A/N: Okay, I know I'm supposed to be working on Magical Mission, but I've had this saved on my computer for a few months, and I wanted to know what people thought. So…………here goes nothing!

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or Lord of the Rings.

Neji sighed, keeping steady eye contact with the Hokage. He had other things to be doing besides waiting for some ninja that was running late for a mission briefing. Like getting ready for and completing the mission. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a ninja that was running as quickly as they could without bothering to be quiet. Said ninja burst in the door, red-faced from embarrassment.

"I...I...I...I'm s...s...sorry, H...Hokage-s...sama." Hinata gasped. "I was t...t...training w...with my t...team."

"It's fine, Hinata. It isn't your fault," Tsunade said gently. The girl blushed, hiding behind a curtain of long dark hair. She stepped over to stand next to Neji, fiddling with her fingers.

"H...h...h...hello, N...N...Neji n...nii-san," She stammered. He nodded, glancing over at her before looking back to Tsunade.

"So, what's the mission?" Neji asked.

"Ah, well, this is a very...interesting...mission." The Hokage began, pushing a book across her desk. Neji and Hinata stepped forward to study it. The book was obviously very old, and there was a picture of some other continent or country or something on the page.

"What are we looking at?" Hinata asked, reaching out with one hand to trace the border of the map. She had found that if she traced it, it was easier to remember for later.

"You two are looking at an old map of another place, called Middle-Earth."

"Middle-Earth?" Neji asked incredulously. "Where is that?" Hinata looked as if she wanted to know this as well, but she didn't even look up from the map.

"See, that's what makes it kind of interesting. You need to use a special jutsu to get there. Some chunnin found this book in one of the Third's libraries when she was cleaning it, as she had been told. It was inside a large volume on medical jutsu. The mission is for you two to use this jutsu to go and explore this place, make allies if we can. The key is to have territory and knowledge established in case the Akatsuki or Orochimaru find out about this...Middle-Earth." Tsunade leaned on her desk to gauge their reactions.

"Hm...How long would we be gone?" Neji had begun to read the small description of the map.

"As long as it takes to have this world mapped out. We can't have the Akatsuki or Orochimaru with uncontested territory. We can not afford it. Do you two understand?"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," They chorused.

"Good. You two will be leaving in three hours. Report back here by then."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," The cousins said again. No sense in arguing about it.

"Good. Now go pack. Scat, you two." She waved a hand at them in dismissal and pulled out a bottle of sake and a small cup.

Hinata and Neji walked together down the main road of the village, waving or nodding whenever they saw someone that they knew.

"Oy, Hinata-chan, Neji!" Someone called loudly as the pair walked by Ichiraku Ramen. It could only be one person. Hinata promptly turned bright red and scooted behind Neji.

"H...h...hello, N...N...Naruto-kun," She said quietly, once again letting her hair hide her face. Neji sighed. Everyone besides Naruto knew how Hinata felt about him, but neither of the two was going to say anything. Naruto was too oblivious and Hinata was far too shy.

"Hello, Naruto,"

"Hi, you two! What are you doing?" Naruto asked curiously, still slurping ramen.

"We have to go prepare for a mission," Neji said bluntly.

"OH! You're lucky. Baa-chan never has any when I go to ask her for one!"

"I'm sure that she'll have a mission for you eventually, Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered, looking at him from behind her hair. Naruto grinned at Hinata, bright eyes grinning too.

"Really? You think so, Hinata-chan?" She smiled at him from behind her hair and nodded.

"Naruto, we have to go and pack. Good-bye." Neji nodded.

"Hey, how long are you going to be gone?" Naruto asked.

"W...w...we don't know," Hinata blushed again," I'm s...s...sorry." She managed another quiet smile.

"Bye! Good luck!" Naruto waved at them and continued slurping his ramen at an amazing rate. Hinata smiled at the boy and followed her cousin down the street, wondering what on earth she was going to need for this mission. What was she supposed to bring to a world that no shinobi had ever been to before?

