Kaaru: Hey guys, we're here again!
Mitsuki: You know, we can't think of anything to say...so...let's move on to the story?
Kaaru: Moving on...nothing to see here...
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. PERIOD.
:: Shining Sun ::
Sakura grimaced. She awakened inside the small dinghy with Shino, Naruto and Kaaru, who were still sleeping. The floor of the small boat was damp and had puddles of saltwater. Grains of sand had somehow managed to get into her pink tresses and her neck throbbed with pain and discomfort caused by improper sleeping posture. The medic massaged her neck and professionally kneaded away the pain into a dull ache, she then took in their surroundings. They were washed up inside a secluded cave, the high tide must have pushed the boat into the cave. The dinghy was on an a small elevated island of sand, preventing them from being dragged back into the sea. Sakura spotted the mouth of the damp cave, it was just 25 meters or so away from where they were. 'Hmm...this place would make a good hideout if ever needed.' Sakura off-handedly took note. It was just before sunrise judging from the sky. 'I better wake them up.'
"Kaaru-sensei, Shino, Naruto! Wake up!" she shook them gently. The three ninjas squirmed a little bit and then woke up a few moments later. Medical ninja instincts suddenly kicked in and Sakura pressed her open palm on Kaaru's forehead, she sighed in relief as she found that the fever had gone down quite considerably. After stretching, Kaaru and Shino stepped out of the dinghy. "Status report Sakura?" Kaaru asked.
"First of all, you're fever has gone down and you'll most likely be back to normal soon, but it wouldn't hurt to buy some pills in case..." Sakura said to him before clearing her throat, "As for where we are, the tide washed us into this cave, the exit is over there."
Kaaru nodded, "Well then let's get out of here."
They pumped chakra to the soles of their feet and began to run on top of the still, crystalline waters towards the sunlight.
"It looks like we're near a beach resort." Kaaru said, gazing at the cottages built on the sand and numerous palm trees. No one was awake at the moment so they took this as an advantage.
"Where do we go first?" Naruto asked while running.
"We go the castle and get details." Kaaru informed them. 'My brother...I heard from father that he was here. So that means I could meet him...mission first though.'
"Tenten-san!" Hinata said, nudging the sleeping girl gently. "Wake up! We need to buy things for the sleepover later!"
"Zzzzz..." Tenten snored.
Hinata raised her voice a few octaves louder, "Tenten!"
In the blink of an eye, Tenten's arm went under her pillow and produced a kunai from under it. The weapon mistress then threw said kunai at Hinata's head with dangerous precision.
"Eeep!"
There were two things Hinata was thankful for at the moment. First was her quick reflexes which were honed by ninja training. Second was her natural flexibility, which had been further honed by her former Hyuuga dance instructors when she was still small. Both of them allowed her to avoid being sent to the hospital because of a kunai through her head.
Tenten eyes snapped open and quickly scrambled out of her bed before bowing numerous times, "Oh Hinata! I'm so sorry! Ninja instict...ahahaha..." she said sheepishly and put her hand behind her head.
Hinata giggled, "So are you gonna shower first...or shall I?"
Tenten stretched, "You go ahead first. I'm gonna do some stretches outside first." she went to the door, "Don't use up all the hot water!"
15 minutes later...
"Ahhh...that felt nice." Hinata sighed in content as she finished bathing. She quickly dressed in the simple clothing she had brought, a pink polo shirt and jeans. Hinata looked in the mirrror and decided to put her long hair into a single long braid.
Hinata heard the door knob turn and Tenten stepped inside, a thin sheen of sweat on her exposed arms. "I made sure to save some hot water." she told the older teen while her deft fingers gracefully continued to braid her somewhat wet hair.
Tenten smiled, "Thanks Hinata! We leave as soon as we finish breakfast!" she said and then went into her bathroom.
