Disclaimer: .oturaN nwo t'nod I or simply is the correct order, I don't own Naruto. Kakashi in a scarf… now I wish I owned that – and Kakashi in general. Oh wait… I should say that I don't own the Wizard of Oz or Monty Python either. P.S. Another title named after fanart I did that's on my "homepage".
The Princess and the Rogue – His and her fairytale
I love Kakashi – normal
I love Asuma – Kurenai thinking (italics)I love Kurenai – Asuma thinking (bold)
Yay! Ramen with Hinata! – Naruto thinking (bold with italics)
Note #1: To Bigfatbirdwithnolegs: Since when did Asuma saunter down a yellow brick road and defeat a man-eating rabbit? Oh… nevermind…
Note #2: I hope you all know the abilities of the Sharingan eye. If you don't then this is a quick note. It is able to copy jutsus using a complicated process and it is also able to see through most genjutsus. For detailed info, look around the internet.
Chapter 9 – Bonding
Asuma was sauntering down the yellow brick road with a big smile on his face. Usually, he would have a cigarette in his mouth but today, he didn't need nicotine to cheer him up. He had just defeated the vicious man-eating rabbit that had eaten many people, including the current excuse of a Hokage and he was about to go back and see his true love once more. As he approached his newly won castle, he saw Kurenai running towards him, shouting his name passionately…
"Asuma, Asuma, ASUMA!" The annoyed shout was followed by a small smack on the head. What? It was all a dream? He saw Kurenai in front of him giggling.
Asuma was still slightly sleepy but got up. His crew usually just got up when they felt like it and when they were all up, they would have a "easy" breakfast or in other words, tossing random things together to make something half edible and then going on with the journey. It was rare to have a wake up call unless trouble was approaching, which usually didn't since the one who's usually awake early (usually Genma) would enjoy a little fight with petty bandits.
"Ughh… why'd you wake me up for?" he asked.
"Everyone is waiting for you to start the scrumptious breakfast Hinata made so Kakashi told me to wake you 'cause he was too busy wandering down the path of life," replied Kurenai. "Oh, and just to let you know, you're hilarious when you mutter in your sleep. You were saying something about yellow brick roads… and if I'm not mistaken, I was mentioned at one point…" A smile spread on Kurenai's face as she saw Asuma flush at the comment.
"Anyways, you better get going. Everyone's starving," said Kurenai as she led him to the campfire where everyone was anxiously waiting for him. Asuma sat down and his bowl was filled.
"ITADAKIMASU!" they all said happily and silence reigned as the boys ate their first decent breakfast in quite a while.
Naruto, the first one to finish, broke the silence.
"See Asuma-oniichan! Hinata-chan is very useful, she cooked us breakfast!" he said.
"There's no need to convince me to let her stay, she's staying. I didn't drag her out of town just to abandon her in the middle of nowhere so you can go back and pay more attention to her now." Naruto turned tomato red. Kurenai and Hinata, who were sitting together giggled. Asuma turned to Kurenai.
"Are you going to train her, just for self-defence?" he asked.
"We're one step ahead of you. We started training yesterday when she couldn't sleep and you were muttering in your sleep," she replied.
"Will she ever let that go?" he mumbled.
Only a day had passed since the team met Kurenai and Hinata. Both of them got on very well with the rest of the group. Hinata was greatly liked for her culinary skills that the boys themselves lacked. She was also closely guarded by Naruto and both seemed to have grown very close since their first meeting. Kurenai on the other hand was the one whom everyone was hitting on. She was the first woman in the group whereas they still considered Hinata a girl. Her presence seemed to enchant the group (including Naruto who considered her like an older sister) into the group and she was often bestowed with much attention. This was fine with Asuma since, his non-blood brother, Kakashi continually humoured him by saying, "Asuma and Kurenai-san look good together and I think they're dating." Eventually, much to Kurenai's relief, the guys started to hit on her less.
After a week, a routine seemed to ensue. Kurenai would continue to wake Asuma up so everyone could eat the breakfast Hinata had prepared. They would then pack up and set off towards the capital city and from time to time, they would stop by a nearby village for supplies. They would eat lunch (again prepared by Hinata) and keep going. When dusk was looming closely, they would either camp out or stay at an inn. Hinata would then do a little bit of training with Kurenai followed by dinner (prepared by the boys this time unless it was a special occasion). After some rest, the day would start anew.
