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Chapter 10

Tenten rolled her chocolate eyes, "Yuki can't seriously think that Ino and Sakura are mermaids can she? I mean, did anybody else see what she saw?"

Looking around the room, the only people that made no movement to disagree were Sasuke, Naruto, Ino and Sakura. Naruto had found something on the wall to be quite fascinating as Sasuke glared at the open door. Both Ino and Sakura had no idea what to say to the others, as they truthfully could not fathom what was happening at the moment.

"So you guys believe her?"

Naruto cringed, looking at the buns on the slender ninja's head, he bit his lower lip, not knowing what to say, "Well, you see. Um, you know, it's really funny how it might look that way, but, really," He chuckled nervously, "No one can say for sure what we saw... ?"

Hands on her hips, Hinata raised her eyebrows, "Why are you trying to avoid answering, Naruto-kun?"

"I just wanted to wait until we got back to Konoha..."

The conversation immediately stopped as Yuki came running through the open doorway with a red bucket in hand, panting heavily, "I got. The water." She bent over, placing the bucket on the floor.

"Where did you get that bucket?"

"Yuki, there's no logical way for them to be mermaids-"

"It's not important where I got the bucket from, Naruto, and I'm ignoring that, Tenten. Anyway, you ready for this, guys?" A few eye rolls were seen. She took those as a definite yes, "Girl, are you seriously going to let me dump a bucket of cold ocean water on you?"

Sakura hesitated, looking over at Ino who shook her head, eyebrows drawn together, "I'm sure not going to let her pour that water on me.."

Yuki held the bucket near Sakura when she nodded her head, while Ino moved away so she wouldn't get splashed. The bucket tipped, a loud gasp was heard and and the apple red bucket was empty.

Looking up at Tenten, Gaara, Neji, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Yuki, Sakura flushed, the incredulous looks she was getting making her slightly uncomfortable.

Yuki was the one to break the silence, her grin directed more towards Tenten than anyone, "I told you, didn't I? See. Don't doubt me when I'm right, 'cause when I'm right, I'm right."

Both Gaara and Neji were the first to get over their shock although they chose not to say anything.

Shikamaru said something under his breath that nobody could catch.

And Tenten snorted, "So you weren't lying... Geez."

"Of course not. I wouldn't lie about something like this!"

"Does it... hurt?"

Sakura shook her head, "Not at all."

"Oh..." Tenten looked over Hinata, who was still staring at the light green tail hanging off of the bed, refusing to look away from it.

Yuki looked down at Sakura, opening her mouth to say something, "Ca-," she pursed her lips instead choosing to be silent.

"Well I guess this was worth coming back from the beach to see. But, what do we do now, are we changing our plan?"

Everyone turned to look at Shikamaru who sighed, "Naruto was the one who came up with the it, ask him."

Naruto covered his smile, "I think we should still go back to Konoha. I mean, sure they have ramen here... In some places, but, it's not as good as Ichiraku's!"

"Is that your only reason? The ramen?"

"Pshhh, no."

A small squeak was heard from the side of the room, completely ignored by most, "Sorry, I should of asked."

Smiling back at the dark haired girl Sakura whispered, not wanting to interrupt the others conversation, "No, you can touch it."

Yuki bounced closer to her, Hinata behind her.

Hinata looked at the two other girls on the bed, Yuki totally engrossed in the sea green mass, "We should pack up then, right?"

Shikamaru looked over at the three, he seemed exasperated, "Yes. We're leaving tonight so go get packed."

She nodded in understanding, "Okay," Hinata slowly moved off of the bed, lightly caressing the scales, feeling the tail twitch beneath her fingers before exiting the room in a hurry.

"Ya' know Sakura, your tail is really pretty.." Yuki praised.

"Huh? Thank you?"

"It also feels really cool-"

Neji walked up to the bed they were on, followed by Sasuke, "Turn her back, Yuki."

Her face fell, "What? Why now?"

Neji explained their reason bluntly, "Sakura-san looks cold. You are also on our bed."

"Why do you need the bed?"

"...To make it."

She scoffed, "Clean freaks, it's a hotel for crying out loud, you don't have to make the bed-" Sasuke glared at her before pulling her off onto the floor. She screamed, trying to grasp anything before a cushioned thump was heard, "Oh my god fine! I'll do it!"

Gaara, Naruto and Shikamaru looked over at them until Yuki left the room, they continued with what they were doing then.

