Clutching my night shirt, I quieted my breathing, glancing across the tent as Sasuke mumbled in his sleep. My heart thudded in my chest, pounding in my ears as I took a few deep breaths. As much as I tried to calm, the feeling of uneasiness still sat squarely on my shoulders. I shook my head, blinking; every time my eyes closed, all I could see were those eyes: so red, so bright, so frightening.
My head snapped toward Sasuke as he muttered again in his sleep, a few incoherent words slipping out of his dreams. Sliding out of bed, I stretched a bit, my muscles sore and slight pain sparking from each wound covering my skin.
I stepped out of the tent, crisp air brushing my cheeks as I slowly strolled about the camp site. Kicking at the dewy grass, I crouched back down, agonizingly slowly stretching out on the grass. I stared at the moon, cold and pure white, clouds swirling about the glossy orb. Breathing in, his, the man's, eyes invaded my mind, sparkling with the stars. They sent chills down my spine yet I could not get them out of my head, as if they were singed in my subconscious.
I felt like I knew them too well.
Sensing someone lay out next to me, I didn't turn my head but I could feel them staring at me.
"Why are you up?" Hiro asked, glancing up at the stars. Sighing, I closed my eyes; the red eyes burned behind my own.
"Can't sleep," I replied, "You?"
"About the same," he replied. We remained in silence for a bit, just watching the sky roll by. Mai stretched out between us not much later. All three of us were silent for a long while; nothing really needed to be said. Suddenly, I realize just how much of a team we were; the fact that we hadn't started fighting yet was absolutely astounding.
I thought once or twice about telling them about my dream; about my family and my village and my home. But I never did.
It just didn't seem like the right time.
Rika was there not long after.
"Mission time," she stated, every bit of excitement contained to a whisper. Grinning, she helped me up, all of us returning to a half-torn down campsite. As the last of everything was packed away, I watched the other two teams leave, leaving us for a mission of their own. I sighed, glancing at Naruto bouncing back and forth out of excitement. This was going to be a long trip.
Possessions in tow, the eight of us started down the path, our journey outlined by trees, grass, and greenery. I never quite realized how monotonous walking could be until I had to do nothing but walk for hours upon hours; trust me, it is very, very monotonous. Not that it was completely boring; Naruto and Sakura had an outburst every few minutes.
It was amusing for those first few minutes.
All the fighting spread like a germ, making everyone on edge. Every little thing seemed annoying, every person doing something that was stupid to some level. Mai grabbed my arm, my annoyance falling but only slight no matter Mai's efforts. All of the mutual annoyance built up as we finally came upon our destination multiple hours later.
Two children were waiting there for us; glancing up at us with eerily similar faces, they looked up at us curiously, like we were caged animals in a zoo. Then, their curiosity curled into slight sneers, as if we were sleeping animals in a zoo. Sighing, I realized just how long this mission was going to be: terribly, agonizingly long.
Tugging at her kimono, the girl stepped forward.
"Are you taking us home?" she asked. Glancing at each other, we nodded. She didn't seem very pleased with this.
"That's…disappointing…" the boy mentioned, not quite quietly enough. Piping up, he commented toward us, "Will you be able to protect us? At all?"
With the morning having made everything so annoying, faced with something actually infuriating, we had about reached our ends. But, this was a client. And we weren't allowed to attack clients. Especially royal children clients.
Sakura bent down to the kids' level.
"Aw, you two are so cute! What are your names?" Sakura beamed. She grinned at them and the girl asked,
"I'm Yuri and that's Raiden. And you, what's your name?" Sakura beamed, thinking she had connected with the royal brats.
"I'm Sakura," she said, grinning from ear to ear.
"Sakura, don't treat us like we're two. We're five," Yuri told her. Sakura's smile dissipated and she slowly turned around, her eye twitching in annoyance.
Sensing the growing tension, Rika urged that we begin walking. Naruto was handed the twin's bags as the rest of us surrounded Yuri and Raiden, Rika leading us and Kakashi pulling up the end. As we walked, the two terrors kept their distance, communicating silently between themselves.
The path we took veered off from a well-travelled route. I could hear water ahead. A river diverted in front of us suddenly, its riverbeds swollen and overflowing with river water. We would have to help the twins cross. The girl looked up at me expectantly; she sighed as if it were obvious and rolled her eyes.
"Carry me," she sighed, not bothering to glance up once again.
"No!" She glanced at me with astonishment. I said, "Well, are you going to ask me or not?" She shook her head in disbelief.
"Why? I hired you," she emphasized. I glanced at Rika. She said,
"She's got you there." I looked down at the little girl. I though five year olds were supposed to be cute and need naps and whatnot. I huffed angrily and the girl lifted her arms. I put her on my shoulders and my shoulder gave a shot of pain in revolt. In total, the river only came up to waist. I trudged through the mud on the bottom of the river, the silt swirling in the blue water. I let the little brat down on the grass and she walked away without a word. We had only been with these snots for a few hours and they were already on my nerves. Stretching my sore shoulder, I mumbled angrily. Her brother joined her and I saw Naruto and Sasuke trudged up from the river, soaking wet. Naruto scowled.
"He pushed us in the river and said it was because he needed entertainment," he griped. Sasuke grumbled and pushed past the blonde nin. Mai came up onto the riverbed and wiped the extra water off her dress.
"So how was the little horror?"
"Just that, a little horror," I replied, helping her up. Glancing at our troupe, the twins evil were the only ones who weren't soaked.