Three weeks have passed since the girls joined the group and the capital city was getting closer with each step.
"Oi, Asuma!" yelled Genma. "We're running outta supplies here. We should stop somewhere soon."
"But we're so close to the capital city," replied Asuma.
"It's okay Asuma, we should stop," interrupted Kurenai, who knew that Asuma was eager to arrive in the city soon for her sake.
"Fine. We'll stop at the next village."
And so they did. The village they stayed in was a quaint little town where nothing really happened. Or so they thought.
Izumo, one of the members of the team was out shopping for supplies. After acquiring all the items on the list that Hinata had made, he decided to take a break. Seeing a teahouse, he decided to step in and get a drink. There weren't very many customers inside but oddly enough, he felt a strange presence. He looked around inconspicuously but when he did, he felt the presence no longer. After some tea and thinking, he decided to shrug the whole thing off.
The innkeeper stepped out of the kitchen to empty out the leftover food for the pigs. Upon entering the pigpen, she noticed that she was stepping in a pool of blood. Gasping as she dropped the leftover food, she noticed the corpse of the inn's guard dog, Taku. She ran back inside screaming. The cry was immediately subsided by a slap from her husband who told her that her scream would scare the customers. After knowing what the trouble was, he quickly disposed of the body.
"All this fuss for a dog," he muttered. "Yet it's strange. If there was an intruder nearby, then why didn't Taku bark? Oh well."
Hinata and Kurenai were taking a bath. After some time, Hinata decided to get out; Kurenai wanted to stay. After drying herself and putting on her clothes, she went back to the room she shared with Kurenai.
Asuma was playing shogi with Kakashi again on their free day off. Silently strategizing, Asuma watched all the shogi pieces on the board. His thoughts were interrupted by a frantic Naruto followed by Kurenai, who were bursting through the door.
"ASUMA-ONIICHAN! ASUMA ONII-CHAN! HINATA-CHAN'S MISSING!" yelled Naruto as Asuma plugged one finger in one ear.
"Okay, okay, calm down. You don't need to burst my eardrums," Asuma replied. "So are you sure she's not in the inn somewhere or maybe she went out shopping with Izumo."
"Izumo came back and said that he went shopping alone. Her coat was in our room and we searched the entire inn and Hinata's not here. I told her not to wander out of the inn without one of us and she's not one to disobey," said Kurenai.
"This is strange… who would want to kidnap Hinata – no offense. Plus, with the group being just a couple of guys travelling, there's no point in trying to get to us by kidnapping one of our members, we're not really all that special either," said Kakashi.
"WELL SPECIAL OR NOT WE HAVE TO FIND HINATA-CHAN!" yelled Naruto.
"Okay. Naruto, gather everyone here."
In minutes, all were gathered in Asuma's room in the inn. In time, the whole group adored little Hinata who made most of their meals and was always helpful. Everyone was concerned indeed.
"All right everyone, I think you've heard the news so I will waste no time. We must find Hinata and make sure she isn't in danger. Genma here will stay here in the inn and if you find her report back to Genma and then start spreading the news. Be here by sundown. Okay? All right, now go!" he said, and all went in search of Hinata.
Hinata woke up with an odd pain in her arms. She tried to move them but she couldn't. Alarmed, she looked and realized that she was tied up uncomfortably against a tree.
"Ano… what's going on?" she asked herself. She tried to remember what happened to her after her bath. She remembered coming back to her room… black fabric… and a tap on her neck and then everything went black…
"I see that you are awake," said a voice behind her. The voice came closer and closer until it was right behind her. The figure took some of Hinata's hair and smelled it as if it wanted to capture some of her scent. She turned her head as much as she could to get a glimpse of her captor. She found herself staring into two red eyes, with a pupil that was surrounded by three comma-like shapes. She flinched as he laid a hand on her shoulder.
"There is no need to be afraid," he said, as he planted a small kiss on her forehead. Tears were forming in her eyes while her mind was crying out for her Naruto-kun.
Knowing Naruto's concern of the girl and his usual carelessness, Asuma and Kurenai decided to follow him when in search of Hinata. When they stepped out of the inn, they found the innkeeper's wife in a shaken state.
