"Oh, the evening sky is so beautiful!" The raven-haired girl sighed, linking her arm to the man of her dreams.
"I know; it just seems to be complete when I look at it with you." Replied her lover.
She shivered slightly as they walked, prompting him to wrap his long scarf around her lithe shoulders. She sighed into the warmth, as he pulled her in to an embrace; her soothing aroma kept him there for a few moments.
"I'm so happy I gave us another chance! I know we weren't so happy when we first started out, but I can't imagine being within anyone but you – regardless of what my father says."
She leaned in for a gentle kiss, letting go of all her inhibitions.
They embraced and sighed, feeling as though the moment should last an eternity. Alas, after another stare into each other's love-filled eyes, they continued on their way.
"It won't be easy getting to the land of Vegetables, but I know that you and I can handle any challenge. We've been through too much already." wrapping his arm around her, he gazed onwards with a sense of optimism.
He just knew the two of them would be together their whole lives. He didn't know how right he was.
Taking one more step along the path, he felt the warmth of his beloved next to him. And that was the last thing he ever felt. Collapsing to the floor, the both of them lay dead in the road.
"What the hell was that!" Anko shrieked, not even pretending to be quiet.
The other four Shinobi, including Shino, turned to her – none of them seemed surprised she lashed out like that; they were thinking the same thing.
"What the hell was that!" She cried again turning far to her right, where two other figures dashed to the ground and towards the dead couple.
"Who authorised them?" Shino whispered; he couldn't imagine the Hokage so casually sending Root ANBU here.
Anko gritted her teeth and also descended, then marched right out the forest towards the two figures.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" She yelled, striding right up to the face of the nearest one. He didn't flinch, he didn't respond, he threw his palm up to a fraction away from her face, halting her. Anko got momentarily lost in her own surprise, before the anger festering within her began to arise.
Turning his hand away, the ANBU continued to march forwards towards the bodies, where his comrade was already rummaging through their corpses.
"Don't you walk away from me!" Anko roared, now hastening her pace. If she didn't control her anger much longer, she'd do something stupid – but she couldn't help it, this was the fourth time today.
"There is nothing." The searching ANBU spoke; one would assume he had sympathy in his voice, but it was too hollow.
"What the hell did you think! They weren't even going near our border. They were turning down that road!" She cried, pointing at the crossroad between them and the border. The ANBU exchanged looks before taking a body each and walking back towards the trees.
Anko just stood in disbelief again. As the two past her, she caught sight of the young woman's face, frozen in peace – fate had nothing to do with her death, she shouldn't have died at the hands of these monsters.
Feeling the blood rushing to her fists, Anko forgot her orders; she didn't care about the assassins, the Shinobi she was currently instructing up in the trees or the fact she and these two were on the same side as her – she'd make them pay.
Within a flash, Anko had struck at one of them from the back of the head. It was a mistake. The other had already turned; stepped on her foot while throwing a palm to her face sending her backwards. As she fell, she felt a knee connect to the bottom of her spine, causing her to lose all balance and control, before realising a Kunai was now placed on her jugular.
"Mitarashi Anko, that was foolish." One obnoxiously commented, whilst the other chuckled.
"I was under the assumption this Jonin was a proctor of the Chunin exams. Does she show the Genin how not to strike an opponent?" The other asked, already leaving with his body. Shino and the other Shinobi had also left their posts and circled the two, equally ready to attack.
"Stand down." One ordered without enthusiasm.
"You just attacked our captain. You stand down." Shino spat, facing the one still holding Anko.
"I'm such an Idiot!" Anko screamed to herself.
"Your captain was the first the make an assault. Her current situation is the result of poor self-control and an insubstantial level of skill. Such treachery as to attack a fellow Leaf Shinobi is a disgrace." The standing ANBU spoke; with an air of menace in his voice.
As he told them this, the ANBU holding Anko tightened his grip and drew some blood from her neck, causing her to groan again.
"Now get out of my way." He squared right up to Shino's face. He noted a beat of sweat fall down the side of the young Chunin's face.
"You may have more control than Mitarashi Anko, but you too could do with more work in hiding your emotions, especially fear. Move." He pushed Shino aside; the Aburame submitted. The second ANBU threw Anko to the ground, lifted his corpse and marched through the crowd of ninja.
Shino ran over to help Anko up.
"What an idiot!" She declared again.
"You are being too harsh on yourself. They've been at the western border for only four hours now, and already they're making us all tense." Shino sympathised.
"I'm not an idiot for attempting to kick their ass, Shino. I'm an idiot for reacting so badly. Just what is the Hokage doing sending Root here?" her face contorted in hatred as she saw the two head for the trees with the lifeless lovers.
"Keep an eye on them Shino, in a way only you can."
Hanabi had reached the hideout in only a short space of time. Spreading herself against a wall outside of the cave, she momentarily glanced in.
