A/N: Ok, you guys kept your end of the bargain, so I'm keeping mine. Luckily, most of it was done by Friday. A little late in the day, but here it is, the final chapter of The Children's Zoo!
The Children's Zoo
Chapter Three
"Are you ready?" Shikamaru asked.
Hinata desperately wanted to say no. Was about to, before Sasuke beat her to it. Responding in his usual grunt that meant an affirmative.
Sasuke pulled the bag of dog food into the very center of the cage, and when he started doing hand signs, she couldn't help but press her back into the bars of the cage. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
The scent of the kibbles burning was very strange, she couldn't help but wrinkle her nose at it. Very quickly, the fire consumed the bag and panic rushed through her. What if Shikamaru was wrong? What if the cage wasn't wired to detect fires? What if Atsushi didn't care? What if the fire spread and she was burned to a crisp? What if -
Beep beep!
She was drenched, suddenly, as a sprinkler system descended from a hidden panel on the roof of the cage. It was icy cold and she shivered involuntarily. But it was worth it when the emergency lock release activated and the cage opened of its own will.
"Hurry up!" She heard Ino cry and she nearly stumbled over her own feet in her haste to escape the cage.
Phase one was complete, but the alarm was sure to alert Atsushi about their escape attempt. They had to be quick about it. Sasuke had already gotten the rope down from tire swing in the yard (she was reminded of monkeys at the zoo she went to once; she had enough pride to be insulted) was already running towards Shikamaru's cage with one end. Quickly, she grabbed the other end and ran towards Naruto's.
Once she was there, however, she hesitated. Why was she always so nervous around him? He had never done anything mean to her. Why couldn't she just hand him the rope? She closed her eyes and stuck her hand with the rope in.
The rope was yanked roughly from her. "Come on, Hinata, we're on a tight schedule!" Sakura declared.
"I'm sorry," Hinata murmured and stepped back to watch the plan unfold. There was really nothing else for her to do.
Both ends of the rope were tied around their bags of dog food. Then Chouji said, "Expansion!" and he grew about two sizes! She stared wide-eyed at his transformation. She knew from her father that the Akimichi clan's secret jutsu had something to do with growing. According to him, the current head could grow larger than the Hokage tower.
Chouji must be really strong if he could already use his clan's secret jutsu, she thought sadly, seeing as she had yet to master the kaiten or any of her clan's other special jutsu. Chouji grabbed his bag and pulled with all his might!
It took about ten seconds before the bars in the cage before her started creaking and then finally bent enough for Naruto and Sakura to slip through.
"Okay, that's good," Shikamaru stopped Chouji's pulling, and he gratefully fell to his knees, shrinking to a little under his usual weight. "Now, Naruto, go pick the lock on Kiba's cage."
"Hey, why his first?" Ino demanded angrily.
"Because Kiba is the only other one that can pick a lock and we have a lot of cages to open, if you hadn't noticed." He replied. Ino pouted and Kiba boasted about being the hero.
"I can be of use as well." Shino said suddenly, once the door to their cage opened.
"You can pick a lock?" Kiba asked incredulously.
"In a way." He replied cryptically. Before anyone could question him further he crossed over to the next cage. As he passed her, Hinata swore she could hear a buzzing noise.
Now that she was standing in the center of all the cages she could see signs on top of each one.
Dojutsu Users was printed on top of the one she woke up in. Now it made sense why she was paired with Sasuke. They were the only ones in the class with eye techniques, the Byakugan and the Sharingan.
Over the one Shikamaru was in, Traditional Combination was printed.
She was curious especially of the pairing of Shino and Kiba. Those two were completely different and it made no sense to have them together. Animal Techniques, it read. Wait, that made no sense. Kiba for sure, but what about Shino? Then she remembered the buzzing noise...
But what about... she looked at the cage directly across from hers.
"Average, run of the mill shinobi candidates!" She jumped at the sound of the angry voice suddenly beside her. "Doesn't this guy know I'm the future Hokage?"
The burning in her face and accompanying dizzy feeling was back. How had he gotten so close without her noticing? She wasn't that bad of a shinobi. He must just be better than anyone gives him credit for.
It was less than ten minutes, but everyone was out of their cages, now that she paid attention. But that was as far as Shikamaru's plan got. And now that they were relatively safe, no one knew what to do, and they were scattering. Some of the girls were running away. There was no way they knew where the exit was. They were just going to get themselves lost!
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Sakura demanded.
"You're going to get us all caught!" Ino added.
"We don't even know where he is." Sasuke inputted, obviously angry at the fact that he was just as lost as the rest of them.
Wait! There was something she could do. "Byakugan!" She hadn't mastered it yet. She couldn't use it for very long and she couldn't see very far. But in this case it was enough. "There! He's coming from the east. He's about three minutes away."
Everyone was staring at her. Of course, that was about the most she had ever spoken in their presence.
"Whoa! What happened to your face?" Naruto pointed and she resisted the urge to curl into herself. She knew the veins around her eyes at the moment were less than flattering but she couldn't help it.
She did not have the voice to respond, so instead she simply deactivated her bloodline limit.
"Hide now!" Sasuke ordered and no one complained.
She was halfway to a cluster of bushes when she looked back and saw Naruto - alone and looking around confused. She couldn't just leave him there. She had more courage than that!
She ran back to him and had just grabbed onto his arm to pull him towards the bushes, when Atsushi landed in front of them. Obviously she miscalculated. Or he was faster than she expected. Either way, they were in trouble.
