I don't own Naruto or its characters, so don't sue.

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Chapter 9

Setting off

'This is nuts.' Kiseichu thought to himself. 'Completely and utterly nuts.' "I can't believe what you made me do to those poor dogs." Menrui muttered.

"Shut up and stop whining or those 'poor dogs' are going to hear us!" Shingetsu hissed. Menrui fell silent and glanced at Hiun. Everyone was uneasy about this, but it seemed to be taking the greatest toll on their leader.

Roba jumped down from a nearby roof. "Alright, he's got the place locked up and is well on his way home."

"Good. Menrui, keep watch, and don't try to play with the dogs." Shingetsu ordered.

"I won't. I may be blonde now, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid." She muttered under her breath.

Hiun followed after the others as Menrui jumped up on the roof. She nudged Kakushin. "Hey, why's Tsuki so edgy?"

Kakushin shrugged. "I don't try to psychoanalyze my sister anymore. But from the looks of it, she feels like she's got the weight of the world on her shoulders. Or at least all seven of ours."

Roba whispering, "Okay, this is it," made them stop. They looked at the well-built shop in front of them.

"There aren't any alarms?" Hari asked.

Roba shook his head. "Not unless this guy is a Shinobi in disguise and he hid them pretty damn well."

"Alright then. Come on." Shingetsu slipped around back, and activated her Sharingan.

After a few minutes of struggling with the chains and ropes that held the boats in place, they managed to disentangle one that would hold them all somewhat comfortably. "Someone go get Menrui." She muttered.

"Soba." Hiun corrected.

"Just go get her!"

Hiun looked a bit startled but walked off anyway. She jumped onto the roof Menrui had been hiding on. "Let's go."

" 'Kay." Both jumped down, avoiding the dogs, and took their time getting back to the dock. "Is she still in a bad mood?"

"I'll say. Any idea why?"

"She's twelve, and having to act like an ANBU squad leader?"

Hiun nodded. "That's a good reason. You know, it seems kind of pointless to get this antidote to save our parents, just to get killed by Tsunade-sama."

"Life's a bitch, then you die. It's either A: we get the antidote, get back, save our 'rents, then get killed, B: We don't get the antidote, go back to say goodbye, and get killed, C: We don't get the antidote and live the rest of our lives as fugitives, or D: We get caught by the ANBU we've got after us, dragged back, and killed."

"You realize that all but one of those end in 'and get killed,' right?"

"Yeah. We're back." By then, everyone and everything had been loaded and they were ready to take off.

"Took long enough." Kiseichu muttered. Neither his sister nor cousin replied, just climbed into the boat and sat down. Shingetsu tossed a half-full sack of money onto the dock as Kakushin and Hari shoved the boat away from the it, into the current of the ocean.

"Which way now, Shin?" Hari asked.

She spread the map out on her knees, reading by moonlight. "Don't worry, the current will take us there. They all swirl around the island."

Kakushin grimaced. "When you say swirl, do you mean like deadly whirlpool type swirling?"

"No, it's only like that when the tide is coming in or out." She told him, placing the map back in her bag. "All we have to do now is wait."

xXx

The ANBU squad that was sent to find an antidote got quite a surprise in the middle of the night. "GAAAH! Iruka-sensei, don't do that!" Naruto yelped.

Kakashi actually looked up from his Icha Icha. "Iruka? What are you doing here?"

He sighed. "It's the kids… they've run off."

"WHAT!" Came the unanimous response, even from Shino. "But… how…" Naruto stumbled on his words.

Kiba groaned. "They're trying to find the antidote themselves."

Iruka nodded. "I'm afraid so. Now they're classified as rouges, and Tsunade's sending an ANBU team after them."

"You're kidding." Chouji said.

Iruka shook his head. "I wish. Kiba, Shino, Gai, and Lee will keep looking for the antidote. Kakashi, Chouji, and Naruto have to come with me to find…" He swallowed. "To find and capture the rouges."

Tension crackled in the air as the three Shinobi stood and followed Iruka back into the forest. Kakashi looked over at Naruto, who was obviously fighting not to cry and losing. He couldn't blame him; his emotions were going nuts too. Kakashi wasn't going to start crying by any means, but he was having a hard time keeping his feelings in check.

