AN:

I have failed you all. No updates for two days. Yesterday would have been an update day, but a friend was over and Return of the King was on...

I digress.

Thank You Deadzepplin for the favorite! Sorry for not including it in last update.

Thank You Purple Pallbearer and DreamingIn2Eternity for the reviews!

To DreamingIn2Eternity: Thank you! That is how I depict them to be, more or less.

To Purple Pallbearer: This update must be one heck of a trolling then. I would have written it in, but I lost steam. I am more of a comedy reader, so my writing will never be really serious. Stupidly dramatic or almost angsty, yes. Serious, no.

Side note: As you can see, Two Towers is coming up. One of the things that keeps me away from stories is the long amount of chapters under one title. So I am going to post anything in the Two Towers plot line under a Part 2 of this story. Hope you don't mind.

Sorry for the wait!

*Japanese*

The next morning was uneventful, barring the fact Hoshi refused to wake up.

"C'mon Hoshi," said Obito, running an ink brush under the boy's nose. "Everyone has already eaten,"

Hoshi gave the Uchiha a growl for his efforts, and yanked the ink brush out of his hands. The short-haired boy shook his head.

"Hoshi sleeps like a hibernating bear," he absentmindedly declared. The boy received several looks for the comment.

"Excuse me, but what is a bear?" asked Pippin. Before Obito could respond, Aragorn answered the hobbit's question.

"It is a large, grumpy animal that lives in the far North and along the Misty Mountains. Bears are known to be heavy sleepers, and are fond of fish, deer, and berries." the ranger said while loading up the boat.

Obito snapped his fingers in realization.

"Ah Ha!" he cried, pulling down his goggles. He grabbed a smaller scroll from his foster brother's backpack. Releasing the first seal, Obito held a jar of honey in his hands.

Just as he was about to open it, a hand shot out and grabbed the jar. His dark eyes turned to see a bedraggled Hoshi giving him a bleary-eyed glare.

"Don't touch my honey," he said, his speech still slurred from sleep. Kakashi and Rin both stifled laughter.

"Well, good morning to you, too," Obito grumbled in mock offense. Minato waltzed over to his half-asleep student.

"It is good to see that you haven't died in your sleep yet, Hoshi-kun," he said cheerfully.

The boy wasn't able to reply, due to a large yawn. Minato smacked him affectionately on the back.

"You best get packing if you don't want to be left behind," he whispered into the boy's pointed ear. Patting Hoshi on the head, he walked off.

~•~•~•~

The day was one of fair weather, which pleased Kakashi immensely. The Hatake leaded back into the boat, staring up at the sky. The clouds were large and fluffy, and colored a non-threatening white. Hoshi was guiding the boat along, with Obito keeping his foster brother awake.

"Lovely day isn't it?" commented Minato-sensei. Kakashi found it odd that his teacher wanted to sit in the boat.

"Indeed," responded Hoshi, stifling a yawn. " 'Tis quite the pity that today is THE day,"

Rin nodded in mournful agreement. She then turned her dark eyes skyward.

"Look," she pointed at a cloud. "That looks like a bunny,"

Kakashi squinted. It did look like a bunny if you turned your head just so. But he wasn't so distracted as to not hear another boat pull up alongside theirs.

"What are you looking for?" asked a lilting voice.

"Defiantly the elf," thought Kakashi. He found their kind annoying for some reason, one he couldn't find.

"We're cloud gazing," answered Obito. "You look at the clouds and find a shape in them,"

"Ah,"

Kakashi found it strange that a nature loving creature such as an elf didn't cloud gaze.

Just as he was to close his eyes, he was suddenly shaken upright. Kakashi sat up, seeing that his teammates were still, looking east. Legolas was too, with a look of fear in his blue eyes.

"Do you feel that?" whispered Minato-sensei.

The Hatake closed his eyes, reaching out with his chakra. Then the feeling hit him. A solid wall a pure killing intent and malevolent intentions intercepted his probe. Kakashi immediately retreated, quickly opening his eyes. He was vaguely aware that he was covered in sweat.

*"Hoshi and I are going to the eastern shore,"* Sensei whispered in his ear. *"You are in charge until we get back,"*

Obito had grabbed the boat, while Hoshi took one of Sensei's kunai and ran toward the shore. As soon as his tall teammate disappeared into the woods, Minato-sensei Hiraishin-ed away.

Gimli didn't seem to understand what all the fuss was about.

"Just what are they doing?" the red-haired dwarf said, bewildered. "Don't they know that place is infested with orcs?"