"One, two, three by the fire – they've all got their backs to the entrance, amateurs. Then three of them beside some crates, going through some money." Hanabi's observations gave her the information she needed. All she had to do was incapacitate the three by the fire, whist the three others busied themselves.
If she timed it right, she could have the first three taken down with two moves, leaving her to catch the other three fully surprised. But why stop with two moves? Why not one? She'd seen father and Neji do it plenty of times now. She knew what she would do: The Heavenly Spin.
Crouching into the shadows, Hanabi's nimble and petite figure manoeuvred between the shadows of the flames, without making a sound. The six bandits had no clue as to what lay in wait for them. Edging closer to the three gathered around the fire, Hanabi felt her heart begin to race.
This was nothing like the training she went through with her family. This was real ninja action. There were no maids dashing to and fro for her, no harsh parental figures to tell her and Hinata what they could or couldn't do. Excitement coursed through her veins. This was incredible.
Unfortunately for Hanabi her half-conscious thoughts betrayed her; stepping too hard onto the ground, she'd managed to scrape alongside some gravel on the ground, which urged all six to turn.
Silence ensued for a moment.
"What the -" One of them began.
Hanabi threw one of her gentle fists right into the gut of the closest one, and leapt into the air, thus allowing her to be surrounded. Slightly disgruntled at failing to execute her plan without any fault; Hanabi landed on one of her legs, but used the fall as a boost as she began to rotate.
"Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin!" She cried as they closed in.
Something went wrong. She felt only a swell of pain forming throughout her entire body before one punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground and blur her otherwise faultless vision.
How could she have been so stupid? She was so caught up in the rising momentum of being a Shinobi out in the field; she had believed herself to be as advanced as Neji. There was a good reason why she'd only watched the two men in her life perform that Jutsu – it was still too difficult for her to perform.
Her Chakra phenomenally drained, Hanabi Hyuga – of a clan renowned for their air-tight defences, now lay helpless from a single blow. They all drew close, laughing as they did so, and Hanabi had only one wish left; she just wanted to go home.
"Oh boys!" A sultry voice echoed outside the cave, causing the six to turn.
There stood something they didn't expect to see. Two, yes two, completely naked women were giggling seductively, and beckoning them to come closer. Women wasn't the right way to describe these two, angels was a better word. Their ethereal beauty was such that clouds seemed to envelope them suggestively.
"Hehehe, why don't you leave the little girl there, and play with these!" They said in union bouncing up and down. Nose-bleeds could be found on the faces of each and every one of the men. Shuffling over to the two, drooling as they went, Hanabi looked on in total disbelief. If she were going to be saved by anything then, two naked girls wasn't what she had thought of.
As the men drew closer, one of the girls winked. They assumed it meant 'come and get me', but Hanabi saw it as a message to her – 'go and get them'.
"I wanna touch 'em!" One of the bandits slurred, reaching out to the first girl. In an instant her alluring expression changed.
"I don't think so, pervert!" She screamed, in an unusually boyish tone. Clenching her extended hand, she landed a haymaker on him that sent him into the wall. The other five jumped back in astonishment.
The other girl just laughed, "I cannot believe you just fell for that!"
The two looked at each other and nodded. A cloud of smoke puffed around them, and they instantly transformed into two Konohamaru.
"What! It's that kid!" One of them screeched. Before any of them could do anything, the two Genin Shinobi were throwing fists left, right and centre.
Retreating slightly, the three who were originally by the fire-place stopped as they heard a war-cry from behind them – they'd forgotten about Hanabi.
Leaping to the air, Hanabi kicked the middle one in the face, landing on top of him as the other two pounced on her. Before they made contact, she'd jumped again and spread her legs, kicking both to the ground.
"There," she laughed, "Without even using my hands."
She turned to see the two Konohamaru had made little work of the other three. After glancing around the cave, the three nodded in agreement, their opponents weren't getting up anytime soon.
One of the two Konohamaru vanished accordingly as the other and Hanabi drew close.
"A shadow clone? I'd have thought that was way beyond your level." She commented.
"No way! If the boss could learn it, then so could I!" He grinned.
Hanabi sighed; now wasn't the time to feed his ego with compliments.
"Come on, these guys will wake up soon. Let's get the stuff and go." She then went back into the cave, leaving Konohamaru dejected.
"Hey, you could say thank you or something!" He shouted.
"Why? You didn't thank me before. Anyway, I thought I told you to wait at the camp." She responded plainly, rummaging through the crate for travelling equipment.
"I couldn't without my travel gear. I came here to make sure it was returned safely," his stomach then growled, "Hehe, guess I'm hungry. Are my rations there?"
"This is no good, they've eaten your rations already – Hey! These leftovers and this sleeping bag...they're from the Compound!" She was scandalised.
Konohamaru gulped. His big mouth had put him in it again.
