Chapter Two
"Ah! Such a nice day today!" exclaimed Tenten as she stretched her arms over her head. Even the sun's departing rays made the ocean glimmer with excitement as if to welcome late visitors to this village. The team was walking towards the Naruto Bridge which was already in plain sight. It had been a silent five hours of dashing from tree to tree for Haruka, Tenten, and Neji. Now the team was conserving their energy as they walked the short distance towards the bridge. Neji, eyes closed, walked by Tenten's right side. He wore a huge backpack filled with things that the party might need during their mission. It included 2 tents, food supply, and blankets. Haruka on the other side, with her eyes looking forward, focused towards their destination and remained silent with the occasional friendly return of the cheerful smiles Tenten gave her. "Neji eyes must be able to see through his eyelids… maybe that's how he can keep walking with his eyes closed wherever he goes…," thought Haruka then she smirked a little, "…show off."
The group was walking across the bridge now. "So far we haven't met any ambushes yet… are C rank missions mostly this calm?" asked Haruka, looking at Tenten. "Well…yea mostly I guess… probably the worst we encounter would chuunins from other villages," said Tenten looking up at the sky with her right index finger pointing up in a wondering sort of way. "Leaf chuunins!!! Am I correct?" exclaimed an elderly man with a wagon full of cardboard boxes and bundled up goods. The wagon, pulled by a horse, was approximately the length of a man's arms. "Yes. We as Team 18, according to the scroll, have come to escort you to our village," said Neji, now looking directly at the elderly man. "Ahaha! My name's Takanawa Hayao and I'm your client for this mission! Well then let's get going! These goods aren't going to come alive and walk by themselves! Ahahaha!!" exclaimed the jolly old man as he slapped the horse and waltzed away. "…this is going to be kinda interesting…" said Haruka with a smile as she stood with an eyebrow raised. The three, with comical sweatdrops on their foreheads, ran to catch up with the waltzing old man and his wagon full of goods. "Takanawa-san! Please stop for a moment!" exclaimed Tenten as the team caught up with the old man. They were at the entrance of the long Naruto Bridge now. "We would like you to rest for a few minutes as we prepare ourselves for ambushes," explained Neji. "Ah! I see I see!!! Don't worry about me! The old man will stay out of this one!" exclaimed Takanawa-san as he made an attempt to leap with grace towards the bridge but failed miserably as small cracks were heard after impact. Takanawa-san was, instead, hopping on one foot towards the bridge with Tenten exclaiming "Are you okay Takanawa-san?! You should sit down for a bit!" "My first C rank…. Interesting….haha!" Smiled Haruka as she watched Tenten help the old man settle on a rock with his wagon beside him. "Boring really…" sighed Neji, arms crossed and waiting for Tenten to return."Alright. This is how our formation goes from here. Takanawa-san will be seated on the wagon. I will be in front with my Byakugan activated. That way it will be easy to spot enemies. Haruka. Guard the bottom right side of the wagon. Tenten, you guard the bottom left side of the wagon. Anyone detects enemies, throw shuriken at them. I will guard Takanawa-san as both of you guard the wagon. Any questions?" explained Neji, staring intently at the two girls. "Great!" said Tenten with a grin. "Understood," smiled Haruka, "let's move out."
