"Oi, Ino
Me: (slowly peeks head from around the corner) Hehe…hi everybody…did you miss me?
(gets tons of kunai thrown at her)
Okay, okay! So I haven't updated Desert Flower in a while, and I haven't updated this since February…I'm sorry. My excuses are as followed:
- School pwned me. No seriously, I couldn't write in school (the place I seem to write the best) and keep my grades decent at the same time…not that my grades ended up decent anyway, but I stopped getting scolded for not paying attention…
- Summer does not equal free time. I've been trying to hang out with my friends because I barely see them during the year (I go to a different school than them, after all)
- I am studying Japanese in order to take Japanese 2 in the fall. It's not going to well, but it's taking up a lot of my time
- Sheer lack of inspiration. I had half of the chapter written months ago, but I couldn't decide exactly how to get through a part of it
So, here's the most recent chapter. Please…enjoy --;; remember that I love ideas…and fanart! FANART!! Haha…yeah…
Umm…also…I was supposed up update this yesterday…and I thought I would and I told Lady Hanaka that I would update or I would do 100 sit ups…well…I'm gonna get on those 100 sit ups soon…XD I'm sorry!
Disclaimer: No, it's still not mine
"Oi, Ino."
Ino glanced toward Shikamaru, who was resting against a tree at the entrance to the forest. His eyebrows were knitted together, though his eyes remained shut. "Stop pacing. You're making me anxious."
Ino blinked, looking back at where she'd been walking. Sure enough, there was an indent in the mixture of soil, sand and grass. "Ehehe…" she laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.
"What's up with you?" Temari muttered as she pulled out the last of her four ponytails. She shook out her hair and wove her fingers through it to dispose of the leaves buried between the strands.
"What's up with me?" Ino cried, glaring at the older blond. "Don't tell me you/re not anxious to win Haidu siiku for the first time in a year!"
Temari shrugged, shaking her hair out. She tilted her head to the side and began to retie her pigtails. "We all know it's just your crush on Neji-kun that has you antsy," she sneered. In truth, she was almost as anxious as Ino. She just channeled her excitement better in order to keep herself from looking like the younger blond. She'd been trying to swallow a squeal of excitement for the past half hour, but it seemed to keep popping into the back of her throat, pushing to escape. It never did, though. Temari was above squealing like a fangirl.
Ino scoffed at her. "So what?" she snapped. "My love for Neji-kun is none of your business!"
"It is when your love-sick puppy day-dreaming gets on my nerves," Temari growled through her clenched teeth.
"You wanna fight?"
"Bring it, bitch!"
Shikamaru groaned as he watched Ino launch herself at Temari. There wasn't even any ninjutsu; it was just a pure catfight. Kiba had begun howling and rooting for Temari and Akamaru was nipping at both blonds' heels in excitement. Shikamaru decided he didn't care if they won or not; he just wanted Neji and Lee out of that forest so that he could go home and sleep.
Neji's Byakugan was active and searching frantically for any signs of his comrades. The last thing he needed was to run into Ino, or Kiba, or – especially – Lee. How the hell was he going to explain this?
"Well, I hid in this cave covered in pink crystals and found this girl with pink hair, then this thing screamed from the bowls and we hauled ass!"
Yeah. That would go well.
Speaking of the pink-haired girl, she currently held a death grip on his cream-colored (and dirt-covered) shirt. Her eyes were clenched shut as if she'd never been this high off the ground before. How odd; he had seen a hitai-ate on her head back in the cave. Was she not a kunoichi? He supposed, judging by her appearance and her ridiculous reaction to this height, that she had been fresh out of the academy when she'd entered that cave.
He couldn't help but be curious about the pink-haired girl. How long had she been in there, all alone with those massive chakras? Had she ever confronted them? Was she really a kunoichi? He hadn't gotten a good look at her hitai-ate; what village was she from? What were those chakras? What made those crystals grow pink? (Wait, what do the crystals have to do with anything). Who was the boy in the cave; whose kunai pouch was that?
Before he could piece another question together in his head, a large amount of chakra came into his Byakugan's vision.
"Suna senpuu!"
Neji's foot landed on another branch and on contact, he pouted chakra into the sole as he pushed himself off. Barely a second later, a gold-colored leg crashed into the trunk of the tree, right where he'd once been standing. The Hyuuga landed on a tree nearby and turned his head to see Lee landing on another branch twenty meters from himself.