Naruto was not only fighting his tears, but against Kyuubi. This emotional strain was just what the kitsune needed to break loose, and Naruto most definitely DID NOT need that right now. He took a couple deep breaths and tried to focus on keeping up with Iruka, Kakashi, and Kiba. Not an easy take.

XXX

"Shin, floating in a boat for three days was not what I had in mind." Kiseichu muttered. "How do you know we're going in the right direction?"

"Because it's what the bloody map says." She growled. "You don't like it, you can always try swimming."

"Stop arguing already!" Menrui snapped. Both of them looked at her. "We're all in a bad mood. Arguing won't help."

Hiun nodded. "Just calm down."

Roba opened an eye, then sat up. "Guys? I think we're here." He pointed at the dark outline.

There was a cheer, but it was cut short by a loud roaring. "What's that noise?" Kakushin asked.

Hari looked over the edge of the boat. "We're speeding up."

Roba blanched. "Oh my god, it's the tides. As they neared the island, they saw the whirlpool surrounding it. One giant whirlpool that slammed against the rocky outskirts of the landmass.

The boat shook as its bottom hit the rocks. Everyone was thrown into the middle of the boat. "Everyone hold on!" Hari ordered, getting up on his knees to take a look around.

"To what?" Shingetsu yelled back as the boat slammed against another rock, throwing Hari down again, his arm on top of Shingetsu's waist. Both blushed but didn't move.

Roba had his arms around Menrui, who was holding onto his shirt. "If we make it through this, we'll be bonded by trauma." He muttered. A wave washed over the boat, soaking everyone. Suddenly, all the girls were grateful that none of them were wearing white shirts.

Hiun was lying on the floor of the boat, sandwiched between her little brother and Kakushin. Kiseichu got on his knees to look around as another wave slammed over the boat, knocking him over the edge. "KISEICHU!" Hiun and Hari screamed grabbing the edge of the boat and pulling themselves up.

"He'll die if he hits one of those rocks at this speed!" Roba said.

"We don't have any control of the boat!" Shingetsu groaned, putting her head in her hands. Hiun grabbed Hari's shoulder as they watched helplessly.

Kakushin cursed and did a few hand signs before jumping out of the boat, running over the water to the youngest Hyuuga. He pulled Kiseichu out from under the waves, and started back to the boat. That's when he started to sink. "Shimatta!" He managed to get Kiseichu into the boat before losing complete control and falling into the water.

A hand gripped his wrist and he felt himself get pulled up. Kakushin blinked a few times to see that Shingetsu had grabbed his wrist. Hari grabbed his other one and pulled him into the boat. "You two okay?" Shin asked. Both of them nodded, Kiseichu coughing up seawater. "Good. If anyone else gets the bright idea of standing up, or kneeling, or anything else, I'll stab them." She told them all, lying back down. Hari and the rest did as well.

About forty minutes later, the boat stopped lurching around and hitting rocks. Roba was the first one to sit up, Menrui still in his arms. "I think it stopped."

Shingetsu pushed herself up. "Genius, Roba. Pure, freaking genius." Carefully, the seven of them guided the boat to the shore.

Kakushin jumped onto the sand and kissed it. "Sweet, sweet land. Blecch." He spit out the sand that had gotten in his mouth.

"More genius. Wonderful." Hari muttered.

"Not so sweet now, is it?" Kiseichu called, climbing out of the boat. Roba helped Menrui over the edge as Hiun watched, her eyes rolling.

Shingetsu sighed. "Why don't we just stay here and rest for a little while?" The agreement was unanimous, and she and Hari walked off to get some dryer wood to burn.

Hiun walked over to where Kakushin was sitting in the sun, trying to dry off. "Kakushin?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for saving Kiseichu." She gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking back over to said brother to make sure he was okay. For the fifth time.

"Hiun, I'm fine."

"You nearly drowned, I'm allowed to be a little worried!" Kakushin smirked and rubbed his cheek where she'd kissed him. Maybe Kiseichu should be in danger more often…

He shook his head. 'No. She's one of your imouto-chan's best friend. Bad thoughts about your sister's friends are not allowed.' Pause. 'Damn, too late.'

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SC: And that would be the next chapter. Yell at me all you want, the shorter chapters I have, the faster they're typed, the faster you can read them, and the faster I update. Four reviews people! From different people, okay?

Ja ne!

SC