Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters. (more chapter spacing due to request, sorry if there isn't much spacing this time)
Hey all! In this chapter they'll make it to the desert, but not to Suna. Suna will be in the next chapter ;) this chapters aim is to mainly just give the story some extra k's worth of words and to keep the story going for an extra chapter. I'm trying not to aim and make this story go by too fast, but not too slow either. Also hoping for bigger chapters further in too!
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Strange Magic
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Chapter Two - Heat
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They had already been travelling at nearing top speed for almost six hours now, the sun had risen and it was nearing noon. Shikamaru and Hinata had not exchanged a word between themselves, not even when they decided to rest down on the branches to have a small breather and have something to snack on. They would rest here for thirty minutes before they were back in the trees and leaping through them like a speeding bullet while Shikamaru lead through through quicker routes that would help them avoid any crowded areas or areas where a lot of attention was normally found. He would rather they not run into trouble if they can help it, he wanted to see Temari; it had been several months since he last got to see his feisty woman and he wanted to get to her as fast as he possibly could. His focus on his goal had made it somewhat difficult for Hinata to keep up with him but she managed just fine, thankfully, as their speeds increased to their maximum. If they kept this speed up, they would most likely reach half way to Suna's border by nightfall, which would leave all of the next day to travel the second half and make it to the desert ready for the night time cold; because why travel the desert at day in the blistering heat when you can travel most of it at night in the freezing cold? Shikamaru would encourage Hinata after another several hours of silence to push herself a little harder so they could go as far as they can before either one of them HAD to stop and rest. Hinata was panting very lightly as she worked herself hard to keep up with him, she was pushing her limits and she had been a little lazy lately... Not training as much as she should have, and it was starting to show. She would push herself for two more hours before she stopped and almost collapsed onto the branch, sitting back and breathing hard as she gribs her chest lightly. She still had some issues with that after her exams with Neji...
Shikamaru stops and goes over to her "hey... are you okay?" he asks, seeming concerned "y-yeah I-I'll be f-fine" she squeaked out as she slowly started getting a grip over herself "I-I still h-have problems with m-my h-heart but I-I'll be okay, pl-please don't worry" she adds. Her stuttering chokes weren't from shyness, more of from the pain. Shikamaru sighs at himself and waits for her to recover while silently bashing himself for forgetting such an important thing about her... He had to be careful now that he knew this; not wanting to end up killing the poor girl. It would take her almost an hour to finally calm her aching heart down, and she would sit there almost lifeless as she regained her energy; drifting off into sleep. Having a nap will help regain her faster while Shikamaru stood watch and on guard incase they were to be attacked. Seeing her condition he had decided it would be best if she was to have a short rest to regain her energy reserves, and when they'd move from here he'd make himself remember to not push her so hard next time. He would crouch down and shape his hands into a sort of rectangular shape as he began to concentrate; listening to his surroundings more clearly while deciding the best course of actions to be taken now that he knew Hinata still had a heart condition, which only really showed itself if her heart was exerted far too much, the sheer size of chakra drain during their run didn't help her at all. Even he had to admit to himself that he pushed himself a little too far as well, he was drained but certainly not tired; he has far too much on his brain right now to even want to sleep. He would let Hinata rest for four hours before he'd try waking her.
Hinata would grumble slightly and wake slowly, it's dark. She'd yawn and stretch some before pushing herself up and doing a few warm up stretches before she'd nod to signal to Shikamaru that she was ready and the both of them would continue onwards through the trees. The moonlight tonight was amazing, it was a full moon and so bright the rays of light would filter down through the canopy of the trees and give them just enough light to see the branches ahead of them as they almost flew over them with such grace. The night sky is clear and full of stars tonight as well, which they would see when they went under trees that weren't as close together as the others; the forest is thinning out which signals they were nearing the end of the forest. They would move more towards the ground as they neared the end, eventually having to start running on the ground once they reached the flat and clear land ahead of them. The wind blew over the plains lightly, bringing with it chilly air; the sting from the cold wouldn't effect them thanks to their protective jackets and constant use of the body as they ran. The only thing they'd notice from it was the cool, fresh air filling their noses and lungs in the quiet area where only their light footsteps and breaths would be heard in the dead of night, right under the gaze of the beautiful, full moon which looked so much larger tonight.
