"If he doesn't show up on time, then why the HELL do you go so early?!"
Sakura had failed to tell Rayne last night that Kakashi Sensei had instructed the team to meet at their usual meeting spot, a bridge, at 8:30 in the morning…and Rayne wasn't too happy about it. She didn't admit it, but she had a tough time sleeping last night on the floor. Not only was she sleeping on hard flooring, but she had this heavy ass comforter that was intended for winter. Sakura had good intentions, but did she have any common sense at all?
"As a shinobi, it is my duty to follow the instructions of my Sensei. Besides, with my luck, the one day I don't show up on time, he would," Sakura said as she ran her fingers through her hair. She wanted to make sure it was frizz free for her Sasuke.
Upon watching Sakura, Rayne subconsciously ran her fingers through her own hair, bringing a smile to Sakura's face. Suddenly, she quick stepped ahead of Rayne.
"G-good morning, Sasuke…" She clamped her hands behind her back, slightly rocking back at forth.
He merely gave her a glance. "Hey."
"Jeez, you get here even earlier? You guys are crazy."
Sasuke watched as Rayne came into his view. She stood next to Sakura, running her fingers through her hair, eyes shut. She opened one to look at him.
"Morning."
"Hn."
Rayne sweat dropped. 'At least Sakura gets to have her existence acknowledged, and he claims to find her annoying…pffft, prick.'
"So…uh, since I wasn't informed," Rayne shot a glare at Sakura, who smiled and blushed. "What kind of mission is this going to be?"
"Probably training, that's what it always is. The only real mission we've had so far was a mission to the Land of Waves to protect this ungrateful old bridge builder. It was supposed to be easy, but it turned into a real bitch," Sakura explained.
Sasuke smirked. "Hmph…it turned out to be a good way to test my abilities."
'It turned out to be a good way to test my abilities,' Rayne mocked him in a "nyah nyah" tone in her mind. She smirked as her eye twitched.
"Seeing as Kakashi has a supposed knack for being late…why don't you show me those "abilities" you claim to have."
Sasuke, who had been propped himself against the bridge, leaning on his back, pushed off his elbows and stood straight. He withrew a kunai, without saying a single word, and twirled it around on his finger. "You're on."
Rayne smirked as she charged at him. Sasuke charged at her in turn, kunai still twirling on his index finger. He lunged at her; Rayne lunged forward as well, but bent back on the ground, her right foot forward, sliding against the boards of the bridge. She slid under Sasuke as he passed over, just barely nicking her in the nose with his sandal. Rayne quickly dug her fingers between and under the gap between two boards. Pulling back on the boards and kicking off the ground with her forward foot, she did half a hand stand, then pushed off the board with her hand.
By time Sasuke had turned around to strike Rayne with his kunai, she was above his head. She raised her fist in the air, concentrating her chakra into it. Sakura watched the chakra glow around Rayne's hand.
"Rayne! Don't be so rash! And don't break through the bridge either!"
Rayne scoffed and withdrew the chakra from her hand. Instead, she went to punch him in the face with a normal fist, but he caught her hand in his. Landing in front of him, Rayne dodged Sasuke's slash at her face with his kunai.
'Is he trying to kill me?!' Rayne screamed internally as Sasuke smirked, aiming to jab his weapon into her side. She pulled back quickly, then bent over, rushing into his abdomen with her left shoulder. Sasuke gasped for air as he was driven back, releasing Rayne's hand.
'There's no way I'm losing to her,' Sasuke said to himself as he knelt on the ground coughing. 'I'm not going to be shown up…by such a loser.'
"Sasuke! Are you alright?! RAYNE! YOU WENT TOO FAR!" Sakura chastised in her burst of fangirlism.
Rayne rolled her eyes. "HE TRIED TO KILL ME!"
Hearing the scratching of sandal against dirt/gravel, Rayne turned her attention from Sakura, to Sasuke. He stood up and glared at her.
