Man I never thought this chapter would be so long. Even now I feel like I left some things out, but I'm sure I can go back and add more details in Hinata's memories. I think. Anyways enough ranting on to the chapter. I hope everyone enjoys it, please review.
I don't own Naruto in any way shape or form, but if I did this is how it would go.
MEETING AT THE HOT-SPRINGS
Sakura went to check on Chiyo. The news was grim her breathing was extremely labored and Sakura saw that Chiyo was not long for this world. Sakura tried to speak to Chiyo, but nothing would come out. She felt somewhat responsible for what had happened to Chiyo. As Sakura tried to gather herself to tell Chiyo the news before she passed away Chiyo's hand went to her leg and she looked up at Sakura through blurry vision. "Sakura, you did well. I know my time has come. The only regret that I have is that it took me so long to open my eyes. There is more to life then strength and missions. I learned that from you and your team. Don't forget that lesson yourself." Chiyo's hand fell away and she closed her eyes. There were tears in Sakura's eyes. Chiyo didn't open her eyes again, but she spoke weakly. "I do have one final request. Please bury me in my village. I would hate to be all alone in the desert. Also please bury my grandchild wherever you want, I know he may not deserve it, but it was not his fault he grew up the way he did." Those were Chiyo's final words.
Sakura leaned over Chiyo and nodded. "Hai, Chiyo-san. I'm sorry I wasn't able to learn more from you, but I won't forget you." Sakura said. She walked over to Kakashi and explained the situation finishing off telling him. "Please rest while I bury Sasori.You'll need all your strength for the trip back." Kakashi nodded and continued resting. He was impressed with how much Sakura had matured.
Once she finished everything she picked up Chiyo and together with Kakashi they began slowly making their way back to the village of sand.
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Neji and Lee came upon Naruto after running towards the center where the explosion took place. Naruto's clothes had been burned and were now in tatters his hair was singed and he had burn marks on his body. Neji looked at his condition and was surprised at the little damage he had actually taken. Lee saw this as well and asked Neji about it. "What do you think Neji, has Naruto really grown that strong that such an explosion had such little effect on him?"
Neji knew what had happened and explained it to him. "Actually it was something he was wearing that saved his life. I noticed it on him when he was taking off his weights. He was wearing it on a necklace. It's a protective garment from my clan." Neji saw Lee's confused look and knew he had to explain further. "It's a complex device composed of various seals each wrapped upon the other. It's wrapped so it can hold as much chakra as possible. When the person takes serious damage the seals absorb it and burn away, so the explosion burned through all the seals. I didn't know how well made it was when I saw it, but it was almost perfect considering how much it was able to absorb before completely burning out. I think it was my cousin that gave it to him." Lee still wore a bit of a confused expression, but before he could go deeper into explaining how the device had saved Naruto. Naruto stirred. Neji and Lee immediately went to his aid. "How are you feeling Naruto?" Neji asked.
Naruto was experiencing a lot of discomfort, it had been so long since he had been without the fox's chakra he had almost forgotten how bad the pain could be. Considering that he was still alive he knew he could bear it. He didn't tell Neji that however, "I'll be fine. How is Gaara?" He asked.
Lee answered this. "He's still unconscious, but he's still alive. We left him back a ways while we came here to check on you."
Naruto got up with a wince of pain. He looked at his companions and said. "So now we go back to the sand village and make sure everything is okay. Hopefully all our team mates made it back safely." Naruto said absently. He had many things on his mind and wasn't fully focused on the situation at hand.
Neji saw the sense to Naruto's words. "Hai, that would be best. We should see them back at the village if we don't see them on the way there." With that said they began making their way back to the village. They took Gaara with them and shared the duty of carrying him on their return trip to the village of sand.
Off in the distance Deidara stood watching all these events unfold with Tobi standing behind her. "It looks like there's nothing to worry about. We should go check on Sasori-san now." Deidara said.
