Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Silver Eyes ❯ Infiltration ( Chapter 5 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: auronsgirl 
The night has finally come, and the pair enters the house.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Martial Arts / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 02.26.2008 | Pages: 7 | Words: 8.6K | Visits: 175 | Status: Completed
The night has finally come, and the pair enters the house.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Martial Arts / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 02.26.2008 | Pages: 7 | Words: 8.6K | Visits: 175 | Status: Completed
The only characters that are mine in this story are Haruko, Yukio, Kokoro, Saiai, Emiko, and
Arichi. The rest are owned by Masashi Kishimoto, that wonderful, wonderful man.
By: Amanda Smith aka silverwingedwolf
Date started: February 4th, 2008
Date finished: February 10th, 2008
Pairings: Sakura/Lee, Neji/OC, Kiba/Hinata, Shikamaru/Temari
Rating: 18+, for non-consent, minors, incest, blood, gore, character death
*Infiltration*
Sunset. Dusk. That point where it hurts your eyes to focus because there's just enough light to
see, but not enough to see properly. The Moonlight Village was just beginning to get its heavenly
glow from the rising moon. The wind rustled through the tiny Village, and the clear glass chimes
tinkled musically for everyone to enjoy. The conflicting lights from the setting sun and the rising
moon fought for dominance on the coloured glass windows of the houses. As beautiful as this
display was, no one seemed to be enjoying it at the moment. All focus was on the largest house
in the Village. The leader's house.
All of the Village's security was pulled to the front of the large house. The house itself was only
two storeys high, and about four windows across the front, five on the sides. The crowd was
gathering around the front door, mumbling something low and excited. The group of twenty-five
hushed as the front door opened, and a tall man with black hair and piercing sky blue eyes came
out. He wore baggy black pants and a green sleeveless shirt. His skin looked deathly, a pale
yellow colour. His muscle tone and height announced that he wasn't exactly the strongest person
on in the country, probably not even close to it. When he spoke, however, his voice was low and
held a power that his frame could not back up.
`All right, listen up, you cowards,' Yukio started, putting his hands on his hips and looking
distastefully out at his cronies. `You all know what you're to do. Protect the outside of the house,
for those who've been assigned to guard duty. For those inside, make sure no one goes into the
basement. You know what the target looks like: Saiai Tsuki, my beloved niece. If you capture
her, do not kill her. I want her alive. Be forewarned, she may have brought company. The
procedure will begin in a half an hour, and I do not want to be disturbed. Got it?' A resounding
sound of affirmation, and Yukio clapped his hands together. `Good! Now, get to it! We've gotta
have this place covered for our guests!' The men dispersed and assumed their stations around the
house.
The ground was effectively covered, and so was the house, but the trees surrounding the house
were not taken into consideration by Yukio's lackeys. Next to the house, on one of the branches
in one of the taller trees, two figures sat on their heels, eye glowing silver under the cover of the
dense leaves.
`Hmmmm, so we've only got a half an hour. Perfect,' Saiai said. She checked her equipment to
see if everything was up to her standards.
`So, let me get this straight. You sneak in, slip past the guards, into the basement, and lure Yukio
away. That's when I sneak in, release your sisters from their genjutsu, sneak back out, and wait
for you?' Neji asked.
`Yes, that's the gist of it,' Saiai said, adjusting her gloves.
Neji felt uneasy. `Why should you go in alone? I don't feel it's appropriate for you to go alone.'
Saiai looked at Neji, and smiled. `I know you're worried about me, but you don't have to be. I
know this house inside out, slipping past the guards will be easy for me, and besides, your chakra
really isn't that easy to contain. Trust me, Neji, I'll be fine.' She grabbed his hand and squeezed,
attempting to reassure him.
Neji, sighed, closing his eyes, still not completely satisfied, but he couldn't argue with her logic.
`Fine. Ten minutes is all I have to wait, correct? Then I sneak in and go the basement.'
`Yep!' Saiai said, getting up. She readied herself to jump onto the roof when a strong hand closed
around her wrist. She turned to see what Neji wanted and found him unbelievably close to her.
With one hand around her wrist, he put the other on her shoulder and leaned in close. Her heart
started beating tremendously fast, and her eyes became the size of saucers. `What's he doing?'
Saiai thought frantically.
Instead of going to her lips, like she thought he was going to do, he put his mouth close to her
ear. `You had better not get hurt. I'm giving you five minutes after I get your sisters, then I'm
coming after you.' He pulled away, and let go of Saiai's wrist.
Saiai's eyes were still wide when he pulled back. She seemed to be dazed. She fought with
herself to recover, and finally pulled to it when a cool breeze pushed through the leaves and
through their hair. `You won't have to come and find me,' Saiai said, turning around and jumping
away.
****
Neji smirked to himself as he watched Saiai jump onto the roof and crawl into one of the
windows. He knew what she was thinking of when he drew in close. And she was right, to be
completely truthful. He thought of the mission, however, and decided that kissing her before the
mission would probably have thrown her off of her focus. So instead, he whispered in her ear.
`The kiss will have to wait until after the mission is finished' he thought, standing up and
stretching.
`Well, I had best get going, if I want to stay on schedule,' Neji muttered, dropping down from the
tree.
*******
Saiai dropped silently to the floor in a crouching position. The room was dark, but that suited her
fine. She could see in the dark anyway, courtesy of her father. She activated her Moon Eyes and
walked silently to the door, searching for chakra presences outside. Sure enough, there was one
right outside the door, and two more down the hall. Saiai didn't particularly like killing people
she didn't have to, but in order to save her sisters and avoid as much trouble as she possibly
could, she had to move fast and damn the results. She flung open the door, grabbed the man
outside by the neck, and gave it a fast twist. He felt nothing, but the two men down the hall heard
the sickening snap. She braced herself and struck quickly, dispatching both men effectively and
quietly. She left their bodies in the middle of the hallway and continued to the end of the hall.
The hallway ended on a landing which split off into two more hallways to the right and left.
Directly in front of her was a stairway leading straight to the front hallway. Under the stairway
was the doorway to the basement where the `labs' her uncle kept were. She waited a couple of
seconds, carefully planing her moves. She jumped from the top of the landing to in front of the
door. She landed on the man guarding the door, not planning on it but working with it anyway.
The chakra signature from the other side of the door moved, and Saiai ducked down in front of
the door. The guard opening the door looked straight ahead of him, not seeing Saiai until her
boot connected with his chin, crushing his teeth and tongue. `Hey, not bad. Five out of twenty-
five in the first ten minutes,' Saiai thought, climbing down the stairs into the dank basement.
There were several doors on either side of the hallway. Each door looked similar to its neighbour
in every way. If it weren't for the fact that there were two hugely muscled goons standing in front
of the last doorway on the left, Saiai might not have reached the right lab in time. She made a
sound to grab the attention of the two brutes, and they rushed over foolishly. She drop-kicked the
first guard in the face off of the stairs, back-flipping backwards after contact into a defensive
stance. He dropped to his knees, holding his face. The other giant was a little more cautious and
stopped just before the crouching girl. Saiai whipped out her nunchuku and readied herself for an
attack. The thug charged her, head down, arms forward. Saiai double-kick him in the face,
stopping his forward momentum and causing him to reel back. With his stomach showing, she
attacked, fingers driving into the sensitive gut fast and hard enough to cause organ damage. He
heaved forward, coughing blood and holding his stomach. She took the opportunity and punched
him square in the throat, crushing his windpipe. While he wheezed his dying breaths, Saiai
turned her attention to the first guard, who was slowly getting up. She waited for him to make the
first move. He charged like his friend did, head down and arms out. Instead of kicking him,
though, Saiai rushed forward to meet him, nunchuku pulled apart at thigh-height. When they got
close enough, Saiai pushed her legs up into the air, effectively front-flipping. When the chain of
her weapon made contact with her victims neck, she twisted her body and cocked her legs out in
front of her. The thug gripped at the chain, and Saiai made her full revolution, planting both of
her opponent's back. She pulled viciously on the handles choking the air out of her assailant. He
flailed around, trying to throw the small girl off of him, but to no avail. He threw himself
backwards against the wall in a last ditch effort to throw Saiai from his back, but Saiai held on
fast, despite feeling bruises instantly after impact with the hard surface. The body slid to the floor
and laid still. Saiai crawled out from behind him, rubbing her back. She untangled her nunchuku
from the body's neck and put it back in its holder.
Saiai continued down the hall to stop in front of the door the two dead men were guarding. She
made sure that she was completely ready for anything she saw through the window. She took a
deep breath, steadied herself, then looked through the window.
What she saw through the little window disturbed her greatly. Emiko was tied to one table with a
white blanket draped over her body. Beside her, in the middle of the two tables, was Arichi. She
was standing stock still, a blank look plastered on her face as she stood in front of a table filled
with surgical tools. On the other table, Yukio was in a sitting position, minus a shirt. He was
looking at the girls with a malicious hunger filling his ice blue eyes.
The moon filled the small basement room with it's luminescence and cast an eeriness into the
room. Shadows danced in the corners like small demons. Yukio glowed with a malevolent aura,
his eyes widening with twisted glee by the minute as the inevitable began to happen. Emiko's
head was twisted slightly towards the window. It was positioned in such a way that Saiai could
see it where she was standing. Her normal cerulean blue eyes began to take on a slightly darker
shade, and small flecks of a lighter blue started to float around. Saiai gasped, momentarily letting
her Moon Eyes drop. Her chakra flared with the emotional strain the sight was causing her, and
she knew that the plan had to move forward at this point.
