Pages: 6

Story Word Count: 2, 500

Chapter Ten- Hotel Arrival

"Che." Maybe Tsunade was right, she wasn't just another pretty face or as venerable as she seemed. That's why she interested him, which was the only reason why she interested him. So he would just have to keep a close eye on her. They had just passed the Ichiraku Ramen stand when Kagome adjusted the straps on her backpack and breifly glanced back. Noticing that Sasuke now seemed suspicious of her, which was just great. What has she ever done? Kagome just figured she'd have to be more careful around everyone. As well as being more cheerful, happy and smiling more would hopefully rid any suspicion. There was already Tsunade, Kakashi and now Sasuke who were wary of her. That was already three people too many. Why? Because they'd keep an annoying closer eye on her, watching her every single movement.

"Sasuke-kun! Good morning how did you sleep last night? I bet you were dreaming of a certain long blonde haired aquamarine eyes, what other girl but me has those rare to find attributes?! Oh Sasuke-kun you're so sneaky! But of course I never doubted that you've always liked me more than giant forehead girl!" Ino said wrapping her arms around the disturbed Uchiha's neck. Yesterday when she had eavesdropped that he could be leaving for a mission 7AM, she woke up extra early just so she could bid her Sasuke-kun a farewell. Then later on, she would hunt down and be able to gloat to Sakura. That she had been the girl who was able to see him last, before he departed for his mission. She had planned it all out laughing as she imagined the look that would have contorted itself on Sakura's face

"Release me."

"Oh I know you'll miss me. Too bad Sakura wasn't able to see you off, she doesn't care about you the way I do. Since, you know I'm here and she isn't!"

"Tch, this is so troublesome. Who are we waiting for again?" Shikamaru asked staring at the dark sky which held none of his fluffy white friends. He had been given the job of seeing that everyone departed from Kohana and no one was left behind.

"Uh…we're waiting for Naruto-kun; maybe we should go-look-for-him." Hinata said pushing her two index fingers together like she normally did when she was feeling anxious or nervous.

Just then a flash of orange streaked right past them. "AHHHHHH! DON'T TELL ME I'M LATE! PLEASSSSEEEE DON'T TELL ME I'M LATE! TSUNADE-BABA IS GOINNNNGGG TO KIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLL MMMEEEE! I DON'T WANNA DIE BEFORE I'M ABLE TO BECOME THE GREASTEST HOKAGE ALIVE THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT OF BEING ALIVE, TO BE THE GREEEASTES HOKAAAGE ALIVE!!" Naruto yelled running past everyone not even seeing them.

"Naru-Naruto-kun please wait up!" Hinata said in a half yell, before she took off running and jumping in the trees along with Sasuke and Kagome, who had taken off after him as well. They were all chasing after the Kyuubi container, who was running at a remarkable speed even to a well trained ninja. They had almost passed the Market village when they had caught up to Naruto who had to just had to have the courtesy ask:

"Ara? Why were you guys behind me? I thought you would have already arrived by now! Did you come back to get me?"

"You idiot, we had to chase after you. You would have blown our cover Dobe." Sasuke stated with his arms crossed over his chest.

"You guys, where's Kagome?" Hinata asked looking around. There were supposed to be four of them in total on this mission. There were only three people standing around in the branches of the tree.

"Che, how come no one checked if everyone was here before we departed?" Even though she was assigned to him, didn't mean that he was her baby sitter. 'Did she run away when we were all distracted by Naruto?'

"Oh no!" Hinata felt terrible she was too busy chasing Naruto-kun down like the rest of them she had forgotten about her new friend.

"What are you guys looking for?" Kagome asked jumping down from the branch she had been standing on. She had actually gotten the backpack handle stuck on a stubborn branch and she couldn't reach it with her arms. So she had to take it off her back and unravel the branches around the handle before she was able to catch up with the rest of the hyperactive ninja's.

"Ara? There you are Kagome!" Naruto said pointing towards her, "Don't you guys worry the great and amazing UZUMAKI NARUTO has found the missing Kagome; you all can stop worrying now that she has been found!"

