Here's the next chapter. I left you hanging at the end and I would apologize but I wouldn't mean it. I like cliff hangers...when I'm writing them anyway. I'm not too fond of them when I'm the reader. Anyways, I'll let you read it. As promised, Sakura, Kakashi, and Sasuke are in this chapter. They'll be in the next one too.
Disclimer: how many times do I have to tell you...I own nothing...except my made up characters that are not in Naruto...right now that means only Aya and her clan.
Ch. 7: Camping
The next year was very uneventful. Naruto left to train with Jiraiya and wouldn't be heard from until the training was finished. There was still no word about Sasuke Uchiha or Orochimaru. Aya felt bad for his friends but there was nothing she could do about it. Instead she focused on helping Gaara. Gaara continued to prove to everyone that he was no longer a killing machine. It was working. Little by little the people of Suna began to relax. There were many who still wouldn't accept him but that was to be expected. Gaara had been a source of fear for them for a long time after all. It might take him years to win everyone's trust again. Even then, some would probably never accept him. Gaara had learned to live with that fact.
Aya released a sigh. She was tired. The artist was on a camping trip with Temari. The wind mistress decided she wanted to take a break and offered to take Aya with her. Since Aya had never been outside of Suna or the village she had lived in before that, she was more than happy to go. She asked Temari to help her pack since she had never been camping before. The only thing Aya had insisted on bringing was her new sketchbook that Gaara had gotten her for her birthday a month ago.
The two girls left the next morning. Temari led the way to a forest. The wind mistress found herself amused by Aya's reaction to the area. Aya had grown up in the desert and had never seen anything else. Now she was seeing huge trees that were so tall she couldn't see the top of them. The trunks were so big that four men could stand in a circle around them and would just barely touch each other's fingers. And things were green rather than brown, from the leaves on the trees to the grass beneath their feet. There were flowers of all colors and animals that Aya had never seen before. As usual when something grabbed her attention, Aya wanted to do nothing but sketch.
The two girls set up camp and settled down to rest. Aya pulled out her sketch pad and got to work. Temari watched her for a moment before laying down to take a nap. A comfortable silence fell over them for a little while. Aya eventually broke it with a question.
"What lands are these by the way? There aren't any forests in the Land of Wind is there?"
"No. We are a desert nation. The land we're in right now is the Land of Fire."
"Are we allowed to be here?"
"Yes. I got permission from the hokage of the leaf village before I even ask you to come."
The next week was spent in peace as the two of them relaxed together. Temari slowly began to train again. Aya took care of the camp. She woke up and made breakfast. After that, Temari would leave to train while Aya found a good spot to sketch. She ended up sketching a lake while sitting on the dock. As usual, she was absorbed in her work. She didn't notice the figure that stepped out of the forest behind her or that it walked up to her.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
When it spoke, she jumped, dropping her sketchbook in the process. Suddenly she felt ice cold and wet. It took her a moment to realize that she had fallen into the lake. The water was cold and she suddenly felt like she weighted a ton. Instinctively, she opened her mouth to cry out but got a mouth full of water instead.
Growing up in the desert had many advantages. There wasn't any cold winters. The night sky over the desert was somehow always more beautiful than anywhere else. If you saw an animal, you didn't have to wonder if it was dangerous. Anything that survived the desert was dangerous. However, living in the desert had one major disadvantage that Aya was just discovering. It was hard to learn how to swim when there was no large bodies of water near you. When Aya fell into the lake, she sank like a stone. She managed to push herself to the surface long enough to take a breath of air before sinking yet again. This repeated two more times before Aya's legs wouldn't push her up anymore. She was too tired and oxygen deprived. Suddenly a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her up. Whoever had her pulled her up and made her cough up all the water she had swallowed. Aya lay there trembling for a moment as the fear began to subside. Finally she pushed herself up to look at her savior.
