gebs

lude II: The Halfman==============================​

If there was anything Tyrion Lannister could thank the gods for, it was his sharp mind and tongue. And moments like this were what made him remember that.

After having accompanied the King's Retinue to Winterfell, Tyrion decided to stop by The Wall up north. He wanted to see with his own eyes that wonder built by human hands thousands of years before, and also piss off the edge of what was considered to be the end of the world.

The trip had been fun. But when they passed by Winterfell on their way back, Tyrion found that Robb Stark was far less receptive that he would expect. Then, as they were passing by the Riverlands, his group found Lady Catelyn Stark herself in an inn on the road. Tyrion was curious as to what she was doing so far away from home, but before he could get an answer out of her Lady Stark called for the help of some of her father's bannermen in the inn and Tyrion Lannister found himself a prisoner.

Lady Stark took him to the Vale of Arryn where her sister, Lysa Arryn, put Tyrion in one of the 'Sky Cells' in what was probably one of the lower points of the Lannister's life. Fortunately, thanks to his cunning mind, Tyrion was able to demand a Trial by Combat against Lady's Catelyn accusations of having tried to assassinate her young son Bran. And, like Tyrion expected, one of the mercenaries that had helped capture him, a sellsword named Bronn, realized that he would be far better paid by serving him than by serving Lady Catelyn.

Bronn won the fight against the Vale's champion and Tyrion's freedom with it, but the way out of the Vale of Arryn was dangerous and they had no one else but the two of them and a long road full of the mountain clans ahead of them. With the right precautions they could, maybe, pass by alive but Tyrion's mind had come up with another good, if a bit insane, plan.

They lit a fire and waited for the Clans to meet then, and they eventually did. One conversation later and Tyrion had offered those poor savages exactly what they desired: swords, helmets, coats of mail, spears, axes, maces and all matter of combat gear made of the best steel Lannister gold could afford. And also the promise of defeating the Vale for them. After all, Tyrion had a debt to pay House Arryn for its hospitality. And a Lannister always paid his debts.

And so it was that he was now the half-prisoner, half-commander of a force of around three hundred mountain clansmen, with the numbers growing by the day as word of Tyrion's offer spread. He already had the Stone Crows, the Black Ears, the Burned Men and the Moon Brothers and he was expecting to get also the…

''So, you are the Halfman that everyone has been talking about, are you?'' Tyrion heard a voice say behind him.

They were camping for the night by the mountains and Tyrion was appreciating a greasy piece of sheep meat alongside Bronn. The sellsword turned around faster than Tyrion and the Lannister noticed the way that Bronn's eyes widened as saw the newcomer.

Being a dwarf, Tyrion was perfectly used to having to look up to talk with everyone. So he wasn't surprised when he turned around and was forced to look up to see the face of the person who had spoken. What did surprise him was the fact that he had to keep looking up, and up and up until he could see the face of the man who, he realized, was probably the tallest person that he had ever seen. Not even Ser Gregor Clegane 'The Mountain That Rides' was as tall as the man in front of Tyrion.

And it was not just his size that made him huge; he was heavily muscled and had spiky blond hair held up by a bandana. He was dressed with only a mere coat of mail and some clothes that, although modest by Tyrion's standards, were still finer than the rags the mountain clansmen used. He carried two enormous axes on his back along with a big dagger on his belt.

''That would be me, yes.'' Tyrion said and then could not help but ask; ''you… are not from the clansmen are you?''

''Not at all.'' He moved to sit in front of Tyrion and picked up a big chunk of sheep meat to eat. ''Met Shagga of the Stone Crows some weeks ago. They tried to rob me, I killed some of their men and later we shared some drinks around the fire.''

'Truly, diplomacy among the clansmen requires a special type of tact' Tyrion could not help but think. He also noticed that the man in front of him had a strange accent unlike any other that he had heard before.

''So, where did you come from?'' Tyrion asked.

''The north.'' Was the short and simple answer.

Tyrion raised an eyebrow. ''Forgive me, but you don't exactly sound like any northman that I have met before.'' Even if he had only a small hint of an accent, the common tongue was obviously not his first language

''Norseman, not northman.'' He said with a bit of humor in his voice. For some reason Tyrion got the impression that he wasn't speaking with him.

''Huh?''

''Sorry, thinking about something else.'' He said with a laugh and then turned his eyes form his meal to Tyrion. ''Let's just say that a lot of places have a north, Halfman, and leave at that.'' He then gave Tyrion a big, joyful smile. ''So, Shagga tells me that you promised to find a big battle for us?''

''Oh yes.'' Tyrion answered, now smiling too. ''And also great riches to be found in…''

''Yeah I don't care about that part.'' The man interrupted, sounded a bit annoyed. ''I am just here for the fight.''

'Well, everyone has their preferences.' Tyrion though. ''If is a good fight that you want then you shall have it, we are marching towards the Riverlands were my lord father no doubt has already started to punish the Riverlanders for my kidnapping.'' Not that Lord Tywin had great love for his younger son but Tyrion knew that he would go to war to defend the name of the family. If anyone could take a Lannister prisoner then they were no longer a house to be feared.

''How many?'' The man asked with interest in his eyes.

''The Riverlands can raise an army of around forty-five thousand soldiers.'' Tyrion said, remembering the lessons of his maester.

''Ah…'' Surprisingly the man in front of him looked… resigned? ''Well, I suppose that this will have to do, hopefully they will put all their forces in a single big battle.''

Tyrion shared a look with Bronn. This man was no doubt a bit insane. ''If it makes you feel better, the Knights of the Riverlands are all fierce warriors that shall no doubt give you a challenge and…''

The small Lannister was interrupted when the man in front of him started laughing uncontrollably, to the point where a small piece of meat ended up flying towards Tyrion's face, much to his displeasure. The man raised one hand while still laughing, asking for Tyrion to wait while he recovered.

''Sorry, sorry, hahaha!'' He said, coming to the point of having to wipe out tears. ''It's just that I really doubt anyone here can give me a real challenge.''

Something about the way that he said that seemed like it was more than just regular arrogance. As if he was simply stating a fact, one based around something that Tyrion was missing…

''Really, I am just in search of some… What do they call it? Oh, yes. Nostalgia.'' He explained.

''Nostalgia?'' Tyrion asked, confused.

''Yes, I am on a bit of a vacation you see.'' His smile remained jovial as he looked towards the clear sky full of stars. ''I thought that it would be fun to fight like in the old days for a bit, just me and my axes against regular soldiers. Taking it easy for a few months, relaxing with a good and simple war.''

''I… Forgive my ignorance but does this not describes all wars everywhere?''

''Oh no, there are far stranger ways of fighting out there. Trust me on this.'' He said with a laugh at the end.

For a moment Tyrion looked at this man's eyes and he had a strange feeling. As if the man in front of him was a lot older than he looked and had fought in more battles than Tyrion could possible imagine.