"Is that really all you've got?" he snapped.
Rayne did nothing but stare.
"You seemed to be so cocky, claiming to have trained under the Raikage. If that's true, then why haven't you been able to beat me already?"
Again, Rayne failed to answer. Disrespectful to him yet again, which pissed him off. He bent his head down, squeezing his eyes shut.
Rayne blinked at him. 'Uh…what the hell is he doing?'
What little old Sasuke didn't know was that Rayne wasn't refusing to answer him; she was merely staring off into the distance, past him, at the approaching dust cloud.
"You're in for it now."
"Uh…Sasuke?"
"I've been waiting to try this out."
"Sasuke…you had better-"
His head shot up as he opened his eyes, glaring toward her with his Sharingan activated. He smirked.
Sakura noticed Rayne ignoring Sasuke's existence, and looked to her left in the direction Rayne was staring. "Naruto?"
Rayne's eyes went wide as she suddenly looked at Sasuke. "Dude, what the hell are you doing?!"
He laughed his little cocky laugh. "What's the matter, Rayne? Scared I'm going to beat your ass with my blood line? SHARIN-"
And with that, Naruto charged into his back, eyes shut, launching him forward into Rayne who made a gallant effort to reach him before the blond did. Naruto collided with Sasuke, who collided with Rayne, who collided with the boards of the bridge. Naruto wailed in pain as he clutched his cranium.
"HOLY SHIT! MY HEAD HURTS! I THINK I CRACKED MY SKULL OPEN!" he cried as he wriggled off of Sasuke's back, flipping around on the ground like a cockroach juggling a match on its legs, trying to keep itself from getting burned to death. "MY BRAIN IS BROKEN!"
"NARUTOOOOOOO! YOU JACKASS!" Sakura grabbed him by his hair and pulled him into a head lock. "JUST WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, EH?! WHAT KIND OF HORSES ASS RUNS WITH HIS EYES CLOSED?! YOU HAD NO BRAIN TO BEGIN WITH, IDIOT!"
'…what the…hell just happened? I feel like…I was smacked with a large oak tree…' Rayne rest her right hand on the top of her pounding head as she descended from space back to earth. It took a moment for her eyes to focus from stars to blinding sunlight. Pressure was then applied to her bosom, and she grasped at what had caused her pain.
'Hair?'
Oh yes, hair. A large plot of smooth, silkly, dark black hair. Unfortunately for Sasuke, Naruto had knocked him forward into Rayne, causing him to collide into her chest, landing into her softly cushioned personal "pillows." Rayne felt the heat rise in her cheeks as her hand retracted. Upon her hand's removal from Sasuke's head, he began to raise it slowly, looking away from her as he did so, off into the distance with a cherry red face.
"I…apologize…I didn't mean for that to happen." His words were broken.
Rayne forced a smile across her face. "Eh…you don't really have to ap-p-pologize…it was Naruto's clumsy fault."
"I'll kill him."
Rayne sweat dropped. "Don't you think that's a little harsh?"
His eyes shift to the corner of his sockets, peering down at her. "Do you?"
She blinked. "Well…I mean…this isn't the worst thing that could have happened in this situation. It's not all THAT bad. Besides, I think Sakura's doing a pretty good job of kicking his ass herse-"
And with that, the two crashed through the boards of the bridge, plunging into the water below, forcing their bodies to follow the current unwillingly.
Rayne's feet had hit the bottom of the lake, and she kicked off of it, swimming toward the top as Sasuke let go of her. When their heads broke surface, they were carried down the river about twenty feet away, their two team mates, and an unfamiliar face, running after them along the bank.
'Huh…now who the hell is that? He looks way young…hm…what's with those stupid goggles he has on his head? Is he here to swim? OH! Maybe he's out mission; we have to protect him!'
Sasuke gave an unenthused look at the side of Rayne's head as she was lost in her thoughts about the boy running with Naruto and Sakura. She obviously hadn't noticed that they had stopped moving.
