Chapter 19: Time and Time Again
Hinata frowned, If I could just get some water, it would soothe him much more quickly. But then she gazed at her two teammates and sighed, I hate keeping everything a secret.
Kiba just kept on petting Akamaru, "Can't believe he's still so shaken up."
And I can't believe I am too.
Flashback
"Lucky for us those guys had the scroll we needed, and now we'll be the first ones to enter the tower!" Kiba exclaimed.
Hinata silently agreed, About time something good happened.
But then her eyes widened, That chakra. And Kiba and Akamaru also smelled something. They stopped jumping from tree to tree. Kiba faced the girl, "Hinata, I need you to check that area over there."
She nodded then activated her Byakugan, "T-There's someone d-down there," She told them.
"Alright! Lets check it out!" Kiba said.
Shino shot him a questioning glance, "What happened to avoiding the enemy?"
"Why not? We already have the heaven and earth scroll, who said we couldn't get more? If we get more scrolls, that'll mean more teams will be out of the competition!" Kiba said, smirking.
Hinata inwardly sighed, He is like another Temari. "B-But-"
"Look, we'll just check it our first, okay? If its too dangerous we won't battle them. Now come on! Lets go!" Then Kiba and Shino headed towards the ninjas, Hinata just sighed and followed.
But when they arrived Akamaru was shaking, "What happened to you, Akamaru?"
"H-He's shaking, as if though in f-fear," Hinata said.
Kiba nodded, "He's able to sense the chakra intensity. Whoever those ninja up ahead are, they aren't normal guys."
Temari would've killed him for calling her abnormal. Hinata thought but then she sighed, I am surronded by people who have anger management problems.
They hid behind the bushes that were only a few meters away from the battle taken place.
Akamaru whimpered, Hinata faced Kiba "W-What did he say?"
"That big guy is in big trouble."
"Hurry up then. Lets make this quick, I don't want to waste anytime on this guy," The redhead said, Hinata shivered, His voice...
"Hey Gaara, shouldn't we have gathered information on these guys instead? They might have the same scroll as us," Kankuro told him, "We'll be fighting a useless battle."
"I don't care."
Temari's eyes widened for a moment but then she calmed down, She's here.
"They looked at me the wrong way, so they're going to die."
Temari's and Kankuro's eyes widened, Oh no. And Team 8 were just shocked.
This is exactly why I didn't want to get stuck in the forest with him, Kankuro thought. Temari thought the same thing.
"If you think you can kill us! Try it!" The ninja said getting his umbrellas out and threw them into the air, "Ninja art: Senbon thunder storm!"
The needles surronded the boy, "This jutsu has no blind spot! It's deadly accorate!" the ninja exclaimed.
But when the smoke went away, they were met with Gaara covered in his own sand shield.
"Man, his chakra is so powerful," Kiba whispered to them, "And that odor, it stinks."
"Odor?" Shino asked him, Hinata looked at his direction.
"It smells like blood."
"Just face it, you guys can't hope to defeat Gaara," Kankuro told them.
The ninja glared at them "We'll see about that!"
But then he put his hands together.
The two siblings smirked, Its as good as done.
"Sand coffin."
Sand surrounded the poor guy, and then Gaara raised him into the air, "Sand Burial."
Blood and sand splattered all over the area.
Hinata shivered, H-He killed him.
"L-Look you can have the scroll," The other rain ninja said, putting it down.
But instead of letting them go free, Gaara put his hands up again.
Hinata just covered her eyes, How does Temari watch through all of this?
Kankuro just took the scroll, after the two ninjas were 'taken care of', "Looks like we're lucky. They've got a heaven scroll, lets head to the tower now," He advised.
"That blood, Its still not enough for me," Gaara interjected.
The three Konoha ninja froze in their tracks.
"Come on, Gaara, lets go," Kankuro said.
He just glared at his older brother, "What are you? Scared, you coward?"
"Look Gaara, we already have one set of scrolls, and that is all we need." Kankuro told him.
Gaara raised his hand, "You can't tell me what to do."
Kankuro glared at him, then grabbed him by the strap of his gourd, "Look that's enough. Sometimes you have to listen to what your big brother says."
Hinata's eyes widened, Big brother? Then that must mean-
"If you get in my way, I'll kill you," Was Gaara's simple reply. He pushed his hand away then raised his own again.
Temari put her hands up, "Wait. Just hold on, Gaara, you don't have to treat us like the enemy. Think of it as a favor from your big sister, please?"
The Hyuuga heiress almost fainted in disbelief, Since when is THE Temari scared?!
Gaara pointed his hands towards Kankuro, but then at the direction of the three ninja.
Temari's eyes widened, Oh no.
Sand started forming in his hand.
"Gaara!"