''Well, I certainly appreciate to have someone so enthusiastic by the idea of battle at my side.'' He then reached out with his hand. ''I am Tyrion, son of Tywin, of House Lannister; called Halfman.''

The cheerful giant of a man in front of him accepted Tyrion's hand and shook it. ''Thorkell, son of Harald; called Thorkell the Tall.''

''I can't imagine why.'' Tyrion said, making the taller man laugh.

XIII==============================​

As it turned out the whole situation was a lot more complicated than it looked like at first. From what Lord Stark told her it began with the death of the previous Hand of the King; Jon Arryn, the man who had raised both King Robert and Lord Stark as his wards when both were young.

His death was at first believed to be natural since Jon Arryn was an old man but a secret message was sent by Jon's late wife, who was also Lady Stark's sister, to Lord Stark during the King's stay at Winterfell implying that Jon had been poisoned.

Lord Stark had yet to figure out what had made someone kill Jon Arryn but as far as he was able to figure out before Jon's death the former Hand of the King was, together with King Robert's brother Stannis Baratheon, investigating the King's bastard sons and daughters. Apparently King Robert had quite a few of those.

Lord Stark still had no idea of what had truly happened but he was sure that Jon's assassination and the attempt at killing Lord Brandon were connected somehow. Unfortunately he was having difficulty in figuring out the truth, especially because Stannis Baratheon had left the capital after Jon's death.

After hearing the entire story Hinata agreed with him that the Lannisters seemed to be the most suspicious of the lot, even if she still did not believe that Lord Tyrion would be foolish enough to arm an assassin with a blade that could be traced back to him.

Regardless, an investigation was certainly in order. So for the first time in a long time Hinata dressed herself in her regular Gennin outfit and, for an entire day, she pretended to be sick in her bed, when in reality she was hiding herself in the secret passages of the Red Keep, keeping an eye on the Queen's activities.

She could do this with just her Byakugan but Hinata had not yet mastered the art of reading lips, and the little that she knew was probably not going to be very useful with people who spoke a different language from the one that she was used to.

She had to be careful to not alert the 'little birds' of the Master of Whispers during her goings but it was an easy thing to do between her ninja training and the Byakugan. Worst case scenario, she could always just henge into a rock or something of the kind.

As it was normal for investigations like this it was, for the most part, an exercise in patience. The Queen spent most of her day in her chambers, half of her face still red from the slap that King Robert gave her the night before.

After dinner, however, something interesting finally happened: Ser Suzaku visited the Queen's chambers.

''Your grace.'' The Kingsguard said while bowing his head. ''I was hoping that I could speak with you, about Ser Jaime's behavior?''

The Queen's eyes immediately took a more serious look as she dismissed her handmaids. Hinata watched it all from behind the walls of the Queen's chamber, her ears glued to the wall while her Byakugan let her see it all. She had also used a single green energy to expand her sense of hearing.

After they were alone in the room Ser Suzaku put a hand on his forehead, massaging his own eyebrows to calm down.

''What Jaime did was foolish, your grace.'' He told her. ''Had he managed to keep his head calm I am sure that King Robert would have ordered Lord Stark to release your brother.''

''I am in agreement, Ser Suzaku.'' The Queen said, drinking a bit of wine from the cup that she had in her hands. ''But Jaime has always been like this; acting before thinking, especially when it involves fights.''

Suzaku sighed and then his eyes focused on Queen Cersei, his look similar to the one that he had given Hinata the night before. ''Nevertheless… I am forced to ask; is there any truth to Lord's Stark accusations on the attempt on his son life?''

Under normal circumstances, especially considering the temper that Hinata was starting to see that the Queen possessed, someone who asked the Queen such a question would probably end up with their head on a spike. As it was however the Queen only sighed with a bit of irritation.

''If someone really did try to kill Lord's Stark son it was not me or Jaime, and I can't imagine why Tyrion would have any reason to do so.''

''Even if the boy had caught your grace and Jaime in the act?'' Suzaku asked, his tone accusatory.

Hinata raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant by that.

''Carefully, Ser Suzaku.'' The Queen warned him. ''You may be my brother's good friend and I may be thankful for your discretion but you are starting to sound a bit too insolent for my tastes.''

''Forgive me for this, your grace.'' Suzaku answered, bowing lightly ''But yet I must insist in my line of questioning; I must know what I am dealing with to avoid more unnecessary bloodshed.''

The Queen sighed once more and took another sip of her wine. ''The boy did catch us in the act, but Jaime threw him off the tower.'' She said.

Hinata's eyes narrowed at the exact same time that Suzaku's did.

''I told him that he did not need to do it, later.'' The Queen continued. ''He was just a boy, he probably did not even understand what we were doing. We could have talked him into staying quiet.'' She sighed again. ''Regardless the boy miraculously survived after being at death's bed and fortunately he seemed to have forgotten the whole thing. So, as you can see, there was no reason for us to attempt anything against him.''

''I see.'' Ser Suzaku said, still sounded irritated by what had happened with Lord Brandon ''But it is possible that Lord Stark is lying about the assassin and the reason why he arrested Lord Tyrion is because his son had regained his memory.''

''I find this unlikely.'' The Queen said. ''I am not one for believing that anyone in this city would not lie but if Ned Stark knew the truth about Jaime and I he would probably go to Robert immediately.''

Hinata's mind was working overtime, trying to figure out what could be so important that the Queen sounded so afraid of Lord Stark figuring out?

As fate would have it, she was about to discover it; and right from the mouth of the most ironic of persons.

''Then we must pray that Lord Stark does not discover that Jaime fathered the princes and the princess; if he does this will all end in a terrible bloodshed.'' Suzaku said, his tone tired.

Hinata's eyes widened after hearing this. Her face went partially red of embarrassment and partially green from sheer disgust at hearing about the incestuous affair. As a member of an old Clan with a special bloodline Hinata was not strange to the idea of marrying inside the family; many clans did this regularly. However it was one thing to marry, say, a third cousin and another completely different to have kids with your own brother, especially a twin brother. Every Clan keeps a very detailed family tree to avoid marrying relatives that were too close to one another exactly because they want to avoid the downsides of incest.

Suzaku and the Queen spoke some more before the first one excused himself out of the room. Hinata stayed for a bit longer before finally deciding that she had heard enough and starting to walk back to the Tower of the Hand.

On the way there however Suzaku's words echoed in her head. When the King found out about this from Lord Stark this would end in blood, and lots of it considering that the Queen's father was the richest and also one of the more powerful Lords in the whole Kingdom.

Hinata had no idea of how many people served the Lannisters but it was probably something in the tens of thousands. Many of them would die a pointless death because Cersei had decided to sleep with her own brother.

The young Hyuuga had to sigh; the common people always ended up suffering because of the whims of those in power. She understood Suzaku's point of view, she really did even if she had never personally seen war happening at first hand.

