Awww, do you guys know how much I love all of you? I feel warm and fuzzy right now.
Oh, and just so everyone knows, Hinata's stuttering really bothers me, so I keep it to the barest minimum possible. I think that when people put too much stuttering into the writing, it gets extremely hard to read.
Yes, I know I sometimes write and talk like a guy, but that's because three of my best friends since birth are guys. Kierra and I were the only girls. We got used to being guys. Nothing boys say or do surprises me any more. Sigh…
And oh! I have a new story out! It's called "Blink And You'll Miss Me" and it's probably going to be long. Please read it, it would be muchly appreciated.
Disclaimer: How many times do I have to say this? I don't own Naruto, okay? I don't own anything of value that I might mention here. I'm broke, and now you've crushed my dreams. That's you soooooo much.
Dedication: To Dominique, because in total, she's given me hugs and 26 jars of cookies. What more could I ask for?! To Ronnie, because -seriously- what the hell would I do without you?! This story wouldn't even be here if I didn't have you!! To Alex, the loyal and dedicated friend she is. I love you all.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
((My ANs, just because I can.))
Song lyrics, or emphasis on certain words.
--
"Okay Ten Ten. I guess it's time to face the consequences' that I'm sure Hinata has planned. Let's go."
Ten Ten took a deep breath.
"Okay. Let's get this over with."
The two of them were standing outside their usually home.
Ten Ten pushed the door open.
It creaked a little, but other then that, nothing too dangerous happened. That meant nothing. Hinata had an evil, evil, evil, mind that concocted schemes to suck her victims dry during their sleep.
"That makes her sound like a vampire. C'mon Panda. I know she was mad, but that was almost a week ago."
"It was four days, twelve hours, forty-three minutes ago Kura. I don't think she'll have forgotten. This is Hinata we're talking about."
"Hmm… Good point. Let's go get our faces smashed in by Anko for turning up earlier, and then our brains splattered all over the ground for setting Hinata up with Naruto."
"Ewww, Sakura no need to be so graphic."
"I am a graphic person. Now shush, this place is booby trapped…"
And then they got attacked with Hinata's special brand of knock-out smoke bombs.
The two of them dashed to the safety of the family room, before either of them inhaled even a little bit of the smoke.
"She's still mad."
"No shit, Sherlock. Told ya so."
"That's not the first time she's used that gas against you, is it?"
"Nope." Ten Ten nodded grimly. The stuff had knocked her out for a good six hours, and it had been horrible on her immune system. She had sick for days after it.
"Not to mention I screamed at her for a good long time after she used it on me. C'mon. Hinata Hyuuga has gone and made me grumpy."
Sakura laughed silently at Ten Ten's statement. When Ten Ten got grumpy, bad things happened. But when Hinata got grumpier, even worse things happened.
This was the beginning of a small war that would probably end in a pillow fight.
Strange, that was how all their fights seemed to end… They always ended up having pillows to beat their frustration out on each other…
And then someone smacked Sakura in the face with a pillow.
It was Hinata.
"Take that! And that, and that! That's for setting me up! That's for not showing up earlier! This is avoiding my smoke-bomb so perfectly! Dieee!!
Sakura grabbed a pillow from one of the couches, and smacked Hinata back.
"Look who's talking Sunshine! You tried to knock us out! Ten Ten, help me! If we gang up, we can stop her!"
KER-SMACK!
Sakura got a pillow right in the face for her lack of concentration.
"Hiyah!! Au-revoir, ma petite belle! Take that Hina-chan!"
Twenty minutes later, after all three of them were worn out, Hinata's cell rang. She flipped it open.
"Hey Hinata."
Naruto. Since she was over a phone, she didn't care how hard she blushed, and, as such, her head looked like I was on fire.
"H-hi Naruto."
Sakura and Ten Ten got evil, identical smirks on their lips.
"I was wondering, if you maybe wanted to hang out sometime?"
There was that dratted blush again. Annoying fair skin.
"I-I would love to!"
"Great! Then would right now work?"
