Insomnia

XVI

Hinata had run the moment Gamakichi had delivered his message and hopped away. She knew she’d made it to the right place when she saw another little toad bouncing excitedly outside the warehouse. She knew she should wait, but Naruto and Gaara and –Neji– were in there. She quickly activated her Byakugan and rushed in. All the traps had already been disarmed or set off, so she moved quickly unhindered. The last room she came to, she found Naruto, bruised but whole, pulling timber away from a doorway. He didn’t have to say anything – Hinata knew and threw herself into the work until there was a hole big enough for her to squeeze through.

“Be careful,” Naruto told her. “I’ll go get Sakura and Tsunade.”

“Thank you, Naruto.” Hinata whispered.

“Thank me after this.”

He vanished and Hinata continued down the stairs. She heard voices, but couldn’t make out the words. Then there was a primal scream of pure rage before silence. She hit the landing and crept forward. She saw Gaara, suspended upside down above a table with two tiny forms on it. She saw Neji, comatose on another table and a stranger leaning over him, a syringe in hand. Anger rose within her and chakra crackled around her hand as she lunged.

“Get away from my cousin, you bastard!”

Her open palm, crackling with chakra, slammed into the stranger’s surprised face. He screamed as skin melted away and bone shattered, the syringe and a jar flying from his hands.

“Hinata! Jar! Catch!” Gaara yelled. Instinctively, Hinata tucked her feet beneath her and tamped down, soaring through the air as her hands reached for the jar. Her fingers touched cool glass and she closed her hands around it, pulled it closer to her as she hit the floor and rolled. As she came to her feet, Hinata threw a kunai at the rope around Gaara’s ankle and watch him fall.

For a moment, she thought he would land on the two infants, but the sand caught him and propelled him toward the man who’d been about to harm Neji. Hinata didn’t need to watch to know the man was dying. He wasn’t even given the mercy of the Sand Coffin. Still clutching the jar, Hinata ran to the infants and nearly began to cry. The little boy was so blue, so still, Hinata couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. The girl was waking, her tiny voice beginning to fill this dreadful chamber. Hinata tucked the jar into her kunai pouch and pulled off her jacket, wrapping her nephew in it before she attended to her niece, settling the girl against her brother.

Then Hinata turned to Neji, cutting off his bindings and working to get him lucid, pulling him off the table and onto his feet, letting him use her for support. Gaara was suddenly beside her, lips in a thin line, carrying Neji as Hinata took the rear position. They were almost out when she heard a voice cackling from below, and a fireball nearly consumed her and the twins. If Gaara’s reflexes had been one millisecond slower, Hinata realized as the sand shield convalesced around her, she and the children would be dead.

Naruto met her at the door, eyes wild and rusty as he saw the red skin on her face and arms but said not a word as he hurried her away from the growing conflagration behind her. Hinata turned her niece and nephew over to Sakura and turned back to the building, Byakugan blazing.

“See anything?” Naruto questioned.

Hinata shook her head. “Nothing. But he was alive, Naruto. Gaara left him alive.”

“Tsunade’s posting ANBU everywhere. If he’s alive, if he got out, they’ll catch him.”

“Neji?”

“They’ve all gone to the hospital. The boy’s the worst.” Naruto said. “Tremendous blood loss, and his eye’s gone. Not to mention they’re premature.”

Hinata stiffened and her hand went to her kunai pouch, the jar pulled out and held in her hands. A small orb rolled around inside the liquid until it met her gaze, floating and accusing her almost. Hinata felt blood draining from her face and bolted for the hospital, Naruto close on her heels. She burst into the emergency room and slid over to the desk, panting, holding out the jar.

“Sakura,” was all she said before a medic nin whisked it out of her hands and disappeared. Naruto took Hinata’s elbow then, and drew her out of the emergency room, to a waiting room. She paced until Ino arrived and Hinata flew into her arms, clutching tight.

“Neji’s fine,” Ino said at Hinata’s inquiry. “He’s in a room and sedated. Gaara’s with him.”

“The babies?”

“The little girl is fine. She’s kicking and screaming. But, the boy, well,” Ino trailed off and looked away for a moment. “They don’t know if he’ll pull through. They’re working on him right now and Sakura is positive she can save him. So we’ll just have to trust her.”

Hinata nodded and buried her face against Ino’s chest. She prayed, prayed hard, that her nephew would live. She prayed he would be a testament to the cruelty visited upon him and survive.

She prayed, deeply desiring this little hope to flourish.