While holding on for dear life, Sakura's life flashes before her eyes, and only living for 16 years meant she didn't see that much.
'This is just great! I'm going to die at the age of SIXTEEN! I remember when I was four and the scariest thing was the monster under my bed. I would never go to sleep without a nightlight, and my mom would always tuck me in. My mom. If I die I won't see her anymore. At least she can sue the camp and become rich. We never did live the nice life so at least I could give that to her. I remember our Christmas' and how we were only allowed ten presents. She worked so hard to get me more then that, and she always got me the best gifts. I thought I would be able to give them to my daughter too, but I don't think I'll get the chance to have kids NOW!'
"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled. Sakura looked so terrified. Her eyes were closed tight and she had tears streaming from them. "Sakura!" he yelled again.
'She must be in such a state of shock, and can't hear me.' He concluded.
'I always thought that having a kid wouldn't be so bad. I would at least hope for one daughter and a big brother to protect her . I always wished I had an older brother, and then no one would have picked on me when I was younger. It seemed like everyone made fun of my forehead everywhere I turned. My self-esteem was really low back then. The only people who never made fun of me were Ino and Hinata, and that was before we were friends. Meeting them was probably the greatest thing to ever happen to me. If it wasn't for having that toilet paper on my butt I guess we might not be friends. That would have been terrible, and I wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't have met Tenten, and I wouldn't have met Sasuke. SASUKE! He's probably the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. He so sweet and polite, I mean he always acts like he's above everything but that's because he came from a very noble family. Could Sasuke really be the one for me? After summer THEN what happens? We just go our separate lives? Then again it could be destiny at work, and I've always believed in destiny. If we're meant to be together then destiny will just do its thing.' "SAKURA!" 'Sasuke? Was that……Sasuke?'
Sakura opened her eyes surprised to find them so wet. She was still gripping the boat for dear life and half of her was still in the water. Across from her looked to be Sasuke but he was warn out and tired. His right arm was on her shoulder and he had been shaking it for some time.
"Sasuke?"
"Sakura, we need to get out of the water!" he told her. "I need you to be focused!" Her response was a nod of notification. "If we work together we can both get to the shore at once. I'll take your hand and you'll grab a rock that you think you can catch in time. I'll be holding the boat the whole time so you won't have to worry. After you get the rock quickly pull me over and we'll take it from there." Sakura nodded again. Sasuke took as firm a grip on her hand as he could and she swam over to the closet rock that passed. The instant she grabbed it she helped pull him over to her. Once they were both grasping onto the rock the rest of the way to shore would be no problem. Sasuke decided that if they both kicked off the rock hard enough that would give them enough momentum to swim the rest of the way to shore. "You ready?" he asked her. Again she gave him a nodding response with a serious look placed upon her face. At once they both kicked off the rock and as hard as they could swam to the shore. Sasuke reached it first but Sakura had some trouble getting there since a few rocks were in her way. Sasuke thought she got on the shore the same time as he did, but when he looked to his left he didn't see her anywhere.
"Sakura?" he asked as he forced himself to sit up. He looked back at the water and didn't see her. "Aw man…SAKURA!" he yelled getting to his feet.
COUGH COUGH
Sasuke looked down the shore and saw Sakura crawling out of the water. She was coughing out a lot of water and the side of her face was bleeding.
"SAKURA!" he yelled as he ran over to pull the rest of her out of the water.
"Sorry….Sasuke, but there were rocks in my way." She said as he picked her up and brought her bridal style far away from the water.
"Sakura, it's okay." He told her as he placed her down. He grabbed her face gently and turned it towards him. She had a cut on the upper right side of her face, and it was dripping down the side of her face.
'I have nothing to stop it from bleeding.' He thought as began to worry about how deep the cute really was.
"Is my face…okay?" she asked. "I know I hit a rock, so, it must be bleeding right?"
"Yeah, it's bleeding." He said not wanting to lie to her.
"If you help me out and can just put the side of my head in the water and wash it out. I'll just keep applying pressure on it till the bleeding stops."
"Alright, but take off your life jacket first." He told her as she began to unzip it. Once it was off he helped her down the water where she began to splash water on her face. While she was doing that Sasuke couldn't help but notice she was only wearing a bikini. He wasn't thinking perverted thoughts, but he knew that it would get dark soon and she would be freezing. He then noticed that all he had on were just his trunks and a life jacket. He knew he needed to get them both to safety as soon as possible. As he continued to hold her around her side so she would go anywhere he looked up the stream and began to wonder about his friends.
'Shikamaru is way up the stream with Ino, so it would be a waste of time to try and find him. Neji and Tenten were heading for this side of the shore I think, but Naruto and Hinata? I have no idea which side they went to. Come to think of it, I didn't see them at all. Our best bet is to find Neji and Tenten since they're probably over on this side, but…' He looked back down at Sakura and could feel her shiver a little, which made him shiver too. 'But the faster we hurry to find help the sooner we'll get treated.' Sasuke decided that they would try to get help, and to do that they would have to follow the stream to the finish.
After Sakura was done washing her face off they both sat down on the shore. Sakura held her wound with her right hand and Sasuke just stared up the stream.
"Can you believe we survived that?" Sakura asked suddenly. Sasuke looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, look how fast it's going. Our bodies should have smashed against those huge rocks, don't you think?"
"You're right, we're lucky all we came out with were a few scratches." He told her. It was silent for a moment longer. Sasuke didn't want to tell Sakura that they had to forget about everybody else and get themselves out of there first. He didn't know how to break it to her. When Sasuke finally decided to tell Sakura his plan he could hear her crying. He turned and saw her wiping away tears in her eyes. "Sakura?" he asked. She sniffled a little and then put both of her hands on her face.