Both prodigies smirked, watching her leave. When she came back with only a couple of towels in hand their smirks disappeared.

"What?"

They never answered, instead choosing to wait and watch. When finally, both girls got the sea green tail dried, they expected a change. Nothing happened.

"Why isn't it working...? ...Your clothes are still wet, huh?"

"Time to go." Naruto made his way out of the room.

"Why not just give her a shirt or something, then you wouldn't have to leave.."

A plain black shirt was thrown their way, caught by pale hands. The guys turned around and waited.

"Alright, you can have your bed back now. We'll be back later with the everybody else."

Sakura squirmed beside Yuki, a bit uncomfortable with the length of the shirt while under the gaze of people.

"Oh my god dude, could you be any more obvious? Stop staring." With that, Yuki stomped out of the room dramatically, Sakura giggling behind her.

"What's she talking about, Uchiha?" Neji asked, fixing the right side of the bed.

Sasuke grumbled, taking the left, "How should I know."

Shikamaru flopped down on the couch beside Naruto, closing his eyes. Shifting away from the now sleeping male, Naruto placed his feet on the coffee table in front of him, flipping through the channels on the TV.

Gaara looked at the other occupants of the room, having finished getting his things together. Thinking about their trip home, he realized Naruto had not thought of everything, "You do know that now we have to find a means of transportation."

Ino stood in the doorway, "What do you mean, Gaara?"

"We have to find way to get to Konoha. Nobody has thought of that have they?"

"Oh, well how do you usually do that?"

Hinata walked up behind her, having heard her question and, hearing no answer she decided to be the one to give it to her as she placed her bag beside the door, "We usually get around on foot, but, since Konoha is overseas we either take a boat or a plane, which we don't have the money for, so the boat is our only option."

Ino tapped her chin for a moment, eyes glued to the floor, "So... you guys can run long distances for hours?"

Not stopping the smile from forming on her lips, Hinata cocked her head, "Yes, we can... but that's not very important right now, we have to figure out how we're gonna-"

"What's not important?"

Hinata looked up at Neji who just walked into the room, "That we're able to travel for hours on foot. Anyway, we have to find out how much money we have with us."

The seven teenagers looked to one another.

Sakura walked into the room then, "What's money?"

Sasuke answered her before anyone else got the chance, "It's what we use to buy goods or entertainment."

"Oh my god Teme why would you say that to her!"

Ino stared at the two questioningly, as did the others.

"What are you talking about, dobe?"

"What do you mean what am I talking about? You were obviously trying to," he got closer to the pale teen, "suggest something in that sentence!"

Eyebrows furrowed, Sasuke thought about what he had said. He sighed, rolling his eyes, "I didn't mean it that way, idiot."

"Then... what did you mean?"

Gaara rolled his eyes, watching the two talk. Tenten, and Yuki walked in the room just before he began talking, "What he meant doesn't matter. Everybody figure out how much money you have left."

Looking through their travel bags, the ninja pulled out their money pouches, counting how much was in it.

Naruto spoke first, "I've got about 200 ryo left."

"Eight hundred."

"Seriously, Gaara?!"

"Yes. I've barely bought anything here."

Yuki cut in, "Well, I- we've got about 2,000 ryo."

"Same here." Neji added.

"Hmm, I've got 600." Tenten sighed.

Shikamaru stood up, "600. That makes just about 700 US dollars."

"Now that that's settled, we should find a boat. It was already dark when we got back, if we want to leave tonight then we have to get everything ready very soon."

Shikamaru slumped back into the coach, "I was thinking one of you two could use one of your summons to contact Tsunade-sama to arrange a boat for us."

Both Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other, "Which one of us?"

"Which one would be faster?"

They both stated their answers at the same time, 'Toads' 'hawks'.

"A hawk would be more logical. Your toads are freshwater, the ocean is saltwater." Naruto pouted at Shikamaru, muttering 'fine' quietly.

Sasuke smirked at Naruto before heading out of the room.

"Should we go with him?"

Yuki huffed, "If you want to, Sakura. If you want to..."

Sakura twisted the pull string of the newly acquired capri pants she was wearing as she thought. She sat down beside Hinata on the floor in front of the couch after making up her mind.

Naruto decided to do the same, slinking down on the other side of Hinata, resulting in her cheeks becoming inflamed.

"Hinata? Are you okay?" Naruto turned to her, worried.

