And here's the second chapter. Time to see what happens to Trunks!
Chapter 2
The layers of the circle below him set back down as Trunks stepped away from it, Zetsu standing by the doorway with a long robe in his hands.
"So did you say yes? Tell me you said yes!"
Trunks slightly chuckled. He was funny looking, but he was like a kid. Well, the white side was. "Yeah, I told him I would help if he helped me get back to my home."
"Alright! This is yours."
Zetsu handed over the robe to Trunks, who held it out all the way. An interesting design to it. All black, easily falling to his legs, and assorted red clouds painted across it. He removed his sword and jacket and placed the robe around him, buttoning it all the way up as he re-clasped his sword around his shoulders. His hair was partially inside the collar of the robe, some of it hanging outside. He unbuttoned the top two buttons, letting the collar fly open, much like how Itachi wears his.
"So? How's it feel?"
"Heh. It's... big, but I like it." he said.
"We will acquaint you with the other members now. This way."
Trunks followed Zetsu into the living quarters, where the now current members of the Akatsuki sat in discussion of how they got to where they did. All of them wore the same robes. Trunks tried to hold back an awkward laugh as one particular member, one in blonde hair, was trying to pry off another member from his arm like a love sick puppy.
"Tobi, let go of me, yeah!"
"B-But senpai! I missed you sooooooo much!" said Tobi, looking up at Deidara.
"I don't care! Get off!" whined Deidara as he tried to shake Tobi off his arm, but to no avail. Tobi had too much of a tight grip on him.
"Alright everyone, listen up! We have a new member." Zetsu said as he stepped away from Trunks.
Trunks felt like a new kid at a school. Everyone turned to face him. Some of them young, and some of them... well, he didn't think old could really describe how the blue skinned man or the man with the mask over his face could do it justice.
"This is Trunks. Now let's introduce you to the others." Zetsu began, pointing to a young man in a similar robe with shaggy red hair. His tired eyes gave the expression he didn't really care about there being a new member, or about anything except trying to take a nap.
"That's Sasori." he said, pointing right next to him to another young man with long blonde hair covering his left eye. "That's Deidara. The person grappled to his arm is Tobi."
Trunks memorized the names of the members fairly quickly as Zetsu finally ended with Hidan. He already knew Itachi from bumping into him.
"Now that we've introduced everyone, we'll need to do a slight adjustment in partnering."
Zetsu glanced around. With Trunks, not including Zetsu, there were eight members. Hidan and Kakuzu would stay a team, it would be foolish to separate them. Kisame and Itachi still seemed very capable, and Kisame's age didn't slow his performance down at all, much to his and Madara's surprise. The problem was with Deidara, Sasori, and Tobi. First it was just Sasori and Deidara, but then Sasori died, so it was him and Tobi, but then Deidara died!
"This will be simple. Sasori. I need your help with an assignment. That being said, Trunks, you will be partnered with Deidara and Tobi."
"YIPEEEEE!" Tobi shouted, jumping for joy on top of the couch before Deidara grabbed him and pulled him down.
"Were you built with an off button? You're gonna break the god damn couch and freak this new guy out, yeah." Deidara said.
"But senpai!" he then got right next to his ear to whisper. "That means I'm going to be his senpai!" he eagerly said into his ear, shaking with excitement.
POW!
Tobi laid on the floor with his legs facing up as Deidara crossed his arms. "Idiot."
Tobi rubbed the side of his head. "O-Ow, senpai! Why do you have to always hit me?"
Trunks chuckled, maybe a bit too loud for his own good as Deidara glanced over to him. The blonde smirked. This guy's not that bad I guess. Deidara thought.
X X X
"Does it look okay?" Salayna asked her brother.
"Yeah! You did great, sis." Kiyosato replied back.
It was the morning of their parents anniversary. They had planned a few days prior that they'd get up extra early to make them breakfast and take it to them. Kiyosato insisted his sister make breakfast, even though she had little confidence in her cooking abilities. He joked with her from time to time telling her anyone could cook better than their mom. This resulted in several groundings and smacks to the back of the head, an apparent sign that Sakura's temper never did falter since meeting their father.
It still bothered her. Sure she was a Genin, and a ninja, just like her brother, but it was... different. Her nin dog was killed on a mission that turned out to be an ambush. They were able to repel the enemy forces, but her dog died from blood loss. Since then, she always felt the looks on her. Hey, isn't that the Inuzuka girl who doesn't have a dog? or How come she doesn't have a dog? and She must be a real disgrace to her clan to not even have her companion.
