Chapter 4: Something you never knew
A/N: OMG I am getting sucked into this story! I want to continue to update till…till I get writers block, then I'll update my other stories promise! Besides I'm halfway done the other chapters. Hmm, this one has more romance than action, wink, wink, nudge, nudge…eww, not that!
The group head out into the night, it was dark of course, but the moonlight guided their way. Kiba sniffed all around, "Man, this woman is pretty far away from us!"
Halting, and stopping the group, Neji said out loud, "Let's stop here then," turning to pull on Kiba's coat because he continued to sniff, "Take a break…We camp out here."
The others let out a sigh of relief. Neji looked at the moon, then turned to his comrades. They were setting up a fire together, and seemed like they were having some fun. Neji's usual cold smile melted to the slightest bit. Tenten was first to notice this and went up to him.
"Neji! How cute of you to take charge of the team like that!" she winked and flirted with him continuously.
Neji scratched the back of his head. Sighing he looked into her eyes as she continued. He always knew that she liked him in some sort of way. Possibly a crush like the two girls on the Uchiha child. Except this one wasn't so attached, and this one, he thought could possibly become something. He always tried to just listen to her flirtatious talking and such, he wasn't so into the whole dating idea, and he always had an eye for fighting, not romance. Oh how his hand itched to throw a punch, or a kunai. But then again, it began to settle as his violent thoughts settled, and a smile crept onto his face.
"Hmm," he said to Tenten, "Yeah, I guess so…"
Somewhere else, Naruto threw in a stick and he just stared into the fire. A smile, an actual smile was planted on his face. He was having fun kind of. They weren't training, no drama, no yelling, just laughing.
He turned to see Sakura speaking with Lee, she was blushing, almost in the way she'd always blushed in front of Sasuke. Lee was smiling too, sure he was weird, that fuzzy-brows, but he was pretty strong, and he had a huge passion towards Sakura. Naruto was happy she finally had someone that would speak to her without any cold looks or replies, or no bashing. And Naruto was glad Lee was so happy. He placed his hands behind his back and put on his goofy grin.
"Sakura-chan, you're so nice," he placed a hand behind his back and she giggled.
"It was nothing Lee-kun," she smiled widely at him and he blushed.
'I FEEL THE FIRE AND PASSION IN THIS NIGHT OF YOUTHFUL DISCUSSION AND LOVE!' he smiled widely.
There was one strange atmosphere in the night, Lee turned to the side and threw a kunai. A whimper of a ninja was heard, and they saw a dead body over, "Hmm, that was a little close," Lee said glaring at the dead body.
"Yeah," Sakura replied, she turned to the sky, "The moon looks beautiful…"
"Yeah," he smiled and looked at her, "Well Sakura-chan, I think we should go to sleep now, you never know how much energy our youthful body needs!"
"True Lee-kun," she smiled sweetly and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"YOSH-A!" Lee yelled out, everyone simply stared at him and sweat dropped.
"Good night Sakura-chan."
"Night," Lee replied rubbing his head.
Naruto smiled, lying down he stared at the moon and heard some barking from the side.
"Hinata-chan, have a good night's sleep!" Kiba said smiling, he laid down a few inches away from her. Akamaru rested in between, the two and howled into the night.
Naruto smiled at the two, "Hinata sure is happy," he got up and looked around the fire, everyone rested peacefully, wait except for one. Naruto looked at Ino who was throwing sticks into the fire.
"Hey Ino-chan," he greeted her sitting right next to her.
"Oh hi Naruto," she looked at him and the two smiled at each other.
"Everyone's resting so peacefully," he said tossing more sticks into the fire.
"Yeah, have you heard? I think Sakura loves Lee," she smiled wider, "I'm so happy for her."
"Yeah," he smiled, "She's finally found someone she likes that doesn't reply with a cold voice. Sasuke-teme's good and all, but he's just so depressing. I'm glad I got over Sakura, and over Hinata too…" he stared into the fire.
"Hmm, you liked Hinata too?" she raised an eyebrow and reached for a stick, but to feel someone else's hand there. Blushing hard, she pulled away.
"Sorry," Naruto said quickly, "Oh and yeah, but now, I don't know who I like now…But I can say this," he looked at her, "The light from the fire and moon, make you look so beautiful tonight," he smiled even wider as she blushed.
"I always thought you looked even cuter than Sakura-chan Ino-hime!" he grinned and began to walk to a spot to sleep.
"Hmm…" she said blushing, "You're kind of cute too," she stayed in her spot and slept on her bag as a pillow.
The next day Naruto was the first to wake, smiling; he stretched and picked up his bag. Today they were going to train, then look for her again. Now, without any sensei's to tech them anything, Naruto just decided to have their camping buddies be their sparring partners. But then, remembering what he promised to Ino, meant that he had to fight with her.
Using his fingers to count, he realized that Sasuke had no one to fight with.
Suddenly everyone woke up and started greeting each other. Naruto turned to them, "Okay guys! Let the sparing begin!"
"Tenten, you with Neji,
Hinata you with Kiba,
Lee you with Sakura, and me with Ino-chan!"
Sasuke raised his eyebrow, "What about me dobe?"
"I don't know…" he turned, "I think you should scout for any suspiciousness, you're strong enough already aren't you?"
Sasuke shrugged and head out. A loud grumble was heard, and everyone faced Neji, "What!" was all he said before everyone burst out laughing.
"Hmm, training first guys!" Naruto proclaimed, but his stomach growled even louder.
