It felt like I hadn't updated this story in forever, but then I checked and it had only been two days. XD
It's a pretty good sized chapter.
And two more people enter the story!
Whoo!
Thanks to my reviewers. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Belonging

Chapter 2

By: turtlechick

"Are we there yet?" I moaned, we were on our way to the next village, again. It seemed like we all did now was travel, but come to think of it that was what we did. Save a village, leave, save another village, it was all getting very monotonous to say the least.

"Tenten we're almost there and stop your whining." Sakura said but she was just as tired as I was. "It's just past those clearing of trees." She pointed to a small cluster of trees in the distance. I groaned again. It seemed like we walked another day but Sakura assured me that it was under fifteen minutes. I was hoping that this village had a big demon problem so that we could get paid a lot and then eat a lot and possibly stay in an inn. The thought made me smile.

We finally reached the village's gates, the village was good size, a bit bigger than the one we came from. Everyone was busy going every which way. Our first priority was finding who ever ran this place so we could possibly get hired. We asked around and finally found out where the village elder was. A woman told us that he could be found in a house on the far edge of the village.

On the way Sakura and I started arguing about something, I don't even remember what it was about. Isn't that what best friends are for though, getting in meaningless fights that only make your friendship better. I was walking backwards, which probably wasn't the best idea in the first place, I had run into someone or something and we both came tumbling down from the impact.

Sakura immediately helped whoever I had knocked down. "Oh, Tenten you are such a klutz." I had run over a small girl, no older than the two of us. She was cute, violet hair, and the strangest lavender eyes.

"No it's fine, I don't watch where I'm going most of the time." She had a slight stuttering problem, but they seemed to be just from her nerves.

"Hey no problem I was the one walking backwards." She bowed slightly and then scurried off in the direction she was headed. What a strange girl.

We arrived at the smallest house in the entire village and Sakura said that this was the place. Wow, for a leader of a village he doesn't exactly live in the best environment. Sakura knocked on the door and young girl opened the door.

"Can I help you?" She said politely.

"We're looking for the village elder. We were told we could find him here." Sakura said respectfully.

"Oh yes right this way." She took us to a small room where a smelly old man sat at short table. "Grandfather these girls would like to speak to you." He nodded and she left quietly.

"What can I do for you young ladies?" Sakura bowed and pinched me on the side to make me do the same.

"My friend and I are traveling demon hunters. We were wondering if you were in need of our services?" Sakura was way better at talking to authority figures than I was.

His face got serious. "I'm glad that you two have showed up. We are actually in dire need of your help." Sakura and I listened intently. "For over a month now we have had problems with a certain demon. We knew he lived in the mountains near our village, but never bothered us before now. He comes every night or so and kidnaps young girls right from our streets. I hope that you will be able to help us with our problem, we are willing to pay handsomely for your services." Like music to my ears.

"We would love to help your village. Um sir?"

"Yes ma'am?" He asked, smiling at us, he was missing a few teeth.

"We are weary from our travels and were wondering if we could get some of our pay, now, to pay for food and possibly a place to stay for the night."

"Oh of course." This guy was my new best friend.

"Thank you very much." Sakura said bowing again.

We ate and took a quick cat nap at the local inn. I wish we would have gotten to stay longer. Sakura had to literally drag me outside, it had been so long since I had slept in a bed, I didn't want to leave. By the we woke up it was dark and time for patrol duty. We couldn't just wait for the demon to attack the village we had to be ready for it. Sakura took the north end I took the south. We would be able to hear if the other was in trouble. Especially Sakura, her fighting style wasn't exactly subtle. She fought mostly with her fists and never held back when it came to demons so the surroundings areas got pretty messed up.

It had been quiet for most of the night, no demon yet, well not on my end that is. I heard a loud crash coming from the north of my position…show time. I rushed over and saw Sakura in a fight with the demon we had been waiting for.