"I'm sorry Sasuke!" She cried.
"Sorry?"
"I'm sorry I'm crying. JUST, give me a second. I'll be fine, I SWEAR!" she began to wipe her face roughly.
"Sakura." He said as he turned her face towards him. She looked up at him and for a second she looked like she would be okay, but then she quickly wrapped her arms around him and began to sob some more. Sasuke began to comfort her by wrapping his arms around her. "Sakura you don't have to apologize. It's okay to cry, sometimes." He told her. Sasuke then thought of his mother. She always told him that when he tried to do something and failed. She would smile at him and tell him it was okay that he cried, but when his father was around it seemed like he couldn't cry since he didn't want to disappoint him.
"Thank you Sasuke. I'm sorry!" she sobbed. "I mean I'm not sorry!" she said letting out a short laugh.
"Sakura we need to get out of here. You'll freeze if you're out here for much longer and I want to make sure you get treated for your cut."
"What about…..the others?" she asked pulling away from him to get a better look.
"I'm not sure about Shikamaru, Ino, Naruto, or Hinata, and I think that Neji and Tenten could be up the shore but incase they aren't I want to get us safe first."
"I don't like it…" she said looking down towards the ground. "….but….it sounds like our only option." Sakura looked back up at him and smiled. Sasuke smiled too and helped her stand up. Thankfully for the both of them their legs were working just fine.
"We should just continue down the shore to the finish line." He said as he began to walk. "The counselors will probably know something is wrong when none of us show up at it so…..Sakura what are you doing?" he asked as he noticed her collecting some sticks.
"I know that Neji and Tenten might or might not be on this side of the water, but incase they are I want to show them that we were here." She began to lay a bunch of the sticks down and form them into an arrow. She made sure that it wasn't pointing into the woods but down the water.
"Hm, not a bad idea actually." He told her as she stood. Sasuke bent down and began to draw in the dirt right where the arrow was pointing.
"What are you doing?" Sakura asked.
"I'm drawing the Uchiha crest so they know that this arrow was made by us." He told her.
"OH. Well then I want to put something down so they know that it's you and me." She said as she began to right something in the ground with her fingers.
"What are you writing?" he asked as he watched her.
"Wedgie!" she laughed.
"Wedgie? What's that supposed to mean?" he asked utterly puzzled.
"It's just something I know Tenten will understand." She said standing up and brushing off her hands.
"Don't tell me it's a girl thing." He smirked.
"Yeah, it…kind of is." She smiled.
"Come on," he said as he took her hand. "We need to get started."
"KAY!" she smiled. "Thankfully it's not that cold out. The lowest it'll probably get is like 60 degrees."
"If we're lucky." He told her.
Neji remained staring at Tenten. Neither of them could move. They were both stuck looking at the other and it didn't even feel awkward at first. Neji tried with every fiber in his body to move his head or say something but all that would come out of his mouth was carbon dioxide. Slowly but surely he finally got some part of his mouth to open but no words came out.
'What do I say? She's just staring at me! Well I'm just staring at her too but….I must look like a total loser. COME ON Neji…say something. ANYTHING!'
Tenten began to look the other way towards the shore like nothing had happened. Neji was soon flown over with relief. Thankfully it seemed like Tenten had quickly forgotten what had just happened and became more focused on getting to the shore.
'That was a close one.' Neji thought. 'Now we need to really get to the shore.'
"Tenten..MMMH" Neji's eyes became as wide a saucers. His face turned twenty different shades of red, five not even known to man. Before he could even get five words out, Tenten kissed him on the lips. Her eyes were shut tight and it only lasted for three seconds, but when she broke it she kept her eyes shut and looked down.
"I'M SO SORRY!" she yelled. Neji was left stunned. He only stared at Tenten who was refusing to look up at him. "I WAS SO SCARED I THOUGHT I…I would never get my first kiss, and just incase something else happens now at least I did get it!" Tenten slowly opened her eyes to look at how Neji would react. He only stared at her blankly. His eyebrows were raised all the way, but he looked at her shocked.
"Well……okay." He said not changing his expression.
'That's it?' Tenten thought. 'He's not going say anything else but okay? PHEW! Not as bad as I thought!'
"So….um, putting all that aside." Neji began to say as he looked towards the shore again.
'Is he blushing again?' Tenten thought proudly. Indeed Neji was blushing and chocking on his words.
"We just…..got to swim the rest of the way. Can you make it?" he asked looking at her again.
"No sweat." She told him.
"Alright. Be careful though. If you don't swim hard enough you'll get sent further down the stream."
"Don't you mean river?" she laughed.
"I'm not even sure anymore." He said back in Neji tone. "So…ready?"
"Last one there's a rotten egg!" she laughed as she began to swim to the shore. Neji went right behind her. As hard as the water was going they both seemed to get there okay.
"See…" Tenten said breathing heavily. "That wasn't so hard." She said collapsing onto the ground.
"You okay?" Neji asked falling back onto the ground too.
"My arms are just…..TIRED!" she blurted.
"Well mine are just fine." He told her now sitting up. "I guess it's because I was holding back when we were paddling, unlike some people I know who wanted to beat us to the half way point."
"You mean….you weren't really trying to paddle your boat?" she asked confused.
"Actually….none of us were. It was part of Shikamaru's plan. Get you all tired, rest up our arms, and explode to the finish after we left the paths."
"So…..you guys could have beaten us to the half way mark." She said flabbergasted.
"It's true. I'm glad I told Shikamaru about this idea. It was really to get you all to try harder and take our time."
