Withering Flowers
Chapter 1 Greetings
"Why do we have to work with them? We're more than enough to guide the princess." Stated Tenten.
"in order to build up your teamwork, they're transfer ninjas and sooner or later you're going to have to go on a mission with them anyway" said Lady Tsunade.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in" said Lady Tsunade expecting the knocker to be the new transfer ninjas.
The door opened and from it a teenage boy around 16 with spiky olive green hair and tanned skin appeared with another teenage boy with straight black hair and fair skin. And lastly a teenage girl with long straight red hair, fair skin and jet-black eyes came forward and greeted Lady Tsunade, "Good afternoon, Tsunade-sama".
"You're the transfer ninjas from the Hidden Village of the Moon right?" asked Lady Tsunade.
"Affirmative" replied the black-haired boy or rather teen.
"The three ninjas in front of you are the ninjas you will be doing the mission with" said Lady Tsunade, "introduce yourselves".
The three turned their gaze from Lady Tsunade to the three ninjas in front of them."
I'm Ayomira Tamaru" said the green-haired boy."
My name is Hakoya Sou" said the black-haired boy."
I'm Sanei Asura" said the redhead.
"I'm Tenten" Tenten said with a smile."
"And I'm Rock Lee" said Lee while doing his 'good guy pose'
"My name is Hyuuga Neji" greeted Neji formally
"Well then, you're mission is to guide the princess of Tayo to Anoroto" said Lady Tsunade.
"Hai" they all replied at the same time, then headed for the door.
When they we're all out of the building Neji ordered, "we'll meet at the gate of Konoha in 30 minutes"
"Hai" everyone replied, then separated paths.
Neji and Tenten were the first to be at the gate."Neji what do you think of them?"
asked Tenten.
"just normal ninjas who were transferred to Konoha" he replied without interest.
"Your opinion about them is too general" nagged Tenten.
"Well I don't know anything about them so there isn't much to judge" replied Neji
"We'll get to know them more on the mission so then there will be something to judge" said Tenten hopingly.
"Tenten, Neji!" shouted Lee as he ran towards them,"did you wait long?" he asked psyched up as usual.
"Now only the other team needs to be he…" Neji paused his speech after he saw the transfer ninjas walking toward them. "Hmmh?" emphasized Lee slightly tilting his head then turning his head to where Neji was looking."Ah! The transfer team" said Lee, "are you as excited as me my new allies?"
"I don't think we're as excited as you but we're looking forward to working with you" replied Sou politely.
"Yosh! Then let's go!" exclaimed Lee.
The six walked out the gates of Konoha and continued walking.
"So where are we going?" asked Tamaru with his arms over his shoulders. Neji and Asura looked at Tamaru with the 'are you serious look?!'.
"We're guiding the princess of Tayo, so obviously we're going to Tayo" said Asura while thinking that her teammate cannot get anymore idiotic. Tamaru just turned his head away from Asura and grumbled, "I knew that".
"Oh really?" emphasized Asura while raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah, really" said Tamaru protecting his dignity.
"Huh" huh-ed Asura
Sou only shook his head and Tenten quietly giggled.
"Forgive them they always bicker" said Sou.
"She started it" blamed Tamaru
"What do you mean I started it? You didn't know something as obvious as that…." Asura was interrupted by Tamaru, "Shut up shut up!" Tamaru shouted. Asura looked at Tamaru with an expressionless face for a few moments and then said, "how did you graduate the academy?" asked Asura with pure curiosity.
"Unlike you I'm a genius" said Tamaru as he turned away feeling proud of himself for saying that.
Asura looked at Tamaru then turned away thinking that he must've gotten lucky and knowing that continuing bickering was pointless. Neji and Tenten moved their pupils to the direction Asura and Tamaru was walking but did not look at them. The forest around them was dark and after the sun started to set and the sky was colored orange and the clouds were bluish-gray Neji said, "let's camp here"
Asura sat up and saw everyone asleep then walked out of the clearing she and the others were camping in and headed to the nearest water source. She managed to fine a stream; the sound of the moving water soothed her and made her want to hear it for the rest of the night. She sat down on a huge rock nearby and listened to the sound of the water.