"I'm f-fine Naruto-kun."

"Are you sure? Your face is really red!" Suddenly, Naruto brought his hand to the nape of her neck, pulling her face closer to his face. Hinata gasped, eyes wide as his forehead gently bumped against her own.

"Oh my god Naruto, don't do that! We thought you were gonna kiss her!" Yuki groaned as Tenten crumpled to the floor beside her, trying to hide her tiny laughing fit.

Naruto became an unflattering shade of red as Hinata slumped forward, her light eyes fluttering closed. He jumped back an inch, letting out a strangled 'urk!' as her head collided with his chest. Tenten's laughing became more apparent as Naruto looked over to them.

"What did you do to Hinata-sama?!" Neji growled out, as he saw the two in their current position.

"Neji! I didn't do anything! She was all red and-" the blonde stopped talking as Neji moved closer to them, pulling Hinata away to place her against the couch, closer now to Sakura than Naruto.

"Don't let me catch you doing that again, Naruto."

Ino and Sakura stared in confusion as Tenten and Yuki couldn't hold back their laughter. They had no idea what was so funny about the situation.

Neji took his spot beside Tenten just as Sasuke slowly walked into the room.

"How long?"

Sighing, he answered Gaara's question, "A couple of hours."

"So we should rest for now."

Slowly, the girls stood up as everyone silently agreed. Both Hinata and Sakura walked passed the sleeping lump on the floor, Yuki pecked her brother on the cheek affectionately before walking out the door hurriedly, and Tenten silently walked away from her spot beside Neji, Ino following suit.

Neji and Sasuke decided sleeping on the couch would be a better idea than a bed at the moment, so they plopped down on opposite ends. They glared at each other before both closed their eyes, letting themselves be claimed by sleep.

Shikamaru easily retired, having taken the two prodigies' bed. Gaara took the recliner, not wanting to have to move from the room. He silently snoozed.

The girls had decided to move the coffee table to the side of the room only to lay a large comforter in its place. It took a couple of minutes to get situated and comfortable before falling asleep.

Ino turned her head to the left to look at Hinata. She was sleeping. Turning to the right she studied Sakura's relaxed face. Moving her body to fully face the pink headed girl, she whispered her name, hoping for an answer.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Sakura looked into Ino's topaz eyes and whispered back, "What?"

"Sorry, I was just seeing if you were awake.."

"I am. I don't see how they fall asleep so fast."

Shrugging, Ino's hushed voice came out slowly, "What do you think about whats happened? Have you remembered anything?"

Sakura's breath caught in her throat, "I-I've remembered a couple of things actually. Have you?"

Lowering her eyes, Ino nodded, "I've remembered a couple of things also. But, there's this... face... that I can't get out of my head. There's also this ship underwater. It's old and broken, but, that won't go away either."

Sakura nodded in understanding, "What does he look like?"

"Why do you think it's a he?"

"Well, I keep remembering a face too. And it's a man. So, I just assumed it was..."

"Oh," Ino rolled onto her back before speaking again, "Well, it was a man actually. I'm pretty sure he's got a tail, like us, although it doesn't show that he does. Um... His hair is dark, I think it's red? There are spots on his face and shoulders and he's really pale and his eyes are light blue, but... That's all I can remember. I don't know what his face really looks like... Is that who you remembered, too?"

Sakura thought for a bit, taking Ino's hand into hers, "I think it is. Although I could tell that he was a bit... older than us. There's also this lady behind him though. Do you ever see her?"

Ino nodded her response, "Who do you think they are?"

It took a bit to process what was said to her, "...They could be friends... or, maybe they're our..."

Lolling her head to the side, she saw that her friend was now asleep. She moved closer to her, their hands still linked before letting her eyes close.

Neji shot up as there was a screech that seemed to be a bit too close. Byakugan clearly activated, his head whipped around as he spotted a large hawk to the right of him.

"Calm down Hyūga," Sasuke smirked at the glaring teen, having also been woken by the screech, he had moved to check for any messages attached to the bird. Finding a small scroll tied to its leg, Sasuke took it off to read, "...We'll be leaving as soon as we're ready. The boat was sent to the same dock we got off at."

Neji nodded already moving to the bedroom, "Alright, I'll wake up Shikamaru then."

Walking towards the orange lump occupying the ground, Sasuke glanced back at his summoned hawk giving a slight nod before it disappeared in a puff of smoke. As he stood above the blonde, he droned out, "Oi, dobe, wake up!"

