Hello! Yes, we all finally get another chapter- at last, even though it's like, a few days later then when I said it'd be out… but yeah. Anyway, the story's going to take a turn for for drama right here.

Anyway, the results are in… and counting them all up…

ShikaIno: 0 Votes. Popular pairing huh?

NaruHina: 1 Vote. w00t. Even more popular.

SasuSaku: 1 Vote. w00t. Even more NOT popular?

NejiTen: 3 Votes I think... 0.o We've got that many NejiTen fans? Either that or I've been neglecting the pairing so far! --

That means we get NejiTen! BUT- I have to carry on with whatever is happening between Shikamaru with Ino because I've already started the climax bar...

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO

naash

Satoshi Silver Syaran

K.C.

swimtwins03

Megaolix

dreameyes

FOR REVIEWING! I FINALLY you all!

THANK YOU! Funnily enough, the more reviews I read, the more inspiration I get, the less writer's block I get, and thus the less wait time for a new chapter! Yes, this is a really bad implimation to review! Goody.

Anyway- let's go!

Naruto Shipwreck Chapter 9:

Harsh Reality

"Heh… That's good, eh, Akamaru?"

Inuzuka Kiba glanced at the white furred canine beside him. As he suspected Akamaru responded with a bark… Good. The weather would clear in another hour or so… Kiba looked up at the sky- the clouds were definitely getting lighter now and it had stopped its heavy downpour of rain about ten minutes ago.

Beside him, Tenten sighed, the kunoichi obviously somewhat annoyed, "Do you always have to speak one sided conversations, Kiba-kun? What did Akamaru say?"

The older teen wiped rain from her forehead and casually flicked it onto the ground. Not to say that it had been an almost pointless act- more raindrops had already started to settle on her skin.

"Hey! They're not one-sided… Akamaru's talking and I'm talking!" argued Kiba, "That makes it a two-sided conversation!"

"I suppose…" Tenten shrugged hopelessly, "So, what did he say?"

"There'll be no more rain in after another hour. It'll take us another ten minutes to get back to camp." Kiba finished with a sigh.

There had been basically zero interesting features that he could count from the area that they had searched. The only interesting thing really was the company… Kiba glanced over at Tenten who was playing with a kunai as they walked. He had to admit that she had grown in attractiveness over the two years he'd known her with the right curves here and there- but hell, no; sadly, he wasn't attracted to her in some kind of romantical way. He had no idea why.

Maybe it was the fact that every time he, or any other teenage male he knew went out anywhere with Tenten that wasn't related to a mission seemed to receive some sort of evil eye from the Hyuuga the next few days after. Huh. Who would ever really understand Hyuuga Neji anyway? Even if the protégée had become much less antisocial since they were genin, the Byakugen user wasn't much… fun.

Heck, the Jonin had somehow appeared yesterday with the reason that their paths had somehow crossed even if the shinobi and Sakura were meant to have scouted an area WAY over on the other side of the island… The heir had almost muttered, "Oh, yes… by fate, huh?" in sarcasm but kept it in. After all, his mother had taught him well the code of civilization- to a certain extent. Even Tenten didn't take in the Hyuuga's lame excuse- how stupid could that person get?

Neji had kept throwing glances at Tenten who kept looking away and, the Byakugen user even had the nerve to keep glaring at Akamaru and him - Akamaru shouted back, adding a list of rather colorful words in dog tongue. Honestly, did the white-eyed freak have to be so aggressive? He wasn't even close to having an affair with her! But the Jonin had to be overprotective anyway. And how did he, Inuzuka Kiba react to it all? He reacted to it by infuriating the shinobi even more and… Unfortunately the reader would probably never ever know what Kiba did to for-

Akamaru barked loudly at him in surprise and Tenten called out in alarm, "Kiba! Right in front-"

A heavy thud was heard, followed by indignant yelping.

Oh dear.

Inuzuka Kiba had just tripped over his own dog- a dog that was practically twice the size of him and stood out like a sore thumb. Oh dear. How embarrassing- even if the former statement had been the understatement of the year.

Tenten blinked, as if she had trouble comprehending… that he had TRIPPED over his own dog. After all, this was Inuzuka Kiba- he was more or less somewhat graceful in the forest, it was probably his second home. Kiba quickly stood up, and started to unsteadily walk again, hoping in vain that she didn't see. Of course, Tenten had perfect vision and of course, she saw Inuzuka Kiba trip over his own dog.

