly seemed relevant and he had already disproved the theory anyway.

"Ok, let's try this," he said to himself, "if I were going to kidnap Kuma, how would I do?" Neji began pacing. "A large party… so causing confusion would be ideal to stop someone from helping her. But we need someone inside to watch her and grab her when it's time. And then she'd be with Shou, so they need to get separated." He stopped and tapped his chin. "That's what they've done so far. But then there's the question of her fighting. Artsuma Takeda will have her on her guard. So she might be able to fight. So… so they'd have to disable her before they make their move. Drug her or something. Then grabbing her and knocking her out is simple. Tenten is stronger so she's a little harder to handle, but even then they get the job done… But when was she drugged?"

Neji began pacing again, looking up every now and then to glare at the highly vexed Artsuma Takeda and ignoring the persistent crunch of glass under his feet as it continued to break and spider web into a fine dust. He came to a stop at the gaping holes in the walls. The immediate area around the windows was coated with a fine black dust, the remnants of a simple explosive powder. One spark would have started a chain reaction down the line of windows. "Now I wonder how they blew out all those candles."

He knew of a few ninjustus that could easily have extinguished the candles, but Neji wanted to hope that ninjutsu had not been involved in the kidnapping at all. It would make things a great deal easier. Yet Neji found nothing to support his hope when he inspected some of the unlit candles.

At long last he returned to Artsuma Takeda. "I have a general idea of how they managed to carry out the kidnapping. There's no proof for or against the involvement of other ninja," Neji continued in a monotone. "The scene can be cleared now. And I'd like a copy of the guest list as well as a list of anyone who may be a competitor or enemy of yours. I'm going to get some rest and begin investigating in the town tomorrow unless you have any other suggestions."

A restless night of slumber did very little to improve Neji's temper. He impatiently ate a wholesome breakfast that the sympathetic service staff provided. Neji quickly checked in with Artsuma Takeda and saw to his security, all the while anxious to get out and be actively working. Much to his dismay, there was no copy of a guest list.

Soon every irritating and frivolous thing was taken care of and Neji was free to do the only thing that could possibly make him feel better. He blamed himself. Neji now realized that the strange busty woman who had knocked over Tenten's water glass was probably the one who had drugged her. He blamed himself for not being suspicious of the mysterious woman and even more for allowing Tenten to be separated from his side.

The town in which Artsuma Takeda lived was in no way extraordinary. Everything about it was exceedingly average from its size to its style of architecture. Neji found nothing of interest even when he wandered about the kinkier districts. With no other plan or lead he decided he might try accessing whatever criminal underworld existed.

This logical reasoning brought Neji to a seedy-looking bar called The Red Monkey. Neji felt a strange twinge of pain as he thought of what Tenten would say about the appellation. ("What? Freaking red monkeys? What is up with that crap?" Tenten was very opinionated about places that served alcohol, but usually didn't present any sort of persuasive argument on the matter.) Neji pushed aside such uncomfortable thoughts to ponder more important things, for example how was he to go about getting the information he sought.

Unfortunately, Neji did not think any further on this matter for as he entered The Red Monkey, he was met with a most peculiar sight. In a dark corner, almost unnoticeable were two people, one with very short hair and a macho frame and the other with long red hair and supple curves.

Neji felt something inside him snap. He strode up to the table and grabbed Shou by the collar, ignoring Kuma's screams. "I'm employed by your father," he snarled. "You two are going home. You can go quietly, but believe me, I'd much rather use force."

Hey Everyone. Sorry it took me a bit longer than I expected to get this chapter out, but I had a lot of stuff to do this week, coupled with writer's block and La Corda D'Oro plot bunnies, that got me a bit behind in this story. But that's all behind me now and I'm back in the saddle so to speak. Anyway, hope you enjoyed Chapter 4 and 5 will definitely be up in my usual week. Please review.