The team had been walking for one hour now. Haruka, Neji, and Tenten were silent as they concentrated on being alert. But, that was quite a hard thing to do. The old man was blabbing on and on about his grandchildren. If he was not talking, he was singing. Ten times has Tenten asked the man to stay quiet for better safety. It was not until the fifteenth time when an angry Neji kicked a small rock at the man's head, and the old man passed out, that everything was quiet. "Haha! That was unexpected," laughed a surprised Haruka. Tenten suppressed a giggle as Neji ignored them as he moved onwards with a glare. After a few steps Haruka ferociously threw about six shuriken to her left. Just when gasps of pain were barely heard, Neji dashed up to cover the oblivious Takanawa-san as Tenten threw more shuriken in the enemy direction. Hard clunks were heard and there were more grunts. "Who sent you…?" said Haruka in a dark voice, intimidating the men at every swift step she took towards them. Suddenly a shadow fell on Haruka. "What the… above?!" thought Haruka as she looked up ready to hurt the ambusher. Instead she heard a painful yelp as she looked up to see a dead man with a kunai through its heart falling at her. And with one swift arm she smacked the dead man to her right before it made impact to her body. Just after smacking the man she quickly whipped her head in the direction of the, now noticeable, three men. "Wha…wat?" smiled a surprised Haruka, comical sweatdrop sliding quite noticeably well down her forehead. Tenten had already killed two of the foreign men and was interrogating the last one. "Now, are you going to answer the question? Who sent you and why are you here?!" yelled Tenten. Grinning, the man looked up and replied, "My, it's a pity that such a pretty girl like you is going to die right here…" whispered the raspy voice of the last man."Shit! Tenten!" cursed Haruka as she jumped up and spun to kick two people from above while throwing a bunch of shuriken at the last man's heart and neck area. The two men from above disappeared in small puffs of smoke. "Tenten! 37 degrees N and 183.5 degrees SW!" yelled Neji, byakugan activated and throwing kunai at clones while standing above Takanawa-san. The old man, with two fat red bumps on his head gave no sign of waking up soon. The horse, frantic and neighing in the background, stared wide-eyed at the flying kunai heading straight for it. Neji jumped a good distance in front of the horse. "Hakkesho Kaiten!!! (8 trigram palms heavenly spin)" yelled Neji as he spun and knocked all kunai into directions in the forest, the knocked out kunai got rid of other attacking clones in the process. During this time Tenten took out a bunch of kunai in each hand and threw the two bunches in different directions. Two screams were made and Tenten made two shadow clones to run after the sounds. Tenten made a start to check on the clones when Haruka screamed "Stop!" "Huh?" asked Tenten as she stopped and turned to face Haruka. "Ryu..tora..o-ushi..hebi..uma..saru..nezumi..o-hitsuji!!" mumbled Haruka, quickly performing a series of hand seals as she shouted the last word. "You look like you're doing witchcraft…" said Tenten as she looked at Haruka with narrowing eyes."Shut up! You'll thank me for this!" shouted an agitated Haruka, dark comical smoke coming out of her head. She grabbed Tenten's hand and sped towards the wagon where Neji was protecting the horse, and the old man. She draped Neji around the neck and grabbed the old man's head with her hands. "W-what th-the..." stuttered Neji as he tried to pry Haruka's arms off him but she wouldn't budge. After a few seconds of confused silence and faces with the word "what the hell?!" written on them, the horse dropped to the ground. Haruka released her grip on everyone. "The smokes from the clones were not normal. I was trying my best to get rid of the poison," explained Haruka before Tenten was beginning to open her mouth. Haruka walked over to the horse that looked like he was in desperate need of emergency care. Staring at the horse, she laid both hands on the horse's heart. Within minutes the horse was breathing normal and began to sit up. Haruka looked back at her team and saw that Tenten had brought back the two dead men that probably created the poisonous clones. Two solid drops of sweat slid down from her forehead, to her chin, then down to the ground. "The clones... By the time I detected the unusual chakra in the air, Toshio had gotten rid of that problem," said Neji after the horse stood up and began to chew on some weeds. "Yea… Haruka-san! What were you doing anyways?" asked Tenten. "I was using my chakra to enter your lungs to form thin barriers. It was to protect all of us from smoke. So hard! The smoke looks like it's cleared now though…" said Haruka looking around her surroundings. "The two shinobi we caught were missing nin. They were just getting to be well known. I should dispose the bodies later…"explained Tenten. "Oh! I think I have heard of them. They killed 20 chuunins during their escape. They aren't related right?" asked Haruka looking at the dead missing nin. "Nope. I think they were just comrades. Partners in crime," replied Tenten, beginning to dispose the bodies of the missing nins' subordinates. "Their village's hunter-nin will know where they are by now so we can leave them alone. It's good our village has that policy that shinobi besides hunter-nins cannot do hunter-nin duties," sighed Tenten, eyes closed and hands up as she talked. "Let's stop and camp a good 10 minute walk from here…" said Neji who broke the silence, pointing southwest from their trail. Once the group arrived at their destination Neji stopped and looked at his surroundings. "Haruka, I know you're tired. Tend to our client's needs. Tenten, set up traps with a 360 degrees radius and at least 7.5 meters from the camp. I'll gather wood for our fire." Haruka quickly walked towards the now waking old man going "Wha..? wha? Watchs happenring?!" Tenten nodded at Neji and jumped up onto the tree branches. Neji, after a glance at Haruka, dashed into the woods as the sun was setting in the beautifully painted sky above.
