A/N Small things as always. I will get to at least chapter 30 by the end of the day. I know it.
Leave a comment, a question a thought oh my!
Chapter 19: Capture the Flag
We get to the training ground. I see that my hole in the post was never fixed. Kiba split since he had a date with his girlfriend. Which is upsetting since I don't know his fighting style. I know it in theory but not in practice.
Liar, you trained with him. He is the one you actually can tolerate….
Lee steps in front of the group, "Alright let's make this a competition between teams. Tooru you can join Shino and Hinata. We can play capture the flag."
"Lee, that's a great idea only none of us know what jutsu Tooru uses," Naruto says.
"I do," Shikamaru absently says and everyone looks at him, "We've trained together."
There is a pause. I know that it is odd. But Shikamaru is the only person I have trained with. So he knows how to counter me, at least a little. And he also knows that I hold back from some of my fighting styles.
But the pause it still weird. I don't know why, and it seemed almost automatic to be saying. Am I rubbing off on Shikamaru?
"Then its fair Naruto," Shino says.
"What are the rules Lee?" Hinata asked.
"Right! There is one person who is the flag indicated by these papers I am handing out," Lee walks around and gives out a piece a paper to each team, "The first team with all four flags wins."
Everyone nods and groups together. I am unsure what this will accomplish but I can be sure that I will see some of them in action less then I would like. I sigh and look around to see that everyone is excited. I look at Shikamaru and he winks at as Lee throws up a paper in the air and everyone waits for the paper to hit the ground. The paper barely hits the group and everyone scatters.
I don't know what to expect. I know peoples fighting styles in theory. But I have no idea how they work. Which makes me nerves.
After a few meters Shino, Hinata, and I stop.
"Well, who wants to be flag?" I ask holding the paper.
"I will," Hinata takes the paper from me and places it in her pocket.
"Good, knowing everyone they will assume that I was picked to be the flag since you and Shino are better at fighting together. And since Shino can hide and fight, giving him the distance to move away and lead people into a trap. I would be the logical choice, the only one who would think different would be Shikamaru." I explain.
Shino and Hinata only look at me. I place my hand behind my head. I know I may have talked too much, but the choice to be the flag is logical. Though you can make an argument for all of the people in the group.
"Who should we go after first?" Shino asks.
"Let's go after Naruto's first since I have heard about him going in without thinking," I say, thinking, "Therefore the knuckle head would be reckless to have as a flag and Sakura would also be too obvious. So we can assume that Sai is the flag since we would not think about it and Sai can hide while Sakura and Naruto attack us and get the flag. Plus, Sai can defend himself if we don't know where he is. That or he will be coming after the flag to get them."
"Should we go get the flag then?" Hinata seems eager to go after them.
Right as Hinata asks we get ambushed by Naruto's group. Sakura and Naruto go after Hinata and Shino. As they fight Sai comes up behind me. He has some of his beast out and ready to attack. Should I use hand to hand? Yes, I will.
Sai doesn't know what I will fight with. It could be anything. But now I can fight with him and have an advantage.
After 30 seconds of fighting, I pin Sai down.
Quickly Hinata and Shino take out Naruto and Sakura, then I confirm that Sai is the flag. We move with Sai following to a new position. We should keep moving, since we don't want to be sitting ducks.
A little too convenient, don't you think?
We stop after a little while. Hinata and Shino look ready to keep going. But here is where there should be a fight.
I believe we can be at an advantage here, and it will be hard to fight anywhere else for us.
"Lee's group should be next. Neji and Lee would not be the flags, again with the distance. I can only assume since they tend to protect Tenten when they are teamed up even though she is okay fighting by herself. I'll stay here and guard Sai." I state looking at the clouds.
"LEE WAIT!" I hear Tenten shout.
Lee comes rushing out of the bushes with Neji following him. Lee decides to come right at me. Neji is trying to stop him and get him to follow the plan that the three of them had made. I sigh, such and easy attack to see past. I look right at Lee and know that countermeasures will be the best thing to take care of him. I spot Neji coming out of the bushes to try to stop Lee, bad move on his part.
"Leaf hurricane!" He yells.
I side step at the last second and grab his leg and swing him around and throw him at Neji. He hits Neji dead on and they both fall backwards when Tenten pokes her head out. Shino goes and grabs Tenten who turns out is the flag. Hinata and I tie up Neji and Lee. I sigh, both of them should know better than to go for a frontal attack against a ninja they don't know anything about.
They wouldn't do that though. They both know to wait.
"Wow Tooru, how did you beat them so fast?" Tenten asks.
"Simply by using Lee's loud attack against him by throwing him into Neji. It wasn't a hard attack to see past." I reply. I begin to move away from the boys to a new location.
"I guess you are the flag then Tooru?" Sai asks.
I shake my head as Hinata laughs and raises her hand telling them that she is the flag. Tenten and Sai look at each other in shock, neither of them expecting Hinata to be the flag. Something that I figured the teams would assume. With the little information that they have on me it would be logical for Hinata and Shino to protect me.
"So now Shikamaru's team." Shino says after we laugh for a bit, "Who is the flag Tooru?"