"Hey, Earth to loser."
His perturbed tone caught Rayne's attention, and she turned her head to face him. "What's up?"
He closed his eyes as his brow twitched. "You really are a loser, Rayne."
She gasped, raising her arms in the air, crashing them back down into the water repeatedly. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, BUZZKILL?! I'm no loser, YOU ARE A LOSER!"
"Haha! Yeah! GO RAYNE!" Naruto cheered from the lake bank. The boy next to him smiled the same dopy grin Naruto usually had spread across his face.
Rayne felt something clutch her waist with force. She sunk her hand into the water and grabbed onto what was attacking her.
"Sasuke…why are you holding me?"
Although his blush had disappeared when they had fallen in the water, it slowly began to creep back onto his face. "Would you prefer I didn't? The water fall is only a few more yards ahead…"
"Oh…" Rayne sighed. 'SHIT! Now I'm going to have to thank HIM for saving ME.' Another sigh emitted from her, but it sounded like it was mixed with a growl. She snapped her head toward him.
"I suppose…you'd like me to thank you for saving me…"
"That would be nice."
"…I think I'll take my chance with the waterfall."
Sakura whipped a rope from her pouch into the water towards Rayne and Sasuke who float in the water, glaring at each other with intensity.
"Hey Sasuke! Grab onto the rope and I'll pull you to shore!" Sakura said with the concerned puppy dog look in her eyes.
Rayne would have had an anime fall if she weren't in water at the moment. So much for their friendship and bonding last night; she was chopped liver compared to Sasuke. So much for chicks before dicks.
Sasuke pushed Rayne away from him slightly, implying that he wanted her to go before him. "I'm the one holding onto the rock, you go before me." Rayne nodded, and Sasuke pushed her across the current in order for her to latch onto the rope Sakura had thrown out to them. She was playing lifeguard. Once Rayne was safely at shore, the rope was thrown out once more for Sasuke.
'Sasuke will have to be impressed by my strength! I'm pulling him to shore all by myself! CHA! LOVE WINS!' Inner Sakura praised herself as she pulled her object of affection to the side of the lake.
"Sasuke, are you alright?"
"Fine."
Sakura slumped. 'Not even a thank you? Jeez. Sasuke, you're killing me.'
"Whoa boss! Who's this? Now she's what I call pretty! Much better than the other one, boss! Come on, she's your girlfriend, isn't she?!" The little boy jabbed his elbow into Naruto's thigh, since he really was only tall enough to reach Naruto's hip.
Naruto laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as he blushed at the boy's comments. "Konohamaru…this is Rayne…she's the newest edition to my team!"
"YOUR team?" Sasuke and Sakura questioned at the same time.
Rayne sat there, water dripping off of her as she stared at the boy before her. "Kono…hamaru."
His head quickly snapped in her direction, and walked to her side, kneeling down. With Rayne sitting and him kneeling, they were about the same height.
"My darling…I must tell you, you are quite beautiful but…there is another girl that has stolen my heart! Sorry to break your hea-"
Rayne's outstretched palm gripped onto Konohamaru's head, face planting him into the dirt. "Kid…you're like, eight."
Naruto walked over to Rayne, placing his foot on Konohamaru's back, pushing him further into the dirt. "Speaking of that girl, I want you to come along and help us on our special mission, Rayne!"
She raised her eyebrow. "What special mission?" She, along with the other two, listened intently to Naruto's upcoming answer.
"The mission…TO FIND THE CRIMSON FOUR LEAFED CLOVER! Konohamaru wants to give it to his girlfriend so she doesn't have to move away from the village! They say if you make a wish on it that it comes true! And there's only ONE that exists, so we have to find it before sundown, cuz that's when his sweetheart leaves!"
"And do you…have any idea where you're going, oh gallant one?"
He nodded. "Yep! Akagahara!"
