AN: Hi my loves! So i know i have been away for a very long time and trust me, this hiatus was greatly needed. But just because i'm here with another chapter doesn't mean i'm back for good... Lots of stuff has happened to me recently and i have a lot of issues to deal with. I can't exhaust myself too much because i already know how that will end. I kind of wish i could tell you guys about the problems i find myself in but i don't think it would be appropriate, and i don't even know if i'm comfortable with such a prospect. Just know that you need not worry about me!

I understand though, that these times are difficult for most of us, i would say all of us. There are plenty of reasons to be worried about the state of the world and where we are headed. Sure, we can be worried and cautious, but we must never succumb to fear and panic. We mustn't act like the house is on fire, nothing productive or even good will result in that. With this in mind, i am (very very very) happy that i can give people the distraction and comfort needed through my stories. I will probably never stop writing because of that, it brings me solace as well. I'm sorry for leaving and I'm sorry for the future hiatuses i will probably take. If any of you people follow my Gintama story, i am pleased to announce that i have the next chapter ready. I just need to do some editing and thinking before i can release it! :)

Anyways, enough of my ramblings and let's just get on with the story, shall we?

Chapter 10

Her heart jumped in her throat as the reality of the situation became more and more apparent. She didn't want to fight Neji, the very idea of it made her nauseous. Hinata could feel herself sweating even more through her thick jacket. With trembling hands, she took it off and checked to see that she still had the holster with the scroll around her waist. Feeling it underneath her fingers made her only a tiny bit more comfortable but discomfort still churned in her stomach and the lump in her throat wouldn't loosen up, no matter how many times she tried to swallow it down.

She looked over to her cousin to find him already descending the ladder to the battle ground. He obviously didn't care. Neji would do anything to win this. She knew she needed to do the same, she couldn't let her fear of harming him, steer her to her doom. The great arena seemed to suffer in silence, as if the very building along with everyone inside of it, was holding their breath. The calm before the storm. With trembling legs, she descended the ladder and took her place, a few meters away from her cousin.

She tried again and again to remember Sasori's face, what would he say to her if he was here? He believes in her and she couldn't possibly let him down. Hinata felt as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders, timidly and anxiously she started to gnaw on her fingernails. Her opal eyes snapped up to Neji, as soon as he spoke.

"I never thought that I would have a fight with you, Hinata-sama," he almost spat out her name.

She tried to avoid his piercing gaze but it seemed she couldn't escape it.

"Start the battle please," Genma said, his voice sounded very neutral but his eyes told a story of pity.

"Withdraw! You are not suited to be a shinobi. That personality and that lack of strength won't change," Neji continued, hard as ice as he activated his byakugan.

There were lots of things Hinata wanted to say to that. She wanted to prove him wrong, prove herself stronger. Neji, with his derogatory comments, was basically stomping on her hard work, and indirectly stomping on Sasori's hard work. Anger churned in her stomach, a vile resentment that took her by surprise with its ferocity. Anger mixed with embarrassment and fear. It sounded just like her.

She pressed her fingers to her lips, as if to hinder the things she would've blurted out. Oh yes, there were lots of things she knew she could say to Neji. Lots of things that would undoubtedly hurt him and rouse his rage. Lots of embarrassing stuff she could unearth in front of everyone. Hinata knew better than that though, and so, she only pressed down on her lips harder. As a warning to herself, to not step out of line.

"My eyes can't be deceived. This is the sign that you are recalling your past experiences... your bitter past. The image of you losing!" Neji exclaimed, the veins around his eyes flexing like muscles as he narrowed his eyes. "Laying a finger on your lips, that is a self-familiarising act which represents a sense of panic. Changing yourself is something you absolutely can't," he concluded, as if he had read her like a book.

He spoke of her innermost fears, as if they were his own but she knew better than that. Hinata couldn't think of anything to say in return, luckily she didn't have to.

"Sure she can!" Naruto suddenly shouted from the platform, overlooking the arena. Hinata almost jumped in shock. "Give it to him Hinata!" he continued with a clenched fist.

