Chapter Five
"Chelsea," a voice taunts me sweetly.
I grunt and turn my head to the other side.
"Chelsea," the voice repeats a little more urgent.
I still won't budge. I feel a poke really hard on my side with a long nail.
"Ouch!" I say immediately sitting up and awake. Well who would have known it was Rhianna.
"Good Morning!" she says like it's the greatest day ever. I wonder why she is so happy. That's probably the main reason she is here. I know that she has been wanting to go back to Suna.
"What are you doing?" I say rubbing the back of my neck.
"I couldn't sleep any more! Get ready let's go!"
"What, it's only like…" I trail off and look at the clock. Great, it is 4:00 am.
"Rhianna, I have like another forty-five minutes of sleep," I say with a groan.
"Oh, come on, we will make sure you are all ready to go!" Rhianna got in by the spare key I gave her, just in case she needs to.
"Fine," I say getting up, and I stumble a bit before reaching the bathroom. I get ready like any other day, but since I have extra time, I make sure I look absolutely look good and that I eat well too. Today I am wearing a white halter top with black shorts and my combat boots with my black jacket on over and my hair down.
We head off after meeting up with Pucher and head towards the forest meeting spot where our two teams were to wait. I was anxious to meet Sasuke again…but being around people this time relaxed me a bit. When we reach the spot, all of team seven is there, and now all of team 11, but…no senseis. The three of us sigh. They finally pop out of nowhere. While we are still waiting for our client to arrive and we all sit by a big rock. Naruto and Matt are sitting on it talking about, well, ninja things. Sakura is not only gaping at Sasuke and Master Edo, but trying to see what Rhianna is drawing. Master Edo and Master Kakashi are in conversation with Sasuke listening in every now and then. Sasuke is mainly sitting in his famous pose looking into the forest. I am sitting between Master Kakashi and Sasuke looking at the ground with my knees hugged to my chest. Thoughts of Joey fill my head…yet again.
"I see someone coming," Sasuke states unmoving.
"Oh right, it is Saniiro Nikko. He is an author from here, but he has been trained with some combat, not much though, so he needs us to help him get from here to Suna," Master Edo stands up and explains.
"Right, but what did he do?" Matt asks now paying attention.
"He pissed off some business men with his writing obviously. He needs to get to Suna and hide out there. We have the situation being worked out amongst them, but for now, he is not safe, and we were hired. He is very talented and his career is in exploiting the truth, and when you do, you piss off some very powerful people," he again explains.
"Oh…," Matt says looking at Naruto.
"Rhi, Chels, you two may want to listen in," he says looking at the three of us. Rhianna stops her drawing and I look up, "This guy, well, I have talked to him, and he is…well…a bit of a pervert."
"What!" Rhianna says showing her angry mood, "There is no way in hell I am putting up with that!"
"Relax, we will be there," Master Edo says trying to calm her down.
"How much of a pervert?" I ask standing up to prepare myself.
"Enough…" he trails off.
"Right," I respond and lean against the rock. I let out a deep sigh. Sasuke then stands up right next to me as this Saniiro shows up.
"Morning everyone," he says with a smile. He has medium brown shaggy hair like Master Edo's and he is wearing an outfit like him too. I wonder why, but realize it is probably to lessen attention from him while traveling with four other ninja's. He has green eyes and tan skin with a muscular build.
"Good morning Mr. Nikko," Master Edo says shaking his hand.
"Which of these lovely ladies am I to be escorted by?" he says with the most charming grin. He is handsome.
"Rhianna and I…" I pipe up and when his gaze lands on me, my heart skips and I don't feel too comfortable. All of the sudden my hand is seized and he has given it a very gentlemanly like kiss to show he knows I am there. I blush.
"You blush? How cute," he says with a smile. I can hear Sasuke snort a bit at this phrase.
"Oh brother…" you can hear Rhianna say.
"And you are?" he asks me.
"Chelsea," I reply coolly.
"Alright Saniiro, you keep your distance," Naruto defends me with a threatening fist.
"And you are?" he asks.
"Naruto."
"Right, why don't you go play with a stick or something," he says.
"You are really starting to piss me off! If you try anything with Rhianna, Chelsea, or Sakura I will kick your ass!" he is starting to boil.
"Sakura?" he says turning to the pink haired girl and to the dyed haired one, "Rhianna? Well, I must be so lucky to be surrounded by beautiful ladies!"
"Alright Nikko," Kakashi says, "Knock it off, and besides, you are what, nineteen?"
"Yeah, so only a four year difference," he says with a grin.
"Why you!" Naruto is about to punch the crap out of him when Kakashi grabs him by the collar and holds him steady.
"Calm yourself," he simply states. I back up into Sasuke trying to get out of the 'Naruto and Kakashi' space.