She hated it. She wasn't bad looking, her family kept reminding her. Her red hair was at the same length as her mother's, and inherited her eyes as well. She was, like her father said, a lot like a former teammate he used to have, but she grew out of it. But she constantly questioned herself for anything and everything.
The breakfast was simple. Pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, waffles, and a card from the two siblings congratulating them on their anniversary.
"Can you carry it, Kiyo?" she asked.
"Yeah, let me have it." he said taking the long tray into his hands as they made their way towards their parents bedroom. "They should still be asleep, so they'll be really happy." he said, encouraging his sister.
She smiled. "Okay."
X X X
"Oh my god... Oh my god... Oh my god!"
Except this morning, they weren't still sleeping. Kiba eagerly awoke and surprised Sakura by convincing her to start their "celebration" despite fear of waking their kids up. It was difficult to make time for it, since Sakura was rather loud during. It wasn't a problem in the beginning, but now it was obviously going to have some serious consequences if...
"Kiba I'm gonna- Kiba I'm!-"
"-Happy Anniversa- OH, MY GOD! MOM! DAD! WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING!"
The sudden image of their father on top of their mother, although covered by a sheet, burned into their minds the moment they registered it.
"DIDN'T I TEACH YOU HOW TO KNOCK?" Kiba yelled at his son.
"Aw man that's so gross! You guys are like fifty!" Kiyosato replied, tilting his head to the side to move it away while his sister hid behind him, grabbing the door knob and shutting it.
"FIFTY?" shouted Sakura, her arms still around her husbands back as she glared at the door. "WE'RE BOTH THIRTY-ONE!"
On the other side, the two horrified siblings kept their back to the door.
"Big brother?"
"Yeah?"
"Were mom and dad just?-"
"Yeah... yeah they were."
Now completely embarrassed, Sakura pushed Kiba off of her, getting to her feet and dressing herself in what she wore last night. Until Kiba grabbed her.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"They made us breakfast." she said, taking her headband off of the floor and tying it back to the way she usually has it.
Kiba didn't like that answer. Yeah he was happy his kids made them breakfast, but come on, they were JUST in the middle of something. His hand still on her shoulder, he tugged a little bit.
"KIBA!" she yelled, glaring at him as she shot around.
"What?"
X X X
So eating in bed wasn't going to happen, but at the very least the family got a chance to sit down and eat together.
"Mom?" asked Salayna.
"Yes, dear?"
"Is it... good?"
The mother of two smiled as she nodded her head, lifting her plate up to show her daughter. "I finished it, didn't I? Looks like I liked it to me."
"I only wish you made more, pup." said Kiba, still hungry.
"Oh... sorry, dad. I'll make more next time."
Sensing his daughter's confidence falling down he caught himself. "No, no! It's not a bad thing. It's good!"
"Yeah, sis, you did a really good job making breakfast." said her brother.
An accomplished smile escaped her face. She knew her family loved her and supported her, but it was just an internal thing, her constant insecurity. Something she had to worry about on her own and hopefully others would accept it. Especially if she was going to look for someone in the future.
Akamaru sat at the foot of the chair his master sat at, he and Takamaru exchanging glances at each other from time to time. Both of their ears perked up as Takamaru barked to his master.
"What's up?" Kiyosato asked his dog.
"Kiba." said Akamaru.
Kiba took in a whiff of air. "Yeah, I know."
In that moment, there was a knock at the door. Kiba stood up and walked to it, answering it.
"Kiba Inuzuka?" said the voice as Sakura and the kids watched.
"Yeah, that's me."
"This is from the Hokage." he said, handing a letter to him.
"Thanks." he said, opening the letter.
Kiba,
Please come to my office as soon as possible. It's an issue concerning the Akatsuki. I'll explain more when you're here.
Do not mention this to anyone. Even Sakura.
Godaime Hokage
He folded the letter back up and tucked it away into his pocket, looking to his side at Akamaru.
"Sakura." he said. "I gotta head over to the Hokage's office really quick. I'll be back soon."
"What did she-" she started, but was interrupted as the two were off in a rush, slamming the door behind them. "-say?"
"Mom?" asked Kiyosato.
"He always does this when something big comes up."
"Who? Dad?"
She nodded. "But hopefully I'm just paranoid and it's nothing." Even though I know... it isn't. It never is... is it, Kiba?
