Title: Broken Cadence
Author/Artist: HarmonyRose
Claim: Sakura Haruno and Neji Hyuga
Theme: # 27-Violin
Rating: M
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I'd already be dead because you would all kill me for keeping this chapter from you for so long.
Summary: The end of all things should have come to a close under the prevailence of peace. However, history will forever repeat itself, and the ceaseless threat of war is continuously just over the horizon.

Chapter Ten: Story Time

In that moment Sakura knew who she was looking at, not only did this girl look exactly like an older Hinata, but she sounded like her. Sakura couldn't believe it. It had been so long since she'd seen the girl.

There hadn't been a trace of evidence she had survived. What had happened?

Where had Hinata been all this time?"Hinata! It is you," Sakura quietly exclaimed."Sakura-chan... It's been a long time since I've been called Hinata-chan by anyone," the dark haired girl murmured softly. She was looking up now and her eyes widened when they came to rest on her cousin, Neji. He was observing her with curious eyes, it had been a long time since he had seen her but it wasn't possible to fake the eyes they were a family trait and absolutely impossible to replicate. He was suspicious though, why hadn't she come home earlier? She was nearly twenty-one years old; surely she could have found a way home?

"Neji," Hinata breathed out softly and with a hint of fear in her voice. She had never had a very good relationship with her elder cousin, though she hadn't known why."Hinata, where have you been all these years? Why didn't you return home?" Neji asked the question on everyone's mind.

Hinata timidly began to explain, "After I was first captured..." Sakura looked away in shame. She remembered very clearly that it was all her fault that they had been captured. In addition she knew that Hinata was the only one still alive that had witnessed her killing two men. Hot burning shame and self-disgust tore through her. She hated herself for all the pain she knew she had caused. Hinata had been dragged through a nightmare and had lost so much more in the process; her family, her position as heir, her safety, and a happy childhood. Sakura wanted to leave the room, wanted to wallow in misery by herself and get away from what she was sure to be an accusing glare from the girl she had once called her best friend. Hinata stopped abruptly when she saw Sakura's look of self-loathing; she knew that Sakura believed she had a reason to blame herself for everything that had occurred. Neji and Naruto were puzzled as to why she stopped and Sakura's eyes snapped up to her lavender-tinted irises."Sakura," she murmured. "It's not your fault. I've never blamed you and neither did the other man." Sakura flinched at the mention of the other prisoner. She had both their faces at the time of his murder etched deeply into her memory, because their accusing stares were in every nightmare and sleepless night she had endured.

Hinata continued firmly, "Sakura, that man's death is not your fault. The blame lies solely on the man that captured us."Sakura on the verge of tears protested hoarsely, "It's my fault we were out in an unprotected area. It was my hand that held the blade, and it was I who killed the other man. My hands are filthy! It's always been my fault even if you don't blame me. You've lost so much from this, how can you not blame me?"

"I don't blame you because none of that is or has ever been your fault and it's not your fault that I was unable to come back," Hinata remarked seriously, but the tone of her voice was gentle.

Naruto was looking between both girls with a confused look in his cerulean eyes. He wondered what the hell they were talking about. Hinata Hyuga had been missing for more years than he had known Sakura and Sakura was hardly a cold-blooded killer now, let alone when she was just a little girl. Whatever Sakura thought she did wrong was likely inevitable. Naruto knew that she easily took the blame for perceived faults rather than any actual wrong-doing. He had seen her do it many times with that bastard Sasuke. Sakura, Naruto noted, was a tough woman except, when she felt she was at fault. She would back off, take the blame and guilt like everything bad that ever happened was her fault and beat herself up for it. It was how Sasuke had broken her and why she had gotten depressed when he left. Sasuke had always let her take the blame for everything, never made her feel worthy, and had always made her believe that she was too incompetent for him. That somehow it was because of her that he had left instead of his own incompetence and failures. No matter how many times that he had told her in the past she never let her guilt go. Over the years she had covered it up with bitterness for Sasuke's betrayal, but he knew it was still there. It lingered in her eyes whenever that teme's name was mentioned.

