Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Bird of the Moon ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

--Disclaimer--

 

I do not own Naruto, or it's characters. Masashi Kishimoto does. I did, however, write this fanfiction.

 

 

 

And that moon appeared again, that night, as Neji sat in his room, waiting as the last few servants of the Hyuuga complex went to bed. One by one, the lights of various people went out like fireflies.Neji, sitting on his bed, shirtless and in a pair of pants, smiled as he saw the last lights go out in his window. He stood, and strode over to the door, silently opening it, and entering the corridor, moving only like a ninja could.

Hinata sat waiting on her own bed, looking up at the moon out her window, as her mind played games again.

'I love him.'

'Do I?'

'Yes, of course I do.'

'But he's my cousin!'

'So? He makes me feel. . .Brave. Confident. And he loves me.'

Hinata jumped as she heard the light knock on her door, and blushed, knowing full well who it was. She got up and walked to the door, quietly opening it and inviting Neji into her room. Neji stepped in, and stood in the moonlight, looking out the window, while Hinata took a quick look in the hall, and closed the door. She turned about, to find Neji looking at her, a devilish look in his eyes. The younger Hyuuga returned the look, and held open her arms, while Neji took her in an embrace. The two kissed, Hinata's heart pounding against Neji's as they met in the dim moonlight.

After a minute, Hinata broke the kiss, gasping for air, and Neji led her to sit on the bed. The two sat down on the matress, looking into one anothers eyes, their emotions written on their sleeves. Lavender eyes met lavender eyes as the pair of Hyuugas' slowly leaned in for a second kiss. They met, and it seemed as though nothing in the world could compare to this feeling, two loves sharing an embrace and a kiss, sealed and hidden away in the eternal moons' light.

As slowly as it began, the kiss ended, both wanting to never stop. They looked at each other longingly, when suddenly Hinata playfully shoved Neji over on the bed. Neji nearly cried out as he hit the matress, and Hinata leaned over him, her hands placed on either side of his torso.

"Oh, I see Lady Hinata likes to be aggressive!" Neji jokingly commented, a smile wide across his face. Hinata smiled with him, and laid down next to him, snuggling into his bare chest.

Neji wrapped an arm around Hinata, and offered it to her as a pillow, as the two of them lay back, looking up at the moon. Hinata smiled, knowing this place was meant for her with all her heart and soul. Neji looked down at her, and smiled as well, knowing that Hinata was the only girl he ever wanted to lay there beside him.

"We have a mission together tomorrow," Hinata whispered to Neji. "Just you and me."

"Only two ninjas?" Neji asked curiously. "That seems a little strange for Tsunade to do."

"I thought so too, but the client specifically requested the help of the Hyuuga clan, and Tsunade thought you and I were perfect for the job."

"We're perfect for each other, too, you know," Neji teased, running his hand through locks of raven hair, making Hinata giggle.

"Of course we are, Neji-kun," she said in agreement. Neji looked up at he position of the moon.

"Damn. It took too long for those stragglers to get to bed. I had better be leaving soon."

Neji slowly took his arm out from under Hinata's head, and stood up from her bed, looking down at her in the moonlight. She smiled lovingly up at him, and he returned it, before slowly walking towards the door, and out to his own room. He quietly closed the door behind him, and walked towards his room, longing to have her back in his arms, but knowing that sleep was more important, especially with a mission starting in the morning.

Hinata lay in her bed, feeling strangely alone without Neji there, but knew just as he did that sleep was important with a mission in the morning. She rolled over on her bed, pulled the blankets over her, and slid into slumber. Neji's smiling face was her last concious thought.

 

----------

 

"So, you two are ready for the briefing of this mission?"

Tsunade sat at her desk, while Neji and Hinata stood in front of her in her office. The two looked at each other like they would look at any other ninja, cleverly masking their true feelings for one another. The two nodded in agreement.

"Yes," they stated in unison. Tsunade looked at the two Hyuugas with pride in her eyes.

"I'm sure you've noticed this is a bit unusual, since only the two of you are going, and you aren't even from the same year at the academy, but we were specifically requested for the Hyuuga clan, and you two seemed to fit the bill perfectly." Neji and Hinata tried to not to smile as memories of the previous night's conversation ran across their minds. "There have been some disturbances in the Land of Waves. Raids on the merchants in the area. The towns' officials believe it to be Ninjas of the Village Hidden in the Mist." Hinata gasped as she remembered hearing of Squad 7's mission in the Land of Waves, and the two rogue ninja, Zabuza and Haku.

