Pink Crush

Chapter Four

Journey to the Snake's Lair

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"Alright, as you all already know, I'm the squad leader for this mission," Shikamaru sighed. "What a bother," he paused to rub the arch between his eyebrows. "As you all probably already know, Sasuke Uchiha has been branded a rogue ninja. Our mission is to either terminate," Shikamaru stared down Naruto who had let out an audible growl.

"Or, if we can manage it, bring him back to the leaf village for questioning. One of our ninja has been tracking Orochimaru for a couple of weeks and has finally managed to get word back to the Hokage in time for us to move.

"Apart from capturing Sasuke, the second part of our mission is to figure out what Orochimaru is up to. We have received word that he is close to finishing a new, nasty jutsu.

"In a best case scenerio we would capture Sasuke, kill Orochimaru and anyone he is working with and bring back all the information we can. However, that isn't realistic. So, let's stick to the basics for now. Is everyone clear?" Shikamaru asked, looking around the group with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"Are we the only ones going?" Ino asked, receiving a sarcastic look from Shikamaru. Clearly telling her he wasn't happy with the job either.

"Tsunade can't spare anymore ninja at the moment. Which is why our main goal is to spy. We are not to engage Orochimaru directly if it can be avoided. We don't need any heroes." Shikamaru slanted his gaze to Naruto who smiled and shrugged it off. Whether he got the message or not is up for debate.

"Alright," Naruto's fist pumped into the air, "let's get going!" The spunky blonde's energy ripped through the air intertwining with his teammates. Shikamaru smirked and took up the lead position as the group pierced through the front gates.

Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand, smiling broadly as he took off after Shikamaru, dragging the Hyuuga behind him, who looked all too happy to be there. Chouji jogged lightly catching up to his best friend, and already delving into conversation. Neji and Kiba walked quietly side by side, Kiba's hands stuffed into the pockets of his fur lined coat, glaring at Naruto's back; jealousy burning in his fierce brown eyes. Once the four in front of him took off, the Inuzuka and Hyuuga males sprinted into the trees after their teammates.

Ino looked at Sakura, who started to follow behind Neji and Kiba, her shoulders slumped. She paused to casting a nervous look at her friend, looking as if to say something before pushing the notion away.

Ino moved to walk beside the kunoichi, throwing her a reassuring smile. Sakura returned the gesture with a weak smile of her own before turning her attention back to the road ahead. Both girls took off, leaving the entrance to the Leaf village barren once more.

~o~

Shikamaru led the troupe towards the Earth Country, west of the Fire Country. The report they were going on said, Sasuke and Orochimaru had been sited moving their base to a peninsula south of the village Suna, in the Earth Country.

The report also said, Orochimaru was using test subjects for a new water style jutsu. It was undetermined what exactly he is trying to do at the time his message was received.

The eight young shinobi were selected because they ninja with the most experience dealing with the rogue Uchiha. Besides his two team mates, Naruto and Sakura, five of the others were his class mates and grew up with Sasuke, which included Hinata, Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru, and Ino. Neji was the only one selected who did not have extensive time with the Uchiha; he has however, studied Sasuke like an overzealous rival. That, accompanied with his byakuugan and his experience with his teammates, made him a must in the selection process.

It also helped that both Naruto and Sakura had some experience in dealing with Orochimaru. However, since this mission was focused on dealing with Sasuke, and simply finding out information about Orochimaru's plan, Tsunade did not feel she needed to send ninja who were more familiar with the snake lover.

The Hokage didn't have high hopes for the capture or death of both or either of the bingo book ninja. At the worst she was hoping to gather information and stop whatever Orochimaru was working on. The best would be the capture of either of the rogues. If they are left alive they can still speak. Dead would also be acceptable as well, so long as the body was returned to the Leaf village and not left for a rival nation to retrieve and study.

This was the first time that Orochimaru had set up a new base this close to the Leaf Village and they had received information about the location change very early into the process. They had a very small window of opertunity to strike when he wasn't at his best, which explained the sudden rush to move out.

Within the day, the eight shinobi pressed the Earth country's borders. The terrain changed under their feet as they ran, lush green grass and thick trees changed into dingy brown, with the trees becoming slowly less and less frequent. The ground hardened from the lack of moisture in the area, hard rocks littering the uneven terrain, and making the footing treacherous.

Shikamaru led the group directly west over the borders, north of their destination. As the sun hit the middle of the next day he turned them south, pushing down towards the peninsula. Kiba and Akamaru began to smell salt on the wind, signaling that they were growing closer to the sea side base. As the sun was setting on the second day both squads were already well pressing their limits, they could go no further on no sleep and little rest.

The ground had regained some of its green; a small patch of trees lined a small rocky hill. Shikamaru slowed his pace and held up his hand, fingers pointing skyward he signaled the halt.

