Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

Special Thanks: goes out to rao hyuga 18, DarkAnonymous324, Tenten's Panda, Metoochocolate, and PolkadottedAngels for your reviews and encouraging words! I really appreciate you all so much. And also many thanks to those who have and continue to add this story to their alert and favorite lists - you all are totally amazing, too!

Author's Note: My co-author and I had a dialogue - a very, very long dialogue about the length of this chapter. We couldn't decide if it should be one scene, or two. Finally, we reached this agreement. So, I'm sorry it's shorter than the rest, but ultimately, we both feel it's better this way. A lot of the emotion and impact of this chapter, we both felt, would be lessened if we added in another scene. This is also a very pivotal chapter in the story, with hints of what came before - and things to come. So we hope you enjoy it, sorry again it took so long, and thanks for reading!

*~Chapter XIX~*

~Memories~

He'd seen her. She couldn't simply melt back into the night and take an alternate route to the suite. With retreat denied her, Tenten quickly decided her only option was to act as though it was no more unusual for her to be in the garden at this late hour than for her brother. Drawing in a steadying, silent breath she strolled slowly toward him, watching him watch her approach, until close enough to say in a low voice, "You're having trouble sleeping too, big brother?"

For all its softness Kakashi's voice raised goosebumps all over her skin. "What are you doing out here, Tenten? Who are you slipping out to meet?"

Tenten put her chin up a degree or so as anger flared deep in her gut and fought down the sarcastic retort scalding her tongue: All three of the guardsmen whose offers for my hand you refused! Meeting his eye squarely she quietly responded, "Who indeed, considering I've been sequestered nearly as closely as Lady Hinata since my first full day in Konoha? And that the only day I've had off-duty was spent with you?" She held his gaze without flinching, knowing he wouldn't expect her to be able to do so if she had a guilty conscience. She'd never been able to before. Until now. Until Neji's safety, and perhaps his life itself, depended on her deceiving the person who knew her best. "I'm not 'slipping' anywhere. I'm here with milady's knowledge and by her leave."

She sensed more than saw the tension seep first from his arms, left bare by his sleeveless black undershirt, then from his broad shoulders. Resting his elbows on his knees, Kakashi scrubbed his forehead with both hands, then tugged his mask down around his throat. "Sorry, Panda Bear," he said on a long sigh. "That - was out of line."

Tenten from long habit sat down to his right on the basin's edge so he wouldn't have to turn his head so far to see her. At once the coolness stirred by the softly splashing water began to work its way through her thin tunic. "Apology accepted, big brother," she said. After a moment, she added with a sideways look, "Though I warn you, start channeling Lord Hiashi and bad things will happen." One corner of Kakashi's mouth turned up in a lopsided grin, rewarding her sally.

"So," he eventually broke the silence, "you must've been having a really bad time of it for Lady Hinata to chase you out into the night."

Mild as his tone was, Tenten heard the query hidden under it. "Kinda. Much as I love living in Konoha, and as sweet as milady is," she lifted one shoulder in a shrug, "I'm not used to staying in one place. I mean literally one place. Sometimes I feel - claustrophobic. And that triggers bad dreams. So on one of our strolls she showed me a meditation garden she used to go to with her mother. I like it even better at night."

Kakashi nodded. "Lady Hiromi, yes. Lady Hinata is very like her, in both appearance and personality."

"Sarutobi Kurenai said pretty much the same thing when she introduced herself to Lady Hinata at Akamichi's. That seeing milady was like seeing her mother again." She turned sideways on the stone to face her brother, drawing up her legs so she could wrap her arms around her knees. Yielding to sudden curiosity she asked, "Did you know her mother, Kakashi?"

The moon had set. Only starlight remained to cast its fragile glow over his profile. He stayed quiet for so long, Tenten began to wonder if he meant to answer at all. But then he drew a deep breath, released it and said on a note of deep sadness, "Yes, I knew Lady Hiromi. Not well, of course, but I knew her."