"So. If you really tried to win in the beginning, then you would've been WAY ahead of us and we wouldn't have seen which path you would have taken." She said making it sound like all of there faults that they were in this mess. Neji was going to retaliate but then the more he thought about it, the more it felt like his fault.
'If we tried to win in the first place the girls wouldn't have known which path to follow us down. Then they wouldn't be stuck in this mess, and we would only have to worry about our selves.'
"Sorry Neji." he heard her say. "I didn't mean to make it sound like it was your fault or something. Actually, it's all my fault." She told him.
"Tenten." He said shocked that she would even think that this was all her fault. "How can you say that?"
"Well because it's true." She said sitting up and hugging her knees. "I was the leader and I made the decision to follow you guys. I could have picked another path, but I didn't. Because of my choice we went down the River Styx!"
Neji watched Tenten and she had tears holding up in her eyes. Any second now they would go over board and fall down her face. Neji didn't want to see her cry, especially since he thought only weak people cried. Tenten was not weak, as far as he was concerned.
"Tenten…..I know you picked that way to go, but didn't they all choose you as their leader? As far as I'm concerned it's their faults too. So really there's no one to blame here except for the river…what did you call it?" Tenten began to laugh. Neji was making her feel better when he could have just said 'SUCK IT UP!'
"River Styx? It's in Greek mythology, it was the cross roads between the world of the living and of the dead."
"Oh. Don't tell me you believe in it?" he said like he was saying 'you actually believe that garbage?'
"Of course not! I studied about it in school; I did rather well in that subject."
"Sounds to me like you got an A." he said standing up.
"Actually, an A PLUS!" she winked. Neji walked over to her and helped her stand.
"Thanks! But now….what do we do?" she asked bringing up reality.
"Honestly I have no idea what we should do." He confessed. "The only thing I can think of is to just follow the river back to the finish line."
"Sounds like a good idea." Tenten said thinking of other options.
"Just trying to think of what Shikamaru would do at a time like this." He confessed.
"Well, do you think that it's a good idea?" she asked. Neji wasn't really sure, but he didn't want her to know that. He decided to himself that they would follow the river to the finish since that's where it was supposed to go anyways. He figured it would be a long walk, so he figured it was their only option.
"I think it's the best option." He told her.
"Then, lets go!" she smiled.
"Ladies first." He told her.
"Are you nuts? What if there's a bear up ahead? You have to go first!" she said pushing him along.
"Fine, fine." He said walking along. "Wait a minute." He said stopping making Tenten walk into his back.
"What is it?" she asked. Neji turned around so Tenten did the same. Coming down the river was the other half of the boat, and it was very noisy.
"Inside our boat was a container that Gai tied down. In the container were sweatshirts." He told her. "We should get them!" he decided.
"But how?" Tenten asked.
"How else?" he said walking over to the water. "Swim."
Naruto and Hinata were continuing their walk down the side of the river/stream.
"We were told there were only three paths." Naruto said breaking a very long silence that had been going on between him and Hinata. "And Gai never said that they were rivers!"
"We were told that too. That's why this whole thing is so strange." She said getting Naruto to cock an eyebrow.
"Sorry but I don't follow." He told her as they continued forward.
"Well…they both told us that there were only three paths to take but there were four. And this path, it's too dangerous. There's no way they could have known about it."
"They did tell us that they hadn't done this as a tie-breaker in a long time." Naruto told her.
"Kurenai told us the same. I wonder how long ago they did the last canoe tie-breaker."
"It must have been like, years!" Naruto exclaimed.
"And with the added rain to it, that only made this stream even worse." Hinata said looking at it.
"You're right." He said as he stopped walking.
"Naruto? What's wrong?" she asked. Naruto let go of Hinata and limped over towards the woods. He began to search for something on the ground. "What are you looking for?"
"This!" he said holding up a huge branch. "Instead of me leaning on you, I can just use this. Except its too long, so I'll just break it!" he laughed.
"Naruto, its okay if you want to lean on me. I don't mind. It might even be better then the branch."
"Thanks, but I don't want you to have to carry me the entire way down. I can carry myself down there." He said breaking an end piece of the branch.
"Well, if you're sure." She said not trying to get into it with him. Hinata then began to look out over the river to watch the fast water. As soon as she was about to turn around and look back at Naruto something caught her eye.
"Naruto!" she yelled.
"What's wrong?" he asked dropping his branch and looking at her to see if she was okay.
"Look!" she yelled pointing to an object in the water.
"Isn't that your…"
"MY BOAT!" she yelled. "That's only half of it, BUT in it I can see the container that has our sweatshirts. AND FOOD!" she yelled remembering.
"SCORE! We got to get it!" he yelled walking closer to the water. "But how do we get to it?"
SPLASH
Hinata had just jumped back into the water towards the boat.
"HINATA!" Naruto yelled.
Ignoring his calls she focused on getting to the moving half of the boat. It kept slowing down by getting stuck on a few rocks in the water.
'Good. If it does that some more I can get it in a matter of seconds.' Lucky for her the boat was caught on one more rocks and she was able to reach it. She put her arm around the boats edge and began to pull it back with her to shore. As she approached Naruto she could hear him yelling.
"Why are you bringing the whole thing?" he yelled as he walked into some of the water. When she was close enough he pulled her up and helped pull the boat onto the shore.
"I couldn't separate it from the boat. I would have no time. I'm surprised how easy it was to swim with it though." She said sitting down on the ground far from the water. Naruto unfastened the container and opened it up. Inside were four sweatshirts, two blankets, and,
"FOOD!" Naruto yelled happy to see the bags of chips. "We're definitely going to be okay." He said as he carried the container over to Hinata who was standing up again.