In theory she could simply stay quiet about the whole thing; tell nothing to Lord Stark and let the whole matter die. Assuming that things did not end up getting worse somehow this would probably end up saving millions of lives.

But this theory had many flaws. To start with, war, at this point, was inevitable: already there were attacks happening in the Riverlands by supposed thieves that Lord Stark was sure had been sent by Tywin Lannister, the Queen's father, in retaliation for Lady's Stark arresting of Lord Tyrion.

There was also the matter of the King's brother, Stannis. He was at the island of Dragonstone, probably already aware of the truth about Cersei's children but with no way to prove it. Since Joffrey and the others were not King Robert's children, that meant that Stannis was the rightful heir to the throne according to the laws of Westeros. Given that he had been silent this whole time he was probably preparing himself for war in case something happened to King Robert.

Besides, even if war was not clearly inevitable, and in fact had already started, Hinata would never betray the Stark's confidence like this. Even taking aside her honor as a shinobi, for ninjas never broke a contract and always gave their best to fulfill their missions, they had done so much for her that she would never be able to live with herself if she betrayed them in this hour of need.

And there was also the fact that Ser Jaime had almost killed Lord Brandon. Even if the Lannisters had not truly sent an assassin to kill the young Stark (and she still had no idea who had done it), they still had tried to kill someone that Hinata cared for. And a young child at that.

Hinata may have been gentle but she had her fair share of blood at her hands, and if anyone ever did something like this with Hanabi she was certain that she would go to the moon herself if it was necessary to make sure that the responsible faced justice.

But, regardless of Hinata's feelings on the matter, this did not change the fact that if she told the truth to Lord Stark the war would escalate sooner instead of later. Hinata had to sigh at this, she was only a Gennin, a low soldier of Konoha, and she should not be the one to decide things about war and peace.

But she could not avoid responsibility for what was to come; if the war escalated because of what she was going to tell Lord Stark, then she would have to live with that, much like she had lived with the deaths of all those people that she killed.

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It was late at night and she was forced to wake Lord Stark to tell him what she had figured out. This took quite a bit of time because she was unable to completely control her stutter when telling about the Queen and her brother.

''Tsk, 'The seed is strong'…'' Lord Stark murmured after hearing the whole thing. ''Of course, I should have known… And yet it took you only a day to find out, truly I was a fool for not asking your help sooner.''

Hinata tried to say something but Lord Stark continued: ''And to think that Ser Suzaku knew all this and did not say a thing… I thought that he was more honorable than that.''

''Perhaps…'' Hinata started to say, her tone quiet. ''he was worried about the bloodshed that it would result from revealing the truth?''

Lord Stark stayed quiet for a moment, seeming to be thinking about this. ''Perhaps.'' He said, sounding tired. ''But I am afraid that is too late regardless.''

''I thought as much as well.'' She said, also not sounding happy about it.

Lord Stark seemed to think that this would be a good time to change the subject: ''And yet it seems that the Lannisters did not send an assassin to kill Bran, like you suspected.''

''I only suspected that Lord Tyrion had not done it, Ser Jaime and the Queen could have but…'' Hinata sighed and then looked at the Lord of Winterfell with more determination. ''If you wish, Lord Stark, I can bring Ser Jaime back to the city for questioning.''

He raised an eyebrow at this. ''Not that I doubt of your capacity to do so, especially after the business in the tournament, but he has been gone for two days already.''

''Search and pursuit is one of my specialties, Lord Stark.'' Team 8's specialty to be exact. ''And with some summoned hawks I can cover an even greater ground.''

''I understand, but I prefer to have you close to my daughters and I.'' Lord Stark eyes narrowed. ''Especially if what you told me about Ser Suzaku is true, you said that he is like you?''

''In some ways…'' She put a hand to her chin, thinking. ''He does not have a chakra system like me and every person from the elemental nations, yet he is clearly from there since he can speak my language. However he can use the same energies of the land that I discovered when I first arrived here.''

''Yet you told me that he can only use the 'color white', correct? If I remember correctly it is the color for honor and can be used to cure and also summon creatures like hawks and horses.''

''I am still unsure if Ser Suzaku can use summons but it is possible that he can use healing techniques, he certainly is aware of his powers if we take his aura into consideration but, since he does not possess eyes like mine, it is possible that he only linked himself to lands that he had a greater affinity for and is not even aware of the other colors.'' Speaking about this with Lord Stark made Hinata remember the times that she had to build a battle strategy with her teammates and her sensei.

''I also believe that he uses his powers to have a greater speed and dexterity.'' Hearing Lord Stark saying this made Hinata raise an eyebrow. ''I was not at the same battles that Ser Suzaku was in the Greyjoy Rebellion, but I heard from many people about his accomplishments. Would it be possible for him to use this 'white energy of the land' to become faster and stronger?''

''I am not sure.'' Hinata admitted. ''I can do the same thing using only my chakra however.''

''That is good to know, however I would advise you to take some extra time off to train.'' Lord Stark said, surprising her. ''You are the only one that I can count upon to fight against Suzaku, if you are right about his abilities. And I fear that, once Robert learn the truth, things will turn violent even here at the Red Keep.'' It was times like this when Hinata remembered that Lord Stark was a veteran commander of two wars.

For a moment the young Hyuuga stopped to think. ''When will the King be back from his hunting?''

''I can't be sure, one or two weeks at the very least.''

''I see…'' Hinata bowed her head. ''I will not disappoint you Lord Stark.''

''I know you will not, Rinata.'' He said, smiling. ''You never do.''

Somehow hearing him saying this made Hinata more nervous than everything else, but she still tried to hide it.

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Like she had promised Lord Stark Hinata spent the next two weeks before the King's return training. She put a greater effort into her regular physicall and chakra training but, more than everything else, she experimented with the land energies.

Her first order of business was trying to establish a new connection. King's Landing was so massive that it was easy to connect to a new white part of it. Hinata considered connecting to a new color, like blue, but given that things could go bad at any moment it was preferable to focus on the two colors that she already knew a little about instead of trying to add a new one to the mix.

Adding a new white connection meant that she now had a total of 8 connections: 4 green and 4 white. This made her own aura become evenly split between the two colors with little space for the other three.

She tried to use white energy to improve her speed and reflexes but had no success. She suspected that she might be able to do it if she could figure out a way to use more than one land at the same time but, aside from summons, it seemed that every time that she tried to use two or more lands at the same time the energy proved to be too much.

Hinata had some theories about how to make it work. Compared to Ninjutsu techniques it was generally true that, the more chakra you used in a technique, the more hand-seals you needed to control it, though some experienced ninjas could reduce the number of hand-seals and some techniques used a lot of chakra but needed very few hand-seals. She supposed that, using only a single land at a time, she could control it with just a regular release of energy like she would do for a simple Jyuuken strike or tree-walking. However to use more than one she needed something extra to help it control it.