"Aha! Neji-san!" Lee cried, pointing toward his rival. "At last, after a year, I can finally fight with you!" The gold-clad boy slid back into his signature fighting stance, with one hand behind his back and one held in front of him. "Today is the day that I shall win this battle!"
Neji almost died a little on the inside. He'd imagined that he'd have to fight Lee when he returned. He'd never really thought he'd be challenged with a pink-haired girl in his arms.
Hyuuga Neji was one to plan ahead. While he was nothing compared to Temari or Shikamaru, he prided himself on being an extremely intelligent shinobi. Given a situation, he could play out multiple scenarios in his mind and choose the best option from there. He'd played out multiple scenarios of Lee's challenge – ranging from as casual as Lee could ask to a drunken rampage – but he hadn't come up with a situation involving a mysterious kunoichi (if she was a kunoichi…). Rarely did he wing it, but he supposed he was overdue for a 'winging it' situation.
He pulled the pink haired girl slightly closer as she stiffened in his arms. The kunai in the worn pouch she had clinked against one another. It was then that he noticed Lee's leg, or – more specifically – what was missing from it. His leg was missing the kunai pouch it was supposed to have around it. In the same second, he made the connection.
"A golden boy left this here a few days ago…"
"Lee," he called back to him. "…where is your kunai pouch?"
Lee's eyebrows furrowed. He looked down at his leg as if unaware that his pouch and weaponry were missing. His eyes lightened up as he seemed to remember. "Ah yes!" he cried, dropping from his fighting stance (but keeping his eyes sharply on the Hyuuga). "You did not hear my tale! You see, Neji-san, on my mission a few days ago, I launched one of Suna's new weapons at my enemies, but I fell into the cave from the blast! When I came to, I found the most –" the gold-clad boy seemed to swoon at the memory, "– beautiful maiden I have ever seen! Her pale skin, her adorable forehead, her rose-colored hair that practically glowed with youth -"
"Lee-san?"
Neji stiffened as he heard the pink-haired girl's voice ringing softly in his ears. Her brows were raised in surprise and recognition caused by Lee's story and voice. She squirmed in his grasp, either to see the gold-clad boy or to get him to let go. Slowly, he set her feet onto the branch and let her push herself up. She lightly shoved him away to look at Lee, and he watched as her face glowed with joy at the sight of him.
However, it paled in comparison to Lee's face.
"P-Pink…" his mouth fell open and his eyes widened enough to pop out of his head. "P-PINK-HAIRED MAIDEN!!" In the blink of an eye he'd leapt from his branch to theirs. Sakura yelped in surprise, falling back into Neji.
"Oh, Pink-Haired Maiden, you are safe! I knew your youth shined too brightly to be fake! Oh, Kiba-san said I was crazy, but I knew!" His eyes sparkle, his hands clasped together, and his cheeks were flushed with excitement. "Oh, you are safe! I am so glad! But, what happened to those demons?" His look quickly turned into one of concern. "Are you hurt? Did they rob you, or injure you, or - " he gasped loudly, "did they…" his eyes widened, "did they…?"
The girl seemed to catch on, because she snapped out of whatever stunned state Lee's talking had put her in and immediately flushed, frantically shaking her head. "N-No, no! I-I'm fine, Lee-san, nothing happened to me…" She softly tried to coax him into calming down. It seemed to work, since his shoulders slacked and he almost melted in reaction to her voice.
"You are sure?"
"Hai."
A caring, relieved look melted onto the boy's face. "Oh, that is good…"
Throughout the heart-warming scene, Neji felt unbelievably nauseous. He rolled his eyes as Lee continued to fawn over the pink-haired girl. He was tempted to just leap off and head back toward Suna, but somehow he couldn't will his feet to push him from the branch. His body wouldn't allow him to move. He wasn't oblivious. He knew why.
His body was still screaming for the human contact he'd deprived himself of for so long. He'd been unconsciously basking in their presence. So, he stood behind the pink-haired girl, allowing his body to drink in her being.
"Oh, Hime-san!" Lee suddenly cried. Neji, while only half-listening to Lee's rants, caught the change in nickname. "Your hair…it was so much longer before, was it not?"
Neji raised an eyebrow. So, this poor haircut had been fairly recent…? What had happened in three or four days that had caused this?
