~~~~~~~~~~~~Naruto's pov~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was getting dark real quick as we continued to walk along the edge of the forest. I felt a push from behind and turned to see Kiba looking the other way, looking real innocent. "Kiba stop playing around, we don't have time to be kids right now" I said trying to spite him by being mature
"what are you talking about Naruto? I didn't do anything" Kiba replied looking at me with a grin, I grinned back and looked back to the front
"I don't have time for these childish games" I said, from the corner of my eyes I could see Sakura rolling her eyes as she looked over at us
"well neither do I" Kiba said while bumping pass me. I narrowed my eyes at him and started to walk quicker bumping him right back
"really naruto, why do you got to be so childish" Kiba said bumping me again, this time I glared at him as he walked in front of me
"oh you are so getting it" I said and while Kiba looked over at me I tackled him, causing both of us to roll on the ground and away from the others, as we were rolling I distinctly heard Sasuke's and Sakura's voice yelling at us to stop playing around when all of a sudden Kiba and I fell down into a medium size hole.
"Ow" I groaned as I rubbed the back of my head, Kiba was laying across my stomach groaning too "Get off" I said pushing off and looking around me. It appeared to be like a small den but spacious.
"where are we" Kiba asked also looking around, I looked up from where we fell at to see the night sky before I see pink hair blocking the view
"GUYS are you ok?" Sakura asked concerned
"Yea hold on we coming up" I yelled back before climbing up the small dirt path. Both Kiba and I got up to the top before we were assaulted by Sakura, hitting our heads "OW!" twin groans were heard as both Kiba and I held our heads
"that's what you idiots get for playing around, this isn't the time for that, we got to find some place to camp out at" Sakura yelled at us, as the others just stood there looking at us getting abused "but Sakura, if we didn't start playing around we wouldn't of have found a perfect hiding spot" I quickly said to save my ears from anymore yelling, I saw Sasuke perk up at that
"What was down there" he asked coming on over.
"it's like a den, I think it's big enough for all of us and it doesn't look like it's been used by some animals or anything, we can put some leaves or a bush here to cover the entrance" I replied patting myself on the back for my brilliant plan.
"oh wow naruto I didn't think you could be smart to think of all of that" Sakura said blinking in surprise
"HEY! I can be smart when I want to be" I yelled angrily, I heard Sasuke snort
"too bad that isn't all the time" he said while crouching to go jump in the hole, I followed over to see him looking around and nodding before looking back up at me, I saw him nod his head and I turned to the others
"ok guys Sasuke said it was clear" and I jumped down after him and moving so the others can come down. First Sakura came down and then Hinata, Kiba, Haku, and last but not least Gaara came slowly down while moving some plants to cover the entrance. After all of us were in here we all began to settle down and getting our blankets out of our packs. Sasuke first got the big blanket that the captain gave him and laid it on the ground, it was big enough for all of us if we all cuddle together, which I'm sure we would since it was kind of cold tonight, and we all got ready for bed. I pulled out some pajamas I brought with me since I didn't want to ruin my day clothes when I slept and saw the others get theirs out too.
"You boys turn around so we can change" Sakura said as her, Ino, and Hinata held their Pajamas in their hands. We did as command and change our clothes while they also changed their clothes and when we heard the ok we began to settle down. We all laid down on the big cover and pulled our individual covers up over us I was in between Sasuke and Sakura, with Sasuke being on the edge, we didn't mind cuddling with each other since we did it since we were little, Ino was next to sakura, then Haku, with Gaara resting on the other side him, who was next to Hinata and last but not least was Kiba on the other end.
"Good night you guys" I said after we all got settled with Sasuke's and Sakura's arm across my stomach, my hands on top of theirs. I looked over to see Ino's back to Sakura as she cuddled into Haku's arms, which were wrapped around her and Gaara's arm drapped over his waist. Hinata and Kiba had cuddled up to each other too next to Gaara.
"Good night Naruto" I heard everybody else say before it was silent. I took this time to just start thinking of how long will it'll take to get there and will we all make it there in one piece 'I hope nobody gets hurts or God forbid for one of us to die' I thought sadly and I looked over at Sasuke who was on his side with eyes closed which suddenly blinked open as he felt my breath on his face.