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Evening was beginning to fall when Jiraiya called for everybody to stop. They had made it to a small clearing in the forests on a mountain. Once everybody had dismounted he turned to face them and spoke. "We're going to stop here for the night. We should set up here." He turned to his frog and said a few words. The frog suddenly vanished with a puff of smoke. He then walked to Shino and Hinata's frogs and repeated the process. "I sent them home so they could also get some rest. When we're ready to go tomorrow, I'll summon them again and we can leave." He looked at his three team mates and said. "Kiba, Shino please wait here. I would like to speak alone with Hinata." Hinata looked up at this as Kiba and Shino nodded their heads. Kiba was to tired to argue. Jiraiya looked at Hinata and asked. "Will you please accompany me?" Hinata nodded her head not sure what it was he wanted to talk about "Please bring some belongings with you as well." Jiraiya said. She obeyed and grabbed her belongings she slowly began following him. Ominous thoughts going through her mind. Did he find out about my mission? Is he going to make me return to the village by myself? She clapped her hands softly on the sides of her head above her ears. Stop thinking negatively she thought to herself. She looked up to see Jiraiya moving stealthily through the foliage and with the shadows the moon cast on him she was unable to lift her spirits. He told me to bring my stuff, of course he's planning to send me home. Thoughts like those kept flying through her head as she followed him. She was beginning to think she should just run away and avoid the situation when Jiraiya finally stopped. Hinata took a deep breath and prepared herself for the worst. Jiraiya saw the look on Hinata's face and smiled. "Relax, Hinata. It's not like I'm going to send you home." He laughed at Hinata's shocked expression. That's exactly what she had thought. Maybe he's psychic she thought, the silliness of the thought wiped it away from her mind immediately.
Her question stuttered out of her mouth before she could really think about it. "S-so, w-why did y-you ask me o-out here?" She said, she wished she hadn't stuttered immediately. She was always like that around new people and Naruto. She blushed as she thought of Naruto. She blushed even harder as Jiraiya saw her blushing and commented on it.
"So you did think I was going to make you go home by yourself. There's no need to worry about that, we're team mates now." He waited for her to stop blushing before going on, it didn't take long when she realized what he thought. As her blush faded she waited for him to continue. "I called you out here for a number of reasons." He lifted his hand with the index finger sticking up. "First we are now a team and we will commence training tomorrow. So the first reason I called you out here is to let you know that." His middle finger popped up. "Second, knowing that I want you to think about what area of your skills you want to work on." His ring finger popped up. "Third I am a Sannin, a great one at that so you have nothing to worry about, whatever you pick. I can definitely help you with." She smiled as his pinky finger went up. He sounded so much like Naruto when he gave her the third reason. "Fourth and this is not by any means not important. There is a hot springs in this area you can use to relax tonight. Get rested up and refreshed so you can be ready for tomorrow's activities." Hinata looked up at this. She had not expected these news. Perhaps that is why he asked her to bring her belongings. Jiraiya got up as he kept talking. He pointed into a clearing and said. "You just go a little ways through this clearing here and you should find it easily enough. There might even be other girls there...but more then likely you might be alone. I'm going to show Kiba and Shino another hot-spring where us guys can relax. Whenever your done, just find your way back to camp and we'll regroup in the morning." He then looked at Hinata with an almost goofy look on his face and said. "Ok then see ya' tomorrow." He waved and went back on to the camp with a evil grin on his face.
Hinata felt relief and a sense of gratitude for having been put in the same group as Jiraiya-san. He seemed like such a good leader. (She didn't see his evil grin as he walked away.) "Arigatou, Jiraiya-san." She said. She watched him leave and then turned to search for the hot-spring.
