by CHAPTERS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
“Are we there yet?” asked Reshii tiredly. Aki sighed.
“For the tenth time, no we aren’t. We’ve got at least another day and a half.” Reshii groaned and flopped onto the ground. Temari rolled her eyes and pulled her back up.
“So melodramatic!” she said, pushing Reshii in front of her. “We’ll be there soon!”
“A day and a half isn’t soon!”
Darnas laughed at the two Mist ninja. They were being ridiculous. Aki looked annoyed because they were making enough noise to wake the dead, but at least they were having fun. Pein kept an eye out for that Little Shiro’s gang-thingy. She wasn’t feeling like another ambush from a bunch of kids. At least the humidity was changing a bit from the damp Mist kind to the heavy Storm kind. Still, Pein thought. I feel like I’m in a blast furnace…
“Can we camp yet?” Reshii complained.
“No! We’re going until it gets dark!” Aki replied in annoyance. Reshii sighed and dragged her feet sluggishly.
“What time is it anyway?” Temari asked, pulling the camouflage ninja along to pick up speed.
“Well… judging by the sun,” Darnas said. “It’s probably about… maybe five or so?”
“And when does it get dark around here?”
“Probably around nine or so in the summer.”
“But we’ll stop at about seven or eight!” Pein added hastily when Reshii looked as if she considered complaining again. “Right Aki?”
“Yeah, fine.” Aki wanted to get home as fast as possible. Something didn’t feel quite right, but it wasn’t like the feeling she had when Shiro’s gang was tailing them. Something was wrong. She looked between her four companions, two she’d known for a long time. One she’d went through the Chuunin exams with.
“Hey Pein,” she started.
“Hm?”
“Where’s Harlequin?” she finished. Pein looked at her.
“Uh. I thought she went home with Reshii?” She looked over at the Mist ninja expectantly. Reshii beamed and threw up her peace sign.
“Of course she did!” she exclaimed. “Well she more like followed me home. But still! She’s in my big bag sleeping.” Closer inspection of the bag she’d been dragging proved her right, and Aki sighed.
“Next time, leave her with Ketsu. I don’t care if she thinks your cat hates her.” Even though the cat was found, Aki couldn’t shake the sense of foreboding. The forest didn’t seem dangerous for now, and everyone (including Harlequin) was accounted for, so she decided that she was just paranoid.
Dusk began to descend on the forest before they knew it. The various trees cast eerie shadows on the ground, and the wind blew through them creating a swishing sound. Reshii flopped onto the ground again.
“We’re camping. Here. Now. I don’t care!” she proclaimed, face in the dust. Temari rolled her eyes before laying her bags down as well and sitting next to her. She laughed slightly and laid back on her bag that held her clothes.
“The sky…” she breathed. The Storm ninja looked up, and Reshii flipped over to see what she was looking at.
The sky had turned a bright, almost neon orange. It faded into a deep red towards the middle of the sky. The clouds had taken on a pinkish hue, with purple tints for shadows. The sun was a glowing yellow orb over the horizon in the direction of Storm. If Pein turned towards the east, she saw the impending darkness that would soon envelop the forest. She smiled contently. Aki’s face even looked peaceful; she’d seemed troubled all day. Darnas was looking from the clouds to the sky backdrop.
“Wow…” they breathed.
“These colors,” Reshii began, almost hypnotized by them. “Remind me of rainbow sherbet.” The other four looked at her dusty, dreamy face and began laughing. Their laughter rang out through the trees. They began collecting fallen branches and scrub brush and got busy on making camp for the night.
The night was warm, and as Pein lay by the fire, she stared up at the twinkling stars. Everyone but her and Darnas, who was on guard, was asleep.
“What are you going to do when we get back to the village?” she asked quietly out of the blue. Darnas looked over at her.
“I dunno. Probably sign up for the firefighting thing. We get paid, even though it’s more of a voluntary thing… and I could use the money,” he replied. Pein nodded.
“Yeah me too. I’ll probably sign up for it, as long as I’m not needed elsewhere.” She moved her arm that had fallen asleep under her head to pet her cat, who was purring in her sleep by her side. Sighing, she turned her head to Darnas, who was yawning intensely.
