Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto oturaN nwo t'nod I :remialcsiD

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#11: Memory

Word Count191

During Naruto's 2 ½ year absence, Hinata thrived on the memories he had left behind. She loved sitting in his favorite ramen house for hours, just thinking about him and very rarely ordering something, much to the annoyance of the owner. She started to adore the color orange because it reminded her of him.

But after a while she started to forget things, like the way his eyes sparkled when he was determined and the way he smelled. She started to struggle to picture him in her mind, calling on various elements to try to recreate a memory of him, but never succeeding.

And one night she woke screaming. She had dreamed he had returned. She had seen him from behind and rushed to say hello, but when he had turned he hadn't had a face, like it had melted off in the sun. After that dream, she sat up in bed for a while, calling on every memory she had to try to remember his smile and his eyes and his nose until she recreated his face in her mind's eye and fixed that memory there until he returned home.

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#12: Insanity

Word Count166

Whenever Anko went on a mission, Iruka always worried, because that was what Iruka did. He worried she would be hurt or captured or killed. And everytime she went away that worrying threatened to drive him insane.

Anko stopped by the Academy whenever she was leaving to say good-bye. It was always awkward for Iruka, because he knew that could be their last good-bye, but Anko was always just as upbeat as usual.

Those days when Anko was away on a mission were the only times when he thought he must've been insane to take the instructor job. He wanted to be out there with her, not showing 9-year-olds home to do a transformation jutsu.

And when she came back after each successful mission, Anko always laughed when he told her how worried he'd been. She always said, "You're insane, Iruka." And then she would hug him, tightly.

And Iruka knew that one time when she didn't come back, that he was going to go insane.

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#13: Misfortune

Word Count313

Ino was young when she saw her mother stop bustling around the kitchen and stare at the newspaper that lay spread out on the counter. "Inochi!" She had heard her mother cry out and seen her father come rushing into the kitchen. "Inochi, the Uchihas... They were all killed in the night.

And Ino felt her heart stop. "What?" She had asked her mother, her mind racing. This misfortune could not have fallen on Sasuke! I couldn't have! But her mother nodded sadly, and showed her the headline. Ino felt tears come to her eyes.

"B-But Sasuke!" Ino had exclaimed, and raced down the hall and out of the house.

"Ino!" Her mother and father had screamed at her back, but Ino kept running and running and running until she reached the Uchihas' former home. Staring up at it, she thought wildly, Bad things like this don't happen to good people. The paper must've lied! But the graves were lined up on the front lawn.

Ino felt about ready to cry, but she heard a sniffle from behind a shrub. Peering behind the flora, Ino almost cried out. Sasuke! She'd known he would be okay! He must've destroyed the killer!

But Sasuke Uchiha was crying.

Ino wanted to comfort him, but there was nothing she could do. She watched, terrified, as he let out a string of wordless shrieks, slashing at the bushes for ten or fifteen minutes, before standing in place, his breath heaving.

"I'll kill you!" He yelled at the sky. "I'll kill you good and dead! I-!" He stopped here and sank to the ground, sobs racking his breathing. Hugging his legs in front of him, his whispered the next words. Ino had to lean forward to hear him. "I am an avenger."

And she knew that the misfortune that had fallen on the Uchiha clan had changed Sasuke forever.

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#14: Smile

Word Count: 450

Tenten easily sidestepped a kunai thrown by one of the three missing-nin she, Neji, and Lee were hunting. Neji, to her left, cut off one missing-nin's charka flow while Rock Lee, to her right, expertly kicked another in the chest. Dodging another kunai, Tenten looked between her two teammates. Lee, whose opponent was on the ground clutching his stomach, kneed the bandit in the side of the head. As he fell, the man reached up and shoved a kunai with all his strength into Lee's chest. With an odd gasp, Lee crumpled to the ground.

"Lee!" Tenten shrieked. Ohmygod. That can't be in the heart, it can't be. But it looked awfully close to Tenten, who thrust three shurikun at her enemy and pulled at the charka-strings, willing her weapons to their target. The man went down with the shurikun buried in his side.

"Tenten! Check Lee!" Neji barked, hitting the man before him in the stomach. Tenten nodded mutely and leaped over the corpse over her opponent to her teammate.

"Lee!" She whispered urgently. "You okay?"

No answer.

"Lee!" She tried again, louder this time, shaking him by the shoulders. That kunai looked very close to the heart, and there were four other kunai buried in his flesh, and he was quite bloody... "LEE!"

Still no answer.