The full moon in the sky lit the woods very well, especially in clearings such as the one where the team's camp was set up in. The fire and two tents were set up already. Everyone had finished eating and Haruka begun to place the entire group's garbage into plastic bags to be disposed once the team arrived back in their village. "Hey, good teamwork today! I knew we would make a great team!" said Tenten, sitting on a long log facing the fire, grinning at Haruka. "Haha! I look forward to this team's future," smiled Haruka as she zipped the backpack shut and faced Tenten. The two girls chatted for the next half hour, smiling and occasionally laughing at jokes and some gossip. "Rock Lee did that?! Probably scared the hell out of Sakura-san!!" laughed Haruka, unable to hold her laughter and tilting her head back a little, eyes closed. "…we have to keep our voices low. Our client is asleep and who knows if there is going to be an ambush tonight," said Neji, quietly sitting on another log and staring at the fire. "Hah?! When did you get here Neji?!" said a surprised Tenten. "Shh!!" hushed Haruka, softly laughing some more. "So you specialize in medical techniques?" asked Neji, now eyeing Haruka. "Yes. But also in physical combat," replied Haruka, smiling as she looked at Neji. "Hey! I noticed we never really introduced one another yet. Let's say our likes, dislikes, and goal. Just like what Gai-sensei did! Why don't we do that now?" asked Tenten, still grinning at Haruka. "Hey, we're supposed to be guarding our client…" said Neji, eyes closed and arms resting on his knees. "It's just a C rank mission Neji…none of my traps have been set off you know… you can trust me right?" said Tenten looking at Neji. "Well, okay then. I'll start. I like spending time with good people. I dislike tolerating selfish people, no matter how normal it is for them to act like that. And my goal… mm.. my goal is to be the strongest shinobi in this world, mentally and physically," started Haruka smiling at the fire. "Okay. I like eating, I dislike hating people. And my goal is to be as strong as Tsunade-sama one day!" said Tenten, eyes glimmering with spirit and anticipation. Both girls turned their heads at Neji. "Come on Neji!" complained Tenten, starting to frown with annoyance. "I'm sure what you have to say is interesting!" encouraged Haruka looking intently at Neji, "It is beneficial for our team to know each other well to excel as a team, am I not right?" Neji stayed silent for a few minutes. "Well come on!" urged Tenten. "Shut up!! I'm thinking dammit," growled Neji. "I like training, I dislike lazy shinobi, and my goal is… to be the strongest and someday find peace," answered Neji, looking again at the dying fire. "We should rest now. We can start early tomorrow and arrive early to the village. Who should watch for the first three hours?" asked Tenten, looking around. "I-" started Haruka. "I will" interrupted Neji's cold voice. "Okay, Haruka you can take second shift. I'll take the third. We leave at 7 tomorrow morning," said Tenten, waiting for her teammates' responses. "Alright. We should go to bed now. I'll take care of the fire Tenten. Neji just wait a moment," said Haruka throwing more dry logs into the fire. "No need. I'm guarding now remember? Go to sleep," said Neji. "No, you guys set up camp. I was only taking care of our client. I'll get more logs and revive the fire," stated Haruka, smiling at the both of them, "it is no problem, trust me." "Alright then, see you later Haruka-chan!" winked Tenten as she turned and walked towards their tent. "I told you not to call me that!! How old do you think we are now!" said Haruka, softly scolding Tenten so she would not wake up the snoring old man. "Then stop me then, Haruka-chan," joked Tenten. "Maybe I should pour some water over her when she sleeps hehehe…." Thought Haruka as she smiled to herself. Haruka then walked into the darkness of the woods. "I always hated the dark," thought Haruka as she quickly grabbed a bunch of sticks and sped back into the moonlight, where her camp was. "Did something happen?" asked Neji looking at Haruka, in very slight alarm. "Nothing. Really," replied Haruka walked towards the fire, face a little flushed from running. "Sure. You were scared. Your eyes can't deceive me," smirked Neji looking into Haruka's eyes. "I'm sure we're all scared of something. It's not normal if it wasn't that way," said Haruka, trying