A/N: Whoa….weird…I never submitted for like ever…since the beginning of the year…but I have been thinking of ideas for my 'Flickering Flames'…herm, I hope nobody has forgotten about it…and seriously I did not ditch my writing….are you kidding me!

No, I've just been really busy…but I had this weird idea come to me…and plus, I like doing odd pairing…yah, I mean what's with all the fanfics being about pairings…ahahaha, I'm such a hypocrite…well, not really, but enough babbling, and read! And remember to review, and in case you forget while u are entranced by my awesome story…I shall remind you later!

Disclaimer: I Do NOT…I repeat, I do NOT own Naruto

The Gift

The calm of the forest would have told a different tale. It was nearing dusk, and the blue sky looked as though someone had just smeared red and orange paint across. Speckles of distant clouds powdered the sky. A pink aura emanated from the kneeling sun, who was just dipping down behind the far distant mountains. Up above, the curtain of night was settling in, ready to tuck the day away. It was time for rest.

A chill was beginning to settle.

Shadows in the forests grew, as though spirits were anxious to escape from their day time prisons. What may have looked like a beautiful forest during day's light now became an eerie setting. As strange as it may have seemed, this was the entire norm. The only thing out of place was the maiden.

No one would have been able to tell from just looking that she was even alive. The moss provided a cradle for her body, a soft carpet covering the forest floor. Little bugs would crawl over her, acknowledging it as only another obstacle for them to overcome. The incessant buzzing of the mosquitoes hovered about her ear. Blond locks fell over the one side of her face. As if aroused by some unseen force, her eyes flickered open. Yamanaka Ino blinked repeatedly, waking from strange dream.

Confused, she looked about.

"How'd I…" she started out slowly, then once it hit her, she sat up quickly. "Where am I?"

Feeling something on the back of her hand, see looked down to spot a centipede. A frightened and disgusted look came over her face, and immediately she jumped up from her spot. Her hands quickly swept across every fold of her clothing, trying to rid herself of invisible insects. A small shriek escaped from her lips, as the thought of bugs came to her. A shiver ran down her spine.

How she hated insects.

She stood in the dark, knowing that the sun was just setting. Too dense a forest to allow such dim light through, but still she could tell. It was not the darkness that frightened her, but the thought of something more telling kept coming back to her.

Glancing around, she realized this place looked familiar. "Why would I be here?" she asked to no one in particular. "We weren't assigned to this mission…"

She began to walk through the forest, trying to make sense of this all, well, at least she bounds off in some direction. Knowing where she was was only part of it. Now she had to get some sense of direction, and the receding light would be no benefit to her at all.

"The scrolls!" she exclaimed suddenly. She had just remembered the mission scroll she received the other day, before she was reassigned. 'I didn't have time to return it because we were sent to the other one.'

Reaching to the small bag on her waist, she found nothing. Alarmed she felt her waist for the belt. 'My weapons! Where'd they go!'

Suddenly she realized her kunai holster was empty. Great! Not only was she somewhere, where she shouldn't be, but all her weapons where gone. As if ready to lash out at somebody, she balled her fist, trying to vent her frustration.

'Well…it would be safer up above,' she concluded, trying to keep a confident air about herself. Brushing blond bangs out her sight, she leaped up, grabbing hold of a branch, and using her momentum swung herself up into a crouching position.

Pushing herself up off the branch, she leaped up, reaching for another one. Doing so until she reached a height she felt safer at. Now she could truly tell it was night. Pursing her lips into a pout, she leaned against the tree, pondering what she was to do. She knew it would be dangerous to continue on without weapons, but she was quite far from the village, and night would prove more difficult. But at least it would be serving as a cloaking aid.

'I don't need my weapons,' she suddenly protested to herself. 'I'm not as useless as Tenten.'

Twack!

Ino spun around, at the sound that was all too familiar. A kunai had landed not but a few inches from her. Immediately as fear crept up, and seized her whole being. Without even giving it much thought, she clutched onto the trunk of the tree, bringing herself behind it. It would not offer permanent protection, and she knew that. Taking a deep breath, she swung herself around the tree, getting ready to pluck the kunai from the bark. To her surprise, the kunai was gone. Just then a kunai whizzed by her face.

Twack!

She saw the wire string attached to the kunai, an attempt to close line her? Again without thought, she grasped the wire. Kicking the tree, she managed to turn herself around, so that she could grab the kunai with her free hand before she got out of reach. It all happened in a matter of seconds, but Ino could follow it in her mind as though it were slow-play. With the kunai now in hand, she slashed the string, freeing the kunai. Fearing more kunai from flying at her, she turned herself, preparing to grab hold of the branch and get out of there. In all true-Ino fashion, she did what she could do best: high-tail it out of there.

