I'm so sorry for the late update! I really have no excuse except that I wasn't in a writing mood. Gomen nasai!
Disclaimer: I own Naruto. Really. I do. -gets hit with multiple kunai- Or not…..
While running through the forest, Shino and Kankuro had somehow managed to reach a cliff; not the one their friends had fallen from, but a cliff nonetheless. This wasn't necessarily a good thing when you were being chased by a giant red dragon, however. The poison that Kankuro had injected into the large creature had quickly worn off, allowing them to only put some distance between them.
"Great going, Bug Boy!" Kankuro said, resuming their earlier argument. "I follow you and lead us to a damn cliff!" Shino glared at him from beneath his sunglasses. "Oh, and I suppose you knew where to go? Last I checked you were as lost as I am."
"Kankuro! Shino!"
Both of the shinobi ceased their arguing to look down the cliff, where they had heard their names being called. Down in the sand were none other than Temari and Kiba, a blue dragon behind them. It had been Temari who had called them; she was waving her giant fan wildly to get their attention. They watched as Kiba reached over and tapped her shoulder, causing her to turn around and look at the dragon, whose mouth was blowing blue. A moment later, a giant blast of water was shot in their direction. The two flung themselves to the ground, snuggling deep into the sand. The attack barely missed them as it sailed over their heads, hitting the rocks behind them.
Water…Shino thought, having an idea. He turned to Kankuro. "Come on," he said, pointing down the cliff. "I'll explain later." Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed Kankuro's arm and jumped off precipice, taking the Sand ninja with him. "What the hell are you doing?" Kankuro yelled, wondering if he had gone crazy. Shino didn't answer, but summoned a large number of bugs from his outstretched hand. Before they hit the ground, the bugs formed a kind of blanket for them to land on, and they remained unscathed.
"Geez, warn me before you do that!" Kankuro said, standing up and flicking a few stray bugs off him. Shino looked at him. "Whether you like it or not, we're teammates for this mission. Do you really think I'd try to kill you? Now, I have a plan." He leaned over and whispered his idea into Kankuro's ear, keeping one eye on the dragon that hovered above them.
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"Well, at least they're safe," Temari said, standing up from the sand. She shook her head to get the particles out of her hair. "Now we just need to figure out how to deal with Ugly over here." Kiba stood next to her, petting Akamaru, who was whimpering slightly. "Yeah, I'm open to any ideas."
"Yo, Temari!" The Sand kunoichi turned to see her brother running towards her, followed by Shino. "You idiot! Don't come over here! There's a dra…" she looked behind her only to see that their new friend was gone. "…gon." She looked back at her brother. "Never mind."
"Yeah, we know," Kankuro said. "You were fighting one of the dragons, right?" He gestured behind him, where both dragons were hovering above the cliff. "It appears to be consulting its friend on the best way to kill us. Damn bastards. But we have a plan to defeat them!" He then repeated what Shino had told them moments before.
Just as he finished, the two dragons came flying over from their perch above the cliff, creating a swirl of sand as they landed before them. The blue one spoke. "It seems that you've been causing some problems for my brother," he said, breathing a ring of smoke from his nostrils. "It appears we may have slightly underestimated you humans. But there is no way you will be able to defeat both of us at once, no matter how many of you there are!"
"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!" Kiba retorted, giving a slight nod to his comrades. The four split up, each running in a different direction: Kankuro and Shino each ran towards one of the dragons, while Temari and Kiba ran away from them. Kankuro used his puppet to attack Mizu, while Shino used his bugs to fight Kaji. Neither of them had the proper techniques, however, and they were both easily knocked away.
"Gatsuuga!" Mizu looked up, startled to see two swirling cyclones coming violently towards him. "This again?" he snorted, bringing his large wings in front of him to block the attack. He wasn't prepared, however, for Kiba and Akamaru to dive beneath him and hit his unprotected belly. The dragon roared in pain as the two went back to join Temari, who stood quite a ways away from the battle.
