Invasion - 5

"Where do you think you're taking us?"

"Away f-from here!"

"But you can't keep us safe! You're too weak! Take us back to that Aburame boy!" Hanabi was indignant as her older sister led her away from the arena, watching the streets vigilantly with her Byakugan, "Where is he anyway?"

"Father told me t-to take you far from the stadium, so I will!" Hinata announced in finality, "Shino-kun went to make sure Sato-kun made it to the hospital safely. We must stay out of sight until Father finds us."

"But I don't want to!"

"Hanabi, please!" Hinata silenced her, flashing her white eyes desperately, "I am doing all that I can…please accept that."

Hanabi fell silent, disgruntled, even though she had known her sister was only doing what she had been told. Hanabi was not sure what was going on or how to avoid the invading shinobi.

Hinata fled to the cover of a nearby park with her younger sister close in tow. It was quiet and shady there and would provide sufficient protection until their father came to collect them. She sat beneath a maple tree, motioning for her sister to take a place beside her.

They sat in silence and Hinata deactivated her Byakugan, rubbing at her aching eyes. Hanabi paid her no mind and remained watchful of their surroundings, then suggested, "Why don't we just return home? Wouldn't it be safer there?"

Hinata shook her head, "No, Father said that we are not to go there."

"And why not?"

"I d-don't know…" She truthfully didn't. Like Hanabi, she too had first thought of the Hyuga compound a safe place to be during an attack. It was well-guarded and in a strategically defensible area. Hiashi, however, had stressed that they do not go there under any circumstances.

Hanabi, tired and hungry, rested her head on her sister's shoulder, feeling supremely bored. She'd have preferred to stay and watch the action at the stadium but she doubted Hinata would be able to stand it.

Hinata shifted and pulled her sister to her feet, before running headlong into the more thickly wooded area of the park.

"What are you doing?" Hanabi hissed, not liking being handled so roughly, "Why can't we just-?" She saw the Byakugan illuminating her sister's eyes again and it was then she understood that they were in danger.

Glancing over her shoulder as the rushed through the underbrush, Hanabi could make out three ninja pursuing them, making a raucous as they crashed through the treetops.

"They're…they're chasing us!" She squealed in horror, her eyes wide, "What do they want with us?"

Hinata didn't answer as she kept running, soon pulling her smaller sibling into her arms and leaping into the trees at great speed, doing her best not to become hysterical. She could see with her Kekkei Genkai their hunters closing in rapidly, and she knew that they didn't need a good reason to attack them if they had raided their village in the first place.

Boldly, Hinata dropped back down to the ground and faced the enemy ninja with her sister clinging to her in fright. For the first time in a long while she was not afraid. Even if there was no guarantee that she would leave unharmed, Hinata refused to let them near Hanabi.

Judging by their headbands she could tell immediately they were from Kumogakure, and Hinata quickly realized their intentions, 'They've long been after the secrets of the Byakugan. They've sought us out on purpose!'

She stood in front of Hanabi while the Cloud ninja snickered openly.

"What's your name, girlie?" One of them asked, as if he wanted a specific answer, "We only want Main House brats this time, not those Branch slugs who have their eyes disintegrate after you kill em'!"

"Hanabi, stay here," Hinata muttered under her breath, not wanting the Kumo nin to overhear, "I promise you'll be alright."

Hanabi sniffled, upset that she was totally reliant on her older sister for protection. She could only hope she had become stronger as the blonde dope said she had.

"Not telling us, huh?" The impatient Cloud shinobi asked, eyeing Hinata, "That's fine, we'll just take our chances. You look like you have the right eyes…"

Two of her shadow clones that had been hidden in a nearby tree tackled him, knocking him out with a few precise jabs of Jyukken before the other two shinobi destroyed them, angered that they had been fooled.

Hinata charged with a cry, scanning for tenketsu as she attacked. They ganged up on her in a pincer-movement, slashing with kunai, and were again foiled with another shadow clone, "Just where is that sorry little bi-!"

They were sent flying by a sudden burst of spinning chakra that Hinata recognized all too well.

