The Dragon Dilemma
I don't own Naruto and Zoids
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"Talking"
'Thoughts'
/-- Scene change
)-()-( Different point of view
?-? Flash back
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Chapter 4
He yawns as he walks towards the meeting place. He had a late night last night, for Shikamaru and him had a grand total of forty games, it seems like Shikamaru really did want to play against someone other then his best friend and jonin instructor. Once they finished, Shikamaru decided to help him practice one of his jutsus he knows, but hasn't figured out how to make it work. Between Shikamaru's ideas and his stamina, it took them about an hour to get the basics before moving onto the actual practicing of the jutsu. It took him two hours to get the jutsu down packed. Then they had a few more rousing games of Go.
Luckily, he did stick to his decision to sleep in two hours after the meeting time. Sadly, neither Sasuke nor Sakura seem to mimic his actions, even though they know Kakashi's going to be three hours late. He blinks as he notices that Sasuke doesn't look too good. "Is he sick?" He asks once he stands next to Sakura. "I don't know, though he does look it, doesn't he?" Sakura says in a tired tone. "He's paler then usual and he's actually showing emotion." He observes. "I'm getting worried, it doesn't seem like he slept last night." Sakura says worriedly. He sighs silently, he might not know much about Sasuke, but he does seem to get that Sasuke doesn't like being cuddled or for someone pitying him.
"I'm going to look for Kakashi, maybe he knows what to do with Sasuke." Sakura says and before he can stop her, she was gone. He looks over at Sasuke and says, "You're out of it. You'd think you were scared of something." Sasuke blinks and glares at him, he kind of flinches at this, surprise that he got a reaction out of the human ice cube. "I'm not scared of that man! I just don't like being hugged, at all!" Sasuke snarls out as Sasuke stands up and looks threatening. He backs up and holds his hands up before him. "Ok, ok, you're not scared. I get it. Are you telling me someone hugged you?" He asks, Sasuke gave him a intense glare and he swallows, not sure what to do if Sasuke begins to pick a fight with him. He does know quite a few high level jutsus, but he doubts that Kakashi and Sakura would be pleased if he beats up Sasuke and that might just push Sasuke over the edge too.
"Now we'll never speak of this again, understood?" Sasuke growls out. He nods his head rapidly, hoping that it'll appease Sasuke. Sasuke looks satisfied about this and folds his arms on his crest and leans on the railing of the bridge, once more wearing a blank expression. He sighs softly in relief, he just hopes that whatever happened between Sasuke and that guy wasn't going to continue to affect Sasuke's moods. He doubts that Kakashi or him would survive unscared, though he has a feeling that their 'teacher' would sacrifice him without a moment's haste if Sasuke began to get violent.
'Besides, other then his fan club, who'd want to hug him? He doesn't look much like a girl, even though he looks feminine. I wonder if it was more then just getting hugged by a guy?' Then his thoughts drift to the red dragon Organoid. This morning Shadow told him a bit about Ambient. It seems that Ambient was seriously injured by this Blade Liger. The only reason Shadow knew the red Organoid hadn't died was because the black Organoid stumbled upon the other during Ambient's raid on a power plant to help speed up his healing. According to Shadow, Ambient isn't as strong as he use to be, though he still has curtain abilities under his belt and was regaining his other abilities too. Though Ambient will never again match Shadow in strength, Ambient is cunning and will not haste to kill humans if they get in his way.
He doubts that Ambient succeeded in getting a Zoid or there would be stories and such flowing around about some huge metal animal fleeing through the wall that surrounds the village. He wonders if they catch Ambient and if so, what are they going to do with him? He doubts that anyone else would understand what Ambient's growls, snarls, and barking roars mean and its usually the partner of an Organoid that can translate those sounds into words like he did. He frowns slightly as he wonders just why he understood Shadow straight from the start. Not that he wishes he couldn't, it just seemed strange that he could. He snorts and shrugs, knowing that it's just one of those things that he's thankful for. He can't really see what his life would have been like if Shadow wasn't part of his life and he also doesn't want to know either.
)-(Sasuke)-(
He kind of feels a bit sorry for snapping at Naruto, but he was on edge since not only when that… man hugged him, but also what he learnt later about those huge metal beasts. He also was told to keep quiet about it as well. He also wonders just what they plan to do with the machines too, for nobody mentioned that.
?-?
He doesn't know how long he was out, but he snapped out of it when someone mentioned letting Sakura play nurse for him. He objected loudly and was stunned to find Kakashi standing over him. "What are you doing here?" He asks his teacher. He can just feel the smirk that his teacher was wearing. "Well, for one, I rescued you from Gai as well searching for whatever that light that controlled the Hell Cat." His teacher says. He blinks and sits up. "That cat thing has a name?" He asks without thinking. "So it seems." Kakashi says. "Well, I know where to find the thing that was controlling that cat; also it's that red dragon that kid reported." He answers. Kakashi seems surprised by the news. "If you'll move back so I can stand, I'll lead you to it." He adds.