He wasn't more than a year older than she was. His hair was crow's wing black and his eyes were deep onyx. He wore black clothes with a symbol of a red and white fan on the back. She remembered his grip on her and knew he was strong. This made her search for a village headband but she found none. Maybe he just likes to work out, she thought absently as she watched him sit up. He was handsome. Even more so that Hajime. There was an air of anger and bitterness about him that reminded Aya of how Gaara use to be. Aya wondered what happened to this boy to make him the way he was.
He gazed at her giving her an even more through examination that she gave him. Aya knew what he would see. Others told her often enough. He would see a girl with long dark hair and bangs that fell to just above her blue-green eyes. Today she wore a blue outfit that looked just like Temari's clothes. Like most of her clothes, these had many different colored paint splatters all over them. Right now, she would look soaking wet since she had just been pulled out of the lake. He would assume she was fragile because of her size and build. Considering he had just saved her from drowning, Aya couldn't blame him for the assumption.
Aya gave him a warm smile, "Thank you for saving me."
He shrugged and stood up. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.
"Camping with a friend of mine. I've never been so she thought it would be fun to take me."
"Then where is she?"
"Training. Unlike me, she's a shinobi of our village. This trip serves two purposes for her. It's a nice vacation from missions and she can train without being bothered."
"Why did you come then?"
"Because I've never been here before. It's a nice change from the desert."
"You're from Suna," he said suddenly. She saw suspicion in his eyes. "You shouldn't be in the Land of Fire."
"Temari, that's my friend, said that we had permission from the hokage. Apparently Konoha and Suna are getting along now." Aya tilted her head, "Why do you care anyway? You're not a shinobi. At least, you don't have the headband."
He looked away, "That's none of your business."
She shrugged, "Have it your way." Aya looked around and let out a sigh of relief. Her sketchbook was laying at the end of the dock. At least she dropped it before falling into the water. She pushed herself up only to find that her muscles did not want to support her just then. Instead she fell back down. Aya didn't try to stand again. She decided it would probably be best if she just didn't move until she had a chance to rest.
The boy was still watching her. Suddenly he asked, "Do you always take near death experiences so well?"
Aya thought about it for a moment then shrugged, "I don't know. I've only had two of them."
"What was the other one?" now he sounded curious.
Aya, being a friendly and talkative girl, answered him without hesitation, "I nearly fell off a cliff last year. Oddly enough it happened the same way. Someone walked up behind me while I was sketching and scared me half to death. I jumped forward which happened to lead off of the cliff I had been sitting on."
He shook his head at her, "You should pay more attention to your surroundings."
"Why? I'm not a shinobi. No one's going to fight me."
The boy seemed unconvinced but said nothing else about her awareness. "You never answered my question."
"What question?"
"Who are you?"
"Oh, that question. My name is Ayame Hayashi. Everyone just calls me Aya."
The boy nodded and was about to leave. He seemed to think of something and turned back to her. "Have you received any news from Konoha?"
She shrugged, "Nothing new really. They're still looking for a missing nin named Sasuke Uchiha. Apparently he ran off to join the bad guy." Aya frowned, "The idiot."
"Why do you say that?" he demanded. "You don't know why he left."
"No but I don't have to. It's still wrong and idiotic to betray your friends. He had it made in Konoha. There were people who loved and cared about him. He had a home and important work. He was strong. Even Gaara respected his strength and that's saying something. Still, he gave it all up and betrayed those that loved him. What reason could possibly make that okay? What on earth could excuse that?"
The boy looked away and seemed to be angry at something. "You don't understand."
"Really? And you do? Tell me, would you do what he did? Would you hurt the people who matter to you?"
"I've heard of Sasuke," the boy replied with anger in every word as he glared at her. "His entire clan was slaughtered by his older brother. Now he wants to avenge them. Orochimaru can give him the strength to do so. Do you still think he was wrong?"
"Yes," was Aya's simple reply.
"Why?"
"He who fights monsters must take care lest he become the monster," Aya replied quoting a saying her mother use to tell her.
He looked confused, "What?"
