Kiba's Love

[animesuperfreak]

this is a fanfic about my roleplay charecter Miku and her crush Kiba.
im not sure if this intereferes with the "claimed" charecter thingy. if it does tell me.


This fanfic/biography takes place during the time jump, when Miku is 14.

Prologue

Two figures ran thru the woods, one with long silky brown hair, and one with black longish hair. They both wore the same Jounnin outfits.
“We wont be able to escape. We need to get her to safety!” the black haired male; Michiru said.
“Yeah. We don’t want that witch to get her.” The brown haired female; Kyamiru said.
A small cottage came into view, and a small child with brown and red hair ran out.
“Mommy! Daddy! You’re home early! Yay!” she ran toward them, arms outstretched for a hug.
“Listen, sweetheart, to celebrate us being home, why don’t you go get us that butterfly by the river, you know, that red and gold one!”
The child nodded, and left. The parents exchanged knowing glances. The river was at least 20 minutes away. It would be enough.
The adults turned around, and started to gather up stuff laying around the cottage. The mood was grim.
4 figures stepped out of the woods. They all wore matching outfits. A black jumpsuit, with a red stripe down the side. One women, and three men. The women was tall.
The man with the black hair stopped what he was doing.
“Get it over with.” He said, his back to the tall women. He then froze, and slumped to the ground. A vial of purple poison capsules dropped to the ground.
Now the women with the brown hair grabbed a kunai, and drew it across her throat with the words,
“Now you’ll never know... what we told. And who we told it to.”
“No!” the tall women screamed. “Tell me!” she slumped to the ground. She started to kick and stab the dead women. The men, following her lead, started to desecrate the bodies by throwing kunai in them.
After 5 minutes, the tall lady stood up.
“Burn the house down.”
In the distance, a little child stood behind a tree. And wept.
chappy one.

Chapter 1: The Meeting

Hi. My name is Miku Inuzuka. Though, it wasn’t always. I wasn’t born into the clan of Inuzuka, I was married. I am 105 pounds and 5’2” tall. The meaning of my name is 'Beautiful crimson color’. I am 21 and in good health, other then the ropy scar on my shoulder, which prickles at danger. This is my...biography, if you will. It all started when I was 14. Though, technically, it started when my parents died and I was moved to an abandoned cottage. Most of it started when I was 14. I remember that it started with a single heart-wrenching moment.
Miku Gakari Kobayashi is my full maiden name.
I have medium, curly brown hair and usually wear a pair of blue jeans with a green shirt. When its cold, I wear a white jacket over it. I also wear black gloves with metal backing, but only on missions. I wear the standard black or blue Shinobi shoes. I wear my Leaf headband on my neck. Sometimes, if someone is hurt, I will laugh, but ill be laughing with them, always trying to cheer them up. I love to give, but I do have a small temper. I love animals, and think of them as my brothers and sisters. I’m a Chuunin, though I dislike the vest, so I don’t wear it except for Missions, which I haven’t been on lately.
I graduated from the Academy at 10, and became a Chuunin at 12. I was the second best in my class. When I was orphaned, I was found by some Konoha Anbu and taken to the village when I was three. When I turned seven I found out it was some rogue Rain ninja. I don’t really remember what happened, only after I met Kiba do I start to remember, and sometimes, I have odd dreams about them. When I was brought to the village, I lived in a little hut on the outskirts of the village. I know some people were divided on what happened. Some avoided me and say it was I that had killed my parents. Others say that it was a tragic thing, and brought food to me.
I was just bored one weekend, and Kiba-kun brought up the idea of a biography. He said he’s writing one too, so I thought I’d give it a try. Some things might not be accurate, due to my poor memory, but oh well. It was a traumatic time for me so don’t judge. Well, here goes.

I [Miku] was training at a field In Konoha, staring longingly at the object of my infatuation. Kiba Inuzuka, my heart-stopping crush. Him and Akamaru were romping around. I had just sat down next to Shikamaru. We had been discussing lots of things, and the subject had turned to crushes. I had teased him a little bit about Temari, and then we started talking about Kiba.
“He’s never going to notice me is he, Shikamaru?” I said, sighing.
“Well, it depends.” He gestured towards Kiba.
“On?”
“How much you talk to him, and whether you’re good friends or not.”
“Ahhh!” I groaned, “I don’t have much of a chance. Later, Shikamaru.” I waved and went home.
When I got home, I decided to have some ramen, and discovered I didn’t have any left. “Argh, why now? The stores are all closed! First Kiba now this!”
“Now what, Miku?” I heard.
Naruto dropped in from my window.
“Oh! Hi Naruto, didn’t realize you were there, umm, listen could you loan me some ramen? I’m out.” I said, grasping at the chance, he had taken me by surprise.
“Sure, I might have a cup with me, but, uhh, what’s wrong?” He asked. “Well first, I was at the training field and was talking about Kiba and I realized how hopeless life is, then I discovered I had no ramen left. It’s a bad day…” I explained.
“Oh…well anyway, Miku, here’s your ramen. I hope you feel better. I gotta get back to training. Later!” he waved and blurred away.

9:30am on the training field
Sounds of fighting echoed on the field. “Faster Miku, you must go faster if you wish to aspire to the Jounnin Rank!” Neji was my trainer. Supposedly. So far I hadn’t learned much except he was a stuck-up know-it-all.
“Aww, Neji! Can’t we break for breakfast? Please?” I begged. I had been fighting him for 2 hours, and was getting tired and hungry. “You may Miku, Half an hour. No later!” he stated. “Thanks, I’m going to Itchiraku’s. Wanna come?” I asked him. “No thank you, I have already eaten.” He replied. “Ok then, later.” I waved and left.

At Itchiraku’s Ramen shop

“Ah, thank you” I said as I was handed a bowl of ramen. What’s the use of trying? I thought, as I ate my ramen. I have as much chance as making Kiba my friend as Lee has of getting Sakura to be his girlfriend. “Huh?” something had nudged my leg! I looked down and saw… “Akamaru? Hi!” I looked around nervously...Kiba had to be close by. “Where’s Kiba?” Akamaru jumped onto my lap, and I started to pet him. I slowly relaxed as the minutes passed, and Kiba didn’t show, so I didn’t notice when someone came in, until…
“Akamaru! There you are! Where’ve---oh. Hi.” Kiba’s voice said. I turned around and beheld…Kiba Inuzuka?! He was standing right behind me! Oh no! I’m not... His eyes met mine and he cocked his head. “You’re Miku right?” I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. “Thanks for keeping Akamaru in one spot. I dunno what got into him. He just ran off. Later!” he said and blurred away, leaving me with mouth agape until… Neji! Oh, crap! I’d forgotten. I glanced at the time. 10:15?! I was late! I paid for my ramen and blurred as fast as I could to the field. “You are late. May I ask what kept you?” Neji scolded. I started to mumble a reply, but was cut off by Neji. “No matter, we will resume training by weapon attack defense…”

On the walk back home, I was wondering and thinking again about Kiba, and Akamaru. “Maybe, just maybe he noticed me this time. It would be nice, I guess.” I thought. When I got home, I noticed some of my things were misplaced, and I wondered, maybe I did it or Naruto when he was here. Then I began to think about why Naruto was at my house in the first place. I resolved to ask him the next time I saw him. I yawned. “Man! I’m tired. What time is it?” I muttered to myself. I looked at the clock and gasped. It was 10:00 at night. “Wow, Neji wasn’t kidding…” I muttered. He had resolved to double my training time as punishment for being late. That meant instead of 3 hours he had given me six! With all the errands I’d had to run, I’d got home later then I expected. I was glad he hadn’t tripled it. I sighed. I sat down and rubbed my aching legs. “Dang!” I exclaimed. Thinking back on the day I thought I could have at least said something to Kiba, instead of looking like an idiot. All in all, my day had sucked! I jumped onto my bed and curled up with my comfort animal, a little black dog I had dubbed “Chuka”. I only cuddled him after a particularly bad day. I sighed and fell into peaceful slumber.




How'd you like my first chapter?






this is a list to make it easier for me to pm ppl with updates.
mystic--, graceluvsnaruto, Soul, nejisgirl15

[uchiha123123]

cool check mine out

[animesuperfreak]

Thanx!
:D

[uchiha123123]

no prob

[Kaden]

Well well, so kiba is going to have a heart too now huh? interesting. i'll keep checking.

[animesuperfreak]

when you say "heart" do you mean "lover"?

[Kaden]

Heart as in lover yes. Or in the feelings of helping others. Making it more apparent that he cares for ppl and not just himself and akamaru.

[Akimichi]

Ok. This is weird. Kaden? Do you realize that you have posted in my sisters and i fan fic? Mine is Gemmas story for lack of a better title. I get to see everything animesuperfreak writes before any one else. :)

[Kaden]

Sister huh? Lucky lucky you!

[animesuperfreak]

ok! here is chapters 2-4. sorry for the lateness.... i also have up till chapter 8 to type up.... but then i have really bad writers block....hopefully thats gone by the time i finish typing...Chapter 2: “A Stalker?

On the walk back home, I was wondering and thinking again about Kiba, and Akamaru. “Maybe, just maybe he noticed me this time. It would be nice, I guess.” I thought. When I got home, I noticed some of my things were misplaced, and I wondered, maybe I did it or Naruto when he was here. Then I began to think about why Naruto was at my house in the first place. I resolved to ask him the next time I saw him. *yawn* “man! I’m tired. What time is it?” I muttered to myself. I looked at the clock and gasped. It was 10:00 at night. “Wow, Neji-san wasn’t kidding…” I muttered. He had resolved to double my training time as punishment for being late. That meant instead of 3 hours he had given me 6! I was glad he hadn’t tripled it. I sighed. I sat down and rubbed my aching legs. “Dang!” I exclaimed. Thinking back on the day I thought I could have at least said “hi” to Kiba. All in all my day had sucked! I jumped onto my bed and curled up with my comfort animal, a little black dog I had dubbed “Chuka”. I sighed and fell into peaceful slumber.
Outside a black shadow lurked outside my window.

Next day Mid-afternoon

“Wake up Miku-Chan!” a voice was heard saying. “We don’t have all day! Miku, wake up! Miku? Hey guys, she’s not waking.” A different voice said “Ill get her up.”
I groaned and was rudely flipped over, so I opened my eyes and… Ahhh! What were they doing here?! I had opened my eyes to find my best friends; Ten-Ten and Rock lee standing in front of my bed! “What are you doing here? I mumbled. “Well, for starters it’s time for the Academy Graduation Ceremony and also, did you forget that you have the Headbands?” Ten-Ten explained.
The ceremony?! Crap! I groaned. I had forgotten that too! I glanced at the time. 3:00PM?! Wow. I groaned again. “I think she is sick Ten-Ten.” Lee exclaimed. Immediately Ten-Ten became concerned. You don’t get sick too often in Konoha. The air was too pure. “Miku? You okay?” she said. Now that I thought about it, I didn’t feel too good. I closed my eyes in response. “Lee would you take her to Sakura-san?” she asked. “Yes! And I will get her there soon!” He cried. I was hoisted onto Lee’s back and carried off. I closed my eyes. Funny I thought, was that Kiba standing outside my window as Lee carried me out? And was that an expression of concern? I closed my eyes and fell into a fitful sleep.

I woke up to the blindingly white lights of the Konoha hospital. Wow, what a Headache, I thought. I pressed the nurse’s button next to the bed. Outside I could hear ten-ten Yelling at Neji. I quickly caught the gist of the argument. She was scolding Neji for training me so hard yesterday. Whoops, my fault. I sighed and yawned. The voices ceased and then I opened my eyes. I quickly closed them however when I saw my nurse. It was Ino. “Hey!” she cried. “She’s awake!” I quickly tried to sit up and see who had visited me. Or was. I saw; Shikamaru, Naruto, Hinata, Lee, who was standing there with an expression of such concern it made me want to hug him, Neji, Ten-ten, Sakura and oh-boy. Kiba. Of course. I glanced at the clock. (Again!) and discovered it was 10:30. I thought that was ok, except it was light out. That meant it was 10:30 in the morning! I groaned and said “could someone dim the lights? They’re too bright.” Wow, was that my voice? It was hoarse.

Half an hour later
Neji was apologizing for the training regimen and said I could take a couple days off and Sakura was motioning everyone out of the room except Ten-ten and Lee. They were standing there with huge grins on there faces, and everyone else was either laughing at Naruto who had apparently jumped for joy, and fell flat on his face, or looking at me. Eventually the 4 of us remained; Sakura, Ten-ten, Lee and I. “okay” Sakura began, “now, lee thank you for bringing her here. Ten-ten, thank you for your support and…” Hey?” I interrupted, “why am I in the hospital?” I asked. Sakura said, “Apparently, you had way too much stress in the last 2 days. Your mind decided it was time for a nice long nap. And a purging of your system.” she smiled. “What? Purging of my system”? Didn’t that mean…? Ughhh! That explained the nasty taste in my mouth. “Well. Will I be all right?” I asked her. “Yes you will, you should be able to leave in an hour or two.” She explained. I sighed. After Sakura left Ten-ten leaned in and said “we were worried about you, all of us, and lee especially. I think he has a soft spot for you.” I said thank you and turned my head toward Lee. “Lee?” I said. He looked at me and I wasn’t surprised to see tears. “Oh lee! Don’t cry! I’m all right!” I exclaimed. “Yes!” he said “and it is for joy I am crying!”
I sighed. What next? After they left I got an unexpected visitor; Shikamaru. “Hey Miku. How ya doing?” he asked. “Fine, I guess.” I mumbled. “Hey, if you see Kiba, tell him I’m not ready for visitors yet. But uhh, if he” I gulped “if he wants to come visit me that bad I wont say no.” I was going to finally play on the “hallucination thing” where I had thought I seen Kiba so many times.

Half an hour later

“Okay Miku, you are free to go!” Sakura was saying.
Finally! I was free of the bed! The first thing I did was go home and take a nice long shower. After that I read a book. I glanced at the clock (yes I know, I have a habit!) and it said 9:00pm. “Well” I said to myself, “Time to get ready for bed.” Just then I heard a knock on my door. I wondered who it was and when I opened the door, I gasped. Kiba? Ummm, I thought. I guess he wanted to see me “that bad” Hoo boy. “Hi Kiba. Ummm, what are you doing here?” I asked. “Well, I decided to come visit because Shikamaru said that if I really wanted to see you I could, even if you said no.” he grinned. Ohhh, I shuddered, what an awesome smile.
“Wow. Umm hey? Where is your dog, uh, akamaru isn’t it?” I asked. He said “he’s here, you just don’t know it yet.” then he made a weird little motion and a second later I heard a bark and thought
Well, where is he? Then a little white ball of fur jumped up on my head. “Whoa! What the heck?! Oh!” I exclaimed. “He is a cutie!”
Kiba however, looked surprised.

“What?” I asked. “Well, Akamaru doesn’t take to other people enough at first so that he jumps on their heads…” he trailed off. “But didn’t you just make a motion for him to do that?” I asked. “No, I didn’t,” he replied. “I just told him to ‘come here and meet Miku’ but it apparently backfired on me or something…” “Hey!” I exclaimed. “I have a question? Ummm, did you earlier go through my stuff? I said remembering something…
Flashback

When I got home, I noticed some of my things were misplaced, and I wondered, maybe I did it or Naruto when he was here. Then I began to think about why Naruto was at my house in the first place.

End of flashback

“Ummm, about that” Kiba muttered, “well I was curious”….


Chapter 3
After Kiba left, I flopped on my bed, cuddled Chuka, and thought about the day.
Well there was waking up in a hospital, for starters I thought, then there was Kiba actually showing up at my door, and telling me how he went through my stuff. And how he has been following me after the “Itchiraku” incident. All in all, a “neutral day.” I thought as I fell asleep.

Next day 7:30am

I was woken up by a rap on the door. “Coming!” I yelled. What now?
I opened the door and saw… Naruto? “Naruto? What are you doing here?” I asked him. “Well, I came to say goodbye, and…” he grinned. “To wish you luck with Kiba.” What?! To “wish me luck!?” “WHAT?!” I exclaimed. “Well, it was pretty obvious when I heard Shikamaru tell Kiba that “if he really wanted to, he could visit you.” He said hurriedly, the expression on my face scaring him a little. Grrr…. If you see Shikamaru on your way out, tell him I would like to see him. Ok, Naruto?” I politely asked. “Umm, sure, and it wasn’t his fault Miku-Chan. I was eavesdropping…” Tsk, Tsk. I thought. “Fine. But I would still like to see him. Now, why are you leaving?” I asked him. “Well” he replied, “I only stay in Konoha for a couple of days every 4 months. Then I have to go and train with Jiraiya-Ero-Sannin. So…Cya I guess. He waved, and as he left he called out “Cya in 4 months, Miku-Chan!” “Yeah,” I muttered, “Cya”.
I turned away, I wanted breakfast. I got out the milk and the cereal, and had just sat down to eat when I heard a knock on the door. What now? I got up and had my hand on the door when it was kicked open! “Wow!!” I cried.

“Miku! Where are you? You had better not be sick again! I couldn’t stand it!” she yelled. “I’m not sick, but I'm injured” I replied, examining my injured hand. “Injured? How so?” Ten-ten asked. I glared at the door in answer. “Oh. Sorry Miku! I wanted to make sure you were ok….”she trailed off. “Its fine I stated, but why are you here?” I asked her. “Well” she began, there is a rumor going around that Kiba spent the night at your house last night. “No! I said, “Not true! He left.” I added in a sheepish voice. She grinned. “So, he was here.” she said. “What?” I asked. I didn’t understand; what was Ten-ten getting at? She laughed. “You like him don’t you?” she said. I froze. Oh man! I really wasn’t ready four this! “Say it!” she urged. “I know you like him Miku!” I reluctantly gave in. “somewhat.” I said. Ten-ten squealed. “I knew it!!!” I groaned. And then I had an Idea! I groaned again. “What?” ten-ten asked. “U r giving me stress.” I scolded. She gasped. “I’m sorry, I was just curious…ok then! Bye!” she clapped her hands together and disappeared. What was that about? I wondered. I looked out the window. And laughed. Kiba and Akamaru were playing in the rooftop square across from my house. Then Kiba bent down and gave something to Akamaru. Then I blinked and they were both gone. “What?” I muttered. Then I heard the “Tak” of someone coming. I ducked beneath the windowsill, and then I heard someone outside the sill. I popped my head back up and saw….”a note? Wonder who it’s from?” I mused. But I thought I already knew.. Sure enough…

Miku,
I know you watch us when we play. How ‘bout you come join us?”
Kiba and Akamaru

I looked over at the square. Kiba and Akamaru were sitting on a bench, and, oh, Kiba was looking right at me with those gorgeous eyes. I waved and shut the window.. I got my shoes on and walked outside. “Hey.” I called. “I’m coming over!” Kiba smiled. I jumped over the rooftops and landed right in front of Kiba. “Hey!” I said. “How are you?” I asked. “Fine he replied. “But Akamaru says “what’s wrong?” “Apparently something’s wrong…”he raised an eyebrow, as if asking a question. I sighed. “Just a little nervousy…” I explained, then bent down and petted Akamaru. “Are the rumors true?” Kiba suddenly blurted out. “What?” I asked. “You know… the rumors that you like me?” He replied. What?! I wondered why he would ask that. I gasped. Ten-ten’s questions! Kiba was probably listening in… it made sense. I gave him the same answer I gave Ten-ten. “Somewhat.” I blushed. “Listen, could we talk somewhere more…private?” I asked him. “Sure!” he said enthusiastically. “How ‘bout over dinner?” he grinned. Whoa!!! Was he asking me out? “Ummm, sure.” I slowly replied. “When?”
Kiba grinned. “Tonight, 7:00, my house. Don’t be late!” he called. And then he disappeared. I was left stunned. I shook my head. I had better go get ready.

Chapter 4!
“So, why did you ransack my house again?” I asked Kiba. I was sitting at Kiba’s dinner table, eating steak. “Well, as I said, I was curious. I’d seen how passionately you were stroking Akamaru. I wondered “who is this girl? She loves dogs so much! And she’s pretty cute too…” he sighed. “That was the first time I’d noticed you. I wondered who you lived, where you slept, if you had a faithful companion, who your best friends were. All that good stuff.” He grinned. “”okay…” I said. “But next time you decide to ransack my house, tell me. Ok?” I asked. Kiba smiled “Okay then” he said.
“So… is this a date-date? Or two friends talking together?” I asked. Kiba grinned. “Date-date. Definitely.” He replied.
I shook my head. “So, have you ever risked your life for Akamaru?” I asked. “Yeah…once or twice…” he sighed. “Unhappy memories?” I asked. “Yeah…” Kiba replied. “The second time almost killed us both. It was before, no, during Sasuke’s escape.” Who is Sasuke? I remembered hearing the name for a while but no-one talked about him anymore. So he ran away? I wondered. “It began when the team, that is, me, Akamaru, Chouji, Neji Shikamaru, and Naruto, went after Sasuke, who was deserting the leaf village. We had to leave Chouji and Neji behind to fight the two of the sound four. Five I heard later. Anyway, it happened like this…”

Flashback

“Come on Akamaru! Let’s go, before they catch up to us!” Kiba yelled.
As Akamaru jumped towards Kiba, one of the sound 4 sent out cords and lashed Akamaru next to the explosive tag he had just planted, as a trap.
“Akamaru!!!” Kiba yelled. He jumped from branch to branch, and fervently tried to untie Akamaru. “Almost there…” he muttered. “There!” He started to jump away, but was too slow...the tag exploded, sending Kiba and Akamaru into the abyss.

End of flashback
“Wow…” I breathed. “Were you hurt?” I asked in a whisper. Kiba chuckled.
“By the end of the battle with Sakon/Udon, he was the sound member I fought, I had; a stab wound in my chest, a concussion, my leg muscles were fried, and I had various cuts, bruises, and burns, ranging from incredibly painful, to a dull throb.” He explained. “And Akamaru?” I asked. “Akamaru had most of the same injuries, except the stab wound and concussion, so he was better off…it still made my list of top 3 worst days of my life.” He finished. “Wow.” I said again. “And how long ago was this?” I asked. “About a year.” He replied. Suddenly a question popped into my head. “You do like me, right?” I asked. Kiba laughed. “I would have thought it was obvious!” he exclaimed, chuckling. “Oh, I know!” I said. “Just confirming.” I explained, in answer to his puzzled look. He laughed. I never expected such a personality. Behind the face, he’s even cuter! And his laugh is charming! I thought. “Hey Miku?” Kiba asked, jarring me from me daydream. “What?” I replied. “You planning to spend the night? It’s after 10:00.” He asked. What! Noooo… I want to spend more time with Kiba. “It’s 10 already?” I said. “Yep!” Kiba replied. “Oh, ok then. See you tomorrow, I guess...”

My house 10:30 pm

I laid in bed thinking about the “date”. Wow, Kiba survived those injuries and still managed to save Akamaru! I sighed. I learned a lot about Kiba today…I rolled over and went to sleep.

Next morning 10am

I was cooking breakfast. (Eggs and bacon) when I heard a knock on the door. “Coming!” I called. I dumped the food onto a plate, and went to answer the door. Ten-ten walked in. “hey Miku! What is this that I’m hearing about you and Kiba?” she asked. “Nothin” I replied. “What did you hear?” I asked innocently. “Are you two going out?” She asked.
I grinned. “Maybe, maybe not” I said. “Aww, come on! Tell me!” she demanded.
I grinned again. “Fine. It started like this….” And then I told her everything after the “Itchiraku” incident. Afterwards she said “I see!” and badgered me with questions.

[jazzy]

me and my family love's naruto wii are fans for life
even my some of my friends but on here they love
naruto .:naruto: :love:

[animesuperfreak]

umm, thanx? :^^:

new chapters!
5-6.
Chapter 5
I walked in the Itchiraku ramen shop for lunch. I noticed how busy it was today.
“Oi!” I called to Teuchi. “Pretty busy today!”
“Yeah! Our specials are selling like hotcakes!” He answered from behind the counter. I looked around the shop, was surprised to see Naruto, and not surprised to see him digging into his ramen, 6 bowls beside him. Wow, he’s back way early! I thought. It’s only been what, a week? Maybe a week and a half…wonder if something’s wrong… I sat next to him, and said
“Something wrong? You’re back awfully early…”
“Nah, Ero-sannin was called out for something important. No doubt it’s just a bunch of girls in need. He told me to go and grab some ramen. So I did. Well, the ramen shop there was charging more then twice the amount here. So I came here….i don’t think He’ll miss me. He’s always busy with the “ladies”…. Ill have to go back in maybe half an hour. Then I can train some more!” Naruto said, in a rush, with excitement in his voice.
“Oh, ok…” i said, put out. I wished he could stay a little more…it been a while since I’d seen him.
“So how’s Kiba going? Shown some interest yet? From what I heard….” He left off when I glared at him.

I decided to try a different format here, I hope it is better…. :) sorry if I got the ramen shops owner’s name wrong…:emb
“Anyway” he said, slowly dropping his eyes “Shikamaru tells me u were looking for some info on Sasuke…” Naruto’s eyes were deep, miles away.
“Yeah, how’d u know?”
“Kiba mentioned it to Shikamaru, who told me…I knew him better then almost anybody…”
“So, why’d he run off?”
“Long story…” suddenly his watch beeped. “Crappp! Im late, ill tell u later miku-chan!” he rushed off. I was remembering a time almost exactly like that…

Next day, 1:00 pm
I was looking for Kiba, cause in a rush of inspiration, I wanted him over for dinner, just to talk friend-to-friend.
“Where is he?! I muttered to myself, as I hopped from rooftop to rooftop.
I snapped my fingers. Sakura! I thought. She ought to know where he is! After all, she is the Hokage’s understudy… I thought to myself, and dashed to her house.
“Sakura?” I called when I got to her house.
“Yes, Im around back!” I heard.
I walked around back…and found myself lost in a veritable maze of plants.
“Wow…” I said to myself, as I walked around.
“Hey, Miku!” I heard sakura say.
“Sorry I can’t see u! Where are you?” I called out, while walking toward her voice.
I walked around a corner…”hey! There u are!” I said.
Sakura laughed. “I was wondering when you were gonna come by. What brings u here to the Herb garden?” she asked.
“well,” I said, twiddling my fingers (sorta the way Hinata does, because she was worried) ~AN=Authors note)
“I was wondering, because you have access to the missions and who is on them, If u can tell me if Kiba was on a mission today…” I asked hesitantly.
“Oh, ok, umm,” she grabbed a clipboard. “Let’s see, oh! Here it is! Kiba Inuzuka, Shikamaru Nara, and Yamanaka Ino. All assigned to guarding one rain lord. Departure time, 5:00 Am, arrival back at the village, 3:00pm…” she looked at me, realization dawning. “Miku. You like him, don’t you?”
I nodded meekly.
“Well, that’s ok! Im happy for you! You go and get him!” she read the rest of the mission details in a great rush of excitement. Which included how much yen and how guard duty would be, down to what time they would have lunch.
Wow…I thought, dismay showing on every part of my face. One ½ hours to go… I was startled when I realized it was 1:30. I’ve been here for a half hour!!! Wow. Then I looked up and Sakura was smiling at me. One could almost picture cherry blossoms flying thru the air…
“Im holding u up aren’t I?” she asked. “You want to go wait for him, and I’m holding you up…”
I blushed, “not really. I still have an hour and a half”…I frowned, thinking. “Ok then, umm, tell me when he gets back, ill see you later, Bye!” I told her, and left to my house.
2:00
I was laying facedown on my bed, thinking.
Man! This sucks! Normally id have Naruto, or Shikamaru over, but Naruto’s training, and Shikamaru’s with Kiba!!! I sighed and rolled over. I thought my situation over and decided to go kill time with ramen.

Itchiraku’s 2:15
“One Miso ramen with the works.” I ordered.
I sighed.
This was where I first actually met Kiba…it was a bad Idea to come here… I thought.
When I got my food, Teuchi gave it to me with a smile and said “hey, put on a smile! You look so sad…” I smiled halfheartedly and replied
“Thanks for the Ramen.” Then I got up and left.
On the way home, I decided to drop by Kiba’s house and see if he was back yet, which I knew he wasn’t, but I went anyway. When I got there, I realized why I was there. It wasn’t to see if he was back, it was because I missed him, badly. I sat down on a tree branch, closed my eyes, and thought. Well, some who know Kiba really well might dare to call it “puppy love” i thought bitterly. I wonder if he thought about me while he was on a mission…hopefully he did. I slipped into a peaceful sleep.