"N...N...Neji nii-san, what are we supposed to bring?" Hinata asked. Hopefully he would consider the question reasonable enough to answer fully.

"Every weapon that you can use. Every set of kunai and shurikan you have. Enough clothes to last for awhile. Your medical supplies. We only have two people on our team, and you're the only healer." He paused to look her in the eye. "Just bring enough to survive for as long as we might need to, Hinata-sama."

"Yes, Neji nii-san," She looked up at him, smiling happily. He looked right back at her. She had the same Hyuuga eyes as him, but hers were much softer and gentler than his, somehow.

"I'll meet you back at the Hokage's office in three hours." Neji said simply. They parted at the gate to the Hyuuga compound. She had to go to the Main House's area, and he had to go to the Branch House's place in the compound.

Hinata quietly walked down the hallway, eyes firmly focused on the ground. She had no wish to talk to anyone in her family at that moment besides her father, but she didn't even want to talk to him until she was packed to go on the mission. She carefully pushed the door to her room open and slipped inside, shutting it with a quiet 'click'. Her room was very simple, the walls painted stark white, along with the blankets on her bed. There were a few picture on her walls, but not very many. Mostly they were pictures of her team and her sister, but there was a picture of Neji and a picture of Naruto as well.

The girl pulled her large travel pack out of her closet and set it on her bed. Her sets of kunai and shuriken were added to the pouch already on her thigh, and a few extra pouches were tucked into a pocket on the side. No sense in losing all of her weapons just because the pouch ripped. She carefully folded one formal yukata into the bag because Tsunade had said to make alliances if they could, and it was useful to look like a diplomat when needed. The rest of her clothes were normal, useful for fighting or traveling. She also packed a few more of her trademark jackets to make sure that she had enough if it was especially cold or if hers were ripped. All the weapons that she could possibly need were packed, and a katana that Neji had given her for her last birthday was strapped onto her back. Neji hadn't just given it to her; he had also taught her how to use it. Hinata knew how to pack quickly, and soon all of her things were either neatly arranged in her pack or in their proper places in her room. Her medical kit was put in last. That way, it was on the top of her stuff if she needed it for an emergency.

She carefully closed the pack and then hefted it to check the weight. It was heavier than she would have liked, but there was really no getting around it. She needed everything in it. Hinata lifted it onto her back and fastened the strap that went across her chest. The strap kept the pack firmly on her back with no sliding, which could throw her off balance in a fight or in tree jumping. Her hair was going to be in the way too, so she tied it back in a low ponytail, much tighter than the one that Neji kept his hair in. While her hair was useful to hide behind in a crowd or such, it could be a nuisance on missions, but she liked it anyway. With all of her things in their places, Hinata no longer had any excuses to put off telling her father that she was leaving. The girl quietly stepped into the hallway, closing her door behind her with one hand. Hiashi could usually be found in the council room during the hottest part of the afternoon.

When Hinata stepped into the council room, her father turned to face her. He had been meditating and now his eyes flashed with slight annoyance at being disturbed. She didn't even blink. He would have aimed the same annoyance at anyone else who had disturbed him, so Hinata didn't really care.

"Is there something that you needed, Hinata?" He asked, the annoyance fading slightly as soon as he realized that it was his older daughter.

"Ah...I just wanted to tell you that Neji nii-san and I are going on a mission...it's unknown length and rank...we'll be back as soon as we can..." he nodded.

"Be careful."

"Yes, father." Hinata bowed deeply, almost thrown off balance by the large pack on her back. "I have to go."

"Go on, Hinata," He nodded to her again, and she blushed and fled. There was enough time to find Kiba-kun and Shino-kun, maybe even Kurenai-sensei before she left, to say good-bye.

