The Way Into Mist Village (Naruto)

28: Rescue Begins

[OP: "Lay Me Down"--The Oh Hellos]

The team in Mist assembled finally. It really hadn't been that long, but it felt like days of waiting to Momo.

"Likely they only just got to the island by now," Shine tried to comfort her by saying.

Wally and Gaara finally brought Shoto to join them. He looked upset.

Momo glanced at him questioningly. He glanced at her and then nodded slowly.

She hoped that meant that he was feeling better.

Though he gave Sasuke a severe look.

Sasuke glared back at him.

"Everyone stick very close to each other," Shine warned. "And be ready to move fast."

"Here." Momo held out some filtration masks to Wally, Shoto and Gaara. "I made some for everyone, just in case."

They nodded.

"Well, this'll be fun," Suigetsu said. "Exploring a creepy island, probably full of vicious killers. Just like old times, huh, Karin?"

"You mean like the last few months?" Karin said disagreeably. "Nothing's changed, Suigetsu."

"Well, Sasuke's not in charge anymore," Suigetsu said. "Maybe we'll have a real plan this time."

Shine chuckled. "I wish I had a better plan, but, with nothing to work with, my plan is not to get killed."

"Well, that always works in movies," Wally said.

He and Suigetsu took off again.

"We'll give them a few minutes to get there," Shine said. 

Shoto moved closer to her. "Shine, did anyone mention anything to you?"

Shine gave him a somber look, then, to his surprise, she hugged him.

The ninja were almost embarrassed to see it, but some thought it was cute.

"We'll talk about it later," Shine said quietly. "Are you okay to fight right now? Because I need you not to be distracted."

"I'll be fine," Shoto said, getting more of a grip.

"Good." Shine let go. "Wouldn't want Bakugo to get a reason to lord it over you later..."

Though she said that, Shoto thought she looked worried. Maybe she was just trying to psych herself up about Bakugo.

Shoto might find him annoying, but he was still his friend...sort of. And they'd been through a lot together, and if something happened to him, it would be hard to bear it. And Camie was...well, weird, but, she was still one of them.

And Neji, he deserved better... They were all right, weren't they?

Momo walked up and took Shoto's hand, giving it a light squeeze.

She was clearly trying to put the incident behind them for now and focus on the more important stuff...and that kind of maturity was almost more than Shoto could take. He still felt horrible for scaring her. But she could still try to be comforting in her way.

He felt miserably guilty and undeserving.

Even so, it didn't soften him towards Sasuke, who, as far as he could tell, was regarding this scene with contempt.

But in truth Sasuke was utterly baffled by what they were doing. Weren't they mad at Shoto right now? Shine knew what happened...and that was it? 

He really did get preferential treatment.