I was walking in the woods, and I was looking for something, but I didn’t know what. I walked into a clearing and seen blood. Lots of blood, it seemed to be thickest around two people, a woman with long silky hair, and a man who was doubled over in pain, kunai sticking out from every place. The man looked at me. “Miku! Run away!” the man cried and fell to the ground. I looked around, and suddenly strong hands were shaking me…
5:30
“Miku. Miku. Hey, wake up.” I heard a voice say.
“Wha? Whosere?” I opened my eyes and seen Sakura shaking me.
I sat up and realized I had fallen off the tree branch.
“Ouch, I just realized why I have these bruises…” I muttered, rubbing my various bruises. Why didn’t I wake up when I fell? Sakura sat next to me.
“Hey, are you ok? I was going to the hospital, and I seen u laying here. Anything interesting?” she asked, worry creasing her brow.
“No, nothing interesting, I'd just fallen asleep. And apparently fallen off the tree branch…” I muttered…ha-ha, I just made a joke. Funny.“Oh. Umm, u said to get u when Kiba got back, well, he’s back but,”…
I interrupted, not hearing what she said, “Wait, u said u were going to the Hospital, why? I asked, though I was pretty sure I already knew.
“To put it bluntly, Kiba’s in the hospital. He’s hurt pretty badly...” she continued heedless of what I was thinking. I knew it!

Ooo…cliffhanger! Im Evil…>8D>

Chapter 6!

We rushed to the hospital, and got Kiba’s room number (203), from there, Sakura went ahead, leaving me to wander the halls…
Is Akamaru Ok? What about Shikamaru, and Ino? Were they OK? How badly is Kiba injured? Well, at least the nurse said he wasn’t critical…the nurse said he will be fine. But does that mean he wasn’t fine before? Then she said he was already out of IC. (IC= Intensive Care) These were all questions running thru my mind. “Room 203, where the heck is stinking 203?!” I practically yelled into the hallway. A passing nurse stopped and said
“203?” you’re looking for Inuzuka Kiba right?” she asked, a smile on her face.
I nodded.
“Then you want to go to the desk at the end of this hallway, turn left, and it’s the third door down on you’re right. Does that help?” the kindly nurse asked.
Sadly, she asked an empty hallway. I was already gone.

There it is! I thought; “room 203!” I exclaimed with triumph. I gulped and slowly opened the door. And gasped.
“Kiba!” I cried and dashed over to where he was sitting, or rather laying in the hospital bed.
“Oi, Miku!” Kiba laughed and then grimaced. I had a moment to assess his injuries. Let’s see, a sling, bandages covering his head, and various patches over his arms. I noted. “Well, I was wondering when you would show up. It seemed like forever when I left. That i would get to see you, I mean.” He looked downward and tried to hide another laugh.
“I’ve been here all of 10 mins! The painkiller Sakura gave me hasn’t even kicked in yet…so, what happened to you? Get in a fight?” he cast a eye over my bruises.
I groaned.
“No, actually, I fell asleep on a tree branch, and fell off…” I left off.
Kiba started to laugh.
“You never cease to amuse me…” he muttered.
“So, what happened?” I asked, glancing at his sling.
“Would you like a full description of my injuries, or why I have them?” he said. I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
“Umm. How about both? In that order?” I asked.
“Sure. Ok let’s see, I have:
Bruises covering almost every inch of my body, a lump on my head the size of…”
He cast around for a good description, “Naruto’s ramenbowl of choice, I guess, various sized Cuts, mostly from tree branches, and my arm is fractured.” I chuckled. Naruto’s bowl of choice was actually a pot. A pot 2 ft high.
“I doubt it’s that big…” I said.
“Well, then here, have a look.” He bent down. Dang, that is pretty big. It’s the size of an apple. Well, can’t blame him for exaggerating. It probably feels that big.“Wow, it’s not that big, but it is the size of a good sized apple. That must hurt…What about Akamaru?” I asked, worry showing in my voice.
He’s fine, just a broken rib. Shikamaru had a pretty deep cut, and Ino escaped unscathed.” He laughed again. “Ino would probably say the reason for my injuries would be that Im so bullheaded. The closest thing to Naruto, and also, that Im a stubborn person.”
“Bullheaded?” I asked.
“I charge in without thinking.” He explained.
“Oh. Now, the summary.” I sorta asked/replied.
“OK.”

[Akimichi]

Nice! You should read my fan fic. I think i got a couple new chapters to post.

[animesuperfreak]

“That would have been a pretty good mission, if someone hadn’t rattled off her mouth every second.” Kiba asked Shikamaru. The threesome, Ino Yamanaka, Kiba Inuzuka and Shikamaru Nara, had just come back from an A-rank Mission, guarding a rain lord.
“Yeah, sure. It was ok.” Shikamaru said, sighing.
“Well, someone could’ve been a little more helpful! You know, like maybe you, Kiba!” Ino shot back.
“Yeah, yeah.” Kiba said. Akamaru started barking. Kiba started snickering.
Ino glanced at Kiba. “What?!”
“Nothin, nothin, it’s just that…” he left off. Kiba opened his mouth and took a breath as if to start a long explanation of what he was going to say. “Whoa, what was that?” he asked stopping.
“What was what?” Shikamaru asked, stopping too.
Ino just exhaled a breath. “He’s probably just showing off.” She huffed.
“No, I smelled something.” Kiba sniffed a leaf. “Yeah, 2 squads of shinobi, give or take a few, were by here, 5, maybe 7 minutes ago…” he straightened. “I can tell you one thing. They aren’t friendly; their hostility is so powerful I can smell it.”
Suddenly a wave of hostility washed around the trio.
Ino shuddered, Kiba tensed and looked at a particular spot in the darkness and Shikamaru drew a kunai.
From the dark came a load of Kunai.

“Aww dang it!! Come on Akamaru! Gatsuuga!” Kiba yelled, and jumped at the 10 shinobi who suddenly appeared out of the trees.
“Kiba!” Shikamaru cried.
“Don’t just rush in there, you imbecile!!!!” Ino yelled. “Ah, that idiot. Just like Naruto.” She muttered jumping into the foray.

Two mins later.

The trio were talking at an interval during the attack.

“What is with these guys? They hide their headbands, so we don’t know where their from.” Kiba complained.
“Yeah, well just have to try and get one.” Ino said, nodding.
“It looks like those three big ones are the ones to worry about. We want to take them from a distance.” Shikamaru explained.
“Right and I suppose that’s my job? Taking them from a distance?” ino interrupted.
“Kiba, you and I will give Ino backup, while taking out the smaller ones. Go for either unconsciousness, or dead.” Shikamaru finished, with a glance at the shinobi.
“Ok then, come on, lets go already.” Kiba said, always eager for a fight.

They jumped out of the trees and began attacking the mystery shinobi.
“Aww, come on. How unfair is this?” Kiba muttered, slashing the other shinobi.
Somehow, the arrangement had changed and Kiba was fighting the big leader and both of his sidemen. Ino was fighting three other shinobi and Shikamaru was fighting four.
He dodged a jab, and delivered an uppercut to the leader, temporarily putting him out of the picture. “Whoa! Gatsuuga!” Kiba said, and began using Fang over fang on the sidemen.
“Hah! Great!” He said as he took both sidemen at once out of the picture. He turned to the leader who was getting up.
“Man, it would be great if we had Neji here!” he told Shikamaru in a passing moment.
“Yeah!” Shikamaru agreed, taking out all four of his assailants at once with the Shadow paralysis.
“Whoa!” Kiba yelled, as he narrowly dodged a huge fist.
“Man, this guys got the punch to match Lady Hokage!” he thought, evading another huge punch. “Gatsuuga!” he cried and went at the leader.
The leader raised a huge fist, and jumped aside…
Aww, crud! Kiba thought. He was propelled upwards at the force of the kick, slammed into a tree; immense pain filled his arm – he started to fall…”hope Shikamaru catches me and Akamaru; I don’t have enough strength to land properly.” He thought. “Here’s my chance!” The big leader was turning around to deal with the others; “he thinks Im knocked out already!” Kiba noted, and delivered a slash with a kunai that cut his head off … and then everything went black.
“Whoa!” Shikamaru yelled, “Kiba!” He shunned to Catch Kiba’s unconscious body,
“I told him not to barge in there!” Ino complained as she went to catch Akamaru.
“Uhn! Got him!” Shikamaru grunted as he was propelled back several feet. “Musta been some kick.”
“What happened anyway?” Ino asked.
“The big guy managed to evade Kiba and Akamaru’s attack, then turned around and kicked both of them right under the chin.” Shikamaru explained.
“Ouch!” Ino winced. “That must have hurt.” She stroked Akamaru. “Anyway, look! One of their headbands fell off” She pointed. Sure enough, when Kiba sliced off his head, the headband had fallen off. Shikamaru sighed and went to pick it up.
“Well at least we won’t have to complain to one of the other villages.” Ino said, getting Akamaru into a more suitable position.
“Yeah, I suppose.” Shikamaru agreed, putting the headband in his pouch while hefting Kiba onto his back, being aware of his arm.
“We have to get these two to the village; it looks like Kiba’s arm is broken.”
They took off towards the village.
The headband had the rain symbol, with a slash through it.

End of flashback (wow, that was a long one wasn’t it?)

After he finished, we both lapsed in thought until Sakura came into the room, accompanied by Shikamaru.
“What’s the diagnosis, Doc?” Kiba joked. Sakura chuckled.
“As I thought, you do have a fracture in your skull. That shinobi must have kicked you pretty hard to crack your skull. Take these,” she handed Kiba a small bottle of pills, “for the headaches, and these,” she handed him an even smaller bottle, “for the pain and itchiness in your arm. Also, your arm was broken in 3 places; don’t do anything strenuous for a while.” She explained.
“Oh. Ok.” He nodded. “I can handle that, How’s Akamaru?” Kiba asked, worry showing in the way he held his gaze, and the way he repositioned himself on the hospital bed.
“He’s perfectly fine, except for a broken rib. It was broken in two places, both of you shouldn’t go on any missions for a while, 3 weeks at the least.” She said, with a glare at Kiba.
“That means absolutely no missions! I don’t care if it’s picking up trash for some deity! No missions! If you injure that arm even more you could seriously damage it permanently!” she said, the glare in her eyes a little scary.
“Ok, ok! I get it. No missions!” Kiba said waving his good arm around.
“Good.” Sakura said, and left the room.
Kiba and I exhaled a held breath. Shikamaru stepped out from behind the door.
“Wow, she’s on a roll today. So Kiba, I heard the rumors, and what sakura said, but you sure your ok?” Shikamaru asked.
“Yeah, I guess; Im not really in pain right now, I just wish Hana would get done with Akamaru so’s I can see him…” he left off.
“Oi!” I called, drawing their attention to me, “when does Kiba get out of the hospital?” I asked.
“Hmm? Oh, he’s just being held overnight. He can..”
I can go tomorrow? As in morning?!” Kiba interrupted, and pumped his fist. “yahoo! Awesome! Hey Miku, that means we can go do crap tomorrow! Hmmm, you can escort me home right?” he asked, out of breath. I chuckled.
“Yeah, sure!” I grinned. Then changed my grin into a glare.
“Whaaat?” Kiba asked, at my change in expression.
“Well, you made me worry! When I couldn’t find you, I went and asked sakura. She said you’d be back soon, but then you got hurt, and I fell asleep, and had some sort of dream that made me fall of the tree!” I blustered.
“Oh. Well don’t feel bad! I was worried about you the whole time! Well, when I wasn’t worrying about my teammates…but still, almost the whole time!” He stroked my head. I sighed.
“You know, this ruins my plans for tonight.” I exclaimed.
“Why?” he asked, still stroking my head.
“Because I was going to have you and Akamaru over for dinner…” I replied, sighing.
Kiba looked surprised. Suddenly the door burst open! In walked the original rookie nine. Well, Eight of them, since Kiba was in the hospital bed.
“Hey Kiba! How ya doin?”
“Yeah Kiba, are you ok?”
“Kiba!!!”
“You’re alive!”
I sighed. Kiba whispered a “cyu later!” and tickled my ear. I blushed and left, feeling a bit weird.
End of chapter 6

Chapter 7

7:00
After that, I went home and thought at the quickness at which Kiba and I had become friends. It had been what, three days since Kiba and I first talked face to face?
I sighed. “hmmm... I wonder?” I thought. I ran to the cupboard and got out two small objects. “bingo!” I muttered. I just needed to get one of these to Kiba, and it couldn’t wait.
I raced to the hospital... once again I found myself looking for Room 203. “Wait, there it is!” I thought.
I looked in thru the window; Kiba was asleep, and snoring( a little) I quickly left a note saying why I left the tiny piece of metal, and left.

Next morning 8:00
I woke up really early to go escort Kiba home; as he had asked me to. when I got to the hospital I had no trouble finding the room. Musta been all the practice... once again I looked in the window, and smiled. Kiba was sitting up and Talking to Akamaru. That meant Akamaru was fine. And well enough to walk. I found myself feeling really excited.... I fiddled with the little earpiece and carefully examined Kiba’s ear. He had put it in. my little plan was falling in place. I grinned and pressed the ‘talk’ button on my earpiece.
“Guess who?” I called. Inside the room Kiba started, and touched his earpiece.
“Wait, don’t tell me!” I heard. I opened the door, grinning.
Kiba chuckled. “I wondered how early you’d be here; I wasn’t expecting you this early.” I looked at him, it was obvious; he still had his PJ’s on.
I laughed. “what adorable PJ’s!” I exclaimed. He grimaced. His PJ’s had little Bones on them.
“yeah, they’re the only pair I have right now.”
“I think they’re cute!” I exclaimed, stroking them. “ugh!” Kiba said, making a face.
“What?” I asked.
“I haven’t had my PK yet... and Im not looking forward to it.”
“Oh, why? ”
Just then the door opened and Ino walked in.
“well, Kiba” she grinned. “Time for your PK!” she drew out a needle.
“O-Oh!” I stammered. “that’s why. Don’t worry!” I reached out and grabbed his hand.
Kiba gripped it as the half-inch-long needle went in his good arm.
“yowch! This hurts just as bad as when I got kicked in the head!” he said through gritted teeth.
“yeah, but it’ll kill the pain in your thick skull and your arm for the rest of the day.” Ino said, smirking.
When the needle was out, and Ino had left; with a cheery ‘your Checkout time is in 5 minutes’. We decided to leave.

[animesuperfreak]

* * *
9:00am
On the way to Kiba’s house Kiba started to talk about an upcoming mission Tsunade had assigned him.
“Wait; didn’t Sakura say ’no missions for three weeks’?” I asked, stopping on a rooftop.
“Yeah, she did, but Tsunade is talking about when my arm gets better” he said, also stopping on a branch.
“Oh. Ok then…does it hurt much?”
“Nah, not really, only where the needle went in.” he said, glancing at the bruise.
“Ah, so, what mission is it?”
“Something about finding out why those rogue rain ninja attacked us, and well, um, Im not really sure…” he said, fidgeting. “Hey, look at that!” he said pointing.
“Hmm? What?”
Kiba was pointing at the top of my head. I started laughing. I had become so accustomed to Akamaru, I hadn’t noticed when he had climbed on my head and started to sleep.
“That means he’s comfortable around you!” Kiba exclaimed, grinning.
“R-really? I stammered.
“Yeah, it’s really --- huh? Hmmm, it seems Ten-Ten is following us, probably to see if we do anything.” Kiba said, grinning evilly.
“You rascal!” I said, grinning back. “What do u have planned?”
“What do u say” he held out his hand “to taking a detour?” I laughed. “Sure!”

* * *
I sighed. “Did we lose her yet?”
“Uh… yeah! We lost her about two minutes ago.”
“Then why are we still running?”
“I-I well, umm, I kinda like spending time with you…”
I shook my head. “Silly! You know you coulda just asked…”
Kiba gave me a funny look. It looked like the face you get when you’re trying to decide something.
“Yeah, yeah, hey, can I show you something really cool?”
“Ummm, ok!”
We turned and headed away from the path, through the trees.

9:15
Eventually we stopped, and Kiba gently took my arm and led me through a hidden pathway in the bushes.
“Wow!!!” I gasped. The bushes had opened up to a cozy hideaway, only big enough for maybe five people. Lining it were trees and bushes. Covering the ground were some pretty flowers; of which I didn’t know the name. It was the prettiest thing id ever seen!
“This is…”
“Amazing?” Kiba finished. “This is just about the best place in the world to spend your alone time. The only person that knows about this place is my sister.” Kiba said, reverently.
“Why your sister?”
“When I was real little, I spent a lot of time here, admiring nature and learning about it. She would always be the one sent to look for me when it got dark, or stormy. And this is where she almost always found me.” He leaned back against a mighty oak.
I sat next to him.
“Do you still spend time here?”
“Not enough.” was the immediate answer.
I gently lifted Akamaru from my head, and set him into my lap. I glanced at Kiba. He was sitting against the oak with his eyes closed.
“Mmmm. It’s always so peaceful here.” He took off his jacket and made it into a pillow. “Yeah… I wonder what time it is?” I mused.
“Hmmm. Probably time that we should get back, huh?”
“Yeah, I wish we could spend more time here, together.” I said, sighing. Akamaru snuggled up against my chest. “He is such a cutie when he’s sleeping!” I exclaimed.
“Ya know, you’re a lot different when you’re with your teammates and when you’re just with one other person.” I noted.
“Probably because when Im with other people, I usually have to prove a point, or because I like to actually have fun mixed in with ‘work’. Unlike some people, I enjoy it.” Kiba replied, shrugging.
“‘Some people’? Like who?” I asked.
“Well for starters, there’s Shino. He takes everything seriously. And then there’s Neji. He teaches you, so I don’t really have to explain. Now Lee? There’s a guy who mixes things together. It’s hard to tell if he’s all fun, or all work.” Kiba explained.
I interrupted. “To me, it seems like he has fun doing work.”
“Yeah, I suppose that’s another option. Shikamaru’s kinda hard to read, so’s Sakura. Chouji has fun with his work too, he just does it a different way….” He lapsed into silence, thinking.
Wow, he reads people well. So far, I’ve learned a lot about him and akamaru.
He should probably get home though…he really is a different person when he doesn’t have to prove something. I wonder if Im the first person who’s told him that… I thought.
Thunk!
“Hmm? what was that?” I glanced at Kiba and started to laugh.
“Kiba? Kiiiba? Kiba!” I called softly at the sleeping form. I shook my head and patted his head. “Kiba!”
“Hmm? Mom! Five more minutes!” he grumbled sleepily.
I shook my head again and patted him on the shoulder.
“Oi! Sleepyhead! Wake up! If your going to sleep, we should get you home first!” I said, half yelling.
“Huh? Oh! Darn it! I fell asleep didn’t I? Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep at the hospital, it smelled really weird, and one of the nurses kept coming in to check on me; if I was asleep, she’d wake me up. That was probably every hour. ” Kiba said, sitting up.
“Yep! That sucks! Come on, you should get home!” I said, grinning, and pulling Kiba up.
“Oh ok, only because Im tired!”
End of Chapter 7

Chapter 8.
next day 1:30pm

I yawned, climbing out of bed. “Wow, glad I didn’t have anything to do today…” I muttered.
“Why is it I always sleep really late?” I said to myself. I thought about that until I seen something by my window. Huh? What was that? I went to my window and looked out of it. “What is that?” I mumbled. I went outside in my PJ’s and poked it. It was a basket, the ones that usually deliver kittens to someone’s doorstep.
I picked it up with one hand and lifted the cover…I gasped. Inside were my favorite type of muffins; Blueberry. “Mmmm. Breakfast!” I looked at the tag.

Hey, bet you know who this is from. There not only from me because the first batch I tried to make burned…Hana helped me with the second batch and she sends her ‘greetings’.
How about going to the little spot in my mind today? Say, 6:00?
Kiba & Akamaru (and Hana)
Wow. I could imagine him snickering at the last part, and looking puzzled at why the first batch didn’t smell right, I wondered; with his nose, how could they burn?
I picked a muffin up and tasted it. Ooo! It tasted really, really good. I walked into the house and commenced to eat the muffins.

4:00pm
“Aww! He gave you muffins! That is so sweet, but wow, can you actually imagine Kiba in the kitchen with an apron on taking muffins out of the oven?” Ten-ten said.
I was talking with Ten-ten in a little spot on the rooftops, not unlike the plaza; it usually had a couple people there at any given time.
“Um, yeah, I can.” I replied, a little miffed, because it sounded like she was criticizing.
“Oh.”
“Have you had any luck with Neji?” I said, changing the subject.
“No! He’s really hard to get through to! I mean, he’s really perceptive, but try talking to him about some everyday things and he’s pretty, well, ya know?”
“Not really. Do you mean he doesn’t think about having a home life?”
“Sorta, I guess. He’s always on some mission, Im thinking of asking Lady Tsunade about banning him from missions for a while.”
“Hah! Good luck with that! She probably won’t even think about it, unless it would benefit the village. You’ll have to come up with a good argument, something like ‘Neji spends so much time on missions, he doesn’t get any sleep! Wouldn’t that make him a danger to his fellow comrades?’ something like that. Also, it might help immensely if you could bribe her…” I said slyly.
“Wow, that might actually work…hmmm, ok then, I think ill add more to your argument and talk to her later…ill see you later Miku! And thanks!” she left in the direction of the Hokage’s study.
I started to head to my house and then thought better of it. I haven’t gone swimming in a while, and I know of just the place! I thought. I went home and grabbed my suit.

4:30 * * *
“Ahhh” I sighed, easing my body into the heated water of a nifty little spring id found a little while away from the village.
“Uum. This fells heavenly!” I muttered stretching.
I played with the straps on my Tankini and thought for a while.
“Hmm… that little place in the bushes is an awesome little place. Kiba said that I was the only person besides his sister who’d ever seen it. That’s really cool. I guess that means he trusts me completely. I wonder if it had anything to do with Akamaru sleeping on my head… I wonder how many times in the future we’ll go to that pretty little spot. Maybe...What was that?” I’d heard a rustle in the bushes. I looked at a particular bush and grabbed my holster form a rock. "If it’s an enemy, ill be ready.” I thought. For maybe 10 minutes, everything was silent. I glanced at the woods. “Maybe it was a fox or a badger…” I thought, uneasily.
Five more minutes passed and I shrugged and sagged into the water. I swam around, not knowing what to do. “What should I do? Should I go home out of fright? Or stay and possibly get hurt?” I thought.
I decided I would stay. I dived underwater and spotted a couple of shuriken shaped oddly; I grabbed one and went to the surface. It was shaped like a star, sort of anyway; it had five points. And it was white around the edges; I guessed it was some form of weird rust. Or maybe it was just like that. I stared at it trying to remember where id seen it before…

Flashback

I stared at the man and women; the man was laying on the ground, with various weapons in him. And the women who it just looked like was extremely sick, if it weren’t for the blood pouring out of her chest.
I walked over to the man, tears welling up in my eyes. “Dad! Mom!” someone was calling. I realized it was me. So those two people were my parents. I walked over to a patch of shuriken. They were five pointed, that meant not my parents shuriken. I looked over to another body, this one was cut to pieces, but I noticed the headbands odd symbol. “What is that?” I wondered. It had four odd lines, with a slash through the odd symbol, I committed it to memory. I traced it, and I heard a rush through the trees. I walked over to my parents bodies and sat down next to them, crying softly.
I heard someone coming and turned around. It was a weird man! He had a scary face! It was white, and had weird swirls through it. His hair was weird too! It was white and fluffy and went to one side. His outfit was really weird too, almost all black with a lot of buckles and straps.
He turned, surveying the site and I seen a Tattoo on his shoulder. He walked toward me.
“Who are you?” I asked.
I stuck the tip of my pinky in my mouth.
“Why are you here?
I started to cry when he didn’t answer.
“Talk to me!” I cried.
He bent down, and said,
“My name is classified, and I’m Anbu Black Op’s of Konoha. Now little girl, why are you here and what is your name?”
He had a scary yet comforting voice, and it felt like I should answer.
“Im here because those,” I pointed to my parents, “are my mommy and daddy and my name is Miku! Can you make my mommy and daddy better?” I asked.
He shook his head and said “no, where do you live?”
“I don’t know! Im only three!” I held up three fingers. “And, you…can’t… make them better? Why?! Why cant you?! You have to make them better!” I yelled, throwing a tantrum. I broke down and lay on the ground, crying. Eventually I heard voices talking.
“Could this get any worse?” a deep voice said.
“No, probably not.” Another medium voice said.
“What do we do with the little girl? She’s got no parents now. How old is she again?”
“She’s three.” The familiar voice said; I recognized it because it was the first person who asked me my name.
“What’s her name anyway?” the deep voice said.
The familiar voice said “her names ‘Miku’ and we should probably bring her to the third.”
“Yeah, your right” the medium voice said.
I was gently picked up and put somewhere, where I fell asleep.

End of Flashback



I remembered now. It was that weird shuriken, and i realized it must have been a ‘rain shuriken’ one that only shinobi from the rain use.
“Crap! What time is it?! I glanced at my watch. “oh good.” I sighed. It was only 5:35.
I hurried to my house and got dressed in my regular outfit. Then I packed a dinner; Bonito, chicken soup and biscuits. (not the dog kind!) Then I went to Kiba’s house.

5:50
As I sat waiting, Kiba came out of the house, with Akamaru on his head.
He sniffed and said
“What is that scrumptious smell?” he glanced at the Basket I was holding.
“did you pack a lunch?” he asked incredously.
I grinned. “yep! Bonito, soup and biscuits”
“cool!” Kiba exclaimed grinning.
“okay let’s go” I said while hopping off into the trees
“Hey wait up” Kiba cried after me.
When we got to the cozy little hideaway we both sat down o logs that weren’t there the last time. “You changed it didn’t you” I asked beaming with delight.
“Mmmm…. Just a little bit.” He calmly replied while leaning against a mighty oak tree.
“Just for you” he whispered, stroking my head with his good arm.
I shuddered. “Ooo, that feels good…”
“What, this?” He stroked my head and neck again.
i sighed. “yeah. That. it feels wonderful… you give the best neck rubs…”
“how many have you had?”
“well, none actually. I never had friends before I turned 6.”
“no friends? That must have been harsh…do you know why?”
“somewhat. When I was little I was found in the woods, with, well, see, my parents and I were on a picnic-type-thing, when something happened. Im not really sure, Im just getting parts of it back. I remember sadness and a white haired man in an Anbu outfit. And… my… parents.. dead. people think I killed them because the real information was never released. It was actually rogue rain shinobi on the rampage. I learned that when I turned seven.”

“oh.” Kiba’s eyes shifted and he held me close. “you poor thing… all alone.”
He paused. “Wait, rain shinobi? Rogue rain shinobi? do ya remember what they looked like?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.
“not yet. Im hoping I will sooner or later, I wonder why I only started remembering when I met you?”
I sighed.
“maybe it’s because you’re actually having fun? And forgetting about your troubles when you’re with me? You seem more… relaxed when you are around me, or Shikamaru, Ten-Ten or Lee. When you’re with older people like Kakashi, you’re less relaxed, you’re more alert.” Kiba inquired.
“yeah, that seems right. Every time I even hear of the Anbu I remember something.”
“ok then. Hey, are you hungry? The food is starting to smell really good.”
“actually, yes. Let’s eat!” I grabbed the basket and brought out the pot of soup, the biscuits and the Bonito.
“here!” I handed him a bowl and a plate with a biscuit and some Bonito.
“yum!” Kiba took a bite. “this is good! Is it homemade?”
“Yeah, everthing is except the Chicken in the soup.”
“You really are a good cook!” he grinned evilly. “you’ll make someone a good wife.”
I gaped. Did I just hear what I thought I heard?
I finished off the rest of my food, and then Kiba handed me his bowl.
“more please!”-
“more? Is it that good?”
“yeah!”
The rest of dinner went like that, until we heard a rustling.
Kiba looked at me and put a finger to his lips. “shhh.”
I looked on as he stuck his head out of the bushes.

“Owww! Hey, don’t do that! I have a fragile head right now! You could have just called me instead of eavesdropping!”

