I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Waiting
Ryuu stepped out of the trees, stopping as he looked across the river, seeing a group of Konoha ninja sitting on the other side, gathered around one of their scrolls. One reached out to the scroll, gripping one side of it.
"Weren't we told not to open those?" Ryuu called out, the ninja shouting in surprise, dropping the scroll which, thankfully, stayed closed. "Sup guys. I'm Ryuu. How many of those do you have?"
"We have both," one of them said. "Now why don't you just get out of here."
"Can't do that," Ryuu said. "You see, my team an I are going to need to borrow those for a bit."
"What team?"
"Us," Shin said as he and Sai appeared around the three genin, forming a triangle.
The three genin scrambled to their feet, drawing kunai. However, before they could do anything, Ryuu appeared in the center of their group, tapping each in the center of the back, placing a paralysis seal on each. Then, he knelt, picking up their scrolls and sealing them away in his storage scroll.
"Much better," Ryuu smiled, turning to the trees as Fu and her bodyguards stepped out of them. "Now, to find you two a Heaven scroll."
"Let's head for the tower," Fu said. "Like you said in the beginning, eventually someone will have to pass us."
Ryuu nodded and they left, heading toward the tower. They travelled in silence, no one speaking, and everyone looking around constantly. After fighting Orochimaru's henchmen, Orochimaru, and the Sound Ninja, they'd all had enough fighting for one test. Granted, they needed to fight once more to get Fu a scroll, but still.
Finally, they stopped at the base of the tower, turning away from the tower and waiting. After about ten minutes, a beetle flew over, Ryuu raising his hand as the beetle landed on it, beginning to sap his chakra.
"Oh a Parasitic Insect," Ryuu smiled. "Hello Shino. You can come out. We're not going to fight you guys."
After a moment, the insect left, returning to Shino as he, Kiba, and Hinata walked over.
"Why are you guys waiting out here?" Hinata asked.
"Fu still needs a Heaven Scroll," Ryuu said.
"And you're not going to try and take ours?" Kiba asked.
"Why would I?" Ryuu snorted. "Shino's too good a tactician for it to be an easy battle, and I'm too tired and in too much pain for a drawn out one."
"What happened?" Hinata asked.
"Oh I fought someone much stronger than me and broke a few ribs," Ryuu shrugged.
"Actually you broke most of them," Fu said.
"Eh, details," Ryuu said, waving her off. "Anyway, you guys go ahead inside. We'll be in in a bit, hopefully."
Hinata nodded and her team headed into the tower. Ryuu and the others continued to wait until, finally, a team of Hidden Rain ninja arrived, these ones wearing purple flak jackets, cloth masks over their face, and carrying katanas.
"Look at that," one of them said. "I told you we could find our scroll here."
"Shit," Ryuu sighed. "What've you got?"
"We have a Heaven scroll, you?" the ninja asked.
Fu held up her Earth Scroll before tucking it away again, smiling. "Shall we?"
The ninja grinned, pulling his sword back in preparation of a slash and began to charge, only to find Fu before him, fist drilling into his stomach. She took the other two down equally easily and took the scroll from them, walking back to Ryuu and the others.
"You know, you are terrifyingly strong," Ryuu said.
"I know," Fu smiled.
The six of them walked into the tower and were met by Iruka. Iruka's smile dropped the moment he saw them and he motioned for them to follow, walking into a small room where there were cameras displaying different spots in the Forest of Death. Standing before the monitors were Kakashi, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuhi, and the Hokage.
"Ryuu Uchiha," Hiruzen sighed, turning to him, the others doing the same. "What happened."