She was getting nervous. She glanced over at Neji, who was still locked in combat with the final missing-nin. "Lee, wake up!" She hissed anxiously, shaking him again. "C'mon, Lee, don't freak me out like this!"

He still was silent, his face impassive.

"Lee! C'mon, you can't go like this! You'll never get to go out with Sakura! You'll never get to be better than Neji!" Tenten shook him wildly. She didn't notice Neji had finished his battle and now kneeled on Lee's other side. "And Gai-sensei! What about Gai-sensei? Can you leave him like this? And Neji, and me! C'mon, Lee, you can't leave us!" She didn't realize she was yelling. "A-and-!"
"Tenten... You are crying..." Lee sat up and reached up a wavering, dirty, bloody hand to wipe a couple of tears off his teammate's cheek, but only managed to get her face dirty. Tenten looked shocked for a moment- she hadn't realized she'd been crying, either.

"Don't ever scare us like that again!" Tenten yelled, roughly helping Lee to his feet. Lee smiled.

"I will try not to, Tenten, Neji," He said looking between his teammates. Tenten smiled shakily. She didn't understand why it felt like she was the one who had taken a kunai awfully close to the heart and why his smile made her shake like his wavering hand as he whipped a tear from her face.

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#15: Silence

Word Count: 167

Neji was quiet. That's just who Neji was. He was the master of silent impassiveness, of cold, empty gazes and wordless stares. Some people thought his hollow, nothing but a body, no soul or heart.

Tenten learned to speak his silence. After years together, she began to read the words he left in his silences, and the way he tilted his head when he was confused or looked down when he was sad. The two could just stand there, looking at each other, and have a complete conversation in the quiet emptiness. They filled the air with wordless tête-à-têtes and unspoken dialogues.

"It's creepy," Some said in hushed voices when they saw the two ninjas sitting in silence and Tenten suddenly burst out laughing.

"It's weird," Others mused when they saw Neji and Tenten standing quietly and staring at each other.

"It's love," Still others insisted when their gazes found Tenten and Neji, silent and wordless with silly grins plastered on their faces. And they were right.

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#16: Questioning

Word Count226

"Hey, Shikamaru? Can I ask you a question?" Ino perched on a low tree branch next to her teammate, who lay in the grass looking up. The dark haired man or boy (They were that awkward age between teen and adult) looked up at her and nodded to show he was listening. "Why are you so lazy?" The blonde girl or woman asked, looking down at him.

"I'm not," He said, yawning. "Why are you so bossy?"

"I'm not," The girl-woman answered curtly. "What makes you think you're not?"

"I'm always working," The man-boy replied slowly. "What makes you think you're not bossy?"

"You're the one who tells us what to do," Ino told him, tilting her head to get a better look at him. "What sort of work do you do?"

"Up here," Shikamaru tapped his head. "Why do you think I tell you guys what to do?'

"'Cause you're smart," The blonde responded, frowning. "That the work you do?"

"Yup," Shikamaru sat up. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yup. What is it?"

"Why," He stood and then sat next to her, "Are you so bothersome?"

He didn't wait for an answer. He just kissed her.

"What are you doing?" Choji asked, appearing at the wrong time to meet his teammates. Ino and Shikamaru broke apart, blushing.

"Why are you so nosy?" Ino questioned.

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#17: Blood

Word Count: 398

"Hinata?" Kiba knocked on the door of the Hyuuga household. "Hinata?"

He received no answer. Frowning, he looked around the huge house. Hinata always came when he called. Maybe she was training out back? Knocking again for good measure, he stepped around the side of the mansion. "Hinata?" He called. "We're supposed to meet Shino and Sensei! Hurry up! Hina-!"

He was cut off by a shriek, followed by the sound of something breaking. "Hinata?" He yelled, and began running, Akamaru at his side, sniffing the air. A stench filled their keen noses. Blood. "HINATA?" Kiba cried again, turning around to the back of the house. And there, lying next to the mansion's back wall, was Hinata. Kiba ran over to her. "Hinata?"

Hinata moaned and sat up. Her cheek was cut and dripping blood, and her legs were scratched up, and she stabbed her hand with the broken glass that lay around her. Her right leg lay at an odd angle, and she was bleeding pretty badly. But she still had enough blood to fill up her face.

"K-Kiba! W-What-?" She stuttered, wincing as she carefully maneuvered the shard of glass form her hand. But Kiba was looking up, to the wide, broken third story window.

"Did you fall out of that?" He asked, amazed. Hinata looked up and nodded.

"Y-Yeah. See, I was... cleaning, yeah, cleaning, a-and I s-slipped," She explained, flushed. Kiba helped her up; Akamaru licked her cuts. "I-I can't walk..."