Neji honestly didn't mind going on a mission with Hinata. They had grown closer since their disastrous fight during the chunnin exam, when he had almost killed her. Admittedly, it hadn't happened right away, but gradually, he had gotten used to her quiet smiles and soothing presence. It really wasn't even surprising that Tsunade was sending them on a mission together. First of all, they both had the Byakugan, and it was an exploration mission. Secondly, both were trained diplomats and they had been ordered to try and make alliances. Third, they knew each others fighting styles from numerous spars and training sessions together, not to mention that they both used variations of the exact same style. Fourth, Tsunade never passed up a feasible opportunity to foster 'teamwork' and such between Konoha shinobi. Fifth, Tsunade and Neji both knew that if Neji didn't have a medic nin with him, he would run himself into the ground, passing up all rest in favor of completing the mission.

He ducked down and pulled his pack out from under his bed, absently checking through all of its pockets for anything that he might have left in them after the last mission that he had used it. Finding nothing, he dropped it unceremoniously on top of the bed and began rummaging through his closet. He was just as neat as Hinata, but he had significantly more complicated ways of arranging things. It was just the way he was. Neji pulled his shuriken and kunai out of the closet, giving them a quick once over to make sure that none of them were damaged or rusted. The weapons that earned his approval were tucked into the kunai pouch that was strapped to his thigh, and all of his extra pouches were quickly tossed into his pack. All of his clothes were folded and/or rolled to fit the most he could into his pack, and when he was finished with the clothes, the spare bandages for his arm and leg were fit into whatever space he could find. Lastly, Neji's katana was strapped to his back, the sheath under his pack, and thus sheltered from any bad weather.

The only thing that he had left to do was to tell Hiashi that he and Hinata had a mission, if his cousin hadn't told him already. When Neji walked out of his room, however, Hinata's younger sister, Hanabi was waiting. Hanabi's personality was closer to Neji's own than it was to her older sister's, so the two often butted heads. Unfortunately, since Hanabi was part of the Main Family, Neji couldn't rile her up too much, or the curse seal would be activated by her, if he got her angry enough, or another member of the Main Family if they saw it.

"Hello, Hanabi-sama," Neji said flatly. He wanted to tell Hiashi and leave, not talk to a little girl six years younger than him.

"Father sent me to tell you that Hinata nee-chan already told him about your mission. You don't have to," Hanabi decided to skip the pleasantries. She probably had better things to do than talk to him too.

"Thank you, Hanabi-sama." Neji bowed, giving her a faint smirk. It drove both her and Hinata insane whenever Neji bowed to them. He did it to Hanabi just to bug her, and he had mentally sworn to himself that he would bow to Hinata until she mustered up the courage to tell him to stop.

"Neji, don't do that!" Hanabi whirled and stalked off, shooting Neji an annoyed glare over her shoulder.

"Good bye, Hanabi-sama," Neji smirked at her one more time, just to annoyed her, and then turned and walked down the hallway opposite to the one that Hanabi had taken. Hopefully he would be able to find his entire team before he had to leave. Tenten, at least, wouldn't forgive him if he left on such a potentially dangerous mission without telling her and saying good-bye. Lee and Gai would probably start raving on about the power of youth, but if he died on his mission, they would regret not having said good-bye, and any decent ninja knew the distinct risk of dying on any mission.

Three hours later, Neji and Hinata were present and waiting in Tsunade's office. She was the only one that wasn't there. An exasperated chunnin had told them that Tsunade had vanished to avoid Shizune's wrath at her uncompleted paperwork. Neji had sighed and pulled out his katana and a whetstone, and begun to sharpen it with the mindlessness of someone who had done the same thing a million times, and knows that they will be doing the same thing another million times. Hinata had pulled out her medical supplies and begun to take careful inventory of all of her herbs and bandages and such. An hour later, Tsunade arrived, followed by a shrieking Shizune.

"Lady Tsunade, you have got to finish your paperwork! You've been putting it off for weeks!"