Yukio looked up at the door window, and looked directly at Saiai. His smile was pure evil, and
his eyes reflected the plan he had in store for the young girls. He slowly got up from the table he
was sitting on and clapped his hands together. The girls inside the room instantly fell limp;
Emiko, luckily, was on the table, and her head simply fell to the side. Arichi, unfortunately, was
standing, and fell flat on the floor.
Saiai made sure that Yukio's attention was fully on her and away from her sisters before she ran
towards the stairs leading back up the foyer. She stopped on the landing before stairs and looked
back. She made sure that her uncle was still following her. His voice floated to her ears, `My
dearest niece! I'm glad you could come back for your sister's birthday. I bet she would be happy,
as well, but I don't think she's really all that conscious at the moment.' His light chuckle filled
her ears as she reached the top of the stairs.
`I'm here to stop you, uncle. You won't be hurting our family anymore,' Saiai told him, climbing
the stairs from the foyer to the three way split in the hallways. She looked to see which way she
should go, but when she heard Yukio's footsteps almost upon her, she decided to go straight and
head towards the master bedroom for the final showdown.
`Oh, Saiai! Was that what you thought I was doing? Hurting your family? I'm sorry I mislead
you!' Yukio taunted to her as he followed her down the hallway leading to his bedroom. `I only
want my brother had. I mean, he was my brother and all, shouldn't we have shared everything?'
`Including his wife and daughters? You're sick, uncle Yukio. Very sick,' Saiai yelled back at him,
entering the master bedroom. She activated her Moon Eyes and sped around the room, closing
the curtains to envelop the room in pitch darkness. She jumped on the bed and crouched there,
waiting for Yukio.
He appeared in the doorway and stood there, looking at Saiai with a sick grin plastered on his
face. `Tsk, Saiai, I didn't do this simply to get you and your family. You were just... bonuses. I
this to prove that I could be better than Haruka, and show my father that I wasn't the family
disgrace.'
`I think you've already proved that a while ago, uncle. Now, I avenge my father and my sisters,'
Saiai said. She sprang from the bed and aimed a kick to Yukio's head. He ducked, rolling into the
room. Saiai followed through with the kick and her foot connected with the door, slamming it
shut. The room was thrown into complete darkness.
`Ah, Saiai, you're quite the planner, you are. Just like Haruka. But like Haruka, I'm going to
defeat you,' Yukio goaded, feeling his way around the room
`Hmmmm, I think not, uncle. I can see in the dark, you can't. That's one huge difference between
us.' Saiai heard him grunt, presumably because he hadn't taken that little detail into his actions.
She could see him clearly: he was standing beside the bed, arms stretched out in front of him,
feeling the air. She moved just out of his reach, attempting to determine the best course of action.
After a few minutes, she decided she should just go for the glory and outright kill him. She
tensed her muscles, snuck behind him, and growled in his ear, `You die now, uncle.' She
anticipated his back swing to try and hit her, so she ducked and moved forward slightly, to his
side. She unleashed a fury of blows to his side, her fingers bruising and tearing the skin slightly.
He turned to the side she was at and struck out, but she was constantly moving, striking out, then
moving again when he would try to hit her. She continued this with him for several minutes, and
she noticed that he was breathing hard, and a small trickle of blood from the side of his mouth.
She knew that it was time to end it, so she attacked him with a speed that she didn't know she
possessed. Her fingers drove him to the wall. Her fingers jabbed and plunged into the soft flesh
of his abdomen. His arms fought weakly with her to stop, but she didn't give them a second
thought. He slid slightly down the wall, and Saiai backed up. She looked at her uncle with
disdain, hate, and a small amount of pity. Only for a second, though, because she delivered a
roundhouse kick to the face. He fell sideways, grabbing for something, and finding purchase
with a curtain.
The curtain fell away from the window and silver moonlight filled the room instantly. Saiai's
eyes widened as her uncle smirked up from his position on the floor. `I think, my sweet, that you
are now defeated.' His hands flew in hand signs that were familiar to her, but ended in one
different seal. Her body suddenly felt as if she were on strings. She felt herself walk over to the
bed, and as hard as she tried, there was no getting out of it. `What is this?!' she asked Yukio.
`Well Saiai,' started Yukio. `Seeing as your mother helped you escape my last mind control, I
modified my old one, just for you. It lets your mind stay alert, but your body is completely under
my control. I can make you do...whatever... I.... want.' Each of the last words were punctuated
with a step forward from him, and a step backwards from her. After the last word, she felt her
knees hit the bed. Her spine slowly lowered her backwards on the bed, despite her mind fighting
the effects of the genjutsu. Her back hit the bed and her head was forced to look up at the ceiling.
Her line of vision was completely clear when Yukio forced her head to look at him. He leaned
down, put his hands on either side of her head, and leaned his face to hers.
`Your sisters can wait a little longer while I have fun with you,' Yukio said, moving his right
hand from the bed and letting it trail along her arm, up to her shoulder. She shivered with
obvious distaste and mentally struggled harder against the genjutsu. She struggled valiantly,
almost getting free, when her uncle's voice filled her ears. `You'll never save your sisters, you'll
never go back to the Leaf Village to visit your newfound friends...' Yukio lowered his mouth to
her ear and whispered a sentence in her ear: `And you won't be able to see your boyfriend again.'
Saiai's eyes narrowed into hate-filled slits, and the genjutsu broke for a split second. She spit into
his face and brought her hands up to hit him. He was too quick, however, and he strengthened the
genjutsu. `Asshole,' Saiai hissed. `How do you know about him?'
`I have my ways,' he replied, still smiling as he wiped the spit off his cheek. `It was a beautiful
night, last night, wasn't it?' He laughed when he saw Saiai's eyes widen in shock. `Thought you
were alone, didn't you? Well, you weren't.' His perpetual smile faded suddenly, and his voice
lost all mirth, however creepy it was. `You spit in my face, dearest. You broke free from my
genjutsu. You've grown stronger. I was going to let you live long enough to see your sister's
operation, but I can't let you go now that you've become stronger.' His hand snaked behind him,
and Saiai heard a sound of metal hitting metal. When his hand returned, he was holding a kunai
knife. `Put your hands above your head.'
`No, please, don't,' Saiai begged, knowing what was coming next. Her hands met at the top of
her head, and her uncle took her hands in his. He took the gloves off, laid them next to her, and
put her hands, one overlapping the other, back above her head. In a flash, the kunai knife was
through her hands and into the bed. The pain was excruciating, and she screamed, but Saiai held
back the tears. She wouldn't allow him to see her immense fear.
`So, my dear,'Yukio said, his smile returning. `I'm going to punish you for leaving me, and then
I'm going to kill you.' His hands trailed down her arms, down her sides, and trailed his fingers
down the outside of her legs. Saiai eyes shut against the feelings assaulting her, and her mind
fought harder than it ever had. His left hand trailed back up to her hip, and trailed up over her
stomach and breast via her zipper. His hand unbuttoned the first clasp, second, third. Saiai had
her eyes closed, her head swimming from the pain raging in her hands, the hate she felt for her
uncle, and an odd feeling. Her mind returned to Neji; was he ok? Has he finished his mission and
free her sisters? Her mind floated to him: his silver, pupil-less eyes, his handsome face, his long
chocolate silken hair, and how much she was glad he was her partner for this mission. Her heart
fell when she realized that she had probably already saw him for the last time.
Her mind snapped back to reality when Yukio had undone her fourth clasp. Her white bindings
showed through her dress, a striking contrast against her black dress. She whined against his
disgusting touch, which egged him on even more. She had almost resigned herself to her fate
when the door to her left blew inwards. The genjutsu was shattered as Yukio lost his focus, but
Saiai still made no move. The pain in her hands kept her immobile, as well as the fact she was
pinned to the bed. She turned her head to the left and saw three people standing in the doorway.
Through her pain-fogged mind, they appeared as nothing more than shadows. When the foremost
figure growled and stepped forward into the moonlight, his silver eyes glowing, Saiai smiled for
the first time since she'd seen her uncle.
Neji growled and lowered himself into a crouching position that Saiai had never seen him use
before. One arm was stretched out in front of him, one behind, and his Byakugan was activated.
`How dare you touch her like that?' Neji hissed. He was angrier than Saiai had ever seen him.
Before Yukio could respond to Neji's question, Neji erupted into a blur of motion. His limbs
were barely visible as he drove Yukio back into the wall.
`..2 palms....4 palms........8 palms................16 palms................................32
palms.......................... ...................................... 64 palms! 8 Trigrams, 64 Palms!' Neji grabbed
Yukio by the neck and brought his face close to the older man's. He brought a fist up in front of
Yukio's face as if to hit him, but a whimper from close by stopped him. He turned his head to the
bed, and his face turned from rage to instant heartbreak. He dropped Yukio to the floor and made
his way Saiai, who looked up at him with grateful eyes.
He kneeled on the bed beside her and looked down on her, a small, sad smile playing on both of
their lips. Neji reached towards the front of Saiai's dress and began doing her clasps up. The
notion was tender, sweet, and utterly shocked the girls in the doorway. He heard their unsure
noises behind him, but ignored it. Saiai was the one who needed all of his attention at the
moment. When he finished buttoning her dress, he sat back on the bed and looked at Saiai, a
worried look on his face.
`Thanks Neji. I owe you one,' Saiai said, trying to quell his worries. She looked towards the
doorway and motioned with her head. Her sisters came silently into the room, the blonde heading
straight for the bed, the raven-haired one drawing a weapon and heading for Yukio. She held the
sword to his throat, and warned him in a quiet voice not to move.
The blonde haired one sat on Saiai's right and ran a hand over her forehead. Her hand glowed
with a pale green light as she passed it slowly down the rest of Saiai's body. She finished and,
looked at Neji and Saiai. `You have a broken rib, your hands are terribly injured, but otherwise,
you're fine.'
