Struggle
Chapter 2: Diamond
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Temari and Naruto still refused to speak to each other as they watched the camp for any suspicious activities. Because of their childish argument, they hadn't agreed to leave yet, so they both continued watching. The temptation to talk was definitely overwhelming, since the silence was piercing into their ears, grinding away at their nerves. In fact, they focused on maintaining an angry attitude at each other that they didn't even sense the approaching ninjas until Temari had turned around and let out a gasp.
Upon Temari's gasp breaking the silence, Naruto whirled around. Why hadn't he sensed them? How could a group of five or six just sneak up on them?
The apparent leader began to speak. Probably giving demands, but Naruto was paying attention. He was getting ready to attack, but Temari put her hand in front of Naruto, blocking his way.
Temari gave the ninja group a nervous smile; "How about we just leave? There's no need for any fighting." Her smile faded, 'Shimatta!' she thought, turning around, to have a fist meet her face. Once again the group of ninjas had fooled them—they had placed two ninjas behind them as they were distracted by the false negotiations. Temari had stumbled backwards, only to hit one of the other ninjas in the large group that they had discovered first. There was no way to avoid it, and the ninja sent her in the darkness of unconsciousness, with the final noise being Naruto's voice, "Temari! Hey! Let her—"
Temari awoke rather suddenly. For a moment, she couldn't remember what had happened. Then the blood running down her face caught her attention. So that's what had happened… she couldn't believe she let an argument with the idiot kid get her so distracted that they ended up in this situation. She, after all, was the Jounin. Wasn't she supposed to be looking after the genin? All of the sudden, she felt very ashamed of her actions. But she didn't dare do anything at the moment—they clearly weren't normal bandits—she assumed they were the bandits. Generally speaking, the camp members would not have attacked unless they had something to hide. She didn't know how powerful the group was. If it was a group of missing nins, they could be in some trouble.
That's when she realized that there was no way she could be in a camp. The place she was in was dark—too dark. It was like the sunlight couldn't reach here… Where were they? She strained her ears, but she couldn't hear anything. It was completely silent—had the bandits left them alone? She couldn't tell.
A groan from Temari's right signaled that Naruto had awakened. "Are you all right?" Temari whispered. She jumped; her own voice had startled her. The silence seemed less frightening once she realized that Naruto was here with her. Somehow, it was oddly comforting…
"…Yeah I'm doing all right." Was the muttered reply from the blonde ninja next to her, "You?"
"Just dandy," She said sarcastically, "My pride has been thrown to the ground and stomped on. Other than that, I'm okay."
Naruto couldn't help but laugh. The girl next to her was actually admitting that she had made a mistake. Ever since he first met her, he figured that she was the cliché egotistical girl. But now he was starting to think that maybe she actually had a personality underneath her inflated ego. "That's good. How's your nose?" He asked, recalling the punch earlier.
"It's been better." She assured him, "But nothing big." She could feel dried blood underneath the fresh blood, which told her that her nose was still bleeding. Which, conveniently, meant they hadn't been here long, most likely. After deciding this, she checked herself. She wasn't tied in any sort of way. Were these people idiots? She wiped the blood away from her nose onto her sleeve. Through the gloom, she managed to make out Naruto's form, which gave her some more comfort, knowing she could locate him if need be. She slowly eased herself into a standing position, but sharp pains ran up and down her legs, causing her to grab onto Naruto's shoulder for support. Unfortunately for her, her legs gave out, and she collapsed on top of the other ninja, sending them both sprawling to the ground.
As Naruto hit the ground, all he could think of was how close she was too him. His surprised face staring up at Temari's flushed one. She rolled off of him quickly enough, and they both sat up again. So they weren't totally left unguarded—they had most likely done something to Temari's legs to make her unable to walk for awhile.
Almost absentmindedly, Naruto wiped the rest of the blood off of Temari's face and onto his sleeve. He hardly noticed her stiffen under his sudden movements. He was too busy trying to see through the gloom.
Almost too suddenly, something opened up above, and let light down in the room that Temari and Naruto were located. All around them were walls. Earth walls. They were underground. Peering above, the two blonde ninjas squinted, making out the pink haired kuniochi and the silver haired Jounin. With a lazy wave, Kakashi said, "Yo." The pink haired kuniochi looked down at the situation with a bit of surprise.
