Title: Part 3: Running
Fandom: au!Naruto, World War Z
Characters: Neji, Hanabi, Hiashi.
Word Count: 3,868. Holy shit, I doubled my word count.
Rating: PG13
Summary: Tenten, Lee, and Gai are looking for Neji during a zombie apocalypse.
Author's Notes: Yeah... this got quite long. XD Wasn't expecting it to be so lenthy. >.>; Not beta'd. Nods made to Max Brooks's World War Z. (Crossing fandoms ftw~) Comments are love. ♥

Part 1: Searching

Part 2: Resting




He frowned intently, pale gray eyes darting from side to side as he searched desperately for an escape. The enemy, however, had him well and truly pinned. Attack was pointless; take one down and another took its place. Defense was just as futile, and fleeing would only prolong the inevitable.

Neji scowled and knocked over his King with a careful swipe of his hand to as to not uspet the chess board. "You did well, Hanabi-chan. That was... rather devious of you."

His youngest sister beamed up at him, flushing in pleasure at both the victory and the compliment. And pleased she should be - this was her first win against him, ever since she had started badgering him to play chess against her three years ago. They also both knew he was not prone to giving careless compliments, either.

"I learned from watching you when you spar with Osa-niisan and Isa-niisan," she answered as she reset her side of the board.

Neji followed suit, one eyebrow lifting in surprise. "Really," he replied, inviting her to continue.

"Mm-hm," she nodded. "You set up an impressive defense, keeping your opponent at bay long enough for them to get impatient and make a mistake. And then you exploit it ruthlessly. Your flaw, however, is that in your exploitation you leave openings, but in combat you're fast enough to defend them if they're even noticed in the first place. So I started thinking about our games, and then began looking for the same openings. They're there, but they're hard to notice unless you know where to look. Or, in my case, I help create them." Eyes a match to his own sparkled in the daylight falling around them. "By appearing impatient, you went for my created weak spot -- and then I found and exploited yours."

You little brat, he thought fondly, giving her a look of amused annoyance. Hanabi wasn't the genius he was, but she had a sharp eye and could manipulate situations to her advantage. The main difference between them being what he could deduce almost instantly, she needed time to figure these things out. Intuitive leaps versus plotting through the steps. And her mind took different deviations as well, which managed to keep him on his toes and offer him little challenges like this. "I'll keep that in mind," he told her. "And so: you've won this game. Win two more, and we'll start playing shogi."

Oh, her eyes positively shone at that. Among the family, shogi was the grown-ups' game. Chess was for children, and in order to ascend to shogi, a Hyuuga child had to beat a shogi player at three chess games. The usual age that Hyuuga children began scoring wins was around 13 and 14. Hanabi was eight now, and way ahead of almost everyone else.

The exception, of course, was Neji. He had won his first chess game at five, and his third at age nine. The possibility existed that he could have won his games at faster rate, but Uncle Hiashi had been firm in making sure Neji's education was well-rounded.

Hanabi opened her mouth, probably to ask for another game, when the ring-a-ling of the triangle sang through the trees. "Lunchtime," Neji said. He scooped the pieces into the makeshift pouch of his shirt. She turned the board over so he could deposit the pieces inside the storage space. She folded the board in half, closing the lid, and got her folding chair as he picked up his chair and the folding table.

"Oniisan, Oneesan is supposed to be joining us this week, right?" she asked as they began walking back to the center of camp. Brightly colored tents in hues of green, blue, and white canvas could be seen ahead making a loose ring around a pretty large clearing. Other members of the family also headed to where the smells of good food emanated.

"That's right. Kiba is supposed to give us a ring on the sat phone when he and his sister are getting close, so that I can take the ATV to the ranger's cabin to pick her up."

"Can I come with you?"

"Sure," he answered. "I'm sure she would be happy to see you."

Hanabi stashed the chess game in the three-man tent they shared, and they set up the chairs and table again before joining the food line. The spread was great. Even limited to campfires and the makeshift stoves and grills the fires heated, nevermind the camping rations they brought with them, the family managed to create something delicious. As he waited in line for his turn in line, he scanned the choices and frowned faintly (and only faintly, because the last thing he wanted was Hotaru to get pissed at any negativity towards the food). This made the third day of no fresh meat, which was odd, because the ones who went hunting were quite good at what they did. In fact, Isamu and Osamu had only gone out early this morning. They of all people should have found something.

Neji glanced around. Now that he thought about it, the duo were conspicuously absent. Usually they made it a point of harassing him at some point each day, but he hadn't seen them since last night.

A breeze blew some hair in his face, and he flicked it back. He got his food and went back to the table and chairs, angling himself so he could watch everyone else. Chatter was subdued; only the really young ones were running about and squealing as the nearest family corraled them so they could get their food as well. But it was something more than the usual quiet the family induldged in.