"First, we were attacked by two missing nin disguised as Hidden Grass Ninja," Ryuu said. "We defeated them just before an ANBU team arrived. While we had been fighting them, they said their boss wanted Sasuke, so once we were done fighting them, we went to find Sasuke and his team. We found them in time to keep Orochimaru of the Sannin from biting Sasuke and placing a Curse Mark on him. We tried to fight him, but during the battle he managed to put the Curse Mark on Sasuke anyway. I tried to continue fighting him after Sasuke and Fu were both incapacitated, but I was incapacitated as well. I was awake enough to see Anko try to stop him but he stabbed her then disappeared with her."
"So she's dead?" Kakashi asked, Ryuu glancing at him.
He could swear he had detected the barest hint of a waver in Kakashi's voice.
"No," he said. "The spot he stabbed her wasn't inherently fatal, and I know there was no poison on the blade because both my teammates and Fu's were also wounded with the sword but are fine. I believe that it's more likely that she's still alive, but she's being held prisoner."
Hiruzen nodded, taking a very long draw from his pipe before sighing it back out. "If he's taken her alive, he'll most likely be either experimenting on her or torturing her. Either way, I'm not so sure if she'll survive it."
"There's no way to know that for sure, though," Kakashi argued, sounding more like he was reassuring himself than the Hokage. "Anko's not weak. She could survive. And she escaped him once before."
"No, he left her behind before," Hiruzen corrected. "But you're right. Anko is very strong. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see."
"You mean we're not going to go looking for her?" Kakashi asked.
"We can't," Kurenai said. "The missing nin we caught had a message from Orochimaru. If we stop the chunin exams, Anko dies and he'll destroy the village. He passed the message along just before he bit a cyanide capsule."
"Dammit," Kakashi growled. "What then, we let them all stay in danger?"
"For now, yes," Hiruzen nodded. "For now, we attempt to draw Orochimaru out."
"And when we do?" Kakashi asked.
Hiruzen was silent for a moment. "When we do, I will deal with him myself."
Kakashi nodded, glancing back at Fu and Ryuu.
"Oh, uh, you two can go," Kakashi said. "Be careful from now on."
Ryuu nodded and walked back to the main room, Fu following. Their teams walked over to meet them and Ryuu sighed.
"So, basically, Orochimaru said we can't stop the test so we're going to continue," Ryuu said.
"Lovely," Kegon sighed. "Well, I suppose that means we have two days to wait."
"Well, technically a day and a half," Ryuu said. "By noon tomorrow, all the teams not here will be disqualified."
"We should go to the waiting area," Fu said. "It's upstairs, right?"
"Yeah," Ryuu nodded. "They should have food. And beds, thank God."
Fu giggled, taking his hand as they all walked upstairs, finding themselves in an open room like a common room, empty besides the other teams. Among them were, unsurprisingly, the Hidden Sand team, Neji's team, Hinata's team, Shikamaru's team, and the Hidden Sound Team.
"How the hell did they beat us here?" Ryuu grumbled.
"They must have found another team while we were resting last night," Shin said. "Come on. Let's get some food. I'm starving."
Ryuu nodded his agreement and they walked down the only hallway leading out of the room. The first door they passed was a male bathroom, then a female one. The next room was a large room with a bunch of messy, unmade beds. Then, at the end of the hall, they walked into a chow hall, complete with a couple of chunin who were waiting to serve food.
"Hey guys, come on over," the chunin invited.
They walked over, the chunin handing them all plates of curry and smiling.
"Fair warning, it's pretty bland," the chunin said. "They won't let me serve anything decent here. But I figure it's better than whatever you were eating out there, right?"
"Well..." Ryuu grinned, considering telling him about the sandwiches you had been eating the last couple of days. "I dunno. A couple of the bugs out there tasted pretty good."
The chunin actually gagged and everyone chuckled.
"I'm kidding," Ryuu said. "I always have sandwiches sealed away somewhere in case we have to have emergency food."
"Smart man," the chunin nodded. "Anyway, you passed the beds, as I'm sure you saw. No real rules for how you use them, just no fighting or breaking anything."
Ryuu nodded and he and the others sat at one of the tables, eating their Curry in silence before they headed back to the common room, heading over to Neji's team first.