The blonde's hands glowed green once more, and she was about to put her hand to Saiai's chest,
but Saiai shook her head. `No, Arichi, just fix my hands for the moment. We have to get out of
here soon.' Arichi was about to complain, but the look in Saiai's eyes told her that the
conversation was closed.
Arichi switched her direction to the hands pinned above her head, and she faltered. `What's
wrong, Arichi?' Saiai asked. `Just yank it out. It'll be over in a second.'
`I can't,' Arichi said. `I don't want to hurt you.'
Saiai sighed, frustrated. `It hurts with this thing in my hands. Just pull it out and be done with it.
You can do it, I know.' Arichi shook her head, retracting her hands to her chest, and refused to
look at Saiai. Saiai groaned and turned to Neji. `Neji, please, take the kunai out of my hands.'
Neji looked down at his partner. Her dark brown braids were splayed out behind her, her pale
face even more pale with a combination of the moonlight and pain coursing down her arms. Her
eyes pleaded with him to take out the offending object. `This is going to hurt... a lot,' Neji
warned her, wrapping his hand around the handle of the knife. She nodded, closing her eyes, and
holding her breath. Neji yanked, the blade came free with a spurt of blood, and Saiai yelped in
pain. Neji threw the kunai across the room and helped Saiai bring her arms to her sides, so Arichi
could work on them without her being in so much pain.
While Arichi worked on Saiai's hands in front of her, Neji helped Saiai get up. `Why did you
come to find me? The plan was to wait outside until I beat my uncle and came to meet you.'
`When we got outside, we waited for you like I said we would, but then a bunch of security
arrived. I fought them off, seeing as the girls didn't have their weapons with them. When we
finished, we decided to go back in and find the girls' weapons. When we were in their rooms, we
heard you scream, so we rushed over here. Besides,' Neji with a hint of a smirk, `you don't really
believe that I would allow you to face your uncle alone, do you?'
Saiai grinned, and then she looked at Neji's injuries. `Oh my god, Neji, you're hurt! I'll get
Arichi to look at that after we're finished.'
Neji shook his head. `No time, we're going to get out of here first. You said it yourself.'
`Finished!' Arichi chirped. Saiai held her hands in front of her eyes and flexed her fingers. Very
little pain was left. She smiled at Arichi and clapped a hand on her shoulder. She stood up and
stretched her muscles. Arichi tried to get at Neji's wounds, but he wouldn't let her near him.
Saiai picked up her gloves, put them back on her hands, and walked over to Emiko. She was still
guarding Yukio. He was glaring up at the girls watching him.
`Has he made move yet?' Saiai asked Emiko.
`Nope, just put his hand in his pocket a couple of minutes ago, but he hasn't made a move since,'
Emiko replied. Her sword was even with Yukio's breastbone, so should he make a move, he
would skewer himself.
Saiai crouched in front of Yukio, her eyes hard and cold in the moonlight. `I told you, uncle, that
you would die tonight. Looks like I was right.'
Saiai was taken aback when he started to laugh. His hand retracted from his pants pocket, and in
his hand was a small black device with a green button in the middle of it. He pressed it, and the
house shook with tremendous force. `I was right, too. I just blew up the chemicals in the
basement, and the house will be a blazing inferno in a matter of minutes.'
`Bastard!' snarled Emiko, and she impaled Yukio on her sword. He continued laughing, despite
the fact he was drowning in his own blood. He died smiling, blood running from his mouth and
dripping onto his hand.
Saiai felt like choking him, but she knew that there was little time left before the house would
fall in on itself. `Come on, guys, we have to go. Leave him here, he can burn for all I care,' Saiai
said, walking towards the door. Emiko and Arichi were already through the door. Neji walked
behind her, favouring his left foot. `You're hurt,' Saiai stated, knowing it was obvious, but
feeling a need to say it anyway.
`It's nothing, one of the guards caught my foot with a kunai knife. I'll be fine,' Neji replied.
`Still, I would feel better if you would let me help you,' persisted Saiai. She tucked herself under
Neji's arm and wrapped her own arm around his waist. Secretly, she sent chakra to her hands to
scan Neji's body for injuries, and she was astonished. `Neji, it's more than just your foot that's
hurt. I'm amazed you're still walking! Your chakra is dangerously depleted, and your muscles
are so worn down, I'm shocked you're not falling over!'
Neji just continued walking forward and kept his eyes in front of him. `I told you I would protect
you during this mission, and that's what I've been doing,' he muttered.
`Yeah, but...'
`No buts, Saiai, I'm protecting you and that's all there is to it. You can heal me after the mission
is done, and I won't complain.' Saiai couldn't fight with Neji any further about the subject so
they continued down the hallway. Emiko and Arichi were standing in the foyer when they arrived
at the end of the hallway. The fire had reached the ground floor by then, and smoke was slowly
filling the house.
`What about your mother?' he asked, coughing slightly. His Byakugan was activated, and his
head turned the right. `She's down that hallway, in the seventh cell on the left.'
Saiai turned her body to face the hallway. Smoke was filling the air quickly in the enclosed
space, and she knew there wouldn't be much air left in a few minutes. `Emiko! Arichi! Get out of
the house and stay in the front until Lee and Sakura come! Don't argue just go!'
`How will we know who Lee and Sakura are?!' Arichi yelled back, heading towards the door.
`You'll know them immediately!' Saiai yelled, inwardly chuckling at mental image of the girls
meeting Lee for the first time. She watched the girls leave, then the pair started down the long
hallway.
They reached the sixth cell, and the ceiling behind them collapsed. `Well, looks like we're stuck
in this hallway,' Neji said.
`There's a window at the end of the hallway. It's a tight squeeze, but we can manage if we take it
slow,' Saiai said, slowing down in front of the next cell. They looked in and saw nothing but a
grey haze filling the room.
`Mother?' Saiai ventured softly. The steel door restricted the view for most of the room except
directly in front of the little window. A face suddenly popped into view. Decidedly female, her
brown eyes were tired and dull, her hair plastered to her head with sweat, and her skin red and
dirty.
`Saiai! You came for us! I'm so happy you're ok. Where's that bastard Yukio? Did you kill him?'
Kokoro's words tumbled from her mouth in a torrent of near-nonsense. Her hands went to the
steel bars lining the window, and Saiai encircled her hands.
`Yes, mother, we've killed him. He's finally dead and we can finally be free!' Saiai said, looking
for a door knob, or a lock, or something to open the cell door. Neji was leaning against the wall
beside the door, resting with his head down.
`Saiai, you make my heart happy. You and your sisters are finally free. Now, you have to get out
of here, there's not much time. The fire's spreading quickly,' Kokoro said, moving her hands to
Saiai's face and caressing her cheek.
`As soon as I find the lock and let you out, we can go, but it's going to be...' Saiai started, but
Kokoro cut her off.
`Saiai, you have to leave without me. The cells were built with Yukio's self-destruct system, so
that when he pressed that button, the doors to all of the cells would shut permenantly, so the
prisoner's in the house would die as well. There would be no survivors, he told me, of this night.'
Kokoro looked sad when she saw Saiai's face constrict.
`What? What are you saying, mother? I'm going to get you out, then we can make the Village
better again,' Saiai said, her voice raising slightly, and her hands began to pull at the bars. Neji
noticed this and stood up straight.
`Saiai, don't make this any harder than it has to,' Kokoro pleaded, her hands returning to cover
Saiai's straining ones on the bars. `Please, leave now while you can. I've atoned for my past
crimes against your father, and now all I want to do is see him again and apologize, face to face.'
Saiai began to pull harder on the bars, a steady stream of `no, no, no' fell from her mouth in a
frantic chant. Kokoro looked at Neji, her eyes filling with tears. `Please, sir, take care of my
daughter. She means the world to me. I don't want her dying because of me. Take her away now.'
`Is this truly what you want, Kokoro?' Neji asked, slipping behind Saiai and placed his hands
around Saiai's. Kokoro nodded, and Neji sent small amounts of chakra through his hands to
Saiai's hands, shocking the nerves into letting go. Once Saiai's hands were away from the bars,
he wrapped his arms around her waist and began to drag her away.
`No! Neji! Let me go! Mother needs help! Help me get her out! Let me go!' Saiai screamed,
thrashing about in Neji's arms. Neji continued on his path, walking forward without a look back
and tightening his grip on Saiai. In his weakened state, she almost got free, but he pinned her
arms to her sides.
`I love you Saiai! I'm doing this for you! Please forgive me!' Kokoro shouted to her, stepping
back from the bars.
Saiai struggled against Neji until they reached the window. He put her down on her feet, but he
kept his hands on her shoulders, and turned her to look at him. An explosion from the opposite
end of the house told them they had very little time left. Where they had been moments before
was nothing but a fiery orange haze.
Neji turned to open the window and he felt Saiai began to turn to go back to her mother's cell.
He caught her by the shoulders once more and turned her to face him. `Why, Neji?' Saiai
questioned, no longer fighting against him, but her eyes hurt him more than any struggling could
have.
`Your mother was right,' Neji began, showing her reason. `The door wouldn't open, no matter
how hard you tried. She wanted you to live, Saiai. She gave up her life for you, and you were
willing to stand there and waste it? Well, I wasn't going to stand there and watch you burn,
fighting a useless battle. I dragged you away from there because I'm going to protect you till my
last breath. Now, climb out the window, I will meet you on the ground.'
`No, Neji, you should go first. You're badly hurt,' Saiai replied, shaking her head.
Neji sighed. `This is no time to fight, Saiai, just jump out of the window.'