The sun made its path across the sky and was straight above us when we stopped for lunch. My wrist was starting to annoy me, the joint tingling with dull pain. The clearing we sat in was strikingly different than our usual terrain; there were so few trees and soft grass padded the ground instead of growing up in weedy patches.
We were at the edge of a forest and a cliff plunged down over the other side of the clearing. I found a larger rock and parked myself on it. I unraveled my bandages and cringed at my darkly bruised wrist. Mai sat on the other side of the rock and looked over my shoulder at my wrist.
"Nasty," she commented, handing me a bit of food. I gratefully ate, noticing the calmness of the surrounding area.
All of a sudden, Rika jumped up. I guess the peace wasn't meant to last. We all tensed; I reached back into my holster, feeling a blade between my fingers. Rika seemed to be waiting for something. When nothing came, she sat back down and rubbed her head, confused. Dropping my weapon, we all prepared to leave again. I had my bag over one shoulder when Rika straightened up; she was listening again.
I glanced over at Mai to see if she knew what was going on. But her eyes were glazed over. Naruto skidded to a stop on his side and there was a shinobi standing in the middle of us. He didn't wear a headband but he had a whole lot of armor on. Three more shinobi joined him.
I crouched, prepared to attack, as I withdrew three kunai. Then, two screams came from Raiden and Yuri; everyone's heads' turned to them as they ran about, not totally sure of their direction. My eyes darted between the shinobi and the twins. Time to act.
Everyone sprang at incredible speeds.
"Two of you! Stay with Raiden and Yuri!" Rika commanded, going on the offense. I jumped between one of the shinobi and the cowering Raiden. My kunai and his blade clashed as we struggled. I yelled to Raiden,
"Stay behind me! If any others come, run!" He slowly nodded that he understood. The shinobi slowly pushed me back, my feet sliding in the dirt; He was stronger. Kicking him deftly, the shinobi flew back and ignoring him, I picked up Raiden.
Raiden didn't struggle as I ran him over and set him behind Sasuke next to his sister. They both just froze. The aura of arrogance and haughtiness around them left and was replaced by fear. Shuriken ricocheted off my kunai in random directions as I blocked and tried to find their source. Another one of the shinobi sprang at me and I prepared for the blow. But Rika grabbed the back of his collar and shoved him into the ground. She then disappeared with the shinobi.
Everyone seemed to be having trouble. Naruto was fighting with a shinobi not very far from me, unsuccessfully so far. The shinobi saw the rigid twins, watching the rest of the battle, and lunged for them, ignoring Naruto. Sasuke blocked the nin so the twins were out of the shinobi's grasp; instead of pushing the shinobi back, Sasuke himself was knocked down, knocked into the twins. They disappeared over the cliff side, screaming.
Without thinking, I jumped after them. From my holster, I wrapped my hand around a wired kunai and grasped the falling twins. Jamming the kunai into the cliffside, we stopped falling. I held my tongue as pain seared through my arm, tingling down into my shoulder and torso. The wire cut into my palm, all of our weight thrown onto my shaky limb. With a crunch, I held back the screams as pain pulsated through my arm, sending the previous pain further out.
"Raiden?" I asked him. He looked up at me from the ground hundreds of feet below us. "Yuri?" Her eyes were wide as she stared at the land so far away from us. Unlike her brother, she just kept staring and slowly nodded her head once. I had my one arm holding them both from their underarms. I knew I couldn't get up like this.
"Raiden, move to my back and put your arms around my neck!" He eventually was able to put his arms around my neck. His feet wrapped around my waist so that he could hold on tighter. I cradled Yuri into the crook of my arm and she curled up into as small as a ball as she could.
"Don't look down! Don't move at all!" I commanded. Raiden's head nuzzled on the back of my shoulder blade and Yuri nestled her head into my shoulder. Now they listen to me. Once they were secure, I glanced up. Everyone was watching us from the edge. The kunai was approximately five feet from the edge; we hung about fifteen feet down. We were stuck.
I finally dug my feet into the cliff face and pushed off as hard as I could. I got a few feet up and wound the wire around my hand so there wasn't as much of a drop. Again, the weight jerked on the wire. I dug my feet into the cliff face and this time someone reached down and, grasping my shoulders, pulled the three of us up. Raiden was lifted and I rolled onto my back. Sakura took Yuri and I lay out, panting. Rika was holding Raiden and looking both of them over for injuries. Mai, Hiro, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto all glanced down at me.
"Thank you so much for all of your stares; they really help the immense pain," I stated through gritted teeth. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and Hiro rolled his. Mai placed her hand lightly on my arm and immediately retracted her hand. Kakashi examined my wrist, avoiding moving it as much as possible.
"You broke it. Again," Kakashi deducted. As if I couldn't have already guessed. "We have to reset it. Naruto and Hiro, hold her down." They grasped my other three limbs as I turned my head the other way. I closed my eyes tightly and Kakashi grasped my hand and elbow. With a quick jerk, pain blasted all the way through my body. When I finally got up, my limb was still throbbing.
We didn't walk for very long after the incident; with everyone weary and shook up, we had to stop for the night. As we were walking, Raiden slowly started walking next to me. Ignoring him, I was suddenly very surprised when he grabbed my hand. His hand was so tiny, fitting just into my palm. He didn't say anything until we reached our campsite. Tugging on my hand, he glanced up at me, wanting to say something. But before he did, he scurried off with his sister to where Sakura was setting up their sleeping bags.