LOVE, LIFE, DREAM
ok the USB stick that held onto all my stories died so I'm kinda depressed and was on like a hiatus on stories that was on my usb stick cause I didn't want to ruin it...Sorry about that. I will now try to update as much as I can.
A/N: When you are doing a story of any kind, always remember to back the stories onto your computer or another USB stick every time there is a change. It might take longer but it saves you grief.
Unprepared
"ok. Well we're running all though the night and resting though the day. This scroll is important and we cannot lose this" Khati said.
"Give it to Misaki. That way we can protect two at once" Cora suggested.
"Good idea, Saki! Here catch!" Khati threw the scroll at me and I caught it with ease.
"I'll keep it safe" I promised as I put it in the hidden pocket in my pouch
"We're trusting you!" Cora and Mira said looking back at me.
"Don't worry about it" Grinning I passed them and went to talk to Khati. "Where are we going first?" I asked looking at the map he was studying.
"To Iron County near the Earth country. Out first rendezvous point is a small village who has a connection with us. They'll hand us the other scroll if we show them the one we are carrying with us." Khati replied as he folded the map and placed it in his pocket.
"How long do you think it'll take us Captn'?" I inquired ducking under a tree branch and reappearing beside Khati.
"Maybe five /six days if we run." He said before moving around a tree.
"Hm.." Silently I slid back to the middle. If we take let's say 6 days, and one day of rest….we hardly have enough time. I thought about it so hard I didn't hear my teammate's warnings and crashed into a tree branch.
"OW!" I whined, tears forming due to pain.
"We were trying to warn you" Cora said helping me up.
"Thanks" I growled at my own stupidity. I could think about that later when we have time.
After five days we arrived at the village. There I learned how to undo the barrier and seal the scroll since I was the scroll carrier. From there we were to head to a small town in the land of wind and retrieve a scroll from a secret Konoha nin who moved there.
It was desert and more desert as we left the small village. The constant moving started to tire us all out. Tripping over my own feet I fell to the hot sand.
"Eh, too hot" I hissed as I staggered back up.
"You don't look so good." Cora said making me lean on him as we walked though the dusty desert. It took about a couple of hours when we made it to the lush forests of the river country. We set up an early camp in the forest where my fever started to rise.
"Shit what is wrong with you?" Cora swore just as he reached to feel my forehead.
"Cora move. Mira can you get me some water?" I asked with a feeble smile.
"Cold?" she asked. I nodded.
"Taicho, sorry for dragging everyone down. I'll get better in a few moments" I breathed heavily as my vision started to blur. In my world all I needed was advil and all was good but here it wasn't likely that they had any.
When Mira arrived with the water I took my time to first drink all the water even if I felt like throwing up. This was probably going to be my last drink in a while. I sat leaning against a tree and sat in a meditating position. I concentrated on my fever and headache. My Chakra started to heal slowly in my weakened state. I could feel sweat on my back as I concentrated on gathering my chakra and using it to heal myself.
How long I stayed like that I don't know but when I was done it was around 4 in the morning. Exhausted I was going to take a nap when I felt a shiver run down my back. A bad feeling rose up in my stomach. Quickly I took out the scrolls and added a second barrier on them binding them to each other and to my own life.
After that I felt no amount of useable chakra in my being and ended up falling asleep.
When I awoke I was being carried by Khati. Mira holding onto my extra bag.
"You awake?" Khati asked looking at me.
"Yes, Sorry for dragging you all back." I apologized.
"no worries, we are all a team. We look out for each other right?" Mira smiled as she came up beside Khati. "Plus you healed all of us a couple times during this trip."
"I didn't do much!" meekly I rushed out my words.
"So modest" Cora laughed as he carried Khati's stuff.
It was like that for another hour as I regained some feeling back into my legs and arms. We took a lunch break while I tested my dexterity again with a quick target practice.
"I think I'm back" I said taking a big bite from the roasted pheasant.
"No one would have thought you were sick last night" Mira passed me some berries and jam.
"the wonders of Iryo-nin" Khati laughed while I pouted.
