Welcome to Gaia! ::

yes Im reading and awesome idea so far by the way ^^ 3nodding xd

Its Lord Shi >> <<

awesome chapters!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant wait for the next one! the wait was well worth it! 3nodding

Title: For the Love of My Friends
Chapter 19: Fated Mission Start
Rating: Mature [Contains the word "********" >.<]

The mission started out like any other mission. The only differences was that they met at the gate and Kakashi actually showed up only ten minutes late opposed to the regular hour long waits. It was with anxiety that they tried to calm the grouchy old bridge builder, who kept on threatening to take his money back.
Okay, Sakura was the only one worried. Sasuke wasn't a morning person and promptly announced that he did care where the old man 'shoved it' and Naruto seemed to like picking fights with him.

It was, to their great surprise, Naruto who got Tazuna to stop whining.

"Look, you can either wait here for our stupid teacher, or you can walk back to the Water Country without any protection." the blond finally snapped, knowing where to push the old man's buttons. Tazuna quieted, looking a little ill. Then Kakashi had arrived.

After talking with the gate keepers, they were on their way.

For the first hour that they had been walking, Naruto was a pain in the a**.

"Are we there yet? I'm bored. Why are we going so slow? Are we going to fight people? Are there any ramen stands in Water Country? Do you have any kids? What's up with your mask, anyway? It's really annoying. Sasuke, do you use hair gel? What's in your backpack, Sakura-chan? It looks really heavy.." and so on went his endless barrage of question, thrown randomly at the four other people he was traveling with. Kakashi was mostly patient and answered his questions vaguely. Tazuna told him to shut up and Sasuke just ignored him. Finally, the questions ceased coming when Sakura swung her backpack at his head, sending the blond flying into the bushes.

"..What is in your backpack?" Kakashi said in a slightly nervous voice. She gave him a look that told him to keep his mouth shut, even as she awkwardly maneuvered her backpack back to her back. It was clear to them, seeing how strained the muscles in her arms had become, that her backpack was extremely heavy.

Naruto crawled back to them, a large bump on his head. He wisely kept his mouth shut for the rest of the day.

They set up camp a little ways away from the border of Fire Country. Kakashi ordered Sakura and Sasuke to go find fire wood and for Naruto to go catch some fish. They nodded seriously and sped off, surprising Tazuna.

"So.. You can just order this kids around?" he asked Kakashi. He'd love to have a group of youngsters to order around, he supposed, as long as they weren't too whiny. I'd never have to lift a finger again.. The jonin smiled, clearing a space for the fire.

"I can't just order them around. They only listen when they feel like it." Kakashi said, lining the spot with rocks. "Even though they are shinobi, they are like every other teenager. Just a little more violent..."

Sasuke and Sakura came back twenty minutes later, carrying huge stacks of wood. Kakashi chuckled at them.

"You didn't have to bring so much..." Sakura blushed, realizing her nervousness over their first important mission had made her look over the amount of fire wood she had gathered. Sasuke was much quicker on his feet, coming up with an excuse that didn't make him look like a fool.

"I think we have just about enough." he stated calmly. "The idiot might accidentally put out the fire." Naruto stumbled into the clearing, his bulging vest hanging low between his knees.

"Who you callin' a idiot, b*****d!" he yelled. The blond had used his vest as a pouch to carry five very large salmon, but was having some difficulty carrying the heavy weight all the way back. Looks like we need some endurance training.. Kakashi thought.

Naruto handed the handmade pouch over to Tazuna, who immediately face faulted under the weight. Kakashi sweat dropped. Or maybe not.

Not seeming to notice the position he put Tazuna in, Naruto got right in Sasuke's face.

"Say it to my face, you a**!" he said in his squinty eyed fashion. Sasuke backed up a few feet, his hand going over his nose. Mistaking Sasuke's retreat as a forfeit, he laughed to himself. "Haha! So you so rightly fear the great Uzumaki, the next in line for Hokage!" He pulled his eyelid down, sticking out his tongue. Kakashi sweat dropped, wondering when his student had become another Gai.

"Naruto.." Sakura said, her expression mirroring Sasuke's. Naruto looked over, his pouty/angry expression turning into confusion. "You reek!"

Naruto frowned, grabbing some of the fabric off of his shoulder and sniffing. Okay, maybe I do smell a little fishy.. he thought. Then a wonderful idea came to mind.

"Haha!" he laughed, this time a little more maniacal. "Introduction of my latest kick a** jutsu! It's called..." a dramatic pause, "Smelly no jutsu!" While he waited for applause or some sort of Nobel Prize, Sasuke sent Sakura an accusing look.

"How hard did you hit him?" he asked incredulously. "That sounds almost as stupid as Sexy no jutsu!" Sakura waved her hands in front of her, as if she was trying to defend herself from Naruto's 'ingenious' jutsus.

"I didn't hit him that hard!" she exclaimed. "And I had no part in his creation of Sexy no jutsu!" Kakashi laughed silently. But of course not. Oh, what I wouldn't give for them to be just a little older.. she'd be so easy to tease..

"Na-ru-to!" Sakura yelled. "Take a bath right now!" He bowed easily to her wishes, not wanting her back pack to collide with his sore head again.

It only took two days for the pain that Team Seven had only glimpsed at to return in Naruto's eyes. His halfhearted attempts at acting like a moron slowed quickly and finally trickled to a stop.

Sakura thought it might have been the guilt he harbored from attacking his friends under the genjutsu. Although Sasuke's walk became steadier and steadier as the days passed, Naruto always winced at the pale scar on her bicep, a wound that he himself had inflicted. She held no negative feelings about it(after all, could Ino say that she had a scar from protecting Sasuke?) or towards him, but whenever she tried to approach him about it, he'd shy away.

Kakashi thought around the same lines, although he had a sneaking suspicion that the Kyuubi had something to do with it. When the demon held control over his student's body, the demon had been strangely calm, unlike the demon that had been hell bent on destroying Konoha. Kyuubi didn't act anything like how Kakashi thought he would act. And he could have sworn that when the demon mentioned Naruto, a spark of warmth appeared in his red eyes, a warmth that he would have never expected a demon to feel for a human.

Sasuke was sure that Naruto was feeling the pain of the loss of his friend, whoever that person was. He felt empathy for Naruto, even understood to an extent why Naruto was acting so moody. But he could not deny the emptiness in the conversations, in the walks, in everything, where Naruto would toss himself in like a raging tornado, with all of his energy and light. Sasuke found himself missing the old Naruto.

It was actually a bit of all three of them that was bothering Naruto. He was reminded of the pain he inflicted on his friends whenever he saw Sakura's scar, which lead him to think about the Kyuubi, how he would have never survived if it wasn't for him. Then the pain of utter loneliness would attack his heart.

Of course, as he didn't know Naruto all that well, Tazuna thought that Naruto finally got through his head how serious of a mission they were on. Even more serious than he himself had let on.

They were nearly halfway there when they came upon a familiar looking area.

Naruto was suddenly aware of someone watching them, a sixth sense he had developed in his future. When he tried to pinpoint it, it disappeared, leaving him slightly confused and angry.

Kakashi looked to the side, noticing a puddle of water. Strangely enough, he didn't recall it raining the night before, nor did he recall the area having very dewy mornings. Hmm..

That feeling, it came again. Running up and down his spine. Naruto knew it as well as he knew the back of his hand. They were being watched, hunted like a bunch of animals. It had been the same thing every day in the future. Waking up to that awful feeling of not being alone. He slowed his steps, stopping until he was right after Tazuna, but right before Kakashi. He knew what was to happen next. But should he warn Kakashi? Or should he stand there like he did last time, like an idiot who ended up getting hurt, instead there would be no Kyuubi to help him out this time around. With a flash of kunai, he thought, the fate of the world is decided.

