Makeshift family
Chapter one: A raw thing to swallow.
The campfire crackled as a piece of wood-turned-charcoal collapsed, sending a swarm of hot embers to reach for the yale-blue evening sky.
"Shika?" The brunette raised his head from the ground, feeling to tired to care about the dirt and gravel irritating his skin.
"Yeah?" He could hear the tension in her voice easily.
God knew he felt it too.
"Will he… be okay?"
She had her head turned down towards the dry, cracked earth so that he only could see her sweat-rimed brown hair, non of the loss in her eyes.
Shikamaru opened his mouth to answer, but was beaten to it.
"Yes, Hanabi-chan. He will."
The voice was soft and gentle, unwavering belief powering the words. They fit with the rapidly darkening sky, glowing embers and smell of decaying leafs. They were reassuring. As it turned out, it was not only the lithe Hyuuga who needed to hear that.
"The damn idiot…" the last member of their team said, restrained tears showing through in the way she spoke.
Hanabi sniffed.
The embers once again danced through the air, highlighting the unconscious person in the middle of the protective circle they had created.
Crack.
Shadows twisted behind the five humans as the fire reached higher.
"We will need to get back to Konoha soon," Shikamaru reminded the others. One glare and two shocked gazes met him.
"He's wounded Shikamaru," a teenage girl with hazel hair pointlessly reminded him while twiddling with a trio of shuriken.
Skritch. Skrithch.
"And we need to complete the mission," he reprimanded the distraught kunoichi in a bored monotone.
'Why the hell do I have to take on the role of heartless ninja...?'
Skritch. Shcrink.
"Tenten-san, please stop."
Tenten stopped, albeit reluctantly.
Seconds later she drew a kunai from her waist pouch, and began sharpening it. Apparently without noticing it.
Shhhhink. Shhhhiiink.
The metal didn't gleam. It had been dulled so that it wouldn't reflect light.
She didn't want enemies to see her coming after all.
"Tenten." A short, curt tone. A politely concealed order. The young kunoichi jolted.
"Sorry Haku," Tenten apologized. "I'm a bit edgy." She glanced at the unmoving body. Haku did the same. Hanabi just stared into the ground, pale eyes still searching for an answer in the cracks lining the ground.
No wind blew, and the air was pretty dry. The sparse trees around them were bleached gray and white by the harsh sun and no rain.
The campfire served no real purpose. It was a risk even.
"We have to go. The other troops might reach us in half a day, and then we'll all die," Shikamaru reasonably said.
An owl hooted. It had apparently gotten lost, having ended up so deep into Iwa. It was a desolate place, with sparse resources and tough wildlife.
Shk… Thud.
The unfortunate owl fell down, kunai embedded in its throat. Tenten stood up and walked away for the bird. The ration bars, however rich in nutrients, were neither filling nor tasty.
"Why did he do it?" Hanabi asked hoarsely. They had just about one liter water in total, and needed to preserve it for as long as possible.
That didn't stop her throat and mouth from feeling ashen.
"It is just who he is," Haku answered gently with a bit of sadness and warmth intertwined. Her eyes gained a lost quality.
He had screamed for her. Bled for her. Changed for her.
"There are few like him. Treasure him, protect him Haku."
Her masters words.
"It's just who he is," she repeated, more to herself than anyone else in an oddly happy voice.
Tenten returned with the owl held loosely in her left hand, a few drops of dark red slowly making their way to its feet, before falling down.
"In Iwa, the earth drinks blood," Shikamaru cited as he watched the drops splatter against the ground. The saying was old, but had been brought back into use during the third great ninja war. A war recent enough for his father to tell him about some of he horrors he had encountered there.
Shikamaru had never though much about it, until now.
'And what a true saying it is…' he grudgingly admitted to himself. The ninjas of Iwa, when in their own territory, were frightening.
Hundreds walls of earth rose, spikes erupted from the ground and Shikamaru cursed. It was a fucking labyrinth, and their whole group was shattered. They were bleeding and tired, there shouldn't have been anyone in this area! And they walked straight into the ambush. It was five against eleven, bad odds. Odds made even worse by the healer, a rarity, who constantly made their damage undone.
Hanabi had killed one in close-range before the walls had risen. Tenten two, and wounded a third badly. Haku wasn't in her element, and only managed to paralyze two, who were quickly healed. He hadn't killed anyone, but controlled their collaborate efforts with signs and commands.
They had to take the healer out, but he had no idea where she wa-
Shikamaru rolled to the side as the walls beside him exploded in shrapnel, the debris slicing and ripping through his sides and right cheek.
Fortunately, his pale gray armor shielded him from the most of the damage.
The Iwa-nin was somewhere close… in the walls?
If so, he could lure him wi-
A scream tore through the walls of earth.
That had been Hanabi. But she didn't sound hurt, just terrified.
