And here's the next chapter! Thanks for being so patient! I'm really trying to get my updates out sooner but I'm just so swamped with school! Anyway, I'd like to thank all my reviewers and followers! You guys are awesome! And on a final note we are starting to move into the final section of the story. Once they reach Grand Rapids we move into the last arc so this is kind of a transition. So with that heres the chapter and I hope you enjoy!
"What's making all the racket?" Naruto demanded as he coked his head backwards, staring into the darkness-bathed background, hearing the sounds of multiple men and animals shouting.
"Keep moving," Neji reminded him before Naruto's head had even turned halfway. "We have to get as far as we can before the cops catch us again."
"Where'd Shikamaru go?" Kiba panicked as he and Naruto came to a grinding halt looking around wildly.
"Weren't you listening?" Tenten asked with a sympathetic frown, having picked up on the pair's last conversation. "He fell back with Temari to buy us time, get moving." Even as she spoke she continued to run with no signs of slowing down.
"I thought that I just said a minute ago that none of us…" Naruto began to lecture angrily.
"Get moving!" Neji ordered interrupting Naruto's speech. Kiba looked unsure of himself but ultimately decided to question the decisions later, quickly he followed the pair. Naruto however, held his ground, feet firmly planted into the dirt defiantly.
"You just abandoned him?" Naruto asked furiously. "This whole time we've been telling each other to just stick together and we'll be okay! The minute we break up we get thrown in jail then we escape and now you want to split us up again?"
"Go on, I'll be right with you," Neji said to the two as he pulled himself to a stop. He gave Naruto a stern look as he frowned. "This was Shikamaru's choice, he did what he had to do, resigned himself to his fate."
"Fate?" Naruto said grinding his teeth, blood boiling. "You think that this whole thing was what? Destined? Pre-ordained? What does that make us all? Just pieces in a puzzle? Is that all people are to you? Did you hear anything Asuma said last night?"
"Whatever I may believe Shikamaru made his choice, he decided to stay behind to help us get away. Now you either have two options, go back and get caught along with him, or you can honor his decision and help us reach our destination. You don't believe in destiny? You want to make your own choices? Well here's your chance. In the meantime I'm still leader and I've still got a job to do." With those final words he turned around and rushed off.
Naruto clenched his fists as he turned back to Owosso. From the black noises, shouts of triumph and struggling reached his ears. At least the lazy bum was putting up a good fight for once in his life. Car engines roared to life in the distance.
"His choice, his fight," Naruto whispered to himself with a regretful sigh. "Good luck you guys." He finished silently as he turned back to the road and ran to catch up with his friends.
"The fight's almost over, they're heading to their cars by now, I don't think the road is safe anymore." Naruto explained as he ran up along side Neji.
"Then we'll have to fade into the fields and wait until they pass." The boy nodded with a careful glance to the sides of the road.
"If they come after us with dogs?" Tenten questioned.
"I didn't say that we we're going to stop moving," Neji inhaled. The others all groaned inwardly, it was already past midnight their minds felt foggy and tired but still they followed his lead as he jumped the ditch that separated the dirt road from the thick grass.
True to what, Neji said, the four didn't stop, they simply ran, all throughout the night. They kept moving even after the sounds of the dogs had disappeared. As weak as their muscles felt and as sleepy as their minds were the continued to run. Across, farms, through fields, into forests, all the while, keeping near the road.
Finally, as the first lights of morning crept onto the plains and peaked through the trees from beyond the horizon, Neji held up his hand indicating for the band to stop. Kiba instantly took a deep breath dropped to the ground, laid his head against the grass and began sawing logs. Naruto quickly followed, walking over to a small stream with cool clear water that ran by a house to take a long drink before drifting off to sleep himself.
"Get some sleep," Neji huffed to Tenten taking a deep breath or air.
"No you go to sleep, I'll keep watch," the girl responded firmly, looking at him with a disheveled and tired look. "You've been watching out for us this whole time, leave this one to me." Neji was about to object until he lifted his head, her face was concentrated, focused and firm despite the obvious tiredness in it. "Don't worry about me fearless leader, you get some rest."
"I'm not going to…" Neji tried before Tenten surprisingly and promptly pushed him onto the ground.
"Let me handle this one," she said silently as Neji felt his eye lids grow heavy. Try as he might, he couldn't get them to stay open. It had been a long day, Saskue, police raids, losing more friends, jail time, he yawned at the very thought of what lay in front of them. With a heavy sigh, his eyes closed and his breathing leveled as he slowly drifted out of consciousness.