But then a cork simply appeared in his palm, "Alright this time," Then he simply walked away.
The two let out a sigh of relief, then headed out.
But Temari faced the three ninja, they froze yet once again, but then faced front again and continued walking.
Hinata was able to see it in her eyes.
Her brother was someone she failed to help, and he paid the price for her mistake.
End Flashback
"T-There's no one h-here," Hinata said as they entered the tower.
Kiba chuckled, "We're the first ones!"
"I'm sure I sensed someone here a while ago," Shino said.
Hinata silently agreed, They're already here.
"We've already been here for half a day, how much longer are they going to make us wait?"
The three faced a doorway, and saw the three sand ninja.
The two siblings faced them.
Temari smirked as she saw Hinata's head down, but inside she frowned, Can't believe the girl saw him at his work.
The two shared eye contact for just a second.
And they saw it all.
Family were people not to be taken lightly.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"The next match is Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino."
The five girls practically froze.
"Please come down the stage."
The Hokage almost chuckled, What irony the two must be experiencing.
What irony indeed.
The two appeared right in front of each other.
"You may begin," The proctor said. But then it happened.
Instinct took over.
Ino jumped up and put both of her hands together.
Sakura jumped back and put her own hands together.
A fireball and ball of lighting were being formed-
Hinata started coughing uncontrollably.
The two stopped.
"You okay, Hinata?" Kiba asked patting her on the back.
She nodded, "H-Hai. I just had a f-feeling that something wrong w-was g-going to happen."
Tenten and Temari let out a sigh of relief.
The two jumped back down and faced each other.
Lightning vs. Fire would have to wait.
Ino vs. Sakura was up front.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
The names on the board then stopped.
Temari vs. Tenten No surnames given.
Hinata cringed, I hope they don't do anything stupid.
Tenten backed away, but Temari just stayed in place.
Instinct was a very bad thing.
VERY BAD.
Temari, surprisingly, made the first move.
Tenten jumped up as high as she could and was able to avoid the blast, another wave, another area to jump to. The brunette looked at the floor, the wind strikes the blonde was giving was breaking the floor. And it revealed dirt.
Dirt. Earth.
Tenten put her hands together to from a few hand signs, she raised her hand, the dirt was about to rise and attack Temari-
Hinata coughed even more.
The dirt wasn't able to rise.
Shino and Kiba cast her worried glances, "You okay? Are you sick or something?" Kiba asked again.
Hinata shook her head, "N-No, I just had the s-same feeling that some people were a-about to do s-something rash."
Tenten grimaced, she was going to have to fight a losing battle.
There was a 100 percent chance that the weapon mistress will lose.
But Temari just had to be sure and make it 101 percent.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Hinata's eyes widened.
Hyuuga Neji vs. Hyuuga Hinata
"Please come down."
The two faced each other.
Ino and Sakura were still sitting down laying on the wall, "Poor girl," Ino said. Sakura silently agreed, "You don't think she'll do something stupid, right?"
...
Ino chuckled, "Impossible, Neji would have to have said something stupid like telling her that she was weak and didn't deserve to be in the Main family. Wait no. That wouldn't trigger anything. He would just need to call her a failure."
...
"Damn, we have to help her out," Sakura said.
The two stood up and went towards the railing. Hinata glared at Neji, apparently Naruto, a.k.a. Hinata's future husband, must have cheered her on.
Now she was 10x more wanting to prove herself.
The two attacked each other, but only Neji was able to get a hit, right on the heart.
Hinata coughed up blood, she reached for her water bottle to soothe her, she did a few hand signs, the water was coming out and was increasing in amount-
"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed bonking him on the head, "Don't you dare do anything stupid!"
The water went back in the bottle.
"What did I do?!"
Typical really.
Wind was the only one that passes.
Damn perfectionist, They thought.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Sakura sighed, she wanted to train badly.
But something like a challenge cough-emlemetal-cough-battle-cough. But as if though they could battle each other without making the area exerpience a fire, thunderstorm, earthquake, flood, and tornado.
She was burning up with just the thought of it!
But then she turned a corner and bumped into someone.
"S-Sorry!" But then her eyes widened, when they met with onyx ones, "Sasuke-kun!"
He was about to grunt but the frowned, "You're hot."
"W-What?!"
"When you bumped into me I could already feel alot of heat."
"Oh."
He put a hand to her forehead, but then quickly removed it. She blushed at the touch.
"Your face is burning up and your even turning red," Sasuke simply said.
Sakura nodded, "I might be coming down with a fever or something like that."
He just nodded, "Take care of yourself."
Her eyes widened, Did he just say that?! "It would harm the improvement of your training."
... Of course. Wait!
"You mean to say I improved?!" Sakura asked.
"Aa."
She was about to cheer for joy-
"But you need to improve even more."
