Feral Dreams

The woman known as Hyuga Hinata could normally be best described as shy and reserved, though over the last several years she has been continuously fighting with her faults to strengthen herself... this has not been overly effective. However, in the last two weeks events have transpired that have fortified her will even more than her training throughout her life before. Friends and family had all come to recognize the change, but while some knew of the reasons behind it, none could completely understand how the changes in her had been so drastic. Tsunade who currently sat across the table from her understood the reason for her altered demeanor, but nevertheless stood impressed by her newfound determination.

"I'm glad you've agreed," Tsunade leaned across the intending to emphasize her next point, "But I'm telling you this now, there is not backing out of this. The mission is fairly obvious, wipe them out, all of them. If the letter is a trap then keep one alive to interrogate and kill the rest. I will not tolerate any second guessing or uncertainty." She paused to let this fact settle in to the mind of the stone faced Hyuga, "This mission will leave in three days, you will choose five additional shinobi to follow you on this mission and you will be in charge regardless of rank." Hinata raised an eyebrow in query, finding this judgement a little awkward considering she was only a Chunin and Tsunade had just implied that the team would likely consist of only people who were higher rank than herself. Tsunade's hand waved dismissively, setting aside any arguments that there might be until after everything was said, "I want to go, but it would be impossible for me to leave the village for any extended quantity of time. This is why you will be my proxy and lead the mission in my stead."

Blink.

Seconds tick by as the two women star at each other, one stone faced, the other with a lopsided grin.

Blink.

Hinata slowly raised her hand above her head as though she were to ask a question in a classroom and calmly spoke, "Hokage-sama, did you just say that I would be your proxy on this mission?"

Widening her grin, Tsunade speaks in a matching volume to Hinata, "Yes, I do believe that is what I just said."

"Ah!" Hinata's voice wavered slightly but maintained its calm sound, "That's good, I was afraid there was something wrong with my hearing. If you'll excuse me a moment." Swaying back and forth for a moment, Hinata's eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed on the spot.

Leaning back into her seat, Tsunade gave a satisfied smile as she thought aloud, "Good, she hasn't changed completely at least. I guess I'll give her a minute before I wake her up." Tsunade slid the bottom drawer of her desk open revealing a mass of unopened bottles, after glancing over several of the smaller bottles, she withdrew a short slender bottle. Examining the label on the bottle, she gave a slight nod in confirmation of the object, "This should do well."


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"The ceiling... why is the ceiling in front of me?" Thought the young Hyuga heiress as her eyelids fluttered open.

"Finally awake I see." Tsunade's amused voice floated over to Hinata.

Realizing that she was on her back and in an incredibly uncomfortable position, Hinata righted herself and stood back up to face the Hokage's seat. On the desk she saw a small bottle and two small glasses filled with a sweet smelling liquid, looking up at Tsunade, the older woman gestured to the seat that was pulled up in front of the drinks. Hinata assumed that she must have been out for at least a few minutes since Tsunade had moved most of the papers from her desk to the floor near the window so that there would be sufficient room for them on the desk without risk of scattering important papers.

Hinata gracefully stepped over and slipped into the seat without breaking the stone-like expression on her face that was currently holding up the majority of her dignity. Taking the small ceramic cup in front of her she raised it up a moment in thanks, then pulled it back and downed the whole glass.

Tsunade smiled at the girl's drinking methods, ignoring her own glass, she waited until Hinata had put her cup back down on the table before speaking, "Feeling better yet?"

Her expression remained constant, though Tsunade could tell it was strained, "Can we get on with this please?"

Shaking her head in amusement Tsunade reached for her own cup and quickly downed it, "Well we would probably have already been done if someone hadn't taken a break." Tsunade had to force herself not to laugh as Hinata's eye began to twitch, "Hinata, I'm glad you've agreed to perform this mission, but I only need you to be determined and get the job done without the second guessing you always used to do. Trust your judgement and you'll be fine."

Allowing herself to take a deep breath to calm her nerves, Hinata continued to watch Tsunade warily, "Very well Hokage-sama, I will not back down from this mission, and I will complete it as you asked." Her calm voice carried no hint of fear or worry, she was completely at ease with the mission now.

Smiling broadly, Tsunade leaned in and refilled their cups from the small bottle on the table, "Good to hear it! So do you have any idea of who you will be taking?"

