Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the storyline.
Vote on pairing! read footnote
Call It Fate: Part V
A cool breeze caressed the branches of the large pines in the dense forest of the Leaf Country. In a rhythm, several intervals beat down upon the lethargic movements as a soft patter was heard.
The two men stared down each other as they interrupted the tempo of the swaying branches, making it vibrate under their tensed motion.
A woman appeared shortly thereafter as she placed herself on the adjacent limb. Her actions were slower, but more fluid in motion, landing on the branch as if she was the wind itself.
The last member of the group perched high up, silently brooding the upper branches on the next tree, seemingly ignoring the rest of the group.
One of the first two men spoke quietly and solemnly, his gaze lingering slowly down to the ground.
"You should go back now," The Prussian blue-haired man advised.
"Hai," The woman on the ground nodded, her movements earlier were more carefully chosen, and as she had not landed on a branch, she had not effected its dance, blending into the rhythmic motion, "Be careful, Sasuke-kun, Neji-niisan." And she bowed politely to the other two, "Temari-san…Gaara-san."
Sasuke glanced to his right where Neji was, the blond woman, Temari, lead the way, and the last member…Gaara, stood the back.
It was a scouting mission.
They were to check on the progress of the Sand, and the activities of the inhabiting Cloud, without letting any of those groups know, since the alliance with the Leaf and Sand were to be kept secret.
Originally, two Byakugan holders on the mission would be the best case, since with their skill, spying things in the distances from a hidden place is the best. That was why both Hinata and Neji were needed. However, Sasuke was filling in for Hinata…his strengths were in difference from hers.
But they compliment each other, as a tag team.
Hinata's pure force and power, and Sasuke's agility and precision, they were able to cover each other's weak spots.
So that meant, if they had to fight, then Neji and him would fair well, since Sasuke knew most of Hinata's hidden attacks, which were similar to Neji's. The other two, however, seemed like they were used to fighting solitary.
His ebony eyes regard the back where the red-haired man held, following silently. Sasuke turned his attention back again, to the woman in front.
Temari.
She seemed strong…and skilled. He remembered when he fought her twice…she had been protecting her brother, and the second time, trying to steal the scroll. She held her own, and did a pretty good job at it too. If it hadn't been for his Sharingan, her strategy would've gotten him distracted long enough for her to disable Shikamaru.
She was talented, a well-defined strategist at it too.
A slight smirk flitted across his face as he watched her dodge the branches with ease, going at that speed.
She has a great body to boot too…
Sasuke blinked; there was no time to think about that…besides, he had already devoted himself to Hinata.
Crash
A wooden table toppled over. Two chairs flew back, as the weights on them quickly lifted up. Angry, loud stomping echoed in the vacant room.
"You wanna repeat that, make-up face?!"
"Yeah, I'll repeat it alright, blondie."
"Say that again and I'll take those words and shove it up your a—"
"Naruto, that's enough!"
A feminine voice cut through, followed by a loud thump as a foot connected to the fallen table, making it soar to the other side of the room.
Both men froze in their spot, true terror in their eyes, mouths agape.
"You guys give me a headache!"
A blond woman, clear blue eyes burning with rage, threw up her arms and sat back down onto the couch with a loud sigh.
Naruto meekly followed suit and seated himself back down quietly.
Ino rubbed her temple as she closed her eyes. The patrol mission lasted later than usual last night, and she had to meet up early in the morning. That gave her only four hours of sleep and listening to Naruto and scary-face argue that early in the morning was not good for her health. Nor temper.
The room was now dead silent with the occasional coughs as the three sat in their respective corners, waiting for the Hokage to come and start the meeting.
Kankuro crossed his arms and shot a glance at the frustrated sleep-deprived Ino.
Man, that girl is scaryyyy
The Leaf was gearing up for war…or a battle, however long that might take them to retake Sand Village from the Cloud's grasp. Chuunins and Jounins were sent on task of gathering supplies and grouping into teams.
Even the senseis at the Academy.
Haruno Sakura stood in line, waiting to be put into a team of four.
