I'm not alone

Yes, finally got chapter 4 done...and actually got the plot going! Go me!

~~~

The 6 genin stared at the beautiful woman who
Kakashi had just introduced.

"She's so beautiful," Sakura said in a low whisper, so
only Hinata could hear.

Hinata was inclined to agree...the princess was
beautiful in a way Hinata could only hope she could
be. Her dark eyes, which sparkled in the sun, matched
her perfect hair, which was swinging down behind her
knees. Her slim form could only be described as
voluptuous, her elegant kimono couldn't hide the curves
and shapes that her body took. Hinata found herself
feeling a little envious.

Princess Chiyo pushed her long elegant hair out of her
face after she had been introduced. Her nose upturned
slightly in distaste at the sight of the genin, as if
she regarded them as lower class.

"Charmed, I'm sure," she drawled in a melodic voice
that belied her distasteful expression, which marred
her otherwise beautiful face.

"We're going to be escorting Chiyo-hime back to the
Cloud village," Kurenai spoke up. "We are to protect
her from normal things like bandits and thieves,
but....well," she glanced up at Kakashi, motioning for
him to continue.

"There's a good chance that someone might try to take
her life," Kakashi finished.

"Why?" Naruto wondered.

"Because," Chiyo said, speaking up and addressing
Naruto as if he were lower than a bug. "I am the
daughter of Raikage. There have been recent
attempts of my life lately by the earth country, for
reasons that are unknown to me. I assume they want to
use me as hostage to make some sort of demand from my
father. You are here to prevent that from happening."
She said this all with a look that she expected them
to know this already.

"Ah, yes... Kakashi said, smiling. "She summed it up
quite well...our goal is to guard her on our way back
to the cloud village. After we arrive there we have to
stay for one week to protect her until the cloud
jounin return from their missions.

"Are ALL the cloud shinobi gone?" Kiba wondered.
"Where are they?"

"He can explain it on the way," Chiyo interjected
coldly. "We have a tight schedule...and we need to
leave."

Hinata saw Kurenai's eyes roll up at the princess's
words, while Kakashi simply smiled. This was certainly
going to be an interesting trip...

The princess walked delicately back towards her horse,
lifting her kimono so as not to dirty in on the muddy
grass. Two servants hastily ran to her to help her
into the cart.

"Looks like we're ready to go," Kakashi said.
"Kure-chan will tell you your positions." Kurenai shot
Kakashi a glare that could melt ice at the sound of
her pet name, while Kakashi just smiled
apologetically. Kurenai sighed and gave everyone their
positions.

"Shino, you'll lead in front of the cart; we'll need
your bugs to scout ahead for us. Naruto and Sakura
will defend the left side of the cart, and Sasuke and
Kiba will take the right side. Hinata, I'll need you
in the back to use your Byakugan to defend against
back attacks."

"Hai!" The six genins shouted in unison, scrambling to
take their places.

"I guess we're all ready to go!" Kakashi said,
motioning to the servant manning the cart that they
were ready.

The big gates that led to the outside world opened
wide, reminding them that this was the last time
they'll see there home in a few weeks.

Hinata swallowed as they passed through them, hoping
that she would have enough courage for this mission.

~~~~~

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled. "How much further?"

"It hasn't even been an hour yet!" Sakura cried
incredulously. "How can you be tired already?"

"How long is the trip to the lightning country,
anyways?" Kiba inquired.

"We should reach there by approximately midday of
tomorrow," Kurenai answered.

"What!?" cried Naruto. "That long?"

"Shut up, dobe," Sasuke piped up. "Your voice is
getting annoying."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" Naruto looked like he was ready
to jump over the cart and attack Sasuke. Exerting very
much self-control not to do so, he reminded himself
that Hinata was watching him and he didn't want to act
like a fool.

"All these children do is bicker and complain. Are
they really suited to accompany me to my country? I'm
beginning to doubt it," came the voice of the
princess, who had peeked her head out of the cart.

"They may be young, but they are quite capable of
doing their job," Kurenai replied stiffly.
"Chiyo-hime, it would be best if you stayed in the
cart; we wouldn't want a spying enemy to spot you."
The princess quickly ducked back into her cart and
remained silent.

