"Okay, everyone, now that we've briefed over the whole mission of this camp and what we'll be doing over the next few weeks, you all can head into the dining hall and grab some grub." Squeaker said.
"Hurrayyyyyyyyy…." Ino whispered quietly. Sakura elbowed her sister hard in the ribs.
The whole camp was basically gathered at the door of the mess hall, under the wooden awning. Squeaker stepped back and opened the door, nearly being trampled to death by campers. Sakura followed the flow but upon stepping in, she shuffled off the side.
"Wow. Everyone must be reallllly hungry." She muttered quietly to herself, watching the blur of people go by.
Suddenly, she felt a hand clasp her wrist.
"Wha-" She didn't have time to finish. Before she knew it she was being dragged into the crowd, stumbling about and then she felt herself seated at one of the many round tables in the dimly lit room.
"You forgot our plans? I'm surprised at you."
Sakura looked up and indeed saw the red-head boy known as Gaara smirking down at her.
"What plans?" She said sarcastically, sitting up straight and fixing her hair. Ino and the Akatsuki minus Hinata were seated around her, chattering quietly to themselves.
"Our dinner plans." Gaara joked. "I asked you on the path remember?"
"Ha. Ha." Sakura said flatly. "You are sooooooo funny. Thanks for reminding me by hurtling me across the room."
Gaara grinned. That was the first time she had seen him smile brightly. "I did not hurtle you across the room. You were just lighter than I expected."
"I don't know whether to feel flattered or insulted." Sakura said with a pout.
"Take my advice." Gaara said, seating himself next to her. "Be insulted."
"Fine then." Sakura turned her head away and instead scanned the room.
It was so loud one could barely talk, there was food being passed around and drinks being poured (and spilt) every table seemed to have 3 times as many was the number of seats would have allowed. She looked at the counselors, rushing to supply more food and settle disputes.
She made a 'phhhhh' sound and turned back to the table, everyone else was being loud and joking, but something was different. Sakura felt like she was being watched. It was that unnerving feeling of insecurity when someone's stare was so heavy that it nearly made you fall over. She turned slowly, following where that sense was coming from, and where did her gaze lead her? To the table in the far back corner. Perched at it and talking in hushed tones inaudible to probably even a fly buzzing around their heads were the pony-tailed boy and Hinata. Hinata was looking at her "friend" but his eyes were the ones that were boring into Sakura' s back. She returned the glare.
"Sakura, I thought I told you to ignore him." Gaara snapped at her, his hand roughly turning her back to the table, breaking her stare at the mysterious person.
"No you didn't and why won't you tell me who he is?" Sakura demanded in a loud whisper.
"Because, that man is no one you want to tangle with Sakura. Now if you think that I'm not your friend then start thinking it because I am saving your ass by not telling you who he is or letting you mutter so much as a single syllable to him." He reached up and touched her shoulder.
"Why is keeping his name so important?!" Sakura whispered harshly in reply, nearly slapping his hand away. "I can't think of you as my friend if you keep dirty little secrets right in front of my face."
Gaara looked at her with a strange emotion and then sighed. "Fine then. His name is Nara Shikamaru and he goes to your school. There, that's all I can tell you."
"Is that why he's staring at me?"
"No more question's please." The look in his eyes was truly pleading.
Sakura reluctantly nodded and looked down at his hand. "Okay, but don't think you can distract me." She muttered. She tried to sneak back one look, he had been at her mother's wedding. She could have sworn she had seen him…
"Sakura-chan, what's wrong with you?"
Sakura looked up, startled. Deidara was waving his hand close to her face, trying to get a response from her. She shuttered a little and her eyes came into focus. Deidara, satisfied, leaned back in his chair and grinned. "Dreaming are we un?"
"Uh…yeah, dreaming. Hehe." Sakura waved her hands defensively.
"You haven't eaten anything." Kisame picked up a rice-ball and nearly through it at her. Luckily, Sakura was conscious enough to catch it.
"Thanks." She said with a faux smile. She took a miniscule bite and set it down on her plate. "K, I'm done." She made a move to get up but Gaara pinned her wrist the table.