“there you are! Shoulda known you’d be here. Mom wants you home; you have a curfew!” whoever it was continued to talk until Kiba said
“ok, ok! I get it, ill head home when it’s 10!” I heard him say. He stuck his head back in.
“who was that?” I asked, cocking my head.
“my sister.” Kiba grumbled.
“Your sister? Why was she here? And why did you say ‘Oww’?”
“for one, as soon as I stuck my head out, she hit me! And two, she told me I have to head home, apparently I have a curfew until my arm and head are healed.” He explained.
“A curfew? Till what time?”
Kiba grinned. “ten-thirty.” He said, calmly, still grinning.
“T-ten-thirty?! What time is it now?”
“Only nine. She was just reminding me.”
“Nine?! Whoa!”
“Yeah, I know, ‘Time flies when your having fun.’”
I laughed. “You are!”
He looked puzzled. “I am? What am i?”
“you are really fun to be around!!!”
“I am? Seriously?”
“Why do you find it hard to believe?”
“because other people have told me time and again that Im annoying jerk, and that Im the least likely to have someone say that.”
“oh. Other people being Ino?”
“and Neji.” He sighed.
“I was getting kind of lonesome. I mean, just me and Akamaru, there are some things you just cant do.”
“oh.” We both thought for a minute.
“am I the first person you told?” Kiba suddenly asked.
“told? You mean the thing about my parents?”
“yeah. That. It must have been pretty bad. I mean, sometimes siblings can be jerks, and parents can be strict, but it all comes down to this; if they suddenly disappeared, you’d die of loneliness.”
“yeah, you’re right. And yes, you’re the first person ive ever told, though I think the Anbu remember... it would be hard to forget the look on the my face.”
“earlier, when you said you remembered something, a ‘white haired man in an Anbu outfit’... what did that man look like? Was his hair really big?” Kiba asked.
“yeah, how’d you know? Now that I think about it, he had poofy fluffy hair, and it all went to one side. Why?” I exclaimed.
“I think... I think that man might have been Kakashi.”
“What?” I exclaimed, surprise emanating from me; Kakashi always kept his distance from me. Now that I thought about it, maybe he didn’t want me to make the connection.
“but Kakashi never was in the Anbu! I think… was he?” I mused.
“Actually, he was. Because Im rising up the ranks in Konoha, I have access to more and more information.”
“oh. That’s cool! Hmmm, maybe, when your arms healed, we can go together and Kill those rogue ninja!” I exclaimed.
“yeah! But first, I gotta get home for the…Curfew… aww crud!”
He whispered a hurried ‘goodbye’ and left.
“goodbye?” I sighed and left the hideaway.
“wow! It sure is dark. And windy; I guess the weather doesn’t really penetrate it either. Hmmm… whoa!” I exclaimed as I pitched forward, and hit my head on something. “ow!” I rubbed my head and scowled at the wind.
“Stupid wind!” ‘BOOM’ “what the? What! No! Dang it!” with the peal of thunder, a torrent of rain had come sweeping down.
I made the rest of the way home in the rain; when i got there, i noticed it was 11:30; wow, kiba must have been way past his curfew, no wonder he had to leave in a hurry! i climbed into bed and immediatly fell asleep.

[interval]

The next three weeks pass in a blur, pretty much because Kiba was under house arrest until his arm healed, because he missed his curfew, and partly because he had agitated his arm. Miku visited him daily and brought him lots of pie, and kept him company.

---one week------------two weeks--------------three weeks---
[end interval]

7 rogue rain shinobi sat around their leader; a slim ‘lady’ who had a mean disposition. Her hair is emerald Green. and she has a gray and brown Camo jumpsuit, as she usually does her work during the interval between day and night; twilight. They were in a shoddy little house in the woods, it was the house of the first people she had killed.
“so, you failed! You failed to annihilate these leaf ninja. Why did I not see it coming... all of you, out of my sight!” as the ninja filed away, she muttered to herself.
“the one with the dog might prove interesting to see in action…we have yet to see the girl in battle…hmmm. Maybe we need to do something…more…Killing her parents was not enough to in still revenge…”
She was interrupted by one of her best men, a black haired man by the name of Shikashi.
“Lady Makoshi?”
“yes what is it? This better be good, because I was thinking!” she snapped.
Shikashi flinched.
“it is mi’lady! Our sources say the two are going together! As in Boyfriend/Girlfriend! This could mean the perfect opportunity!”
“BF/GF? Thank you Shikashi. You may go, and have one of those servants cater to your every whim for the rest of the day. You have done well.” She replied, her voice as smooth as silk. “hmmm…this is wonderful!”
She began to think up a plan…
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[animesuperfreak]

chapter 9

12:00pm
“Ahh! Finally! The wait is over!” Miku jumped out of bed, got ready and hurried over to Kiba’s house.
Kiba was standing out in front, Akamaru sitting next to him.
“Wow, I can finally leave my own home!!!” Kiba exclaimed, grinning.
“I know!” I grinned back, and started laughing. “Come on, let’s go someplace more remote!”
We left to a more secluded spot; that cozy little spot in the woods, where one cannot be overheard.
“Ya know, in all the time I’ve known you, I know you well, but I don’t know you really well…”
“What are you getting at?” I asked, grinning; for I already knew.
“What do you like? What are your hobbies, desires, and astrological sign? All that crap.”
“Oh, Ummm let me think.”
“.......are you done?”
“Yep, ok. Here goes!” *takes deep breath*
“I was born I don’t know where, and my birthday is 2/22/92.
I was also born year of the monkey, and my sign is Pisces. My hobbies are Reading, chatting with friends, and I have an affinity for tall things. My desires are to see my parent’s killers dead, and ...other things. I was orphaned at the age of three, as I told you, and I have some idea who my parents killers are.” I said in a huff. I was pretty sure it sounded like I’d recited it.
“Whoa! Was that all in one breath?” Kiba said, grinning.
“Yeah, it was, did you ask Tsunade when we can go on a mission together?”
“Yeah, umm, she said I have to wait 1...more...day...Gah!!! Why can’t we go now?! I want to get more info on the people that killed your parents!!!” he chuckled. “So I can ‘help’ you bring them up to speed on what they did. In other words, so I can rub their faces in the dirt, and scream at them...” he chuckled.
“Oh...why would you scream at them?”
“Well, for one thing, they hurt you...and for another, well, they killed your parents didn’t they? So they pretty much don’t deserve to live. Also, I have a hunch.” Kiba smiled.
“A hunch? What do you mean?”
“Well, when you remember what they looked like, ill either have my hunch proved wrong...or right. Im thinking that these rain shinobi that attacked your parents are the same ones that attacked me and the others. Also, if Im right, that means I have a score to settle.” He grinned.
“Wow! That is a good hunch. Maybe...Nah.” I grinned knowing Kiba would ask.
Sure enough, “what?”
“I was thinking that Tsunade might let us go on our own. When we go to hunt the rain? What do think? Maybe?” I asked, frowning.
“She might...if she has to give us another partner; I hope we can pick him/her.”
“Hmmm...Who would you choose?”
“I would probably choose...maybe Hinata? I mean, she’s gotten pretty powerful, and she gets along with me pretty well. It might give you a good chance to get to know her. Also, she has Byakugan. That might come in use.”
“Yeah, we might also choose Sakura. If one of us gets hurt...” I left off.
“She could help. Also, she has strength that almost matches lady Tsunade” Kiba finished.
“Hey! You finished my sentence! And also, she’s ummm, well, supportive of us. You know?” I called.
“You mean us? As in us together? Awesome! That means she’ll let us have alone time!”
“Huh? Oh! Yeah your right...that’ll be cool. Maybe instead of us two, we should have four.”
“Hmmm...Yeah, I guess.” Kiba frowned. “Maybe if we suggest it, she’ll let us?”
“Maybe...” I thought about it. “Yeah, if we catch her in a good mood...are we just going to sit outside her door until she’s in a good mood? Hmmm...”
Kiba nodded. “We might just have to do that...and if we do catch her in a good mood, well, we’ll be lucky. She’s rarely in a good mood. Maybe we can go now?”
“Ummm, sure! Let’s go. Hey, if we get caught eavesdropping then I really hope she’s in a good mood...”
“Ooo...Yeah...”
We decided to go drop in on Lady Tsunade later that night, because we heard she was nicer then.

“It would seem she’s in a good mood today. Probably because the new shipment of paperwork is running late.” Shizune was talking to Kiba and I. “she doesn’t really like paperwork.”
A bell dinged.
“She’s ready now. You had better go. And heaven forbid that the shipment should arrive while you’re talking to her...” she left, still mumbling.
Kiba grimaced. “She’s sorta weird...”
“Who, Shizune?” I asked.
“Yeah, she has to be, if she hangs out with Lady Tsunade all the time. I bet her nerves are frayed...” he left off as we walked into the Hokage’s Study.

"Yes, what is it?"
lady Tsunade was sitting at her desk, which was empty of paperwork. we both breathed a sigh of relief.
“We were wondering, if for the mission tomorrow, we could request Hyuuga Hinata and Haruno Sakura as part of the team?”
“Possibly. Do you have good reasons for specifically wanting them?” Tsunade asked.
“Hinata is gotten pretty powerful, and she has Byakugan. That will come in use. If one of us gets hurt, she could help. Also, she has strength and willpower.” We both said in unison, and then grinned at each other.

“Hmmm...Well”, she stood up, “I suppose. Im in a good mood right now, and you had better catch them before I change my mind and assign them on a mission."
Shizune walked in the door quietly; she carried an armload of paperwork, sending glances at us that said 'get out! i have paperwork! You don’t want to be here!'
we glanced at Tsunade; her face looked as if she might start yelling any minute. we left quickly. Sure enough; "more paperwork?! Why cant the village take care of itself! Who cares about an infestation of termites in the east corner?!"
We heard something crash against the wall, and the door flew open.
"Whew! Im glad you guys got out in time." she chuckled. "She hates the paperwork, but she loves the village. You can’t do both!" she walked down the hallway.
Kiba and i both sighed.
"Guess we better go see Hinata and Sakura." Kiba exclaimed.
Yeah, the lady's in a bad mood now. she might change her mind..." i agreed.

“Oi! Hinata!” Kiba called.
We were standing outside Hinata’s and Neji’s house.
The door opened and Hinata came out, looking cautious.
“Yes? Oh! H-hi Kiba! Umm,” she looked at me. “Y-you are Miku right?”
“Yeah, nice to meet you.” I said. (Believe it or not, this is the first time they’ve actually met.)
Just then, Neji walked up to us.
“Is this a regular friend meeting, or is it a business type meeting?” he inquired.
“Business.” Kiba responded coldly. “Hinata, would you like to come with us on a mission? It might be a long one, with plenty of danger and mystery.”
“um,...what is...”
“Hinata, you are ready for this? You are still weak. And...” Neji interrupted.
“Hey Neji! She’s trying to talk! Let her finish!” Kiba responded hotly. “Listen, when someone speaks, don’t interrupt! Especially if it’s a girl!”
“well maybe if someone wasn’t a hypocrite, and wasn’t so...!”
“Im a hypocrite?! Back off, Ten-ten tries to get you talk about things non-work related, and you don’t care! Maybe...!”
I could see this was going to come to blows soon. Both of them were in their fighting stances.
“hey! Hey you two! Stop it!” I yelled. I glanced at Hinata. She was looking at the ground.
“Hotheaded buffoon!”
“Ya know what? I know what your condition is called!”
“What condition?! I don’t have a condition!”
“Yeah you do! It’s called a superiority complex!”
I sighed. Kiba was the only person I knew who could get under Neji’s composure...at this point Kiba was holding his fist up to Neji’s face.
“HEY!!!! CUT IT OUT!!!!” I screamed.
Both heads turned. I glared at both of them.
“what? They both said in unison.
“Stop. Fighting. Now. Or I will be forced to hurt you both.”
Neji grinned. “You beat me? You can’t even beat me when we spar.”
“Su-pe-rior-ity com-plex” Kiba muttered under his breath.
Now I was getting angry. I ignored him and turned to Hinata who was drawing little scribbles in the dirt. “Hinata, will you come with us on the mission?”
“Oh! Um, ok, ill be there. What time?”
“8:00am.”
I turned towards Neji and Kiba; who were almost at blows again. “Ok, face it Neji, you do have a superiority complex. Kiba, you are sometimes hotheaded, though only around Neji. Most of the time.” Both of them frowned.
“but” Kiba started to say.
“NO BUTS!”
I glared at them again.
Still glaring; mostly at Neji, I said “let’s go Kiba.”
To make it short, we arrived at Sakura’s house in a few minutes.
1:45pm

“Hey, how are you, Miku? Oh, and you’ve got Kiba with you!” She nodded. “That’s cool.”
“Yeah I know! Hey I, well, we were wondering if you wanted to come with us on a mission.”
“It’ll be full of danger and excitement!” Kiba piped up.
“Sure! But who all is going?”
“Us two and Hinata...its tomorrow at 8:00am.” I volunteered.
“Oh! Hmmm, 8, huh? Well, count on me to be there! How long might this mission take, and what does it involve?”
“This mission might take any amount of time, but most certainly 3 days.” I said with a smile. I was finally going to confront the people who orphaned me.
“You know how Miku was brought to the village with no parents?” Kiba asked Sakura.
“Yeah, her parents were killed weren’t they?” Sakura questioned.
“Yep. We think the shinobi who attacked me and the ones who killed miku’s parents are one and the same. This mission involves us four going out, finding them, and dragging one of them back, or if that’s not possible”—Kiba grinned—“killing them.”
“Whoa. That’s a good theory!” Sakura grinned. “Im glad I was picked for this particular mission. Ill be glad to help!”

And with that note, We left to get supplies.

At a random store. 2:00

“Do we need this?” I asked Kiba, holding up a roll of parchment, and some pens.
Kiba thought for a minute. “Nah. But we might need this.” he held up a bag of Hyroagan. [The pills he used when he was fighting Naruto in the preliminaries; the ones that made his senses increase]
“definitely! And these!” I held up some rolls of toilet paper.
“Oh! Good call. Well definitely need that. You know, ive never seen you fight. I almost did today though.”
“Huh? Almost? And my fighting style is sorta, well, weird.” I picked up a bottle of Ibuprofen and put it in my bag.
“when you were yelling at me and Neji, I seriously thought you were gonna lose it. And ‘weird’? what do you mean by that?” he grabbed a Frisbee and tossed it into my bag.
“i mean, you’ll see when we fight those rain shinobi! Come on, lets go. We need to go to the Emporium next.”

i updated.

[kiba11394akamaru]

um...................hello

[animesuperfreak]

hey! whad did ya think?

[mystic--]

oooo
nice
;]

[animesuperfreak]

I picked up the huge bag of stuff and paid for it.
Then we left.

2:15
“Why Hello! It’s nice to see you here Miku! And with Kiba too! You’re a regular, Im not surprised to see you here. Now Miku, you’re not the fighting type, what brings you here?” the shop owner was talking to both of us while we roamed about, picking up various weapons, like those 3-pointed kunai, exploding tags and smoke bombs.
“well, it’s a long story and ill tell it to you later, or ill leave a note for you later.” I explained.
“it involves a possible three-day mission, and killing, or incapacitating some low-down-stinking rogue rain shinobi. Kiba scowled, then looked thoughtful. “what about these?” he asked me, holding up some homing kunai. [Kunai that has a tag wrapped around it, making them able to home in on what ever you put on the tag]
“Ooo, yeah, and how about some of these?” I held up some little blue glass-like balls.
[Used in the movie; Ninja Clash in the Land Of Snow]
“Hmmm...Those little ice balls could be dangerous.” Kiba grinned; a twinkle in his eyes.
“Yeah, definitely. Especially if we throw them at an encampment of rain shinobi.” I said, grinning; a twinkle also in my eyes.
“Ooo! These could be interesting to see in action!” I pointed at a bin of scrolls. The bin said ‘Imprisonment scrolls.’ “They will come in handy.” I exclaimed, picking up three and putting them in my bag.
“I think that’s most of what we need! We might have to take a shot at the food pavilion to grab some food, but then I think we are ready.”

* * *

After we finished ‘shopping’ we went to the cove; which is that little spot, to review our inventory.

“lets see, 20 Kunai each, 20 shuriken each, 40 ice balls, 3 imprisonment scrolls, 15 exploding tags each, 2 bags of Hyroagan, 10 homing kunai each, lots of food, a large bottle of Ibuprofen, toilet paper, 3 tents, 4 large cushions, and 1 medium cushion” I picked up or pointed to, each item as I said it. The cushions were for us to sleep on, and Akamaru too. He’d had a growth spurt during the 3 weeks, and was now up to my thighs. I glanced at him, he was sleeping, and Kiba was checking out the tent; we’d managed to set it up there.

“It appears big enough for the two of us, including akamaru. If the other tents are this big, then we sure don’t need to worry about people space and storage space for all these weapons.” He patted my head. I cocked my head, and gazed at him. He really is different when he’s not around a lot of people, I thought.
“Yeah, I think we forgot something though.” I said, tapping the bag of kunai.
“huh? Whad we forget?”
I grinned. “to tell the others we bought tents. And bed-cushions. And food.”
“Oi! That stinks! We should go tell them...”
“Nah, you go tell them, and is this spot where we are all meeting? At 8 tomorrow?”
“Huh? No, it’s at the gates.”
“maybe you should tell them that too.”
“Oh, Good idea.” He snickered and left.
As soon as I left, i regretted him leaving on his own...i hoped he didn’t run into Neji while he was talking to Hinata.... I busied myself with figuring out where everything should go.


Meanwhile...

“Yes! Yes! Ive figured it out!” Makoshi cried in triumph.
“Shikashi! Come!”
Shikashi hurried into the little room. “Yes, Milady?”
“Ive got it. The plan. We leave several ‘things’ around that show them they are on the right track. And then we-”
“Umm, lady? My source says the 2 leave the village tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? I already know that, you idiot. Now, when they come thinking they are going to catch us off guard, we will all act like we don’t know what’s happening. We run away, supposedly in retreat. And we ‘accidently’ leave a couple of maps around, telling where we always head in case of an ambush. But of course, what the maps say won’t be the right place. They'll head there, thinking they'll get us this time, but it won’t work! We will leave an ambush there, and when they come, BAM!” she clapped her hands together.
“very good milady! One of your best plots yet!
“yes, yes, I know. It is rather good isn’t it?” She said, tapping the arm of the chair she was sitting in.
“Now. Go and round up Lank, Pionshu, and Jipansho. Tell them to report here immediately. Also, grab Sicatran. Tell her to wait in my private quarters. That is all.”

[end of meanwhile](LOL)


[another meanwhile]
“Hinata? Where are you?” Kiba strode down the long pathway that lead to the Hyuuga Compound.
“K-Kiba-san? Im over here!” Hinata walked around the first building.
“did you f-forget something?”
“Yeah, Miku says to tell you that we already got tents, bed-cushions and food.”
Kiba glanced at Hinata. She’s stopped stuttering lately, I guess it’s because Naruto’s not been around, He thought.
“Is that all, Kiba-san?” Hinata asked, startling Kiba out of his thoughts.
“Huh? Yeah it is.” Kiba replied, rubbing the back of his head.
“Hey, do you think Neji has a complex?” he suddenly asked, whispering.
“W-what? Ummm, mm, well, no ,yes,” Hinata did that weird finger tic, and suddenly...
“Thwack*!
“Owww! Hey, who the hell hit me?” Kiba asked, turning around. end of ch 9

[graceluvsnaruto]

omg i love it!!! 100/100!
MORE MORE MORE!

[animesuperfreak]

chapter 10
Chapter 10

3:00

“what, may I ask, are you doing here? Bothering Lady Hinata? Well. What a surprise.”
“N-Neji!” Hinata stammered.
Neji sat on one of the steps of the nearest building. In his hand were several rocks.

“What do you want? To come bicker some more? No thanks, I have important stuff to do, not squabble like a 4-yr old.” Kiba said, smirking.
“I was just telling Hinata a couple more details for the mission tomorrow.”
Neji’s eyes narrowed, like he was glaring at Kiba, and as he glanced around, and he jumped away over the rooftops.
Kiba exhaled a breath.
“Phew. That came close to a fight. Wonder what that look was for. You ok, Hinata?”
“yeah, and... I think... you are right. In what you said earlier.” She turned and walked away.
Kiba cocked his head. “huh. Someone finally acknowledges that...” he smiled and went to get Sakura.

As he walked up too Sakura’s house, he noticed that her garden was taller then the house.
“Whoa. That’s one huge Herb garden. Sakura? Where are you?” he asked, walking around to the back.
“Hey Kiba! Im up here!” Sakura’s voice drifted down from the rooftop.
Kiba looked up and seen that Sakura was sitting on the roof with a little trowel in hand.
“just taking up some of the plants that seeded on the roof. Ill be down in a minute, I want to talk to you!” she called.

Talk to me? Why? Kiba asked himself.

She hopped nimbly down in three steps.

“So, was it you, or Miku that suggested this mission?” she asked.
“It was Miku. We were discussing a dream she had, and it just came up. Why?
“Just wondering. Why are you here?”
“I was just sent to tell you that Miku and I have already taken care of the food, Bedding, and tents. So what’s with the...” Kiba glanced at Sakura. It looked like she was dying to ask a question. “What?”
“So when are you guys gonna...ya know? Hook up?” she asked.
Kiba grinned. “You’ll see. All’s I can say is...soon. So, what’s up with the huge garden?”
“Its for Lady Tsunade. Because she’s my mentor, I have to grow all the herbs for the healing poultices and stuff like that.”
“oh. By the way, in case I forgot to tell you, we meet at 8:00pm at the gates.
“OK! Cya then!” She turned and hopped back onto the roof.

“ok. Cya then!
Urg, I gotta get back.” Kiba muttered. He started back to the cove.

On the way
3:30

“hmm, ill just grab some Ramen.” He stopped at the shop and grabbed 3 orders of Pork ramen to go.
“Heh Heh, Miku’s gonna love this.”
Soon he was just a figure, carrying 3 boxes of ramen, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Miku yawned. When is he going to get back? I hope he didn’t run into trouble, she thought.
All of the weapons were stored in a backpack, and the food and tents were stored in another. She yawned again. Maybe ill just take a little nap...


[dream]

3-yr old Miku runs through the meadow, chasing after the butterflies.
“Heh Heh, Im sure ill get one this time!” she cried.
She jumped and---
“I got one! I got one!” she looked at the pretty red and gold colors in her hand. “Oh!” she cried, as the butterfly flew out of her hand and onto her face. “wow! Whoa! Hey! Come back!” she said, jumping after it. She grinned. She had caught it again. “I gotta go show mommy!!!” She ran off, towards the cabin and meadow that was her home.


The scene shifted and Miku stood in front of an old man, with a goatee and gray-brown hair.

“So, little Miku, Do you know what happened?” the man asks.
“N-no. who are you? You’re old enough to be my grandpa! But he went bye-bye and mommy told me he was in the sky! Have you been to the sky?” Miku laughed. As sad as she was, this man made her laugh.
He laughed too.
“no, I haven’t been to the sky, Miku. But, your parents are in the sky now. Do you have a grandma? Or and aunt or uncle?” he asked.
“no.” Miku looked at the floor. “daddy told me that they were my only family. Where will I live now?”
As old as she is, she understands quite a bit, The third hokage thought.
“you will live in the east side of the village, ill have Kotetsu take you there. Another thing, do you remember what the men who attacked your mom and dad looked like?”
“ somewhat. One was in a black and red suit, he had black spiky hair. And one was in a brown shirt, with black pants. You could not see his hair. And one they called ‘Sicatran’...she was the one who...” she left off and started crying. “She... was the... one in the...full black clothing...and she .” she sobbed.
The third pulled her close.
“there, there. Its all right now. Im here. And if you want...” he looked thoughtful. Suddenly, he grinned. “If you want, you can call me ‘Grandpa’ if that’ll make you feel better, and you can come visit me anytime.” A large man with a headband that covered his head came and took Miku’s hand. “hey there! My names ‘Kotetsu’. What's yours?” he asked.
“My names Miku.” Miku said, frowning. “that man in there is nice! What's his name?”
“Him? His name is, well...” Kotetsu rubbed the back of his head. “Im not really sure, but everyone calls him the third Hokage, or Sandaime. Im glad that you think he is nice.”
They turned a corner and entered out side.
“he said I could call him grandpa, and that I could visit him sometimes. Wasn’t that nice of him?”
“Grandpa? Huh. I guess that means he considers you family now. But still, I still have to take you to your new home. The neighbors will bring you food, and ill try to stop by every once in a while.” They arrived at an old little house, it was brown and small.
“It’s kinda small, but it’ll provide shelter at least. And it has running water.” He turned and, with a little wave, he left. Miku walked to her new home.


The scene shifted again, and Six yr old Miku was tossing a rock in the air, humming to herself.

“Huh?” she had noticed a big van in the house next door. She peeked over the fence, and...
“Hey! Who are you?” she asked the face that peered back at her.
“I’m Tenten. I just moved here! Who are you? We were told that only one other person lived here, and that was who ever lives to the right of us, not the left.”
“I’m Miku. Ive lived here for...1...2..3..Three years! I was just playing a game and I seen that big van!”
“Cool! Im 6! How old are you?”
“Im six too! your house looks so much bigger then mine!”
“yeah, it does. Where’s your mom and dad? Mine are over there! They nag a lot. But I keep telling them, ill become the weapons master of Konoha! It’s a pretty big goal.” She pointed to over where her mom and dad were unloading stuff from the van.
Miku looked at the ground. “they’re...not here. I live alone.”
“Alone? That stinks. Stinks like poopy diapers!” Tenten giggled.
Miku giggled. “Yeah!”
“hey Miku?” Tenten asked.
“what?”
“lets be friends!”
“Yeah! Lets!”

Now scenes are flying by rapidly, and we see:
Tenten(7) and Miku eating ice cream

Tenten(9) and Miku training together in the academy

Tenten’s parents repeatedly yelling at Tenten(11) for playing with ‘the devil child’ saying, “she killed her parents, don’t you understand?!” and Tenten responding “no she didn’t! she doesn’t have the right eyes, and how the hell could she kill her parents when she was only three?!” as Miku watched from behind the fence.

Tenten and Miku holding hands as they received their headbands together.


The scene shifted once more, and 10 yr old Miku was standing in front of a pole she had stuck in the ground. It was midnight. “Hah! Uh!” Miku was training in the night, fighting a pole, while Tenten was the one watching from the fence.


Tenten(11) and Miku(11) meeting Rock lee(12) for the first time.

“come on Miku! We gotta hurry if we want to get good seats!”
Suddenly they ran into a green clad boy with bushy eyebrows, and a almost-bowl cut.
“whoa! My apologies, I did not mean to run into you like that. May I ask your names, so I may repay you?”
He asked.
Tenten was the first to speak. “well, might we know your name first?”
“Yeah!” Miku piped in.
“My apologies once again,” he bowed deeply. “my name is Rock Lee, but you may call me Lee!” He snapped to attention.
“oh, ok then Lee. My names Tenten, and,” she pointed to Miku, “and she’s Miku.
Lee suddenly bent down and looked into Miku’s eyes.
“Miku?! I have heard about you! They say you killed your parents when you were only three, and I was not sure, now that I have gazed into your lovely green eyes, I am sure. You do not have the eyes of a killer!
He suddenly snapped to a salute.
“Hello Lee! who are these two lovely young ladies?” a taller almost identical man in green jumpsuit walked up to the group. “this is Tenten and this is Miku! Miku here was falsely accused of murdering her parents, Gai sensei.”
“murder?” Gai bent down and did the same thing Lee had done. “you are right Lee, she was falsely accused! She could not murder her parents! She does not have the right eyes.”
They both bent down and stared at miku’s eyes.
“what are you guys doing?” Miku asked.
They straightened up.
“let us be friends, Miku!” lee said.
“Sure!”

The first time Miku met Kiba.
I turned around and beheld…Kiba Inuzuka?! Oh no! I’m not ready for this! His eyes met mine and he cocked his head. “Hey. You’re Miku right?” I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. “Thanks.”

Darkness. Nothing. Voices. Harsh meanness.
“did she really?”

“Everyone says she did.”

“Who could thought a 3-yr old could do that?!”

“that’s the one. The Devil child.”

“Get away from my children!”

“don’t you touch me!”

“get out of my store! Out! OUT!!”

A new, kind sounding voice drifted on the wind.
“Miku? Miiikuuu. Helllooo.”
A shaking sensation.
“Miku. Hey, wake up.”

Images.

A broom.
Pain.
Glares.
A thought. “idiots.”

...a tunnel, Half white, half black...

Tenten
Rock lee
Gai sensei
Naruto
Neji
Sakura
Ino
Hinata
Kotetsu
The third hokage
Kiba
Akamaru

Light.
[end of dream]

I opened my eyes. Kiba was staring at me. I realized I was laying on one of the bed cushions.
“Heh-Heh. About time you woke up.” Kiba grinned. He was laying on one side and Akamaru was on the other. It was night.
“what time is it?” I asked.
“8:00. I think.”
I noticed a small bump on his head.
“what's that for?” I asked pointing at it.
“Huh? Oh nothing...just a rock.”
“Im sure I can get someone to tell me what happened.”
“if you must know, Neji threw a rock at me, nothing more.”
“A rock?!” I bristled. “Im gonna hurt him.” I muttered.
“well, maybe we can go prank him or something. We don’t have to hurt him.”
“yeah. Or something. Maybe when we get back? So did you talk to Hinata and Sakura?” my stomach rumbled.
“ Yeah, I did. by the way,” Kiba grinned at my rumbling stomach “I brought you dinner, but its cold now. I can warm it up, or we can go get more.”
“Whad you get?”
“pork ramen.”
“Ooo. Yummy, could you warm it up?”
“Sure!” Kiba took out a burner and a pot.
He put the ramen in a pot and started it up.
“what were you dreaming about? Parts of it you were smiling, but then you started frowning, and your face kinda screwed up, like you were angry, or confused.”
“oh. It showed? I was dreaming about my life actually. What happened after they died. It’ll take me a while to summarize it. Man, we should get back home. I mean you should get back home. I don’t have anyone at home looking out for me.”
“but we should eat first.” He grabbed the pot and scooped out two servings of ramen.
“True.”
I began eating, and while I was eating I thought about how to summarize my dream.