Hinata smiled to herself at how quickly the princess
retreated. She didn't know the woman, but she
certainly didn't seem all that pleasant. Using her
Byakugan, she could see very clearly into the cart,
and was watching carefully to make sure there was no
risky business going on. She rubbed her temples; using
Byakugan over a prolonged period of time always gave
her a headache...yet another reason for her
weakness...another reason for her family to be
ashamed. She was snapped back to reality when she
heard the cart skidding, and then come to a complete
stop.

"What's wrong, Shino?" Kurenai asked as he
contemplated a bug sitting on his fingers. "What do
your bugs see?"

"There is an ambush ahead," Shino answered calmly. "It
seems to be ten or more men, all concealed in the
foliage ahead." He regarded the insect perched in his
fingers. "Bandits, from the look of it."

"Hell yeah! It's about time we got some action!"
yelled Naruto, pumping his fists in the air. Kiba
looked like he agreed entirely.

Hinata could feel her pulse start to quicken, but she
swallowed her rising sensation of fear as best as she
could. She could handle bandits, she would prove that
she wasn't going to be weak anymore!

"Alright then," Kakashi said. "Kure and I will stay
here and watch the caravan, as that is our top
priority. You guys are in charge of taking care of the
bandits." Kurenai and him walked to either side of the
cart, protecting it from both sides.

"Alright!" Kiba yelled impatiently. "Let's go!"

"Shush!" Sakura said irritably. "Do you want to just
announce our presence to them?"

Sasuke, annoyed, pulled out a shurikan and started
walking towards the clearing.

"Wait," Shino called. Sasuke turned around irritably.
"We'll need to know their exact positions, or else
they could overpower us. They could have set traps."

Hinata caught Shino's hint.

"I'll take care of that," she said. Holding her
fingers together in the seal, she concentrated.
"Byakugan!"

Immediately Hinata's mind reeled as it always did with
tew sew sensations flooding into her head.
Concentrating, she looked into the direction of the
forest, looking through the foliage, through the
leaves, through entire forest. Her eyes rested on a
person.

"Four of them, in the trees," Hinata said. "Two are
behind some oak trees, three are guarding the forest
exit, and one is hiding behind a tree right in the
entrance, holding a kunai. There are a few traps set
in the ground, watch for holes behind the large tree
in the center."

"Alright!" cried Naruto. "Now I'll even up the odds a
bit..."

~~~~

"Do you think they'll be alright?" Kurenai inquired,
making Kakashi look up from his book.

"Ah, they'll be fine. They're facing common bandits,
not shinobi. It's like a mouse going up against a
tiger."

Kurenai laughed softly. "I suppose you're right, I
know Kiba and Shino can handle it. I was just a little
worried about Hinata. She doesn't seem to like hurting
people very much. But her ability is very useful for
this mission, which was part of the reason why Godaime
chose our team."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and then went back to his
book. Kurenai sighed.

"Kakashi." Kurenai interrupted him from reading.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Do you think these bandits are a coincidence? Or are
were they sent to slow down out progress?"

"There's no way to know at this point," Kakashi
answered thoughtfully. "Right now we can only assume
that the bandits were a coincidence until we know
more."

Kurenai sighed again.

~~~~

"Naruto...I think you got him," Sakura said wryly as
Naruto and his five shadow clones continued to punch
the unconscious bandit.

"Ah...that wasn't much of a challenge at all, was it?"
Kiba said in disappointment, scratching Akamaru's
head. Akamaru barked in agreement.

Shino nodded slightly in Kiba's direction, and held
his hands up. The insects that were crawling all over
three of the bandit's bodies climbed up his arms,
taking their place back inside his body. Team seven
shuddered in unison. It was a rather discerning sight
to those that weren't used to it.

Sasuke bent down and retrieved a few of his shurikan
that were embedded in one of the bandit's back. He
wiped the blood off on the grass. Sakura did the same.

Hinata looked down at her feet, where two bodies lay.
The bandits were either dead or dying, she didn't know
for sure. She had hit one quite squarely in the chest,
severely damaging their respiratory organs. She could
hear him struggling to breathe, and then fall silent,
blood pooling out of his mouth. The other, riddled
with shurikan all over his body, had taken a kunai to
the throat, which was freely bleeding on Hinata's
sandals.