Sakura visibly settled down, but the guilt had not diminished, nor had it appeared to. Neji could still see that she wanted to take the blame, wanted anxiously for it not to be her fault, but that she knew it was. His piercing silver eyes observed the unbridled emotion she was showing in the tightness of her jaw, the downward slope of her lips, and the glassy look from a sheen of moisture, over her dulled sea-foam colored eyes. She wanted Hinata to tell her that even if it was her fault it was okay. Sakura Haruno wanted, no needed, Hinata to forgive her. He could tell she hadn't and wouldn't begin to let the matter go unless Hinata had given her absolution. However, he highly doubted that Hinata would ever see that and she would likely continue to just tell her that the incident was not her fault. That would do nothing to ease the other girl suffering. Neji felt something close to pity for the woman who was desperately drowning in her misplaced sense of responsibility. This was not her fault, but she made it her responsibility. It was a careless mistake, which otherwise wouldn't have resulted in more than a spanking had the girls been caught by anyone else. It was made when she was tiny and she should never have taken all the guilt for it. He pitied and admired her for it. He admired that she was able to see that her actions (sometimes) had devastating consequences; life was really never fair. And he admired that she had a strong sense of responsibility, it would make her an excellent ruler, pity she was a woman and couldn't rule except through marriage. Frankly though, he wasn't sure who would want to marry her. She had such a sharp tongue and wouldn't let anyone rule over her but, herself.

Hinata drew him out of his perusal of his violinist with the continuation of her story."After the initial," there was a slight pause in her words, before she continued hesitantly, "event the ninja that was supposed to be rescuing me blew up the building, took me and ran for it. It took me a few hours to realize he wasn't headed to either the Hyuga or Haruno estates. I was unsure of what to do so I played dumb, but the next day we ran into some rogue ninja and while he was engaged in battle I ran off. I'm unsure of what happened to him, but I rather hope he suffered," Hinata finished vehemently a fierce look in her normally placid eyes.

"He is the reason I have been unable to return all these years. I was such a young child and I had no idea where he had taken me. I was unable to get back on my own and I was naturally wary of any and all strangers after I had been kidnapped twice. Those first few months were terrible I merely traveled from town to town scavenging and staying hidden. I now know that I was headed in the completely wrong direction and I ended up along the sea faring kingdoms in the south before I got any of my bearings. However, by that time almost a year had passed since our side had won the war and I heard earth shattering news; all the Hyugas had died except the fourteen year old nephew of the ruler. I knew it to be you Neji-san, but at the time I hadn't been thinking rationally and I had only become more paranoid living on the streets. I believed that since we never had the best relationship that it would be at the very least stupid to come here and at the most suicidal," Hinata completed her tale softly and apologetically.

Lavender eyes chanced a look up at vegetable venders she was covertly stealing food from. Hinata kept her face neutral, not allowing the grimace that wanted to surface on her face out. She hated that she had to steal to eat but, at the moment there was no room for regret; living was more important to her than a few vegetable were for a merchant. As her pale eyes surveyed the man, she noticed he was talking rather animatedly for an everyday conversation, but that was a good thing since it meant he wasn't paying a lick of attention to anything else. Just as she was about to leave she heard a name leave the merchants mouth that made her stop in her tracks, "The Hyugas?"

Cautiously with an air of normality the young girl stepped closer. She wanted to hear any shred of news about her family. She hoped that soon she could make her way back home. As she inched closer her heart beat faster she hadn't heard news about any of her family since she went missing.

"It's true!" the other merchant said. "The Hyuga family was killed off last week. I just heard the news from my cousin who lives…" She stumbled backward a step. The words were drowned out by the absolute stillness of her mind. It just wasn't possible. Now she would never get to see her mother, her sister, or father again. Tears welled in her lavender eyes, but it wouldn't do to shed them as openly as she didn't want to call attention to herself or obviously different eyes. She wasn't much of a liar and her eyes were a trademark of the Hyuga and with so much attention already on the dead family it wouldn't be good to give herself away crying over something she had no control or ability to stop. She would cry, but she would do it by herself in peace.