"Sasuke is becoming the very thing he hunts by going after revenge at all costs. He's turning into his brother."
"The ends justifies the means," the boy snapped.
She tilted her head, "Does it? What will Sasuke do when he catches his brother and avenges his clan? There'll be nothing left for him. He'll be alone. Then one day he'll look in the mirror and see his brother's eyes looking back at him."
The boy inhaled sharply then turned and stalked off. Aya watched him go and wondered something. Eventually she shrugged it off and pushed herself up again. This time she was able to stay on her feet. She retrieved her sketchbook and returned to the camp she and Temari had set up. Aya wanted to change out of her wet clothes. Part of her wondered if she would ever see the boy again. She owed him for saving her life after all. It would be nice to repay him. From the way he stomped off she didn't think he would come around again. She wasn't even sure why he had been in the area in the first place. He was far from Omogakure after all.
Temari returned a few minutes later. She was starving. Aya made them lunch and decided not to tell her about the events at the lake. It was too late for Temari to do anything about them anyway. She had just finished making lunch when a two people walked up to them. Temari smiled and greeted them warmly then introduced everyone to Aya.
"These are friends of mine from Konoha. The jonin is Kakashi..." A man with silver hair that spicked straight up waved. His headband covered one of his eyes and the other gazed at Aya with a warm smile. "...and the girl is Sakura, she's a medic..." The girl with shoulder length pink hair and happy green eyes greeted Aya cheerfully.
"Hello everyone. It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard about you from Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara."
"We haven't heard about you yet," Sakura replied. "Mind if we join you?"
"Not at all," Aya motioned for them to sit. She watched Sakura carefully. Temari had mentioned that the one most effected by Sasuke's desertion was the young medic. The girl seemed happy enough. "So brings you out here?"
"We're looking for Sasuke," Sakura replied. "If we find him before he breaks any more laws the Hokage said that she's let him come back with only a probation period." The girl's eyes suddenly held sadness, "Besides, we miss him."
----------With the boy who saved Aya (A/N: I know you probably guessed who he is but I'm not confirming yet.)----------
He was pissed. How could that girl say that? She didn't understand. Nobody could understand what he felt. No one had lost everyone in one night because the person who was suppose to care the most took it all on a whim. That girl didn't know anything. So why did what she say bother him so much? Sasuke raked his fingers through his hair as he forced himself to calm down. Anger would do him no good right now. He had to think calmly and rationally.
To think that he could be training right now. But nooooo. He just had to get restless and volunteer to go on a patrol mission. Then he had to check on all of Orochimaru's many hiding places and research labs. To his surprise some had been inside the Land of Fire. Hence how he found himself here. As a result he had ended up meeting a girl who threw everything he had done back in his face. It was his own fault for asking her. He could have kept his mouth shut and just left. But again, noooo. He just had to ask.
He suddenly sensed a familiar chakra and carefully masked his own. He moved quickly and quietly through the forest until he could see the four people eating lunch. One was the girl that he had met by the lake. Beside her sat a sand shinobi. Must be the Temari girl Aya mention, he thought. The other two were very familiar. Kakashi and Sakura were explaining the reason they were there. Would they ever give up, he wondered absently. The boy turned and was going to leave but something stopped him. He wasn't sure what it was and he never would be. Later, he would be grateful for whatever it was.
"What are you going to do if Sasuke doesn't want to come back?" Temari asked curiously. "You won't be able to force him to stay."
"I know. We hope that he'd change his mind. I mean we're just as strong as Orochimaru, damn it," Sakura said heatedly. "We can help him get his revenge."
Aya tilted her head, "I feel like I missed something. Revenge for what?"
Kakashi told Aya Sasuke's story. Sakura stood suddenly exploded, "How could he do this to us? How could he do to us what Itachi did to him? He nearly kills Naruto and joins our enemy. Now we have to hunt him down, and if we get lucky we might not be forced to kill him."
"Maybe he thinks he's along," Aya said quietly.