She ignored the familiar tugging feeling in her chest
as she felt the beginnings of remorse. It was time she
got used to the death and killing. She was a
shinobi...and it was time she started acting like one.
She bent down and yanked the kunai out of the man's
throat, wiped in on the grass, and put it back in her
pocket.

The genin made their way back to the caravan,
completely unscathed (except for a scratch that Sakura
had gotten from a kunai grazing her arm) and a little
more upbeat.

"Ah, I see you succeeded," Kakashi said as they walked
into view.

"Of course we beat those weaklings!" Naruto cried.
"They were no match for us!"

"Although it was thanks to Hinata that we beat them so
well," Sakura said, nodding in Hinata's direction.
"Without her we wouldn't have known their exact
positions and where to avoid the traps."

"That's right!" Naruto said with a broad smile. "We
might have had more trouble if the bandits were
allowed to sneak up on us!"

Hinata blushed deep crimson at the acknowledgement.

"I-It wasn't just me!" she protested. "Everyone had a
part in it...everyone fought so well...I only did what
I could." Inside Hinata's heart soared at the
acknowledgment. It was a nice feeling.

Everyone took their positions again, and the horses
slowly began rolling along the beaten path.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called, breaking the
silence. Kakashi wrenched his eyes from his book and
looked at Naruto with a sigh.

"What?" he asked.

"Um...you said you'd explain about the Cloud village!
Can you?" Naruto asked, looking over at Kakashi with a
hopeful smile.

Kakashi reluctantly tucked his book back into his vest
pocket.

"Hmm, where do I start..." he wondered out loud.

"The hidden of village of the cloud is in trouble,"
Kurenai interjected. "Basically, they have very few
jounin left and are quite vulnerable to an attack."

"Ah, yes," Kakashi continued. "Cloud and Stone are not
on the best of terms. They haven't been for years;
they have been on the brink of war for as long as I
can remember."

"Why is that, sensei?" Sakura inquired.

"Power struggles," Kakashi replied simply. "They are
both two of the five great shinobi countries. There
was a specific incident that set them off warring
together, if I remember correctly, but I don't know
what it is."

"The Earth killed Lightning country's queen," came a
dark voice from inside the cart.

"Hime-sama!" Kurenai said in surprise. Princess Chiyo
stuck her head out the window and continued.

"People of the rock country...they are nothing but
barbarians. They tried to assert their superiority on
us by sending shinobi to keep an eye on us, to make
sure we weren't getting too strong. They forced
everyone out of their homes and made them live in
pitiful camps. They beat anyone who rebelled, men,
woman, even children."

Chiyo broke off, her voice faltering.

"But...wouldn't the Raikage do something about
it?" Kiba asked. "Isn't that his job? To protect the
Lightning country?"

"The Lightning country has been around for quite some
time," Kurenai said. "But their cloud village has
only been around for the last 30 years or so. They
didn't have an Raikage or the cloud shinobi back
then, they only had the royalty. And they didn't have
nearly the man power to stand up to Earth."

"That is correct," Chiyo agreed grimly. "They wanted
to dominate our country, make it feel like it had no
hope. So they publicly executed the queen. My mother."
At these words she let out a choked sob. Regaining
composure, she continued. "That was their downfall. It
sent our village over the edge. I sneaked out and made
my way to Konoha aided only by a few skilled villagers
at the age of 14 for reinforcement. My grandfather,
who would be the Raikage, remained behind to fight
for Lightning. That was the beginning of Konoha's
treaty with our country."

"Wait...if you were 14 and this occurred 30 years ago,"
Sakura contemplated. "That makes you over 40!" She
stared at the princess in shock. The princess in
question smiled slightly. Naruto and Kiba gaped and
Sasuke let out a surprised sound. Shino remained
silent, as usual. Hinata put a hand to her mouth.
Princess o dio didn't look a day over 20!

"That's besides the point," Kakashi pointed out.

"Anyways," Chiyo continued, her mood seemingly lifted.
"I pleaded to your Hokage for help. He sent us 50
jounin level leaf shinobi to fight with us. It was
because of Konoha that we were able to drive the
hidden stone shinobi out of our country. They
retreated back to Earth country and have remained our
bitter enemies since. We were then able to set up a
village and start an academy to train students to
become cloud shinobi."

"Wow...." Naruto said, amazed. "I never knew that!"