"Ummm, how about in twenty minutes? I'm going to the park with Ten Ten and Sakura right now, we can meet you there!"
"Okay! I'll see you in a bit, alright? Bye!"
"Bye…"
Hinata hung up, her hands shaking, and Sakura and Ten Ten glomped her.
"OHMIGOD HINATA!! HE JUST ASKED YOU OUT!!" Sakura was ecstatic, and couldn't contain her glee. With these words, she grabbed Hinata and hugged her.
"WHHHEEEEEEEE!!" Apparently, Ten Ten was so happy, she couldn't speak.
"Wow. That's so great Hina-chan. Now, let's get to the park. Good thing it's not all that far from here."
Hinata nodded at Sakura's statement.
"Let's go!"
--
Kakashi was half asleep. He hadn't seen anyone in a while, and had thus decided that the best thing to do was wander. And wander he had. For four days. After the first night, he knew he couldn't sleep, so he didn't even try it.
He had been looking for something, someone he couldn't remember.
He hadn't slept in three days, and the complete over-exhaustion as getting to him. He had strained a muscle when he fell down a set of stairs, and after packing himself full of painkillers, off he went.
Actually, no. He had been looking for someone. Someone with purple hair, and a pretty smile. Someone he loved.
He just knew it was important to find her, and soon.
Before he passed out, anyways.
He vision swam woozily in front of his eyes.
He had been living of coffee and NOS and alcohol. So much caffeine plus the pain killers from yesterday couldn't have been helping him right at this moment. Plus, mixing alcohol with anything can kill a person.
He fell over, not even feeling how much it would probably hurt. He was going numb, dammit. Dying was not an option at this moment.
He had to find his precious people.
Someone was looming over him. Dark hair, skin so pale the dude should have been dead, blue and black clothing. His features were blurry, but Kakashi didn't need his eyes to know it was the Uchiha who was standing over him.
'Fucking bastard…' was his only thought before he passed out.
"Ass. Great now I have to carry this idiot. It's a good thing I found him. Damn, where's Naruto and Naruto's brute strength when you need it?"
He pulled his cell out of his pocket, and hit the speed dial on 2. Naruto's number showed up. Ring, ring, ring…
"Yo teme."
"Shut it dobe. I found him. I'm by that bar downtown."
"Good. I'll be there in a minute. Oh, someone's coming with me. She's been helping us look."
"Is it Sakura?" Sasuke hoped his voice didn't sound too hopeful.
"Nope, it's someone you don't know. I met her through Ten Ten and Sakura. She's pretty cool. Oh, and I heard that hope in your voice. Oh, and I think Sakura and Ten Ten might be coming, as well. But only if you're lucky Sasu-teme!"
"I repeat -shut it dumbshit, I don't need to hear about my love life from you."
"Or lack there-of".
And the phone line went dead.
'Damnit, Naruto, I'm going to get you.'
But the thought of Sakura made him smile. Pink hair, sea-foam green eyes, a real smile. Nothing about Sakura was fake. He'd touched her hair before, and there was no way that it had ever been dyed any colour, ever.
And besides, her eye brows were pink as well.
Yes, he'd looked that close.
He had snuck into her room one night while she'd been sleeping, and had examined her for an hour and a half. He hadn't gotten tired of staring at her face, but, at the time, he'd had an aversion to touching her.
He hadn't wanted to taint something so pure and free.
But then he'd seen her in the kitchen, and he couldn't help himself. She'd looked so happy, so real and perfect that it hurt. And he'd wanted her. Right then, he'd wanted her to love him.
He shook himself of the thoughts, and carefully went towards Kakashi. He prodded the older man with his foot. The dude moaned and rolled over.
"Kakashi. Kakashi, are you alive in there?"
Sasuke kicked him.
Kakashi did nothing except groan.
"Damn, you really fucked yourself up, didn't you?"
Sasuke hunkered down to wait. Naruto was notorious for speeding, so he should be here in only a few minutes.