"How did you two get down here?"
"What do you mean 'how did we get down here'? We were knocked out and stuffed down a hole. I think you should show a bit more sympathy." Temari snapped half-heartedly. She reached up and grasped Sakura's hand and the other girl pulled the Suna nin to safety, catching a glance at her ankles.
"Temari, did you know you have needles in your ankles?" Sakura questioned automatically examining Temari's ankles, her face wavering between concern and professionalism. The medic didn't wait for Temari to respond. "Acupuncture. The placement of the needles is very precise; you shouldn't be able to use your legs." Then with no mercy, she yanked the needles from the other kunoichi's ankles.
Temari blinked. The removal of the needles hadn't hurt at all. The medic continued with the explanation, "These needles are covered with some sort of numbing liquid. You won't be able to walk for a few more hours, whoever did this was thorough. We aren't dealing with normal bandits. These bandits, with no doubt, have professionals on their side."
By this time, Naruto had pulled himself out of the dark hole he and Temari had been thrown into. He couldn't help but feel genuine concern for the other ninja that had been held captive with him. They only numbed one of the two captives, they weren't very smart, or they had run out of time, whichever didn't matter.
Naruto's voice came out in a bit softer tone than he's ever used, it surprised even himself, "I'll carry her."
Sakura looked at Naruto to Temari, then back to Temari again, "Well, I was going to have you do that anyway."
Temari couldn't hold back the smile that twitched at the corners of her mouth. With those three simple words, Temari knew that the childish argument was over. Carefully and gently, she felt herself being lifted up, into the Leaf nin's arms.
Later on, when they had checked into the hotel for the night, Sakura and Temari sat cross-legged on their beds, facing each other. Sakura was doing some form of interrogation on the older girl.
"I don't see why a Jounin could have just been ambushed like that. No matter how 'distracted' you were. They must have been good to hide themselves like that; they aren't just your everyday group of bandits. Which might be a reason why they haven't been caught yet." Sakura mused.
"I've already had my pride bruised, I don't it stabbed by you." Temari half hissed half sighed. Arguing with the pink haired girl was useless; she was stubborn and—at the moment—couldn't shut up.
Abruptly, Sakura changed the subject, "Can you feel your legs now?" her excited face had one again taken the professional look that she reserved specially for her work.
"Yeah." Temari absentmindedly rubbed her leg as she responded. It was a natural response; she had to make sure that she could feel her hand gently massage the tight muscles in her upper leg.
"Well, the best medicine for you at the moment is to get some good sleep. I doubt the trip down the hole was the best thing for your health."
"No shit."
Sakura laughed, and crawled under the covers, turning her back towards Temari, letting sleep overtake her.
Unlike Sakura, Temari didn't sleep as easily. Sleeping was never one of the things that came easily to the blonde kuniochi, she often found herself up and about at night, doing things she could do in the morning, but she just felt like doing them right at that moment. It wasn't a healthy habit, she knew, she had to be in the best shape possible for all of her missions—her failure to complete a mission on the plead of tiredness would not ease the shame at all. It actually made it worse, knowing she had screwed it up for herself. But even as she lay awake, knowing she was on a mission, she could not suppress the urge to retreat from the warmth of her bed and go to the roof, exposing herself to the air that was so cold compared to her native village.
With a sigh, she pulled the covers off of her, stepping on to the floor of the hotel room that she knew was her temporary home as long as they were observing this village. She hated admitting it, but nowhere ever felt like home—even her real home. Her real house was usually empty its inhabitants out on missions or doing various errands and chores, or even just hanging around on the streets. Everytime Temari entered the house, she felt like she was entering a house that she had seen often, but it was still surreal, like not her own. She could never figure out why this was. It was like something was missing, even though she couldn't imagine what it could be.
When she finally reached the roof, she let out a long, soft sigh, steam rolling out her mouth as she looked out into the darkness of the night. The sky was splashed with stars, a crescent moon hanging in the middle of it all, but yet, not in the middle of it all, it's silver light the only guidance. She had to admit it was pretty. She wasn't the type of person that sat drooling at the wonders of nature; she just didn't find any fascination in it. But even a person like her appreciated a nice night to relax.