"Why don't I carry the container so you can walk with your branch." She offered.
"But it's too heavy for one person to carry." He told her.
"No it won't be." She said sticking it on top of her head. "I'll just carry it on my head." She laughed.
"WOE, you can do that?" Naruto asked amazed.
"Nope!" she said carrying the container normally. "But I can still carry it no problem. We can't have you carrying everything Naruto."
"I just want to make sure that you're okay." He told her. "I just want to help you out."
"Well I am okay, and you can't help me if you can't even help yourself, so don't worry about it. If however we run into wild animals, you can then, and only then, defend me!"
"Sounds like a plan." He said picking up his new walking stick. Because it was originally a branch the end was dividing into two so Naruto could put it right under his arm. He used it and walked over to where Hinata was holding the container.
"So we're not going to wear them yet?" he asked her.
"No, I think we should dry off a little more before we even put them on. That way they won't be sticky and wet."
"Well, I guess I can wait." He said as they began to walk again.
"Besides, do you really want to wear a "Camp Kunoichi" sweatshirt?" she asked.
"As much as it pains me I can do it." He said confidently. "They are black."
"With PINK writing." She added.
"AW MAN!"
Sasuke and Sakura continued to walk down the side of the river when they began to hear a very loud and obnoxious bird yelling at the top of its lungs.
"kaaaaKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAAAAAaaaa." The bird from no where went.
"Did you hear that?" Sakura asked.
"How could I miss it?" he asked her.
"kaYIYIYIYIYIYIYIYIYIII!"
"Sasuke, LOOK!" Sakura said pointing at the river. Sasuke's eyes grew wide. They were both staring at the water, and it dividing into two!
"What do we do now?" Sakura asked frantically.
"uuuurrr…" Sasuke couldn't believe their dumb luck. He wasn't sure if they should keep following the water down or if they should try something else.
'But there isn't another way. We're just going to have to continue this way.' Sasuke thought.
"We'll just have to keep going this way." He told her. Sakura continued to stare at the fork in the water. As Sasuke began to walk onward she turned her head to look up the river.
"SASUKE!" she yelled "LOOK!" Sasuke turned and looked to where Sakura was looking. Coming down the water was the container that was attached to one of their boats.
"That's from my boat!" they both said at once.
"Well, whoever's boat it belongs to means only one thing. There's food and clothes in it." Sasuke said as he walked closer over to the water.
"Where are you going?" Sakura asked getting worried.
"I'm going to swim in after it before we loose it." He told her.
"But Sasuke! It's too dangerous." She said holding her hands close to her chest.
"Look, I have to go in and get it. And I'll be okay since I still have my life jacket on, good thing I decided to not just throw it away." He said as he walked into the water. When the water was at his chest he began to swim towards the container that was coming down towards him.
'At this rate I should make it in time, and grab it before it passes me.'
Sasuke's calculations were correct and he managed to grab the container just before it past him. He easily swam back with it to Sakura who helped him out of the water. He sat down on the ground and she began open the container up. Inside were gray sweatshirts that said "Camp Shinobi" on the fronts. Sakura sighed since they weren't from her camp.
'And they looked totally cute too.' She sighed in her head.
"So what do we have?" Sasuke asked.
"This container came from your boat." She told him. Sakura then looked back into the container and furrowed her eyebrows. Sasuke noticed this and went towards her.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Inside here…..there's only two sweatshirts." She said taking one out.
"Gai told us that there was one for each of us though." Sasuke told her as he grabbed a sweatshirt out. When he pulled it out an empty chip bag fell from under it and onto the ground.
"Look." Sakura said picking it up. "Somebody has already eaten the food. There're only two bags of chips in here, and two empty ones." She said taking out the other empty chip bag.
"That means that…." Sasuke began to put some real thought into all of the clues they had before them. "Maybe Neji and Tenten are really far behind us." Sakura held her breath. Their friends were okay, at least two of them were.
"Wait a second!" she said understanding. "They must have seen our arrow on the ground. They knew we were down here and sent the container down the river hoping it would get to us!"
"You're right. That must be it!" Sasuke said. "You're pretty smart Sakura." He told her making her blush.
"Oh, well this big head does have some brains in it." She laughed nervously.
"You know that really pisses me off." Sasuke said standing up looking angry.
"Sasuke…what's wrong?" she asked getting slightly worried.
"I hate that you think you have a huge forehead. Ino goes off about it every time. Your forehead is fine, and so is the rest of you." he said making her entire face turn red.
"I mean, your entire head is….fine." he corrected as casually as he could.
'Damn, I don't know why I still get so nervous around her. We've only hooked up like how many times already?' He then looked down at Sakura who was smiling and looking off back at the water.
"Thank you Sasuke." She said to him as the wind blew threw her hair.
"For what?" he asked knowing that that was a stupid question.
"I don't think I've ever met someone as nice as you." she said standing up and looking at him.
'Okay that's not true.' Sakura admitted to her self. 'Hinata is probably nicer then him, but he gets what I'm saying.'
"Well if you knew who I really was, I don't think you'd be saying that. Come on lets keep walking." He said as he put the sweatshirts and food in the container and picking it up. He walked away and Sakura began to follow him.
"What do you mean 'If I knew who you really were'?" she asked walking along side him.
"Let's just say that I have a reputation for being sort of cold towards people. I don't know if you know what its like to have a fan club of girls but it gets real annoying after a while and makes a big impact on your character."