"It'll get done, it'll get done," Tsunade waved off her student's annoyance with one hand, and then glanced up, looking surprised to see Neji and Hinata there. "What're you two doing here?"

"H...H...Hokage-s...sama, you told us to s...s...s...show up an hour a...ago for o...o...our m...m...m...mission." Hinata stammered, closing her medical kit with utmost care and sliding it into her pack.

"Oh, I did? What was your mission again?" The Hokage asked.

"Exploring the place that someone found in a library." Neji sighed.

"Oh, right. Okay, here's the map of the place that was in the book." She handed it to Neji, who slid it into his pouch. "Now, we have to go up a few floors to an empty room that has the circle needed for the jutsu." She ushered them out the door and down the hall, ignoring Shizune's frustrated sigh.

"Circle?" Neji asked. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to accept this mission.

"Yes, circle. It's similar to the circles used for a summoning jutsu. Now, up the stairs. Go!" She gave them both a light (for her) shove in their lower backs, and the pair stumbled forward and up the stairs. Having a Hokage with super-strength wasn't always a good thing. Once they were at the top of the stairs, Tsunade took the lead and led them down the hallway to a room that was as stark white as any hospital room.

A number of nin were standing around the room at specific points, and all of them gave Neji and Hinata sympathetic looks. That didn't bode well. If whatever was going to happen was mild, they would have gotten at least some evil smirks. Total sympathy meant that something was up. The cousins shot each other a look, both sensing the same thing. They were doomed.

"You two, stand in the center." Tsunade pointed to the exact center of the room, where something that looked exactly like a summoning circle was drawn out, parts of it in blood. "Just stay still. We'll be channeling chakra through it to take you to Middle-Earth. And here," She handed Neji a scroll, "every week, you write on it with any ink, and it'll show up on the scroll that I have. If you don't write anything, I'll have to assume that you're dead. When you need to come back, write so on the scroll and we'll perform a summoning to bring you back to this room, wherever you are on the other side."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Neji and Hinata bowed, and then walked into the center of the circle. Tsunade took her place around the circle, and looked straight at them.

"Are you ready?" Neji and Hinata nodded. "Good. I'd recommend holding onto each other." And with that final warning, she and the rest of the nin began to channel their chakra through the circle. Neji quickly grabbed the sleeve of Hinata's jacket and latched onto it with all of his strength. Hinata did the same to the loose sleeve of the Hyuuga robes that Neji was wearing.

All at once, they felt something beginning to tear them apart. The world around them blurred, and then vanished, turning into darkness. It felt like they were moving or being pulled by something. Neji could see why Tsunade had told them to hold onto each other. He couldn't even see his cousin, and was in agony as he was ripped apart by chakra. His grip on Hinata and her grip on him was the only thing that told him that he was still alive. After what seemed like eons, the cousins slammed onto something hard, presumably the ground. Neji sat up, shaking slightly and holding his head. God that had hurt. Hinata flipped over onto her hands and knees and coughed up a few drops of blood. The result of her fight with Neji during their first chunnin exam was an exceptionally weak heart, and the stress of whatever had been done to her body to get her to where she was had been too much.

"N...N...N...Neji n...n...n...nii-san?" She gasped. He immediately moved over to her.

"What do you need, Hinata-sama?" He looked very guilty. He knew as well as she did what he had done to her, and he also knew quite well that it was his fault that she was coughing up blood.

"M...m...my m...medical k...kit." She gestured to her pack, and Neji opened it and pulled out the medical kit on top. Hinata opened it with shaking hands and pulled out a small vial of something. She uncorked it and wrinkled her nose slightly. Neji would have too, if he hadn't been Neji. Whatever was in that vial smelled disgusting. Hinata pinched her nose with one hand and quickly gulped the stuff down, gagging slightly at the taste.

"Are you alright, Hinata-sama?" Neji asked. He eyed the empty vial. What was that stuff?