`No, Neji, you go first and then...' Saiai was interrutped by a very large rumbling noise from
directly behind them. They both looked, then Neji sweeped Saiai into his arms. She thought he
was going to physically protect her from the impending blast and started to protest, but she was
stopped abruptly as Neji threw her out of the window. Saiai landed on the cold, wet grass, the
sudden stop jarring her back and sending shots of pain throughout her chest as a couple of more
ribs broke.
She looked up at the window, and was about to start yelling at Neji to hurry up when the largest
explosion yet tore through the house and blew all of the windows. Saiai covered her head as
small shards of glass rained down around her, covering her hair. She looked up just in time to see
a dark form get propelled out of the window by the blast and hit a tree. She stood there shocked,
until the form `oof-ed as it hit the ground.
`Neji!!' Saiai screamed, running to his side. She skidded on her knees as she arrived by his side,
and turned him over on his back. He was awake, but just barely. She used her chakra to scan his
body, and she gasped when she finished..His skin was bruised and cut in several places from the
explosion, and copious amounts of blood was pouring freely from the most dangerous gashes.
Most of the bones in his body were broken, and several organs were damaged. He was breathing
fine, which was a miracle, but his consciousness was fading fast.
`Saiai..' a forced whisper came from under her, and she squeaked. Neji was looking up at her
with a smile on his face. `Saiai, I'm so glad I could see you one last time.' His hand snaked up to
her face and caressed her cheek lightly.
`Don't talk like that, Neji,' Saiai said, her eyes filling with tears for the first time that night. `I'm
going to use my medical ninjutsu to heal you, then we can go back to the Leaf Village, and we
can play with Hanabi.'
`Hanabi,' Neji whispered, his eyes closing, and his hand falling away from Saiai's cheek. `Could
you tell her I'm sorry that I couldn't come back? Saiai, I'm glad I died saving...you...
because...because...' His head fell to the side, and his entire body went limp.
Saiai held on to Neji's hand like it was going to disappear if she let go of it. `Neji! Wake up!
Don't do this! Don't leave me!' She put her head to her chest, and felt his chest rise and fall, and
his heart beat ever so lightly. She knew he wouldn't live if she didn't do something.
`Mother! Father! What do I do?' Saiai whispered to the night sky. The moon gazed down at her
with indifference, and the house burned relentlessly. She pictured her mother's face, her eyes dull
and lifeless but burning with love. She pictured her father, his beautiful blue eyes glinting in the
moonlight and his kind face smiling down on her. In her mind's eye, he leaned forward and
whispered something in her ear. Suddenly, she knew what she had to do.
She stood up, ignoring the pain that raced through her muscles, and sat straddling Neji's
stomach. She took off her gloves, and set them beside her. She reached into Neji's weapon's
pouch and withdrew a kunai. She made a cut from his neck to his abdomen in the white fabric,
careful not to cut into his skin. When she was finished with that, she placed the kunai next to her
gloves. She looked at the moon, taking in its beauty for what might be the last time, then looked
down at Neji, his face growing more and more pale by the moment. She knew she couldn't go
back even if she wanted to. She made the hand signs her father showed her so long ago, and
focussed most of her chakra to her hands. She made the final sign, the sign of the moon, and she
felt her hands begin to pulse. She heaved a breath out, steadying herself for the impending pain,
and put her hands to Neji's chest.
Nothing happened. Saiai groaned, and removed her hands. She had done everything right, perfect
down to the last hand sign. What was wrong? She put her head to Neji's chest and heard...
nothing. `No,' she whispered. `No, no, no! NO!' She went through the signs again and put her
hands to his chest. Still nothing happened. Saiai slowly lowered her head to Neji's shoulder, tears
pouring out of her eyes. She was too late. Her indecision had killed the one man she loved. `No,
Neji, you can't be gone,' she sobbed. `I love you.'
In that instant, felt as if a giant clamp had seized her and was squeezing every last bit of chakra
out of her, via her arms. She screeched and threw her head back, the pain sudden and surprising.
She felt her chakra leaving her body and pooling into Neji's body, fixing the broken bones and
damaged organs. His chest jumped slightly as his breath returned to his body, and she felt his
heart beat strong under her hands. The skin that was bruised and burnt from the explosion healed
quickly, leaving no scars or other tell-tale marks of his near-death experience. She felt a
wondrous amount of joy knowing that he would live, but the thought was pushed from her mind
violently. The chakra flowing from her body caused massive pressure to her bones and organs.
She felt her arms and shins snap like twigs, and a sharp pain under the ribs on her right side as
her liver was damaged. Her fingers broke and twisted, and her back arched as she screamed into
the sky, but she did not let go of the jutsu. She was determined to see it through until Neji was
completely safe. Several of her ribs broke, and gashes started to appear all along the surface of
her skin. Her body shivered unconsciously as she whimpered in pain.
After what seemed like an eternity of torture, the jutsu finished and Saiai fell sideways onto the
ground. She screamed soundlessly as her broken bones shifted within her skin, all of the air
within her lungs rushing out at once. Her breathing laboured, her heart beat erratic and too
strong, she lay there motionless for several seconds. With agonizing slowness, she moved
towards Neji and put her head on his chest. He was breathing slowly and deeply, and his heart
beat was slow and steady. She smiled, and let herself drop back down to the grass. She closed her
eyes, trying to think of anything but the pain and the annoying feeling of her blood flowing over
her skin. Everything was quiet in the surrounding forest, and the only sound she heard was the
crackling of the fire. She frowned. She had heard something more than just the crackling of the
fire. She slowly turned her head towards the house, the muscles in her neck screaming at her to
stop.
She was right. She heard something more than just fire crackling; she also heard footsteps and
voices. What if they were the last of the Yukio's security, coming to finish the job off? She
whimpered tiredly, her body just wanting to rest. Neji was in no condition to fight at the moment,
so she would have to defend him until he woke up. She listened one last time to make sure that
she wasn't hallucinating, but she heard the footsteps again, closer this time. She groaned and
snaked her hand down to find the cool metal she had used minutes before to cut Neji's shirt. Her
fingers wrapped painfully around the handle, and she forced herself to sit up. Muscles snapped
along her back and bones cracked as she forced herself into and upright position. She gave
herself a little time to adjust to the liquid sensation her head was feeling, then pressed on. She
placed both of her hands on the ground, braced herself, and in one quick movement, she placed
her knees under her. The combined feeling of light-headedness, her broken forearms, and the cuts
running down her legs sent waves of nausea through her stomach. Intense beyond belief, she dry-
heaved into the grass. The dry-heaves slowly faded, and she began coughing. Pain quickly
overtook the nausea as her back and lungs burned with overuse. She coughed a large wad of
blood onto the ground and was horrified as she felt blood slowly trickle down her mouth. She
pushed her revulsion away and focussed on what had to be done.
Saiai looked up, her eyes hazy and unfocused. Her soon-to-be opponents were at the corner of
the house and yelling something that sounded suspiciously like `over there'. She attempted to
stand, bringing one leg forward, but the pain proved to be too much for her. She fell forward onto
her hands once again. She was breathing heavily now, the exertion on her body far too much.
Instead of standing up, she sat back on her heels, back straight, head forward, kunai knife
painfully in her grip. She used her other hand to steady herself, holding onto the ground as the
world spun quickly. She tried to yell at the oncoming opponents, but her voice came out as a
harsh croak that sounded nothing like her former voice. She tensed her muscles, pain singing
through her body. She focussed her eyes to size up her opponents; one had a green jumpsuit on,
with a beige vest. The other had a red outfit with... pink hair.
`Saiai!' a feminine voice yelled. `Saiai! Oh my god, Saiai, what happened?!' At the sound of
Sakura's voice, Saiai let go of the kunai and fell sideways to the ground. Lee caught her before
she could hit the ground and laid her beside Neji.
`God, Lee, go get Emiko and Arichi. We shouldn't have left them at the front of the house. Go!
Now!' Sakura yelled. Lee jumped off in search of Saiai's younger sisters, and Sakura returned
her full attention to Saiai.
`Don't try to talk, Saiai, you'll only hurt yourself more,' Sakura said, her voice faltering when
she fully inspected Saiai's injuries. She had never seen anyone hurt so badly and still full
prepared to fight.
`I had to save him,' Saiai said, her voice nothing more than a whisper. `He saved me, so I saved
him back.'
`Shhh, Saiai, quiet now, I'm here, everything's fine,' Sakura muttered, tears falling down her face
as she worked her chakra into Saiai's body. No matter how much she put in, the blood seemed to
fall constantly and her bones didn't seem to heal.
`I was going to defend him till he woke up,' Saiai continued, fully aware she was babbling but
had no control over it. `I used my jutsu on him, and now he's going to live.'
`Your jutsu?' Sakura asked.
`Yeah, the total rejuvenation jutsu,' Saiai replied.
Sakura gasped. She remembered what Saiai had said happened to her father, and she desperately
wished that Lee would hurry up. She worked harder on sealing the gashes to stop the bloodflow.
Saiai smiled tiredly and looked directly at Sakura. `Sakura, I'm ready to go see my parents now.
You don't have to worry about me. But... could you tell Neji one thing for me?'
Sakura's tears were freely falling now, and she smiled unconvincingly at Saiai. `You're going to
be fine, you can tell him yourself when you wake up.'
`I know I won't make it, but knowing he'll be safe, that makes it all right,' Saiai said, returning
her eyes to the moon. A single tear fell from her silver eye. She felt no pain, no cold, nothing. All
she felt was a numbness that she welcomed wholeheartedly. Her hand slipped into Neji's larger
one, and she squeezed. She closed her eyes, her breathing slowing. `Could you tell him... I loved
him? Please?'