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As sunrise came, they were resting by a large pond which was half way through the plains, having something to snack on for breakfast "alright... we're not far now" Shikamaru spoke up, chewing a protien bar he had a spare of "we'll travel through the desert at night, which means when we reach the border we'll find a local inn at the town we'll be running directly into. We'll stay there for the day and leave at night so I highly rcommend that if you're going to look around, only spend a couple of hours doing so before retreating to the inn and getting as much rest as you can before nightfall. I've decided that it would be best to travel at night, that way we'll only have to tolerate a couple of hours of the desert's heat when the sun rises. If my calculations are right; we'll reach Suna by noon" he said. Hinata thought for a moment before nodding "what will we do for water?" she asks and Shikamaru thought "the last time I went through the town they sold waterskins, very good waterskins. Hopefully they'll have some decent ones there for us to buy. We can stock up on energy bars while there as well and whatever else we may need from the local shop" he said, standing and stretching lazily as Hinata finished her bar and stood soon after "do a quick scan of the area as well before we move on, I noticed some movement earlier but saw nothing else so I decided to see it as an animal" he said and Hinata nodded, making her hand signs and activating the Byakugan. She scans the area closely all around "not seeing anything nearby us. Towns people on the footpath... that's all I can sense currently" she said, following after Shikamaru when he ran onwards.
With her Byakugan activated, she kept close watch, giving him updates on what's around as the grass began to get very tall; only getting taller and taller as they go deeper into it. Around thirty minutes in she stopped after giving Shikamaru a silent signal and they both stay close to each other "rogue nin... Not very close but not far away. thier chakra looks strong" she whispers. Shikamaru thought in silence "we'll circle around them, only fight if we need to" Shikamaru whispers back and Hinata nods and starts to lead him around the area, hopefully they'd manage to avoid coming into contact with the unknown rogues. Hinata expressed concern when she saw that they were starting to walk in their general direction and they would pick up some speed as they got closer which left Hinata and Shikamaru to take to running so they could get out of the tall grass where vision wasn't as obstructed "two males, from what I can tell one is around your height and the other reaches the shoulder of the other male" Hinata started "their energy is strong, but there's certainly stronger than them. We have a good chance of success should they attack us, which is possible. They're running after us" she added. Shikamaru looks around "well, we're not very far from the shorter grass, as long as we maintain our speed we should be able to reach it before they catch up" he says, looking behind him for a moment if he could see any sign of them; the grass being too thick to even see. He huffs and speeds up a little, Hinata doing the same. They would be followed for the next thirty minutes before they would finally reach the slowly smalling grass and turn just in time to see kunai coming their way, pulling out their own kunai to deflect the oncoming weapons.
Shikamaru glanced at the beautiful kunai Hinata was holding, having never seen such a lovely one. He would quickly focus on their attackers when a pair of rogues jump out of the taller grass cackling, jumping straight for them. Hinata was the closest target, but she stepped to the side quickly and gave a powerful hit to the back of the mans head to knock him completely of course; he stumbled and fell face first into the ground with a loud grunt while Shikamaru locked kunai with the other male, both fighting against each others strength before jumping away and beginning to circle in hopes for an oppening to their weak points. The other male jumped to his feet and swung around at Hinata "bitch!" he yells out, clearly angry at being hit first and Hinata would jump backwards, the tip of the blade almost cutting her throat, which in turn makes her reactivate her Byakugan and spiral around gracefully before connecting her hands into the mans torso 32 times with deadly speed and accuracy; the fool left himself wide open due to his sudden outburst of blind rage. He would collapse and start gasping for air through the pain as Shikamaru and the other male jump around each other, trying to slice at their weak points to no success. This one was more focused and harder to sway than his idiotic friend who would get a nose breaking blow to his face with a knee after trying his hardest to go for Hinata again; rendering him unconcious. She would turn to watch the other two while on high defence, eyes watching their chakra very closely. Shikamaru grunts to himself, becoming irritated at the annoyance of this all "back off, you're out numbered" he said, and the man looks between him and Hinata, becoming more defencive after realising his partner was unconcious on the ground with a bloody nose.
