Hey guys! I'm sorry about the long wait. I happened to be on vacation for a week in a remote place with no internet service. My phone barely functioned. It was fun but there were loads, and I mean LOADS of mosquitos. I have at least 50 bites. -.-
Enjoy, read, and review always!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But seriously Shikamaru, if you wanna come over to the dark side, my place is always available.
XXX
June 13, 9:05 A.M.
"Guess what day it is?"
There was a huge sigh. "Ino… seriously?"
"PANCAKE FRIDAY! This has been my motivation for the whole week! You know that right?"
"Wow. You really must be an Ino-pig. That stuff is going to go straight to your ass."
Ino gasped in mock horror. "Sakura! You are… Such. A. Bitch!"
The two began to catfight in front of the bike rack until someone else made their appearance known. It was a girl with blonde hair put into four identical ponytails. Her gaze was steely and full of authority.
"You two again? Geez, you guys should be dating. Your need to be messing with each other all of the time seems to be insatiable."
Both of the girls' jaws fell to the ground. Yeah, Temari's sense of humor was really strange.
"I'm joking." The new blonde sighed and ran a hand over her face. "That sure woke you guys up didn't it?"
Ino blinked rapidly. Sakura's eyebrows furrowed.
Then, after a pause Temari added, "Pancakes start when the first person gets to my house. The chocolate chips will be gone if you don't hurry up. My brother will probably eat all of them before 9:30-"
Ino and Sakura weren't having any of that. They scrambled desperately to grab their bikes, which they found to be still attached to the bike rack.
Sakura turned around after unlocking her bike. "So your house is on 25th … Temari?... Where did she go?"
Ino rolled her eyes. "You know Temari. She's always dashing off somewhere with those strong breaststroke legs of hers. Come on. Let's follow Shikamaru and Sai."
The bikers rode swiftly through the streets in a straight line. Since Kohona was a suburb as opposed to a big city, few cars were out. They had free reign of the town.
So quick was their haste, they made a trip that would take a normal person thirty minutes, less than fifteen.
The four reached Temari's bright blue house just in time to see Gaara bring out the pancakes. Gaara was a quiet, estranged kid and also the younger brother of Temari. His red hair was short and unruly, and his eyes didn't look any better with the deep dark circles under them. Despite all this, he happened to be a great water polo player.
Many teams who had faced him in the sport were none to happy with his performance. Rumor has it that at one point when the referee wasn't looking, he elbowed a defenseman so hard in the neck that the player started having an asthma attack.
The scary part is, he didn't even have asthma to begin with!
"Well," Temari said, shocking everyone out of his or her reverie, "Go for it. We didn't slave over these floppy circles of sustenance for nothing, ya know?"
Gaara left as soon as he had come. Members of the team started to flood in, one after the other.
Pancake breakfasts on Fridays weren't only a motivation, but also a time to chat and gossip. The talk ranged from relationships, to family problems, to dirt about some of the incoming freshmen.
"So," Ino whispered to her friends seated around her, "I heard that Coach Kakashi is going to bring 'camp' back."
Temari's fork clattered to the floor. Sakura almost dropped her pancakes. Ten-ten almost fell off her bike on the way into the patio. "Say what? That is total bullshit Blondie. The money is too tight!"
"No, seriously I'm not lying. You guys know my mother does minutes for the meeting. Why would I be lying?"
Sakura scoffed. "To get our hopes up I suppose."
Shikamaru, from his spot at the table with his eyes closed said, "I highly doubt that she is lying."
Sakura sighed. Suddenly, Inner Sakura burst forth from her long slumber. "For someone so smart he can be so dense. Whaddaya mean, not lying? Does he realize that Pig is the number one gossip queen in Kohona, not to mention the biggest twister of words I've ever seen in my life?"
Temari nearly burst out laughing. While Sakura tried to best to lock her inner voice in yet another cage. "Yeah! You people forget that I'm one of the few people who actually remembers the camp. Well, when we still had it at least. It was complete hell."
"What do you mean?" Ino asked.
"What do I mean!? Dude, that camp is only fun after the fact. Let's put it this way. With your team you are stuck on this island in the middle of nowhere with no technology. There is no way of getting food there, so you have to bring all of your own, which just adds weight to your pack. You sleep in tents, not knowing if it is going to rain before you set it up. Chipmunks steal your shit and mosquitoes become the predominant race. Does that sound like a good time to you? And I didn't even mention the hiking."
Temari crossed her arms. "I still have scars from those bites I got then. The horseflies are killer."
Everyone cringed.
Shikamaru opened his eyes and grinned. "You just totally put everyone off the trip."
Temari mirrored him. "Well aren't you just bright there Shika. If camp really does come back, I wonder if it will ever be the same. Only one thing is for certain. I'm definitely going to be a team captain."
She smiled and added; "Besides there is no point in actually camping unless you go hardcore."
Ino flipped her still wet hair. "Sometimes my cousins and I camp out in the backyard of my Uncle's house. It is difficult to put up the tent, but we have a lot of fun together."
"You've got to be kidding me. Ha! That's fucking glamping."
"Temari! Wait… what's glamping?"
XXX
June 15, 7:08 P.M.
(10 years earlier)
When speaking of the Hyuuga family, or clan as most called them, Hiashi was the most Hyuuga-like of the lot. He was the most stoic, the most intelligent and the calmest. Despite this, he also happened to be the best father.
Hiashi wasn't one for physical contact or social interaction if he could help it, but all of those rules were broken in regards to his daughter Hinata.
