A/N: Hey everyone thanks for reviewing my story. It made me happy to read your reviews and encouraged me to write faster and update faster. Reviews truly are motivation! Well without further ado I bring to you chapter 2 of Memoirs of a Kunoichi.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, like many though I wish I did. I do however own the plot.
Chapter 2: Opposition
When the sun has rose the next morning she had not wanted to awake as the light streamed into the window falling upon her resting face. She regretted telling Neji they should meet at ten. The blond rolled over, her eyelids parting just a bit enough to look at the red numbers of the clock beside her bed. Her eyes closed once more, seconds ticked by before her eyes snapped opened. It was 9:45! Ino rolled off the bed getting caught in the blankets, they wrapped around her legs causing her to fall as she struggled to get to the bathroom. She cursed and kicked the blanket off her legs before stumbling into the bathroom slamming the door behind her. A few moments later she barged out the bathroom fully dressed but looking quite disheveled. Grasping her supplies she ran out the door barely taking the time to lock it behind her. Back in her apartment the red numbers slowly changed to 9:59.
"You're late."
"You're early," she retorted now taking the time to properly put her hair back into the bun upon her head.
Neji looked at the watch in his hands with a raised brow.
"It is 10:15...I believe it was you who set the time."
"Well I'm sorry alright? Get off my case I was only a little late."
"Fifteen minutes."
"Drop it!"
Neji's lips would quirked into a smirk. Teasing the girl was as simple as getting Naruto riled up. Thinking about it he would admit they had similar personalities though they would probably threaten to end is life should he say such a thing out loud. He shook his head in clear his mind, this was no time to be making comparisons among his friends, there was a mission to think about and if everything was going to go as planned he had to be highly aware.
"Shall we go then?"
Ino nodded finishing off her hair, adjusting the small duffle bag on her shoulder. She exited Konoha walls before leaping up into a tree speeding off into the east as the map has directed, Neji, leaping into the trees as well, followed close behind her.
A few days passed with little to no problems at all. They kept a constant guard up and moved as a quick pace. The fourth day though when they were only a day away from their destination they had interference.
"Stop," Neji commanded, arm outstretched to stop the blond in her path, byakugan activated.
Ino for once obeyed the command without problem. She stopped beside the Hyuga and looked around as well though knowing her eye were no were as good as the man's beside her.
"Rock shinobi…"
"How far?" She asked opening her shuriken and kunai pouch.
"Here."
Before she knew it she turned around a kunai aimed at her neck clashed with her own. The shinobi was masked up until their eyes wither forehead protectors placed around their heads.
"Neji, how many?"
"Too many," Neji replied, his gentle fist hitting another opponent.
The rock shinobi coughed up blood and fell from the tree landing on the dirt with a 'thud'. For every shinobi he brought down however, three took its place. Soon there had had to be at least fifty shinobi in the ambush taking Neji on. He was matching them blow by blow but occasionally one would get lucky and hit him in his slight blind spot. Ino meanwhile had fewer shinobi to deal with but it was still a considerable amount of twenty. She was barely hanging on but wouldn't fall. She turned to counter another strike aimed for her back but wasn't fast enough to dodge the jutsu another rock shinobi performed when she was distracted. The earth below her rose at an alarming rate, striking her from below causing her to fall from the tree branch, unconscious. The dirt then grabbed her fallen form, slowly retreating back into the ground.
"Ino!" Neji called, striking another shinobi.
He jumped from the circle of shinobi that gathered around him, jumping from tree branch to tree branch before jumping down towards Ino. He grasped Ino's hand, tugging hard moving her slowly from the earth prison. A small bomb distracted him however, hitting the ground and exploding in a yellow smoke. Neji attempted to cover his face to avoid the smoke but failed. He landed in a crouching position onto the ground, his eyes grew heavy as did his limbs and he felt himself fall completely to the forest floor. As white eyes closed, the last thing in his line of sight was Ino being picked up roughly by a rock shinobi. Neji's hand twitched for only a moment before he fully lost consciousness.
"This is an outrage, how can we allow this to happen? Our clan leader getting married to a demon, a monster then risking our family secret by leaving the village? That's handing anyone the byakugan on a silver platter!"
"It is a disgrace to the entire Hyuga clan even if he is Kazekage. We all know people of the sand are barbarians."
"They're right. Hiashi you must persuade your daughter not to go through with this marriage."
Hisashi listened patiently to the council of elders, hands behind his back as he stood before them, eyes downcast in respect. All the council members were sitting around a high table.
"Hinata is a grown woman now and is quite capable of making her own decisions. She has done well up until this point and I think it would be wise to trust her judgment," Hiashi interjected.
"Are you mad? Fine, if she chooses to go through with this foolishness then she will be disowned by the clan and branded with the curse seal."
"But she has forbidden use of the seal-"
"We are the council. We have tolerated her minor changes up until now but this is something we will not change."
"You can't-"
"As an addition we will be using our choice to succeed her rather than her picking a successor."
Hiashi merely nodded. This battle was over before it even started. However he held some thin line of hope that his daughter would overcome this. Despite her usually shy nature she has proven to be able to hold her own and with this man by her side…well he hoped the best. Hinata had opened his eyes to a great many things, he regretted treating her the way he had when she was a child but he was a changed man and grew proud of both his daughters. He believed this was something Hinata could resolve.
