The comforting light of the campfire colors the three ninja´s clothes orange. The darkness surrounds them and except the fire, the stars are the only source of light left. The Konoha shinobis sit in silence but the leader decides that's time that all of them get to know about Akai. He and Hinata were lucky that they returned just in time to stop the fight between their two team mates. Akai was really upset about something and she went to take the first shift to guard the boarder without complains. Kiba has been bitter since then. Shino sighs at the two´s behaviour.

"What happened?" He asks at last.

"She insulted Akamaru." Kiba pouts.

"…Is that all?"

Shino sweatdrops at this. He knows that Kiba can become really aggressive when someone hurts his dog but being this stubborn doesn´t help anyone. It´s like the times when Uzumaki Naruto are on their team, the two of them can´t stop fighting over trivial things.

"What do you mean is that all? She's a real…."

"Kiba, did you noticed that I got two documents from Tsunade instead of one?" Shino interrupts when his patience is starting to run out.

"Yes, but what has it have to do…"

"It was a character profile, Akai-san´s."

"Eh?"

Shino sighs.

"H-h-ave you noticed her hair?" Hinata starts. "Her dull…e-eyes?"

"…I thought that was how all the Isozaki members looked. Like a family trait, like your Byakugan."

"She's an albino. Her skin lacks pigment." Shino states the fact.

"So?" Kiba can't see why it should matter.

"In Akai´s case it also makes her partly blind."

"She can't see? That explains why she stepped on Akamaru´s tail…." Kiba ponders out loud and then gets this terrified expression on his face. "Oh no! I broke her cane!"

One night has passed, that means that it's one night and two days left on their mission. Akai turns around in her sleeping bag but she can't return to the dreamland she just left. The still burning campfire keeps her warm and she notices that Hinata is already up, preparing breakfast. The delicious scent of fried bacon and potatoes makes her stomach grumble of hunger. The sound of Kiba´s snoring disturbs the comfortable silence and Akai presumes that his noise woke her. She pushes herself up into a sitting position.

"Ohayou Hinata-san."

"O-ohayou…"

"It smells really good."

"Oh…Thank you."

Akai moves her fingers through her hair to loose her messy tresses before she pulls it up into a bun. She sends Hinata a smile as she gets up on her feet. Akai reaches out to grab her staff but her fingers touches air. Oh…that's right…Her pale fingers twitch before she puts them in her pockets. Her bo-staff was destroyed yesterday by the snoring moron over there. She focuses on Kiba´s loud inhales and exhales of breath for a moment.

"…I'll go and wash my face by the river, I'll be back soon."

Akai moves towards the pouring sound of the river and the feeling of not having her staff near makes her feel naked and unarmed. That staff used to belong to her father, it was her first weapon. The cold water against her hot skin sends a shiver down her spine.

It doesn´t take long for her to notice how a second presence is approaching her from behind and the persons steps and weight tells her who it´s immeadiatly.

"Akai-san" Kiba calls out to her.

"Oh, you're awake …"

Akai tells him that she knows that he´s there but she continues to wash her face ignoring the other. She rearranges her long fringe so it won´t bother her by slipping the long strands behind her ear neatly.

" I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to break your staff…" Kiba starts to apologise out of the blue.

"Thanks…?"

Akai turns to face Kiba. His apology sounds rather strange in her ears and she wonders if he has a second motive behind it. Akai frowns when she realises that his dog is there with him; it was hard to see him this time too.

"You'll forgive me?" Kiba asks her after some time.

"That staff was quite important to me…" She murmurs still quite uncertain.

"Yeah, I know than now." Kiba hurries to tell her. "I had no clue about it so I just...ya know? Some say that I´m quite hot headed."

What do he think he´s knowing? Akai ponders to herself. The Grass ninja flinches by the sudden touch of Akamaru´s fur against her leg. Kiba whispers something to his dog under his breath but the large animal continues to move around Akai as he´s asking for her to pet him. She touches Akamaru´s head lightly in a rather hesitant way.

"I´m sorry for stepping on your tail...and kicking you. You just surprised me. I´m not used to animals small as you."

"..Small?"

"Well, compared to my teammate´s horses, yes."

Akamaru barks and Kiba seems to understand this more than Akai does. He grins broadly and approaches her further until both of them are petting the dog. The tense atmosphere around them gets more comfortable.

"I´ll forgive you if you forgive me for what I did, Kiba-san. I won´t forget it. That staff..."

"I forgive you and don´t worry. I´m gonna help you from now on so you won´t need a cane. Here. Let´s return to the camp."