And, going by her summons, it was possible that it had more to do with how complex the technique was instead of only how much energy it used. To summon a dire wolf she needed to concentrate the energy of a green land and two others of any colors and make the hand-seal for dog, to summon a warhorse she also needed to call two white lands and make the hand-seal for horse and, to summon a hawk which cost only a single white mana, she still needed to make the hand-seal for bird.

Unfortunately Hinata had never created a jutsu from scratch, normally only Jonnin and some Chunnin were able to do so, and she had very little idea where to begin. Especially since she was trying to adapt her own form of energy manipulation to a completely different system. Giving enough time, even with no reference to books on her own system since she could not very well recall every little detail about hand-seals and their meaning, she would probably be able to figure out a way. However, time was something that she did not have at the moment, she needed something that she could use in a weeks time.

During the majority of the training Hinata practiced with her summons in the forest next to King's Landing. While the animals felt like an extension of Hinata's own body she, as a hand-to-hand combat specialist, knew that to truly learn how to use your own body was a long process that needed constant training. So she practiced with her summons, trying to make it so that the movements of her creatures really were an extension of her body, trying to make her mind get used to the idea that it controlled more than one body at the same time.

This training showed a lot of progress, in only a few days Hinata was already getting used to it. She also found that sometimes she could let the creatures themselves take control of their own bodies; the dire wolves for example knew better than her how to attack an enemy, something she figured out while hunting a deer to practice.

Also; she happened to came across a grizzly bear during her training and, after her dire wolves took it down, she made a copy of its pattern and then let the creature go, adding a new summon to her list. And for a bear it also had a surprisingly lower cost than she expected: only needing a green land and another of any color.

By the end of the two weeks she had also spent so much time in the forest next to King's Landing, called the Kingswood from what she figured out, that she managed to establish a new green connection to a part of it, the whole forest being too massive for her to connect to the entirety of it. This put her at nine lands, five green and four white. She also enjoyed once again connecting to a green land, it had been months since the last time that she had done so and she had only connected to white lands for a while now.

While she had not managed to really figure out many new techniques to use Hinata felt that she was considerably stronger after those two weeks of training. And, as she was about to find out, she would need every bit of that strength.

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It was early in the morning and Hinata was already training in the Kingswood. She had to remove her coat because of the heat and was currently finishing some upside down abdominals on top of the tallest tree that she found in the forest. She was almost finished warming-up when she heard the sound of horses at the distance.

Hinata stopped exercising and, still upside down, she activated her byakugan and was surprised to find the King's hunting party returning. This immediately put her on alert and she almost deactivated her Byakugan to pick up her things and go back to the castle in time to prepare but she stopped when she noticed something.

King Robert was not among the riders of the hunting party.

The young Hyuuga immediately started to search for the King and when she saw him she was beyond shocked: the King was in a wooden coffin, dead from what appeared to be a wound made by a horn or something of the kind from some animal.

Hinata could not believe how unlucky it was for the King to die now of all times. She really could not: the timing was too bad for it to be a coincidence, especially considering that she had heard so many stories of how good of a hunter King Robert was. A bit of searching with her eyes however gave her an idea of what had happened; it probably had something to do with those two squires that the King had, both wearing the colors and sigil of the Lannisters.

Clenching her fists Hinata gathered her things and returned to the castle, immediately going to search for Lord Stark and finding him alone on his chambers at the Tower of the Hand. She entered his room unannounced and immediately closed the door behind her.

''Rinata? What are you doing here? I thought that you would be training at this time in the morn…'' He stopped speaking as soon as he saw the look on the young ninja's face. ''What happened?'' He asked, his voice showing concern.

''I am so sorry, Lord Stark…'' She closed her eyes; she could not look at his face while saying this. ''I saw the hunting party returning to King's Landing but… King Robert is in a wooden coffin, he is… dead, milord.''

Lord Stark did not speak for a long moment after hearing this, his face paralyzed by the news of the death of his closest friend. When he finally seemed to digest what he heard he sat on his chair and put a hand to his face. ''How?'' He asked after a while.

''It seemed to be a wound caused by a fang or a horn of an animal of some kind but…'' She sighed angrily. ''Seeing how his squires were Lannisters…'' She did not need to finish.

Lord Stark closed his eyes for a moment. ''Dammit Robert…'' He whispered and then stayed quiet once more. When he finally opened his eyes again his look was now that of a commander. ''How long do we have before they arrive here?''

''A fe-few hours I think.'' Hinata was a bit nervous seeing the cold look on Lord Stark's eyes. ''More if they do a… funeral parade on the streets.''

Lord Stark stood and picked up his sword. ''I will prepare my soldiers but we are outnumbered, hopefully Lord Baelish will help me with this by… getting the City's Watch at our side.'' The disgust in his voice was clear as he said that.

''I will stay by your side, Lord Stark.'' Hinata said with determination.

''No.'' Lord Stark said, surprising her. ''I need for you to get out of the castle, and the city.''

''What? Forgive me Lord Stark but why…'' She started to say but she stopped when Lord Stark put a hand on her shoulders and looked her in the eye.

''You need to take Sansa and Arya out of the city.'' He said. ''Pick them up and go to Riverrun, my wife's birthplace. My father-in-law will take you in and take care of the girls.''

''I understand Lord Stark but if I am not here then Ser Suzaku…'' He tried to say.

''I know, but I have no choice.'' He sighed. ''If things go wrong it will not matter if you are here or not, as strong as you are you cannot face the Lannister soldiers and Ser Suzaku by yourself.''

''Lord Stark…'' Hinata was already fighting back her tears and it must have showed because Lord Stark gave her a small smile.

''You are a good lass, Rinata.'' He said. ''You saved my family time and again and I feel bad for having to ask you to help us once more but you are my best hope to save my daughters.'' He then seemed to remember something and got up to pick something that he kept close to his bed: the greatsword named Ice, the ancestral weapon of House Stark. ''Take Ice with you too, I will not have my family's sword end up with the Lannisters if things go wrong.''

Hinata's eyes widened; ''Lord Stark, without your sword you…''

''If things go wrong having Ice with me will make little difference.'' He interrupted her and, after giving her the sword, he got up. ''Gather your possessions, I will talk with Arya and Sansa as soon as I give some orders.''

Hinata nodded but, before she got out of her room, she looked at Lord Stark and told him: ''I thank you for everything Lord Stark and… If you truly believe that you owe me something at least promise me this: ple-please do not die.'' The tears now were already starting to fall.

Lord Eddard Stark smiled at her once more. ''I will do what I can, this much I can promise you, and do not worry so much; I am not that easy of a man to kill.'' Both knew that he was only saying this to make her feel better but Hinata accepted this small kindness and, after cleaning her tears, she ran back to her room.

She was ready in a matter of minutes: dressed in her Gennin clothing with her short sword from the melee at the side. She put the essentials in her backpack together with some clothes for disguise and also the gold that she had won in the tournament.