When Hinata was a toddler, insufferable and hard to manage, he was patient. There was no yelling and spanking as punishment. If she did something wrong he would sit her down and speak to her softly. This kind of treatment wouldn't work for many other children. However, he knew she would understand. She was a Hyuuga after all.
He would take her to the park, sing her songs, laugh at her jokes, bake her cookies…
But that all changed when Hinata was six years old.
Hiashi often would take young Hinata on long car rides, calling them adventures, in and out of Kohona. Most of the time it was to test out a new car he had. Occasionally he would take her to visit the Yamanaka flower shop. Hinata and Ino played in the back room while Inoichi, Ino's father, and Hiashi talked about family politics and business.
Eventually there would be some sort reward, usually ice cream involved.
One cloudy day in June once school was out, Hiashi took Hinata out on another adventure.
"Daddy! Where are we going?" Hinata asked, her bob cut hair flopping up and down as she bounced in her seat.
Her father smiled. "Oh, nowhere."
Hinata huffed, leaning back in her seat. She knew better than to question him anymore. She would find out it due time.
Suddenly, it began to rain. It started out as a light misting, but soon the drops went down harder, leaving little 'pang' sounds on the windows. Hinata, being a smart little girl, scrunched up her nose in disgust when she noticed more menacing storm clouds in the distance.
"Daddy, are you sure that we're going to be okay? Storms can be scary. What if the rain comes in through the roof and we get swamped and-"
Hiashi cut her off with a rare bout of laughing. "No Hinata. That won't happen. The car is sealed from the elements completely. No need to worry."
The moment he said this a large clap of thunder was heard and both of the car's occupants jumped. Rain poured down more insistently than before. From Hinata's seat she could see buckets of water and even small pieces of hail making their way down from the sky.
Hinata whimpered.
Hiashi never liked to see his daughter upset. At this point she looked like she was about to cry. He sighed and made a choice. It was choice that changed Hinata's life forever.
They happened to be on a well-traveled stretch of highway at the time, with a large shoulder for cars to pull over if needed. The pavement dropped off to the famous Five Nation Creek, which was the only fresh water creek in Kohona.
Hiashi veered the car off to the side, turning off the headlights. "Hey."
Hinata peered up at her father. Her knees were pushed up to her chest, a hard feat to accomplish with her seatbelt still on. Her lavender eyes were a little red and puffy, but any signs of actual tears were gone.
"You're okay. Daddy wouldn't let anything happen to you."
Hinata nodded, sniffling.
All Hiashi saw were headlights before a deafening crash rocked the night. Everything went black as a moon less midnight. There was pain, lots of pain, and screaming too, coming from the seat next to him. The most the man could do was grab desperately in the direction of his daughter. After what felt like an eternity, he became weightless. The screams were faint now and they were spinning down, down, down into more unending darkness. The only thoughts in his mind were how everything hurt, hurt, hurt. When that feeling was gone another one took its place. The deathly touch of something wet and freezing cold engulfed him. He couldn't see. He couldn't breathe.
Escape.
Escape.
Save Hinata.
Hiashi's eyes popped open. He felt around for the seatbelt that kept his child tethered to the car. It took him a few moments, but once he found it, he clicked it free. Hiashi was also able to do the same for his own seatbelt.
He didn't have much time though; he had to get his daughter out of the car. She was no longer screaming.
In one swift move, Hiashi reached for the passenger side door, catching the lever with a hand by memory. Grabbing Hinata with the other, he maneuvered her out of the car and pushed her up to what he fervently hoped was the surface.
Hiashi nearly sighed in relief, but instead gasped, taking in water. He had reached his limit. Smiling, he closed his eyes and sent out one last wish for his daughter.
Hopefully, just hopefully, he had made it in time.
Hinata would live, no matter what the hardships. He had no doubts.
XXX
June 15, 7:12 P.M.
Mikoto Uchiha was a beautiful woman in her mid thirties. Her long black hair just passed her shoulder blades to cascade down her back. Onyx colored eyes gave a welcoming look to her facial features that many found kindly.
Mikoto had just been on her way back from the grocery store when the brute force of the storm had started to emerge. She thanked the heavens that she hadn't let her seven-year-old son Sasuke come with her. Being a storm junkie he would have wanted to get out of the car and dance in it. Right now, that didn't seem to be such a hot idea.
With her wipers on full blast and mind as on task as a machine, she barreled through the stretch of highway.
Suddenly, she gasped.
On the road ahead of her she could make out two cars colliding viciously. One car was on the side of the road, waiting out the storm when the other car lost control and t-boned it, sending the vehicle flying over the edge of the hill.
The side barriers on the shoulder of the road flew through the air with a sickening crashing and banging. The car was in even worse disrepair. It tumbled over the hill down into the creek below it. Mikoto could hear the smashing of windows and loud screams even with the rain. She envisioned a splash as the car began to sink into the rushing creek waters.
"No," Mikoto thought, "Oh no! There are people in that car!"
As fast as she could, the Uchiha mother pulled over to the side of the road and ran headlong into the rain. Her clothes became instantly drenched and heavy as she pushed through the gale.
Sprinting down to the side of the creek, she saw the outline of a young girl, struggling on the surface of the water. The girl was in distress, not quite drowning, but fighting to keep her head above the current.
Mikoto's gaze hardened.
The faces of her two sons popped into her mind.
No. This kid had parents, probably a family. She would sacrifice anything to keep that alive, in the hopes that if one of her sons was in the same situation… he would get the same treatment.
She would save this girl, even if it meant putting her own life in jeopardy.
XXX
Tell me what you think! The plot thickens for you all. This, my friends, is how you kill people off. I am evil! XD