When Hinata finished braiding her hair, she quietly exited Tenten's room and headed to the backyard. In her solitude, thoughts of a certain golden-haired boy -no, he was a man now- plagued her mind. She missed those azure eyes of his, so free and expressive. She also missed his encouraging grin. But what she really, truly missed the most was the love and care in those eyes that were meant for her, and the words of affection that came out of his mouth. Sure Naruto stilled showed her affection and love, but it was merely the love for a sister now.
Hinata felt moisture at the corners of her eye, she felt a twisting feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was an unpleasant feeling, the feeling of absolute hatred for someone; absolute loathe for Orochimaru. She felt the enticing urge for revenge bubble deep inside her. No Hinata!' she scolded herself, 'Now is not the time to mope miserably and go for vengeance. You are not Sasuke. There is still hope; I will never give up. I swear by it.' she steeled her resolve and remembered the nindo Naruto and her shared. 'I never go back on my word!'
She gave a small smile and pushed away her depressing thoughts, 'Right! I'm gonna enjoy myself tonight and after, I'll start researching for more information to help me.' Hinata mentally gave herself a pat on the shoulder, she felt a sense of self-accomplishment.
"Oh there you are Hinata!" Tenten's voice called from the kitchen window, "Come on, breakfast's ready!"
"I'm coming!"
"Naruto-kun, what are you doing here?" Hinata asked.
"I just came over to think." Naruto answered.
Hinata smiled at him making her more pretty, Naruto blushed at this. "Me too." She told him.
She then gazed back at the sunset. "It's beautiful isn't it?" She asked.
"Yeah…" Naruto replied not breaking his eyes away from Hinata. Hinata looked back at Naruto, "Naruto-kun, why do you want to be Hokage?"
Naruto just smiled at her and lifted his gaze towards the sky. "Because, I want to protect my friends, I want to protect my precious people, I want to protect Kaaru-nii…I…I want to protect you."
"...ruto! Naruto!" Sakura waved a hand in front of the blonde's face.
"Huh?" Naruto said with a dazed expression, 'What was up with that sudden...? Errr..I don't even know what to call it. Flashback? But I don't remember if that even happened before...strange..'
Sakura had a concerned etched onto her face, "Are you alright Naruto? You suddenly zoned out and stopped walking, is there something wrong?"
"No, of course not!" He gave her his infamous grin, "I was just...thinking about something."
"Well that something must be important I presume?" Kaaru asked, intrigued "Normally, thinking about something won't make you suddenly freeze in your tracks."
Naruto tensed for a while before he gave rubbed the back of his neck in a sheepish manner, "It's nothing. Let's go." he reassured before walking again.
Sakura quirked an eyebrow, but continued walking without further questions, Shino and Kaaru behind her.
'That was nothing. Kyuubi must be bored and decided to tamper with my head...yeah, that's it.' Naruto thought.
After manuevering their way through the crowded brick roads (The Land of Sun was noticeably more populated than the Land of Moon), they finally arrived in front of the massive, iron-wrought gates that led to the grand castle, which sat on top of a hill overlooking the island.
"Wheew..." Naruto whistled, "I wouldn't mind eating my ramen there everyday."
Shino and Sakura wordlessly agreed with him. 'It's three times bigger than Hokage mansion!' Sakura thought, clearly awestruck.
"The Land of Shining Sun is known to be a very rich in aquatic resources." Kaaru stated, "There are also plenty of mines here, filled with all kinds of metals and minerals."
"Well, they seem to enjoy showing off." Naruto muttured, looking at the royal crest on the gate. It was a sun made of pure gold and in between was a teardrop made of diamonds.
"I concur." Shino said.
"Halt! Who goes there?" one of the guards questioned.
Naruto couldn't help but wonder if the heat even affected the guards clad in stiff and uncomfortable looking uniforms. He was already sweating in his short-sleeved jacket. He looked at Sakura and found that she too was sweating, even in her two-piece version of her usual kunoichi wear. Even Shino, who had shed his high-collar trench coat in favor of just wearing a short-sleeved white shirt, was also affected by warmer climate. Naruto glanced at Kaaru, who was talking to the guards, and found that he wasn't sweating even though he wore his short-sleeved jounin uniform (Kaaru had decided to finally wear one), he had decided not to wear his robe on this mission.
