Chapter One- Isuma Meets Shikamaru. Kiba and Hinata!

One day in the woods, a young girl sat by a small stream. She looked about 15, with black hair tied back. She had emerald green eyes, and was wearing an army-type outfit. It was camoflauge, like she always wore. She had dark brown pants on. Her name is Isuma Teminari. As she lay on her back watching the clouds roll by, she thought. She had been researching a few of the chuunin teams earlier that week with the rest of her team, Seikara Imanasha and Yumina Hishigara, and their sensei, Abarei Himanako. The most recent team she had read up on was Team Ten. The members were Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi, with their sensei, Asuma Sarutobi. Ino was a fanatical girl, obsessed with Sasuke Uchiha, a member of Team Seven, with Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno, and sensei Kakashi Hitake. Choji was a fat boy, always eating. He was easily angered when anyone called him fat. Last was Shikamaru. He seemed like an easy-going kinda guy. He was lazy, yes, but then again... That was how Isuma was, too. She had been thinking, lately, about how alike her and Shikamaru were. She would like to meet him one day, but figured she had no chance. She lived in the Northernmost part of Konohagakure, while he and the rest of the teams lived in the Southernmost part.

"Isuma?" she heard a voice calling. It sounded like a boy's voice.

"I'm here, Seikara!" she called back. A few minutes passed, and she found herself staring up into the face of her friend. She smiled. "Hi Sei," she said. Seikara smiled. He was a young boy, about 15 as well. He had short blonde hair and brown eyes. He always wore some shade of blue. Today he had decided on a darker blue. He sat down next to Isuma.

"So," he said. "What'cha doing?"

"Nothing..." Isuma replied. Seikara smiled.

"Thinking about that guy again?" he asked. Isuma sat up.

"I don't have any chance of meeting him... He lives so far away!"

"That's not true," Seikara replied. "There could be a mission that leads us down there..." Isuma looked her friend in the eye.

"From the way you say that, it sounds like Abarei-sensei gave us a mission," she said. Seikara smiled.

"Maybe he did, maybe he didn't." Isuma smiled.

"So where are we going now?" she asked, looking back up to the sky. Seikara opened his mouth to reply, but a young girl came bursting out of the woods.

"Isuma!" she cried. Isuma looked up at the girl. She had long, white hair, tied back in a braid. Her eyes were a light shade of blue, and she was wearing a black shirt and black shorts.

"What is it, Yumina?" Isuma asked.

"Isuma-chan! Abarei-sensei gave us a misson! We're going to South Konoha!" Isuma grinned and stood up.

"That means..." she said.

"Yeah!" Yumina replied. "We can try and find that Shikamaru kid!"

"Let's go find sensei!" Isuma cried, running through the woods, with Yumina close behind.

"HEY!" cried Seikara. "Wait for ME!" He ran after the two girls.

"Where ARE they?" demanded Abarei. He was an older man, about mid-30's. He had dark brown hair and constantly wore dark colors. "They should be back by now!" As he said this, Isuma burst through the door, followed by Yumina.

"Sensei, we're here for our mission!" cried Isuma. Abarei laughed heartily.

"Well now, Isuma, I've never seen you so excited for a mission!" he said, smiling. Seikara walked in the door, panting. Abarei laughed again. "I see the girls wore you out, eh?" Abarei chuckled, and Seikara smiled, still panting. Abarei looked at Isuma and Yumina again.

"Now then," he said. "Our mission is to go to Southern Konoha and find teams Seven and Ten. Their senseis, Kakashi Hitake and Asuma Sarutobi, have asked us specially to come down and train their teams for a while." Isuma smiled widely. Abarei noticed this. "I see you're eager to train them! Now, I'll tell you the two people you will be training before we leave. That way, when we get down there, we can start right off. Now. Yumina, you will be working with Sakura Haruno and..." Abarei looked down at a piece of scroll-paper in his hand. "Sakura Haruno and Choji Akimichi. Seikara, you've got Sasuke Uchiha and Ino Yamanaka."

"Be careful with those two," Isuma warned. "Ino will do anything to get Sasuke's attention."

"Thanks for the warning," he replied. Isuma started to say something, then stopped. She had realized something. The only name from Team Ten that hadn't been said yet was... Shikamaru! She grinned and giggled.

"What's this?" Abarei asked. "What are you so happy about?" Isuma giggled again.

"Nothing, sensei," she replied.

"Well then, I guess you know who you've got. Naruto Uzumaki and Shikamaru Nara." Yumina and Seikara walked out. Isuma started to leave as well, but Abarei held her back.

"I know how you've been wanting to meet Shikamaru, so I paired you up purposely." Isuma squealed happily and hugged her sensei.

"Thank you, Abarei-sensei!" she said as she ran out the door. Abarei laughed again.

"Such a young girl... Maybe she can finally find a friend in Shikamaru."

Night was approaching, and the young trio of ninjas were resting. Isuma sighed.

"I wish we could get there faster," she said. "I really wanna meet Shikamaru!" Seikara laughed.

"I don't see what's so great about him," he said. This got him a dirty glare from Isuma. Yumina yelped quietly.

"What's wrong?" Isuma asked her.

"I... I don't like being out in the woods at night... I never have..."

"It's okay," said Seikara. "Isuma and I are here... We'll protect you." Yumina smiled.

