Himawari

Summary: Her hidden suffering was never expected to be understood by the kind she hated - by ninjas. Through Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru, the forlorn civilian chose not to hold back her future but to plant her seeds. [Team 10 centric]

Disclaimer: Too lazy so I'm only going to say this once. You are on a site called fanfiction. Hence, I obviously don't own Naruto nor does anyone else on this site. I always wonder why people put up disclaimers in the first place.

A/N: The genre is interchangeably romance/ drama/ humour/ adventure since this story will have a little bit of each. I don't like limiting myself to one genre. Plus, when I try to rewrite a non-humour story, I always end up adding in something funny. So don't mind so much about the genre if you notice that I keep changing it.

Chapter 1

A monarch emerged out of the shadows to absorb the energy of the noon sun. It bathed in the warmth while perched on a saffron-coloured pedal. The sturdy sunflower as well gathered its dose of sunlight and provided company for its friend. The two enjoyed being with each other and wanted this feeling to last. But sensing humans on the way, the butterfly flew off as the lone flower was required to remain rooted in its place and could not follow after its mate.

Crunch! Chouji walked through the forest with his trademark chips at hand.

"Seriously Chouji," Ino nagged, "we would have gotten there an hour ago if you didn't have to snack every two seconds!" Chouji only continued to eat away.

"Forget her," Shikamaru commented to Chouji. "Because of her complaining, we're actually two hours early. You know how Ino exaggerates the time. We're probably almost there anyways."

The trio had just received a mission. It wasn't the kind of mission that they would usually get interest in but Shikamaru and Ino used up most of their money for Chouji's food frenzy birthday and they needed money. This was a pretty easy mission for the amount of money they would get. A businessman, who was usually sought after for his money, asked Konoha for a ninja team to escort his future daughter-in-law to her wedding for a big sum of money.

Just as Shikamaru had stated, it didn't take our ninja trio long to get to their destination. Before they knew it, they sensed three little boys running towards them, each wanting to tackle the ninjas down. Chouji and Ino quickly dodged their attacks but Shikamaru imperviously didn't move from his place and, as a result, was toppled over by all three children. Ino and Chouji could barely even see Shikamaru. Only three yellow-mop heads were visible.

"We got you Onii-chan!" shouted one boy with excitement.

"I got him first!" exclaimed another little boy.

Chouji sighed as he watched Shikamaru from behind the clutter. "You could have easily avoided them, Shikamaru."

"It was too troublesome for me to move," he answered dryly as he got back to his feet impassively.

'Idiot Shikamaru,' Ino rolled eyes. 'You let them tackle you.' But a small smile had snuck into her lips.

A bush rustled with a few branches snapping under the pressure of a girl pushing her way through the leaves. A few branches had played with her long blonde hair as she struggled to untangle it out of the plant's grasp. Flustered and angry, she quickly scolded the boys and sighed while she pulled out the green remnants out of her hair.

"Boys, get back to the house, now!" she yelled furiously.

But of course, as any group of wild little brothers would, they all ran towards the young teen: one tugged her arm, another pulled down on her leg and the third climbed on her back. Oddly enough, her expression had told the ninjas that this was the norm of her life. Though she was somewhat annoyed at them, a little giggle would come out as she tried to get her brothers off of her.

"She's kind of pretty," Ino exclaimed. Shikamaru agrees with her, though he was left wondering why Ino became angry when he did. Once she whacked him on his head, it only supported his theory that girls were troublesome. Would she rather have him disagree with everything?

The strawberry blonde turned to them and asked them, "Are you the escorts?" The three of them nodded. "Okay, follow me."

It was funny how she began to walk even with her brothers still clinging on to her. Chouji helped her by grabbing, with one hand, the boy that was pulling her leg and grabbing, with the other hand, the boy on her back. He wrapped his arms around the restless beings and held the boys close to him.

Shikamaru picked up his ninja band from the ground and rubbed off the dirt. His ninja band must have been pulled off by one of the boys that had tackled him. It was a little tricky to remove the specks of dirt within the engravings, so, after a while, he just left it. Trying to tie the band back on his arm, he finally, after struggling, realized it was impossible to put on without someone's help. "Ino, can you tie this back on my arm?" he asked.

Ino ties the band when the girl noticed the encryption. "You're ninjas?" The three of them nodded.

"Oh wow!" exclaimed one of her little brothers. "Isn't that so cool, Mitsue-nee-chan?"

"Awesome."

"I wanna be a ninja! Teach me! Teach me!"

Their older sister didn't share their enthusiasm. She turned away from them and continued to walk. "Please, put the boys down," she glared at Chouji. "They can walk themselves." She pulled the two boys that Chouji had been holding from his grasp and coldly walked off. The shinobi trio followed after her, confused by her sudden change of mood.

***

Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji introduced themselves to Mitsue's mother, Mikazuki Hikari. She was very friendly to them and gave them a map to where they needed to escort Mitsue. The three brothers were all eager to listen to the different kinds of adventures a shinobi would experience. While they absorbed all they could before the ninjas had to leave the next day, their sister only continued packing a few more belongings. Then, she helped her mother with housework. Her mother would have a difficult time taking care of the three monsters once Mitsue would leave, since Mitsue's father was always away for work. The young girl knew she must do what she could before the day she left.

And that day came – only, she refused to be escorted.

"Mom, nothing will happen to me if I go by myself," Mitsue stated in the middle of arguing. "If I have escorts, then others – perhaps even my fiancée's enemies – will realize my value and then hold me captive or what not."

"Just trust them. It's their job. They will protect you if that ever happens anyway," replied Hikari with her calm, gentle voice. "If you want to complain, inform your future in-laws about this."

Mitsue sighed. "How can I even trust those ninjas?" Her eyes shifted to the side as her teeth pressed against each other. "I'll go myself. Either that or get some new escorts. I do not want them!"

Ino's anger, which had been shaken for too long, had burst under pressure. "You will come with us. We will complete this mission whether you like it or not."

"As if that was a surprise. Ninjas just want the money," retorted Mitsue. "I'd like to see you try and make me go." She turned around and headed back to her room – until she was frozen in her tracks. Her body wouldn't move under her command. "What the heck is this?"

Shikamaru exhaled as he released his hands from the 'rat' sign. "We'll be leaving now Mikazuki-sama. We've got it under control." Shikamaru walked out the door with the reluctant girl finally following his every step. Ino tailed after along with Chouji carrying Mitsue's belongings which were relatively light for him.

Mitsue looked at Shikamaru angrily, now realizing what he had done to her. "It's just like a ninja to be controlling. You don't even care about us civilians."

Naturally, this sparked Ino's anger once again but Chouji was able to calm her down.

Once Shikamaru's body became worn out from using his jutsu, Ino took over while Chouji carried her inanimate body. After her shift, it wasn't necessary for Chouji to use a jutsu just as his teammates had. Why waste chakra when you have brute strength?

"Then, why couldn't Chouji just carry the girl in the first place?" Ino complained.

Chouji's stomach grumbled. "I'm hungry."

"That's why," answered Shikamaru. They were limited on money which Shikamaru counted to be only enough for their one night stop over plus enough food for four people – not eight. And to add to that, Chouji had told him that it would probably take even longer with the pace they were going with a reluctant someone.

Ino looked up at the sun overhead that seemed to concentrate its rays on the travelers. They were going to have a very long journey with this girl.

A/N: Please comment/ criticize even if it's a tiny grammar mistake. But please don't end up editing my whole chapter in one review. That would actually be kind of embarrassing. lol. But if that does ever happen, just politely PM me. This author's note goes for the rest of my chapter.