"Can't sleep?" Asked a male voice, causing Temari to jump. But when she turned, all she saw was the blonde haired, blue-eyed boy who had saved her brother from himself.
"Something like that." Temari responded nonchalantly. It wasn't necessarily true, she could sleep perfectly fine, it's just her mind had overruled, deciding that this was something she had to do at this exact moment. But in another sense, that was not being able to sleep. "I take it you can't sleep either?"
There was a pause, then, "Kakashi-sensei has been laughing to himself for the past hour. I can't sleep while he's…" he trailed off. He wasn't even sure WHAT Kakashi was doing. But whatever it was, it was extremely annoying.
Temari laughed softly. Kakashi probably didn't even realize he was keeping up his student. The arrogant bastard probably didn't really care either. That was just the kind of personality the silver-haired Jounin had. He might act considerate, but from what she had seen, he seemed quite lazy, and he kept to himself, always reading that stupid book of his. It was annoying, but yet it seemed to be part of the sensei's personality. "I'm sure he'll stop soon." Temari assured the younger boy. Even the great Kakashi had to get some sleep, right? …right?
"I hope so." Naruto sat down on the edge of the building, allowing his feet to dangle over the side. There was one thing Temari noticed that was odd. The boy wasn't in his pajamas. He was in the black undershirt he wore under his jacket, and his normal orange pants. Had he even tried to go to bed? But as one side was questioning this, the other was telling that side to shut up, Naruto looked hot in black.
Temari wanted to slap herself. But Naruto was watching her, and heat rose to her face. To cover it up, she seated herself next to him, making sure there was quite a bit of space between them. Ever since this mission started, she realized, she had been acting weird. Weird as in not quite herself and she was sure she was the only one who noticed. It wasn't that her personality was any different, she wasn't exactly sure what it was that was so different. Just somehow, she had changed.
"Kakashi-sensei said that the camp we were looking at is gone. Gone, looking like it was never there." Naruto said suddenly.
Temari looked at Naruto with interest. "Sakura didn't say anything about the camp being gone." She had just figured they weren't going to do anything about it yet because they didn't know how many people were in the camp. That had seemed logical to her, but now she knew the real answer.
Naruto nodded, "It seems like they were the bandits we were looking for." He leaned back a little, "Kakashi-sensei figures most of them are missing nins. Especially since we were able to get captured so easily."
Temari winced. She hated admitting the stupid mistake of focusing on being mad at Naruto. And now it seemed so goddamn pointless because now they weren't even mad at each other anymore. "Yeah…"
"Glad to see you back on your feet. Looks like it was more effective than Sakura-chan originally thought." He said, squinting at her. Temari felt heat rising to her face again, not because he was looking at her, but because of her own weakness.
"It seems that it stayed in my body a little longer because my body is a bit smaller than most people at my age." She explained a bit hesitantly. It was true, even Naruto was now a bit taller than she was, and he was only fifteen. But she guessed it was okay, if he hadn't been, it would have been a little harder to carry her from the camp back to the hotel. She had been grateful that he managed to carry her all the way.
"That makes sense…" He answered, remembering a similar explanation Sakura had given him about poison, and how it spread in smaller bodies quicker. "Sakura-chan is a good medic, isn't she?" His eyes were practically sparkling.
Temari fought back the jealousy welling up in her chest. She didn't know where it came from, but all she knew is that when Naruto spoke of Sakura, he spoke with love, "Yeah. She is." She fought down all different emotions she was feeling right at that moment. She couldn't identify most of them, so why bother with them?
Naruto nodded, and finally stood up, with Temari's curious eyes following him, "I think we should get going inside. Somebody's going to realize we're gone, and we need sleep as well." He held out his hand to Temari. Temari had never had a guy do that before—and she had never seen Naruto do it to any other girl. But without much thought, she took it, and Naruto pulled her to her feet.
They walked down the stairs side by side, and parted at the doors of their room. With a small wave and quiet good nights, they headed into their rooms. Temari slipped in between the sheets, and only stared at the ceiling for moments before falling asleep, her mind at rest with the image of Naruto smiling at her with his hand outstretched.