"You guys okay?" Ryuu asked.
"Yes, there are medical ninja here that take care of any wounded genin that show up here," Neji said.
Ryuu nodded, heading over to Hinata's team.
"So, how's the girlfriend?" Kiba asked, Hinata blushing slightly but also looking curious.
"Um, we're not...well..." Ryuu glanced at Fu who was talking to Lee, probably scheduling a rematch.
"What, you ain't had the guts to kiss her yet?" Kiba asked.
"Not exactly, no," Ryuu sighed.
"She's obviously interested and waiting for you to," Shino said.
"Yeah, what are you, a bitch?" Kiba grinned.
"You would know, dog breath," Ryuu growled, Kiba's eyes narrowing dangerously at him.
"Watch your mouth," Kiba snarled.
"I was talking about female dogs," Ryuu said evenly. "That's what they're called aren't they?"
Kiba grit his teeth and ryuu shrugged.
"In any event, it's none of your business, and I don't want your advice," Ryuu said. "Shino's one thing. He's brilliant. But you, you're only a couple steps smarter than Naruto and you have even less luck with women than Naruto."
"What'd you say?" Kiba snarled.
"I said, you're fucking stupid and Naruto has Hinata, whenever I'm able to be around him long enough to make him notice," Ryuu said, Hinata's cheeks turning crimson. "You on the other hand have no one."
"What are you guys talking about?" Fu asked, stepping up beside Ryuu.
"How hopeless Kiba is at romance," Ryuu grinned.
"You piece of shit," Kiba grumbled.
Fu laughed. "I'm sure he could find someone. Maybe someone that really wants a dog could adopt him."
Ryuu and Fu both burst out laughing, as did several of the other teams who had overheard. Hinata hid her own laugh behind her hand and even Shino tugged his collar a little higher. Kiba could only stand there and blush.
"I hate you Ryuu," Kiba grumbled.
"No you don't," Ryuu laughed.
For the next few hours, they mingled with Hinata and Neji's teams, even getting the two to associate with each other, though Hinata and Neji refused to speak to each other, Hinata out of fear and Neji out of contempt. Finally, Ryuu stretched, covering his mouth during a yawn.
"Alright. I'm taking a nap," Ryuu said. "I'm getting sore."
"What happened?" Neji asked.
"Broken ribs," Ryuu said, smiling humorlessly. "Night."
"Goodnight," the others said.
"I should go too," Fu said. "I'm supposed to heal his ribs before he goes to sleep, that way they don't hurt."
Kiba smirked but said nothing, everyone waving as she followed after Ryuu. Ryuu sat on one of the available beds, one he had taken a piece of paper announcing it was available off of, and waited. Sure enough, within a couple minutes Fu walked over, sitting beside him and beginning to heal his ribs, frowning slightly.
"They weakened again," Fu said. "You'll have to go to the hospital to get them treated properly."
Ryuu nodded, waiting for her to finish before laying down.
"You're leaving once the exams are over, aren't you?" Ryuu asked.
"Yes," Fu nodded, remaining seated beside him. "I have to get home."
Ryuu nodded, staring into space, smiling slightly. "Would it be alright if we flew again before you left?"
"Of course," Fu smiled. "We can fly again after this exam ends if you want. Not as fast as last time, since you're hurt, but still."
Ryuu nodded, smiling and patted the bed beside him. Fu smiled, taking her sandals off and setting them beside his, lying beside him, facing him, slipping her hands into his between them.
"I'm really glad we worked together," Fu said.
"Yeah, otherwise the fight with Orochimaru would have been very different," Ryuu nodded.
Fu smiled, shaking her head. "That's not what I meant. I mean that I like spending time with you."
Ryuu smiled, nodding. "Same. I'm glad I was looking up that day."
Fu smiled widely. "You're actually the only person I've ever met that spends as much time as you do looking up. That's why no one ever notices me flying around."
