"They should be here soon," said the very pregnant sensei.
Pakkun was sent awhile ago informing her that Team 8 were on their way back. Kakashi had went with them in her stead.
"Thank you for accompanying me to the gate, though I am still capable of at least walking."
"Eehhh, no way Kurenai-sensei!" stated Ino. "Not in your condition."
"We really don't mind," said Choji while chomping on some chips. Ino glared at him for talking with his mouth full. He closed his mouth and gulped down the snack as quickly as possible.
Shikamaru just chuckled at this common scene.
"Oiiii!" yelled out a familiar voice, his hand waving wildly above his blond head.
Naruto and Sakura casually headed towards the group.
"Wow Kurenai-sensei! You got huuuuuggee..." Ino sent invisible daggers from her angry eyes at Naruto. Sakura knocked him on top of his head, steam coming up from her own.
"Oww...Sakura-chan...I meant it in a good way..." he said while rubbing his head.
"Are you guys headed to the gate too?" Sakura asked the others, changing the subject.
"Yes. They were assigned a difficult mission so I wanted to see my students as soon as they come through," answered Kurenai.
The combined group was now walking and talking together. Naruto was trying to bum some chips off of Choji and the three ladies chatted amicably. Shikamaru was in between the two groups, with hands in his pockets. He managed to catch snippets of both conversations, all the while looking up at the sky.
"Why are you two going to the gate?" Ino asks Sakura.
"We have an upcoming mission with Kakashi-sensei, so we wanted to go over some things with him."
The five friends and one sensei reached their destination. No one had arrived yet so they just waited there and continued the small talk.
Kurenai breaks from the conversations once she sees figures coming in from the distance.
They're back.
A small sigh of relief escapes her lips and she smiles to herself.
This pregnancy has made her even more worrisome than usual.
Shikamaru notices her smile and looks in the same direction. He sees people walking along the dirt path approaching them.
"They're here!" shouts Naruto, getting everyone's attention.
Kakashi and Shino were the first to be seen.
"We're back."
Kakashi looks quizzically at everyone. "What are you all doing here?"
He walks toward Kurenai. "Don't tell me you were worried."
"It's the baby," she says to him, coolly. She is still a kunoichi after all, just inactive at the moment.
"Where's Hinata and Kiba?" asks Sakura.
"Behind us. They should be here soon," replied Shino, in his usual monotone voice.
"Shino why don't you go ahead check us in," suggests Kasashi.
"Understood."
Kakashi continues his talk with Kurenai. "That was quite the mission you asked me to tag along to. Seeing this young tracking team working together was..."
"Is that...?" starts Choji, cutting Kakashi off.
"Oh...my..." gasps Ino as she covers her mouth.
"Hinata!"
Walking slowly towards the gate was a dirtied Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru. Hinata had visible blood on her and was wearing the familiar green vest regularly seen on others instead of her usual oversized jacket.
Akamaru was dragging an unknown immobile body behind him.
The waiting friends run up to the trio, just as they make it past the gateway.
The medic duo head straight to Hinata to examine her, looks of concern clearly shown on their faces.
"What's going on?" asked a confused Hinata. "Why are all of you here?"
"Yeah," Kiba retorts. "We never got a welcome home party before."
Shino comes back and joins his comrades.
"Hinata are you okay? What happened?" The friends gather around her, trying to investigate the situation.
"Uh...hello? I'm here too!" Kiba snaps, but continues to get ignored for the time being.
Shikamaru stares at the normally meek and gentle Hinata. It looks like she's covered in dirt, sweat and blood. She's without her jacket, alternatively wearing the same vest he himself has on. Her hair is in a long braid going down the left side of her shoulder.
That's new...wait why am I noticing that for?
She looks...tough? He's never seen her like this before, none of them have.
Naruto marches over to his sensei for some answers.
"What happened Kakashi-sensei? How could you let Hinata-chan get...well get to this point?"
The five teens look to Kakashi for an explanation.