Temari was rudely awakened as she heard the squeaking of the bed next to her. Sakura was getting up, she realized, with a bit of annoyance. She closed her eyes, wishing that she could fall asleep. But it was morning, and she knew that once she was up, there was no going back to the bliss of sleep. She heard the shower start, and she bolted to a sitting position. No wonder Sakura had gotten up early, she beat Temari to the shower. With a growl, Temari swung her feet over the edge of the bed. At the moment, she supposed she couldn't do anything about it.
Later on, after everybody had completed their daily morning routines, they met up outside the hotel. Kakashi was reading his book, per usual, and Naruto was glaring at him. Kakashi must have kept Naruto up for awhile after Temari had parted with him in the hallway. When the last person filed in, Kakashi shut his book with one hand, and turned to them, "We'll be doing scouting around the outside of the village today. The bandits picked up and left, so our job is to re-locate them." The one visible eye stared at Temari and Naruto, making the two younger shinobi a bit uncomfortable. "We'll split like we did before. Temari and Naruto as one pair, and Sakura and I will go as the second pair." He took out a map, "We'll take this side, you two take this side." He pointed as she said so.
The three shinobi before him nodded. When he gave the signal, they all disappeared.
Kumori stared at where the Konoha ninjas had been. The four of them could pose problems no doubt. But what was interesting was that one of them had been from Suna. What were the hotshots in Konoha thinking, sending three Konoha ninjas and a Suna ninja? Interesting.
What was even more interesting was that two of them he knew he had put down in that hole. He had been thorough with making the Suna girl unable to use her legs…it was interesting that they had a medical nin on their side. How else could they have managed to get out of that hole?
This was an interesting group indeed.
The day was incredibly boring. There were no signs of the bandits anywhere. Temari and Naruto agreed that they most likely had retreated to the crowds of the village. But having that assumption didn't help anything, they couldn't find a whole camp of bandits in the middle of a village. Besides that, they didn't know how many bandits there were.
Kakashi stood in his usual lazy manner, one hip holding more weight than the other and his usual book in one hand, "Either the bandits left this village, or they've hidden themselves among the citizens here. If it's the last one, then we'll never be able to find them all."
Temari frowned, "Are you saying that we need to lure them out of the village with something so valuable they can't ignore it?" The blonde kuniochi asked, her dark eyes holding some cross between curiosity, excitement, disapproval, and worry. Eventually, the excitement and curiosity overruled all others.
"Precisely."
Sakura bit her lip in concentration, "I heard the largest diamond in the world was going to be shown off at the village not too far away from here. Isn't that a possible stop?"
"No." Temari answered almost immediately.
"Why?" Sakura asked, confused.
"The largest diamond in the world is how big? And how heavy?" She questioned. Sakura could only shake her head in amazement, "Exactly. How is any bandit going to make off with that large of a stone?"
"I think Sakura has the closest lead yet." Kakashi shifted his weight boredly, "Even if what Temari says is true, it's still something we should look into." The three nodded in agreement, and Kakashi spoke again, "Sakura, you need to help me spread the word about the diamond throughout the village. Temari, Naruto, you two need to post yourselves near the entrance of the village that's displaying the diamond. Watch for any suspicious activity, then stay close to the diamond. Don't ever let your eyes off of it. Go now."
Naruto and Temari nodded, and disappeared, and reappeared a little ways off side by side, running off to the village with the diamond display.
Sakura shook her head in disbelief, "What kind of idiot would display a priceless diamond when there's a ring of thieves around?"
Kakashi shrugged, and began spreading the word with the help of Sakura.
Kumori looked annoyed. The group of ninjas were very determined to catch them. They were doing a good job of predicting their moves; all their guesses so far were accurate. Even to the point where they knew where the group was heading next.
But this was a good opportunity to find out more about the group that was after them. He couldn't really pass up this chance. He knew exactly how the group was acting, the group knew exactly how they were acting. But they didn't know who they were… this could be a good form of trickery…
Kumori laughed under his breath. This was going to be a very interesting event. Just the thought of it was getting him excited…
Temari's gaze never left the large diamond. It was definitely big, but not as big as she would have imagined. It wouldn't be TOO hard for a bunch of ninjas to make off with it. Which made her watch it even more carefully.