Nodding in response to her inquiry, Hinata grabbed her cup and took a slow sip from its sweet contents, "Yes, I know who will be coming with me, however I will only be taking two people."

Tsunade arched a curious eyebrow at her, "With six things would go much faster, but as my proxy for this mission it is your choice. I assume you're referring to Kiba and Shino then."

She shuddered a bit at the pressure added to her mind when she was referred to as a proxy, but let it slip away in her calm, "No, I will not be taking either of them."

"Oh?" Tsunade's voice held a hint of surprise, "Then who?"

"Sasuke and Neji-niisan." Tsunade looked perplexed at the decision so Hinata decided it best to explain her reasons, "While I do work best with Shino and Kiba, they aren't well suited for a task like this. Kiba is too sporadic and Shino is too apathetic for this, additionally Shino has no connection to the mission beyond myself, and if Kiba's pride took another hit then he wouldn't be able to perform properly. Sasuke and Neji however are both driven and already want to accomplish the task even though it hasn't been assigned to them yet. For this I will need my team to be determined, and no one else at the moment could match them."

Tsunade rubbed her chin in thought as she nursed her own cup. After a few seconds she nodded in understanding, "Very well, Sasuke is no problem, your cousin however isn't due back for at least two weeks, so it would be best to choose someone else."

"No, it will be Neji-niisan. You said barely a minute ago that I was your proxy for this mission, meaning I can call him back from his mission with the same authority as you for this, correct?"

Hinata's calm voice gave power to her words that both excited and disturbed Tsunade to such a point that wanted to know what kind of permanent effects this would have on the young Heiress. After listening to her point, Tsunade decided to cave to the girls authoritative mannerisms, "Very well, but it will be you writing the message and there's no telling how long it will take for the message to reach him or for how long it will take for him to get back."

"If I use my families falcons to get him the message it should take at most three days to find him, as for him getting back here... I wouldn't worry about that, I'm sure he'll get here in time. That being said, I'd like to postpone the departure from three days to five days to give Neji ample time to return."

Tsunade thought about the delay for a moment, but reasoned that it shouldn't cause any major problems, "That works. The mission is now in your hands completely Hinata, all details and people to be informed will be dealt with by you. Is that good for you?" Hinata's eyes widened drastically, but she nodded in confirmation, "Good. Your cousin should be in the southern forest near the Suna border. For now, good luck Hinata, I'll give you a further debriefing before you leave."

Eyes still fairly wide, Hinata once again nodded in understanding before draining the remainder of her cup, "Thank you Hokage-sama, I should be going now to have the message sent as soon as possible." She stood from her seat and bowed deeply to the woman such that her bangs slid across the surface of the desk. After righting herself, she turned and opened the door, sliding it shut behind her.

The outer office seemed more oppressive than it had been when she had arrived. Shizune busily flipped through paperwork behind her desk, frequently flitting worried glances up at Hinata as she stood there mutely. With a sigh Hinata turned down the steps and walked, each step adding a weight to her stress level as her mind worked through her new responsibilities.


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Its wings beat relentlessly at the endless blue sky, pulling it farther and farther away from the Hyuga compound in search of its target. White eyes watched on as it gradually disappeared into the horizon, bringing a light smile to their owners lips. The owner of said eyes, was one Hyuga Hinata, who having just completed the first step of her mission was watching her messenger until he was completely out of sight. After having written the letter to her cousin, she felt like a large amount of the mental stress that had gradually been building up had been lifted, allowing her to think a little clearer.

Once the bird was long out of sight, she headed out of the Hyuga compound towards the hospital in hopes of catching her last team member. The buildings and people passed as she walked, barely even noticing when someone would greet or speak to her, none of it was really that important at the moment.

She smiled to herself as she turned one last corner, stepping out into the courtyard of the large stone building she was searching for. Walking through the front door, she turned and approached the nurse at the front desk, "Same room?" she asked bluntly.

The nurse looked up to her and smiled at her, "Good afternoon Hinata, yes she's in the same room, next week we'll be moving her to D wing though."

"Thank you." Turning away from the desk, Hinata wandered off in the direction she knew Sakura's room to be.

A few minutes later she stood in front of a closed grey door with a medical file slot on its side that was stuffed full of dozens of charts and folders. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Hinata lightly knocked on the door before turning the nob and opening it.

