Mist and Shadow

They left home some week or so ago, a team of four, on a mission with a 50 success rate. They completed the mission with no problems whatsoever, with two geniuses on the team and two cunning kunoichi with wicked aim.

They are merely walking to the nearest village to rest (rather than heading home) after their success when they are ambushed, caught completely by surprise because none of them know the Water country very well and all four are tired anyway. Apparently, the real kicker of the mission was not the assassination itself, but escaping the lackies of the assassinated afterwards, the ones who had stayed hidden in the swirling mists until the opportune moment arose.

It is dark, the moonlight illuminating the thick mists lying heavily over the terrain with an eerie blue glow. It is bitingly cold, as the platinum blonde keeps grumping as she rubs her arms to warm them even after her old friend has sighed heavily and surrendered his long sleeved sweatshirt to her. He is shivering silently in his mesh shirt now, too stubborn to admit that he's freezing while she is still cold.

The other two teammates were prepared for the cold and roll their eyes at the younger ones, the weapons master kunoichi about to speak up and chide them gently when the senbon zoom in from nowhere, arcing through the air out of the mists with silent but deadly accuracy. Her companion spins, an explosion of chakra knocking the senbon aside, though the other two team members do not fare so well.

Shikamaru is all but a human pincushion, since he heard the high-pitched keen of something whistling its way towards them and blocked Ino from most of the senbon. She has a few poking from her left shoulder, though she seems not to have noticed, instead gripping Shikamaru by the shoulders and shouting at him to stay concious.

"Yeah, yeah," he drawls, a weak grin on his face. She grits her teeth and holds him up as he has done for her countless times, egging him on to stay with her. Tenten and Neji have already gone back to back, Tenten lobbing weapons into the dark mists while Neji gives her directions with his Byakugan. A second volley of senbon rain down and Neji Kaitens them aside again, though he is now panting slightly from sheer exhaustion.

Ino covers Shikamaru this time, glad to be of some help. He scolds her for doing such a stupid thing; she gently hits him upside the head.

It isn't long before Tenten has finished off their attackers as well as both her and Neji's supplies of weaponry. Ino plucks the senbon from Shikamaru's back and arms, fighting off tears of worry as he begins to doze off. He idly pulls a few needles from her shoulder, mumbling something about troublesome women always covering for him before he drops off into unconciousness. Tenten calmly stops Ino from shaking him to death before she, too, falls to her knees from exhaustion. Neji sighs, catches her before she hits the ground, and eases down carefully to sit in the damp, misty grass.

It would have been easier during the day, this battle, even with the mist. Shikamaru would have had his shadows, Ino the light to see by for Shintenshin or even Shinranshin. Tenten would have been able to retrieve some of her weapons for a prolonged assault, Neji wouldn't have had to use what little chakra was left in him to use his Byakugan for her to see by. But nothing is easy, as Shikamaru is so fond of saying; nothing is ever easy. Only troublesome.

Neji takes up the watch, tired as he is, as they all crouch like weak and frightened animals in a huddle. Tenten is asleep almost immediately, curled against his side with her mouth slightly open as she dreams. Ino dozes off, draped across Shikamaru's chest, hugging him even as she sleeps. Shikamaru awakes as dawn begins to lighten the sky, silently letting Neji know that he can get some rest. As the Hyuuga leans against Tenten, closing achingly tired white eyes, Shikamaru fixes his gaze on the sky, watching the stars fade into the morning and blue creeps between thickly crowded greyish clouds like spilled paint. He smiles, still hurting, and wraps an arm around Ino loosely.

'All shall fade,' he thinks as the final star dims into the morning light. Ino mumbles something in her sleep and burrows closer against his chest; he winces, but the pain almost immediately subsides.

'All shall fade.'

Author's Notes: And this, my friends, is why I shouldn't listen to the Return of the King soundtrack while writing Naruto drabbles. XD I get totally sidetracked. This was NOT what I was going to write tonight, but hell, I like the imagery. (I was, by the way, going to write something about Chouji or Gaara -- or possibly both -- finding a phone number on a bathroom wall and calling it "for a good time", not knowing what it meant. Eh-he-he. Maybe tomorrow.)

Also, and this is my bad, 'Mari, who I've been calling TurboRikku all this time? Yeah, she's changed her pen name to Darth Suna. So sorry for any confusion. XD;; Muchos sorries.

Shout-out

Blue-Fire310: I love you. :D Thank you very much for the kind review! (And I agree totally on Teams Ten and Gai. They're just too damn cool for words. Hence why four of the six ended up in this drabble. XD;;)