Then felt a warm breath on her neck. She was standing in the middle of a crowd, she knew she shouldn't have been as disturbed by it as she was, but she knew there was something wrong. Something terribly wrong and her fears were farther proved when the person, who was breathing on her spoke, his voice was cold and hard, "I heard you were looking for the bandits. If you make one wrong move, I'll kill you all. Stop pursuing the bandits, and I'll spare your lives."
Temari froze. Her whole body just tensed, she caught her breath. A ninja wasn't supposed to fear anything right? Well, the rules and principles she learned at the academy were a jumbled mess of words that didn't make sense anymore. The rules and principles taught to academy students didn't apply to real life situations.
She spun around, only to see nothing. Nothing out of the ordinary, anyway. Her eyes darted around, looking for a retreating figure, but nothing was visible through the mass of colors and bodies. She pushed her way through the crowd, her heart pounding. She didn't even know what the person looked like, but judging by the voice, the person was a male. The only thing she could assure herself was once she saw him, she would know it was him. But even that, was a lie.
It was like the whole world was crashing down on her. She had to find this man, and she knew she had to. It was like a pressure coming from an unknown source. She pushed and shoved until she made her way to a deserted street. She then realized that she had lost whatever she had been hoping to find. Even worse, she had lost Naruto in her haste in getting through the crowd.
Naruto probably wasn't even watching the diam-….
The diamond!
Then it clicked. Was this a trap to get them away from the diamond? She had to get back to the diamond. She shoved and pushed through the crowd, but the crowd seemed thicker and less willing to let her through. Some even yelled at her, and whispers of her being rude followed her. She couldn't get back to the diamond, the crowd was too thick.
Then as the crowd silenced, and stared at the diamond in wonder, it disappeared in a flash. Temari knew what had happened.
She turned around and started shoving through the crowd to the only exit from the village. Behind her, the crowd went into an uproar of panic. She was jostled around, but made it out safely. She only looked back once to see if Naruto was following her, but there was no sign of the blonde.
She'd have to continue alone from here on out.
Speeding up, she slid in front of the entrance. Sure enough, the ninjas were making a break for it. She couldn't hold them all back, but she could sure as hell get the diamond back. Or should she even try? At the moment, following them seemed to be a much better idea. Her job was not to get the diamond back, it was to capture the thieves who took the diamond. Same thing, right? Wrong.
If she wanted to keep the ninjas inside the village, she'd have to close the large doors. They must have weighed about a few tons each, she couldn't possibly move them by herself.
Then she heard the voice again. This time its tone was full of mock laughter, "I think you'll find that you won't be doing anything to stop us."
"What makes you think that?" She fought down the fear rising in her voice, and the words she spoke came out strong, stronger than she felt.
"Because if you look over there…" his cold finger touched one side of her neck in a directional guidance, making her head turn to that way, "You'll see the answer to your question."
Her heart stopped.
Not literally, but it could have. Seeing the motionless Naruto, blood running thickly down the side of his head was a bit shocking.
All the things she was taught were suddenly fading away. Everything she was taught would have told her to stop the thieves even if it meant risking Naruto's life. But her concern for Naruto's well being was stronger than that.
"Drop the kunai in your hand."
Hesitantly, Temari released the kunai she had been clutching so desperately and let it drop to the ground.
"Good. Now you're going to let us leave with the diamond. Nod if you understand."
Slowly, Temari nodded. The man behind her snapped his fingers, and abruptly, Naruto was tossed into her arms, and the bandits disappeared.
Temari shook Naruto gently, like she thought he was merely sleeping, "Naruto…hey Naruto, wake up." She wasn't a medical nin, she didn't know exactly what to do. But she knew that shaking him and begging him to wake up wasn't going to work. She leaned down and pressed her ear against his chest, listening for a heartbeat.
It was normal. She frowned in confusion. How could his heartbeat be normal?
"…what are we doing out in the middle of street, Temari?"
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A/N: Ten pages. In your face. Review.