"Fortunately, we do know that whoever is involved, they are not any higher than Genin ramking, with the possible exception of a few Chuunin. From what our intelligence has gathered, the ninja involved rely on repeated use of the Hidden Mist Jutsu, and guerilla warfare tactics. They are most likely shinobi who were banned from their village for some offense."

"And you want us to put an end to the raids?" Neji guessed.

"Exactly. Your mission is simple, yet important. Unless these raids are stopped, all trade in and out of the Land of Waves will halt. The people there will begin to grow poor, and many trade prices outside of the area will skyrocket as supply and demand takes its toll." Tsunade lifted a folder off her desk and opened it. She took out two files and handed one to Neji, the other to Hinata. "What you have there is the information we've managed to collect on what you're up against. We've supplied you with gear for the travel, a week's stay, and the travel home. Anything else, you'll need to buy or find for yourselves. Think you guys can handle it?" Tsunade recieved a pair of nods. "Good. I'll see you when you return."

Hinata and Neji both stood, and left the room, grabbing the packs of gear on their way out. Neji looked over his sheet of paper, absorbing the information like a sponge. Hinata folded hers into her pocket, and ran through a mental checklist of what should be in the packs for their trip, double checking the packing. Satisfied, she handed Neji his backpack, and slung her own over her shoulders. Neji took his, slid it over one shoulder, and continued to read his paper. Hinata smiled at him, knowing full well he could see her from the corner of his eye, and started for the stairs to the street below.

"Aren't we in a rush, now, Lady Hinata?" Neji asked playfully, folding his own paper into his pocket, and stepping in stride with the younger Hyuuga. The two made their way to the streets below, and to the gates, a bounce in their steps and a gleam in their eyes.

'Our first mission together!' Hinata thought to herself. 'Oh, I wonder how this will turn out!'

 

----------

 

Neji stopped in the dirt road, and began to take off his backpack. The two had been walking on the path thorugh the forest since morning, eating on the way, but now it was starting to get dark, and Neji knew it would be best to make camp soon. Hinata took off her own bag, and pulled out the tent.

"I checked through your bag earlier," Hinata explained to Neji. "They gave us one two-man tent. We'll need to share." Hinata shot Neji a sly smile. "Unless you have any objections?" Neji returned the smile, and started to pull out some cord for hauling wood, intending to make a cooking fire.

"None at all, Lady Hinata," Neji informed her. The elder Hyuuga looked around the maple trees for suitable wood for a fire while Hinata set up the tent off the road, in a small clearing in the trees. Five minutes later, Neji walked back to where he had left Hinata, enough wood to make a decent sized flame tied to his cord, and found that not only had Hinata pitched the tent, she had set up a fire pit as well.

"I thought I might help you out, Neji-kun," she explained. "Here, let me help you start the fire."

The two shinobi leaned over the fire pit on opposite sides, and began setting up the wood, smaller bits on the bottom, large pieces on top, and Neji used a small jutsu to set the wood ablaze. Their eyes met as the fire began, and an entire conversation passed between them in that one glance.

They could, but they probably shouldn't. They should have a guard cycle set up, in case something happened. Plus, they could use the sleep, they shouldn't be wasting their time with that. That's not really appropriate on a mission, anyways, right?

The Hyuugas ate their dinner in silence, so much more being said with their eyes and body language than could be said with their voices. The rest of the night blew over without a hitch, and the morning arose them before they knew it. Fully rested and ready for the next day, Neji helped Hinata take the tent down, and the two of them double checked their packs, and left for the trail again.

"We should be able to get to the Land of Waves before 3 in the afternoon, 2 if we're lucky," Neji informed Hinata as they started off on the trail. "I suggest we try to make the best use of our time."

Hinata nodded her agreement, and the two set off immediately.

 

----------

 

The Great Naruto Bridge loomed up in the distance, known by the large wooden sign over the top that read as such, along with a welcoming party or around a hundred people at the entrance. Hinata saw it first, and waved for Neji to hurry as she ran down the dirt trail out of the woods to the bridge. Neji smiled at her anxiousness, and started to run himself, letting himself be consumed by the happiness he felt in being there with Hinata. The two finally came up to the bridge, greeted by the town official.

"You are the ninjas of Konoha, correct?" an older man dressed in a traditional kimono asked. His white moustache hung below his chin, and his head was as bald as bald could be. "We thank you greatly for answering our request."

"Of course!" Hinata pirked up.