After verifying that she had everything she left her room running and found Sansa, Arya and Lady at the place where Arya had her sword lessons. The younger Stark was dressed in her training clothes and had her sword, Needle, at her side. The sword had been a goodbye gift from Jon Snow before she left for King's Landing from what she had told Hinata. Sansa was dressed in a simple brown dress, far more simple than what she was used to, and she had a look of complete confusion in her face.

They were also not alone in the room: Lord Stark was speaking to them and at the side Septa Mordane was running to get two backpacks ready for the two girls and the dire wolf. Syrio Forel was also in the room, already carrying a iron sword at his side.

As soon as the Braavosi saw her he smiled and called her, ''Girl, take good care of those two. The younger Stark has a hot head on her shoulders but she shows great promise.''

''I will, Lord Syrio.'' Hinata told him, bowing. ''And you take care of Lord Stark in my place.''

''Oh, do not worry girl.'' He said, putting a hand at the hilt of his sword. ''The First Sword of Braavos shall not die without a fight.''

Hinata smiled back at him and then got close to Septa Mordane. ''Do you need some help, Septa Mordane?''

''Oh, yes, please help me with this bag. Sansa seems to have a lack of practical dresses.'' She said, showing the bag to Hinata.

Hinata started to help out as the Septa asked. ''I have some clothes that she can use if it comes to that, she should make room for some supplies.'' She said after checking inside the bags.

The Septa nodded in agreement and she was going to pick some things but, before she could go out, Hinata grabbed her hand. ''Get out of the city before everything starts.'' She told her with a serious tone. ''Independent of how things go you have no reason to stay here.''

The Septa seemed surprised at hearing Hinata say this, she had never spoke with her in such serious tone. This made the older woman smile. ''Don't worry my dear, as bad as the Lannisters can be they would not hurt an innocent servant of the Gods.''

Hinata had doubts about this but she did not have time to discuss this now. Lord Stark seemed to be almost finished talking with his daughters.

''What?'' Sansa asked, completely shocked. ''Joffrey is… Father how sure are you of this?''

''Absolutely sure, my dear, I heard it from the Queen's own mouth.'' Lord Stark answered. This made Hinata pause and look at Lord Stark. Surely he could not have been foolish enough to tell the Queen that…

''Oh, I think that I will puke.'' Arya said, looking disgusted. ''All three of them are from the Kingslayer? Ew, and you were going to marry one of them?'' She asked her older sister.

Sansa, for her part, remained silent; her face one of shock while her world seemed to suddenly have collapsed.

''Now listen to me girls, Rinata will take you two and Lady by the secret passages of the castle and she will bring you to Riverrun, where your uncle and grandfather will protect you until you can return to Winterfell.'' Lord Stark told them.

This seemed to wake Sansa and also made Arya pay more attention. ''What about you, father?'' The younger Stark asked.

''I will have to stay here and make sure that the Throne is secure for… King Stannis.''He said, hesitating at the end.

Both girl's eyes widened. ''Father! No! There is too many of them! You will never be able to…'' Sansa started to say.

''Lord Baelish has assured me that he can put the City's Watch at our side, I am only sending you two away as a precaution.''

The two girls, who normally were always arguing, tried together to convince their father to come with them. This made the Lord of Winterfell smile and put a hand at the shoulder of each one of them. ''Listen, girls, you know our words: Winter is Coming. It is coming for us all and, when the snows falls, the pack has to stay together to stay strong. You two will need to get over your differences and work together during this trip, promise me this ok?''

With tears in their eyes the two girls promised this to their father and embraced him.

It was at that moment that they started to hear the bells of the city, no doubt announcing the ultimate fate of the King.

''Time to go.'' Lord Stark said and then embraced his daughters again. ''I love you both, take care.''

With the girls still in tears Hinata lead them to the secret passage at the Tower of the Hand. Before she closed the passage she took one last look at Lord Stark, Septa Mordane and Syrio Forel. ''I swear that I shall protect them with my life.'' She told them.

''I know.'' Lord Stark answered. ''Now go.''

Hinata bowed her head deeply and then she finally closed the door of the secret passage.

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Getting out of the Red Keep and the city ended up being the easy part, there was a passage that lead them right outside the gates of the city. The three of them were covered by hoods as they exited the city but the difficult part was trying to hide Lady. Fortunately between Hinata's Byakugan and the fact that the majority of the people were busy seeing why the bells had started to ring they managed to escape unnoticed.

As soon as they were out of view, Hinata summoned two warhorses and let the two girls ride on them. Lady Arya asked if she wanted to ride with her on her horse but Hinata preferred to run by herself, just in case of emergency.

Lady Sansa already knew a bit about Hinata's powers and abilities; after she had seen her healing Lord Stark she asked Lady Arya about it and she gave her a brief explanation. Lady Sansa still looked surprised when Hinata did something 'weird' like summoning the horses but she did not say much.

They traveled for the entire day and only in the deep of the night did they stop to camp as far from the road as they could. Hinata managed to secure a bear's cave for them to sleep in, the bear having ended up as their meal for the night.

Both Stark girls stayed silent during most of the trip, but, after they ate, Arya asked a question that Hinata had been hoping that neither girl would.

''Rinata… You eyes can see very far, right?''

Hinata sighed. ''Yes.''

''Can you see King's Landing from here?''

''No.'' She said. ''We are far outside my reach.''

''What about your summons?'' She asked. ''You say that you can see with their eyes, right? Can't you send a hawk to… to check on my father?''

Hinata did not answer immediately but Sansa, who was paying attention to the conversation, decided to join in. ''If you can really do this with your magic… please Rinata we need to know if he is ok…''

The young Hyuuga thought for a moment whether she really should do this or not but, with the two of them insisting, she ended up giving in and sending in a bird.

Almost an hour later the hawk arrived at King's Landing and found the Tower of the Hand's interior covered in blood. Hinata tried to keep her face unmoved but when she saw Septa Mordane's head on a spike at the Red Keep she could not hold back the tears.

The two girls noticed. ''Is father…?'' They both asked.

''No, but I saw Septa Mordane's…'' She did not finish the phase but it was enough for the girls to understand. ''I see no Stark's guards. It… looks like it failed, they probably took Lord Stark prisoner.''

Sansa immediately started to cry and Arya followed but the younger girl quickly wiped her tears and looked at Hinata with determination. ''We have to rescue him!''

''What?'' Hinata said, surprised. ''No, Lady Arya, I cannot risk taking you two back to the city.''

''But… But you could save him, could you not?'' Sansa stopped to cry for a moment, seeming to have found some hope in Arya's idea. ''If we are not there to hold you back? With all your power, surely you could take him out of the prison?''

Hinata bit her lower lip. ''It is not that easy.'' She said. ''If it was just the guards yes, I could, but… Ser Suzaku has powers similar to my own, if he catches me there I am not sure who would win in a fight.''