Rin gave the dwarf a small smile. "They are going to exterminate the orcs and that big black thing, obviously,"

Legolas turned toward Rin in panic. "What big black thing?"

Obito pointed into the sky. "That thing," he said with a slight tremor in his voice.

Before Kakashi could even process the amount of malice emitting from the creature, Legolas shot it out from the sky.

Everyone, Fellowship and shinobi, was shaken. Rin had lost her chipper mood for a moment, staring wide-eyed at the sky.

"What on earth?" she whispered in horrified awe.

"Rin-san," Kakashi turned to his female teammate. "We are in Middle Earth,"

The petite brunette simply glared at him.

~•~•~•~

It was quite some time later before Minato-sensei and Hoshi rejoined the group. Running down the steep white cliffs that surrounded them, Rin quickly looked them over. Sensei was unscathed, but Hoshi suffered a cut on his cheek and several on his nose. Both were splattered in black blood.

"Status?" asked Kakashi as they approached them. Hoshi grinned.

"No survivors," he said triumphantly.

Rin was about to respond when something in the distance caught her eye. The great river was flanked by two tall statues, carved out of the white canyon walls. The great stone goliaths portrayed two men each with an arm outreached, as if to welcome or banish.

"The Gates of Argonath," she turned to see Aragorn, rowing beside them. "Long have I desired to look upon the kings of old, my kin,"

Rin was amazed at the sheer size of the statues, and the attention to detail.

"We have something similar to this back at home," she heard Minato-sensei say. Rin looked to see the look of interest on Aragorn's face.

"Like this," he continued. "There are the statues of two important leaders, but they are separated by a waterfall, not a river. They also face each other, before they do battle with one another,"

The tall man raised a eyebrow. Hoshi answered the unspoken question.

"The statues are a monument to a historical fight between the two founders of the Village of Konoha. It is found at the place of their battle," the boy let out another yawn.

Obito sighed, shaking his head. "The statues at home also are a lot smaller than the ones here,"

Hoshi nodded. "Just like how everyone in the Land of Fire is so bloody short," he muttered

While the hobbits seemed to find the tall, lanky boy's comment amusing, the male members of his team did not.

"Who are you calling short, you giraffe?" Obito cried out indignantly. Hoshi did not even flinch, despite the fact the his foster brother had yelled directly into his ear.

Minato had a hurt look on his face. "Am I really that short?" he asked.

Rin shook her head. Turning to Aragorn, she asked:

"Do you think that we are rather short?"

The brunette could see the ranger struggle to come up with an answer.

"Compared to Hoshi or myself, you and your team really is quite short,"

Immediately after he said that, Aragorn was nearly pegged with a rice ball. The man searched for the culprit, who happened to be Kakashi. Glaring at the Hatake, he said:

"I was comparing you to Hoshi or myself, not the entire populace of Middle Earth,"

Rin sighed. Height was such a stupid thing to be worrying about. There were larger threats to occupy one's mind with, and the medic decided to do just that.

~•~•~•~

Eldarion would be lying if he said he wasn't anxious when they landed on Amon Hen. Team 7 sat up in a few of the trees by the shore. They kept their eyes and ears peeled, listening to the Fellowship's travel plans.

Aragorn's plan of approaching Mordor from the north immediately came under fire from Gimli. None of his teammates looked keen on following the ranger's route either.

"Sharp rocks, than marshlands?" grumbled Minato-sensei. "Sounds like one of Mizu's many islands,"

Eldarion knew that his yellow-haired teacher had seen battle on one of the Water Country's many islands. He also knew that Kiri shinobi were some of the most ruthless shinobi out of the five nations. Anything that invoked memories of that place was bound to be upsetting to his teacher

"Would you rather the Ring pass right by many powerful men who could steal it and therefore spell our doom?" he replied, gently.

Minato-sensei shrugged. He pulled out some of his special kunai and a flask of orc blood. The teacher immediately began to work on his weapons.

Kakashi looked uneasy. "Hoshi, didn't you say that orcs prefer darkness?" he asked in a uncharacteristically loud voice.

Eldarion frowned, deep in thought. "It is quite rare that they come out in the sun, for light seems to hurt them," he answered.

Kakashi nodded. "If that is the case," he said loudly and slowly. "wouldn't walking in the dark give them an advantage? They are made for the dark, we aren't!"

"Fine! We'll cross at late noon!" yelled Aragorn with annoyance and with a touch of anger.

Eldarion turned to give his teammate a withering look. "Was that really necessary?" he asked.

Before the silver-haired boy could reply, Minato-sensei entered the conversation.