The day passed uneventfully till we got to the second last destination; a small harbor village on the coast of the Country of Lightning.
"Now all we have to do is go back to the Fire country for the last scroll" Cora sighed loudly.
"Cora, there may be people listening" Mira shushed him with a smack.
"I think that slapping sound would have attracted more attention Mira" Cora said placing a hand over his red cheek.
"And I think that your arguing will attract even more attention" Khati warned the two. I stayed silent watching the trees sway in the cool breeze. One more week till the final exams; I thought. It was just this morning we left the harbor village and I sealed the third scroll with the others. Slowly we walked for a change since we had extra time and decided to have some fun.
"Let's train a bit" I grinned as Mira and Cora's faces looked shocked.
"You call training fun?" they asked.
"Yeah. I like to train and get better than I am now. I also get to learn where I am weak in and where I am strong in" I replied.
"You two should think like her for a change" Khati said looking at the two whistling teens.
"we can train later." Cora hissed.
"You can, I'll train now, you never know when you will be attacked" I laughed then I stopped feeling a presence near us. I looked to Khati and saw him nod to me signaling that he knew. Mira and Cora also winked at us telling us they knew as well.
"well we should get moving" Khati said as we finished with our break. We walked down the forest walkway and noticed the chakra following us. It was either that these were really bad ninja or they were letting us sense them.
"Should we run?" Mira asked.
"No, I have a feeling that these shinobi are strong." I hissed while keeping up my facade.
We were about four hours from any village or town when they came out. I gasped at three things, one was the cloak they were wearing, black with red clouds; Akatsuki. Two it was only one team though I thought was the strongest pair. Three: Itachi Uchiha.
"Akatsuki. Uchiha Itachi. Hoshigaki Kisame." I mumbled.
"Oh you know of us" Kisame said as a statement rather than a question.
"Hoshigaki Kisame of the mist, one of the seven ninja swordsmen. Uchiha Itachi from the Leaf, the Uchiha prodigy, the mass murderer of the Uchiha clan." I answered Kisame.
"Saki, how did you know?" Mira asked.
"Huh? You don't know?" I replied with a question.
"No, just who are these people, and what do you mean Akatsuki?" Cora asked. Frowning I looked to Khati who wore a grim face. No doubt he didn't know the Akatsuki but he probably knew Kisame and definitely Itachi.
"Later, if we come out of this alive I'll tell you." I grinned nervously as I had yet to actually fight against a person in real life and one who wanted to kill me, probably.
"What do you two want?" Khati asked them hoping to have a civil conversation.
"What do you think, we want the kyuubi scroll, the one you guys are carrying. It contains the secrets of the kyuubi." Kisame laughed. Itachi didn't do anything, instead he just stood there watching us. His gaze passed by all of us and rested on me, I could see that his sharingan was activated. Great he could probably see the large chakra mass the scrolls were covered with.
I watched as Itachi said something to Kiasme and a grin appeared on his face. I flinched, I knew they knew I had the scrolls.
"Saki, when I say go, run." Khati whispered.
"No" I said stubbornly.
"You have the scrolls, you have to leave." Khati hissed angrily.
"You think I don't know that? What I know is that either Kisame or Itachi will hold you three back, probably kill you and the other will chase me. This means I have a lower chance of getting back. You know right now our chances of surviving is less than 2%. We need a miracle." I hissed.
"there is no time to whisper on this battle field" Kisame said as he came up between the four of us and swung his sword, Samehada around and hit all of us. I could feel my chakra draining just at the momentary contact I had.
"That sword devours chakra! Be careful!"Khati said standing up.
"I think we all got that Taicho!" Cora swore as he got up slowly.
It only took a couple minutes for everyone to be beaten up and broken. Khati lay underneath a tree. Cora sprawled in a bloody patch of grass and Mira lay over a rock.
"You can save them if you give us the scroll."Kisame smirked evily.
"and how can I trust you?" I asked getting my battered self of the ground. I had already broken my legs, ribs and arms several times though it was my jutsu that was healing me while I was fighting.
