Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Protector	By : djserani Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 1759 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
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It only took her a couple of days to get through the scrolls. She had learned much about the history of the seal and its creation. There were still plenty of questions, but she felt like she’d made much more progress.
She was sitting in her father’s study – she refused to think of it as hers, pouring over some of the books, when she heard a knock. “Come in!” She called and covered her notes.
Hinata watched the young man and woman walk in, heads bowed. The woman was crying softly and she recognized the bandages over the forehead of the young man. They couldn’t have been as old as she and Neji were. Following them was a much older man; she recognized one of the elders. He was one that she had suspected to have instigated the fight between her and Hanabi.
“Good afternoon, Hyuuga-sama.” They bowed to her. The honorific surprised her; she’d expected him to try Hinata, at the very least.
“What can I do for you?” She said, quietly.
“I am afraid I have bad news. These two have been discovered meeting secretly.” The expression on his face was hard to read, but Hinata thought she saw malice underneath the mask.
“Meeting secretly?” She looked again at the other two. They were unconsciously leaning toward each other.
“Yes, they were found together…in bed.” He turned a glare on the other two. Hinata caught it, even though they were too absorbed in their misery to notice.
“What are your names?” She asked gently.
“I am Yuri.” The woman replied.
“Yumimiru.” The young man looked up. There was a fierce look on his face and Hinata thought he looked a lot like Neji, but that might just have been the determination.
“Yuri, Yumimiru, do you love each other?” Yuri’s eyes widened. Yumimiru looked suspicious.
“Yes, Hyuuga-sama.” Yuri looked at Yumimiru.
The young man cleared his throat. “I love her very much. But…” he paused and took a breath. “I am Branch.”
“Tell me,” Hinata smiled. “Do you know who my husband is?”
Yuri looked confused. “Yes, Hyuuga-sama. You are married to Neji-sama. But…”
“And my husband was once part of the Branch house, was he not? I didn’t specify the changes that will be made to the clan when I made my short speech. But the Branch and Main lines are going to be dissolved. There will come a time in the not too distant future when they will no longer exist. Yumimiru, do you wish to be with Yuri?”
“Of course. I love her!” He exclaimed and earned a dark look from the elder. He turned that look at Hinata and she wondered for a moment.
“Then you should be married. See Tsunade-sama’s assistant as soon as possible. You have my blessing.” Then she turned back to her notes, effectively ending the discussion. Unfortunately, the elder had other ideas.
“You can’t do this! She is to be killed! Branch and Main cannot marry! It is in the clan laws!”
Hinata took a deep breath to calm the unexpected anger that stirred in her. She looked up carefully and gave the elder a withering stare. “The clan laws are still based on my decisions. I’ve already said that I will be making changes to the way the clan is run. I will not repeat myself again. They can marry. And if I hear of anything happening to either one of them, you will face me. Do I make myself clear?”
The elder drew himself up. “You are making a mistake Hyuuga-sama. This will not sit well. Mark my words, you will regret this.” And with that, he made his exit, rudely refusing to bow before her.
Yuri and Yumimiru exchanged uneasy glances and bowed to Hinata. Hinata stopped them before they left. “May I suggest you head to the Hokage’s office right now?” They nodded to her, bowed again and left.
Hinata sat quietly, her research, for the moment, forgotten. Something was brewing, and she didn’t like it. She needed to talk to Neji.
* * *
When Neji walked into the study a short time later, Hinata hadn’t gone back to her research yet. She was sitting, staring at a point beyond the corner of the room. “Hinata?”
She shook herself and smiled at her husband. “Hi. I missed you.” When he leaned over her, she kissed him thoroughly, leaving them both breathless.
“I was only gone for a short time.” He chuckled.
She told him what happened a few minutes before. “We should watch out for them. I have a bad feeling and I don’t want any harm to come to them, they were so much in love.” She sighed. “What’s worse is that I’m sure something is going on. I have no concrete evidence, and I have nothing but my intuition to go on, but his behavior was disturbing.”
Neji nodded. “I agree. Let’s talk to your father. I’m afraid that this transfer may not go without bloodshed, after all.”