Neji woke up from a bad dream and looked at the people around him; Tenten asleep, Lee asleep, Tamaru asleep, Sou asleep Asura not there. His eyebrows slightly move closer to each other wondering what happened to Asura, then he got up and activated his byakugan. He saw someone near a stream but couldn't make out the face so he walked towards the stream.
He saw a shadow on the ground and hid behind a tree quickly but silently. He peeked at the shadows owner to find a woman with long hair sitting on a huge rock, he couldn't make out who she was so he moved closer to the shadow. 'Red hair' he thought as he found out the hair's color to be red and eased himself knowing that the woman was the missing Asura.
Asura sensed a presence and quickly stood up, faced the direction of the presence and pulled out a kunai. 'Neji' she thought as she returned her kunai back where it was and relaxed herself
,"I don't suppose you came here looking for me" she said.
"I did actually; You weren't with us" replied Neji
"I'm sorry to have wasted your time" apologized Asura then turned her gaze away from Neji.
Neji just stared at her. Asura realized he was looking at her and looked at him then opened her mouth to say something then closed then said, " I couldn't sleep".
"Streams calm you?" asked Neji
"no, I just don't want to look at trees when I can't sleep; looking at them in the dark makes me feel like a snake's gonna slither down from it." replied Asura then looked at the trees behind him and slightly shivered then turned away and sat on the rock she was sitting on not wanting to feel like a snake's going to slither down from the trees.
'She's afraid of snakes' Neji thought. He was going to go back to sleeping but the sound of the stream made him want to stay; he stood against the tree near him with crossed arms and closed his eyes.
Hours passed when Asura realized it was dawn. The sky was a bit gray and she could only see the tip of the sun. It was still cold and her surroundings weren't very bright but dawn felt welcoming and somewhat warm. She decided to go back to camp but when she turned around she saw something white with long brown hair, 'he didn't go back' Asura thought to herself then thought that it was too early to wake him. So she didn't.
Asura went through the trees and walked until she saw a gray sleeping bag with a shiny, black round head popping out of it, 'Lee, I'm here' she thought recognizing the shiny black dome's owner. She carefully went to where her sleeping bag was folded it and put it back in her bag silently. After putting away her sleeping bag she stood up and examined her teammates and new teamates' faces, she then proceeded to carry Neji's sleeping bag over her shoulder and walked back to the stream.
Neji woke up and slightly opened his eyes and saw a redheaded woman by the stream washing her face. He widened his eyes and sat upright like a patient who woke up from a coma. He saw a gray lump of cloth on top of him and recognized it to be his sleeping bag, he turned his head toward the redhead, 'Asura?' he thought to himself then squinted his eyes at the woman.
Asura cleared the water of her face then wiped her wet hands on her bluish-gray plaid shirt. She turned around and saw Neji awake and staring at her with squinted eyes, "Ohio" she greeted him.
"Ohio" Neji greeted her back.
"You fell asleep by the stream" said Asura wanting to be helpful.
"I think I can figure that out by myself" he said cold as usual," are the others awake?" he asked getting up and folding his sleeping bag.
"Not when I last checked" Asura replied then looked at the east, 'morning' she thought to herself then walked back to camp.
Neji tried to recall what happened last night, 'okay so, I woke up from a nightmare then saw that Asura wasn't there then I used byakugan to find her, then I went to the stream and found a Asura then I laid against a tree and fell asleep'. He sighed and took his sleeping bag and went back to camp. When he got back he saw Asura conversing with Tenten and Lee arm-wrestling with Tamaru and Sou standing in the middle of them. He went to were his bag was and put away his sleeping bag.
Tenten's eye caught Neji then ran up to him, "Neji what were you doing in the stream?" she asked in a bit worried and nagging voice. "I was just looking for something" he said then looked at Asura from the corner of his left eye. Asura who was crossing her arms and was standing in a position where Neji can only see her side looked at Neji the same way he did.
After they had breakfast the group headed north. They walked and walked and walked, then arrived at a town. "Let's get something to eat" Neji suggested then the team walked into a restaurant. They sat at a table and ordered what they'd like to have. After they finished their meal they were heading for the door then suddenly a kitchen knife was heading straight for Asura; Asura turned to her side to dodge the knife then slipped while she was falling pushed her hand downward to break her future fall but she didn't fall.