Chains wrapped around Kakashi's form. The jonin faked a gasp, having already made an escape route. The two ninjas chuckled sinisterly, yanking hard on the chains, ripping him to pieces.

Naruto failed to gasp along with the others, knowing that Kakashi wouldn't be dumb enough to leave his back unguarded. He instinctively reached for his kunai, but stopped when a previous observation jumped to the front of his mind.

Pride was a double edged sword, something that Sasuke had fallen prey to. After his many defeats, of Lee, Gaara, the Sound nins, Naruto on the roof, and most importantly, his brother, his pride had deflated greatly. Angered at everyone and himself, he had thrown himself willingly at Orochimaru, what a sane person wouldn't do unless he was Sasuke at his lowest point of self esteem. By the time that he realized that the path he had chosen was the wrong one, it had been too late.

Sasuke.. he needs this. He needs this win. Naruto forced his hands to go lax by his side. He needs this small victory. Even at the cost of my own pride.

"Two down.." one of the Demon Brothers said softly. Using only pure reflex, Naruto twisted through the gap in the chains, freeing himself even as Sasuke started his assault on them. Naruto came to a stop on his knees, watching as Sasuke used their weapon as their weakness, pinning the chains to a tree. A small smirk appearing on his face, Sasuke stressed the chains with a taijutsu move, breaking the Demon Brothers' deadly weapon.

Driven to angry by their defeat to a mere genin, they ran to kill their main target, Tazuna. The bride builder drew back in fear. Sakura jumped in front of him, a kunai up in feeble defense. Realizing his mistake, Sasuke ran as fast as he could to her, sliding to a stop to act as their shield.

He needn't have worried.

Naruto forgot that he was supposed to be letting Sasuke boosting his ego. His rage was fueled and his mind blanked out when he saw the Demon Brothers go after the person he was supposed to be protecting and the girl he had once given his heart to. Even more so when he saw they were going after his rival.

He jumped in front of the Demon Brothers, hooking his arms around their necks.

He tried to stop them, but he was much smaller in comparison and ended up being half carried. Now thoroughly annoyed, he forcefully put his feet down, using chakra to glue his feet to the ground.

The Demon Brothers ended up being a lot stronger than they looked, his resistance only slowing them down slightly. Sweating, Naruto realized he couldn't allow them near his friends. He'd die before he'd put them in danger. I can't.. let this happen again!

Something warm and powerful started to pulse through his veins. He'd later misunderstand it as adrenaline, having never known it, only the Kyuubi and his instincts.

From his hiding spot, Kakashi observed in alarm when the blue chakra around Naruto's feet flashed red once.

The Demons Brothers were abruptly grounded to a halt. Cursing, one tried to claw at Naruto's back, only to end up clawing at his brother when the blond ducked.

A growl bubbling up in his throat, Naruto twisted to kick the Demon Brother that had attacked him, only to find that he and his brother was already flying back from another's attack. When they hit a rather large tree with a loud thump, Naruto turned to look at his ally

"Two to one is hardly fair, don't you think?" Sasuke said with a smirk. Naruto slowly smiled back.

"Let's do this." he said, standing up fully. The two genins ran at the Demon Brothers, the intent to hurt clearly on their minds.

Before they could make well on their promises, they were grabbed by the back of their clothes and lifted into the air.

"What the-" they both exclaimed, flailing in the air.

"It's really touching that you want to avenge me and all, but I assure you, it's not necessary." A voice rumbled quietly into their ears. They twisted until they could see the speaker. "Besides, they're already unconscious."

"You.. you're.. alive." Sasuke whispered, looking into Kakashi's eye. The jonin smiled, his eye curving.

"That was a brilliant observation, Sherlock!" he said, not being able to resist.

Sasuke immediately scowled, having not meant it like that. Naruto smiled at their interaction.

He had been envious and jealous of their relationship before. All he had seen was that the copy nin had both of his eyes focused solely on Sasuke, like everyone else he knew. He had been bitter about, even failing to realize his own self when one of the three Sannin singled him out as a perfect candidate for his tutelage(after much bribing and Sexy no jutsus later). But he was not that person any more. Kakashi had once taken him aside and told him his reasons for neglecting him and Sakura, only teaching Sasuke. He felt he had a duty to Obito, who Naruto learned to be his old, dead team mate, to pass on the sharingan's secrets to the only eligible heir. It hadn't been anything personal.

Now, he could watch them in peace without seeing green. Kakashi had developed a habit of annoying Sasuke whenever possible, something that had slipped byNaruto's gaze before. And he loved it.

"A-are you s-sure that they're unconscious?" Tazuna asked in a slightly trembling voice. Kakashi seemed to remember that they were on a mission, letting Naruto and Sasuke go. Everything aside.. Kakashi thought. My team, although performing admirably, should not have been exposed to realninjas yet. So why were we attacked? He had a feeling that the ninjas wouldn't talk, and he didn't have enough time to interrogate them properly. He had only one other source of information to go one. Tazuna.

Sakura walked up the ninjas, a move that made Tazuna's mouth drop down to the ground, for he was a father, a father who would have never allowed his daughter so close to that kind of danger. She kicked one of them, confirming that they were indeed unconscious when he only moaned.

Sighing, Kakashi tossed her some rope. "Tie them to the tree. Hunter nins should be able to pick them up." he muttered, his attention already focused on the increasingly nervous Tazuna.

"You." Kakashi's voice was no longer light and carefree. "Explain. Now." Tazuna tried to look innocent.

"What do you mean?" he said, his eyes focusing on anything but the team assigned to him.

"You are not a very good liar, Tazuna-san." the jonin said stiffly. "My team has exceeded my acceptations on how to act when a surprise attack arises, but that does not mean that they are eligible for B or A class missions. You've put my students in grave danger, and I'd like to know why."

Breaking down, Tazuna told them his story. How the greedy business man Gatou was very close in his pursuit of taking over Water Country, and how the bridge he was building was the only obstacle in the way of his dream.

"The Water Country is very poor. Even with all of our money pooled together, we could only afford a C class request. That is why I deceived you all." he bowed, his head hung in shame. "But, you see, I had to. I have a grandson. I don't want him to grow up in a country ruled by greedy and evil people like Gatou."

Kakashi ran a hand over his face. "As sad as your story is, my team isn't strong enough to hold off an army, so I'm afraid we have to go back to Konoha." he murmured.

"I.. understand." Tazuna mumbled, his shoulders slumping. What am I to do now? he thought.

"I don't." Naruto snapped. Kakashi looked over at him, wondering why he sounded so annoyed. "We told the old fart we'd take his mission and at the first sign of danger, we run away? What kind of ninjas would we be if we just abandon him? Could we ever be allowed to take another mission again?" He had never backed down from a mission, and he wasn't planning on starting now, especially with one so important. Not even the threat of Kyuubi not being there to save his a** could make him back down.

"A ninja has the right to decline a mission, Naruto.." Kakashi tried to say as patiently as possible, "we won't lose rank if we say no." A meaningless death over an impossible mission.. if only this rule was instated a decade ago. Obito might have lived for another year.

"That's not what he's saying." Sasuke muttered. "Not 'would we', 'could we'." Naruto nodded, looking far too serious, opposed to his normally bouncy self.