All of them had heard the news about the "African rabies" and the vaccine Phalanx that no one in the family trusted. Uncle Hiashi, the family patriarch, had noticed the unrest in the family and therefore stepped up the timing of the yearly family vacation so that everyone could get the yearned-for retreat from the modern world.

The retreat had had the desired effect. No one could forget the news reports completely, thus the oppressive mood, but topics ranged from cooking techniques among Hotaru and her friends, to work-related gossip involving non-family who worked for the family owned-and-ran Freebird Industries, to a comparison of Eastern and Western kenjutsu headed by Joumaru who had gotten very interested in the local Rennaissance faire and had convinced the faire directors/producers to allow a (small) exhibit and act featuring medieval Japan for this year's coming faire. (Neji foresaw an eventual East vs. West living chessboard match.)

Hanabi joined him at the small table, and he gave her a nod to indicate he acknowledged her presence but wasn't feeling like conversation. The lack of the prankster twins seemed to cast a pall over everything and made him itchy.

Across the clearing, Neji spotted Uncle Hiashi sitting in a folding chair of his own, his expression unreadable as he held the sat phone to his ear. Their gazes met briefly before Uncle Hiashi looked at something else and saying something into the phone.

To guess from the sheer intensity of that brief look, the person on the phone was not Hana Inuzuka.

Without a word, Neji set his plate and cultery aside and strode over to find out what was wrong. He slowed as he got closer, then bowed politely and waited to be acknowledged.

"Thank you," Uncle Hiashi said neutrally into the phone before thumbing it off.

"Uncle?"

Uncle Hiashi glanced at him and put the phone back in the holster at his waist. "Isamu's taken ill. Osamu's taking him home."

That was bad. Neji knew them to be a hardy pair, and stubborn to boot. If Isamu was that sick, it had to be major. "Contageous?" he asked carefully.

"Unknown, as yet. I told him to have Yumi call us after she's given a diagnosis."

Neji nodded. In the face of an unknown pathogen, with all the rumors of the new rabies strain, it would be better to get a confirmation on what it was. Yumi was a resident who was also on-call this month at the hospital, else she would be here. She would be able to if not figure it out, then make a damn close guess.

He hesitated, then nodded and bowed again when Uncle Hiashi showed no inclination to say anything further. Hanabi looked at Neji earnestly when he returned, but she didn't ask, either. Some things, such as when to speak up and when to keep silent, were just innately understood.

~~

Neji rolled his shoulder and wished he had a good mirror to inspect the bruise he knew to have. He had worked on kenjutsu technique today with Joumaru, and the older man's swings hurt, even in practice. Neji decided he needed to finagle a way to have Lee and Joumaru go at it. Both made spars painful, and it was time Lee learned to use a blade other than his favored gladii. That, and it could prove interesting to watch.

Maybe he'd have Hanabi sit with him and watch, too.

The air was cooling as the sun set and he was sweaty, so he stripped his shirt off and ran his hands through his long, thick hair, only to glare at the grime on his fingers. Really, did his bald cousin need to keep introducing him to the dirt again and again? Muttering darkly, he grabbed his shower bag and went looking for the shower tree. He set his bag on the shelf hewn from the living tree and checked the level on the water tank, only to sigh in annoyance. Last one to use it hadn't refilled it, and there was barely any water in it. Lovely.

He grabbed his flashlight and the refill bucket and started for the stream. Behind him, the camp's lamps and fire offered some light, and the path to the river nearby was well-worn from the number of people tromping to and fro, but it would be stupid if he tripped on an errant root and hurt himself. Tenten would never let him hear the end of it.

He thought about his friends and wondered how their summers were going as he walked down the path. Towards the end of the school year, as the news of African rabies continued to spread, Lee was... Neji wouldn't exactly call him nervous, but concerned. Tenten had picked up on Lee's concern, and kept attempting to steer the conversation to more light things, but Lee wouldn't let them get off-track for long. Not even bringing up the pink-haired girl in the year below them, the one Lee was sweet on, could deter him. His father, Lee had said, was probably not going to let him come back to school next year, if the rabies rumors kept progressing as they were. And seeing as Tenten had painted Gai Maito as a rather extreme survivalist mistrustful of society at large who had only just consented for Lee to get a regular education, for Neji had never met the man himself, the possibility that Lee wouldn't come back to school was very real.

Real enough that it had angered Neji to the point that he convinced Lee to invite he and Tenten over to Lee's place for an end-of-school sleepover. They wouldn't see each other for most of the summer, with Neji and Tenten each having family gatherings to attend. It had taken several tries to coax the invitations out of Lee. Meeting Gai had been an....amazingly interesting experience, but at least Neji now knew where to find the bowl-cut kid if he necessary.