"You can't" Kisame laughed as he took my arms and put them behind my back, my hands far apart. Using the closest one to Kisame I activated my chakra scalpel and dug deeply into his stomach making him let me go.
I jumped away and felt another hand grabbing my wrists and putting them high above my head. He had the back of my hands facing each other making it impossible to make seals and it was too far from him to use other jutsus. I looked back and saw Itachi. For the first time in this battle Itachi moved and I knew I was done for.
I could feel him opening my pack and rummaging inside looking for the scrolls. I could hear him give off a small, barely audible grunt of frustration.
"in my medical pack there is a small concealed pocket. Inside there is the scrolls." I whispered. Itachi stopped.
"Hn?" I could hear that famous Uchiha grunt.
"Don't get me wrong, I just don't want to you rummage around back there and messing up my things." I growled. "Not to mention, my arms are loosing feeling." I hissed as he pulled me up more so I was practically off the ground.
I let out a moan of pain as he let me hang there before resuming to look for the pocket. After what felt like an eternity he dropped me. I looked back and saw him holding the three scrolls tied up together. I glared up at him, into his cold onyx eyes. If only I could stay angry at him for allowing Kisame to hurt my comrades but when I thought about what he went though I couldn't keep my glare up. Looking away I looked towards my team all hurt.
"Thanks kid." Kisame said pointing his sword at me.
"Kill me. I'll tell you something though, if you kill me then the barrier around the scrolls will self destruct destroying every scroll." I smirked as Kisame hesitated.
"Remove it" Kisame said and shifted his gaze to my teammates. "of they'll be the next victims"
"Their lives are also connected to the barrier as well" I bluffed.
"Oh really?" Kisame swaggered over to Khati and dangled Samehada over his head. "is it true or are you bluffing?"
"Try it. Take the chance and see. The scrolls will blow up" I threatened. My threats were empty since I knew that their lives were not connected to the barrier.
"Kisame, leave it." Itachi glared at him. Kisame stopped and looked over to the stoic Uchiha. "we can have Leader-sama take a look at it." Itachi said and walked away. Kisame, swearing under his breath walked away as well.
When I was sure that they were gone I walked on shaky legs over to look at each person. With the help of soldier pills and my will I healed their cuts and mended their bones. None though woke up as I set up camp and stayed awake on sentry.
The next day I made two shadow clones and we each carried someone. We were well into the land of fire and only a few km from Konoha when I blacked out.
I could feel myself being carried when I regained a bit of consciousness though all I could make out was the sound of a softly billowing cloak and the heart beat of a person.
Waking to noise and brightness I sat up and hissed when a sharp pain exploded in my side.
"You need to stay down." the nurse said pushing me down lightly.
"where am I?" I asked her.
"Konoha General Hospital. Kotetsu and Izumo found you and your team just outside he gates. You were out for four days" the nurse said.
"when is the finals for the chunin exams?" I asked.
"in two days" she replied.
"how are my teammates?" I asked again.
"they are still unconscious except your taicho he woke up last evening. And the Hokage is here" the nurse told me just as the door slid open to show the Hokage and Khati.
"Misaki. Are you up? Don't strain yourself" Khati said pushing me back down just as I was about to sit up. I looked to the Hokage and looked away in shame. I allowed the Akatsuki to take the scroll and everyone in the team was badly injured.
"Ken, Misaki. I see that you are ok. How are you getting along?" the Hokage asked.
"I'm Sorry, forgive me" was all I said as I clutched onto my white sheets.
"What so you have to be sorry for?" the Hokage asked me placing his hand on mine.
"I let them take the scrolls, Mira, Cora and Khati were injured, almost killed. I'm sorry" I slumped over on and balled my hands into tight fists.
"What are you talking about? You might have let them take the scroll but at least you fought and created a barrier around it, you also posed a threat to them, and you were able to keep everyone in your team alive. That is more than enough for a Iryo-nin." the Hokage said patting my head.
"How did you know about the barrier?" I asked.