“well,” I began. “it started out with me before. Like right before. I was chasing butterflies. And when I caught one, I went to show mom. But...yeah. then it shifted, and I was looking at the third. He told me where to live and then Kotetsu took me there. Then it shifted again, and I met Tenten for the first time. And then I met lee. And then you. Then it was just voices. They were saying things like ‘Get out! You’re not wanted here!’. And then nothing. I heard your voice telling me to get up. After that I had just images. Things like a the broom the shopkeep used to beat me out of the store. Me thinking ‘Idiots’. Then I had an image of a tunnel that was two sided. Black and white. After that, it was images of you guys. My friends.
Then I woke up.”

“whoa. Weird. Hrm. And I already told mom id be staying the night at your place. But since you don’t really have a ‘place’ I guess we’ll sleep here.” Kiba grinned, like he’d done something naughty. And he had.
“you didn’t ask me!” I sighed. “oh well.” I yawned. “wow, Im still tired.” Kiba yawned too. “So am I . what do you say to calling it a night?”
*yawn* “Sure.” I snuggled up next to Akamaru, who was sleeping. “Ooo. He’s warm.”
“yeah, He is.” Kiba closed his eyes. Soon I could hear him softly snoring. I pulled the blankets tighter around both of us.

End Chapter 10.

[graceluvsnaruto]

ur such a great writer! ^^

[animesuperfreak]

why thanx! *rep* do u like Kiba?

[animesuperfreak]

sorry for the DP. my edit buttons not working...any way, --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

im very sorry, but my dear mother has locked my computer, i dont know when ill be on next. it might be 3 days or it might be a month until i can get back on.
i also still have that darn writers block... *grrr!!!*

[Akimichi]

omg the best ever besides mine obviously...

[animesuperfreak]

more chappy! i got over the block!

Next morning 7:00am.
I yawned. “Good morning!” I heard. I blinked my eyes.
Oh yeah. We had a campout. I grinned. “good morning! What is that delicious smell?” I asked.
“Egg rolls. Made Inuzuka style!” Kiba said, handing me one.
“Ooo. I love Egg rolls!” I breathed.
“I figured that. You were talking in your sleep. Something about how you would kill for one. And...” Kiba paused. “you talked about me.” He finished in a rather small voice.
“W-what? What did I say?” I bit into my roll. “Umm. This is good!”
“you were glad you were gonna have me along, and you hoped we might become closer.” He paused again. “you squished me last night.” He said.
“I did?” I was breathless, id thought that was in my dream! [A.N][no Im not going into details]


“You know, when you pulled the blankets tighter, and then you rolled over on top of me.” Kiba grinned, while I grimaced.
“Sorry. ‘s not my fault what I do when I sleep.”
“Oh really?” he smirked. “Here’s something I picked up from Kakashi, I overheard it when he was lecturing Naruto on being late... Ironic huh? From what I hear, it’s usually the other way around.” He launched into an imitating tone.

“‘When you are asleep, a part of you is always in control. When you can mentally pick what you will dream, you will master complete control over yourself.’ Pretty dull huh?” He said, imitating Kakashi.

“Yes, very, but Kakashi is...” I struggled for words to fit. “interesting.” I grabbed another eggroll off the plate.
“these are good! Make them for the group when we camp tonight.”
“Ok. Whatever you say, love. I wonder if Hinata likes these.”
I started choking.
“Wait, what?” I gaped.
Kiba grinned devilishly.
“Technically, we did sleep together last night, and I do love you, so...” he left off.
He gazed into my eyes, and we leaned in forwards....

well? whatd u think?

[nejisgirl15]

i really like it. i think it's great. i love kiba, so i think that it being about him rocks. ur a really good writer. i'll be checking in to see how the story moves along. keep it up!:^^:

[Soul]

Your a good writer, 10/10

^^

[animesuperfreak]

more chappy!!!
*3 seconds later*

“Sorry Im late! Neji was being overprotective, and then I couldn’t find you, so I used the Byakugan, and figured the meeting place changed...” Hinata rushed into the scene. Kiba and I jerked away from each other. I glanced guiltily at the time. 8:30.
“...” Hinata glanced at me, turned red, and ran off. A voice drifted thru the foliage.
“Hinata? Where are you? Did you find them yet?” Sakura walked into the clearing.

“Hey Miku. Did the place change? Or did you...” she glanced at me, and Kiba.
“Ohhh...the time didn’t change, you just forgot...and now you...” She said, realization dawning on her. Suddenly I was crushed in a hug, and whipped around like a rag doll.

“Did he? He did! I know he did! Oh Miku, Im so happy for you!” she yelled, whirling me out of the clearing.
“whoa, whoa, no, he didn’t, at least not yet. He was going to, and then...” I blushed furiously.
“Oh. OH! Crap, Im sorry... I thought. Ohhh...” she left off...
“Miku? Where’d you go? It was all so fast!” Kiba called, sticking his head out of the bushes. I looked back and realized Sakura’s ‘emotions’ had taken us 20 ft from the entrance.
He glanced over and noticed sakura.
“Oh, hi Sakura! Didn’t notice you, is Hinata there too?” he frowned. “I thought I seen her but... hmmm. “ he scratched his head.
“hey, wait! Why are you guys here anyway? We were supposed to meet at the gates. “
I stood next to him, and whispered in his ear that it was almost 9:00.
“really? Wow.” He made a funny clicking noise with his tongue.
“why didn’t you smell them coming?” I asked.
No particular reason. We were sorta, preoccupied....” he blushed.
I grinned. “me too. We should probably get moving, Tsunade expects us to be gone.”
Sakura interrupted by grabbing mine and Kiba’s arms, and pushing us together.
“you two are so right together! Hinata!” Hinata poked her head out from the tent, where akamaru was still sleeping. She was still kinda red in the face.
“Oh, there you are, Hinata.” Kiba said. Obviously, we were just going to pretend that we hadn’t seen her burst in.
What made you come here? You said something, and then, I didn’t hear you. Whad you say?” Kiba said, putting on a confused look.
“O-oh! I went to the gates, and you weren't there, I waited until sakura came, and then I used Byakugan...i was hoping you guys hadn’t left without me, because I was late...”
“We decided to come here instead, because it looked like you weren't going to go anywhere.” Sakura put in.

Kiba nodded slowly.
“You’re right. We weren’t gonna leave anytime soon. We’d totally forgot, sorta.” He glanced at me. “We were...preoccupied.”
Hinata, Kiba, and I blushed, and I couldn’t understand why Hinata blushed. After all, she hadn’t really seen us kiss. Yet.
* * *

After we moved 6-7 miles out from the village borders, we decided to set up camp, as it was getting dark.
After everything was set up, I went for a walk to see if there was a hot springs around. After about five mins of searching, I found one, and also,
“A abandoned encampment!” I started back to the camp, and found myself thinking.
I wonder if it was the rain? If it was... I shivered, I was so close to killing them, or finding out why they killed my parents.
"Kiba? i found a abandoned camp, come see!" i called.
i heard a grunt, and Kiba saying, "ok, hold on, let me get some pants on..."[its 11:00pm, and everyone’s in their tents getting rest]
He emerged from the tent, and walked up to me, accompanied by Akamaru.
"where is it?" he asked.
“over here.” We walked in silence for a minute, and Kiba and I both yawned at the same time.
We walked up a hill and Bam! There it was.
Kiba cautiously sniffed.
“smells ok. At least, there hasn’t been anyone here for at least 2 days. Hold on, Akamaru? Stay with Miku for a minute.”
“Wait, where are you going?”
“To get the other two. I do smell blood, and strong. Maybe Hinata can get a better look, and if anyone’s injured, Sakura can patch them up. ‘k?”
“ok.” I said somewhat reluctantly.
Kiba left.
I sighed. “I dunno how I ever survived without him. It’s like, when I was little, my world turned black after they died. Like a black hole had swallowed up everything. The sun, the stars. Then, the stars came back; Ten-Ten, Lee, Shikamaru, etc. I didn’t realize that I needed a sun. id forgotten about it. Until it arrived. Now, everything is magnified, brighter. What do you think? Is he like that for you?”
In answer, Akamaru wagged his tail, and licked me.
“ill take that as a yes. ‘k?”

I sat back against a tree and closed my eyes.
3:30pm
“Miku? You feeling ok?” my eyes snapped open. Kiba, Hinata and Sakura were standing in front of me.
“huh? Oh, Im fine, just a little tired.”
Man! They’re so quiet! Didn’t even hear them come up the hill, I thought.
“Oh, ok, don’t worry, Hinata’s checkin it out right now, you want me to carry you?” Kiba asked.
“uh, if we find someone, I really don’t want to walk.” I replied.
A couple mins passed in silence.
“Hey, I found someone.” Hinata called. “it’s a male, he appears to be in the middle of one of the rice fields on the south side. Not sure if he’s hurt, but he’s just lying there.”
“how long a walk?” Sakura asked.
“maybe 15 mins, if we hurry.”
“feel like taking me up on that offer, Miku?” Kiba asked, grinning.
“uh-huh.” I replied, jumping on his back.
“whoa, hey, careful!” he said, setting off at a run, with Akamaru on his left, Hinata and Sakura following behind.

As the wind rushed against my ears, I asked Kiba if it might be a trap.
“not likely, a single man in the middle of the open? With no backup for probably miles around. He’s probably a rice farmer who fell asleep, or had sunstroke. If we’re lucky, he might now who was camping out here. It’s a medium sized camp, big enough for maybe 30 people. Someone has to have noticed it. If they haven’t, well, then we’d be dealing with complete imbeciles, or highly skilled shinobi.”
We traveled in silence for a minute, me pondering Kiba’s reasoning.
Akamaru growled. “Whad he say?” I asked.
“we’re close. Hinata, anything?” Kiba said into his earpiece.
“not yet.” came the reply.
With a rush of air, we burst upon a rice field. It was now almost pitch black.
“Man, I can barely see! Hinata?”
“he’s about 20 ft to the south west. Sakura and I are already there.” Hinata said.
“she doesn’t stammer that much now does she?” I asked Kiba.
“not since Naruto left with Jiraiya. Heh-Heh, Sakura said that while Naruto was off with me, tryin to bring Sasuke back, she stammered so much she could barely talk! Ah, here we are. Oof! Pungent smell. Who ever this man is, he desperately needs to take a shower. “
Akamaru nosed the man, while Sakura checked his pulse.
“Pulse seems normal, but he appears to have a multitude of gashes in his lower back.” She said.
The mans eyes flew open.

“Hey, hey, he’s awake!” I said.
The first words out of his mouth were, “Who the hell are you?!” as he sat up, holding his head.
“Um, Im Miku, this is Sakura and Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru. Who are you?” I asked, curious.
“The names Lene.[pronounced Len] Im...” he stopped midsentence, and clutched his back. “Damn! This hurts something awful! Last thing I remember was workin in the field. Then these shinobi came. Then, nothin! So why are you in my fields without permission? I should call someone, you could be...”
“Hey, cool it old man, if we weren't here, you’d be dead!” Kiba scolded. “in fact, you still might become dead....” he muttered. [he doesn’t like him much already.]
“Lene, Im going to need to flip you over so I can heal the wounds on your back. Are you ok with that?” Sakura asked.
“Fine, fine, are you Konoha shinobi?”
Sakura flipped him over, and began to heal him.
“Yeah. We were just passing through, and Hinata seen you, injured. Kiba here decided to help you, but it was really Miku who found you. There! You’re done.” She sat him up.
“Now, do u know anything about this abandoned camp?”
“not really. I know it used to be a small town, but ransacked, and now its home to thieves, and rogues, but all of a sudden, everyone in that cursed place, up and left! Uh, 3 days ago?”
“Hmm...Hold on a second.”
He motioned us over a little ways away. Out of earshot, not out of sight. Did you hear what he said though? ‘these shinobi’. Maybe the rain nin?”
“this guy seems, weird, like weird in the head.” I said, looking at the ground.
“yeah, I cant believe that he didn’t know what cut him. It was a sword, the kind used to cut swathes of heads off. He should have been screaming in pain as soon as he woke up.” Sakura added.
“he just...doesn’t seem right. False somehow. Like everything’s rehearsed.” Hinata said.
“Yeah. Lets Keep our guards up.” Kiba said, walking back to Lene.
“what's this about ‘these shinobi’?”
“what shinobi? Oh, them murderous scumbags! They pilfered my rice field! The biggest one! I tried to at least get some money for the rice, but he said ‘No-oo, this rice now belongs to the lady!’”
“wait, wait, what? What ‘lady!’?” Kiba asked impatiently.
“Oh, ‘Lady Sicatran’. Lady, my foot! Ive met her once. A snobby, mean, stupid shinobi, if ever there was one! Smart though, I wouldn’t want to cross paths with her even if I was a Kage! Or an Anbu, but I...”
My head spun. Sicatran? Wasn’t that the person who...? I gasped. Sicatran...Killed...my parents. She was the one! An image flashed into my head.
A tall, lean, women wearing a blue halter-top, with 2 yellow stripes crisscrossing the midriff. Her pants are a brown belt, with a blue and yellow loincloth. [I think that’s the right word.] Underneath that, she has gray-black leggings, with a pouch that she has her weapons in. she has black Zori, and wears her headband on her arm. Her weapon is a slim sword, designed to cut off many heads at once. Her hair is Punkish, short, and It is dyed gray. I knew it was her.
immediately, i felt a great rush of...something. memories? i seen many images, most of them from before i was three. the rush made me fell lightheaded, and i crumpled to my knees, and then the ground, watching them.
* * *4:15pm
Kiba turned to Miku as she gasped, intending to ask her what was wrong, and heard her say something.

“Miku? You ok? Mi-Whoa! Hey!” he cried as she fell to the ground.
“what the...” he turned to Lene.
“what the HELL did you do!?” he yelled, hoisting him up by his shirt collar.
“N-nothing! I just was talking, and she all F-falls to the ground! D-Didn’t do anything!” he stammered, waving his arms in front of his face. Kiba turned to Sakura, who was checking Miku over.
“she has a fever, and I cant get her to snap out of it. He must have done something.” She said, worry in her voice.

Kiba glared at Lene, and said, “Akamaru?”
Akamaru seemed to nod, and jumped on Lene, growled menacingly, and then glared at him.
“Augh!!!! Get yer mutt of me!” he cried.
Sakura and Hinata both gasped. Hinata whispered, “as if he’s not mad enough...”
“That Lene guys sure in trouble now.” Sakura added.
“what...did you say?” Kiba’s voice had a dangerous edge to it.

“nothin. I just said” Lene grinned. “Get yer mutt of me, and get offa my land!” he yelled.

Kiba gritted his teeth audibly, grinned, and said, “tell me what I need to know. Or...” his voice got dangerously soft. “a suitable punishment... Rip u ta shreds? Nah. drag you to mother? Oo, that’s too cruel. Maybe...” he continued muttering in this way until he grinned. “Tell me what I want to hear, or I will personally drag you to the Leaf, probably maimed, and let my Mother deal with you. She hates people that call our companions ‘mutts’.” He spit the word. “Or worse, I could have the pleasure of dealing with you...” he chuckled, tightening his grip on Lenes collar.
“ah, ooo, umm. set me down?” Lene said hopefully.
“Two words.” Kiba said.
“Hell no.”
You could see as Lenes eyes got wider and wider, then the whole scene blacked out.
[end chapter 11] let me know if you want me to notify you when i finish a chapter, or something. 'k?

[nejisgirl15]

it was great. please notify me. i'm very interested in it. i think it's a great story.:)

[animesuperfreak]

i posted more!!! yay!
ooo...cliffhangar...[chapter 12]

4:30pm

[The scene fades in, and shows Lene looking something like... well, use your imagination]

“apologize to Akamaru and me now?” Kiba asks with a raised eyebrow.
“ooohhh...Im sorry for calling you a mutt akamaru and Kiba...” Lene moans.
“huh. Ok then. Now. Are you going to tell me everything that may have happened between you, and whoever lived in this camp? If not...” Kiba grinned. “I still got a little anger to work out...”
“N-no! I mean that wont be necessary. Eh-heh-heh. See, what I mean is I talked with one of the shinobi that came over the land, they says to tell any Konoha shinobi that come here that this land is Sicatran’s, and that she would pay me highly to do it. I says ‘ok, can I have the money first?’ Next thing I know, Im waking up a nose in my face! That’s all, I swear! And I didn’t even get my money...”
“aha, now we’re getting somewhere! See, all it took was a little cooperation.”

“Kiba sure can be cruel when he wants to be...” Sakura whispered to Hinata.
“I...think he’s just angry about Miku...he does like her...and she likes him...” Hinata replied.
“yeah, and he was suspicious of that Lene guy from the start. He has good reason, though ive never seen him this angry...except when someone insults Akamaru...” Sakura put in.

“so, what did this Sicatran guy look like?” Kiba was asking Lene.
“girl. And she had a blue belly shirt halter-top, with 2 yellow stripes crisscrossing her belly. She had on a belt, with a blue and yellow loincloth. And she had leggings. Nice legs she had... but a bad temper. I wouldn’t cross her...” He rubbed a tender lump on his head.
“yeah, yeah, we heard you earlier. Is there anything else?”
“she’s got a mean looking sword. real nice and thin. her companions were a mean lookin bunch too.”
“her companions?” Sakura asked, taking down notes.
“yeah, 3 guys. Ah, about yer age it looked like.
“All in the same outfit, Musta been some sorta group...they were different from Sicatran’s outfit though. Had on grayish outfits, really dull. No...pizzazz is the word Im looking for...should’ve had some color. But then Im not a arti...”
“all right, all right, cut it old man. Is that all?” Kiba asked impatiently.
“we do...need to get Miku... somewhere warm..” Hinata shyly said.
“yeah...i guess that’s it. Oh, they was lookin fer someone, I dunno if the name is familiar, but I might as well tell you. It was Shikashi. They asked me if id seen someone named that. A ‘real skinny wart, with glasses.’ was ther exact words. From the sound of it, they wer gonna pummel him...heh-heh, wouldn’t want to be him. They says they were headin south, for a hunt, whetever that means...

Kiba turned around, walked past Hinata and said, “Hinata, keep an eye on this guy until we reach camp.”
He picked up Miku, and setting off at a run, headed back to camp, Akamaru by his side, and Sakura and Hinata a little ways behind, giving him space.

“Oi! Where you goin?” Lene called.


* * *


10:00pm

After resetting up camp farther from the abandoned camp, and between checking on Lene, scouting, and checking on Miku every half hour, it was finally time to sleep.

“wow.” Kiba yawned. “Been a looong day. Heh. Hinata already sleeping?” he asked sakura.
“yeah. And before you ask for the umpteenth time in the past hour, She just needs rest. And her fever went down. At the moment, though, you probably should sleep too. From the look of it, id say you’ve been keeping late hours.”
“yeah. Training, watching Miku sleep...that sort of thing. Your right. But...”
“no buts. Ill take first watch, and then ill see if your up to waking up at midnight. Ok? Ok. ‘night!”
“B-but!” Kiba sighed. He rolled over and was snoring in minutes.

[Kiba’s dream] [note; when I use ( ‘ ) I mean that the person is muttering to them selves, or a thought.]

Everything is black.
‘Huh. Must be faulty lighting.’ was my first thought. ‘they must need to-oh!’ everything was in white.
Im walking across a glass floor, and I see various animals. Mostly dogs. Heh. Must be because Im so attuned to them. One in particular looks up and barks. It’s a brown dog. Looks a little bit like Akamaru, only brown and black. I instinctively knew its name. Nia. [pronounced like Nya] she looked lonely, and familiar, so I descended. ‘Hey.’ She says. Im Nya.’
‘I know. Im Kiba. And this is- hey! where’s-’
‘Akamaru? He’s around here somewhere.’
‘How’d you kn-‘
‘know his name? We know everything here. Akamaru in particular is pretty popular with the ladies.’
‘Where is here?’
‘where else? In your head. Some of us are real, some are not...’ she looks like she’s grinning.
‘Are you real?’ I ask.
‘Yes. You will meet me soon, or never. It depends.’ Im pretty sure she’s grinning now.
‘depends?’
She stands up, and barks, suddenly, every animal disappears and the setting turns red with black swirls.
‘Nia?’
Tall figures dressed in grey cloaks, and a dark figure with a sword appears.
‘Whoa!’ I cry.
They advance upon me, and I turn and run. I call out for Akamaru, but he does not appear.
I keep running, but to no avail, I stumble over something, look down, and see my Hinata, Sakura and Miku’s bodies.
‘Augh!!’

[end dream]
12:10am

“Kiba! Kiba! Wake up!! Hey! Kiba!” My eyes flash open, and I immediately sigh of relief.
“Kiba! Are you ok?!” Sakura says.
“wha? Oh, wow...” Kiba says, sighing. “Oh. Bad dream. Horrible dream, in fact.” He explains.
“oh. I just had come in to wake you for watch, its midnight. I bent down and put my hand on your shoulder, and I notice your face is all scrunched up. Then you start yelling... one of the most horrible things ive ever heard! Anyways, u need something? I can stay u a bit longer if you need more sleep.”
“nah, Im good. Where’s Akamaru?”
“Actually, he left about a half hour ago, I asked him if he could go on patrol; I was hearing odd sounds, he’s scary enough to scare off any animals. Oh! And Miku woke up for about five mins, she asked for a glass of water, and then when I got there with water, she was already asleep.”
Kiba felt a knot uncurl in his stomach, and yawned.
“you want to sleep?”
“not really. I guess ill take watch. ‘s ok.” He walks out of the tent calling Akamaru’s name.
“ok then.” Sakura yawns.
Kiba walks out and stands in front of the three tents. [One for Hinata and sakura, one for Kiba, akamaru, and Miku, and one for storage]
‘Hmm. Kinda chilly tonight.’ He mutters, slowly walking around the camp, settling into the rhythm.

* * *
4:00am
[Miku’s dream/memories]
I am walking down a long, endless white hall filled with doors. It feels...nostalgic. Maybe because most of the doors say something like; Christmas 1-3, Halloween 1-present, and ‘bad dreams’. I notice that one is almost bursting, and things growl beyond it. I walk past it, and realize Im deep in my subconsciousness.
My memories.
I see a door at the end of the hallway labeled ‘restricted’, its open. A voice calls ‘Enter’.
I walk in and the voice is emanating from two people. A woman wearing a long white dress, and a man wearing a white suit. I know they are my parents.
The women motions for me to sit down.
[end part]

* * *
5:00am
Meanwhile...

“Heh. Heh-ha. Ha! Ha-ha-ha!! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!! It worked. They suspected, but you fooled them, Lank!”
Makoshi was sitting in her throne. In front of her stood the ‘rice farmer’, Lene, whose real name was Lank.
“Yes milady. Tis always a pleasure to serve the mighty Makoshi. If I may, your honorable...?” he raised his hand hopefully.
“Yes. You are permitted.”
Thank you. As I was saying, you are the most honorable, most high princess of the land of rain!” he kissed her hand. “You will never be unthroned, and I will guard you until the day I die!” he stated, kissing her hand again.
“As will I dearest one. I would have trusted no one else for this job. You played the part of hillbilly farmer like it was second nature!”
“Yes, and Sics was superb in cutting, I didn’t even feel anything. When they come though, the pink-hair might even be suitable for the group. She has incredible healing skills. The boy, and his mu- eh-hem- doggy friend will be trouble though.” [He learned his lesson :P] “the brown hair will be easiest”
[Me: easy? Hah!]
“Though, she is quite fragile. It seems” he grinned. “Her parents died early on in life. How tragic!” he exclaimed, knowing they were the reason why.
“And the Hyuuga?” she asked.
“Ive set up a special...diversion for her, and possibly the pink.”
“Like?”
“Well, lets just say they'll all be real busy. And tired. Rescuing hundreds of drowning people from an evacuated village, who just happened to be sleeping on a sinkhole, can do that to you!” he gestured out a window. Outside hundreds of people slept, about 5 miles into the grassy terrain. “of course, we will be nowhere around here.”
“Right. Send Pionshu, and Jipansho. Excellent job. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha !!!”

* * *
[Miku]
I yawned, and opened my eyes. “Urg...Im starving...”
‘Heh, was food my first thought?’
I sat up. It was sorta light out. “Oh man, how long was I out?” I muttered. ‘They must’ve been real worried...’
I rubbed my elbows; they kinda stung, probably ‘cuz id hit them when I fell...
I blinked, and listened; mainly for Kiba’s or Akamaru’s breathing. I didn’t hear anything.
“Kiba? Akamaru?”
I listened more, and heard footsteps coming quickly. I grinned.
The tent door rustled, as someone fiddled with the zipper, and I heard, “Damn zipper. Open! Hold on Miku, Im comin!” this was followed by a bark. More fiddling with the zipper then,
“ah, screw this!” *RIP* the zipper was ripped off, and Kiba climbed in.

I grinned.

“Miku?”

Kiba poked his head in, and was pushed aside as Akamaru barged in.
[those tents must be big right?]

“ahh! He-Heh, hi Akamaru, Kiba. First things first I guess.” I paused. “What the hell happened back there? I am in the tent right?”
“yeah, you had us worried, and all...” he bent down and felt my forehead.
“Akamaru, go let Sakura know she needs to take watch.” Kiba said, frowning.
“... are you ok? I mean, like, you weren't hurt right? When you fought that Lene?” I blurted out.
“nah, too strong, what about- hey! How do you know about that? You were unconscious...”
“lets just say that was a turning point in my life. I talked with my parents in my memories, and... I watched you fight for me...” I felt my cheeks turn bright red, and hung my head.
Kiba chuckled. He held my chin, and tilted it upward, so I was looking into his eyes. “anyone would’ve, if it was for you.” He bent in and...
“Kiba! Did you rip this tent?! And I heard Miku was awake!” Sakura walked in, followed by Akamaru.
Kiba threw up his arms. “Aww, Come on! Cant a guy kiss the girl he loves without someone bursting in?!” he cried.
I laughed. “silly Kiba, don’t you know that’s how it goes in life?”
Kiba laughed. “yes, Sakura, I did rip this tent. I could not, to save my life, open that damn zipper. And no, you did not just interrupt something vitally important.”
“what? what did I interrupt?”
“Ah never mind...see, if I was smart, I would’ve had Akamaru stand sentry...” he told me.
I nodded. “sakura, Im fine! I was really tired, and that guy was...infuriating. ill tell you everything in the morni-afternoon..okaaay?”
She glanced at Kiba, scowled and said “fine. But I expect everything!” she turned and walked out.
I sighed.
Kiba had his eyes closed. “when you...fainted...i seriously thought that guy had done something. I had to restrain myself when he called Akamaru a mutt....twice. the first time...was hard...the second time...i was beyond restraining myself from beating him up. This time, I had to restrain myself from actually killing him...and then, when he was cooperative, I still had to keep myself in check. When id finished interrogating him, I just turned, picked you up, and carried you here. I still think there was something about that guy...he smelled weird.” [notice he’s forgotten his dream.] “so, why did you faint again?” he asked me, grinning.
i blushed. “I dunno, stupid really.” I hesitated.
“please tell me? He held my gaze. “please?”
I blinked, firmly hypnotized by his gaze. “huh?”
he gave me the puppy pout. [ironic right?]
“he mentioned that shinobi, Sicatran, then I got all my memories back...the rush made me lightheaded, that plus the fact that I was exhausted, made me faint.”
“man-is that all?” he shook his head.
“I told you it was dumb...”
“not really. I mean, people have been done in by less then that! Look at Sigai, she died of a broken heart! How can one die of that?”
“yeah, you’re right. I just wonder where this lead will take us....”heading south”...hmmm. are we gonna head south, or something?” I asked, leaning against Akamaru, who was sleeping.
“yeah, probably. I really hope we get them.” He leaned against akamaru too.
Akamaru sneezed, and rolled over...the opposite way!
Kiba and I were flung together, when we got up, we were face to face, two inches apart.
The air around us became electrified, and we bent in...it was simply fantastic. His breath smelled absolutely exquisite. And well...I just gave in and kissed him back.