--
Sakura was staring out the window of the backseat of a silver viper -Naruto's car-, scenery passing by at an alarming rate. ((Yes, he jacked Kakashi's car. Did you expect him not to?)) Well, alarming for most normal people who didn't constantly speed on a motorcycle. Sakura didn't really like cars, had never really liked them, because they made her feel confined. This was of course, as long as they had roofs.
If the car in question was a convertible, she had no qualms about it.
She used them when she had to, escaping from a job, for example. But never more then that. She would rather ride Kaze and have the wind whipping through her hair.
Ten Ten was sitting across from Sakura. She, too, was staring out the window, but she kept sneaking looks at Hinata and Naruto in the front. She silently went 'SQUEEE!!'.
Sakura didn't have to hear her to know what she was thinking.
Naruto's hand was on the clutch, and Hinata's hand was on top of his.
"SQUEEEEE!!" was right!!
--
A few minutes later -it only seemed like eternities to Sakura- and they were deep in the dregs of downtown.
Sakura shivered. She hated it here. She'd lived down here long enough to know that no matter who you were, you were never safe. Young girls got raped and killed along these streets all the time. Teenage boys went missing, drawn into gang warfare. Women and men standing along the roadside were either prostitutes, or beggars.
She swore to herself she would never let it happen to herself or anyone she cared about.
She could see Ten Ten staring off into the distance. She didn't have to look to know. The old factory where the girl had worked for a good part of her life stood there. Sakura knew how much Ten Ten wanted to burn it down.
Hinata and Naruto were still holding hands.
The little indigo-haired girl felt his hand tighten around hers. She looked up at him, concern evident in her eyes. He smiled grimly, and tugged her towards a dingy bar.
Sakura and Ten Ten followed closely behind, and both of them had their guards up. Sakura was ready to pull out her hidden pair of guns, and Ten Ten was just as ready to pull out daggers and get to slicing people up.
"Teme! There you are. We need to get him out of here. Damn, he looks fucked up. Did he tell you what he had?"
"No, but I can take a good guess. He smells like alcohol, so he's probably had a lot of that, and knowing Kakashi, he's also probably had enough caffeine to keep him going. He doesn't look like he's slept. And I found these in his pocket."
Sasuke tossed a bottle to Naruto. The blonde hissed.
"Damnit, if he's had painkillers… Teme, we have to get him home, or we are screwed."
"You think I don't know that? What did you bring?"
"The viper, but that'll be six of us. I'm driving, you're too slow, so you get to take care of Kakashi. I don't trust Kakashi with Hinata, so she's sitting in the front with me. Sakura can sit on you, Ten Ten on one side, and Kakashi on the other. I don't trust Kakashi with females even when he's this fucked up."
Sasuke inclined his head.
"Get in the car."
The dark-haired teenager's command did not go over quite the way he planned. But then again, nothing ever went quite the way Sasuke Uchiha planned it to go.
Ten Ten glared at him severely, something she had picked up from Neji.
"Don't tell me what to do, Uchiha."
Another habit she had picked up. She snarled at him, and jerked her head in the direction of the car.
They all got in, careful not to jostle Kakashi.
Naruto shook his head. Damn. They had to get him to the infirmary, so Shino could fix whatever the hell was wrong with him.
He started the ignition, and turned on the music. The song that came on was almost perfect. It was the song Artist in the Ambulance, by Thrice.
Late night, brakes lock, hear the tires squeal
Red light, can't stop so I spin the wheel
My world goes black before I feel an angel lift me up
And I open bloodshot eyes into fluorescent white
They flip the siren, hit the lights, close the doors and I am gone
Now I lay here owing my life to a stranger
And I realize that empty words are not enough
I'm left here with the question of just
What have I to show except the promises I never kept?
I lie here shaking on this bed, under the weight of my regrets
I hope that I will never let you down
I know that this can be more than just flashing lights and sound
Look around and you'll see that at times it feels like no one really cares
It gets me down but I'm still gonna try to do what's right, I know that there's
A difference between sleight of hand, and giving everything you have
There's a line drawn in the sand, I'm working up the will to cross it and
The lyrics made him shiver. It was ominous, a warning. He increased his speed. They didn't have much time…
--