"I'm fine, Neji nii-san. Tsunade-sama made this for me for when my heart starts missing beats." She gave him a faint smile, and Neji knew that she didn't blame him for what had happened, although they both knew that it honestly was his fault.

"Do you have enough of it for this mission, Hinata-sama?" she cringed slightly at the '-sama', but didn't say anything. Neji had long decided to treat this as he did his bowing. He'd keep doing it until she worked up the nerve to tell him to stop.

"I think so." Hinata pulled open a small drawer in the box, revealing many more vials. "Are you alright, Neji nii-san? You're paler than usual." Neji nodded. He was fine. The curse seal had flared briefly during the journey, but it had calmed down.

"I'm fine." Neji stood and offered his cousin a hand, which she took, and pulled her up. "We're on top of a large hill. Hopefully no one saw anything." He activated the Byakugan and scanned the area. "I don't see anything around." Hinata activated her own Byakugan. Around the edges of the hill were what looked like things that had been walls at one point in time, but weren't anymore.

"I don't see anything either. What should we do, Neji nii-san?"

"Stay here." Hinata gave him an odd look, clearly not understanding why Neji wanted to stay where they were if they were on an exploration mission. "We have a good vantage point from where we are, but we don't know where we are in this place. If we go wandering off, we're likely to get ourselves even more lost."

"Oh." Well, that made sense. "So we're staying how long?"

"Until we figure out where we are." Neji pulled the map out of his pouch and unfurled it. "I'd get settled if I were you, Hinata-sama. This might take awhile." Hinata walked over to her cousin and peered at the map from around his arm. This place had many, many mountains and hills. They could figure out which direction was north when the sun set, if this place followed the same rules, which she assumed that it did. Their navigation by the stars likely wouldn't work, though. She highly doubted that all of the stars were the same.

"Neji nii-san?"
"Hn?" He looked up at her, obviously annoyed that she had disturbed him when he was studying the map.

"Ah...I was wondering...um...should I go look for firewood...or something?" She began studying the ground very intently, trying to escape her cousin's steady gaze.

"No firewood. A fire would be spotted too easily. If you could find a river nearby, that would be useful." Hinata nodded and cautiously made her way down the side of the hill, trying not to dislodge any stones that would fall and make noise. She was, in all honesty, more concerned for her own safety than her cousin's. Neji would be fine where he was, and he was a better fighter than her anyway. In all likelihood, if they had been somewhere that Neji had known, he would have insisted that she stay at the campsite, and he go get the water.

Hinata immediately took to the trees upon reaching the nearby forest. It was the terrain in which she felt most familiar and safe, even though she knew that trees also hid ambushes. Her Byakugan could pick out most, if not all, ambushes anyway, and as a Konoha nin, she was specially trained to fight in the trees. There was probably a river nearby, if there were all these trees and things, so it wasn't going to take long for her to find water. She was right. A small creek was nearby, probably too small to have a name, but it looked clean, and no one was around. She bent down and carefully trailed her fingers through the water. It was crystal clear. Hinata pulled a canteen out of her pack and filled it up. She looked around again to try and find something distinctive that would mark this place so she could find it later. Nothing caught her eye, but it wouldn't be that hard to find again anyway. She turned and returned to the large hill where Neji waited.

Neji had the map spread out on his lap as he studied it carefully. The sun was going to set in the west, and it was on his left, so he was facing north...there were mountains far, far to the east. Mountains in the east, woods and what looked like a marsh or something to the west...he was on a huge hill...there! That's where he was. The large hill he was on...the map was labeled in some foreign language...he couldn't read it. But that's where he was, in all likelihood. Hinata returned holding a canteen and smiling happily.

"Did you find any water?" He asked.

"Yes. There's a little creek over in the woods. Where are we, Neji nii-san?" She asked, settling herself down beside him.

"Right here. On this hill." Neji pointed to a hill on the map.

"But what does the caption say?" Hinata asked.