X X X
"What?" Kiba asked, shocked. "Are you sure?"
Shikamaru was standing there with him with his hands in his pockets, nodding. "Yeah. My dad told me this morning when one of his men was doing a routine inspection, the area where I buried Hidan was violated. Someone dug him out."
"But... what could have-"
"Not what. Who, even though I'm certain of the answer." Tsunade interrupted. "You were the first available tracker I could get ahold of that could keep this under the radar. The village hasn't seen or heard anything Akatsuki related in over a dozen years. We'd like to keep it that way, and I'm hoping it was just some stupid kids playing a prank."
Shikamaru cleared his throat. "We just need to wait for-" he was interrupted as the door opened. Stepping through was a young man, around Kiyosato's age, around 5'10, wearing traditional Hyuga robes, his hair reaching to the middle of his back, tied into a ponytail as the light coming through the windows of the office reflected off of his sunglasses given to him by his father.
"Never mind, there he is." Shikamaru said.
"I apologize for the wait." he said. "I wasn't home at the time ANBU tried to reach me."
He stepped in between Kiba and Shikamaru, glancing at Kiba and nodded his head. "Hello, Mr. Inuzuka."
"Hey Shinta." he replied. He really did resemble his father more than anything else, merely having his mother's straight hair in a darker color. But the type of speech is what easily distinguished him as an Aburame descendant.
"Just see what you can find. Report back if you can find anything, and whatever happens, keep this matter to yourselves. In and out."
All three nodded as they turned and left the office.
X X X
It was a precise incision to the ground, but was a horrifying image to those who knew what was buried beneath it. There, the four, plus another Nara member, the one who found it stood there attempting to figure out what had happened.
"When did you find this?" Shikamaru asked.
"About two hours ago, but there's no telling how long that hole's been there."
"Hey, Akamaru. You smell that?" Kiba asked.
"Another scent. But... it's mixed in with another. Hard to separate." he replied.
"Perhaps it was just one person?" Shinta suggested.
"Maybe, but I doubt it. It would take a while for one person to open this hole up and get all of the parts out while keeping the noise down." Shikamaru replied.
"Hmm." Shinta thought out loud, taking his fingers in front of his sunglasses. "Byakugan!"
The veins around the sunglasses of the Aburame tensed as they became visible to the surface of his skin.
Kiba watched as he stared off into the horizon through the forest before he spoke again.
"They moved past the forest for a moment, but their chakra suddenly left the surface. Almost as if they flew off or burrowed underground. It's more of a trail of dust than anything else."
It made sense to them. Kiba couldn't follow the scent any further than a couple hundred of feet before it just, like he said, suddenly disappeared. Shikamaru was just as confused as they were, unable to find any sort of actual conclusion.
"I don't like this." said Shikamaru. "Make sure this hole gets covered up as soon as possible. We need to get back to the Hokage." he said, glancing down into the empty hole, recalling his fight as if it was just yesterday. His final words echoing into his head over, and over again.
(Flashback)
"Lord Jashin will punish you for this!" Hidan screamed, his head at the very bottom of the pit Shikamaru blasted him to. "He'll bring His great vengeance down upon you, just like in the scriptures!"
"Your bullshit doesn't scare me." Shikamaru replied, pulling out a single kunai with a chain of several paper bombs close behind it. "See, you and I have very different beliefs. I believe in the Will of Fire." his stare on Hidan sharpening now. "And that pathetic Lord Jashin isn't your God anymore." he raised the kunai, preparing to launch it to cave in the hole.
"I am. The only one bringing down vengeance is me."
Without a moment longer in wait, he tossed the kunai to the side of the pit, the paper bomb exploding, causing the rocks to fall down and begin burying the body parts of Hidan.
"Remember what I said! The Jashinist scripture says He will smite you. Got it?" he yelled as a large rock slammed into his head, his hysterical laughter still being heard. "And I will carry out his judgement!"
Shikamaru said nothing as he turned and walked away from the pit, hearing Hidan's final words as he was buried under the rocks.
"My teeth are enough to take you on! I'll bite you to death, motherfucker!"
(End Flashback)
"I'll bite you to death, motherfucker!" echoed his voice in Shikamaru's head. It didn't bother him then, why is it all of a sudden coming back to him now?
"Hey, Shikamaru."