"Well…..I can't say that I've ever had a fan club of girls before." She said letting out a slight giggle. "But Sasuke, the person you are is right here. You may be mean to annoying girls who annoy you to no end, but you can have another attitude towards other people. Like your friends. I'm sure you're not cold and cruel to them. Except for Naruto, but I think that's only because you see him as a brother, and that's why you both call each other names. Sort of like me and Ino too if you think about it. I call her pig, and she calls me forehead, but we'll protect each other to the death probably. Sasuke….I….haven't known you very long but….I know who you are."
"You mean an Uchiha?"
"No, actually the first time I saw you I had no idea you were "The Sasuke Uchiha". But I know that you're kind, sweet, caring, loyal, and a very brave person." Sasuke lightly blushed to all the things Sakura said.
"You…sure about that?" he asked her.
"I'm positive." She smiled.
They both continued to walk together, but they were in silence for a short while.
"KAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIAAAAAAAA. KAKAAAAAAAAAAAIAAAAAAAAAAIAAAAAAAAAIAAAAAAAAAAA!" yelled the bird from earlier.
"I hope its getting mauled by something." Sasuke said out loud.
'Oh SHIT, now I sound like I like murder. She'll probably take back all those things she said about me.'
"It's about freakin TIME, that damn thing was getting on my LAST nerve." She said letting a vain in her forehead throb.
"Well Sakura…..I had no idea." He smirked.
"Idea? About what?" she asked confused.
"That you could grow so angry and annoyed with something real fast."
"Something we have in common." She laughed. Sasuke smiled because he knew it was true. He also began to feel better about himself. He felt amazing knowing that someone didn't look at him and think HOTTIE! Or COLD HEARTED! She saw him as a sweet regular guy, and NOT an Uchiha.
"I guess that's why I like you so much." He said. Sakura stopped her laughing.
"Why?" she asked above a whisper.
"Because when we first met you didn't treat me like an Uchiha. You weren't nice to me because I was rich, you were nice to me because….well you were nice to me and that's not the reason why."
"Sasuke, I was nice to you because I was taught to be nice to everyone." She put bluntly. At hearing that Sasuke felt no longer special that she was only nice to him because she's just a nice person.
"But, I really wanted to be nice to you because….I really like you." Sakura concluded by looking down at the ground in shyness.
Sasuke's eyes grew wide in SHOCK. Sakura just told him that he liked her, and sure he knew that from making out with her, but now the words came out of her mouth.
"I like you too." He told her making them both stop walking. They both looked at each other and smiled.
"I'd give you a kiss, but you're holding that thing." She said pointing at the container. As if it was on fire Sasuke dropped the container and grabbed Sakura into a deep kiss. She was a little thrown back since she wasn't expecting that so fast, but she returned it with just as much force as Sasuke. After parting they both looked at each other.
"Thank you." Sasuke told her.
"No." Sakura said catching her breathe. "Thaaaaank you!"
Sasuke picked up the container again and they both continued their walk.
"KAAAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIAAAIIIAAAAKAKA…KRAK!"
Neji had jumped into the water towards the half of the boat that had the container in it. It was easy for him to grab the boat and pull the entire thing back towards Tenten. Once he was out of the water Tenten began to remove the container from the boat and open it up to see what was inside.
"Nice sweatshirts!" Tenten said pulling out one of the four. "No blankets?"
"You mean you got blankets in yours?" Neji asked. Tenten nodded yes. "They spoil you guys over at your camp." He said as he went into the container too. "Well, there're four bags of food so we should wait a while before we eat one of the bags."
"Good idea." Tenten said standing up with one of the sweatshirts in hand. "I'll put this sweatshirt on and you should probably wait till you dry off before you put on yours." She advised. Tenten then began to put the sweatshirt on over her. Neji watched her and didn't even blink. In his own perverted way, this would be the last time he would see Tenten in her bikini top, so he wanted to make sure he remembered everything. She had her arms stretched up above her head as she pulled it down.
'From down here Tenten' chest looks even bigger. I really need to look away before I get a nose bleed.' He thought as he put all of his attention back into the container.
"So we should probably keep walking now, right?" she asked as she bent close to his face. When Neji turned to look at her he caught a glimpse of how big the sweatshirt was on her. It was initially made for guys so that's why it didn't fit her, but it went so low that it looked like she was wearing nothing else.
"Right. I'll carry the container and we'll eat something in a while." He said closing the container up.
"Looks like you're going to be walking topless for a while." She giggled. Neji then looked at his chest.
"Tenten…..I'm still wearing my life jacket." He said confused.
"….OH…." Tenten began to blush.
'AW MAN! Now he thinks I want to see him with his shirt off. Just great! I mean I was thinking that he would get cold because he was wearing his swimming suit, so I automatically thought that he was shirtless. This is probably going to be an awkward walk now. OH NO, he's still looking at me!'
"I forgot you were wearing it." She laughed nervously. Neji smirked at her as he walked by, and doing so he let out a short laugh. "What's so funny?" she asked picking up speed to be next to him.
"Nothing." He told her.
"Come on Neji, tell me what's so funny?" she pleaded.
"No, you might get mad." He smirked.
"I wont, I swear." She promised.
"Well, I think you just really want to see me with my shirt off." He told her.
"HEY!" she yelled. "I hope you don't think I'm just some prissy little girl who's thinking of only one thing!" she yelled. Neji began to laugh at her.
"See, I told you you were going to get mad." Tenten blushed a little.
"Okay, so I lied! But I'm telling you right now that I do NOT want to see you shirtless."
"How do I know that's not just another lie?" he asked her. Tenten blushed. She was losing this little argument.
"Well….I don't." she said shyly while blushing madly.
"You're face looks a little suspicious." He told her.
