A Little More Than This (Discontinued)

Chapter 33

Mei awoke to a slap of cold water to her face. She shot to her feet and gasped loudly, looking around for who had woken her. Zetsu stood before her, holding back a chuckle as she looked up at him, reminding him of a wet cat.

"Zetsu-Nii, you better have an excellent reason for waking me up like that" Mei said, smiling evilly at the plant-man. "Nope. More training sugar. Please don't hurt me Mei" they both replied, Black Zetsu without fear and White Zetsu shaking with fear. Mei giggled and brushed the sand out of her hair.

She walked back into the little house and waited to be told exactly what to do.

______________________________

Naruto was, quite simply, depressed. He had failed to return Sasuke to the village and he now had to face Sakura and explain the situation with Mei. He waited, wishing the door wouldn't open, but despite his wishes the young pinkette walked into the room, her green eyes downcast.

"We didn't get him back" Naruto managed to choke out. "I know. I don't blame you. It's not your fault. But, next time we go on a mission; I won't get in the way Naruto" Sakura responded, her voice wavering slightly as she turned around. "Mei's gone as well. She's off on leave, she left the village" Naruto replied, his head lowering in shame.

Sakura looked back at him surprised, she saw how much shame he was putting himself through and walked over to him. She gently placed her arms around his hunched back and whispered, "Naruto, you are a strong and powerful ninja. Mei is just like you. If she left the village on leave then it was to push the village out of harms way as she trained. Don't beat yourself up over it".

Naruto nodded and Sakura left, passing by a white-haired man as she left in her hurry to the Hokage's office. 'First it was Sasuke, then Mei. Now Naruto is going to go away with his Sensei, I just know it! I must go to Lady Hokage and plead for an apprenticeship' Sakura thought as her feet swiftly carried her through the Konoha streets.

_______________________________

Shikamaru sighed loudly as he looked up from his usual resting spot. The mission had been a complete failure and he had almost lost his friends. He was exhausted from his own battle and worried sick for Neji and Chōji's sakes. He stared up at the sky, wondering what Mei was doing at that point.

He sighed loudly as the image of the Orange-haired girl popped into his head. He couldn't help but smile lightly at the image. The smile didn't last long though, it quickly fell back into a frown and he remembered that she was no longer in the village. He grumpily stood and briskly walked away, navigating his way back home.

On his way he bumped into Naruto, who was heavily bandaged and walking around like a lost puppy. Shikamaru raised a hand in greeting and smiled glumly to the blond.

"Hey Shikamaru. You don't look to good" Naruto commented, noticing the Raven-head's glum expression. "Yeah. Haven't got much sleep lately" Shikamaru replied, rubbing at one of the bags underneath his eyes. "Yeah, me neither. H-have you seen Sakura? I need to tell her I'm gonna leave to train soon" Naruto asked, shuffling his feet as he looked down in shame.

"Never pictured your team to be the one that would fall apart like this. I mean, first Mei up and left, then Sasuke ran off, now you're going to disappear and I haven't seen Sakura since she ran from the hospital two days ago!" Shikamaru exclaimed. Naruto looked up in shame, sighing and nodding sadly.

"What happened? You guys seemed to work so well!" Shikamaru asked, running his hand through his black hair. "I... I don't know, we just fell apart" Naruto replied sheepishly. Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his left temple, already feeling fed up with the mystery surrounding the girl he had fallen for.

He turned away from Naruto and decided he was going to get to the bottom of the tangerine's mystery. And he didn't care what he had to do to find out what he wanted to know.

_______________________________

Mei panted heavily as she lent against her knees. She strongly wished that she didn't have to keep running and that she could take a break but she dreaded whatever punishment Itachi or Zetsu could dream up with their highly imaginative minds. Mei then took off running again, as she felt Zetsu's golden eyes on her back.

She kept running until she came up to the Sand Village. She stopped and caught her breath once again and looked up at the walls surrounding the village. She leant against the wall and sighed, waiting for the plant-man to appear next to her.

Zetsu's head soon popped out of the sand and send her a toothy grin. "Heya sugar! How long have you've been waiting for us?" They greeted, their green hair thick with sand. "Five minutes Zetsu-Nii. What Chu do? Go for a swim in the dunes?" Mei joked, walking over to the head in the sand and trying to remove the majority of the sand in their hair. "As a matter of fact, he insisted" Black Zetsu responded with a little sigh.

Mei giggled lightly then looked at them expectedly. "Well? What next?" Mei asked, crossing her arms and smiling lightly. "Run back, then where you stopped before hand I'll need 500 push-ups and 1000 star-jumps" White Zetsu replied, smirking evilly and causing Mei to deadpan.

Mei sighed and started off running into the distance, Zetsu right on her tale and make sure she didn't slow from her pace.

A tall character watched them go, his eyes narrowing as the two started tracking through the treacherous dessert around the village he resided in. He frowned lightly before turning his back to the pair and walking off to find the little bastard he called his little brother.