"Okay, we all know the mission, right?" I questioned as we jumped through the trees across the border. We were now officially out of the land of fire.
"Yup." Zaine replied, nodding.
"How come we always get sent on these crazy missions?" Brandon asked with a sigh. As always, Brandon was the first to complain.
"Because, it's what we're best at." I replied with a smirk. I don't know what the guys were thinking; I loved information missions like these. It was all just training until I could become an ANBU.
As the boys argued over the mission, I let my mind wonder. I couldn't help but get a sick feeling in my stomach; I know this mission is going to be trouble. Still, if we can get it done as soon as possible, we shouldn't run into too much trouble.
"Shikamaru here, has your team crossed the border yet?" Shikamaru asked through the transmitter.
"Lucy here, we have successfully crossed the border. Over and out." I replied to my little brother, who is a ways back on the other side. His team was on border patrol until we finished our mission.
"Alright, let's get going before the sun goes down." I commanded as I started running faster.
With a nod and a sigh, the two boys followed.
"Lucy, we're detecting a team of three approaching you at 12 o'clock. Can you see them yet?" Shikamaru asked a while later, which caused us to stop.
"No, I don't sense anyone near us; we'll jump down to the road just to be sure." I replied, and with a nod, we flew out of the trees and onto the main road. "Still nothing."
"Give it a minute." Shikamaru continued with a sigh. "This mission is such a drag."
"Deal with it Shikamaru you lazy ass." I stated, laughing. I turned to Brandon and Zaine. "Do you guys see anything?"
"Nothing, no one else is around." Zaine answered, and Brandon nodded in agreement.
"You sure about that?" A voice behind us asked. We all jumped and spun around, a knife in our hands.
"Wait, I just got word, they're sand village ninja, no threat." Shikamaru shouted.
"You tell us that now?" I screamed back, and then sighed. "No worries guys." I told my teammates, and we put our knives away.
"I'm sorry, but we're Leaf Ninja on a special mission, we are asked to make sure that any ninja not of the land of Rivers leaves immediately." I called out to the three Sand Village Ninjas that were standing before us.
"Why's that?" The one in the black cloak asked.
"That's top secret." I answered, and then sighed. "But, if you must know something, there's something spreading in this land that is dangerous to everyone, we insist that you must leave until we have it under control."
"If you can't tell us what it is, then we have no reason to leave." The short, redheaded one in the middle replied.
"We're just trying to complete our mission; it would be nice if you would comply." Zaine shouted at them.
"Calm Zaine, we're all friends here." I told him as I rolled my eyes. I had no idea how I am going to convince them to leave. They had to, this place was a huge danger to them, yet they didn't even realize it.
"Lucy, we're going out of range for the transmission for the night, can you still hear me?" Shikamaru questioned suddenly.
"Yeah Shikamaru, I can hear you loud and clear, for now. We're about to set up base for the night five miles south east of our current location." I replied, turning away from the sand village ninjas.
"Alright, we've set up base along the border about five miles north from where we started. We haven't spotted anything suspicious. Night Lucy, don't do anything stupid. Love you sis." Shikamaru continued.
"Okay, we've been clear too. Talk to you in the morning, stay save, love you too." I finished with a smile.
I shut off my transmitter and turned around to face the sand village ninja again, hoping this time to strike a deal with them. But, the girl's face was bright red, and she was looking at me with pure hatred.
"HOW dare you?! Shikamaru is mine!" She screamed at me, pulling her fan out from behind her back. Before she could use it to attack, the middle guy used his sand to hold her arms into place. She continued to scream and curse at me.
I looked over at Zaine and Brandon, and as we all looked at each other, we couldn't stop laughing. She stopped once she saw us all violently laughing, confused.
"Shikamaru is my little brother." I told her, still laughing.
"Oh…" She replied as she processed what I had just said, her fan falling to the ground.
"I apologize for my sister's childish behavior." The middle guy announced. "My name is Gaara; these are my siblings Temari and Kankuro."
"I'm Lucy, and these are my teammates Zaine and Brandon." I paused. "I really hate to be rude, but you need to leave this land immediately.
"I think we'll take our chances." Kankuro replied, laughing.
I looked up at the sky, seeing the sun beginning to set. We didn't have time to waste here arguing with these sand ninja.
"Fine, suit yourselves. When it hits you, don't come crying to us." I replied, shrugging. "See you around." And with a nod, I was gone; already back up in the trees. A second later, Zaine and Brandon were behind be, following me as we made our way south east.
"Are you sure it was a good idea to just leave them there?" Zaine questioned a minute later.
"What other choice did we have? We don't have any time to waste on them." I replied with a sigh. "Plus, they were too stubborn for my taste."
"I know someone else who's that stubborn." Brandon commented, chuckling. Zaine found it funny too, and began to giggle.
"Shut up." I spat back at them, wishing I could slap Brandon. Oh my teammates, the same as always.
Still, as we set up our camp that night, I couldn't stop thinking about those three ninjas. They were going to be in big trouble, my vision proved it. There wasn't anything we could do about it, not now.
Five days later
"Run!" I screamed to Zaine and Brandon as a knife shot past me, scratching my cheek. I felt the blood rush down my face, but I chose to ignore it as I searched through the fog for my teammates. It wasn't foggy a second ago, what had happened? Was this a part of the sickness, or was it real?
"Lucy! Where are you?" Zaine cried out.
"I'm over here!" I screamed. "Where's Brandon?"
"He's out, I need help carrying him." Zaine replied. I tried my best to follow the sound of his voice, and I found him a couple of yards away, standing over a collapsed Brandon.
"Is he hurt?" I questioned, noticing that now, the fog was gone.
"No, he's just weak. The illness is taking a huge toll on his body." Zaine replied as he picked him up and heaved him over his sounders.