"W-Well…yes," the girl replied, sounding slightly unsure as she pushed her bangs from her eyes. As soon as the words left her mouth, the girl faltered. She let out a noise that sounded like a gurgle and began trembling a bit, slowly wrapping her arms around herself and bending over slightly.
"Hime-san?" Lee asked with concern flooding through his voice. He reached forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.
The girl's eyes widened in surprise and she jumped. Suddenly, she shoved the boy's hand away crouched over, sitting on her heels and – to Neji's disgust and surprise – emptying the contents of her stomach onto the forest floor. Neji jumped back in surprise, as did Lee, and wrinkled his nose in slight disgust at both the sight and smell of vomit.
When at last she stopped heaving, the girl stayed crouched in her position. She swayed back and forth in misbalance, and her shoulders dropped along with her energy. She dropped her head, which set off her balance, and she began to tip over. On reflex, Neji's hand shot out and grabbed the back of the girl's dress just before her weight sent her plummeting to the ground.
"H-Hime-san!" Lee panicked as Neji pulled her securely back onto the branch. "Neji-san, what is wrong with her?"
Neji moved his palm to her forehead and flinched. She was burning up, he found. It figured, with the luck he'd had that day. He groaned and in a quick motion scooped her up into his arms. "She has a fever," Neji told his teammate. "We should go back and get her cooled down."
Lee gasped. "My poor, youthful maiden is ill?" A look of determination slid onto his face. "Neji-san, I ask you. Allow me to carry her back to Suna! I wish to restore the glimmer of youth to my one true-"
"Take her."
Lee blinked in surprise as the girl was shoved into his arms. The sight of the lovely maiden in his arms sent a wave of pride, joy, and…well, youth flooding through him! His eyes burned with energy.
"YOOOSH!" Lee cried throughout the forest, his voice echoing throughout the area. "Let us return to Suna!!" And with that, Lee sped off, a cloud of dust and leaves flying in his wake.
Neji blinked at how fast Lee had run off, and then let out an annoyed sigh. "You're kidding me…" he muttered before jumping after him.
Crash
The sound of shattered stone echoed throughout the hall as Naruto and Sasuke's battle raged on. Weapons clanged together as the two chased one another through the dark labyrinth.
It had only been an hour – two at the most – since Sakura had been found missing, but already their patience was wearing to a remarkable low. One word about ramen and a snap about tomatoes was all it took to get them started. Now they were tearing and clawing at each other, using their frustration and impatience to fuel them.
Kakashi sighed in annoyance, pinching the bridge of his nose to make the headache go away. Those damn kids…He forced himself to turn the page of his novel, his eyes scanning over the text, though he couldn't seem to absorb the words before him. He had reached the climax, yet his eyes just couldn't focus on the story any longer. With a growl of impatience, he snapped the book shut and slipped it into the pocket of his Jounin vest, resisting the urge to just shove it in and risk creasing the pages of his beloved novel.
"Naruto! Sasuke!" Kakashi barked at the two fighting boys. The two of them, however, ignored him and continued punching and kicking. "If you two don't relax, I'll have to come over there and - "
Crash
Kakashi growled under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose again. He shook his head in annoyance. They'd just crashed through Sakura's door. Wonderful. They'd have to fix that.
Naruto growled, shaking his head free of the wood chips before Sasuke managed to land a kick to his chest. He found himself flying back and crashing into Sakura's bed, definitely moving it at least a foot or two from its original place. He slid down the side of the bed to the floor, placing a hand down to stabilize himself and moving the other to the bed to push himself up. However, before he could proceed, he stopped. Something…was under his hand.
The texture under his hand…it wasn't the floor, it wasn't stone, it wasn't really hard in any way shape or form. He moved his hand around a bit, and the texture moved around as well, sometimes opening gaps to the cold, hard ground. He grasped whatever was under his fingers and brought it up to his face. Slowly, he uncurled his fingers, revealing, to his horror…hair.
A lock of cherry blossom-pink hair.
Sasuke clenched his fist when Naruto didn't respond. Had that last hit given him brain damage or something? Sasuke had too much damn energy to vent and Naruto's lack of response to his last attack was not. helping. Already he felt his anger and energy building up, going straight to the mark on his neck. A familiar, painful warmth began prickling against his shoulder. He quickly slapped his hand over the mark as if to try and prevent it from spreading, although he knew it was useless.
