notes: basically i've been in college. so. yeah. sporadic update! oH ALSO: sugar is supposed to mess with gasoline fuel and render it too sticky to function. that is all :P and i'm aware this is super short, but i'll probably try and update sooner this time!

6. — rain and wind and lavender

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"Man, you guys are slow!" Naruto groaned, crossing his arms in a childish display, complete with a pout.

He was standing in the centre of a raft, which spun around and around in circles in the river due to Konohamaru and his teammates. They sat on the edges, using their hands to propel the vehicle in circles.

"Not our fault you're so damn heavy," Konohamaru retorted, sticking his tongue out at him.

"Oi!" Naruto lunged for the boy, but did not anticipate the agile little boy dodging so quickly. He fell face-first into the water.

Laughter rung throughout the clearing.

That's when Kiba sprung from the surface, propping himself onto the raft with an enthusiastic growl.

"Aw, no fair!" Moegi complained. "You never lose in the spinny raft game!"

"Hey, I'm better company than that old geezer Naruto, aren't I?" Kiba questioned, perking an eyebrow.

The group looked at each other, shrugged, and then nodded, ignoring Naruto's indignant cries from the distance.

Kiba let out a barking laugh, keeping his arms slightly spread to attain his balance on the spinning vehicle. They had barely begun when a flash of white caught his eyes. He struggled to keep his eyes on the spot, having to turn this way and that while he spun.

It was Ino, and she had cleaned up. It seemed Sakura had given her something new to wear: a worn red tunic that was too short for her tall figure, and black leggings that stopped at her knees.

Her face shone pale after washing away all the dirt; the only blemishes left behind were the few bruises that she had acquired during their long trek up the cliff. Her eyes were still as murky as the ocean floor.

"Well, would you look at that," Kiba said, wearing a sarcastically serious expression. "She actually kinda looks not like a prissy upscale city girl and... more like us in these clothes, doesn't she?"

"Yep!" the kids all nodded in agreement, giggling quietly.

Ino simply glared.

Kiba laughed. "After a while, you might even lose that pale-ass complexion and get a little tan. You know, blend in with us a little more."

"She's glaring at you, old man!" Udon yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Ino.

Kiba paid him no heed, though. "You should just go ahead and stay with us, don't you think?" The sarcasm had dramatically decreased in his tone.

Moegi instantly seemed to realize what was going on, and burst into a fit of giggles while Konohamaru and Udon simply gaped at both of them, looking back and forth.

It was an odd sight to see, Kiba turning his head every now and then to maintain eye contact with Ino, Moegi laughing, and the other two continuously peddling with such flabbergasted expressions.

Ino turned to leave, and Kiba finally felt himself start to smile.

"Oi, give us an answer!" Kiba shouted.

"Us?" Konohamaru echoed.

"You can't just leave without answering. Would you stay or not?"

Ino turned around, her eyes sharp and piercing when they made contact with Kiba's.

"Where's your gun?" she asked. "Shoot me dead already. It's better then answering your dumbass questions."

Kiba's smirk faded a bit. "Alright. Maybe I shouldn't have asked something like that." But after saying that, he felt his anger spike.

"But then – you should have never met that guy. You should've never gotten married to him. You should've never moved here. You shouldn't have done what you did.

I shouldn't have gotten mad, and I shouldn't have dragged you here because of it and I shouldn't have wanted to kill you and you shouldn't have fearlessly jumped off the cliff and I shouldn't have lost my shit and came after you!"

He took a breath after the angry outburst, feeling his body flood with heat.

"I shouldn't have felt the breath return to my lungs once I saw you open your eyes." Kiba frowned, teeth bared in a growl as he looked off into the distance. "Whatever. It doesn't matter anymore. I can't change anything. I can't change the disgusting thoughts in my head and I can't changed what I asked you. But the point is... would you actually stay?"

Ino's expression had frozen, glare still in place, but she seemed to be thinking.

"Say you never married that cop. Think you'd be with me?" he dared to ask, smirking. "Hm?"

Everyone had gone quite silent (even Naruto who was still floating in the distance, listening), and the raft slowly came to a stop.

Ino never replied.

"Something is quite off here, you know. And I'm surprised none of you have said a word about it."

Suigetsu paced up and down the length of the tent while his men lined up on either side. Karin and Sai stood off to the corner, eyeing the entire situation warily.

"We've run into him indirectly twice. That tied up man; the man who held his own severed arm. That was certainly no coincidence, was it?"

Silence.

"He's been tracking our every move. I mean, we – all of us – know that this is in no way possible... unless he has a loyal source of information."

Everyone knew what he was getting at.

"Some pretty little bird in the jungle has been flying off to Inuzuka's shoulder and telling secrets that it shouldn't be. 'The chief is heading this way.' 'The chief is coming with all of his men.' Things like that."

Suigetsu had been surveying all of them closely, and noticed that one particular man with a clenched fist refused to make eye contact. Seriously? How pathetically easy.

"Has anyone here seen that bird?" Suigetsu asked them.