Hinata's mind tuned back into the conversation just as the first merchant was filling in more information, "No one knows who did it."

"How odd," the other merchant replied.

"Yeah. Oh! But there is one survivor, he's been cleared by the council though, so it wasn't him that had everyone killed. Besides he's just a fourteen year old kid he couldn't have murdered all the Hyuga," stated one of the merchants candidly.

"Which Hyuga survived?"

The vegetable seller pondered the answer and shrugged as he spoke, "I believe it was a cousin to the main family, his name begins with an 'N' I think."

Though Hinata had brightened bit at there being a survivor her mood quickly dimmed, the sad light coming overtaking her eyes, as she realized who they were talking about. "Neji-san," whispered Hinata, but it was loud enough for the two vegetable merchants to hear.

"Yeah! Hyuga Neji is his name," the vendor said as he turned toward the source of the information. Hinata had frozen she hadn't meant to call any attention to herself.

"Gomen, I must be going," Hinata mumbled softly before taking off in a fast paced walk. Her thoughts wandered toward the distressing news she had heard. There was no use going home now there was no more friendly faces there and who even knew if it was safe?

Neji's lips tilted downward; he was part of the reason Hinata hadn't returned home. Although he knew their relationship had always been a little rocky due to clan politics he would never have harmed her. His brow furrowed when he spoke, "You could have come home. It would have been welcomed."

"It felt safer to stay," she replied a bit sheepishly. Now she knew she could have come home, but she hadn't before. It appeared that her cousin had grown up in the years that she had been gone. Perhaps, just maybe they could be family again.

"It was foolish not to, you would have been much safer here than if someone had recognized you," His frown turned into thinly pressed lips.

"I realize that now, but I was just a little girl when I made my decision. I'm afraid I wasn't always quite as rational as you were," Hinata lightened the mood of their conversation with the small quip on her cousin's standard demeanor.

Neji's lipped twitched in a semblance of a smirk. "I don't doubt that," he agreed.

Sakura had long past had tears in her eyes and slowly, without a sound her tears fell like rain off a smooth petal. Neji almost couldn't believe that this woman, who had shown more of a variety of emotions than he had thought possible in a ten minute time span, was the same woman who had never let him see anything other than her anger and indifference. Breaking out of his reverie Neji inquired, "How did you manage to come under Naruto's employ?"

"Well, after awhile I realized that unless I wanted to become a professional thief I would have to earn my living, so I chose the only thing I was reasonably good at. There was a sweet elderly couple that was quite wealthy and had put out an ad for a musician. I was introduced and it was my luck that they had a harp on hand. It was old and hadn't been played in at least a decade, but it was beautifully tuned," Hinata said with a faraway look in her eyes.

"You were always very good at the harp. I remember that you were decent at piano as well," Sakura murmured.

Hinata answered back a slight smile with a slight smile in her lavender tinted eyes, "By that time, it had maybe been three years since I had touched an instrument. I barely remembered the piano, but I remembered the harp and most of the songs. Likely, because I spent each evening during those first few years mentally going over every song I had ever heard. Playing music was the one thing I missed the most, aside from my family of course."

"That must have been hard," Sakura murmured thinking about anytime she had to go without her violin for any length of time. Music was what kept Sakura going most days. It was how she lived. It was her peace and her escape; she didn't have to concentrate on the outside world. Absolutely nothing was important except, the next string of notes, when she was playing and it calmed her soul better than any meditation she had ever participated in. To be cut off from that source of comfort would have been terrible for her and Sakura nearly physically grimaced at the thought.

"It was a bit, but the elderly couple let me play as often as I wished." Hinata said before continuing to explain, "I played for nearly five years for the couple, I was nearly nineteen at the time that I stopped, and they considered me somewhat like a granddaughter I suppose. At that time they arranged a marriage for me and knowing that that wasn't what I wanted no matter how kind these people had been to me, I gathered up my earnings through the years and a few precious possessions. I had been traveling for nearly a year and a half before Naruto-sama…"

That was as far as Hinata got before Sakura burst out laughing. Nobody, absolutely nobody that Sakura knew of called Naruto, the blond hyperactive god, Naruto-sama. The idea was entirely too ridiculous to consider. "Hinata-chan, has Naruto let you call him that?" Sakura managed to get out amid her laughter.