"I don't know. I just know where we are. But if we meet anyone here, which we're going to have to eventually, we probably won't be able to speak to them." Hinata nodded in response.

"So, where should we go first?"

"West to the shore, and then we'll turn back and go east." He folded the map up and tucked it away. "We'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Okay." And with that, Hinata settled into a meditative trance. It was a habit of hers to meditate before a mission if she had time, but since she wasn't doing anything right at that moment, it would be fine if she meditated then. Neji double-checked everything in his pack one more time before falling into his own trance. Judging from the surrounding area, no one lived nearby. They would be safe until morning.

A few hours later, the two ninja were startled out of their meditation by the sound of people talking. They exchanged a look before simultaneously rising to their feet. Whoever was talking was potentially a threat, and threats had to be eliminated. The voices seemed to be coming from somewhere on the hill, but they weren't particularly near the top. Neji glanced over at Hinata and activated his Byakugan. There were five chakra signatures on the hill, under a natural overhang on the side. Attempting to be completely silent, and actually achieving it, the cousins climbed downward, using chakra to stick to the steep slope and get close to where the people were. There was one grown man, and four of what were the size of children, but appeared to be older than any other children that Neji or Hinata had ever seen. They certainly were not ninja, whoever else they were. Their chakras were untamed, and three didn't even have significant chakra anyway. Two did.

One of the little people had chakra. It wasn't huge, like Naruto's chakra, for instance, but it seemed different than the others. He was also carrying a huge source of chakra, pure black chakra. It seemed to be tainting the person's own chakra. Most of it was the normal blue, but parts, mostly the parts where the black chakra touched, were turning an odd shade of purple. It gave Neji a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, reminding him of a Sound nin's chakra when the curse seal was activated. A Sound nin had almost killed him on a mission to try and bring back Naruto's teammate, Uchiha Sasuke. Hinata hadn't seen chakra like this before, however, and was more curious than anything. She looked over at Neji to see his reaction, and noticed how he had tensed and paled.

"Neji nii-san?" She whispered, gently tugging at the sleeve of his robes.

"I'm fine," He answered. "Just...reminiscing about Sound nin." Nodding, she gently squeezed his arm.

Hiding the sickness that appeared at the sight of the person's tainted chakra, Neji began to study the other person that had any significant chakra. It was the only normal sized person, and he looked like he had spent years in the wild. None of which, apparently, had given him a chance to bathe, judging from the dirt that caked his clothes and skin. His chakra was strong, but it wasn't developed at all. In all likelihood, Neji reflected to himself, the man probably would have made a decent ninja if he had been trained properly as a child. The man handed each of the little people a dagger and left.

"What do we do, Neji nii-san?" Hinata asked quietly.

"Watch them. They look very vulnerable, and ninja are not just hired mercenaries. We have a conscience." Neji hissed the end part half to himself.

"Alright." Hinata shifted slightly to a leaning position that didn't require her to put so much weight on her hands. She still had to channel chakra to stay on, of course, but her wrists weren't as likely to fall asleep. "How long do we stay, Neji nii-san?"

"As long as we need to. We're here to map out the country. We can do it just as well following them as we can on our own." Hinata simply nodded.

The ninja watched the little people for awhile, until the one with chakra fell asleep. Neji hissed with disapproval, and Hinata's eyes went very wide, when the other three set up a fire. Those idiots! People would be able to see that fire for miles! MILES!

"Neji nii-san, if people are going to come, I'm going to hide our packs up top, I'll be right back," Hinata turned and effortlessly climbed back up to the top of the hill. Neji stayed where he was, quietly emitting huge waves of disapproval. When Hinata returned, she gave him a faint smile in the fading light to try and calm him. It didn't work as well as she would have hoped, but enough that Neji's chakra relaxed.

