She ran as fast as her feet could move. There wasn't any way that she could make it out of this without fighting back. Hana didn't want to go back, not after what she realized they were doing - including her. As she craned her neck to see how close he was, she fished a weapon from her pouch.

They were a good ways behind her, but she knew better than to think she was besting them. Any second, they could be right in front of her - nose to nose.

Kunai in hand, Hana dodged the shuriken. Unexpectedly, one of Deidara's creepy clay creatures had planted itself atop her shoulder.

"Kya!" Hana grabbed her now injured shoulder. With annoyance edged into her emotions, she turned around with force. That damn Tobi guy was dangling from a tree branch by his foot.

"Oi, Senpai! Nice shot, but it sorta left me hanging," Tobi giggled uncontrollably.

Hana had actually come to like Tobi, what with his friendly personality and even his immature jokes. For instance, when Deidara attempted to suffocate Tobi with his legs and feet. The guy was just too stupid it was funny. Unfortunately he wasn't attempting to be at all. She thought to old times where she would have laughed at him then. Now she wanted to beat him beyond a bloody pulp.

"Baka! Get down from there and pay attention," Deidra complained high from his clay-born bird.

Tobi did a quick flip and landed on the ground ten yards from Hana. "Hora! Onee-chan!" he called out to her, hand waving in the air.

Hana reluctantly thought to herself, If this had been any other time Tobi…

"Oi! Knock it off Tobi; no playing with the enemy!" Deidara sneered at his so-called partner.

Jumping then rolling to the right, she gasped as her shoulder bumped against the thin grass. She wondered if she was doing the wrong thing by leaving then wanted to smack herself in the forehead. Of course she was doing the right thing. Staying with them was not what she should do. Even if it would've stopped the shearing pain that shot from her shoulder to finger tips.

"It wouldn't kill Tobi to pull something stupid that could benefit me," Hana mumbled.

Unless Deidra accidentally hits him with a clay bomb, she thought regretfully. She wouldn't wish for him to die or be injured just to benefit herself. Tobi was just too close to her heart - he was a good friend.

"You could've avoided this Hana-san! Now I've got to use my art to take care of you," Deidra hopped down from the white clay bird. "At least you can enjoy a beautiful show before I kill you."

"And torture more people?!" she yelled in question. He stopped in his tracks. She shook her head, "That was horrible what you all did to hi -"

"You mean what we did. You were in on this just as well, Hana-san," he interrupted with a correction. "You did it to him."

"I - I didn't know that's what Pain wanted! You guys said that we were doing this to succeed in our goal. All we did was kill him! It's been too long since then; why are you still after me?!"

"Eh, one less chump for that village. You yourself said that was the best art show you had seen, when I captured that Bijuu."

"That show was the bomb, Senpai!" Tobi slapped his hand against his leg laughing at his own joke.

Hana took the time the two bickered to throw a series of kunai tagged with explosions. With his infamous clay, she hoped it would create some sort of damage. She noticed that Tobi had escaped before Deidara even glanced at her. How in the world could Tobi have noticed that but not Deidara?

Tobi had suddenly appeared behind her new hiding spot. Loudly he asked, "Are we playing hide-and-seek, Onee-chan? Oi, I'm on Onee-chan's team, Senpai!"

"Teme!" Her punch sent him flying after her obscene outburst.

Deidara attacked her with loads of spidery clay. He jumped from tree branch to tree branch until he began running to random rocks at her catching up. She ran, jumped and kicked her leg out, her foot landing in his left cheek. He retaliated with a punch to her injured shoulder.

For once, she was actually getting hand-to-hand combat with him. She was somewhat proud to think she was the first to do so with him. Considering Deidara left this type of fighting to his clay and demonic-like hand. Her chakra level was running low and her body wasn't in any better condition, surprisingly. This was the last thing she expected to resort to while fighting this pair of morons.

Her appearance changed as she used her secret attack. None of the other members had seen this before, thinking it was a rumor from her village she was now a rogue of. But now Deidara was witnessing it; she copied his moves then swung at him with her kunai, slicing an arm off.

"Need a hand, Senpai?" Tobi cackled.

Another score for that moron, she mentally added.

"This is the end of this pointless fight, Hana-san! You shouldn't have betrayed us! Witness the beauty of my art!" Deidara lashed out.

Before Hana knew it, she was encased in some sort of clay sphere. Thinking it could be the last minute to save herself at all, she threw a protective fire wall around herself. After a head-splitting BOOM, everything went black.

Nara Shikamaru made his way down the path with Hatake Kakashi by his side.

The Hokage of Konoha, Tsunade, had assigned them a mission to escort a middle-aged man and his niece to an allied village. When asked the point of the mission, Tsunade simply stated it was better than watching clouds all day - his original plan for the day. Kakashi had no other training for his team or missions, thus his being forced along.

Turning the page of the new volume in his beloved Ich-Icha series, Kakashi was taken aback by a sudden boom that sent a vibration from the ground to his feet. Shikamaru followed the anxious sensei to the source of the explosion. There they were welcomed by dust, flying rocks, and chunks of clay. Whatever was the target, it sure wasn't standing any longer. As the dust started to clear, Shikamaru saw the two black cloaks holding a red cloud pattern.

Letting his senses heighten allowed him to check for any chakra or other hint that gave someone away. With no luck, Kakashi removed the mask from his left eye and let his Sharingan have a look on its own. Low, but there's definitely something here, he thought.

"Er…Kakashi-san? I think we have a slight problem."

"What is it, Shikamaru?" He reached the teen. Left eye covered again, Kakashi bent down to the battered body. "Pity; she's awfully pretty."

Hana wanted to laugh at the compliment she was given by the oblivious male. She attempted to open her eyes except even her eyelids felt like weights. She allowed whoever was carrying her to do so. Though they assumed she was unconscious, she quietly listened to their conversation.

"How troublesome. We were suppose to escort a girl to a village, not bring one back," one complained from the left.

"Did you want me to leave her back there," a second voice asked.

It was safe to assume that the same to compliment her was also the one carrying her. Complaining she was troublesome over and over again began to annoy her. She didn't necessarily care much where they were taking her. As long as it was no where near Ame. One of her saviors separated from them, telling her they must have been at their destination.

As they laid her on the stretcher, her shoulder burning with pain from the contact, a new voice said. Voices filled her ears at the same time and she felt like her head would explode. Bad use of simile, she thought to herself.

"Hinata, where is Sakura," the familiar voice of the one who had carried her earlier asked.

"She's o-out Sensei, but I-I can d-do the b-best I c-can," a soft voice filled her ears and she decided to pay more attention to that one. The change in audio was greatly appreciated.

Soon her body felt warm and she tensed unaware of what was happening. But when her body was no longer hurting except her shoulder, she relaxed. Her shoulder began hurting worse before it became better.

"Kya!," Hana let herself speak for the first time since she thanked the white haired ninja.

She sat up quickly only to have someone hold her back down. The soft voice [of Hinata] stammered an apology.