Neji slept better than he had since the group had left the orphanage. He'd forgotten just how a relaxing a good nights sleep could be, how actual mattress felt, with nice soft linens. Rolling over he groggily pulled the sheets a little closer…wait a minute. Neji's eyes popped open painfully as he leapt out of bed. That didn't seem right.
A soft breeze was blowing through the open window as the curtains tried their best to shield him from the suns bright and cheery rays. He had the strangest feeling, as if he'd been here somewhere before, he hadn't been in a room this nice since before he'd come to the orphanage. No, those days were gone, he'd buried the memories and moved on.
Slowly, his head cleared, the drowsiness and dizzy feeling he'd gotten by forcing himself up and out of bed had were finally subsiding and now he had a whole new problem. It was official, this was definitely not the place he'd fallen asleep in. Carefully, he drifted over towards the door, steeping over the sleeping bodies of Naruto and Kiba. The two were still out cold, he could wake them up but he'd definitely be a whole lot quieter without the bash brothers following him around. Akamaru perked up his ears and stood up as soon as he saw Neji leaving. Neji gave him the sign to sit and wait. Akamaru wagged his tail and happily complied. It was ironic how Akamaru almost seemed smarter that Kiba.
The wooden boards creaked under his feet, sending squeaks through the walls. Neji grimaced as he paused. Wooden houses never creaked unless you were trying to keep them from doing so. Throwing caution to the wind Neji began to tiptoe towards the door before grasping the brass handle, opening the door which or course had its own unique creaking sound. He peeked into the hall before moving to the door right across the hallway. A closet he guessed, the door was way to small to be anything else. He moved on to the next door and placed his ear up against it.
Suddenly, he heard voices from downstairs, quickly he opened the door and zipped inside as the sound of feet coming up the stairs could be heard. Quietly, closing it behind him he turned around and froze. It was a room, much like the one that he'd woken up in and just like his room there was already someone sleeping there. He didn't recognize the figure at first, the long brown hair actually threw him for a whirl. That alongside the little detail that she was a girl was almost enough to make him walk right back out the door again.
She rolled over apparently trying to get comfortable in her sleep. Neji gawked at the sudden revelation of just who the figure was. It couldn't be Tenten, could it? He was so used to everyone in the group having one outfit, one hairstyle and one attitude but this girl in front of him, serene face, long hair and peaceful demeanor was the polar opposite of the brash girl that he'd come to know.
He made his way over to the bed quietly as Tenten rolled over. He reached his arm out to try and wake her but found that he just couldn't quite reach. Damn rich people and their extra large beds. He tried snapping his fingers but Tenten seemed to be out cold. With an inward sigh and a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching he climbed up onto the bed.
Gently, he leaned down closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder to shake her awake. As soon as his hand came down Tenten snapped awake gripped his arm hard and turned back to face the sudden intruder. The two blinked a few times in surprise at the others actions. Slowly, both of them felt the rush of blood to their faces. It dawned on both of them just how close they were to each other. Neji blinked staring into Tenten's brownish doe like eyes, he'd never noticed just how, attractive she'd really looked. Then again, he'd never been this close to any girl before.
"Morning," Neji greeted quickly recognizing that this was probably the most awkward thing he could say in this situation.
"Morning," Tenten replied, wide eyed, the streak of red not vanishing from her face.
"Do you know where we are?" Neji asked finally pulling back a little. "And not that I…well could you let go of my arm now?"
"Huh? Oh, um yeah sure, the farm land that we fell asleep on was private property," Tenten said sitting up and finally releasing her grip. "The man who owned the land dropped by and I would've woken you guys up but he had a shotgun and…" she let the sentence trail of before continuing. "I convinced him that we were going back home, not running away. So he insisted that we all stay with him for the night. I guess so he could keep an eye on us….Was that a bad idea?"
"Not at all, you did what you…" Neji began before the door open. The man at the door almost gasped. "I can…" Neji began before the man began shaking his head.
"Oh no, don't even start sonny, I know how you city kids are but out here we do things a little differently. Why when I was your age we were a bit more courteous towards the ladies." The man said, words pouring from his mouth at a mile a minute dragging Neji off of the bed and pushing him out the door. "Beging your pardon miss," he said. "Now, I'm Mr. Calloway, and when you're under my roof I'll thank you to not make such lewd advances on women."