The man grumbles and launched himself towards Shikamaru "JUST DIE!" he yells. Shimamaru moved forewards as well and rams the kunai into the males shoulder as the attackers kunai sinks into his own. Both men grunt loudly in pain and struggle against each other, he was being over powered by the attacker and was now almost arched backwards in a nearing perfect U while the chakra in his feet kept him from slipping. Seeing Shikamaru was having some issues with this, Hinata would run forewards and deliver a chakra fueled palm into the mans side which caused him to flail off to hold his side in severe pain, allowing Shikamaru to straighten himself up "now... let's just go shall we?" he asks, looking quite unhappy as he walked away. Hinata sighs and deactivates her Byakugan, following after him while he pulls the enemies kunai from his shoulder with a hiss of pain before throwing it aside and out of their sights "oh, and next time you wanna attack someone; remember this day" Shikamaru said at the man who was almost curled into a ball crying from the intense pain, looks like Hinata might have broken a few ribs in him... She was a strong hitter after all. They would both take to running again, only stopping when they were far enough away so Hinata could apply some oinment to his wound, gently rubbing it on with a tender touch "so, that kunai is new. Where did you get it?" he asks, curious of the pretty weapon "o-oh u-um... it's a gift" she said shyly "Gaara s-sent it..." she added Shikamaru just stares at her but shrugs it off before covering his shoulder with his jacket after it had been covered with a antiseptic padding. "well... That one's new to me. I guess I can't be surprised, I heard Temari was sending a gift, had no idea she invited you along though" he said, walking to the footpath that wasn't far away from them, Hinata following "y-yeah... she said it would be nice if I could spend some time there with them all... and she wants me to train with Gaara when he's not working" she said, fidgeting "sounds about right. That guy hasn't had much time off at all, not even when I was there... Maybe it might be fun, who knows. All I'm intent on when I get there is to just be alone with Temari, no training for me" he stated. Hinata almost chuckled... lazy man, as always.
They would reach the path and run along it, but at the side so they didn't knock poor towns people over that were travelling to and from the border town village which was several hours ahead of them. People would flinch or gasp in surprise when they ran by, shocked by the speed and the pull of the air behind them as the ran like bullets along the flat ground, only stopping ten minutes later after Hinata said she needed to catch her breath. She sat down and watched the people walking by, she had used a fair amount of chakra during the events where her Byakugan was active, and then during the event of using her chakra combined with that. Shikamaru would comply istantly and crouched down next to her as he waited, ignoring the looks they were being given... apparantly some of the people were a little cautious of them being there but they said nothing, seeing that they weren't attacking. Once Hinata thought she had regained enough energy they would stand and continue on their run. The rest of the day would go somewhat peacefully... Only few people would give them trouble along the way but most would just stay away; not wanting any fuss. They had stopped a few hours later only to help a traveller in distress who's cart had turned on it's side, needing help to get it back on it's wheels which took an hour, along with having to help put all the carts stock back in. They were offered money in return for their help, but to the travellers joy they declined; saying they didn't need it, and certainly didn't want to take money when they could see the person had hardly any on them to begin with.
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They would reach the town by early morning, having to stop many times to help travellers who needed it, and running into rogues here and there; swiftly dealing with them. Only a few rogues gave them a challenge, but the only ones who failed would be them, for Hinata and Shikamaru were fast to annoy after having to stop so much and the poor attackers faced their wrath... but now they could relax. The town was still asleep, with only few people seen walking around, those ones being stall and shop owners that were getting ready for the early morning wake ups who wanted to get some shopping done before the many would wake. Shikamaru took this time to question about waterskins, only to find out they had no stock on them until the next four days... leaving Shikamaru and Hinata with the tough decision of whether to wait... or travel the desert with their small water bottles... they would both think on what they should do. Hinata said they should wait, but Shikamaru suggested that they just go without. He knew that if they took longer than what Temari knew they;d take she would most definitely come raging through here looking for him and that's one thing he really didn't want to deal with... while at the same thing he was thinking maybe they should due to Hinata's situation when she struggles too much. Both would sigh and think harder "I-I... well... if y-you really want to go, Shikamaru, I can't stop you... you're in charge here after all" Hinata spoke up after their long silence together "and then what happens if you almost have another heart attack?" Shikamaru questions but the lavender eyed woman would just give off that usual pretty smile "I'll be fine... don't worry about me. The faster we get there the better, right...?" she asks, leaving Shikamaru in an even tougher position "are you sure...?" he asks, Hinata would just nod. As much as she'd prefer to wait, she also just wanted to get the travelling over and done with. Shikamaru just stared at her smiling face for a little while and sighs...