The over-bright hospital lights were dimmed inside the small room, giving a much less oppressive image as she stepped in. Sakura was lying comatose in a small bed, with half a dozen machines hooked up to her and beeping at random intervals, tubes and wires traced most of her body leaving her looking vaguely like a robot in some science fiction movie. A lot of color had returned to her face since the assault, but her skin was still pale and in general she looked to be just barely circumventing death's door.

Beside the bed, snoring lightly on a cheap, plastic fold-out chair, she saw the actual purpose of her visit. Hinata thought to step around the bed and wake him, but she figured he probably didn't get a lot of sleep so she decided to wait around until he woke up.

Looking away from the sleeping man, she turned back towards Sakura's unconscious form. Lightly taking her hand and sitting on the edge of the bed, Hinata spoke softly with a amused expression on her face, "Hey Sakura, you'll never believe what happened..."


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"........kill..........informant.........mission........" Small words slipped in through the cracks of his unconscious mind, stirring memories and bringing him to partial awareness. Having only gotten a handful of hours of sleep in the last week, his brain tried to force him back into his dreamless stupor to get some much needed rest, but something about that voice, it was familiar. It wasn't Sakura otherwise he would force himself awake but he just couldn't put his finger on the name.

Eventually his curiosity brought him to full consciousness, allowing him to stomp out his urge to return to sleep and look up to match the voice to a name. Somewhat surprised to see the white eyed princess visiting Sakura, he stood up and walked over to her while rubbing the sleep from his uncovered eye.

"*Yawn* Hinata, what brings you here?" He eyed her curiously as he stepped around the bed to face her.

Hinata placed Sakura's hand back down and stood up, turning to face the Uchiha with a pleased grin crossing her lips. "What, can't a girl come visit a hurt friend?"

Sasuke took a step back, her voice dripped a playful sarcasm but his surprise was mostly from the fact it was her using the voice. "No, of course not. You just always visited with Shino so I was assuming you wouldn't normally come alone." He had been taken a bit off guard by her so his voice stuttered slightly, showing his uncertainty.

"Well you're right." He arched an eyebrow at her, "Today I'm here for you." She spoke in such a 'matter of fact' tone, that he was once again taken aback and took a moment to process what she had said.

"Umm, okay... what did you want?" Choosing to play along rather than cause problems he decided to hear out what she had to say.

"Five days."

"... What?" Confusion began to set in.

"We leave in five days, be ready."

"Leave? What? Leave for where and why am I leaving?" He was starting to wish he hadn't asked her why she was there.

"Simple, you, Neji and I are heading north to deal with a troupe of murderers."

Past his confusion, he looked away from Hinata and back to Sakura's prone form, "Sorry, I refuse. I'm needed more here at the moment. Besides, I'm off active duty for another while."

She stepped into his line of vision, blocking his view of Sakura's face, "I don't think that's quite what you want to say. Besides, you have no choice in the matter."

His eyes grew menacing as he glared down at her, though Hinata did not back down, rather she stared up defiantly at him, "Hinata, I have the utmost respect for you as a shinobi, but no one except the Hokage herself can tell me I don't have a choice in something. So.." He was about to continue his tirade when Hinata cut across his voice.

"Well that's great then, because she gave me the ability to choose anyone I wanted for this mission, period." She grinned up in triumph as his eyes welled with fury. "Relax Sasuke, you'll enjoy the mission I assure you... we all will."

Still furious, he arched his visible eyebrow at her, "Really, what makes you say that? Unless we're going to deal with the bastards that did this," He gestured with his arm in a wide arc, indicating Sakura, "Then I really don't give a shit and you can take your orders and stuff them."

Her grin didn't fade in the slightest as she turned away from him and opened the door back to the hallway. Looking over her shoulder at him, her words echoed slightly in the small room, "Then I guess you'll be enjoying the mission, just like I said." Without waiting for a response, she stepped out and closed the door behind her.


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I'm sorry it took so long to update. Actually this chapter was written months ago, but I lost inspiration to finish it. My lack of inspiration lasted until I started school, and when you're taking 3 night courses and working 40-60 hours a week while trying to maintain a social life... well some things take a back burner.

Now however, I have regained my inspiration and will put up another chapter in a few weeks (I need to finish up my exams). I hope that those of you who enjoyed Feral Dreams so far will continue to read and put up with my foolishness.

Thanks for all the support until now and I hope you continue to enjoy my story

Cheers,
The_Keeper