She smiled at him, plain pure amusement written on her face. It was obviously she was trying her best not to laugh. Akamaru wasn't helping the kunoichi's control either- he was running around, barking extremely angrily and telling his own master off! At other times, Kiba would have yelled right back, adding a string of obscenities to the dialog.

But unfortunately, there was lady, if not, a female in his midst and all in all, Inuzuka Kiba was red in the face and had started to walk in front of the two. The air around his face felt warm, which turned into hot, as he heard soft laughter behind him. Damn.

The sound carried on for another minute or so, that silly infuriating sound. Kiba froze- double damn. That was Akamaru laughing at him… wasn't it? He nearly turned round to look- but instead kept marching forward, anger replacing his previous embarrassment. How dare they-

Kiba suddenly saw a figure crash through the jungle, running towards them and paused momentarily- suddenly paranoid about tripping over another object, inanimate or animate, again. Tenten's and Akamaru's laughter stopped so suddenly that the atmosphere, perhaps humorous for an onlooker, had changed to a somewhat fearful one. Who was that…?

The figure stood up- Kiba's eyes widened. There were bruises and cuts all over the newcomer's body- he had obviously struggled in a fight. Tenten and Akamaru ran and soon stood near them- each one of their gazes fixed on the figure before them.

"Ino!" he cried, "She's- she's gone! They've taken her! Ino!"

Kiba swallowed. It was nerve-racking to see the guy like this. His eyes were struck with a certain type of fear; his body was trembling, his hands shaking. For most of his life, he had never seen him so… frightened and not calm. It was verging on scariness.

After all, this was Nara Shikamaru. He was meant to be lazy, calm and too intelligent for his own good- well that was what he was meant to be.

Nara Shikamaru seemed to be the exact opposite today.

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Shikamaru was to say the least, devastated. To say the least, he was behaving extremely out of his personality. To say the least, he was angry, at himself, angry at Ino, and angry at the people who took her. He threw a kunai at a tree forcefully- very forcefully. The thunk was heard easily even with the sound of the rain and the tree shook with heavy vibrations.

Damn it Ino! Why did she have to go and be so stupid? Why did she have to go outside, looking for snake that he didn't actually believe in and that it was going go attack her! Especially since that snake was well over three meters long and summoned its masters which… which… carried her off.

Yes. He had tried. Really tried. He has used his high IQ to the full extent, along with his skills and abilities. But, truth to tell, he had been too late. Why? When he heard her scream he thought she was overreacting. When he heard her shriek and call for him he thought she was being too bossy and overreacting… and didn't go. Only when he heard her cry of pain, the loud hiss of a snake, and the sounds of battle… did he jump up and run outside.

But damn it… stupid Ino. The ninja, well he assumed they were ninja, knocked her unconscious and carried her off before he could do anything. Overwhelmed with anger, the Chuunin flung another kunai in no particular direction at all. He waited, anticipating the sound that would reach his ears when it hit a tree trunk, a plant, or anything else.

The thunk was replaced by the sound of wind before clinking softly onto the ground.

"You know Tenten's not going to be happy with you if you throw kunai here and there without care, right?" Temari came into view, one hand on her giant fan, another holding the kunai he had just thrown.

"Yes." Replied Shikamaru tonelessly, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to make sure you don't beat the hell out of yourself for letting Ino get kidnapped." Responded Temari, "Like you did after the mission two years ago when rescuing Uchiha Sasuke…"

"I can handle it… I'm more… mature now."

Temari looked dubiously at the large crack his other thrown kunai had made down the centre of the tree trunk, "Oh really? Somehow I find that very hard to believe."

Shikamaru didn't answer. Temari took this as an invitation to keep going,

"What are you intending to do out here anyway while it's raining anyway? It's not like you. Use your head. The others are heading in to camp- they're definitely going do all they can to find and bring her back, Shikamaru. Heck, Kiba and Tenten are completely freaked since they brought you in… You're as helpful as those ninja, or whatever they were who took Ino, you know? Gaara's waiting for you- he needs you to form a strategy of some sort to help him, and tell him everything. Come on, let's go."

