Copyright 2007 by Ekonika (S.N.R.)
No part of this plot, my own characters, or text can be used without my permission. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, but the plot and Yasu and Akira are my own and copyrighted.
©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)
That night was cool and humid. Sakura said we'd arrive tomorrow around dinner or lunch if we moved quickly. I fell almost immediately asleep under the wagon again. Akira stood by the side of the wagon and slept. I woke for my shift and looked around drowsily. I watched and waited for the sun to rise, but it didn't seem to. I checked on everyone in the wagon, and they were all right I went to the food cabinet and opened it for a snack. It was entirely empty. The food was gone, altogether. I nearly woke everyone up, but instead I went to the previous shifts.
"Guys, do you know anything about the empty food cabinet?!" I asked them once we were gathered outside. They all nearly yelled, too.
"It's empty!?" They all said in unison.
"That's what it looks like." I dropped the big box in front of them.
"But we had twice the food we'd need in there, there's no way we could run out!" Kiba whispered.
"Who took the food?" –Ino.
"No one. It's still there." Shikamaru said. Ino pointed to the box, and even ran her hands around inside it.
"The food's GONE, Shikamaru!" Shikamaru sighed.
"Everyone check your water containers. They're probably empty, too, right? And we haven't left our water alone. We're trapped in a genjutsu. Sakura, alert someone, and bring them out here. We need to find out if the genjutsu's on just us or on everyone. Everyone else, search for food and water. Sakura, Ino, Yasu- stay together. The genjutsu probably started around midnight, so keep an eye out for the people causing it. Meet back here in five minutes."
We broke off into two groups, and I led Sakura and Ino to Akira's packs. The food I'd packed was still there, so either the enemy ninja didn't know food was there, or Akira was immune to it. I shared a little snack with Ino and Sakura, then took the rest of the food and Akira with me as we looked for more food. None was to be found, so we went to the wagon and Sakura woke up one of her charges, a young boy that was little older than Izumi. I let him pet Akira as we walked back to the meeting place around the food box.
"Daisuke (the little boy), can you see food in there?" Sakura asked him once we were gathered. He looked at her like she was crazy.
"Yeah, there's food in there. Why'd you bring it out here?"
"Could you eat something out of it?" He reached for something and appeared to be eating to us.
"Can I go to bed now?"
"Yeah, thank you, Daisuke." Sakura grinned at him and he went back to bed. I passed everyone some food from my pack and we ate for our strength, but more to have the psychological backup of food in our stomachs. When I passed out the food, I felt like I was really needed for the first time. They all gathered around me, thirsty.
"What would we do without you, Yasu." Sakura spoke, and I had to turn away for a second, feeling so happy from just that that a tear formed in my eye.
"You ok?" Kiba watched with concern, as well as Shikamaru.
"Yasu?" Hinata questioned. They cared, they really did! I had real friends for the first time in my life.
"I'm fine, guys. You know, thanks. Thank you very much, Sakura." They all smiled, suddenly understanding. Sakura and Hinata wrapped their arms around my shoulders, and Ino called a group hug. They all grinned and leapt into the hug, even Shikamaru grinned.
"Stop it, you're gonna make me start crying." They chuckled, and I heard Akira make a loud warning whistle. I looked around quickly while everyone else looked at Akira. I spotted a large net coming from above as everyone paid more attention to Akira. They wouldn't make it out in time, but I could keep calm in nets. I focused my chakra and made a 'shock wave' that shoved everyone out from under it before jumping away myself, but something wound around my feet and the net came down over my head. The weights in the corners sent me into the ground. Everyone recovered quickly, and leapt away from me into the trees.
Akira neighed as someone tried to loop a rope over his head, and struck out at the enemy. I sat up slowly in the net and used a kunai to cut my ankles free of the rope that had wrapped around them. I stood to throw the net off and felt a Kunai plant itself lightly in my right leg, right above my kunai pouch. Akira broke free of the enemy's hold and trampled the foe as he ran to me, using his fighting speed. I heard a 'thunk' of someone getting a kunai in a lethal spot, and someone fell from the trees where the kunai in my leg had come from. I threw off the net and moved to my own space in the trees, ignoring the wound for a bit. When I got to a safe spot, I removed the kunai and started tracking the enemies. There were ten altogether, eight, now, because of the stricken one that hit me and the one Akira trampled.