Perplexed Hinata merely cocked her head to the side.

"He has you call him Naruto-sama?" Sakura asked trying very hard not to cry from laughing so hard. She tried to school her features by choking down her laughter and tightening her lips as if that could stop the sound from bubbling up. By this time even Neji's mouth had curved upward in a small smile.

Naruto scowled, "I told her to call me Naruto or even Naruto-san, but she insists on the formal version."

"Hinata, nobody calls him Naruto-sama, not even my rule conscious parents on the few occasions that they deal with him. He is too…," She paused searching for the correct adjective before settling. "Just Naruto I suppose. If that makes any sense. Formalities just don't suit him."

"Oh… but, he is a god. Shouldn't his title befit him? I couldn't address him as anything less. I'm just a simple musician," Hinata answered. A blush spread across her face. She was mortified to be discussing this in front of Naruto. She already felt little in his presence and it wasn't just his physical being, he had a huge aura. When Naruto walked into the room, it was like the sun had just come out. Everything was brighter and the world looked a little less messy and gruesome.

"Err, well yes, he is a god, but in case you don't remember, you are also from a long standing family of gods. Hell, neither I nor my parents are at Naruto's rank. We are just lords over a single providence and we never refer to Naruto in any sort of formal address," Sakura tried to explain.

"Sakura-chan, your family rules over one of the largest providence and thanks to your family's competence it isn't actually part of any of the god's domains. Your family remains independent because they can deal with it themselves. Through your political moves and marriages you manage to be on good terms with almost all of the races and countries. Even after living on the outside for so many years, I know that your land is one of the most stable. You owe no allegiance to any god or their allies, since you don't need any other god's protection, though you have traditionally given your fealty to a single family, you needn't bow to anyone even if you come from a long line of mostly humans," Hinata deadpanned at Sakura's subservient act. Really Sakura's family was by far the most influential human family around.

"However," Hinata paused slightly. "I suppose you are right. I am of a similar rank by birth," she said her eyes flickering from demurely lowered lids at Naruto and then back to Sakura.

Neji's eyes narrowed a bit as he thought that it really was strange that he had never heard of Sakura. Even with their families' history in all these years he should have heard at least something, especially since he was a young bachelor. All the influential and even some of the non-influential class were trying to get their daughters known, so that they would have a hand in more of the land's politics. He knew for a fact though that Sakura was who she said she was, because she looked so similar to her father, except for her odd hair and eye coloring. Her petite stature definitely hadn't come from her paternal lineage either. He wondered though, was something not right with Sakura? Neji's brow wrinkled, as far as he knew the Haruno's had no other children, which in and of itself was odd for a ruler family with the first born as a girl. He supposed he would just have to ask her later.

Hinata began to continue with her tale, "Anyways, Naruto-san found me a year and a half later, I was traveling around playing for any tavern, residence, or small party that wanted me too. The elderly couple had given me enough money over the years to buy my own harp so, other than transporting it around I had an easy time after I left them. But, for the last few months or so I have been playing for Naruto-san."

Naruto spoke then, "The first time I heard her play was in one of those rowdy bars and the reason I could even hear her play was all the patrons had already stopped to listen to her. There was hardly a noise in the whole place but, her. The music was beautiful. I've heard the song she played countless times, but never, ever played so smooth and entrancing."

Hinata looked down at the floor hiding the red tint of her cheeks. To hear praise from the god of music, someone she respected very much, was overwhelming. He had treated her very kindly over the last few months, even taking the time to talk to her a few times to find out how she was settling into his estate. He compensated her well for her work, both monetarily and with effusive praise.

Sakura smiled gently at Naruto and Hinata. He spoke so highly of her and she obviously, at the very least admired the blond. Her heart warmed to see her oldest friend who she felt so much guilt over, being well- taken care off.