Tenten tried to picture an older, fully mature Hinata; tried to picture Lord Hiashi as a man that, according to Hinata, such a woman would deeply love. "Do you think that's why her father treats milady the way he does? Because on some level he can't bear to be reminded of his lost wife?" she wondered aloud.

Kakashi sat up and turned his head in her direction so he could look straight at her. "I don't know. Maybe." He sounded surprised. "I can't say I ever really thought about it like that." He seemed to consider something while keeping his steady regard on her. "Tenten: Has Lady Hinata told you - anything - about her family history? Her recent family history?"

Oh-oh! Dangerous territory! went through her mind, even as she replied, "Some. A little. That Lord Hiashi had a twin brother at one time, who he-" Tenten couldn't finish her sentence past the tightness in her throat.

"-Who he sentenced to death for treason." Her brother's voice took on a hard, cold edge. "For plotting to usurp the leadership of the Hyuuga clan and the village of Konoha."

"And he made his three-year-old daughter attend the execution." Tenten's voice acquired a fierce, bitter edge of its own. "Gee, I wonder if Lady Hinata stuttered before that?"

After a short pause Kakashi said, his tone very low and sober, "I thought that was excessive, too - even at the time."

Random facts previously disassociated from each other abruptly swirled through Tenten's mind, realigning themselves into a pattern so obvious it made her want to pound her forehead against her knees. "You were here. When it happened. I mean actually here," she whispered as she waved a hand at the surrounding compound. "Weren't you?" She didn't know why she should feel so shocked. Stunned. Because she definitely did. And when Kakashi wordlessly nodded, she tentatively continued, "You've never told me before why you left your home village and became a wandering bodyguard for hire. Did that- Is that why - you left Konoha?"

"Partly." Crossing his right ankle over his left thigh, Kakashi twisted to face her. "It was a terrible time, Panda. You have no idea how terrible. Hyuuga Hizashi's treachery wrecked a lot of lives, and not just within the clan. I lost my best friend that night. Maybe it's time I finally told you."

Tenten folded her arms on top of her knees, then rested her chin on them. "Please tell me, big brother. Who was he? What was his name?"

The rippling water in the fountain basin reflected just enough starlight for her to make out the pain and sadness in his expression as he gazed at her. "His name was Obito," he said finally. "Uchiha Obito." She sucked in a quick, surprised breath. "Uh-huh. He would've been Lord Sasuke's some kind of umpteenth-times-removed cousin. He was way outside the direct line. When my father - died - Obito's folks took me in."

In all the years I've known him, I've never heard Kakashi mention his father. Or his mother. The realization, weighted with shame, jolted through Tenten. He never talked about Konoha either, except to tell me its name the one time I did ask about where he came from. Why did I never wonder why?

Kakashi went on, "I was pretty intense in those days, probably could even have been described as obsessed. I had my heart set on becoming a member of the Elite Corps in charge of guarding the leader of the Hyuuga clan and Konoha. Since he was an Uchiha everyone expected Obito to go straight from the Academy into the Konoha police force. But he was a bit of a rebel. He wanted to join the Hyuuga Guard Corps and make the Elite Corps as well. I still can't help but wonder how much of that desire was genuinely his own, and how much was a reflection of my ambition. Maybe if I hadn't been so driven-" He broke off for a moment. His eye seemed focused somewhere beyond her, filled with images from the past.

"Another thing about Obito, even though I didn't appreciate it at the time: he had a great sense of humor. He was chronically late to almost everything: classes, training, meals. And he'd give the most implausible excuses. 'I had to help a little old lady get across the street with her luggage,' he'd say. Or, 'Sorry, but I got lost on the path of life and had to take a detour.' He used to drive me crazy with what I considered his irresponsible attitude. But whenever I came down on him about how his 'frivolous' outlook on life would keep him out of the Guard he would laugh and say just because he wanted to be in the Elite Corps didn't mean he couldn't enjoy life along the way."