Hope bloomed in her chest, warm and soft. He looked at her with determined smile, his blue eyes as wild as his unruly hair. Yes. He was right, he always was and he never seized to amaze her. Blushing only slightly, Hinata straightened her back and fixed Neji with an almost blank stare. She swallowed thickly and nervously smoothed out her black t-shirt. With her mind set on winning, she gave Neji one last resentful look before she closed her eyes and activated her byakugan. Taking her stance, the roots around her eyes flexed in the same manner as his had. She narrowed her eyes in concentration, setting her jaw and lips in a tight line.

"Neji-niisan, I challenge you!" she said in a surprisingly steady tone.

Hinata wouldn't run anymore. She couldn't let Naruto down and she refused to let Sasori down as well. The fight was on. This wasn't a spar, it was way more serious than that. It could be seen in the quickness of their movements. In truth Hinata was barely keeping up with Neji, because when it comes to taijutsu and the gentle fist, he was the superior one. Sure she managed to land a couple of hits but they did minimal damage, she needed better angles and more time...

As quick as a snake, his fist lashed out and hit her straight in her chest. She lost her breath and immediately jumped backwards. Coughing up blood, she held her damaged sternum and stared at her cousin with wide eyes. He smirked at her pain and raised a brow, as if to say; Are you done? No way. Biting her lip, she decided to bring forth her puppet.

Taking out the scroll from the holster, she rolled it out in front of her and with a yell, she did the hand signs and summoned Hana. The great spider emerged from the smoke like an omen of death. She watched as Neji's eyes became so wide that she expected them to pop out of his skull. He obviously didn't know that she knew of the puppet technique.

With her blue chakra strings, she made the puppet leave the ground as the eight legs morphed into sharp swords. The swords started to spin around the puppet like a windmill would and without warning she launched it at her cousin. It spun through the air like a massive shuriken but twice as deadly. The spinning swords were coated with poison. The only thing Neji could do was to duck and run away from the spinning death machine. He threw kunai's at it, which did nothing as the meagre weapons merely bounced off the hard surface.

Her fingers twitched and Hana opened her mouth, sending out numerous poisonous senbons. Two of them hit Neji, one in the arm and another in the thigh, the rest he managed to avoid. Yes. She knew the poison would act swiftly, but not swift enough. Still running from the puppet, Neji quickly took out the senbons but she knew it was too late. Soon, he would be affected by the poison, she just needed to stand her ground until then. Hinata was struck by how easy it suddenly seemed. She should have taken out Hana sooner.

The blades around her puppet started to spin around in a quicker pace now, and it was propelled forwards, madly chasing after her twin. Neji's face was still twisted in pure disbelief at the situation. In the middle of his run, his leg failed him, the same leg that had been struck with a senbon. Holding his arm, he fell to side. Her puppet was only a few seconds away from cutting him in half when he made a series of hand signs, as best as he could in his current state. Opening his mouth, he blew out a big cloud of fire against the puppet. Hinata swore loudly as she quickly tried to move Hana out of the way but it was too late.

Neji scurried of to the side as it crashed to the ground in heap of burning wood and metal. Fury clouded her mind and decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. Dismissing the ruined puppet, she made two clones of herself and attacked him head on. She had the upper hand seeing as he currently, couldn't use his right hand and leg to their full capacity. Soon, the poison would spread through his veins and attack his heart, she needed to finish this before that could happen and give him the antidote.

Hinata and her clones came at him, one from behind, another jumped at him from above and another attacked straight ahead. It was impossible to distinguish the real Hinata from her clones, she had made sure of that. As she had made her attack, she took special care to switch in between her clones, like how someone would mix cards before a game. Neji would have none of it. With a shrill, furious growl, he spun around and immediately dismissed her two clones with his remaining functional leg and hand, a master of the gentle fist even during a major handicap.

It was all the time she needed to complete devastate his remaining chakra points. She could clearly see how his chakra points in his dysfunctional leg and arm were almost completely shut down from the poison. In the midst of the smoke created by her clones, Hinata had appeared in a flash with her hand raised. She struck hard and fast at the centre of his chest and as a consequence, her cousin couldn't help but to cough up a mouthful of blood. As fast as she could manage, her gentle fist made a quick work on the remainder of his chakra points, striking him fast like bullets across the chest. All at once, a flurry of motion.