"Naruto, you are such a loser." Kagome said jokingly with a smile, doing what she said she'd do. Which was, showing more emotion, which would in turn. Make everyone less suspicious of her and would leave her to lead a normal-uh relatively normal life in the village of Kohana. That was because no one there knew anything about her, except Souta. Hopefully he would know what information he should keep to himself. The group continued bounding through the trees, dodging the odd stay branch that threatened to poke their eye out, if they didn't pay close attention.

"Well I'm the COOLEST loser you'll ever meet!" Naruto replied as they were jumping from branch to branch, before stopping and realizing he had just unintentionally yet intentionally, dissed himself.

"Baka."

"Teme."

"Aho." (Dumb ass)

"TEME!"

"Bonkura." (Dimwit)

"SASUKE-TEME!!"

"Dobe."

"URASAI SASUKE-TEME!!!"

"Uh let's take a break for lunch. I made some Bento boxes f-for everyone. I hope no one minds." Hinata said breaking up the fight, clearly embarrassed as she pulled out the packed boxes which she had made last night. They all quietly enjoyed their meal keeping their guards up for anything or anyone suspicious. Once they had eaten and thanked Hinata for the meal. As quickly as they had stopped to take a lunch break, they were back to bounding in the trees to arrive at their destination swiftly. Except this time they were waiting for one another, keeping a close eye on their group, not wanting to leave anyone behind, not like last time. The ninja's had learned from their minuscule mistake.

"Hey, isn't that the village?" Kagome asked pointing towards, what indeed was a small village that was bustling with very little life. The town itself seemed like a regular town except smaller and there was a taller building that stood out from the rest.

"We should change our clothes now so we can blend straight in." Sasuke stated pulling out one of the elegant but effective, pre-made packages of clothes. The clothes had already been pre-put together and stuffed in a clear plastic bag. This allowed you to see what you were going to wear, without wasting your time, picking and choosing what to wear with what.

Kagome followed the others example and went behind a tree to change. She pulled off her clothes and quickly slipped into the new one's that would allow her to blend in with the rest of the female population who were going to be wandering the streets. Folding up her regular clothes she placed it back into her backpack then adjusted the kimono finding startling similarities between the one she was wearing now and the one her late beloved friend, Sango, always wore over her demon slayer outfit. The Kimono top was exactly the same only the skirt was black, not light green and it didn't go up so high. Instead the skirt rested just below Kagome's belly button. Even though it looked rather constrictive it was surprisingly easy to move around in. Kagome suddenly felt her heart contact in guilt. She could have been there, if she had only been stronger at that time and was able to stop she-

"Ka-Kagome have you finished changing yet?" Hinata asked. She herself had already finished switching her clothes as was standing in the small clearing with Sasuke and Naruto. Who she had to admit they both looked simply dashing. They were wearing the regular brown tops and semi puffy white pants, though Naruto's clothing color was the other way around brown semi-puffy pants and a white top. Neither of them was wearing their Kohana headband. That would have just defeated their purpose of changing their cloths in the first place.

"Hai. Sorry to keep you all waiting." Kagome said stepping out from behind the tree swinging the backpack onto her back. Forcing her smile back into place as Naruto complimented her after complementing Hinata.

"WE'RE HERE!!!" Naruto announced happily jumping around outside of the hotel doors, feeling the urge to state the obvious while grinning obnoxiously.

"Hn, there's not a lot of people." Sasuke said as Kagome lined up behind Naruto who behind was already lined up behind Hinata, who were all in front of him.

"Here over here I can help the next group of four, please come over here." A man at the front desk stated motioning for the group of eight to come his way. "For every room there will be four people in it. There will be some food and water waiting for you in the room. Room service will be free as well as anything you order, as you are here, as guests. You will be staying room 1123 what are your names?"

"I'm Hinata Uto."

"And I'm Naruto Maki!"

"Sasuke Rashi."

"I'm Kagome Mader."

"Here are your card keys, please do not lose them. I hope you will enjoy your stay.Is there anyone next in line?!"