He started to close his eyes briefly to regain his posture when he was hit by memories from his early childhood. Spinning in his mind, it only took moments to figure out that they were all of her- blue eyes, blonde hair.

She was arguing with him, bossing him around- every since they had been babies they grew up together, courtesy of their fathers. You couldn't exactly call them friends… in fact he used to hate her loud voice for it always snapped him out of anything he was doing and he was forced to listen to her… It was interesting now, that he suddenly decidedly she wasn't that bad… Shikamaru mumbled something under his breath and proceeded to mumble again to no one in particular-

All of a sudden, the hard cold blunt side Temari's fan slammed in to his face none too gently, wrenching him out of his thoughts. Dazed, he staggered backwards and collapsed against a tree, looking very much like a hapless drunk.

"Get a grip!" Temari snapped, "Have you lost your entire head? Analyze this whole situation- use your logic or something! Stop being so childish! Look. I am going to walk slowly back to camp. If after five minutes you haven't recovered your intelligence I am personally going to drag to my brother."

With that, the Jonin walked off, her footsteps stamping through the mud that seemed to be everywhere. Shikamaru watched her go, in quiet thought for a few moments before he made his decision.

That idiot girl had better keep herself alive… it was definitely going to be extremely troublesome…

Shikamaru stood up firmly. Taking the first step, he wobbled-

Damn it- how could he forget!

That idiot had gotten herself poisoned by a snake!

Yesterday, sweet innocent yesterday now, disappeared into oblivion as the harsh reality of everything that was happening crashed down on Shikamaru.

He began to run.

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Oh hell, hell no. HELL NO! Tenten placed two fingers on the space just between her right eye and her forehead- hell no. Was this some kind of retarded punishment for laughing her head off at Kiba just now? She really just had refrained herself, if that was the case.

The weapons specialist glanced at the young man next to her with a frown. Neji frowned back. Hyuuga Neji, who was currently being a human ice cube momentarily. Not to actually say that that was how he behaved for most of his life… It was probably her fault for being so friendly with Kiba… Thus now she had to endure running around trying to find Ino-san with a Hyuuga glaring at her every five seconds for the rest of the day.

It was bad enough that her clothes were absolutely wet and drenched and she getting paranoid that her weapons would rust in the next hour or so but now she had to contend with all this. Tenten sighed- at least the rain had stopped. Tilting her head to look at the sky above, the Chuunin let a small smile grace her features.

The tiny, nearly nonexistent clouds were white wisps against the gigantic strikingly blue background that was called the sky. The sun was starting to burn down onto her back and you'd never ever know that an hour ago, rain had plummeted down from the blue heavens. This island's weather was a work of chaos and so were the people who were shipwrecked on it.

Taking time to recap, the teen remembered Gaara given their instructions briskly a few minutes ago. Shikamaru seemed to have cried, although with the rain still fresh on everyone's face it was hard to tell. Chouji seemed paranoid about Ino dying- though Tenten knew with a smile that the blonde would go through hell or high water before she'd admit defeat to death.

They were meant to move in their original three man teams- Tenten grimaced. Lee was nowhere to be found. Damn it, he must have stupidly gotten lost, the idiot! But even she wasn't at all angry or annoyed- she was in fact desperately worried. Lee could be really… rash at times. She only hoped his current taijutsu skills were enough for whatever enemy they were facing.

That left her and Neji- wait, they were meant to be moving now! They were behind. Neji, who was looking at her sternly, made it clear without words what he though.

"I'm sorry, Neji! I kind of got worried about Lee too, I guess…"

"Hn. Let's go."

Usual response, nothing to worry about…

The two started to bound through the treetops in a rhythmical fashion, Tenten following in behind Neji. Gods, it was almost too quiet without Lee yelling his head off… Even without Gai sensei, it was just… empty and unyouthful.

She laughed at loud at that- knowing Neji was probably glad for the peace and quiet. She blushed slightly when the Hyuuga glanced at her.

"Private joke."

"Hn." And he continued.

Usual response- as she had suspected. But what the hell…? First act strangely overprotective of her… then give her the cold shoulder…? But then, she had once had a somewhat girlish crush on him that faded away- fortunately no one noticed, saving her the embarrassment. She wasn't interested in love anymore

So concentrated in her thoughts had Tenten been that she did not notice a snake hanging from a branch in front of her. Her eyes snapped wide open, and she fought to keep her balance.

