Hey everyone! I know it's been a long time since I last updated this and for that I'm really sorry. I've been kind of busy but I had a break and started writing this and getting it done just for all of you~ :3 Lol. Thank you all to those who have read and reviewed so far. You all make me really happy and I completely appreciate it. :D :3

Another apology… sorry for the shortness. I hope you like it nonetheless though!

Enjoy. :3

Calm Before the Storm

I looked at Echi with a cocked brow; questioning him on what he was going to do now. He no longer had his comrades to help him. He was truly alone.

"What are you going to do now?" I questioned, still smirking.

"I know you're taunting me, and it's not going to work," he stated almost hatefully.

I knew he was mad about the odds, but he would just have to deal. Sometimes… you just had to fight alone.

"Oh really… then how come you're so angry?" I asked, still taunting.

"Shut up you stupid girl!" he growled, throwing a kunai at me with speed.

'Too bad speed has poor aim.' I jumped to the side with my smirk still in place. This was just too fun.

A fist collided with my stomach and I was thrown backward, toward a tree. 'So is that how you want to play?' Flipping backwards, I used my hands to land on my feet.

"You know, you piss me off," Echi stated hatefully at me, pulling out some shuriken from his pocket.

"Yeah," I laughed, not rising from all fours, "Well you're stupid and are going down."

I ran low toward him, charging while doing hand signs. Echi seemed to smirk as I got closer to him after every second.

"So long, little girl," he said as he threw a shuriken with a scroll attached to it.

'Oh shit!' My hand had just reached his pocket when the shuriken exploded.

Kiba, Hinata, and Shino had been running constantly. They hadn't met up with anyone yet, which surprised Hinata. She had been expecting at least an ambush or something. As they ran, Kiba almost fell as something exploded from a rather short distance away.

"What the hell was that?" he growled, catching himself.

"An explosion," Shino stated, "To the south exit."

Hinata looked around rather nervously. She could tell that something was coming.

I coughed as I used a tree trunk for balance. 'The idiot tried to blow me up!' I thought, almost appalled. In the process though, he had knocked himself out with the force of the explosion. His head collided with the nearest tree.

The blast just knocked me back and I slid across the ground forcefully. I had really bad dirt-burn on my neck from small rocks. The girl – his comrade – threw their scroll to me.

"There. Take it and go," she told me, her tone quiet.

I looked down at it with confusion before taking my right hand off the tree trunk to pick it up. My left arm was still numb. 'Weird… I kind of feel bad for her…'

As I picked up the scroll on the ground, I realized that it was exactly what I hoped. It was actually an Earth scroll.

"I guess my luck isn't that bad after all," I murmured to myself before pushing the scroll into my pocket.

'Wouldn't be hard to guess who has my scrolls.' I mused in my head before pushing myself to run again. I was back in the trees in no time, trying to run quickly but failing. That battle had taken a lot out of me.

"Not everything though," I assured myself.

I knew it would take more than that to take me down now.

An hour or so of running had passed and I could hear a familiar voice talking quietly somewhere near by.

"What do you think that explosion was?" they asked.

"A crazy person," another voice stated.

"W-we aren't that crazy."

The last voice I definitely knew off by heart. 'It's Hinata!' I thought with excitement.

Footsteps on wood now and I could hear them coming closer. It didn't surprise me that Akamaru would give some kind of warning in knowing that someone was close by.

"What is it Akamaru?" Kiba asked the small dog.

"Hey guys," I laughed slightly, joining them before Akamaru could reply.

"Suzu, what are you doing here?" Kiba asked me with confusion.

"Trying to find the tower," I told him plainly.

"W-what happened?" Hinata asked me, her tone worried.

"Almost got my butt kicked by those three from the other day," I shrugged, "I won so that's all that matters."

"Wait!" Kiba said quietly with surprise, "You have your scrolls already?!"

"Yeah, two extra," I laughed slightly.

'I don't want to brag… I don't like it.' I made a face at the thought.

"Anyway, I must go," I admitted, "Good luck, and you better show up at the tower."

"You can count on it," Kiba promised.

Then we separated and I kept running north. The tower had to be in there somewhere.

And eventually it was. Night had fallen before I could make it there though. Sometime in the middle of the night I had reached my destination. I wasn't the only one waiting. Three Sand ninjas were already there; two boys and a girl. The girl looked like she would be a fun match. Fists and kunai against a fan… that did seem interesting…

The red headed Sand ninja just plainly gave me the creeps. His cold stare could stop a raging bull dead in place. 'Scary… I though only Sasuke could glare at someone like that.' I wasn't creeped out by Sasuke though. I may not have known his story except that he was alone… just like I was. That was all I saw to it though.

