The Last Chinoike [A NARUTO LOVE STORY]

Ink-Haired Stranger

"We're stopping here. Everyone go relax, we'll head out again tomorrow morning." A young man with spiky black hair said calmly to the three people walking behind him. All of them had matching black cloaks with no patterns or anything fancy as to not draw any attention to themselves. The three started an uninteresting conversation as they entered the building that housed lockers, an inn, and the entrance to the hot springs.

However, someone had caught the eyes of the young man who hung back a little from his teammates. A woman with long, beautiful dark brown hair was also entering the hot springs. She had a strange aura around her, not like a shinobi from any clan he had ever encountered before. The young black-haired man watched the girl walk into the hot spring that he and his team were currently visiting. The rogue ninja, Sasuke Uchiha, had caught a glimpse of the woman's purple eyes as she glanced around.

'Now who the hell could that be...' He thought to himself as a smirk graced his lips. The woman continued inside and placed her stuff in a locker for the clothes of the guests entering the hot springs. This hot spring was located near a border of The Land of Hot Water and widely regarded as one of the best hot springs around. Sasuke followed her into the locker room and went to stand by his teammates and place his clothes and belongings in lockers near theirs. She was on the other side of the room undressing and wrapping a towel around herself. She cracked her neck from side to side and walked out to the co-ed hot spring.

"Karin, can you sense anything about that girl?" Sasuke asked, eying the brown-haired, purple-eyed woman.

The fiery red-haired woman scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I'm not a psychic, Sasuke! I just pick up chakra signatures, but I guess I can see what I sense with her..." Karin tried to pick up the chakra of the girl but instead got an upsetting idea about the girl.

"Sasuke, maybe we shouldn't bother her... her chakra flow seems a little off, maybe something happened to her." Karin said, a small hint of worry in her voice. She had not sensed something like this in a long, long time. Not since she first met Sasuke. There was indeed a sad and dark aura emitting off the young woman, one that intrigued Sasuke.

The small group was traveling together under the orders of Orochimaru. It was the first time the group- Sasuke, Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo- were all traveling together to meet an objective for their Master. Sasuke had only met the other three over the past year and even though they all had strange personalities, they each housed incredibly powerful abilities. The mission they were given was to find local "talent", as Orochimaru put it, to replace one of his experiments that just died. The group hadn't found anyone that managed to peak their interest until now, that is.

Sasuke nodded at Karin's words then walked toward the woman who was now entering the hot spring. He had a white towel wrapped around his waist, leaving the rest of him exposed. The young woman was submerging herself into the water when she felt someone coming toward her.

Hayami Chinoike, the young woman at the hot spring, let her dark brown hair flow around her in the water and fan out. Hayami's eyes were closed and even though she was trying to calm herself, she had a permeant feeling of sadness that also displayed on her face. The young woman felt someone move into the water right next to her. "Hello, can I help you?" She said without opening her eyes up to see who had moved into the water.

"Who are you?" The raven haired stranger's words seemed to startle the girl. She sharply inhaled before peeking open her eye closest to the stranger. What she did see was a young man about her age, pretty attractive, and with piecing black eyes staring at her.

"It's polite to give out your own name before demanding someone else's, isn't it?" Hayami said, closing her eyes again and attempting to sink a little deeper into the water.