Jumping from branch to branch, launching herself forward, she had not a clue where she was going. Lost in thought, she continued on, trying to still figure out how she could be there. Her mission was no where near here. As she launched herself forward, her foot snagged on a wire, throwing her off what balance she had. She fell through the thin branches, snapping and cracking was heard as she descended. A branch! She grabbed hold of a thicker looking branch, and swung herself down onto the ground. Landing with significant grace, she felt a small twinge beneath her foot.

Another wire. A trap! As a barrage of kunai flew out at her from the darkness, she threw herself to her ground, rolling some distance from the death spot. Rolling to a crouching position, she stumbled forward. Her arm was in front of her, providing support as she pushed herself up. Prickly legs crawled over her fingers. Another bug!

How she hated insects.

As she pulled her hand away, in a frightened jolt, she bolted up to a sitting position. Suddenly, she became aware of something startling. Just ahead of her, was the small base of the tree she had found herself when she woke up. There was no mistake. The same cradle-like shape. Quickly climbing to her feet, she turned around to survey her surroundings. She was back to where she started.

"How?" she questioned herself. Even in the darkness, she could discern it.

"Ino!"

Hearing the voice in the distance, she called out. "I'm here!"

She ran towards the voice. Hoping, praying that someone would find her soon, before she lost what sanity she had left. She just wanted to get out of this forest. She wanted to get away from all of it. More than anything, she wanted to escape from the assailant that was stalking her.

Not knowing how long she was running for, but whatever it was, it felt like an eternity. For some reason, the darkness just seemed to get blacker and darker. In front of her, a figure came into view.

"Where are you?" she called out to what she thought was her friend. After all she didn't want to run into her attacker.

"What are you doing out here?" came the voice again. It was a voice, Ino knew well, and she was relieved.

"Took you long enough!" Ino chastised.

"You're too troublesome," said the voice gruffly. "Why did you run out here?"

Still too far to see him, continued to Ino carried on the conversation. "Me! What do you mean! I just woke up out here!"

"Well, I was willing to wait for you at the pass, but Sakura was impatient waiting for you. I was going to get Naruto to wait with me, but he had to follow Sakura."

"Figures," Ino said with an air of haughtiness. "Naruto is so in love with Sakura, he'd do anything for her." She was exaggerating, but she tended to at times, and frankly, she was annoyed with Sakura and Naruto for not waiting for you. "Well, at least you waited."

Suddenly, the darkness closed in more, and Shikamaru's figure vanished. Her breath caught in her lungs. "Shikamaru?"

A red aura appeared above her. She found herself back in the same small clearing, with the moss bed and tree. Had I been going in circles, she thought to herself.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

Now everything seemed accented with the crimson glow.

"You are stubborn-minded."

The voice seemed to come from nowhere, yet she could hear it all about her. 'This is genjutsu,' Ino concluded.

"I did not think it would take that long to get you to speak. But with the right incentive, you gave me exactly what I needed."

A moment's flash, the crimson light had disappeared, and Ino was left standing in same forest. She quickly glanced around, and not too far in front of her were two figures. Everything now seemed lighter, and she could tell they wore cloaks.

"What do you want!" Ino barked.

"Come, Kisame," said one of the cloaked figures. "This was not as much of a waste of time as you claimed it to be."

"A waste of chakra at least," challenged the other.

Ino threw the kunai she had in hand at the larger one. He caught it as without effort. "Do you want to die, girl?"

Ino stood her ground. "She's not worth it, Kisame," mentioned the smaller one.

"Coward!" Ino called out. When they both stopped in their tracks, Ino regretted even calling them on. Suddenly, the more civil seeming of the two was in front of her.

Ino froze in the spot, as he leaned forward. Leaning down, he whispered into her ear. "If you are so anxious to die, do us all a favor," and taking her hand into his, he planted a kunai into her grasp, "and take this kunai. Then, maybe you'll realize how wanted you are."

Ino was so seized by her fear she did not react until they vanished. It was as though they had a jutsu on her, freezing her to her spot. Her grasp loosened and the kunai landed with a soft thump against the ground. Suddenly, it came to her. She remembered how she got here. She was impulsive, and bounded ahead of the group, against Shikamaru's warnings. She even remembered what had been going through her head. She wanted to seem brave. She wanted to seem tough. All this to try out-do Sakura.

She glanced down at the kunai by her feet. Crouching down, she let her legs fold under her, feeling defeated. Her thoughts went back to what Shikamaru had said, well, the Shikamaru in the illusion. Still, it was all convincing. She thought about what he had said. All this time she had been staring at the kunai, as if questioning its reality. Suddenly, a centipede crawled by, its hard shell-like skin glistened slightly.

How she hated insects.

Shifting her eyes to the fallen weapon, she took the kunai up. She held the gift in hand.

"What would they do?"

A/N: Okay, okay, okay! So what did you think? It's a different tone….I think. But take a few seconds and submit a review please. This is just an initial part of my plan….yes, my awesome plan! ' hehe…okay, well, now that I have aroused your attention, let me know what YOU think! Please and Thank-you! Review!

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