Wood and leaves blew away, falling victim to the strong winds of the storm. Some of the tents were almost lifted up, being saved only by their supports. When Kakashi looked outside, his expression grew grim.
"Get down and stay close to me, kids. Idon't like what I'm seeing outside…"
Naruto snuggled into a ball by Kakashi's side. It was cold and windy outside, and it was starting to get through. From outside, he could hear the wind howling and tearing relentlessly at their encampment. We really wondered how the others were.
SNAP.
One of the tents had been torn from its foundations. Inside, the sand siblings rolled towards the ocean. Struggling to get free from the tent, they scrambled and hit each other. Eventually, Gaara climbed out. It was just in time, too, because the tent rolled into the sea.
Still fumbling inside, Baki, Temari, and Kankuro pushed each other to get out when they noticed the water leaking through. Gaara looked back and saw the tent break in two, with the others climbing out. It was too late, though. The torrent of waves dragged them under, and their last gasp of air went out. Right before his eyes, Gaara's siblings and teacher had fallen victim to the storm. Kankuro's "cat hat" surfaced and floated into the distance until it was but a small black spec.
"Gaara! Don't just stand there, get in here!" shouted Neji, motioning for him to come. Slowly, Gaara made his way to the tent.
Before everyone knew it, the storm had passed. Supplies and food had blown away, and three people had died. That was a total of five when you included Lee and Chouji, and nobody would allow it to go higher.
SPLASH.
Sasuke dove into the sea; Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi on shore. Grasping a few shellfish, he surfaced and threw them to Naruto. He caught them and put them on sticks. He then gave the sticks to Sakura to roast over a fire. Kakashi was busy shoving his nose into his little book.
Naruto grumbled and looked at his sensei.
"Why don't you have to do any work? You're just reading that perverted little book of yours!"
Kakashi looked up at Naruto and chuckled.
"It's not perverted; it's The Da Vinci Code."
"Hmph" replied Naruto, who was smacked in the side of the head by a flying fish.
"Pay attention, dobe."
Naruto sighed and shoved the fish on a stick. He gave it to Sakura and slumped down. For once, he wasn't so enthusiastic.
Asuma put his hand over his forehead like a visor to block out the sun. Taking a long, deep puff from his cigarette, he looked in the distance for helicopters or airplanes. All he saw were birds, though, so he climbed back into his tent. There, Shikamaru still tended to worsening Ino. Ever since the storm had passed, she was too sick to speak without nearly coughing out a lung. She was still as warm as a furnace, and sweat beaded her face in all areas.
"Uh, sensei…will she be alright?"
Asuma looked at Shikamaru and thought. Not wanting to upset him, he simply stated, "She'll be fine, Shikamaru. It's nothing serious, and when treated properly, it should go away in no time."
Shikamaru smiled and looked back at Ino. Asuma frowned and looked away. If only what he said could be true…
Neji scooped up the oysters from the ocean floor. He was about to leave them on shore when he noticed something different about one. Cracking it open, he realized that something indeed was different. Inside was a large black pearl, the largest he had ever seen except for the fake one he had seen on the airplane cinema channel. Securing it in a special place on the beach, he went back to get more oysters. Maybe Tenten would want it…
Kiba and Shino were back at the hot springs. They didn't mind; they were teammates. Relaxing and sinking it further, Shino suddenly heard a noise from the jungle.
"Did you hear that?"
Kiba opened his eyes and looked at him, replying with a simple, "Nope, nothing."
Shino turned his head and looked at where he thought the noise had come from. He narrowed his eyes (but of course, who would know if he did…?) and sank deeper. Then, he heard it again.
"You sure you don't hear it? Not even a small scratching sound?"
Kiba smiled and shifted.
"No…but I do hear…this!" he shouted as bubbles fluttered toward Shino and a rancid smell filled the air. Shino wrinkled his noise and inched away from his obnoxious teammate. Of everyone in the academy, why did it have to be him?
Shino got up and put his clothes on. He shook his head and went back to camp. Kiba shrugged and closed his eyes once more.
Scritch scritch.
"Hm?"
Kiba looked around. "You sure you don't hear it? Not even a small scratching sound?"
Kiba started to get up, when he heard it again, louder and closer. He sat back down and scanned the area cautiously. This time, when it came, even louder and closer than before, he stood and shouted, "Come out, you big wussy! I can take you!"
Out from behind the trees came Kurenai. She raised and eyebrow and looked down, frowning.
"Kiba, sit back down…and what in the world are you talking about?"
Kiba's face turned red and he quickly zipped back down. Oops.
Hinata swiped grains of sand off of her pants and continued to pat sand together. She carved out small details and made shaped that slowly became clear. When she was done with her creation, she smiled and looked at it. A sand sculpture of Naruto's head. How predictable.
"Naruto-kun…"
From out of nowhere, Naruto zipped in front of her and shouted, "Hi, Hinata!"
Squealing in surprise, Hinata fell forward onto her creation. Naruto frowned.
"I'm sorry…did I surprise you? And that was a pretty good statue of me, too."
Hinata shook sand from her hair and looked up at Naruto. She began to fuss around with her fingers like she usually did, and managed to shyly break out the words, "H-hi, Naruto-kun…"
"You said my name earlier, what did you want?"
Hinata looked down. Hunh? He heard? But he was nowhere in sight!
"U-um, well…I, u-uh…wanted to know if, you…w-wanted to, um, maybe...go swimming with me later?"
Naruto smiled and nodded.
"Sure thing, Hinata! Nobody else but Neji and Sasuke were swimming, and I really wanted somebody to swim with. Sasuke was too busy catching fish and stuff, and Neji got out right when I got in. Hm."
Eyes widening with a glimmer of hope, Hinata smiled and followed Naruto towards the ocean. Maybe, just maybe…