"I can help that," Kiba said cheerfully. Putting her arm over his shoulder, he helped her walk. They were quiet for a minute, until Kiba spoke again. "I know you're lying. I saw Hanabi in the window. She pushed you out the window? That is one demon sister."

Hinata let out a little shriek and stepped away from Kiba, only to crumple to the ground due to her bad leg. Kiba crouched next to her. "Kiba! P-Please don't tell anyone! I-I don't want them to know!" She exclaimed, trying to stand.

"But, Hinata, she could be stopped. You wouldn't be hurt anymore!" Kiba cried out, making to help her up.

"Promise me you won't tell!" Kiba had never seen her so passionate about anything. "Promise me!"

"Hina-!"

"Please!"

Kiba frowned. "Okay," He relented, and helped her up. He didn't bring up that day again, but he never forgave Hanabi for Hinata's spilt blood.

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#18: Rainbow

Word Count 167

Lee was green. After all, he was the Handsome Green Devil of the Hidden Leaf Village. But Sakura, Sakura was every color of the rainbow.

Red. Lee saw red in her passion, her dedication to her village and her team and her friends and her family.

Orange. Orange was the fire in her eyes that burned within her when she fought for those she loved.

Yellow. Yellow was what Lee saw in her smile, yellow like the sun, lighting up his world.

Green. Green was seen in her eyes, her cool and unruffled green eyes like the forest before man has defiled it in the early morn.

Blue. Lee saw blue in her flowing, fluid movements, like a river running down a mountain, working so hard but seeming not to work at all.

Purple. He saw purple in her words, unflattering, but loving at the same time, cold and warm.

Sakura was every color known to man in Lee's eyes. And Lee loved every color in her.

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#19: Gray

Word Count 287

Kurenai's hair started to go gray when she was 38. She supposed it was because of the stress of the ninja's way of life, the fear in her heart everyday for her former teammates, her former students, her village, her love, herself. At 39, Kurenai was already dyeing her hair to keep the gray from showing.

Asuma laughed. "Kurenai, it looks so fake!" He had exclaimed after her first dye-job from behind a cloud of gray smoke for a cigarette. Kurenai had blushed and stroked her newly darker hair.

"But I'm going gray!" She had explained. Asuma had raised his eyebrows.

"So?" He'd asked, stroking her hair. "I like your grays."

Kurenai frowned. "I don't. They make me feel old."

"You are old," Asuma laughed and threw his arm over her shoulder. Kurenai smiled sheepishly.

At 40, Kurenai had stopped dyeing her hair black. She went for blonde.

"Kurenai!" Asuma had yelled. "What the heck?"

"It's blonde. Like it?" She'd asked.

"Nope," He'd said honestly.

At 41, she'd tried brunette, with the same results.

At 42, she'd tried red, to no avail.

At 43, she'd become a brunette again, with no different answer.

At 44, she'd dyed her hair purple, causing Asuma to retch in the nearest trash receptacle.

At 45, Kurenai went for dark hair again. Asuma did not complain as much.

At 46, she'd cut it so short her grays were unnoticeable, but her skin was too pale to keep that.

At 47, she'd gone back to blonde. "What's wrong with your regular hair?" Asuma had asked, staring at her incredibly fake locks.

"Its gray!" She'd exclaimed.

"And what's wrong with gray?" Asuma had demanded. She didn't know.

At 48, Kurenai dyed her hair gray.

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#20: Fortitude

Word Count243

At first, Sasuke had thought Sakura weak in body and sprit. She looked all too ready to quit, to surrender, to throw in the towel, at any sign of trouble. She looked like she'd crumple to the ground if you touched her too hard. She had no grit, no staying power. He doubted her courage.

But in the time they were teammates, she proved him wrong on every count. Sakura proved to have even more guts then he and Naruto combined. She fought fights that were already lost and stood and smiled when she should've been sobbing on the ground, withering in pain. Her courage shone like seven suns.

He never once heard Sakura say they should quit, even when he himself had strongly suggested it.

He never once saw her run from a fight.

He never once saw her pull up the white flag.

All she needed was a little help.

And she could be great.

The best.

Amazing.

It scared him- a little bit- that he had been so wrong about her strength. But it amazed him, everytime. Everytime he saw the Flower of the Hidden Leaf Village (as they started calling her) fight, he felt something in him jump with her every move, her every non-stopping move, her every not-quitting grin, her every courageous leap, and smiled.

She had gotten a little help.

And she was great.

The best.

Amazing.

Except, really, she hadn't really needed any help at all.

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A/N: Please review, dearhearts!