"This is far enough, we are only a few hours away and we need to recuperate." Scanning the area he walked into the cover of the trees, followed by his weary teammates. "Get some rest, don't light any fires, or set up any tents, we don't need to let them know we're here."

"Then what will we eat? I need a warm meal with meat!" Chouji complained, his hand resting on a rumbling stomach.

"That's why we brought rations," Shikamaru replied evenly, quickly cutting off his best friend's next protest.

"Naruto, you and Hinata have the first watch, in two hours Kiba and Neji will take over. After that it will be Choji and I followed by Ino and Sakura. We set out at the first sight of dawn." Seven heads nodded in unison, breaking up to work on their tasks and get as much rest as they could.

Naruto left with Hinata, heading up the hill with Hinata's Byakugan already activated, the blond had his fingers linked with his girlfriends, chatting amiably and seeming to still be full of energy even after two days of travel.

Again, Ino noticed Kiba watching as they left hand in hand, this time hurt was an unmasked emotion on his face. As soon as they were out of sight he turned to Akamaru who let out a sympathetic whine, and dropped to the ground. Akamaru raised a paw, sitting on his haunches and allowed Kiba to check his paws for rocks or cuts. Before moving to groom the dog's silky white coat with a wiry brush.

Ino raised an eyebrow before looking around the rest of the camp. Shikamaru had his eyes closed, already drifting to sleep on a thin, unrolled mat. Choji was sitting beside him, legs crossed as she sorted through the promised rations, talking quietly without either care or notice to his friends restful state.

Ino shook her head, a smile lifting the corner of her lips at the sight of her teammates, they never would change.

She turned her attention to Neji who had already finished his dinner and was lying down on his mat, his back to the rest of the squad, carefully positioned so no one would have any unnecessary reason to disturb him.

Subtly as possible, Ino watched Sakura who was sitting on the scratchy patch of grass beside her, debating between two sets of rations and looking equally disgusted with both of them. If she could think of a way to get away with the suggestion, she would have told her she should eat both of them and then some.

Her eyes found a scrape along the back of the kunoichi's calf and Ino took the presented opening. Grabbing a salve from her bag she walked over and plopped down beside the startled kunoichi. Sakura looked at her curiously, glancing at the salve in her hand with more than a little apprehension.

"Don't look at me like that, I promise I don't have a trick up my sleeve," Ino smirked, twisting the lid off the brown container. "Let me see your leg, it's got a scrape on it." Before she had even finished her sentence Ino had grabbed Sakura's leg and pulled it over top of her crossed ones, knee bent up so she could get a good angle on the scrape.

Sakura blushed and glanced nervously around camp, making sure they weren't being watched. Not that there was anything remotely sexual going on, but Ino dismissed it figuring she was still jumpy after Naruto. "Don't worry I'm not going to jump you, I can control myself when I want to." Ino winked as she dipped her fingers into the thick white paste and dabbed a bit gently on the scrape.

Mortified, Sakura looked away, chewing on her lip.

'She always does that when she's thinking, it's adorable.' Ino watched her until Sakura looked at over suspiciously. Matching her gaze Ino flashed her trademark cocky grin before rubbing the salve into Sakura's skin, careful not to press too hard. When Sakura relaxed under her touch, Ino worked up the courage to address what had been bothering her since they'd left.

"You know, you've been really distant. If you're worried about Naruto..." Ino tried to start before Sakura cut her off, looking away again, her face contorted as though she had something bitter in it.

"It's not Naruto." Sakura scrunched up her nose, nervous and uncomfortable as she tried again. "At least, it's not all Naruto." Her muscles tensed under Ino's touch and she resisted the urge to pull her leg away.

"Then what is it? You said..." Ino tried, trying to sort through the other possibilities. Sakura sighed, giving Ino a soft smile.

"I know what I said, Ino." Sakura pulled her leg out of Ino's hands and turned her back. "I'm a medical nin, I can heal my own injuries, I don't need you wasting your medicine on me." She moved away and unrolled her mat silently. Readying herself to try and get as much sleep as possible she forced out one last thing. "But thank you, for your concern."

Ino reached out to touch her friends turned back before pulling her hand back and shaking her head, pulling out her own mat and resolving herself to let the matter drop, for now.

~o~

From the top of the hill Hinata watched the entire scene unfold. She watched Ino's gentle touch that seemed too familiar to simply be the touch of a friend. From her spot, she would see the tiny movements of both girls. The small cues of stress and discomfort before they both suddenly went to sleep, dinner long forgotten. Confused by what her Byakugan was telling her but her ears could not hear, she glanced at the blond standing beside her.

"N-naruto, is there s-something going on between Ino and Sakura?" Hinata asked, her purple eyes gazing up into his blue full of confusion, not comprehending what was going on. "I thought they were best friends, did they get into a fight?"

