Lurking Within
(Part 1 of the trilogy)
Chapter 10: Circus
The morning sun crept up from its sleep slowly; painting the sky in an array of pastel blue, orange, pink, and yellow. The forest had begun to buzz with the noise of its inhabitants: birds chirping and bugs buzzing. The weather was wonderful that day, with it being at a Goldilocks's temperature of just right.
It was an overall perfect day for everyone except for one, Hyuuga Neji.
He tried to ignore the sun slowly rising in the sky as he was not a morning person. The sounds of the birds happy melody were becoming irritating and he felt a headache coming on. It also didn't help that the village's loud mouth was on this mission with them. He will never be able to get Naruto's voice out of his head at this rate. A hint of pink and red flashed next to him and he felt this irritation skyrocket. His blood had nearly boiled over when he had found out that that demon was part of the team, but when he saw Sabaku no Gaara standing at their meeting point early that morning; he nearly torn out his precious hair in frustration.
"What is with Neji this morning? Is he not a morning person?"
An eyebrow twitched and Neji tried harder to concentrate only on the path ahead instead of Naruto's not so secretive whisper. "H-he's just focus on the m-mission." Hinata answered with as minimal stuttering as she could. Her face, however, refused to fade from the cherry red it had become. "Are you okay, Hinata? You're turning red! Are you hot? Neji! I think Hinata is about to pass out!" Naruto called out from behind. Neji clenched his fists a little tighter as his eyebrows had a mini seizure of irritated twitches.
"No! It's okay!" Hinata squeaked in embarrassment and she sneaked another glance at her cousin. She didn't think his aura could turn any darker but it had and she shivered at the cold vibes. Neji was most certainly not a morning person.
After traveling for hours, the team stopped and made camp. Sakura sneaked a glance at Gaara and gave a sound growl. When she had saw him this morning, all hell almost broke loose. She had made enough progress to think that Tsunade would allow her to participate in missions without her 'guardian'. That was, however, not the case. The redhead had simply whipped out a scroll from the hokage when Neji had asked why he was present; he was to accompany the team, mainly her, on this mission. Safety precautions, the scroll had wrote.
Sakura scoffed, safety precautions her ass. Setting up her sleeping bag at a desired location, she glanced over and noticed Gaara picking his resting spot as far away as he possibly could. 'That's right, mortal. You wouldn't you throat ripped out in the middle of the night.' Itzal growled from within her mind. The pink hair girl rolled her eyes at the animosity between the two demons and continued to scan around the campsite. Neji was the only other present, as everyone had scattered to gather wood and other necessities. Currently the captain of the team was polishing his blades but she could tell that despite his blank expression, he was anything but calm. In fact, she noticed small hints of tension in his arm and an occasional twitch of his brow.
She smirked and slowly made her way over, basking in the knowledge that he got more and more tense. Calmly taking a seat next to him, she stretched her arms and rubbed her back gently against the bark of the tree behind them. Emerald eyes slyly glanced over at the Hyuuga prodigy. He still had that stupid blank expression on his face but his hand gripping the blade had tightened and paused in their polishing. "Neji why so tense?" She pointed out innocently. She will always get a kick out of prodding and provoking him. Neji's body tensed some more before he relaxed and continue his ministrations. He had trained to block out all distractions and this pink haired demoness was no different.
"Oh come now, Neji-kun," Sakura pouted. "You can't possibly be trying to ignore little ole me?" She faltered at the lack of response before her determination kicked in. Her sensei, Tsunade, had always loved that quality in her. Once Sakura set her mind to a task, she worked at it to no end. This was no different; instead of cracking a medical jutsu, it was the emotionally constipated Hyuuga Neji at the receiving end of her determination today. Pouting even more and leaning ever closer, Sakura made sure her soft body pressed against his arm.
"Neji-kun," she purred. "How about I help you relax?"
Her jounin training, and her anticipation, kicked in as soon as she saw the muscles in his arm tensed up. Jumping clear of the kodachi's way, Sakura managed to lose only a few pink tendrils. Chuckling, Sakura sashayed over to her belongings. "Did I touch a nerve?" Smirking at the fuming Hyuuga, Sakura turned and walked towards the forest. "Maybe a cold bath will give teach me a lesson." The demon wielder disappeared into the lush greens but Hyuuga, with his bloodline, could clearly make out her shoulders shaking with laughter. Growling to himself at the lack of control, Neji resumed to take out his rage on the pair of kodachi in front of him. With his concentration now focused on polishing the hell out his weapons, he failed to notice the lack of another presence.
'Do you really have to talk to that mortal?' Itzal grumbled.