Sakura nearly flew backward. "AKAGAHARA?! BUT THAT PLACE-"
Sasuke's hand quickly shut Sakura up. With his right hand, he brought his pointer finger to his lips, indicating for her to hush.
Rayne, who had slightly turned her head in the direction of the two, looked back at Naruto. "And just where in the hell is that exactly?"
With no warning, Naruto grabbed Rayne's forearm, picking her up and placing her on his back, piggy back style. He extended one foot…and he was off, leaving a cloud of dust behind. Rayne hugged his neck tightly, a worried expression coming across her face.
"I'LL TRY TO BE BACK BEFORE KAKASHI SENSEI GETS BACK GUYS! WHICH MEANS, WE SHOULD HAVE PLENTY OF TIME FOR THIS MISSION!" he called, already a hundred feet away.
Konohamaru pulled himself out of the dirt and ran after him, pathetically trailing behind. Sakura watched them.
"But…Sasuke…that's-"
"A forbidden zone."
Sakura blushed as she smiled at him. 'Gah! He finished my sentence! That's EXACTLY what lovers do! Now that I have Naruto and Rayne out of my hair, this leaves us some ROMANCE TIME!'
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The grass crunched under Rayne's sandals as she approached the sign that was hung on the barbed wire fence. Thanks to Naruto and his quick running, she was able to speed dry, so now she was completely comfortable and ready for anything!
"Forbidden, huh?" She read with a smirk. She yawned, and, accidentally grabbed at the sign on the fence, ripping it off, chucking it over the side into their desired designation. "Oopsie daisy! Looks like it's not so forbidden anymore!"
Konohamaru and Naruto stared at Rayne with stars in their eyes, heart circling around their heads as they wiggled behind her.
'She's so awesome…' Naruto thought.
'She's like a good looking version of the boss,' Konohamaru thought, complimenting Rayne, crushing Naruto's pride at the same time.
"Well? What are we standing here for? The clover isn't going to tear away from its roots and prance on over to us. Come on!"
On her command, the three of them jumped onto the barbed wire fence, staring out into the distance. Konohamaru's eyes lit up.
"There!" He said, pointing. "That's where the clover is!"
Naruto tilted his head. "Mmm…that seems easy!" He jumped down toward the ground. Just as the bottom of his sandal touched the tip of a blade of grass, he was submerged into a pit that had been dug out. His nails dug into the sides of the dirt and clay as he desperately tried to keep himself from reaching impending doom below as he screamed for his dear life. He stopped falling just before he was impaled with one of the numerous spikes that were sticking upward from the bottom of the pit.
"There are a lot of traps set up here to prevent ninja from outside villages from entering," Konohamaru leaned over the pit as he explained this to Naruto.
"GAH! TELL ME THAT BEFORE I SET OUT TO BE A HERO, KONOHAMARU!" Naruto yelled from the pit. Konohamaru merely laughed at Naruto's peril until he felt a foot at his back.
"I suggest you quickly move away from this pit before I kick you in it, twirp. And while you're at it, you had better tell us what else we should know about the dangers of this place, or you'll meet a fate FAR worse than spikes, you got that?" Rayne said this all in a creepy tone after she had bent down to each his ear, contorting her body.
Konohamaru asked her to wait. "I heard that the Chuunin Exam is held here."
"What, Chuunin Exam? Here? That means I have to get through this or I won't be able to become the Hokage."
Cue Naruto's triumphant hero music.
Suddenly, Naruto launched himself out of the pit, and booked straight for the field of crimson clovers. "Alright! I'll get through this!"
"What the hell has gotten into him?" Rayne asked, obviously confused.
Konohamaru smiled as he wiped his nose. "The boss has this big dream about becoming the next Hokage. Just mention something that pertains to his dream, and he goes berserk!"
