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. Kagamori belongs to Nina. Hana Uchiha, Takako, and Hikaru belong to me.
Don't Wither, Don't Wilt ... chapter 9 – Team Modifications
A/N: The Second Test continues with only three days left!
Note: Nothing to note.
-on with the story. xxxxx!
"Are we done now?" Ringo said in a slow, tired voice. The sun was just managing to peak through the trees. In this lighting, it looked like it was only five in the morning – but with these trees, it could have been closer to noon for all they knew. Ringo didn't bother to wait for Hana's answer, and sat down, throwing some of his gear to the side. Aibara looked exhausted too. Hana glanced between the two of them.
"Yeah, we'll check the traps in a few hours. You can sleep, I'll keep watch," Hana murmured quietly. Ringo let out a sigh of relief, and fell over on his back. Aibara and Hana looked at him for a few seconds, and were surprised to see he was already asleep.
Aibara shifted to lie down too, but took her time, "You know, it could've happened to any one of us," She glanced up at her friend, who had her arms crossed, looking very serious. Aibara had only seen pictures of Hana's brother, but somehow she could see the resemblance here. The Uchiha wore cold eyes; those eyes looked like they didn't care, like they were angry, like they were determined. It was a scary look. Hana merely shrugged to let Aibara know she was listening. Aibara paused for a long moment before speaking again, "I woke him up quickly, and he was really worried about you… If it had been me, I probably would have been like that too. You didn't have to be so… so…"
"How am I supposed to react to that?" Hana said briskly, "Pretend you're on a mission. You've been given top secret information. You lost that information; it's gone," Aibara frowned and stared at the ground, "You can't just shrug it off. This is real life, Aibara. There is no 'maybe next year' anymore. … What if his mistake is the difference between us getting out of here alive or not? What if one of us dies trying to get another scroll? Those guys back there, we were lucky! We are intimidating. A Hyuga, Uchiha, and weapon wielder prodigy on one team, that's something not a lot of people want to face. But we aren't the strongest team out there. And do you know why?" Hana glanced at her friend, who seemed very quiet, "Because we don't kill. You, me, even Ringo, we've never killed a person before. Those guys earlier, Ringo didn't shoot to kill. … Those other teams, they will kill us without a second thought."
It was quiet for a long moment after that. Aibara knew that Hana was right. She nodded slowly after a while, and lied down to go to sleep. After that nice pep talk though, she didn't think she'd ever sleep. Exhaustion was a funny thing though. It could shut you down any time it wanted to. Hana must have thought she was asleep though, because after a few minutes, she moved over next to Ringo. She saw her move him into a comfier position, and move his head onto her lap; she was letting him use her lap as a pillow. Aibara would've liked to say that if she didn't already have a backpack for a pillow, that Hana would've done the same for her, but she had to stop kidding with herself.
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"I had to say, I didn't think a bear trap would have worked," Ringo snickered, and crossed his arms. His pale eyes gleamed with amusement as he stared at the woman before him, whose ankle was clamped tight within a giant bear trap. Blood covered the forest floor where it had dripped from the wound, and the girl seemed in pain. Aibara, who had set the trap, didn't seem all to thrilled by the blood. Hana on the other hand, seemed to be off in her cold state as she stared at the captured woman, "Brilliant, Aibara-san, brilliant," He chuckled and stepped forward to the woman, who seemed to cringe.
"I-I don't have a scroll with me! My teammates have it!" The woman cried out. Ringo could smell the fear rolling off her. Laughing darkly, he glanced back at Hana who didn't seem impressed at all.
"Go ahead and check her over, Uchiha."
Hana stepped forward and patted the woman up and down, after rummaging through her things; she picked up a Heaven scroll. She cussed under her breath, and showed the scroll to her friends. Ringo narrowed his eyes, and Aibara frowned. Hana sighed and put the scroll away before picking through her belongings. The woman had some useful stuff, like extra bandages and some paper bombs, "So, where is the rest of your team located?" Hana said in a cool voice.
"I'm not telling you."
Hana stared at her for a moment longer before bringing her hand up. Slowly she moved it back to rest on her hilt. The girl's eyes widened. Hana pulled Hissori Ryuu and brought it to rest against the woman's neck, "Are you sure?" The girl gulped loudly and closed her eyes.
"They're by the river, about fifteen minutes from here! Please let me go!"
Quickly, Hana whipped the katana around and hit the girl on the head with the hilt of her katana. The sound was sickening, and the action surprised Ringo and Aibara. The girl crumpled to the ground and Hana sheathed her katana again, "Ringo, do you mind taking care of those guys then?"
Ringo smirked, "Gladly."
"If you're not back in an hour, me and Aibara will come looking for you."
"And what do you two plan on doing?" Ringo narrowed his eyes.
Aibara's stomach growled at that second. Hana shrugged, "Get breakfast, I guess. " Ringo nodded, and left.
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Ringo returned a half hour later to find Aibara munching on some berries, and Hana holding her head. He frowned, "You okay?" Hana jumped, like she hadn't noticed him. She must not be feeling good if she didn't notice him.