When no response was heard or seen, the dark haired boy decided there was no point in being nice. Kicking Naruto in the side brought an immediate response from the ninja, a loud whine, and a grumbled 'five more minutes?'.

"Get up, dobe. We're leaving."

Gaara had watched them interact, not making a sound. He waited for the other two males to appear before getting out of the recliner he was occupying.

Dragging his bag beside him, Shikamaru trudged into the room, paused to look at the others in front of him, and made a slow exit out of the hotel room.

Neji followed soon after, tossing everyone their respective travel bags, "Let's get the girls and get going."

"What time is it?"

Neji looked back at Gaara, "It's a bit after midnight."

Naruto narrowed his eyes in curiosity, "Why are we getting up now? Did your hawk come yet? How is the boat already ready?!"

"Sasuke's hawk got here a few minutes ago. He said the boat was sent to the same dock, so we're assuming it's already there."

Naruto grinned, excitedly hopping out the door with Gaara, Sasuke and Neji following after him.

Naruto had started knocking on the girls' door before Neji got out of the room. There was no response from behind the closed entryway, Naruto's knocks had gotten louder and more frequent.

The door slammed open, showing a disgruntled Yuki, she glared at the males in front of her, "What do you want?"

Naruto bounced in place, "We're leaving! We gotta get goin', come on!"

She droned on, hardly noticing the slight glare she was giving him, "Wonderful, I'll go get the girls..."

Naruto's eyebrows shot up, a small smirk formed on his lips, "You know, she can get a bit like you sometimes, teme. But, that's usually just when she's tired."

Said boy scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

They waited a minute or two before becoming impatient. Quietly walking into the room, leaving Shikamaru behind, they found Hinata coming in their direction, a bag strapped across her chest.

She stopped walking once she noticed most of them looking at her, "Ino and Sakura aren't used to waking up so early without much sleep so they're too exhausted to travel. Yuki and Tenten are currently helping them get up."

The guys nodded in understanding.

They waited a few minutes, nobody saying word. Hinata's cheeks slowly began to warm as Naruto began tapping his foot, making his presence beside her known. She was releaved at the sight of Tenten.

She came jogging towards them, clearly surprised by the four standing in the doorway. Tenten turned to Hinata, eyes widened slightly. Silently communicating, they both eventually went back to where they had made their makeshift bed.

Naruto pushed his puckered lips to the side, "What was that about..?"

Neji shrugged, leaving them to go to where he assumed the small living room was. All three boys followed after him.

Hinata stood, shocked at what she was seeing. Sakura was hunched over, Yuki trying and failing to pull her to her feet. It looked like her legs weren't functioning properly.

"What happened?!"

The girls jumped at the loud voice, surprised. Gaara, Naruto, Neji, and Sasuke stood behind Hinata.

Naruto spoke up again, "What's going on?"

Tenten explained in a rush, "We were getting up and ready, and then Sakura just collapsed! We don't know why, but she just, her legs are-" She made a grand hand gesture, not knowing what else to say.

"Well what do we do?!" Ino couldn't stand seeing Sakura like this, her own eyes glistening with tears.

Shikamaru peaked in the room, mumbling 'troublesome' under his breath and spoke, "The only thing we can do right now is get back to Konoha. None of us are medic nins, we won't accomplish much standing here worrying about this so lets go."

Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, just waiting for him to walk forward and pick Sakura up. When he didn't, Naruto took it upon himself to give his best friend a little... push.

"Okay Sasuke, thanks for volunteering to carry Sakura."

Yuki let a reluctant Sasuke take the sniveling girl into his arms, bridal style.

Hinata quickly placed the comforters and pillows back on the right beds while Tenten moved the coffee table back in its place.

Taking a deep breath, Tenten informed them that they were ready to go.

"The docks should be here somewhere... They couldn't have just... There they are!"

The group rushed over to the many ships and boats having spotted their given transportation.

A short stout man greeted them as they approached him, "Hello, you are the passengers I was sent to pick up, correct? The ones that Tsunade-sama wanted back?" A few nods were seen, "Well come on aboard then! I'll show you where you'll be staying during the ride."

Mhhmmm, that's that. So many distractions during this chapter!

I hope you enjoy reading!

And remember, don't hesitate to ask for clarification. :)

-OSSF