"I was awake" Khati confessed "I just couldn't move my body. I was scared to tell you the truth when the Hoshigaki was about to skewer me"
"But you're alive, we are all alive" I sighed.
"Yeah...Mira and Cora are in another room. You can probably go see them later today or in the morning after." Khati said tucking me in.
"Am I a child?" I joked. Turning to the Hokage I said in a serious manner "Hokage-sama, please be careful when watching the Final exam, don't put your guard down and...there is a snake in our midst" I warned him. He nodded while Khati seemed confused.
"Have some more sleep" the two ordered me as they left. I thought about how I ended up at the gates of Konoha. I was sure we were still a couple kilometers from the gate when I blacked out. I then thought about my dream of the person carrying me, the soft sound of a billowing cloak and the steady heartbeat. Maybe it wasn't a dream, I sighed. Turning over I let myself sleep some more.
The next morning I woke up early and got off the bed and did my morning business. Tomorrow was going to be the Chunnin exam. I as given some breakfast and juice filled with vitamin C. I looked at the bedside table and saw a single chrysanthemum and a small light reader. I smiled chrysanthemum meant rest and that was what I needed right now. The light reader was a simple book about a ninja traveling. I looked for a card with a name and checked the book though there was no card or sign.
By the time I was half way into the book it was lunch. Yawning I walked to the lobby finding no-one around. Lunchbreak, I thought when I remembered Naruto and Lee were probably here. Humming a small song I looked up Lee's room and started to walk over there. Sakura just came out of the room with the vase and single daffodil.
"Konichiwa Sakura. How have you been?" I asked catching up to her.
"Saki-nee? You're back!" Sakura asked surprised.
"Been back for five days" I grinned.
"Oh, sorry" Sakura said looking away. We walked in silence before Sakura spoke up "Do you think Lee will ever be a ninja ever again?" she asked.
"I know he will. His will power and strength shouldn't be underestimated, just don't give up on him." I said. "I'm going to check up on Lee" waving Sakura off I walked back to see Naruto and Shikamaru talking with Gaara.
"Yikes, forgot." I looked in and waited some more. Gai sensei should be coming soon. I thought while I waited for the green jump suited alien to appear. It felt as if the time stretched as seconds passed like minutes, minutes to hours. Frantic I ran out of the hospital and ran into a ninja.
"do you know where Gai-senei is?" I asked.
"i saw him in the library" the shinobi answered. I said a quick good bye and teleported into the library and found Gai behind a mountain of books.
"Gai-sensei hurry! Lee, trouble!" I hissed.
"What? My YOUTHFUL student in trouble?" Gai yelled.
"Hurry! In the hospital!" I yelled. Gai-sensei whisked out of the library leaving me under the harsh looks from the other people of the library.
"Sorry" I apologized and rushed out as well. Arriving just as Gaara left I looked in and saw the sullen looks of Gai, Naruto and Shikamaru.
"are you all ok?" I asked panting and holding my side.
"Fine...thanks for telling me" Gai said as he sat on a chair beside Lee.
"Bushy-brow-sensei!" Naruto started but I stopped him. I shook my head and led the two out, leaving Gai alone with his student.
"Naruto, Shika. Get some rest, you guys have matches to win." I smiled though inside I thought about what would have happened if I hadn't gone to Gai sensei at that time. Was I already changing the course of this world? I shook my head and sighed. Naruto and Shikamaru looked at me strangely.
"You ok Saki-nee?" Naruto asked.
"Fine..." I paused. I had this strong urge to tell them everything, about the attack, Sasuke's betrayal, the Akatsuki.
"You have something on your mind you can tell us." Shikamaru said looking away "Even though it's going to be troublesome we could probably still help."
Smiling I pulled them into a hug. "Thanks you two." I chuckled. "I have to go back to my room before the nurse finds out" I grinned and walked away, another resolve seemed to appear in the back of my mind though I pushed it away.
"You went out of your room when I told you not to and then you left the hospital!" my nurse screamed and angrily started to lecture me. I listened halfway before falling asleep.
The next time I work up was when the sound of fireworks exploded. I looked to the clock and suppressed a scream. I was late.