The Children of Kumokagurke 6

“HOW?! There’s no water!” Tenten shrieked as she high-tailed it away from the sand beast.

“No, there is. It rained last night.” Neji said, following her.

“That’s not enough water for a jutsu of this magnitude!” She replied.

“Obviously, it is.” Shikamaru said from the relative safety of the tree line. He watched the jutsu with great interest.

A circle of spikes made of water formed around the beast. They heard the girl scream, her tiny body trembling as she poured out more power and chakra then she should’ve been able to contain.

“Shikamaru, how is this possible!? She’s only a child!!” Tenten screamed as the spikes leaped on the beast hungrily, tearing it apart.

“It looks like we’re dealing with a prodigy. One to rival not only Sasuke, but you, Neji.”

“No.” Neji said, watching the girl with his byakugan. “No. This isn’t me. This surpasses me when I was her age. No, this is greater than anything in our generation. This is on Kakashi’s level, maybe even more… Maybe even….”

“What, Neji?”

Neji watched the girl a moment longer. He shook his head and murmured “Nothing.”

“She did it!!” Tenten screamed as sand fell like rain to the ground around them.

“No. Not yet.” Neji hissed in her ear. He sounded angry.

Tenten stifled a shriek as a nearby mound of sand started to move. It flew quickly towards the largest mound of dirt.

“IT’S REFORMING?! That’s cheating!” Tenten screamed.

“Look.” Neji ordered. They all turned their attention to the little girl Neji was pointing at.

Niya was standing protectively in front of Sakura, her legs parted in a defensive stance. Her teeth were bared and her hands were rising to be clasped together. “So you think you’re tough?! I’ll show you!! Mummy protects me, so I’ll protect mummy this time!! WATER STYLE: MOTHER BEAST JUTSU!!”

Suddenly water droplets were forming in the air and collecting above her. Shock tore through the team as they watched the water form an enormous beast above Niya. It was something like an enormous bird.

“Only a shinobi can do that jutsu!”

“This child… she’s amazing.” Neji’s voice had dropped to a whisper. He didn’t even realize that his arm slid protectively around Tenten’s waist and pulled her back flush against him, her curves fitting in his.

Together, the 3 jounin watched the bird tear at the sand beast. It roared in pain, but stood no chance against the flying monster. In moments, the beast was reduced to a few motionless piles of sand.

For a moment all was motionless in the clearing. Then Tenten cried out. “Niya! Sakura!” she fought her way out of Neji’s grip and ran to the two. Niya had turned and stumbled to Sakura. Tenten was just close enough to hear her whisper as she stumbled forward, “I’m…” backward, “so…” and collapse “sorry.” Her body fell across Sakura’s.

“That kid is dangerous.” Neji hissed, his eyes narrowing as Tenten stepped towards Niya. She gently scooped Niya up in her arms and held her close. She sent him a look.

“Yeah, like you couldn’t do it at this age.”

“No, actually-”

“Shut up. This isn’t the time.” Shikamaru turned half around.

“Sasuke.“ he greeted “The girl?”

“Disappeared when Niya used the beast jutsu. I didn’t see where she went.” Sasuke said, kneeling. He slid his hands beneath Sakura’s body and stood, carrying her bridal-style. Shikamaru sighed.

“Well this is troublesome. We can’t go back to the town obviously. Looks like we’re running, guys.”

“Yippee.” Tenten grumbled. Neji had their backpacks hanging from one hand and put one on before passing another to Shikamaru. He took Niya and Tenten put on her own, Sasuke’s, and Sakura’s backpacks.

“Alright.” Shikamaru said from his place standing in a tree at the side of the clearing. “Let’s go. It’s not far. I want to get home.” The shinobi leapt from their places and in an instant were lost in the foliage.

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Ugh… Sakura stifled a groan as her head slapped against something hard. She felt wind blowing through her hair and took a deep breath of it.

“Hey. You awake?” Came a deep voice that rumbled from the body beneath her ear.

“Sasuke.” she whispered his name.

“Who else would be carrying your lazy ass?” He shifted her on his back. “Sakura, damn it, move your foot!”

“Hn?” Sakura blinked. “Oops! Sorry Sasuke!” Sakura quickly removed her foot from his inner thigh. She had accidentally wrapped her leg around his and her foot had ended up quite close to his crotch.

“Fine. Just play dead for a little while longer.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to get back to Konoha and I really don’t want to have to sit through an emotional reunion. Niya’s fine, you’re fine, so nothing else matters. Don’t. Don’t you dare ask me anything. Ask Tenten later or something.”

“Ok Sasuke.” She settled down onto his back, a small smile on her face. She wanted to know what had happened, but everyone was obviously fine and, anyway… Sasuke had said she mattered. She slipped back into sleep.

For the next 2 hours she slept dreamlessly on Sasuke’s back. His movements were surprisingly soothing, rocking her while at the same time staying solid beneath her.

When she finally woke, she was staring through green foliage and into waning light. She said his name and his automatic reply was “Hn? You awake?”

“Yeah. Who has Niya?” Sasuke moved his hand out from beneath Sakura and she was vaguely aware of him touching the microphone on his throat and repeating the question into it. Even with her sharp shinobi senses, she could barely hear the speaker in his ear- thanks to the improvements Shikamaru had made to the design almost 5 years ago.

“Looks like Tenten has her now, Neji’s got our backpacks. She’s still on Cloud 9 according to Tenten.” Sasuke said.

“But she’s okay?”

“She’s fine. Just tired. Sakura…” Sasuke drew in a deep breath that rose her up on his back and let it out so she could feel his heartbeat again. “We need to talk about that child.” Sakura stiffened.

“I’m bringing her to Konoha Sasuke. No matter what.” He snorted.

“Believe me, you won’t have a problem with that. I think Shikamaru’s in love with her. He’s talking about studying her and having Hinata take a look at her chakra lines.”

“Heh. She probably won’t like that. Niya’s shy. She’s only a baby.”

“She’s 7. At least.”

“Shaddap. She’s still a baby. My baby.” She was kidding, but she could tell by the way he tightened his grip on her and stayed silent that it had been the wrong thing to say. “Sasuke-kun, I can walk now.”

“Shaddap.” he replied, his voice steady and solid. “Just go back to sleep. I want to get back and we managed to knock off almost 5 hours of travel now that you guys are asleep. Looks like I’m faster with you on my back then you are unburdened.”

Sakura hit his shoulder. “You’re so mean!!” She shrieked when Sasuke opened his hands and only by tightening all 4 of her limbs on him did she manage to not fall to the ground that was a good 15 feet below them. With his hands, he dragged her back up and once again interlaced them beneath her. She leaned against him, gasping, for a long time. Finally, she managed “I’m going to kill you as soon as I get feeling back in my fingers.”

She could almost feel his smirk.