Neji broke the surprising serene calm (Naruto was in the group after all) that had settled over the group by pondering aloud, "The only question left to answer is: What are we going to do? Would you like to continue staying with Naruto until after we deal with Uchiha Sasuke, so that you are safe or would you rather take your place as an heiress?"

"She would be in a lot more danger that way and I don't really see how there is an upside to that," Sakura stated. Her brow furrowed and she pursed her lips as she went over a list of possible political outcomes.

"Well it would be one way to get the council off your back Neji," Naruto grinned mischievously.

Sakura rounded on the god, "That's what they've been bothering you about? An heir?" Sakura knew why he wouldn't mention anything now; no doubt he had had enough pressure from the council and the female population in general. He probably hadn't wanted to run the risk that she would try to take advantage of her position at his estate. But really, it was just a bit insulting and Sakura had to soothe her pride, she would never throw herself at another man again.

Besides it wouldn't be very advantageous for her family to marry someone who already ruled over large amounts of land. Since she had no siblings, she would take her father's position when she reached age or if something happened. If she married someone like that she would be forced to join their lands and he would by tradition be able to rule over her people too. His allies would become hers and his enemies likewise would be hers as well. Not that she thought Neji would do that to her or her people, but it was a risk she was unwilling to take. Her rule wouldn't depend on her getting married like most other human titles. She was half nymph so she would easily live much longer than any of her human ancestors. Her people and her lands were too important to Sakura for her to even consider trusting someone for years on end like that. If it were just herself she wouldn't have a problem. If it were just herself than she would know that the person had no ulterior motives, but the problem was that as the only heir. She needed to be responsible and Sakura swore to herself a long time ago that she would be.

Sakura stood blankly staring out a window overlooking her future kingdom. The weight of Hinata's death a few months ago still left her feeling debilitated. She never wanted another event like that to happen again. Sweeping her eyes over the lands Sakura's resolve hardened; from now on she would do her best to be responsible for the land. She would never be able to make purely selfish decisions and her trust would be hardly given. She couldn't be taken or tricked again. If she allowed herself to be manipulated than all would be lost and her land could soon be in tatters.

Drawing herself up to her full height Sakura decided. She went out through the front door and walked across to where the forest met the property. Sakura took a sharp kunai out from a hidden pouch, the only thing her parents had conceded to let her carry for protection, and laid the sharp edge against the fleshy part of her hand.

"I, Haruno Sakura, pledge to protect these lands and these people with all my might, mind, and soul. Should I fail, may my blood run together with that of my enemies. With my blood may this promise be binding," she proclaimed as the blade cut into her skin. The crimson liquid pooled in her hand. Gently with her right hand she spread the blood over the entirety of her palm. She raised her hand and pressed it into the first tree of the forest. A glowing rose colored light encased Sakura and the tree. Softly, as Sakura pulled her hand gradually from the tree, the light diminished.

When she turned around to go back inside, Kakashi-san, her guard for the time being asked her grimly, "You have no idea what you've done, do you?"

"No Kakashi-san, I know exactly what I've done," Sakura responded as her eyes boring into his.

Kakashi sighed, took her arm and just gently led her back to the house.

After a slight pause Neji answered the worry from the last few weeks lining his face, "Yes."

"Whatever," Sakura said as she turned away from him and began heading for the door. "We should decide in the morning after a rest. I'm not hungry anymore anyways."

Glancing at the table, the rest of them noticed the food had long since grown cold. Neji sighed, "I'm not hungry either. Take the guest rooms in the east wing. We will speak more in the morning."

The pale eyed god headed for his study he still had much to do and too much work to put off.

Would you believe I'm terribly sorry I haven't updated in forever? I didn't mean for it to happen, but I just either haven't felt like writing or I was too busy. Speaking of which, I'm not sure when the next update will be because, I will be going off to college soon and I'm really busy. I'll try though.

Also, I know this wasn't a particularly interesting chapter, but it should get better. Thanks for reading and reviews are always appreciated.

HarmonyRose