Everyone looked at each other, and even Karin didn't really seem to know what was going on. Sai simply smiled as if he found the whole situation quite entertaining all of a sudden.

"What about you, Takeshi?"

His fist unclenched quickly.

"For how many days, hm?" Suigetsu questioned.

Takeshi, face steeled carefully like a mask, replied, "Sir?"

"How many days have you been giving Inuzuka information, obviously."

"What?"

"From where we're coming, how many people..."

"S-Sir... I don't—"

Suigetsu swiftly gave him a fist to the gut.

"How about now?"

"You're going too far! H-How dare you physically harm another officer—" Takeshi tried to speak up, but was silenced by another hit.

"You dare call yourself a member of our force after what you've done?"

"I—"

This time, he grabbed him by his hair, slamming his face into one of the desks. Blood trickled from Takeshi's nose.

"Take me to him now."

The funny thing was, Kiba still managed to be one, two, no, ten steps ahead.

As soon as their police jeeps were off, his men had jumped onto the sides of the moving vehicles silently, climbing underneath and unscrewing their gas tanks. Doing as they were told, they emptied packets of sugar into their tanks. As silently as they came, they dropped and rolled off, mission completed.

Meanwhile, Suigetsu, Sai, and Takeshi were having a heated discussion inside the jeep.

"In six months, you'd get a transfer and move somewhere else," said Takeshi from the passenger's seat. "We need to live here. My siblings have to get an education here. I did what I had to."

Sai was in his usual position — hanging upside down from the top of the jeep, peeking into their open windows. "He has a point, sir."

"So? You put on a police uniform and work for Inuzuka?" Suigetsu retorted.

"That also makes sense," Sai agreed, pointedly looking at Takeshi.

"Anyway, I'm only guessing. I don't know if Inuzuka will be there for sure or not—"

"Then only tell us what you know for sure!" Suigetsu snapped. "We'll find him."

That's when all of the vehicles started coming to a halt. A throng of voices began to speak at once, confused at the sudden turn of events.

They unloaded, inspecting the gas tanks. There was no way they could be empty after having just refueled.

"Sir," a man came to Suigetsu. "It's sugar."

"Definitely," Sai added, spitting it out after having a taste from the opened gas tank. "How did they do this to a moving vehicle?"

They all looked at Takeshi.

He swallowed, seemingly genuinely afraid.

"I don't know."

"It's raiding time~" Naruto sang in a sing-song voice.

"Keep your damn voice down," Sasuke muttered.

But there was no point. Once the entire gang flooded into the police camp site, everything was chaos. Tenten wrapped a rag over an old watchman's head while Sakura elbowed another officer straight in the nose.

While the others worked on holding off the remaining officers Suigetsu had left to watch the camp, Naruto and Sasuke entered the tents and started grabbing shotguns and pistols and stuffing as many as they could in their bags.

Kiba himself was also present, overseeing the mission. He seemed to be searching for something, peeking inside each tent before abandoning it and going to the next. He entered one of them, carefully taking in his surroundings.

A glance to his side and he saw his reflection in a mirror. He growled, and for some strange reason, punched it so that it shattered. Seeing his face in the broken pieces scattering the floor, he felt himself smirk again.

Then, he heard the walkie-talkie.

"Matsuda? Matsuda is everything alright over there? Over."

It was Suigetsu's voice.

Kiba, with a look of wonder, wandered over to the contraption.

"It's Kiba," he said in a whisper-yell.

"Matsuda? Matsuda, where are you. Over."

Suigetsu didn't seem to have heard him, probably because Kiba didn't understand how to use the device. Losing interest, Kiba stood from his crouched position and his gaze wandered over to a very particular lavender dress that captured his attention.

It was badly torn and stained, but Suigetsu had hung it up and cleaned it as much as he could.

He stared at it as the breeze from the window caused it to sway. Flashes of Ino began to pass through his mind again. The images that he'd stored in his memory got pushed to the front of his brain again: the time he spent climbing with her, the image of her crouched over a tiny fire, and the look she gave him after she left.

Outside, the noise of the chaos began to slowly dwindle down as they all began to carry the supplies back to their base.

"C'mon, c'mon, everyone!" Naruto called, showing the way for departure.

"Wh-Where's Kiba?" Hinata asked as she caught up, slightly panting.

"No idea, we'll discuss it later, you've gotta get outta here, Hinata!" Naruto urged, gently placing a hand on her back and pushing her. She stiffened up and immediately started running.

"He's probably doing something stupid," said Neji as he passed by Naruto.

Naruto sighed. "Probably."

Sasuke, who was by Naruto's side, watched the seemingly empty camp site. "He can handle himself."

Kiba was still in the tent, marvelling at all of the objects inside of Suigetsu's personal tent. He had found a photo of himself, and found that he couldn't stop laughing at it. He felt oddly proud, and almost went to pocket it, until he heard a noise. He froze, eyeballs flickering to his side.

Karin walked into the tent.

"Fuck, it's YOU—" That's all Karin got out before she was gagged from behind. She screeched and struggled to get out of the hold of her captor, but it was no use.

"You're welcome," said Sasuke, as he began to drag her out of the tent.