I hated killing. They were ninja, but they were people, too. They had lives, and families, maybe. At least they had friends, like myself. I sat still, assessing my wound. Akira stood on a tree branch nearby. Around me I heard clicking Kunai and grunts of stricken opponents. I hoped that my friends were alright, and set out to find my allies. I bounded through some branches carrying kunai, and deflected an attack twice before coming upon Kiba, who was searching the branches for enemies. When I arrived he grinned slightly and ran over to me, leaping into the air when a kunai landed in front of him. He landed at my back and we fought off a couple of ninja.
I saw a kunai fly at my side, but Akira deflected it, and I realized Akamaru was doing the same. Kiba and I traveled through the branches together and soon found Hinata, who was slightly more injured than myself and Kiba. We soon gathered everyone into a group. The enemy was all around us, so we dropped to the ground. In the dust cloud we kicked up, no weapons fell. I made a substitute and ducked underground, because the nearest bushes were too far away. Everyone noticed (my friends, anyway) and joined me. I contacted Akira, who was still on the surface.
"Akira! Tell me when you see eight ninja on the ground. I'm over here, with everyone else!" I told him, and he shrunk to a small size. Our substitutes on the surface were backed against each other, and deflected everything thrown at them, so the enemy ninja leapt out onto the ground. Akira stomped on the dirt above my head, and I whispered to everyone the locations of the enemy.
"Go!" Everyone got in position and latched onto their target's feet, Akira and Akamaru taking the extra two. Before the enemy realized what happened, they were trapped in dirt up to their noses or knocked out on the ground. Our sneak attack worked and our substitutions vanished. Everyone had knocked out their target, and we all kind of stood and panted for a moment.
"Ok, who's injured? We'd best get everyone patched up." I said, and everyone stepped up. They'd all been wounded, about as badly as I was in my leg. I looked down for the first time since my break in the tree, and I was bleeding well. "I'll be right back with the wrap and antibiotic." I jogged into the wagon, and remembered it was empty to us. I took Akira's pack that had been placed next to the wagon and took out a fifty-foot gauze roll.
Everyone had been wrapped around an arm, leg, or midsection. Akira was the only one not wounded, except for a slight friction burn from the ninja that tried to rope him. We all sat on the ground in a circle, back-to-back. We all sighed in turn, and looked around. The genjutsu hadn't been cancelled yet, so we realized we were still in trouble. There was another ninja out there somewhere. Someone in the tied up pile of ninja shifted. Akira, Shikamaru, and I looked over and realized they were starting to wake, but they were safely secured with a special kind of rope that kind of blew up if it felt jutsu.
"Well, it won't get better until we do something." I stated. Ino sighed again, and we stood as a group. We made clones and left them to stay around the wagon before searching through the forest in our group, staying close together. We traveled in a one-mile radius, scanning, starting with a big circle and getting smaller. We'd been in the genjutsu for a couple of hours, so it was only 2 am, but it felt like 12 hours. After nearly a half-hour, I literally tripped over the cause of tonight's troubles.
"Please don't kill me!" A ninja, about twenty, male, threw up his arms over his head as we all landed on the ground, myself landing on my butt, because I tripped over the coward in the trees. We looked at him in disbelief. He slowly uncovered his face and head, watching us all as we stood quietly, fuming at the situation. Hinata stood silently behind him, and we all gave her a slight nod. She jabbed a spot on his back and he passed out. The scenery shimmered and changed back to what looked more like a water village area.