"Now then, what's this? Do either of you want to explain all this?" Atsushi asked through gritted teeth. There was a look in his eyes that sent a shiver down her spine. He looked right at her. "Well, do you? I thought you were the good one!"
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Naruto stepped in front of her in order to block her from his view. She felt her heart flutter curiously, but ignored it in favor of her fear. There was no way either of them could stand a chance against a jounin.
Obviously, Atsushi thought so as well. "Stay out of it, you brat!" He shouted and backhanded Naruto so hard he slid a few feet away.
Now, there was nothing between them. She froze, and felt her heart jump into her throat. What could she do? How could she get out of this? She knew the others hadn't gotten very far. They must be there, watching, and none of them would do anything to save her. But she didn't blame them. She wasn't friends with any of them, and even if she were she wouldn't want them to get hurt because of her.
A gasp of surprise, more than pain, escaped her lips as he wrapped his right hand around her throat. "I want to know where the others are." He said it very calmly, enunciating each syllable, as if she would understand it better.
It was hopeless. She couldn't tell him even if she wanted to, and she didn't want to. She was taught better than to betray a fellow villager. Especially to a psychopath like him.
"Hey!" Naruto declared, pain lacing his every breath, "I told you, to leave her alone!" He struggled to his feet, and prepared to charge at Atsushi.
She wanted to tell him not to. She wanted to tell him there was no point and he should just run away. Maybe if he found his way to the village and told somebody they could save her. Surely, he meant to hold her for information.
But then there was no point, because Atsushi was screaming and she fell to the ground. She felt something warm on her face, and it wasn't until she saw the kunai impaled in his arm that she realized it was blood.
Her hands flew to her face, and somehow they muffled her scream as she tried to wipe off the blood. Naruto, who was already in the process of charging, came to a dead stop beside her. It wasn't him, it couldn't have been him, she knew that, but it wasn't any of the students either. So who could it be?
"What do you think you're doing," She heard a new voice say, and killer intent made each word feel like a blow, "To my students?"
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto cheered, as said man landed in front of them.
He turned to look at them, and at the sight of them he smiled gently. "Do me a favor kids. Close your eyes until I say so."
Hinata made no argument. By the sounds she heard, she was certain it was better she not see what he did to Atsushi.
If, for one second, Hinata thought that something would change after the zoo fiasco, she was mistaken. She was still shy and quiet, and everyone pretended she didn't exist. Everything was back to normal, and she supposed that she should only be glad that she wasn't stuck in a cage somewhere.
Besides, Iruka-sensei, at least, told her how proud he was at the bravery she displayed. It was those little bits of happiness that she found in unexpected places each day that helped her keep going.
And there was one other thing. Now, every time she saw Naruto she wasn't scared. Well, she was still nervous, but now that same anxious feeling was accompanied by a twisty feeling in her stomach that felt strangely pleasant. She wasn't sure what that was, so she decided she would just have to keep watching him in order to investigate.
He was brooding again. Sakura just loved to watch Sasuke brood!
He always looked so handsome when he watched the distance so intently. And today was the day she would finally go through with her plan!
She had to admit that Atsushi freak had thrown a real wrench in her plans. He interrupted what she was sure was the destined moment between her and Sasuke. From the simple act of sharing a lunch, he would grow to love her, and eventually they'd become a real couple! But it was really weird after the whole being locked in cages thing. However, it had been a week since then and she was ready to pick up where she left off.
She took a deep breath and held the bento box in her hands proudly. Today was the first day of the rest of her life.
"Hey, Sasuke-kun, would you like to share my lunch?" Wait, that wasn't her.
"No, he should share mine!" That wasn't her either.
"No mine!" And that whiny voice definitely wasn't her!
What was going on? What was that giant crowd doing around her Sasuke-kun?
For his part, Sasuke didn't seem like he was enjoying the horde of females shoving bento boxes in his face. In fact, for the first time, he looked disturbed. After a second of this, he jumped into the tree he was sitting beside and then disappeared into the distance.
"Well, so much for that." Sakura cried to herself. There was no way he would ever let someone share lunch with him after that.
Her shoulders slumped in defeat before she shook herself out of her melancholy. This was just one day. She was still young and had a lot of time. Someday, she would do something to make herself stand out in his mind.
She swore it.
A/N: Because Iruka is a Papa Wolf. I wanted to add a scene of him tracking the class down, but it didn't fit anywhere.
Also, during the chunin exams, no one really acted like the Byakugan/Shraingan were a surprise, but Shino's bugs were so I went with that.
To Genuinely-Unique: You actually got it half of it right! Ino-Shika-Cho were together because I assume the village has always been teaming them up this way, because of their fathers and some hints dropped by the anime. And Sakura and Naruto have no clan or bloodline limit, and at the start of the series are pretty average despite Sakura being the smartest girl. Of course, once the series gets underway they leave everyone else in their dust lol. I also feel like your second guess is a lot more impressive than my decision. I think that's a bad sign XD.
To princessbinas: Well, no one is supposed to know about that. Especially not an outsider like Atsushi. The people who do know before the series, like Iruka and Mizuki, were there when it happened, and Atsushi was not. Interesting idea, though, someone trying to cage him up because of the kyubi.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing. Let me know if you enjoyed it, or how I can improve my writing!
- Destiny's Sweet Melody!