She looked around slowly, trying to make sure that no one was watching her. She knew Sasuke would want to go with her if she were to go anywhere. Sometimes she just needed a little time alone. She wasn't sure what was actually going on anymore and she just wanted tome to think sometimes. She slipped into the barracks where she knew a certain injured woman was. She made her way into the woman's room and blinked in confusion when she saw a familiar face in there, sitting on her bed. "Your grace." She greeted softly with a bow and he shook his head at her. "No need for formalities." He said and she offered a small smile. "How is she doing today?" she asked and he gently brushed the hair out of the unconscious woman's eyes.

"She's better." He said and she nodded. "May I ask a question?" she asked and a small smirk crossed his lips, but then it fell as soon as he saw the woman in the bed move. He made a move to stand, as if he didn't want to be caught there by her, but her mechanical arm fisted itself in his cloak. His eyes softened at this. "If you can manage to get her hand off, we can talk... but not in here. I don't want to wake her." He said and Hinata giggled lightly. She very carefully pried the mechanical fingers from his cloak, freeing the taller man. She vaguely wondered why he wouldn't touch the mechanical arm himself, but then the look of saddened disgust said it all.

He hadn't wanted this for her. He hadn't wanted for her to destroy herself and endanger her own life this way. He followed her out of the barracks, only for her to meet eyes with a certain other dark haired man. "Hinata." Sasuke greeted, but then his eyes flickered to Uldren. He opened his mouth, most likely to make some snide comment towards the prince, but Hinata frowned at him and he stopped. "Uchiha." The prince greeted with a genuine tone. "You better watch after her." That was a threat. Uldren furrowed his brow, he wasn't sure who the other dark haired man was referring to. "Sasuke?" Hinata questioned and the Uchiha gave her a small smile. "Not you, Hinata. He knows who I am talking about." He said and Hinata nodded, understanding as well.

A soft smile crossed the normally unamused lips of the Prince. "Ah but of course. That woman cant escape now." He chuckled and Hinata offered a smile. "I was close friends with her twin sister." Uldren said and Hinata watched him closely. The sadness in his eyes was genuine. "Can you tell me about her sister?" she asked and he nodded as they made their way to the steps to sit. "You remind me of her, personality wise. But she looked exactly like Ashura, minus the eyes. That bright pink hair? Her and Petra made a bet, and she lost so she had to dye her hair. It was amusing really and Kira should have known she was going to lose." He sighed and Hinata looked at him.

"Why did she volunteer to go into the vault even though she knew she wouldn't be able to return?" Sasuke asked and Uldren fisted one hand in the palm of the other. "She was stubborn. She was reckless... and she wanted to save her sister. Atheon was in Ashura's head and she wanted nothing more than to save her... I felt like I lost a very close friend when she died. Before I even knew, I knew... if that makes any sense." He muttered and Hinata nodded and offered him a hand, but he quirked a brow and shook his head. "I do not want to risk an argument, princess." He said and she furrowed her brows, but a smirk rested on Sasuke's lips.

"I remember the last time I placed a hand on you." He said and smirked back at the Uchiha. Oh yes... this would be amusing. Sass versus angst, who would win. She watched as Uldren's entire demeanor changed. His eyes seemed distant, as if he were focusing on something. He eventually sighed and stood. "As... pleasant as this has been I must take my leave. My twin beckons me home." He said and the two nodded in understanding. As Uldren walked away, Hinata watched him. She was confused by him. "Oh... I didn't get to ask you my question!" she called out after him and he turned to partially look at her. "She taught me." He said and continued walking.

Hinata blinked in confusion, how had he known the answer to her question when she had never asked him? Sasuke looked just as confused as she was. "What were you going to ask him?" Sasuke asked and Hinata smiled softly. "I was going to ask him how he knew how to save her..." she said and Sasuke chuckled lowly. "You will do anything to protect or save someone close to you, I guess even that guy sees that as well." He said and she nodded. "I suppose." She said and he tapped her on the shoulder. "Where did you plan on going?" he asked and she blushed lightly. "I planned on going on patrols on the moon with a few other guardians." She said and he nodded.