"Oops, sorry," I say backing from him a bit.
"It's fine."
"If he tries anything with me, he won't have a hand for future use," I say with a serious tone. Sasuke just smirks and looks at me. I can never get over his spiky raven hair, his onyx eyes looking into your soul, or his face. He is just too…wonderful.
"And you must be Rhianna, I like your style…" he says leaning a bit too close to her and looking over her shoulder to see what she is drawing. You could see Rhianna's irritation, and Naruto's anger boiling. He puts an arm around her shoulder and she looks like she could snap her pencil in half and stab his eye out.
"You might not want to touch her when she is drawing, it's dangerous," Matt adds in, obviously not caring he is a pervert.
"Hey you! Didn't you hear what I just said!" Naruto screams and Kakashi holds him back. This is getting weird. Why wasn't Makoto doing anything? I walk over to him while Saniiro is bothering Sakura.
"Master Edo, um, shouldn't we do something?" I say looking at the scene in front of me.
"What would you suggest? You must remember he is our charge for protection," he says looking onto the scene. I sigh to myself and walk back to where I was before. I lean on the rock with my hands placed on a flat and level piece of the rock. Just then he comes and leans beside me and puts his hand a little too close to mine. I try to ignore it and decide it is nothing. I don't think you can be that perverted every two seconds.
"You know, I always loved writing…" he says as if from no where. I can see him looking into me and I shift being uncomfortable.
"Me too," I respond trying not to be mean.
"I especially love writing romance novels," he says looking at me with those gorgeous eyes and handsome smile. I can feel some heat in my cheeks. "I always loved the part where I wrote when they kissed," he continues.
"Oh?" I say trying to move slowly away from his hand.
"Yes…when things really heated up, I loved those parts as well," he says, now undressing me with his eyes. Now I am incredibly uncomfortable.
"Really?" I say moving away a bit. Makoto is watching us carefully and so is Sasuke, although he is trying to appear not to care about this perverted man. Kakashi is busy calming down Naruto, Rhianna, and Sakura.
"Yes, I always went into tremendous detail to make it as real as possible. I am always open to new ideas and ways of explaining things. In order to do that though…you usually need some experience," he says grinning at me and still undressing me.
"Err…" I say now way too uncomfortable. He leans in too close to me and now his body is touching mine and I can feel the warmth emanating off of his body. That's it I decide. I gather chakra into my hands which are into fists and slam it into the rock. It shakes and everyone who was on it falls off as it breaks.
"Listen, keep your distance and you wont get hurt," I state calmly. Saniiro looks scared. I smirk.
"Well thanks!" yells Rhianna over the rubble considering I just messed up her drawing. I sweat drop. "Sorry Rhi!"
As soon as team 7's charge arrives, we decide to head out. I give Naruto and Sakura a hug, and hesitate on Sasuke. I just settle for a goodbye with him. Just as I was about to turn and leave, I feel Sasuke's breathe on the back of my neck.
"That's it?" he says.
"That's it." I reply turning around with a smirk. He just smirked back.
We took off and walking seemed to be the longest thing ever and we walked for so long and so far. For the most part we walked in silence. Master Edo was in front with Pucher and Rhianna and I were in back with our charge in the middle.
"So girls, why are you walking behind me?" Saniiro asks with a smile.
"Why not? I mean, you are most likely to be attacked from behind anyway," I add irritated by the events that took place earlier.
"We don't want our behinds touched thank you very much," Rhianna states irritated as well. Makoto and Matt look amused. Just then Saniiro slinks behind us and puts his arms around the two of us. His hands are a little too close to our breasts. I don't know if I should kick him hard in the groin or keep walking. I decide to ignore him.
"You know…I have to be the luckiest guy ever to be here with the two loveliest ladies in all of Konoha," he states with his big, handsome grin.
"Right…" Rhianna says as a grumble and concentrates on the path ahead.
"Err…" is all I manage to say. God, why does he have to be such a pervert?
"Lovely? Wow, you must be delirious," Matt says laughing his ass off with Makoto trying to hold his in, but he lets out a chuckle. Rhianna and I are not amused.
"Matt you…!" Rhianna says running out from Saniiro's arm and chasing Pucher far ahead the path. I think she also did that to get out of his hold too.
"Wait guys!" Makoto says running after them. They left me with him! I feel the arm around my shoulder move to my waist.
"WHAT DID I SAY!?" I scream at him. He just giggles and looks at me.
"Something about wanting me?" he says with a hint of playfulness in his voice.
"No where near it," I say just before I bring my leg up into a sensitive area. Hard.
"What the hell," Rhianna says stopping in her tracks after hearing a man scream out in agony. She notices that Saniiro and I are no where in sight.