"Yes, this is a terrible thing these renegades are doing to you." Neji added.

"Well, there isn't much here in the Land of Waves, but anything that you find that can help you, all you need is to ask," the old man offered. Neji shook his head in response.

"That's a very generous offer, but we have our own supplies. I doubt we'll be in any need of your services." Neji smiled. "But again, thank you for the offer."

"Any time, young one," the man smiled in return. "Any time."

Hinata pulled out her folded paper, and looked at the descriptions of various ninja on the list while Neji talked with the officials. One in particular caught her eye.

'The Doppleganger Ninja,' she read to herself. 'Known for impersonating large groups of people at once through the use of Water Clones and Transformation jutsus.' Hinata looked up at the old man, suddenly suspicious of him and the welcoming party. She looked over at Neji, and saw in his eyes that he had been on guard since they had arrived.

"Well, we had best be off to find those Hidden Mist ninjas," Neji politely said to the old man. He let out a smile."Unless, you'd like to reveal yourselves now, so we don't have to go through all the trouble."

Before the group of people had time to react, Neji and Hinata had jumped to the top of the large wooden sign over the top of the Great Naruto Bridge, throwing kunai and shuriken along the way. Many of them hit their marks, and a few people burst into water as they were struck, but many managed to avoid being hit. The Hyuugas activated their Byakugans in unison, and dropped back down, using the Gentle Fist style to dissapate more of the clones. The old man who had pretended to be the town official, however, had slipped out of the fray, and was preparing a water jutsu, intending to take both Konoha shinobi out with a single blow. Hinata noticed the hand seals being formed as she took out two water clones with two open palm strikes, and yelled out to Neji, who stood after leg sweeping a group of clones, and let his attention be drawn to the Doppleganger Ninja.

"I'll handle them, you take him!" Hinata yelled, dodging blows and demolishing more and more clones. Soon, the numbers had thinned to half the starting amount, but her and Neji were still vastly outnumbered.

Neji, listening to HInata's plan, dashed for the Doppleganger Ninja, holding a kunai in his left hand while putting chakra into his right hand. His hands came together, and the kunai was overrun with pure chakra energy, and plunged into the old mans leg, cauterizing the wound as it entered. As the jutsu was broken, the man's hands grabbed for the protruding kunai, while Neji jumped over him and delivered a kick to the back of his head. The Hyuuga pulled out a second kunai as he landed, and pulled the mans head up, holding the kunai to his neck.

"Break the clone jutsu if you want to live!" Neji demanded. The man only smiled.

"Sorry, kid, but I'm not called the Doppleganger Ninja for nothing!" The clone in Neji's arms burst into water, and a short sword was pointed at his back as the real ninja appeared behind him. Neji's Byakugan revealed him to be roughly 17 years old, with dark hair and sunglasses that hid his eyes. He was dressed in standard civilian pants and shirt, shaded dark blue, and a Hidden Mist headband slung sideways over his waist, somewhat like Rock Lee's Hidden Leaf headband. Neji smiled in return to the ninjas cocky appearance.

"And we aren't called the Elite Clan of Konoha for nothing either!"

The Neji held at sword point dissapeared in a puff of smoke to be replaced by a log, as Neji used a Replacement Jutsu, and appeared behind the Doppleganger Ninja. Not giving him a chance to react, Neji used his 8 Trigrams, 64 Palms technique, calling out his hit count as he went. Soon, the Doppleganger had dropped to his knees, his Tenketsu points struck, causing all of his chakra to be cut off. Without his chakra, the Doppleganger's water clones collapsed into various puddles of water on the packed dirt, as Hinata, gasping with exhaustion, deactivated her Byakugan, and walked over to Neji, who had deactivated his own as well. The two Hyuugas looked at one another, smiling in congratulation to themselves at their victory, and looked back down at their prisoner.

"Now then, if you want to live, you will talk," Neji commanded. "Or, we can do this the hard way. But I can't guarantee your survival then." He leaned down and rubbed the enemy shinobi's face into the rocks and dirt below, causing a few cuts to appear on his face and traces of blood to be left on the ground.

"Ugh, ok, I'll talk!" he cried. "Just, please, stop!" Neji smiled, and let go of his head.

"So, what's your name?" he asked.

"I, I go by Diamond." he answered Neji.

"Diamond?" Hinata asked. "Like the card suit?"

"Exactly. There's me, Heart, Club, and Spade."

"How cliche," Neji sighed. Diamond smirked.