"Oh uh," Hana stopped rubbing her head and grabbed some berries, "Yeah, just a headache," Ringo nodded and sat down next to her.
He grabbed a few berries and looked at them, "These aren't poisonous, right?"
"They're raspberries, just shut up and eat them," Hana mumbled and grabbed some more, "Did you find those guys?" Ringo nodded, and pulled out a bag.
"No Earth Scroll, but they had another Heaven scroll. They had water, food, and a map of the area," He went over the things in the backpack, and munched on a few more berries. Hana nodded.
"Good. You can keep the Heaven scroll you found. We should be good, if we can just get a damned Earth Scroll," Suddenly the bushes rustled behind them, and Hana took action out of pure instinct. Grabbing a nearby kunai knife, she flew it into the bushes where the sound came from. There was a little yelp, and out fell Hikaru. Blinking her silver eyes, she stood up, "Hikaru? What are you doing here?"
Hikaru chuckled a bit, and sat up on his knees, dusting himself of dirt, "Just dropping in," He snickered and smiled at Hana, "You got a Heaven scroll then?"
Hana nodded, but didn't go into detail on how many they had, "Just need an Earth scroll now," She murmured, sparing Ringo the humiliation for the moment. The bushes rustled again a few moments later, and Kagamori and Takako appeared from the bushes as well, "How about you guys?"
Takako narrowed her eyes at the Uchiha, "Don't you seem relaxed. Shouldn't you be making sure we won't attack you?" She said in her normal angry tone. Hana merely smiled and shrugged, "After all, you have the scroll we need."
Hana laughed slightly, "And you have the scroll we need, then," She countered. Kagamori stepped up and put a hand on Takako's shoulder.
"No worries. We wouldn't attack our own friends for information," Kagamori struck a handsome smile.
Ringo rolled his eyes, "Friends, huh?" He muttered and grabbed some more berries, "Why are you here?"
Hikaru jumped up quickly, and leapt towards Hana to wrap his arms around her affectionately, "To say hi to Hana-chan of course!" He rubbed his cheek against Hana's, and Hana hugged him back. Ringo narrowed his eyes.
"Actually," Kagamori started, "We heard that the 'Hyuga's Team' had extra Heaven scrolls. You guys still need an Earth scroll right? Well we have an offer for you." Ringo raised a brow and crossed his arms.
"Shoot," He said simply. Kagamori nodded.
"How about, if we help you get an Earth scroll, you give us your extra Heaven scroll?"
Hana glanced at Aibara and Ringo, "That sounds like a good plan."
Ringo shook his head, "What if, we give you the Heaven scroll at the gates?"
"What would it matter if we travelled together? The chances of us loosing a scroll is slim if we have a group of six," Kagamori countered sternly.
Ringo frowned, "I don't like the sound of that…"
"It's a deal." Hana spoke up from where she sat in Hikaru's arms.
Ringo glanced at her quickly, "Since when do you decide everything?" He growled at the Uchiha. Hana narrowed her eyes.
"Since you lost our Earth scroll," They stared at each other for a moment, "We need help. I don't know how well I'm going to fight if we get attacked…"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ringo said, and Hikaru echoed him.
"It means, that when those guys attacked me, I think they knocked me across the head pretty good," Hana murmured quietly, "I've been dizzy constantly, I've been getting the worst headaches; it's starting to spell concussion if you ask me."
"Why didn't you tell us, Hana-chan?" Aibara murmured.
"Sorry guys, I didn't know what to do," Hana sighed.
Ringo rolled his eyes again, and sighed, "Okay, whatever. Let's just go get some scrolls and get out of here," The Hyuga muttered and stood up, getting things packed.
Kagamori glanced around and sat down on the other side of Hikaru and Hana, "How about we all eat, and then lie down? Hikaru and Takako have been up for a while now, and I just woke up, so I can watch."
Hana sighed in mild relief, "That sounds really nice, I've been up since early this morning. I'm ready for some sleepy."
"Maybe one of us should stay up and watch too," Ringo said cautiously, sending a glare at Kagamori, "We can't trust them."
"Yes, we can," Hana said simply, "If you're so worried, you can stay up. I don't really give a crap right now." Ringo snorted at the Uchiha's words. Boy, was she pissy.
Within the next few minutes, everyone except Kagamori and Ringo had fallen asleep. Hana had curled up a few feet away from him, alongside Aibara. Meanwhile, Hikaru and Takako had found a comfy position off by Kagamori. Ringo sat in the middle of their clearing next to Kagamori. The pale glanced over at him after a few minutes, "You can trust me, honestly," He said quietly in his smooth voice. Ringo snorted, but didn't reply further then that, "We're both from the same village, right?"
"Since when does that mean anything? Everyone is pinned against each other in this forest, it doesn't matter if they're from the same village," Ringo muttered, sending his pale glare back Kagamori. In return, Kagamori shrugged.