“Do you want me to take your watch?” she asked. “You look tired, and I can’t sleep.” Darnas looked at her.
“Sure if you want to. Aki is next, wake her up in another couple of hours.” He gave her the watch they’d been using in the past few days to keep track of time. Before lying down in his own sleeping bag, he put a few more bits of firewood into the dying fire. Pein stood up and stretched walked over to the tree they’d used as ‘watch post’ and sat down on its protruding roots. She relaxed her back onto the rough trunk, and began to watch the forest around her.
Sometime later that night, Pein woke with a start. Her back and neck ached horribly, and she realized that she’d fallen asleep. Cursing herself, she walked over to the dead fire and began to build it up again. The wood smoked in her face, causing her to have a brief coughing spell, silenced by her shirt collar. She slowly built the fire back up, starting with dry leaves, working up to twigs. The fire soon was cracking and popping. She looked at the watch, and realized that Aki’s shift should have started two hours ago. She sighed deeply before padding over to wake Aki up.
“Aki,” she whispered, nudging her friend. “Hey, wake up dude.” Aki shot up, nearly smacking heads with Pein.
“God…” she whispered. “You startled me! What’s up?”
“Your turn to watch.” Pein flashed the watch, the face catching the light of the fire in its glass. Aki blinked sleepily at her.
“Really?” She took the watch and looked at it. “My shift started two hours ago. Did you--” But she didn’t finish her sentence. “Do you smell that?” Her heart began to pound as she looked around frantically.
“What?” Pein asked tiredly. She wanted nothing more but to go back to sleep.
“Smoke.”
Pein blinked. “I just built up the fire… is that it?”
Aki shrugged and relaxed before saying “Dunno. Probably.” She sighed and slid out of her sleeping bag. “Okay, my watch.” She looked around and walked over to the tree and sat down. Pein herself walked over to her sleeping bag next to the fire and slid into it. She stared into the flickering flames of the fire and sighed. The more she thought about it, and the deeper into sleep she descended, she found that she smelled smoke too. Unable to think clearly enough to decide whether it was the fire or not, she let it go before slipping into sleep.
Something was really bright in her eyes. Something was poking her shoulder. Pein groaned and turned over. Someone was trying to pull her eyes open.
“Wake up sleepyhead!” a peppy voice said in her ear. Pein opened her eyes, only to shut them against the glare of the sun. Trying again, she squinted her eyes, and saw the rapid changing eye-color that could only belong to Reshii.
“SHE’S AWAKE!!” she shouted, her echo reverberating back to the group.
“Good.” Aki said. “She’s impossible to wake up in the morning.” Pein stuck her tongue out at the general direction of Aki’s voice and sat up. Her eyes finally adjusted to the light. Everyone besides her and Temari was up and ready to go. Temari herself was still recovering from Reshii’s wakeup call. Soon, everything was packed, Harlequin in Reshii’s bag again, and they began trekking towards the Storm village.
“At this rate,” Aki said sometime later. “We’ll be there by three or four!” Soon they began smelling something distant, but foul all the same.
“Ugh something smells weird…” Darnas said, rubbing his nose. The others agreed, rubbing their noses as well.
“Smells like…” Aki started but trailed off as she heard crashing through the underbrush nearby. Immediately, the five ninja scooted together, back to back to back, until they created a defensive cluster. In Pein’s peripheral vision, she saw a familiar form crash through to them.
“PEIN!” it shouted. “DARNAS! AKI!” The form finally came fully into view, huffing and puffing.
“I… found… you…” they panted.
“Azuki!” Aki said, surprised. “What’s wrong?” The ninja relaxed and waited for Azuki Dashi to regain her breath. Pein, meanwhile introduced Reshii and Temari, who Azuki waved at. Soon, she was breathing normally, and she gave the ninja a somber look.
“What’s wrong?” Aki repeated, genuinely stressed out now.
“Pein,” Azuki started. “Aki… Darnas… The village…” Tears sprang at her eyes. “The Storm village…” A choked sob escaped from her throat.
“Spit it out!” Aki cried.
Azuki paused to regain her composure. “The village… It’s been burned to the ground.”
Last edited by PeinQAkatsuki on Sat Aug 07 2010, 04:49; edited 2 times in total
Toshiro~ ^_^ x3