She heard Sakura yell her name, but she couldn't respond. All she could see was the moon and
her parents bathed in the moonlight. She was aware of three pairs of footsteps rapidly
approaching, Sakura's chakra filling her body, and a pressure on the hand wrapped around Neji's.
Then she was aware no more.
Arichi. The rest are owned by Masashi Kishimoto, that wonderful, wonderful man.
By: Amanda Smith aka silverwingedwolf
Date started: February 4th, 2008
Date finished: February 10th, 2008
Pairings: Sakura/Lee, Neji/OC, Kiba/Hinata, Shikamaru/Temari
Rating: 18+, for non-consent, minors, incest, blood, gore, character death
*Infiltration*
Sunset. Dusk. That point where it hurts your eyes to focus because there's just enough light to
see, but not enough to see properly. The Moonlight Village was just beginning to get its heavenly
glow from the rising moon. The wind rustled through the tiny Village, and the clear glass chimes
tinkled musically for everyone to enjoy. The conflicting lights from the setting sun and the rising
moon fought for dominance on the coloured glass windows of the houses. As beautiful as this
display was, no one seemed to be enjoying it at the moment. All focus was on the largest house
in the Village. The leader's house.
All of the Village's security was pulled to the front of the large house. The house itself was only
two storeys high, and about four windows across the front, five on the sides. The crowd was
gathering around the front door, mumbling something low and excited. The group of twenty-five
hushed as the front door opened, and a tall man with black hair and piercing sky blue eyes came
out. He wore baggy black pants and a green sleeveless shirt. His skin looked deathly, a pale
yellow colour. His muscle tone and height announced that he wasn't exactly the strongest person
on in the country, probably not even close to it. When he spoke, however, his voice was low and
held a power that his frame could not back up.
`All right, listen up, you cowards,' Yukio started, putting his hands on his hips and looking
distastefully out at his cronies. `You all know what you're to do. Protect the outside of the house,
for those who've been assigned to guard duty. For those inside, make sure no one goes into the
basement. You know what the target looks like: Saiai Tsuki, my beloved niece. If you capture
her, do not kill her. I want her alive. Be forewarned, she may have brought company. The
procedure will begin in a half an hour, and I do not want to be disturbed. Got it?' A resounding
sound of affirmation, and Yukio clapped his hands together. `Good! Now, get to it! We've gotta
have this place covered for our guests!' The men dispersed and assumed their stations around the
house.
The ground was effectively covered, and so was the house, but the trees surrounding the house
were not taken into consideration by Yukio's lackeys. Next to the house, on one of the branches
in one of the taller trees, two figures sat on their heels, eye glowing silver under the cover of the
dense leaves.
`Hmmmm, so we've only got a half an hour. Perfect,' Saiai said. She checked her equipment to
see if everything was up to her standards.
`So, let me get this straight. You sneak in, slip past the guards, into the basement, and lure Yukio
away. That's when I sneak in, release your sisters from their genjutsu, sneak back out, and wait
for you?' Neji asked.
`Yes, that's the gist of it,' Saiai said, adjusting her gloves.
Neji felt uneasy. `Why should you go in alone? I don't feel it's appropriate for you to go alone.'
Saiai looked at Neji, and smiled. `I know you're worried about me, but you don't have to be. I
know this house inside out, slipping past the guards will be easy for me, and besides, your chakra
really isn't that easy to contain. Trust me, Neji, I'll be fine.' She grabbed his hand and squeezed,
attempting to reassure him.
Neji, sighed, closing his eyes, still not completely satisfied, but he couldn't argue with her logic.
`Fine. Ten minutes is all I have to wait, correct? Then I sneak in and go the basement.'
`Yep!' Saiai said, getting up. She readied herself to jump onto the roof when a strong hand closed
around her wrist. She turned to see what Neji wanted and found him unbelievably close to her.
With one hand around her wrist, he put the other on her shoulder and leaned in close. Her heart
started beating tremendously fast, and her eyes became the size of saucers. `What's he doing?'
Saiai thought frantically.
Instead of going to her lips, like she thought he was going to do, he put his mouth close to her
ear. `You had better not get hurt. I'm giving you five minutes after I get your sisters, then I'm
coming after you.' He pulled away, and let go of Saiai's wrist.
Saiai's eyes were still wide when he pulled back. She seemed to be dazed. She fought with
herself to recover, and finally pulled to it when a cool breeze pushed through the leaves and
through their hair. `You won't have to come and find me,' Saiai said, turning around and jumping
away.
****
Neji smirked to himself as he watched Saiai jump onto the roof and crawl into one of the
windows. He knew what she was thinking of when he drew in close. And she was right, to be
completely truthful. He thought of the mission, however, and decided that kissing her before the
mission would probably have thrown her off of her focus. So instead, he whispered in her ear.
`The kiss will have to wait until after the mission is finished' he thought, standing up and
stretching.
`Well, I had best get going, if I want to stay on schedule,' Neji muttered, dropping down from the
tree.
*******
Saiai dropped silently to the floor in a crouching position. The room was dark, but that suited her
fine. She could see in the dark anyway, courtesy of her father. She activated her Moon Eyes and
walked silently to the door, searching for chakra presences outside. Sure enough, there was one
right outside the door, and two more down the hall. Saiai didn't particularly like killing people
she didn't have to, but in order to save her sisters and avoid as much trouble as she possibly
could, she had to move fast and damn the results. She flung open the door, grabbed the man
outside by the neck, and gave it a fast twist. He felt nothing, but the two men down the hall heard
the sickening snap. She braced herself and struck quickly, dispatching both men effectively and
quietly. She left their bodies in the middle of the hallway and continued to the end of the hall.
The hallway ended on a landing which split off into two more hallways to the right and left.
Directly in front of her was a stairway leading straight to the front hallway. Under the stairway
was the doorway to the basement where the `labs' her uncle kept were. She waited a couple of
seconds, carefully planing her moves. She jumped from the top of the landing to in front of the
door. She landed on the man guarding the door, not planning on it but working with it anyway.
The chakra signature from the other side of the door moved, and Saiai ducked down in front of
the door. The guard opening the door looked straight ahead of him, not seeing Saiai until her
boot connected with his chin, crushing his teeth and tongue. `Hey, not bad. Five out of twenty-
five in the first ten minutes,' Saiai thought, climbing down the stairs into the dank basement.
There were several doors on either side of the hallway. Each door looked similar to its neighbour
in every way. If it weren't for the fact that there were two hugely muscled goons standing in front
of the last doorway on the left, Saiai might not have reached the right lab in time. She made a
sound to grab the attention of the two brutes, and they rushed over foolishly. She drop-kicked the
first guard in the face off of the stairs, back-flipping backwards after contact into a defensive
stance. He dropped to his knees, holding his face. The other giant was a little more cautious and
stopped just before the crouching girl. Saiai whipped out her nunchuku and readied herself for an
attack. The thug charged her, head down, arms forward. Saiai double-kick him in the face,
stopping his forward momentum and causing him to reel back. With his stomach showing, she
attacked, fingers driving into the sensitive gut fast and hard enough to cause organ damage. He
heaved forward, coughing blood and holding his stomach. She took the opportunity and punched
him square in the throat, crushing his windpipe. While he wheezed his dying breaths, Saiai
turned her attention to the first guard, who was slowly getting up. She waited for him to make the
first move. He charged like his friend did, head down and arms out. Instead of kicking him,
though, Saiai rushed forward to meet him, nunchuku pulled apart at thigh-height. When they got
close enough, Saiai pushed her legs up into the air, effectively front-flipping. When the chain of
her weapon made contact with her victims neck, she twisted her body and cocked her legs out in
front of her. The thug gripped at the chain, and Saiai made her full revolution, planting both of
her opponent's back. She pulled viciously on the handles choking the air out of her assailant. He
flailed around, trying to throw the small girl off of him, but to no avail. He threw himself
backwards against the wall in a last ditch effort to throw Saiai from his back, but Saiai held on
fast, despite feeling bruises instantly after impact with the hard surface. The body slid to the floor
and laid still. Saiai crawled out from behind him, rubbing her back. She untangled her nunchuku
from the body's neck and put it back in its holder.
Saiai continued down the hall to stop in front of the door the two dead men were guarding. She
made sure that she was completely ready for anything she saw through the window. She took a
deep breath, steadied herself, then looked through the window.
What she saw through the little window disturbed her greatly. Emiko was tied to one table with a
white blanket draped over her body. Beside her, in the middle of the two tables, was Arichi. She
was standing stock still, a blank look plastered on her face as she stood in front of a table filled
with surgical tools. On the other table, Yukio was in a sitting position, minus a shirt. He was
looking at the girls with a malicious hunger filling his ice blue eyes.
The moon filled the small basement room with it's luminescence and cast an eeriness into the
room. Shadows danced in the corners like small demons. Yukio glowed with a malevolent aura,
his eyes widening with twisted glee by the minute as the inevitable began to happen. Emiko's
head was twisted slightly towards the window. It was positioned in such a way that Saiai could
see it where she was standing. Her normal cerulean blue eyes began to take on a slightly darker
shade, and small flecks of a lighter blue started to float around. Saiai gasped, momentarily letting
her Moon Eyes drop. Her chakra flared with the emotional strain the sight was causing her, and
she knew that the plan had to move forward at this point.
Yukio looked up at the door window, and looked directly at Saiai. His smile was pure evil, and
his eyes reflected the plan he had in store for the young girls. He slowly got up from the table he
was sitting on and clapped his hands together. The girls inside the room instantly fell limp;
Emiko, luckily, was on the table, and her head simply fell to the side. Arichi, unfortunately, was
standing, and fell flat on the floor.