It didn't take Hinata long to find the hot-springs. It was empty when she got there. Guess Jiraiyas was right about it more than likely being her by herself. She didn't mind however it would be good to relax by herself and unwind. She quickly used her byakugan to scan the surrounding areas for peeping tom's. There was no sign of any. She breathed a little sigh of relief and began to undress. Once she was fully unclothed she walked into the steaming water. When her foot made contact with the water the sensation sent shivers down her body. She walked around the water enjoying the heat and dipped her head in the water. She came up and whipped her head back sending her hair flying over her head and drops of water everywhere. She reached up with her hands and wiped her face. She let out a giggle and then commented to herself. "Wow, that felt great. Hee hee, this feels wonderful." She said. She felt so free out here the feeling was exhilarating to her. She spotted the perfect place to relax almost immediately. There was a large stone with smaller stones pushed up against it. She got up and began walking towards it. Skimming the water with the tips of her fingers. The water came up just a little way above her belly-button. She looked down at the stones and admired the set-up. Somebody had put in a lot of effort in this hot-spring, the rocks were very smooth and looked inviting. She didn't resist the invitation, she quickly sat down and leaned against the larger stone. The water came up to her neck and she felt like she was in heaven she closed her eyes and let her thoughts run where ever they wanted to. The first thing she thought of was how she wanted to get stronger. She hated the way she stuttered, but she couldn't help herself. Thinking of this lead her to comparing herself to Naruto. He's so strong so sure of himself. He never stutters, I want to be more like him. These thoughts led to her thinking about how she wanted to be with him. She put her hands in her lap and relaxed even more. She wasn't aware that she muttered Naruto's name to herself. She had gotten lost in romantic thoughts of Naruto. She was so deep in her own thoughts she didn't notice the two strangers that had arrived and joined her in the hot- springs.
Suddenly a soft voice with an osakan accent broke into her thoughts. "Those are really pretty."
Hinata started at the sound of the voice. "W-what are y-y-you talking a-bou...w-who a-ar y-y-you?" Hinata stammered as she looked down and saw the upper half of a head poking out of the water. Before Hinata had time to make any observation the young girl responded.
She reached her hand under the water and said. "I'm talking about these." She grabbed one of Hinata's breasts. Hinata's hair suddenly became very unruly and she pressed herself against the rock behind her trying to get away from this crazy person. She threw up and arm to guard herself as the young girl introduced herself. "My name's Aun. Pleased to meet'cha. So what's your name is? Hmmm?" The girl asked clearly unaware of Hinata's distress. Either that or completely ignoring it.
She may have wanted to ignore it, but the older girl behind her was all to aware of it. She spoke in a normal accent. "You know it's unhealthy to stress out like that. You really ought to relax. You were doing so well before Aun surprised you. I swear you looked a million miles away." She let out a light and friendly laugh. "Don't worry about us, c'mon Aun. We should let the missus calm her nerves." Aun looked disappointed as she followed the older girl. Head still submerged in the water. She turned to Hinata and waved good-bye. Even though they didn't go far.
Hinata got over her shock quickly enough. She was still blushing hard thinking of how they had snuck upon her so easily and how that little girl had the nerve to grab her breast like that. Hinata thought the embarrassment was going to kill her. She let herself sink underwater to drown out some of the embarrassment. She balled her hands into fists and clapped them softly on her head. She had a long way to go still. She came up out of the water and let out a long sigh. Okay, Hinata you can do this. You can be brave she thought to herself. She gathered her courage and stood up. She walked over to the two girls and tried to introduce herself. "D-demo, g-gomen about earlier, I-I m-my name is Hinata." She said her thumbs had unconsciously found their way towards each other and were twiddling as she made her introduction. She pulled them apart as soon as she was aware of this and blushed slightly. The older girl was sitting behind the younger girl fixing her hair.
The two girls looked up at Hinata. Hinata was taken a little aback as she saw the two girls for the first time with observing eyes. The older girl had the top part of her hair pulled into a large bun, which was unruly and really reminded her of Naruto's hair on top of that it was blond as well. The lower half fell loosely down a little bit past her shoulders. She had a very elegant slim face and her eyes were also blue, but they were a few shades lighter than Narutos, a soft smile on her face. The younger child surprised her even more. She also had blond hair, but through it ran streaks of white. Her hair hung loosely and was held in place by large beads, two strands falling in front of her ears and three behind. Her eyes matched Naruto's eyes in every way. They had the same shade and naked honesty she had seen in Naruto's eyes. Underneath her eyes on her cheek she had a mark underneath each eye. A thin line that looked almost like a whisker. She wore a smile as well and responded in a friendly way. "Hi, Hinata-chan, you can call me Aun-chan. That sounds cute doesn't it?" She was beginning to extend her hand to shake Hinata's when a comment from the older girl stopped her.