"You bastard!" Mizu yelled. "You'll pay for that!" His mouth began to glow once again with energy, and soon sends yet another blast at the two. Temari was ready, however; she held her fan in front of her, awaiting the attack. "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" she yelled as she hit the attack like she would a baseball. The force of the metal fan and the jutsu sent the attack right back, headed towards Kaji, who was currently too preoccupied with Kankuro to notice. The attack hit him square in the back, and after a quick howl, he collapsed in a heap on the ground.
"Kaji!" Mizu yelled, bending down over his fallen brother. He glared at Temari. "What the hell did you do?" Kiba, who was now standing beside her, answered instead. "He was the dragon of fire, right? Since your attack was made of water, it was especially effective when we directed it back at him." He grinned. "And now you're the only one left." He looked at Temari, signaling for her to start.
"Kuchiyose: Kirikiri Mai!" Temari yelled, thrusting her hand into the sand after biting her thumb. Moments later, she was standing on a large Kamaitachi, towering above her friends and eye-level with the dragon. She glanced down and saw that, while Shino appeared to be relatively unharmed, Kankuro had a large gash on his arm that was bleeding violently. It was her turn to glare at the dragon. "Sorry, but I think your fun is over. Kamatari!" She called to the creature she had just summoned, and it lunged at the dragon, pinning it to the ground. "Daikamaitachi no Jutsu!" Mizu couldn't move and was hit head-on with the attack; he instantly went limp, lying on the ground next to his brother.
"Thanks, Kamatari," she said as the creature vanished in a puff of smoke. She landed gracefully on the ground, then began running towards Kiba. She surprised everyone by flinging her arms around his neck. "We did it!" she squealed. Shino and Kankuro, who were walking over to them, stopped in their tracks and stared. "What the hell…?" Kankuro looked at the large smile on her face, and noticed how much like a little girl she looked just then. He smiled to himself, then remembered that there was still one more dragon out there, along with two of their companions.
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"I-I know the dragon's weakness."
Hinata and Gaara were running along the beach, dodging countless numbers of lightning bolts. Unlike before, where the attacks seemed to be planned and greatly powered up before being released, these came fast with only half the strength of the previous attacks. So fast, in fact, that Gaara didn't have time to put up a shield with mud as he had before. While being hit with one of these mini-blasts wouldn't do much damage, they were sure that they were still charged with Rai's special electricity that could make their bodies heavier, and didn't want to risk being hit; and so, they were running along the coastline, trying their best to avoid the attacks.
Gaara stared at the kunoichi, his mind registering her words. "You do?" He couldn't see how she could possible know such a thing when even he didn't. Hinata nodded. "I-I saw it with my Byakugan when it had c-captured me. I-It has chakra points inside, just like shinobi do. If I could get c-close enough, I could p-probably close them off so it can't use its technique."
Gaara continued to stare at her. He was skeptical as to how this would actually be possible, but from what he'd seen, Hinata wasn't one to boast about something she couldn't do. If she said she could close off the thing's chakra points, then he would just have to believe her. "Leave it to me," he said, gathering his sand around them as he ran. "I'll distract it while you get close. Don't worry; my sand will protect you." He couldn't believe what he was saying. He was actually offering to be the distraction while the girl did the fighting. It just…wasn't like him.
"B-but what about you, Gaara-kun?" Hinata asked, just as surprised at his offer as he was. "I-if you're using your sand to protect me, w-what will happen to you?" Gaara was…stunned, for lack of a better word. No one had ever been concerned about his well-being before, aside from his siblings. To hear the girl speak her concern aloud made him…happy. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that, for the first time in his life since Yashamaru had betrayed him, he felt pure happiness bubbling within him. He almost allowed himself to smile, but then remembered that they were in the midst of battle, and Hinata was still looking at him expectantly.