Saiai made sure that Yukio's attention was fully on her and away from her sisters before she ran
towards the stairs leading back up the foyer. She stopped on the landing before stairs and looked
back. She made sure that her uncle was still following her. His voice floated to her ears, `My
dearest niece! I'm glad you could come back for your sister's birthday. I bet she would be happy,
as well, but I don't think she's really all that conscious at the moment.' His light chuckle filled
her ears as she reached the top of the stairs.
`I'm here to stop you, uncle. You won't be hurting our family anymore,' Saiai told him, climbing
the stairs from the foyer to the three way split in the hallways. She looked to see which way she
should go, but when she heard Yukio's footsteps almost upon her, she decided to go straight and
head towards the master bedroom for the final showdown.
`Oh, Saiai! Was that what you thought I was doing? Hurting your family? I'm sorry I mislead
you!' Yukio taunted to her as he followed her down the hallway leading to his bedroom. `I only
want my brother had. I mean, he was my brother and all, shouldn't we have shared everything?'
`Including his wife and daughters? You're sick, uncle Yukio. Very sick,' Saiai yelled back at him,
entering the master bedroom. She activated her Moon Eyes and sped around the room, closing
the curtains to envelop the room in pitch darkness. She jumped on the bed and crouched there,
waiting for Yukio.
He appeared in the doorway and stood there, looking at Saiai with a sick grin plastered on his
face. `Tsk, Saiai, I didn't do this simply to get you and your family. You were just... bonuses. I
this to prove that I could be better than Haruka, and show my father that I wasn't the family
disgrace.'
`I think you've already proved that a while ago, uncle. Now, I avenge my father and my sisters,'
Saiai said. She sprang from the bed and aimed a kick to Yukio's head. He ducked, rolling into the
room. Saiai followed through with the kick and her foot connected with the door, slamming it
shut. The room was thrown into complete darkness.
`Ah, Saiai, you're quite the planner, you are. Just like Haruka. But like Haruka, I'm going to
defeat you,' Yukio goaded, feeling his way around the room
`Hmmmm, I think not, uncle. I can see in the dark, you can't. That's one huge difference between
us.' Saiai heard him grunt, presumably because he hadn't taken that little detail into his actions.
She could see him clearly: he was standing beside the bed, arms stretched out in front of him,
feeling the air. She moved just out of his reach, attempting to determine the best course of action.
After a few minutes, she decided she should just go for the glory and outright kill him. She
tensed her muscles, snuck behind him, and growled in his ear, `You die now, uncle.' She
anticipated his back swing to try and hit her, so she ducked and moved forward slightly, to his
side. She unleashed a fury of blows to his side, her fingers bruising and tearing the skin slightly.
He turned to the side she was at and struck out, but she was constantly moving, striking out, then
moving again when he would try to hit her. She continued this with him for several minutes, and
she noticed that he was breathing hard, and a small trickle of blood from the side of his mouth.
She knew that it was time to end it, so she attacked him with a speed that she didn't know she
possessed. Her fingers drove him to the wall. Her fingers jabbed and plunged into the soft flesh
of his abdomen. His arms fought weakly with her to stop, but she didn't give them a second
thought. He slid slightly down the wall, and Saiai backed up. She looked at her uncle with
disdain, hate, and a small amount of pity. Only for a second, though, because she delivered a
roundhouse kick to the face. He fell sideways, grabbing for something, and finding purchase
with a curtain.
The curtain fell away from the window and silver moonlight filled the room instantly. Saiai's
eyes widened as her uncle smirked up from his position on the floor. `I think, my sweet, that you
are now defeated.' His hands flew in hand signs that were familiar to her, but ended in one
different seal. Her body suddenly felt as if she were on strings. She felt herself walk over to the
bed, and as hard as she tried, there was no getting out of it. `What is this?!' she asked Yukio.
`Well Saiai,' started Yukio. `Seeing as your mother helped you escape my last mind control, I
modified my old one, just for you. It lets your mind stay alert, but your body is completely under
my control. I can make you do...whatever... I.... want.' Each of the last words were punctuated
with a step forward from him, and a step backwards from her. After the last word, she felt her
knees hit the bed. Her spine slowly lowered her backwards on the bed, despite her mind fighting
the effects of the genjutsu. Her back hit the bed and her head was forced to look up at the ceiling.
Her line of vision was completely clear when Yukio forced her head to look at him. He leaned
down, put his hands on either side of her head, and leaned his face to hers.
`Your sisters can wait a little longer while I have fun with you,' Yukio said, moving his right
hand from the bed and letting it trail along her arm, up to her shoulder. She shivered with
obvious distaste and mentally struggled harder against the genjutsu. She struggled valiantly,
almost getting free, when her uncle's voice filled her ears. `You'll never save your sisters, you'll
never go back to the Leaf Village to visit your newfound friends...' Yukio lowered his mouth to
her ear and whispered a sentence in her ear: `And you won't be able to see your boyfriend again.'
Saiai's eyes narrowed into hate-filled slits, and the genjutsu broke for a split second. She spit into
his face and brought her hands up to hit him. He was too quick, however, and he strengthened the
genjutsu. `Asshole,' Saiai hissed. `How do you know about him?'
`I have my ways,' he replied, still smiling as he wiped the spit off his cheek. `It was a beautiful
night, last night, wasn't it?' He laughed when he saw Saiai's eyes widen in shock. `Thought you
were alone, didn't you? Well, you weren't.' His perpetual smile faded suddenly, and his voice
lost all mirth, however creepy it was. `You spit in my face, dearest. You broke free from my
genjutsu. You've grown stronger. I was going to let you live long enough to see your sister's
operation, but I can't let you go now that you've become stronger.' His hand snaked behind him,
and Saiai heard a sound of metal hitting metal. When his hand returned, he was holding a kunai
knife. `Put your hands above your head.'
`No, please, don't,' Saiai begged, knowing what was coming next. Her hands met at the top of
her head, and her uncle took her hands in his. He took the gloves off, laid them next to her, and
put her hands, one overlapping the other, back above her head. In a flash, the kunai knife was
through her hands and into the bed. The pain was excruciating, and she screamed, but Saiai held
back the tears. She wouldn't allow him to see her immense fear.
`So, my dear,'Yukio said, his smile returning. `I'm going to punish you for leaving me, and then
I'm going to kill you.' His hands trailed down her arms, down her sides, and trailed his fingers
down the outside of her legs. Saiai eyes shut against the feelings assaulting her, and her mind
fought harder than it ever had. His left hand trailed back up to her hip, and trailed up over her
stomach and breast via her zipper. His hand unbuttoned the first clasp, second, third. Saiai had
her eyes closed, her head swimming from the pain raging in her hands, the hate she felt for her
uncle, and an odd feeling. Her mind returned to Neji; was he ok? Has he finished his mission and
free her sisters? Her mind floated to him: his silver, pupil-less eyes, his handsome face, his long
chocolate silken hair, and how much she was glad he was her partner for this mission. Her heart
fell when she realized that she had probably already saw him for the last time.
Her mind snapped back to reality when Yukio had undone her fourth clasp. Her white bindings
showed through her dress, a striking contrast against her black dress. She whined against his
disgusting touch, which egged him on even more. She had almost resigned herself to her fate
when the door to her left blew inwards. The genjutsu was shattered as Yukio lost his focus, but
Saiai still made no move. The pain in her hands kept her immobile, as well as the fact she was
pinned to the bed. She turned her head to the left and saw three people standing in the doorway.
Through her pain-fogged mind, they appeared as nothing more than shadows. When the foremost
figure growled and stepped forward into the moonlight, his silver eyes glowing, Saiai smiled for
the first time since she'd seen her uncle.
Neji growled and lowered himself into a crouching position that Saiai had never seen him use
before. One arm was stretched out in front of him, one behind, and his Byakugan was activated.
`How dare you touch her like that?' Neji hissed. He was angrier than Saiai had ever seen him.
Before Yukio could respond to Neji's question, Neji erupted into a blur of motion. His limbs
were barely visible as he drove Yukio back into the wall.
`..2 palms....4 palms........8 palms................16 palms................................32
palms.......................... ...................................... 64 palms! 8 Trigrams, 64 Palms!' Neji grabbed
Yukio by the neck and brought his face close to the older man's. He brought a fist up in front of
Yukio's face as if to hit him, but a whimper from close by stopped him. He turned his head to the
bed, and his face turned from rage to instant heartbreak. He dropped Yukio to the floor and made
his way Saiai, who looked up at him with grateful eyes.
He kneeled on the bed beside her and looked down on her, a small, sad smile playing on both of
their lips. Neji reached towards the front of Saiai's dress and began doing her clasps up. The
notion was tender, sweet, and utterly shocked the girls in the doorway. He heard their unsure
noises behind him, but ignored it. Saiai was the one who needed all of his attention at the
moment. When he finished buttoning her dress, he sat back on the bed and looked at Saiai, a
worried look on his face.
`Thanks Neji. I owe you one,' Saiai said, trying to quell his worries. She looked towards the
doorway and motioned with her head. Her sisters came silently into the room, the blonde heading
straight for the bed, the raven-haired one drawing a weapon and heading for Yukio. She held the
sword to his throat, and warned him in a quiet voice not to move.
The blonde haired one sat on Saiai's right and ran a hand over her forehead. Her hand glowed
with a pale green light as she passed it slowly down the rest of Saiai's body. She finished and,
looked at Neji and Saiai. `You have a broken rib, your hands are terribly injured, but otherwise,
you're fine.'
The blonde's hands glowed green once more, and she was about to put her hand to Saiai's chest,
but Saiai shook her head. `No, Arichi, just fix my hands for the moment. We have to get out of
here soon.' Arichi was about to complain, but the look in Saiai's eyes told her that the
conversation was closed.