Sakura tied a triple knot, then stood next to Sasuke and Naruto, physically showing that she was siding with them. "Could we hold our heads up high as ninjas if we walked away as cowards?" she said. Sakura put her hand on her hip. She had gone too far to be done yet. She had gotten used to the rather rough lifestyle of a ninja moving from place to place, and she knew the only she was going to get stronger was if she was thrown out of her safety net. Sakura wasn't about to give up on herself.

"'Those who walk away live for another day.'" quoted Kakashi stubbornly. They don't know what they're getting into. Even for jonins, this is a risky business. The ever dreaded politics might dictate us signing a contract with this Gatou in the future. IF he takes over Water Country, that is.

"Ninjas die everyday, Kakashi-sensei. We're gonna die someday too, either in our line of work, or by old age." she countered just as stubbornly, stomping her foot for extra emphasis.

"You people, you, Iruka-sensei, even the 'Kage, can only guide us so far in our life. In the end, we make our own choices. We make our own paths. Either our choices are good, or they're bad, but they're still our choices. That's the beauty of free will." Naruto said in a rather blunt way.

"I think everyone will agree with me then.." Sakura shared a look with Sasuke and Naruto. They both nodded. "We'd like to stay with Tazuna-san and provide him with protection." They formed a wall of rebellion, clearly stating with body language that even if he had the power to forbid them, they would ignore him to go on with their mission.

Oh, who am I kidding. Kakashi thought. Even if the right to decline had been a choice a decade ago, Obito would refuse to back down, just like them.

"It's our mission." Sasuke pointed to his forehead. "We became adults when we got this forehead protectors. From now on, we make our own choices." And I, for one, refuse to be treated like a child in an adult's line of work. he added silently. If I cannot get past this one mission, than what right do I have to kill Itachi?

These kids.. Tazuna thought, greatly humbled, I owe my life to these kids.. no, these adults.

"You realize that they are not the only ninjas Gatou must have hired? And probably not the strongest?" attempted Kakashi one last time, realizing that every word that they were saying was correct. Stubborn kids.. they're going to get killed before their time. Even as he grumbled in his mind, he couldn't help but smile. It was times like these that reminded him of his old team.

"So what? We'll kick all the weak guys' asses, you kick all the strong guys'. Aren't you supposed to be an elite ninja? Or are you chicken?" Naruto said, the corner of his mouth twitching up at the end. Kakashi's eye twitched at the obvious barb. Elite I may be, Naruto, but immortal I am not.

"Alright, alright. Just don't come whining to me when the going gets tough." Kakashi mumbled. Team Seven celebrated their small victory, stopping only when the jonin reminded them that they needed to get going if they were to continue.

They made camp once more when the sun dipped below the horizon. The ninjas, of course, felt as if they could go quite a bit longer, but Tazuna was an old man. He couldn't keep up with them, turning what would have been a two day journey to Water Country, ninja style, into a two week walk.

"I'm never getting married." Kakashi announced when his students had left to do their duties. Tazuna looked up from unrolling his bed.

"Why not?" he asked the younger man, clearly confused.

"Because I'll have children." the jonin muttered. "I must have aged ten years in barely a month with those kids. Look at all of this gray hair."

Tazuna laughed. "I'll bet."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back in Konoha, things were not as well as they seemed. At least, so Ino thought, sitting on her bed, a kunai clutched to her chest. Just calm down. she said, giving herself a mental pep talk. It's not real it not real..
The mantra did nothing to soothe her, as she kept on glaring at the suspicious shadow lurking in the corner of her room.

"You think I can't see you, you eyebrow less freak.." Ino whispered, letting her kunai sail in the direction of the shadow. "Hah!"

Her prey did nothing, even when she kicked her legs out of bed and ran over to see how much damage she had done. The so called missing nin in her bedroom had been merely her robe lying over her desk chair.

Ino rubbed her temples. "Just a dream.. no, a nightmare! To think I thought I was big forehead girl for a second..." Ino laughed in a fake laugh. Catching the sight of herself in the mirror, she sighed.

"Oh, who am I kidding? I'm scared shitless.. for her more than myself.." Ino slipped on her comfy slippers and sat down on her chair, remembering to pull out the kunai. The dream had been awful. Not in the sense because she had seen it from Sakura's point of view, but from what she had seen in it. The way she had experienced it was much like the way she felt when she possessed someone, but instead of piloting the borrowed body, she was instead just a spectator, seeing through someone else's eyes. The thoughts, feelings, sights, and smells, they all had been so real, felt so real to her.

She remembered trailing after Naruto, even feeling some affection toward him when he turned around to smile at her. Something along the lines of not having seen his smile in the last few days ran through her mind. Sasuke walked next to her, something that would have thrilled her, the real her, but had Sakura feeling a little shy.

An older man talked enthusiastically behind her, the lower tones of her teacher mingling once in a while. Ino remembered feeling a sense of accomplishment when she turned to Sasuke and said "We got Tazuna-san to Water Country unharmed!". Sasuke looked over and smiled (actually smiled! Ino would have fainted if it hadn't been a dream.).

Naruto had suddenly stiffened and come to a stop, causing her to run into him. A brief flash of annoyance had gone through her (too less of anger, Ino thought. If Naruto had ruined her time with Sasuke, she would have killed him), before worry worked itself to the front of her mind.

She had grabbed the back of his shirt, noting that the vest was black instead of the orange jacket Ino was used to. "What's wrong Naruto?"

The blond silently raised his hand, pointing a finger at something he saw. "A lake.." he muttered. The blond looked so shocked at the sight of it. While Ino repeatedly called him a idiot in her head for being surprised at such a normal appearance, Sakura tried to shake him out of it. When she did, he stiffened, yanking both her and Sasuke down to the ground.

They had almost got their heads cut off by a huge blade.

Then from then on, everything got a little blurry and very much confusing. Flashes of Sakura's teacher and a partially dressed man fighting, Naruto and Sasuke jumping in to help while she stood guard over the old man, flew past her eyes.

Then a scene that she would never forget for the rest of her life. Naruto got stabbed through the stomach with a large shuriken that Sasuke had thrown before. He fell into the water, turning the once blue liquid into a dark red. Nearly screaming in anger, Sasuke charged the man, who casually had Sakura's teacher in some sort of water prison. The eyebrow less man grabbed Sasuke by the throat and started to squeeze.

She, despite Sakura's teacher's yells to run and even Sasuke's insistent yells that she get away, ran toward them with a kunai in each hand, gliding neatly on the surface of the water.

Then the scenes blurred and flashed again. Somehow, Sakura's teacher had gotten free and was fighting again. Sasuke was holding her as she cried for Naruto, still floating on the surface of the red lake. Sakura's teacher was knocked back by the use of the same water technique in a row, then the eyebrow less ninja ran at her and Sasuke, his blade back in his hand, his eyes thirsty for revenge.

Their enemy had swung his blade at them too fast for her to see. The last thing she remembered seeing was red.

Ino hugged her knees to her chest. A dream that was way too real for my tastes.. what could it mean? Am I just getting overly worried and paranoid about Sakura? Or is it a vision? She immediately waved it off. Nah, I don't have those sort of powers. Auntie does, but all I can do is possess people, just like Dad. Totally writing it off as a nightmare did nothing to soothe her rattled nerves. More than once, she considered going into her parents' room to sleep with them, like how she did when she had nightmares at an earlier age.

Pride threw that option out the window. If I do that, Dad'll laugh at me!
Breathing exercises didn't work. Listening to music only made her more paranoid. Even the mindless actions of combing her hair did nothing for her. It was four in the morning.