Hanabi scurried over to her sister and father as they made sure the opposing ninja were unable to cause them further trouble. Hinata blinked up at her father gratefully, "Father! I did as you asked! What are we to do n-now?"

"Be silent and stay close to me," He replied curtly, pleased by his eldest daughter's cunning strategy, "It appears Cloud have come here with the intentions of picking off Hyuga during the fighting and we are at the greatest risk at this time."

"Is that why we can't go home?" Hanabi squeaked, trying to keep up with her father and sister as they soared through the forest with startling speed.

"It would be foolish. There is no one there presently," Hiashi explained, "The Cloud will be waiting there for stragglers, but in times like these the Hyuga do not return to the compound; they gather at the garrison as all others do."

"Do they know w-where it is?" Hinata asked worriedly, hoping they wouldn't be followed any further.

"No," Her father answered, "But we are still a fair distance away from it. We must move quickly."

Once passing through a large clearing in the forest, there was a confusing warning cry, and ten enemy ninja deserted their positions among the trees and surrounded the small group of Hyuga, as if they had been expecting them.

Hiashi merely kept moving and met the Kumo ninja head-on, blowing them away with a massive rotation that left a crater half the size of the entire forest clearing. Other wiser ninja kept a fair distance away from the range of his rotation and drove him away from his children as they fought.

The last thing Hiashi intended was for his daughters to be taken, not when he had a say in the matter!

Hinata fought bravely, but four on one was a devious match up while she tried to defend her sister from the hail of shuriken and kunai that came at them in endless rounds. She battled defensively, knowing there was little chance she could defeat them as her chakra was beginning to dwindle.

Hanabi hurled kunai skillfully from behind her sister that the Cloud ninja had discarded, landing few hits that were not fatal. She paused in her motions as she watched shuriken sail past Hinata, slicing her arm open in a spray of scarlet.

Hinata paid no mind to her injury and continued on, gradually wearing down. Hanabi ducked behind her, tugging on her jacket, "Enough! Let's run now! You don't have to do this!"

"No!" Her sister hollered, her eyes blazing, "They won't let us get away! I will not back down!"

A vicious kick sent Hinata crashing to the ground and Hanabi scuttled behind her, fearing the finishing blow that was due any moment. From afar, Hiashi made little progress against a clever jounin who had directed his squad to form a wall of lightning.

Hinata stared at the Kumo nin who was closing in, looking pleased as he prepared a fistful of shuriken, 'If it's me that's alright, just not Hanabi…oh Naruto-kun, I fought so hard, but will you ever know? Will you ever know how I-?'

Someone leapt clear over the Hyuga girls and dove for their assailant, catching him completely off his guard. The Leaf ninja summoned a katana and let it rip through the enemy's throat in one capable stroke.

He fell back, finished, and the remaining three ninja scattered as more Leaf shinobi appeared, surrounding Hinata and her sister, well aware of the Cloud ninja's goals.

Lee made short work of the three spineless Kumo nin even with his injured arm, and across the way Neji was assisting his uncle in dispatching the last of the importunate Cloud shinobi.

Hinata and Hanabi stared wide eyed at Tenten as she stood over the body of the fallen Kumo ninja. Not an ounce of regret was visible on her face. It appeared she was making certain the enemy was dead.

"That…that crazy girl just killed someone!" Hanabi stood up and pointed an accusing finger at Tenten, too distraught to think clearly.

Hinata hobbled to her feet shortly after, putting pressure on her arm, "Hanabi, shh! She's on our side, calm down!"

"Are you alright, Hinata-san? Hanabi-san?" Lee, predictably, had gone to make sure the two girls were intact. Neji and his uncle approached as well, looking satisfied with their methods of demolishing the opposing shinobi.

Tenten seemed to snap out of her trance and hurried over to the Hyuga girls a moment later, "You're not hurt are you? Is it bad?"

Hinata shook her head, "No…it's just a scratch and the bleeding has already stopped." The brown haired girl sighed in relief, almost as if she had been anticipating worse.

"We leave now." Hiashi commanded, not inclined to linger. He herded the group along, silently grateful his nephew had taken the initiative to search for them. Without his help he doubted things could have ended as well as they had.