"Few people do," Kurenai said. "It's not something the
Cloud village likes to spread around."

"But why were you in Konoha this time, hime-sama?"
Hinata piped up, curious. "And why is stone trying to
kill you? Where are your shinobi?"

"A good number were killed by a recent attack by stone
a few weeks ago," Kakashi answered. "They were after
the princess here, since she would be useful as a bargaining
tool for Raikage. He was desperate, and he sent her to
Konoha for her own protection, as the remaining cloud shinobi
are currently on a mission that we have no knowledge about. We
are to protect her until their return."

Kakashi fell silent after this, leaving everyone to muse his
words. The day quickly moved into midday, and then to evening
without incident, to Hinata's relief. She looked up at the sky to
watch the sun start to descend behind the mountains and the moon
peek out from the clouds. Sneaking a peek at Naruto, who'd been
unusually silent throughout the rest of the day, disregarding a few
comments here and there. She couldn't see his face, but she saw him slouched over and trudging along as though he was tired. Busying herself by staring at his backside, she let her eyes roam up his body, feeling her face heat up as she did so. She had to urge to just touch the pale skin on his neck, to run her fingers through his blonde hair again, to-

"Well, this seems like a good place to stop," Kurenai stated, snapping Hinata back into reality and shake her not-quite-so-innocent thoughts out of her head.

"What!?" Kiba complained loudly. "We've gotta sleep outside? Why can't we stop at a town or something and stay at an inn?" Shino nodded at Kiba's words, leading Hinata to believe that they were as desperate for some "alone" time as she was. The thought brought a smile to her face.

"Because, Kiba, " Kurenai said irritably. "We're trying not to bring attention to the fact that Chiyo-hime is traveling with us. In towns word travels fast. It's better to stay here on the open road where it is very hard for the enemy to sneak up on you."

Kiba opened and closed his mouth, looking like he still was trying to find a way to complain.

"Can we eat?" Naruto requested. "I'm starving!" As if on cue his stomach grumbled loudly. Everyone agreed; food sounded very good right now.

"Ah, that's a great idea Naruto!" Kakashi said happily. "You can do the honors of catching us all some fish!"

"Why do *I* have to do it?" Naruto griped. "Why can't Sasuke do it?"

"Because I wasn't the one who volunteered, dobe," Sasuke said with a smirk.

Naruto groaned loudly and stomped off towards the river that they had passed a little while back.

"Wait, I'll go help you, Naruto-kun!" Hinata called, running after him.

"What a surprise," Kurenai remarked softly.

~~~~

"Got one!" Naruto cried triumphantly, holding up a fish skewered on a kunai. He tossed it into a basket.

Hinata kicked off her sandals and waded into the water, shivering as the cold attacked her feet.

"It's f-freezing!" she said. Naruto grinned. "How...how do I catch one?" She wondered. Naruto looked at her in surprise.

"You've never tried catching fish before?" He asked in amazement. Hinata shook her head.

"All you gotta do is wade out a little deeper, where the fish swim, and try to get one as it swims by you. Kill it with a kunai, and you've got it!" Naruto explained.

"Is that it?" Hinata wondered.

"It's harder than it looks," Naruto said with his usual grin.

Hinata waded further out towards Naruto, the water soaking her pants up to her calves. She stood over the water, mimicking Naruto's position, eyes scanning for a fish.

There!

Hinata's arm lashed out as fast as she could make it go into the water. Making contact with something slimy, she pulled up a relatively large fish, which was struggling in her hand to get back into the water. Hinata quickly snatched her kunai and killed the fish quickly.

"That was good!" Naruto said. "Now keep it up; we'll need a lot of fish for the amount of people there are."

Naruto watched Hinata with interest as she caught fish after fish. She was better than he was! If it were anyone else he probably would've been a tad jealous, but not in this case.

"Oh!" Hinata cried as a particularly slippery fish jumped out of her hands. Jumping to try to catch it, she succeeding in only landing in the water and soaking her from head to toe. Naruto raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"I'm all wet..," Hinata groaned, sitting up in the shallow water. Naruto made his way over to her, extending a hand to help her up. Hinata grasped it, and then pulled him in with her. Naruto barely had time to give an exclamation of surprise before he was greeted by the ice-cold water. Wiping water out of his eyes, he looked over at Hinata to see her eyes shining with laughter.

"Why you..." Naruto tackled Hinata, making big splash and causing a flurry of fish to swim out of the way. She giggled uncontrollably as Naruto began tickling her.

He had completely innocent intentions...he really did...but a wet, squirming Hinata beneath him made his hands travel further than her stomach and sides, made him lean down to capture her wet lips in an even wetter kiss. He slid his tongue inside her mouth while Hinata grasped his soaked orange jacket tightly.

"We....should probably get back...before they come...looking for-ah!" Hinata gasped as Naruto nibbled a particularly sensitive spot on her neck.

Realizing she was probably right, and not wanting to get caught in this position by anyone, he reluctantly relinquished Hinata's lips, which were swollen from either the cold, or his kissing, perhaps both. For the umpteenth time that day he admired her beauty.

He ached for her...silently he cursed their lack of privacy. Releasing her from his grasp, he stood up and picked up the nearly full basket of fish. Hinata stood up as well, her face much less red than if usually was.

Hinata pulled of her jacket and tried to squeeze as much of the water out of it that was possible. Failing miserably, she put it back on, not really caring. All her insecurities about the mission were gone...Naruto really knew how to cheer her up. Secretly she was wishing with Kiba that they were staying at an inn right now as her blood pounded in her head. Oh well...she supposed the mission was a little more important right now.

"Sheesh! What took you guys so long!" Kiba complained as the two came into view. "And you're soaking wet!" Sakura, Kurenai and Kakashi shot the pair a knowing look. Hinata blushed freely under their gaze.

"We were catching fish, what do you expect?" Naruto shot to Kiba. "Fish live in water, you know."

Kiba snorted and ignored his comment while Naruto set the basket of fish down.

"Let's get cooking," he said hungrily.