He looked at me in questioning but I just smiled and shook my head. He gave me another look before closing his eyes and snuggling up under my chin, causing my arm to go around his, I felt the same thing on my other side and saw Sakura copying Sasuke so now I had both of them snuggling me and my arms wrapped around them. I smiled one more time as I looked at both of my friends, my family, I don't know what I would do without either of them and I'm glad that we are all together, I don't want anything to happen to them or any of the others.
We have all been close ever since each of us arrived here at the orphanage and nothing has broken us until now, when Chouji was taken from us. I sighed before closing my eyes and letting sleep over come me.
~~~~~~~~~~Haku's pov~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was surprised when Ino had settled down next to me "Hey" she quietly say, I nodded at her "is it alright if we like could cuddle" she asked blushing "I mean everyone else has someone and I know we are just now getting close and all and I would understand-" I held my hand up stopping her ramble
"it's ok Ino, come on let's get to sleep" I said and she smiled widely before settling next to Sakura and cuddled into my arms, a few seconds later I felt an arm wrap around my waist, I jumped a little and looked behind me to see Gaara laying down behind me "Gaara?" I questioned
"You don't mind do you" he asked looking down a little but still making eye contact, I shook my head
"no I don't mind" I replied and blushed while relaxing as he got closer and hugged me from behind, his head resting a little on my back, I felt Ino smile against my chest as she felt Gaara's arms between the two of us.
"Good night everybody" I heard Naruto say from his perch in the middle of his little sandwich between Sasuke and Sakura.
"Good night Naruto" we all said back to him before everybody went silent and slowly started to fall asleep. 'This is nice' I thought as I closed my eyes, feeling Ino's breath slow down as well as Gaara's. Soon I joined them in their sleep, not waking up till the next morning to a bright new day.
~~~~~~~~~~Hinata's pov~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I blushed as I saw the others start to cuddle with each other and sat down next to Gaara, who wrapped his arms around Haku who was cuddling with Ino. "Hey um Hinata" I looked over at Kiba to see him blushing and fidgeting "so I was wondering since like everybody else was um c-cuddling, if you know, want to cuddle to, I mean with me" Kiba looked so adorable that I couldn't possibly say no
"Sure Kiba-gun" I smiled at him and laid down as Kiba smiled brightly and lay down next to me and pulled me into his arms. I smiled as I rested my head against his chest and held on tightly to his shirt. I felt him hold me tightly and laid his head on top of mine.
'this feels nice' I thought before slowly drifting off to sleep, not before saying goodnight to Naruto of course. 'Maybe we can actually get out of this alive' I hoped, I know this was only the first day and we have a lot of ground to cover but I will have hope that we can get out of this alive I just know we can.
~~~~~~~~~~The Very Next Day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Naruto's pov~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up feeling very comfortable and slowly crackled my eyes opened despite it being dark in the den, I could tell it was morning outside but I don't know how early though. I looked over to my right when I felt movement and felt myself blush at how closer Sasuke gotten to me in our sleep.
Right now his arm went up across my chest to my shoulder, his other arm below my head making me rest against it and his chest where I was pushed up to under his chin as his head rested upon mine, his leg across one of mine closer to my hip, speaking of which was currently homed to Sakura who was resting on my chest, using it as a pillow, as her arms wrapped around my stomach, her leg bent to drape over my other leg as her other leg stretch out straight. I sigh as I felt myself trapped and wouldn't be able to get out unless I awoke both of them, which I need to if I wanted to pee.
I start by gently moving my arm which was over Sakura and gently shook her "sakura" I whispered trying to wake her up peacefully, she can be a demon in the morning sometimes. I saw her scrunch up her face as she slowly started to wake and look up at me
"n-naruto" she said yawning and stretching up, I smiled at her before moving my arms to lightly shake Sasuke. Sakura saw what I was doing and gently shook him awake too which wasn't long before he slowly blinked awake and looked down at me in questioned
"I got to pee and it's morning we should probably get up anyway" I whispered to him and he nodded before releasing me.
From the movement caused by Sakura, I saw Ino slowly move before looking over at us from her position in Haku's arms.