She had now forcibly shut down his chakra pathways but in the midst of everything, Neji had managed to lodge a shuriken in her arm. It was all he had managed though. Hinata has been so preoccupied, so filled to the brim with adrenaline that the pain hadn't even registered in her mind. Neji came crashing to the ground, immobile from her assault on his chakra points. The poison in his system didn't little against his internal injuries, it only made it worse. She took a step back, almost expecting him to jump up again but she knew it was impossible.

With wide eyes, she took in his sweaty form, writhing form. His breath came along in a slow rasping sound, like a broken vacuum cleaner. Even more blood spilled from his mouth and with a dawning horror, she realised that he couldn't even move his neck. Which meant that he would choke on his own blood. But was it really horror she felt? Or was it just the horror she could she in his eyes as he laid there, utterly helpless. He was pale, too pale, paler than usual. Pallid like someone at the brink of death.

She knew he couldn't breathe but she couldn't find any will to turn him over as more blood leaked from his chapped, open lips. He made several loud, gurgling noises in the back of his throat, it sounded as if he wanted to say something. Was this for real? She couldn't tell. Hinata felt frozen, surely, she couldn't have caused this much harm...? Surely, he must be faking it to make her look bad? Suddenly anger gripped her heart, but she didn't know at what.

"Get up!" she screamed at her cousin.

Her shrill cry echoed around the arena and the sound of it made her feel stronger. Like she was much more than just a lone girl, she was stronger in numbers. It didn't sound like her though. The voice was too low, too rough and sharp. She didn't think about that though. Neji stared up at her, his byakugan had long since dissipated.

Could she leave him to die? Would she get away with it? Was she even capable of such a thing? It was now that she suddenly felt afraid... now as she realised, that she already knew the answer to that question. The mere fact that she hadn't helped him by now, said a lot. Lots of things that shouldn't be said, things that didn't need to be said.

Her byakugan deactivated itself and with trembling legs, she took a step back. And then a second, and one more. It was as if she was on autopilot, not in control of her body, of her own mind. She couldn't steer her thoughts straight. Before long she had backed herself into the wall behind her. Sliding down the rough stone, she fell into a motionless heap on the ground. She couldn't take her eyes of the scene before her. Medics and other shinobis rushed over to her cousin. They engulfed him in a green light and as they began their healing, turning him over and clearing a pathway to his lungs.

Hinata realised that he wouldn't make it. Not without the antidote. Reaching into the holster by her waist, she removed a small bottle the size of her little finger. She knew she needed to stand up and rush over to his dying form. But she couldn't get her legs to function, she felt paralysed. With a rising panic, she realised she was frozen and if she couldn't get her body to move, Neji-niisan would surely die. If he died, her father would never look at her the same again, her sister would never forgive her and her clan would be horrified and completely merciless in their vengeance.

In their eyes, she had killed family, one of their own. A priced member, a young genius who had brought them so much pride. They would cast her aside, they would exile her, leave in an asylum, put the cursemark on her. She would lose her friends, Kiba, Shino, Naruto, Sakura, Ino and Neji's own teammates would never speak to her again.

Hinata, in all her self-absorbed selfishness, failed to consider the life of her cousin. Instead her head spun around with worries for only herself. Maybe it was the Devil's Breath... maybe it was maybeline, who knows. But nevertheless, she forced herself take action.

"The antidote!" she yelled out, her voice, breaking like twig at the end of the sentence.

The medics turned to sound of her call and took in her crumpled form. She had her arm outstretched with the bottle in her palm. They stared at her, everyone in the arena did. As they realised that she wouldn't move, one unfamiliar shinobi ran towards her to take the bottle from her hand. Just before he could grasp it, her fingers curled around it tightly. He stared at her with a furious look in his eye and Hinata could hear herself whisper;

"But... he's dead already..."

A hard slap could be felt across her cheek, it bloomed red and stung terribly as the ninja had struck her face sideways and wrenched the bottle from her hand. She fell to the side, feeling how everything started to spin around her, she swore she could see stars for a second. As she'd landed on her arm, the shuriken in her flesh sunk deeper into her and she welcomed the pain. Anything to distract her from the cries of Tenten, the shouting medics, the heated voices coming from the balconies...