~~~~

Everyone munched happily on the fish, even Princess Chiyo, who objected at first to eating the fish off a stick.

Hinata ravenously devoured her fish, her hunger overpowering her polite demeanor. She had changed into some spare clothes, and was drying off quickly in the fire. Night had completely fallen, and Hinata watched the shadows that the fire played across Naruto's nude chest, feeling the familiar flush spring to her cheeks. She ignored the feeling of passion rising in her stomach...now was not the time for it. If Kiba and Shino could control themselves then she certainly could.

"Kurenai and I will be taking turns watching the princess over the night, so you guys won't have to worry about that part." Kakashi announced as he finished off his fish.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at this, it had been a long day and everyone was tired. Breaking out the sleeping bags, everyone settled down for the night.

Hinata laid her head down, letting sleep overcome her. Tomorrow was going to be a long day...not to mention they would have bedrooms. A shy smile played on Hinata's face as she fell asleep dreaming about naughty things.


To be continued!

~~~~

Wow, that was probably the hardest chapter I've had to write so far. Coming up with the whole reason for Earth and Lightning to be at war....oi. *rubs head* I tried my hardest to make everything as realistic as possible, if you see any glaring plot inconsistencies as far as the countries go, please point them out to me.

Thanks to Abby for pointing out my mistake in regards to the Raikage! Those mistakes have been fixed!

Ok...just thought I'd take the time to answer a few of
the questions/comments I've gotten in emails or
reviews for the previous chapters as well.

Why isn't Kakashi late when he shows up in chapter 3?

A: Kurenai arrived with him, I'm assuming she made him
come on time. Keeping princesses waiting is not good
for Konoha's image. ^^

The ramen guy being mean to Naruto...

A: I hadn't gotten far enough into the anime at the
point where you see the ramen guy being nice to
Naruto.

Sakura's thing about Naruto hurting Hinata...

A: In regards to hurting, she meant Naruto dumping
Hinata because he wasn't serious about it. Sakura
sort of had an inkling about Hinata's feelings for a
while, and doesn't want Naruto to crush her if he
doesn't really like her. She's offering a shoulder for
Hinata to lean on in case that happens. I think she
feels bad for her. I'm sorry that wasn't very clear
when I wrote it.

If they're 17, why are they still genin?

A: It wouldn't fit the storyline if they were chuunin
or jounin ^^ the age thing was only because I think 12
years old is waaaay to young to jump into a
relationship like Naruto and Hinata did.

Tis all for now...as usual comments and criticisms are welcome!