Hinata frowned. She didn’t want to see anyone killed, but she knew that things might very well get to that point. “Better only a few than an all-out clan war.” She murmured.
“What was that?” Neji asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was thinking out loud. I don’t want to see bloodshed. But I suppose it’s better for a few to meet the sword than an all-out clan war.”
“Hai. It is. I don’t relish the thought, either, though some of them most definitely have what’s coming to them.” He paused. “Nothing can happen until we get more evidence, though. In the meantime, I would appreciate it if you do not go out without me. And, even around here, please be careful. Stay where the servants or other members of the family can be near you, if I can’t.”
“You think it’s me that they are after?” Hinata scowled.
“Yes, I do. I think they’d like nothing more than to kill you, possibly me and place their own puppet into the leadership role.” Hinata could almost see the anger vibrating from him. “So, please, be careful? I do not want to lose you or our child.”
Hinata nodded. “I will, I promise. So, what did you find out while you were out?”
“Apparently, the branch of our clan in the western part of the Fire Country has a library. Many of the texts that we lost during the Konoha invasion exist as copies there. They said that they would be happy to welcome us into their home for however long we wish to stay.” He smirked. “I suspect they just want to get on the good side of the new leader.”
Hinata smacked him on the shoulder. “Be nice. But you’re probably right. Regardless, if this doesn’t turn up quite enough information, we’ll have to go.”
“It needs to be fairly soon. I don’t want you travelling later in your pregnancy.”
“Yes, you are right. I’m not going to be comfortable travelling then. I hate having to travel by coach or some other method and I won’t be able to travel the ninja way by then. Let’s see how things go here and we can plan to leave right after Lee and TenTen’s wedding. We can’t miss that, you’re the best man.”
Neji rolled his eyes. “Yes. How can I be his eternal rival and his best friend?”
“That, my dear, is a mystery. You’ll just have to deal with it.” She laughed when he scowled at her. “Now, let’s see if we can find Otousan.”
* * *
Hiashi was not pleased. Hinata saw the same kind of anger boiling under the surface that she saw from Neji when she’d told him. “Otousan, we do not have any evidence yet. What are we going to do? Neither of us is willing to sit by and wait for them to try something.”
“No, that is not a good idea, I agree. Let me make some quiet inquiries. There are still a few on the council loyal to me and, by extension, you. Neji, perhaps you can spend some time with the branch members. I’m sure you can find a good excuse.”
“I’m sorry, Hiashi, I do not wish to leave Hinata’s side right now. I know she’s capable of taking care of herself, but we do not know what form the attack will take. As such, we’ll need to carefully monitor everything.” He paused in thought. “However, I may be able to find a branch member that could do that for me. “ He sighed. “I wish I knew if we had much time.”
Hiashi nodded. “I understand, but we don’t know. Let’s start here. There is much to do. Hinata, please, for me, do as Neji says and stay close to him.”
Hinata had no problem with that. The enforced time in each other’s company was not wasted. Neji insisted on more “practice” so that after their child was born they could make more. They trained together, Hinata pushed herself as much as she felt safe doing so and Neji watched her carefully to make sure she didn’t strain too much. He even made excuses to bathe and shower with her, though this last she didn’t mind at all. It often led to more “practice.”
And they read and researched and studied. Hinata had an entire notebook full of information, but she was still certain she was missing some key piece of information. Neji wanted her to test her theories on him, but she refused. She wanted to wait until she felt she had all the information she needed. She was too afraid of hurting him or even killing him.
It frustrated her that there wasn’t an obvious way to remove the seal in any of the texts or scrolls they had. And it only succeeded in worrying her more. What if, even after she had all the information, she couldn’t be sure of what she needed to do? How could she know that she wouldn’t kill him? Or worse, torture?
* * *
The days turned into weeks. They had a list of names of people who were acting suspicious. Neji said he thought that they knew, so, were being extra careful. They just needed to slip up once so that they could get them, but thus far, they’d been too careful.
Lee and Tenten’s wedding was fast approaching, only a few days left. They made their plans to leave, but Neji was uncomfortable. They didn’t dare take any of the clansmen with them, as they needed them there for Hiashi, should anything happen.
