A/N: This one is QUITE a bit longer than the last one. Enjoy!
Chapter 4
"Do you think she's okay Kakashi Sensei?"
"She's fine, just resting probably."
"What happened to her foot?"
A female voice answered his question, "Well obviously Naruto, she's twisted her ankle." "Well sorry 'Miss Big Forehead lady' that I missed that!"
"Nee!"
A much older voice tried to stop the bickering, "That's enough."
Naruto mumbled, "Fine… demo, should we just leave her here?" Naruto walked over to Toshiro and squatted down in front of her. "She's gonna wake up sooner or later…"
On cue Toshiro's eyes slowly opened, and she jumped as the saw a boy her age in a bright orange jumpsuit in front of her.
"Dare desu ka?" She managed to spit out.
"Naruto, you baka! You woke her up!" A pink-haired girl shouted at Naruto.
Toshiro looked at the girl, "No, actually you did." The girl crossed her arms, and Toshiro then realized that there was a silver-haired man there with them as well.
Naruto looked back to Toshiro and continued, "I saw you here so I stopped."
The girl once again burst out, "No you didn't! Sasuke-Kun did!" She turned and gave the boy behind her a dreamy-eyed stare. He said nothing.
Toshiro gave this black-haired boy her full attention. 'Sasuke? Where have I heard that name before?' She looked him over briefly and met his piercing black-eyed stare. 'He looks sort of... familiar…' Sasuke looked back at her; the same thing apparently running threw his mind.
"Um… hi…" Toshiro said uncertainly to him. Sasuke said nothing, but closed his eyes and leaned up against a tree. 'Not the talkative type I see…'
Naruto held out a hand, "Can I help you up?" Toshiro looked at his extended hand, and then at the silly smile on his face. "… no…" Toshiro leaned on the tree behind her and stood up.
Naruto's smile faded and he lowered his hand. Sasuke looked at Naruto and smirked. 'Shot down again…' He thought.
Naruto saw Sasuke looking at him and shouted, "What're you looking at!"
Sasuke looked from Toshiro to Naruto. "…hmph…" and he looked away. Naruto glared back at him, "Yeah, that's what I thought..."
Sakura looked from Sasuke to Naruto, and she glared at him. "What was that!" Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and she took a step forwards. Naruto's glare turned into a look of terror. He took a step back cautiously. "… n-nothing… Sakura…"
Toshiro couldn't help but start smiling at the sight of Naruto backing away from a very angry Sakura. The silver-haired man intervened at last. A frown appeared on Sakura's face and she begged, "Onesai Kakashi Sensei, just let me beat the crap out of him!" She made a fist and glared at Naruto. He backed up some more and started cowering behind Toshiro. Toshiro hopped over to another tree, leaving Naruto out in the open. She sent him a sympathetic look and said, "Sorry, but I didn't want to be in the line of fire…"
Naruto looked back at Sakura, who was trying to get around Kakashi Sensei. "Onesai Kakashi Sensei, let me at him!" Sasuke looked at a frightened Naruto, then to Sakura, and then to Kakashi Sensei. 'Let her,' he thought, 'It's not like we'll miss anything…'
Kakashi Sensei smiled threw his mask, almost as if knowing what Sasuke was thinking. He looked at Sakura and said, "Leave him alone Sakura…" 'Even thought I know how great your urge to kill him is…'
Sakura continued glaring at Naruto, but she eventually turned around, crossing her arms in frustration. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.
Kakashi Sensei walked away from Sakura and stopped in front of Toshiro. "What's your name?" he asked her. She quickly looked him over and replied, "Toshiro… my name is Toshiro."
Sasuke looked at Toshiro curiously. 'I know I've heard that name before… but where?' he thought to himself.
Sakura saw Sasuke looking at Toshiro, lost in a deep train of thought.
"Something wrong Sasuke-Kun?" She asked him as pleasantly as possible.
Sasuke snapped out of his train of thought. "…nothing…" he replied. Sakura's look was down-cast. "Oh… ii yo…"
Kakashi Sensei looked back to Toshiro. "Well, I'm sure you already know all of our names…"
Toshiro nodded slightly, "Hai, I think so…" A small pain in her foot reminded Toshiro of how she had gotten into the mess she was currently in. She hopped over to her shoe and snatched it off of the ground. "Might I ask as to why you are all in the middle of a forest?" She asked curiously.
Naruto smiled and burst out happily, "We just completed a mission! You?"
Toshiro looked at the four faces surrounding her. "No reason…" She answered, "I left the Village Hidden in the Sand because I wanted to go for a walk. I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and I lost my footing. That's why I was sitting here."
Sakura had a confused look in her face. "Do you have any idea at all how far away you are from that village!"
Toshiro shook her head, "No… why?"
Sakura said in a very matter-of-factly way, "You're about a day's walk away from the Village Hidden in the Sand. You must have been moving extremely fast threw the forest."
Toshiro shook her head again, "I don't think so… I haven't been walking all day, you know. I just wanted to be out of the village for a bit… there's no crime in that…"
"No, but if so, where's your headband?" Sakura asked suspiciously. Toshiro put her hand on her forehead. "Oh… my headband?" She reached into her pocket and pulled out her headband. "It's right here." Sakura looked even more confused.