"guys" She whispered looking at us in confusion, Sakura went over to her telling her we should get up now so we can get going and Sasuke and I walked over to the entrance and climbed up removing the plants Gaara placed there last night. We slowly got up and saw that it was just a little bit past dawn. "ah this feels great" I said stretching my arms and the rest of my body before walking over to a bush and doing my business there.
I finished my business and headed back to the others to see Sasuke and Gaara talking to each other "hopefully walking through the plains won't take too long, but we need to be careful since were going to be out in the open" I heard Sasuke say as both Gaara and him looked at the map
"why don't we wear some kind of disguised of something" I asked looking over their shoulders. Sasuke looked back at me,
"because dobe it will be obviously either way to spot something moving across the plains why make it harder for us by wearing extra, that might actually slow us down" he replied and he did have a good point but there must be something we can do to make it less obvious that a group of runway teens are crossing the plains
"right now less just focus on getting across, if something happens then we can worry about it, but after we cross the plains were we heading to next?" Gaara asked looking at the map. Sasuke pointed towards a town, "we can rest here for a while then head on to pass through the mountains" he finished "ok" Gaara replied and we looked up when we heard some noise and saw Haku come up "good morning you guys" he said rubbing his eyes.
"good morning haku-Yang!" I yelled and coming over and patting him on the back, ignoring his glare "Naruto shut up" he said before walking off to I guess use the bathroom.
"Naruto you are too loud in the morning" sakura said coming up with the rest of the girls with all of our things.
"aw don't be so mean sakura-yang" I whined before Sakura hit me over the head "OW! Why you got to be so mean"
"cause you're an idiot" she replied before dropping my bag on me before walking past, with me of course and always following her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`Haku's pov~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We were currently crossing the plains with Naruto and Sasuke in lead, the girls in the middle and Gaara, Kiba, and I taking up the back. It was a hot day and sun was smothering making the walk even harder. We could see the mountain in the distance but for the past 2 hours it feels like we haven't even moved a inch. Luckily, we stocked up on water before we entered otherwise we would be screwed.
"Man, I'm so hungry!" Naruto suddenly cried out.
"Naruto! We just had breakfast 2 hours, wait awhile, we can't keep eating our food supply otherwise we might all go hungry" Sakura yelled angrily at him but Naruto just pouted as he walked backwards to turn to Sakura
"but I'm hungry now!" he whined, I rolled my eyes at his immatureness "Naruto just wait till we get to the town, it should just be a couple more hours ok" I said
"ug fine but if I die then it's all your fault" he shouted before turning back forwards letting peace and quiet fall back again. It continued on for a while before the girls started to chat amongst their selves, Naruto walking backwards to put his imput in.
"I think a new wardrobe would be perfect since we're going through the mountains after this, we'll need some hicking gear" Sakura said
"yea but the mountain isn't that tall, more like a hill really I don't think we'll need hicking gear Sakura maybe just some combat boots, oh how I love boots." Ino replied then going off into a day dream that I guess was about boots
"yea I would like some better clothes too, these are getting uncomfortable to walk in long periods of time in" hinata shly said which Sakura nodded too "im with you on that hinata, these pants are too tight I difently can't climb in these things
"girls, always got to talk about clothes and boys" Naruto complained "why can't you talk about things that would be interesting to guys too" he continued but Sakura just rolled her eyes
"I don't know maybe because we're all girls and that we aren't even talking to you, why don't you just talk to the guys" Sakura snapped
"because Sasuke and Gaara are anti-social, Haku barley talks but we don't hold the same interest to carry a conversations, and if Kiba and I start talking its going to be loud and will probably end with your fist hitting me again" Naruto listed off, I'm surprise he put that much thought into it really since he is right, although we are friends we don't really stay up talking all night like the girls do.
"wow dobe I didn't think you could utter anything intelligent" Sasuke said, you practically hear the smirk in his voice
"Shut up Teme, I'm not stupid, I can have my smart moments sometimes" Naruto yelled turning to Sasuke, causing the girls to giggle at the familiar sight of the friends arguing. Naruto turned back to them with his mouth open to yell before suddenly going pale while looking up at the sky.
"uh Naruto are you ok, what are you looking at" Sakura said placing a hand on his shoulder.