"IT IS NOT!" she defended as she rubbed her face. Neji began to laugh at her some more. "STOP LAUGHING!" she yelled looking right at him. Neji didn't stop and leaned over since his sides were beginning to hurt.
"I'm sorry Tenten. I can't help it if you just want to put out your feelings so openly with me!" he laughed. "First you kiss me, now you want to see me shirtless. Why don't we take our relationship a little slower!" he laughed some more.
"Who said I ever wanted to see you shirtless? I bet you don't even have abs!" she yelled in a huff. That really did it for Neji. Ego was now killed, and Tenten could feel it too.
'SHIT! I shouldn't have said THAT! Ino's right about guys. You got to make them feel manly all the time and you can't act tough around them or they won't fine you attractive. Man was she right.'
Tenten was now regretting saying what she said. She hurt Neji's masculinity and now he would probably hate her forever. Their walking had become awkward without them talking to each other. Neji kept looking straight ahead and Tenten would keep sneaking looks at him. She was trying to think of something to start up a new conversation, but then she started to wonder if she should just apologize to him.
"What else do you like?" Neji asked suddenly. "Besides Greek mythology."
"……um…Oh I like astrology, like fortune-telling and horoscopes. The only time I ever read a magazine was to just check mine out." She told Neji.
"Really?" he asked surprised to hear her say that.
"Yeah! I absolutely love the stuff. I'm a Pisces! I'm creative, loving, and most compatible with a cancer! My lucky numbers always seem to have the number five involved, and I can be an independent person. What sign are you Neji?" She asked growing excited.
"I'm………a cancer." He told her. Tenten paled.
"OOooh…really? That's…that's interesting." Tenten said shaking nervously.
"Are you okay?" Neji asked her concerned since it seemed she was shivering. "Isn't that keeping you warm?"
"OH, yeah, sorry about that. I don't have pants on so my legs are cold." She lied.
They continued onward without talking for a while. Neji was glad she was shivering so he could change the subject about him and her being compatible.
'No, WAIT. I need to tell Tenten how I feel about her. I wanted to find the best moment to do that, and this seems to be it!'
"Tenten..I…"
"Neji look at that!" Tenten said pointing ahead of them. Neji looked towards where she was pointing. Ahead of them on the ground was a bundle of sticks forming what looked to be an arrow. As they walked closer to it, it was indeed just that.
"Do you think this was made by one of our friends?" Tenten asked.
"hmmm…..Look!" Neji said pointing in front of it. "That's the Uchiha crest!" Tenten bent down and indeed it was the Uchiha crest drawn into the ground.
"That means Sasuke's been here." Tenten then looked lower under the arrow to see a word spelt out. "Hey there's more." She said. Neji took a step back to see what she was talking about.
"Wedgie?" he asked almost disgusted. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh hahahaa, I think this means one of my friends is here too." Tenten said laughing nervously. "It sounds like Ino, but since she fell off the boat all the way up there that means it could only be….Sakura!"
"That does make sense that Sakura and Sasuke would be together." Neji told her. "But what does Wedgie mean?" he asked hoping to get an explanation.
"Well, it's kind of an inside joke!" she told him.
"It's a girl thing?" he asked while raising an eyebrow.
"You could say that!" she smiled. Tenten's eyes grew wide when she saw Neji opening up the container and taking a sweatshirt out along with two bags of chips. "What are you doing?" she asked bending down to be at his level.
"Sasuke and Sakura were here which means they must have gone down the side of the river too. Since the arrow is pointing that way we can only just assume this. I'm going to leave them two sweatshirts and food so they can eat and be warm."
"How are you going to give it to them?" Tenten asked not following at all.
"Simple, I'll throw it in the water and hopefully they get it."
"I see. So, then why are you opening up a bag of chips?"
"Here you open one too." He said giving her a bag.
"OOookay!" she said as she complied with his order. "Now what?" she asked looking into the bag.
"Start eating." He said as he also began to eat his chips. "We'll put our empty bags in here so Sasuke and Sakura know that we got to it already. again?" Tenten asked confused.
"It's one thing for them to just find only two bags of food and two sweatshirts cause they could just think Gai forgot to put in the rest. If they see two empty bags of food then they'll know we ate it. Get it?"
"Yeah, or I'm beginning to." She said putting more food in her mouth. "Too bad we couldn't wait a little longer, cause these things are good!"
"Try not to savor it cause I'm already done." He told her as he stuck his bag in the container.
"Neji, suppose this container gets stuck on something and doesn't make it to them. Then what do we do?" Tenten asked finishing up her bag.
"Well if it does get stuck then we'll see it and get it unstuck. We'll just try again." He said making the plan sound simple.
"Sounds like you've got this entire thing figured out already." She said dumping the crumbs out of her bag. She handed it to Neji and he put it in the container. He stood up with it all and went over to the water to throw it in. "make sure you don't throw it at a rock so it doesn't break!" Tenten yelled before he threw it.
"I'm not going to throw it at a rock." He convinced her. "I'll throw it really far out." With that Neji threw it with all his might towards the middle of the river where there were fewer rocks. "See, what I tell you." he said as he turned around to face Tenten.
BAM
Tenten crossed her arms and looked at Neji with a raised eyebrow. Neji didn't want to turn around to see what the loud noise was, but he could only guess since Tenten gave him a 'I told you so look' He walked over to her and picked up his sweatshirt off the ground. He began to walk again and she followed right behind him.
"SOOooo." Tenten began.
"I don't want to talk about it." He put simply. Tenten let out a laugh and began to hum as they both walked down the river side.