"That rucksack, I recognize that too! How did you get this?"
"Er, I, er..." He tried desperately to think of an excuse.
"This wasn't your stuff was it?" She asked bluntly. He shook his head.
"You got this from my maid didn't you, and the Kunai those guys used on me in the clearing, they were from this bag?" He nodded his head again.
"You were gonna use this stuff, knowing I'd be without the proper travel gear, weren't you?"
Konohamaru denied it, but had to admit the thought had crossed his mind.
"Whatever. Let's get out of here before these losers come to." Hanabi strolled past him, her arms full of various travelling gear.
Konohamaru noted she looked slightly upset, but it didn't seem to be at him. He quickly scanned the room before collecting some of her clothes before he followed.
It was a silent trip to the clearing Hanabi had decided to make camp in. He noted a poorly made tent, with a hole ripped through it and a hog sniffing around. At the sound of them, it fled; leaving her 'camp' in a tip.
"Brilliant." She sighed.
"Aww, come on! It's...not that bad." Konohamaru tried to joke.
She tossed the stuff she was holding to one side as she tried to tend to the timber she'd collected before she left.
"This is just perfect! My first mission and I get stuck with him! I've been delayed, had my stuff here wrecked, had my other stuff stolen and he say's 'it's not that bad'." She muttered to herself. Konohamaru heard her.
He opened his mouth to retort, but he couldn't. She was right. It was her first mission and the swelling sense of anticipation must've been killing her – he'd felt the same when he was out on his first mission, and he had Ebisu-Sensei to guide him and his friends. It was also his fault she had her stuff wrecked and stolen. In the end he decided to speak up.
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself." He responded blandly. She turned to look at him, anger festering behind her clear eyes.
"It's just like you said, this is your first mission. Things were bound to be hectic even from the start. What's important is we've both got the stuff, we're both okay and tomorrow we can continue on to the Land of Vegetables. I don't see why you're so upset."
She paused before responding, "It's not really you I'm upset with...I'm just..." She looked away as she said this, but it was clear she wasn't in the mood for remorse. Nevertheless, Konohamaru pushed further.
"Then who are-" He began.
"Everyone! I'm mad at everyone! My father, My family, Lady Hokage, Everyone!" she yelled.
"They always expect so much of me! 'Oh, Hanabi, one day you will lead our Clan' or 'Hanabi, You must Practice, you must not fail' – everyday I've had to push myself to the limits, because they won't accept anything but perfection from me. This mission...it was my chance to really show them...to really show myself I'm all they made me out to be." She felt her eyes burn slightly, if she didn't control herself, she'd be crying in no time.
Konohamaru just stared.
"I'm...sorry." He spoke sitting down opposite her, helping begin the fire.
"Don't be! I can handle it! It's just when things don't go right...It makes me feel like...like all that work was for nothing, you know?" She turned to him, as he lit the fire. Suddenly the clearing looked more radiant as the flames enlightened all around them. Konohamaru also noticed the cloudy sky had cleared, with the moon now shining down on them.
He even noted her eyes; they looked just like the moon, and how pretty it made her.
"Oh, what am I doing? I don't need to talk about this! I'm going to bed. You're watching out first." She turned away, feeling she'd given away too much. As she climbed into the tent, she heard Konohamaru call.
"What are we gonna do about the sleeping arrangements?"
"There's only one bed! So you'll sleep outside!" She answered.
"What! Why do I have to!" he retorted.
"A: It's my tent and my sleeping bag, B: It's punishment for trying to use my stuff and having me come rescue you, and C: Er…because… I'm a girl and you're a boy. Deal with it!"
Konohamaru blew a raspberry at the tent before poking the fire with a stick. He took it back; no one that annoying could be called 'pretty'.
Dropping into the ditch, the lifeless bodies of the two travelling lovers weren't the only victims of Root's aggression. Amongst the dead were three other men, one woman, and her six-year-old son.
The two ANBU stood silently over them, before turning away soundly and disappearing back into the trees. As they did so, one quickly threw his hand into the air, and clenched his fist. They both heard a squashing noise.
Opening his hand, he saw the remains of a flying insect.
"What was that?" His comrade asked, still walking.
"Nothing; just a maggot." The other replied. His comrade glanced at the palm.
"Maggots don't fly, you know." He responded, before the other turned.
"I wasn't talking about this insect, I was referring to the one that sent it," he turned to the trees, "Keep following us, worm, and you may get an even closer inspection of that ditch." He declared ominously.
Less than a hundred yards away, Shino flinched. Turning to Anko, he nodded to the slug resting on her shoulder.
"I'll inform the Hokage about the murders." Katsuyu stated.
"What good would it do? It's not like she can do anything given the situation." Anko hung her head in shame. She didn't care who did it, she just wanted this to be over, to be away from Root. Absently, she placed a hand to her neck, she had felt strange for days; something had changed.