Then even later in the night after I had fallen dead asleep, Hinata's team made it in. I wouldn't have noticed if my ears hadn't caught the sound of whimpering. When I opened my Sharingan eyes, I could see Kiba, Hinata, and Shino staying close to me.

"Why won't you sleep Akamaru?" Kiba whispered; his back to me.

Hinata and Shino seemed to be asleep.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked groggily as I rolled onto my back.

"He just keeps whimpering," Kiba murmured, as if not realizing who was actually asking him.

'That's weird. Why would Akamaru be scared?' My brows furrowed at the thought.

Getting to my feet slowly, I made my way to sit beside Kiba. His head jerked up with surprise at the movement.

"Why?" I asked with a yawn.

"I think it was that Sand ninja; the red haired one. I think something about him scared Akamaru," Kiba explained before yawning slightly as well.

"I can take him," I told him quietly, "You get some sleep and I'll keep an eye on him."

'Literally.' I laughed in my head.

"No, it's alright," he murmured tiredly.

"I've slept for a few hours," I told him, my tone assuring, "It's your turn."

"Are you sure?" Kiba asked, tiredness changing his mind.

"I wouldn't say it if I wasn't," I stated simply.

After a few moments, Akamaru was placed in my lap and I rubbed his ears gently. 'Poor Akamaru… I guess being a dog is harder then it looks, huh?' I watched the small dog with a sympathetic expression. Then my eye widened slightly when something rested on my shoulder. As I looked over, I saw that it was Kiba's head. He had already fallen asleep.

"Hey," I shrugged my shoulder; trying to wake him up.

He didn't move.

"Kiba," I shrugged again.

He didn't move.

"Hey," I hissed, pushing him off me.

He fell over, still asleep. 'Wow… I didn't think that anyone could sleep so soundly.' I smiled slightly at the thought.

From what I knew and saw, Kiba was a good guy. No, he wasn't my favorite person in the world, but he took care of Hinata. He didn't just care about himself. He was a good friend; the first guy one I ever had.

"Have a good sleep," I murmured before looking down at Akamaru curled up in my lap.

'He's not shaking too much now.' My hand patted his soft fur gently as I sat awake in the dark. Everyone was asleep… and the red haired Sand ninja was missing. 'I guess he doesn't sleep much.' I thought with a shrug. Even I had to admit that the guy gave off a creepy feeling. I shook my head at the thought.

"I guess we'll find out what it all means," I murmured, closing my eyes.

It didn't take long before I was back to sleep as well.

Then morning came, more like afternoon in my case. When I opened my eye to the light, things were really quiet besides a few murmurs here and there. There still weren't many of us here yet. Though Neji, Tenten, and the green spandex wearing freak had arrived not too long ago.

Every team strayed to themselves only. Here we were all against each other… We were enemies. Of course Neji would keep Tenten away from everyone else. Even Hinata kept to herself with Kiba and Shino. 'Nothing you can do about it.' I thought with a sigh.

"Oh well."

Night hit again and still not many teams had showed up. It made me wonder what they were doing. Were they waiting? Or were they simply not coming? Five teams… was that average or too little? I had no idea.

Then there were many noises outside; metal clashing, screams, thuds… I guess that meant that they were all waiting.

Ino's team made their appearance, almost too proud. Shortly after were Sound ninja. And lastly were Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. 'That's a lot more people.' I thought with a nod. Those odds seemed a lot better in my eyes.

Then it began. Everyone's sensei came to stand with their teams and the man known as Hayate explained what was to happen. A machine was going to randomly choose a genin and put them against another genin. There were too many of us for the very first time.

The screen flashed through two sets of names and then it was decided. Sasuke would go first. 'I guess we'll see what this Uchiha can do.' Everyone went to the walkways above the arena to watch and get out of the way. I stood away from Kakashi Sensei and sat near a corner.

The fight began rather quickly. Sasuke was rather upset looking; like something was on his mind. I watched through my bangs as Sasuke came out the victor. That wasn't a surprise. So many people said that Sasuke was such a promise. Everyone wanted to see what he was able to do. 'The last remaining Uchiha…' I thought rather sarcastically. Only Hinata, Kakashi Sensei, Tenten and I knew that that was not the case.

The screen flashed again for a few moments; going through the names quickly. I sighed when it stopped. 'Looks like it's my turn…' Getting to my feet, I made my way past Kakashi Sensei and Sasuke as he made his return.

"Good luck," Hinata said to me with a smile.

"This should be a piece of cake," I told her with a slight smirk.

I was ready for just about anything now. After being blown up and hunted and rigorously trained… I was ready.