As Naruto and Hinata continued to walk along side of the river they began to hear a very strange sound.
"kaYIYIYIYIYIYIYIYIYIII!"
"What kind of bird was that?" Hinata asked out loud.
"Beats me." Naruto said. As they continued to walk a big black bird landed in front of them. They both stopped and stared at the bird that was standing in front of them.
"Naruto." Hinata whispered. "What do we do?" she asked still staring at the bird.
"Well I'm not just going to wait for it to move, I'm going to move it!" he said as he took his walking stick away from his arm. "MOVE BIRD!" he yelled as he swung his stick around the bird. The bird some how dodged each of his swinging attempts, and it seemed to do it with no problem at all. "HEY, damn bird."
"We could just walk around it." Hinata suggested.
"No way, it's war with me and this bird." Naruto said as he took the stick in both of his hands and began to pound at the bird. The bird then flew up into the trees out of sight.
"HA, you see? I'm the boss around here." He said as he gave Hinata one of his trade mark grins. Hinata applauded him so he felt he should take a bow. "Thank you, you're a beautiful audience!" he said making Hinata giggle. As he continued to bow some more, something wet hit him in the head.
"HUH!" Hinata gasped as she stared at what was on Naruto's head. He slowly looked up at her in disgust since he realized what it was. He put his hand on his head and took some of it off to look at it. In his hand was a little present from the bird in the trees.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Naruto yelled as he shook his hands up at the bird. "COME ON AND FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN!" he yelled. They couldn't see the bird but they could hear it, what Naruto would describe it as, laughing at them.
"Naruto calm down." Hinata said putting her hand on his shoulder. He did calm down but when some of the bird's crap went down his face he began to yell again.
"I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU!" he said as he began to jump around again.
"Naruto, where are you going?" Hinata asked as she saw him heading for a tree.
"I'm going to climb this tree and KILL that bird." He said as he tried to get a firm grip around the tree.
"Naruto you could get hurt, and don't you think you should get that stuff out of your hair before you smell like it?" Naruto then realized Hinata was right, and he didn't want to smell like bird shit all day, especially around Hinata. He then walked over to the water and kneeled down before it.
'What's the best way to do this?' He thought. Then Naruto just stuck his entire head right in the water. He used his hands and scrubbed viciously threw his scalp. As he was doing that Hinata decided it was probably a good time for her to put on her sweatshirt. When Naruto was done washing out his hair and face he looked up at Hinata and noticed her change of wardrobe.
'That sweatshirt looks really good on her.' He thought as he blushed a little.
"Naruto, your face is kind of red." Hinata pointed out.
"Must be from the cold water." He said rubbing his face.
"Want a sweatshirt?" Hinata asked pulling the other sweatshirt out from the container.
"Sure, I can wipe my face on it." He said as he put his arms out to catch the sweatshirt she threw over to him. After he put it on he looked over at Hinata and she was trying not to laugh it appeared. "What?" he asked.
"You look….cute in that sweatshirt!" she said letting out her laughter. Naruto then looked down at himself.
"Hey it's bad enough the bird is making fun of me, but now you!?" he asked. Hinata stopped laughing and looked at him serious.
"….PAhahahahaaaahahaha." she laughed. "Sorry….Naruto…" she said still laughing.
"Well I didn't think I looked that bad." He said checking himself out.
"Oh no….you don't….it's just fun to see you in a Camp Kunoichi sweatshirt." She said slowing her laughter.
"Yeah yeah, whatever." He said walking over to her.
"Oh Naruto I'm sorry." She said now having her laughter under control.
"I don't think I believe you anymore." He told her closing the container.
"Oh pleeease Naruto, I'm sorry for laughing!" Hinata pleaded as he picked up his stick.
"Nope. Don't think that's going to happen any time soon." He said walking away from her, stick under his arm. Hinata picked up the container and ran up next to him.
"Naruto what can I do to show you I'm sorry?" she asked. He didn't say anything. "Fine. Be that way." Hinata said as she stopped walking. Naruto continued onward but when he turned around expecting to see Hinata standing in her spot he instead saw her sitting on top of the container with her arms crossed.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I'm not leaving here until you forgive me." She said in a huff.
"Fine, I forgive you. Now lets get going." He said turning around.
"Liar!" she yelled as she closed her eyes and looked away from him.
"Oh come on Hinata, you knew I was only joking." He told her. She didn't comply and kept looking in another direction with her eyes shut. Naruto walked over towards her and bent down so he could be eye level with her. She didn't look at him at first but then she opened her eyes up and looked right at him.
"Hinata…..I forgive you." he told her as serious as he could. 'Normally she's the one forgiving me. Way to change the tables.'
"Thank you Naruto." Hinata smiled as sweetly as she could. Naruto then stood up and gave Hinata his hand which she took gratefully. He pulled her up fast which made her go into his chest.
'Perfect Timing.' They both thought. Naruto put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him which she let him do. Hinata had butterflies in her stomach and they were going up her throat. She couldn't speak or anything, and by the looks of it neither could Naruto. He put his right hand on the side of her head and went down towards her face when something clawed at his forehead.
"aaAAAAAAHHHHH!" Naruto yelled as the black bird clawed at his face and attacked his hair.
"Oh my God, not his hair!" Hinata said picking up Naruto's walking sick and hitting the bird forcing it into a near by tree.
"KAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIAAAAAAAA. KAKAAAAAAAAAAAIAAAAAAAAAAIAAAAAAAAAIAAAAAAAAAAA!" the bird yelled as it frantically flew around in circles not knowing which way to go.
"Naruto are you okay!" Hinata asked above the bird's shrieks.