Something Neji planned on doing once this camping excursion was over. Find Lee, and Tenten too, and see what they've heard or learned. And have a little chat with Gai if the man balked at letting Lee come back for senior year. Yeah, the guy was Lee's dad and therefore had legal say over his son, but Neji thought it foolish to let senseless paranoia dictate life-affecting decisions.

He put the bucket in the water. When it was filled, he lifted it out and started the journey back to the shower tree, walking carefully to keep the water from sloshing out. It slowed him considerably, and by the time he emptied it into the water tank the trees of the forest made it appear to be full-on night, for all the rapidly fading sunlight struggled to push through the foliage. The tent circle had a cheerful glow, one Neji gave a look of longing as he went for trip two. He could smell the s'mores even at this distance.

~~

He took his shower with only the flashlight and ambient light from the clearing providing illumination, and the tarp-and-pvc stall that afforded him limited privacy. When finished, he dressed quickly into the denim slacks and black tank that doubled as his pajamas. His hair he toweled dry as best he could before he tied it back in a ponytail. He gathered up his things and headed back to the light.

An odd, quiet, echoing moan raised the hairs on his nape. He turned, cautious, but saw nothing, and the sound didn't really seem to have a starting point. Shining his light out didn't reveal anything, and the sound faded to nothing. He narrowed his eyes, waiting. After a few moments of silence he chalked it up to the wind in the trees and continued on.

Hanabi was sitting near their tent, reading in the light of the lamp hanging on the free-standing stand outside the entrance. He bent to unzip the screened flap keeping the bugs out before he tossed his used clothes inside. "Hanabi-chan, did you hear anything just now?"

"Hm?" she answered, clearly distracted by the book.

Well, that answered his question. "Nevermind. Don't stay up too late, imouto."

~~

The moans woke him.

He blinked himself awake, brain sliding the details of everything in place. Hanabi, too, was struggling to wake, and he heard movement and voices outside.

"--who is that--"

"--looks injured--"

"--think they're sick?--"

He found his shoes and shoved them on before scrambling out of the tent. The sun was barely up, and the forest was still in gloom but he could see pretty well. Quite a few people were heading towards the direction of the river, some hanging back to keep the children out of the way and to make sure breakfast didn't burn.

The hairs on his neck were ramrod straight from the moaning. He hesitated, then snatched up the katana his father had left to him. Something about those moans made him distinctly uneasy, and not just because they were the same ones he had heard last night.

The gathered crowd blocked him from seeing anything, and he pushed his way up to the front to find himself standing next to Uncle Hiashi. Uncle Hiashi's loose hair rippled in the faint wind, and his gray eyes were glacial ice as he stared across the river. Neji looked as well.

On the other side of the river, a lone figure -- a man -- was limping rather methodically towards them, head lolling to the side and one arm upraised. The other was bent at such angle that it could only be broken. The moans emanated from his mouth, and Neji was surprised the man only moaning, and not screaming in agony, with how hideous his arm looked.

"Older Cousin," Hotaru spoke quietly from Neji's uncle's other side, "shouldn't we help him?" As she was normally quite stolid, Neji didn't like how she was toying nervously with one tail of her bathrobe's tie.

He glanced at the others gathered. Everyone looked nervous; either they fidgeted, or were unable to stay in one place. Some people, like Joumaru, also had weapons in hand. The presence of steel let Neji feel less like a paranoid fool.

"Older Cousin?" Hotaru pressed.

"No," Uncle Hiashi answered, his level tone a balm on jittery nerves.

Hotaru blinked in surprise. "But... he's hurt."

Uncle Hiashi repeated himself firmly: "No."

The injured man continued to moan and stagger forward. He looked sick, Neji thought. Maybe he was in shock? The man's skin was gray, face slack though mouth was opened wide, and his hair a horrid mess. His clothes didn't look too much better, torn and stained dark in places. Oddly, he didn't slow upon reaching the water but waded right in. He wobbled, the current affecting his balance, but plodded on. The water rose higher, and Neji felt sick as the broken arm was pulled obscenely by the water. The man gave no indication of even feeling it; he just continued to moan and move forward. Definitely shock, he thought. Amazing the man was still on his feet, really.

Mid-river, the current proved too much. The man went under, and only Uncle Hiashi's whipcrack-sharp "No!" stopped anyone from jumping in after the man.

Neji watched in morbid fascination as the man only seemed to struggle weakly as the current took him away. There was none of the splashing and flailing that another person in distress in the water would do. He looked to his uncle, whose expression had gone cold.

New, quieter moans had everyone snapping their heads back towards the river. The strengthening light showed them two more slowly shuffling figures that were too far away to make out clearly.