Beside her Naruto practically jumped out of his skin, eyes wide as his mind wandered to the worst possible thing Hinata could have seen. He plastered a nervous smile on his face and replied while scratching the back of head, knowing full well if word got out about his two friends, it would be his head on the line.

"What do you mean? What did you see?" He asked, silently praying that Hinata was wrong, or he was about what he thought she thought.

"I'm not sure, Ino seemed nervous, which is odd for Ino." Hinata twirled her fingers, forefingers rolling around each other as she tilted her head down and whispered, thoughtfully, "they both seemed really uncomfortable, and Ino was rubbing Sakura's leg and they both just suddenly broke apart."

"Oh boy," Naruto sighed and looked down to the camp, barely visible through the treetops. "I'm not sure what's going on to be honest Hinata, and I'm not sure it's my place to say anything."

"Oh," Hinata pulled a strand of her navy blue hair behind her ear, fingers trailing over the top ridge. "I hope they will be okay," her meek smile tickling her lips with worry. "The last time they got into a fight, it tore everyone apart." Naruto watched her and then with his usual energy pulled her into a tight hug, crushing her against his chest.

"Don't worry, everything will be okay," Naruto's fingers gently brushed against her cheek before his hand touched the side of her neck, thumb gently pushing her chin to tilt upwards. "It's a promise."

Hinata blushed deeply as she smiled at him and closed her violet eyes, Naruto gently brushed his lips against hers, kissing her tenderly.

"Aren't you two supposed to be on watch?" Kiba growled from behind Hinata, his fangs showing as he glowered at the taller blonde. Naruto glared back but didn't release Hinata from his arms, still holding her protectively, and possessively, in his arms.

"What do you want, Kiba?" Naruto asked evenly, Hinata twisting in his arms to look at her teammate, the expression on her face a silent plead for them not to fight again.

Kiba opened his mouth to reply before his eyes caught Hinata's and his fists bunched up, turning his head to stare at the dirt. Claws dug painfully into his palms as a trickle of blood ran down over his fingers, shoulders shaking with frustration and anger. "There's still a lot of time before your turn to stand watch, you should get your rest for the fight tomorrow instead of picking them now." Naruto offered, his eyes hard, giving Kiba a way out without having to admit defeat.

Snarling, Kiba turned and stalked off, unable to meet Hinata's eyes that seemed to look through him like they did everything else.

As Kiba disappeared back down the hill, Naruto sighed and looked down at the woman he was holding, speaking quietly with confidence in his claims.

"He loves you." Hinata's eyes closed as she continued to face the direction he had disappeared.

"I know, but I chose you... I've always and only loved you; I just wish Kiba didn't have to get hurt because of it." Hinata buried her face into Naruto's chest, reveling in his warmth and taking comfort.

'What am I going to do?' Naruto thought to himself.

The watch was switched that night without incident, Kiba and Naruto passing each other silently, only the slightest brush of elbows giving any reference to the feud brewing between them.

Kiba and Neji ended their turn on watch duty without incident, only a slight scare of a wild horse causing any disturbance. It was a tribute to Neji's exhaustion that he hadn't spotted the horse before it had come close enough to rustle a brush while grazing.

Shikamaru and Choji took over exactly on schedule. Choji took the opportunity to eat an early breakfast while his friend stared up at the invisible clouds, hidden in the dark.

"Choji, I need you to promise me something." The ebony haired shinobi began, shifting a stalk of grass to the opposite side of his mouth, looking more and more like Asuma.

"What is it, Shikamaru?" Choji asked, whispering in the darkness as a gust of wind blew over them, stirring up the sleeping oasis. The genius ninja didn't reply right away, contemplating things a little more and setting the pieces in order.

"If things go badly tomorrow..." He paused again, rolling up, using only the muscles of his stomach to carry himself. "I need you to find everyone, and get out." Choji studied his friends serious expression, an odd sight on his friend.

"Of course, you are the leader of this mission, I will do whatever you want me to." Choji replied, somber. The generic answer seemed to steady his friend somewhat.

With only a half smile, Shikamaru fell back against the grass, lacing his fingers behind his head.

"Everything will be okay, Shikamaru." Choji said into the silence after a while, easily overpowering the symphony of the crickets playing.

Shikamaru sighed, "yeah, I guess. Man, this is such a bother." Choji smiled, knowing his friend was alright and continued eating his midnight snack.

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Alright, for those of you who remember the old Pink Crush, you will notice a few things. First, the beginning of this, and the ending of last chapter are completely new. As well, two new scenes were added and a lot was cut. On top of that, the second half of this chapter had to be shifted back in my attempt to even out the content in each chapter.

I hope, once again, this chapter is just as good and hopefully better than the original. Drop a review, let me know what you think.

Thanx, - Kiravu

PS, I have a new fic posted called 'The Passage of Twin Disciplines' you should read it, it's the first fic posted closer to my best genre :3