I Carry This Burden Alone(Neji Love Story)

Chapter Four: Hidden Candle Village

~Chapter 4~

ALICE'S POV

The Hidden Candle village was enveloped with the cold winds the night brought most of the time. For this village, morning is something that only lasts a few hours.

I put up a serious front as I took notice of the many people staring at the Hyuga and I as we passed. Majority of them ran into their houses, slammed the windows shut and locked their doors. The remaining few just stared at us, scrambling out of our way and to the sides of the once bustling street.

"Odd place." I heard Neji mumble. I couldn't agree with him more.

"Hello." Suddenly, a little girl appeared before us, bowing her little head. Well she's the first one to not run away from us...

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Liz" she politely said as she bowed deeply.

"Neji Hyuga" he said in a monotone voice.

"I'm Alice Uchiha" I said softly

"I'm supposed to be guiding you to the palace, valued shinobis" she said as she gestured to a large palace peaking over some forest trees.

She turned on her heel and led the way to the palace.

Silence consumed the night, nothing could be heard, except for the crickets and the wind howling gently.

"Um...you can ask me any question. His Highness has...asked me to answer most of your questions. I'm pretty sure you have questions?" She shyly glanced at us.

Neji and I faced each other, both thinking he same thing.

'Most?'

"Well we do have some-"

"If it is about your mission then I am sorry but I don't know very much..." I could hear a bit of....was that disappointment?

"Can you tell us what you know then?" Neji asked her, his tone softening.

"Well...from what I have gathered, you're supposed to escort our prince to your village, Konoha and then another shinobi bring him back...T-That is all I know so f-far..." she lowered her head.

"May I ask what your prince's name is?"

"Well, I'm not sure who you'll be escorting...but the His Highness has 3 kings, the eldest is Prince Shun and then there's the twins, Prince Katsu and Prince Kou" she informed us.

"I'm guessing it's this "Shun" guy." Neji spoke up.

"Yeah, he IS the eldest after all..." I agreed with him.

I turned to the little girl and asked, "Liz-chan, can you tell us more about them?"

"Uh....well....Prince Shun is....well..." her voice dropped to a whisper, "arrogant"

"He thinks very highly of himself and thinks that he's at he very top of the "food pyramid". He looks good on the outside but not on the inside...He's very mean.....OH but he cares VERY much for his people...a-and...well...um....that's all.'

'So cute...why can't Sasuke be this cute?'

We nodded, accepting her answer. I had a feeling....that she was hiding something very important from us. Meh, not my business.

"I see..." Neji muttered.

I stayed silent, observing our surroundings. Everyone seems to have evacuated the street already. Now, it seemed like a ghost town! No sign of life whatsoever!

"Hey, Liz-chan where is-" Liz cut me off.

"We're here." I didn't even notice the humongous palace towering over us until she spoke.

It's even taller than the my house...

"Shall we go in?" Liz asked as the huge wooden doors opened automatically. Two men appeared, they looked exactly alike.

They ran at us, aiming to escape something.

As the two boys passed Neji and I, we grabbed the collars of a boy.

"My, my... I didn't expect to see two princes attempting to escape from their own home" I said smiling down at the two kids.

"LET US GO!" They shouted simultaneously, flailing every part of their body they can, trying to get out of my hold.

"If you wanna be discovered then keep on screaming but if you wanna hide then keep quiet." I whispered. They froze, curious about what I was gonna say.

I grinned and then pulled Neji close to me until our shoulders were touching and there was no gap in between us. I did the same to Liza but on my other side.

"Hide behind us!" Liz whispered to them. They nodded and then dashed behind us, just as a dozen guards walked up to us.

"Excuse me, but have you seen the twin princes anywhere?"

"N-" I cut Liza off.

"Yeah, we did. I think I remember seeing a pair of twins run off towards South...about 20 minutes ago. Right Neji?"

"I think I saw them go east, I'm not quite sure..." Neji said nonchalantly, an almost invisibke glint of mischief in his eyes. I inwardly smirked.

The guards cursed, thanked us. The guard that seemed to be the leader, barke dout orders. Their group was divided, one ran towards the south part of the village and the other, east.

"Well then, your safe now ki-" I turned around, only to notice that the princes were gone...

I didn't even feel their presence disappear....

There was also one thing I didn't notice....Neji was still standing the same spot as before, stiff and blushing from head to toe...

A/N: OH MY JASHIN. I HAV FINALLY FINISHED THIS CHAPTER! YAAAAY!

THIS IS AN UPDATE FOR YOU GUYS!