"Hinata-sama, look over there." Neji said suddenly, pointing toward the forest. Hinata did as her cousin said, focusing her Byakugan. Five chakras that reminded both of them of the odd chakra that the person was holding were coming quickly toward the hill. The two ninja tensed and drew their katanas. The little person that had fallen asleep woke up and jumped up, quickly putting out the fire. Too late. The black chakras were at the base of the hill, and quickly getting closer. Whatever the things were gave a heart-stopping shriek. It sent chills up their spines.

The little people scrambled to their feet and grabbed their daggers, hurrying up a small path to the top of the hill. Neji and Hinata clambered up their side of the hill. Both were grateful that Hinata had thought to hide their packs. Hinata hid in the shadow of one of the ruined statues, and Neji crouched behind a giant piece of masonry that had fallen long ago. The little people finally managed to get to the top of hill, and Neji and Hinata watched as they turned their backs to where the ninja were hiding and clutched their daggers tightly. The five beings with the chakra that Neji had seen emerged from the shadows in front of the little people, looking like demons from hell. They wore large black cloaks, had metal pointed boots, and skeletal hands. Each of them had a sword in their hand. The one in front stepped up to the little people, hand outstretched menacingly.

One of the people, the fattest one, lunged forward in a pathetic attempt to ward off the creatures. He was ruthlessly slammed aside into a large rock. The other two stepped in front of the one with the odd chakra, but they were knocked aside as well. The person with the strange chakra stumbled backwards, tripped, dropped his dagger, pulled something from around his neck, and disappeared. Neji and Hinata tensed at that. The person's chakra was being rapidly tainted by the black chakra. Strangely enough, while the other little people looked like they were wondering where their friend had disappeared to, the creatures seemed to know exactly where he was. The lead one reached out for something, but sharply pulled back, as if slapped. It then thrust its sword forward into what was part of the little person's chakra. The person screamed, reappearing as the creature pulled its sword out.

At the same time, Neji and Hinata decided that enough was enough, and leapt out of their hiding places, katanas drawn. The creatures looked up at them, startled, as the ninja advanced. Out of absolutely nowhere, the man that had been with the little people leapt out of the darkness, blade drawn in one hand and a torch in the other. He swung his sword wildly, but with a great amount of skill, blocking the swings of the cloaked creatures. He set one on fire, and it fled, shrieking.

"Hinata-sama, do not touch these things with your blade!" Neji ordered. "We need fire!" He threw a kunai with an explosive tag at the nearest one and muttered the activation word. It exploded in a burst of flame, sending the creature running. Hinata threw her own explosive tag soon after, torching a third.

While Neji was fighting one, the other managed to get right behind him and inside his guard. He managed to force the one in front of him to back off, and whirled to deal with his other attacker. It was too close for his sword, however, and he was forced to resort to the Hyuuga taijutsu, Gentle Fist. The ninja managed to plug up a few of its chakra points before the man set it on fire, and Hinata dealt with the other one. The man ran over to the injured person, and Hinata ran over to Neji. Her cousin was clutching at the hand that had touched the thing, and he had dropped his blade.

"Hinata-sama..." He gasped. "It burns." She pulled his hand over so she could see it. The tips of his fingers did appear to be burned, but when Hinata looked at it with the Byakugan, his fingers looked like the little person's chakra. They were tainted, almost purple.

"I don't know what this is, Neji nii-san. I've never seen anything like it." She looked up at him with anxious eyes as he swayed slightly. "Are you alright?"

"I can't move my hand," he whispered. His voice shook slightly. The man ran over to them, the injured little person slung over one shoulder. He said something in another language. Hinata shook her head, showing that she had no idea what he was saying. He said something else in another language, and she shook her head again. He sighed exaggeratedly and gestured for them to follow him. Hinata grabbed their packs from where she had stashed them and gently strapped Neji's onto his back.

"Neji nii-san, can you keep up with them?" He nodded silently, wounded hand held tightly against his chest. The man led them down the hill, where they collected a small pony, and into a forest.

A/N: So…………whaddya think? R&R!