Author's note (I'm beginning to run out of things to call it, excuse the lack of creativity)

I've noticed that Shannon is losing some of her spark :/ but doubt not! By the end of this chapter, she'll be back to her usual ass-kicking self :D and feel very sorry for anyone who gets in her way! *cough*Sasuke*cough*

:)

And just a warning…if you like puppies…read on…

MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

I noticed the number of people reading this has dwindled o_0 read, people, read! Or at least review and tell me if I'm doing something wrong…

AHMAHGAHD my internet was being flamingly menopausal and wouldn't load anything :O sorry this chapter is so late x_X someone somehow managed to go through 10 gigs of internet this month...leaving me stranded...and unable to upload...

**Chapter 8**

Shannon didn't think any of her companions, including herself, had slept adequately the past couple of nights. She was sure the Konoha nin had had many brushes with death, but this…this was different. She could see it in their eyes. Those Creatures were unlike anything they had ever encountered before. Shannon guessed it made them feel like Genin again. Small. Weak. Defenseless.

It made them feel a lot like she did. But she was determined to change that. And that determination was what drove her to ask Lee to train her. It made sense – he didn't use chakra to fight, and neither did she. Shannon didn't know if she even had any chakra to begin with.

At first, he had refused, saying his training would be too much for her to handle. But eventually, after much nagging and pleading, Lee finally gave in. And that was how Shannon found herself in her current situation.

…

She hit the ground hard after receiving a particularly hard punch to the gut from Lee, who stood a few feet away. Coughing from the cloud of dust she raised, Shannon struggled to her feet, breathing heavily. They had been at it for the best part of an hour, and yet Lee had barely worked up a sweat. Shannon had to give it to him – he was an amazing fighter. But then again, so were the rest of the shinobi she was travelling with. But Lee…even with his handicap, he was among the strongest in the group. He was probably the one Shannon respected most.

Wiping away a trail of blood that dripped down her chin from a split lip, Shannon gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes in determination. No matter how many times she got knocked down, she would always get back up again. She was going to prove Sasuke wrong, even if it took everything she had.

Wiping her grazed hands down her already grimy and tattered shirt, Shannon took up the fighting stance she had learned from Lee once again. She swallowed, trying to get some moisture down her parched throat. With a frustrated growl, Shannon launched herself back into the fight.

Lee watched the exhausted girl come at him again. He was proud – it was only her third day of training and she was already grasping the beginner's concepts of taijutsu exceptionally well. She truly did seem to have the Power of Youth inside of her. The determination burning in her eyes…it reminded him of when he had first started training with Gai-sensei, how eager he had been to do his best for the only person who had given him a chance to become something better.

And he was going to make sure Shannon became the best fighter she could be.

The others, who sat along the edges of the make-shift training ring Shannon and Lee fought in, cringed outwardly when the girl's attack was blocked yet again and Lee countered with a vicious punch of his own. He truly didn't hold anything back when training Shannon.

She hit the ground again, the momentum received from the punch propelling her backwards until her back smacked into a section of concrete that had ruptured out of the highway.

She groaned and tried to push herself up on shaky arms, but her strength gave out on her and she fell back against the jutting concrete. Her chest heaved and her breath was coming in short, ragged pants. Shannon screwed her eyes closed for a moment, biting back a cry of pain. Her muscles screamed every time she moved, and her head throbbed from the many times it had been smacked into the ground or some other hard surface.

"Alright, I think that's enough for one day," Sakura announced, stepping over a few fallen power cables and into the ring. "I think both of you need some rest."

Shannon cracked an eye open to protest, but when Sakura shot her a knowing look, her argument died on her tongue. She frowned and sighed. Maybe she could use a little rest.

She tried pushing herself up, but her arms just wouldn't cooperate. Shikamaru got up from his position propped up against a section of railway bridge and ambled over to Shannon, his permanently bored expression melting into a smirk as he helped her to her feet. It hadn't been too long ago since she had done the same thing for him.

"I could have managed on my own," Shannon mumbled as Shikamaru helped her hobble over to where their packs were.

"Yeah, right," he snorted, rolling his eyes at her stubbornness. "Didn't look like it from where I was sitting."

"You probably had your eyes closed," she replied indignantly as he set her down. He handed her a piece of stale bread they had managed to salvage from a ruined gas station bakery a few miles back.

"Face it, Shika," Shannon said through a mouthful of bread, pointing the stale food at him. "You're lazy."

"Say what you want," he replied, closing his eyes as he rested against his pack. "I'm not lazy."

Shannon made to choke on her bread animatedly. Shikamaru cracked an eye open, his frown deepening. She looked at him incredulously, eyebrow raised.

"Look at yourself now! And you say you're not lazy," Shannon shook her head, her expression uninterested. "I just think you're in denial."

"Me? Lazy?" Shikamaru snorted, looking away from her pointedly. "And what about you? You're barely moving a muscle."

"I've been training the whole morning!" Shannon folded her arms in a huff, glaring at him. The others were still milling around the training ring, practicing their skills.

"Not very efficiently," he smirked. "Lee sure handed it to you."

"Why you…" Shannon lunged at the lazy ninja, ignoring the protests from her muscles.

Despite his slowly healing back injuries, in the blink of an eye Shikamaru had moved from his spot and had Shannon pinned to the ground. He sat on her back and poked her head teasingly. "I'm not lazy."

