Chapter 21

Anyone who knew Shino well knew that he was extremely observant. This helped the bug ninja to see things that other people would miss. In this case he'd been observing Elyon and Kiba's relationship with each other.

"What do you think about Elyon Shino?" Hinata asked him one day during training as they watched Elyon and Kiba spar.

"I think she needs to tell Kiba how she feels," he responded.

"How she feels?" The Hyuuga heiress asked confused.

"I've been watching them for a while now and it's clear to me that they both care about each other."

Hinata nodded. "I've noticed that too. They would make a cute couple."

Kiba smirked as he watched Elyon lunge at him. He was starting to get very fond of his partner. She may not have such unearthly beauty that it made her look like a goddess, but she was beautiful with her soft gently features. Not to mention the fact that she loved animals and adored Akamaru to death. That definitely earned Elyon some points in her favor in Kiba's book.

He was snapped out of admiring Elyon when she slashed at him with a kunai leaving a shallow cut on his face.

"Okay you're so going down!" He cried.

"You're the one that zooned out," Elyon laughed.

Kiba scowled, which only made Elyon's grin wider. The two sparred together long and hard before they were ready to almost collapse. Kiba had made it out with a few little scratched and bruises, but Elyon had a few shallow cuts and bigger bruises.

"Sorry about those cuts," Kiba apologized.

"Don't worry about it," she replied trying to catch her breath.

"Still you should probably get them taken care of before they get infected," he said taking her hand and leading her away from the training area. "Come on, I'll have Hana take a look at them."

"Who's Hana?" The queen asked.

"She's my older sister," Kiba replied.

When they reached the Inuzuka home they found Hana looking over one of the dogs.

"Hey sis!" Kiba greeted loudly.

When Hana saw Elyon she raised an eyebrow and smiled rather knowingly. "So you must be the Famous Elyon."

"Why am I famous?" Elyon asked.

"Because Kiba over here never stops talking about you," Hana laughed.

Kiba flushed. "Hana! Stop exaggerating I do not talk about her that much"

"Whatever kid," his sister replied. "So why did you bring her here?"

"She just has some cuts I want you to look at."

Hana gave her brother an exasperated look. "You've been too hard on her if she has cuts you need me to look at. Besides I'm a vet. I heal animals, not people."

"They aren't that bad sis. I just need you to put some stuff on them and then she can go," Kiba replied.

"If I'm being too much trouble I can go and take care of them myself," Elyon said.

"Alright let me have a look," Hana said walking over to Elyon.

The older Inuzuka examined the cuts on queen's face and arms, before getting an almost liquid kind of gel and rubbing a bit over each of the cuts.

"This should help them heal faster. In the meantime, Kiba, don't get so rough when you're training with her again," Hana ordered before going back to her animal patient.

Kiba scowled and led Elyon out of the room "Hana can be such a pain in the neck sometimes," he muttered.

His friend smiled as she sat down on the couch. Akamaru hopped up next to her and rested his head in Elyon's lap. Kiba watched as she gently stroked the dog's white fur.

"You have a way with animals," he said as he stood in front of her.

"I always wanted a dog when I was younger, but my parents never let me get one," Elyon explained.

'Alright time to make my move,' Kiba thought. 'She's about to fall for my irresistible charms.'

With that thought the dog ninja placed his over Elyon's. She looked at him mild surprise on her face. Kiba only smiled at her.

"So what do you think of all our friends hooking up?" He asked.

"It's a little weird, but I'm happy for each of them," she replied.

"Yeah I never thought I'd see Naruto and Shikamaru with girlfriends," Kiba laughed.

"It's only a matter of time before Cornelia cracks and she told me that Taranee might be starting to like Lee now" Elyon continued.

Kiba rolled his eyes. "That's just too much drama for me. If I ever found a girl for me I'd just let her know straight up that I like her."

"What is this girl going to be like?" Elyon asked playfully.

He almost smirked. She had walked right into that one. Kiba stroked his chin, acting like he was thinking. "Well she'd have to love dogs of course, but she'd also have to be tough, able to take care of herself, and not be scared to stand up for what she believes is right. She would also need to be brave and kind, someone who can make me smile. Plus she would have to have big blue eyes and blonde hair, usually tied into braids," he added with a tiny smirk.

Elyon froze and her eyes widened, looking at Kiba in shock. 'Is he talking about me?'

Kiba leaned a little closer to her and smirked. "Would you like to go to dinner with me tomorrow night, Miss Elyon?"

The blonde smiled. "Yes I would."