It might turn out to be a full-scale war and sparing any shinobis would be uneventful. Which had then resulted in her pre-Academy class to be canceled and the young children to be under care of lower class Chuunins and Genins who were directed to stay within the village premises only.
A door creaked open behind her and soft footsteps could be heard making their way towards her.
"Sakura."
She whipped her head to the side, her stomach flipping inside out, only to find it to be someone else.
"Shikamaru-kun! Surprise seeing you here."
He gave her a quick nod and walked past her, to a different table, "You haven't been assigned yet?"
She shook her head, "No, I just got here. Did you get assigned?"
His head bobbed up and down absentmindedly, "Yes."
Sakura felt her luck drop.
So he was already in a team, most of the people she knew were already assigned to a team. She might end up with some ninjas she wouldn't know.
Shikamaru kept shuffling through the papers as the door opened again and another person entered.
"Shika-kun!" A perky voice broke through the low murmurs in the room.
A woman with short brown hair made a beeline for the brown-haired man.
"Tenten?" He turned around slowly, an annoyed expression on his face at the smiling woman. After all the times they spent together on the team, he actually got pretty used to her perky-happiness attitude, even if he didn't show it much. He still appreciated her optimism…like Ino's.
She wasn't as demanding as Ino though. Even though Shikamaru secretly missed the loud blonde. Now it's even double trouble with Naruto. Shikamaru couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of the fox.
He liked Ino, but then he didn't.
Why did it have to be so confusing? Man, he'll just leave everything to work out on its own. As long as he doesn't hit 30 and was still single.
"Yup!" She tugged playfully on a few strands of hair. It was as short as how Hinata used to have hers, except Tenten had curled hers outwards and brushed her bangs to one side, "How do you think?"
He nodded curtly again, "Good."
Tenten beamed at him again, "Oh, I just received news from Hinata-chan that Sasuke-kun has replaced her, so Hinata-chan will be taking his place."
"Oh, I see. How is Hinata's condition? Her leg?"
"It's doing better. The cast is off now, she still has to bandage it for awhile though."
Even if Hinata was a strong woman, she shouldn't be pushing herself too much. It was wise of Sasuke to step in, and now, Shikamaru felt that he needed to do the same.
Besides, she would still have a job here, just not as much moving around.
"Then tell her not to join us, we'll find a new member."
His eyes searched the room and fell on the pink-haired woman.
"Sakura? You said that you didn't have an assigned team yet, right?"
Her eyes snapped over to his direction.
"Ah, yes."
He picked up a few papers and strode towards her, Tenten in tow behind.
"You can join our group. We have an opening."
"Oh? Really?"
Tenten nodded and smiled, "Sasuke-kun just dropped out last night, and Shika-kun thinks that Hinata shouldn't be doing recon missions still in her state because it might require a lot of traveling."
"Oh, thank-you!"
He followed silently, not making his mark. His eyes bore into the man in front of him.
Uchiha Sasuke.
If it wasn't for him…then Hinata would've been in the same team.
Gaara didn't know why he was so attracted to her…
Her gentle ways…
He could already tell that she was a peaceful person.
The white-eyed man whispered coarsely suddenly, "There's a group of five coming."
The four immediately split up into their respective perches in the trees, hidden in the dusk of night.
Five black blurs whipped through the trees nearby as they paused on an adjacent branch where Gaara had hidden below. Soft murmurs could be heard as the group spoke among themselves.
"There's something here…"
End: Part V
YAYYY! I finally got my brain mode!! Hehe, well, hope you like the it , summer's finally here and guess what…I'm taking summer classes at a community college because those classes are full at my school's summer program! How funnnnnn…
Haha, well, thanx all of you for bearing the pain with me, seriously I needed a few days to recuperate from the last two weeks of school, talk about brain pain.
Anyways, I'll have a vote for this story…vote by reviews or just directly email me, whatever.
Would you have Gaara/Hinata or Sasuke/Hinata?
Well, pick! This ficcie is currently at its turning point, and I can make it either way.
Ja!
Ame