"we got to run like right now!" He suddenly yelled, I, along with the others, looked towards where Naruto was looking at to see a flight of airplanes coming straight towards "Dang it Sasuke, I thought this wasn't a bombing sight" Gaara growled out as we picked up the pace and started running
"it wasn't, maybe they're just passing by" Sasuke said from the lead
"I don't think so, look over there" Kiba said pointing over in the north-east direction where we saw troops and trucks, not coming towards per say but headed in our general direction which seems where the planes are headed and would probably be meeting at.
"Dang it! Everybody run as fast as you can, we need to get to cover before they let lose the bombs!" Sasuke yelled back to us, and we all started running as fast as we could which for some of us, like myself, Ino, and Hinata wasn't that fast compared to the others who were more fit than us. Kiba dropped his speed to be behind us "Come on, I got any of you if you fall ok" He said and we all gave him grateful looks as we pushed harder to not slow down the others. 'I can't believe this is already happening' I thought really scared, I looked back to see we slowly starting to get out of range of the path the planes seem to be taking before my eyes widen when the 2 planes that were flying in the back split off, one coming straight for us.
"guys! There is a plane coming straight for us!" I yelled, I was really scared now, there is no way we can all die now, it's only been a day! I didn't want to die. I looked to Ino who looked back at me, and I can see that fear in her eyes as she panted wildly from the strain which I'm sure she never felt before, I mean who has ever had to run for their lives.
I then looked ahead to Gaara's back who was matching pace with Naruto, Sakura behind them and Sasuke in lead. I realized that there was so much things I wanted to tell him, but if I die now, then I can't, I can't tell him that I lo- "SSSSWWWWOOOSSSSHHHH" my eyes widen when a sudden shrill sound began
"EVERBODY GET DOWN!" Sasuke yelled, him and Naruto grabbing Sakura and covering her, I suddenly felt myself go down and was being covered, by who I don't know but I remember grabbing Ino who was beside me and pulled her in as my senses faded and my ears were assaulted by this loud noise
"BBOOMMBB" and there was flash followed by whipping wind and heat, lots of it. My eyes began to tear as I felt the heat assault my body but most of it was blocked by body on top of me.
I heard Ino scream in pain next to me, and I tighten more around her to block as much of it again, and when I thought it was over suddenly I heard another swoosh sound before another explosion happened in front of us, but luckily this one was further from us and we didn't feel it as much as the first one. I felt Ino trembling next to me and distinctly heard a scream from somewhere but everything sounded so dulled down, and it hurt to really move but I decided to open my eyes anyway when I felt the body on top of me shift so they were sitting up.
I opened and saw that it was Gaara who apparently raced toward me and covered me, I felt tears prick my eyes as I saw some minor burn marks on the back of his legs and butt, as his backpack covered his back and head
"Gaara, you didn't have to" I said, but he just shook his head "it's ok, I wanted to, are you and Ino ok" he asked and I nodded before looking at Ino
"Ino you ok?" I softly asked her as she was still trembling. "y-yea, ju-just shaken u-up" she stuttered before slowly sitting up with me helping her, suddenly we heard a cry behind us and looked to see Hinata crying while shaking Kiba's body which burnt badly, apparently, he had used his body and his backpack to cover Hinata since they were closer to the explosion, so his back was badly burnt that it was blistering along with his back legs and arms
"KIBA!" Hinata yelled out and I got up, pushing Gaara down as he also tried to get up, and went over to Hinata who looked up at me with tears raining down
"P-pl-please help" she cried out I nodded and checked over him and wincing as I saw how badly the hot heat affected him. "KIBA!" I looked up as Naruto wobbled over to us, he was holding his arm and I could see the back of one his legs was red but not badly burnt or anything. Sakura was following him with Sasuke checking on Gaara
"Naruto, you need to sit down, you're hurt too" Sakura cried out stopping Naruto "but I need to help with Kiba, I'm ok but Kiba is hurt badly" Naruto said but I turned back to Hinata
"Hinata let's move him off his back so he's not laying on his wound" I said softly to her which luckily, she nodded too and helped me move Kiba on his stomach fully with his head turned to the side. I took out the first aid kit I had in my bag since I didn't have that much stuff as everybody else had.
