Well Needed Vacation

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

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Here's the chapter everyone's been reviewing me to start! Enjoy!

Chapter Fourteen: Keeping Watch

Around the campsite, Neji and Sasuke watched over Sakura and Tenten. Gaara and Baki were already in their tents, which Baki had bought, and Naruto and Lee had gone to sleep in their tents, about half an hour ago. Of course they had stayed just as long as the other two to watch over the kunoichi. They had said that they should switch guards, so one team of two could be more awake to watch over them.

Sasuke and Neji only agreed to them so they would be quiet and leave them alone. They weren't going to sleep, while leaving their incapable teammates to be watched over two idiots, two people from a different village who already betrayed their village's trust not to long ago, and two sensei's who didn't have a clue to give their students a warning sign about an enemy ambush.

Their senseis were still keeping watch, of course. They were just across the campsite, giving the students their distance. They would let them get their anger out at them so they would well together in the near future at least. Even Naruto and Lee were still a bit miffed at their senseis. And for Lee to be mad at Guy, man it had to be something huge!

The two young genin hadn't left their spots, or even said a word since they found out their senseis had been holding out on them with information.

If they had known then they could have watched out for themselves.

And if they themselves had known, then they could have helped to protect them from the enemy.

Instead, they were all just trotting around the forest, almost carefree focusing on vacation, instead of focusing on their safety. The Jonins had said they thought they did what was best for them. To Sasuke and Neji, it was the worst idea they thought possible.

Sasuke was cursing sensei. He had looked up to him somewhat, and had even slowly come to respect him over the times. Now all that respect was thrown out the window. Now his teammate was sick and not even waking up. If anything happened to her, it was that idiot of a sensei's fault. And of course he couldn't shake off the feeling of guilt himself.

Neji was the same way in his thoughts. He wasn't upset of the reputation of his sensei. Well at least not the incredibly proud part. Gai had always fooled around. He was always doing foolish things, and acting immature always shouting about youth and life. And now because of his foolishness, his teammate had been brought down by the enemy. He couldn't have even come to help her, instead focusing on calming down the other two fools of the group.

Neji was feeling an unnatural amount of emotions of the moment, as was Sasuke.

And both of their emotions led back to the two immobile kunoichi.

They stared intently at them, almost thinking if they could feel their gazes, they would awaken. Sadly that was not the case.
"How are they now?" Sasuke asked.

Neji looked back at him, and then looked back to Tenten and Sakura. "Byakugan." His eyes turned into the amazing trait of the Hyuga clan. "From closing off their chakra points, the poison is still spreading. The good part is it's not spreading as fast."

Sasuke nodded at the still same answer he had received when he had asked Neji earlier. Their condition had not improved. He looked back down to his teammate's face, which was slightly paler. Her brows were twitching, and her breathing changed slightly. His eyes widened a bit, thinking she was waking up. Instead they closed a bit, seeing she was only reacting that way because of the heat. He couldn't understand how she was so steamed. It was nighttime and there weren't any blankets on top of her.

None the less, she was sweating quite a bit. He grabbed a nearby cloth, and drowned it in some cool water from some in a bucket they had kept from putting out the fire. Now he was glad they had saved some of it.

He placed it on top of her forehead, and applied a little pressure, to make the cooling of the cloth stronger, and more effective.

And it worked.

Her breathing had returned to normal, and her face almost looked a bit more peaceful. In fact, he thought for a brief second, he saw her lips twitch up into a smile, before slinking back down into a frown.

His eyes softened a bit, seeing as he could do something right to help her. He moved a piece of hair out of her face, almost caressing her forehead. He just did it to let more coolness get to her head of course! Nothing more than that…right, sure. He glanced back at the Hyuga, hoping he hadn't seen any of that. Luckily for him Neji was focused on Tenten.

Neji undid the bandage around Tenten's arm. He looked at the scar that ran from her elbow, to half way up her shoulder.

He practically shuddered at the thought. He remembered how he could only stand there, as his teammate was struck. He couldn't do anything then. He never wanted to feel like that again. He let his fingers reach up to her arm, and brushed over the scar lightly, up and down, caressing her arm almost trying to make the scar disappear with one good stroke. Tenten's hand started to twitch a bit, and even started to clutch into a fist.