"He's our only medical ninja." I commented as we started running back to where our base was. We knew the enemy was hot on our tails, observing. "We're doomed now. We need backup." I paused, thinking. "Let's get him to a save place and call Shikamaru."
"Alright." Zaine replied, unable to speak because of carrying Brandon and the illness taking its effects on his body too. I felt it still, in my head and my stomach. It made my knees feel weak, my head spin. I wasn't sure how much longer I could go on for.
We arrived back at our base five minutes later, where Zaine immediately dropped Brandon onto the ground.
"What are we going to do?" I questioned quietly, scared. Help was at least two days away, and I wasn't sure how much longer we were going to last.
Zaine didn't reply, because he started to fall. I caught him before he hit the ground, screaming at him. "No Zaine, stay awake! Don't leave me here alone!"
It was to no avail, because Zaine was out. I set him gently on the ground, lying next to Brandon.
"Shit shit shit." I commented to myself, falling to my knees, grabbing my stomach. "What do I do now?"
"Lucy!" A voice cried out in front of me. I looked up, seeing Gaara and Kankuro running towards me, Temari asleep in Gaara's arms.
"What's going on here?" Gaara demanded once he reached me, setting Temari on the ground.
"I told you idiots to get out of here while you still could. You're stuck now." I replied with a sigh. "I'll explain everything, but first I need help getting my teammates to safety."
"We found a small cave about a mile from here." Kankuro commented. "I'll carry one of them there."
"Thank you." I answered as I slowly stood up. My head was still spinning, but I was sure I could carry Brandon that far.
As we ran, I noticed that Gaara and Kankuro were suffering from the illness as much as I was. Both were tripping and stumbling as we ran, and I noticed I was too. This isn't good; I had guessed that they were strong ninja. If this disease was affecting them this much too, how could we stand a chance?
Once we settled in the small cave, the three of us sat down in a circle a little ways away from the others who were still asleep.
"Okay, please explain to us what the hell is happening." Gaara announced.
"We really don't know all that much. We're an information gathering distance team, which means we handle special kinds of missions, like this one. All we knew coming into this mission that a large portion of the people in the land of Rivers were suddenly getting very sick. The illness weakened the body, but hasn't reported killing anyone. Lady Tsunade fears that someone is weakening the land to prepare for an attack." I paused. "We were sent in to find out what was causing everyone to get sick, find out who is behind it, and stop them." I looked over at my two sleeping teammates. "Basically, we failed to achieve any of that before we were struck down ourselves."
"No wonder you told us to leave." Kankuro commented. Gaara remained silent for a minute.
"Well, we better rest up. Once we have, we offer our help to your mission." Gaara announced.
"I appreciate your help, but I don't know how much you guys could help. That may be a couple of days. Brandon's our only medical ninja, and he's in the worst condition. My transmitters out, so basically we're stuck without any communication with anyone." I replied, shaking my head.
Gaara nodded, and walked over to Temari.
"Don't worry too much, we'll figure something out." Kankuro commented with a smile.
"I sure hope so." I answered as I looked over at Zaine and Brandon. I wish they would just wake up.
"How'd you get that blood on your cheek?" Kankuro questioned. I lifted my hand up and touched the cut. The blood had dried now, but I had forgotten about it.
"We were attacked; I think…I couldn't tell what was reality or a delusion at the time." I replied, shaking my head.
Kankuro didn't say anything as he took the sleeve of his shirt and whipped the blood off of my cheek. I stayed completely still as he did, feeling awkward and unsure of what to do. When he was done, he got up, smiled at me, and then went to check on Temari. I smiled to myself as I watched him walk off. What an interesting boy.
I got up myself and walked over to the other side of the cave, where Brandon and Zaine were sleeping. I checked their foreheads to make sure they didn't have a fever, and then sat down in front of them. I had a feeling they weren't going to wake up anytime soon, but sitting by them made me feel less alone.
We were always together; it was strange to not be able to talk to them when I needed to. I was with them out on the road more often than in the village at home with Shikamaru.
"Please wake up guys." I whispered with a sigh.
*Flash* I blinked, looking around. Did I just imagine that, or was it real? *Flash* Oh no, not another one, not here, not now. *Flash* This was going to be bad.
I lifted my hands to my head, covering my ears and gripping the sides of my head. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the flashes. No, I didn't want a vision. No! Make it go away!
The next flash was followed by a bang, and I screamed without even meaning to. I couldn't open my eyes and my hearing was slowly starting to drift away. I heard Gaara and Kankuro behind me, and I thought I heard someone stirring in front of me. Before I could question anything, I was gone.
At first, all I could see was black. It felt cold, wherever I was. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I began to see something on the ground. I almost screamed again when I noticed I was surrounded by bodies, the blood splattered around the room. In the middle of the room were two figures, the only things left standing. Before I could make out who they were, I was pulled out of the vision. When I opened my eyes, I was back in the cave.
"Lucy, are you awake?" I heard Zaine questioned, and I looked up to see him in front of me, looking worried.
"I'm awake now." I replied, breathing heavily. I hadn't had such a strong vision in a long time.
"What did you see?" He asked as he leaned back, looking relieved.
"At first it was just dark, but once I was able to see, all I saw was dead bodies, everywhere. I don't know where I was, but it gave me a sick feeling." I answered, closing my eyes again.
"You need to get some rest, that vision took a lot out of you." Zaine told me, and I nodded in agreement.
I heard Gaara and Kankuro whispering in the distance. Something about my clan, psychics, and visions. I guessed that Zaine had woken up after I had screamed and explained to them what was happening.
Zaine moved over, and I got up and laid down in-between him and Brandon, and closed my eyes. Hopefully I could get some sleep; maybe I wouldn't feel so sick when I woke up.