Yesss, another chapter! SUCESS!!!
Okay, let's get this straight. I don't own Naruto.
Now that that's out of the way, let the fun begin!!
Hinata stared at Gaara. He had taken his switchblade out of his pocket and was now chopping things with it. He was also laughing maniacally. Finally, he stopped suddenly and turned to Hinata, who was watching and looking somewhat freaked out.
"Am I scaring you?"
Hinata jumped a little bit. "Um... yes?"
Gaara grunted. "Good." He then went back to chopping what was to be that day's dinner.
It had been a whole day without anything exciting for them, except for when a lobster tangled itself in Hinata's long black hair, and Gaara had to chop off about half of it. The lobster was now to be part of their dinner, and for that Hinata was glad.
"Here." Gaara had handed her a bunch of leaves and apple and lobster meat on a flat rock. "It isn't exactly Cordon Bleu fancy-cooking, but it's food," he muttered, taking a bite of his own meal.
Hinata gingerly took a bite of her own portion, and found it was good. Gaara had managed to make lobster, leaves, and apple taste good together. For that, Hinata thought, he must be god or something. She was not an especially religious person, but she held people who could cook well in highest opinion.
Suddenly, a shriek shattered the peace. Hinata jumped up and ran towards the sound without thinking, leaving Gaara to follow her.
Through the bushes, she could see someone's shadow quivering in firelight. Or was it the person herself who was quivering? It was Ino there, slumped to her knees over a body. She was sobbing heavily. Sakura was standing over her, trying to comfort her.
"O-oh... my... g-god..." she sobbed, with her hands in her face. "I-I have no clue w-what just happened... I just l-l-left to get some water..." she broke down and refused to talk any more, even when people prompted her.
Hinata walked over to Neji's body. He looked normal... except for the fact that there was a huge chunk of flesh taken out of his chest, like a huge animal had bitten him with giant teeth, but that wasn't the disturbing part.
The disturbing part was that, instead of being twisted into an expression of pain, his face was twisted into an insane grin, as if he had died watching something incredibly amusing. That was the disturbing part.
There was rustling, and Hinata stood up, waiting for something to happen. Then she realized that Naruto and Sasuke had just come into the clearing.
"Oh my god, what the hell just happened here?"
Sasuke bent down on one knee, shaking from head to toe, and leaned towards the body. "It looks like something gored him to death, or something bit part of his back out."
"We know that," Ino sobbed, "I know that! Just, please, do something, bury him, anything!" She lapsed back into sobbing. The clearing became so quiet that her sobs echoed in the silence, making her seem so much louder than she really was.
Finally, Shikamaru stood up and brushed dirt off his pants. "We should bury him somewhere nice, you know, it just seems right..." With that, he slung Neji's corpse over his shoulder and walked off. Everybody else followed without a word, like sheep.
The next day, the island was silent, and that matched the mood of the now seven teenagers there. All of them had put on the only black clothes they had (some of them had to borrow from Sasuke), and were standing in front of a slab of gray rock. Ino no longer sobbed, but quivered into Sakura's shoulder. Naruto bit his lip and looked close to tears.
"Neji," Shikamaru started, "we barely knew you. You were probably nice, though. We're all sorry you're dead. You died before your time, and I'm sure everybody you knew will lament that. Goodbye, Neji Hyuuga, teammate of Ino Yamanaka, everybody here will remember you for as long as our memories last."
Everybody there muttered hurried 'goodbyes', and walked away. Hinata closed her eyes. She was last in line, and she didn't know what to say. Tears brimmed at the corners of her eyes, and she finally managed to say something.
"Goodbye, Neji, my cousin. I'm sorry I never got to know you better. I'm sorry I never even looked at you, and I hope, wherever you are now, you're happy." She brushed her tears away and dropped a small flower she'd found on his makeshift grave.
Shikamaru motioned to Gaara, and he came up, brandishing his switchblade. After what seemed like an eternity, a small pile of stone chips lay on the grave and the word 'Neji' was carved into the rock in rough letters.
The rest of the teenagers walked away, but Hinata stayed behind with Gaara. She stared at the grave miserably, and didn't even try to stop herself from sobbing uncontrollably.
"Ino," Naruto asked, "do you want to stick with us? I mean, the thing that..." he almost couldn't say the word, "killed Neji could still be out there. We can't give you any of the money, but we can... protect you, if you want." He offered a hand, and Ino took it.
"I'd like that."
"Well, Ino, if you are part of our group now, you have to tell us where the water is."
Ino smiled grimly and twisted her hair around her finger. "Fine. But you have to share your coconuts with me."
Wow, this was an emotional chapter. One of the most emotional I've ever written, if I do say so myself.
But it gets more exciting, 'cause Neji-kun was KILLED!! By something big... that tells of mysteriously evil things to come...
Anyways, review please:)