"Nani?" Toshiro asked her upon seeing her confused look.
"That's a Hidden Leaf headband!" Sakura pointed to the headband. "I thought you said you were from the Village Hidden in the Sand!"
"I…" Toshiro looked down. "You don't need to know…"
Sakura crossed her arms again. "Nani?"
Toshiro fell silent and put he headband away. "I don't want to talk about it…" 'You don't know at all what I've been threw…' Toshiro's gaze became down-cast. "You wouldn't understand…"
Sakura glared at Toshiro and said, "I would understand!"
Toshiro was on the verge of tears but they were fought off fiercly. "No! You wouldn't!" She looked at Naruto. "Now I understand why you hate her so much…" Naruto nodded and Sakura started tapping her foot, annoyed. Toshiro crossed her arms over her chest. "You wouldn't understand… you don't know what I've been threw! No one alive could understand!" Toshiro sat down at the base of the tree.
Sakura stopped tapping her foot and realized that Toshiro was right. "Oh… that kind of understand…" She fell silent.
Sasuke looked down. 'She might not, but I do…' Sasuke moved from the tree and walked closer to Toshiro. She looked up at Sasuke, a glossy look on her emereld eyes. Quietly, he said, "I understand…"
'But how could anyone understand?' Toshiro's eyes met Sasuke's onyx ones and she lost herself in them. 'He's just… so familiar… but, from where?' Toshiro felt as if she could look on forever into Sasuke's eyes. All of her thoughts and feelings almost immediately melted away.
"Ahem…" Sakura cleared her throat. Sasuke closed his eyes again and leaned against another tree.
Toshiro snapped out of her trance. 'Wait… what was I so upset about again? I've completely forgotten…' She looked down and saw her shoe, and remembered her situation. Toshiro looked up at Kakashi Sensei and asked politely, "Do you by any chance have a bandage I could use?"
Naruto had been so quiet that when he spoke up, he startled Toshiro a little bit. "I have one." He reached into his pack and pulled out a medical wrap. He handed it to Toshiro and put his pack onto his back.
"Arigato gozimasu Naruto…" Toshiro said to him smiling slightly. She carefully wrapped her ankle with the wrap, secured it, and stood up keeping all weight possible off of her bad foot.
"Kuso…" She mumbled almost inaudibly, "I'll never make it back to the village like this… not today, or tomorrow…"
Naruto heard her and suggested happily, "You could stay with us till your foot gets better! You could come to the Village Hidden in the Leaves and go back to the Village Hidden in the Sand once you're all better!"
Toshiro looked from face to face and stopped on Kakashi Sensei. "You mean you would let me go with you? Back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves?"
He nodded, "If you'd want to. But you would have to walk back to the Village Hidden in the Sand by yourself."
"That's okay, I walked there myself three or four years ago, and I could do it again." She smiled again. "Arigato gozimasu."
Kakashi Sensei looked at the sky. "It's getting late. We should keep moving until we find a clearing to rest in." He looked at Toshiro and asked, "Can you walk?"
She nodded, "Hai, but I might not be able to keep up with you." She bent over and picked up her shoe.
"Alright, we won't go to fast," Kakashi Sensei said. He looked that Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto saying, "Lets go," and he started walking.
Naruto walked directly behind Kakashi Sensei, and Sakura was second in line. Toshiro stood behind Sakura and that left Sasuke last in line.
'So this is just what they do?' Toshiro asked herself, 'They walk threw who knows what, accomplish a mission, and just go back to the village just to do it all over again? To think that if I had stayed in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, that's the sort of life I would be leading. But, it would really get your mind off of everything I guess…'
About half an hour later, they settled down in a small clearing surrounded by brush. One by one they each fell asleep, but Toshiro lay awake, staring at the countless number of stars.
"How breathtakingly beautiful it is out here…" Toshiro mumbled to no one in particular. She closed her eyes and listened to her surroundings. She heard some small insects scurrying about, crickets singing to the full moon above, lizards dashing about snatching small meals as they went, and the soft wind rustling threw the swaying trees. Toshiro was entirely engulfed in the peace of the night, until a loud noise a few feet away pulled her back to her senses. Naruto had rolled over and had started snoring loudly. Toshiro sat up and poked Naruto in the back gently whispering, "Shut up Naruto!" He stopped and Toshiro laid back down again, and finally succumbed to sleep.
A/N: Eh... this one was okay... for those who have been confused about the Japanese words I have been using, there is a list at the bottom. You're welcome! And Review! I'm going to require a minimum of 5 of them! And I don't care if it's a flame either. Low right? Then it should be out by tomorow! Unless, no one reviews... and then we would have a problem. REVIEW! Onesai, review!
Arigato – thank you
Arigato gozimasu – thank you very much
Gomen nasai – I'm sorry
Ii yo - okay
Hai – yes
Iie - no
demo - but
Onesai – please
Kuso – damn it
Urusai – shut up
Nee – hey
Dare desu ka? - Who are you?
Baka – idiot
Nani? - What?
Nani chigimasu? – What's wrong?