Kakashi nods and give him space. He gets up and already feels sore from that bear hug. He glances around and soon gets his bearings. "This way." He says simply. He leads Kakashi to the spot where the red metal dragon is resting. "Just what are those two machines?" He asks after about eight minutes of silence. "We don't really know much other then they're Zoids and that the cat one is called a Hell Cat and the wolf one is called a Command Wolf. They seem to be able to repair themselves on their own. In a way, them seem to almost alive." Kakashi answers after thinking about it for a few minutes. He nods thoughtfully and after about the next few minutes, they finally make it to where he left the red dragon. He stops and watches as Kakashi moves to get a closer look at it.
After a few minutes, Kakashi picked the upper portion of the body up and he moved to grab the lower end. He grunts at the weight and wonders briefly how something this heavy could move around with such ease. "So where are we taking it?" He asks they left the clearing. "To the underground base we're setting up. It'll be a while before it's complete, but he's small enough to be kept there." "You called it a he?" He asks. "Just seems natural, odder things have happened." Kakashi says and he guess he had to agree with that.
?-?
After he got home last night, he had quite a few nightmares revolving around that bear hug and so he didn't get a wink of restful sleep. He shivers slightly at the thought of the one where that man had been stocking him in hopes of cuddling him in more bear hugs as well as trying to convince him to wear green spandex along with yammer on about that 'fires of youth' and such.
His trying to convince himself that it was all just a nightmare and that it couldn't happen in real life. He blinks and trying to think about something else, just then he notices that Kakashi is walking towards them, reading that perverted book. "Where's Sakura?" Kakashi asks once he stood before them. "Went off to get you." Naruto answers. "Oh? Why would she do that?" Their teacher asks. "Sasuke was acting weird." Replies the blond. He sends Naruto a glare, but the boy's not looking his way. "Well, I think I know what's wrong with Sasuke. Anyway, we received a C-Ranked mission." Kakashi tells them. He grins softly and glances over to notice Naruto seems to happy as well. "Where are we going?" Naruto asks in a tone that clearly shows his excitement. Kakashi looks at Naruto and replies, "We're going to River Country. The job is to protect a smith from thieves until he finishes work on a sword for a local noble. We leave tomorrow morning, around ten." He raises an eyebrow as Kakashi adds, "So you have today to pack up." He down right glares as Kakashi says, "I'm sure Sasuke will be more then willing to search for Sakura and inform her about the mission, see you tomorrow." Kakashi teleports out in a whirl of leaves.
"See you later, Sasuke! Good luck on finding Sakura!" Naruto shouts as the other boy takes off before he can say anything. He looks around and as much as he doesn't like being in a crowd, he doesn't feel comfortable being alone right now. He stares off in the direction that Naruto took off in and he wonders if maybe if he bride him to seek out Sakura for him. Sighing, he turns towards the road Sakura took off down and slowly beings to walk down the street too.
)-(Naruto)-(
He grins as he finds Shadow after two hours of searching, he snorts slightly as he notices that Shadow is fast asleep. He considered his opinions and then decided to join his friend in slumber, considering he doesn't really have much in the way of cloths, weapons, or food, though he does have quite a bit of money, considering few people want him in their stores or restaurants, it might ruin their good standing with the 'important' customers. He grins slightly as he realises that he might actually get to go shopping on this mission. That thought lightens up his mood even more as he flips onto his right side and curls up. His breath becomes shallower and he tries not to think about anything.
/----
He opens his eyes and stares blankly into a pair of glowing blue eyes. Slowly his brain begins to reconnect with his body and he blinks as he yawns. He rolls onto his back and then sits up. He turns his head and gets the feeling that Shadow's amused about something. "We finally got a mission outside of the village." He informs his friend. He grins and waits for Shadow to recover from the shock.
"Where's the mission located?" Shadow growls questioningly. "River Country. Sounds like an easy one too, we just need to keep thieves from stealing this sword that the smith's making for a local noble man. I think we're going rotate, which means that at least one of us is going to be guarding the shop during the day and the other two during the night. If I get a day shift, then that means we can go check out any Zoids you locate with your scanner." He says. Shadow nods and growls, "You should inform Shikamaru and Choji, since they are your friends. They might want to do something special for your sent off." He nods and gets up off the ground. "See you later then, Shadow." He says to the black dragon Organoid. He walks off in the direction of where Shikamaru and Choji's team usually can be found.
To be continued …