I took out some cream to help soothe the pain for when Kiba woke up and some bandages, for now this is all I could do since I really had no medic tools nor the knowledge to apply them. I gently removed Kiba's ruined shirt and took out some water
"wait- don't put water on it" Sasuke came up beside me looking at Kiba's back "then what do I do, just apply the cream and bandage it, shouldn't I clean it out first" I asked, I notice Hinata looking worried at us
"no his wounds are too severe, it might make his body go into shock, he needs medical attention as soon as possible, for now just lightly add the cream and tie the bandages loosely Sasuke said and I followed his directions, wincing when Kiba let out a howl, Sasuke and Naruto had to hold him down so he didn't thrash too much.
I sigh when I finished and looked over to Hinata who had tears coming down from witnessing Kiba's pain, I also notice Sakura and Ino huddle over next to her trying to calm her down.
"Haku can you apply the cream to our wounds please" Sasuke ask and that's when I notice he was hurt too and I quickly set to work, his burns were a little worse than Naruto's which made me wonder how he could still walk in this condition, I assume that he took the blunt of the explosion out of the three of them since Sakura didn't have any wounds just a heavy blush to her skin but nothing serious.
Sasuke had wounds just on his legs and on the outside of his right arm, I hurried applied the cream and then wrapped it up before moving on to Naruto's wounds and then finally Gaara who has hobbled over to us when I wasn't paying attentions. I quietly wrapped Gaara's wounds before looking up at him to see staring back at me, making me blush before averting eyes but thinking on it again, looking back at him
"Gaara, thank you for covering me, you didn't have to but I'm grateful" I told him blushing fully now. Gaara just nodded
"it's no problem, I would do anything for you Haku" He said which such emotion in his voice, it had me surprised, I never knew he could convey that much emotion before and it had me falling even deeper for him, yes I recognized that I'm in love with this boy. I smiled brightly at him before giving him a kiss on the cheek, I giggled when I notice a small blush creep up on his cheeks as he averted his eyes
"thank you Gaara, and I would do anything for you too" I replied before finishing his bandages and getting up, I reached my hand down to help Gaara up on his feet which thankfully didn't involve too much pain on his part.
"Ok guys we need to hurry and get out of here, who know who else is coming through here and we need to get Kiba to the closes hospital." Sasuke said after making sure everybody was ok. "how will we get Kiba there? He's not in the condition to walk himself" Hinata ask
"don't worry Hinata I got the big lump" Naruto said kneeling down by Kiba's side and grinning at Hinata who looked grateful but also worry "are you ok to carry him, I know you got hurt too" she questions but Naruto just shook his head "don't worry I'm ok but thanks anyway" he replied before picking Kiba up on his back and after making sure he secured grinned over at Hinata "see no problem" he says but I could see that quiver in his leg.
'Naruto' I thought wishing that I could be strong as him, but I'm never got to grow up in a normal environment, living in the poor part of town really didn't give you that much nutrition to grow strong and healthy, I was underweight and had no muscles at all.
"Naruto, are you sure you can handle it" Sakura asked
"guys I'm ok and besides who else can carry him, Gaara and Sasuke have worse injuries than me and no offense Haku but your all skin and bones and I'm not letting one of you girls carry him" Naruto explained as he started walking
"now let's go, we can't waste time here, right Sasuke" Naruto looked at Sasuke and their seem to be a conversation that we weren't privy to going on until Sasuke nodded "come on guys, we just got a few more miles left before the nearest town" Sasuke then started walking in the direction while moving around the giant crater left by the bomb in front of us that luckily and was really a miracle that didn't hit us and now we began our track to the town of Chorwon.
Hi guys lilcutie here! Just want to thank you to those who liked my story and give a shout out to those who reviewed! fans always make my day and motivates me to keep on writing *hint hint*. But i want to give a special shout out to Roxas' Other Half for their awesome review, i try my best!
On another note, some korean terms used in this story, sorry i forgot to add them in the last chapter but here they go now!
Gun- used for unmarried, young male minors, Japanese equivalent of Kun
Yang- used for unmarried, young female minors, Japanese equivalent of chan
Seonsaeng- very respectful, translated to master/teacher for teachers and doctors. Japanese equivalent of sensei