'They must be used to this heat.' Naruto thought.
Finally, the guards opened the gates and the team walked up the hill to the extravagant castle. Naruto took in the beautiful and large garden that grew on the hill side. "Wow, they have really nice flowers..." He had always been a green thumb. Various kinds of flora of different colors covered the lush and green hill. Red, blue, yellow, violet, pink, orange, it was breathtaking.
They entered the throne room and marveled at how well-designed it was, whoever designed it must have been a very good architect. The throne room had very large windows and allowed a great deal of sunshine inside, a large mosaic of the island was on the ceiling, there were several banners hung on pillars and the two thrones were elevated on a platform.
"Greetings your majesties." They said collectively bowed.
The king took notice of their hitai-ate, "We welcome you to the Island of Shining Sun Konoha ninjas."
"Thank you..." Kaaru recalled the king and queen's name, "Daichi-sama, Haruki-sama ."
"Now then, what can I do for you?" Daichi asked.
"We were hoping to find out more about the recent disappearances."
Daichi frowned, "Ahh yes, those blasted disappearances have been troubling us for a while now. Jiro!"
An old man with graying hair entered the throne room and bowed in front of the king, "Daichi-sama."
"Take these ninjas to Keitaro-kun's study." he then turned to Kaaru, "He'll give you more information."
'Keitaro...' Kaaru thought.
"As you wish your majesty." Jiro bowed.
"Oh!" Haruki exclaimed, "My son-in-law and daughter's coronation is two days from now, we would be honored to have you Konoha ninjas attend it."
"With all due respect Haruki-sama, but I don't think we-" Kaaru was interrupted by Daichi.
"Oh but I'm sure Keitaro would be so delighted to have his long-lost older brother there."
'Crap.' Kaaru paled, he was hoping not to be recognized so soon.
"Don't think we don't remember your face Kaaru-kun." Daichi chuckled, "So are you attending."
"Well, I'll have to ask my team first..."
"It's fine with us!" Naruto spoke for them, clearly wanting to spend more time in Shining Sun.
"Then it's settled!" Daichi grinned.
With that, the team followed Jiro to Keitaro's study.
'I wonder how Keitaro will react.'
'He'll probably challenge you to a fight for leaving, then he'll suddenly get all emotional and finally he'll go back to playing with his mechanical inventions.' Mitsuki replied.
'He was always so predictable.'
'True.'
"No horror movies!"
"WHAT?! But every sleep-over needs scary horror movies!"
"H-how about romantic comedies instead?"
"Hinata, we already bought one. Love Jutsu IV, remember?"
"But Tenten! I already said that I get terrified when I watch horror films."
"A suspense film then? One with lots of killing, gore and viscera."
"..."
"It's either horror or gory suspense, your choice." Tenten said, holding up Night at Uchiha Manor and Kunoichi Row.
"...fine, we buy the horror movie." Hinata pouted.
Tenten grinned smugly and purchased Night at Uchiha Manor, it was a film about a group of chuunin who were dared to spend a night at Uchiha manor and the usual stuff that happens in horror films happens. Some say it was true that the Uchiha compound was haunted, others say that it was ridiculous. But the compound was still made Hinata's skin tingle.
"Okay, we have all we need for the greatest slumber party ever!" Tenten whooped as she carried numerous bags.
"I can't wait..." Hinata said weakly, still regretting buying the horror movie, even though she'd pick it over gory films anyday. 'I'm gonna die of fright tonight.'
...The next chapter's so gonna be longer. I promise! Hahaha, so Hinata's gonna be "tortured" in the next chapter and Kaaru will finally see his brother again. Please take time to review! :D