Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!
Unforeseen Future
Part One: The Journey
Summary: (AU, OOCness) Part One: Sakura, Hinata, and Chouji have left Konoha in search of their own ninja-ways and to escape the binds of home. Hinata's uncaring family, Chouji's low self-esteem, and Sakura's struggle with the Kyuubi locked inside her.
Pairings: Sakura/Multiple, one-sided Chouji/Sakura, Ino/Chouji/Hinata, Ino/Mystery/Hinata, Lee/TenTen, Mystery/Kakashi/Shizune/Genma, and Mystery/Temari.
Warnings: Out Of Characters, Alternate Universe, mentions of sex, foul language, and crack-pairings.
Dedicated: To my loves AijinMegami and Moonbeam Great Goddess of the Night! You two are my bitches!! I OWN YOU!! WHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Chapter One: Start Off
"Ok—ready?" Sakura asked looking serious; her two friends nodded holding the same grim faces. "Three--" The two inhaled as they got back in fighting positions, their closed fists at their sides. "Two--" Sakura continued as she dug her heel in the earth. "ONE!" She cried and they instantly all brought the fist that was placed on their hips out into the open, palms facing up.
The three crowded around only to sigh at the sight, "A hundred yen all together…perfect." Chouji moaned as he pocketed the loose change back into his bag. Scratching his head he looked at the two girls with a troubled look in his eyes, "What are we going to do? We can't survive on that!"
Hinata began to fiddle with her fingers as she rocked back from one foot to another, "I-I-I am sor-sorry. I sho-should've brought-t more money."
Sakura and Chouji shared a look, "Its ok Hinata-Chan! Really! True you should've brought more—but in truth all of us should've." Sakura motioned at both herself and the only male present. "Don't worry about it—we just have to find jobs!"
"Jobs?!" Chouji yelped. "Are you kidding me, Sakura?! Who in their right mind will hire eleven-year-olds?"
Sakura snorted, "Surely you thought of that before you left—regardless of how much money we could've—should've—would've brought, it wouldn't have lasted long. We are going to need more supplies, food, hotel-rooms, the list goes on! Believe me I know." The two looked down guiltily, remembering the fact that she lived alone and had to make amends for herself at such a young age.
"O-o-ok, so w-what are w-we going to do?" Hinata asked as she looked around at their surroundings, finding the unknown territory very scary and almost suffocating. Her whole body began to tremble again, which was instantly noticed by her friends.
"Hey!—Hinata it's ok! Here," Chouji reached into his nap-sack and pulled out his trademark bag of potato-chips and handed one to the white-eyed female. "Maybe you need some food—it always calms me down."
With trembling fingers, the girl reached up and grasped the chip with a shy smile and instantly began to nibble on it. Hands on her hips Sakura eyed her friend carefully, making sure she didn't throw-up or faint—something she did when she got over-stressed, was put into uncomfortable situations, or scared and unfortunately she was in the middle of all these feelings.
"Well, let's put our heads together!" Sakura, the designated leader of the group, chirped as she pointed to her head. "I'm positive we can come up with something!"
They all stood in silence for a moment as they pondered their predicament.
"Well--" Chouji began earning the female's attention. "We need to find a place to sleep—an inn or make camp. It will be dark soon. Tomorrow we head on straight; the way I figure it we need to place a good deal of distance between us and Konoha. It won't be long until they send out ninjas to search for our wear-abouts."
Sakura frowned, "Why not just continue on through tonight?"
He shook his head, "We left early this morning—when it was still dark. We are going to need some rest. But we are going to have to be quick. I give it about twenty-four hour's time before we will be searched for outside the village." He placed a hand under his chubby face, a thoughtful expression crossing his features. "We will make camp I believe, because in case they release the shinobi before my predicted time we will be safe in the brush."
Hinata looked doubtful and curious, "Why i-is that Chouji-Kun?" She asked, finally beginning to calm down and lose her stutter.
"Because they are looking for three kids—we're not responsible, we're not smart, and we're not ninjas. In their view we wouldn't be sleeping out here." He used his hand to motion the surrounding woods. At the moment the three were off the path and next to an isolated little lake, where they had drank and re-filled their supply on water.
"In other words they don't expect us to think like ninjas, even though we are being trained as ones." Sakura deadpanned as she placed her hands on her non-existence hips. "Figures." She snorted out before she once again moved her arms and crossed them over her chest.