Back to reality, Shikamaru glanced over at Kiba, not realizing they were already back in the Hokage's office reporting what they had found. Shinta had since left, surprising him that he didn't even notice that.
"Huh? Sorry."
"I'm going to need to organize a team to scout around the Land of Fire to check for any sign of Akatsuki activity. Be ready in case I need to call either of you two. Chances are I will since you're some of the few who are even aware of what is going on."
"Understood." they replied.
"Under no circumstances are you to tell anyone this until we get a confirmation. The last thing we need is a full-scale panic alert after we had to deal with Pain." Tsunade glanced at Kiba. "I know Sakura is my student, but do not tell her. I think I made that clear in my letter already."
"Yes ma'am." he said back.
"Very well. You are dismissed."
X X X
The three partners took to a relaxed walking pace as they slowly made their way past the borders into the Land of Fire. The instructions Zetsu left them were simple, well, to Trunks they were. Find the nine-tails, bring him back alive, and take the beast out, while Itachi and Kisame capture the eight-tails. It was rather tranquil, and even though Deidara was a few years younger than him, he was a decent leader, though when he got off with talking about art Trunks felt awkward listening to him at times, unsure of what to say. His hot-head attitude was obvious, but he was at least knowledgeable from the look of things.
"So Trunks." said Deidara. "What exactly can you do?"
Trunks, who was standing on the right side, Deidara in the middle, and Tobi on the left, turned to face the team leader. "What do you mean?"
"You know, special abilities, a kekkei genkai, yeah."
Why does he always do those grunts?... Maybe he has a condition or something? He scratched the back of his head. "Uh, well I..." Hey! I got it!
Trunks stopped, catching the other two's attention.
"Whatcha doing, Trunks?" Tobi asked.
"I know it's not much but." Trunks said as he concentrated his energy to his feet, lifting himself off of the ground as he levitated about ten feet off of the ground in front of the two Akatsuki.
"Not bad." said Deidara.
"SENPAI! HE'S FLYING, SENPAI!" shrieked Tobi as he ran circles around Deidara, who just tripped him to get him to stop being so frantic.
"Will you relax, Tobi?"
Trunks just laughed at Tobi as he got back to his feet and began running circles around Deidara again in excitement for seeing him fly, even if it was just a simple levitate.
"So you can fly?" Deidara asked.
"Well, it's one thing. But ever since I've been here I've kind of felt weird... like my abilities aren't at their usual strength." he replied as he let himself down to the ground level.
"I see... you wouldn't happen to be from Iwagakure, would you?"
"Huh? Where's that?" Trunks asked, confused.
"Ah, never mind. I had a teacher in that village. He can fly, too. Thought maybe he taught you, yeah."
"Well... what about you, Deidara?"
"Me? What about me?"
"I mean your abilities, are they anything like mine?"
Deidara chuckled.
"Oh, boy. Now you've done it, Trunks!" said Tobi, shaking his head in disapproval with his arms crossed.
"What? What did I do?"
Reaching into a small pouch filled with clay, Deidara stuck his hand inside one and pulled it out, opening his hand for Trunks to see it.
"Watch, yeah." he said as he clasped his hands together. In moments, he opened the same hand that held the splotch of clay, revealing it to be a spider.
A spider?... That's what he does?
"Look!" said an eager Deidara. "There's such detail in the lines that it exceeds a two-dimensional form. However, that's not all there is to my art." he said as he looked directly at Trunks. "My creations come to life!"
"Oh, man! He's on another art rant!" whined Tobi.
"As a shape, it's nothing more than clay, yeah. But... it explodes!" he happily stated. "When it explodes, it changes, and becomes my art's true form for the first time! The only time you can see my true art is when it undergoes that change, yeah!"
In that moment, Deidara took the spider he had created, and tossed it into the air, far above the three as he held his fingers to his face.
"Art... is an explosion!" he said as he activated his ability.
"Katsu!"
The explosion took Trunks way off guard as the teeny tiny spider he had just seen exploded into something that could probably knock down buildings. Deidara just crossed his arms, impressed with his work as they began walking again.
"How do you change the clay by mashing your hands together?" Trunks asked.
"My ability." Deidara replied, showing him his hands, their mouths wide open. It took him by surprise, giving somewhat of a confused look, but it made sense to him, as he tried not to offend his partner.
"It's okay. I'm used to it."
"Used to what?"
"What people say. It was pretty annoying growing up, yeah."