*"No, that was not,"* he said, shooting his student a look. *"But I believe that now is the time to make ourselves scarce. Rin, Obito,"* the other two perked up. *"Kakashi and I will go the Eastern shore and kill any Oni we come across. You will say here,"*

Eldarion nodded, knowing better than to argue. At least he had proven to Sensei earlier that he wasn't an utter coward. After he nodded, Minato-sensei and the rest of the team jumped to the ground. The jōnin turned and addressed Aragorn.

"We will go to the eastern shore and clear out the area of any Oni. We will return at high noon,"

Aragorn sighed and gave his consent to the 'mission'. The Dúnedain seemed to have accepted that the shinobi did their own thing.

"Hoshi stays with us, I presume?" he asked tiredly. The yellow flash gave him a sunny grin.

"You know us too well," he said, before running over to the eastern shore.

‡*‡*‡*‡*‡*‡

Eldarion rested in his tree. He had noticed Frodo walk off into the woods earlier. Boromir had followed the hobbit soon after. Eldarion did not mention it to anyone. It saddened him greatly, thinking of his friends fall. That was what Boromir had become, a friend.

"He is exactly how Lord Faramir described him," he thought.

"Hoshi," the dark-haired boy looked down to see Aragorn peering up at him. "Have you seen Boromir or Frodo?"

Eldarion climbed down to a lower branch. "What would you like to hear? That I have seen him and don't know where he went? Or that I haven't seen him and know where he is?"

The man gave him a venomous gaze. Eldarion faltered.

"He's up at Parth Galen," he muttered. "Boromir's going to try to take the Ring,"

The man's grey eyes widened with shock and disbelief. "You know this how?" he whispered warily, yet urgently.

"It wasn't exactly subtle, you know. Now go, don't waste your time on me!" Eldarion hissed.

His Adar gave him a warning look before taking off into the forest. The lanky boy sighed. He just had to wait for the Uruk-hai to show up before he could do anything.

~•~•~•~

Aragorn was the last of the Fellowship to run into the forest in search of Frodo. Once again the unnerving boy gave a prediction, which he had a sick feeling was true. The ranger prayed that the hobbit was still in possession of the Ring.

After some searching, Aragorn found the dark-haired hobbit sitting on the ground with his back to him.

"Frodo?" he asked as gently as he could. The hobbit jumped.

"He has taken Boromir," Frodo said, with a slightly panicked tone.

"Oh, no" Aragorn thought. This was not good.

"Where is the Ring?" he asked rather forcefully.

Frodo looked terrified. He jumped back, crying:

"Stay away from me!"

"So Boromir did try to take the Ring and failed. Now Frodo thinks I want it," he thought.

Aragorn followed the fleeing hobbit. "Frodo," he called. The halfling stopped moving.

"I swore to protect you," "And I keep my oaths, thank you very much,"

Frodo had a look of distrust on his face. "Can you protect me from yourself?" he asked.

Aragorn was struck into silence. Frodo opened his hand, revealing the gold band.

"Would you destroy it?" said Frodo.

Aragorn approached the halfling. "Would I be able to do something my ancestor was unable to do? Or am I as weak as he?"

As he reached out to the object, he heard the Ring calling to him, promising him great things. But they were falsehoods. Oh what sweet lies they were! No, he could not carry the Ring, and then destroy it. But he could do something else.

Kneeling down to Frodo's height, he folded the halfling's hand closed, gently placing it on the hobbit's chest.

"I will go with you to the end," he whispered. "to the fires of Mordor,"

There was deep sadness in Frodo's eyes. "I know. Look after the others, especially Sam. He will not understand,"

It was then Aragorn realized the extent of the pain Frodo was going through. The Ringbearer planned to go to Mordor alone, to spare the Fellowship of the corruption of the Ring. He could no longer help him. But something caught his eye...

Standing up and drawing his sword caused Frodo to do the same. His blade, Sting, glowed blue.

"Orcs," he thought. Aragorn could smell them.

He turned to Frodo. "Run," he commanded. When Frodo didn't move, he yelled:

"Run!"

The hobbit finally took off. Aragorn waltzed out to meet the fiends.

"May you be safe, Frodo," he thought, before engaging the Uruk-hai in battle.

~•~•~•~

Eldarion jumped through the trees, looking through the forest to find Aragorn. Sure enough, there he was, cutting the Uruk-hai to pieces on the top of Amon Hen. The boy tapped the seal on his red armguards. The shaft of his Guan Dao appeared, and he yanked it out of storage. Before he jumped down, Eldarion turned his grey eyes to the eastern shore. Spotting a plume of smoke, he sighed.

"You better not burn down the forest, Obito-san,"

With that, he jumped out with a cry.