"W-well Sakura-Chan, I believe what Chouji-Kun is saying is that this is to our advantage. They're underestimating us." Hinata pointed out to her short-tempered friend.
Sakura blinked at the logic before she giggled sheepishly, "And here I am supposed to be the smartest of the bunch." She ignored their mocking-glares. "Ok, so we camp out tonight then you said to just go straight?" Chouji nodded. "I think I understand—pass a few villages. Take no chances of being spotted, get pretty far away from Konoha and the small villages surrounding it…Fine. I'm game. What about you Hinata-Chan?"
The girl appeared slightly startled at being asked, signaling she had been lost in her own thoughts, "O-OH! U-um…well I guess so…"
A sigh erupted from Sakura's lips, "Hinata—you know if you want to turn ba--"
"NO!" She practically screamed. Realizing what she did she squeaked and looked down. "I-I mean no. I want to-to do this—it's ju-just very scary, you know?"
Her two friends hugged her, "Of course we know—it is very scary. But remember, we have to do this. We don't know why—really—but we do know that we have too. If those bastards back at Konoha can't grasp that then well…" Chouji trailed off trying to find the right words to describe the people. He glanced over at Sakura for help who happily obliged.
"The pig-suckers can go drown in their own piss and shit and go rot in hell."
Chouji and Hinata laughed at her words, completely use to her vulgar language. "What she said." The young male stated making Hinata laugh some more. "See? You're happy—you aren't alone in this Hinata. Sakura and myself are going to help you—we all agreed to help and push each other."
"We're going to make it Hinata-Chan! Hell-Yeah!!" Sakura cheered as she pumped her fist in the air. "I mean come on—with all three of us helping one another and working together we're going to so totally rule!!" She began to move her hips side to side, dancing in victory.
Her two friends watched on in amusement at the sight of her uncoordinated dancing. "Ok! Now that I got my victory dance out of my system let's get settled for tonight—we need to find a bit of shelter, some wood for a small fire to keep us warm and too cook out dinner, and some leaves and such to make a bed!"
Hinata looked over at Chouji before she looked back over at Sakura, "U-um…Is a fire safe? If they are looking for us wouldn't th-they—umm…" She once again began to fiddle with her fingers. "Wouldn't they look into where the sm-smoke is coming from?"
The two other children placed their hands on their hips with a thoughtful expression once again crossing their features. "She does have a good point, Sakura." Chouji started off.
"Damn—once again you guys made me feel stupid."
"It wasn't us who did that, Sakura." Chouji deadpanned making a vein throb in her rather large forehead.
"What was that—fatso?"
"I'M NOT FAT!!"
"U-um…" Hinata began, trying to prevent another fight from breaking out between the two. "P-please stop. We should not fight one another—at least when we are so close to Konoha and we are still on their borders." She placed her hands on her hips, now looking like a mother scolding her two children. "We have to work together to get through tonight."
The two looked at her before at each other, "Fine." Chouji agreed.
"When you're right, you're right—and Hinata-Chan you are right." Sakura praised with a proud grin as she gave the girl a pat on the head. "So! What should we do first? It's a very cold night—we need some warmth."
Chouji blushed, "We can all sleep together."
"C-Chouji-Kun!" Hinata gasped out before promptly fainting.
"Pervert!!" Sakura snapped slapping him upside the head.
"Ow! No—pull your minds out of the gutter! To keep warm we can all huddle close together—share our body head. We sleep over and under some brush and all next to each other so we can remain warm for the night. Sakura is right it is very cold."
"Oh…" Sakura trailed off as she picked up the unconscious Hinata and began to fan her. "Why didn't you just say that in the first place? Now you made Hinata faint."
Chouji sighed, a vein twitching in his head, "I didn't realize you two were perverted enough to actually think I meant that."
"Hey!" Sakura exclaimed, clearly offended. "What are we suppose to think? Besides you blushed!"
"Well of course I did! It's embarrassing—sleeping next to two girls. But come on, anything else? We all just received the talk from my parents—God that was an absolute nightmare—as if all of us are going to do something like that!" His face went even redder as he made emphasis on else and that.
"Well—Ugh! Mental image!!" Sakura whined as she slapped her hands over her ears. "It burns!! My eyes—they bleed!! My brain needs scrubbed!!"