He laughed and sat down next to her. "See no drama whatsoever and we're both happy."

Elyon couldn't help but laugh with who she hoped would become her boyfriend.

Neji Hyuuga was not happy.

It had been two days since he, Taranee, Cornelia, and Lee had been given their mission and they were ready to leave. He had thought that everything would go nice and smooth like it always had. Then he had found out about Cornelia's part in the mission via an extremely amused Taranee.

Oh yes, Neji was not happy at all.

"Relax already Neji. Cornelia can take care of herself," Taranee assured him in a whisper as they walked out of the village gates.

"I know she can," he replied.

"Well if you're not worried about her safety, then you must be jealous," the fire guardian said, amusement crystal clear on her face.

Neji scowled, his bad mood increasing even more. Taranee had been teasing him mercilessly ever since she told him about Cornelia's seduction mission.

"Why on earth would I be jealous?" he asked.

Taranee couldn't hold it in any longer she had to tell him. "Well Neji you didn't know it until just now, but I saw TenTen the other day," she paused for a minute when she saw her friend tense before continuing. "And she told me about how you have feelings for Cornelia."

"Still I have no reason to be jealous," Neji said stubbornly.

"Of course you don't. I mean all Cornelia is doing is just flirting with someone other than you," Taranee teased. She had to admit that she now understood why Irma was like this. It was so much fun.

Cornelia and Lee were curiously watching as Taranee and Neji had their whispered conversation. They couldn't hear what was being said because the two of them were so quiet.

"Do you think they're talking about the mission?" Cornelia asked.

"That is far more than likely. Taranee has a youthful mind similar to that of Neji's. I am sure that the two of them are discussing more youthful strategies should our current one fail, which I highly doubt," Lee replied.

Despite herself Cornelia smiled at the bushy browed young man beside her. She was getting more and more used to Lee and was starting to view him as a good friend. Her smile faded as she remembered what she had to do for this mission.

'Why me?' she thought. It was a stupid question. Cornelia knew very well why she had been chosen but the prospect of what awaited her was not something she looked forward to.

"You know Cornelia, I believe that my youthful eternal rival Neji is very concerned about your seduction mission," Lee said.

"I can't see why he would be," Cornelia muttered. 'After all he has TenTen,' she thought. "So are you worried about Tara?" She asked Lee.

"I am a little, but I know that Taranee is strong and can protect herself," Lee responded a small goofy smile on his face.

The earth guardian smirked a little bit. "So has there been any improvement on winning Sakura?"

Lee's smile faded. "I actually am not entirely sure about that anymore."

"What do you mean?" Cornelia asked.

"I have always known that Sakura only saw me as a friend, but I hoped that one day things would change. I am starting to believe that friends are all Sakura and I are ever going to be," he replied.

The earth guardian smiled gently. "Take from an expert on love Lee. The girl you're looking for could be right in front of you and you just haven't seen it yet."

Lee nodded slowly and then looked forward at Taranee. 'I believe you may be right Cornelia' he thought with a small smile.

It wasn't long before the four of them were jumping through the trees. Cornelia found the fact that she could jump so high and move so fast without her wings incredible. The earth guardian smiled widely as she moved even faster. She had really begun to love the life of a ninja, the feel of a kunai in her hand, and the excitement of taking on bad guys again. It made her feel exhilarated.

Neji looked back at Cornelia and noticed the huge grin on her face as she jumped from branch it branch. For him it was nice to see her smiling, even if she wasn't smiling at him.

Cornelia saw him looking at her. "Neji, how long should it take us to get to where we're going?"

"If we continue to travel at this speed, we should be there before day's end," he replied.

"Sounds good to me," Taranee called.

"Same here," Lee agreed.

Once again Neji looked back at Cornelia and silently promised himself that if any of those vile men did anything to harm her in anyway, he would personally beat them to a bloody pulp.

"Neji heads up!" Taranee suddenly yelled.

The genius looked in front of him and narrowly avoided ramming straight into a tree. He scowled as Taranee started laughing her head off behind him.

Meanwhile Will, Irma, and Hay Lin were chilling at their apartment. Will looked over and raised an eyebrow when she realized that Irma was being unusually quiet

"Are you alright Irma?" she asked. "You haven't said much."

"Just thinking guys," Irma replied.

"About what?" Hay Lin asked sitting down with a bowl of instant ramen.

Irma bit her lip before blurting it out. "I've been thinking about telling Shikamaru that I'm a guardian."

At that, Will nearly fell off the couch in surprise and Hay Lin almost chocked on her noodles.