"Alright. Just be safe and keep contact." He said and she nodded at him, a bright smile on her lips. "I will I promise, you don't have to worry." She assured him and he nodded. "I don't mean to be overbearing... but after seeing both Floyd and Kira... I cant lose you too." He said and she smiled at him once more as she hugged him lightly. "I promise I will come back." She said and he nodded as she stood and ran towards the docking bay. He sighed and shook his head. A female exo met her before she got to the doorway and he could tell that she was a hunter as well. The Exo reminded him of the stranger who Hinata had seen and pointed out more often than not.

He sighed and made his way back to where Naruto and Shikamaru were sitting in the bar. He made his way down the steps and spotted Sakura and Ino down there as well. They waved hm over with smiles. He slipped into the seat near Naruto and Sakura and watched as Gaara was fiddling with the bartender bot's computers. Sasuke looked back over at the friends sitting at the table they had been there a few hours before Cayde-6 and Ikora walked in with the Exo woman that Sasuke had seen with Hinata earlier. His brows furrowed the moment that they had all come into the room, Hinata was not trailing behind them either.

"Where is she?"

Cayde-6 held his hands up and tried to reason with him, but the dark haired male was going to have none of it. "Sasuke let them speak." Naruto commanded, and the darker haired man was going to respond but the sharp look in Naruto's gaze culled any words he could form. "Hey, I don't want any trouble but we have a situation." Cayde-6 said and they listened to him carefully. Sasuke could barely contain his rage when the words escaped his mouth. "You." Sasuke began and the female exo stepped out from behind Cayde-6 and Ikora. "Yeah, I went with her, but I tried to keep a good eye on her. Cant say that's easy to do seeing even without the warlock jump she hops away faster than we can keep up." The exo grunted and he glared at her.

"Look man, you don't scare me. She took off, straight down into the crota territory, what was I supposed to do? Pull an Eriana?" she asked with an unamused tone and he stood. "No, you did what you were supposed to." Gaara's ghost said and the exo woman nodded. "Who are you?" Naruto asked and the exo's blue eyes lit up. "Misra Belle, at your service." She said and her ghost hovered around her in excitement. "And Elkin!" he chirped and Naruto smiled and nodded.

"I'm a friend of Ashura's." she added and the group nodded. "Although a relatively new one." She sighed and her ghost sighed as well. "She is still getting used to us. She doesn't like it when we touch her arms." Misra said and Ikora looked at her oddly. "Ok, so.... How did you lose her?" Sasuke demanded and she looked back to him. "As I said she took off. She was chasing one of those blades. It's like she has some sort of odd infatuation with them." Misra said and Sasuke sighed. "Who was with you when she vanished?" he asked and she pointed to the titan woman hanging around in the back of the group.

"Nina." Misra said and the woman nodded at him in silence. "Nina caught up with her before I could." Misra said and the other woman came forwards to speak to the group. "As fellow disciples of Eris morn, we have been scouring the moon's surface and even dwelling within. But what Hinata found was terrifying. She went in and when we tried to follow a wizard cut off our path. It was one like we had never seen before. Most of the ones we have seen have been female. This one was a massive male. The only words he had to give us were not to disturb his brother, then he vanished and took Hinata with him." Nina said and Sasuke fisted his hands and ran out of the room.

Naruto thanked them for the information then rushed to follow Sasuke out of the room. Cayde-6 sprinted to follow the moment Holliday said he was trying to take his ship even though Zavala had made it clear that no one was to leave while Hinata was missing. Cayde-6 pulled his Ace of Spades on Sasuke and the Uchiha put his hands in the air. "Look here, I don't want to pull this trigger, but I need you to calm down." Cayde-6 warned and Sasuke nodded. "Now, talk to your teammate or else Ace here will blast you into next year." He threatened and Sasuke nodded.