The wall next to him shifted as the ninja prepared his technique. A sloppy performance, probably the worst out of their enemies. His shadow pierced the woman through her eye before she even had the time to finish the first motions of her attack. Shikamaru sped up, running towards the area where Hanabi had screamed. Most likely the others would do the same, and if they met up they could break through and escape. He noticed a trail of light speeding up to him, and followed it to its origin.
He had to thank the blonde later for setting the tracking seal up, even if its range was severely limited.
Then he was in a circular dome of rock with light filtering through holes in the roof, illuminating the dust in the air.
Tenten, Haku and him reached the spot at the same time from different portals of rock. Haku was limping and bleeding, Tenten's mask was cracked and her clothes ripped, even through the sturdy armor.
Hanabi stood in the middle, wisely avoiding the walls. The spot she stood on was covered by a rough seal, apparently preventing her from moving. Five hostiles were in the dome, and the medic among them. Good, their numbers had been withered down.
The bad thing about the scene was Naruto, being kicked around like a ragdoll, barely avoiding shrapnel and slabs of rock mingled with kicks and punches. One of the four were attacking the unmoving Hanabi, who didn't seemed to take any damage, but had pure terror visible in her milky eyes.
Shikamaru was brought to a sudden stop. He could see... her eyes?
The mask was gone.
Green chakra was flowing from the seal into her body, closing up wounds and stopping bleeding. She looked as if she had had it worst out of them.
Haku screamed in wrath and launched a sickle of ice against two Iwa-ninja, both male.
Shikamaru immediately calculated the water she had used from her flask to create that attack.
Probably all. Not a good thing.
Then again, he wasn't one to talk as his shadow extended and gained a magnitude strictly not healthy for his reserves, and Tenten was practically in the midst of the ninja, cutting and severing flesh with two wicked kurasigama.
Naruto faltered.
The seal underneath Hanabi broke.
The Iwa-nin grinned and slashed with his ninjato, attempting to sever the Hyuuga's head.
He got Naruto's stomach instead, the blonde having shunshined himself into the arc of the swing.
His last action before toppling over, was to smile at Hanabi.
"…run."
And they had run. After killing everyone except the healer, who was currently lying gagged and sealed thanks to Hanabi, and a critically wounded man who escaped into the earth.
They had been after her head.
'Byakugan most likely,' Shikamaru mulled. But how had they known? The mask should have hidden her face, but they still went after her first and foremost. Though since they went through the trouble of disposing of her mask first, they couldn't have been entirely sure.
According to Hanabi, Naruto had been the first to notice the hostiles intent, and had proceeded to use some sort of rejecting seal fused with healing techniques, as she was failing to fight in that tight space, outnumbered as she was. Shikamaru would have to admonish him for that. They had to know everything about each other, be it be relationships, dreams or new seals.
"You okay," Shikamaru asked the destroyed Hanabi.
"…do I look okay?"
Ah, that was good. A bit of her usual arrogant mocking. Though she still looked a bit pale. Too pale. She would have to snap out of it faster.
Tenten snorted.
"Like a princess, princess."
Even better, Tenten had gone back into her normal abusive/supporting personality.
Haku was edgy and silent, but probably screamed on the inside. A composed woman, truly.
Himself? He felt like having a nice long talk with those who had assigned them this mission.
And a couple of other persons responsible for info and things of the like.
"You… look like shit, firecracker," a raspy voice informed all present. Then coughed.
The clearing, spare the fire, was covered in silence for almost a second. Then-
"DAMMIT Naruto," Tenten burst out, "why the hell are you awake?"
Naruto smiled weakly, dried blood falling of his face as muscles moved under the skin.
"I smelt… your cooking." The blonde coughed again.
Tenten glanced at the raw meat hanging over the fire, and noticed that the lower part had turned charcoal.
"Oh. Very funny. Ha-ha."
She glared at him.
"Get back to your fucking sleep before I pound you there."
Naruto's smile widened, even as his eyelids fell down.
"Sorry to worry y'all… take it… easy, firecracker. I'll… survive." His breathing slowed down. "I… always do."
The last part was only mumbled.
Haku smiled at the blonde while Tenten's body shook with restrained emotion.
Hanabi glared at him through teary eyes.
"Idiot!" she hissed.
Shikamaru looked at the sky, ignoring the females. It would soon be night. Their campfire and the smell of meat would hint to Iwa's forces were they were.
He turned to the members of the team.
"Well move out after we have eaten," he commanded them.
They nodded in response.
A few drops of blood hissed and sizzled as it hit the burning wood. Shikamaru smiled savagely as the sickly sweet smell reached his nose.
Not all spilled blood had gone to the earth.
The fire had taken too.
Joannas notes.
And thus, a new story while I await some response 'bout Esthesis... just a tiny prologue for a different kind of story than Esth.
Hope ya enjoyed it.