Kagome slid her card key through the slot and waited as the light turned green before pushing the door open. Both Kagome and Hinata walked through the doorway turning on the lights as they went by, as night had quickly taken over. They passed a bathroom and a small closet before they got to see two queen sized beds with green sheets and white pillow masses on each of them. The only reason why Sasuke and Naruto weren't with them at that very moment was simply because; Naruto had challenged Sasuke to see who would run up the flight of hotel stairs the fastest. When Sasuke declined saying that was just a stupid idea. Naruto in turn then said that he won my default. Which made Sasuke ticked off and accept the challenge. Then they both took off running up the stairs leaving Hinata and Kagome standing around, waiting for the elevator.

Kagome fought the urge to roll her eyes at the memory as she opened her backpack and pulled the book about Ninja's. That she had yet to finish, it was half way out of her bag when she heard it. 'What on earth is that noise?' Kagome asked herself before the hotel door was swung open and Sasuke stood there only slightly out of breath.

"Hahaha Teme I told you I'd beat you running up the stairs!" Naruto said standing in the hallway, also panting, with an abnormally large grin on his face.

"You never even made it inside the hotel room dunce."

"Nuh-uh I never agreed to that." Naruto said in a loud sing song voice. Shaking his index finger and inflating his whiskered cheeks in denial.

"Dobe, you ran off right after you said, 'first one who gets into the room wins-" Sasuke said crossing his arms.

"No teme I said that-" Naruto said loudly interrupting Sasuke before she could finish.

"Hey, can you please be quiet out there? My friends and I are trying to get some sleep…. We just came from another village and we are all very exhausted." A fairly regular looking girl wearing coppery rim colored glasses asked, looking at her feet that poked out beneath her pajamas, embarrassed to be confronting such handsome, male strangers.

"Tch, idiot." Sasuke said sharply turning around and walking into the hotel room. Shutting and locking the door. Not caring on who (or what) was stuck, on the other side of the thick slab of metal and wood.

"Oi! Sasuke-teme lemme in you're such a teme! HINATA, OI HINATA KAGGOOOOMEEE Please lemme in!" Naruto yelled banging on the door with his fists angrily. He had beat Sasuke fair and square, running up the sixty seven flights of stairs. Then he had tripped on the carpeting on the way to the room. He must have dropped his card key when he was running because he couldn't locate the useless piece of plastic in any of his pockets. Naruto banged harder on the piece of wood, starting to feel his hands tingle and protest in sharp sparks of pain.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata immediately dropped down her backpack and ran towards the door to unlock it. Before the boy, she had an enormous crush on, broke it down. Hinata felt her face heat up as she examined Naruto's red hands from abusing the poor door. She gently dragged him by the wrists into the bathroom, shoving both his hands under the cold tap water the flowed out of the faucet.

In between hearing the water running and Naruto's whines of pain. Kagome was entertained as she watched Sasuke, who was busily inspecting the room for anything that seemed the least bit suspicious. He closed the large curtains and dropped to his knees so he could look underneath both of the beds. She had stopped watching Sasuke after he had looked underneath the beds. She on the other hand had found the mini refrigerator as well as the menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Speaking of dinner, she was feeling rather peckish and guessed the others were feeling exactly the same way.

"What do you guys want to eat for dinner?" Kagome asked checking the clock that sat on the table. The food was ordered by the hotel phone, as well as delivered to their room on a chart by a fairly creepy looking fella. Who looked, and felt a little too suspicious for everyone's taste. Even though the man just grunted and gave them all an extremely creepy smile, which showed his yellow teeth, it still made Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata uneasy. Kagome had been occupying the bathroom, when the food was delivered, because she felt as if her bladder was going to burst. After they all finished checking if there was anything wrong with their meals and finding nothing strange about it. They consumed the food then set the silver food chart, back outside. Then they got ready for bed.

Something that could have been so simple made so frustratingly difficult by the two men, who did not wish to sleep in the same bed as one another.

"IIE! I'm NOT sleeping in the SAME bed as Sasuke!" Naruto protested crossing his arms in clear defiance, stomping his right foot to exaggerate his point. His familiar penguin hat lay limp in his left hand while Naruto had changed from the villager clothing into his regular light blue Pajama's.