Naruto approached his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sasuke... how exactly do you feel about Hinata?" he asked and Sasuke furrowed his brows. "I don't understand." "You treat her like glass. When she is hurt, you are so gentle with her and you don't seem to even realize it. Hell from what I heard you pulled your blade on the Prince of the reef. You do realize he is extremely powerful right? On par with us?" Naruto asked and Sasuke shrugged. "I did, but he came up on her too swiftly for my tastes. And she was always gentle with me. Naruto... I owe her. I let her die before, I refuse to let it happen again." Sasuke said and Naruto smiled at his friend.

"Sasuke... do you love her?" he asked and Sasuke stared at his friend in shock. "What?" "You heard me. If you do, show her. I still love her, but I love Sakura too. Our love is different now. We each had a chance to be with the ones we loved in our past life, but now... everything is different. We know more, we are stronger... and we have another chance. You have another chance. We need each other, we need everyone as a group. However, some of us function so much better now than we ever have before." Naruto said and Sasuke held up a hand to stop Naruto.

"I really don't understand..." "Then listen. You want nothing more than to protect her and save her from Crota, right?" he asked and Sasuke nodded. "Ok, then we will. But I want you to figure out your feelings towards her because I think she likes you, Sasuke. And I swear on my many many lives... you better not hurt her if she does." Naruto warned and Sasuke quirked a brow at his friend. "I could say the same for you." He said and Naruto grinned. "Well, how about this... how about we go save her?" Naruto asked and Sasuke nodded.

:-:-:-:

After of days of reasoning with Zavala and the other vanguard members, they set out. The moon was much different this time. Naruto was so confused by this, but he didn't question it. He could slam his fists on the ground and create such a backlash wave of electricity it disintegrated any life form caught in it... so he was definitely not going to question it. Sasuke looked around as they approached the odd partial bridge structure that lay in the center of the massive crater of the moon. It seemed there was a rift that led to the bottom of the pit at the end of the bridge. They walked over and stood on a spherical structure with an odd engraving on it.

As soon as their feet touched the engravings it began to glow brightly. They followed the path of light with their eyes and watched as the bridge reformed itself. "Uh... yeah... so shiny light bridge of doom... are you gonna cross it?" Misra asked and they turned to face her once more. "Yes. And you are coming with us." Sasuke said and she cocked her head at him as to ask him who he thought he was talking to. "I said I was a friend of Ashura's, not yours. I'm not going into a death trap." She said matter-of-factly, only to realize Sasuke had grabbed her and shoved her off the end of the bridge she had been looking off of.

"You're a dick!!!" she screamed as she fell. A smirk crossed his lips as Gaara sighed and hopped off the edge and hovered down slowly. Sasuke jumped and looked up to see that Naruto had shoved Shikamaru off, only to then jump down himself. Sakura was the last to make her way down. They landed on a similar engraved circle at the bottom only for it to light up the same way. Sasuke looked around and counted up their team. Naruto, Sakura, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Misra. They were all there.

"Comms are a go, correct?" Ino's voice echoed in their minds and they all nodded. "Comms are a go, Ino." Sakura confirmed, and the woman breathed a sigh of relief. "Ok, so it would be amazing if Hinata were here because she could guide us... where do we go?" Naruto asked and Sasuke's eyes began to spin and he looked around. "Up there. There are lanterns everywhere and there's a massive light source, so I think we should head that way." He said and they all nodded, except Misra who took off towards the first lantern. "Ok stick together, the darkness is heavy on us through here." She said as she approached the first lantern. Misra stayed towards the back of the group when the group activated the lantern.

They moved as one solid team through the lanterns, Misra taking out the thrall to keep the group moving at a steady pace. "Pit." Ino called out in their minds and they all hopped over it, except for Misra, who flipped over it backwards at the last second, sending a herd of thrall falling to their deaths in the pit. Ino continued to announce the pits, as well as where she could see the next unlit lantern ahead. It was amazing really, watching the group move as one solid being without uttering so much as a word between each other, minus Ino of course. The blonde was the only one who spoke though.