The older girl chided. "The way you act sometimes she should call you Aun-bozu." She laughed at her own joke. A vain appeared on Aun's face as she crossed her arms over her chest and shot a look back at the older girl.
Aun looked at Hinata with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Xephelin is being mean to me because she's jealous that you have a much prettier body than her." She was beginning to grin when two hands pushed her down into the water.
A vain was now on the older girls face as she said. "Children should be seen, not heard." The older girl looked up a Hinata quickly composing herself. "Ahem, my names Xephelin, but you can call me Xeph-chan." She reached out her hand and shook Hinata's hand. Hinata was blushing, because of the comment Aun made before she was forcefully submerged.
Hinata stuttered her salutation. "H-hi, Xeph-c-chan." she put a little effort into her handshake, but it was too late. Xeph's attention was on Aun once again as she was speaking.
Aun had a pout on her face and said. "Why are you so mean Xeph-sempai. One day I'll grow up and have a pair just like Hinata-chan's." She said. She wrapped her arms tightly around her chest and Hinata blushed fiercely. Aun stuck her tongue out at Xephelin as she turned to Hinata.
There was a slight blush on her face as she spoke. "Anyways don't mind her, she can be a handfull sometimes."Xephelin said, Hinata nodded at this. She looked to Aun and saw she had disappeared. She started once again as she turned and saw the young girl standing next to her looking at her with wide eyes. How did she get there Hinata wondered. She hadn't even noticed her move.
"You have very pretty hair, Hinata-chan. May I braid it?" she was making puppy dog eyes.
Hinata wanted to refuse, but just couldn't bring herself to do so. "H-hai, I don't mind." which she didn't, but she felt maybe it was moving too fast. She brightened at the idea though. I'm opening up easily to strangers she thought to herself a smile playing on her lips.
Xephelin had gotten out of the pool and was setting up some buckets. "Come over here Hinata-chan, I'll wash your back while Aun-hokai braids your hair." she said with a friendly smile on her face as she placed a towel on the upside down bucket. She then went to gather some water in the other bucket.
Hinata was surprised at their friendliness and before she could comment on it Aun had taken her hand and was leading her towards the buckets. "C'mon Hinata-chan, I'm gonna make you look even prettier." Aun said enthusiastically.
Hinata let herself be led, but commented on Aun's last comment. "A-arigatou, a-ano, I'm n-not that pretty, I-I." she was suddenly cut off as Aun turned around and looked at her.
Aun couldn't believe her ears, here was this beautiful girl who didn't even know how beautiful she was. "Hinata-chan, I don't care what you think. You're beautiful, don't argue with me, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder and you my beautiful new friend are way prettier then Xephelin." She was beginning to smile at Hinata when a towel struck the side of her head. Hinata looked to see Xephelin waiting by the buckets with a large vain on her forehead. Aun didn't let go of Hinata's hand, with her free hand she pulled the towel off of her head. A vain clearly showing on her head. Hinata didn't see the motion exactly, but suddenly the towel was gone from Aun's hands and when she looked Xephelin was holding an empty bucket facing towards them inside the bucket was the towel that had just been covering Aun-chan's head. Aun yelled at Xephelin. "YOU BIG MEANIE!" Hinata felt Aun's hand tighten around hers as Aun tensed for a fight.
She saw Xephelin pulling the bucket back and heard her yell back. "You wanna see mean, I'll show you mean!" Hinata saw the intention clearly.
She didn't want to see them fight so suddenly and spoke up in a clear voice. "Please don't fight." Hinata said this in a loud clear voice that got both of the other girls to stop and look at her. Xephelin let out a laugh as she began to gather water again with the bucket in her hands. Aun looked at Hinata with a smile on her face.
Xephelin apologized. "Gomen, I guess we shouldn't have let ourselves get carried away." She was still busy gathering the water.