"Suit yourself," Kagamori spoke softly, "If I were you, I'd rest while I had the chance. It's going to be a long night, and if you're not at the top of your game, some of us might die," The two boys fell quiet after that. Off in the distance, they could hear a man screaming, and the cry of some unknown beast; they had been living with these sounds haunting them for the past two days. Death was a nightmare that hung over the heads of each participant. Kagamori was right, "Do you really want to have the guilt of knowing you let one of your teammates die, just because you were too stubborn to rest?" Ringo's gaze slid over to Hana and Aibara. The two had managed to curl up closer to each other in a short amount of time. He couldn't bear the thought of either one of them disappearing forever, and sighed.
"Yeah, you're right," Ringo muttered, and moved over next to Hana and Aibara. He lied down next to Hana, and moved his arm around both her and Aibara. Within a few minutes, he fell into a state between deep sleep, and consciousness. Ringo had never been a light sleeper, but he'd just have to try it out for one night.
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"Nothing, absolutely nothing," Hikaru muttered as he and Hana walked through the forest. The two teams had split up into tiny groups to find some easy prey for scroll hunting; Ringo and Aibara had become a group, same as Kagamori and Takako. They had been walking around for an hour now, and they had come across not one living human. He wasn't necessarily complaining though.
Hikaru couldn't remember the last time he and Hana had spent any amount of time alone. Ever since his best friend had graduated from the Academy, she had been around her team constantly. He didn't blame her – after disappearing out of her life for an entire year, he was probably not that reliable in her eyes, and she had always been the clingy type. Now he had some time alone with Hana, and he was incredibly happy.
"We have a lot of forest to cover, and we still have about two more hours before we meet back up," Hana murmured quietly beside him, "Plus, with the others searching too, someone will find something," She smiled confidently up at Hikaru, he nodded in return.
"You're right," He smiled. The two friends were rather quiet for the rest of their search, but Hikaru kept finding himself looking at Hana. Hikaru noticed how grown-up she was starting to look; she had always been cute, but Hikaru had never found her beautiful until he had started visiting her again. He bit his lip. Hikaru had liked Hana ever since they were toddlers. Hana, their Uchiha friend Hayato, and himself would always play together. Hikaru would hug Hana everyday before he went home, but Hayato always said that she was his and that they were going to get married one day. They were only five, and the memories still made them laugh to this day.
Hikaru thought for a while that he had gotten over his childhood crush, but it was hard to believe a lie.
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"Rookies, eh?" Ringo leaned forward from where he sat back at camp. Hana grabbed Ringo's bag and pulled out the map they had obtained from the last group they had ambushed. After unrolling it on her and Kagamori's lap, she glanced at him. From here, Ringo could tell she was pretty excited about Kagamori's and Takako's find.
"Where were they on the map?" She said in a quiet voice.
Kagamori nodded and pointed to a point in the map, "So, this is where we are, you see?" He circled the area briefly before sweeping his finger to a position further away, "About two kilometers away is a group of rookies from the Village Hidden in the Mist. They are very skilled, and very smart," Takako snorted next to him.
"Well, obviously!" The big-chested girl threw up her arms before placing them on their hips, "They placed their camp in the middle of a field. Every team sees them, yeah, but they can see every attack coming from every direction! It's genius!"
Aibara clapped her hands together in an excited manner, "But two teams against one is bad odds!" She smiled happily and jumped a little in her seat. Hana and Ringo laughed out of amusement. Aibara was funny when she got excited, "But, do they have the scrolls we need?" Kagamori smiled and nodded, making the white-haired girl blush.
"There are two girls and a boy on the team. The two girls are the strongest from what I've been able to pick up," Kagamori went on to explain, "One of the girls is always staying back, like they don't believe the boy can take care of himself. That probably means that the boy is exhausted most of the time, and doesn't get as much rest as the others except when some else is at camp. Now about the scrolls,"
"We think they have three. Two Earth scrolls and a Heaven scroll," Takako picked this up, "I had my owls fly out there. One girl holds the Earth scroll and the other girl holds the Heaven scroll. The boy holds an extra Earth scroll, and they just obtained the scroll when we were leaving."
Ringo stood up, "Then we have to move quick, before they get to the tower."
Kagamori nodded and moved his finger across the map one last time, "Last time we saw them, they were leaving in this direction."
Hana took the map and rolled it up quickly, throwing it back in the bag, "Okay, let's go," She went around and packed the few things she had out, and handed a food pill to everyone, "Lead the way, Kagamori."
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QUICK BIO: Akeko Niigata
Birthday: October 18
Element: Earth
Family: Unknown relative ( Will be revealed later. )
Appearance: Very unattractive. Sickly pale skin and greasy jet black hair.
Clothing: Normal Shinobi wear.
Guess What?: Niigata was made purely for this fanfiction. She never once showed up on any of the forums. Even though I planned on having Niigata be a worthless side character, but she has become very fun to draw in my sketchbook. Usually I portray her pissed off with her middle finger flying high.