''You can see through walls, right? Can't you just rescue him while Suzaku is at the other side of the castle?'' Arya insisted.

''Lady Arya, it is not that simple.'' She was already feeling a headache. ''I promised Lord Stark that I would take you two to safety, I cannot risk getting myself killed before I am sure that you two are secure.'' Arya seemed like she wanted to insist so Hinata added: ''After the two of you are safe at Riverrun I swear that I will go back and rescue him myself.''

''You know as well as I do that by then it might be too late!'' Arya screamed and then she grabbed Hinata's hand. ''Rinata, please, I know that I am being selfish to ask you this but… Father cannot die like this, please…''

Hinata could not meet Arya's eyes. In all the months that she had spent at Westeros, Arya was the one that she got closest too. Sometimes Hinata thought that she was subconsciously trying to get a temporary replacement for her younger sister, Arya and Hanabi certainly had some similarities after all; both being a bit too hot blooded for their own good and sometimes smarter than their years. But still innocent little girls, and never before had this part of Arya shown with more strength than now; that she begged her friend to save the life of her father.

And, truth be told, Hinata wanted to go back and rescue Lord Stark. She really did. But he gave her a mission, a mission to protect his daughters. Yes, she thought now with more determination, she had to follow his orders and…

''I also don't want to leave father behind…'' Lady Sansa said, her voice weak while she embraced her legs.

These words made Hinata stop. She immediately remembered how Kurenai had taught Team 8 something fundamentally important during the first time that they trained together; about how Konoha ninjas should never leave their comrades behind, something deeply implemented in the ideals of the Leaf Village.

But the young Hyuuga shook her head. No, this was different; she needed to leave Lord Stark behind because she was the only one that could protect his daughters. They needed her to survive.

But… What Arya said did make sense, she could return to King's Landing faster than she had left since she would be going alone and at full speed and with her Byakugan she could choose the right moment to rescue Lord Stark, preferably when Ser Suzaku were asleep. Then rescuing Lord Stark from the prison would be relatively easy.

But it would still be an enormous risk to leave the younger Starks unprotected… But then again she had means to protect them even at distance, had she not? All that she needed was to leave a few summons behind and they would be safe for the night.

Hinata took a deep breath, not believing that she was truly considering doing something so stupid. Was it really worth it to take such a risk to save Lord Stark?

The answer, in the end, was obvious.

She got up, her face now more serious than ever. She picked up her short sword and gave it to Sansa. ''Ask Lady Arya to give you some lessons, it might not be much of a help but is better than nothing.'' She told her and then, before she could say something, she got up and called the energy of four green lands and four white ones, something that made a green-white aura surround her body for a moment. She then made a hand-seal and four Grizzly Bears appeared after a fast green flash.

Lady, Sansa's Dire Wolf, was immediately up and alert at this but after sniffing the bears she seemed to get a bit calmer, even if she was still keeping an eye on them. Arya and Sansa looked impressed, but they quickly looked back at Hinata.

''If I don't come back by sunrise, and I might not.'' Her tone was mortally serious now while she picked up some things from her bag. ''Go to Riverrun without me, I will leave the map here and these bears shall protect you if danger appears. If they are suddenly unsummoned then assume that I died and just keep going to Riverrun.'' She did not knew what would happen if with her summons if she died but she promised herself that she would unsummon they if she was about to die even if it was the last thing that she ever did, she could not risk letting then suddenly escape her control and attack the two girls.

''Rinata!'' Arya came to her and embraced her, she looked her in the eyes with tears already falling. ''Please, be careful.''

Sansa also got up and embraced the young Hyuuga. ''I will pray for your return, may the gods, old and new, protect you.''

Hinata took a deep breath and, after letting go of the two Stark girls, she immediately jumped back and started to run at full speed back to King's Landing.

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She had to stop when she finally arrived at the city, taking a moment to recover her strength. She needed to be at full force for this. After an hour of taking it easy, eating some rations at the top of a roof on one of King's Landing's houses she felt her chakra already at almost 100% and the energy of her connections had already recovered themselves for some time now.

It was time.

She moved to the side of the Red Keep and soon found a secret passage close to the stones next to the sea. With her Byakugan she guided herself and avoided alerting the 'little birds' of the Master of Whispers.

Hinata had already located Lord Stark in one of the worst cells of the dungeon of the castle; he was mostly unhurt and seemed more tired than really wounded. Two guards with gold cloaks were by his door but other than that there was not much security inside the dungeons except for the occasional guard patrolling the corridors.

As for Ser Suzaku he was unfortunately keeping guard at the entry of the dungeons, dressed in full armor. Hinata waited for half an hour to see if he would move from his position but the best that she got was when he had to go to the bathroom.

The young Hyuuga decided that now it was probably the best chance that she was going to get. Fortunately for her the secret passage lead her to the corridors of the dungeons so even if Suzaku decided to enter the dungeon she had some time before he got to her.

Getting to the corridor Hinata ran as quietly as she could to get to Lord Stark's position. The guards were awake and prepared so they would see her coming.

That is, they would see her coming if not for the fact that guards of Westeros are not trained to look at the ceiling while keeping guard. After all someone who could run upside down in the ceiling was truly something unexpected in this continent.

Hinata positioned herself above the two guards and concentrated a heavy dose of chakra at the point of her fingers. She fell in the middle of the two guards and, while still falling, she hit both in the opening of the visor with a strong pulse of chakra that was sent directly to their brains.

Both guards fell to the ground unconscious, but Hinata did not take half measures: she drew a kunai and cut the throats of the guards after removing their helmets. She then stole the key that one of the guards had and opened the door of Lord's Stark cell.

Lord Stark was already awake thanks to the commotion and his eyes widened when he saw Hinata.

''What are you…'' He started to ask in a low voice but Hinata quickly got to him and released him from his chains.

''No time, let's go!'' She said in a hurry and then grabbed his hand.

They got to the corridor and it was only then that Hinata noticed something. Next to the body of the two guards that she had killed there was something that was not there before: a single white pigeon… that was looking directly at her eyes.

Hinata cursed in her mother language and quickly turned around, barely in time to block a powerfully spinning kick made by a man in white armor.

Ser Suzaku jumped back after having his attack blocked; Hinata was already in a fighting stance that he did not recognize and behind her Lord Stark had picked up the sword of one of the guards that Hinata had killed.

The white pigeon that he had summoned to keep an eye on Lord Stark cell flew toward his shoulder while he picked up his sword and got his shield in position.

''Give up.'' He said in a serious tone. ''The other guards will soon be here, if you cooperate I will personally guarantee your safety.''

Hinata's response to this was to attack Suzaku, she did not have time to talk to him if he was telling the truth. In response the Kingsguard gritted his teeth and prepared for battle.