"That little! It got my face!" he said showing her his scratched up face.
"HUH!" Hinata's eyes grew wide at the sight of Naruto's once perfect face that was now covered in scratches and some blood.
"Don't worry about it though. One time when I was delivering papers I was attacked by cats and birds. It healed up pretty fast." He said.
"You mean when my sister set up that trap for you?" Hinata asked.
"Oh yeah, I forgot that was you." he said remembering.
"No, not me but my sister." She corrected.
"Yeah, I can't wait to meet her." He said cracking his knuckles. Hinata laughed as the bird swooped down and crashed into her.
"HEEY!" she yelled as she swatted at the bird that wouldn't leave her alone. 'Shouldn't have hit it so hard.' Hinata thought as Naruto grabbed the bird with his hands and slammed it into the ground.
"KAAAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIAAAIIIAAAAKAKA…KRAK!" the bird yelled as Naruto began strangling it and slamming into the ground at once. When Naruto didn't feel it resisting anymore he stopped and dropped the bird. It didn't move and just lied there on the floor dead. Naruto looked up at Hinata breathless and she had one of her hands supporting her self on a tree as she began to catch her breath too. She was looking sadly at the bird that was now dead. She then looked up at Naruto to see how he was taking its death, and he seemed to be taking it pretty well. Naruto saw her looking at him so he tried to explain himself.
"You said I could defend you if we ran into crazy animals. That in my book was a crazy animal, and it was attacking you." Hinata nodded her head.
"You're right." She told him. "If you didn't, it would still be attacking us."
"So let's leave already and get away from this dead bird." He said getting his stick that was across from him.
"We should burry it first." She told him.
"You want to burry the bird?" he asked utterly confused.
"Yes, we at least owe it that much."
"We owe it nothing as far as I'm concerned!" Naruto said looking at it in disgust.
"Please Naruto, I think it's so sad to see something dead." She said making a sad face. Naruto couldn't fight it.
"Fine," he said giving up. "I'll dig a hole or something. But you know something will dig it up and eat it."
"That's why we'll put it in our container." She told him.
"But what about all the stuff in it?" he asked.
"I'll carry it!" she smiled.
"Fine, but no complaining about it." He said rolling up his sleeves.
"Deal!" she said clapping her hands together. Naruto began to dig into a soft part of the ground that would be deep enough for the whole container to fit in. Once that was done He picked up the bird and stuck in the container that Hinata had emptied out. After closing the lid and sticking it in the ground he began to put all the dirt back over it. When done, he looked over at Hinata and gave her a look that asked, 'satisfied?' Hinata nodded and smiled. She went over and grabbed some dandelions that were in the ground to lay them on top of the mound of dirt.
"Say something Naruto." She said solemnly as she folded her hands. Naruto cleared his throat not believing he was about to do this.
"We're gathered here today to send off….a bird that….we didn't know very well but….we hope it a safe journey to that….BIG tree in the sky. Amen." He said kicking dirt over the mound. Hinata then cleared her throat so she could say something.
"We didn't know this bird very well, but we did know one thing about him. He….was a life ruiner." Naruto then opened his eyes up since he had them closed in reverence. "He ruined the silence of nature with his annoying voice; he ruined Naruto's hair and worst of all his face, and ruined my first kiss. Oh help this bird to the path to hell, where he can burn in an everlasting fire of evil!" Naruto was then laughing at this point. "Goodbye to you little annoying bird, and I hope you regret messing around with us. Amen." Hinata finished by kicking some dirt onto the mound. "Ready to go?" she asked trying to not laugh. Naruto however was laughing and couldn't stop.
"Hinata I don't get you. You made it seem so sad and then you give it the speech it deserves!" he said wiping tears out of his eyes. "Wasn't expecting that."
"Well you heard me, it ruined our walk, and it was going so well too." She said picking up her stuff that she placed on the ground. "The only good thing about this is I got to carry these warm blankets so now my arms won't be cold."
"SOo, that was your plan this entire time, wasn't it?" he asked slyly.
"No!" she smiled.
"I'm not sure I believe you, you're face looks suspicious." He said getting in closer to her so he could see it better. She just smiled at him.
"See, not lying." She said walking away with him.
"I don't know." He said getting closer to her again. He closed one of his eyes to improve his vision a bit. As he stared at her she suddenly kissed his cheek! Naruto was left dumbfounded as she continued to walk away. He began to hold his cheek where she had kissed him.
"Wha…what was that for?" he asked not blinking.
"That's for saving me from the bird." She told him. "Thank you!"
After another minute of holding his face he began to slowly, but surely, walk after her.
"Well…anytime!" he said sounding drunk. Hinata stopped walking and he got next to her.
"Why are you stopping?" he asked. "Is there another bird? Because I'll get rid of it!" Hinata just pointed out to the water so Naruto looked. When he did his eyes grew wide at what he saw. The water was parting into two!
"Naruto….what do we do now?" Hinata asked sadly. Naruto clenched his fist tightly. He felt as if the fates themselves were the ones who were toying with him and Hinata just happened to be an innocent bystander in all of it.
"We just keep following the path." He told her not taking his eyes off of the fork in the water. "There's no other way to go."
They stared at it for a minute more wondering if there was some other way to go, but it all looked hopeless and they continued to walk along side the water in the woods.
Okay I LIED! What inspired me to right this story will indeed be in the next, VERY NEXT, chapter. You heard here first, and i promise this time! I had off yesterday since i had homecoming and i had all day to finish my story. I'm so glad i got it done. And to anyone who is up to date with the Naruto manga after the two year skip, CAN YOU BELIEVE WHO DIED!?!!? Love you all!