Damn it, she was going to fall- she should've have been more attentive! The ground suddenly looked a very long way away, and Tenten didn't even have time to cry out in pain as a passing branch slashed at her arm brutally.

Suddenly, a strong arm shot out. In another moment, she was back on the branch, Neji clutching her shoulder blades tightly. Tenten listened for the 'hn', instead, came,

"What were you thinking?" he snapped angrily, "These branches are up in the air- at least nine meters high- you could have broken your neck!"

Tenten looked at him strangely. Where did that come from?

"Ah… Thank you…" she said uncomfortably.

Heck… when had she ever become uncomfortable around Neji? Oh wait- that's why. She was suddenly aware, very aware; of his hands on her shoulders- her skin was uncannily warm there.

Damn… wasn't puberty over- the stage of your life where you went on mood swings and your hormones went crazy and you suddenly were attracted to people of the opposite sex? But then… her crush had faded… hadn't it?

"Damn it Tenten- you've even got a slash down your arm…"

Tenten knew what he was privately implying to himself- if they had to bandage this and how'd they'd even find bandage material, well, they'd never catch up to the rest. She grimaced as she looked at the slashed clothing on her arm- blood had already started to stain her shirt sleeve. Making a decision instantly, the Chuunin grinned at her friend briefly before she took out her kunai and sliced at her sleeve, the Hyuuga himself relinquishing his hold on her shoulders. The cloth let loose loud rips as it felt itself being torn into long strips.

In another few seconds, the long gash had been covered by reddish-pink material. Tenten mock saluted at Neji, "Ready! Let's go."

A brief moment passed between them, Neji studying her work. He gave a nod of approval. As he stood up, his fingertips ran lightly down her arm as if to second check- Tenten winced at the pain.

As the fingertips ran back up her arm, they suddenly brushed against her cheek. Shock catapulted up through Tenten but she refrained from gaping. Just even that light touch caused a blaze of heat to ignite on her skin and the Byakugen user pulled away quickly and stood up, as if he was suddenly ashamed of himself.

Neji bounded off the branch and as soon as he was a few meters away he called, "We don't have much time to catch up to the rest!"

In that brief look, Tenten saw the light hue of red that crept up his cheeks, but it faded away quickly as he waited for her. Tenten was almost tempted to place her fingers on the spot where his fingers touched her cheekbone- but she resisted, knowing Neji was half-staring at her, subtly waiting for some kind of reaction. Instead, once again, just like she had done before…

Tenten placed two fingers on the space just between her right eye and her forehead. This time, similar to the other one, Tenten looked at the Hyuuga some way in front of her. A faint hue of light red again crept up his cheeks, but pride bore it down again.

But this time, unlike the last time…

Tenten smiled.

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Kankuro sighed.

He and Shino had actually miraculously made it to that top of that wretched mountain. The view was breathtaking- you could see the whole island. Then a minute later they ran back down again because they had drawn a rough map on a slim piece of light colored wood. That had been fun… In the sarcastic meaning, of course.

About ten minutes ago, Gaara had split them into their three man genin teams. Gaara, him, and Temari, would move forward first, then the rest of the teams. The reason? Because, it had been decided that a whole huge group of fifteen had a huge change of being spotted- they wanted to remain quiet and undetected for the present moment.

Kankuro shook his head. He had never expected this island experience to be anything like what many people talked about. He had expected it to be bad, but not this bad. Every inch of his skin not covered by some type of clothing since the rain stopped at been unmercilessly attacked by insects- anything else was sun burnt. Even if he wasn't starving or thirsty or even physically hurt, after waking up each morning he felt like someone had stabbed him in the gut with kunai- His head even sometimes felt like it was on fire. Damn it, nothing here could kill him right? Maybe everything was from this blasted sun…

But how? He was born and bred in the desert; he should be immune to sun diseases… Shit. This was no time to ponder morbid thoughts and wonder if he was going to die or not. Kankuro wiped sweat from his forehead. Either that or maybe it was…

The Puppet Master glanced at his arm where a large red welt had started to form. A few days ago when he woke up on the island, he was bit or stung by a spider of sorts. He'd ignored it till now- after all; the spider couldn't be poisonous…

"Hey! Kankuro!" Temari called out, "Are you okay? Come here- let me check!"