Trunks was going to reply but stopped as the three heard something off in the distance. A moment later, dozens of shuriken were shot towards them. Trunks jumped in the way of the two, pulling his sword out and deflecting all of them with ease.
"Ohhh WOW! Did you see that, senpai! Trunks was like, whoooooosh!"
"Two... four... seven." the Saiyan thought out loud as he felt the energy readings around them.
Deidara just glanced at the back of Trunks. That's insane... he was already in front of us when I heard those things go flying. He's fast, yeah. Definitely faster than I am.
Just as he predicted, seven hunter ninja, sporting a headband with two diagonal lines on top of two others appeared in front of them. An older man with lighter gray hair kept in a military cut walked in front of them to speak. Trunks could feel he was definitely the strongest out of the group, but his energy felt... bizarre. Not like ki at all.
"Looks like we found you, Deidara. And here I was thinking the rumors about you being dead were true!"
"Ah, man, you again, Tokaku?" he whined. "Can't you go bother somebody else?"
"You know him?" Trunks said, keeping his sword in front of him, not looking back for fear of being attacked. Wait, why am I worried? I'm way stronger than these guys! But earlier... I may have been able to stop those shurikens, but I felt so much slower... Is this time holding back my power?
"They're from Kisame's village, Kirigakure. Since I left my village, these guys have been chasing me down when the Tsuchikage hired them. Especially Tokaku, my father hired him to hunt me down and drag me back to Iwa, or kill me- Can't you feel the family love? They're hunter-nins, yeah."
He smirked before looking at Trunks. "This doesn't concern you, friend. Akatsuki or not, we have business to attend to. Cooperate, and we won't bring harm to you or your masked friend."
"Like hell!" Trunks said, gripping his sword as he noticed the other six ninja pulling out assorted weapons.
Deidara stepped up to his side. "I got your back, yeah."
"No. Let me handle this."
"Huh?"
Trunks smirked. "Watch this."
X X X
It was over as quickly as it began, six of the hunters falling dead to the ground in unison as Trunks stood behind Tokaku, clasping his sword back into his sheath.
"You're pretty quick, kid." said Tokaku, pulling a short sword out from behind his back and swinging it in a one-eighty, Trunks dodging the attack and getting behind him, the older hunter kicking his foot to knock his sword out of his hands. "But you lack experience. Your stance is too sloppy, or do you just not take me seriously enough to keep your guard up?"
"Heh. We'll see about that." Trunks said as he jumped back as he grabbed his sword, opening his palm and directing it in his direction.
He's getting a lot of chakra into that hand...Got it. thought the hunter nin as he prepared to dodge the attack.
"Take this!" Trunks yelled as he fired a yellow ki blast towards him. As Tokaku anticipated, he quickly jumped up, avoiding the shot, but noticed the loud explosion coming from behind him as a large portion of the forest they were by was completely blown away.
Deidara and Tobi were in complete shock. Deidara especially. He just... shot out pure chakra. Absolutely pure chakra... And it exploded! he glanced over at Trunks, who had an easy-going face about him as he did that. Trunks... you... you understand art, yeah!
"Senpai! He just went Katsu! without any clay or without actually saying Katsu! Did you see that? Senpai? Katsu! with no Katsu!" Tobi frantically asked in excitement while waving his arms around for witnessing his new partner's abilities.
This kid's got power. I can't take him by myself. I need a way out. Tokaku thought as reached into his pocket with his left hand and tossed down a kunai laced with a paper bomb.
"Tobi! Trunks!" Deidara said as he jumped away from the paper bomb, Tobi did the same.
"What the?" Trunks said looking at it.
"Move you idiot! That's a paper bomb!"
Trunks quickly flew up to avoid the blast. Now the three partners were in a separate triangle like formation.
Got you. Tokaku thought as he clapped his hands once together.
"Water Style: Water Shockwave!"
In moments the loud roaring of a tidal wave was heard, then seen as it quickly raised up tens of several feet into the air. Coming out too quickly, neither of the three had time to react as the tidal wave came crashing down on top of them, engulfing all three of them and flooding into the rest of the forest, dragging them along with it.
Tokaku finally came down to the ground, letting out a heavy sigh. "I'm getting too old for this. That boy... I'm lucky." he said as he quickly turned and ran the opposite way of where the water was still rushing.
X X X
His head was ringing, ears filled with water, clothes quadrupled in weight by the water soaking in them. The first thing Trunks could process in his mind was Tobi calling out to Deidara. A repetitive "Senpaiiii! Oh senpaiiii!" kept playing in his mind as he slowly opened his eyes to see Tobi standing not too far away from him.