"Oi, dobe!" he barked as Naruto slowly pushed himself to his feet. "Wake up, you damn-"
Sasuke barely had a moment to dodge as Sakura's bed came flying at him. Instinctively, he flew to the side, quickly round-house kicking the large piece of furniture into the wall. The bed posts splintered, a few pieces of wood embedding themselves into the mattress due to the force. Sasuke growled and turned back to Naruto. "Dobe, what the hell was that…"
Sasuke trailed off. He couldn't speak. His brain somehow could not form words into proper sentences as he saw what was covering the floor Sakura's bed had once occupied.
Everywhere…there was pink hair all over the floor. Strands, locks, light pink was scattered across the ground. Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed together, confusion rolling through his mind. How did this happen, why was there pink hair everywhere? Sasuke felt the seal on his neck pulse and he dug his nails into his skin. The pain, the agitation, the impatience was dulling his sharp mind. He knew the answer was simple, but it kept slipping away from his grasp.
That is, until he saw the kunai, buried under a pile of pink hair.
"She cut it…" Naruto murmured, his voice broken and confused. "Why…Sakura-chan loved her hair…why would she…?" His fist clenched around a lock of pink, causing a few strands to float to the floor. "…Sasuke, this doesn't make sense, Sakura loved her hair!" Naruto's head quickly whipped toward Sasuke, his blue eyes wide. "Why would she do this?"
Sasuke saw the red tint around Naruto's irises and he gritted his teeth. "Naruto…you know why…" he forced out, ignoring the pain in his neck.
"But, Teme-"
"Shut up, Naruto!" Sasuke spat, wrapping his arms around himself and digging his nails into his skin. He could feel the crescent shaped marks embedded into his arm, and he knew…he knew it only took a little push, a little more pressure, for the skin to break. And so he pushed harder, until he could feel the liquid begin pooling around his finger tips and start sinking underneath his nails. His eyes were wide as he stared at the floor, unwilling to look at Naruto or the hair scattered across the ground of Sakura's room. It almost hurt for his eyes to be open that wide, but he somehow couldn't bring himself to close them.
"It doesn't matter…it doesn't matter how long she's been okay…" he murmured to Naruto, though it seemed like he was trying to make himself aware of the situation as well. "It doesn't matter how much she smiled or how much she hugged us…she was still…"
Naruto was getting nervous. Bile rose up in the back of his throat, and he found himself unable to stop moving. His fingers twitched and his shoulders shook for reasons he couldn't explain. "T-Teme, it's been almost a year," he whispered, trying to keep himself in check. Trying to keep the hope of Sakura's well-being alive. "There's no way, she can't-"
"It doesn't matter how okay she acts, Naruto, you know as well as I do!"
Naruto clenched his eyes to block out the truth of Sasuke's words.
"Sakura's sick!"
Ino fell onto her back, letting the warm sand soothe her aching body. She let out a loud moan as the sand seemed to envelope her in a welcoming blanket. She could care less about how much she'd have to brush her hair to get all of the grains out. Between haiidu siiku and her spar with Temari, she was exhausted…
And, of course, it didn't help to have a big, pink, wet dog tongue licking your face.
"Augh!" She cried, flailing her arms to get Akamaru to leave. The puppy whimpered and yipped, darting back and forth to dodge Ino's limbs. "Kiba, get your stupid, smelly mutt away from me!"
"Oh, no, that did not just come out of your mouth…" Kiba barked, pointing an accusing finger at the blond. Akamaru growled and continued to yip as menacingly as he could as Ino pushed herself to her feet and scooted away from the dog.
"Ewww, now I smell like dog!" she whined, frantically wiping her face clean of dog slobber.
"Shut up, Ino," Shikamaru muttered, not bothering to open his eyes. How long had it been...he really didn't know, but it had been too long since the group had been kicked out of the forest (literally). Shino had been the last one to join their group, leaving only Lee and Neji to battle it out in the forest. He wasn't sure what was taking so long, but there were multiple likely explanations. Perhaps Neji had hidden so well that Lee was having trouble finding him? Or their spar was more intense than what anyone had expected it to be. Or perhaps, enemy nins had ambushed them? He hadn't seen Neji in a year, so it was difficult to predict his movement. He hoped that they would take care of whatever problems they had soon, though, because if he had to listen to Ino bicker with one more person, he was out of there.