"Ano… are you feeling well?" Kurenai asked the innkeeper's wife.
"I'll be fine," she replied. "Taku, our guard dog died today. It was brutally killed but I guess no one cares but me. I raised him."
"I'm sorry," said Kurenai in reply.
"So, ano… I saw everyone scattering off everywhere, what happened?"
"Hinata, one of the members of the group is missing and we're looking for her," said Kurenai.
"Oh, you mean that little girl?" inquired the innkeeper's wife.
"YES, YES THAT'S HER!" yelled the anxious Naruto.
"Well, I found this near the pigpen later on when I went to clean off the blood. I think I remember her with it," said the innkeeper's wife as she held out a pin given to Hinata from Kurenai sometime before.
"THAT'S HERS! WHERE'S THIS PIGPEN?" asked Naruto.
"Here come behind the inn," said the innkeeper's wife calmly. She led them to the back.
"Let's start our search here then," said Asuma. The innkeeper's wife left them with a slight bow.
Naruto was frantically looking around while Asuma stopped to think… Is there a logical explanation other than kidnap that may have caused Hinata's disappearance? Maybe she went out to find Naruto but got lost in the process. If that were the case then someone would find her soon…
"Asuma!" yelled Kurenai. "We might have a problem." She was on the roof of the pigpen holding a shuriken.
"What is it?" he asked. "Hey, Naruto, maybe you should come here too." Naruto and Asuma jumped onto the roof.
"Asuma, I think this is Hinata's," said Kurenai as she held up the shuriken. "I gave a weapons bag when we started shuriken and kunai training. She always had it with her."
"But Kurenai that could be anyone's shuriken. One of the boys who passed by might have dropped it," said Asuma.
"Well, if it were, there wouldn't be a trail of them would there?" Kurenai pointed to the randomly scattered shuriken behind the pigpen.
"Naruto, I've got a feeling that we'll be needing Kakashi's dogs for this. Can you go get him?" Without a word, Naruto obeyed Asuma's instruction.
In minutes, Kakashi was also on top of the roof on the pigpen and with a couple of hand seals, he immediately summoned Pakkun. Perhaps out of concern of Hinata, Naruto was smart enough to retrieve Hinata's coat from her room as her scent was long lost on the pin and shuriken as Kurenai held them for a very long time. After a few minutes, Kurenai, Asuma, Naruto and Kakashi were following Pakkun who was pursuing Hinata's scent. During the pursuit, everyone was silent in deep thought, except for Kakashi who was receiving information from Pakkun and had to reply.
I hope Hinata's safe. I don't know why she would be kidnapped but whoever did it is going to pay. I'll make sure of that.
This is getting bad. We don't know who the enemy is so this might get bad. I just hope we can just get Hinata back and leave. It would be best if we left without a fight…
I will never forgive this person if they hurt Hinata. Naruto was clutching Hinata's coat tightly.
"Hinata seems to be very close by according to Pakkun," said Kakashi as he repeated what Pakkun said to snap them out of their own thoughts. They picked up speed and eventually they were in front of a giant tree.
"I've never seen a tree like this from the village. You would usually see trees this big from a distance," said Kurenai.
"Well, you don't see this tree since it's genjutsu," said Kakashi as he covered his sharingan left eye once more with his forehead protector. Knowing this, all four of them made the right hand seal along with the cry of "kai!" to dispel the genjutsu.
The tree quickly disappeared and was replaced with a make shift tent that was held up between two trees. Inside the tent was a dark figure holding a scared-looking Hinata.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HINATA YOU PERVERT?" yelled an enraged Naruto. Without another word he charged against the figure but in a flash, he disappeared with Hinata. A second later Naruto was struck from behind.
"Naruto, get back! This enemy is dangerous!" yelled Kakashi as he unveiled his sharingan eye once more. Kurenai went to retrieve the injured Naruto as Kakashi and Asuma blocked off the attacks of the oncoming enemy. Kakashi was right about this guy being dangerous; without Kakashi's sharingan ability, I can't even see the enemy, let alone save Hinata from his evil clutches. Kakashi, being one of the stronger team members was starting to get the upper hand of the enemy. Finally realizing, that he couldn't fight full force if he still held on to Hinata, he decided to let go of the girl. He probably wants to kill us first and then get the girl… Asuma took this opportunity to grab Hinata away. Naruto's injuries were minor and so he quickly put Hinata on Naruto's back and told him to go back to Genma for help. At least Naruto and Hinata would be safe.