"Naruto-kun, I think we should get breakfast first…" Ino suggested. Everyone nodded and Naruto sighed.
"Ino-chan's right, let's go look for any stands or something nearby…"
Everyone nodded, and they began to walk, suddenly, they halted and the girls pointed and Ino, "You just called him Naruto-KUN!"
The guys looked at Naruto suspiciously, "Okay there, when did it become Ino-chan!"
"What?" the two of them said together, "We're friends aren't we?" they looked at each other a smiled.
Everyone stared at them and sighed, then Lee spoke out, "Oh my kami! The curry shop is near here!"
Neji, Tenten and Naruto looked at each other in fear, but decided, to go and visit them after these years.
"Curry shop?" Sakura asked.
"Yes, the greatest curry ever!" his eyes sparkled, "I wonder how Sanshou-baasan and Karashi are doing!"
"Oh yeah," Tenten said with a light smile, "I hope Ranmaru's okay."
"Yosh-a! Lets go then," Naruto insisted and Lee led the way.
Inside the shop, they were greeted by them.
"Oh my gosh!" Tenten exclaimed.
"Karashi! You grew up so fast!" Naruto smiled, "Hehe, you're not so scrawny anymore."
"Yeah," he said in delight, he turned to Lee, "Hey Lee, how about before you eat, we have a race?"
"Really?" His eyes lit up.
"200 laps around the shop!"
"Your on!"
"Do it yourself guys," Ino said with an annoyed voice, "I want to eat."
The others agreed and they all sat down and waited. Next thing they knew, Ranmaru came out holding plates for them. E was taller now, and his hair was in ponytail.
"hey!" he exclaimed with excitement.
"Yo!" Naruto exclaimed.
Tenten got up and embraced him, "How's it going?"
"Good, I've been ere this whole time!" he smiled and finally rested the last plate for Lee.
The others stared at their plates, it was very red and it shined in the light.
"Looks…Delicious…" Ino said first.
"It is right guys!" Naruto nudged Neji and Tenten.
"Yeah…" they said panicking a little. They remembered they're first one, and now they are presented with an even spicier looking one.
"I made this one you guys!" Ranmaru exclaimed in joy. The others smiled.
"It must be good then!" Naruto stated sweat dropping. He turned to Ino, "Go ahead and try it!"
"If you think it's so good…Why don't you taste it first!" she smirked and shoved a spoonful into his mouth. The others waited to see his reaction, first he chewed…chewed…
Everyone saw this and ate it, they all sat quietly eating.
"AHHH!" he yelled out and breathed out fire, he drank his water and begged for more.
Everybody else then did the same without all the jumping around though. They drank their water and begged for more. Well except for Lee who came in at that moment with a not tired Karashi. He ate and ate, and he loved it. Ranmaru pulled out the tub of water and poured them more glasses of water and eventually everyone actually finished with full stomachs and red lips.
"That was amazing," Sakura said and everyone agreed. They each pulled money out of their pockets, and Sanshou refused it.
"After seeing such a lively bunch after so many months, it's a pleasure to serve you."
They smiled and walked out, "Thank you baa-san!" Naruto yelled out.
The others faced each other then halted to see Neji instructing Kiba to smell the kunai again.
"I thought we were going to spar soon!" Lee said licking his lips from leftover curry.
"Well if you haven't noticed, Sasuke came back saying he spotted something suspicious. The happiness In everyone's eyes disappeared and Akamaru growled. The looked forewords and Kiba and Akamaru dashed forewords into a forest.
Everyone followed with a kunai in hand. Naruto looked at Sasuke, "Are you hungry?"
"No, a nice old lady gave me extremely spicy curry before I set off," he frowned, "It was really spicy, I hate hot food, cold dishes are more for me."
"I could tell," Naruto declared shaking his head.
Soon, everyone became quiet, no sign of a lady, no sign of a huge beast. Although there were some rustling in the trees. Everyone through their kunais into that direction right away.
"What was that?" Sasuke asked suspiciously. They all halted and Neji told them that it was okay to go after him, or shall we say them.
"Quiet though, we're not exactly sure what we're after," the others nodded and he and Kiba went ahead after Naruto and Sasuke.
"I wonder who they are…" Naruto said to himself hopping faster through the trees.
"Probably just bandits…."
"They could be accomplices…" Naruto countered Sasuke and he looked at him.
"Maybe you're right for once Naruto-Baka"
"Whatever," Naruto began to try not to argue with the vengeful shinobi. Ever since they retrieved him, there has been a bigger silence, but a greater friendship growing between the two.
"Wait," Sasuke said, the team halted and then kunais flew out of nowhere. Neji jumped up doing his whirlwind, and the others countered some kunais with their own.
"So these are the children?" a dark voice said from the shadows…
"Probably," a woman's voice called out.
"Who's there?" Naruto asked quite loudly. A man and a woman came from the shadows, "we're here to challenge you…"
"Just who are you?" Neji asked.
"We work for the Boss, she told us to feel free to destroy you," the woman said, she pulled out a kunai and licked its edges, "hehe, this'll be fun, anyone who has faced boss and survived with those injuries, must be good."
"True sister, let's kick their asses."
The others removed their casts and bandages they were about healed except for a scratch or two.
"Bring it on!" Lee shouted in excitement.
A/N: Okay, expect another chapter soon, and vote people vote!
Should the 'Boss" appear in two days? Or three?
Who should suffer? Neji, Naruto, Ino, Sasuke, or Kiba?
And more of: Romance? Or Action?
Oh and is still looking for pre-reader!