Misra watched the group as they reached yet another engraved circle. Yet again it lit up beneath their feet, revealing a pathway where a bridge is starting to form. "Enemies coming from all sides guys, get ready." Ino announced and they all formed a circle with their backs to each other. It was yet again a fluid movement, Misra was amazed, in all honestly. Gaara flung a grenade at the enemy and it detonated, taking a large group of thrall with it. However the light illuminated a large knight that rushed at them. Without breaking rank Sakura threw a thrall at the knight to catch its attention. It rushed for her and she knocked its head off with a lone solid punch.

Misra was not going to bother that woman, lest she end up like that knight. A purple beam of energy came at them and they ducked, only to see an ogre making its way to them. Misra looked over to see Shikamaru crouch with his hands in an odd sign. The ogre stopped its movement and a purple glow emanated from around Sasuke, where the skeletal creature formed around him, bow in hand. Three massive arrows and the ogre burned into nothingness. They repeated this with the other ogre as well. "Bridge is formed." Ino said and the group broke rank and took off over the bridge, seeing as the thrall seemed to not want to stop coming. Once they were over the bridge, it vanished behind them which dropped thrall and knights down into the abyss below.

They made their way into a room where there was a doorway on the opposite side, but there was no bridge to get to it. Misra scouted the room out and she felt Ino enter her mind. "That's just awkward." Misra sighed and Ino laughed within her head. "Alright, who here are pretty good with sniper rifles?" Ino asked and Misra waved her hand in the air. "Meee!" she chirped joyously. "Alright, there's a tower over there that you should be able to get to easily." Ino said and Misra made her way over to the platform Ino had directed her to. "Gaara, there's another area on the other side over there, but it is a little harder to get to. Is that alright with you?" Ino asked and he nodded. "Of course. I can get there, show me which ledge and I'll get up there." Gaara said and made his way over to the other sniping point in the room.

Once the two snipers were in place, everyone else made their way down. Thrall came from everywhere, but they were shot down from both sides before they could come in contact with anyone. This is what happened with any enemy that showed its face. Shikamaru glanced around and saw three of the same engraved circles. However the ones on the sides had different symbols. Shikamaru worked it through his mind and motioned for Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto. "I will stand on this one, something tells me that this one is going to be first." He said and they nodded.

"Then I will get the right side." Naruto said and Sakura nodded as she made her way to the left. The moment Shikamaru stepped on the center plate, the totems on the left and right plates began to glow with a menacing aura, which only seemed to be satiated when Naruto and Sakura stepped on them. They heard rapid gunshots and Sasuke turned to see a blade come down at him at the last second. Sasuke smirked and dodged yet another clumsy strike of the large knight's blade. Sasuke snatched the blade from it and impaled it on its own blade.

The blade began to glow in his hands and Shikamaru motioned for him to run across the bridge. "There is another one of these plates over there, if you can clear the way and hold it down on the plate we can make it over." He said as Sasuke ran. Before that knight could get back up, Misra took it out, but that caused the bridge to vanish from beneath Sasuke's feet. A large knight appeared on the other side and Sasuke used it to teleport to the other side. He turned to see that the knight was now on the other side with Shikamaru and the others. They were shooting at it and even using jutsu on it, but it didn't seem to be even remotely bothered. "Damnit Sasuke! What did you send over here with us because we can't even hurt it!" Sakura yelled in anger and Sasuke furrowed his brows.

"I thought it was a normal knight." He defended himself and they continued to try and fight it, but it wasn't working. "Shove it off the edge." Misra offered and her ghost, Elkin, chuckled in good humor. "It's going down, I'm yelling timber..." he chuckled softly and they all sighed. These two were... odd. Sakura and Naruto turned to each other and nodded. You couldn't see it, but underneath those helmets were smug grins. They rushed at the knight together and while Naruto shoulder charged it, Sakura reared back and punched it with all her might. The knight tripped over a shadow that Shikamaru had summoned and wet toppling over the edge.