"alright... fine... but just remember that we can't stop for very long once it turns to day out there" he said, looking rather annoyed... but that was rather normal so Hinata just gives him a sweet, soft chuckle and watched the slowly brightening sky "I don't like people worrying over me so much... and I want to be stronger... please, Shikamaru" she said and he sighs again "fiiiiine... you'll only be a major drag if I don't let you anyway" he said, crossing his arms like a big kid "I'm going to go stock us up on the things we need" he added, walking off and she chuckled again; taking this time to look around. She would look at the stalls that had just opened, seeing only few people around right now. She would stop at an ornament stall and look at the amazing creations of many types of animals the owner of the stall sold, she liked the look of the bird they have but decided to just move onwards, having no room to buy one and take it with her. Maybe she might buy one on the way home she thought as she passes by the shop, Shikamaru was in there so she enters and decides to just stay at his side; helping him get their supplies which were only things like extra water and energy boosting snacks. After a while of looking around to see if they could find anything useful enough to use as a waterskin, and failing, they decide to check in at the local in. Shikamaru made sure the room they stayed in had seperate beds and he would put his travel pack on the bed to sort out a space in there that he could ram as many water bottles into as he could while Hinata did the same. Their packs weren't very big or bulky to begin with and they had a little bit of trouble fitting the water bottles and energy filled snacks in, but they did it after ten minutes of struggle. Shikamaru had decided he'd get the shower first, then Hinata went in after; finding Shikamaru was already out cold on the bed, laying there like he had been thrown.
Hinata just smiles and crawls onto her bed after her hair had dried out enough, laying on her side and staring at the wall blankly. She could feel the heat of day already, and they weren't far from the desert... Actually, if she were to look out the window; she'd see the desert. It's sands had slightly entered into the town from strong winds, and the buildings paints and colors had dulled over time from almost constant bashing of the sand that came in from the winds. The heat in this town isn't as bad as it will be in the desert though... Thankfully. She would eventually drift off into sleep.
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Night had come, they had overslept by an hour... Shikamaru was first to wake, Hinata waking from his movements within the room and both would do whatever it is they needed to do then got ready to leave. They would leave the town with their usual full speeded run and off into the increasingly, very sandy area; soon to be in the desert itself as the chill in the air helped them move faster; the heat was no hassle to them currently. Right now they had to push a little due to oversleeping; wanting to make up in distance for the one hour they lost due to sleeping. The desert looked almost blue under the moon's gaze and it was beautiful, Hinata's eyes would scan the area closely and take in the eerie yet mesmerizing view while Shikamaru looked on in silence; clearly not appreciating the view as much as she was. He looked bored if anything, just wanting to get to Suna. The entire night was silent between them... They had ran for so long, and so silently, that the time had flown by and it was now less than one hour before sunrise, signalled by the lighter sky that was beginning to make itself known. She would look over to Shikamaru and he looks back, they stop and take this time to relax and regain energy before the morning would bring it's heatwave. Once they had relaxed enough they soon got back to their feet and continued as the sunrise was now showing; the sky stained a gentle pink/golden hue and honestly, it almost made Hinata stop to stare but she knew full well that she couldn't; she would have to wait until the next time when she wasn't travelling through the increasingly hot desert.
by noon, the heat was beginning to get unbearable as they ran through the hot sand, both panting and sweating hard. Suna was in view but still a small while away and the sight made them push harder through the heat and it was starting to become a little dangerous for Hinata... Shikamaru had noticed her speed slowing and it left him no choice but to force her to stop and climb onto his back. he would not be working double time and putting his own self at risk as the woman pants worryingly hard on his back 'not good not good' he thought to himself, picking up his speed and almost stumbling a few times as he worked at his hardest to get to Suna. He had noticed Hinata had passed out on his back, checking the pulse in her wrist would sooth his worry a little but he would still panic. It wasn't a good sig if she was unconcious on him, and with the heat bearing down on them it only made matters feel worse...
After two long hours of running through the blistering heat, they reach the gates to Suna. He still had Hinata on his back, and she was still unconcious... The moment he reached the gates they opened just as he collapses both under the weight of the black haired woman; and the intense heat listing off him when the shade of the large gates would shelter them from the sun "SHIKAMARU! HINATA!" he would hear a woman's voice ringing loudly, but had no energy to reply as he slipped into sleep, having drained his energy fully from the sudden happening of Hinata becoming too tired and hot to continue on her own feet... Where they would wake would be lovely and cool, and they would wake to three pairs of eyes watching them from the foot of their hospital beds.
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Okay, not the most exciting chapter... ran low on ideas for it. Next chapter I'm hopinh to add more so, please try and be patient lol. As I said before, first couple of chapters focus mainly on Hinata and their travel, so I didn't really have many ideas to include. The next lot of chapters will hopefully have more ideas put into them seeing as the sand siblings will be added into it (and remember; there will be GaaHina time too in the coming chapters so that should add in some nice paragraphs for you all ;))
Anyway, hope you enjoyed and I hope you're excited for the next chapter!