"Dammit! That's it! I'm taking a walk!" Ino got up, dressing in her normal outfit plus a jacket. She put on full ninja gear, just in case, even taking her exit by window to not bother her parents. She jumped down to the street, instinctively turning to the left. Ino started walking.

She was starting to question her sanity as the walk wasn't doing anything to calm her down at all, when an Anbu appeared on the roof ahead of her. The nameless, faceless protector of the sleeping village stared at her.

"Can't a girl take a walk!" she snapped at him/her/it. The Anbu stared at her for a second longer, lifting it's shoulders in a slight shrug before disappearing into the darkness.

Puzzling over the Anbu kept her occupied until she had reached the part of the village where houses were more spread apart from each other, either farms or stables taking up space. Realizing that this place looked vaguely familiar, she walked up to one of the houses in a vain attempt to make out the nameplate. A shadowy figure by the fence made her stiffened.

She reached into her kunai pouch, her fingers running over the worn handles when she saw that the figure was too oddly shaped to be the eyebrow less villain of her nightmare. After all, he didn't have four legs.

Ino walked up to it, her steps becoming more confident when she saw it was just an animal. A doe actually.

She pet the docile animal. "You up at this crazy hour too, huh?" The doe looked at her with amber eyes, butting her head lightly against Ino's shoulder. "Yeah yeah. I know. I'm a fool.." It took her two more strokes of the deer's fine fur to realize whose house she was near.

Ino's face soured. "Nara Shikamaru." The lazy bum of her team. The bane of her existence. Her father's drinking buddy's son. The list could go on and on.

Either he was annoying her by not committing to anything, or by his vast differences compared to Sasuke. Sure, after she had ranted for a few hours about his faults, she'd mention he wasn't too bad of a friend, that he had an interesting, snarky sense of humor that she liked, and he was extremely loyal, but they hadn't been on the best of terms for the last week.

Hence the revival of their feuds and the temporary death of their understanding in each other.

Ino looked around, half expecting him to pop up out of nowhere, accuse her of trying to do something stupid. Or worse, him use his shadow bind on her, him being fully aware of her hatred of being immobilized.

When nothing but the doe moved, she decided that Shikamaru needed a wake up call. Giggling devilishly, she climbed over the fence, running all the way to the back of the property where the house was. She knew exactly what window was Shikamaru's, having been to the Nara house once before.

Annoyed that his room was on the second story, she started to climb the bougainvillea growing up the side of the house. I bet he sleeps with a teddy bear.. or wears silly pjs.. Ino grinned at all the stuff she could blackmail him for. Hmm.. I think him being my faithful servant for a month should do..

Ino silently lifted open the window, sliding with feline like grace into the room. She sat in the corner, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when Ino comes for you? Bad Shika Bad Shika.. she mentally sang in her mind.

When they finally adjusted, she saw Shikamaru. She would have said she was disappointed, but the sudden rush of emotions that flooded her when she gazed at him constricted her throat. There was no teddy bear, no embarrassing pajamas, no nothing. It was a regular guy's room, a little messier because of the inhabitant's laziness.

Shikamaru slept the way most people do, half of the blankets kicked off, using an arm as a pillow even though there was a perfectly good one lying not two inches away from his head. A white shirt and gray sweats were all he wore for pajamas. He also had his hair down, the first time Ino had ever seen it that way.

Shikamaru and his room were just so normal. She couldn't explain why she felt so touched. A calmness had over taken her the second she had crawled in, making her wonder if that feeling was really the reason why she had pulled herself out of bed, had went left instead of right, had cut her hands in the bush to get into this room. All thoughts of blackmail flew out of her mind.

Damn you Shika.. she thought, Must you affect me so?

Ino didn't know how long she had sat in that corner, staring at Shikamaru's perfectly relaxed face, but when her eyes shifted toward his alarm clock and the red numbers had flashed 4:39 at her, she stood. I should go..

Ino rubbed feeling back into her numb legs and went back to the open window. She put her hand on the sill and chanced a look back at Shikamaru, just one last time.

Only to see he was wide awake and looking right back at her. She barely held back a scream. Frozen in place, she could only stare into his brown eyes. Finally he spoke.

"Close the window. It's cold." she started to climb out. "No, with you in here." Ino pulled herself back in, regretting having come in the first place. He'd probably use it as blackmail, make her do whatever he wanted for the rest of her life! Ino was not accustomed to the life of a servant, dammit, she was a ninja!

"No one will ever believe you.." she started to babble. "They'll just think you're a weird guy having warped fantasies about pretty girls like-" A familiar sensation over came her, like water trickling over her, as a strong form of his shadow imitation clamped her mouth shut. Ino glared at him as he sat up and stretched, wondering why she wasn't mimicking his actions. Shikamaru answered her question.

"This is a stronger form of my family's jutsu. What you remember is my shadow imitation. This is a shadow bind." He sat Indian style on the bed, draping his blanket over his shoulders to ward off the cold. "Perfect for shutting up troublesome women." If looks could kill, Shikamaru would have been a pile of ashes under the force of her glare.

He let up the jutsu. "Why are you here?" he asked. "I was going to let you get out of my room without any consequences, even when you woke me up and made me cold, but you stayed here too long. It's your fault that you piqued my curiosity."

Ino seethed. "It's none of your business." she snapped. Shikamaru rested one elbow on his knee, supporting his chin on his hand.

"Really? I dunno if that's a true statement.. After all, you broke into my room at an ungodly hour and continued to just stare at me for, say twenty, twenty-five minutes. I think I have the right to question you thoroughly." he said flatly.

"So the cold woke you up? A real ninja should be able to take the slightest bit of temperature change!" she tried to twist it around on him. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"A real ninja should also be able to wake up when an unknown person is snooping around his room." he said. Ino started to sputter, denying any snooping that she did. "Besides, it wasn't the cold that woke me up. It was the scent of blood." Shikamaru glanced meaningfully to her scratched up hands.

Ino blushed, hiding them from view. She knew he wouldn't let up until he had an answer, and if she tried to escape, he'd send his shadow right after to her haul her back into his room. She bowed to her fate.

"I.." the words were hard to form. If it hurt her pride to tell her parents that she was having nightmares and in desperate need for comfort, telling Shikamaru would brutally massacred it and dump it into the bottom of the ocean. Ino continued in a much softer voice. "I had a nightmare.. and I was really scared. I don't really know why I'm here.. my feet just led me." She couldn't look at Shikamaru, thinking that he was probably gloating over the material he had to hold over her. But she looked anyway.

He had a deeply introspective look on his face, his eyes slightly glazed over. Then they focused on her sharply. "I suppose.." he rubbed the back of his neck in an embarrassed way, mumbling troublesome. "I suppose people talk out their nightmares to get over it. Share the burden with someone else so it doesn't bother them as much." When Ino stared at him in utter surprise, he sighed, patting the spot next to him.

"Get over here." Stiff kneed, she walked over and sat down next to him. He threw part of his blanket over her shoulders, mumbling something about it being cold. Why am I so embarrassed? It's just Shikamaru..

Ino curled her feet underneath her body, trying to instill some of her old self into her words. "Tell anyone about this, Shika, and I'll kill you." Surprised that she actually accepted his gift of a listening ear, he turned slightly so he was facing her. His knee bumped hers.

Ino swallowed, the previous fear of her nightmare appearing in one fell swoop. Her hands began to fidget. "Alright, here's how it goes. Some of it's clear, some of it's blurry, but one thing that I know is true is that I thought I was Sakura.." Even as she started her tale, she thought how nice it was to have Shikamaru as a friend once more.

yeah! it was sweet! ^ ^ shikamaru you sly little fox..
and i can tell that this is going to be a pretty long story, if you are only this far with it!Oo

XD wowza.. tats alots...

