Note from the Author: Role reversal YES.

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Hinata was surrounded, which was not a particularly unusual circumstance. What was strange about it was that her teammates were nowhere to be found, so she was alone and surrounded. But, she was a Hyuuga. She was adept at making the best of bad situations.

"Byakugan!" There were fifteen of them in the nearby trees around her; further off, there were five more ready to offer assistance. Nowhere did she see the familiar chakra signals of Kiba, Shino, and Akamaru. Inwardly, she was angry, but she remained visibly calm, watching as the enemy shinobi closed in on her, knowing that her capture was inevitable.

She knew it, too. There was nothing to be done now except wait. Fighting would only result in her immediate death. With this, she might be able to get information and escape later. So she braced herself and waited, knowing that she was simply a prisoner of war.

Of course, the sudden choked cries of falling shinobi was unexpected and unwelcome, except to her. With attention suddenly focused away from her, she leapt into the trees, around and toward the ensuing battle. She was surprised to find an ANBU was the cause of the turmoil, but was less than surprised when she realized with one.

She descended beside him. "Orders!" she cried, slamming her palm into the chest of an oncoming enemy ninja.

"Leave this to me and find your teammates, Hinata-sama." His black hair whipped around as he spun to take down someone creeping up behind him. His voice was muffled through his mask. "They are waiting to the south."

She stared at him, surprised, before nodding. "Yes, sir!" she fled the battle, dashing through the treetops. She kept her fingers crossed, tossing repeated glances over her shoulder. Be safe.

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"Kiba-kun, Shino-kun!" she landed on the branch beside them crouching to catch her breath. "Did-did you find any information on our target?"

Kiba nodded. "Yeah, and we located him. If we get there now, we can ambush him."

She looked up, startled. "But what about N-?" she caught herself, remembering ANBU etiquette in which names become anonymous. "We can't leave him to fight alone."

"He'll be fine. He's Captain, after all." Kiba grinned, winking. "We'll catch up with him later. Come on."

Reluctantly, she nodded and followed after her teammates. Looking back over her shoulder, her eyes were met with the resonating boom of an explosion. She caught herself against a tree and spun around, screaming, "Neji!"

In half a second, she was going back, not caring about her teammates, not caring about the target, not caring about anything but Neji and the fact that he might be in danger. The mission could wait; Neji's wellbeing came first.

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The area to which she returned was basically a giant crater, the work of several hundred explosive tags detonating at once. It was an ANBU tactic, used in a situation that there was no getting out alive. The battle must have taken a turn for the worse, and Neji had to do what he could to take as many ninja as possible with him, to prevent them following her team.

Bodies littered the area, still twitching with the last movements of death, and Hinata stepped carefully around them, frowning despairingly as she realized none of them were the person she was looking for. Something crunched beneath her sandal, and she looked down, gasping when she recognized Neji's mask. It was broken in two, crushed now where her foot had met it, and she bent down, picking it up delicately and holding it to her heart. "Neji," her voice was a whisper.

"Well, it looks like a little kitten got lost on the way home." She looked up sharply, meeting the eyes of a Mist ninja, who was holding a kunai in one hand, pointed in her direction, a malicious smile on his face. "Let me help you find your way." He threw it at her, but it was deflected by a shuriken, embedding itself in a tree. He growled, glaring at the shinobi who had interfered.

Neji pulled himself to his feet, dark hair falling loose over his shoulders, his breath coming heavy. "You won't-hurt H-Hinata-sama."

A smile broke across her face. "Neji-nii-san, you're alive!"

"Not for long," the Mist ninja snapped, aiming several shuriken in his direction.

"Neji!" Hinata threw herself in front of him, deflecting them with her own kunai. Her brow furrowed, weapon lifted defensively, determination scrawled in a grimace across her mouth. "You won't hurt him!"

"Hinata-sama," Neji coughed. "You should get out of here. There are more shinobi nearby and –"

"Neji-nii-san," she interrupted, smiling over her shoulder at him. "I'm not leaving here without you."