I pounder for a moment, "I would say Choji."
"Why do you think Choji?" Hinata asks, putting us at a stop in a clearing.
"Can you guys guess?" I reply
All four stop to think. They all look around, becoming lost in thought. I giggle and sit on the ground. We only need to wait for Shikamaru to strike. Which I know that he will go for a clearing. Knowing that his team has been following us, out of range so they have to figure out the flag. And by us talking about will confirm Shikamaru's thinking. I sigh, this is a lot easier than I would have thought to be honest. Besides they are taking a really long time to think about it.
"I still think it would be Shikamaru. He has the distance to stay away from the fighting." Hinata says.
"No Ino. Shikamaru would guard her and Choji can take on two people at once, therefore Ino would be the easiest to protect. Therefore making her the obvious flag." Sai interjects.
I grin, "Which is why Choji is the flag. We automatically look at the two distance fighters and overlook Choji and his ability to get away quickly. Making Choji the best option by far. It is like with the other groups, they made the obvious choice to have the flags, but we know how Shikamaru thinks, and he has a plan to gather all the flags in one go."
I hear a familiar sound, it is Shikamaru's Shadow Jutsu. I get up and jump off the ground. Then the Human Boulder comes through the clearing we picked. Everyone scatters, I notice I am the furthest from everyone which is what Shikamaru wanted. I land in the trees a few meters from everyone. Then team Shikumaru comes out from their hiding spot. I so called this.
I know that Shikamaru wanted me away. This is a good plan. We know how to counter each other.
"Thanks for collecting all of the flags for us!" Ino yells.
"The other teams are untying themselves now. Let's get this over with." I mumble.
I catch Shikamaru's eye and I can see he is having fun and forgot about Temari. I smile knowing that Naruto and Sakura are helping Neji and Lee out of their tie down they got. I smile knowing that this is helping everyone.
Maybe we should do one on ones, so I can really see their abilities. Besides this game lasted maybe five minutes. Something that does not give me time to know the extent of what this group can really do. I only know Shikamaru and that he uses his brains since he doesn't have a large amount of chakra to pull from.
"Shikamaru knows that you aren't the flag!" Choji yells at me.
I nod, "We know that it's Hinata, and now that you have all of the flags taking Shino out will be better since I can take you on," Shikamaru says.
"Are you sure you can take me on? I've beaten you every time before," I smirk.
There is a moment of silence. There is no movement, as though we are all waiting for something to happen.
Wake up now! You need to snap out of it!
I start to feel a tension, one that should never be there. The fun starts to disappear. A sense of urgency quickly fills the air and everyone freezes. I can feel someone behind me and I can feel four people moving at a quicker pace to get to us to help. This chakra feels familiar and I put up my bubble, knowing that someone is out there, lurking in the shadows and this chakra is not friendly.
"Tooru look out!" I hear Shikumaru yell from the other side.
I feel something flying at me, I move my head a few inches and a kunai passes my head. I jump from the tree, knowing that something bad is about to happen. I turn in the air to feel the leaders presence and see the hood on his head. This is bad, and nothing good is going to come out of this.
"This is a little present from the group to you spy," He grabs my shoulder and pulls me close to him. "It truly is a nice genjutsu that even you cannot break."
Time slows down. I can heard the footsteps of everyone, but the leader pulled me in for a kiss. There is more shouting as more people enter the field. He breaks the kiss and smiles to only vanish into mid-air. I feel dizzy and I cannot tell which way is up and which way is down.
Suddenly time speeds up and I am falling. Someone jumps through the air and catches me. I know that it is Shikamaru. He begins to bark orders to the others.
I know my senses are fading and I need to tell him that. I look up at him and see shock and concern on his face. He is talking and something stops him mid-sentence. A kunai is thrown and Shikamaru runs with me in his arms. He is saying something to me but I cannot understand what he is saying. I try to open my mouth but no words form. I see a tear coming from him and all I want to do is reach out and tell him I am fine, even though I am not. The horror on his face is great, I move my hand to his face but I cannot feel his face and I don't know if I am touching his face. He stops and sees my hand, I need to transfer the memories to him; about the leader and every moment after that has meaning. I can't feel any one around me, not even him. I can see him trying to come up with a plan.
That's when I finally think of a way to get him the memories. I put all my strength into pulling Shikamaru's face to mine. I press my lips to his and get my memories to him. I can tell something changes in him, the emotions that he felt for Temari, the love he felt for her seemed to melt away. They are replaced with new emotions and feelings for someone else. Only, I can't tell who they are for, but for some reason he may love this girl. More than he ever loved Temari, which was deep and true. These feelings are even more and would not be obvious to the person he has them for. But this is so I can tell him what is going on. I should not know what he is feeling.
"Shikamaru! Tooru!" someone yells, I cannot place the voice. I keep my eyes closed, for Shikamaru or I move away from each other. Our lips are still pressed together. "Shikamaru! Where are you?" The voice is closer.
Why can you hear that?
Shikamaru breaks the kiss, "We are over here Hinata!" I lean into Shikamaru and fall asleep.