He sighs. Are they trying to blame me for something?
"Hey hey now. Why don't we all just calm down. I will explain."
I didn't think I needed to. Why are they here again?
"Team 8 was assigned to track a group of assassins for hire. I was asked to come along for this since it was an A-ranked mission."
"What? Why weren't any of us assigned too?"
Kakashi just continued.
"I don't want to get into the exact details, but...Team 8 did wonderfully. Especially Hinata."
A satisfied smile spread across Kurenai's face.
All eyes went back to Hinata.
"She's okay," said Sakura, with an unbelieving look on her face after examining the person of the moment.
"Th-this blood isn't hers," Ino added.
"Whaa..?" They didn't understand.
"Ummmm..." Hinata made her way to Kurenai, Shino and Kiba followed.
"There was a group of five," informed Hinata. She looked back at the man that was still unconscious. His hands were tied behind him with rope, the end of the rope in Akamaru's mouth.
"He's the leader...the only one we could bring back alive."
Jaws were now hanging on the ground, eyes wide in disbelief.
Shino turned around and clued the others in.
"As you know Hinata's specialty is taijutsu. She was in hand to hand combat most of the time. Which is the reason why she looks the most disheveled among the three of us."
"We asked Kakashi-sensei to let us handle it," Kiba chimed in.
"Yes yes. They didn't need me at all. I ended up becoming a spectator, not that I minded."
"Thank you Kurenai-sensei for telling me to wear the vest instead of my regular jacket. My movements were less constricted and the pockets held more of the necessary items we needed."
Hinata looked around at gazes still upon her and continued, in a smaller voice, "Though I feel...weird in it now." Particularly this moment, with all of this attention on her.
Kurenai smiles proudly at her students. My how they've grown.
"So the mission was successful?" she asked knowingly.
"Hai!" responded Team 8.
"I'll take the criminal to interrogation and stop by the Hokage's to fill her in on the outcome of the mission. So you kids go get yourselves cleaned up and rest okay?" offered Kakashi, his eye-smile showing.
"Alright!" cheered Kiba. Akamaru barked happily as well.
"I think I'll go visit Tsunade-sama as well," adds Kurenai.
"A-are you sure sensei? I can walk you home." Hinata offers.
"No that's okay, really," Kurenai assures her while stroking Hinata's arm.
"Spend the rest of the day with your friends. You won't get many more chances to soon."
The two jounin stroll out of view, leaving the younger ones behind.
Naruto, undeniably, breaks the silence first.
"I bet you were amazing Hinata-chan!" Naruto exclaimed with a wide grin on his face.
Even under all that grime, a slight blush spread across her cheeks. She could only look down now.
That did not go unnoticed by Shikamaru.
Ah, there she is...
"Tell us everything guys!"
"Naruto! Let them get cleaned up first!" scolded Sakura.
"Maybe we could go out to eat after you guys wash up," Shikamaru suggested lazily.
"Yeah!" agreed Ino. "You must be hungry by now."
"Ugh, I'm starving," complained Choji. "Oh...you mean them."
A hearty laughter was shared between the friends.
The Rookie 8 plus Akamaru walked together towards the sunset.
"So now can you tell us what happened?" badgers Naruto.
"Yeah just skip to good part!" Choji adds.
Kiba obliges and gives them a taste of the action they missed out on.
"Okay so there we were. Face to face with the assassins in the middle of the forest..."
Elsewhere, Kakashi and Kurenai were just stepping out of the Hokage's office.
"I'm glad you asked me to go with them," Kakashi said. "They were impressive. Hinata pleasantly surprised me."
"Oh?" goes Kurenai, beaming at this point.
"Not quite as surprised as those kids seemed to be though."
The two chuckled recalling the looks on those youthful faces.
A/N: I apologize if there were any errors.
My first fanfic!
Oddly enough this wasn't my first idea for a fic, but it was the only one where I could think of a beginning and end (for now).
Thanks for reading!