Kiba grabs Akai´s arm and starts to walk with her towards Hinata. kai´s friendly smile fades a fraction as she regards the others actions. Her eyes go wide as realisation hits her.

"Kiba-san. I don´t need any help." She tries to tell him in a friendly tone.

"You can´t see right? So I´m gonna make sure that you won´t run into trees and stuff. Trust me." Kiba sounds proud of himself.

"Honestly, I don´t need any of your help at all! Just pay me for the bo-staff or something."

Akai pulls her arm away from Kiba´s grasp before she dashes of toward the camp ahead of the Konoha shinobi. Akai´s in no mood for arguing with him about her handicap any longer, she just wants this mission over with.

The day went by slowly since nothing really happened and before they knew it; it was time to go to bed.

When Shino arrived the next morning after his guard shift he had new news about the situation and about the other teams guarding the boarder. Akai listens carefully since she´s sure about that Neji and his team is one of the teams who are on the same mission as they are.

"The team who guides at the north has found several traps, as if the ones who has been there wants to check if someone has passed through. The enemy lingers not too far away but they keeps a safe distance." Shino tells them while reading a paper that his bugs brought back to him a little bit earlier.

"They´re watching Konoha´s moves from a distance?" Kiba asks his team mate.

"Exactly."

"B-but why?" Hinata questions their motives.

"They´re waiting for the perfect time to strike." Shino explains to the others, it is what he believes.

"I thought...well...I just don´t get it." Kiba starts. "Akai-san, you met them near your village, right?"

"Yes."

"And now they´re here...what are they after?" Kiba questions. "The Kyuubi?"

"N-naruto-kun?" Hinata stutter slightly panicked.

"I thought Akatsuki were the ones looking for them, why would Orochimaru want him?"

"The question might be; why would Uchiha Sasuke want the Kyuubi?" Shino starts to play with his thoughts. He´s well aware of that the former Konoha shinobi had a strong relationship with the blonde Uzumaki and he believes that it might be something about their past.

"So the traps are set to see if someone, like Naruto, left the village?"

"It might be that way." Shino agrees.

"It still feels wrong." Akai tells them. "When I saw them fight..." She gets lost in her thoughts while remembering the Sharingan boy and the first time she met Uzumaki Naruto.

"It´s too easy."Kiba agrees. "Sure Sasuke and Naruto were best friends but this is just taking things too far. Let´s wait till we´ve more information before we jump to conclutions."

"H-hai." Hinata agrees, she doesn´t want to think that Sasuke is after her secret crush. It scares her. Akai shares her feelings for her first friend from Konoha. But Akai´s gut feeling tells her that what the others believe is totally wrong. She has no clue why.

"We are also demanded to move a little to the west before heading home. So get ready."

"Eh?...why?"

"Orders are orders."

So the four of them, plus Akamaru, starts to pack their belongings again in a way of preparing their departure. Akai avoids the tents since her last try with them didn´t end well instead she´s deleting the signs of them being here. Like taking away their campfire, hiding their scents and chakra traces that linger in the grass. Kiba and Shino are packing the tents in silence while Hinata joins Akai.

"Ano A-akai-san."

"Mm?"

"Do you t-think they are after N-naruto-kun?"

"Seriously, I don´t know. Sorry."

Akai keeps on destroying their chakra pattern and she feels that the younger Hyuuga helps her from a distance. Her worry for Naruto makes Akai wonder about the two´s relationship and she can´t help but ask the girl about it.

"Hinata-san, do you like Naruto? Really like him?" Akai can´t see the enormous blush growing on the Hyuuga´s cheeks but her abrupt silence tells her what she needs to understand the other to a certain point. "Don´t worry. I won´t tell him but you should join us when we eat ramen sometime, maybe I can help you get closer to him."

"A-arigatou!" Hinata stutters happily.

Akai grins a little but it fades as she comes to think of the older Hyuuga. Neji is out there somewhere too, guarding the village. Akai wonders how he´s doing. Akai can´t help but long for her mission to be over. For him to return to Konoha. For them to sit back to back in that field again.

"I need to ask you something...Neji has been down lately, do you know why?"

"Neji-nii-san has? Oh..." Hinata´s face changes.

"You know the reason?" Akai pushes on gently.

"Y-yes but it´s ...rather personal so..."Hinata hesitates. "H-he didn´t tell you why?"

"No, we decided to meet after his mission to talk... I just can´t figure out what to do to make him...less troubled." Akai sits down in the grass and sighs. "It´s hard to understand him sometimes." She touches her forehead in thought.

"Neji-nii-san d-doesn´t open up to just anyone..." Hinata starts talking while joining Akai in the grass. "But I-I´ve seen that he trusts you. E-everything w-will surely become c-clear when you meet again."