Title: For the Love of My Friends
Chapter 20: Eyes of the Beholder
Rating: Mature

"Shikamaru dear! It's time for breakfast!" The shadow user's eyes snapped open, an excuse already forming on his lips. His mother, however, didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. She smiled at him, having no reason to be angry at him that morning, a miracle in itself. Besides, his hair looked too goofy in the morning to stay mad for long. Especially that morning, for some reason. "Hurry up before it gets cold."
He let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding, his eyes focusing on a strange blue pillow (he could have sworn it was not his) for a moment. Now, why am I so antsy this morning? He pulled his legs out from under the blankets, stretching out his back. Shikamaru nearly had a heart attack when the pretty pillow on his bed burst into smoke.

"..Really, I'm so glad your mom isn't a ninja." a girl muttered. Shikamaru blinked at her, then reached up to feel the temperature of his forehead. The last time he checked, girls magically appearing on his bed was not part of his usual agenda.

Especially if those girls looked just like Ino. I must be seeing things..

'Ino' bounced off of his bed, seeming to be in very high spirits. She started fiddling with the various trinkets lying around his room, somehow finding a home there by either his mother's forcefulness, or his father's laziness. It took a moment or two of just staring at her, but Shikamaru finally remembered why she was in his room.

Somehow, Ino sneaking into his room late at night seemed too much like a dream to be real.

He rubbed his temples, reliving the disturbed feelings he had after she had finished her story. She said.. gliding on water. Walking on water, maybe? With chakra? It's pretty advanced. No way that Ino could have know enough about that to think about it in her subconscious.. Shikamaru sat cross legged on the bed, his fingertips touching together in his thinking pose. Crooked forehead protector, of the hidden mist, huge sword.. Sounds a little familiar, although I can't remember why. He skirted around that thought when he could gain no more understanding from it.

Naruto.. dying. Ino has barely spoken three words to Naruto, much less gotten to know him well enough to want him dead. Sakura and Sasuke.. an unsure future, although all signs point to their demise in her dream. Shikamaru's brain hurt. Trying to find symbolism was hard. Trying to prove that a dream was merely the subconscious acting out its thoughts was even harder, especially with a Yamanaka. He was very well aware of the psychic capabilities of the Yamanaka Clan,her fatherhaving a very loose tongue when he was drunk. Shikamaru thought it was very possible that Ino could see the future. Or at least have the potential to.

Finding out some of your friends are going to die is a very crappy way to learn that you're a Seer, he supposed. That was his main motive for finding some sort of clue in her dream that pointed it out as being fiction, not facts. He'd hate for his fellow genin to die.

Ino's thoughts were as far away from her dream as possible. She had decided, after she had woken up, that it was just her nerves playing with her. Sakura's teacher was some kind of elite genius ninja, after all. No way that the guy would any of his students die, let alone fight an incredibly strong fighter, no matter who they were. Or so she hoped.

Of course, her thoughts had not been on her dream when she had woken up, but rather on the very comfortable pillow she had been snuggled against. A very comfy Shikamaru shaped pillow.

After she realized it was very very wrong to be sleeping on the bane of her existence and even liking it, she had jumped off the bed away from him like a cat touched with a hot iron. Ino was shocked, embarrassed, and even a little guilty (she had pledged her heart to Sasuke, after all.), and was about to beat Shikamaru black and blue to make him keep quiet when she realized he was still sleeping. For real.

For once he was saved by his laziness. But his hair, the reason for his mother's amusement, had been subjected to Ino's boredom.

Shikamaru stretched again, deciding to leave the mystery of Ino's.. whatever it was for later. He slid open his closet, taking the first clothes he could grab. Yawning, he ran his free hand through his hair, only to get it caught in something. Tugging, he managed to free his fingers. Shikamaru glanced in the small mirror on his wall(courtesy of his mother). His normally plain looking, shoulder length hair was tied back in dozens of small ponytails and braids. Ino giggled in the background when she saw the pained look on Shikamaru's face.

He sighed. "And you wonder why people say you should wear a bell around your neck.."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They packed up camp and moved out. According to Kakashi, they were making very good time. Tazuna had revealed a shortcut that even the jonin hadn't known about, shaving at least five days off of their journey.
It only took about five seconds for Kakashi to realize that their team morale was dangerously low.

It could have been when Naruto flung a fresh fish at Sasuke after an extremely biting comment about the blond's stealth skills. Or maybe it was when Sakura avenged Sasuke by knocking Naruto over the head with her sack again. But many events like that had happened in the few hours that they had been on the move.

Sasuke would snap at Naruto, Naruto would snap back, Sakura would defend Sasuke. Then Sasuke would snap at Sakura because he didn't want to be defended, Sakura would be sad, then Naruto would go at Sasuke with triple the force, defending Sakura. Sakura would yell at him, not wanting to be defended either, then Naruto would leave for sometime, the longest absence being about half of an hour. Then he'd return and the snapping fest would start again. Tazuna had run out of aspirin and was seriously considering knocking Naruto and Sasuke out for an hour of peace and quiet.

Kakashi, using his ultimate 'look underneath the underneath' skill, figured out the problem. It was Naruto.

The mood the blond was in always decided the mood of the team, for some bizarre reason. If he was happy, then the team was as close to happy as they could be. If he was sad, so was the team.

The jonin had a feeling that Naruto was sad, guilty, and a little bit angry, creating a mass domino effect on the moods of his team mates.

"If you weren't such a cold b*****d with an ego to fill the Hyuuga mansion, I wouldn't have any trouble with you!" Naruto growled, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. Sasuke scowled at him.

"Stop trying to cause trouble, Naruto!" Sakura piped up, swiping at the blond's head. Sasuke ignored her.

"If you'd stop walking around like a kicked puppy, I wouldn't have any problem with you either." the darker ninja said coldly. Tazuna shook his head, having given up on making them be quiet about an hour ago. Naruto opened his mouth to object. Sasuke stopped, pivoting on his foot. He punched Naruto in the face. Sakura yelped, having not expected their fight to become physical.

Kakashi took a step forward, privately surprised that Naruto had only slid a foot back, despite all the force that Sasuke had thrown into it. He was stopped by Sasuke's next words.

"It's not your fault! None of it!" the normally quiet boy roared. "Not the genjutsu, not my back, not the betrayal, or the loss of your friend!" He grabbed Naruto by the front of his black vest. His voice lowered. "Stop walking around in a bad mood because you can't control everything. Stop acting like a b*****d because things went out of your hands. Life isn't fair, and you're loved ones are going to die eventually. Get used to it."

Naruto leaned slightly forward, his teeth bared in a silent snarl. Brat! I went through ten more years of life and death! How dare he talk to me like that!

"Hypocrite." he hissed out loud. He griped Sasuke's wrist, forcefully tugged it away. "You let your clan's death plague you. ********, your dream.. or how did you put it.. your 'ambition' has everything to do about your past.. and Itachi." Sasuke's eyes widened. He didn't remember telling anyone his brother's name. "Don't dictate to me how to live my life or I really will cripple you."

The two glared at each other, hatred burning in their eyes. It was not hatred of each other that kept them at each other's throats, rather that they had to be reminded of their pain so publicly. Sakura looked at Sasuke, then at Naruto. If this gets any worse.. I might actually need the things in my sack..

Sasuke looked away first, a nearly inaudible 'hn' accompanying his retreat.