"Oh! Trunks! You're awake now!" said Tobi.
"Tobi...? Why are you dry? I thought you got hit, too?"
"Nope! Guess I'm just too quick!" he declared, placing his hands to his sides like a superhero.
Trunks stood up, glancing around at where they were. The trees from here and in the entire radius were flattened almost. It was awful. How did that guy create a wave of water just like that? Out of dry land?
"Hey, Tobi! Where's Deidara?"
Tobi shrugged his shoulders. "Trying to find him now. He sure picked a bad time to go play hide and go seek the senpai."
"Yeah... yeah I guess."
X X X
"Arf!"
Kiyosato and Salayna were taking a walk around the village gates. Being their parent's anniversary, they took to a night to themselves, leaving them alone with nothing to do, though Takamaru was enjoying the outside much more than the two Inuzukas.
"So what do you think dad saw when he went out, big brother?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "No clue, he said he couldn't talk about it."
"Mom looked upset when he said that." she frowned.
He nodded. "Yeah..." he felt bad every time he saw their mother upset or worried whenever Kiba had an assignment he couldn't talk about. She always worried that he might not come back, and always told them to never take their friendships or times with people they love for granted. He understood what she meant, but she would bring it up every time he would go on a mission without her. Almost like an instinct. "Mom's weird like that. Don't worry!" he smiled, nudging her shoulder playfully.
She smiled back reassured from her brother it was nothing to worry about. Their parents didn't fight much, but it was their jobs as ninjas that they couldn't talk about some things. And that's what upset Sakura was keeping secrets, even if it's for the village. Still, she knew her father did not do it intentionally, he was rather important to the village being a shinobi for as long as he had been.
"What the?" Kiyosato said as he stopped in his tracks.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
He lifted his foot up and stepped back down. It was wet, muddy almost. The ground's soaked... but where's the nearest river? No way it flooded. What happened?
"Arf!"
Kiyosato gave his attention to his dog as he was pointing his face in the collection of trees close by. He whiffed the air and decided it would be a good idea to investigate. "Wait here, sis." he said as he and Takamaru trudged through the wet ground, squishing it with every step.
"Kiyosato?" called his sister as she followed him anyway. After a few moments of stepping over broken twigs and wet brush, they stopped as they saw someone sitting. He had his head down, his long blonde hair falling down completely covering his face as he sat still.
"Who is that?" she asked.
"I don't know... but he's not from this village judging by his robes, plus he has an Iwa headband." her brother pointed out, noticing his black robe with the red clouds painted across them. Mom and dad mentioned something about those robes a few times... What did they mean again... ?
"I'm gonna go find mom and dad." Kiyosato said. "We'll be back. Stay here, sis. Make sure this guy doesn't move."
"What? Wait, Kiyosato!" she called, but he and his companion had already taken off back towards the village. She was by herself now, noticing the man slowly groaning as he rubbed his temples.
"Damn you... Tokaku... Hate water." he said, looking up to notice the area around him was completely soaked. His eyes focused quickly as he noticed a young girl standing not too far away from him, her shoulder length red hair danced in the wind as she watched him with her emerald eyes. She was young, quite a few years younger than he was by the looks of it.
His head still pounding, he kept a hand on it as he finally spoke up. "Ugh... fucking head..."
"Are you okay?" she asked as she approached him, kneeling down in front of him.
Deidara glanced at her worried look as she lowered her hands onto his chest, a medical chakra aura appearing around them.
"My mother taught me a little bit about medical jutsu. When she shows up she'll heal you. I'm just trying to stop the pain... are you okay?"
Something about her looked familiar, but he couldn't place it. She couldn't be older than thirteen, and he'd been dead for about that long. No... she looked like someone he knew, or seen, rather. She was cute, though. Blue capris and a jacket with a hood that hung at the back with fur lining it. There was also fur along the cuffs of her sleeves. Underneath her jacket, since it wasn't zipped up all the way, was just a plain white shirt.
"I'm uh... fine, yeah."
His robes were catching her eyes. She liked them. The clouds were a nice touch. His headband was unique as well. She knew the village, but there was a line crossed through the middle. Did he mess it up during a mission? She wasn't sure. "It doesn't look like you've got big injuries. What happ-"
Deidara panicked as he noticed her headband. Konoha... Konoha! "Get-Get away from me!" he shouted, squirming away from her as he tried to stand up, but slipped in the wet ground and landed back in with a small splash.
