Yumi:
We were still walking down the hallway, and I was in deep thought. 'Kiba saved me, how nice' I thought happily, yet bitterly. 'I remember it when I was beating Kiba' I thought remembering slamming Kiba down using my newest jutsu in the chunin exams. It was right after I recieved the scroll from father, Ororchimaru; striking shadow snake. 'Have I become this week? Has my training really been this fruitless, this pointless?' I wondered. The hallway was blurring, a transparent wall appeared, but I knew it wasn't real.
"You could always use my power" a voice in the back of my mind hissed. 'Never, not when you plan to take my control of me' I thought in response to the three-tails.
"Your pitifull strength is worthless to me and those around you" it mocked me before the gates disappeared. I sighed, 'worthless, that hurt' I thought.
"You okay? Your not usualy this down after giving me a good backhanding" Kiba said, looking at me with concern. I scoffed, he definetely remembered the times I smacked him when he truely deserved it. 'Good times... When I wasn't worthless.... worthess, it still hurts' I thought.
"Yumi!" Kiba snapped. I looked up to his face.
"Your so gloomy your making Shino look like happiest guy alive" Kiba said.
"Kiba" Shino said with a warning tone. Kiba sweat-dropped and chuckled nervously. I put on a smile and laughed, "Nah, I'm fine" I told him with a reassuring, goofy smile. He nodded his head and looked away from me. 'Lie, lie, lie, lie, your a Liar Yumi!' my concence screamed at me. Akamaru whimpered and nudged Kiba's hand. 'I wonder how good of a lie detector Akamaru is' I thought nervously. The ground suddenly began to tremble, but only slightly.
"Carefull, there must be a fight going on somewhere" Shino said.
"I say we go take them on" Kiba growled, and had a stupid smirk on his stupid, cute face. I shook my head in a scolding manner.
"But, shouldn't we avoid the enemy. We already have a scroll, so it would be better to hurry and get out of here" Hinata said. Shino and I nodded in agreement.
"But if we eliminate the enemy it means we won't have to face them later" Kiba protested against them.
"Kiba, it's risky though. Never underestimate the enemy no matter how small they are" Shino snapped at him.
"I'm shorter than you and I've beaten you plenty of times" I said with a triumphant grin on my face. Kiba groaned in defeat, he wasn't winning this argument. The ground shook violently, the shockwaves through the ground was coming from the left, just up ahead. Just as it stopped my stomach decided it was going to sound like a dieing whale, and the sound echoed. Kiba was laughing, that is until everyone elses stomach was growling.
"We shoud take a momment to rest. I don't think any of us have eaten since yesterday" Shino said. Akamaru whimpered as if agreeing with him that he was hungry. Shino swipped Kiba's bag away, and rationed out the food himself despite Kiba's protesting. It was a small portion for all of us, but we still had three more days to get out of here. 'How big could this maze be?' I wondered after finishing my meal. I leaned back against the wall, my eyelids felt so heavy.
"We should probably have someone on watch" Shino suggested.
"Blub" I muttered sticking my tongue out at Kiba.
"What?! Do we really need someone on watch?" Kiba asked Shino. Shino looked at Kiba with the usualy blank expression and thick black glasses.
"No. If you don't value your life" he spoke with a cryptic tone.
"err- fine. Come on Akamaru" Kiba groaned. My eyelids fell like bricks, and I was dead asleep. Unfortunantely it was not a dreamless, peacefull sleep. Tall, locked golden gates stood in front of me. I knew exactly where I was, and I wasn't pleased about it. Snake-like eyes appeared on the other side, and Matatabi hissed softly.
"Why do you bother fight child? When you are weak and worthless to me, yourself, and others?" it asked me. My lower lip quivered from nervousness.
"I fight to become worth something" I shot back. Matatabi laughed, its eyes looking at me with great pity and sympathy.
"You'll never be anything. Just dead weight. Your to afraid, to weak, and worthless" it spat at me. Those words hit me like a bowling ball to the head, or to the gut.
I sat bolt right up from the dream. Akamaru whined softly and licked my cheek.
"It's okay" I whispered patting his head. The dog looked from me to Kiba. My jaw dropped and my eyebrown twitched uncontrolably. 'Dog-boy left his dog to stay on guard by himself did he?' I thought cracking my knuckles. 'Damn, how did I let Kiba become this cocky?' I wondered as I felt my chakra seep into my palm. I didn't activate my chakra claws, but there was a large amount of chakra in my hand. Suddenly I brought my hand down onto Kiba's cheek.
"I-yeeeeee!!!!!" he woke up howling in pain and in shock. Unfortunantely it woke Hinata and Shino up.
"Sorry guys, just err- disiplining" I laughed nervously. Shino didn't say a word, but began sleeping again. Hinata shook her hand, an smile of amusment on her face.
"You two really are cute." she chuckled. The comment made my cheeks burn like fire.
"What about you and Naruto?" I replied. I gave her a knowing look and her cheeks were right red. 'So she still loved the little idiot' I thought. She too layed back and went to sleep, her face was still scarlet red from embarassment. I felt a sharp pinch to my shoulder. Imediately I recoiled from Kiba and lashed out at him, but he narrowly dodged another backhanding to the face.
"Quite that!" he whispered angrily. I childishly stuck my tongue at him. Akamaru, the poor dog, had fallen asleep between us.
"I can't belive you made Akamaru stay up to keep watch" I whispered, scolding Kiba.
"We were taking turns" Kiba infomed me. Still, the poor dog needed rest. I sighed, no use arguing with someone as cocky, stupid, ignorant, arogant, thick-skulled-
"Shut it" Kiba snapped quietly. Oops? Was I speaking my thoughts outloud? I giggled at his.
"Well it's true" I laughed and leaned against the wall. Again the ground shook, but with more force and a deep crack appeared in the floor to my right. I sighed and made a handsign.
"Watch my body" I whispered. Before Kiba could ask my body fell limp into his arms. A small white snake, with purple markings around the eyes slithered out of my mouth; me. I slithered down the hallway and towards the location I could sense the power spasms in the ground. The waves of power were strong. I disappeared into a crack in the floor and slithered underground. It took a while but I came upon two shinobi groups fighting. Of the land hidden in the clouds and the land hidden in rocks. They were both fighting against each other for a yellow scroll the cloud ninja held. I twisted up, watching them with great interest. The cloud ninja were indeed fierce and attacked with bold moves. If not better they were as good as the ninja we faced earlier. All of the sudden one of them froze and his eyes flickered to my direct location. 'Could he sense me chakra?' I wondered. The ninja threw a kuni-knife and it hit the crack above my head. There was a sizzling sound, the crinkling of paper, and the smell of smoke.
"There's an enemy shinobi underground" he yelled. 'Crap!' I thought. I slithered away, but the shinobi was throwing kuni-knives with paper bombs into the cracks nearby. Explosions all around. How could I have let myself get so close to the enemy? 'You have to be better next time' I told myself. A bomb exploded and the floor above caved in. 'If there is a next time!' I thought as I maneuvered around it. This was going to be one, tricky escape.
