A/n: Okay. In this chapter, A/n won't stand for "Author's note." It will stand for "Appologetic note." Because I think this is a good time to start appologizing.
First, I'm sorry to the few who were actually watching this story (or watching me in the hopes that I would post more of this story) and the wait. I don't know why I didn't post sooner, but I didn't.
Second, I'm sorry that it remains un-Beta'd. Antifishestablishmentarianist (whose username I probably mispelled and, for the sake of simplicity, I'm going to refer to as Antifishie) said that...um...s/he would Beta for me (or at least this story). I tried to contact him/her on that note, but s/he didn't respond. Which is probably just as well, because I'm still too new to know even the proper way to approach someone in asking them to Beta, much less the process of sending it and recieving it and editing it and...blah. No, FFN has been kind to me, and I'm going to trust that potential flamers will take pity on my poor soul and this fanfiction that was written...oh gosh, it's been a while.
...half...a freaking...year...it's been, since I started this thing.
Or more.
:Epiphany'd!:
So yeah, this was written half a year ago, and I don't generally have the time to run through things before I post them, so it reflects my writing skills half a year ago, which was about three months before I even really heard of FFN, and I haven't really written anything concerning this particular fanfiction since (except...yeah, side-conversations), so...yup.
But if you think I should have gotten a Beta reader anyway, blame Anitifishie.
Third, I'm sorry to the people who are watching me for other stories. Yeah, this will probably be disorienting if you never looked at this story before and were only interested in, say, Dawn of the Red Family, wherein, not only is there another Haruka (Haruka1.2, to be specific--the other one's Haruka2.0). Needless to say, you're probably watching me for DRF, and I have no problems with you not reading this.
...well, I suppose I do have problems, but I'd prefer that you just not read it than you read it and say something like "Dude, stop focusing on this geezer and keep going on DRF!"
(a) I don't have to worry about writting on this fanfiction for a long time. Posting it's the only issue.
(b) Really. I think I have...sixty or seventy thousand words of this story on one document on my computer. DRF probably doesn't have that much, all three documents combined.
But, yeah. If you do suddenly decide to read this story, please, please, please realize that this is Haruka1.2 we're talking about, rather than Haruka2.0. Haruka2.0 has a twin brother, long brown hair, and was told lies so that she'd stay with Akatsuki. Haruka1.2 is an only child, with short black hair, and associates with Akatsuki...hrm...that comes up later.
The fourth thing shouldn't even have to be said.
This is fanfiction. It didn't actually happen, not even in the fandom.
Of course it's not lined up to the pixel of Masashi Kishimoto's work.
Of course someone's going to be out of character.
If you have issues that bad with it, what are you doing on this site?
Disclaimer: Haruka and Masuyo are mine. Everyone else is Masashi Kishimoto's retirement plan.
Contemplation
Chapter 3
Haruka sneezed. I hope that clone catches a lot of fish, she thought. I'm going to need a lot of food to recover from this damn cold!
She paused to pluck a helpful herb from the ground and moved on.
A few minutes passed similarly, and she began to consider heading back to the shack when she thought she heard something and stopped.
She heard it again and confirmed it: it was the sound of someone walking through the forest.
An almost familiar female voice nearby muttered something and she heard a considerably more recognizeable voice call out, "Haru-chan! There you are!"
Haruka cringed, a pause that gave her energetic pursuer enough time to jump out of a tree and directly in front of her in an orange-and-blue blur, blocking her escape.
"Haru-chan, we've been looking all over for you!" Haruka knew the colorful ninja, named Naruto. She was still grateful for his previous actions, but she knew that he'd drag her back if it was the last thing he did.
She held herself stiffly in a vaguely offensive manner, but then remembered that, though it hadn't exactly been the most quiet death, Masuyo had hardly screamed or anything, so they might still be trying to figure out who killed her at this point.
"Why did you run away?" Naruto asked innocently as three other familiar ninjas dropped from nearby trees in a circling pattern, one considerably more so than others.
Haruka cringed again. Damn it, of all the people who could have followed me, it had to be Shino's team and Naruto! My clone had better be having better luck than I am!
"Naruto, you were supposed to wait for the signal," Shino's male teammate, whose name Haruka never could remember, scolded. His ever-present dog yapped once in agreement from his owner's feet.
Haruka sighed. "Okay, why do I have a full team of ninjas after me?"
Naruto looked at her as if confused. "Because you should be at home, why else?"
Haruka twitched angrily. "How many times have I said it today, Leaf Village is not my home!!"
"I don't think that's all," Shino's dog-loving teammate added. "I think I heard some talk of suspected of attempted murder."
Haruka felt a pang of panic. Attempted?! she thought. Did she actually survive?
Shino's head snapped to face his teammate. "Do you actually believe any of that? Do you really believe that Haru-chan could do such a thing?"
Shino's other teammate, Himaka or something, piped up. "Um, Shino, p-please calm down…"
Haruka sighed. "Yeah, really, please do calm down. I can defend myself perfectly well, thank you very much."
"So," Naruto chipped in, "are you coming home?"
Haruka sighed again and looked up at the trees, contemplating. I have a clone back with Itachi-sama and Kisame-san, she thought, and I really should settle this whole "attempted" bit…
She smiled as innocently as she could. "Yeah, I guess so. These woods are getting boring, I'd like to head back to civilization now."
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