* * *

Next morning (or rather 11:00am)

I yawned. The first thing I did was glance at Kiba. He was snuggled up on Akamaru in such a pose that he was lying across Akamaru, like an “X” if viewed from the top. I sighed. And then looked thoughtful. Kiba’s face had scrunched up, like he was having a bad dream. I chuckled, and tapped his shoulder.
Akamaru’s eyes flicked open, but Kiba’s stayed shut.
“Hey Akamaru! How was your sleep?” I whispered. Akamaru twisted his head so that he was looking at Kiba. He licked his face, and shrugged his shoulders, dumping Kiba off.
“Huhz?” one of Kiba’s eyes flicked open. “Hey, wait, Akamaru, wait! No! Ah!” he cried as he was dumped off...he sat up and rubbed his hair. “Ahh...it’s way too early...Crud Akamaru, couldn’t you wait unt-oh, hi Miku! Ok, I got a question. Tell me, why are you up at this ungodly hour?” he stared at me, swished me up off my feet, and carried me out into the bright morning sunlight.
“Ahh! It’s bright!” I cried.
“Ugh! You’re right...,”Kiba agreed.
He whipped out a hat. It was one of those foreign hats, with a rim, like oh, what was it called, a baseball cap? Anyway, they were supposed to be expensive...it was a green Camo print.
“Wow...hey, it’s a perfect fit...did you do this on purpose?” I asked accusingly.
“May-be. And maybe Akamaru picked it out too.” He chuckled.
“Aww...thanks both of you.” I gave both of them a great big hug. Kiba looked taken aback, and Akamaru just licked me.

“Not to interrupt, but Hinata found the people that lived in the abandoned camp. And they” Sakura walked in.

“She did? Good work Hina-ta!” he yelled, to Hinata, who was in her tent, watching with her Byakugan. “Swee-eet. Wait, ‘and they what?’” Kiba pumped his fist, but then frowned. “and they what? Sakura?” Sakura was very pale. “They’re sleeping. On a”
“Sleeping? That doesn’t sound bad, why i-” Kiba interrupted.
“Will you shut up for a moment and listen?!”
“Oh. Yeah, sorry...” he hung his head.
Sakura shook her head. “Anyway, they’re sleeping. But on a sinkhole. It’s a big one, so it doest sink quickly, but if a tremor shook that particular sp-”
As if on cue, the ground rumbled with surprising intensity.
“Whoa!! You were saying sakura?” Kiba said, grinning. “I guess we’re getting close to fighting the rain-nin. Im 80% sure that was not accidental.” Akamaru whined. “And whoever did it, their level of Chakras nothing to sniff at either.”
“Yeah...anyway, do we want to go and rush in, rescue these people, or do we want to wait, and watch? If we choose the first option, it is almost 70% going to be a trap, or diversion. If we choose two, then many people could die, and it could just be a natural disaster.” Sakura explained.
“I say we choose one. But we go in pairs. You and Hinata, me and Miku. That way, if it is a trap, then we have backup. The downside is that we won’t be able to rescue as many people at once...man, in situations like this, it would be good to have Naruto and his many shadow clones around.”
“Yeah, it would...another downside would be that if it is a trap, then we’ll be split for the initial attack...that could cost us.” I piped in.
Hey, you're right Miku. Didn’t think of that. Let’s take a vote. Number one? with Kiba’s added option of pairs.” Four people raised their hands.
“Unanimous. Ok, we go in pairs. Me and Miku will go to rescue, Sakura, as we bring people in, you heal them, and Hinata, you keep watch. Everyone got it? Good. Lets go catch us some low down murderers!!” Kiba and I ran way from the other two, towards where the sinkhole was located.
“It’s a living hell...” I muttered. I was looking at this huge hole in the ground, where previously, it had been just a slab of sand. At least 200 people were moaning, screaming, or making other sorts of noise.
I said watching two people begin kissing their hearts out. The girl took her shirt off....
“Heh, ill do them.” Kiba said, smirking. “Akamaru, grab the children, and babies, Miku, get the older people, ill do the younger’s.

“Got it.” As I picked up 3 older couples, I noticed a little boy, maybe 8 yrs old, take a knife, and jab it toward his wrist. His hand stopped in midair. My hand held it. “Ya know, help is here, its not all hopeless.” I said.
“Oh. I just figured that no one would come to save me.” His eyes flicked downward, and a tear escaped.
I sensed a story, so I called to Kiba. “Hey, this guy needs some help.” He was stuck in the mud, and Kiba and I both struggled to pull him out. When we did, I gasped. His whole body was scarred. Fresh scars. Some were even scabs still.
Kiba was equally shocked.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Shisai.”
“How-no, who did this to you. And why would no one rescue you?” I asked, picking him up.
Shisai displayed his chest. It had equal scarring. “Sicatran and Lank did this, I was a bad boy! I deserved to die for the atrocity I committed! No one shall rescue me in times of need for as long as I live, so that I may die alone, and unwanted.” he recited.
Kiba’s eyes grew hard. “That witch... has a lot to pay for...take him to sakura. When your healed,” he said turning to Shisai, “go talk to Hinata, tell her your story. Then wait for me and Miku, ok?”
“O-ok.” I left him with Sakura.

We spent about an hour rescuing people, then we gathered them up, and talked to them.

“Now, we have saved you from certain death. You will head to the nearest village, which is the rain village. That is about a day’s hard walking due north. Who is your leader?” Sakura asked to the throng.
An old man stepped forward.
“I am the town’s chairperson. Who are you, and why are you here?” he asked.
“We are shinobi, why we are here is not your business. How did you come to be here?” Kiba exclaimed.
“We came to be here because one of our town elders came and spoke to us. He said, if you do not leave, you will all be killed by the shinobi from the hidden leaf!”
Kiba and I exchanged glances.
Luckily, we had decided to hide our headbands, the way the rogue rain had when they fought Kiba and his team.
“What would you say if I knew who these shinobi are?” I asked the chairperson.
“I would say, why are they coming to kill us? And who are they?”
A little girl spoke up, her voice barely heard. “the man with the dog saved me. He seems nice! Can we keep him?” I wasn’t sure if she was referring to Kiba or Akamaru.
I decided to answer the chairperson’s question.
“They are not coming to kill you, they are coming to right a wrong.” I said.
“Those shinobi, who you fear will kill you, have just saved your lives...” Kiba said, so low only the chairperson heard. He looked surprised.
“Come with me.” The chairperson said.
While Sakura watched the throng, and Hinata watched for enemies, we talked to the chairperson privately.

“My name is Keno. Who are you, who have saved us, and yet, when told we thought you would kill us, spared us yet again?” he sat in a tent.
“Well, Im Kai,” Kiba pointed to me “Shisa,” he pointed to Sakura, “Lexia”, he pointed to Hinata, “Hanabi”, and this here,” he petted Akamaru, “is Andai.” He sat down.
“Tell me, do you like Sicatran? Or her cronies?”
“Just between you and I, no. or her boss. The leader of this ‘town’. Her names ‘Shikashi’. Her cronies, as you put it, are stinking lumps of meanness. Honestly, they took my boy away from me, I dunno what they did to him...that was 3 days ago...all they told me was that he was punished...”
“Why was he punished?” I asked curious in spite of myself.
“Shisai tried to save his best friend, Aida. She was tak-”
“Wait, wait, ‘Shisai?’” Kiba grinned.
“Yes, he’s my son...he was taken for trying to save his friend. She had been caught stealing, and the punishment for that is e-e-e-exper-r-imentation!” he broke down, and started to cry. “he t-tried to save her, failed a-and was taken away from me! Alls I got to bury was –was- a toe! In a j-j-jar!” Keno wailed.
“Experimentation? Did Aida die?” I asked, wide-eyed.
“Yes. In the attempt. But I never saw my boy again...”
“Well, we have.” Kiba said grinning.
“Really? Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure, he’s been uhh...brainwashed to think that everything’s his fault though. Maybe a little ”
“no, more like, ‘no one wants me, I will die alone and unwanted’. I think those were his exact words.” I gently corrected.
“can you bring him to me?”
“yes. He’s badly scarred though...still, Sakura can fix him up. She’s one of the best!” Kiba exclaimed.
Just then, Sakura walked in, with Shisai. He had bandages covering up most of his body.
“I miss anything?” she said.
“SHISAI!!! You're alive!!!” Keno yelled.

Shisai looked up briefly.
“dad.” He said curtly.
Keno gripped his sons arms.
“Shisai, its me, your dad! Shisai?”
“I told you...he’s been brainwashed. Or something.” Kiba muttered.
“don’t worry. Ill take care of him. But, I can do you a fav-”
A boom shook the ground, and everything was enveloped in purple smoke.
“what the hell?” Kiba yelled.
“uahh!” Shisai said, as the tent was ripped apart.
“Holy crap!” I yelled, as I got a glimpse of what ripped the tent.
“What is that thing?!” Sakura yelled.
A giant green lizard had appeared, and ripped up the tent. It roared, and I got a glimpse of something. a black-gray person, riding it.
“There’s someone riding that thing!” I yelled.
“I know! What I want to know is, why didn’t Hinata see it?” he yelled back, dodging a tail.
“Remember the smoke? Ill bet it’s a summoning!”
“DAMN!!!” Kiba grunted as he was slapped across the forest.

Last thing I seen was a giant green tail rushing towards me, and Hinata, tied to a tree.

i woke up later, in someone else arms, with my arms and legs tied. I closed my eyes, realizing I was a hostage.
[End 12]

[Soul]

Liked it 9/10

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[nejisgirl15]

it's excellent! i love it. keep it up:D

[animesuperfreak]

[13]

4:30pm
Kiba sat on a cot in the ruined town. He had an ice bag on his head, and bandages on his arm.
“I cant...she’s...i just...gone...she’s gone...” he moaned, his eyes closed.
Hinata sat a little ways away. “Sakura’s gone too.” She pointed out.
In one fell moment, the lizard tail had knocked the four shinobi in different directions.
The enemy was waiting for two of them.
“I just...i was s’posed to watch her...ya know? Keep her safe...and...I failed...she’s gone...”
“well...i would think...that would give you ...more incentive to track them down...i mean... you’re in the top 3 trackers of the land right?” Hinata was obviously trying to cheer Kiba up.
“Yeah. Augh! Damn it...this would work if I had something...no matter... I will track them down, and RIP THEM TO SHREDS!!!” he snarled the last four words.
“Now, now, Kai, or is your name Kiba? And Im assuming you're Inuzuka Kiba; the famous tracker, and the dog is not ‘Andai’, it is your companion; Akamaru. Am I right? Now, as I was saying, I can do you a favor.” Keno said reassuringly.
Kiba looked confused. “Anything. And Im sorry for not telling you our real names. We...volunteered to go kill/incapacitate Sicatran, her leader, and her cronies.”

“Well, At last! Some good news. Now, the favor; Sicatran lives on the north side of the land of rain, I know because I had to go there to get my son. Her abilities. I know she’s got a long slim sword, and she uses water jutsu. She fights dirty though, so look out if she’s holding your friends.
The others use fire, except for lank. He’s got lightning and fire.
Now, the leader, Makoshi, and her servant, Shikashi.
I don’t know anything about Makoshi, but the servant is a weak, scrawny boy. Met him for taxes.”

“Thanks.” Kiba could not convey how grateful he was in words.
“Don’t worry about it. Just remember to drop by when you're done with the rescue thing. Ok?”
“What if we don’t?” Kiba looked at the ground.
“Don’t think of that! But, uh, if you don’t drop by in, say, this time tomorrow, ill send a pigeon to the leaf. If that happens, which I doubt, who do you want to come?”
Kiba thought for a minute.
“Lee. Definitely. And Ten-ten. She’ll be good with multiple enemies + you can’t stop her from coming anyway... And I suppose Neji...he’s annoying, but thorough.” He sighed.
“Heh. I just named the Gai Team. Talk about bittersweet...” he got up, and waved. “Don’t worry, we’ll come back.” He turned and left, Hinata on his left, and Akamaru on his right.

* * *

[Miku] 5:00pm
I opened my eyes. It was dark, and I realized I was in a cell, for there were strips of light on the floor. I couldn’t move, for my wrists had stretchy cords attached to them. I tried my radius of reach. I couldn’t reach my legs, or the ground. Just about my head, and 2 ft in front of me. My legs were the same.

“ah, so our esteemed guest is awake. Good, good.” An oily voice said. I thought ‘Snake’. Or rat.
A light flicked on.
Sicatran sat on a stool, her legs crossed.
“Sicatran.” I hissed.
“mi-mi. how did you guess?” she cooed, displaying a wide smile of pearly whites.
I gritted my teeth. ‘Mi-mi’ had been my mothers pet name for me.
“I knew. I was there when you killed them. You will pay for that. Soon.” I replied, displaying my own set so widely she grimaced.
“my, my, what a fighting spirit. Lank said you’d be easy to break. I guess he was wrong.”
Dead wrong. I mean, fatally dead wrong.
“Lank?”
“Yes, I believe you knew him as ‘Lene’?
I tried not to gasp, and failed. I knew it. We’d missed something. Something crucial. Possibly even deadly.
I kept my composure, and smugly said; “I guess he must be a weakling. I heard Kiba beat him to a pulp.”

“he is no weakling. He let the boy and his mutt beat him. ‘it didn’t even hurt’ he said.” She replied.

“Oh, ill bet it hurt.” I said, ignoring the fact she called Akamaru a mutt, and resolving to bring it up later with Kiba. “It’s really hard to take Kiba’s punch, or Akamaru’s bite. He’s just too much of a coward to admit it.” I said, smugly. I was winning this war of words, and she knew it.

As if she heard my thought, she got up, and tossed something at me. I caught it. “Here, this was in my lizards mouth. It doesn’t mean much to me, but Lank said it was your boyfriends. A bite like that probably took him out of the picture.” She said snidely. “I have to go visit another inmate. Ta-Ta!” she pushed a button, and a door opened in the wall.

I looked down at the scrap of clothing. It was Kiba’s jacket sleeve. And it was covered in blood. I felt a single tear escape, and then realized he wasn’t dead. I would’ve...felt it...somehow.
I grinned. She’d just handed me the tool for my escape. When Kiba got here, he would’ve had trouble finding me, I assumed this room was airtight. [It has a small vent] now he wouldn’t, his own blood would lead him here.

* * *


[Kiba] 6:00pm

Kiba laughed. “Heh. Must be my lucky day.” He laughed hoisting two ten yr old males in the air. “I go, sniffing up trace evidence, and find two informants hiding in the bushes. Now. Im in a bad mood. You’d better tell me what I need to know.” He threatened, grinning.

“We don’t now anything. We’re from the camp that almost drowned in a hole! Leave us alone.” The boy with the bandage on his nose said.
“Yeah, he’s telling the truth!” the other boy, with black hair said.

“Liar! I can smell her on you, and know you know where she is!” he snarled.
“Who are you talking ab-” just then akamaru barked, and walked in the clearing. He’d been searching a little ways away.
The boys turned to Kiba and asked; “is that your dog?”
“Yeah, now tell me-”
“Some really skinny kid came up to us and told us to give whoever had a big white dog this.” the boy with that bandages held out something.
Kiba grabbed it, and sniffed it. “It’s hers all right, but she’s bleeding badly too...this is covered in blood....” he growled, narrowing his eyes.
“it looks like...a piece of a shirt...” Hinata said.
“Yeah, maybe a piece of the front...the best thing about this is I can track her with it. Lets go.” he turned to the two boys. “You kids are lucky. Very lucky.” He turned, and disappeared.
“That was creepy.” One boy said.
“Very creepy.” The other agreed.

* * *

[Miku] 6:30pm

I started, as I heard voices, and realized I’d fallen asleep.
“Hey! Watch it, you jerk!”
Sakura! So she’s here too? That lightened up my outlook considerably.
“Stick her with the brown dog-girl!” a harsh male voice barked.
Hey...didn’t that mean me? Swee-eet. I used Kiba’s tone, breaking up the word into two syllables.
The cell door opened, and they shoved Sakura in. her legs were free, but her wrists were held with cord, behind her back. She could reach forward, and down, and up, but not back. Pretty much the same way mine were, except her back was the wall.
She glared at the portly man, who’d just thrown her in, and started to shout something, but I cut in.
“Sakura?”
She turned.
“Who...Miku? You’re here too? Dang.”
I smiled, and tried to stand up. Something cracked, and I grimaced. A sharp jolt of pain had coursed though my lower body. I fell back down. “Cant...Get up. Urg!” I grunted. I reached down, and felt the spot where it had hurt the most. It came up warm and sticky. “Aww, crap! This will complicate things...” I muttered.
“You ok?” she asked.
“No. something cracked, and now Im bleeding pretty heavy, if the amount of blood on my hands is a measure.”
[Don’t forget, it’s pretty dark]
“Here, let me look.” She tried to maneuver me to the light, but it didn’t work. “This wont work. Im going to have to feel around the wound, it might sting.” Sakura said.
I gulped. “Ok.”
Her hands probed the edges of the deep gash. “Luckily, its not that wide, but its deep. I’d guess you got the cut earlier, but it sealed up, and when you tried to stand, it split. Heh, Im not much use when I can’t reach hand-to-hand.”
“No, you're good company. If it matters in a dark prison cell with no food. I wonder when they feed us?”
“If it’s any consolation, it’s only been 2 or 3 hours.”
“Really?”
“yeah.”
The cell door opened again, and a loaf of bread, and some water was thrown in.
“Catch it!” I yelled.
Sakura caught the jug of water. Barely.
“yay. Now we have water. Ok, listen, ive got a sorta-plan.” I said slowly.
“A plan? I was just counting on Kiba and Hinata to get us out. What is it?”
“well, they will get us out. But we will help them find us. Sicatran, ive met her now, she’s every bit as evil as I imagined, said Kiba was dead, her lizard killed him. Now, I don’t believe that, I would’ve felt it. Somehow. But she handed me this.” I held up the bloody sleeve.
“Now, he can smell his own blood, and he’ll know, ‘cuz the sleeve will have been where he hasn’t. yet. Get it? He’ll follow the smell of his own blood.”
“Ooo. Clever. Anything else?”
“I haven’t gotten that far yet. I think that when Kiba provides the diversion, and we escape, either we head for the center of the building, to kill Sicatran, or straight out, to rest and recuperate. We only have one chance.”


************************************************** *****************


7:30pm
“Kiba?” Hinata tentivly asked.
“yeah?”
“there’s a big grey-black fortress up ahead, about 3 miles north.”
“good. Any enemy?”
“yes. Six sentries at the gates, 4 patrolling the outer wall, and 7 in the inner wall. There are eight rooms I can’t see though. The entire middle.”
“huh. I guess we get a good fight then. Im guessing the middle is where Sakura and Miku are. Do you see a tall lady with a sword?”
“yes. She’s right outside one of the doors in the middle. Is that her?”
“yep. What I wouldn’t give for her to be out here. In the...open...Heh-Heh-Heh. Hear that Akamaru? We get to battle it out soon with Miku’s kidnappers\parent murderers.” He grinned evilly. Akamaru barked happily.
10 minutes later, and Kiba, Hinata, and Akamaru were a mile from the camp.
“now, we wait for darkness.” He fingered the little ice balls. Each one was now attached to a kunai. “Knew these would come in handy.” He grinned, and started target practice.
Hinata was doing that too. Hitting the middle of leaves on a tree 50 ft away with her needles of chakra was her target practice.


* * *
8:00pm
* * *

“Darkness. Finally! Kiba stretched, then grinned in anticipation. “Akamaru, you ready? Go!”
Akamaru ran off. He was setting traps; some proximity paper bombs, and some timed. The timed ones were close to the fortress.
“Hinata?”
“Ready.” she got into her stance, practicing.
“Mi-” he sighed.
“it sucks not having a full squad...”
He waited until Akamaru returned, then began the countdown.
“3...2...1...”
BOOM

The timed bombs exploded, and the trio took off.
“yahoo! Yeah! This is more like it!” Kiba cried, warding off various low-level shinobi, while throwing the ice kunai everywhere. Already there were huge patches of ice spears.
When every shinobi on the outer level was killed, Kiba told Hinata to use her Byakugan and see if she could see the others yet.
“No. but there are multiple enemies coming up out of that hatch.” She pointed, and Kiba ran over, placed an exploding tag on it, and did the same to the other four hatches. They proceeded to do the same to the next level, Kiba yelling all the way.

* * *
8:00pm


Sakura and I were talking, while waiting to fall asleep.
“He really does like you though.” Sakura said.
“Yeah, he does. But ive got Kiba, and Im sure he likes you more then me though sakura.” I explained.
“But Lee just doesn’t understand that I still li-”
BOOM

The ground shook, and we heard footsteps running past our door.
A slit opened in the door, and we heard Sicatran’s voice.
“Guess what? Your boyfriend is here. Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to put him here with you. If he lives. Don’t try anything funny now. Ta!”
The slit closed.
“You were right, she is a jerk. Kiba’s here now though. Everything will be all right now...hopefully.”
More booms shook the cell, and we heard the shouts getting closer and closer.
Someone ran past us, and fumbled with the key. “Come on, come on...yes!” the cell door opened, and a little boy, maybe 13 ran in.
“Crap! Didn’t realize...this...was where... they had the ...prisoners. Oh well...listen!” he said to us. Not. A word. Please! Or the maniac with the dog will kill me!”
I grinned. “Maniac?” I stifled a laugh. “What’s your name?”
“it doesn’t matter, Im going to die anyway....Shikashi. I was the servant to Sics, she treated me badly, I always wanted to leave, and now seemed like the perfect opportunity.”
“Except for Kiba and Akamaru, your plan would have worked.” Sakura stated.
“Yeah, now, Im just going to hide here until he leaves.”
I started to laugh. “That won’t work.” Sakura said.
“Why?”
“Kiba wants us. Ya know, search and rescue?”
“CRAP! Can’t a guy get a break? Aww man, what’ll I do know!?” he said, obviously in pain.
“Go hide somewhere else?” I suggested, when I stopped laughing.
Just then, we heard more footsteps rushing past the door.
“He’s coming!”
“A maniac!”
“And his demon dog!”
“Run!”
“He’s on the next level up!”
“Let’s get out of here!”
“Don’t forget his witch! She can kill by pointing at you!”
Sakura and I looked at each other, and started laughing. For a prison, this was pretty fun.


* * *

“Ha! Hinata, we’re storming ‘em! They’re running like cowards! Ha! Ha! Ha! Heh. Oh crud...” he said still grinning. Sicatran had arrived.

[end 13] i had a lot of fun with this chapter.

[animesuperfreak]

9:00pm
Kiba said simply one word.
“Dang.”

“So, you’re Kiba? Ha! You’re just a boy.” She glanced at Akamaru. “And your mutt does not look promising either.” Sicatran said arrogantly.

Kiba bristled. “Hinata, go find the others. I think I can take this one. She seems easy enough. Probably easier then that Sound I fought!”

“Ooo, brave. You know, I like to play a bit. I don’t think you’ll die just yet.”
Kiba scowled at her, then grinned.
“Heh, same here. You should die a slow painful death for what you did to Miku. And for what you did to that boy, Shisai, and I...suspect...many...others!” His voice rose, and on the last word, he blurred, and appeared behind Sicatran. She looked surprised, and was kicked forward.
With that note, the battle started.
]
* * *


“h-hey, you're not allowed to be down h-“a voice barked, and then was cut off.
Several voices began shouting, and I heard panicked footsteps down the hallway.
“It’s the witch! Run!”
Sakura and I grinned, and began kicking the door.
“Hinata, we’re in- Oomph!” a fist had knocked the breath out of me.
“Hey jerk! Don’t punch her!” Sakura yelled, whacking Shikashi upside the head with her foot. Obviously- and we should have suspected- this guy was not who he seemed.
‘Mwa-ha-ha-haa!’ He laughed “Want to know what my real name is? He clapped a hand over Sakura’s mouth, and whispered; “Im Pionshu.”
His hair changed red, and his eyes changed orange. He grew taller, and then he grinned. His grin turned into pain.
“Ow! You bit me!” indeed, Sakura had taken the chance to bite his hand.
By now, id recovered my breath, and yelled, “HINATA! OI! IN...” I doubled over in pain; Pionshu had delivered a brutal kick to the gash in my side. I kicked out savagely, and felt my foot connect...
“Ohhh...” Pionshu gasped, dropping to the ground, clutching his groin.
I laughed, even though it hurt.
The door rattled, and we heard Hinata ask if I was in there.
Sakura answered for me.
“Yeah, we’re in here! There’s a guard in here too though.” She aimed a rabbit punch at his head.
“Ha! Missed!” he laughed, tripping Sakura.
“Man, this is a tiny space to fight in...” I moaned.
“Stand back please!” Hinata said.
The door shook, and was blasted backward.
Hinata stood in the doorway, and aimed a well-placed jab at Pionshu’s neck. He crumpled with a moan. The whole thing took 2 minutes.

“A-are you all right Miku, Sakura?” Hinata asked. She asked, ‘cuz I was still on the ground, and Sakura was clutching her head where she’d banged it against the ground.
Sakura straightened up, and I tried to, but couldn’t. It was waaay too painful.
“No, she not. But...now...” Sakura held out her hands. Hinata cut the bonds. “Now, I can help.”
She told me to try and straighten out. I did, partly, just enough so she could see.
Pain...pain...i thought of my favorite things. Like the way Kiba smiled, and how whenever Kiba did something funny, Akamaru would seem to grin....i slowly relaxed.
“There we go...oh wow....that’s huge...i underestimated the size...” a gash ran from my belly button to my left hip. Sakura’s hands glowed green, and she placed her hands on the gash...i moaned; it stung. A lot. Then I sighed, it felt nice and cold. Numb almost.
“I won’t be able to heal it all. For one thing, its too big, for another, it’s got a chemical in it; it counteracts the medicine.”
I groaned. Another complication. A sudden thought struck me. Two people were missing.
“Where are they?” I asked Hinata. She knew what I was talking about.
“H-he told me to go find you...S-stayed behind to fight Sicatran...”
I gasped.
“Idi-ot! I agree with Ino right now.” I grabbed a double-headed spiked staff, “He is bullheaded!” I rushed out of the room, ignoring what pain there was.

* * *

Back on the upper level, Sicatran and Kiba were still battling it out. There were craters everywhere and ice spikes too.
“Ha! You cannot hit me with your puny attacks!” Sicatran called.
Kiba gritted his teeth.
“Wanna bet?” he pulled out a handful of smoke bombs.
“Take this! Akamaru, man-beast taijutsu!” Akamaru transformed into a Kiba clone, and Kiba threw the smoke bombs.
“Gatsuuga! Yeah! Direct hit! Yahoo! Come on, again!
Sicatran screamed.
A bloody mass hit the floor.
“Again! Yeah! Another hit! We- oomph!” a fist came out of nowhere and knocked Kiba clear across the building.
“Ow, what the heck was that?!” he muttered, rubbing his head.
“Urg...ha. Ha-ha-ha-ha. Well, well, well.” Sicatran stood up. A 5-inch chunk was gone out of her left arm. And a 6-inch chunk out of her left leg. Clearly, Kiba’s attack had missed by a couple of inches, otherwise, a lot more would be gone, or mangled. And she would be dead.

Another punch, this time from the right. Kiba slammed into a partition, Sicatran blurred in front of him, raised a fist, and...dropped to her knees.
“Akamaru!”
Akamaru had jumped on top of Sicatran.
“Yeah, good job!” Kiba got up, raised a handful of shuriken, and... was thrown sideways.
BOOM!
Lightning flashed through the night, followed immediately by thunder.
Sicatran threw Akamaru off, grinned and said “hello, Lank.”
A figure stood up in front of Kiba.
Kiba studied him.
Black and red outfit, blue belt, with pieces of wood strapped to it.
“Crap.” Kiba muttered. This guy looked dangerous. Wait a minute...the smell! This guy smelled just like...
“Catching on, isn’t he Lank, or should I call you by the name the dog-boy knows you by, Lene?” she said sarcastically.
“Ah, the boy and his mutt.” Lank said scornfully.

“You again? Heh. I beat you last time, I can this time. But first, I got some questions.
A. What the hell is going on? B. Why did you kidnap my girlfriend? And C. why are you all so set on calling Akamaru a mutt?” Kiba yelled, dodging a kick from Lank.
“We’ll tell you...if you can beat both of us!” Sicatran yelled with delight.

They began twisting and turning in a confusing circle around Kiba and Akamaru.
“Agh!” he cried, clutching his head.
“You see, when we are together” Sicatran said, weaving in several complex loops around the duo.
“We like to confuse our...prey.” Lank added.
“When he’s confused enough,” Sicatran jumped in the air. Kiba was now on his knees clutching Akamaru for support.
“We” Lank jumped in the air as well.
“Take” Sicatran grinned.
“Him” they dived, it was going to be a direct hit. Kiba raised his arm in front of his face...
“Down!” Lank laughed. The final blow...

CRACK
Purple smoke filled the area, and two figures blurred and flew in opposite directions.
As the smoke cleared, a figure kneeled in front of Kiba and Akamaru, holding a double-edged staff, looking seethed, and ready to kill.
“Don’t you dare touch my boyfriend!” Miku yelled, rage, and pain, showing in every grain of her voice.