Aun turned to Hinata and whispered. "Really now, she's the one that should show more restraint. She's my sempai after all. Right Hinata?" Aun looked at Hinata with those puppy dog eyes waiting for her to agree with her. Hinata nodded her head in agreement after a moment, not really sure if she did agree. Aun then whispered something to Hinata that forcibly reminded her of Naruto. "It's a good thing you stopped us. I wouldn't want to beat her up in front of a new friend." A smile full of confidence spread on Aun's face as she tugged on Hinata's arm and she turned to drag her towards the buckets. They ran past a mumbling Xephelin with a vain on her forehead. She had heard every word Aun had said and was using all her restrain at the moment.
A few moments later the situation had calmed down and they were all conversating. Xephelin was behind Hinata washing her back and Aun was braiding her hair. She was just going to braid the locks that fell over Hinata's ears. She was still braiding the first braid when she asked Hinata. "Why do you stutter so much?"
Hinata was surprised by the bluntness of the question and did exactly that when she tried to respond. "I-it's...I don't do it on purpose. I j-just, I guess it's just a bad habit." Hinata said. She really didn't know how to respond.
Aun saw Hinata was about to hang her head and put her hand under her chin to prevent her from doing so. "It's okay Hinata-chan, don't feel bad. I thought it was some kind of speech imped'ment." Aun smiled at her new friend.
Xephelin corrected Aun. "It's impediment. Anyhow from what I understand stuttering has to do with one's confidence. The more conviction you have in what you're saying the less likely you are to stutter. I'm not sure if there's a speech disorder that causes stuttering though." Xephelin finished.
Hinata knew everything that Xephelin said was true, but she really didn't know what the solution to the problem was. Aun's voice as it was starting to become familiar broke into her thoughts. "Is that true Hinata? It's not true is it? You believe in yourself right?" Aun said in an almost pleading voice.
Hinata was about to stutter as she answered, but caught herself. So instead of stuttering she drew out the h in her answer. "H-ai, I believe in myself." Hinata said. She felt good as she said that. Saying that in front of these two girls had some sort of effect on her. It made her feel more confident in herself. "I g-uess I just have to work on my confidence." She caught herself from stuttering on the guess.
Aun smiled at this. "Nuh-uh, you don't work on your confidence you work on believing in yourself. I believe in you Hinata." Hinata looked up at Aun and met her deep blue eyes for the first time directly. "I see great potential in you Hinata-chan, plus your a good person. You just need to believe you can reach your potential." Hinata felt grateful for these words, it was so rare for someone anyone to be so kind to her. Aun was finishing the braid and when she finished it she held Hinata's braid with one hand and with the other took off one of her own large beads that held it in place. Hinata's eyes widened as she saw her put her own bead on her braid. "These beads are to remind you of your potential. One day we'll meet again and I want you to still have them. A bond yes, from kohai to sempai." Aun said.
Hinata was honored, but she didn't feel she deserved the gift. "I'm not your sempai, I haven't taught you anything, you barely know me." Hinata protested.
Aun countered quickly. "Nuh-uh that's not true. You taught me there is a good person out there. That good person is you. What else do I need to know." Aun said as she began the second braid.
Hinata had no response to this. She started again as Xephelin spoke into her ear. She had been so focused on Aun she had almost forgotten about Xephelin. "She's special isn't she. Even in our clan." Xephelin said in a softer tone from before. Hinata could sense a lot of warmth in her voice.
Something occurred to Hinata as she listened to Xephelin. "Were you named after the flower." Hinata asked her.
Xephelins eyes widened a little bit and a smile formed on her face. "Oh, you're good. Yup, I sure was. Okay let's see how good you are. Wanna guess how old we are?" Xephelin asked.
Hinata took a good look at them and took a guess. "You're I think seventeen and Aun you're fifteen. Am I close?" She could tell by the look on Aun's face that she wasn't.
Xephelin answered however. "Kind of close. I just turned eighteen and Aun is about to turn thirteen." She said. Hinata turned to Aun and smiled. She hadn't been to far off.
She asked Aun. "So you're twelve?"
Aun's face contorted and as if Hinata had just said something obscene. "NANI! No, no, no way! I'm eleven. I'm skipping twelve!" Aun said.
Hinata was puzzled by Aun's reaction and two questions fell out of her mouth. "Can you do that? Why would you want to skip twelve?" Hinata for some reason always thought thirteen was the bad luck number, but Aun seemed to think differently.
