Nice to Meet You Too

4

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Kiba and Akamaru weren't exactly having the time of their lives, but at least they were alive. There weren't that many puppets to take into account, but damn were they persistent. Their mouths would unlatch, bearing two sharp teeth that looked like they'd once belonged to that of an animal, and shoot swift blasts of chakra, aiming to kill.

"I've never seen things like these before," Kiba explained to Akamaru who was ripping into one of the puppets with his powerful jaws. Kiba himself was occupied with one or two, dodging and kicking. "Just what the hell are they? Puppets or marionettes? And who's controlling them?"

A puppet unhinged it's bone-like jaw and launched a photon of chakra at Kiba, but he dodged expertly. Unfortunately it wound up slamming Akamaru in his side.

"No!" Kiba shouted with panic.

Akamaru bared his teeth with agony, letting loose a ferocious howl, and lunged at the puppet.

Kiba bolted at another group on all fours, baring his claws like a beast, and slashed viciously at them.

Eventually Akamaru and Kiba were able to exterminate the puppets, but the large burn mark on Akamru's side left the canine quite beaten.

"Hang in there, Akamaru," Kiba uttered to his partner. The white beast lay on his stomach, growling with pain, and Kiba stroked the fur on his neck in an effort to calm him. He scrunched his nose tightly at the potent smell of Akamaru's burnt fur and skin, making his stomach twist in horrid disgust and anger. "You'll be okay, boy," Kiba reassured. "There's no internal damage, but for now you have to get up. More of these things could show up at any minute, so we need to keep moving."

Akamaru nodded, giving his white-snouted face one rough shake, and jumped to his feet. Turning to Kiba he gave two loud reassuring barks, and Kiba responded with a nod.

The remains of a puppet's limbs lay sprawled at Kiba's feet, and when he stared at it, scrunched his nose with bitter distaste.

"These puppets…were made from the bones of people," he whispered with heated loathing.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" Neji cried powerfully, smashing the bone-puppets apart with blinding speed. It took care of a great number of them, but it did not destroy all of them. Neji still had a ways to go, for there were puppets popping up from every section of sand in the surrounding area. Shikamaru was, for the most part, safe behind him, but if Neji were to get stung with one of the puppets' tails, it would be over for the both of them.

Neji waited till the remaining group of three neared and lunged in his direction before executing what he knew would be his last attack.

"Heavenly Spin!" the Hyuga shouted, pivoting his heels and rotating a violent column of chakra which lit up the resounding darkness.

The puppets crashed into the barrier and flew backwards, breaking into pieces before even hitting the ground.

After hitting the sand, the puppets crumbled apart, snapping and breaking like the dry bones they were. There was no longer any chakra holding them together.

Neji fell to his knees, panting furiously.

"No…I used too much chakra…" he huffed with anger.

His Byakugan deactivated and his vision became blurred.

"Neji!" called a familiar voice.

Thank God…Neji thought with blatant relief.

Akamaru bounded onto the scene by Shikamaru, and Kiba leaped from his back to land in front of Neji. While Akamaru sniffed at Shikamaru's motionless body, whining in concern, Kiba crouched by Neji's side.

"You got attacked by them too?" he said, turning to one of the smashed puppets.

"Yeah…" Neji responded through heavy breaths. "And by the sound of things, so did you."

"Yeah. Are you okay?"

Neji's vision reeled and he clutched his forehead. "No…My strength…it's almost gone…Shikamaru…" he glanced over his shoulder to where Akamaru was nudging the unconscious nin's head, "…is poisoned…"

"Oh no…" Kiba muttered. "We have to get him back to camp right away! Can you stand?"

Neji focused on Kiba's eyes, trying to clear the image of his face. "Hinata…where is she?" He tried to sound angry, but fatigue kept his voice leveled.

"We lost each other in the storm…" Kiba admitted with shame. "I have no idea where she is."

The back of Neji's teeth bared and he dug his hand into the sand for support, clenching his fingers through the cool grains. With his other hand he grabbed Kiba by his collar, so swift he didn't even see it, and pulled Kiba's eyes directly in front of his.

