Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto…though I own a Naruto and Sasuke plush! WHAHAHA!
A/N: Read footnote! Important!
Call It Fate: Part VII
Raspy sharp breaths raced down the forest, heading straight away from the large oak wall of Konoha. Any unlucky obstacles, mainly the withering branches of the trees that hung out, calling for him to slow down and return the package that his teammate was holding, were brutally slashed away by a kunai in hand, ready for action.
There was no time to waste and the two of them could not fail. Quick glance behind his shoulder at his staggering teammate told him to slow down his pace a bit. The young woman wasn't heavy, but the exhaustion of the trip there and the fight had started to take a toll on the slimmer built young man. His orange bangs hung limply in front of his face as carried the woman over his shoulder. Throughout the whole trip, they hadn't had a decent rest and now that two of their members were killed and left in the middle of Konoha, they couldn't dawdle any longer, as someone would considerably notice the missing heiress.
She was a small thing, barely of any weight or size. He could hear a small groan from where she was draped over his shoulder. Her left arm was hanging limply to the side, swaying back and forth with no definite objective.
The orange-haired man—also known as Kyou specialized in pressure points and had disabled her joints early on. He could sense her head shaking back and forth as she came to. Her mouth was gagged and the closest she could get to scream was probably muffled 'ahs'.
She never did though.
"How are you doing, Kyou?"
The dark-haired young man turned around to face his partner.
"Fine, but I think she's awake, sir." He answered in a weary voice that showed the depletion of his energy. Sweat beads rolled down his forehead, damping his scarf. Damn the Leaf, why did the Fire Country have to be so humid? It was 5 o'clock in the morning, but it felt like the full force of a noon heat wave. Is this what the summers in the Leaf felt like? Kyou could visibly see the tired outline of his captain also.
"Two more hours and we'll reach the outskirts of the Leaf. It'll be safer there to stop."
"The Hyuuga heiress?" Neji inquired, eyebrow raised a smirk coming to, "Good luck on that."
Sasuke stepped back, "Shouldn't we go back and warn them?" To be truth, warning them wasn't exactly his motive, but anything that relates to Hyuuga would somehow relate to Hinata and he just wanted to check on her well being.
Stupid Sasuke…
She's working with another team and she probably won't be in Konoha either.
"It's not our job to do so," Temari interjected, "We are supposed to go and gather information from the besieged Sand."
"Besides, Hanabi-sama can very well take care of herself," Neji smirked, remembering an incident a few years ago.
She was the prodigy of the Hyuuga and without doubt, soon caught up with her older sister and him. It had been during training between Hinata and him that he deducted the bond between the two sisters. The timid, quiet, and nice Hinata, who would let almost anyone walk all over her then and her fiery, brash, and irate younger sister, Hanabi, who would step on others. How could two different people such as that ever grew up with each other, he did not know? Neji had, out of habit started to lecture Hinata on her weakness and how it degraded him to be seen with her.
Hanabi had consequently overheard the conversation from her perch in the backyard and stomped up to him, delivering a loud slap on his cheek that left a wholly visible bruise even two weeks after.
"There should be no need for us to go back now, we're already at the border of the Fire Country."
Sasuke faltered slightly but nodded, "What do we do with him then?"
"Let me…"
The red-haired man who had been quiet for the whole conversation stepped up, "We already have all the plans of the Cloud…he is no longer a valid asset." His fingers twitched, as his eyes looked dilate.
Sand awoke, surrounding the half-unconscious man.
"All's fair in war…" Temari murmured quietly as she jumped onto a higher branch, not wanting to watch Gaara tear the man apart. The other two followed her quietly.
"Once we get into the Wind Country, there will be no trees to hide us, however, Gaara can use the sand to shield us, if needed."
Neji snorted at that idea. That psychopath? The woman must be more fatigued if she gave that idea to spare. Temari turned around to face him.
"You can stand out in the middle of the desert by yourself then, if you want to so much." She was tired and attitude from anyone wasn't something that was needed at this time.
The longhaired man ignored that last remark. That woman had a lot of nerves to talk to him like that. He took a quick glance at her; she seemed tired as she supported herself with the tree trunk as she stood. The fan behind her looked like it was going to pull her backwards, spiraling down to the ground.
"We should stop here then," Sasuke interjected, "Get a few hours of rest here before we head full on."
She shrugged nonchalantly, "If that pleases Mr. Sarcasm here."
"Sarcastic? Me? I don't think you should be talking." Neji skipped a few branches ahead, "Besides, you're the only one who looks like they need a rest."
"Your attitude needs a rest to." She glared back, following him to the rest area with Sasuke and Gaara behind.
"Sakura-chan!"
Green flashed in front of her line of vision as she inwardly groaned.
Not him…
Rock Lee…the energetic, and loud man and…unwittingly devoted to her.
Sakura gave a depressed sigh and answered unenthusiastically, "Hello Lee-kun."
Where was her precious Neji-kun? The pink-haired woman banged her head against the table. She was once again being sucked into another black hole of love…to never see the light of others until she's been all the way through. It had been like that with Sasuke…until she realized there was Neji…who, as the same, ignored her just the way Sasuke had.
She glanced up at the happy young man in front of her. Somehow, she just didn't feel the same for Lee…or did she? It was hard to tell and Sakura let out another sigh as she laid her head back down.