Her eyes were confused, and now scared. What did she do?
"You... You're a Konoha shinobi. How do I know you weren't just trying to kill me? That you didn't lace that jutsu with a poison or a pressure jutsu to stop my heart? How did you know I was alive?"
"What are you talking about? I was trying to help you!" she said, still unsure why he was acting this way. Was he running from her village?
Deidara took his hands to his pouches and fed his hands clay, but stopped. She's not coming after me... she doesn't even have a kunai drawn, yeah.
"I wasn't... trying to hurt you. I know I'm a stranger... but I'm just trying to help."
He could hear the sadness in her voice. Maybe it was a trap, and maybe all the years being dead dulled his senses considerably, but she was just a girl, and he was a lot more focused now. He had a feeling he could handle a few surprises from one little girl if she tried anything.
"I don't have a good history with Konoha... or any villages when I think about it. Sorry, yeah."
They kept their distance as they sat across from each other. Deidara leaned against a tree while Salayna stayed with her legs crossed, neither worried about the soaked ground beneath them.
"That a birthmark or something?" he asked.
Salayna touched her cheeks and nodded. "From my father. I'm an Inuzuka. My name's Salayna." she smiled, instead of reaching for a hand shake due to the distance between them.
"Deidara." he replied. "Wait, you're an Inuzuka? Why don't you have a dog?"
Ah, yes. The question everyone asked... the reason everyone judged her and laughed at her. Her smile fell to a frown and a look of hurt filled her eyes as she remembered what happened that day.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked.
"He's... he died on a mission, last year." she quietly said, looking at the ground, a small reflection of water in the grass staring back at her.
Great. Nice job making kids cry, yeah. Deidara thought to himself. "Sorry... I guess that was kind of stupid of me to ask since he wasn't with you."
"It's okay." she replied, still staring at the ground. "I'm used to it."
"Used to people asking you about your dog?"
"Used to people judging me because of it."
"H-Hey! I wasn't judging you, yeah!" he said. "But... I know what you mean." he then thought of an idea. He placed his hands together, a simple act to her, unknown what he was going to do as a small smirk escaped his face. "What did he look like?"
X X X
What was the name of it! Man this is the WORST time to draw a blank! Kiyosato thought as he ran through the streets, dodging civilians and ninja the like, trying to think of where his parents went to eat. He turned a corner and unexpectedly crashed into someone, knocking them both down while Takamaru barked at his master for not watching when he turns corners.
"Ah, what the hell!" he growled as he gripped his head. "Sorry, are you-"
POW!
Kiyosato quickly planted his face into the pavement as the daughter of the lazy Nara stood up, patting down her skirt in embarrassment.
"What's the matter with you! Can't you watch where the hell you're going?"
"Yeah... hey, Aki." he said weakly.
"Ugh... here." she sighed, reaching her hand out, to which the Inuzuka took it and stood up. She was almost as tall as he was. Out of the parents, she definitely resembled her mother the most. She had the eyes, the spiky hair, and the... the... the.
"Um, Kiyosato?" she asked, bringing him out of his stare. He couldn't help it, he was of age, and Aki was anything but ugly. He felt like she knew that, and showed it off, much to his dislike since he knew if he said anything to her about it, she'd most likely punch him again like she did just now. She definitely didn't inherit her father's patience. She wore a black skirt ending right before her knees, with a matching sleeveless black shirt lined with mesh underneath that went up to her wrists. She wore her headband at her forehead, just like the majority of the ninjas did in their age group. One of the few things she inherited, physically, from her father, was his hair color. Beyond that, she was almost a total reflection of her mother, minus the spiky black ponytail that was tied down with two long bangs hanging from each side.
"Oh. Sorry, I'm just looking for my parents. You haven't seen them, have you?"
"They're with mine and Shinta's and Natsuko's parents, right down the road. I just saw them, why?"
"Thanks! Gotta go!" he said, running past her as she watched him speed away.
She shook her head. "Goof."
X X X
"How are we doing guys? Would anyone care for any dessert?" asked the waiter.
It was a full table filled with four couples that finally had the time to sit down and talk. Sakura suggested that since they spent the entire day together after he came back from his assignment he couldn't tell her about, that they spend the evening with their old friends they had only seen every so often.