"Please." He said.
Sakura returned to her seat and looked at Gaara. "What are you hiding?" She asked. Why was he so protective all of a sudden, it wasn't like she was going to go talk to the Nara kid.
Gaara looked at her and with one swift motion let go of her wrist and got up, striding through the crowd and right through the door.
"Gosh. What's eating him?" Asked Zetsu.
The Akatsuki shrugged and returned to eating.
Ino punched Sakura playfully in the shoulder. "The question is, what's eating YOU?"
"Nothing, Ino."
"Here." Ino reached across the table and grabbed a bowl of what looked like chunky gravy. "Put this stuff on that rice-ball and it'll taste really good."
"Are you sure?" Sakura asked, looking at the glop.
"Yeah." Ino pointed to what had been a rice ball and the gravy but it was eaten.
Sakura shook her head and pushed the bowl in front of Ino. "You eat it if it's so good. I'm not very hungry."
Ino shook her head and just stared at it. "Dido." She mumbled.
Sakura frowned at her sister. "Ino, it's good manners to keep your elbows off the table."
"So?"
"You should be polite and stop propping your head up with your arm."
Ino made a face and turned away. Sakura sighed and shoved her sister's arm right off the corner…unfortunately her head had still been resting on her hand, so Sakura got to watch in horror as Ino's did an first class face plant into the gravy.
Everyone gasped.
A small and high-pitched sound escaped the pink-haired girl as Ino lifted her head back up, unrecognizable by the glop that colored her features.
Sakura giggled a little. "Oh my gosh Ino, I'm so sorry."
"You did that on purpose." Ino growled, attempting to wipe it away from her eyes and mouth.
"No I didn't." Sakura whined. "Here, you want some help?"
"No." Ino snapped. She stood and ran out of the room, followed by hoards of curious and amused eyes.
Sakura stared out of her with a mixture of humility and pity on her face.
"Wow. That was unfortunate un." Deidara said.
Sakura looked at everyone else at the table. "Usually that kind of thing would happen to me…" She mumbled.
Kisame grinned. "You did that on purpose didn't you." He accused.
"I didn't, I swear." Sakura looked at the door and the trail of gravy where her sister had run. It was already dark outside. "I-I'd better go check on her."
And with that she got up and trotted out the door. Brrrrr, it was cold outside. She could barely see, but the light from the mess hall helped a little, though it wouldn't for long.
"Ino?!" She called out, stepping out into the dark.
She started off in the direction that the cabins were probably located, it was about half mile hike up there and she already was consumed by the numbing dark.
"Oh crap." She whispered as she felt around for where the path might be. She stumbled over a tree root and fell into a pointy bush. "Ouch! Dmmit!" She stood up and wiped off her hands on her pants. Detouring from the bush she continued into the dark forest, reaching forward, occasionally swiping a tree branch or tripping on a rock.
'I could have sworn I tripped over that same root half an hour ago.' She said after about an hour of wandering. She stepped forward a few paces. She raised her right foot to take another step but where the ground should have been she felt nothing. Her eyes widened as she didn't even have time to brace herself as she tumbled forward. A single scream escaped her throat as she flipped through the air.
Fortunately, what Sakura thought would certainly be an at least 20 foot drop only turned out to be a 6 foot bank. She landed in a painful position at what appeared to be a stream. An ice cold stream.
"Awwwww that was not fun." She moaned, standing up in the knee-deep water. She stumbled a little. Things would have gone fuzzy if she could have seen anything at all.
'I must have hit my h-head.' Her mind could barely work. She stumbled a little more and attempted to make it to the other side and to safety before she fainted. Suddenly, she felt a hand pinch her shoulder (pressing a pressure point) and everything went black.
Okay. End of sucky chapter. IT SUCKS SO BAD THAT IT WILL CREATE A SINGULARITY AND START A BLACK HOLE THAT SWALLOWS EVERYTHING, EVEN YOUR COMPUTER SO REVIEW WHILE THEIRES STILL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!