They looked up to see the blade vanish from Sasuke's hands. "Are you kidding me?" Sakura screeched and Sasuke shrugged. "That blade was what could kill him?!" she seethed and he quirked a brow beneath his helmet as they made their way up the bridge that had formed. "Well, toppling him over the edge seemed to work well enough." He commented and Misra chuckled from her place at the back of the group. They approached the door and saw the door before them start to open. The moment it did though, thrall screeched from everywhere and began to appear all over. "Go!" Sasuke yelled and they all focused on making their way through the hallway, which was long and twisting... and filled with shreikers and thrall.

Sasuke made it to the end first and he jumped down into the hole in the floor, where one at a time everyone followed him down. Misra was the last one to follow down because she was still shooting. The flame from her golden gun wore off and she hopped down into the hole. "Come on." Sasuke demanded and she sighed but followed behind. They walked into this large room with pathways scattered about and they realized... this was the end of the road. This is where Hinata should be.

A crystal atop a back platform held the gentle woman within, but from first glance it seemed to be simple to get to her, however... after a longer look it didn't appear like it was going to be so easy. There was a large glowing orb hanging over the back platform and it screamed trouble. "Guys, there are wizards up in the rooms nearby, something tells me they've gotta go." Ino said and the group split into two groups of three. Sasuke's group took the right side, with Sakura and Shikamaru, while Naruto's took the left with Gaara and Misra. The wizards were swiftly downed and they met back up in the middle. Misra took aim and took out the two shriekers, seeing as she didn't want them becoming a problem later.

They were all caught off guard when enemies flooded in from everywhere and the shield protecting the deathsinger, as Elkin had called her. The wizard stayed huddled in her room, but the lightheaded feeling they were getting due to her singing, was getting worse. They made their way to her, she was the main threat either way. They got in the room with her and Sasuke immediately jumped in to lay waste to her. Sakura aimed a well timed punch at the back of her head while Sasuke pulled his hunter knife and focused the arc energy on her. It wasn't hard to take her down either, what was difficult though, was trying to keep standing as the whole room began to quake.

They looked around and saw a barrier form on each side of the room, blocking entry to both sides of the room. The group sighed and looked around. "You know... I am getting sick and tired of all these damn hive." Misra snarled and her ghost chuckled to himself. He had a joke and Misra knew it, but before he could say anything, Shikamaru stepped on yet another engraved circle. It lit up and he sighed once more. "I am so... so very tired of being in this damn place." He grumbled and the group nodded.

"The Hive to guardian ratio is too damn high." Elkin chimed in and Misra rolled her mechanical eyes at him. "Ok memelord, let's get this over with." She sighed and touched her hand against the crystal. They all did the same and the barriers began to glow brightly. After a few seconds, they fell and thrall, acolytes, and knights rushed in. Sakura rushed forward and slammed her fist into the first knight, sending him sprawling backwards. Naruto dropped onto the thrall with a fist of havoc, taking them out relatively swiftly. Once the enemies were cleared out, they walked around to investigate the room around them. They saw movement in the towers, but Misra and Gaara had the towers covered once they set up spots to snipe on each side of the room.

Sasuke's eyes landed on the large ethereal glowing figure that appeared on the back center platform where Hinata was. "You must be Crota." Sakura said as she looked over him. "I don't see why people call Ashura Crota..." she began, but he slammed his blade against the ground and roared at them. "Ah, there we go. That's why." She chuckled to herself and from her sniping post, Sakura heard Misra and her ghost lose it. "He has a shield, so we have to wear it down." Ino said, but soon after her screams were heard as she was forced from their minds.

"You must realize... you've come here to die."

The voice echoed within their minds and Sasuke smirked. "Ah, so it speaks." He said and Misra stood from her place and stared Crota in the face as she spoke. "Ok, so... there's a few things you have to learn about us guardians." She began and he looked over at her. "We don't lose. There's no possible way you are getting out of here." She said and the group nodded. They all took their places and prepared. Everything had come so easy, but this... they knew this was going to be hard.