We followed Akamaru back to camp and were there by 3 am. I still had third watch with Hinata, so I let her take a quick nap. Daybreak found the Group tired and me sleeping on the roof as the wagon rattled down the trail. The other ninja were walking in their positions, with the exception of Hinata, who was sleeping inside. I woke up at lunch time and Shikamaru and the others went to sleep. Hinata and I kept watch as everyone ate lunch, then I turned into a horse and Akira helped me pull the wagon. We made great time, and there were no more distractions.
"Here we are! The Great Naruto Bridge." Sakura stretched and stepped up to the front, near me.
"Why's it called that?" I'd turned back into myself.
"Well, one of my squad's first missions was to protect the builder of this bridge, and we saved his life and enabled the bridge to be built. Mostly, it was Naruto that saved it, so the bridge builder named it after him. Naruto defeated the Assassin of the Mist on this bridge." I watched the bridge go by under my feet in wonder. The mist that covered the bridge cleared halfway across because of the breeze through it, and I saw the fantastic view of ocean as far as I could see, and a few islands. After a little while, we were back in fog again. Izumi walked next to me, hanging onto my arm affectionately. I looked down at her and she looked up at me.
"Yasu, promise you'll come visit sometime?" I smiled.
"Sure. But it'll probably be a while."
"Come stay at my house tonight, I'm sure my parents won't mind." I sighed.
"I dunno, it depends when my group is leaving. We'll probably stay tonight and rest, though. We had a rough night last night." Izumi's eyes grew big.
"What happened?" Perceptive little one, I'd give her that.
"Nothing, we just fell into a pit that someone had dug. It took a bit to get out of." Izumi knew I was lying, and she sighed.
"Please tell me?"
"Nah, it was nothing."
"Alright, whatever you say." She led me across the bridge, recognizing it, I suppose. The mist slowly cleared and I saw the village before me. I heard a collective sigh from behind me and found everyone from inside the caravan either walking alongside it or sitting on top. I smiled and thought how wonderful they had it, to have a home here. I shook away the selfish feeling and returned my attention to the town. Osamu and Rei stood with me once the bridge ended. Izumi was with her family, talking happily with them and Shikamaru. Osamu spoke first.
"Thank you, Yasu. It's been great traveling under your protection." They had their pile of belongings in packs on their shoulders already.
"We'll be seeing you, Yasu! You must be sure to come and visit. Go get our horse, Osamu." Osamu left and put a lead on a brown horse. While he did that, Rei whispered to me. "I think Osamu will propose to me soon, and I would like you to come to the wedding! Make sure to keep in touch, may I have your address?"
"I actually don't have an address, but I'm sure you'll be able to contact me by messages. I'll be in the leaf village for the next couple months, at least." Rei smiled as Osamu showed up, and I watched wistfully as Osamu placed his arms around Rei's waist, swinging her up onto the horse's back. They waved goodbye and Osamu led Rei and the horse away. I looked around for Akira and saw Izumi petting his head and neck.
"Hey, Izumi." She spun towards me and Akira looked up and seemed to smile at me. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face in his black mane.
"Yasu, this is my family. I know you've seen them around the wagon, but you never were fully introduced. They said it was alright if you stayed with us tonight." I took in another breath, breathing the scent of Akira's body before thinking of a reply.
"I still have to check with my group. I'll be right back." Akira walked by my side and I met with Hinata, Shikamaru, and Ino. Sakura and Kiba joined us shortly when they finished their goodbyes.
"So are we going to spend the night here?"
"Yeah, we will. It's getting dark, and we should spend the night in a secure area because we do need to recover from last night." As we all agreed to stay, the caravan leader approached us.
"Alright, I do believe I owe you some money?" We made a half-circle around him and he took out his wallet. We each got 6,000 yen. I stared at it, and when the leader left I asked if it was right.
"Yeah, we were hired for 5,000 yen each, plus 500 for every time bandits showed up or whatever." I pocketed the money and looked around.
"So, where should we meet in the morning if we'll stay here?"
"I think we should all go to the same place, like a hotel, for the night. Two people to a room, and it should be animal-friendly." Ino said. Izumi jogged up to my shoulder.
"Yasu, are you going to come?" I sighed.
