QUICK CREDITS: Naruto and the original characters of Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Ringo Hyuga belongs to Sunsetfire of Shinobi Way. Aibara Okinawa belongs to midnight6606. Hana Uchiha belongs to me.

Don't Wither, Don't Wilt ... chapter 8 – We'll Fix It

A/N: The Second Test begins! This probably won't end up being the best day of their life.

Note: Nothing to note.

----on with the story. xxxxx!

Ropes… around my arms… The Uchiha opened her eyes in a daze, but no vision came to her. She thought she was staring at the ground, but she wasn't sure. I… I can't feel the ground… She wasn't able to recall where she was, or where she had been. Am I floating? Or flying? Drifting? I… Damn, my head really hurts… Concussion, maybe… I don't really care anymore… Everything went blank. It felt like two minutes later that she was opening her eyes again. This time, she could see the dirt below her, and her feet dangling in the air. She stayed still for a few minutes, trying to remember everything.

Realization hit her like a bitch. She looked up quickly, and saw the rope that was holding her tied to the tree. Shit. Hana glanced down. She breathed heavily with relief as she saw her ankles were not tied, she could defend her self, if only a little. Wiggling her fingers was wonderful too. She could move her wrists freely and quickly tried to make a Tiger hand sign. Hana glanced up and smirked, looking for her capturers. There were three guys, older looking, sitting around a fire. They looked like idiots.

The three idiots looked up at the moment. The leader smirked wickedly, and got up, messing with a lock of his neon green hair. Hana stared at his hair for a moment, wondering why any human being would want to dye their hair that color.

"It looks like our prisoner is awake, hm?"

"No shit." Hana stared at him, looking very bored.

"You're not in any position to talk, girl," The neon-haired man pulled out a little dagger. Hana glanced behind her, and noticed her katana was gone. It was lying next to a gold-haired man in the back, who didn't seem too interested by Hana. She rolled her eyes back at Neon.

"I'm not going to stop talking because there's a little rope around me." This ticked Neon off, and his black haired friend next to him, "If you wanted me to stop talking, you should have put some clothe around my mouth."

"Good idea. Kagone, get me a piece of clothe!" Neon yelled back to the golden-haired boy. Hana sighed with mock disappointment as Neon grabbed the piece of clothe and stepped closer to her. Three… Two… One… Just as Neon moved the clothe around her mouth, she kicked out a leg and knocked him right in the groin, she also made a point to add a little chakra. The man stayed there for a split second, frozen, before he fell over on the ground, holding his crushed parts.

"Not like anyone would marry a green-haired freak," Hana shrugged and laughed a little. The man on the ground growled loudly in anger.

"Sora! Tie her ankles up, quick!" The black-haired man nodded and grabbed more rope, moving down to tie her ankles up. Hana struggled, but he got her. The man stood up now, and smirked.

"Now, we can have fun with you," The man named Sora laughed and smacked a hand on her butt. Hana raised a brow at him for a moment, and took a deep breath. There was a look of amusement on his face as she filled her lungs with oxygen, like he thought she liked this. Hana almost laughed when she made a collection of hand signs behind her back. A second later, Hana breathed out a mouthful of fire, right into the black-haired man's face.

"Shit! Sora watch out!" Neon yelled from the ground.

"SHIT. SHIT. MY FACE. MY HAIR." He fell on the ground, rolling around, and put the flame out. Hana laughed happily, seeing that the man was less than conscious.

Out of the blue, a man leaped down, throwing a kunai at both of the grounded men. Hana's eyes widened for a moment, and then she smiled, "Took you long enough! I thought you'd find me quicker with your Byakugan." She snickered as Ringo turned around, pointing a finger at her.

"At least I have Byakugan, Uchiha!" Ringo hissed as Aibara leaped down into the clearing and looked at the guy in the corner.

"Hey guys-"

"You don't even have Sharingon, you stupid little-"

"Guuuuys-"

"Ha! I don't need Sharingon. I took care of these guys just fine."

"You let him slap your ass."

"Jealous?"