Soon all the sounds around her merged into one great ear-splitting racket. An orchestra filled with disorder, disharmony and loud acrimony. The brutal force of it all made her head hurt tremendously. Everything seemed to spin faster and faster, spinning away, spinning out of time. Before she knew it, Hinata had blacked out, drooling from her bloodied mouth.

...

With big, alert and alarmed eyes, byakugan activated, she woke up with start. Darkness greeted her and her x-ray vision soon deduced that she was in fact, in the hospital and no one was nearby. At least she had her own dormitory. With stiff and aching limbs, she slowly sat up and continued to inspect her surroundings. She was still wearing her old clothes but her sandals had been taken off and her holster had been confiscated. Her arm was bandaged but the flesh wound under there still hurt. But not too much.

In time and with shaking breaths, she allowed her byakugan to fall away. She wanted to go back to sleep but couldn't. There were much too many things on her mind. Like Neji... was he alright? He must be in this hospital as well... somewhere. Hinata pulled the duvet off of her and unsteadily stood up. She threaded over to the closed door and tried the handle.

Of course it was locked... the room didn't even have any windows so she couldn't tell what time it was. The dorm was a simple one, white floor, white walls, white bed. A single wooden chair stood next to it and her sandals laid at its side, but that was it. It was enough to drive anyone mad... what if she needed to use the bathroom? If she started screaming now, surely some nurse would hear her? Luckily, she didn't have to take such drastic measures as the door suddenly started to get unlocked and unsealed.

The sharp noise in the silence made her immediately nervous and she backed away. Hinata took refuge in the bed, hiding under the covers and pretending to be asleep. She fully expected it to be a bunch of angry chunins, informing her of her cousin's death and dragging her off to a juvenile prison. The door creeped open and a pair of boots smoothly ventured inside before the door was swiftly shut and locked. Someone strode up to her, calmly enough to make her extremely uncomfortable.

Then, the bed dipped to one side as the person sat down by her curled up form. She held her breath and wished she could sink through the bed entirely. The person sighed deeply in a exasperated way and that's when she suddenly recognised the sound. She had heard that sigh, countless of times before. With hope in her heart, Hinata quickly dove up and threw the duvet to the side. Sasori stared back at her, looking a bit surprised at her quick response to his noise.

With tears in her eyes, tears from pure joy and maybe even some stress, she immediately threw her arms around his neck and climbed into his lap. She didn't care about anything other than the fact that he was finally here, finally here to take her pain and worries away.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you're here," she got out, hiccuping softly in his neck.

His familiar hands came around the small of her back and enclosed her in his arms. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner," he answered in his usual neutral but involved way.

"S-Sasori, I-i don't know what to do, I think I may have killed Neji-niisan..." Hinata continued, not sure how to explain what had happened.

Unbeknownst to her, the puppet master already knew. One of his sleeper agents had been present in the arena. An anonymous jounin, overlooking the event. The first thing Sasori had done once he got to Konoha, was to track that Jounin down and go through his memories. With one complicated but precise jutsu, he had effectively entered his mind and looked through his eyes, flicking through his memories much like a Yamanaka would. But of course it wasn't the same thing, either way it was good enough for him to get a semi-clear picture of what he had missed out on.

He had watched with a keen interest as Hinata fought her cousin. Interest coated with a sick sense of pride as she started to use the techniques he had so graciously taught her. Puppets and poisons, yes he would restore Hana for her and maybe make her a second one, as a reward. His keen interest and pride, had soon flourished into a shocked mirth, an excited glee as she utterly plummeted her opponent. Sasori was incredibly proud, and even more so as he'd observed her unwillingness to help her dying cousin.

It was as clear as the fabric of their 3D-dimensional reality, he had made Hinata into a powerful, cunning and motivated Kunoichi. The callousness he'd witnessed in her, the turmoil he'd seen in her eyes and actions, made him only a tiny bit wary. Maybe he should take it easy on her, maybe he should limit her access to the drug... in all honesty, it wouldn't be in his best interest if she got any more out of line than this, he didn't need a sociopathic child on his hands.

