Ch. 11
Kagome did not know how to take in the sight before her.
Naruto's was an unrestrained glutton that could not fill the void that is his stomach. He was going on his twentieth bowl!
And Kiba was not helping. After introductions and food was ordered, both he and Naruto decided to make it a competition to see who could eat the most ramen. Considering that they were now going on their twenty-fifth, Kagome had to wonder how they going to pay for all that. When she asked, Naruto and Kiba grinned as they shamelessly replied that they were putting it all on Tsunade's tab.
Neji and Tenten held the same look of shock on their faces as she did. Not because they were witnessing this scene for the first time but because there was just no way a human stomach could hold as much as those two were eating. Shino didn't seem to care much about what they were doing…then again you couldn't really read his expression.
But it must have been a common occurrence if both Sasuke and Sakura were not fazed.
Sakura drew the group's attention from the spectacle that was Naruto and Kiba when she asked Kagome a question. "Did the Hokage tell you why we were not sent out immediately to go retrieve Hitori? She is in the hands of the Akatsuki and being held hostage after all."
Kagome drew her eyes from the tie that had seemed to occur (due to the ramen not being made fast enough) between the "idiots" as Sasuke so kindly put it, to answer Sakura.
"Though a knee-jerk reaction would have been to go after Hitori, it would not have been the best idea. Able ninjas would have been injured and the Akatsuki would have covered up their tracks more thoroughly. They need her in prime condition for what they wish to do with her so it is not likely that they would her. The fact that we have the luxury of time is due to them missing two very important factors to their master plan. It would be costly if we just rushed in with no plan of action."
Naruto stopped his glaring contest with Kiba and glanced at Kagome. "Was that why Kakashi didn't tell us sooner?"
Kagome tilted her head his way. "All of you are close and knowing you he saw that the best course of action was to inform Tsunade before doing anything."
"Do you have a plan?" Neji inquired.
Kagome nodded, "From what Tsunade has told me, we will be starting our search in the Hot Spring country. Hitori was spotted with two men in black coats with red cloud heading for its capital, Yugakure. Can I assume that your bugs can track down scents Shino?" At Shino's nod Kagome continued, "Once we get there, we can use sense of smell to track down Hitori. "
"What if we can't?" Tenten spoke up.
Kagome shifted uneasily and peeked at Naruto from the corner of her eye. "Then we would have to make it known that we have something that they want."
"Girl if you don't stop moving around I will knock you out again."
"Do it! I dare you!"
Kisame dropped his charge from his back on the ground. He was ready to smack some sense into the brat.
Hitori tensed and waited for the big blue meanie to hit her. When nothing happened she looked up and saw that the old man with them stopped Sharky.
"Kisame, I would not have thought that you would be so easily riled up by a child. One who was tied up to boot."
"I'm a missing nin, not a baby sitter. I thought that would have been obvious."
Itachi sighed as he let go of Kisame's arm and bent down to look the child in the eye.
Hitori did not know what happened. One moment she was watching as Sharky was being scolded by the old man when all of a sudden he was next to her and looked her in the eye with his red eyes and then everything got all blurry and slowly turned black. When she was able to see again she saw her daddy saving her from the big meanies and taking her home.
"Daddy."
Itachi froze and glanced at the girl's face on his shoulder. After a while he continued on his path with Kisame following behind.
Running was always a pain in the ass, but when one lives the life of a ninja, it is a requirement. It is a requirement to be able to run at night when the only light there is comes from the moon and the stars. So Tsunade really knew who she was choosing when she created this team.
Shino was in the lead taking signals from his bugs on where to go, where to step, and where to avoid. Following him was Kiba riding Akamaru. The dog's white fur was able to reflect what little light there was and able to guide Sasuke and Neji on where to go. Their eyes keen enough to follow where the dog would go. Sakura and Kagome not too far behind them, keeping track by sound. And bring up the rear was Naruto. If anyone would fall, he was ready to catch them.
They had left Konoha a few hours ago and as it got harder to track each other the closer everyone got. No words were needed and, though Kagome was the new one, everyone adapted. Everyone was trying to conserve as much chakra as they could in case they got ambushed so no one was going too fast.
Kagome could already feel that in the small amount of time that she had spent with this group that they had really become a team member. If they were like this three years ago, she could see what must have made Tsunade give up her hermit ways and becoming the Hokage. These adolescent ninjas doing a better job than older shinobi with more experience were doing and having a sense of loyalty to their village and its members.
Kagome was glad that Tsunade created this team. She was also glad to be a part of it.