"...I hope I´ll be able to be there for him somehow." Akai murmurs.

"Hey, girls are you done?" Kiba yells from the other side of the camp interrupting their girl talk..

"E-eh hai!" Hinata answers slightly surprised.

She hurries to her feet but sends Akai a small smile as she does so. Hinata is glad that her cousin has met someone like her, a girl who won´t talk to him because of his good looks or status in the society. She is also glad that Akai has managed to make Neji more friendly, he´s almost the Neji she remembers from her childhood, before his father was killed. Sure, her and Neji´s relationship is better now but it´s not as it was back then. Kiba walks over to Akai.

"Akai-san I can take those bags for you." He´s referring to her pair of bags with clothes and weapons.

Akai gets on her feet and shakes her head with a small smile on her lips.

"I´m perfectly able of carrying my own luggage, but thank you."

"I insist."

Kiba grabs the bags without her agreement and Akai is quick to grab the other handle to stop him. She´s used to people pitying her when the first get the knowledge of her handicap but that doesn´t make her less motivated to prove herself. Kiba frowns a little at Akai´s behaviour.

"I said no thank you." Akai tells him in a forced, friendly tone.

"K-kiba-kun, she c-can carry them b-by herself!" Hinata interferes when she sees how the two of them glares at each other..

" Hinata. She´s blind! We need to help her." Kiba turns to Hinata and makes gestures with his hands to explain.

" I appreciate it but I`M NOT THAT BLIND! " Akai tries to make it clear. "Kiba-san I´ll carry my stuff and I don´t need help to avoid the trees. I can see in a different way that you. Please don´t underestimate me. Do you understand?"

Kiba doesn´t dare to say anything else than a yes when Akai literally sends him a death glare. Akai nods before she turns around, grabs her two bags, and jumps into the nearest tree to later proceed forward in search for more traces of their visit here. Kiba looks at her back with his mouth partly open. He never thought that a blind person could jump like that without falling! The dog boy turns to Hinata for an explaination.

"Hinata, you knew that didn´t you? Why didn´t you tell me?"

Hinata´s expression turns into a troubled one so Shino answers instead of her. The bug user had silently sneaked up to them during Kiba´s conversation with Akai and his other two team mates flinch by his sudden speech.

"We thought you would notice."

Kiba looks at him for a moment before everything becomes clear to him. He hits himself and sighs.

"Oh gosh I´ve made a fool of myself all this time! And it´s your fault!" Kiba glares at Shino.

"My fault? You're just a living example of that a person with splendid sight can miss to see the obvious."

Kiba flinches; bulls eye.

The four of them moves side by side through the high grass. Akamaru walks in front of them using his very sensible nose to track down the strange scent in the breeze. Akai hears how Kiba inhales deeply trying to help his dog. She has no clue how the Inuzuka clan´s senses can be just like a dogs, it's amazing. Akai tenses as a bunch of small birds leave the trees at the same time. The albino stops walking at this and she focuses on what it might be that scared them. A bird that flees isn't a good sign. A cold feeling invades her body telling every nerve inside of her that something isn't right about this place. She takes a step, letting the vibrations show her a black and white picture of the terrain in front of them. Several strange spots confuse her. She's just about to inform Shino as a loud click reaches her. Her blue eyes snap open.

"Don't move!"

Her three team mates stop in their tracks at her sudden outburst. Shino sends her a glance and is quick to understand that something isn't as it should be; he follows her example and stays still. Hinata and Kiba do the same, Akamaru too but all of them look at Akai with confused expressions in waiting for a explaination. Akai ignores them as she stomps her right foot once more to see. Her misty blue eyes narrow as she understands the situation.

"Akamaru, stay still. Don't move an inch."

"What?" Kiba shouts out. "What's wrong?"

Akai walks slowly towards the large white dog and she kneels down by his side, touching the metal thing the dog accidentally has pushed down. A suffocating feeling reaches her as the realisation hits her. The feeling grows deeper as Akamaru whines in a low, frightened tone; he has seen the trap. Akai caresses the dog in a gentle way with slow strokes to calm him and herself down.

"Akai-san?" Shino utters more like a demand for an explanation than a question.

Akai looks at Shino for a moment before she turns the Hyuuga.

"Hinata-san."

"H-hai?"

"Use your Byakugan, tell me how many you can see."

"See what?" Kiba wants to know what´s happening since his dog´s fear is starting to scare him too.

Akai closes her eyes at this and she feels how Akamaru starts to tremble, he's scared. She doesn't know how she can tell Kiba that his dog and all of them has stepped into a field full of traps used for hunting wild animals. That if they move, if Akamaru moves, his whole leg will be chopped off.