"Everyone," Uncle Hiashi began, projecting his voice for everyone to hear, "we're breaking camp. Now."

Now everyone was staring as if the Hyuuga patriarch was mad. Neji shook his head and snapped in the same authoritative tone, "You heard him! We're leaving, now!"

That got people moving, at least. In small groups they turned and trotted back to the camp, calling out Uncle Hiashi's orders to those that hadn't been down there.

"Uncle, what is it?" Neji asked. "What's wrong with them?"

"African rabies," Uncle Hiashi responded grimly.

He wasn't lying, Neji thought. He was very good at reading people, and he could usually tell when someone was pulling his leg.

"Go on. Make sure to let everyone know we leave in ten minutes exactly. What isn't packed we leave behind. We've got quite a bit of ground to cover to reach the vehicles. Anyone under ten is to be piled onto the ATVs, with an experienced driver. Speed is our ally. Move!" Uncle Hiashi snarled when Neji showed reluctance to leave.

"Sir," Neji replied, and headed back with the others. Real fear started to crawl beneath his skin. This wasn't the same as facing an obviously superior opponent, in or outside a match. This fear that he battled was much more primordeal, much more 'gut'. He broke into a run.

Hanabi stood outside the tent, fully dressed and wide awake. "Oniisan, what's going on? Haruichi said we're leaving?"

"Yes. Grab just the things you need," he told her as he began throwing stuff into his bag. "When you're done, start telling everyone you see that we leave in ten minutes and what's not packed is to be left behind. Then you are to meet me at the ATVs."

Her eyes were huge and her skin blanched to something distressingly like the infected man's, but she nodded and began moving quickly. The moans were more audible, and he didn't like how it sounded as if more had joined the two he had seen.

He finished stuffing his things in the pack, and hesitated as he eyed the tent. A shame to leave it behind, but Uncle Hiashi's tone had brooked no argument. He slung his pack onto his back and tied the katana to his belt at an angle that would let him move comfortably before he crawled back outside.

"Leave the tents!" he cried when he saw a couple of them in the throes of being dismantled. "Just take which you can carry!"

"But--!"

"No 'buts'! Hiashi-ojisama says we leave in ten minutes!"

He ran to the next tent, scooping up a young cousin in one arm and grabbing a slightly older one by the arm to pull him along. The air crackled with tension and an undercurrent of panic, but the discipline demanded of everyone in the family asserted itself. Neji reached the line of tarp-covered ATVs. He let go of Hirofumi and set Tsuruki down. "Stay," he commanded them as he started undoing the ties holding the tarps down. They whimpered in confusion and fear, but like good Hyuuga children, they obeyed.

The last tarp was freed and cast aside when Hanabi came up, a group of children trailing behind. "I've brought everyone, Oniisan," she said, breathless from her run.

"Good." He looked at the group, mentally arranging them so that the optimal number could be carried on each vehicle. Unfortunately, not all of the children could get a ride. Some would necessitate being carried, which could slow people down. Damn!

Not too long later, Uncle Hiashi loped over, a pack securely on his back. He gave Neji a quick nod of approval, and turned to the others who were also approaching. "Neji," he began, and named a few of the other youths who could use the ATV, "you all will be carrying your younger cousins back to the vehicles. Once you are there, I want you all in and secured. You drivers are to put yourselves in the drivers' seats, but do not turn on the engines. Wait for us to catch up. If, however, you see people approaching who are not family, then you all are to start the cars and drive straight home." Steely gray eyes pinned each one of them, just daring them to speak up.

No one did.

"Then I am understood," Uncle Hiashi said too softly. "Neji."

"Sir?"

"Until the family rejoins, you are in charge of this group."

"Understood, sir."

"Hanabi, with Neji," Uncle Hiashi continued. When the larger group arrived, he called for some to help to arrange the other children. Six ATVs, one driver and three hangers-on apiece. The older, larger children were the ones given priority.

Neji understood. The younger, smaller children would be less of a strain to carry, and they could also be with their parents, which would help calm them. The older, heavier ones would be able to 'move' much more quickly on the ATVs, and the reason to use drivers like Neji who were only sixteen or seventeen was to have the most driving experience for the lightest weight.

He got on his ATV, and Hanabi settled behind him. He felt the added weight of someone settle further back, and then Mai was put in his lap facing him so she could hold on more securely. Her heart beat hard against his chest, and Hanabi's was only slightly less frantic against his back. His pulse thundered in his ears and he had to focus hard to hear over it.

"Everyone's secured," he heard Joumaru say.

"Go!"

Neji didn't need more encouragement. He throttled the engine and struck out first, leading the makeshift caravan.

The moans continued to echo behind them.


~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 4!