Sasuke dropped down below once he saw the sword knight appear from a doorway. He weakened it greatly, but remembering what happened last time he held off on killing it. "Go!" Sakura yelled and Crota collapsed from the damage they had done to him. Sasuke killed the knight, took its sword and coated himself in his dark energy of the Susanoo. He managed to get six swift but strong swipes on Crota, but the sword vanished in his hands. He held out his hands and a blade formed in the hands of his Susanoo. When Crota swung down at him, he countered the hit with his own blade. It was a battle of wills on the top platform while the rest of the group was taking out enemies that had begun to surround them.

"Second sword is available Sasuke!" Sakura called and Sasuke jumped back to make his way to the sword, but a swift swipe of Crota's blade caught him and he cried out in pain as it sliced across his chest. Sakura and Shikamaru grabbed Sasuke and the sword. Shikamaru used his shadows to try and subdue Crota, but he knew he couldn't hold him long. They got Sasuke away from him and Sakura took to trying to heal Sasuke but the moment her green energy flowed from her hands it turned black and faded away from her hands like smoke floating into the air. "I cant heal him..." she said and his ghost turned to her with a serious look in his eye.

"Neither can I."

Sasuke drug himself to prop up against the wall with a pained grunt. "Please... save her." He begged and Naruto nodded as he made his way out of the room. That familiar yellow glow coated him and he made his way back out onto a platform across from Crota. A hand full of clones formed and started taking out enemies, two of them went to take out the ogres that had spawned as well. Naruto lunged and took out the new sword knight that had come into the room.

"Your reign of fear ends here, Crota." Naruto said as he sliced directly through the shield, much to the surprise of the being before him. Naruto swung the sword and Crota attempted to parry the hits, but only managed to deflect a few. Right before the last one connected with him, Crota spoke. Not in their minds... but actually out loud. "I may fall... but I can always be revived. And if you can manage to take me down after I am revived... then there are others stronger than I that will wipe your existence from the universe." He growled out, but Naruto only smirked at him. "If they hurt my friends... they too will fall." As soon as the blade made contact and sliced through him, his body began to glow only to crumble away to nothing.

Naruto looked up to see the massive green sky orb vanish with Crota's remains. He turned to the crystal Hinata was trapped in and he placed a hand on it, only for it to dissolve and she fall from it. He picked her up bridal style and saw that her ghost followed behind expectantly. She was breathing, but softly so. He set her down with Sasuke, who clutched her to himself tightly. "Hinata..." he whispered as he tried to urge her awake. Those soft owl-like eyes opened up and focused on him.

"Sasuke?" she asked softly and he nodded. She smiled as she looked around and met eyes with everyone, only to blush deeply when she realized what had happened. "Is he gone?" she asked and Naruto nodded. "Yo." Misra greeted and Hinata smiled at her Exo friend. "Hi. Is Nina ok?" she asked and Misra nodded. "She's mad at you though. Stop running away." Misra scolded and Hinata laughed lightly as Sasuke helped her up. "Nina will be ok, she's just angry that I pointed it out that she has a crush on Zavala." Hinata giggled and Misra snorted as she walked next to the woman.

"So uh... don't wanna be a buzz kill, but how do we get out of here?"

:-:-:-:

When they arrived at the tower, they were met with cheers of excitement from all around. They all looked around to see the entire front plaza filled with people cheering for them. They couldn't help but feel excited. "Zavala, Ikora and I are very proud of you!" Cayde-6 yelled as he hugged each of the hunters in the group. "You have saved us from a vast threat. If he would have been allowed to get out of there... the devastation would have been impossible to come back from." Zavala said and they all bowed lightly to the awoken man. "We have decided, that upon your completion of this task, which not even Eris and her strongest team could accomplish... we have decided to bestow upon you an elite ranking among guardians." Ikora said and they watched as people celebrated all around.

"We have added new rankings to the roster, and we bestow upon you the ranking of forty, the highest ranking achieved right under vanguard status." Zavala said and the guardians all cheered louder for them. A familiar face met Hinata's gaze and she took off running towards them. Ashura blinked at her and turned to walk away, but Hinata grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the group. Some people stopped cheering, but Hinata pulled Ashura closer into the group.