* 10*30 *


We had come up a hatch on the south side, and id taken in the scene in under three seconds.
Sicatran and someone else were in the air, I recognized the move as the “All-finishing-takedown”; a combination genjutsu and taijutsu. It confused the opponent, and then used taijutsu to finish him/her off.
Id watched them use it on my parents. I had a second to decide what to do. Jump in front, and take the hit? Possibly deflecting the attack away from Kiba and Akamaru but hurting myself in the process...
Or, I could let them take the hit, and hope they lived.
I shook my head. There was only one option.
I ran faster, and tackled Sicatran with my staff, feeling something else slam into my shoulder. I slammed to the ground, and smacked the other guy across the roof.
Purple smoke clouded, and I took the opportunity to take a defensive position in front of Kiba. As soon as I had hit Sicatran, he had coughed, and slowly sat up. Good, that meant the genjutsu was broken. I looked around, ignoring the pain in my shoulder, and in my stomach.
Hinata was just climbing out of the hole, and she was closely followed by Sakura.
I watched as the other guy stood up, blood dripping down the both sides of his face. That told me id given him a direct hit with the staff.
I didn’t see Sicatran; I hoped id knocked her off the building.
“You...i...you’re supposed to be dead!” The guy spoke. I recognized the voice, and gasped.
“Lene?”
“Heh. Took you long enough.”
“Why-” I was interrupted by a hand on my shoulder.
“I...believe...ill ask...the questions...of this scum...Miku...by the way...i love you...never leave me again...too horrible...” Kiba huffed. “And...thanks...”
I was touched.
He took a deep breath.
“Why is she...supposed to be dead...? And you never...answered my questions.” He growled, visibly containing himself.
“Heh. Heh-Heh-Heh. We like to have our games. She’s supposed to be dead because we sent someone down to her cell to kill her and the pink-haired brat, since they wouldn’t cooperate.”
I nodded. “Hinata took care of him. We were lucky she arrived at that exact moment. Otherwise...” I trailed off, not wanting to think about it.
Hinata and Sakura appeared beside Kiba and me.
“Are you all right Miku, Kiba, Akamaru?” Sakura asked.
I nodded and whispered to Kiba: “by the way, love you too.”
, Kiba nodded too, and Akamaru seemed to.
Kiba gaped at my shoulder.
“No way you're ok, Miku. Just look at that shoulder; it looks like it was dropped in a blender.”
I glanced at it. My side was crimson, and I was pretty sure it should hurt, but it didn’t.
“Yeah, that could’ve been your face.” I retorted, chuckling.
“Ha-ha. Funny, Miku. Still. You’ve got a point.” He turned around, and coughed. Blood.
I sighed, and made a move to jump at Lank, but he wasn’t there. Crud.
I hacked up blood too, but it was a greater amount then Kiba’s.
I ignored it. This exchange of words took about 3 seconds.
“Hinata, find them. This could be our only chance.” I ordered.
“Right. Byakugan!”
She looked into space for a moment, and nodded.
“I see them. 2 people, supporting a third, heading...” she gasped.
“What? What is it?” Kiba asked, wiping the blood off his mouth.
In answer, she turned around.
Pionshu stood in the hatchway.
He flicked a piece of wood at us, and it caught flame. I glimpsed three paper bombs stuck to it.

“Damn it.” Kiba and I said in unison.
We had a split second to decide what to do. I heard a swish, and realized that Kiba had done the exact same thing.
The kunai we thrown were right on target; they struck the wood with a Thunk, and propelled the wood 50 ft away. It hit a tree, and exploded, sending chunks of wood raining down on us. I looked around, and noticed three other shinobi + Pionshu circling the four of us.
It would be close, but, as I suspected, Pionshu was the weakest of them. It fit with what I knew of Sicatran. I wondered what of the other lady, Makoshi. Surely, she would be around somewhere....

I realized I was in sync with Kiba’s moves. When he moved, I moved, even if I was fighting someone else. I found that it seemed to work just as well. That was...interesting...I could use this, maybe.
I kept watching, making sure everyone didn’t get more hurt then we were. It was actually quite obvious we had the upper hand, though whoever fought me had an advantage, because of my mangled shoulder. I tried moving it, this time it didn’t respond.
“crap.” i muttered.
I felt something hit it; i wasn’t sure what it was until I looked. “Huh. That’s odd. I could swear...” nothing was there. This was bad; I need to get this at least halfway healed before I damaged it any further.
I felt something stumble against my back; it was Kiba.
I laughed. The expression on his face; he looked like he’d just swallowed a bucket of tacks. It was really funny. He pointed a shaking hand at my shoulder.
I looked. So that was why I couldn’t feel it anymore. My nerve had been cut by a couple shuriken. I didn’t notice; because I didn’t feel it, and because one shuriken had cut, and fell off, the other had embedded itself in my shoulder, I couldn’t see it from how my neck turned.
“I...wow...” I shook my head. I had suddenly experienced a wave of nausea/dizziness.
“Heh. Heh. uhh...Sakura can probably fix that...” he deflected a kunai. I did the same.
“I really hope so...where are they?” I didn’t see them anymore.
“Sakura was flipped off the roof- no, don’t worry, she’s ok, but Hinata decided if we were in pairs, see, we’d have a better chance of surviving. As it is, I don’t see how we can lose.”
“yeah.” I agreed. “ did you see where that Pionshu guy went?” I asked, jumping out of range of an exploding kunai.
Kiba jumped too, and started laughing.
“man, that guy was so easy, it was funny! I cant believe we were scared of him, though, I have to admit when he threw the wood at us, I freaked out. I still cant understand why he was able to take us, especially me and Hinata, by surprise.” This was accompanied by appropriate hand gestures.
“How’d you take him out?”
“nah, not me. It was Akamaru, he jumps in and wrenches the guys belt off, he just slumps over, and Akamaru...well. you know.”
I did know. Ugh. There was only one shinobi left, and he was running in fear.
I laughed, and threw a couple kunai, pinning him to a tree.
“nice aim. That was, what, 200 ft away?”
Was it really that far?
“try practicing at midnight, every night, for 5 years. In your backyard.” I laughed.
“well, it is pretty dark.” It was true. It was probably like 11:00...we jumped off the building, and blurred to the mans side.
The first thing I noticed was a dark splotch on the fork of his pants. I grinned. This guy definitely wasn’t pretending to be scared. Kiba grinned too. He roughly jerked the kunai out from the mans sleeves, and said:
“hello. We are looking for someone. You will help us find them, or you will be pumped for information, without a choice. Just nod.”
He nodded.
“And you will call me ‘sir’. And her ‘lady’. Got it?”
The man nodded vigorously, and said:
“Y-yes S-sir.”
“did your superiors tell you were they were going?”
“Y-yes s-sir. To P-pine ridge. Jipansho said they were going t-to do something t-there, but then he c-cut off and left. I j-just overheard them talking while I w-was on sentry duty.” The man frowned at me.
“got a problem?” I said, menace in my voice. I did not like to be frowned at.
“N-no, L-lady. I-its just...y-you look like s-someone I knew...” his stuttering increased. I guessed that he was more afraid of women.
I grinned.
“who might that someone be?” Kiba interrupted.
“J-just a little girl, she had a d-dog, and she was here about a w-week ago. Sicatran said she was to be p-prisoner here for a while, until she took c-care of business...”
Leaves rustled to the north, and Sakura and Hinata appeared.
Kiba and I merely glanced at them.
Sakura immediately grabbed me by the arm, and gasped; she had noticed my shoulder.
“why on earth did you let yourself get hurt this way!? I just cant...wow...you should be unconscious from blood loss! Why did you...?”

“hey, it was the best choice at the moment. The other option was letting Kiba take the hit. Directly. I had no doubt it would kill him, and Akamaru. Lank was heading for Kiba, and Sicatran was heading for Akamaru. I deflected the attack from Kiba by tackling Sicatran, and whacked Lank in the face with my staff, so he wouldn’t hurt Akamaru. but before I whacked him, he rammed me. Jerk.” I interrupted. Where was my staff? I looked around, found it, and picked it up.
“Eww.” There was crusted blood on it, and shreds of skin on the spikes.
She sighed.
“can you feel it at all?”
I grinned.
“Nope.”
“you know that’s bad right?”
I nodded.
“Well then. I can heal it, but it will take time. and, well, I would have done the same.”
Kiba turned around. The guy was lying on the ground.
“He told me all he knew, and then I knocked him. He’ll be out for a day or so. Hey, better K.O’d then dead right?”
I sat down. “So, where they headed?”
“someplace called ‘north pine ridge’. Should be about a days run.” He laughed. “This guy” he jerked a thumb towards the guy, “was so scared! Did you see how he stuttered? He was so afraid of you, Miku. It was really funny.”
Akamaru nosed Kiba’s jacket.
“yeah, we should rest. And Miku...get that shoulder healed! Before we go hunting. I know one thing. Sicatran wont be giving us that much trouble. I tore good sized chunks. Lank? You whacked him good. They should both be out for a day at least. That was actually incredibly easy. Heh.” He yawned, so did Akamaru.
“lets go find the tents.” Hinata suggested.
I yawned too, and flexed my dead shoulder.
“yeah, come on Sakura, I really need this healed.” I started to walk away, but was struck by a sudden thought. Hadn’t there been other prisoners?

“J-just a little girl, she had a d-dog, and she was here about a w-week ago. Sicatran said she was to be p-prisoner here for a while, until she took c-care of business...”

“I have to go visit another inmate. Ta-Ta!”

“Wait guys, there’s someone else here. A prisoner. Come on, we gotta find her.” I ran off, Kiba on my left, Akamaru on my right.

“Wait, Miku! You need that shoulder healed! Miku!” Sakura shouted, and when I didn’t answer, she followed, scowling.
“Come on Hinata.”


* 12:30 *

“Kiba, can you smell anything?” I asked. We were in a long dull brown hallway.
“...i can smell where you were.” He opened a door.
“yep. Small huh?”
“yeah it i- hey, there’s my sleeve!”
He walked in and picked up his bloody sleeve.
“wondered where that went. Why’s it here?”
I grinned.
“that’s how you were going to find us. You would smell your blood, and know, because it would be where you haven’t been.” I explained.
“Hmm. I probably would’ve wondered.........your blood smells strong though. I might not have picked out my smell from yours. It would’ve still led me to the same place, though. Why is your blood here?”

I flipped up my torn shirt.
“Holy crap! How’d that get there?!”
“Not sure, but its one heck of a cut though.”
“Question. Do you go out of your way to get seriously hurt?” he asked
I rolled my eyes.
“Come on, we have to find the other girl. And her dog.” Kiba said, leading me out of the room, and down the hall.
A frown furrowed his brow.
“A dog...” he muttered.
“Kiba? You ok?” I asked.
“Yeah, sure. Just a little headache. It’ll leave soon...” he winked, looked thoughtful, and scowled at me. “But you’d better not! Never again! I need you way too- hey, don’t laugh! I do! When you were...” he sighed. “Kidnapped, I just lay down, and did nothing. For an hour. Just...sat there! Thinking about you- it was like I was on ‘sleep mode’, even Hinata couldn’t cheer me up! It was just frustra-”
He stopped.
“This is weird. Listen.” He tapped his foot on the ground.
“What? I don’t hear anything.” i said, shrugging.
“There’s no echo.” He tapped his foot on a different section of floor.
“There’s an echo here.” He bent down and put his ear against the floor panel that didn’t echo. Then he put it against the one that did.
“False floor?” I asked.
“Looks like it.” He said straightening.
“This one echoes because its thin, it doesn’t need to hold up a lot, ‘cuz it’s on the ground. This one, the one that doesn’t echo, is thick, meaning that it has to support more because there is a space underneath.” He inspected the panel again. Behind me, I heard Hinata and Sakura talking in hushed tones.
“There’s a tiny crack here.” Kiba flipped out a kunai. This should take care of I-”
*Crack*
“So that wont work then...lets try this...Akamaru.”
Akamaru flipped out a paw.
“Get it boy.” Akamaru began widening the crack.
“This looks promising.” Kiba stuck his fingers in the now wide crack.
“Ugh...this...is heavy...how big is this thing?! Whoa! There.” He grunted, flipping it over, and leaning it against a wall.

“Hello?” I called.
Something growled.
Kiba reeled.
“Geez, do they even let that kid go to the bathroom?!”
Inside was a little girl, maybe 5 yrs old.
Her hands were bound, and so were her feet. She had a gag across her mouth.
A dark lump moved in a corner.
I jumped down and...Whoa! I could see why Kiba had stayed up there. Did they ever let this girl go to the bathroom?
“Hey don’t be afraid, we’re he- whoa!” I jumped back up.
The black shape had jumped to its feet, and I could see it was a brown dog, about the same size as Akamaru.
It growled at me.
Kiba frowned.
“Hey, we won’t hurt you, we’re here to help. Akamaru, come on.” Kiba jumped in the hole, pinching his nose.
I watched as the brown dog sniffed Akamaru, but growled at Kiba.
“Huh. Guess she only trusts dogs.”
He bent down, picked up the little girl, and jumped back up.
“here.” He said, handing the unconscious girl to me. I walked over to Sakura and handed her to Sakura, saying, “here, heal her.” I then jumped down in the hole, and slowly walked up to the dog.
Kiba followed me down. The dog growled at him and I told him to go back up. He did. I held my hand out to the dog. She sniffed it and licked it. I held out my arms, suggesting if she wanted to go up, and out of this place. As if she heard me, she jumped into my arms. I staggered. She was heavy. Nonetheless, I jumped out.
I set the dog down in the light, and Kiba suddenly said, “Her names Nia.”
The brown dog looked up.
“How’d you know that?” I asked.
“Had a funny dream.”
“Oh.”
“Hey”, Sakura interrupted, “she’s waking up!” Kiba and I rushed over, but we both were shoved aside by the brown dog, or Nia.
Sakura looked mystified. “Where’d she come from?”
Kiba and I grinned, and finished walking over to Sakura.
I bent down and looked at the girl. Her eyes were open; they roved over everything. However, when they hit Kiba’s face, they stopped.
“I-Inu-inuzu-ka” she whispered.
I was thoroughly confused. I looked at Kiba.
He shrugged, and said:
“Yeah. Im Kiba and this is Akamaru. What about you?”

“A-Ak-amar-u. dog.” The girl said.

Hinata cut in. “some shinobi are approaching. We should leave.”

Ok, hold that thought, little one, we have to go.” Sakura said.
“She has no major injuries, she should be good for the run back to camp.” she said, standing up, and hitching the girl to my back.
“Yeah...ok, camp is about 2 miles to the south. Come on.”
We set off, in the same position as when we came.

* 1:00am *

ok, so what's your name?” I asked the girl.
We had moved camp, yet again. Sakura was making food, and Hinata was sleeping.
I was sitting on a cot, and Kiba held the child on his lap. And yes, my shoulder was swathed in bandages. So was my stomach.
“Ik-ikidai. You’re Inuzuka?” [Ee-kee-dai]
“Ye-ah. This is Miku.”
She pointed to me.
“Aka.” She pointed to Nia. “Nia! Dogs! I like dogs.”
“Finally! A sentence!” Kiba exclaimed.
“Ikidai, Im going to check you over for injuries. Ok? While Im doing that, Kiba and Miku are going to ask you questions. Is that ok?”
“Ummm...ok. Can I have bath first? They ne-ver gave me baths! Ple-ase?” she begged.
“Yeah, ok. Miku can give you one, right?” Kiba looked at me.
“sure.” I said, leading her over to a nearby stream.
“ki-ba?” Ikidai asked, reaching out her pudgy little girl hands.
He turned around. “Yeah?”
“Ple-ase takes care of Nia?”
Kiba blinked, and his expression softened. “Sure. How old is she?”
“Dog or human?”
Kiba grinned. “Human.”
“Oh...2.”
“Ill look at her. And don’t worry, with Miku, you’re in good hands.” He walked towards Nia.

When we got to the stream, Ikidai asked if the water was warm.
“Not really. I suppose its better then nothing though.”
She was silent as she eased into the water.
“Worried?” I asked.
“A lit-tle. Is Ki-ba nice?”
I grinned.
“He’s the best! Especially with animals. Is that what you’re worried about?”
“Sor-ta. And I have a cou-ple ques-tions too.”
“ok, what are they?”
“are you a shin-obi? What rank? Who was that tall la=dy? How old are you? Why-” she exclaimed.
“Whoa, whoa, hold on, one at a time! Yes I am, Im a Chuunin, her names Sicatran, Im 14. did they ever let you wash?” I washed behind her ears, and was amazed at the amount of dirt.
“n-no.”
“why do you talk like that?”
“like what?”
“you break up your words into syllables.”
“I do-nt know.”
“what about how you got in Sicatran’s clutches? Do ya know?”
“not real-ly.”
“hmmm...did...you know your parents?”
“yes. They were nice. I dun-no where they are now.”
“I was her victim before, when I was 3.”
“oh...its not her though. She just takes the or-ders.”
I was startled. “how do you know that?”
“the green haired la-dy gives ord-ers to Sic-a-tran. She yells a lot.”
Green haired? Could that be Makoshi? Hopefully.
“did you catch what she was called?”
“once. But I cant rem-mem-ber. It had a ‘shi’ in it though.”
It had to be her.
“where is everybody?” Ikidai asked, lifting up her arms so I could clean them.
I noticed a couple scrapes on the underside of her arms.
“does anything hurt? And Sakura’s making food, Kiba’s doing I don’t know, and Hinata’s sleeping.”
“not rea-lly. Lit-tle stings here and there.”
I started to wash her hair, and noticed something.
“well. I have a question for you. When was the last time your hair was washed?”
“cant rem-mem-ber. Why?”
“at first glance, it looked like it was brown. Now, its red-gold.”
“rea-lly?”
I nodded. “it’s a pretty shade too. It’s just-”
I stopped. someone was calling my name.
“Miku?” it was Kiba. He stuck his head out from a bush.
I threw my shoe at him.
“hey, - Oi! What was that for?”
“cant you see us? privacy please!”
“oh. Oh! Ok.” He brought his head back in.
“I just forgot to tell you something. ‘member that keno guy?” he called.
“yeah?”
“I uh...well, I promised him id check in with him if all went well. So we gotta do that tomma- today. But first, we all need sleep. I think we’ve all got a combined amount of 6 hours of sleep in the last 3 days?” he grinned.
Was it really that much? It felt like less. Even as he talked, I began to feel sleepy.

“Stop! Don’t talk about sleep! It makes me sleepy. so we go visit Keno. Ok.” I handed Ikidai a nightgown.
“ok then. See you in the tent!” I heard the sounds of Kiba leaving, and I sighed.
“get dressed.”
I yawned.
"come on, you can sleep safely with me."
we walked back to camp, and I climbed onto my cushion; Akamaru one on side, Kiba on the other, and Ikidai hugging my neck.
All was quiet. for the first time in 3 days, i felt safe.
this one too.

[animesuperfreak]

I softly listened to Kiba’s soft breathing, and Akamaru’s heartbeat. I started thinking about the odd dream I’d had when I’d fainted.

[Flashback]
I am walking down a long, endless white hall filled with doors. It feels...nostalgic. Maybe because most of the doors say something like: Christmas 1-3, Halloween 1-present, and ‘bad dreams’. I notice that one is almost bursting, and things growl beyond it. I walk past it, and realize Im deep in my sub consciousness.
My memories.
I see a door at the end of the hallway labeled ‘restricted’ its open. A voice calls ‘Enter’.
I walk in and the voice is emanating from two people. A woman wearing a long white dress, and a man wearing a white suit. I know they are my parents.
The women motions for me to sit down.
‘Hello little one.’ Dad says.
‘You have been getting along nicely after our death.’ Mom states.
“Why did you guys leave?” I ask. I can feel the tears start up.
“The leaf had had some trouble with the rogues from the rain. We were sent to sort it out. So we headed to the rogues hideout. When we got there, your mother and I sat...and waited. While we waited, we heard and saw all sorts off horrific things. How the rogues beat the children when they tried to steal food because they were starving. We’d watched how children come back. Brainwashed! Then we seen the worst thing of all. I cannot convey it in words.” Mother pressed her hand to my forehead.
Images pour into my head.
A little boy. It was his third birthday. His mother went to the market, and stole a birthday cake. The little boy is sitting at a table, about to blow out the candles.
The door bursts open.
The little boy looks terrified. He asks his mom, in horror, what's happening?! She calmly replies, and says that they are here, and to run. Sicatran, Makoshi, and Lank step into the room, and you expect lightning to flash. The boy crawls under a table.
The mother stands up, and asks Sicatran what she wants.
‘Punishment.’ Makoshi says.
The mother’s eyes widen, and the scene fades.
‘The mother was killed. This was the house we had been hiding in, by consent of the family. It turned out the boy was bragging to his friends that there were shinobi protecting him. Shikashi had found out, and dutifully told Makoshi, who had sent Sicatran to root out the invaders.’ Dad says.
‘They searched the house, and it was when Lank shouted “where are they?!” that we figured it out.’ Mom states.
“Ill tell you what, we hightailed it out of there before you could say ‘crap’.” Dad jokes.
“Ok...but why are you telling me this?” I asked.
‘Because you asked. All the time, the question was roving in your mind. You never asked, but we knew.’ He replies.
‘Let me show you something mi-mi. look.’ Mother gestures towards a white wall. A rectangular portion turns black.
I look closer, and see the valley where I fainted from above. I see Kiba shouting at Lene, he is holding him by the neck.
I hear dad say ‘sound’ and this is what I hear.

I hear Kiba practically freaking out at Lene, and Akamaru jumping on Lene. I listen as Kiba defends Akamaru, and as he mutters to himself. I hear Sakura and Hinata whispering, and Kiba coming to within a inch of snapping.
But the loudest sound of all, the one that overlaps everything, is the sound Kiba makes as he picks my limp body up. Just two small, significant, tears, as they fall on my chest while he runs towards camp.

By the end, it is I who is feeling like I would cry.
I look wordlessly at my mother.
‘Kiba loves you very much.’ She says.
‘Every bit as much as he loves Akamaru.’ my dad finishes.
‘I-I see that.’ I stutter.
I walk up to the wall screen, which is now showing Kiba sitting on a cot, absentmindedly petting Akamaru. I can tell he is deep in thought.

I reach up, and touch his pixilated hair...
A cold air rushes though the room. With it comes a strong smell. It smells of rain.

Back in the real world, my eyes open.

[End flashback]
3:00am

My eyes flashed open, and I noticed id fallen asleep. I yawned, and tried to sort through all the memories. While I did this, I noticed a change in the tents air.
I sat up, and looked around. Akamaru was there, check. Kiba; check, though he’d moved to the opposite side of me, and was now nestled up next to Akamaru. I grinned. Then I remembered. Ikidai!
I quietly got up, and tiptoed outside. We had moved camp, so we were in a tiny clearing now. I looked up. The moon was full tonight. I listened for the sounds a little girl would make.
Bingo. I’d heard a footstep.
I jumped in the trees toward it, as I got closer, I noticed a change in the air. It smelled...pungent? Like ramen, if you left it out too long, steeped in water. Or one of Chouji’s burps. Or...maybe not. His burps were disgusting...
I slowed down, and stood on a tree branch. About twenty feet in front of me was Ikidai. She was giving a belly rub to Nia. She stood up, and threw something. It was a small ornately carved stick. Nia caught it, and threw in the air, then used her tail to whack it back.
Ikidai then threw four shuriken at the stick. All four hit it, straight in a row.
‘Wow...she’s good. And she’s doing the same thing I did when I was little.’ I thought.
The stick landed in the branches, about a foot next to me. I picked it up, and jumped down, landing silently behind Ikidai.
She started, and threw an array of weapons at me.
I neatly dodged them all, except one, which I caught between my fingers.
“If you want to get better, then spar with someone who has opposable thumbs.” I said, throwing the shuriken.
She raised a kunai, and deflected it.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
“Because I looked around, and you weren't there.”
“Oh. Me and Nia were just pract-icing.”
“Hey, do you smell something?” I asked her.
She sniffed.
“Ye-ah. It smells like ra-in. it’s a pretty- oh!”
“What?” I asked, sniffing again. Huh. It did. Not normal rain though.
“A rain-drop hit my nose.” She wrinkled it.
I heard the rain now. A drop here or there.
“Come on, lets go back. You do need your sle- Ikidai? Hey.” I waved my hand in front of her face. Nothing. Not even a flicker. “Ikidai?” I looked at Nia. She was frozen too.
I heard a thump. I looked over where I heard it. A dead squirrel lay on the ground, twitching.
“What the-” Ikidai crumpled, while Nia shook her head.
“Wha?!” Something was wrong. Very wrong. I picked up Ikidai, and told Nia to run with me.
She complied, and we raced back to camp.
We had been running for about a minute, when the air changed again; became normal smelling. I also noticed the rain had stopped.
I kept running, and didn’t stop until I was right outside the tent. I opened the flap, and climbed in.
“Huhz? Oh, ey, Miks. Whatchu doin up?” Kiba murmured, his eyes still closed.
“Not sure...go back to bed.”
“Okayz.”
I laid Ikidai down on my cushion, and went outside.
The moon was covered by clouds, and the bad smell was back. I shivered. Ominous.
I walked over to Hinata and Sakura’s tent.
The door opened before I got there.
“Hinata. I was just coming to get you.”
“M-Miku! H-hello. Why were you coming to get me?”
“Did you notice a chill just now? Or something?” I asked, worry creasing my brow.
“Um. Yeah...why?”
“I need you to see if there’s something, or someone lurking around. The whole...air...just feels...odd. Ok?”
“Uhh...ok.” she clasped her hands together. “Byakugan.”
A minute passed.
Another minute.
“No...But in a clearing, there’s a small pond. It looks...unnatural. There’s chakra flowing through it. But there’s no one within 5 miles.”
“is there a dead squirrel near that pond?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I frowned. What did it mean?
Hinata gasped. “Oh!”
“What? What happened?”
“it...disappeared.”
“What did? The squirrel?”
“The pond.”
The frown turned into a grimace. My shoulder was prickling. And so was the cut in my stomach.
“Im gonna go wake Kiba. Wake up Sakura, and meet in my tent. Bring anything important.”
I turned, and left.

Rather then walk the twelve feet, I decided to take the quick way.
I blurred into the tent, startling Nia, who apparently, was keeping watch.
“Kiba! Kiba! Oi, wake up!” when he didn’t respond, I slugged him. Hard. It showed how worried I was.
“whoa, hey, are we under attack?!” he said, flying into a sitting position.
“I don’t know. I feel weird things tonight, and Ikidai fainted.” I sat next to Kiba. And hugged his shoulder.
“Weird things? Like what?” he lay his head on Akamaru. “if it was bad-” he sniffed. “hold on. I may have something. Akamaru. Come on, time to do what we’re here for.”
He got up, and so did Akamaru.
He sniffed his way to the entrance to the tent.
“This smell...it smells like rain, but definitely not normal rain. Akamaru. What do you think?”
Akamaru barked.
“Yeah. You’re right.” He turned so he was facing me. “I say, and Akamaru agrees, that this is not normal. It’s weird. Like...like...if chakra had smell. That’s what it smells like.” He shrugged, and itched his head.
Sakura and Hinata appeared. Like me, they’d decided to blur in. something about the outside right now...just made me feel sick.
“Sakura, I dunno what happened, she was sparring with me in a clearing, and the air smelled weird, it started to rain and she fainted. But before that, Ikidai and Nia were both frozen, like they wouldn’t move. I freaked out, it was really creepy.” I pointed to where Ikidai laid.
Sakura immediately checked her over.
“Im not sure...it’s different then when you fainted. She’s just numb. Like a poison. She can probably hear us. What was the last thing she said?”
“She said a raindrop fell on her nose.”
“Could’ve been the trigger. I heard Hinata say the pond was chakra infused?”
“Yes. It was full of it.” Hinata answered.
“That could explain the smell...” Kiba interrupted.
“What smell?” Sakura asked.
“That weird smell you guys smell? It smells like rain; weird rain, but if I had to place it, id say it smells like what chakra would smell like. Since you can’t actually smell chakra, id say it was full of...of...well, stagnant, musty, water. With power, like that stagnant, musty, water can take shape, and kill you. What?! Don’t look at me that way, its hard to describe it!” he explained impatiently.
It began to rain. The smell got stronger.
“If...if I had to make a guess...id say they’d be searching the woods...using the chakra-laden rain to search for hotspots. If it found one, the rain would paralyze it, and then someone would go out and see what it is. If it was a person, well...i guess it’d end up like that squirrel. So...”
“So the best thing would be not to get hit by the rain. That means sleepover. Sweet! I call dibs on Miku’s cushion! With Miku on it of course.” Kiba grinned.
I grinned. Then playfully punched him again.
“What, so I can squish you like I did last time?” I laughed.
“Uhh... well... this means we all have to fit into one tent. And three cushions... Umm...i guess...” Hinata yawned.
“Ill take watch for the little bit of night we have left. And if it stops raining.” Sakura blinked, and sat on a corner of one cushion.
I laid down. I thought this would look funny to any outsiders who came in. Kiba and I, using Akamaru as a pillow, Sakura sitting on a corner of the cushion that had Ikidai on it, and Hinata sleeping on a cushion with 4 bags on it. Odd.
I turned and whispered in Kiba’s ear.
“Good night...or morning. Sleep well, we got a big day tomorrow.”
He turned, and whispered back.
“Yeah, I know. We get to kick the butts of Lank, Sicatran and that one woman, Makoshi. Hmm...Hey, I wonder if this weird rain is hers.”
I sat up.
“Could be. Or Sicatran’s. I know she uses water, but we don’t know much about Makoshi, ‘cept she has green hair.”
I yawned.
“Ok, it’s really time to get to sleep. ‘night.” I rolled over, closed my eyes, and was asleep in 2 minutes.