"Byakugan!" It doesn't take long before Hinata notices and a loud gasp leaves her lips. "They're e-e-verywhere…d-dozens of them!"

"What?"

"Foothold traps…used for illegal bear hunts." Akai states in a quiet voice. "It must be the traps the other team mentioned, used to see if someone leaves Konoha..."

"BEAR TRAPS?!" Kiba howls in panic.

"DON'T MOVE!" Akai nearly growls at him. "If Akamaru moves, even a little bit, the trap will cut off his limb. Don't risk it Kiba!"

"…W-what should we do?"

Hinata´s sentence doesn´t end before her team mate dashes forward to save his dog from the trap.

"No KIBA!" Shino shouts.

Kiba can´t wait any longer. His beloved dog is in great danger and a blind girl tells him to wait and doing nothing? He rushes over the field in a quick peace. His eyes narrow as he feels how he accidentally kicks something cold and hard, another loud click is heard. This makes him stop dead in his tracks.

"No!"

Akai´s eyes widen as her sensible ears pick up sound of how the bear traps, one by one, starts to close by Kiba´s touch; just like a chain reaction. Kiba closes his eyes in his wait for pain; he doesn't want to hear how Akamaru whines as it happens and he doesn't want to live through it. He and his dog are going to lose their legs just like that. But the pain doesn´t reach him as he expected it to. As Kiba opens his eyes he notices how a single kunai keeps the trap from chopping off his foot. A kunai with the Grass´s green ribbon on.

Akai doesn´t hesitate to throw herself towards Akamaru to get him out of the trap. His fluffy white fur tickles her nose as they touch and luckily her bodyweight is enough to send the big dog out of balance. The two of them falls, and the trap clicks once more before the sharp blades meets with a loud ka-ching. The Grass kunoichi feels no pain since adrenaline is pumping through her veins and it takes some time for her to understand that she succeeded in helping Akamaru. He isn't hurt; his four legs are still attached to his body. A deep breath that she didn't know she was holding leaves her lips as a loud sigh of relief. She turns to Hinata.

"Hinata-san?"

The lavender haired Hyuuga uses her clan´s bloodline limit to see. "N-nearly all of them are c-c-closed now… don't move too… much to your right."

Akamaru whines in relief at this and he gets up on his feet slowly, as if he's testing if they're still there before he dashes of in Kiba´s direction. Kiba falls to his knees as his dog runs over to him and he hugs Akamaru close to his body. The fear of losing him fades slowly, the desperation, and despair disappears as he holds Akamaru. The warm, ragged breath tickles his ear. The kunai that holds the trap open falls to the ground seconds later and the trap closes in a dangerous speed and it´s closed with a loud metallic sound. Kiba stares at it with wide eyes while Akamaru licks him in the face.

"Akai-san, are you hurt?" Shino asks her.

"I'm fine."

Akai gets up to her feet and brushes of the dirt on her clothes.

"You're bleeding."

Akai mind goes blank at Shino´s statement. The constant beating of her heart and the rush of adrenaline seems to make it impossible for her to detect her injury. Fear strikes her once again, but she fears for her own safety this time. She saved Akamaru but did the trap get her? She can't feel it, she can't see it and the constant throbbing of her heart drowns her other emotions or sensations. Is my…leg still there? She doesn´t notice how Shino approaches her in her confusion and she gasps as he takes her arm and pulls her to her feet.

"Your arm."

"…M-my arm?" Akai asks him in a panicked voice. "Is it gone?"

"No… the trap seems to have scratched you. Nothing serious." Shino smirks at Akai´s reaction.

Akai sighs deeply at this in a relieved manner before she starts to chuckle at it all. Shino looks at her with a puzzled expression thinking that she has gone mad. Akai waves her hand at him with a smile telling him that she´s fine.

"Let´s head home and report this to your Hokage." Akai suggests.

The trip home didn´t take long since they all travelled in silence and without any unnecessary breaks. The bear trap incident seems to have drained them all somehow; none of them wanted to talk about it. Shino and the rest of team 8 went to talk to the Hokage while Akai excused herself at the gates and went home.

Akai mutters under her breath as she enters her hotel. She didn´t notice it before but the sun must have been too strong for her during the mission, or did she forget to put on sun protection? Either way, her skin is aching and throbbing under her clothes. The cold door handle feels awesome against her burning skin as she grabs it and enters.

"Welcome home!" A happy voice calls out to her.

"Tadaima!" Akai answers as she recognises the voice as Kumori`s.