Shannon tried to throw him off, but she was too worn out after her training with Lee to even move. "I hate you," she grumbled.

"You just keep telling yourself that," Shikamaru smirked, getting off the girl.

She rolled over, flopping onto her back. Shikamaru looked down at her, hands shoved in his pockets. She glared at him and closed her eyes pointedly. "You're mean."

"And you're childish," her companion chuckled, nudging her in the side with his boot.

"Childish I may be, but at least I'm proactive!"

"And I'm Santa Claus."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Claus."

"Did I mention that you're childish?"

"Yup."

…

Later that day, the group continued their journey to the city. It seemed like the dark smudges on the horizon were getting closer. At this point, Shannon could start making out the details of them. Some of the high-rise buildings were still standing, but had massive chunks missing, like some gargantuan monster had taken a bite out of them. Others had crumbled completely to the ground, leaving behind only skeletal remains.

"How much longer 'til we get there?" Naruto whined, his shoulders slumped.

"No idea," Shannon replied, looking straight ahead. "At a guess, I'd say we only need to travel another couple of days."

"Thank Kami!" the blonde exclaimed, grinning widely. "If I had to spend another week on this damn highway, I think I'd die!"

"If you don't shut up, I think we just might arrange that," Sakura growled, clutching her head. "Your whining is giving me a headache!"

"I can't help it if I'm hungry and tired!" Naruto shot back, looking indignant.

"Will both of you pipe down?" Sasuke snapped, frowning. "You're acting like a couple of little kids!"

"Use the Power of Youth, Naruto! It never fails!" Lee declared, his bowl cut glinting in the sunlight.

Shannon gave him a blank look. How he managed to keep his hair like that in the middle of an Apocalypse, no one knew. She fingered her own greasy, matted hair and sighed. She really needed a bath. She glanced down at the clothing Hinata had given her a few weeks ago – the cargo pants were worn down and covered in dust. Holes were beginning to form on the knees. The shirt she wore was shredded in a few places from crawling underneath rubble and old cars in search of food and water.

She snorted inwardly and looked around the rest of the group. They all looked rather worse for wear, clothes ripped and faded, covered in dirt and grime. What Shannon wouldn't have given for a decent shower right about then…hell, she would have given her right arm for a bar of soap.

Hinata joined Shannon at the front of the group as they started walking again, wanting desperately to be away from the noise of Team 7's constant quarreling.

"If they keep going on like that they'll attract every Marauder in the area," she sighed, flicking a blue-black bang out of her eyes.

"I have an idea," Sai piped up, grinning like a psychopath.

Shannon involuntarily shivered.

…

About ten minutes later, the group walked in total silence. Sai, Hinata, Shannon, Shikamaru and Lee walked with smug smiles on their faces at the front of the group. Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto had less pleasant expressions on their faces. What could be seen of them, anyway.

Sai, using his scroll and pens, had created a multi-armed monkey and had set up upon Team 7. Now the monkey balanced on Naruto's head, keeping one of its many hands on each of their mouths, effectively silencing them.

It was in this unusual silence that Shannon heard something strange. She paused for a moment, letting the others carry on without her. She looked over at the pile of rubble that had once been a toll booth. She thought she heard a quiet crying sound coming from the wreckage.

"Shannon? Where are you going?" Shikamaru called after her as she made her way over to where the strange sound was coming from.

But she ignored him, sorting through the rubble. After moving a couple more blocks of concrete and broken bricks, the crying got louder. Shannon shoved a large piece of corrugated iron out of the way, revealing a tiny puppy shivering in the depths of a bucket caught under the rubble.

Her heart clenched painfully at the sorry sight of the animal. He was literally skin and bones, shivering pathetically in a tiny ball at the bottom of the bucket. When it saw Shannon peering down from above, it shrunk back as far as it could go into the shadows.

"Poor baby!" Shannon muttered, reaching in and lifting the poor thing out.

She heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Shikamaru stalking towards her, not looking very happy.

"And what is that?" he pointed accusingly at the dog.

Shannon returned his glare with equal fire and started walking back to the others. "He's a dog, what does he look like?"

Sai, seeing what Shannon held in her arms as she approached, and then noticing the enraged expression on Sasuke's face as he caught sight of it, released his jutsu.

"What are you doing?" Hinata gave him a dubious look.

Sai shrugged. "What? It should be entertaining."

As Shannon and Shikamaru rejoined the group, Sasuke pointed a finger at Shannon and said venomously, "We are not bringing that with. We have enough problems as it is, we don't need to be looking after a dog as well!"

"I'm not leaving it here to die!" Shannon shot back, trying to walk around him.

But Sasuke wouldn't move. His glare intensified, but Shannon refused to back down. "This is no time to be listening to your conscience, Shannon. Be realistic! That thing would just slow us down!"

"Well, let me just tell you something, Mister High-and-mighty Uchiha," she snarled, jabbing him in the chest with a finger while clutching the shivering furball to her chest, "I. Am. Keeping. The. Dog." And with that, she turned tail and walked away, head held high.

A few yards away, Sai broke out in applause. "It certainly was entertaining!"

Hinata sighed in exasperation and clipped him over the back of the head.

I'm busy with Chapter nine currently, it won't be too long before I upload it! And I go back to school on Monday...so I might not be able to upload as often as I'd like to -_-

please bear with me o.o'