Naruto relaxed his stance, taking a second to glance back at Kakashi. "I'm going to scout ahead." he said in a flat voice. What his eyes said was very different: I'm leaving to stop from killing one or more of you, and if you try to stop me, I'll burn your book.

Despite the obvious threat, the jonin had his duties to his team, as much of a pain they were.

"Wait." Kakashi said, sliding his book back into his pocket. "I'll go with you." He turned to the other three. "Stay safe and keep alert." They nodded.

After making sure that they had all of the necessary supplies to defend against an attack, he went after Naruto. The blond kept them at a brisk pace, at least twice the speed Kakashi would have had them at, had he been in the lead. Naruto finally stopped when they were at least a half of a mile away from the others, well out of hearing range. Kakashi jumped on the branch above him to keep from crashing into him after his abrupt stop.

"What do you want." Naruto muttered, knowing that the jonin didn't accompany him for the sake of good company. For he, the demon scum of Konoha, was anything but good company, right?

"The team's morale is low.." Kakashi said vaguely. Naruto suppressed rolling his eyes, the soreness of his cheek still plaguing him. b*****d.. What right do he have to punch me.. Stupid low life. Naruto grumbled silently to himself, no real heat behind his words. Sasuke would have to work very hard if he wanted Naruto to hate him. A chidori to the lung and a betrayal later, Naruto still viewed the angsty a** like a brother.

"No s**t." he snapped.

Kakashi sighed. "And I think it's because of you." Naruto acted accordingly.

"But of course.. It's always my fault about everything, isn't it." he said venomously. And worse, he even believed it. He stared at his hands. "Everyone gets hurt because of me."

"Naruto.." the jonin muttered. "This isn't about your rivalry with Sasuke.. or even the genjutsu to an extent, is it?" Naruto didn't answer, the only respond to his questions was a slight stiffening of the Kyuubi host's shoulders. Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest. So he was right.

Naruto twitched and stayed silent. Why can't I tell him? I told Sasuke.. Kakashi would probably understand it better. But Sasuke had been a rival, a friend, a brother. Sasuke had been a person he looked up to, but in the end, they had been equals. Kakashi, in Naruto's mind, was still up on a pedestal. Naruto didn't want Kakashi to know anything about him that would make him be looked down upon. In his eyes, Kakashi was one of the few people that Naruto had been able to call a precious person, Kyuubi or no Kyuubi, one of the few adults who refused to dehumanize him with insults and hate.

Unaware of Naruto's thoughts, Kakashi shifted slightly on the branch, Sasuke's words still ringing in his head. "Who died, Naruto?" he finally asked. Naruto sighed. I have to tell him. He won't let me off the hook otherwise..

"You know.. the thing that whats-his-face used on Sasuke, right? That he used on you and me too?" Naruto asked in a small voice. Kakashi nodded, the transformation that he and the two boys went through wasn't something he'd forget so easily. "You know how it acted so screwy with me because of the Kyuubi." He nodded again.

The Kyuubi hadn't been anything like he expected. The demon seemed more worried about Naruto than anything else, a worry that seemed to be more than what a demon would have about his cage.

"Well, another personality was created inside of me, one equal to my strengths. Kyuubi couldn't do anything to help. I destroyed the genjutsu by using some of my life energy." Kakashi bit his lip. That had easily been the most terrifying day of his life.

Naruto had been slipping in and out of a death like coma. No one at the hospital wanted to help, and even the ones he had threatened into helping his student had neglected him. He had only limited experience with unbalanced life energy, of which he knew lead to the death of it's wielder. It was like losing Obito all over again.

If Shizune hadn't shown up, he doubted that Naruto would have survived. But even the skilled medic nin said that there was something that kept Naruto clinging to life, some thing went way out of her expertise. She said it might had just been the Kyuubi.

"Which reminds me. Never do that again." Kakashi said flatly. A ghost of a smile appeared on Naruto's face.

"Anyway, it was Kyuubi who kept me alive. And.. and.." the smile faltered, then completely diminished. Naruto's gaze dropped down to the ground. "And he.. saved me.. at the expense of his own life." Saved me from my stupidity, once again! Damn you, you dumb fox! I don't want to live if you're not here to b***h at me!

He barely noticed when Kakashi jumped down to his branch. The jonin dropped down to a knee to look him in the eyes. He did notice when the jonin hummed lightly in his throat, as if trying to mentally word what he was about to say next.

"I.. am pretty sure you're mistaken." Kakashi finally murmured. Naruto looked back up quickly, fury instantly burning in his expressive eyes.

"Don't assume you know everything!" he shouted, jumping back a step from his teacher. "I know him the best! I have a connection with him! And guess what! His energy has just gone and disappeared and-" Kakashi held up a hand for silence. Habit won over anger, his mouth shutting almost immediately. If the topic hadn't been so serious, Kakashi would have been bewildered that a simple hand gesture could make the ever talkative blond shut up. Years training as an Anbu and many years more fighting in the war had honed his body and mind in a way that even Tsunade couldn't completely explain. He couldn't talk, even if he wanted to, when that hand gesture was used.

"I have reasons for my conclusion. Let me tell you them before you decide to roast me over a fire." Kakashi tried to make his voice sound light, but knew it failed to cheer Naruto up when the genin took a stance and glared at him. Kakashi might have not minded so much if it wasn't the look in Naruto's eyes. They were dim, flat, dull. Even lifeless. He was going through the motions of living, but wasn't really there. Kakashi knew the look. It graced the face of every person who had every lost a person close to them. It would dim over time, but the pain would still be there. It was really a show of Naruto's character for him to be so saddened over the death of a demon that everyone hated and feared. And a show of Kyuubi's character too, for the demon had been someone that Naruto needed in the rough times in his life, which had endeared him to the blond. The jonin sighed, running a hand over his face. He didn't notice that Naruto had relaxed when he brought his hand down.

"When you were.. well, not really fighting, but defiantly involved with the fight against those two ninjas back there," he began, "your first attempts were futile. They, as chuunins, were stronger and faster than you. Using chakra to glue your feet to the ground or not(which reminds me, neither I nor Iruka has taught you that yet, and although it is very interesting that you know how to do it and how to do it right, it is a topic for another time), they had momentum and strength to still move you. You were desperate. I could see it in your eyes." Kakashi smiled. At the time, it had been slightly terrifying for him, to see a look like that on Naruto's face. Such desperation shouldn't have been on the face of the kid who often said he could do anything. But it was born of the love he had for his friends, which what made him happy.

"Something must of hit the breaking point inside of you because.. for just a spilt second.. your chakra was red." Naruto's eyes widened and a small hopeful gleam lit up the blue depths. "The red chakra, of which I was assuming is your, uh, friend's(no human's chakra is red, after all), was much stronger than your own and managed to stop them in their tracks."

The small bubble of hope building up in his chest was smothered by doubt. "That could have been left over chakra.." Naruto said sullenly. Kakashi flicked his head. "Ow!"

"Not finished yet." the jonin said, his eye curving as he smiled. "And onto observation number two. When a body dies, what state of being is he in?" Naruto scowled, sure that Kakashi was just playing with him.

"He's dead, you dumb a**! Everyone knows that!" When Kakashi gave him a silly 'there's your answer!' look, he growled deep in his throat. "What the hell does that have to do with the fox?"

The jonin tsked, a mockingly sad look on his face. "Really, have I taught you nothing? Underneath the underneath!" Naruto continued to give Kakashi an angry look. He merely sighed.

