I Carry This Burden Alone(Neji Love Story)

Chapter Five: Searching

~Chapter 5~

NEJI'S POV (very short!)

Our shoulders met.

Fate is on my side!

AHEM. I mean...we must continue this mission immediately.

The little girl, Liz I believe, grinned as she saw the warmth spreading on my cheeks. I quickly turned away, "Hey, we should go see the king fir-"

"NO. We can't, Neji-san! The king will be furious if he found out that the princes are missing!!" Liz exclaimed, panic evident on her face.

"Neji-san, we can't leave those two kids alone..." her melodious voice rang through my ears. I almost blushed right in front of her when her hands flew to my arm in a pleading way.

I let out a fake sigh, "Fine." I gave in.

ALICE'S POV

"Yosh!" I took a step towards a random direction then froze.

"What's the plan?" I asked.

"I THOUGHT YOU HAD A PLAN?!" Liz-chan exclaimed. I shrugged, "I don't make plans, I act on instinct."

Neji nodded his head, agreeing with me. "And I always end up with the consequences"

"Well anyway" he said. "We should first head towards the direction they probably went."

Liz-chan and I nodded.

"The only question is....which direction DID they go?" Liz-chan asked.

"East." Neji and I said. Our heads snapped to each other.

"You thought so too? Or was that just a lucky guess?" Neji asked nonchalantly.

"I didn't guess." I pouted, "I heard the sound of little feet heading East when the guards questioned us. I didn't think much of it." I shrugged.

Neji sighed while Liz gave me a deadpanned look.

"Why didn't you-?" Liz was cut off when Neji's hand clamped over her mouth. The girl looked up at him.

The Hyuga just shook his head.

"Well then, we should start heading east if we want to catch those kids." I said.

The two nodded and followed me as I walked ahead of them.

3RD POV

As they walked down a dirt road, they spotted what they thought was their destination, up ahead.

"Lets hurry and find them so that we could go to the king already." Alice mumbled.

But as they advanced, they spotted an old man on the side of the road, gathering apples into his basket.

The three concluded that the man must've fallen and scattered his freshly picked apples across the ground.

Alice couldn't help it.

She said, "Wait a moment." and walked towards the old man, helping him pick up the apples, dusting them before putting them back in the basket. The old man glanced at the Uchiha and smiled then proceeded to gather his apples.

Soon, Neji and Liz helped too, awed by the Uchiha's kindness.

When they were finished they all stood up and dusted the dirt of their clothes.

Alice put the last apple in the basket and handed it to the old man, "Here you go!" She flashed him a kind, polite smile

"Oh, thank you, young lady." He looked behind her and at the Hyuga and Liz, "Thank you to the both of you too."

He bowed, "Thank you to all of you for helping a weak man like me."

"It was no trouble, Sir. But you better be on your way, it doesn't seem very safe here. Especially if you're on your own." Alice warned the old man.

He let out a throaty chuckle and thanked her once again. He bowed once more and went on his merry way.

"That was really nice of you, Alice-san!" Liz complimented.

Alice ruffled the young girls hair, "When you grow up you should remain nice to strangers, unless they're bad." She smiled at her.

'You really never change, Alice.' Neji thought, shaking his head with a smile.

"Well then, shall we go on?" Neji asked, gesturing towards the dirt road. The two girls nodded and they walked once more.

The trio eventually came upon a forest with an eerie mist surrounding it.

"Could the princes really be in here?" Liz asked the two shinobis for the third time.

"Yes." came their simultaneous reply, followed by Alice's exasperated sigh.

"Alright, let's go in." Neji said, his voice coated with authority.

The Uchiha rolled her eyes at the Hyuga and journeyed forward first.

The Hyuga looked at the little girl, urging her to go next. Liz gave a hesitant nod and followed.

The forest had a mysteriously eerie vibe to it and Liz couldn't help but shudder. The trees looked dead, deprived of water, and looked as if they were...staring at them. The sound of crows echoed throughout the dark forest.

The sound of dead leaves and twigs crunching with their every step could be heard, mixing with the sound of the birds and the eerie howls of the cold wind.

Liz unconsciously grabbed onto Alice's shirt. Alice glanced down at the scared individual and couldn't help but imagine the possibility of her little brother acting like this.

Alice took Liz's hand of her shirt and held it with her hand instead, smiling at the little girl.

"No need to be scared."

Liz hesitantly nodded and stuck closer to the older woman.

Neji couldn't help but smile at the two girls as they walked before him

Soon, a paranoid feeling overcame the two ninjas. Their eyes darted from side to side, searching the forest for any signs of danger.

"PRINCE KOU! PRINCE KATSU!" Liz called out the names of the twins, hoping for an answer.

"PRINCE! WHERE ARE YOU??"

An eerie laugh echoed throughout the dark forest.

"Kukuku. Well, well, well. It seems we have guests, brother."

"Kekeke. Seems so."

Weird laughs.

"Alice." Neji whispered. "What?"

"There's someone above us."

Alice's onyx eyes wandered above them. On a tree branch stood one of the princes.

"PRINCE KATSU!" Liz immediately called out the prince's name.

Katsu glared at Liz, "I always hated how you were able to tell the difference between us two, Liz."