Gaara glanced back at him, concern on his younger brother's face. Kankuro crossed his arms, annoyed. He didn't want to hold everyone up like he was the weakling of the lot.

"I'm fine!" he snapped, "Let's keep going!"

Temari advanced towards him, strapping her fan on her back. Kankuro swore softly. Temari had always started to take the role of their mother- even if she didn't like it, she was the cook in their house and the one who overseen basic medical treatment. She would definitely go on about all of this! He just knew it… She took off his infamous cat flap hat and placed one palm on his forehead. His skin relaxed under her touch- her hand was freezing, and somewhat felt nice on his hot skin. Had she been touching ice or something like that!

Temari jumped back, "Kankuro. It's a damn fire on your forehead! You're sick aren't you?"

Kankuro looked around, struggling to find an excuse, "Gah. I guess it's my clothes… But I can't take them off anyway- otherwise those insects will murder me."

Temari nodded, though she looked suspicious, "Here. At least drink some water!"

Kankuro accepted the water bag gratefully and tried to ignore the fact that his head felt like it was going to explode- he was probably over reacting or something like that. He drank the water fast, taking a few hasty gulps before throwing it back to Temari. Wiping his mouth with one hand, he nodded.

"Okay! Let's go!"

His siblings nodded as well and it wasn't long before all three were traversing throughout the jungle. Positioning himself at the back of the group, Kankuro hoped they would all forget about all of this- Gaara glanced at him again. Damn. Kankuro managed a weak smile. He hoped it would all go away soon- the last time he been knocked out like this, it was when Gaara was kidnapped. It wasn't an incredibly great feeling, feeling that you stuck on a bed unable to do anything…

"I think I've found something." Gaara said, stopping where he was.

Kankuro jumped over, Temari following in behind him.

"The others should be coming," said Gaara glancing over his shoulder, "They should have picked up on our trail. Shikamaru and Chouji will be coming first, then the rest of them."

Kankuro nodded, slightly but his eyes were transfixed at the sight before him.

Staring at the swamp that stood before them, Kankuro shook his head in disbelief.

Yamanaka Ino was somewhere in there?

The place had heavy mist rising from it, obscuring all vision, and it seemed to be an entangled dangerous mess of mud and water- the bubbles gurgling furiously in a puddle of water nearby didn't help his moral either. What kind of forsaken island where they on? From sweltering hot jungle, to beaches, to mountains… TO A SWAMP?

Someone religious had better start praying- they were definitely going to need it.

W00t. It's getting to be a heartache writing Tenten… -- Another reason why this is late- again… I had extreme writer's block when someone popular by some(she has her own dang Fan Club 0.o) had this sadly intelligent small essay which bashed Tenten in saying she had no character on NarutoFan Forums.

Then that person when on to describe WHY she had no character and on and on. And at the moment of time I was just about to write the Tenten part/POV of my 'fic- how coincidental. So I went back to a site which had a brilliant character study on her to go 'find' Tenten's character again- . I'm still struggling though!

That may be why I need help with the NejiTen-ness. Especially since the want for it is an all time HIGH- any ideas? I'm struggling between a cold Neji or something else as from what I've seen from Neji in canon, he actually isn't that cold to Tenten...

Yes- whatever NejiTen fluff I crammed in, I was intended that for later… I was intending them to get into a big ugly fight then make up and half lots of fluff but then loads of 'fics to that.

Then I keep getting all these great plot-bunniez that I actually want to write and I get writers block on this…-- Life is cruel.

Oh, and on another note, I don't actually really don't like swearing of any sort- from the damn to the f to whatever… Even if you see it somewhat in the story- but then, since I try my best to keep them in character as possible, for an expletetive I don't think someone like Naruto or Sakura is going to use something like 'Dangnabbit' instead of 'Damn', right? Especially when the anime/manga displays it for them all. So while I really don't like using them, I try my best to keep it at a low.

W00t again. Yeah- looking back, I've pretty much blurted about have the things that have nothing to do with you but that's all right!

Thanks for reading! And review- and read the next chappie!

-StarDragon X