"To 'die' is to part with one's physical body. A soul, a self sustaining energy source, is truly immortal." he said as if it was the simplest thing. Kakashi then became more serious. "What you don't understand, Naruto, is that the Kyuubi couldn't have died when that genjutsu was used. Because he died twelve years ago."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silence was often misunderstood, Shino thought. People who live in a city say it's silent when the idiots next door stop blaring their radio, when it really is not. There's the sounds of cars, of alarms, of a baby crying in the distance. 'Silence' even in a forest isn't truly silence at all. The bees will buzz. The leaves will make their music when a gust of wind hits them.

He kept his hands in his pockets, a habit formed when a girl screamed at the small flaps of skin(to allow his bugs passage out of his body) on his wrists, quite a few years ago. She was defiantly not silent.
The boy, a man he would be considered since he was of the ninja world, kept at his steady pace. He knew he would reach his destination. All was well and good about speed, but what one really needed was patience. What so many of the people Shino's age were lacking.

The silence of a person.. that too is often misunderstood. he thought. Just because one does not speak, it does not mean that they are stupid. Just because one does not voice their complaints does not mean all is well in their life.

He had noticed the rapid withdrawal of his only female team mate and friend. One of the few people who would come up to him without glancing around to make sure none of his 'icky' bugs were crawling around. Hinata was generally a quiet person, something that almost made them kin. However, she was much more friendly to people than he was, so when her mood had changed, he had noticed. Not very many others did. Quiet people were generally over looked in the scheme of things.

He was considered a very quiet person himself. Because he was known for not talking, many had written him off as weird.

Maybe he was weird. Being a living host of thousands of bugs was bound to latch that description to his name. But wasn't everyone weird?

Normalcy, beauty, perfection.. all these things that people judge each other by.. they are all in the eye of the beholder. Because the beholder does not understand what his eyes cannot see, we who do not fit his ideas of perfection are often outcasted.

Outcasted in the village with the highest percent of blood limit clans. How sad their fate was.

Shino found himself not caring much for fate. What he was caring about, and very much in comparison to fate, was the well being of Hinata.

As a Hyuuga, Hinata was immediately isolated from everyone else. She was naturally a very timid and kind girl, a girl who would rather grind up herbs to heal a person than to inflict the wounds that would make that person need to seek medical attention. However, the Hyuugas were warriors, not healers.

As most of the people in her life were constantly obsessed with being strong and harming an enemy, Hinata didn't have a mentor in her family that could bring out the strength in her. She was often referred to as weak and shoved aside. But she persevered. Because she did have someone she admired, someone that she wanted to show that she was strong to. Someone that would praise her for her strengths and accept her weaknesses.

It had taken her hero to stand up to Hinata's fearsome cousin for Shino to believe it, but Hinata's hero was none other that Uzumaki Naruto, the number one dead last and trouble maker of the village, in every single way, an opposite to Hinata. During those few moments in time, Shino had seen a completely different side of Naruto, one that Hinata had been able to pick out through the layers of pranks, insults, and coarse language.

Silence must be in the eyes of the beholder as well. Although that one is louder than even Kiba, he is silent as well. For he wears noise and silliness as a mask and keeps his true feelings locked within. The Naruto an ignorant person sees is an idiot, but the real Naruto that Hinata, and now myself, see is almost as silent as a mute.

Shino did not doubt that Naruto's absence was one of the things that was making Hinata hide away. That's why he had taken it upon himself to hunt her down and make sure she was fine. Kiba was too dense to notice the subtle signals and talking to Kurenai would only make Hinata uncomfortable. He was no conversationalist, he'd be the first to admit, but he truly believed that, out of the three of them, he understood her the best. Or so Kurenai said when they had spoken about it only forty minutes prior.

The rest of their team had been worried when Hinata didn't show up for practice. Instead of working on their survival skills, they sat down to discuss their comrade's health. Or rather, Kurenai tried to wrestle information from Kiba's dense mind and Shino's closed lips. Kurenai had decided, when she had enough information to satisfy her curiosity, that Shino would be the best person to talk to her. He agreed that he was, even admitted that he had planned to do it by himself.

Although he wasn't the one to complain, he really wasn't looking forward to talking to her. Not because he didn't like talking to her, he just didn't like talking in general. Most of the time, he wasn't in a talking mood, so being ordered to talk to someone was enough to make him feel a little cranky.

Shino moved closer to where he could feel her chakra. Over another fallen log (he had decided to walk. It was far too hot to run), around a huge rock..

In a niche, Hinata sat with her legs partially curled underneath her. The rocks on either side of her probably kept her cool in the warm and dying day light hours, seeing as she still hadn't parted with her form concealing sweat shirt. Several scrolls were spread before her, a thin spiral notebook balancing on her legs. There was also a kunai occupying the space that the scrolls did not, the sharp end in the ground as to not hurt anyone. Typical Hinata.

In the perfect position to watch without being detected (if she didn't use her blood limit), Shino stopped and took the chance to read into her mood. Observing her for several moments, he wondered why he felt ashamed at his hope that maybe he could skip the conversation.

Hinata was frowning at something written in the scroll lying right in front of her. She unrolled the scroll a little to read some more, than began comparing it with the scroll lying by her knee. She bit her lip, then scribbled something down in the notebook.

Is she training? He leaned forward, mentally cursing when a twig snapped like a gunshot under his foot. But she was absorbed in her own little world and didn't notice the small lapse in his stealth skills.

After several more comparisons and note writing times, she stood up, rolling the scrolls up. She secured them shut, stacking the three semi large scrolls up against the wall. Shino absently rolled his shoulders, wondering when the stiffness in his shoulder blades had come about. Hinata stood, pulling out the kunai in the ground as she went up

Then she did something that threw all of his ninja senses in alert, had him forget everything he had thought before. All thoughts and reason left him when he saw her slice the underside of her arm with the blade.

Hinata's gaze snapped up when a firm hand griped the wrist with the kunai. Shino himself hadn't even realized when he had moved. He twisted her fingers gently to make the kunai fall to the ground. With both of his hands free, he pushed up the sleeve of her bleeding arm, looking to see how bad it was and if there were any previous scars from the same action. He felt a little relived when there wasn't.

"Shin-" she started to say. Shino reached into one of the pouches on his belt and pulled out the extra roll of bandages he carried around, usually to cover up the select points in his body where his bugs came out. Even people like Shino can be self conscious.

"First time you've cut yourself?" he asked in as close of a monotone as he could make. It still came out a little accusing. Hinata gaped at him, opening and closing her mouth while her brain processed his words. He didn't look her in the eyes until the bandaging was complete.

When he did, her eyes lit up in understanding.

"Uh.. um.. oh! No! It's nothing like that!" Hinata said, realizing what it had looked like. Seeing that her sputtering and protests were making no sense, she gestured to the scrolls.

A half angry frown still on his face, Shino reached over to one of the scrolls, undoing the fastenings.

"'The Theory of Limb Regeneration' by Tsunade.." he read the title out loud. He closed it again, then reached for the next one. "'Herbs verses Jutsu: Which have less of a negative effect on the patient?' A series of essays by..." Shino started to trail off. Things were clicking in his mind.

Hinata, the girl who always hated when people got hurt. The girl who whipped out an antidote to solider pill poisoning for Kiba. The girl that always insisted on treating their wounds, even when it was as superficial as a scrape.

"..You are studying to be a medic nin." he whispered. "And you're practicing on yourself." Hinata put a hand over the bandaged wound, nodding softly.

"Don't tell, okay?" she whispered back, her pale eyes holding a little bit of fear in them. Shino blinked, rather surprised at her reaction.