"I'll be fine," he said, noticing that the barrage of lightning bolts had stopped while Rai paused to rest for a moment. "Besides, now is the perfect opportunity to attack, while it's resting." Seeing her hesitation, he yelled, "Go!" This caused her to snap into action, and she began to run towards the dragon, hidden in a swirl of sand.
Gaara, meanwhile, had decided to take his part as the distraction seriously. Using a good portion of his remaining chakra, he gathered as much sand as he could to use as an attack. He stuck his hand to the ground, muttering "Sabaku Kyuu" as he did so. The sand rose up and grabbed all four of the dragon's feet, holding her in place. Rai growled angrily, and Gaara tensed as he saw her mouth light up for another attack.
"Juuken!" Hinata had now reached the dragon and thrust her hand, which was glowing slightly, onto the dragon's scales. She continued to hit the creature, inserting her chakra into its body and spreading it to the other chakra points throughout it. Slowly, the light from the impending blast began to dim as the flow of chakra to it was cut off.
Being caught in Gaara's sand, Rai couldn't do anything to stop the blows; nevertheless, she fought furiously against her restraints. At last she broke free, and swung violently at Hinata with her newly-freed back leg. The kunoichi was so intently focused on her relentless attack that she didn't see it coming, and was struck across the stomach with the dragon's large claws. She landed with a soft THUD in the sand, holding her wound with one hand as she struggled to stand up.
The claws came at her again, and just as they were about to hit, they struck a wall of sand instead. Gaara stood in front of her, having created yet another shield to protect her. "Did you do it?" he asked after helping her to her feet. Hinata nodded. "Y-yes, I managed to seal off most of its chakra points. There are a f-few that I couldn't get to, but I-I think we should be alright."
"Good," he said, once again placing his hands in the sand. The stage was set: not only was the dragon considerably weaker, she could no longer fly due to the earlier attack that Gaara had sent back at her. Using the last of his chakra, he yelled, "Sabaku Taisō!" Ripples radiated through the sand as it began to create a hole in the ground around the dragon. The sand also began to fall into the hold, creating a type of waterfall around the dragon as she, too, began to sink. She clawed furiously at the sand, fighting to escape the sandy prison, but to no avail; soon, she was buried beneath the sand, with no hope of escaping.
Exhausted from fatigue and lack of chakra, Gaara did something he never thought he would do in front of someone – he collapsed. He began to fall forward into the sand when he was caught by Hinata. "Gaara-kun!" she said worriedly, tentatively taking his gourd off and rolling him onto his back. She received no response, but was reassured by the steady rise and fall of his chest. She smiled slightly as she sat down on the sand and placed his head on her lap. Without thinking, she reached down and brushed a stray hair out of his face. Her hand seemed to move on its own as it reached out and began to stroke his hair, her fingers weaving through the sand-filled strands. Caught up in the moment, she slowly bent down and placed a small kiss on his forehead, right next to the symbol for 'love'.
Foot Notes:
Kamaitachi no Jutsu – Cutting Whirlwind Technique
Kuchiyose: Kirikiri Mai – Summoning: Quick Beheading Dance
Kamaitachi – Sickle Weasel from Japanese folk tales
Daikamaitachi no Jutsu – Great Cutting Whirlwind Technique
Juuken – Gentle Fist
Sabaku Taisō – Desert Requiem
Author's Notes:
Yes, I am aware of the fact that it is Neji and not Hinata who can use the Juuken. However, because she wasn't really doing anything during the rescue mission for Sasuke, I'm going to say that she learned it then. I'd also like to thank wikipedia, from which I got most of the information on Gaara's and Temari's attacks.
Alright, more OOCness in this chapter! But that just made for some fluff between both couples, ne? Once again, I'm extremely sorry about the delay of this chapter. Besides not feeling like writing, I also volunteered to write some Bleach episodes summaries for a website, and have to focus on that as well. It's only a few episodes, though, and shouldn't take up much of my writing time. So, as usual, review and tell me what you thought! Oh, and I still haven't figured out how long I should make it. Feedback is greatly appreciated.
Ja ne!