* * * *
7:00am

I yawned. So did Sakura.
“You go to bed. Ill finish up.” I told her.
“’k.” she climbed onto a cushion.
I sat up. The smell was gone, and now it smelled fine. Except for one thing. I looked outside. Only the insects and small mammals moved. Which was the problem. No bird song. No calls of animals. Just calls from cicadas, and a few twitches of movement in the forest.
I realized every large mammal was dead. Saddening. I stuck my head back in.
“Apparently there were a few flaws in my reasoning. The rain killed everything bigger then a squirrel.” I announced. Sakura and Hinata, who were conversing, looked up.
“Everything?” Hinata asked.
“everything.” I replied. “I saw little movement, and I heard no birdsong. So, Im assuming that most things are dead.”
“So why is Ikidai not dead?” Sakura asked.
Kiba sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Augh...what a night. Hey, whatchu guys doin?”
“We were discussing the night’s events actually. Everything bigger then a squirrel died.”
“Seriously?”
I nodded. “What we were just asking was why Ikidai isn’t dead yet.”
Kiba cocked his head. “Hmmm...Maybe the rain only kills the animals. And not people?”
I thought for a minute.
“Maybe. It would be really bad if you were caught in it. It would only get Akamaru, and leave you to the mercy of Sicatran. Or Makoshi. Whoever found you.”
Kiba shuddered.
“They would only find me dead. I would die after I realized Akamaru was dead. Literally. And if not...well. Then if my body won’t move, my mind will make it. I’d lose control. Heh. Then, if I still had my mind when everyone was dead...i dunno. Id go into the woods and sulk for a couple decades.” He shrugged, and lowered his head.
“...that...is...so sad! Come here!” I threw my arms around him, then winced when my shoulder twanged.
“Waugh! Hey, hey! Love you too!” he hugged me back, looking vaguely surprised.
“Whoa!” we said in unison as Akamaru stood on his hind legs and joined in the hug.
I laughed. How many more of these moments would we share like this today?
I motioned sakura and Hinata out of the tent. They left, Sakura winking at me.
I shook my head.

* * * *
i guess im gonna finish this soon then...

[nejisgirl15]

excellent job! i love it! i can't wait to see what happens next! 10/10

[animesuperfreak]

thanx. im not sure how long it will take me to finish, and i cant update on this computer, so if you want a more updated version go to --- O_O...wow. i justr realized thia site is more updated...never mind...the other site will usually be more dated, so keep checking in on it. though. http://forums.narutofan.com/showthread.php?t=374612&page=7

[Hinata's Fire]

can i join your fc.I like akamaru!!:p

[animesuperfreak]

post in the fc plz. there is a post for potential members, i wont be adding anyone for a while though. i mean, they can join, but i dont have time to add right now. did you like the fanfiction at least?

[animesuperfreak]

rest of 14* * * *

[Sakura and Hinata’s small conversation (lol)]

Sakura grinned.
“Wonder what they’re doing in there?” she asked Hinata.
“N-no.”
“You know, you’ve been awfully quiet lately. tell me why?”
“Oh! No. uhh...yes...umm...well...see...” Hinata twiddled her fingers.
“Its nothing...just...i...umm...wish someone would notice...that I like... them...it looks...so easy...for Miku and Kiba...” she stammered.
“’someone?’ do I know him?” she asked.
“...” Hinata twiddled her fingers again.
“Will you tell me?”
“...ena...Na-Naruto”. She whispered.
“Na? Naruto? Him?”
Hinata nodded, so tiny, sakura could barely see it.
“...that’s great. I kinda figured, but I wanted to make sure. Ya know, he likes you too, but he doesn’t know it yet.”
“He...does?”
“Yeah. He only looks at two girls. You and me. And lately, he’s been looking at you more. He’s beginning to realize that he likes you. Just try to get him alone and talk to him, or spend more time with him.”
“O-ok.”
“Think we can go back in?” sakura asked.
She didn’t answer.
The tent flap opened, and Kiba and Miku walked out, holding hands.
“Ready to go visit someone?” Miku said.

* * * *

[This is what happened in the tent]


I motioned Sakura and Hinata out.
After they left, I hugged Kiba more tightly.
“Technically, we could go back home right now. It’s been three days. That was the mission perimeter.” He said, looking confused.
“I don’t want to...not yet anyway. I want to know why ... From the threesome. I heard it from my parent’s memories, but I need to hear it from them.” I said.
“Hmm...Memories? How, and when, was this?”
“When I fainted.” I said it with an acidic tone in my voice. I was beginning to hate that period of time.
Kiba grinned. He could tell.
“So...why were they killed?”
“It was a long-term infiltration mission. They’d seen many things they weren't supposed to see. The little boy they lived with...he told his friends. His friends told their parents. The parents, thinking that this was dangerous, told one of the threesome. They tried to run, but were caught anyway.”
“So why were you with them?”
“I wasn’t. i knew how to take care of myself. They’d brought groceries; enough to last a couple weeks.
It was nearing the end of the second week. They’d be home soon. I was surprised when they came home a day early. Mom told me to go get some pretty butterflies, and dad said he’d seen some down by the river, about a 20-minute walk. I left. When I came back...yeah...i dunno how long I sat there. I know it was at least a day and a half. Then the Anbu came, and everything shifted.”
Kiba frowned; he looked like he was concentrating on something.
“You...they...Aww...come ‘ere.”
I obliged, and we hugged, and kissed.
“Well... You have buds now. Like Tenten and Lee! everyone. But most importantly...” he whispered into my ear, grinning. “You have me and Akamaru.”
I grinned, and then frowned. “But they knew about me. Which is another question I plan to ask them.”
“How do you figure that?” he stroked my hair.
“They purposely made a diversion. And kidnapped Sakura and me. They wanted Sakura for her healing skills. But there was no reason they would want me, unless they thought my parents told me what they’d seen.”
“Lank could’ve thought you were cute. I think that.” He grinned my favorite grin; the one that makes my heart beat all wrong. I fingered my shoulder.
“Doubt it. Really, really doubt it.” I closed my fingers around the end of the bandage, and started to absentmindedly take it off.
“Stop that.” He said, lifting my hand away from the bandage. “You’ll get it infected.” He began to wind it back up.
I sighed. Then grinned.
“what?”
“nothing...you’ll see.” To tell the truth, he’d see a whole new side of me. When I went up against the threesome.
He frowned.
I smiled, grabbed his hand, and asked him when we were going to Keno’s.
“you make it sound routine!” he laughed.
“’cuz it is. No doubt we’ll visit again when we beat the crap out of the threesome.” I replied, leading him out of the tent.

* * * *

I blinked in the bright light, Sakura and Hinata stared at me.
“Ready to go visit someone?” I asked.

[End 14]


[15]
I smiled. So did Kiba. Sakura was grinning, and Hinata was twiddling her thumbs, apparently not knowing whether to laugh or not. Ikidai was still unconscious and Nya was sleeping.
We had just arrived at Keno’s little hut---i was surprised they’d already got a small village set up. Or something like it.
we were grinning at the look on Keno’s face. We had just finished describing what had happened, and were following up on a injury account, so we could replenish our stock of meds. I had scratched at my shoulder, and Keno had said that I was itching it too much. He’d asked if it was a rash, and I said it was a cut. He asked if he could see it, and we were laughing at the result.
“wha? How do you shinobi do that?! You get a wound that should kill you, but it doesn’t, and you laugh about it later!” he ranted for a few more minutes, then said, “well, Im just glad you’re ok, even if you’re body’s not.” He sat down, shaking his head. “So...what are you going to do now? Are you going to go and finish the job? Or stay here, and rest? You know I wouldn’t object to you staying for a while. It would only repay some of what I owe you for bringing my son home safe.” He grinned. Kiba and I glanced at each other, and shook our heads.
“No, where they where headed is at least a days run. We have a couple days to rest and recuperate. But, would it be ok if you let us send a message to the leaf?”
Keno nodded, and Kiba asked if Shisai was better.
“no. he talked a little bit here and there, and does all his work perfectly, but its as you said....there’s really no other word to describe it...he’s brainwashed. He just thinks every single thing is his fault.”
“We’ll just have to give him time. His friend Aida dying doesn’t help.” Sakura said.
“He doesn’t know she’s dead, I think.”
“Oh.”
We sat in silence for a minute. Keno stood up, and reached in a pouch on his side.
“here.” He said, handing me a vial of clear liquid. It was about two inches long.
“What’s this?” I asked, weighing it in my palm.
“Water. It has healing properties and is the only thing I managed to salvage from my old house.” He gestured towards the abandoned village we’d seen on our way in. Apparently, while I was gone, it had been burned down.
“You used to live there?” Kiba interrupted.
“Yeah. Damn fine place it was, even with all the people being poor. Shisai and me, we ran a pharmacy. We ran quite a tight ship! That is until Shisai found Aida...”

[The scene shifts to a flashback]

“Aida come on! We gotta hurry!” a light voice said. The speaker was a girl named Aida.
“Im coming Im coming! Crap, they’re catching up!” a small trilling voice said.
Two kids of the age eight and nine were running from a couple shopkeepers. The smaller of the two, Shisai, held a couple loaves of bread. The duo turned a corner, and darted up a stairwell.
“Made it!” he huffed. He stopped and took a breather.
“Come on, gotta get to Keno’s place, the sooner the better. Hunter’s share!”
He ran towards Keno’s shop, which was just a little bit away.
He heard a sound. It was girl screaming. He stopped his course, and ran towards the sound.
Shisai stepped out from behind a dumpster. He beheld a large man, reaching for a girl. The fetid smell of blood washed through the air. Shisai covered his nose. It was obvious this guy used force, and had both killed recently, and not taken a shower recently. He looked to be about 20.
“Come’ ere girl! You look reeal nice now, don’t you? Come see Reg!” he drawled.
Shisai ran in front of the girl. “Oi! What do you think you’re doing?! Leave her alone!”
Reg spit in his face. “Who’s gonna make me, ya brat!? You? Don make me laugh!” it was also obvious this guy was drunk.
he slapped Shisai into a nearby wall.
“Butt out, or ill leave you in a gutter.” Reg threatened.
Shisai glared at Reg. a glint caught his eye. He lunged at the opportunity, and grabbed at the rusted dagger. He thrust it at Reg, and the big man fell on his knees, the dagger sticking out of his stomach.
Shisai got up, and helped the girl up. They both stared at the dead man.
“oh my god. What did I just do? I just-”
“Come on. We gotta get away from here! We must go home!” she picked up the two bread loaves Shisai had dropped, grabbed Shisai’s hand, and led him to her makeshift house.
She led him to a small tent. In it was an old man, smoking on a pipe.
“Father, this boy has just saved me from death. His name is Shisai; may I give him a tour?”
The old man nodded, and the girl led Shisai to another room in the tent. She picked up a bracelet. It had a dagger and a wooden heart on it. She grabbed something and put it on the bracelet. It was an eye.
“The dagger, for bravery. The heart for love, and the eye for watchfulness. Here.” She put it on his wrist, and ushered him out of the tent with the words, “my names Aida. Come see me at the corner of market in two hours.”
Shisai went home, wondering how she knew his name.

*

“The rest of the month went like that, and in the end, he fell in love! Neither of us expected that.” Keno laughed. “But then, they were both caught stealing. Aida was caught, while Shisai lay on the ground. Bruised, bleeding, and presumed dead. He had been viciously beaten. The guards left him ‘cuz they thought that he wouldn’t live, and would die before they got him to the fortress. Lucky for him one of my friends happened to pass by. He took him, and brought him to me, where he began to heal. When he was healed, he immediately tried to run off. That was when we realized the extent of his love for her. Eventually, he escaped, and got himself in trouble.”

*

Shisai stood in an alley, watching Aida. Her bracelet was on his wrist. He had covered himself in black paint, and was getting ready to take back Aida. She looked...empty, he thought. He realized they must have done their horrible experiments to her. He threw a rock at the light box, breaking it, and plunging the compound into darkness. He then ran in, and grabbed Aida. She just stared at him, not even recognizing what was going on. He knocked her out, crying.
Suddenly the lights flicked back on. They must have had a back-up generator!
“There he is! Get him!”
Shisai threw Aida on his back, ran out of the compound, avoiding kunai as best as he could. He still got struck in several places. He made it a good bit away, and ran into a cave, where he checked himself and Aida over for injuries. He found his legs and Aida’s back was riddled with Shuriken and Kunai. He suddenly had a very bad feeling. He started pulling out the kunai from Aida’s back, ignoring his own pain. He tore her shirt off, intending to bandage her wounds.
He gasped. Out of all the wounds, a single kunai had hit her right in the middle of her back. He hadn’t seen it at first; it had hit the bone, and bounced off. Blood had caked around it, and it already looked infected. He wound it in bandages, and hugged her unconscious form.
He waited. Hours passed, and Shisai reckoned he must have run far.
He watched as Aida broke into a fever, and he fervently hoped she wouldn’t die. He would leave in the morning, and find medicine. He remembered the good times they’d had together.
He was jarred out of his reverie by the arrival of dawn. He got up, and realized Aida was gone.
Shisai panicked, running everywhere, and gasped when he found her. She was lying 20 ft away.
He picked her up, and Aida looked at him. She said, “S-Shisai. You c-came. A-and, you...” she fingered his bracelet. She lifted her arms, brought his face closer, and passionately kissed him. “I-I always l-loved you S-S-Shisai.” With that, she died. Shisai buried his face in her hair, and sobbed. After about an hour, he heard a footstep. He started, and got up. He realized the enemy had caught up. He tried to hide Aida’s body, and then looked for a way out. He found a small bolthole in the back of the cave. He scurried through it, and hid in the passage it led too. I don’t think the wardens will find me, they’re too big... he thought.
An explosion rocked the cave.
Shisai swore. They’d found his hole and placed an exploding tag on it. Now they were coming through. He made up his mind, and barged through the surprised wardens. He got through the cave mouth, and felt something between his shoulder blades. He tripped, fell, got up, ran a couple yards, and blacked out. Last vision; a small green needle with a golf ball sized black bag attached to it. The bag was broken, and green stuff was leaking out. Last thought; Damn sedative.

NOTE: these sedatives are my own invention. This is how they work.
They are attached to a needle, which pierces the skin. Usually two needles are thrown, with the second one piercing the bag, allowing the sedative to coat the wound, knocking the victim out. Only the most skilled marksmen use these.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3:00pm
“That was what happened. I dunno what happened. after that. I just knew he was taken.” Keno finished.
“How did you know?” Kiba asked.
“His bracelet arrived in a box, wrapped around his cut off toe. He’d been missing for a couple days, and we were sure after the bracelet. He’d never give it up willingly. I tried to give it to him, but he just stares at it. Then he sets it on his pillow.”
“its like he lost his memory.” I said. “I guess...its just...well.” I searched for the right words. I wanted to tell keno it was going to be all right. But I didn’t know...we might find a cure, and I didn’t want to get his hopes up...
Keno snapped his fingers. “Ah! I forgot, I got a little worried about you guys when you were gone.
So I...uh...did a little research. When you got back, and told me your story, I thought you guys needed a taijutsu specialist...so...i...umm...sent for one of the three you mentioned.”
I could guess which one he sent for...Lee. I sighed, and wondered if Kiba would have competition...
“you sent for Lee?” Sakura asked. I caught her mood improving.
“yeah. I thought because all of you are tired, wore out, and injured, you’d want to have fresh strength.”
I glanced at Kiba. He seemed deep in thought. A scroll was open on his lap. I wondered if he’d heard what Keno had said. Hinata was thinking too.
I glanced at Ikidai, and Nya.
I gasped. Ikidai’s eyes were open.
Nya had her paws on ikidai’s chest. She barked. I guess she’d just woken up. I called out saying, “hey guys! Ikidai’s awake.”
I ran over to her. She was staring at the ceiling, though her eyes flicked over to me. She said, “Miku?” her eyes strayed to my bandaged shoulder, (which was throbbing ) she lifted a hand, and pointed at it.
“you’re hurt?”
I nodded. She knew this, why was she asking? Maybe it was accidental.
“where is Ki-ba? And Aka-maru?”
I looked over to where Kiba was sitting. He had his eyes closed, and was absentmindedly stroking Akamaru. I walked over to him, and tapped him on the shoulder.
He started, and looked up.
“something wrong?” he asked.
“ikidai’s awake. She wants to see you.”
“oh. Ok, hold on. He picked up his scroll, and put it in his pack.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing at his pack.
“the scroll?”
I nodded.
“hopefully you’ll never have to see it.” He replied, scowling.
“why?” that was me. Always inquisitive.
In answer, he shut his eyes, and got up. he walked over to where Ikidai was sitting. I wondered what the scroll was.
Kiba started laughing. I turned from where I was, and walked over.
Kiba was laughing at something Nya had done.
“what? what happened?”
Kiba shook his head.
“Ki-ba asked if I was ok. I said I was. Ny-a jumped up, and licked me on my face. It was fun-ny.”
“oh. So what happened after we sparred?” I noticed her stuttering had gone down.
“Im not sure...it was like I was ta1-king to you, and then...nothing. I don’t re-mem-ber much before we sparred. Just names.”
Well. That explains why she forgot I was hurt.
I turned to Kiba.
“I just realized something. Remember when I fainted? I got all my memories back. This time, she must of lost most of her memories. It could be what happened to me. Im hoping that she’ll see, or hear something, that will jog her mind.” I turned to sakura.
“please try and help her get memories back.” I turned to Hinata.
“help me do something. Come with me.” I walked off, Hinata following.
I arrived at a stand of trees off towards the apparently new village mess hall.
I pointed at several medium sized trees. “We need those cut just so they will fall when I choose. Then, I need your sight.” I grinned. This time, I would be laying the ambush.

*5:00*

I wiped sweat of my brow. This was proving to be hard work. I was setting things up so that when we led Sicatran and Co. here, they would see the...the- what was the phrase? Error of their ways?- yeah, that’s it...i think. Hinata was making dinner, Kiba was training, and Sakura was, I assume talking with Ikidai. While I was thinking, I spotted a green blur running thru a nearby field. I grinned. Lee was here. “Man, those guys are in for it now.” I muttered. The blur disappeared, and Lee appeared next to me. He did his special grin at me, the one that sparkles. “Hello Miku. I heard you needed some help. Oh, let me get that for you, you should not be working with that shoulder!” he grabbed the small tree I was dragging, and sped off in the general direction of where I was headed. I sat down on a nearby rock. Lee appeared back.
“So, I have heard small pieces of information from other people about what has happened so far in your excursion. Please, I would like to hear your part.” He asked, sitting next to me.

“...well...ok, but it’ll be long.” I replied. Everything else was. This day seemed to last forever, I might as well kill some time.

“It all started when...”


An hour later

“Wow! You sure have went through a lot, Miku!” Lee frowned. “May I see your shoulder?”
I slowly unwrapped the bandages, revealing the red swirl-shaped-centimeter-deep cut. It had gotten better now, since sakura was working on it every 6 hours.
“That must have hurt. Did it?”
“Not really. The initial pain yeah. But then I didn’t feel anything. I think its because it cut a nerve or something. We laughed about it later. At least I can move it now.”
“You couldn’t before?”
“Nope. And it sucked too. Right in the thick of battle!”
Lee sighed.
“To think, next time I will be there, protecting you alongside Kiba, Hinata and Sakura! Next time, you wont get a scratch!” yep. Kiba’s going to have competition.
I yawned.
“I’m tired. Let me show you where you will be sleeping.” I walked toward the tent.
I grinned apologetically. “Lee, you're going to have to take the tent with Hinata and the storage. Sakura, Ikidai, and Nya are in one, me, Kiba, and Akamaru are in another, the only tent left is the one with Hinata, and the packs.
“That is ok. So what are you doing?”
“I’m setting up---wait. I want everyone to hear this. Go find Kiba, tell him to meet up in the mess hall.”
“Ok!” he ran off. He’s always full of energy. I have yet to see him exhausted by a mere battle, I thought.
I went to get Sakura, Ikidai, Nya, and Hinata. I was pretty sure Lee would have his hands full finding Kiba and Akamaru.
Hinata was just finishing up with whatever she was cooking. For dinner, all the remaining villagers got together for a gigantic potluck. I grinned. I liked the system. It gave us variety. I told her to meet in the mess hall in 10 mins.
I walked next door to Sakura’s tent. I found her in the middle of the tent, one glowing hand on Ikidai’s shoulder, the other patting her head. Suddenly Ikidai jerked her head, Sakura shut her eyes. About a minute passed, Ikidai slumped. Sakura caught her, and opened her eyes.
“What happened?”
“It’s a memory lock. Only whoever cast it, or an intense emotional situation, will break it. Its different from the ones I studied. I remembered something in the records, Lady Tsunade had told me she thought Kabuto had one, and it occurred to me she might have one.” She stood up, lifting Ikidai.
“Why’d she faint?” I asked.
“The stress. I tried to break it. It is really strong.”
Ikidai stirred, and opened her eyes. “I have a head-ache.” I grinned.
“Of course. How about some food? There’s an excellent potluck today!” she nodded, and I lifted her up on my shoulders,
“Sakura, you have to come too!” I ran out the door.

I set my tray of food on the table, next to Kiba’s.

“Ok guys. Here’s the game plan. I already set up some traps. Mainly, if anyone jumps through a certain spot in the woods, or if the enemy does, it trips a wire, which sends half-cut trees down on them. These trees will be coated with /\/ a scent only detectable to Kiba’s nose. He will then lead the chase, following his nose. When we engage in combat, Kiba and I will go for Makoshi, if she’s there, if not, Sicatran. Lee, you will go for Lank. Sakura---”
“Hey! I want a piece of Lank too.” Kiba grinned, cracking his knuckles. I glared at him, telling him to wait until I’m done. He blinked under my stare. “That is, when we’re done with Makoshi...”
“Very good. Now, Sakura, you will do both healing and fighting. When you fight, go for the smallers, and help Lee. Hinata, keep an eye out for reinforcements, and help keep the number of the enemy down. The scent coating the trees will also be useful, as it will help us find each other if...”
I left off. They knew what I was going to say anyway. I just felt that if I said it, I’d jinx everyone.
I poked at my ramen. Someone had had enough foresight to bring ramen. If I only knew who it was.
“So, is everyone clear on what they’re doing?”
A chorus of ‘Hai’ sounded.
“Can I set up more traps?” it was Kiba.
“Yeah, good idea, you should probably see where my traps are too.” We finished eating in silence. “Ikidai? You will stay with Keno and the rest of the villagers in the underground cavern Lee found on his way in.”
“Oh...ok.”
I looked around at my friends faces.
Kiba, grinning in anticipation of the upcoming battle, his eyes far-off.
Hinata, looking at her food.
Sakura, talking animatedly to Ikidai.
Nya and Akamaru both looking at Kiba. “What?! You want more?! Geez guys, save some for later!” he went and got more anyways.
I frowned, thinking. I was beginning to have doubts. Who would escape unscathed, and who wouldn’t? Would someone else be rammed by the All Finishing Takedown? My shoulder itched in unison with the red line on my belly. What if someone came out critically wounded? What would happen if--- I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Relax. I know what you’re thinking, and we will all be fine! Your plan is brilliant. Stop doubting, and enjoy it!” it was Kiba.
“Besides, those *******’s will probably run for the hills when they see us. They don’t have many reinforcements anymore after I routed them! We have Lee now, who will probably enjoy it.” His eyes narrowed. “He seems to like you too. Hm. I have to discourage him somehow.” He grinned. “Considering his willpower, it’ll be a challenge, but one ill gladly accept!” the conversation turned to sweeter things. Such as what we would do when we get back.
“I could go for some Itchiraku’s...” was the main sentiment. We were all looking forward to seeing the other members of the original genin squads again.
“Ya know, we’re probably close to Naruto and Jiraiya-Sannin. The last time the village heard from him, he was in rain country. Apparently, Jiraiya took him as a tag along for a mission, while he was training. I wonder what wonderful things he is experiencing!” lee said, eyes sparkling. In his head, you could see his version. A 24/7/365 long training session with Gai-sensei! <3
Eventually we left the mess hall, and went to check out the lay of the land. The ambush was set to begin at 10pm. It was 7pm.
I walked around, showing various checkpoints. After the battle started, we were to check in with earphones every 15 mins. I’d already replaced the standard issue equipment we’d used in the last battle. Extra kunai, firebombs, exploding tags. The basics. One of those handy scrolls we got from Tenten. She’d given it to Lee as he left, with instructions to ‘bring some home for me to beat up.’ and to ‘use it as you need it. You watch, when it saves your life, you’ll thank me.’ I was already thanking her in my mind. I grinned. The threesome were in for it now. I went to my tent, after evacuating the makeshift village, and took a nap. By this time, it was 8:30. I did not want to be tired during the battle.



“Damn! I thought you said they would be easy, lank!” Sicatran was walking down a long, ornate hallway, underground. She was not looking forward to seeing Lady Makoshi. One arm was bandaged, one was in a sling, and one leg was bandaged. “Curse that dog boy too. He nearly took off my leg and arms.” She muttered under her breath.
“I-I thought they w-would be weak! I was sure of it!”
They stopped in front of a large door in the ground.
Lank took a deep breath. “Here goes.”
He opened the door, and jumped down. Makoshi sat on her throne in the stone chamber. She laughed.
“Obviously, you lost. You both look pitiful!! One thing is for sure. You will not underestimate them again will you?”
“No ma’am.”
“You weaklings!” she shouted. “Cowards! You ran, your tail between your legs. Leaving the X-Project prisoners left alone, might I add. And the two highest priority prisoners?! GONE!!! Gone!” she glared at them. “You let them get away! Together! At least I solved the memory problem in the little girl. She wont blab now...but Miku...she knows...at this rate you will need to keep her in the high security cell in my quarters. If you get her again, which I doubt.”
Lank and Sicatran exchanged glances.
“With all due respect ma’am, Im in no shape to go out so soon...it might be better to use Jipansho. He would work best, with that talent of his.”
“Lady Makoshi.” A guard dropped in the chamber.
“Yes?”
“We’ve received reports of the little girls condition. She is awake, but she remembers little.”
“You may go. Well, that’s one less loose end. And- one less project! As I was saying. Sicatran. You rest. I cant have you weary for my upcoming plan. Get Jippy. He will work for what I have in mind. Shikashi!”
The little straw-haired boy walked up.
“Get me...hmmm...let me see...Pionshu’s dead...Lank... Sicatran...just get out of my sight!” Shikashi ran out. Makoshi turned to the duo.
“Lank, Sicatran... to discuss your punishment....”

***

I was woken up by a rap on my forehead.
“Oi. You awake?” it was Kiba. He was grinning.
“Whaaat?”
“It’s time.” Prophetic words. They had been used forever by people who made history. Appropriate enough for now.
I mirrored Kiba’s grin.
“Exactly what I want to hear.” My tone was so full of bloodlust...Kiba laughed.
“That’s the spirit. Even though we know we’ll win.”
Lee entered.
“Oh! You are up. And yes. We will win! There is no way we can lose!” he pumped his fist, in the instant Kiba pumped his. They glanced at each other, and started laughing.
“Are Ikidai and Keno and the rest of the villagers safe?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Where’s Hinata?”
“Im right here.”
“And me too.” Sakura said.
I stretched my shoulder. It had a 8-pointed line star. Sorta like... only red.
A howl sounded.
Kiba glanced up.
“Akamaru’s ready. He’s set them up.”
He stood up from where he was sitting, and helped me up.
“Let’s go.”