Tenten stayed very, very quiet as her brother paused, thinking surely he was being too harsh on himself. Hundreds of memories jostled and flickered through her mind: of Kakashi's endless patience with her; the stuffed panda bear toy he'd given her; the stories he told to make the time pass as they trudged from village to village; how he taught her to see herself as someone of value with her own special place to fill in the world - not just a worthless, thieving orphan. . .

He resumed speaking. "Still, Obito was Uchiha and despite what I condemned as a lackadaisical approach to the seriousness of life, he had skill. A lot of skill. We applied to the Guard Corps at the same time during our final year of school and were both accepted. Right after graduation Obito married Rin, the girl he'd been sweet on ever since our first year at the Academy. She made sure he actually got out the door on time every morning. Absolutely no problem existed with him heading home at day's end. Within six months the two of us had been selected for advanced training, being groomed for positions within the Elite Corps. We were on the fast track to achieving our dreams." His right hand, resting on his thigh, suddenly clenched. "And one night - one dreadful, blood-soaked night - destroyed everything.

"We'd been on an endurance and conditioning run across the plateau above Konoha," he jerked his head toward the black solidity of the cliff rising at the back of the village and part of the estate as well, "throwing in a little seek-and-avoid to make it more competitive. It was a nasty day. Colder than normal, windy and wet. You know the kind, Panda, that makes you so physically miserable it's just that much harder to keep your mind focused on anything but getting someplace warm and dry. But we looked at it as adding an extra layer of difficulty to the exercise. We stayed up there until what little daylight made it through the cloud cover started to go. We'd decided earlier that would be our signal to head back to the barracks if one of us hadn't won by then, and whoever got there first would be the winner. I headed back. I thought I got a glimpse or two of Obito weaving through the trees on a parallel course with me. Or maybe not. I'll never know for sure."

What had happened to the warmth of the night? Tenten wondered. The air curling off the water felt icy. It seeped into her body through her pores, winding insidiously chilling fingers around her heart, clenching it into a tight little ball of pain. Nearly shivering she hugged her knees even closer to her chest.

"I came down the western edge. The guards at the gates I passed through hadn't seen Obito. Assuming he was either behind me or had come down a different way, I went on to the barracks to clean up and change clothes. I dawdled, expecting him to come in at any moment with another of his lame excuses. But he still hadn't shown up by the time I finished, and I started to feel a little uneasy. I wondered if maybe he had opted to come down the eastern edge of the plateau, which was closer to the Hyuuga estate but a whole lot rougher. I decided to give him five more minutes, and then I'd go looking for him.

"The five minutes seemed to drag on for five hours. And of course by the end of them, Obito still hadn't shown. I headed out to look for him, convinced he'd tried the eastern approach and in the bad weather maybe slipped and broken a leg, or hit his head and knocked himself out.

"It was fully dark by then, the rain and the wind making the night seem even blacker. The light from my torch didn't seem to go very far. The guards at the eastern entrance to the compound said he hadn't entered that way. Cursing myself for choosing wrong I started running to check the western gate. Halfway between the barracks and the eastern end of the enclosure wall I found him, lying facedown where he'd - somehow - managed to drag himself since I passed that way the first time. The downpour hadn't had a chance yet to wash away all the blood."

Tenten closed her eyes and hid her face against her knees, a part of her desperately not wanting to hear any more.

"I never knew someone could lose that much blood and still be alive. Or maybe only the force of his will kept him in this world long enough for me to find him. I turned him over, and saw what had been done to him- I pulled him up onto my lap and held him against my chest; I think I shouted his name. His eyes cracked open. His whole body shuddered with the effort he made to choke out five words: 'Lord . . . Hizashi . . . No . . . Don't.'" The stark pauses between the words made each of them hit Tenten's heart all that much harder. "And then he said, 'Rin.' He was trying to say something else when he went limp in my arms, and I knew he was gone. Just - like - that, I'd lost my best friend, the man who'd been like a brother to me."