Suddenly, they could hear leaves ruffling. Shikamaru sat up. There was no way that it could be the breeze, of that he was certain. The air around them was still, without even a light breeze to shift the sand on the ground. "Oi, are they back?"
The rest of the group seemed to draw their attention to the forest as well. Akamaru sniffed the air, then quickly jumped onto Kiba's head and whined. Kiba nodded. "It's them, alright," Kiba said, he himself sniffing the air as well. "But…there's someone else…" He scrunched up his nose in disgust. "Ugh, she smells like barf…"
"Ignoring that little detail…" Shikamaru muttered to himself.
"Is it an enemy nin?" TenTen asked, concern coating her words. Shikamaru sighed. Of course she would be worried. Neji had just gotten back, and the idea of an enemy nin attacking both of her teammates…Well, there was no doubt that they could take them, but still, the thought of it probably upset her. And knowing TenTen, she wouldn't be able to stand the thought of Neji being hurt on the day of his return.
Kiba shook his head, sighing a bit in frustration. "I can't tell. It could easily be a civilian or a nin…" He reached into his pouch, grabbing a kunai. "Still, just to be safe, we should probably-"
"YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!"
Suddenly, a green blur came rushing out of the forest, charging straight through the group of nins. They all cried out in surprise as they were sent flying in all directions due to the speed, and kicked up sand landed on all of them. Shino was the only one who managed to stay in place, though he did seem to visibly twitch in annoyance when the sand successfully buried itself deep in his hairdo. That wasn't going to be fun to clean out…
"Was that…" Ino stood, dusting herself off, "…Lee?"
"No, it was Neji," Kankuro muttered sarcastically, trying to get the sand out of his hood.
Barely a moment later, Neji came rushing out of the forest, his brown hair filled with leaves that had clung to him when he brushed by. He barely spared the rest of the group a glance as he ran past.
"Ah! Neji-kun!" Ino cried, causing Neji to pause. He turned back toward her, his eyes clearly glaring at her with impatience and demand that she hurry up with her question. "Did you win? You didn't get attacked, did you? Oh, Neji-kun, I'm so glad you're fine!" she cried, running up to him and latching onto his arm.
TenTen visibly twitched. "Ino, Neji's fine," she hissed, gritting her teeth. She quickly turned to her teammate, some concern dancing across her eyes. "Right?"
Neji sighed in annoyance. "Yes," he answered, slipping his arm out of Ino's grasp. "Why the concern?"
"Well, Kiba smelled someone," TenTen continued, quickly hiding the concern she knew would just grind on Neji's nerves, "so we thought that maybe…"
"TenTen, the person Kiba smelled was a kunoichi," Neji rushed, causing everyone's eyebrows to rise. "She is ill. Lee is taking her back, we need to leave, now," he pressed. 'Those giant chakras…who knows what they were…it's best we move out of their range as soon as possible.'
"What's the rush?" Kiba asked, pushing himself up. Akamaru whimpered at the situation, clearly not liking the though of enemy nins.
"Nothing," Neji answered quickly, "not yet, but if the kunoichi had friends, we do not want to be around when they arrive. Besides," he turned away from the, back in the direction of Suna. "…I have some questions I need answered." With those words, he ran off, following the tracks Lee had left behind. The group looked at each other, confused by the situation at hand, but shrugged their shoulders and leapt after him. About five minutes into the trip, Kankuro groaned.
"Wait a second, I'm confused," he stated, turning to Chouji on his right. "Did we win Haiidu Siiku, or not?"
There ya go. OH, also, OMFG THE AVATAR FINALE!! IT WAS SOOOO GOOD FOR AN HOUR AND FIFTY FIVE MINUTES!! (Then, of course, there was Maiko, Kagaang, and Sukka instead of Tokka and ZUTARA. Seriously, people…Though, I have a new love for Jun. She kicks ASS, not to mention, SHE SHIPS ZUTARA!)
Also, I hope you realized this, but when Sasuke said she was sick, he didn't mean she was throwing up...Also, is she really sick? What's wrong with her? All answers will be revealed in time, try and stay with me, here! (But she's not sick like she has a disease or anything...that's about all you get...)
Ok, well, yeah. Read and review, please!