Rayne smiled as she watched him run into the woods. 'Wow, Naruto…I had no idea you had that kind of dream…you're quite the brave one, running into the woods, completely ignorant of the fact fifteen kunai are about to bury themselves within your back…'
"NARUTO!" Rayne yelled his name as she tackled him to the ground, preventing the kunai from lodging themselves within his flesh, barely missing them herself. "Listen, we have to run for it and keep dodging these things. There are trip wires all over the place."
"No problem…we're going to get through this."
Rayne turned her head to face him. "Naruto…"
He looked at her. Something had changed about his face. The knuckle headed grin and easy going comedic aura had suddenly disappeared, and a new, serious one took its place.
"I promise…I'm not going to let us die here."
Rayne smiled as she closed her eyes. "That's all great and dandy for us, but what about poor Konohamaru that you just left in the dust?"
"KONOHAMARU!"
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Kakashi's eyes carefully peered above his book. "Sorry, sorry." He looked down at the cross armed Sakura.
"You're late!" she cried. He was always late. Why the hell was she bothering to tell him that he was late, yet again?
"An old lady asked me for directions as I was coming here." Shitty alibi.
"LIAR!"
Ignoring her accusation, he jumped down in front of her. "Where's Naruto and Rayne? I thought she was with you last night."
"Naruto said something about some special mission…and then he dragged Rayne along with him," Sakura explained to her sensei.
"Special mission?" Kakashi's eye stared up into the clouds, as if they were formulating an answer. "I didn't hear anything about one."
"We don't know if it's true or not, but…"
"Huh?" Kakashi and Sakura turned their attention to a damp Sasuke.
"He said that he was going to Akagahara."
"Akagahara?" Kakashi asked as his eye went wide. His expression then returned to its regular lax, eye half closed form. "Is that so? If that's true, Rayne's going to die saving Naruto…for sure."
Sakura wailed. "Eeeeeeek! What? NO! NOT FOR NARUTO'S SAKE! Is there any way that we can help her?!"
Sasuke seemed to be as eager as Sakura to aid Rayne, for he had previously been leaning against the bridge, but was now at Kakashi's side. He peered down at Sasuke, taking note of his dampened clothing.
"Sasuke…why are you-"
"Long story."
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Rayne watched Naruto dive through the air as he failed to dodge the land mines she had warned him about. So far he had set off every single one, so Rayne stood back with Konohamaru in their designated "safety" zone. She wasn't too sure how safe a safety zone in this place could be, but hey, at least they weren't dancing with explosives.
"I'm going to die!" Naruto yelled as he landed on the ground, charging forward. "Left!" He moved left, dodging a mine. "Right!" He moved right, dodging another. "Left!" His instruction toward himself lasted all the way through the mine field.
"Naruto! You've been running for hours, and you aren't getting any closer!" Konohamaru called from the distance.
"I know that!"
The child growled and Rayne pat his head. "Don't worry. We'll let him deal with the mines, and then we'll calmly walk toward the field. Come on, might as well start now."
She grabbed his hand, pulling the reluctant boy along with her.
"R-Rayne, I-I'm not so…s-sure about this!"
"Don't worry, Naruto has stepped on every single mine so far. We'll be fine."
And with that, Rayne's big toe on her right foot touched the head of a mine, launching both of them into the air. Rayne had her arms wrapped around Konohamaru's neck tightly, cutting off his air intake as they ascended hundreds of feet.
"DAMN IT ALL TO HELL! THIS DEFINITELY ISN'T MY DAY!"
Naruto skipped the last mine before the field of crimson clovers. One mine out of two hundred he had managed to skip, how impressive. He did a little victory leap as he turned around to where his friends previously were. "HEY GUYS! LOOK! I MADE IT! I MADE….hey…WHERE'D YOU GUYS GO?!"
"NARUTO!"
He frantically looked around, nearly giving himself whiplash.
"UP HERE YOU HALFWHIT!"
Naruto raised his head just in time to serve as a cushion for Rayne to land on.