[animesuperfreak]

We raced thru the trees.
Hinata had already told us where we would find the next fortress. It was underground.
Kiba stopped.
So did we.
He cocked his head, and said, “This is where Sicatran dragged herself. Then another smell enters the scene, and she’s gone. I’m assuming she blacked out here, and was carried off.
He probed around in his pouch.
“You still look tired Miku, here. You too Lee, Hinata, Sakura.” He tossed soldier pills at us. I grabbed mine and chewed it. It tasted like…hmmm…sort of bitter, with a sweet aftertaste. He and Akamaru chewed theirs.
Immediately I felt awake.
5 heads turned as a rustle sounded to the right.
A squirrel. It ran off into a hole, scared of us.
Kiba glanced at me in the corner of his eye.
Lee was too.
I grinned inside.
“They’re probably watching this spot. Sic’s blood is all over it. It would lead us here.”
I crouched against a tree, and looked around it. We were positioned in a sort of-square, Hinata and Sakura keeping a lookout, and Me, Kiba, and Lee taking an offensive
“Yep. A sentry.” Kiba grinned. “Lee? Take him out quietly.”
“Hai!”
Lee blurred out of the visible spectrum, and the sentry fell over, into a pair of waiting hands. Lee gently lowered the guy to the ground, and covered him with leaves.

“Good. What’s that?” I pointed at a large lump on the ground next to the unconscious guard. It looked like a rock, only it was-uhh...Well, orange.
Sakura laughed.
“Bird poop. Im guessing they ate orange berries?”
I stuck my tongue out at her. Inside, I frowned, realizing I was jittery, unfocused. Kiba hopped over to my branch, and put his arm around me.
“Relax. Everything’s going to be fine. You’ll see.”
“Kiba! Four shinobi approaching fast, to the northwest.”
“Everyone, hide! They might just be a patrol!”
I grabbed the unconscious guard, and leapt up into the branches of my tree.
It was unbearably hot up there...i glanced at Kiba, he glanced at me.
4 black clad shinobi walked underneath our trees.
“They’ve gotta be around here somewhere...Lank said so!” one said.
“Aww come on! I was hoping for a good ambush! Ya know, to see the look on their faces!” another said.
The other two shrugged.
“Im missing out on sake...come on, lets go!”
They left.
“Ambush isn’t so secretive now is it?” Kiba grinned.
I nodded, and whispered “be on your guard.”
We ran in silence for a while, then we spotted a dark gray square in the forest floor.
“That’s it!” Hinata called.
We ran in.
I gasped.
Just inside the door was a large cavern. In it were at least 50 cages and cells. It reeked of B.O and urine.
In the cages were...
“I cannot believe...” Lee exclaimed, then shook his head.
“She is an evil witch...” that was sakura.
In the cages were Humans. The majority being children. Moans echoed throughout the chamber.
“It stinks in here. Of more than them. I mean...” that was Kiba, I understood his hesitation. There were really no words to describe it. This was evil, plain and simple.
“Hinata.” I took charge. “Any guards?”
“N-no. Just one, in a room. There is a child on a bed. It looks like the man is t-torturing her.” My hand flew to my mouth, and I resisted the urge to puke.
Evil.
“Kiba. We must free these people.” I said with conviction.
“I agree. And Makoshi must be stopped. Hinata. Is Makoshi, Sicatran or lank in this place? Anywhere?”
I was walking thru doorway...it was marked Project X. Kiba was walking with me.
“Yes. Lank is a little over a mile away, on the outside, he looks like he is heading away from here. A lady with green hair is with him.”
Green hair. That would be Makoshi. So where was Sicatran? In the P-X wing, I seen twelve three year olds. Six were laying in bed. 5 were sitting in corners, and one was missing. I shuddered. What was Project X? It seemed familiar. I heard one child scream, and at the end of the wing, a light was on underneath a door. I peered in the keyhole, and witnessed a large man in black and green clothing inject something into a little girls arm.
I motioned Kiba over, pointed at the door, and mimed cutting necks.
He nodded.
I kicked open the door, and threw kunai into the mans shoulders, pinning him against the wall..
“H-hey! Who-who’re you?
I took him out with a rabbit punch.
I lifted the little girl out of the restraints, and looked at the needle in her arm. No label, just green stuff.
“Ok...if this guy regains concisions, I wanna ‘talk’ to him.” Kiba mimed holding him against the wall.
I giggled. “Me too!”

[animesuperfreak]

He set the man on the ground, and then glanced at the little girl.
“She should wake up soon. Set her in that chair.”
I did.
“Come on, we gotta go, we’ll be back for her later, when we finish up here.”
We left the room, and ran towards the middle of the compound.
Kiba, who was now in front stopped.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“He’s here.” He simply said.
“Who?” Lee asked.
“Lank. He stinks. He does have a distinctive smell.” He grinned.
We rounded a corner.
After about a minute of turning corners, we came upon an intersection with a post in the middle of it.
Kiba turned and faced me.
“We’re close. He’s in the next room.” He gestured toward a stone door.
“Whatever happens, I want you to know that I wouldn’t have this any other way.” I said, turning the handle.
I gasped. It was the same room. A post in the middle.
“Hinata? Do you see anything?” Kiba asked.
“No.”
I swore, throwing my weight against the wall.
“Its gotta be a genjutsu. No other explanation.” Sakura said.
“Break the post?” Kiba suggested.
I nodded, lashing out at the wooden post with my leg.
Instant, excruciating pain.
I clutched my leg.
“This post! Its like iron!” I muttered.
Lee poked it.
“Its freezing cold!” he went through a series of punches and kicks.
“Hinata? What is the post made of?!” he exclaimed, sniffing it.
“Um, well, it has chakra coursing through it, and it lets it out whenever we touch it..”
She let her finger glow, and a needle point of chakra shot out.
“This should cut it.” She nicked it. Immediately the room swirled into a small study.
A desk stood against one wall, a bookshelf against another.
On the desk was a small book, a map, and another small thick book.
Sakura walked over and picked them up.
“What is it?” Kiba and I asked simultaneously.
“And does it tell where Makoshi went?” Lee added.
“It’s a log...” she flipped though the pages.
“It appears to be a list of every thing that’s ever happened here.” She handed the book to me.
I flipped thru it until I came to a list.
I started listing off names.
“Akasube, Mitshiharu, Shendyu...huh. There’s Shisai.” I listed. I read over the rest of the list, until a name stopped me short.
“Ikidai Renobe, and her companion Nya. These two are to be kept together until further instruction. The serum Tolima is to be given to Renobe for 2 years, until she begins to exhibit signs of Pituitary Malfunction, i.e.: Stoppage of growth. She is not allowed to see sunshine, eat sweet foods, or play with her dog. She is allowed to read manuals on how to behave. At the age of 12, she is to be trained until she obeys orders instantly. If she does not behave appropriately, she will be punished accordingly. Then she will join the ranks of the shinobi gathered to protect Project X.”
I turned around. Hinata had her hands on her mouth, and so did Sakura. Kiba’s mouth was hanging open, and Akamaru was sniffing around.
I flipped to the index, and scanned the list of names. To my astonishment, I saw my name. It was both an old entry, but had been renovated recently with red ink. I read off the new entry, grinning.
“Miku Gakari.” Huh. So that was my last name.
“This insolent whelp, who escaped my clutches years ago, is back. She has new friends, and is hunting me down for my part in the death of her parents. Hah! If every child I kidnapped went on a streak like that, I would probably be dead. She has been a thorn in my side ever since she learned Sicatran’s name. When she comes though, I have a little surprise for her. Also, that boy she’s traveling with....he is strong. I hope to match strength with him later. If I get him, and Miku, Project X will be complete, and then....The brat wont know what hit her! Unfortunately, she has wounded Sicatran greatly, and I cannot allow Sicatran to fight. Gakari has stolen my prime target for experimentation, Ikidai. When I find her, she will wish she had died along with her parents!”
“Heh. Im a thorn in her side. So are you, Kiba.” I laughed. “When we’re finished with her, she will wish she was the one dead!” I confidently exclaimed. I high-fived Kiba, and then we both snickered.
I set the book down, and picked up the other book. Project X was its title. Everything we needed to defeat Makoshi was right here.
A map of the dungeon, project X, and a log of all the captives. We also had our friendship, strength, and vengeance.
And we were better stocked, albeit we were injured more. My shoulder, Kiba’s arm, etc. I could barely lift my arm, while his had a big dark splotch on his forearm. And of course we were all a little bruised.
“Sakura. Read this map, and tell me where Sicatran might be, or Lank if you can manage it.”
She grabbed it.
“Well, they’ll probably be in this one.” She jabbed her finger at the spot.
Kiba, Lee, Hinata and I all looked over her shoulders.
“Sleeping quarters.” I read.
“Why would they be there?” Kiba asked.
“Well, Sicatran should be mortally injured right? It makes sense that Lank is with her, seeing as they’re close. The power of love is like that! Two lovers, caring for each other! It makes ones heart weep!” Lee exclaimed, tearing up.
I sighed.
“Hinata? Are they in the sleeping room?”
“Yes. Sicatran is laying down on a bed, and Lank is next to her.”
“Heh. We’ll ambush ‘em!” I laughed.
“Lead the way Hinata!” Kiba called.
We took off at a dead run.
After turning left, right, left, and left again, we came across a large wooden door. Inside we heard sobbing. Kiba and I exchanged glances.
“Sobbing?” I whispered.
He shrugged. “Maybe the old coot died.” He grinned.
Lee and Sakura kicked down the door.
The room was big and spacious.
Inside, Lank knelt next to a bedside. Sicatran lay across the bed.
He looked up.
“You...It’s you...you...you BASTARD!!! She was perfectly fine before she fought you! Now look! She’s in a frigging COMA!!! I oughta kill you! In fact...” he leapt up. “I WILL!!!” The door slammed shut.
“What?! You cant think to beat us all can you? Especially her!” Kiba snarled, jabbing a thumb towards me. I grinned. Akamaru growled, showing his teeth.
In answer, he let out a barrage of kunai.
I countered them with mine, and blurred in behind him. Lee was in front, Sakura was attempting to open the door, Hinata was supposedly outside the door; she was keeping watch again. In a moment of silence, I heard a clang outside the door, and knew she was fighting someone too. And Kiba was right next to me. Lank slumped, blood leaking out of his mouth.
“Heh. Heh-Heh. Heh-Heh-ha-ha-ha!” Lank maniacally laughed. I looked puzzled.
He moved a hand underneath the bed, and I heard a click. And a timer. Lank slumped to the ground, and the bed flipped over, dumping Sicatran somewhere behind the wall. I frantically fumbled with the door. So did everyone else.
“Hinata! Blast it open!” I called, while Kiba, Lee and Sakura simultaneously blasted. I looked under the bed. Underneath was enough paper bombs to blow up a small sized building. They were attached to a paper that was ticking.


The door blasted open, and we ran out at full speed. We ran, and ran, turning corners until we reached the room with the cages. I shut the door behind us. Again I was stunned. A fireball blew open the door behind us, and we were thrown to the ground. I swore, the cut on my belly had opened up. Again.
The heat subsided, and I sat up slowly.
“Hi-Hinata? Is lank or Sicatran still alive?” I asked.
“I see no sign of Sicatran, Lank is dead.”
I got to my feet, and unwrapped my bandages around my abdomen. The cut had healed a little around the edges, but I would have a permanent scar if it kept opening. Sakura shook her head. I already knew the shoulder wound would scar.
“Can’t you keep that closed? At all? For any period of time?” She began to sew it closed.
I grinned.
Kiba grinned too. Lee returned from scouting out the perimeter.
“Oh! What happened to your stomach?” he asked.
“I dunno.” I sighed. I didn’t feel like recounting it. Ha. Too lazy. “Did you find anybody?”
“Just one. The man we knocked out earlier.”
“Is he still out?”
“Yes.”
Hinata tapped my shoulder.
“Yes Hinata?”
“An escort of thirty shinobi are coming this way. Makoshi is with them.”
Kiba and I grinned at the same time. I knew we were both thinking the same thing. Finally!
end 22

[animesuperfreak]

*sigh*
i dont think i should continue this...no one posts here...
i will anyway, for future readers.
i cant post any chappys right now, my other computer's monitor is broken, and i stored all my stuff on that one..
*sigh* gotta wait folks. srry!

[animesuperfreak]

23.*sigh*


Kiba and I began talking about what we should do.
“We don’t have much time.” Sakura said.
“Tell me about it.” Kiba and I said in unison, again. We laughed.
30 minutes later

“Tell me, how is dear Sicatran?” Makoshi asked sweetly.
“i-I don’t know lady. I have not seen her in quite some time.” A short, stocky man in a red and black jumpsuit nervously replied. His long black hair was tied at intervals into a ponytail, and he carried a belt with a ton of scrolls in it.
“How can you not know?! Your ‘talent’---” Makoshi cried.
“-does not work at long distances, milady. Please. Be patient.”
Makoshi scowled.
“We will be at the facility shortly. Please, lady.” Jipansho said.
They ran thru a field. Makoshi glared at Jipansho. He was focused, trying to find what was not there.
“Lady?”
“What!”
“ I cannot sense Lank. Or Sicatran.”
“Well what do you sense? The time for my army is past due. The only ones I need are somewhere ahead. Do you sense them?”
“I do not sense anyone but the wretches in cages.”
“Good. They will not be disturbed then. Let us proceed.”

*10pm*

We sat in wait inside the ovular room that held the children. Their moans racked the night.
Just let it make you angry Miku, think about what Makoshi’s done to them. Let it pass through you. C’mon...you can do this. You will do this...you have to! I thought. In a couple of minutes, I was so angry, I could barely see straight. The group was sitting in key points around the room. Lee and Kiba were on both sides of the door. Sakura and Hinata were on opposite sides of the room. And I was in back, in the spot where I would have ‘less chance of getting hurt or spotted’. Kiba and Sakura’s words...I thought bitterly. Of course, Akamaru was with me for extra protection. The trapdoor leading into the cavern groaned. I drew a fistful of kunai.
Akamaru glanced at me, and I patted his head reassuringly. The five of us, plus Akamaru, blended into the darkness. We watched as the squad of shinobi filed past us. When they walked into the backroom, where the operating table was, Kiba and Lee reached up, and pulled the trapdoor closed. Lee sealed it with a tag. Hinata and Sakura slipped into the backroom. Then Kiba and Lee. Then, finally, me and Akamaru. In the room, five shinobi lay on the floor. It had been completely silent. We put on their uniforms, which consisted of a black jumpsuit with a red, green or blue waistband. Our faces were almost covered with a cowl, but Kiba had covered his clan marks with makeup. [AN: Lol, he’s wearing makeup!] Kiba and I cast a genjutsu that rendered Akamaru invisible. Then we caught up with the rest of the group. From there, we weaseled our way to the front. I was surprised at the number of people that were entrapped here. It looked like over a hundred. And it seemed like they were all brainwashed. No one spoke, ate, or made any noise at all. I thought it would be harder to infiltrate the base and find Makoshi. No one even glanced in my direction. I did, however manage to get in a couple quick words to Kiba.

“I heard there was an assembly later. Lets meet up there. Try and pass it on.” I whispered.

Kiba nodded, and we caught up with our respective groups. Lee and Sakura had red waistbands, and therefore were in the red group. Kiba and I were in the green group, and Hinata was in the blue group. Akamaru was with her. When 11:00pm rolled around, the groups were called to the assembly.
“All groups report to the speech chamber for a special report.”
The six of us managed to converge in one spot. I glanced at everyone, and they all looked at me.
Makoshi stepped up to the platform in the middle of the room.
I felt Kiba tense. I could tell he was itching to just lop her head off. He made a motion, and Akamaru disappeared. I assumed he was getting in position or something. A short stocky man with a long black ponytail appeared by Makoshi’s side. I could practically feel the chakra rolling off him. He would be hard to beat. Makoshi started her speech.
“We have gathered here today to celebrate something. The comings of a new age.” She began.
“All we are is one with you.” The people chanted. Kiba glanced at me. “What a cult.” I whispered. He nodded, and rolled his eyes.
“Today, we celebrate this. We finally have enough people to initiate Project X! For almost 15 years we have toiled to finish what was started by my brother. The destruction of the village that crushed his heart... and mine!” the crowd cheered.
Hinata, lee, Sakura, Kiba and I exchanged glances. Uh-oh.
“This evening, I learned that the final 2 people we need are somewhere in the building. Along with the key. A dog.” Ohhh craapp.... on both sides of me, the group started to sweat.
A trap. How could they had known? We had left no bodies, no footprints, nothing. Unless someone had broken the genjutsu on Akamaru, we couldn’t be found. And Kiba would know if someone had.
“Unfortunately, three members of my guard are dead. Pionshu, Lank and Sicatran. We found their remains an hour ago.”
Crud. Was that how they knew we were here? We hadn’t stuck around to get Lank’s body, and we hadn’t known Sicatran was dead. Though, I couldn’t help grinning. I hoped she had died painfully. I glimpsed Kiba snickering. Of course. I edged closer to the door, the rest of the group following. How many times had we heard “the hunter can easily become the hunted” from Anko, Ibiki, or Iruka? Somehow, it had slipped our minds, and we didn’t have a back-up plan.
“Soooo...guess what happens now?” Makoshi clapped her hands together gleefully. “We will have a free-for-all to determine who will become my next round of guards. And due to the increased need for security, there will be five! Make sure you pick a weapon you want to use for the rest of your life!” she laughed.
The crowd began to file into a weapons room.
Wait, what? I glanced at Kiba. He was grinning.
“Are you thinking what Im thinking?” I whispered.
“Only if you’re thinking that we become her guards, follow Makoshi around, and interrogate her when we get her alone.” He replied back. It might work, we were easily the five strongest shinobi of the lot. The trick was to make it look hard, while not sustaining any serious injuries.
I nodded and passed it on to Lee, who told Sakura, who told Hinata.
“Where’s Akamaru?” I asked.
“He’s sealing all the exits, planting bombs, and doing all the general ‘make sure no one leaves this place alive’ stuff. Hinata’s watching him.” He scowled. Kiba really hated being away from Akamaru for any period of time, and here, Akamaru was in enemy territory. So basically, he was keeping out of sight.
When I filed into the weapons room, I gasped. I could have fun here. Lining the walls were hundreds, no, thousands, of weapons. Staffs, bows, shuriken, kunai, scythes, scrolls, you name it, and it was there.
I frowned. I had opened a chest and found a large pile of headbands from every nation. Some were bloodstained. Some were ripped, and some were scratched. I slowly closed both my eyes and the chest. I felt a hand on my shoulder and whipped around. Kiba was standing next to me.
“’s ok. That’s what we’re here for. To avenge all those children and brave shinobi.” He bitterly laughed.
“To gain our revenge, and live longer then we could hope.” Whoa. Was this Kiba speaking? It sounded like he was making a speech. He ruffled my hair, and then grabbed an assortment of weapons from the wall. So did I. I grabbed my staff. (Yes, that one. The doubled headed spiked one. My favorite!)
Hinata, Lee, and Sakura appeared by my side.
“Lets go.”
The five of us dispersed around the room. The rest of the crowd lined up in long rows.
“Is everyone ready?” Makoshi leered.
“Then what are you waiting for? GO!” she yelled.
“She seems to be enjoying this...” I muttered.

5 minutes of fighting later, I was pleased to see that the five of us were still standing. With the exception of about 15 more shinobi we were still fighting.
I took out the three I was fighting with a bit of difficulty, as they were children.
Then Makoshi clapped her hands together. The five of us immediately stopped, and stood stock straight.
“Well! Come here.” Makoshi said.
We came and stood in front of the platform.
She looked us over and laughed. We were just lucky she hasn’t fought us before, she’d recognize our voices.
“You’ll do. Names, age, and gender?”
“Kai. 14, Male.” Kiba.
“Shisa. 15. Female.” Me.
“Lexia. 13, Female.” Sakura.
“Manik. 16, Male” Lee.
“Maris. 12, Female.” Hinata.

“Very well. All of you, follow Jipansho to your quarters and then change into these.”
Shikashi came up to us, bowed, and presented a pile of uniforms. We each took one.
Jipansho beckoned, and walked through a doorway.
We followed him through all sorts of corners, and then we walked into an exquisite room.
Jipansho left.
We changed into our new outfits. By now, the scar on my shoulder was just a long, intricate network of raised lines. Our outfits consisted of a body-hugging black and gray fabric. It had a circle of blood red color on it, right over the heart. It was luck that we were allowed to still had the cowls on.
We climbed into our soft cushiony beds and tried not to think of the slaughter we had committed.
honest opinions ppl. do u like it?

24;
When I woke, the first thing I noticed was that I was more rested then I had been the entire week we had been on this mission. Kiba and Lee were bickering about the proper method to kill Makoshi. They were the only ones up. Akamaru still had the Genjutsu on, he was laying at the foot of my bed.
“But shouldn’t we wait? I mean, then Makoshi might trust us more.” That was Lee. The two were whispering in hushed tones.
“No. That witch cannot be allowed to kill any more people. Plus, Akamaru cant stay invisible forever, and sooner or later, someone is bound to notice Hinata’s eyes.” He replied.
I sat up. “Don’t forget, the village only expects us gone for 2 more days. Any longer, and Tsunade will send back-up, whether we need it or not.” I climbed out of bed.
I got the guard outfit on, and Kiba and I started to talk about what signal we would use when the time came.
“How about a code word?” I asked.
“nah. Too obvious. Just a hand sign?”
“Sure. Like three fingers against my temple? Or maybe a wink?”
“The three fingers sounds good. Lets use that. Wake Lee and the others and tell them.”
I walked over too Hinata’s bed. Just as I shook her shoulder, a voice blared throughout the room.
“Will Makoshi’s guard report to the inner chamber. Makoshi’s guard to the inner chamber.”
I didn’t hear it though...i was too busy thinking if my parents had done the same infiltration tactics.
Kiba shook my shoulder, jarring me out of my reverie.
“Didn’t you hear that? We gotta go.” I sighed. Time to do what shinobi do best, cast aside our emotions and become mindless husks, destined to do someone else’s bidding.
We grabbed our weapons and rushed out of the room.
*/*/*
We ran down the old stone corridor and swiftly arrived in the medium-sized round room that was Makoshi’s quarters.
She sat on her bed. Red tapestries covered the walls, and a dresser and mirror stood next to the bed.
“Good. You’re here. What I summoned you for is this. I need to know how...well...you are suited to my needs, to know whether I can trust you explicitly or not. Any suggestions? No? Good. Here’s what I need you to do.” She paused, grinning. “Shisa?”
“Yes ma’am?” I felt a cannonball slip into my guts, I knew what she would say.
“Kill Kai.” Beside me, Kiba tensed, ready to flee at a moments notice. Yep. Knew it. Luckily, I had a response ready.
“I cannot do that ma’am.”
“And why not?”
“Kai is one of the best fighters here, besides you ma’am. It would harm us greatly if he were to die.”
“Hmmm....very well then. Tell me, do you have any...friends...in the facility?”
“You could call them friends, ma’am.”
“Names?” a face popped into my head. I grinned.
“Matsui Shinma. And his buddies. [AN= no, it is not a coincidence that his last name is a Japanese word for Demon God.]
“Shikashi! Bring him here, along with his buddies.” Makoshi ordered.
Matsui and his buds were convicted assassins, they had escaped though. I’d seen them around.
Matsui arrived, led by Shikashi. I waved. He waved back.
“Matsui.” Makoshi said.
“Yes ma’am?”
“Your work here is unsatisfactory. You will be executed here.”
“W-wait, what? I-ive done e-everything you asked i-ive even cleaned your quarters! I-i thought t-that I w-was...”
“Special? The only ones ‘special’ here are these five.” She waved a hand.
“Kill them in a brutal, but quick way, guard.” I hardened my eyes. I could feel no mercy for this man who killed children and families like ants. Or the people he killed them with.
The five of us jumped into the air, and I came down, slashing at Matsui’s stomach. Blood spattered my face and clothes.
I glimpsed Kiba cut off someone’s head, then he made the three fingered sign, against his temple.
The signal! I jumped into the air, in perfect sync with the rest of the group. We veered towards Makoshi.
The throne split into 5 pieces, but Makoshi wasn’t there.
“What the?!”
Makoshi’s laughter floated throughout the room, I glanced around, looking for her.
“Assassins. You didn’t really think I was oblivious to you, did you?”
Ah ha. There she is. I made a pointing motion with my fingers, and we convened on that spot, throwing kunai.
Wait, assassins? She didn’t know? What a stroke of luck. Kiba and I exchanged glances. I strained to hear, as did Kiba.
A whirring sound... I pressed my ear to the ground...bad idea, I jumped up, just as the ground exploded underneath us. I fell about thirty feet, landing on my leg. A jolt of pain went screaming up my body, and I gritted my teeth. I scanned around, looking for the others.
I grinned, despite the pain in my leg. Kiba was standing in front of a door, about 20 ft away from me. He was trying to open a door. I got up, and started running towards him. Of all the stupid things to do....i had tripped and fallen flat on my face. I got up again, and inspected what I had tripped over. An indent in the ground, but it must have been a switch, because a part of the floor dropped away, revealing a staircase.
I glanced at Kiba. He opened the door, and Akamaru came bounding in. Kiba was knocked over, Akamaru had jumped on him.
“Hey buddy! Miss me?” he laughed, rubbing Akamaru behind the ears. Akamaru licked his face in answer, then ran over to me. I winced as we both crashed to the ground. In the corner of my eye, Kiba got up, grinned, and shut the door. He walked over to me, still grinning.
“You’re happy.” I remarked.
“Well, yeah. You and I are alone together, Akamaru’s here, and Makoshi's doesn’t even know who we are, much less where. And any patrols we meet will think we’re Makoshi’s guards, and wont mess with us! Could it get any better?”
I nodded.
“We could be home, uninjured, eating muffins you baked, and Makoshi would be dead and gone. You would have your shirt off, and....”
“Miikuu!”
I laughed. “I know.”
Kiba grabbed my arm.
“Come on, I want to see where this leads.” We walked down the staircase. It was pitch black, so I held onto his shoulder while he and Akamaru sniffed their way into the depths.
“So what will we do now?” I asked.
“Humph. Basically, we implement the plan we had when we snuck in here in the first place. Lure her out of the fortress, into the traps we’ve get up around the area. Hopefully we’ll meet Sakura, Hinata and Lee along the way.” He grumpily explained.
I nodded, then said ‘Yeah’, cuz I knew he couldn’t see the nod.
A light bobbed up ahead.
“Halt! Who goes there?”
Kiba made his eyes flash.
“Oh-oh! Its umm...you. The new guard... um, uh...”
“How DARE you?! We specifically requested use of this passage! We were told no one would be on it, but here you are, a lowly patrol member!” Kiba boomed, scaring the crap out of the patrolman.
“I-i-I uhh, Im s-sorry s-sir! It wont happen a-a-again sir, please p-pardon it s-sir!” he stammered.
Kiba growled.
“Leave. Now. And if you tell a soul we were down here, I will have you gutted and your remains sent to your family.”
[AN: lol, wouldn’t it be scary meeting him in a dark alley...]
Whoa...he could sure act the part...I thought.
The man hurriedly left, and Kiba and I continued our walk. Eventually we got to a door. It led to the outside, just a door in a rock face. We left, and headed back to the entrance, where we met the others.

and part one of chapter 25.
this is the last chappy of the story, btw.
“Nya-Nya-Nya-Nya-Nya-Nya!! You cant catch me!!! I slapped my butt in front of the main entrance.
The guards looked appalled, exchanged glances, and called for back up. Then they charged after us. About 25 guards and Makoshi, exited the facility. We then ran away, luring them into our trap.
BOOM! CRASH! BOOM! Bombs exploded, sending trees and rocks raining down on our opponents.
Kiba and I exchanged a quick kiss, and then we simultaneously set off a barrage of traps, blowing a hole in Makoshi’s ranks.
For over an hour we lured, slowly, making our way to Murakami Valley, a small valley situated in the mountains.
Finally. It was now 3am.
The ragtag leftovers/Makoshi VS us. Who would win? I didn’t know, but it was going to be one hell of a battle.
“Attack at dawn.” I said, startling the silence that had fallen over the group. I had been thinking for a while.
The six of us were situated in a tree, watching the enemy. We had feinted exhaustion when we left Makoshi’s sight. That way, she would camp for the night, which was what we wanted her to do. Lee and Sakura went to check if the facility was empty, if it was, they would blow it up after gathering anything that might be important.
“I dunno. There are one or too that might give us some trouble out there.” Kiba sighed.
“True, but we can take ‘em, right?” I nudged his shoulder.
He nodded thoughtfully. “The only ones Im worried about is that Jipansho guy. Right, Akamaru?” Akamaru growled. “You know, the one who was standing next to Makoshi?”
I nodded. “Yeah, he looked dangerous. I get the feeling he can do...something...more, then what normal shinobi can do.”
“Since when is anything ‘normal’ anymore?”
It was true. Nothing was normal since I had met Kiba and Akamaru.
Below us, the valley was lit by the light of a few small campfires. A circle of tents was around the fire. I knew in one of those tents, Makoshi slept.
I thought about why I was here. When we had started out the mission, it was more of a revenge thing then anything. Now, it was just...it had to be done. Makoshi was a sick, twisted, evil person, and she needed to be stopped.
As the sun rose, we set off.

DX writers block DX