"DAMNIT, GUYS, LISTEN!" Aibara shrieked. It echoed through the forest, just as everything went quiet. Ringo and Hana looked at her. She sighed, "What should we do with this hot guy over here?" She pointed at Kagone. Ringo glanced back and stepped towards Kagone, holding his hand out.

Kagone looked a little confused.

"Scroll?"

"Oh. Yeah uh, here," Kagone shuffled through his pockets and pulled out a Heaven scroll. Aibara squealed next to him, "But wait. I'll only give it to you if you promise not to hurt me."

Ringo rolled his eyes, "I probably will hurt you. No one touches Uchiha and gets away with it," He narrowed his eyes, and gestured his open hand again.

Kagone frowned, "But I didn't touch her, not once! I don't even like girls, seriously."

Ringo snorted, "Seriously?"

"Seriously. Promise?"

"Sure." Ringo snatched the scroll from his hand and punched Kagone square in the jaw. The golden-haired guy fell over, passed out. Hana snickered from behind.

"Remind me never to keep a promise with you," Hana laughed.

"Well, he was gay." Ringo's eye twitched. There was a moment of silence and Ringo sighed, moving over to Hana and pulling out a kunai knife, "Cut her down, would you?" He tossed the knife to Aibara, who went up on a branch and sliced the rope quickly. Ringo caught Hana by the waist and set her down gently, but continued to keep her steady with his hand. Aibara went about cutting off the remaining rope, and then stepped back. Ringo grabbed his knife and put it away, and stared down at Hana, "Can you walk?"

"I can't feel my legs…" Hana frowned and looked up at Ringo. The Hyuga raised his eyebrows for a moment. Exhaustion was written all over her face.

"That answers it then," Ringo sighed and scooped Hana up into his arms. Hana squirmed around with a weird look on her face.

"No, hey, I'll be fine in a few minutes," Hana protested.

Ringo rolled his pale eyes, "We don't have a few minutes. The way Aibara screamed a while back, there's probably a team coming after us already," Hana glanced at Aibara, who seemed to shrink back a bit, and calmed down, "Anyways, you don't look like you could walk the remaining seven kilometers back to the tower," He grinned a bit. Aibara smiled too. Hana just blinked once and rested her head against Ringo, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, let's just get out of here," Hana yawned once and closed her eyes.

Ringo made a face quick and grunted once, "Hey, don't you fall asleep on me! Er-…" Hana had managed to fall asleep within five seconds. A new record. Ringo shook her gently, but Aibara stopped him.

"Let her sleep," She whispered loudly, "She's been walking around ever since noon, and when she wasn't walking, she was hanging from a tree." Ringo stared at Hana for a bit, and nodded.

"Let's move out."

.xx

.xxx

"Wait, wait, wait," He had been going on like this for about ten minutes now. The waitress crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the blond man, "Wait, wait, wait, wait… wait! So… you're saying Sasuke was already here!?" He slammed both hands on the table and leaned forward so that he was inches away from waitress.

"Yes, Naruto," Sakura answered for the waitress and yanked him back by the collar of his jumpsuit, "He was already here," Her green eyes were narrowed with mild frustration, "With a girl, a pretty girl by the sounds of it, and he left, with the pretty girl," She let go of Naruto, who quickly pulled away from the unhappy Sakura.

A pale boy next to her opened up his squinted eyes, "Is this jealousy I am picking up?"

"Probably," Naruto mumbled quietly.

Sakura whipped around on them, "Shut it, Sai!" Then moved on to grab Naruto by the collar of his jumpsuit again, yanking him close, "And I am not jealous of some girl that's been tagging along with Sasuke! NO! Why would you assume such a stupid thing!?" The pinkette barked in his face. Naruto went wide-eyed and gulped.

"I-i-i-i didn't assume anything, honestly!"

"Yeah, right!" Sakura yelled and threw him into the ground, before turning away and crossing her arms. Yamato blinked helplessly beside the group and sighed.

"I guess we should go look for him," Yamato sighed and turned to the waitress, who seemed to be getting impatient, "Do you know which way this man went?" He dug into his pockets and pulled out a wad of cash. The waitress's ice blue eyes widened, and she snatched the money up.

"East," She said quickly, "He went east. They were talking about Konohagakure, to be exact." The waitress smiled.