"Ok I get it." Chouji snapped, feeling a bit insulted at her cries of pain at the image. "Come on we need to wake Hinata up and get ready for tonight…Ew you're right that is an awful image to think about."
Both walked over to the unconscious girl and lifted her up.
"Why wake her up? It probably would take her a while to get to sleep anyway, why not just go on and get to bed? That way she won't have to struggle with falling asleep tonight."
The brunette-male shrugged, "I guess that will be ok." He rubbed his eyes which were sore and tired. His stomach then gave off a lurch, and he reached into his nap-sack.
"No!" Sakura hissed, startling the poor boy. "We have to keep our food rationed! We don't know how long it will be until we can eat! We need to save all the food we have!"
"B-but…" Chouji whined, his lip trembling. Sakura gave him a dangerous glare. "O-ok…" He brought his hand back to his side with a pout. "No dinner tonight?"
"It would be for the best. Now help me pick Hinata-Chan up and we can go under those bushes over there." Chouji nodded and picked up their bags, hurrying over to the picked area under the bushes before hurrying after the unconscious girl. Once underneath the bushes, which were only high enough for kids their size to be under only when they are laying down.
Once underneath they began to cough slightly when the dust rose up into their mouths and nostrils. Placing Hinata in the middle they wrapped their arms around her.
"Hey Chouji…" Sakura began her eyes watering.
"Yeah?" He whispered back.
"Don't tell Hinata-Chan, cause I don't want her to scare her…" She clutched the girl, her lips trembling.
"Yeah?" Chouji ushered.
"I'm really scared…"
"Me too…"
With her eyes still closed, Hinata bit her lip to prevent her from talking, 'I'm scared too.'
--
"Ew! A tick!! There is a tick on me!" Sakura cried as she shot out of the bushes scratching her arm, trying to get the bug off her. Hinata and Chouji ran after her, trying to calm her down. "Get it off!!"
"Sakura!" Chouji hissed as he tried to quiet the girl down. "Sakura!" He snapped again as he hurried over and pinched the bug off, some blood drizzling down her arm. "What is your problem?! It's possible we are being looked for and you rush out of our hiding spot screaming?!"
Hinata was behind Chouji a worried look on her face, "C-Chouji-Kun…"
He inhaled and exhaled a few times, trying to clam himself down. Looking over her noticed the downcast look Sakura had, showing she was extremely guilty and upset. "Sorry." She muttered.
"No…I'm sorry. Man—we have only slept on the ground one night and all ready we are irritable and mean to one another. This thing hasn't even gotten started." He rubbed his throbbing head. Reaching down he picked up his bag and hauled it over his shoulder, the girls doing the same.
"We'll I guess we just go…er…" He looked over at Hinata who nodded in understanding.
She closed her eyes, bringing her hands to her face, formed in a certain formation, "Byakugan!" She cried, and veins appeared around her white eyes, and they almost seemed to glow. She slowly turned her head looking around their surroundings. She then pointed to straight ahead, about ninety-degrees from her starting position. "There is an open path over there—we can follow it off the path."
"You mean follow the path away from the path?" Sakura asked, in which Hinata nodded. "Well I guess it makes since if you think about it." She stretched back like a cat, her hands over head. She then gagged, "Blech! My pits smell awful!"
Chouji frowned, "Thanks for that news-flash." He stated sarcastically. "We all probably stink—and we are going get smellier by the day…please don't give us updates."
Sakura waved him off, "I was just making a statement. After we run for a while and when we get to another lake I am so taking a bath."
"I think we all will…now we should go before—well I gu-guess anyone finds us." Hinata stated as she walked to where she had seen the path. "I also be-believe it will be wise for us to get a map of some sort in the near future as well."
Sakura nodded, "Third village we run into we will buy a map or get directions."
"Speaking of directions—where are we even planning on going to?" Chouji asked.
"Where ever the wind takes us!" The shortest member cried out dramatically as she posed.
"Yeah—no. We need at least some direction—at least the first place we plan to go too to train."
"Oh!! Speaking of training!" Sakura chirped as she reached in her bag and pulled out six sets of weights. "Wrap one around each ankle and each wrist. Once it settles on it activates—if we constantly wear these we will be great!"
"W-where did you get these Sakura-Chan?"
"I borrowed them from Gai-San." She stated as she began to hook the small weights around the designated spots.