Ryuu chuckled, nodding and rolling onto his back, taking one of his hands back to put it behind his head. "Orochimaru's going to show up again. I don't know if we can survive another round."
"We'll be fine," Fu promised. "I was holding back when we fought him so that I didn't do too much damage, or hurt you. Next time we fight him, I'm not going to hold back."
"I wish I had your confidence," Ryuu smiled. "But then, I suppose you do have more power than I've ever seen you use. I can't imagine what you must have been through."
Fu smiled, shifting to lay on top of him, smiling down at him. "It wasn't all fun, but it wasn't all bad either. And because of it, I got to meet you. So I'm satisfied."
Ryuu smiled then sighed, setting his head back on the pillow, smile shrinking a little. "I think I'll need to unseal Naruto too, when he get here."
"Why do you do that?" Fu asked.
"Do what?" Ryuu asked. "Help Naruto?"
"No, why do you change the subject?" Fu asked.
Ryuu's brow furrowed for a moment before he understood and he sighed, looking to the side again. "I don't know."
"You're lying," Fu said. "Every time we get close to talking about our feelings, you always change the subject. I want to know why."
Ryuu felt his cheeks heating up but remained silent for a bit, trying to decide how to answer. "I just...I lost everything once. I don't want to lose anyone I care about again. But...because everyone I care about is human, and a shinobi to boot, I know that eventually, the people I care about are going to leave. Whether because we drift apart, because they're from another village, or because they die, eventually everyone is going to leave. So...I guess I instinctively developed a habit of trying to keep people from getting too close. I'm not going to pretend you don't know how I feel but...I suppose a part of me...a part of me thinks that as long as we don't talk about it it's not true. That if we don't talk about it, it's not there. And if it's not there, it can't hurt me when you leave."
Fu sighed, nodding and setting her head on his chest, closing her eyes. Ryuu stared at her in silence before closing his eyes as well.
"I don't want to lose you, Fu," Ryuu said, Fu looking up at him. "When I lost my clan, I lost everything. And then I lost a full year of my life on top of that. I was terrified of what else I would lose for a long time. Every night I had nightmares of the night it happened, watching my abusive father give his life to try and protect me and my mother, watching the mother who had spent years pretending I didn't exist telling me to run...holding my mother's severed head just before I was...hurt. It took a year for the nightmares to stop. But, in the end, I was able to get over it. But if I lost you...I would have nothing left. I...I can't lose you, Fu. But I'm too afraid of the knowledge that eventually I will to let you in."
Fu watched him for a moment before smiling, reaching up and kissing him on the forehead. "I'm not going anywhere, Ryuu. I may have to go back to my village after the chunin exams, but then I'm going to request permission to transfer to the Hidden Leaf permanently. Even if I do have to leave, I'm going to be back. And I'll wait for as long as I have to for you to see that I'm not leaving you."
"Why?" Ryuu asked.
"Because Jinchuriki are almost universally hated," Fu said. "So if we ever find someone that accepts us despite knowing what her are, we hold onto them for as long as we can. Jinchuriki fall in love with only one person in their lifetime. Once we do, it won't matter what we have to do. If it means being with them, we'll do it."
Ryuu smiled slightly at her accidental admission before it faded. "Guess that means Hinata's not going to be able to get Naruto then."
"Oh please, Naruto's not in love with Sakura, he's competing with Sasuke," Fu snorted. "And now that Sasuke and Sakura are actually together, it'll be easier for Hinata to get his attention. And before you ask, yes, I'll help you get them together."
Ryuu smiled and nodded, closing his eyes as Fu set her head down, placing her ear over his heart.
"Goodnight Ryuu," Fu smiled.
"Goodnight Fu," Ryuu smiled, pressing a feather-light kiss to the top of her head.
Fu smiled widely, squeezing his hand lightly before letting herself drift off to sleep, Ryuu doing the same.
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