Alchemy

6,1) OBTRUSIVE GUILT

[Heres this months chapter enjoy!]

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Neji:

It had been three weeks since Hinata had disappeared. It had been one and a half weeks since I had started to search for her with Tenchi.
3 weeks... 21 days... 504 hours... 30 240 minutes....

I knew not worry. I knew not panic. I know I should believe in her strength. But it had been 21 days since she disappeared and there hasn't been a single sighting.
Some atavistic part of me couldn't help but worry.

Was she safe? Was she being held captive? Was she afraid? Most importantly, was she alive?
Since I had left the camp I had become hyper-focussed on the task at hand. A flagrant disregard for myself and my health had been awoken within me.

I stopped to rest not because I was tired but because the horses couldn't continue. I didn't stop to sleep because my body needed the rest but because Tenchi almost rode into a tree due to exertion. I didn't stop at nearby towns for food because I was hungry... I stopped because Tenchi was.

I was glad for his presence then. Caring for his wellbeing and catering for his needs forced me to pay attention to my own. His clamorous nature helped to counteract my indubitable lack of care for myself.

Somehow despite the millions of dead ends, cold leads and false information we came across, he remained calm. It was that calm and reassuring persona of his that helped the control the frustration that coiled itself around my mind like a snake.

It was Tenchi's introspective nature and pragmatic approach that lead us down all the right paths and brought us closer to finding her.
I hated to admit it but he had become a crutch. I knew it was weakness to depend on someone the way I did him. I knew I involving him the the Hyūga family's affairs were dangerous, both for him and us. But I knew the without Tenchi I would've collapsed in a forest from starvation and exhaustion.
.
.
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The sun had begun to rise marking the beginning of our third week of searching. My hands reached out soaking up the heat the fire emitted. After Tenchi was finished bathing in the stream just beyond the clearing we would head out again. This time all the way out to the border sweeping past the last few towns scattered around this area.

I wondered about Tenchi sometimes... We rarely talked about anything personal. Things were kept strictly professional between us.
I wondered why his eyes were filled with such contrite and fear whenever he awoke after stirring in his sleep.

I wondered why he never spoke of his family or ambitions like most men. The untameable, audacious and coltish personality I had seen at the camp had fizzled out into a furtive and amiable one.

He was hiding something.

Something that ate at his conscience now more than ever. I was determined to figure it out.

A rush of wind streamed through the clearing causing the fire to gutter slightly. The small cloth backpack Tenchi carried got knocked over from its place against a nearby tree, sending its contents splattering across the surrounding area. I haphazardly shoved the items back in its rightful place, but a framed photograph caught my eye...

I looked at it without thinking. There were two photographs shoved into the frame, the smaller one was carefully layered above the larger one as not to obscure either image.