'Maybe from the pain…' Neji thought. He took her hand into his, and squeezed it a bit, almost letting her know it was alright to squeeze back. She did. Every few seconds, her hand would start to clutch, and Neji would hold tighter, and she would relax again. He was starting to be glad he could help to almost soothe her. He looked back over his comrade before turning to Sasuke.

"What do you think they want with them?" Neji asked, half asking himself, and half asking Sasuke.

"I don't know." Sasuke answered.

"I'm not so sure either." Neji replied. "I wouldn't understand why they would want the kunoichi. I'm not saying they're weak. At least I know Tenten isn't. Though with Sakura I heard she is pretty tough as well." Neji conversed.

Sasuke looked Neji in the eye. "Sakura isn't weak." He replied. And he was positive behind his words. He thought of that one time during the Chunin Exams. Suddenly his eyes dazed out, remembering that time.

When he had awoken from that long and terrible nightmare, the first thing his eyes caught was the sight of his teammate. When he saw her, one thing that caught his focus was her hair. It had been completely slashed through. Though that was soon dragged to the back of his mind, as he inspected the rest of her. She had a black eye, badly bruised. And also a bloody face, all showing there was a beating among it. His rage turned into fury as he saw there was some blood on that one Ninja Zaku's knuckles. He also saw that there were kunai wounds throughout her body, from her arms to her legs, and now she was on the ground. She was so bruised and battered up it was hard for her to stand.

All of these actions added together, turned his anger into pure blind fury.

When he inquired about who was responsible, Zaku had declared so boldly, almost proudly.

On that day he made that Ninja pay dearly, while also clearly sending a message. 'You mess with her, you're gonna mess with me.'

Then he broke his arms, completely twisting them out of the sockets, loving to hear the Ninja scream out in incredible pain. Just when he was about to take out his last enemy, she had stopped him by wrapping her arms tightly around him. Her face was a reminder of what he once was, before the cursed seal had taken over. When she said she wanted him to stop, she had brought him out of the darkness that day.

Then later when Naruto inquired about her hair, she had simply replied that she wanted a new hairstyle.

He knew she was lying, just so Naruto wouldn't get deeper into the conversation. Later on one day, Shikamaru had told him about that incident, and told him the true purpose behind Sakura's actions.

About her being held captive underneath the enemy's grasp. Then sacrificing her hair, for the sake of saving herself and her friends. And then tricking the enemy with substitution jutsus, and then jumping onto the enemy and biting them down, even though the chances of survival were slim. He had then truly realized that she had gotten stronger.

He was brought back to the present. He had suddenly remembered what they were talking about.

"So you have no idea." Sasuke concluded.

"Not at the moment." Neji replied. "But I'm not sure what the entire plan is. They said their original plan was to take the girls back to a certain location. Though instead, they poisoned them."

"That's what the other one said too."

"So either way, they wanted to poison them. They just happened to do it a lot sooner."

'But what could possibly be the purpose behind poisoning them? After draining their chakra, then what happens?" Sasuke asked.

"I wish I knew." Neji replied. He looked back over at Tenten. "I wish I knew."

Across the campsite, Kakashi and Gai were having a conversation of their own.

"We need to get to the location soon!" Gai said. "There's an infirmary there to treat the girls. Their condition is only decreasing at the moment!" Gai worried.

"I know." Kakashi replied.

"Is that all you can reply with Kakashi! One of your own students is being targeted and all you can do is sit there and say I know!" Gai almost yelled.

"Don't you think I know that?" Kakashi replied harshly. "I vowed to help protect those dear to me, and today the promise was broken! I told the genin I needed to help keep a cool head, so not everything would fall to pieces. Now everything has. Since when did I start to have to scold you like a rookie?" Kakashi asked.

Gai didn't answer. He just looked away. Kakashi followed, and looked opposite directions.

Suddenly the sound of a twig snapping caught both of their attentions. Their heads swung back into the direction, each getting ready for a fight.

