Struggle [On Hold]

Chapter 3: Smoke

Bastard. Lucky bastard. He was so blissfully unaware of what had just taken place. But, she couldn't be mad at him for being captured and letting the diamond get out of their sight. She just couldn't. With tears at the verge of her eyes and a slight blush she pulled Naruto in a tight hug while he was laying on her lap. "You idiot… you're an idiot, you know that right?"

"Glad to know you care," Naruto responded, noting his position in her lap. She was holding him against her while sitting on the ground. The position was a bit awkward, but it proved that Temari had clearly believed he was in danger.

Pushing Naruto off, making him sit on the ground, she examined the head wound. It wasn't fatal, it seemed, but it was still bleeding. With a thoughtful frown, she pressed her sleeve against it in an attempt to stop the blood.

"You're not like Sakura-chan." He said suddenly, feeling the pressure of her hand against his head. Having her there was oddly comforting.

"How so?"

"Well, you're medically impaired," he began, earning a glare from the older girl, "You're a bit egotistical, but you've got an attitude that Sakura-chan doesn't. And you're just…different."

"Yes, well, I'm a different girl than Sakura. Raised differently, trained differently. Everything is different." She responded, ripping off the cloth from her headband. With a sigh, she tied it around his head and tightened it, attempting to suppress the blood-flow, "Did you expect me to be like Sakura?"

"No, not really. But it's not just your personality…you're just…different." He didn't want to explain it anymore. How it he felt differently when she was around than when Sakura was around. He just didn't want to explain it anymore.

"That was a bit easy." She said, changing the subject.

"What was?"

"Tricking them."

"Tricking who?"

"…. Forget it." Temari sighed.

"No, I really want to know."

"The bandits." Temari began, "It would have been extremely stupid to go after them by myself. They outnumber me, and might overpower me too. So, instead, I decided to use this." She pulled out an explosive note; "It'll explode after a certain amount of time. It's more noise than anything else, but the sound should travel a long way. And if they hide in a forest, it'll most likely catch the forest on fire, which will be a big help."

"When is it supposed to go off?" Naruto had left all hopes of Temari's medic skills behind and started taking care of his own head wound.

"Any minute now, actually."

Kumori grinned. It was getting interesting. The girl had managed to get that explosive note on him without him noticing. He was going to let it go off, actually. If the ninjas found them, it'd be interesting—he longed for excitement. And this situation was just perfect.

He had to hand it to the girl though. If it had exploded on him, his clothes would have caught fire. Naturally, he'd try to smother the flame, and that would lead the forest floor to get on fire—the trees and ground were dry. This region hadn't had rain for a long time, it wouldn't take long for the fire to spread across the forest floor and catch trees on fire. A brilliant plan indeed, but it was risky for her. She'd be responsible for all the damage…it wasn't very practical, but it worked.