She felt a hand on her left shoulder and an arm supporting her shoulder blades and another hand on her middle portion on her left side. She traced the arm and saw that it led to Neji's face, "are you alright?" Neji asked. "Hai" Asura replied then freed herself from his arms. She stood up to see the person who threw the kunai at her. "Give me all your money girly!" a fat man shouted while pointing yet another kitchen knife at her. Asura walked towards the fat man but not too close to him, she forcefully kicked his upper arm which made him release his weapon then pulled his wrist, put her free hand in a blocking position against his chest; lifted her elbow and threw him over her shoulder.
Neji, Tenten and Lee couldn't help but stare at Asura with opened mouths. (Of course her teammates weren't impressed because they've seen her do that like a hundred times already). The fat man lied flat on his back and groaned. Asura looked at the man with pity and disgust then took her leave. The rest followed.
When they were out Tenten said, "wow! Asura that was cool. Really cool. How did you lift that fatty of the ground like that?"
"Judo" replied Asura like it was nothing at all, "he was pretty heavy but I managed to pull it off"
"Asura you must be very good in Judo" Lee said expectantly.
"Mhhm sort of" replied Asura modestly.
"I guess we don't have to worry too much about your safety 'cuz you're a strong woman like me" Tenten said while smiling and flattering herself.
'She's strong' Neji thought to himself clearly impressed. After some walking they arrived at the gates of Tayo and saw a woman dressed in royal clothes sitting on a carriage that was connected to a brown horse and a woman beside her and some men around her. They all guessed that the woman was the princess and the men were her body guards. "
"Princess Ayane, we are the group from Konoha. My name is Hyuuga Neji." Said Neji.
"Nice to meet you Princess, I'm Tenten" said Tenten with a cheerful smile.
"I'm Rock Lee" introduced Lee.
"My name is Sanei Asura" Asura said.
"I'm Ayomira Tamaru" said Tamaru.
"My name is Hakoya Sou" said Sou.
The princess stared at the Konohagakures and turned away, "This is Hakomaru, my personal maid" she said as she pointed a hand at the brunette beside her. "It's nice to meet you" she greeted with an expressionless and toneless voice. The ninjas thought that the princess and her maid were cold. Very cold.
"This is Marotu, the captain of my body guards" the princess added. Marotu just nodded at them.
"We should get going now" Marotu said.
"Hai" replied everyone except the princess and her maid.
They walked to the west or more specifically everyone except the princess walked. So far they haven't met any assassins or ambushes and the trees on their sides looked somewhat peaceful and looked like no harm could come from it, but the ninjas knew better than to trust everything that they see.
The sky grew darker and the sun started to set. "Princess we will be staying here for the night. You and Hakomaru will be sleeping in a tent that we will prepare" said Marotu. The princess looked at her surroundings with the corner of her eyes with disgust. "Please bear with your surroundings" Marotu said trying to make the princess stay. The princess only nodded.
A few of the princess's body guard started putting up a tent. "Check the trees and the neighboring areas for enemies and guard the area" ordered Marotu to the body guards.
"Then we'll be guarding this area" Neji said.
"Then I will trust this area to you" Marotu said looking a bit more relaxed than the moment before.
The princess looked at Neji then went into her tent. Neji saw the princess who now is in her tent looked at him and thought, 'she doesn't trust us'. It became very dark when Tenten, Lee and Tamaru were half-asleep and half-awake in their posts. Sou was awake because of his mentality, Neji was awake because he knows how to do his missions well and knows how to stay awake while Asura often had insomnia and had no trouble staying awake that night.
Neji activated his byakugan and started setting a trap. Asura decided to go into the trees deeper to see if there were any suspicious people. Neji was almost finished with his trap when someone already got caught in it and the wire grabbed hold of him and pulled him to the trapee. THUD! He was on top of someone! His cheek was resting on something soft; he turned to look at what it was and it was Asura's breasts. The cold, heartless and composed Hyuuga Neji turned absolutely red when he saw what his cheek felt.
Asura was on her back on the ground, someone was on top of her; Neji. She saw Neji's cheek on her breasts and said, "get off me" calmly. Neji was too in shock to say anything at all but tried to concentrate on getting off Asura. He tried to move his hands but they were pinned to the ground. He tried moving his legs; it moved a bit and made his leg brush over Asura's bare soft smooth legs. He turned even redder and decided not to do that again.