Said child was currently straddling his lap and hugging him to the best of her ability. Sasori reached up and unhooked her arms from his neck. She let him have his way and leaned back a bit. Without a word, he picked her up and put her back on the bed.

"Your cousin is perfectly fine, he is resting down the hall but his condition is serious," he reassured her but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

Her reaction spurred on his suspicions even further, she didn't care much about her cousin, whether she knew that or not, she seemed more concerned with the aftermath of her actions. More concerned for her own safety.

"I messed up, I-I overdid it, oh Sasori-san, I dread to meet my clan after this. They will never forgive me, t-they might as well put the c-curse-mark on me for t-this-" she paused her rambling to inhale in a panicked way. "A-and my teammates will t-think of me as a m-monster, everyone will...!"

The puppet master hushed her, putting a hand over her mouth and indirectly keeping her from hyperventilating.

"Overthinking won't do you any good Hinata, they will never see you as a monster and your clan won't be foolish enough to put the curse-mark on you, that would be a scandal almost as big as this one and you know how much they care about appearances," Sasori smoothly whispered out to her wide, terrified eyes.

He was only saying this to calm her, he wasn't sure of anything at this point. It seemed to work though, so he continued. "You will have me on your side to support you in their stead. I will always be there even if they aren't. They will never see you, see this, the way I do."

He removed his hand from her lips and ran his fingers through her black strands. She looked up at him, much more calm but clearly confused.

"Wha- What do you mean?"

He gave her a lopsided grin as his fingers caught a black lock of hair and started to twirl it into a spiral.

"When they saw you on that arena, they looked shocked and alarmed. They would regard your strength as a loose cannon, something that should be repressed and controlled. I see it for what it truly is. A gift, an endless hole of possibilities. You alone have the talent, the courage, the utility, the will and the motivation to walk that extra mile. The extra mile, most people won't take because of their own weaknesses and fears, masquerading as stuck up morals. You see the truth and you aren't afraid, you break the mould in such a daring fashion, it's off-putting to lesser minds," he explained, keeping his voice even, cool and collected but sprinkled with just the right amount of awe.

He knew compliments took him a long way with the foolish girl. He saw how her eyes seemed to shine brighter with each word, her cheeks became pink and her mouth fell open in a soundless gasp. Oh how he loved to play her like an instrument. "Don't you see Hinata, you are great, truly a work of art."

"S-Sasori-san, do you really mean all that?"

"I know all that."

A semi-weak smile graced her lips, her eyes stood out like two snow-white moons in the darkness, eyelashes fluttering like the wings of a butterfly. He was struck with the fact, that she was so pretty. Almost too pretty, sweet enough to make his teeth rot where he to sink his fangs into her flesh. He almost wanted to test that theory... almost. Casting aside that distracting thought, his eyes took in the big, blooming bruise she had on her cheekbone. A blemish to ruin her otherwise perfect, pearly skin.

"This is from that ninja right? The one that you gave the antidote to?"

His fingers carefully caressed the blue bruise.

"...How did you know that? Were you at the arena?" Hinata suddenly asked, her dark brows furrowing themselves in confusion.

"Sleeper agents," was all he said.

"What's that...?"

"It's a spy of some sort," Sasori said, seeing no real reason not to tell her.

He knew he could trust her but even so, he wouldn't elaborate on it further. She nodded in silence and reached up to lightly touch the bruise herself.

"Do you know why he hit you?"

"Um...oh I think it was... eh I-I don't know..." she hesitantly whispered out, squirming in her seat on the bed.

"Hinata, tell me," he commanded, knowing that there was something she wasn't telling him.

"B-But it's something truly despicable..."

"Tell me anyway, you know I won't judge you," he prodded, running his hand through her hair again, soothingly.

She was quiet for awhile before she spilled the beans. "I-i swear it was like I had no real control over myself... Right as I... as I was to give him the a-antidote, I attempted to keep it f-from him..."

Sasori's eyebrows raised themselves in interest, his lean lips curved into the tiniest of grins before falling away into neutrality once more.

"Why?"

She looked away, her shoulders heavy with shame, guilt and disgust.