"A kunoichi from Konoha, is your brother mad Kankuro?" A member of the council, Yoshiro, spoke.
Kankuro rolled his eyes, his cheek resting on the open palm of his hand and his other hand's fingers drummed against the table top. Lips down-turned into a frown, he was quickly growing irritated with the council down-talking his sibling.
"Konoha is an ally now. Why shouldn't he? It'll make the bond stronger right?"
"Why shouldn't he? Well for one if war broke out she could turn traitor and tell all our secrets!"
Some of the council members mumbled in agreement or nodded to themselves. They were paranoid people as were many in the village of the sand.
"Gaara alone is bad enough but as Kazekage, we can't allow some Konoha whore to trick our-"
Sand trailed up his body in large amounts soon encasing the older man. His eyes widened in fear as Gaara walked into the room looking one too happy. Gaara's eyes burned with fury even if his face did not show it. Slowly he approached the council members and with every step fear rose into Yoshiro's heart.
"Don't…" he started, the sand tighten its grip with every word "speak of Hinata in that manner. Ever."
The sand squeezed once more before dropping Yoshiro to the ground and crawling back into the gourd on its master's back. Yoshiro gasped for breath and coughed a few gains of sand from his mouth; he was shaking as he looked up at the Kazekage.
"Or it will be the last time anyone hears your annoying voice again."
Kankuro smirked from his place. Gaara truly did hold deep feelings for this girl that much was obvious, but if he thought this relationship would be easy he had another thing coming. There was no way that the council and the Hyuga Clan would make this simple. However he believed that Gaara could overcome most of anything.
It was time that his little brother gets the chance at happiness.
"Sakura!"
Naruto looked through the home they shared for the cherry blossom haired girl. In his arms he held their one year old baby girl Tomoyo, which meant plum blossom. He looked down into blue eyes similar to his own, small tuffs of pink hair swayed against the baby's head as he tilted her head to get a better look at her papa.
"Where is your mommy, Tomoyo?" Naruto asked holding the child up in the air.
Tomoyo said nothing like expected, merely smiling and gurgling a bit before laughing.
"The living room, Good idea!"
Naruto laughed a bit, grinning he placed Tomoyo back into his arms and headed towards the living room. Upon opening the door he found his wife, though she wasn't alone. Sakura looked up at her husband of two years, a pink brow rose in question.
"What, Naruto? Temari and I are trying to have a private conversation."
Temari looked at Naruto from the corner of her eyes while picking up her tea cup.
"Yeah, so get lost go keep Shikamaru company outside or something."
Naruto frowned then looked at Tomoyo with a wounded expression.
"Tomoyo I hope you don't end up all grumpy like these old women."
A fist came down upon Naruto's head smashing him into the ground. Sakura scowled, now holding Tomoyo in her arms, her foot rose to repeatedly hit Naruto into the ground even further.
"Who are you calling old?"
Naruto lied on the floor unconscious from his wife's monstrous strength. The door behind his body slid open revealing Shikamaru who peered in with a bored look on his face.
"I heard-"he glanced down upon Naruto fallen form "never mind."
"Shikamaru take him with you" Temari demanded.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Gripping Naruto under his arms he proceeded to drag the boy out of the house grumbling.
"How troublesome..."
Sakura sighed going to sit back down at her place across from the sand kunoichi.
"If I didn't love him…" she mumbled to herself "And everything is troublesome for Shikamaru, what do you see in that guy?"
Temari shrugged then smiled slyly to herself.
"The sex" Sakura giggled "Anyway like I was saying if Gaara goes through with this marriage the council plans to overthrow Gaara as Kazekage."
"Can they do that?"
"With a majority vote they can overthrow him and elect a new Kazekage. I know that will kill Gaara. He loves our country even if not everyone loves him back. If it happens who knows what will happen to him and the sand. Despite his age Gaara is a decent leader."
"Why does it have to be this way…?" Sakura sighed looking down at Tomoyo with a sad expression, her fingers lacing between her daughter's own small ones tugging lightly.
But they both knew why. A shinobi belonged to their village, not themselves.
"Are you going back to see her?" Kankuro asked from his position in the doorway of his brother's room.
"Of course," Gaara replied simply.
"You know they're going to be mad."
"And why would I care? They can't oppose me I'm going for official business."
"I still can't believe this started as a plan to strength the treaty with Konoha, you actually fell for her."
Gaara said nothing. Honestly he couldn't believe he had either. What started as merely a good move for his country turned into something more. He didn't think he could experience these types of emotions, or any emotions for that matter but Hinata brought out something in him he thought he had buried long ago. His face softened just a bit at the thought of the gentle Hyuga head. She had chipped away the grains of sand that covered his heart to find something that still existed.
"Hinata is…different."
She really was.
Okay this chapter got into the mission but focus a little more on Gaara and Hinata. It also introduces two more pairings, Naruto and Sakura, Shikamaru and Temari. Next chapter will be basically about Neji and Ino. I might add a few side stories about these couple's stories if anyone will be interested enough to read them. There is two more pairings I would like to introduce but they'll come in later in the story. So I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please review! Going for eight reviews this time!