Aun's answer came quickly. "Hai, of course you can do that! Didn't you know! Well that's okay, anyways I'm skipping twelve because that's the number of the god of misfortune." Aun said matter of factly.
"What's that m-mean." Hinata asked unaware that she had stuttered.
Xephelin answered this question. "Each entity we believe in we associate with a number. I guess it can be complex to those unfamiliar to it, but basically it goes like this. Ten is the god of life, eleven is fortune, twelve is misfortune and thirteen is death." Hinata had never heard of this, but she loved stories.
"So isn't thirteen worse?" Hinata asked.
Xephelin thought about this before answering. "You could look at it that way, but to us death is natural and happens to everybody, misfortune on the other hand is something we can avoid." She said.
Hinata thought she understood. Aun skipped her twelve year so she would have less associated with the god of misfortune. That made sense in a way. Hinata liked this conversation, she felt like she was really learning something here. "So that's what you two were brought up to believe?" Hinata asked.
Aun reacted quickly to this. "It's not our belief. They're concrete, I was touched by the shinigami." Aun dropped the braid she was working on and was bringing her hands together when Xephelin reached over Hinata and poked her on the head.
"Quit that Aun-chan. Finish Hinata-chan's braid." Xephelin said. Aun pouted, but seemed to see the reason in this and went back to braiding Hinata's hair. Hinata felt disappointed somehow, like she was about to witness something amazing and it was taken away from her. However this was quickly forgotten as her face turned beet red. Xephelin leaned against her back and she whispered into Hinata's ears. "So tell us Hinata-chan who was the lucky guy occupying your mind when we found you?" Hinata was so shocked by that question she didn't know how to react.
Hinata suddenly began stuttering again. "W-what are y-you talking a-about? I wasn't think- why do you say t-that?" Hinata's discomfort was obvious to the girls now and they both began joking around with her. She couldn't do anything as Aun was still braiding her hair.
After a while of this Hinata and the others spent some more time in the springs relaxing and getting to know each other. Hinata left after a long while and waved at them as she left. She got dressed and left. Leaving her two new friends in the springs. While she didn't tell them a lot about Naruto she described him well enough to leave a good impression on them. They thought he was stupid for not begging her to be his girlfriend. Hinata thanked Aun for the two braids and promised to keep the beads and not forget her. They made fun of her for her fashion sense when they saw her big coat and said something that made her think. That big coat is probably why your crush doesn't pay you much mind Xephelin joked. Even though it was a joke it left an impression on Hinata. Hinata was leaving the clearing and beginning to walk back when he realized something. She hadn't asked them about their clan or who they really were. She turned around to head back when she heard the snapping of branches. She was quickly on alert and began scanning the area. Who could be out there she wondered.
PREVIEW
Who is in the woods? What will happen to our heroine and will our heroes in the desert make it back without incident.
RSO'S
acrazygirlofmanynames- Hope you like this chapter.
snakeeyes- thanx for all the reviews.
danny- man, I hope I didn't disappoint with this chapter. Yeah, she should have died, but she wouldn't be such a dangerous person if she died to easily. Yeah, when they meet again, it should be very interesting how much they've changed.
alana- that was kind of my intention. Then again I can't just kill him off yet now can I? Hmm. yeah that's gaara they saved, Deidara had just snuck in with him, before making her escape.
jeefus- Damn I hope I didn't disappoint, I just added more mystery with the introduction of some new characters, but they should stay on your mind, they're gonna play a huge part down the line. I'll try to get more explaining done next chapter and some more interaction with our heroes as they recover from there experiences.
dragonman180- well, some girls are seeing her, but we'll find out if anybody else was lucky enough to get a peek in next chapter.
sagazlegend- Thanx, wait it's not in you fav story group yet. What's that all about? J/K thanx for reviewing.
causiambetta- hope your enjoying your travels. Thanx for the compliments, the bargaining with Kyubii should be interesting. How will Naruto handle it?
narashikamaru21- dude, I read some of your story and it is badass, hope I didn't disappoint and make your nose bleed without good reason. Thank you.