The thing was pretty big, if it hit us we might be thrown for quite a loop. It resembled a tiger or something along those lines, except it was able to stand on it's hind legs. It was fast too, Sakura hadn't even landed a hit on it yet. It's yellow eyes lit up the darkness. I grabbed my bow from my shoulder and an arrow from my back. I strung it on my bow and pulled it back taking my time as I aimed it carefully. Sakura immediately caught on and tried to keep it in one spot. I let go and my arrow struck it square in the back. It left Sakura alone and came sprinting towards me, full speed. I grabbed another arrow and I hit him again. The demon yelled out in pain but still headed straight for me.

It swung one of it's arms at me with it's razor sharp claws and got part of my shirt but didn't harm me. He swung again and that one would have hit me if I hadn't jumped up and out of the way. The demon jumped right along with me and smacked me as I came down. I was hurled into the roof of a nearby house and fell through. I landed on something hard, a table or something like that. I felt my head spinning and before I completely passed out I swear I saw two full moons, then it all went black.

OxO

When I regained consciousness I tried to sit up but I was extremely sore. It was still dark out and it looked like I was in the forest.

"You really shouldn't try to sit up." The same girl that I had run over earlier today was hovering over me.

"I'm fine." I rubbed my head and sat up slowly. "What happened?" I asked. "Wait where is Sakura?" I asked frantically.

"She's right there." Sakura was asleep next to the campfire and the two of us. We were in the forest, a little outside of town. "You came through our roof." She said shying away from me, her voice was hard to hear.

I covered my mouth. "I am so sorry."

She shook her head. "It's alright. It was barely standing anyway." She explained.

"Oh I'm sorry… I'm Tenten by the way." We shook hands.

"Hinata."

"Thanks for saving me." I said.

"It was nothing. Thank you for saving our village, your friend is quite the demon hunter."

"Yeah, so what are you going to do now, since I sort of ruined your house?"

"Well my father told us once that we have relatives up north. I guess we'll travel there and look for a place to stay." I was guessing that her father was dead.

"What a coincidence! Sakura and I are headed up north too! We heard of a rather large gathering of demons up north. You should come with us!"

"We-ll I don't know if my cousin would like that idea." She said at a low whisper.

"Your cousin?" Thinking back, she had spoken in plurals when talking about herself.

"Yes my cousin Neji."

"Well you can't let your cousin tell you what to do with your life! You should come with us!" She struggled for an answer.

"Absolutely not." A boy with long brown hair had stepped into the clearing with a handful of sticks, for the fire probably. He was attractive, good bone structure, the whole nine yards. He also had the same lavender eyes as Hinata.

"Neji, they're headed in the same direction we are. Why can't we go with them?" Her voice was even quieter now and she seemed scared of her cousin.

"Because I won't put you in that sort of danger Hinata. Hiashi told me to take care for you and that's what I intend to do." His voice was stern.

"Look I don't see what the problem is. It'll be safer anyway if we go as a group. Do you think that you'll be able to keep Hinata safe if a demon comes along?"

"My cousin Neji is a retired demon hunter." Hinata whispered in my ear.

"You're a demon hunter! And you just let your village be attacked like that?!" Who did this guy think he was?

"I try to not attract attention to myself, unlike you." He snapped.

"Why did you retire in the first place?"

"I had to take care of Hinata." He simply said. I guess it was a pretty good reason.

"Don't you miss it?" He was silent. "See there you go! You should come with us!" I think I was starting to convince him.

"Tenten is right cousin, it would be safer if we traveled as a group. Please Neji?"

"Yeah, please Neji?" If he could resist the two of us then he wasn't a man at all. He stared at the two of us and sighed.

"Fine. But don't think this makes up for you using your head to smash our house." Oh yeah I forgot about that.

"Are you sure your friend won't mind?" Hinata asked, motioning to Sakura.

"Are you kidding, the more the merrier. Sakura will be thrilled." I assured her. We all settled in for the night. It was strange come to think of it. It had always been just Sakura and I, no one else. This certainly was going to be an experience. Actually I was looking forward to it.

Well how was that??
The other characters will come in gradually in the next few chapters one by one.
I think that...Shikamaru will be the next person to come in,
but don't quote me on that.
Hope you all liked it :)

Please review and even if you don't check out my other stories XD

turtlechick...out