"Are are insane Irma?" Will cried. "You can't tell him."

"And why not?" Irma demanded standing up.

"Because it's against the rules for us to tell anyone about our powers, have you forgotten that?" the redhead asked.

Irma sighed. "I just hate keeping things from him. He's always been so honest with me and I want to be the same way with him."

Hay Lin put a hand on her best friend's shoulder. "Irma you also have to consider what he would say if you told him. I don't like keeping it from Naruto either, but its best that we not tell them."

There were a few minutes of awkward silence as the girls just sat there.

"Irma, why do you want to tell Shikamaru so much?" Will asked.

"Well you see I know that we've only been here a few weeks, but I…" Irma trailed off not knowing if she should say it.

Hay Lin realized what she was going to say. "You're falling in love with him aren't you?"

The water guardian nodded her head. Will and Hay Lin looked at each other small smiles on their faces. They knew what Irma was going through because they themselves had strong feelings for Sasuke and Naruto.

The thought of Sasuke made Will turn a little pink. Ever since she accidental broke that vase at his house a few days ago, he had started acting differently around her. He smiled at her more and he would always brush his hand against hers whenever he got the chance. Will wasn't entirely sure why he was acting like that, but she was pretty sure she was going to find out soon.

By the end of day Team Gai, as Neji predicted, were at the borders of the Mist and Waves. The four of them were currently residing in a hotel where they could go over the mission one more time. Cornelia was getting ready and Neji was extremely tense. Taranee and Lee stood in the far corner of the room and whispered to each other.

"So how long do you think he's going to last when Cornelia goes all flirt mode?" Taranee asked softly.

Lee looked at her, a serious expression on his face. "Neji, my eternal youthful rival, is a superior shinobi with an amazing amount of control." The serious face was replaced with a huge grin. "In other words he will only last ten minutes," he whispered with a chuckle.

"If you two are going to talk about me, I suggest you do it when I am not present," Neji said sharply, glaring at them.

His friends merely rolled their eyes, smirks on their faces. The Hyuuga was about to lash out at them when Lee looked up and smiled widely

"Cornelia you look so incredible youthful tonight" He cried.

"Thanks Lee," Cornelia replied, smiling.

The second Neji's eyes rested on the blonde girl it took everything he had no to gape at her like an idiot. Cornelia looked absolutely stunning. She wore an ankle length blood red dress that tied at the base of her neck and her hair had been swept up into an elegant bun on her head. Neji was relieved when he saw that the dress wasn't revealing at all.

He quickly regained his composure and went over the plan. "Alright so we all know what to do. The rouges will be gathered in the pub a short ways away from here. Cornelia will distract the leader and get rid of him and then the four of us will take out the rest of them."

"Are you sure that it'll be that easy?" Taranee asked.

"They will most likely be intoxicated so it should be fairly simple," he replied.

"And once they see Cornelia it'll be child's play," the fire guardian couldn't help but add.

Neji's fists clenched in anger and Cornelia noticed. 'What's up with him?' she thought.

Taranee and Lee looked at each other and nodded. "Five minutes," the whispered in unison so quietly that neither Neji nor Cornelia heard them.

As they walked out of the hotel Neji placed his hand on Cornelia's shoulder. "I can tell that your nervous so if it makes you feel any safer I'll keep on eye on you with my Byakugan."

Cornelia whirled around to face him anger in her eyes. "No freaking way! I am not going to allow you to watch me!"

The genius narrowed his eyes. "I will only do it to make sure nothing goes wrong and that you're safe."

Taranee wisely choose to not get involved and kept on walking, grabbing Lee who immediatly understood and walked off with her.

"Why would you care about my safety?" Cornelia asked.

"You are my teammate and I keep an eye out for my teammates," Neji replied.

To his surprise Cornelia laughed softly. "I should have known. Of course a teammate is all I am to you," she said quietly.

"Cornelia-" Neji began, but she interupted him.

"For a second I thought that...never mind. Let's just get this mission over with," the earth guardian said turning her back. As she did Neji could have sworn he saw her eyes glistening with what looked like tears.

Cornelia made sure to stay ahead of Neji so he couldn't question her about anything. She didn't know why, but when Neji had reacted as he had to her mission she had thought that maybe, just maybe, she had been wrong about her assumption of him and TenTen. Apparently however he only saw her as a teammate and nothing more.

Taranee read Cornelia's mind and shook her head. 'Oh Cornelia if only you knew,' she thought.

END OF CHAPTER