Ever since meeting Neji and the disrespect he shown towards the shadow demon, Itzal had hated him; even going as far as mentally categorizing the Hyuuga in the black list. "Oh Itzal, you know I'm only doing it for fun?" Sakura explained, her laughter still echoing into still forest. A small smile appeared on her face once she located the small lake she had seen. It was a bit further away from their campsite, giving her enough privacy for a relaxing bath. Lush greens and tall trees framed the lake and even though the sky had begun to darken, there was enough light shining through to light her way.
Quickly discarding her sweaty clothes on the side, Sakura slid her body into the cool waters. 'You're provoking him like one would prod and nudge at an animal. Do not get bitten.' Itzal warned, his dislike for the pale eye man still shining through. Nodding to pacify her inner beast, Sakura focused her attention on ridding her body of the amount of grime collected from their journey thus far. Once she felt that she had scrubbed enough, she held her breath and dove under. Rubbing her body and hair furiously, Sakura only rose from under the water once she was certain she had rid herself of any soap.
"What did you think you were doing?"
Brushing apart the veil of pink covering her eyes, Sakura barely spared a glance at the red head floating in the water next to her. "Don't you think I should be asking you that question?" She gave a quick rub to her face before facing the intruder. Itzal thrashed around inside her and she held on to her control of the beast. Gaara gave no reply and simply stared at the woman in front of her. Her bubblegum pink hair was slicked back and laid on her shoulders gently. Water created a trail from her face and then back into the lake she was in. Wet dark lashes framed her hard jewel eyes and they were currently mocking him. His attention immediately shifted to those full pink lips pulled into a snarl. Her ivory body was covered by the water, with only hints of her chest above water. He could still remember how her skin felt under his hands.
"Do you see something you like?"
Snapping out of what ever thoughts he had in his mind, Gaara glared at the vixen in front of him. Damn, she just caught him staring; hell, he can't believe he was staring in the first place! He tilted his chin a little higher and focused his attention towards the side of the lake instead. She shouldn't be worth his attention or thoughts. Scoffing at his holier than thou attitude, she walked towards the shore. Modesty be damned! She couldn't let the opportunity, to rub in his face even more, go. Water slithered and caressed her body as she walked towards the shallows. Wrapping her body with the towel she brought, Sakura turned and found that the sand master had disappeared. She shrugged in response and basked in her own private time alone from the rest of the team.
A distance away, Gaara stomped his way towards the campsite. Innocent green vegetation felt the brute of his anger and rage, crushed under his boots. Even with the amount of rage he put into his stomping, he couldn't completely clear the image of soft skin and her shapely body out of his mind.
"Don't think that you can ever get away with pulling that stunt again."
Turning his attention away from crushing the green plants beneath his boots, while he pictured them as someone else, he growled at the appearance of the copy-nin. Kakashi stood a foot apart with his back against one of the trees. While his body language seemed calm, Gaara wasn't fooled even for a moment. He looked as if he was a tiger waiting to pounce on a prey. "You are her guardian but there are still boundaries. Remember that." Kakashi warned, his eyes fixated on the red head in front of him. "And what about you, Hatake?" Facing the man with a snarl, Gaara continued. "Don't you think it is a little to late to play the concerned parent?" Leaving the man in his thoughts, Gaara continued back to the rest of the group. He hated group missions.
It was the smell of food that dragged her from the lake and back to camp. She made her entrance with a towel draped over her head and a pile of dirty clothes in her arms. The sight, however, made her wish she was back at the lakeside enjoying the serenity it provided. In one corner was Neji, glaring and focused on the task at hand. Sakura almost felt bad for the pair of kodachi Neji was furiously polishing away. Gaara sat on the opposite end of the campsite. He was busy snarling at any leaves that fell from the trees above and grinding his foot into the grass beneath him. Leaning on one of the treetops, Kakashi had his faithful obnoxious orange book out. His focus, however, seemed to be in a distance far from the human mind and not at the explicit images displayed in his book. Amid all the negativity was Naruto and Hinata, cuddled near the fireplace sharing a ramen cup. Hinata was bright red and Sakura had a suspicion that it wasn't because of the fire. Oblivious to everything, as always, Naruto was busy rambling. He tried to feed Hinata portions of the ramen, which he blew to cool down, but the Hyuuga heir looked as if she was fighting just to remain conscious.
Rubbing the towel over her hair, Sakura took her respective spot. "Well aren't we a bunch."
A/N: An update? Yes I'm trying my hardest to update a bit more frequently. Don't expect this to be an everyday thing, but I will try to update more. Also, I've noticed that I haven't given my reviewers enough credit. I can't begin to describe the feeling I get when I see an e-mail telling me that someone has either +fav my story or +alert! But I think the sunshine of it all is when I get an e-mail telling me that someone took time out of their hands to write me a review. No matter how tiny or how long a review is, it really does mean a lot to me. So in this note, I would like to say a huge Thank You to my reviewers and readers. You keep me motivated when I lack the willpower to write. And for that, I dedicate this chapter to you.