"I'll kill you…for this…" Neji muttered in a promising threat, and fell forward, landing unconscious into the sand.

"Neji!" Kiba exclaimed.

On Neji's back Kiba saw a tear in his clothes along with a trace of black liquid seeped into the ripped edges. Kiba withdrew from the faint smell lingering off of it, blowing air out his nose.

Poison.

"Shit," he muttered.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

This time Hinata awoke to the bright light of the sun, thinking at once of how hot she was. Her second thought was of Kage-kun, the curious wooden doll sleeping on her lap. Or Hinata just thought of it as sleeping. The doll stared up at her with those glassy green life-like eyes and she smiled. "Haha, you look so stiff, Kage-kun," she commented, clearing her throat to erase the gruff edge of sleep from it. The doll's mouth was compressed into a horizontal line that gave it a look of calmness and boredom, and the eyes, as alive as they were, possessed little interest of it's surroundings. A very stoic little figure.

Hinata squinted away from the sun and brought out her canteen. All the nin had left camp with one. Too bad there was only one map, and unfortunately Shikamaru was the last one to have it. But it was useless to dwell on those things now…

Hinata tucked the Kage-doll back inside the leather pouch strapped to her side and made her way to the oasis where she dipped the open canteen inside the cool water. After securing it back on her belt, she scooped as much water as possible into her mouth. Hinata stood, brushing the dirt-like sand from her clothes, and activated her Byakugan, searching for any reasonable land markings or traces of her teammates.

"No sign of Kiba-kun or Niisan," she sighed. The young heiress turned her attention to the large rock she'd slept against last night and pulled out a kunai. She walked over to it and etched her initials into the hard stone, then tucked the weapon back inside it's holster, brushing the powdered granite from the thin crevices. "Hope someone finds this," she whispered aloud.

Before stepping away Hinata noticed something very strange on the sand next to the rock. "What is that?" she wondered. It looked like some kind of…creature, almost like a scorpion, squeezed and compressed together until the insides started secreting from it's shell-like skin. What could have done this? Surely Hinata had not stepped on it by accident--it wouldn't look that way if she did--and there was no predator of the scorpion Hinata was aware of that could have been capable of causing such a mess.

Hinata merely shrugged it off, as there was little purpose in the examination of such an irrelevant subject, but she was happy the scorpion had not dug it's stinger into her skin while she slept.

The morning, much to Hinata's misfortune, was every bit as hot as yesterday's afternoon, so that was indication that today's afternoon would be death threatening. Hinata constantly activated her Byakugan, searching for something, for someone, but there was nothing…

"Why haven't I seen anyone?" she thought aloud. "I at least should have been able to see a few different cacti or rock formations, but everything looks the same. This cannot be…"

It was this thought that had Hinata marking every solid object she passed, etching her initials into the rocks and even into the cacti.

Not only would it help her distinguish a path, but also aid anyone who came looking for her. If anyone ever came looking for her…

Hinata tried rationing the water in her canteen to the best of her ability, but by late afternoon, every drop was gone.

Hinata, glaring up at the sun, accidentally tripped over the edge of a sand dune and slid all the way to it's trough, back sliding against the sand.

"Bad…" Hinata mumbled to herself. She couldn't even sigh at her stupidity anymore…the situation was becoming far too severe. And the heat…it was killing her.

Hinata looked at her side to make sure the Kage doll had not gotten injured and gasped when she saw there was nothing to inspect.

"Kage-kun?" Hinata called with panic. "Kage-kun, where are you?!"

Hinata jumped to her feet and spun in all directions. A little flash of red caught her attention and she saw the wooden doll buried in the sand not three feet away. Hinata rushed over and lifted it from the ground, brushing the tiny grains from it's perfectly white robes.

"I'm so sorry, Kage-kun," Hinata apologized to the doll. "I-I'm sorry for being so useless…" This time she did laugh, chuckling sadly. "But I suppose it's just in my nature. My father often told me how useless as I was, so I don't blame you for thinking the same."