" Even if you beat me, you won't beat them."

"That's what you think," Neji stabbed at Diamond, before taking his sword, and knocking him in the back of the head with the flat of the blade. Diamond slumped to the ground, losing conciousness quickly. "Again, very cliche," Neji spat.

"Here, give me a hand, Lady Hinata," the elder Hyuuga asked his cousin as he slid the ninja-to back into its black leather sheath, and unstrapped it from Diamond's back, tying it to his waist. Hinata took a length of rope, and hog tied Diamond, and the two of them lifted him onto their shoulders and carried him into town.

 

----------

 

"What is this?"

As Hinata and Neji entered the town, they were met with mixed responses as they left Diamond tied to a wooden post in the Town Square. An older man with graying hair, and a rope tied to his forehead like a bandana walked towards the Hyuuga's find.

"What are you two doing with that young man?" the man asked.

"He attacked us at the Great Naruto Bridge," Hinata answered boldly. "He's one of the Hidden Mist ninja that have been plaguing the area."

"The Great Naruto Bridge, huh?" the man asked. "You two are the ninjas from Konoha, right?" Neji nodded as Hinata made sure the rope wasn't going to come undone. "So then you know the ninja that bridge is named for, right?"

"Naturally," Neji answered with a smile. "The headache in orange, Naruto."

Hinata winced at Neji's words. She may not feel the way she used to about Naruto, but she still felt he was one of the best ninjas in the village. She looked over at Neji, and saw by the twinkle in his eyes he was only teasing her. She playfully scolded him, and returned to the task of tying Diamond to the post.

The man gave a gruff sigh and smiled. "Well, thank you for coming to help us. We finally got rid of Gato, the last thing we need is more trouble." He extended a hand to Neji. "I'm Tazuna, the bridgebuilder." Neji took his hand in a firm shake.

"So you're the one who named it the Great Naruto Bridge?" Neji shook his head. "I'm Neji Hyuuga."

"And I'm Hinata." Tazuna nodded.

"You are welcome to stay at my home for the time it takes for you to catch these Hidden Mist ninja," Tazuna offered. "It's the least we can do. There's no need for you to be sleeping on the ground when you're helping us, and we have beds to sleep in." Neji nodded his thanks.

"Lead the way."

 

----------

 

That night, Neji sat on the shingled roof of Tazuna's home, which he shared with his daughter and grandson, looking up at the moon. The town around him was mostly in bed, with the exception of a few homes here and there with lights still on. The simple village seemed so at peace. It was difficult to tell there was a war going on with the merchants and a group of renegade ninjas. The black sky above Neji was sparkled with blue-tinted stars, and a perfect crescent moon hung almost directly above him.

A creak on the roof made Neji turn his head. He smiled and turned back as he saw Hinata walk over the rooftop to his side. She sat down next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Both dressed in their usual clothing, they felt slightly chilly in the night air, surrounded by water on all sides.

"How are you, Lady Hinata?" Neji asked the girl on his shoulder.

"I'm fine, Neji-kun," HInata answered. "It's a beautiful night, isn't it?"

"Yes it is," Neji admitted. He looked down at her, and smiled openly. "But not nearly as beautiful as you."

Hinata blushed as she dug her face deeper into Neji's arm. The girls' arms found their way around him, and he wrapped one of his own around Hinata's shoulders, keeping her warm in the chill air. the two stayed that way for what seemed like an eternity.

"We need to try to find these ninja, tomorrow," Hinata whispered to Neji, breaking the silence. "Club, Heart, and Spade are left." Neji snorted.

"I still can't believe they went with something so cliche. I mean, really, they couldn't think of anything better than card suits?" Hinata smiled broadly, agreeing with Neji.

"And Diamond's last words before he went unconcious," Hinata laughed. "'Even if you beat me, you won't beat them!' How overplayed!"

The Hyuugas' shot a glance to where Diamond was still tied to the wooden post, sitting on the cobblestone street. A few people, mainly young children, had found it necessary to hurl rotten fruits at him, as he was currently covered in various colorful accents to his clothing. The two sitting atop the roof stifled a pair of giggles as they turned back, and look to the moon.

"Shall we get to bed, Lady Hinata?"

"Yes, Neji-kun. It is getting late."

The two stood up, and walked over the rooftop, sliding into their individual rooms windows, into the darkness and silence of the night, and the loneliness of seperation. As they rolled to sleep in their beds, they thought of one another's faces, and slept with a smile as broad as the sun is bright.