Arichi switched her direction to the hands pinned above her head, and she faltered. `What's
wrong, Arichi?' Saiai asked. `Just yank it out. It'll be over in a second.'
`I can't,' Arichi said. `I don't want to hurt you.'
Saiai sighed, frustrated. `It hurts with this thing in my hands. Just pull it out and be done with it.
You can do it, I know.' Arichi shook her head, retracting her hands to her chest, and refused to
look at Saiai. Saiai groaned and turned to Neji. `Neji, please, take the kunai out of my hands.'
Neji looked down at his partner. Her dark brown braids were splayed out behind her, her pale
face even more pale with a combination of the moonlight and pain coursing down her arms. Her
eyes pleaded with him to take out the offending object. `This is going to hurt... a lot,' Neji
warned her, wrapping his hand around the handle of the knife. She nodded, closing her eyes, and
holding her breath. Neji yanked, the blade came free with a spurt of blood, and Saiai yelped in
pain. Neji threw the kunai across the room and helped Saiai bring her arms to her sides, so Arichi
could work on them without her being in so much pain.
While Arichi worked on Saiai's hands in front of her, Neji helped Saiai get up. `Why did you
come to find me? The plan was to wait outside until I beat my uncle and came to meet you.'
`When we got outside, we waited for you like I said we would, but then a bunch of security
arrived. I fought them off, seeing as the girls didn't have their weapons with them. When we
finished, we decided to go back in and find the girls' weapons. When we were in their rooms, we
heard you scream, so we rushed over here. Besides,' Neji with a hint of a smirk, `you don't really
believe that I would allow you to face your uncle alone, do you?'
Saiai grinned, and then she looked at Neji's injuries. `Oh my god, Neji, you're hurt! I'll get
Arichi to look at that after we're finished.'
Neji shook his head. `No time, we're going to get out of here first. You said it yourself.'
`Finished!' Arichi chirped. Saiai held her hands in front of her eyes and flexed her fingers. Very
little pain was left. She smiled at Arichi and clapped a hand on her shoulder. She stood up and
stretched her muscles. Arichi tried to get at Neji's wounds, but he wouldn't let her near him.
Saiai picked up her gloves, put them back on her hands, and walked over to Emiko. She was still
guarding Yukio. He was glaring up at the girls watching him.
`Has he made move yet?' Saiai asked Emiko.
`Nope, just put his hand in his pocket a couple of minutes ago, but he hasn't made a move since,'
Emiko replied. Her sword was even with Yukio's breastbone, so should he make a move, he
would skewer himself.
Saiai crouched in front of Yukio, her eyes hard and cold in the moonlight. `I told you, uncle, that
you would die tonight. Looks like I was right.'
Saiai was taken aback when he started to laugh. His hand retracted from his pants pocket, and in
his hand was a small black device with a green button in the middle of it. He pressed it, and the
house shook with tremendous force. `I was right, too. I just blew up the chemicals in the
basement, and the house will be a blazing inferno in a matter of minutes.'
`Bastard!' snarled Emiko, and she impaled Yukio on her sword. He continued laughing, despite
the fact he was drowning in his own blood. He died smiling, blood running from his mouth and
dripping onto his hand.
Saiai felt like choking him, but she knew that there was little time left before the house would
fall in on itself. `Come on, guys, we have to go. Leave him here, he can burn for all I care,' Saiai
said, walking towards the door. Emiko and Arichi were already through the door. Neji walked
behind her, favouring his left foot. `You're hurt,' Saiai stated, knowing it was obvious, but
feeling a need to say it anyway.
`It's nothing, one of the guards caught my foot with a kunai knife. I'll be fine,' Neji replied.
`Still, I would feel better if you would let me help you,' persisted Saiai. She tucked herself under
Neji's arm and wrapped her own arm around his waist. Secretly, she sent chakra to her hands to
scan Neji's body for injuries, and she was astonished. `Neji, it's more than just your foot that's
hurt. I'm amazed you're still walking! Your chakra is dangerously depleted, and your muscles
are so worn down, I'm shocked you're not falling over!'
Neji just continued walking forward and kept his eyes in front of him. `I told you I would protect
you during this mission, and that's what I've been doing,' he muttered.
`Yeah, but...'
`No buts, Saiai, I'm protecting you and that's all there is to it. You can heal me after the mission
is done, and I won't complain.' Saiai couldn't fight with Neji any further about the subject so
they continued down the hallway. Emiko and Arichi were standing in the foyer when they arrived
at the end of the hallway. The fire had reached the ground floor by then, and smoke was slowly
filling the house.
`What about your mother?' he asked, coughing slightly. His Byakugan was activated, and his
head turned the right. `She's down that hallway, in the seventh cell on the left.'
Saiai turned her body to face the hallway. Smoke was filling the air quickly in the enclosed
space, and she knew there wouldn't be much air left in a few minutes. `Emiko! Arichi! Get out of
the house and stay in the front until Lee and Sakura come! Don't argue just go!'
`How will we know who Lee and Sakura are?!' Arichi yelled back, heading towards the door.
`You'll know them immediately!' Saiai yelled, inwardly chuckling at mental image of the girls
meeting Lee for the first time. She watched the girls leave, then the pair started down the long
hallway.
They reached the sixth cell, and the ceiling behind them collapsed. `Well, looks like we're stuck
in this hallway,' Neji said.
`There's a window at the end of the hallway. It's a tight squeeze, but we can manage if we take it
slow,' Saiai said, slowing down in front of the next cell. They looked in and saw nothing but a
grey haze filling the room.
`Mother?' Saiai ventured softly. The steel door restricted the view for most of the room except
directly in front of the little window. A face suddenly popped into view. Decidedly female, her
brown eyes were tired and dull, her hair plastered to her head with sweat, and her skin red and
dirty.
`Saiai! You came for us! I'm so happy you're ok. Where's that bastard Yukio? Did you kill him?'
Kokoro's words tumbled from her mouth in a torrent of near-nonsense. Her hands went to the
steel bars lining the window, and Saiai encircled her hands.
`Yes, mother, we've killed him. He's finally dead and we can finally be free!' Saiai said, looking
for a door knob, or a lock, or something to open the cell door. Neji was leaning against the wall
beside the door, resting with his head down.
`Saiai, you make my heart happy. You and your sisters are finally free. Now, you have to get out
of here, there's not much time. The fire's spreading quickly,' Kokoro said, moving her hands to
Saiai's face and caressing her cheek.
`As soon as I find the lock and let you out, we can go, but it's going to be...' Saiai started, but
Kokoro cut her off.
`Saiai, you have to leave without me. The cells were built with Yukio's self-destruct system, so
that when he pressed that button, the doors to all of the cells would shut permenantly, so the
prisoner's in the house would die as well. There would be no survivors, he told me, of this night.'
Kokoro looked sad when she saw Saiai's face constrict.
`What? What are you saying, mother? I'm going to get you out, then we can make the Village
better again,' Saiai said, her voice raising slightly, and her hands began to pull at the bars. Neji
noticed this and stood up straight.
`Saiai, don't make this any harder than it has to,' Kokoro pleaded, her hands returning to cover
Saiai's straining ones on the bars. `Please, leave now while you can. I've atoned for my past
crimes against your father, and now all I want to do is see him again and apologize, face to face.'
Saiai began to pull harder on the bars, a steady stream of `no, no, no' fell from her mouth in a
frantic chant. Kokoro looked at Neji, her eyes filling with tears. `Please, sir, take care of my
daughter. She means the world to me. I don't want her dying because of me. Take her away now.'
`Is this truly what you want, Kokoro?' Neji asked, slipping behind Saiai and placed his hands
around Saiai's. Kokoro nodded, and Neji sent small amounts of chakra through his hands to
Saiai's hands, shocking the nerves into letting go. Once Saiai's hands were away from the bars,
he wrapped his arms around her waist and began to drag her away.
`No! Neji! Let me go! Mother needs help! Help me get her out! Let me go!' Saiai screamed,
thrashing about in Neji's arms. Neji continued on his path, walking forward without a look back
and tightening his grip on Saiai. In his weakened state, she almost got free, but he pinned her
arms to her sides.
`I love you Saiai! I'm doing this for you! Please forgive me!' Kokoro shouted to her, stepping
back from the bars.
Saiai struggled against Neji until they reached the window. He put her down on her feet, but he
kept his hands on her shoulders, and turned her to look at him. An explosion from the opposite
end of the house told them they had very little time left. Where they had been moments before
was nothing but a fiery orange haze.
Neji turned to open the window and he felt Saiai began to turn to go back to her mother's cell.
He caught her by the shoulders once more and turned her to face him. `Why, Neji?' Saiai
questioned, no longer fighting against him, but her eyes hurt him more than any struggling could
have.
`Your mother was right,' Neji began, showing her reason. `The door wouldn't open, no matter
how hard you tried. She wanted you to live, Saiai. She gave up her life for you, and you were
willing to stand there and waste it? Well, I wasn't going to stand there and watch you burn,
fighting a useless battle. I dragged you away from there because I'm going to protect you till my
last breath. Now, climb out the window, I will meet you on the ground.'
`No, Neji, you should go first. You're badly hurt,' Saiai replied, shaking her head.
Neji sighed. `This is no time to fight, Saiai, just jump out of the window.'
`No, Neji, you go first and then...' Saiai was interrutped by a very large rumbling noise from
directly behind them. They both looked, then Neji sweeped Saiai into his arms. She thought he
was going to physically protect her from the impending blast and started to protest, but she was
stopped abruptly as Neji threw her out of the window. Saiai landed on the cold, wet grass, the
sudden stop jarring her back and sending shots of pain throughout her chest as a couple of more
ribs broke.