"She is one of us as well." Hinata said and Ashura shook her head and backed away. "Please... don't sully your names." She said and Misra grabbed Ashura by the wrist and a static shock went through the two of them and they looked each other in the eyes. "What the hell..." Ashura muttered as Elkin the ghost looked her over. "Yup, you're one of us." He said and she frowned and rubbed her arm gently. The guardians all around erupted in cheers once more and Ashura's eyes lit up as she looked around.

"These guardians have traversed both the Vault of glass and the pit of Crota. They have banished both Crota and Atheon!" Zavala yelled and the cheers got even louder. After about an hour, the festivities began to dwindle down, but the group was still in the bar, celebrating as a massive team. A familiar face entered the bar and Ashura jumped to her feet, her brother right beside her. "Petra Venj." Ashura whispered the woman's name, as if in shock.

"Oh... hello. Good to see you are still making it. You gave Uldren quite the scare when you basically died at his feet." The woman said with a slight smirk. She could feel their gazes burning into her back, she barely turned around and looked at Loki and Lion but she got the full unamused glance of her brother, and the fully amused one of his friend. "Ashura..." Loki warned and she smiled at him softly. "How long had you been going to see him behind our backs?" he asked and she blushed and folded her hands together. "A year..." she whispered and her brother stared at her with wide eyes and an agape jaw.

"Who else do you think taught me to speak eliksni?" she asked with a smirk and Petra laughed in full blown amusement. "He lured you in with that seductive talk didn't he?" she asked and Ashura blushed. "Don't worry, he can make any language sound attractive, not that he tries though." Petra said and Ashura thought it over for a second then smiled. "That I don't doubt. Now... what are you here for? You cant possibly be here for a visit, you never just visit." She said and Petra smiled. "I am here to retrieve the coin Uldren gave you." She said and Ashura pulled out the coin that had the wolves' bane symbol on it. A sad smile crossed her lips as she handed it over begrudgingly.

"It was the first thing he ever gave me..." she sighed and Petra smiled softly. "I know. He wanted me to give you this though." She said and she pulled a foot long hunter's knife from the strap on her hip. Ashura stared at the blade in awe. The blade shimmered in a golden tint, while the handle was bound with ebony cloth that had both the wolves' bane symbol and the symbol of the crows on each side of the blade. The purple and gold seal of the wolves' bane was on the left side, while the crow seal was on the right.

"Oh... and Ashura..." Petra called, snapping the woman out of her daze. "The Queen misses you." She said and Hinata smiled at Ashura, who looked to be in utter bliss. "Hey Ashura... you think you want to hang around with us more often?" Sakura asked and the white haired woman nodded. "Of course... I've never had a family this large. It's nice." She whispered and Sasuke offered her a seat beside him and Hinata. Hinata looked around at everyone that was crammed into the small bar. Ashura was showing off her new gift, while Misra, Loki, Lion, and Naruto were staring at it like it was the coolest blade they'd ever seen. She couldn't help but smile at the group around her.

Hinata understood fully what Ashura had meant. As much as she missed her old family, she loved the new one she had made as well. She glanced at Sasuke who was watching her with a subtle joy in his one visible eye. He reached and his hand linked with hers, causing her to smile as well. Everything seemed to be going ok. Everything was going to be better while they were here. Wrong.... It hadn't taken very long for things to start going downhill once more.

The woman... Petra... she had returned... but her smile was gone. In its place though... was anger. Undeniable rage.

"Miss Hinata. My Queen bequests of you... and your group. Of all guardians. Please... help us." Petra pleaded, but she wasn't through. "We need the Wolves' bane... and we need the Lucky Seven. We have been betrayed and the Prince is injured."

"Let me gather the group." Hinata said and Petra nodded. "Please... inform everyone... the reef is open to all guardians..."

Ok! See I promised you all an update and here it is!! I'm really hoping I can get a few more out in the next few days while my Phlebotomy class is on our week long summer break. Here's to luck and good vibes my dears!