Chapter Four

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Hinata had talked to Toorima without much stuttering at all. She had learned the sad fact about her mother and comforted her telling her that she too had lost her mother when she was very young. They seemed to talk for hours and Toorima opened up little by little. The boys had remained mostly quiet amazed that Hinata was actually talking so much. They wrote it off to be a girl thing.

Shino pulled the group to a stop over a river to take a short rest. They had been traveling a good six hours and all stopped gladly. Toorima slid down from Hinatas' back carefully and took one slow step toward the big white creature that scared her to wits end. Hinata had convinced her that Akamaru meant her no harm, but she was still skeptical. Akamaru stood completely still trying to help as much as he could, and Kiba kept his mouth shut trying to muffle his laughter. Shino wasn't very interested in what was going on so he had gone off to check the area not interested in the girl much at all.

Not ten minutes later Toorima was scratching behind Akamarus' ear and giggling as the dog licked her small face. Hinata smiled down at her and Kiba smirked. "Good job mommy." He teased patting Hinata on the back making her blush and fidget with her fingers. She didn't even notice how others saw the situation, but couldn't find it in her to care. She just wanted to protect the beautiful little girl and show her what it meant to have a mother even if she herself had no idea how that felt. It gave her new purpose in life, one that a shinobis' life didn't offer.

Shino returned in a hurry and gave the other two a clear look that meant trouble. Hinata rushed to Toorima and picked her up helping her onto her back. "Hold on." She said trying to sound reassuring. "What the hell is it?" Kiba hissed Akamaru stood behind him as the fur on his shoulders bristled and he stuck his nose high in the air. This was supposed to be an easy mission, no danger, just taking the little girl to her dad. On top of that, why hadn't they been more alert? They let their guard down. "Hinata, take the girl, run." Shino said calmly.

Hinatas' legs throbbed as she pushed herself faster. It took Kiba two minutes to try convincing her to go and that they would be fine, that it was probably nothing. It took Shino two words to make her go. "Protect Toorima." How did he know that would make her run? That had been half hour ago. Why hadn't they caught back up with her yet?

Unable to run anymore Hinata slowed to a stop. She had forced Toorima to sleep using her gentle touch technique to keep her from panicking after she left the boys. Now immobile and utterly exhausted Hinata pulled the girl from her back and set her gently on the mossy forest floor, sitting beside her and catching her breath wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. Where were Kiba and Shino? What had happened? Her eyes drooped slightly with tiredness but she pushed sleep away as she heard someone approach. To her relief she recognized the chakra easily. Seconds later her comrades came into view and stopped next to her. "Whoever it was they left. We will sleep here for tonight with a watch. We can take turns, I will go first." Shino said looking down at the still sleeping girl and the exhausted Hyuuga.

Hinata didn't have it in her to argue at the moment. That little scare had forced her to run faster than she think she ever has and a much greater distance in a longer amount of time. Kiba erected a tent for them all and Hinata picked the still sleeping Toorima up from the floor and carried her inside. Once there she took off both of their jackets and crawled inside her sleeping bag protectively laying an arm over the girl. Hinatas' last thought before she fell into her slumber was that maybe she was more suited for a quite life with a family and as a housewife than a ninja, but alas, fate had other plans.

"Fuck." Hidan murmered as Shino got close enough to sense his chakra. He had been following them for a while listening to the two girls talking. The older girl, maybe eighteen or nineteen was a relatively beautiful girl and he found himself lost in her pale lavender eyes whenever he had caught a glimpse. The littler of the two was cute for a child, but that was all he saw of her. Hidan was a lot of things, but a pedophile was definitely not one of them.

He moved away from the group just as the creepy guy left to warn the others. It was funny that even Hidan found the dark haired boy creepy. But he wasn't in the mood to fight right now he was just curious and outnumbered. Any other day and he would have loved to start a fight, but his stomach decided to growl loudly as if reminding him what he should be doing. He sighed and retreated for now, but still wanted to tail them a little longer. So for now, he was going to lie low.

When he saw them leave he waited long enough to make them feel at ease before picking up the chase. He was entertained somewhat, like he was a clever predator that stalked clueless prey. While traveling he took notice of their headbands. Konohagakure ninja, all three of them, the little girl had no headband at all. Leader would be interested in what was going on and a few brownie points couldn't hurt, he thought blandly as he grew more and more bored with the situation.

That was until they stopped running and set up camp. The creepy boy took off again in the opposite direction, obviously to set up a perimeter. The two girls went inside a tent and the dog-boy and his dog sat at the entrance of the tent. Dog-boy seemed to be whispering to the dog, how stupid. He made sure to keep in motion to avoid being detected again, and he circled the camp.

Mr. Creepy showed up maybe an hour or two later and switched places with dog-boy. Hidan had stopped moving and sat maybe three hundred feet away or so in a tree. He was bored but it was dark now, the market wouldn't be open till morning. So he resorted himself to just stay here for the night and leave in the morning. The group had proven to be boring after all. Or so he thought…

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I was so thankful for all the wonderfully nice reviews that I decided to post chapter four tonight. Thank you all so much for reading my first ever public fanfiction and thank you to those of you who have taken the time to tell me what you think. I hope you continue to enjoy my story.

Lady-Toorima