Outside the wind seemed to blow with less force and in every corner of the planet those with sensitivities for such felt as if their entire world was holding his breath. For this was the very first time in this world's history that two beings of Hinata and Suzaku's kind were going to battle each other.

And even the gods may learn fear, when a duel such as this happens.

Hinata Vs Suzaku==============================​

Hinata was angry with herself for letting things come to this, she should have known that Suzaku would know how to summon creatures, after all, from what she figure out he probably had known about his powers for almost a decade now. But, even setting that aside, she had not even paid attention to the white pigeon that was probably by one of the barred windows of the dungeon's corridor, along with other pigeons at that. Even if she had spent one green energy to enchant her eyes it would not have helped: summons had auras that were exactly like the ones of a regular creature.

But now was not the time to regret past decisions: she probably had less than a minute to get Lord Stark away from here before more guards came. That meant that the sooner she defeated Suzaku, the better.

She started to run towards the Knight in white armor. He was carrying his sword and shield and had his helmet on, something that limited her options even more. She was not sure if her jyuuken strikes could bypass his armor and the chain mail that her eyes showed that he had, even if she used a heavier dose of chakra than normal. Worse than that: going by that spinning kick that she had blocked he could still move with great speed even while carrying that much weight.

That meant that he was probably faster than her and, if she really had no way to make her strikes connect, then it was probably impossible for Hinata to beat Suzaku in a fair fight.

Fortunately, ninjas do not fight fair.

As she ran towards Suzaku Hinata drew a shuriken and threw it toward the eyes of the knight who, like she expected, blocked with his shield. That meant that for a moment he did not have his eyes on her and Hinata took advantage of the moment by jumping towards the ceiling and starting to run upside down towards him. When he lowered his shield, less than a second later, he was momentarily confused and this moment was all that Hinata needed; for she had already reached him.

She concentrated a heavy dose of chakra on the tip of her fingers and grabbed her opponent's helmet. Suzaku screamed in pain when she hit him in the eyes with a potent strike of jyuuken that sent chakra to damage the internal workings of his eyes.

A strike like this was potentially fatal and, even if the victim survived, he would still probably end up blind. Unfortunately for the young Hyuuga, her improvised position made it so that she was unable to hit him correctly, especially since Suzaku's reflexive response to being hit was to try to strike her with his sword so that she was forced to dodge. But that was okay: she still managed to explode both of his eyeballs.

Hinata jumped back to the floor, now behind Suzaku. The Kingsguard was screaming in pain but he still turned and struck after her with his sword. The strike was fast and powerful, but it was done by a blind opponent so Hinata had no problem in dodging again. She then concentrated a heavy dose of chakra in her right palm and advanced once more; now she just needed to hit him in the face with sufficient power and he would…

Hinata jumped back barely in time to avoid another powerful strike against her. Suzaku, however, did not give her time enough to recover; he ran towards her direction and attacked once more. Hinata manage to avoid the worst of the attack but at a price: she lost the second, third and fourth finger of her right hand to Suzaku's sword.

As the young Hyuuga bit her lower lip to contain her pain, she noticed once more the damned white pigeon on Suzaku's shoulder. No doubt Suzaku was using the creature as a replacement for his eyes.

With her left hand, Hinata drew three more shuriken and threw them in the Pigeon's direction. Suzaku, however was quick to block the attack with his shield but this at least gave her time to call for a White land and grow back her fingers. She had never done this before, but if one white land could fix Lord Brando's spine than it could probably regrow her fingers.

As the girl was enveloped by a white aura and her fingers started to grow back, however, Suzaku paused for a second, shocked by what he was seeing through his summon's eyes. He had already figured out that she had magical powers of some kind, the strange veins in her white eyes made him suspect as much and the last seconds of fighting had pretty much confirmed it, but that white aura was exactly like the one that he himself used!

This second's pause cost him. He heard footsteps behind him and had to spin around to block Lord Stark's sword strike with his shield. The Lord of Winterfell did not give him time to recover, however: he quickly released a series of attacks against the Kingsguard.

Behind him Hinata, now with her fingers back, took this opportunity to throw six more shuriken against him and his pigeon.

Had Lord Stark being a lesser swordsman or at least someone that he could risk killing Suzaku might be able to defend against both him and Hinata at the same time. However, from what Ser Barristan had told him, Lord Stark had been one of the two survivors among the group that fought and killed three of the greatest members of the Kingsguard history: Ser Gerold Hightower, the former Lord Commander, also known as the White Bull; Ser Oswell Whent; and Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning himself. So he was not to be taken lightly, and worse yet he could not risk killing him or the war would definitely escalate even further.

However, while Suzaku would not normally use his powers as they gave him an unfair advantage, the white pigeon being a necessary exception as a precaution to keep watch over Lord Stark, if Hinata really had the same abilities than he and was not willing to hold back, and in fact the young girl was proving to be surprisingly vicious when fighting, then he had no reason to hold back any further.

A pure white aura enveloped the Knight's body as he made a short prayer: ''Mother, heal my wounds!'' He called for the power of one of the Seven Gods by using one of his lands and immediately felt the pain in his eyes go away as they began to recover.

He used his shield to block Lord Stark's attacks while using his sword to stop the shuriken that had been aimed at his face. The other shuriken hit his armor and two managed to kill his white pigeon, but that was fine: his eyes were already recovering.

However, going by the sounds that he was hearing, it looked like both Lord Stark and Hinata would not give him time to recover in peace so he called for another land and an even more powerful white aura surrounded him. ''Father, protect me for my cause is just!'' He prayed to another of the Seven and his aura expanded, creating a barrier that blocked both Lord Stark's attack and Hinata's shuriken.

The barrier was only temporary, but it was enough to give him time to heal his eyes. As Suzaku opened his new pair of eyes he focused on Hinata; she was but a young child but this vicious little ninja cared not for the suffering of the common folk and only sought to serve and protect her master. She might have been indoctrinated into this mentality but her reasons mattered not; her actions would cause great harm to innocent people so Suzaku would not, could not show mercy.

Narrowing his eyes Suzaku called for yet another land, this time his white aura looking more aggressive as it involved him. ''Warrior! Grant me the power to vanquish all evil!'' He prayed, his voice louder, and soon he felt his muscles becoming temporarily stronger.

He ran towards Hinata, fully intent on stopping her rescue mission that would cause so much harm to the common folk. He lifted his sword; ready to strike her down as Hinata desperately finished a series of hand-seals.

With a quick move it was all over.

''RINATA!'' Lord Stark screamed desperately behind Suzaku.

Both of Hinata's arms were torn out along with part of her right leg. Suzaku did not enjoy doing this to a little girl but it was necessary to save th-

The Knight's eyes widened as Hinata's body vanished in a small explosion of smoke. In its place was now the body of one of the guards that were killed by the young Ninja.

Suzaku heard footsteps and turned spun around, ready to defend against Lord Stark but, when he turned, he instead saw Hinata, already inside his defense and with the tip of both fingers involved with a heavy dose of a blue energy.