"Gai?—I heard his training is really rigorous…are you sure we can handle them?" Chouji asked as he placed them on, Hinata doing the same.
"I hope so—because they won't come off until we overcome them."
"WHAT?!" Chouji and Hinata screamed.
"Now look who is screaming." She deadpanned before she finished and picked herself up, only to scream when she felt the weights activate and pull her right back down on the ground hard. Her other two friends gasped and cried when they found they could barely move.
"Wh-what h-have you-you done S-Sakura?!" Chouji cried as he tried to pick himself up, gasping at how much weight there was.
"W-What I th-thought was b-best! W-we nee-need to train—we-we need to get strong-er and fas-faster!" As she talked she very slowly inched her way to standing. "A-an-and I-I will d-do most an-anything to-o ob-obtain it…I—I want to-o pro-prove to everyone I can do it!!" She began to drag one foot, whimpering at the pain her body was feeling. "N-No one-at-a-t home took m-me seriously! N-no on-e train-ed or taugh-taught me!" She looked back at them feeling a bit sick. "Not any more—I'm going---to show them I do-don't need their-their help!" She concentrated and poured all her charka to her wrist and ankles, "I'll train my body, charka, mind, soul, and heart to rea-reach the top!"
Slowly her friend began to rise, their eyes clenched as they remembered all that had been done to them.
"You are not fit for the name Hyuuga…"
"Eat up fatty!"
"You are such a disappointment, Hinata…"
"He's so slow—no use letting that tub-o-lard play."
"Pathetic…"
"That's all you are!"
"You are…"
PATHETIC!!
Slowly they rose to their feet, sliding across the grass after their friend. They understood that there was no turning back now—the weights weren't just tools for training they were symbols. When they were ready to return to Konoha they will fall off.
Nothing was going to stop them now, they were going to reach the top and no words were going to stop them.
--
"M-my legs hurt…" Hinata rasped out, as they continued to slide to their destination. "An-and it's hard to br-breathe."
"I know, Hinata-Chan!" Sakura exclaimed. "But we have to keep pushing! Oh yes we do!"
"Why are you practically screaming everything?" Chouji asked, his clothes sticking to his body with sweat.
"B-because it's hard to breathe! I'm training my lungs!! They hurt like hell right now, but-but it will be worth it in the future! Yes it will!" She exclaimed, once again, as she ushered her feet to go faster. "Besides—all of this is working! We are sliding along! I bet in less then a week we can walk!"
The two sighed as their shoulders slumped, "But what about the ninjas?"
"We hide! We take that time to practice our stealth and ability to hide!" She paused for a moment in her loud talking to intake a bit of air, her lungs screaming in pain as the ice-cold wind was sucked down into them. Swallowing, she continued, "All of this is training! And training is hard work!" Licking her lips she urged her legs, which felt like lead to continue—they had only been walking for about three hours. "Doing this for a few days straight," She turned her head and looked over at them, her green eyes sparkling with a large grin on her face. "We'll be strong for sure!"
"Training sucks." Hinata deadpanned making her friends pause for a moment then laugh.
"You're beginning to sound like Sakura!" Chouji exclaimed, tears coming from his eyes.
"Nice job, Hinata-Chan!"
Hinata smiled back, "I think we made a good choice."
"Which one?"
"All of them so far." Even though her chest felt heavy and her arms and legs were growing sore and numb, the Hyuuga heiress smiled. "We can do this—can't we?"
Chouji shrugged, trying to maneuver his bag in a comfortable position without moving his heavy arms. "We won't know until we try—but in the words of the great Haruno Sakura, hell yeah!"
"Now you both are sounding like me!!" The girl with pink-hair laughed with a shake of her head. "Well it's only going to get tougher from now on, but I think we all can handle it."
"Yeah!!"
--
"I can't handle this…" Sakura panted as she leaned against her legs, sweat pouring off of her. They were entering their second night away from home and all their limbs were sore and aching from sliding.
"Come on Optimistic-Chan…We can do this…We just need to keep going. Tomorrow night we can sleep. But we haven't placed enough distance—we are moving much slower than expected because of the weights."
"No." Hinata stated, earning their attention.
"No?" Sakura repeated, gasping for air.
