Toneri was the first to look away. "I understand. Then, I'll tell you how to get to my village." He pointed to a constellation that formed a cross. "See those stars? If you follow them along with the rising sun, you will get there." Kurama nodded in understanding, but froze when he felt Hinata move. He looked at her face, watching as she opened her eyes slowly. "Mm... K... Kurama...?" He smiled in joy and nuzzled her. "Yes, I'm back." It took a while until she noticed that they had company. "Greetings miss, my name is Toneri." "Hinata." She was about to say more when the males tensed. Extending out his rabbit ears, Toneri found out what was going on. "Three horses are running around the forest, surely with hunters. We have to move." The group moved to the abandoned castle, buying some time.

The albino was surprised at the amount of valuables that Kurama obtained through the years. "Do you want to take those things?" The fox seemed to consider it, but Hinata found a problem. "But isn't there too much to carry?" The rabbit took out a wad of seals. "In a normal situation, yes. But I have one skill that I inherited from my ancestor, I can send objects marked with my symbol to the moon or do the reverse." Kurama did feel some attachment to his belongings. "Do it." Toneri smiled and got ready. "While I prepare myself, can you recover my bag? It should be at your house Hinata."

She let herself be carried by Kurama in the way back and took the chance to make some questions. "Where are you going after he finishes?" He looked at the female on his arms. "We are going to a village that will accept our relationship." She ran her fingers through his fur, taking comfort in his presence. "... I love you." He smiled and tightened his grip a little. "I love you too." She thought about her family. "How long did I sleep?" "I don't know, but at least three months went by since we last met." She winced at the time she must have spent uncounscious while her family worried over her. "I'll go with you, but let me write a letter?" He nodded and lowered his pace, already close to her house.

Hinata didn't have to search long for Toneri's bag, as it was laying on the floor, with some of the contents spilled around. She gathered the supplies and got some travelling gear for herself, quickly jotting a letter for her family. Then, she went to meet Kurama, who was hiding at the forest's border. "Ready?" She smoothed the fur on his neck. "Yes." He took her on his arms and went to meet the rabbit. On the way there, she used the time to reminisce about the time they spent together, smiling a little at the memories. She would miss her family, but she was sure that they could get over her escape.

Neji was searching frantically for footprints along with Sasuke and Naruto, all them carrying their guns and alerts to any unnatural sound. They circled around to find any clues, but what they didn't know was that both the fox and the bunny were used to tree hopping to hide their tracks. Naruto caught sight of red and called his companions to search. "I hope that it isn't Hinata's blood." They followed the splatters to a clearing, only to find a dreary scene. "S-sakura-chan..." The body was slumped on one side of the space while a partially chewed head was lying across it. THe blonde got off his horse and went to cradle the remains of his crush, wailing and cursing the forest demon.

Neji had to hide his smirk under a frown, silently thanking the beast. "Naruto, we can mourn her later, Hinata needs our help." "Dope, we can't waste our time on people who are already dead, we can bury her later." The dark haired men turned their rides to explore more of the forest. Naruto struggled but relented, doing a quick prayer and rushing after the two. They struggled to find any clues to find either the kidnapper or the monster, without much luck.

"We should get more men to search." Neji was losing his patience and decided to go to the village to get more manpower. "I'll leave things with you guys, please find my cousin." The two friends exchanged looks and nodded, spurring their horses to pick speed and breaking ways to cover more ground.

It took a while for Neji to convince the able-bodied men to join his hunt, but the prospect of finally nailing down the beast was too tempting to pass up and soon the Hyuuga had a sizable number of riders following him. On the way into the forest, he thought of what Toneri had told him about the bond, but dismissed it as a bunch of lies and got more decided to slay the fox and the Ootsutsuki.

When the couple met the bunny, the males tensed again, this time hearing an even larger number of horses running in the distance. The hunters had accidentally surrounded the trio and would soon catch sight of them.

Kurama had decided to make a distraction so Toneri could take Hinata to a safe place. As soon as the bunny was out of sight, he turned to the direction of the incoming hunters, attracting them with a roar and leading them away to a chase. He ran ahead from the horses until he ended on a dead end, a cliff. Every hunter had their guns trained on him, eager to pull the trigger. The one heading the crowd had a particularly sadistic smirk, his onyx eyes shining with glee.

Toneri had taken his charge to a vantage point, from where they could see the predicatement. Hinata was praying for Kurama's life, fearing that he could end dying. Gunshots rang like thunder and she watched with horror as he fell from the cliff, giving a last roar.

Well, one more chapter, stay tuned and review your opinions. Try not to kill me, please.