As I got down the stairs, my eye met with the Sound ninja across the arena from me.

"Are you ready to give up to me?" he asked with a smirk.

"I'm so sorry," I apologized with sarcasm in my voice, "I don't lose against losers; at least not losers that are stupid boys anyway."

The Sound genin clenched his fist.

"I'll show you who's stupid!" he growled at me, making an advance.

He was running straight for me with a kunai in his hand.

"I'm sure you will," I laughed; waiting.

When he was close enough, I jumped with my hands on his shoulders. I spun myself around to face his back and grabbed his two arms. Pulling them back, I twisted them the wrong way.

"Just tell me when to stop," I mocked, twisting them more.

He let out a cry of pain before spinning to the side.

My balance was thrown off and I let go of his wrists. I was surprised when a fist collided with my stomach and I was thrown backward off my feet. 'Crap… that actually hurt…' I stretched my arms up and flipped in the air to land back on my feet. I coughed slightly before reaching into my pocket for a kunai.

"I don't think so!" the guy growled at me.

A loud screeching filled my ears and I winced. 'What the hell is that?' My eye wandered quickly, looking for the sound. It was making me dizzy and I instinctively covered my ears.

"Damn it," I hissed at the pain; my sight blurring slightly.

"It's a nice sound, isn't it?" he asked me, walking closer, "Nice enough to make you so dizzy that you want to pass out."

"Well," I grumbled, unsteadily pushing myself up from my crouched position, "If you won't let me use mine, then I'll just have to use yours."

I ran towards him and our lands locked; pushing against one another.

"What are you doing?" he asked me with what sounded like frustration.

"Wouldn't you like to know," I growled, my thumb reaching for the edge of his kunai.

I slit the skin and felt the blood coming from the small wound. With furrowed brows, I lifted my foot and kicked him in the stomach to force him away. Doing my hand signs, I smirked slightly as the ringing in my ears continued. 'I can't stay close to him.'

"Sky Style; Hawk's Eye jutsu!"

Virid too to the air above before swooping down and grabbing my shoulders with his talons. The large hawk pulled away from the Sound ninja and the screeching in my ears stopped. Sweat was going down my face as my vision cleared slightly.

"Bring me right over him Virid," I told him, trying to focus.

A few minutes passed before I was dropped. When I was close enough, my foot collided with the Sound genin's back; knocking him forward. I grabbed his leg, lifting his foot above my head.

"What are you doing you stupid-"

Talons took hold of his foot and took him above my head. 'Wait for it…' The genin was dropped and I crouched to a handstand and kicked backwards with my heel. My heel hit to back of his head and he landed on his back. He wasn't moving as I ended my summon with Virid.

My vision blurred a little more and suddenly I fell over. 'What's going on? Why… why can't I get up?' Then the sounds around me started to disappear. There was nothing but darkness.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that I wasn't at the Chunnin exams anymore. The room was rather white and bright. 'Damn it… why the hell am I back here?' Slowly, I sat up on the bed and looked around the room. It was empty.

"All right then," I murmured, getting out of the hospital bed and going to the window sill.

I crawled out slowly before dropping to the ground. 'Like I'm going to stay in there.' I pulled my head protector to be back on the stop of my head and fixed my bangs so I could see properly.

It was sunny outside, so I didn't have to worry about my eyes being seen. 'I wonder how long it's been…' I sat down against the wall with crossed legs. Then a noise caught my attention. Voiced. My head looked to the side as a few people were carrying someone in on a cot. 'Oh no…' My eyes widened with horror and realization.

"Hinata!" I called, immediately getting to my feet.

I ran to the cot's side and went along as they carried her into the hospital.

"Hinata! Hinata, please!" I begged, "Please Hinata, open your eyes!"

"I'm sorry but you can't come in here," the nurse told me with an apologetic tone, "You have to wait here."

"Please Hinata!" I continued, ignoring the nurse.

"Hey! She's my patient!" another nurse cried from down the hallway.

Without any understanding, I couldn't' help the tears that formed in my eyes as I was being pulled back toward my room… away from Hinata. The tears wouldn't stop as only one thought was running through my head;

'Would I ever see my best friend again?'

End of Chapter 15

So… how was it? Did everyone love that total dramatic cliffhanger? I did. Lol. I got this idea at like… chapter 7 and couldn't wait for it to happen. It proves that Suzu cares about Hinata and her friends. Woo! Lol. Thanks again for reading, I appreciate it a lot. :D Again I apologize for the shortness and if there are any spelling errors then… my bad. :F

Please R&R and I'll try to update as soon as I get a good chance to. :D :3