Kakashi's voice reached her now as from a great distance. "At the same time Obito died in my arms, Lord Hizashi was apprehended within the main house, still carrying the bloody katana he'd used to kill my friend. Of course he swore he was innocent of the murder. He claimed he'd heard suspicious noises and gone outside to investigate when he found the sword lying next to Obito, whom he'd assumed was dead. He said he picked it up when he got a glimpse of a shadowy figure making for the main house and set off in pursuit of the intruder."

Tenten lifted her head, feeling compelled to make some kind of protest - for Hinata's sake, and Neji's. She whispered pleadingly, "But this is Konoha. The most peaceful and stable of villages, and it's been like that for generations. You told me so youself. Surely Lord Hizashi must have known he would never be allowed to sieze power in such a way."

Her brother shook his head at her. "You're forgetting one thing, Panda. Lord Hiashi and Lord Hizashi were twins. Identical twins. What if it appeared that Lord Hiashi had discovered his brother and his wife together, betraying him, and slain both in a jealous rage. Who would dare dispute his right to have done so? And with Lady Hiromi dead, who would remain to definitively identify the imposter as such? Lord Hizashi's wife had already died. Lady Hinata was a child of three. Who would have believed her, even if she insisted the man everyone else accepted as her father was in reality her uncle?"

A bitter tide of despair rose within her. "He confessed - to all this?"

"No. When presented with hard evidence of his plot, he still claimed innocence of any wrongdoing. Even when kneeling for his execution, he refused to bow his neck and admit his guilt. He stared straight into Lord Hiashi's eyes until the executioner took his head."

A sword flashing- Desperate to block that image from fully forming, Tenten asked quickly, "And Rin? What happened to Rin?"

She hadn't thought Kakashi's expression could turn any bleaker, until it did. At once she wished to snatch the question back. "She just - stopped wanting to live. She said it would be better for her and their unborn child to be together with Obito in the afterlife than to stay in this world without him. She died not long afterward. I left Konoha after her funeral, and intended to never come back."

"Why did you, big brother?" Tenten lowered her head onto her knees again, barely able to force the words past the tears threatening to strangle her. "Why did you decide to come back to Konoha?"

"I don't know, Tenten. It just seemed the right time. Maybe I should have told you all this before coming back. But I never dreamed we'd both find employment with the Hyuuga clan." She heard him get to his feet. A moment later a gentle hand stroked the back of her head. "Don't linger here too long, Panda Bear. And don't leave Lady Hinata alone at night too often, no matter how safe she thinks herself to be. Lord Hizashi had a son. And that son is still here on the estate." His breath stirred her hair as he kissed the crown of her head.

And then he was gone.

Tenten's whole body went icy cold with shock. Any impulse she'd harbored to yield to tears fled. Neji. Kakashi thinks he's a threat to Hina. Who firmly believes her uncle was innocent and plans on me helping her prove it. At least he doesn't know about Neji and me. She moved her head so she could push her mouth down hard on her wrist. For a vivid moment she felt again Neji's hands gently clasping her waist, felt his face between her hands and his bandaged forehead resting against hers. What am I thinking? "Neji and me." Like there could ever be such a thing as Neji and me. I can't let myself fall in love with him. Or any more in love with him than I think I already am. . .

. . .What on earth have I gotten myself into?

*~To Be Continued~*

Author's Ending Notes: As I said above, my co-author and I had a very, very long dialogue about the length of this scene. We couldn't decide if it should be one scene, or two. Finally, we agreed on this one. So, I'm sorry it's shorter than the rest (and that there's no Naruto or Sasuke, as some requested), but ultimately, we both feel it's better this way. A lot of the emotion and impact of this chapter, we both felt, would be lessened if we added in another scene. This is also a very pivotal chapter in the story, with hints of what came before - and things to come. But I can promise at least Sasuke's presence in the next chapter, so I look forward to seeing you all then! Thanks for reading!