Hinata lowered the doll to fasten it back inside her pouch, then stopped. Instead, she brought the doll to her neck and tucked it inside her jacket so that it's head popped out right beneath her chin. "This should be more comfortable, Kage-kun," she assured the little figure. "At least this was we can talk…"

The heat was really a dangerous weapon. The effects of it on the brain were as powerful as any jutsu, but somehow Hinata felt that it wasn't the drought making her act that way…

"I-I th-think I m-m--" Hinata stopped herself and cleared her throat with a hint of shame. "I think I may have gotten us more lost than we already were," she admitted to the doll. Even to this small inanimate figure Hinata did not allow herself to stutter as she had when she was younger. To Hinata the change in her speech represented the change in herself, so every time she felt her words jumbling together, stopped from speaking all together.

Hinata felt the heat increase, hazing everything around her, and she fell backwards onto the sand. Sitting up, Hinata let out a strained breath to regulate the airflow in her lungs. Such hot air…"The human body is so weak…" Hinata said, shaking her head. "Or perhaps it's just me, Kage-kun. Perhaps I am still as weak as I used to be…"

Hinata's vision was beginning to blur and her head was reeling with fatigue. "I h-haven't eaten in two days," she said. "I d-don't know how much longer I can keep this up…"

Hinata put both hands on the ground and bent forward, preparing to rise, but something came into her vision.

The base of a long white robe came into view and Hinata looked up too see a face, first silhouetted by the sun before becoming clear.

"K-Kage-kun?" Hinata stuttered in shock. Was…was this possible…?

The person who was an exact likeness of the doll tucked inside her jacket, stared down on her with focused eyes. His read hair flared up above his head looking like blood and fire, and when he crouched down to meet Hinata's eyes, she saw that it was also alarmingly soft. There was a small itching desire in the back of her puzzlement that urged her to stroke it, but she dutifully restrained.

"Hinata…is it?" the boy said in a low, handsome voice.

Hinata blinked at him a few times, much too confused to even care that his face was so close to hers, and said unsurely, "Y-Yes."

"Are you a friend of Naruto Uzamaki?"

This surprised Hinata greatly, and even though the heat was unbearable, she found her cheeks raising a few degrees higher. "Y-Yes!"

"I see…so you are from Konoha than?"

Another "yes".

"Do you know who I am?" he asked calmly and politely.

Hinata couldn't help but take a quick glance down at the little red headed doll poking out of her jacket.

"K-K-Kage-kun?"

The boy's smooth lips twitched as if he wanted to smile, but reformed back to a straight line and he answered, "Yes…in a way, I suppose. But I am also the current Kazekage of Sand."

Hinata gasped. "S-So you're--"

"Gaara Sabaku. Nice to meet you."

"N-Nice to meet you too…" Hinata responded dumbly.

"Listen to me, Hinata. You can't die here. There is little I can do for you, but I cannot allow you to give up. Please persevere, as it is the only way you'll make it out of this desert alive. If you can make it to a familiar enough territory I can point you in the right direction, but for now you must rise."

"K-Kage-ku…I m-mean Kazekage-sama, we have been looking for you for s-so long. Won't you please come back?" Hinata stared at him with pleading eyes, causing Gaara to draw back in mild surprise. He looked down at the sand, eyes seemingly straying to Hinata's lap for some reason, then said very quietly, "I…cannot."

"B-But why?"

Gaara hesitated, then looked into her eyes again. "Because I don't know how."

The Kazekage's image began fading, melting into the hot air, and Hinata's gut wrenched with panic. "N-No! Please don't leave me alone!" she called.

"You are not alone…" his fading image said, and when finally he was fully gone, the resonating bass of his voice commanded gently, "Rise…" and there was no more.

Hinata straightened her knees, rising from the hot ground, and stumbled a bit. She looked every which way, searching for the boy, but there were no signs of him.

Hinata looked down at the doll tucked inside her jacket and pulled it out, staring worriedly into its eyes. "K…Kazekage-sama?" she asked it.

When the doll did not respond (not that she really hoped it would) Hinata shook her head and placed it back inside her jacket. It's tussled red hair tickled her chin. "N-No…a mirage…just a mirage," Hinata told herself.

But the hair on the little doll's head…it was very soft.

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Haha. The analogy with Gaara's hair. Did you get it?