"Damn it!" Makoto says running back in the direction of which they came with Matt and Rhianna hot on his heels.
"God…Damn…it…that…hurt," Saniiro manages to say with difficulty and in gasps.
"Touch me again, and you will never walk again, got it," I say storming off.
Matt and Rhianna and even Makoto are cracking up, but Makoto goes to help him up anyway.
After walking for quite some time, the sun went down and we needed to camp out.
"Alright gang, follow me, we will camp out here for the night and take shifts watching our charge," Makoto says leading us off the path and into a forest clearing not too deep in, but deep enough. We eat a small dinner and set up camp with a small fire going.
"Matt, you are after me, Rhianna after Matt, and Chels after Rhi," he says, "The shifts run for about two hours or so until morning when we leave early."
"Right," we all say in unison.
I doze off almost immediately after lying down with the last thing I see being a fire. I am shaken awake by Rhianna and I grunt slowly sitting up. I look around and it appears to be dark out still with barely any light in the sky.
"What…" I start looking around.
"Your turn," Rhianna tiredly explains lying down in her spot. I sigh and get up and sit by the sleeping Saniiro.
The past hour went by slowly as I fought to stay awake and keep alert. Every time I felt my eyes droop, I would shift in my spot to keep awake or rub my eyes with some cold water. I hear something rustle in the bush in front of me and I immediately take out a kunai and throw it to that location. A very surprised squirrel runs in the opposing direction. I sigh and turn my head to the right leaning on the tree. This is so stupid. I poke at the fire with a stick until a few sparks alight, but nothing more happens. I get up, retrieve my kunai, and sit back down. The others are sleeping soundly. Makoto's back is up to another tree with his eyes closed and his head leaning backwards with one knee up and his right arm resting on it with his left arm and leg down. He looks even ready in his sleep. I found my occupation in drawing things into the dirt with my stick I previously had. When the sun came up and I heard my watch beep, I snapped out of my daze. Master Edo was up at the beep and looked at me with a grin.
"Anything happen?" he asks standing up and brushing off his pants.
"Nope," I say looking up at him approaching me. He lifts me off the ground with ease and tells me to wake the others. We are up and moving in less than an hour after eating.
"How much longer Master Edo?" Matt asks with a complaint tone.
"Well at this rate, maybe at nightfall, hopefully."
"I thought it would take longer," I say guessing it would take at least 4 days.
"So did I," he responds looking forwards.
"So Rhianna, how did you sleep last night?" Saniiro asks a little too close to Rhianna. I sigh in frustration and relief. He left me alone, but moved on to Rhianna.
We walk for what seems to be forever when I sense something. I stop in my tracks and so does Master Edo. We are surrounded. I run in back of Saniiro just in time to stop a whirling kunai aimed for his back. I take my fighting stance.
"What is it?!" Matt says in alarm with Rhianna catching on. He dodges a shuriken with a back flip and stands in his fighting stance. Rhianna and Makoto also take their stance, prepared for what comes next. Three ninja come out from the forest in front of us and are all clad in black and red.
"Hand over the man, and you live," a man's voice says. He has dark brown spiky hair with intense green eyes and a strong build. He has bandages covering the lower half of his face. The two other men look exactly like him but one has red hair with blue eyes and the other has blonde with brown.
"Sorry, I don't think so," I respond with a smirk my hands ready in position. Their attention is turned to me. I can sense the other ninja surrounding me. Exactly who did he piss off? The brown haired one smiles at me as he nears in my direction stopping ten feet in front of me.
"You should learn to keep your mouth shut little girl," he says with a laugh.
"You don't talk to women much do you?" I respond with a calm tone and a smirk still on my face. His smile turns into a frown as he draws his samurai sword out. Just when I thought he was going to charge, a kunai is thrown straight at my head. My instincts kicked in just in time before Makoto was about to run in front of me for defense and I dodged it just in time.
"Impressive," the ninja says with a smirk visible through his mask as he charges head on with his sword ready. I stand defensively in front of the charge as I prepare to use my shield again when Makoto comes in front of me with his sword out and the two swords clash. I didn't know Master Edo had a sword.
"You don't touch the girl Akano," Makoto says easily blocking his Akano's attack.
"Makoto, nice to see you again," he says with his sword ready.
"I'm sure," Makoto says with a 'this will be interesting' smirk on his face.
We are all ready to fight and Saniiro is nervously standing behind me, but he has his hand near his kunai holster as we ready for our first battle on our first mission.
"Ready Edo?" Akano says amused.
"Always, and you Akano? You seem a bit intimidated by my girl here," he says motioning over his shoulder. I stand my ground. These two know each other?
"Not in the least bit, but I would like to have some fun with her," he replies with a smirk. Akano charges at Makoto with his sword ready, and at least 30 other ninja jump out of the woods.