Chapter Seventeen
Ino looked up at Lee with big worried eyes. Uncertainty masked her porcelain features. She picked at the waist of her purple dyed clothes, "we've been separated for a while."
Lee figured that Ino was referring to the hours that they'd spent drawn away from Kiba and Sakura. Lee himself had expected to be back with the two other shinobi about 7 hours from their separation, but 10 had seeped by, and the further they travelled the more they realized something was most likely offhand. Lee had personally realized things had gone awry several hours ago, but Ino had brushed off his worries with a roll of her eyes, and a snappy tone.
Now she was walking with her fingers intertwined a look of utmost discomfort present on her face. Her eyes darted around every moment as if trying to spot Sakura and Kiba in the shadows. No such luck. He'd been doing the same thing since the appearance of stars in the sky.
"What do you think we should do? Do you think we should turn back?"
Ino sighed, looking more and more unsure of herself as the time passed. Lee could tell by the disappointment deep within the endless oceans that were her eyes, that she wasn't sure what to think. Or that maybe, she was unhappy with what she figured to be inevitable. "When I left them they were fighting some hyperactive guy with moppy brown hair and puppy eyes. He was acting like a tool. I didn't think they'd have trouble, but maybe I was wrong."
Lee pressed his fingers to his temples, "they could have gotten lost. Maybe they're trying a different route then us, we did get out of the deep area of the woods after all." Lee didn't agree with his point, but he figured he might as well bring up some positivity. "What should we do?"
"We're approaching Sunagakure, we should keep on our feet, until we get there. I know they'll come back us. Kiba promised he would, along with Sakura, he's not going to break it."
Lee sighed, and despite his feelings being on the opposite side of the spectrum than her decision, he nodded, placed his hands by his sides, and began a long, walk with an unexpected comrade.
The two of them passed over rocks, mud and puddles, and onto sandy terrain. The sky had lit up considerably, although the wind had picked up in such a way that had the sand blowing fiercely towards their eyes, and into their hair. Lee and Ino found themselves blinking at every turn, and bumping into each other, as their vision was significantly impaired.
The smell of leafs, dirt and lakes off behind hills left the air, and was replaced with the scent of sweat, and hot, summer stickiness. Sunagakure was really nothing short of a desert, and the drastic climate change between Konohagakure and the outsides of the sand based village had both Ino and Lee's heads spinning.
Lee was sweating up a storm by the time the sight of massive twin steel gates graced their line of vision. They were far off into the distance and would most likely take a good 15 minutes to reach, but it was a sign that they were closer to the village.
The more Lee squinted, the more he could make out the shapes of shinobi that stood guard. He couldn't determine whether they were male or female, but he could see human silhouettes that let him know there would be people for him to lay his eyes upon in just a small amount of time.