"We are not stopping until the day after tomorrow night." She looked at their shocked faces. "This is what you want Sakura-Chan…pain, struggle, and a challenge." She swallowed some air. "We are not giving up—we are shinobi, we are going to prove them wrong." Her white eyes moved back and forth between her two friends. "We are going to push and push and push each other to our limits." Her fists were clenched tightly at her side. "When we say we are going to do something well…that's a promise we are making to ourselves and we will not go back on our promises!"
Sakura gave off a small chuckle as she wiped some of the sweat coming off her chin, "Once again Hinata-Chan is right…if we are going to overcome all of this we will have to push ourselves to the limit…The only way that we will start walking normally is if we start walking normally!" And with that she picked up her foot and placed it down, almost buckling under the weight. She took another step with the same reaction. "And once we have walking down we will jog!" She placed another foot down.
"And then run!" Chouji agreed as he did the same action, slipping.
"Jump!" Hinata continued following after them.
"Use our charka easily!" Sakura stated taking another step.
"Able to use many different abilities." Chouji almost fell on his side as he continued their cheer.
"Until we have finally reached out limit…" Hinata finished.
"No—we will go on from our limit…" Chouji stated as he gripped a tree for support. "We don't have a limit…when we are done out here we will continue training back at Konoha." He swallowed down some bile that was coming from the pits of his stomach. "We have to show all of them that we are not pathetic…we aren't failures or low-life's and all that other stuff!!" His eyes narrowed, "We will show them all."
Sakura grinned, "Are we done with all the sappy speeches? Let's go get kick-ass strong!!"
--
Walking became easier for them the next day, and by night they could almost walk normally. Their bodies ached and each of them were on the verge of collapsing but they laughed, smiled, and joked—silently pushing and cheering one another on. Trying to make it to the top—the goals they all had set out for them.
Despite the lack of sleep and food, they always smiled when they were next to one another finding that they were each other's strength. As long as they had each other they were happy and full of hope for the difficult and dark path they have chosen.
"How long till night fall?" Chouji moaned, as he swayed back and forth; tired, dizzy, and extremely hungry.
"A few more hours." Hinata stated, equally as tired, dizzy, and hungry. "But we can make it…I know we can."
"I am so hungry." Sakura groaned, rubbing her eyes. "Hopefully tomorrow we can make it to a village and get some work and some food."
"And a bath—I smell so bad." Hinata sighed out making Chouji twitch.
"What is it with girls and giving everyone a news-bulletin every time their body does something?"
Hinata frowned, "We do not!" Her legs began to tremble slightly at her exclamation. "I just thought you should know." Her and Sakura shared a look and giggled.
"You guys are ganging up on me."
"You're the only guy, Chouji. It comes with the territory." Sakura chortled playfully with her tongue sticking out. "But as Hinata said, we need a bath—cause you smell too Chouji—badly."
"I'm big-boned! We big-bone people sweat more than those who are a stick!" Sakura glared at him at his comment, knowing she was a bit thin. "Ugh!! This is ridiculous!" He pulled out his canteen and shakily brought it to his lips, the cold water felt good to his burning throat. "I just hope night comes soon so we can go to bed!"
"It will come when it always comes, Chouji-Kun. Just be patient." The girl with cropped purple hair ordered.
"Yeah only a few more hours…whoopee." He stated dully. The two girls shared another look and giggled again. "What are you two giggling about now?"
"Nothing!" They sang out innocently.
"That's a big-fat lie and you know it!!"
"Nothing!" They chorused again.
"You're doing this to annoy me!!"
"Maybe…"
"Damn you!!"
The girls giggled and hurried past him, Chouji right on their heels, screaming threats at them.
--
Lying on the ground looking at the stars twinkling above them, Sakura sighed, "It feels good to be lying down huh?"
"Yeah—the ground feels as good as any bed." Hinata agreed as she looked up at the stars as well, her whole body too numb to mind the cold—but they were all snuggled against one another, as their heavy eyes took in the sky.
"You think mom and pops are worried?"
Sakura nodded at Chouji's question, "They definitely are. That's what parents do—even if they have complete faith in their child they will always worry."
"I feel bad about that—I mean making them worry that is…I hate making them worry."
"They are sweet people Chouji-Kun…No one wants to make them worry…" Hinata then yawned and snuggled closer to Chouji. "Night."
"Night!" Sakura chirped out before doing the same.
Stuck in between, the big-male sighed, "Women." Before closing his eyes and falling asleep almost instantly.
Above them the stars stood watch over the three sleeping children.
--
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