He didn't know what to do; on top of a woman his hands pinned to the ground and if he moves his legs he'll have to feel the smoothness of the woman underneath him legs. He started to panic.
Asura felt Neji's leg go up her thigh and blushed. She thought that if Neji didn't do anything then that meant that he was either a pervert or he fainted or he couldn't get off her even if he tried, so she decided to take matters into her own hands. She tried to move her hands but her wrists were pinned to the ground and she couldn't grab hold of anything with her fingers. She didn't dare move her legs because if she did then Neji would think that shewas a pervert. She was in a dead end.
Asura and Neji sensed a presence; it was growing closer to them. 'An enemy at a time like this?! Did they take out the princess's guards?!' Asura thought to herself. Asura looked at the direction of the presence, Neji also looked at the direction of the presence through the corner of his eyes.
A figure appeared it was still dark so they couldn't see who it was, "Neji?" emphasized the figure, "and Asura….?" As the figure grew a bit closer to the sandwiched ninjas Asura was able to make out the face. Sou. "What are you two….." Sou paused, he looked at Neji who was on top of Asura and Asura whose hands were in an 'I give up' position and for a second he thought that his teammate was a whore. "Get us out of this trap" Asura ordered. "Trap?" asked the un-following Sou.
"I set a trap then Asura got caught in it then it pulled me in with her" Neji explained with a sudden voice.
"So you set the trap…" emphasized Sou awkwardly and not believing what he heard.
"No, not that way!" exclaimed Neji.
"Get us out of this trap first then I'll explain" said Asura getting tolerant and relieved that Sou was there.
"Yeah… explain" Sou said awkwardly as he pulled out a kunai.
Asura and Neji got out of the trap then Asura explained what happened. Sou sighed a relief. His teammate wasn't a whore. "I came here because I heard a thud and thought that and enemy appeared" said Sou.
"Thank God you came" Asura said, "well that's that. We should get back to our posts, a foe might appear any time"
Sou and Neji nodded. Sou walked back to his respective post. When Sou couldn't be seen anymore Asura looked at Neji then looked away, "I'm sorry I ruined your trap" she said feeling like everything was her fault; she always felt sorry. "…..Y-yeah" replied Neji not knowing what to say. Asura walked away. 'Ruined…' thought Neji to himself.
The sun started to come out from hiding and its presence made the whole sky brighter. The princess's body guards we're still guarding the neighboring areas of the princess's camp site, and the Konohagakures were….. Standing with dark circles under their eyes.
Marotu gathered the body guards and gave them some orders. After they received the order they separated ways. Asura went to where the princess's tent was but not exactly go to the tent just the area.
She saw the princess's maid Hakamaru come out of the tent, "ohio" she greeted. "Ohio" Hakamaru greeted her back.
"Is the Princess awake yet?" asked Asura
"No, the princess usually wakes up 30 minutes after I do." Replied Hakamaru, " is there anything to report?"
"No, nothing at all" replied Asura, "Is there someone specially to look out for?"
"No, just bandits who knows that the princess is going to Anoroto" replied Hakamaru.
'Bandits' Asura thought to herself.
"Asura!" Sou shouted as he ran towards Asura and Hakamaru, "stay right where you are".
"Don't worry we're not going anywhere" Asura said.
"Guards found a camp fire in the neighboring areas, Marotu said that we might have been followed. And from the size of the campfire I'd say there was around 30 people." Sou informed urgently.
"I have to wake the princess." Hakamaru said worriedly.
Sou nodded then Hakamaru went to the tent.
"We should let the princess escape first if the person following us is a bandit." Asura said.
"Tenten and a few body guards are going to escort the princess out of here and the rest will fight."
Said Tamaru seriously.
"Hakamaru what's wrong with you?" shouted the princess as Hakamaru pulled her arm, "let go of me!"
"Princess you're in danger! You've been followed!" Hakamaru informed her with much worry and fear, "you must escape."
"Followed?! I have to get out of here!" The princess shouted as she pushed her maid away. Tenten arrived with a few body guards, "princess please follow us we will be helping you escape" Tenten said calmly. The princess nodded and followed them. "Good luck, and please wish Lee and Neji good luck for me"
"I will" replied Asura.