Shino and Hinata sat across from them. Shino had since stopped wearing the large clothing, keeping only his sunglasses on, which Hinata made him take off whenever they were home. He was still insistent on wearing them everywhere else, though. Regardless, they were happy. Hinata took care of most of the things, but still kept training, while Shino handled most of the heavier and more dangerous missions. Like Kiba and Sakura, their appearance hadn't changed at all.
To their right were Shikamaru and Temari. Probably the funniest couple out of all of them, since they always joked about Shikamaru being under the foot, which he didn't deny at times. She really did call most of the shots, but acknowledged that in the end, Shikamaru could make better decisions. It was just a hassle for the poor Nara since their daughter had taken so much after her mother, leaving Shikamaru to feel like he was always going to have to prepare for battle against either of them. It seemed hectic, but you could tell they were happy, even when they were arguing.
The most surprising couple out of those four, however, was Naruto and Ino, who sat across from Shikamaru and Temari. Strangely they fit, even though they couldn't really describe it. Sakura had fulfilled her promise and set the two up, thinking it would be an awful disaster since she figured the two personalities would clash too much, but much to her surprise, it went rather well. Naruto had grown up a lot, especially since their child's conception, much like Sakura's and Kiba's, was not planned at all. It demanded a lot, and she and everyone else, including Ino were surprised at how much the jinchuriki had grown up.
"Yeah! Let me have uhh..." Naruto quickly flipped through the menu. "There it is! The six layer chocolate cake!"
Kiba didn't like that. He had secretly been trying to out eat Naruto the entire night, and he had a feeling he had caught on when Naruto kept asking for more bread throughout the meal. "You know what? Cake sounds good, let me have one also!"
"I thought you said you were full?" Sakura asked him confused. Her words fell on deaf ears as Kiba and Naruto were busy staring each other off.
"Two's better than one, let me have another one." said Naruto.
"One plus two makes three, so I'll have three slices!" Kiba replied.
"Yeah? Well two plus three makes fou... wait, no it doesn't."
Ino giggled while glancing over at Sakura. "Can't you tell I married him for his brains?"
Sakura just rolled her eyes as their husbands kept trying to outdo each other. "You should see our grocery bill. Kiyosato's almost as bad as this one when it comes to food." she said, pinching Kiba's arm.
"FIVE SLICES!" yelled Kiba.
"SIX!" shouted back Naruto.
The waiter just stood in confusion as the two weren't even talking to him anymore, just butting heads across the table, literally.
"THE WHOLE CAKE!" yelled Kiba.
"TWO CAKES!" shouted Naruto right back.
"THE REST OF THE CAKES IN THE BAKERY!"
"KIBA!"
"NARUTO!"
They didn't realize their battle for best eater had caught the attention of everyone in the restaurant, leaving the waiter very nervous as he still stayed waiting for their order... if they were going to order, anyway. Sakura and Ino grabbed their respective men and dragged them off of each other, sitting them down.
"Actually, we'll just take a piece to go." said Sakura, causing the waiter to comically fall over.
"We'll take one, too." added on Ino.
The waiter cleared his throat. "Yes, of course. I'll be back soon." and walked off.
Kiyosato finally found his way into the restaurant, only to almost trip over Akamaru when he entered.
"Akamaru?"
"Your father's inside. They don't let dogs past the front." he said, keeping his head laid down.
"Yeah, okay, thanks!" he said while leaving his companion with the older dog as he looked for his parents, finally coming to a large table in the middle of several.
"Mom! Dad!"
Kiba and Sakura turned their attention to the voice calling them as their son came up to their side, catching his breath.
"Kiyosato?" asked Sakura.
Kiba smelt something on him, figuring why he came here. "What's wrong?"
"Me and Salayna... we found a body, right outside the village. It had the black robe with the... the red clouds painted on them like you were telling us about!"
"What?" the entire table asked in equal surprise, the table coming to a complete halt in conversation as all the eyes focused on him.
"Yeah! She's watching him right now, come on!" he said, running towards the door without them.
"You left your sister there by herself?" shouted Sakura as her and Kiba got up, chasing after him, the other three couples nodding to each other and following right after.
"Alright guys here's your..." the waiter said as he noticed an empty table with the bill paid for on the table.
"I hate my job."
END!
Andddd there's your second chapter! Go go go! Onto #3! I can't say "see you next time," cause I'm giving you 3 chapters to start... so yeah.