Yamato nodded, "Thank you," He turned around to his new team and looked at Naruto's and Sakura's faces. They were full of joy and hope. Biting his bottom lip, he suppressed a sigh; he just hoped that their happiness wouldn't be crushed in the long run, "Let's go."

.xx

.xxx

"We're almost there," Ringo whispered, and shot a hopeful smile towards Aibara. She looked dead on her feet honestly. They had been walking all night, and Aibara had only gotten a good three hour sleep in his arms. Hana had tried walking for a little bit, but they feared she had gotten some sort of concussion, so they let her rest again, "You mind getting the Earth scroll out of my pouch?" He shrugged behind him. Aibara made a face.

"I'm not touching your butt-pouch," She said with a sneer of her lip. Ringo rolled his eyes.

"Please? Unless you want me to drop Hana on the ground."

"Okay, fine," Aibara mumbled and unzipped his pouch. She looked in it for a moment, but couldn't see anything that looked like a scroll, "Uh, are you sure it's in your butt-pouch? All I see is kunai's, and this one scroll for Byakugan shit."

Ringo stopped quickly, making Aibara bump into his back, "What? It has to be in there. I didn't put it in my leg holster," Aibara stayed quiet for a few moments.

"It-It's not in there," Aibara murmured in a rather horrified voice.

Ringo glanced around for a moment, and rested Hana on the ground quickly. He turned around and felt for the scroll, but Aibara was right. A line of cuss words ran from his mouth as he checked his pockets, his shirt, his holsters, and then checked Hana's holsters over quickly. When Aibara finally came up empty, he fell to the ground next to the sleeping Hana, "Shit. Fuck. God fucking damnit," He rubbed his face with his hands and sighed, "We're screwed. That's it. We're so fucking screwed." He laughed nervously and fell quiet. Hana stirred next to him.

"What's up? Why'd we stop," She rolled over and stared at Ringo, who seemed completely shocked. Hana blinked her eyes awake and sat up, "What happened?

Aibara frowned and shook her head, "The Earth scroll is gone…"

"The Earth scroll…? What!? How, what happened? When did this happen?" Hana got up on her knees and stared at Ringo in utter surprise. The Hyuga just shook his head, and kept his gaze down.

"The last time I had it was back in the stone cave. I set it on the ground alongside my pouch, and, I must have forgotten it. And it wasn't there when we got back… So…" He felt something hit his shoulder, and he flinched. Hana was hitting him repeatedly, but he guessed he deserved it. She stopped after a bit, and slumped over.

"It's your fault," She growled in a low voice.

"I know," Ringo whispered. Everything went still for a long moment before finally he sighed, "I'll fix it, I promise." Hana didn't answer, and Aibara seemed to be standing off to the side, "Look, there are tons of teams coming in with both scrolls. We'll catch them then." He stood up, staring down at Hana.

"Yeah, Hana-chan, he's right," Aibara spoke quietly.

Hana stayed still for a while longer before standing up as well. There was a fierce look in her eyes, as if she were ready to kill, or just beat up Ringo. She sighed, "We'll fix it, Ringo," She spat angrily and glanced at him, "You're not holding the scrolls anymore. Aibara can keep the Heaven scroll. Let's go snag us an Earth scroll, hm?"

"Sounds good to me," Ringo said tiredly, "Can we rest first, though? I've been walking all night, it's nearly morning."

"You two can rest after we set up some traps. Now let's move." All exhaustion seemed to be gone from Hana, but she moved forward feeling incredibly dizzy, and watching the world blur out around her.

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QUICK BIO: Takako

Birthday: August 5

Element: Wind

Family: Unknown

Appearance: Red-brown hair pulled into curls, along with bangs that curve around her face. Brown eyes. Big boobs.

Clothing: A red scarf, black sweatshirt, and red pants.

Guess What?: Takako was one of the characters that was completely changed. The only thing the same is her name, honestly. On the forums, she was a little shy girl who liked owls. She used to live in Suna where she chased after Gaara's son for a good portion of her life. Takako had brown hair, no chest, and no life – unlike THIS Takako, who happens to be living a great life, being sassy and big-chested.