“What if…” Hinata started. She looked off in the distance and worried her bottom lip. “What if we approached Tsunade-sama and see about paying for an escort?”
“That might work,” Neji nodded slowly. “The clan can afford it, hell, I think we could afford it from our own monies.”
They’d never really discussed money. With the clan money, their small ninja salaries were nothing but a drop in the bucket. Like the clan finances, she’d happily turned their marriage finances over to Neji.
“Then we should see Tsunade as soon as possible.” Hinata felt better just thinking of a plan.
* * *
“Absolutely not.” Tsunade looked over the couple. Neji’s eyebrow shot up into his hairline. Hinata frowned. “That is, I won’t allow you to pay for one. I know that Genma, Sai, Kiba and Shino are available. You might consider sending Hanabi to stay with your father.”
Hinata’s sense of relief almost made her dizzy. Neji actually smiled. They both bowed to her. “If you’re sure…”
“Of course, I’m sure. Please talk to any of them that you can and just let me know. How long do you plan to be gone?”
They looked at each other. “I’m not sure. It may take us a while to find what we’re looking for, though the library is limited.” Neji paused. “We really do not want to cause problems with our request.”
“Nonsense. I have a vested interest in you both returning safely. Now, see who you can find, and let me know. Dismissed!”
Neji and Hinata bowed to her and left.
“Who should we approach first? I feel a bit guilty about this. Like we’re taking them away from something else they should be doing.” Hinata chewed on her lip again.
“We’ll just have to take Tsunade-sama at her word. And we will work as quickly as possible, both in travel and in our research once we get there.” He took her hand and they began walking.
* * *
Their first stop was at the Inuzuka house. Hanabi answered the door. “Neechan!!” She squealed and launched herself at her sister.
“Hello…Han..abi” she managed, around her sisters hug.
“Come in, come in! KIBA!!!” She yelled across the house. Hinata shook her head. The Hyuuga house was more relaxed than before, but they still didn’t shout like that.
They sat on the couch in their living room and Kiba came running in, with Akamaru close behind. Akamaru jumped onto the couch next to Hinata and started bathing her face. “Umph!” Hinata laughed and scratched him behind the ears. When she could get her face away from him, she said, “I missed you, too, Akamaru.”
Kiba grabbed her up in a hug. “Hey!” Neji glared at Kiba. “Be careful!”
Hinata rolled her eyes. “I told you, I’m not glass! I’m pregnant!” She sighed, but Kiba set her down gently with a sheepish grin.
“Sorry, Hinata-chan.”
Hinata giggled. “Really, I won’t break. We need to talk to you.” She looked at Neji.
“We have a problem and we need help.” Neji leaned forward a bit and began to outline the recent events.
* * *
By the time they got home several hours later, they had made plans with Hanabi to stay with her father while they were gone. They’d also had a few surprises along the way. They actually had to decide which friends they would take with them. They had more volunteer than was necessary and they weren’t sure how they were going to handle it yet.
The only ones that they wouldn’t even talk to were Chouji and Ino and Shikamaru and Temari. They had approached Lee and TenTen to apologize for taking off right after the wedding, but were surprised when they volunteered. They said they hadn’t made honeymoon plans and would be happy to go along. If it turned out that there was no danger, they would still get some time alone.
Kiba, Shino, Genma, Sai….everyone they talked to wanted to help. Even Naruto and Sakura, who had overheard the conversation, offered to go with them, though they doubted they’d ask them to go along. Both needed to be nearby in case something were to happen. They were too valuable to the village for something like this.
The next morning, they reported to Tsunade. She looked at them thoughtfully when they told her what they’d found. “I’m not surprised. I agree with you, Naruto and Sakura should stay here. The rest, however, are free to choose. If you want them all, take them. I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted you back safe. I do think that Lee and TenTen are good choices. As are Kiba and Shino. If nothing else, as former members of your respective teams, you work well together.”
Neji nodded. “That makes sense. I believe we will take them, then. Thank you again, Hokage-sama.”
“Just come back in one piece, okay?” They bowed and left.
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