"So I see that you will take my precious little treasure away from me," said the cloaked figure.
"We'll protect Hinata with our lives and we won't forgive anyone who tries to hurt her," said Kurenai. "Now, reveal to us who you are! We'll make sure we'll put that name on your gravestone."
"Me? Die? I think not," The cloaked figure darted in front of Kurenai and tried to strike at her but a well-aimed kunai from Asuma momentarily made the enemy pause and allowed Kurenai to dodge the blow. Kakashi managed to get behind the attacker and cut off his cloak. The attacker was revealed.
Gasps came from all three. There he was, in the sunlight. The feared S-ranked criminal that killed his entire family.
"Uchiha Itachi," said Kakashi.
"What did you want with Hinata?" asked Kurenai. "ANSWER ME!"
"Hinata, was it? Beautiful name for her… my precious treasure."
"You don't make any sense, tell us now!" Kurenai was very protective of the girl, who was like her little sister now. She would defend her from anything or anyone including Uchiha Itachi.
"One who lives in darkness, wanders aimlessly they say," began Itachi. "But when you find that little light, you become drawn by it like a moth. Hinata is like a little light for one who they say is tainted with blood. Such innocence is alluring… I'd like to see her mar that innocence of hers… Such an infatuation is not good for me and yet she is a fascinating creature. She goes unnoticed and yet she is noticeable. She happily chooses a life with exiled shinobi and yet she herself is weak. One like her will become someone great and I will help her to the path of greatness."
"Someone like Hinata doesn't need you to become great. She can do that herself," said Asuma. A smirk appeared on Itachi's face.
"It doesn't matter… as long as she's mine at the end of the day, I shall be happy."
"We won't let that happen that's for sure," growled Kurenai. Itachi was still smirking and his eyes began to change.
"Oh no!" yelled Kakashi. "Close your eyes, quick!" Asuma and Kurenai obeyed at once. They knew that Kakashi knew more about the sharingan than they. Kakashi could only close one eye since his sharingan couldn't close.
"Mangekyou Sharingan," said Itachi. Kakashi was trapped in a strong genjutsu he was unable to get out of. Kurenai and Asuma could hear Kakashi's cries with their eyes closed. They could still sense Itachi's chakra, which meant that he was still there, probably savouring all the pain that Kakashi was going through. Finally the cries stopped.
"Don't – don't open… your eyes… yet," gasped Kakashi.
Suddenly, a whoosh sound could be heard coming from the trees. Fighting sounds were heard and finally, Asuma and Kurenai decided to open their eyes. They saw Genma and Raidou fighting off Itachi while Kakashi was in front of them, trying not to collapse in a heap in the middle of battle. Itachi had probably noticed that the two others had refrained from closing their eyes and that he was at a disadvantage.
"I will leave Hinata alone… for now," he said, and with a flash, he disappeared. He must have almost run out of chakra… his sharigan eyes were deactivated…
Asuma carried the defeated Kakashi back to the village and the others followed silently.
"Asuma," said Kurenai, who was behind him. "Here, I swiped some food for you from the dinner table." Asuma was comtemplating on todays events and had decided to skip dinner to see how Kakashi was doing. "Don't worry about Kakashi, he'll be fine after some rest."
Asuma nodded.
"You realize that this will stop us from going to the capital city in a few days," said Asuma.
"You should stop worrying about these things. I'm fine. Besides, I'm thankful that I had company on my quest." She put a hand on Asuma's shoulder. "Especially since the company I had included the man who saved me. Thank you." Kurenai blushed as she said the statement. Her blush was deepened when she was pulled into an embrace with Asuma.
"Sorry…" he started muttering as he looked away. Kurenai grabbed his face and made him look at her.
"We have some unfinished business from the fortress you know," she stated with a daring look in her eyes. Asuma smiled.
"You're right."
Asuma's left hand cupped her cheek while the right held her waist. Kurenai's hands slid around Asuma's neck as they kissed deeply, enjoying the pleasure they were denied while in the fortress. When the kiss ended, they spoke not a word but stayed in their embrace for as long as they could.
TBC…