"Sakura!"
Quick footsteps headed her way as she raised her head slowly to meet the smiling face of Tenten and a disgruntled Shikamaru.
Sakura slid over for Tenten to fit in the booth as Lee did the same.
"We got our assignment!" Tenten produced the scroll on the table.
"Really?" Sakura picked it up.
Shikamaru sighed and stared out the window, "So troublesome…we have to travel to the Mist and ask them to assist us against the Cloud."
"Oh?" Sakura opened her mouth to ask more, but was promptly cut off by a standing Lee.
"I, Rock Lee will guarantee that the Mist WILL assist us in battle! And I will protect Sakura-chan in the process! So you don't have to worry, Sakura-chan!" He winked at her, to only be rewarded with a groan and a 'sit down, now'.
Her blond hair swayed in the wind as she groaned.
Mann, this damned scroll is heavy…
Beside her, was Kankuro, who in turn picked up his scroll, swinging the strap over one shoulder, unlike her, who wore it on both shoulders to keep the balance. And that was with that he already carried Karasu behind him too.
She looked ahead and giggled at the sight of her overly cute struggling boyfriend who insisted on taking the charge of two scrolls.
"What the hell?! Do they need this much crap? I mean, like, you guys are sheltered at a hidden base!"
Kankuro snorted at the laboring blond, "No one asked you to carry two."
"Well, you're carrying that ugly shit behind you, so I don't think you could carry two, and I'm not letting Ino-chan break her back over this!"
The older man shrugged, "Whatever, baka."
"HAH!" Naruto pointed loudly, "You have nothing to say to that! You're the baka!"
"I'm not the one carrying two heavy-ass scrolls, I'm not the dumb one."
"But you—"
"Dammit! Shut up both of you and start moving before this thing DOES break my back!" Ino stomped, apparently ahead of both of them already.
Kankuro swiftly moved ahead of her to lead the directions to the hidden Sand base. They needed to get the supplies there soon. There seemed to be more escapees there than the base was meant to hold.
"What do you mean by my sister's missing?!" Dark blue-hair, frazzled from just getting up, stood on end as the woman, in a sleeping garment interrogated the bringers of bad news to her.
The young woman grabbed the nearest Hyuuga member by the collar, "Didn't she return late last night?!"
"I-I'm afraid not, she was also reported missing from her work this morning, and there happened to be two dead Cloud nins in the middle of Konoha."
No…
That meant that the Cloud held her…the secrets of the Byakugan…It needs to be protected…But the only way to protect it is to…
She let go of the messenger quietly and moved away, slowly back to her room. Right then, she had decided that she would go look for her sister.
"Oneesan…It's me that they had wanted…"
He set her down softly as she stared back, unmoving. They were at the outskirts of the Wind Country. Kyou reached from his canteen of water as he dropped behind the shade of a small tree across from her. The woodland was shrinking in size, and in the height of the trees. That meant they were going to reach the desert soon. It was going to be more unearthly hot than the Fire Country.
Lowering the canteen, he stole a glance at her pale face. Sweat had made her hair cling to the sides of her face, as the heat attacked her as well.
"I'll take it off if you promise not to make any loud noises."
She raised her head and stared at him quietly. That was the only thing she could move…her neck. Everything else felt so disjointed.
He took her silence as a 'yes' and shuffled over and untied the piece of cloth around her mouth. Kyou lifted her chin and poured some water into her mouth. She couldn't die of dehydration before they reached the Sand.
"Where's your captain?" She asked, not moving her head up to look at him.
"He's resting somewhere over there. Don't try anything though, you can't move your arms or legs, and that's what you specialize at too, Hyuuga Hanabi."
Her eyes widen.
Hyuuga Hanabi?
T-They must think I'm…Hanabi…
"W-What do you want with me…?"
Kyou smiled, "The Hyuuga family is the largest and most powerful clan in the Fire Country, is it not? It's easier to have them promise not to join the war, when it officially starts, by ransoming their heiress."
So…They're not interested in the Byakugan…
"Hmph…I don't think that's going to happen…"
Hinata closed her eyes and let sleep take over her exhaustion. Four hours of her being awake and trying to break the jutsu…was tiring…
Besides, they thought she was Hanabi…she'll just have to play along with that then…
End: Part VII
Okay…so I lied…bows I'm sooo sorry! I was meaning to finish writing this awhile ago, but then so much family-oriented stuff came up and this was just pushed back.
I also apologize for all those who were expecting this to be a Gaara/Hinata ficcie, but the votes just came to be Sasuke/Hinata…but think of it this way, it's going to be Gaara/Hanabi now…Oo…yes, I sometimes say, Ame, you big freak! But heyy, I haven't seen this couple out yet. I mean like there's even a Gaara/Ino!
Though, I would say, there might be some hope…I haven't planned or written the next…or um…the rest of the story yet, so all those you somewhat oppose to Gaara/Hanabi and Sasuke/Hinata, speak up NOW! So I can just switch it around to Gaara/Hinata and Sasuke/Hanabi! Though if you had already voted in Part V, then you don't have to re-vote, but heyy, if you do, it'll tell me that you REALLY want that pairing …haha
I love both pairings, and it wouldn't matter to me which one to write
Well, Read, Review, and I guess…VOTE!
JA!
Ame