"I-I said something along the lines that... that it was t-too late for Neji-niisan... but I truly did believe that, a-at least at the moment. The poison had already done so much damage and I- I didn't know of what e-effects it would have on his damaged ch-chakra points. He- he just really didn't look like h-he was going to m-make it and he was suffering so much already..." Hinata's voice sang out in hushed whispers, full of remorse and regret.

She felt guilty for giving up so quickly on her cousin, maybe that was a good sign.

"I-if only I had the time to just explain... they must have thought me to be m-murderous in my intent..."

He considered her words, allowing his hand to stroke her head in soft, gentle caresses.

"Well, What's done is done... I wouldn't worry too much about it, you could always say it was due to shock... but I wonder, did you recognise the shinobi that struck you for it?" Hinata gave him a lock that could at best be described as hopeless.

"No... not really, please Sasori don't do anything to him, it wouldn't e-exactly make me look good and it's not right," she proclaimed in hushed tones.

"I never said I was going to do anything, I just want to know what he looks like in case I decide to. There wouldn't be anything that could possibly tie you to the incident either way, I would make sure of that," he explained, smoothly.

She shock her head, almost violently so.

"Why?"

He rolled his eyes at her blatant question.

"Honestly Hinata, did you really think a grown man could put his hands on you and get away with it?" Sasori almost hissed out, his hand tracing over the blooming bruise on her cheek.

She stayed quiet for that one, not really sure what to say. His cupped her cheek in his gloved hand and coaxed her head up. "Don't look so sad doll, you won and soon, you will be one of the lucky few to reach the next and final tournament, if you can manage that, you will be a full fledged chunin."

Hinata sighed and leaned into his hand.

"A-alright then... well he had dark hair that went to to his neck, curly. His skin was tanned with green eyes and he had a large scar that went down his cheek to his jaw... but that's all I remember."

For some reason, she felt like she was committing a sin and dooming someone in the process. Just by telling him this. Like this was a grave, big, terrible mistake, a clear wrongdoing that she overlooked because he told her to. But Hinata would have to wait to make amends for that. If she ever could.

"Good girl," Sasori whispered to her as he once again lifted her head up when he thought she'd stared at her own lap for too long.

Holding eye contact with her, he allowed a wide grin to coat his lips. "Once you're a chunin, you will have more freedom to go on solo missions, I figured I could take you with me on one of my own missions sometime."

Excitement stirred in her chest, dissolving her gloom a tiny bit. "Really? I can travel with you?" Hinata asked with wonder in her eyes.

"Not anytime soon but in the future, yes. You need to gather some experience first."

She allowed a smile to dance on her lips as she leaned closer to him, small, white canines peaking out between her pink lips.

"Would you take me to Suna?"

Something in his eyes changed, like they lit up for a second before going back to their usual gleam. His smile spread wider, showing off his own teeth.

"Would you like that?" he whispered, almost mischievously so.

"I would love that," she exclaimed bouncing up and down in glee.

"Shh!" he hushed her, putting a finger to his lips and she immediately stilled, feeling stupid.

As the silence stretched out around them, one could clearly hear the stomping of footsteps coming closer and closer. Sasori suddenly took ahold of her arms I firm grip and stared into her eyes.

"Hinata I need you to listen to me now, and listen closely. No matter what they plan to do to you, no matter what they say to you, I need you to remember the oath you swore to me. You cannot tell a soul about my presence here. No one must know Hinata and if someone were to find out, something must be done about it," he whispered to her, his face incredibly serious.

She was at a loss for words so she just nodded a handful of times, eyes wide and alert.

"Good girl, now give me a kiss," he said then, seemingly pleased with her decision to not speak.

She gave him a peck on his cheek, blushing slightly.

"W-when will I see you again?" she asked as he stood up.

"You won't see me but I will be present at the upcoming tournament, the final stage of the chunin exams," he explained in low tones as he caresses her head. "Bye for now."

With those words, he dissolved into thin air, there one second and gone the next. The sharp noise of a door being unlocked reached her ears. Looking towards the door, she activated her byakugan and took in her visitors. She immediately wished she hadn't. The door swung open and in stepped one nurse, two Hyuga jounin's and her father. Oh no.