to cover up her embarrasement. "So a number one rookie shinobi can be afraid of the dark," said Neji, smirk now more noticeable. "Hey, shut up!" said Haruka as she playfully punched Neji on the shoulder and started to revive the fire. "Thanks," said Neji looking at the fire with soft pearly eyes. "Good night," said Haruka as she walked towards her tent, which she shared with Tenten. She wasn't sure if Neji replied at all. If he did, then it was a very quiet reply. Haruka started to walk to her tent but before she entered the tent she stopped, as if contemplating something, and wormed into the tent. Neji, his back to Tenten and Haruka's tent, stood looking with a concentrating look in the fire. Tenten's traps were almost fool proof and impossible to destroy for average shinobi in a C rank mission like this. He needn't focus on guarding so much. For a few moments, he looked to be deep in thought. After a few minutes a soft and grey furry blanket fell softly on his shoulders. "Hmph... You didn't have to do that. I wasn't that cold," replied Neji, eyes still on the fire. "Liar! It's going to get colder throughout the night. We teammates have to look out for each other kay.." retorted Haruka, "And next time.. bring more than one blanket for yourself.." as she made her way quickly back to her tent for the last time. Neji, still gazing at the fire, gripped the blanket and pulled it over to cover more of his body.
Theteam had arrived into Konoha village and have arrived at the mission assignment room. "Ah I see the merchant Takanawa-san is well! Welcome again to Konohagakure(hidden leaf village). Shizune, could you please receive the fee from Takanawa-san and kindly escort him to the department of merchant affairs," said Tsunade in a business-like and courteous manner, while finishing the mission report. "Alright. Excellent job on this C rank mission, Team 8. Report back tomorrow morning at 7 for a mission assignment meeting. Don't be late! You're all dismissed," said Tsunade arranging the packets of mission papers on the desk. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama," chorused the three shinobi and all left the room.
The weather that day was pouring with rain. Tenten told Haruka she had to check on Rock Lee, her teammate, and sped off before Haruka offered to go along too. Haruka ran in the pouring rain alongside Neji. "Where you going?" asked Haruka, looking at Neji as she ran. "Home," repliled Neji, just staring at the distant and near rain. Neji ran at a very fast pace in the rain, he really felt like a shower since they arrived this morning. They stopped at a 4-way section under a shelter as they waited for a long parade of school children walk by. Haruka looked at the smiling future shinobis. Neji was looking at the childrens' faces and caught a glimpse of Haruka. Her dark hair was almost drenched and small strands were gracefully stuck to her face. Her face, red from running, was smiling at the faces of the passing children. Beads of rainwater swiftly slid down her face, then to her neck. Her chest was heaving from running for a long time. He was surprised she could keep up with his speed. Her eyes had the look of a calm, peaceful landscape and her smile made her face glow. Thus were the thoughts of this young man during the length of just one minute. For some reason Neji felt like not wanting to look away but continued to subtly look at Haruka's peaceful state. Haruka turned to face Neji and said, "Hey Hyuuga, which way are you going?" "Left, where the shinobi students are heading," replied Neji, beginning to walk left of the 4-way section, "Sayonara (good-bye)." Haruka did not say anything back but looked silently at the departing figure. She felt a little flushed. Neji ran pretty fast. His eyes looked so peaceful to her when she faced him just now. "He must like children…" thought Haruka as she began to step out into the rain. She did not mind getting soaked in the rain. She just thought it more amusing to see if she could keep up with Neji's speed today. He looked so... "strong" to her, if that's the word she could describe it with, when it seemed like he was flying on the ground. He looked so focused and down-to-business. Haruka walked back to the apartment, smiling for no apparent reason.
okay! this is the end of the second chapter! Please review and tell me your opinions! I would like to see how my story is to my readers okay? so review review review!!