AnimeCrasherz: Another chaptah! It starts off slow but I hope it gets better throughout.

Chapter 6, Attack

The mission: To escort a girl (Who will now be known as Akiko) to the village where she is to be wed, her marriage ultimately being a treaty to stop a feud. She had to travel alone, wanting to get to the village on foot by herself (with escorts of course) which was the quickest way possible.

The ninjas assigned: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and I.

If I had some sort of a ninja journal, I might be writing words of aaaaaangst, but no. I was stuck walking behind Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, and I could almost taste the awkwardness in the air. Nobody spoke. Sakura and Naruto tried to make it look as if they weren't walking together, as if they didn't want to either. Sasuke... was being a loner, by choice. I was forced to.

Suddenly, I sneezed. Before I could hold it in I sneezed, rather loudly.

Everyone turned to look at me. Their gazes magnified me and made me feel like a specimen that exists to be scrutinized. Even if those weren't their intentions it still made me very, very uncomfortable...

"Bless you!" Akiko beamed at me.

"Ah... tha-thank you..." I rubbed my nose.

To my relief, we all continued walking. From then on I was careful not to sneeze...

I didn't want to feel like I was stuck in between all of this tension... but I tend to cause it all...

The village was far away, so by nightfall we had to set up camp in a dank cave to wait until morning.

The atmosphere in the cave was so tense and thick that you could cut yourself a slice of it.

We all sat around the fire for a while, Sakura and Naruto sitting on either side of the girl we were escorting. Every once in a while I caught them stealing glances at eachother, and I'm sure she caught them too.

Sasuke sat near Naruto (For no reason whatsoever. Probably because he wants to be away from Sakura, for he's not sure if she still has feelings for him.) and on the other side of the fire, I sat alone. I knew I would be. It would be too hard for me to talk to anybody. Nobody had even said anything since the time I sneezed!

"So..."

We all jerked our heads toward the source of the voice, the innocent Akiko.

"Why are you all so gloomy?" she smiled brightly and looked around at all of us, a little dumbly.

-insert crickets chirping-

She giggled a little. "What?"

"Ano..." Nobody was going to say anything, so I had to make something up quick! Oh, it's time's like this I regret sucking at making up lies...

"'We're dead-set on trying our hardest to get you to the village safely and quickly." I looked over at Sasuke sitting stoically, staring at the fire. "Now don't you think it's time we should be getting to bed? We have to get up early tomorrow." Sasuke got up and looked at the girl.

She yawned and nodded, getting up as well. The rest of us followed, still awkwardly, and set up our sleeping bags just as we had sat around the fire. Naruto and Sakura were on either sides of the girl again.

Poor Akiko, oblivious to being used as something to show uninterest, only felt happy that she wasn't alone. (Aw, poor Hinata probably envies her... Oh, woe is her.)

Too much like my last mission, I knew I couldn't get to sleep. It didn't matter though, as it was my turn to keep watch. Observing my surroundings, I looked for something that I could focus on to keep me entertained, or at least awake.

The stars were not out tonight to give me comfort.

"Is that the girl?" a man whispered to his companion.

"Pretty sure..."

Staying hidden in the shadows cast by the trees, they watched the betrothed girl Akiko and her guardian shinobi sleep. Their objective was to destroy Akiko before the wedding, making it seem as if ninjas from the to-be-wed groom's side of the family had killed her. They had been hired by men who sold weaponry. Once the feud was over the men would likely go out of business. But if their plan succedeed, it might likely escalate into an all-out war and their business would boom.

The moon and stars were veiled by clouds that night, allowing little light. Only the faintest glow of moonlight from the full moon escaped, illuminating everything in a meager glow.

They crept through the darkness cast over them by the canopy of leaves. There was more than a couple of them, of course, but with a susprise attack a few might be all it took...

I stiffened and averted my half-lidded eyes toward the thick forest. My trained shinobi ears had picked up the sound of rustling, and one can never be too safe on a mission like this. Staying put, I tried to make it seem as if I were asleep.

As I feared, what I had assumed was true as Neji stumbled drunken and idiotically out of the trees...

Not really.

The ninjas crept to the mouth of the cave and jumped in, preparing to destroy the girl at all costs. I shook the person sleeping next to me.

"Sasuke, wake up, watch the girl!"

Hopefully it was a good thing that Akiko was snoring away in her sleeping bag...

Naruto and Sakura had awaken and were already fighting off the attackers. Subconsciously they stayed near each other, as if they NEEDED the protection. I noticed it all too painfully.

Sasuke was doing fine on his own, even if they overpowered him I would be of no help since I was weaker than him.

Weaker than everybody...

Everyone had been thrown off by the surprise attack, but Naruto took it the worst. (Sometimes it's bad to be a heavy sleeper.) After trying to protect Akiko he was knocked down to the floor, writhing in pain from a hard blow to the stomach. They were double teaming on him and Sakura, and Sakura was left to fend for herself and him now.

I froze.

They needed help. My help.

Even with Naruto's bunshin's help, there were many people left. I tried counting them, but couldn't focus well enough.

After a moments hesitation, I chose my brain over my heart and ran to his aid.

But my thoughts and momevents were muddled by the extreme emotional involvement I had with the shinobi on this mission... and I succeeded in knocking down only one attacker, afterwards I earned myself a kick that send me flying into a tree, slamming into its hard trunk and getting the air knocked out of me. Metallic warmth trickled from my mouth.

Struggling to stand up, I used my determination to will away the pain.

The attackers threw kunai at sleeping Akiko, and I ran to help her. It was them against me, and I earned myself more wounds, kicks, and punches.

Smirking, they finally succedeed to overpower me. I looked down, feeling a sharp pain in my stomach.

To my horror the smiling man pulled a knife out of my stomach, covered in unmistakable crimson liquid. The knife plunged into my stomach once again, the sharp metal making no sound as it cut in and was pulled out again and again, staining my sweater a deep red. I doubled over in pain. I heard some punches in front of me, the clink of kunai and some red blood splattered across my face. Then I heard the sound of a body being thrown against something hard.

When I lifted my head to look up, I saw that many of the attackers lay dead or seriously injured, and the remaining were retreating.

They were finally able to fight them off... I smiled...

...and fell to my knees.

Naruto, Sakura, and Akiko -who had awoken- ran over.

Sasuke kneeled on the ground next to me, asking me if I was okay.

I heard the sound of his voice forming the syllables of my name, sweet music to my ears... trying my hardest I followed the voice, but the blackness overtook me and pulled me down into a deep unconscious bliss.

AnimeCrasherz: I suck at battle scenes. They could have been raver ninjas with a Hidden Lollipop Binky Village insignia on their rainbow headbands, tied a disco ball to a tree, started dancing to a portable boombox and fought with CD's and ring pops for all I care and the chapter probably would have been just as good... I'm no good at that. I only like writing angst crap...

And... sorry for not updating in a while, but I feel so discouraged with this story... sniff

Please Review! My updates keep consistent with the amount of reviews I get. I can't continue if people don't like it. : )