She looked up at the window, and was about to start yelling at Neji to hurry up when the largest
explosion yet tore through the house and blew all of the windows. Saiai covered her head as
small shards of glass rained down around her, covering her hair. She looked up just in time to see
a dark form get propelled out of the window by the blast and hit a tree. She stood there shocked,
until the form `oof-ed as it hit the ground.
`Neji!!' Saiai screamed, running to his side. She skidded on her knees as she arrived by his side,
and turned him over on his back. He was awake, but just barely. She used her chakra to scan his
body, and she gasped when she finished..His skin was bruised and cut in several places from the
explosion, and copious amounts of blood was pouring freely from the most dangerous gashes.
Most of the bones in his body were broken, and several organs were damaged. He was breathing
fine, which was a miracle, but his consciousness was fading fast.
`Saiai..' a forced whisper came from under her, and she squeaked. Neji was looking up at her
with a smile on his face. `Saiai, I'm so glad I could see you one last time.' His hand snaked up to
her face and caressed her cheek lightly.
`Don't talk like that, Neji,' Saiai said, her eyes filling with tears for the first time that night. `I'm
going to use my medical ninjutsu to heal you, then we can go back to the Leaf Village, and we
can play with Hanabi.'
`Hanabi,' Neji whispered, his eyes closing, and his hand falling away from Saiai's cheek. `Could
you tell her I'm sorry that I couldn't come back? Saiai, I'm glad I died saving...you...
because...because...' His head fell to the side, and his entire body went limp.
Saiai held on to Neji's hand like it was going to disappear if she let go of it. `Neji! Wake up!
Don't do this! Don't leave me!' She put her head to her chest, and felt his chest rise and fall, and
his heart beat ever so lightly. She knew he wouldn't live if she didn't do something.
`Mother! Father! What do I do?' Saiai whispered to the night sky. The moon gazed down at her
with indifference, and the house burned relentlessly. She pictured her mother's face, her eyes dull
and lifeless but burning with love. She pictured her father, his beautiful blue eyes glinting in the
moonlight and his kind face smiling down on her. In her mind's eye, he leaned forward and
whispered something in her ear. Suddenly, she knew what she had to do.
She stood up, ignoring the pain that raced through her muscles, and sat straddling Neji's
stomach. She took off her gloves, and set them beside her. She reached into Neji's weapon's
pouch and withdrew a kunai. She made a cut from his neck to his abdomen in the white fabric,
careful not to cut into his skin. When she was finished with that, she placed the kunai next to her
gloves. She looked at the moon, taking in its beauty for what might be the last time, then looked
down at Neji, his face growing more and more pale by the moment. She knew she couldn't go
back even if she wanted to. She made the hand signs her father showed her so long ago, and
focussed most of her chakra to her hands. She made the final sign, the sign of the moon, and she
felt her hands begin to pulse. She heaved a breath out, steadying herself for the impending pain,
and put her hands to Neji's chest.
Nothing happened. Saiai groaned, and removed her hands. She had done everything right, perfect
down to the last hand sign. What was wrong? She put her head to Neji's chest and heard...
nothing. `No,' she whispered. `No, no, no! NO!' She went through the signs again and put her
hands to his chest. Still nothing happened. Saiai slowly lowered her head to Neji's shoulder, tears
pouring out of her eyes. She was too late. Her indecision had killed the one man she loved. `No,
Neji, you can't be gone,' she sobbed. `I love you.'
In that instant, felt as if a giant clamp had seized her and was squeezing every last bit of chakra
out of her, via her arms. She screeched and threw her head back, the pain sudden and surprising.
She felt her chakra leaving her body and pooling into Neji's body, fixing the broken bones and
damaged organs. His chest jumped slightly as his breath returned to his body, and she felt his
heart beat strong under her hands. The skin that was bruised and burnt from the explosion healed
quickly, leaving no scars or other tell-tale marks of his near-death experience. She felt a
wondrous amount of joy knowing that he would live, but the thought was pushed from her mind
violently. The chakra flowing from her body caused massive pressure to her bones and organs.
She felt her arms and shins snap like twigs, and a sharp pain under the ribs on her right side as
her liver was damaged. Her fingers broke and twisted, and her back arched as she screamed into
the sky, but she did not let go of the jutsu. She was determined to see it through until Neji was
completely safe. Several of her ribs broke, and gashes started to appear all along the surface of
her skin. Her body shivered unconsciously as she whimpered in pain.
After what seemed like an eternity of torture, the jutsu finished and Saiai fell sideways onto the
ground. She screamed soundlessly as her broken bones shifted within her skin, all of the air
within her lungs rushing out at once. Her breathing laboured, her heart beat erratic and too
strong, she lay there motionless for several seconds. With agonizing slowness, she moved
towards Neji and put her head on his chest. He was breathing slowly and deeply, and his heart
beat was slow and steady. She smiled, and let herself drop back down to the grass. She closed her
eyes, trying to think of anything but the pain and the annoying feeling of her blood flowing over
her skin. Everything was quiet in the surrounding forest, and the only sound she heard was the
crackling of the fire. She frowned. She had heard something more than just the crackling of the
fire. She slowly turned her head towards the house, the muscles in her neck screaming at her to
stop.
She was right. She heard something more than just fire crackling; she also heard footsteps and
voices. What if they were the last of the Yukio's security, coming to finish the job off? She
whimpered tiredly, her body just wanting to rest. Neji was in no condition to fight at the moment,
so she would have to defend him until he woke up. She listened one last time to make sure that
she wasn't hallucinating, but she heard the footsteps again, closer this time. She groaned and
snaked her hand down to find the cool metal she had used minutes before to cut Neji's shirt. Her
fingers wrapped painfully around the handle, and she forced herself to sit up. Muscles snapped
along her back and bones cracked as she forced herself into and upright position. She gave
herself a little time to adjust to the liquid sensation her head was feeling, then pressed on. She
placed both of her hands on the ground, braced herself, and in one quick movement, she placed
her knees under her. The combined feeling of light-headedness, her broken forearms, and the cuts
running down her legs sent waves of nausea through her stomach. Intense beyond belief, she dry-
heaved into the grass. The dry-heaves slowly faded, and she began coughing. Pain quickly
overtook the nausea as her back and lungs burned with overuse. She coughed a large wad of
blood onto the ground and was horrified as she felt blood slowly trickle down her mouth. She
pushed her revulsion away and focussed on what had to be done.
Saiai looked up, her eyes hazy and unfocused. Her soon-to-be opponents were at the corner of
the house and yelling something that sounded suspiciously like `over there'. She attempted to
stand, bringing one leg forward, but the pain proved to be too much for her. She fell forward onto
her hands once again. She was breathing heavily now, the exertion on her body far too much.
Instead of standing up, she sat back on her heels, back straight, head forward, kunai knife
painfully in her grip. She used her other hand to steady herself, holding onto the ground as the
world spun quickly. She tried to yell at the oncoming opponents, but her voice came out as a
harsh croak that sounded nothing like her former voice. She tensed her muscles, pain singing
through her body. She focussed her eyes to size up her opponents; one had a green jumpsuit on,
with a beige vest. The other had a red outfit with... pink hair.
`Saiai!' a feminine voice yelled. `Saiai! Oh my god, Saiai, what happened?!' At the sound of
Sakura's voice, Saiai let go of the kunai and fell sideways to the ground. Lee caught her before
she could hit the ground and laid her beside Neji.
`God, Lee, go get Emiko and Arichi. We shouldn't have left them at the front of the house. Go!
Now!' Sakura yelled. Lee jumped off in search of Saiai's younger sisters, and Sakura returned
her full attention to Saiai.
`Don't try to talk, Saiai, you'll only hurt yourself more,' Sakura said, her voice faltering when
she fully inspected Saiai's injuries. She had never seen anyone hurt so badly and still full
prepared to fight.
`I had to save him,' Saiai said, her voice nothing more than a whisper. `He saved me, so I saved
him back.'
`Shhh, Saiai, quiet now, I'm here, everything's fine,' Sakura muttered, tears falling down her face
as she worked her chakra into Saiai's body. No matter how much she put in, the blood seemed to
fall constantly and her bones didn't seem to heal.
`I was going to defend him till he woke up,' Saiai continued, fully aware she was babbling but
had no control over it. `I used my jutsu on him, and now he's going to live.'
`Your jutsu?' Sakura asked.
`Yeah, the total rejuvenation jutsu,' Saiai replied.
Sakura gasped. She remembered what Saiai had said happened to her father, and she desperately
wished that Lee would hurry up. She worked harder on sealing the gashes to stop the bloodflow.
Saiai smiled tiredly and looked directly at Sakura. `Sakura, I'm ready to go see my parents now.
You don't have to worry about me. But... could you tell Neji one thing for me?'
Sakura's tears were freely falling now, and she smiled unconvincingly at Saiai. `You're going to
be fine, you can tell him yourself when you wake up.'
`I know I won't make it, but knowing he'll be safe, that makes it all right,' Saiai said, returning
her eyes to the moon. A single tear fell from her silver eye. She felt no pain, no cold, nothing. All
she felt was a numbness that she welcomed wholeheartedly. Her hand slipped into Neji's larger
one, and she squeezed. She closed her eyes, her breathing slowing. `Could you tell him... I loved
him? Please?'
She heard Sakura yell her name, but she couldn't respond. All she could see was the moon and
her parents bathed in the moonlight. She was aware of three pairs of footsteps rapidly
approaching, Sakura's chakra filling her body, and a pressure on the hand wrapped around Neji's.
Then she was aware no more.