"Sorry, Izumi, we'll be leaving early in the morning, and we're going to stick together as a group. Do you know of a cheap inn in town?"
"That's what I've been trying to tell you! My family has a hotel, and we'll let you guys stay for free, even the puppy and your horse." Everyone looked at me and nodded.
"Alright, Izumi, we'll stay at your family's inn tonight. Are you sure it's not a problem?"
"I'm Mr. Hiroshi, Izumi's father. You're all welcome to stay tonight, but we only have four rooms open, so if you won't mind bunking up, it'll be a free stay!" Everyone accepted the offer gratefully, and we followed Mr. Hiroshi and family to their lodging.
"Alright, the rooms open are on the first floor, and they're all in the same hallway. Settle down wherever you want, and I'll close down that hallway except for personal guests."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Hiroshi!" I exclaimed. He was very generous.
"Your animals may stay in your rooms, if you wish, because the floors are easy-clean!"
"Don't worry, they're outdoor-trained." Kiba said, speaking for Akamaru and Akira. We bedded down, Sakura and Ino together, Kiba and Shikamaru, and Hinata with me. As I set up the covers on my bed to my liking, Hinata took a shower. We traded off and soon we were both clean and refreshed.
"Hey, let's get some food." I suggested. My stomach growled and I put my hand over it. I hadn't been hungry in a long time, like I hadn't been full in a long time. Hinata and I went to the lobby and out into the streets. It was getting dark, the sun was already down. We stopped by a quick food stand and ate a small meal, splitting it down the middle of the plate. (Yeah, I do this with my friends whenever we feel cheap.) Hinata seemed nervous, like she had something bugging her.
"What's up, Hinata?" She glanced at me, flustered. I became concerned.
"Yasu…" she poked her fingers together, "do you like Naruto?" I froze. Was that it? She liked Naruto, and was a little jealous. Well, what should I do? I wouldn't give him up. I was silent for a while, and I felt Hinata tense up. "You DO like him, don't you?" I sighed.
"Yes, I do." We ate in silence for a little while longer, and Hinata started talking again.
"How much do you like him?" She really liked him, I supposed.
"Quite a bit, but to tell you the truth, I like some others, too. And, although I do like others, Naruto is my favorite. Excuse my directness, but, I won't give up on Naruto. Sorry."
"That's what I thought. I suppose-"
"Hey girls!" Kiba landed next to the table, ending the conversation. I watched him very carefully, and realized he was focusing mostly on Hinata.
"Hello, Kiba." Hinata smiled. I raised an eyebrow, and Hinata saw. She blushed, and I caught on easily. Kiba sat down next to Hinata and borrowed her chopsticks to eat when we finished. I took a drink of water and contacted Akira, who was grazing near the hotel. He affirmed he was fine, and I returned to my situation.
Kiba and Hinata stood, and Kiba held her hand delicately and kissed it, twice. I grinned. If Hinata could like Kiba, that would take him off my possibility list and her off my rival list. We walked back together, and I felt like the third wheel. After I was in my nightclothes and settled securely in bed, Hinata whispered to me from her bed.
"Yasu, if you will watch over Naruto, I'll let you go for it." I blinked in the dark and sat up, seeing if she was serious. That was a fast change-of-mind. Thank You Kiba.
"I will, definitely. I'll stay by him, if he chooses to like me, that is. I still don't even know, remember." Hinata huffed contentedly and rolled over. I laid back down and smiled to myself in the dark.
Well. Guess where I am now. A foreign country! It's very… entertaining? Different?... Experience-ful, I suppose. Wish I could go see some horses, they speak the same language no matter where you go. That's food for thought, huh? Anyway, I heard about Kiba-Hinata as a possibility, and it sounded good to me. Freed up Naruto, and also, Kiba is similar in a way. Hinata could very possibly fall in love with him. Well, have fun with whatever. Ekonika
The next half of the story was deleted in some freak jump-drive accident, so I'll have to re-write it from this point on. T.T But no matter! I'll make it better… I hope. I do have something great planned.