Everyone looked at her in surprise. Kakashi tilted his head, "What do you mean?"
"Well, before the chunin exams, Gaara thought he was alone. He would never asked for help. He probably never even thought to ask for help," Aya explained. "Sasuke was probably the same. It probably never occurred to him to ask for help. He expects to get his revenge alone because he's been alone since he was a child."
"I don't see how come he wouldn't. We were a team. What did he think we were going to do? Just stand there," Sakura demanded.
"He probably didn't think about it at all," Temari replied. "Gaara just never considered getting help at all. Sasuke was probably the same."
Sakura let out a sigh, "I wish he had. Then maybe he would still be home. We miss him. Sasuke...I thought he was my friend at least but...I guess not."
Aya watched Sakura for a moment then said, "I wish I could help but...I'm afraid I can't. Maybe you were his friend. You never know what people like Gaara or Sasuke are thinking. They keep all their thoughts and emotions bottled up inside. It's very unhealthy to do that but they don't seem to care."
Sakura nodded in agreement, "I just wish he would have trusted us. We could have helped. He didn't have to do it alone. I would have done anything to help him. He didn't even have to ask. All he had to do was say he needed help. Me and Naruto would have bent over backwards to help Sasuke."
"I'm sorry, Sakura," Aya said with sadness in her voice.
"You sound like you need a vacation," Temari told Sakura.
The Konoha medic nodded, "You have no idea. I've been training really hard with Lady Tsunade. She's taught me a lot about being a medic and how to fight. But it's hard to train day in and day out all the time. I want a life too. I guess I'm just being greedy though. Naruto and Sasuke never complained about training all the time."
"They're boys. That's the kind of thing they find fun," Temari replied with a shrug. "We need a break once in a while though. That's why I'm camping like this. It gets me away from those that want to send me on missions all the time. Now at least I can get some rest when I'm not training."
Aya smiled, "I don't have to worry about that. I'm not a shinobi."
Both Sakura and Temari gave the civilian artist mock glares. Kakashi chuckled a little. The jonin looked around carefully without appearing too. Someone was watching them. He knew it. If only he could locate the person. There. In the trees. Someone was hiding very carefully. Kakashi didn't move but kept an eye on the spot the person was hiding in. There was no reason to bring the spy out into the open. He would hear nothing important here.
The group talked until sunset. Everyone settled down to sleep except for Sakura. Instead she went for a walk out into the woods. She found the lake that Aya had been sketching earlier that day. The medic liked Ayame Hayashi. The girl had an irresistible personality that made it impossible not to like her. Something about the energy that seem to vibrate around her and the warm look in those blue-green eyes made Sakura feel like smiling. That was odd since she hadn't felt like smiling much in the last year. Sakura's eyes got a sad look in them as she remembered why she didn't feel like smiling very much anymore.
She missed Him. Sakura didn't talk about Him anymore because no one would understand. No one knew what she felt inside. When she was younger, she thought she loved Him. Then they had been places on the same genin team. She learned that what she felt for him before that was just a crush because she learned what love really was when she fell in love with Him. The more she learned about Him the stronger her feelings became until she felt like she would burst from the strength of them. She would so anything for Him. Sakura knew she would give up her life and her happiness for Him.
"Why?" she whispered at the uncaring sky. She refused to cry. The time for tears was over. Now was the time for training. She would work hard to prove to Him that she was strong. She would prove that he had been wrong to leave Konoha. "I will," she said with conviction. "I'm through crying and whining. I will be strong and I will not give up. Do you hear me, Sasuke-kun?" She didn't know why she was asking him that. She knew he couldn't hear her wherever he was but she couldn't help herself. "You'll see. I can be strong like you and Naruto. When you do, maybe you'll come home."
"Sakura," a male voice called behind her.
She stiffened and turned slowly. Her eyes widened in surprise and a whirlwind of emotions filled her. She said his name in a disbelieving whisper, "Sasuke-kun."
That's it for now. I'll get the next chapter up asap. Please send me a review.