"Thanks, Seikara," she said.

"Eh!" he replied. "What are friends for?" he smiled. As Yumina and Seikara lay down to go to sleep, Isuma stared up at the night sky, wondering how long it would take them to reach Southern Fire Country. She closed her eyes for a few minutes, As she opened them, she found that there was a boy staring at her. He jumped up when he saw she was looking at him. She sat up and turned around. She smiled, and tried her best not to scream.

"Shi... Shikamaru?" she asked, looking at the boy. He stood leaning slightly to one side, with one hand on his hip and the other hanging freely. He had long black hair, tied up behind his head. He wore a black mesh shirt, and a lighter colored short-sleeved jacket over it. He had dark brown pants on, and he looked confused.

"Who are you?" he asked. Isuma smiled again.

"My name is Isuma Teminari. These are my friends," she motioned to the two sleeping figures, "Seikara Imanasha and Yumina Hishigari. We're here on a mission." The boy smiled.

"I'm Shikamaru Nara," he replied. He looked behind him. "Come on out, guys!" A young girl with long blonde hair, and a pudgy boy with dark brown hair and a potato chip bag in his hand walked out of the woods. Shikamaru smiled at Isuma.

"These are my team-mates, Ino Yamanaka and Choji Akimichi, who's also my best friend. What's the mission?"

"We're here to train two teams. Their senseis asked us to come down and help. We're training Teams Seven and Ten," she replied. Shikamaru smiled again.

"That's us, and Naruto's team," he replied.

"Yeah," Isuma replied. "We each have two people we're working with. I'll be with you and Naruto. Yumina has Sakura and Choji, and Seikara has Ino and Sasuke."

"So I'll be with Sasuke!" asked Ino, with a huge smile on her face. Isuma giggled.

"Yes," she replied. "Just try not to kill him, OR Seikara." Her and Ino both giggled.

"So," called a voice. Isuma, Shikamaru and the rest looked around. "We havin' a fling, here, or what?" A boy jumped out of the woods, followed by a large, cream colored dog. The boy had two large red stripes on his face and wore a dark grey jacket lined with black fur. He had what looked like cat's eyes, and fangs. Shikamaru and Chouji smiled, while Ino made a sound of disgust.

"Hey Kiba," said Chouji, muching on yet another handful of chips. Kiba Inuzuka, the boy whose technique allowed him to transform his dog, Akamaru, into a human being, and also allowed him to use the Man-Beast jutsu, which partially transformed himself into a dog. His teammates were Hinata Hyuuga, whose family technique allowed her and her cousin, Neji Hyuuga, to see anything and everything, even through any wall or floor. It was called the Byaguukan, and its only weakness was the blind spot from behind. His other teammate was Shino Aburame, the bug-boy. His body was filled with tiny, flesh-eating insects that never harmed him. He could call on them in swarms to fight for him, and was always studying insects of different sorts. Their sensei, Kurenai, was a woman who tried her best to understand everything she could. She was a great leader for Team Nine. Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru and Naruto were all best friends, and would likewise die for each other.

"Hey," Kiba replied. Akamaru barked in reply as well. Kiba laughed and scratched the top of Akamaru's head.

"Where's the rest of the team?" asked Shikamaru. Kiba's smile disappeared.

"Neh...Well, Hinata kinda... Erm..."

"Well...?" asked Chouji, pausing from his chips. Akamaru whined.

"Eh... Well, Shino commented on Naruto, and I guess he went too far... God, I've never seen her so mad before."

"So, she went ballistic on him?" asked Isuma.

"Yeah," Kiba replied. "She was too fast for him too, so he's being taken care of by Tsunade. Hinata... Well, she's the reason I'm out here. We're looking for her. Kurenai-sensei got mad and told her she wasn't part of the team anymore, and she ran out here crying. Akamaru and me, we're lookin' for her." There was a small rustling, and a young girl appeared. She was wearing a white jacket and navy blue shorts. Her eyes were completely white except for the pupils. The Byaguukan bloodline trait. She had dark blue hair. She was crying.

"Well," she said, sniffling, "you needn't look very far..." Kiba ran over to her.

"Hey!" he said, placing one hand gently on her head. "You alright?"

"No," she replied, her voice getting a higher pitch to it. She started sobbing, and hugged Kiba. He wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"It's alright, Hinata... Sensei didn't mean what she said, it's alright." Akamaru whined and nuzzled his nose into Hinata's side.

"Everybody hates me now," Hinata sobbed. "Shino hates me, Naruto never notices me, Kurenai-sensei hates me-"

"That's not true!" Kiba said, hugging her tighter as her sobs racked her entire body. "Hinata, you know that's not true!" Hinata began sobbing harder.

"Yes it is!" she cried. Kiba sighed. His face turned red, and he closed his eyes and leaned his head against hers.

"No, it's not..." Kiba replied quietly. "I don't hate you..." He paused for a second to catch his breath. He began to tremble slightly. "I... I don't hate you... I... I love you..." He finished quietly. Hinata suddenly stopped crying, still hugging Kiba. She tightened her grip around him and sighed, tears still streaming from her eyes.

"I'm sorry," were the only words she said before letting go and running away.

"HINATA!" Kiba shouted. "Hinata, come back!" She paid no heed and continued running.