"Sasuke, Neji, watch over the girls! Naruto, Lee, Gaara, Baki, we have company!" Sasuke and Neji stood on either side of the kunoichi, without seeming to hear Kakashi order them too. Neji released Tenten's hand, and got into his stance.

Naruto and Lee bolted out of the tent running up, and helping Sasuke and Neji guard.

Gaara and Baki got somewhat calmly out of the tent, and got into an attack position with Kakashi and Gai.

Suddenly, Shikamaru jumped out through the bushes. "Guys help, we have to go help the others! We were ambushed a distance back! Please we have to go help them!"

Kakashi made a decision. "Naruto, Lee you two guard the kunoichi! Sasuke Neji, come with us, we'll need help with the fighting!"

"No." Neji replied sternly.

"Now's not the time to act like little kids." Kakashi reasoned.

"Look who's talking." Sasuke replied angrily.

"Neji, we will protect them!" Lee replied confidently.

"Yeah Sasuke! I'll defend Sakura with my life! Believe it!" Naruto encouraged. "Plus we have Shikamaru! If anything comes along, he'll definitely know what to do!" Naruto explained.

"Yeah Sasuke, don't worry." Shikamaru agreed. "Neither of you don't." He said looking toward Neji. "The sooner you two help defeat them, the sooner you two will know they're safer." He said pointing to the girls.

Sasuke and Neji looked to each other, and made a silent agreement, that they would do the task if the other thought they should. They both nodded, and jumped off in the direction Shikamaru came.

Gaara and Baki followed, and Guy and Kakashi followed them through the woods.

Soon all that was left were the three ninja, and the two unconscious kunoichi.

"So Shikamaru, did anyone on your team get captured? Were any of the girls attacked? Is Hinata alright?!" Naruto asked desperately.

Shikamaru wasn't paying any attention to him, but instead kept looking off into the direction the others just jumped off in.

"Shikamaru! Did anything happen to them?!" Naruto asked desperately.

Shikamaru turned around and smirked. He quietly walked over to the two kunoichi, brushing past Naruto and Lee and replied with a "No."

Naruto sighed closing his eyes. Naruto and Lee were still facing the same direction, while Shikamaru was behind them inspecting the kunoichi. Lee raised a fist and declared "Do not worry Shikamaru! We will all do our part to hel" He was suddenly cut off when a pressure point was hit on the back of his neck. He fell over limp.

Naruto looked down at him on the ground. "Huh? Lee? Shikamaru what hap" he stopped when his neck was suddenly pressed at the same spot, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Shikamaru's hand was raised halfway in the air where Naruto had just been. He laughed a little and said "Foolish."

Suddenly there was smoke appearing around him and there stood Kabuto. Smirking, he walked over to the kunoichi. "They were easier than I thought possible." He said lifting up one girl at a time.

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Sasuke, Neji and the others were flying through the trees, looking for any signs of a battle. The only problem was there was nothing.

There were no explosions, no yelling, and no kunai flying about. It all seemed to be a bit to…peaceful.

Suddenly Kakashi felt a presence. More than one. Actually quite a few.

They stopped in their tracks, and came across Teams Eight and Ten.

"Hey we were just on our way to assist you guys." Kakashi said.

"How'd you know about the kunoichi?" Asuma asked.

"What are you talking about? Shikamaru said you all were ambushed?" Kakashi wondered.

"What are you talking about?" Shikamaru asked walking from behind the others, out into the open from behind Asuma.

Gai and Kakashi looked to each other, then to Shikamaru, then too where their campsite was. Suddenly Kakashi commanded, "We have to get back to our campsite now!"

They turned around to get ready to take off, when they could barely see the backs of Sasuke and Neji, fading in the distance, towards the site.

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So there's chapter 14! Hope there was enough NejiTen and SasuSaku for ya! Yeah sorry about the really long remembering from episode 33, but I reallllllly loved that episode! I watched it like a 100000000 times, it was so sweet! So I had to write about it!

And if anyone's confused to what Sasuke meant when he said look who's talking, he meant that Kakashi acted very childish to holding out on them with information

So hope you liked it! Please Review!