"Why not? It's good that you're learning the art, is it not? Medic nins are a dying breed." he said. It was true. To be a medic nin, you had to have a certain amount of skills. You had to have precise chakra control and an abundance of chakra. You also had to have pretty good stamina. Hinata took the last scroll from his hands and fastened it shut, resetting it on top of the others.

"I can do a little.." the Hyuuga said instead. She covered her arm with her hand and closed her eyes. A blue glow surrounded her hand, parts of it seeping into her pale skin. The glow faded. She untied the bloody bandages around her forearm, baring the once ugly wound. There was nothing there. "Sorry to waste your bandages, Shino-kun.." she said sheepishly.

"That's.. very good." Shino said, astounded by the skill. His cousin(related by marriage and easily the most talkative person in his family) had been a medic nin for seven years, and she wasn't yet to the level of chakra control it took to take a cut and mend the skin like nothing had been there at all. Hinata was half the age but had at least three times the skill. "You'll have no trouble at all gaining a license."

Hinata slowly shook her head. "Maybe.. but I cannot." she looked miserable.

"And why not?" Shino asked. She was quiet for a moment. He knew that she was considering ignoring the question by the look on her face. However, a change went over Hinata. She bit her lip, stood a little straighter.

"The Hyuuga family, as you probably know, are very prideful warriors." she said in a firmer voice. "Not even before the creation of our village have they ever allowed anyone of their members to be a medic nin." she sighed, fiddling with the forehead protector around her neck. "To them- to us, I mean, a medic is like.. a servant. A medic heals, stays behind the lines and doesn't attack the enemy under most circumstances, thus, he or she is of lesser rank than a warrior. Which is why it is forbidden. For a Hyuuga to be anything less than a warrior would mean dishonor to the clan.."

Shino snorted, an oddly Kiba like reaction. "That is not true. It is, how they say, easier to destroy than to create. Besides, things are different nowadays. Medic nins are often considered the most dangerous kinds of ninjas." Some of the light came back into Hinata's eyes. She agreed wholeheartedly. "But if it is forbidden, why do you still go on practicing?"

Hinata smiled. "Someone I know.. Someone I look up to so much.. He'd never back away from anything, not even if all of the odds are stacked up against him. I wish to be more like him." she clasped her hands in front of her chest. "He'd stand up even when he loses, fight even if it's an impossible fight, and would firmly back up with all his heart what he believes in. That is what I wish to be more like."

"Even with my limited courage, I will become someone that he can respect. Because.. I believe I can.. I know I can. Even if my father looks me straight in the eyes and forbids me to be a medic nin, I will continue on."

Shino had nothing to say to that and stayed quiet the way he normally did. It wasn't until they had almost reached the more urbanized part of Konoha that he finally said something.

"I think that Naruto already respects you, Hinata-chan." He'd be a fool if he didn't.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto tossed and turned for the fiftieth time in the last hour. He decided to try his side and drew up his sleeping bag to his nose. When Sand Man failed to lull Naruto to sleep, he cursed at the imaginary creature. Probably related to Gaara.. Sadistic a*****e..

He flipped over to his back, sighing loudly. What he got for his efforts was a swift kick to the shin.
Sakura was on the other side of the fire, Tazuna was sprawled out underneath the tree Kakashi occupied as the first watch, so the only one who could have hit him was..

"Sasuke b*****d.." Naruto hissed. He was kicked again. Growling, Naruto turned to him to see the Uchiha very much awake and annoyed.

"Do you mind, dobe?" With that cold question still ringing in his ears, Naruto dove at Sasuke from his half sitting position. They both kept their fight silent, knowing that Kakashi would douse them in cold water and tell them to walk it off. Realizing that they still were being too noisy, they settled for a thumb war.

They rested their thumbs after Sasuke proved to be the better thumb wrestler.

"b*****d.." Naruto muttered sullenly. He shoved aside his sleeping bag to bare some dirt to the cool night air. He grabbed a twig and drew some intersecting lines on the ground. He made an 'x' in the middle box. "Tic Tac Toe!"

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke snatched the twig and wrote an 'o' in the top left hand diagonal box. "You seem to be in a better mood." he muttered when the stick was grabbed back.

Naruto ignored him for the time being, writing an 'x' in the upper right corner box. Sasuke immediately put an 'o' in the low left corner box to keep Naruto from getting three in a row.

"Something was brought to my attention." Naruto murmured, drawing an 'x' in the highest middle box. Sasuke countered by putting an 'o' in the lowest middle box. "It just so happens that my friend could be alive, that I was jumping to conclusions."

"That's good." Sasuke said neutrally. "It seems more natural for you to be an idiot than acting like your pet rock died." Naruto pouted. But then grinned when he put an 'x' to the right of his very first move. No matter how Sasuke countered, he'd still get three in a row.

"Haha! Take that!" he nearly crowed. Sasuke rolled his eyes, drawing an 'o' in the low right hand corner box. He drew a line through the lined up 'o's. Naruto gaped.

"You got schooled." Sasuke said with a smirk. He expected Naruto to jump at him with flailing fists, but was surprised with the knowledge that Naruto's attention span was shorter than he let on.

"What do ya know about.. self sustaining energies?" the blond asked.

He said self sustaining energies like a child trying out a new word, Sasuke thought. Those are definitely not his words.

"We're ninjas, not scientists." Sasuke muttered. When he was given a pleading look, he sighed and parted with his limited knowledge. "'Self sustaining', meaning that it has and makes it's own energy without any prompting from outside sources. Think of it like the sun."

Naruto bit his lip, still wondering if he should have gone to Sasuke at all. "And what if all.. or nearly all of the energies are used up?" he asked in a tentative voice.

"Like I said, we're ninjas." the darker ninja said in a no nonsense tone. But he began thinking. "But it might start working double time to regain the lost mass if it has a little bit of energy to work on. Maybe if there was some outside influence applied to it, to keep it from winking out of existence even if all the energies were depleted, it would survive."

"Outside influence?" the question slipped out of Naruto's mouth before he could gather his thoughts. Sasuke shrugged.

"Well, I don't know, maybe some kind of technology, or maybe something along the lines of a seal.." he said, thinking that the ninja device would work a lot better than a mass of metal thrown together by a bunch of normal humans. In his experience, normal humans were a lot dumber than ninjas. Especially about their lives and their limits.

A seal? A seal! Yeah! Kakashi might be right! Kyuubi could have survived! Naruto thought, relief rushing through him. Kakashi had spelled it out for him, but Naruto had a hard time believing it. However, when Sasuke said it, Naruto became a firm believer. Feeling bad, Naruto decided to take things that Kakashi said more to heart. But one really couldn't help but understand why Naruto hadn't taken Kakashi seriously. The jonin read a dirty book right in front of his students!

"Any way, that's what I think.. Why did you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. Just curious.." Sasuke frowned at his light answer. There was too much happiness in Naruto's eyes that blossomed when he had given his theory for it to be something as simple as satisfying one's curiosity.

Naruto slid back into his sleeping bag, whispering a good night. Sasuke frowned and mimicked Naruto's actions. He swore he'd never understand what went on in the blond's head, the last thought that went through his head when blessed darkness embraced him once again.

Kakashi looked over with a small grin. What he'd never understand was why they went on like they were arch rivals when it was so clear that they were closer than the bestest of friends could be. A brotherly bond without shared blood.

I think Sasuke would accept you, even if he knew of some of the darker things that go through your mind. Kakashi went back to reading. Even if you'd open up a little, your friendship would grow so much.

"I'd wish you would stop hiding behind that stupid mask Naruto." he didn't realize he had said it out loud until he received a firm reply.

"The feeling's mutual."