Sykoe: I'm so so freakin sorry it's been so long! I lost my inspiration for a while... sorry...

I got ideas! (Good news?)

Since it's been so long; a recap of last chapter: Hinata and friends (woot) are travelling through the forest, and it's hell. When they are in sight of the city, the entire band of travelers falls to their knees, or stands gaping in wonder. Hinata faints. She dreams about her mother in the form of an angel, and tries to reach out to her. Her efforts in vain, Hinata wakes up to Tenten shaking her awake. And so, the traveling continues, but not without daydreams and some thoughts from a sailor...

Enjoy!

Chapter 7, SPRUNG!

As we passed more and more trees, I became distracted. There wasn't much new to look at; the forest was pure green, suffocating darkness. Why focus on it? My mind unintentionally wandered to other thoughts, and those thoughts soon formed fantasies...

I imagined myself sailing. Alongside of me stood four surly sailors; Chouji, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Naruto.

I couldn't have been happier. Every smile from them melted me into a puddle of Hinata Hyuuga. (Especially Naruto's and Sasuke's.) The wind whipped my hair, and the ocean spray moistened my arms and face. My clothes was speckled dark with saltwater.

Blue skies and waters surrounded me, blue eyes and dark blue hair and blue blue blue...

I couldn't have been happier. I let myself be absorbed by the times I remembered, and let every remembered moment bring a small smile to my lips and make my stomach do somersaults.

How much I missed them.

"Oi, get the lead outta yer pants, boy, and get yer ass back to work!"

"Yeah, get off your ass and help us out here."

"What's with you lately, Sasuke?"

"Thinking of someone?"

I looked up into the teasing grins of my shipmates, and the burning glare of my captain. I was surrounded by stares.

Guess I chose a pretty bad time to daydream. But, how can I help it? Her face haunts me. I'd never met a girl like her before. She was beautiful, of course, but that's not what made her different. A lot of pretty girls have flirted with me before, shamelessly flaunting their bodies and trying to use feminine "charm" to win me over, but it never had any effect. This pilgrim girl was... different. Actually, she didn't even try to flirt.

Either way, she stole my heart and my mind and now she fills them both with images and needs and sometimes there's nothing I else I can do but let myself get carried away into my thoughts and forget what I'm doing, much to the annoyance of captain and my fellow sailors.

I've never felt this before. I'm not sure if I enjoy it, or it's just another bother.

I knew, though, from the day I first met her, that nothing could ever happen. We came from and were on our way to different worlds. I traveled around the world, buying and trading and making money. She lived in one place, a place my ship rarely visited. Hopes of me even seeing her again were crushed before they were brought to the surface of my mind.

Besides, there was always the possibility that she didn't make it... no matter how much it saddened me, that was usually the thought that brought me out of my dazed stupor. I was a sailor, damnit, I shouldn't spend my time wallowing in my self-pity and infatuation over a simple pilgrim girl! Made me feel like a pansy.

Made my mates call me a pansy.

Accidentaly pulling the rope I was tying too hard, I had to redo the knot again. Pulling the knot as hard as I could, my foot slipped on some water and I landed on my tailbone.

Hearty laughter reached my ears, and when Chouji offered his hand to help me up, I smacked it away.

The world was out to piss me off today. Stupid ship. Stupid rope. Stupid water.

Stupid girl. Why did she have to stick in my mind every minute of the day?

Sykoe: Aw, they're SPRUNG over each other! XD I had to do it. I freaken had to, it's so cute.

Sorry the chapter is short. I wanted to put more of Hinata and Sasuke's thoughts in the story before anything else progressed.

Please review! Review more and I write more!