Akai walks over to the disk and Kumori hands her the key to her room without her asking her to. Akai is about to say something when a pair of heavy steps enter the room behind Kumori, she assumes that this man is her father.

"Oh! This must be Akai-san. It´s a pleasure to meet Kumori´s friend!"

Akai smiles at the man.

"Nice to meet you too."

"Father..." Kumori complains in a long tone.

"Well I can take care of the Hotel so girls go and do something girls would do!"

"Eh?"

Kumori sighs at her father´s behaviour but she nods at last. The dark haired young woman takes Akai´s hand and leads her to her room. Akai doesn't really know what´s happening but she doesn´t question it. The two girls step into the room in silence; Kumori sits down at her bed while Akai starts to unpack her bags.

"How did the mission go?" Kumori asks her.

"It went ok but a certain dog boy got on my nerves..." Akai mutters. With a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Haha." Kumori chuckles. "You seem to have enjoyed it though, you can´t stop smiling."

"Yeah...right." Akai smiles. "It was my first mission here, I didn´t think that the Hokage trusted me that much. It makes me kinda...happy."

"You really love being a ninja." Kumori utters like a statement.

Akai kneels down at the floor as she unpacks her weapons and her smile fades a little for the first time. Her pale fingers touch her broken bo-staff gently, tracing the small details in the wood slowly to at last touch the sharp edge of it. It can´t be fixed...Akai puts the broken tool down before she joins Kumori. How will I be able to fight without it? I can buy a new one but it won´t be the same...

"The way of the Ninja is my life." Akai tells her in a silent voice. "Without it I would..."

Kumori glances at Akai but is quick to understand that the girl doesn´t want sympathy or pity. Kumori punches Akai lightly on her shoulder in a friendly way.

"Then I guess you just have to train and become stronger. Blood, sweat and tears, you know?"

"Haha, yes." Akai agrees with a smile at her lips once again. "How have yo..."

A sudden knock on the door interrupts her. Akai looks at the closed door with a big question mark at her forehead. No one knocks at her door except Kumori; who can it be? Neji? No...it´s still not that late and how would he know where I live? A disappointed sigh leaves her lips as she slowly opens the door.

"Akai-san!"

"K-kiba?" Akai is surprised over hearing the dogboy´s loud voice at the doorway.

Kumori leans at her place at the bed to get a glimpse of her friends visitor but she leans back quickly as the guest invites himself. Akai steps back as Kiba walks into her room with Akamaru close behind, her misty eyes follow their movements. Kiba looks really bothered by something and he is just about to say something as he notices Kumori there and stops. His stressed expression grows at the sight of her there.

"Oh sorry I didn´t know you had a guest." Kiba excuses himself. "Hello."

"Hello." Kumori answers in an amused tone.

Akai sighs as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"Kiba-san, why are you here?"

"You see..." Kiba turns to Akai, but his gaze wanders to the broken staff at the floor. "..I came to apologise."

"I thought we already discussed this." Akai mutters rather coldly.

"And to say thank you. You saved us back there, Akai."

Kumori looks at the two with interest; this is way more interesting than those television shows! She pets Akamaru gently. Akai look at Kiba with a raised brow since he left out the "–san" that he always adds at her name. Kiba growls a little at Akai silence.

"Okay, I admit that I´m not good at these things but please forgive me for everything. I was so damn clueless! Fuck, I didn´t even realize your condition, skills or anything before it was too late!"

"I think you should forgive him, Akai. He seems to be pretty serious." Kumori tells her with a grin in Kiba´s direction. What happened on her mission, anyway?

"Kiba I´ve already forgiven you." Akai sighs. "And I wanted to save Akamaru back there, not you." She tells him in a joke like manner.

"Hahah. You were really awesome back there If you didn´t...my leg would be..."

Akai smiles at this; Kiba is accepting her and has seen her skills as a ninja at last. Akamaru barks happily and Kumori can´t help but smile at the two ninja. The burden on Akai´s shoulders fade slowly and she´s able to laugh together with her two friends.

Akai leans against the sakura tree as she waits for Neji to arrive. Her aching limps and burning skin tells her that her mission will cause her misery tomorrow, something she doesn´t look forward to. The wind plays with her hair and she enjoys the calmness and silence around her.

Akai opens her eyes as she feels how a shadow towers over her and when she opens her eyes she notice the outlines of the young man she waited for. She had hoped that Neji would seem less troubled when they meet again but he´s as tense as back before and even her poor eyes can see dark circles under his eyes. A lump of pain grows in her chest at this.

"You look like a corpse." Akai tells him bluntly instead of a normal hello.