"I wasn't…"
"Now, now sonny, I understand, your young and growing up but you have to learn to control yourselves now Mrs. Calloway found some old outfits that you and your friends can change into while she get lunch ready for you all." The man said pushing Neji back towards his room.
"Lunch?" Neji asked with a raised eyebrow.
"When you sleep you go way, way to sleep." The man said with a humorous tone as the entered. Akamaru barked in greeting as they entered waking Naruto and Kiba up. Groggily, the two rose and looked around in confusion.
"Naruto, Kiba, this is Mr. Calloway, he was nice enough to let us stay at his house for the night and offer us a trip back to Grand Rapids where we're going back to." Neji reminded the two carefully. Thankfully, even their sleepy minds grasped the concept as they both nodded their appreciation.
"We also got some grub on the stove so you might want to hurry up," Calloway smiled with a wink as he left the doorway.
"Out of the way Kiba! I'm using the washbasin first!"
"You got it last time!"
"There was no last time! Every time we go to a new house we reset remember?" Neji just rolled his eyes. Something's never changed.
"I can't believe it, how many times are we going to get caught and escape? Naruto asked tugging at his new shirt while the four slowly walked down to breakfast.
"Well that's just the way people are I guess. Nobody trusts anybody." Kiba shrugged.
"Hey, what is with you?" Naruto demanded. "You've been acting moody ever since Hooverville." Kiba just rolled his eyes.
"Dogs look our for the whole pack, that's all I'm saying," he grinned as rubbed Akamaru's head. Tenten and Neji just looked sheepishly back and forth at one another, trying not to make eye contact. What had happened earlier felt so surreal that neither of them really even tried to acknowledge it. Finally it was Tenten who took the lead and spoke up to Naruto and Kiba.
"Look all we have to do it put up a convincing act and this guy will practically give us a free ride to Grand Rapids, let's just be sure to keep our stories straight, he definitely doesn't trust us." Tenten explained, the others nodded as they reached the bottom and followed the rich smell of freshly baked goods into the kitchen.
"Well good morning!" Calloway greeted motioning to a set of seats. "Let me introduce you to the Misses!" he said as an older woman strolled past him. "This lovely lady here is my wife. She made this wonderful meal that you see before you and if you don't like it I might as well just put you back on the street right now." He grinned. "Also, our hired hands, Jesse, Nathaniel and Thomas my son who decided to stay and help out on the farm!" Three burly looking young men in overalls looked over and waved.
"Help yourselves to some orange juice, milk, whatever you like there's plenty of it!" Mrs. Calloway called.
"Now, who might you four be?" The four unconsciously stiffened as there lines ran through their head, nothing extra was needed just the names, nevertheless this was where the lies were going to start.
"I'm Naruto, son of Minato Namikaze!" At the mention of that name the four men immediately spat out there drinks or began to choke on them. Neji inwardly groaned, why would he be throwing other names around so casually like that?
"I know your father!" Calloway shouted. Naruto started looking nervous.
"You do?" he asked.
"Of course kid! Everyone knows your father! You may not know this but he's kinda famous!" Thomas explained as the whole table began to laugh. Tenten and Neji exchanged cautious glances.
"So! Your fathers a musician huh?" Mrs. Calloway asked sharply without humor setting a plate of sausages on the table. "Well that explains it."
"Now Willona…"
"Don't you Willona me!" she reprimanded her husband. "This man just let his son run halfway across the state. I have half a mind to keep him here a bit longer just to put some fear into his heart but he probably won't even miss him."
"Oh you," he said waving a hand at her casually. "I mean at first glance I wouldn't say you look a whole lot like him but the hair, the eyes! Do you remember when we saw him in Saginaw?" he asked Thomas.
"A spitting image." Thomas grinned back at his father then towards Naruto again. "Your daddy grill them scales into you well?"
"Uh yeah, he's real strict about music," Naruto nodded with the best smile he could muster.
"I'll tell you what we're going to do!" Calloway shouted. "We're going to say grace, then we'll eat and then I'm going to personally drive you down to Grand Rapids so we can put your fathers worries to rest!"
"That's great!" Naruto said with the smile still on his face. The other three looked at him nervously, they were definitely on thin ice now.
'Where in the world did he come up with this?' Neji thought to himself. 'Whatever the reason, from now on we're going to have to play our cards just right.'
Whew! They get captured...again _ this wasn't intentional I swear! Okay mildly intentional but not in the grand scheme of things! Just to push the plot along this wasn't really even a capture and its the last time I swear! Well there really in deep now :b I hope you enjoyed! Please review!