Then he walked away.
Sakura just stood there on the street, and she humphed.
Damn bastard! Why the hell do I love him anyway?!
But then she turned around and watched his retreating figure, then she smiled.
If I'm fire I have to melt the ice.
But before she could walk up to him and chat again, someone rushed past her and then past Sasuke.
She caught up with the avenger, "W-Who was that?"
He paused for a moment but then answered, "Hinata."
Her eyes widened.
"And she was crying."
The pink haired quickly ran after her.
Sasuke just stood there contemplating on the events that just happened, but then got confused at the ending outcome.
Since when did Sakura care so much for the Hyuuga?
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Hyuuga."
Neji scowled, he opened his eyes and was met with his female teammate, "What is it, Tenten?"
"Why are you here?"
"This is a training area-"
"No. I mean we went for a lunch break, right? Then some Hyuuga came and fetched you. And that was only half an hour ago."
"Your point?"
"The last time that happened you only spent five minutes. That and I sense a deadly aura around you."
"Then why did you come closer?"
"Puh-leese. Like you would kill me."
He was about to retort, but then stopped.
...
"Hn."
Tenten rolled her eyes, she just leaned on the tree they were under, "Care to share before we spar?"
"No."
She let out a sigh, "Look, Neji, I can't properly fight you if you are in this... state."
"Afraid I'll end up killing you?"
"Tch. No. Afraid I'll have to really defend myself and end up killing you. Hinata would kill me if she found out I hurt her dear older cousin."
His eyes twitched.
Tenten mouth and 'o', "What happened between you two?"
"None of your concern."
"It kinda is, you are my friend."
"So?"
"Friends tell each other their problems."
"I do not have a problem."
"Uh-huh, yeah sure, and I'm a tree hugger." It technically is true, she likes trees... even though she does sometimes impale them with hordes of weapons.
"Come on!"
...
"Fine. I'll ask Hinata."
...
She raised an eyebrow, What the hell happened between the two?
She was about to stand up but then someone grabbed her wrist.
"I'll tell you."
"What?"
"You are my friend." Tenten smirked at that statement, At least I'm getting somewhere.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
The two blondes ate ramen next to each other.
When the two workers entered the back of Ichiraku for a break, Ino put her chopsticks down.
"Long time no see."
"Same here," Temari simply said.
Ino sighed, "Was he the infamous brother you always talk about?"
"... Aa."
"Its strange really, to see you so scared when you look at him."
"Shut up."
Ino just scoffed, "Whatever."
...
Temari smirked remembering something, "So this Shikamaru guy is the one you have a crush on?"
Ino glared at her, "What the? Don't you dare believe all those lies Tenten and Forehead tell you!... Why would you care?"
Temari smirked again, "The boy seems-"
But then the two workers appeared again.
Temari drank the last of the soup and put her payment down and walked away.
Ino just watched her retreating figure, He seems what?
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Hey, teme," Naruto called out waiting at the bridge.
"Hn."
...
They were waiting for Kakashi to show up, they needed to meet time to time for the Kakashi to check on how the two contrasted with each other.
Naruto frowned at that.
The two.
The third was never included.
And the blonde felt a bit guilty, "Teme?"
"What, dobe?"
"How come Sakura-chan never joins us anymore?"
...
"Maybe she wants to train alone."
"No, but I mean... how come Kakashi-sensei never calls her to join us?"
"... Too weak."
Naruto frowned, "I kinda doubt it. When she fought Ino... I felt something familiar when she readied her hands... something like strong chakra."
"Hn."
"... And I kinda miss her."
"Hn."
"The other girls are also never at the meetings."
"Hn."
Naruto just rolled his eyes, "And I missed the fact that she actually responds to me."
But then Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke, "Yo."
"You're late!"
"You see I got lost on-"
"Liar!..." Naruto frowned, "It feels weird without Sakura-chan... again."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow and was about to ask but then Naruto growled under his breath.
"What's wrong Naruto?"
"Nothing, Kakashi-sensei. Nothing at all," Naruto said in a cold voice. Now, he found out why Sakura, and sometimes even him, were considered weak.
Favoritism was a bad thing.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
But them something happened.
All at the same time.
The Hyuugas had a mix of emotions, something that never happened.
Laiya, Sakura's mother, was feeling as guilty as if though she murdered someone.
Temari could smell blood nearby... that had a mixture of sand.
Shikamaru caught site of a blonde that was deep in thought, something not very common.
And Tenten could almost feel some senbon in the distance.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
so far how was it? the part above was just so u know what'll happen next chap
right now the pairing i'll focus on are: saksas, tenneji and inoshika
i tried putting in some romance in this chap, but they're reserved 4 the nxt 1, i hope u guys don't mind
anyway, review! kay?