He had no chance of blocking the next attack: once more Hinata struck him in the eyes and exploded both of his eyeballs. This time, however, he felt the energy going directly towards his brain and he started to stop feeling anything as he lost consciousness an…

No! He would not die here! Suzaku burned out two lands at once and mentally prayed to the Mother for his wounds to heal while at the same time he called a new land and prayed to the Father for protection once more while his eyes recovered.

The barrier that he created, however, turned out to be unnecessary: Hinata had grabbed Lord Stark and started to run with him in the opposite direction, towards the secret passage that could get them out of the dungeons.

''Rinata! What? I though…'' Lord Stark said on the way while looking to the body of the guard that Hinata had used on her last technique.

''Replacement Technique.'' She said, hopping that he would remember what she told him about her techniques because right now she really had no time to explain.

'Kawarimi no Jutsu', or 'Replacement Technique' in Westerosi, was one of the most basic techniques that practically every ninja knew how to use since the academy. She had simply traded places with the dead body of the guard, allowing for a quick escape and also a surprise move against Suzaku.

Unfortunately, the Knight was proving incredibly hard to kill. Hinata still had a few tricks that she could use but the priority was saving Lord Stark, not killing Suzaku, and she really had no way around that barrier of his. Worse yet, fighting in this narrow corridor limited her ability to dodge considerably so her slower speed was an even greater disadvantage.

Lord Stark nodded in understanding and they kept running. They had maybe a few more seconds before Suzaku recovered judging by his previous…

They stopped running when they saw four guards coming towards them from their front, already with their swords in hand.

Lord Stark positioned himself to fight but Hinata was quicker: she called for two green lands and one white and in a flash of green a dire wolf appeared in front of them.

The four guards stopped immediately, all of them with faces full of shock as they saw that little girl with strange facial features and white eyes full of veins involved in a magical green aura make the biggest wolf that any of them had ever see appear out of nowhere.

The gigantic wolf jumped to attack them and all four of them, being shown these unbelievable magical powers coming from the strange little girl, reacted immediately: they turned around and ran screaming for their lives.

''Witch!'' One of them screamed. ''She-Wolf!'' ''Warg!'' ''Wolf's Queen!'' The others followed.

Hinata raised an eyebrow at that but she had no time to think about it. She would let the wolf pursue then and hopefully buy some time with any other guards that came from that way. As for her and Lord Stark; they keep on running towards the secret passage, it was not far now.

However just when they were about to reach it Hinata had to turn around; Suzaku was already running towards her with sword in hand and no shield, he had probably gotten rid of it to gain more speed, and, worse yet, there were more than twenty guards behind him, including Barristan Selmy and two other Kingsguards.

She quickly called for a green land and two white and summoned another dire wolf that appeared in a flash of green light and immediately ran towards Suzaku. The Kingsguard, however, did not hesitate and in a quick move he called for the help of the Warrior of the Seven once more, his white aura making him faster and stronger.

With but a quick strike he killed the wolf before it could even reach him. Then with little pause he continued his charge.

Getting desperate, Hinata started to throw a series of shuriken against Suzaku but he blocked all that could have hit anything of significance.

Hinata tried not to panic. Suzaku was about to reach them and they could not lose another second with him or the other guards would reach them as well. She only had two more lands, one green and one white, and there was nothing in her range that she could use to do a Kawarimi. She had already called back the wolf from before but he would be able to arrive in time!

She needed something, anything! But she had less than a second to think of something and nothing to use!

So, with no option, she decided that she might as well trust her instincts.

She put herself into a Jyuuken stance and put as much chakra as she could into her right palm. When Suzaku was about to reach her she ran towards him and struck him in the chest.

And, in the last second, she put the entire energy of her last green land into her palm.

There was a loud noise of metal bending and bones cracking as Suzaku spat blood, his charge brutally interrupted. He had no time to think, however, since Hinata's strike, that had manage to bend his very armor, threw him flying in the opposite direction. He only stopped when he reached his fellow guards; some of which were knocked down by the impact.

Seeing the opportunity, Hinata sent the wolf that she had summoned early, who had finally returned, to go distract the guards and directed Lord Stark towards the secret passage after activating the secret mechanism in the three fake stones of the wall. Thanks to her eyes, Hinata knew that none of the guards had managed to pay attention to what specific stones she had pushed to open the passage; they were too busy dealing with the dire wolf that she had sent.

They were halfway through the passage when Ser Barristan managed to kill her summon. Suzaku had gotten up but he was still wounded and would probably stay that way until he managed to get out of his bent armor. The guards tried to open the passage but had no success.

When they finally managed to call the Master of Whispers to the dungeon and made him open the passage it was far too late: Hinata and Lord Stark had already escaped the Red Keep.

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Hinata knew that Lord Stark was a bit angry since she had disobeyed his orders and risked leaving Lady Arya and Lady Sansa alone. Since she had saved his life however he had apparently choose not to comment on it and only thanked her.

They spent the entire night traveling back to the cave were she had left Lady Arya and Lady Sansa. When the dawn came, Hinata was afraid that they would think that she was dead but they both had apparently chosen to disobey her and waited for a bit longer.

When Hinata and Lord Stark got close to the bear's cave encountered an… interesting scene.

Arya and Sansa were sitting together, the dire wolf Lady serving as support for their backs, and they were actually embracing each other and talking in a concerned but educated tone.

''After seeing wolves appearing out of nowhere and many other wonders of magic I did not think that I could be surprised by anything else. Alas, it seems that I was wrong.'' Lord Stark said in an amused tone of voice. Hinata had to laugh.

This exchange, however, managed to call the attention of the two Stark girls, who got up and ran towards their father, managing to knock him down into the grass then they pounced to hug him. They did not say anything for a while, however; the two girls just cried and hugged their father with all their strength.

''I thought that I would never see you again…'' Sansa said as tears ran down her face. ''When the morning came and you two were not back…''

''I know dear, I know…'' Lord Stark said while he too tried to hold back his tears. ''For a moment I too lost hope, but it's over now. I am here.''

Arya got up and embraced Hinata too. ''Thank you, Hinata.'' She said between sobs. ''Thank you for saving my father.''

Hinata put a hand on Arya's head, smiling as she did. Sansa too embraced and thanked her and in that moment her decision to go back and save Lord Stark seemed to her like one of the best decisions that she had ever taken. All the difficulties, the risks and the pain while fighting Suzaku were worth it if she could help this family that gave her so much.

Maybe for the first time in her life, the young Hyuuga Hinata felt victorious. She had had victories before, but it was mostly together with her team or against far weaker opponents. Even the victory at the melee, while significant, was not really a life-or-death fight like the one against Suzaku had been.

And, as Hinata felt tears of happiness also coming to her eyes, she found out that she really liked this feeling; the feeling of winning a battle that mattered.