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Italics - thoughts

Bold italics - sounds

"Get on the bus everyone!" Asuma yelled to his students.

It was six in the morning, two hours before school started – a wonderful time to be at school. Today wasn't a regular day of school for the sophomores; it was the highly anticipated day of the trip to Suna. Too early to function properly, everyone wore sluggish faces. Even when standing in the rain with their yellow raincoats, they were too tired to move. One by one, they hoped onto their busses. Each class received a bus, making a line of four white vehicles.

Hinata placed her duffle bag onto the shelf above her seat. She chose the window seat, saving the one next to her for Sakura. As the class president, Sakura had to be the last student to get on. It was her task to take the attendance of her classmates as they boarded the bus.

Hinata took the rain coat off her body and tossed it beside her bag. She sat down and rested her head against the cold glass. Looking past the drips of rain trailing down her window, she saw her friend yawn while holding a clipboard. Her eyes trailed to the back of the line, which wasn't that far from Sakura. There stood a wet Naruto. His yellow hood was down and rain soaked his head. He was talking to someone but Hinata couldn't make out whom – everyone wore the same yellow coat and so, it was hard to distinguish who everyone was.

'You're going to catch a cold like that' she thought.

Once Naruto showed up for attendance, Hinata could see an annoyed tick mark on Sakura's head. Once again Sakura was lecturing him about his behavior. The pinkette whacked his head and ordered him to board the bus. Unconsciously Hinata compared herself to Sakura. I wish I could have a relationship with someone like that.

"Next time wear your hood. It's there for a reason." This time they were finally in the bus. Her loud voice echoed through the quiet bus. Many of the boys were asleep from being up too early.

"I know – I know, I just wanted to feel the rain. I needed something to wake me up." Naruto shot back. He took off his coat and backpack, throwing it at the top, not giving a care in the world of how it landed.

Sakura uncrossed her arms. "Fine. Don't come to me when you're sick." Her annoyed expression faded once she saw Hinata waiting. After putting her stuff away, Sakura sat in the seat next to her friend. "Sorry, was I loud?"

"Just a little."

"Want to listen to some music? The ride to the train station will be long with all the traffic at this time." Hinata agreed to Sakura's suggestion. Sakura stood up and began rummaging through her bag before the bus could start.

"Ugh, don't get your sweat on me."

Hinata's attention went to Sasuke and Naruto's conversation. Like always, they were the loud ones.

"It's water, dumbass." Naruto shook his blond hair a bit more just to annoy the hell out of Sasuke.

"Tch" Sasuke clicked his tongue. "I'll shave that head of yours if you don't quit it! Unlike you, the rest of us are trying to get some sleep."

"Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Naruto whispered. He slumped his head onto his hand and pouted.

Sakura poked Hinata's arm. "Here." She handed the entranced girl the left side of her earphone. "Or do you like hearing his voice more?" She teased.

She snapped out of her trance from Sakura's statement. "Huh?! W-what a-are you talking about, S-Sakura-chan?" Hinata shoved the earphone in her ear as quickly as she could.

Sakura chuckled.

A gust of wind came in as another person walked into the bus. "Ahahaha~ Sorry guys, late again. I got lost – huh?" Kakashi came in with his carefree voice. "No one's listening."

The tires began their cycle and it was finally time to depart Konoha Gakuen.

OoOoO

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Rain fell from the crying sky, into the open window of a room. The room was pitch black, made out of concrete and cold. A bed and toilet were the only objects in the room. The window was the only source that let in light. It was small, shaped as a semi-circle, and iron bars were put to make sure none of the prisoners escaped.

A boy sat on the far corner of the dark room. He cradled his legs in his arms and tucked his head in. Back and forth he rocked. His mood matched the weather outside. Quietly, the boy cried. He kept on muttering the same sentence over and over again. "It wasn't me."

Drip.

"Why am I here?"

Drip.

"It wasn't me."

Drip.

"I'M TELLING YOU I'M INNOCENT!" He screamed. The boy got up from his sitting position and headed straight to the door. He started bashing the steel door with his body, pounding it hard enough to send vibrates across the ground. There was no door knob; the door was sealed from the outside with a lock. The small window on the door was also sealed shut.

He cried some more and shouted until his throat became sore. Whoever was on the other side didn't care. Slumping on the floor, he gave up for the time being. The boy hit his head against the door and looked up at the plain concrete ceiling. One last tear dripped from his cornea as he whispered, "I am not the culprit."

OoOoO

"Shikamaru, move your head a bit."

The said boy yawned. "No, it's troublesome." He rested his head on his shoulder that was resting on the red leather armrest. At the moment, they were riding the train. The lazy teen was in the way of Ino's view. Class 2-A was a cart behind and Sai was sitting in the same spot Shikamaru's head was.

"Come'on, please!" She begged, fluttering her eyelashes along.

"Geez, why did you have to sit with us?" He complained. His eyebrow twitched as her pleads grew stronger. He had nowhere else to rest his head. The window seat was being occupied by his best friend, Chouji. Sitting straight up was not an option for the lazy Nara.

"Aw, don't say that! We've been friends for a long time now." The blonde said. "All you have to do is move your head."

Chouji looked at his friend. It didn't look like Shikamaru was going to listen to her request from his actions. His eyes were shut and earphones were inserted to try to block out the noise.

Crunch! "He's not going to move, Ino. Even if it is just a head, moving is a lot for him. Doing anything is –" Chouji couldn't finish because Ino knew what the word was.

"Troublesome, I know. " She finished his sentence. Chouji went back to eating his barbeque chips. "In that case," She stood from her seat. Her cold hands touched Shikamaru's cheeks, causing him to finally open his eyes. "I'll do it for him." Ino smiled with evil intentions. She turned his head with great force that there was a small sound of a crack that came from his neck. She then told Chouji to move to the seat across from them, the same one where she sat before. Once Chouji moved, she pushed Shikamaru to the other side and sat down.

Giggling, the teenage girl took out her phone and took a snap shot of Sai. "Another candid picture of him smiling for the album." She kissed the blurry picture on her phone and tucked it in her pocket.

Shikamaru rubbed his neck. "Well thanks for almost breaking my neck."

"And that's why people say 'Don't mess with a girl in love'."Chouji exclaimed, putting in another chip in his mouth.

There was a stack of papers in the seat next to Chouji. Pointing at it, Shikamaru asked what it was. Chouji answered, "Newspaper. Must have been left by the last passenger." The overweight boy had to take a second look at it because of what was written on the front page with huge block letters. He stopped eating his snack to pick up the paper. His brown eyes went back and forth as he read the article.

Ino was surprised that she stopped staring at her crush and instead her attention turned to Chouji. The boy never put down his food to read the stupid newspaper. "Wh-what is it?" She was scared from the way her friend furrowed his eyebrows. He, for once, was serious and actually concentrated on the article.

"Something is happening in Suna right now."

Shikamaru took out one of his ear buds. "What is?"

Chouji hesitated. It would worry everyone and end up making the trip less enjoyable.

Ino grew annoyed from his large pause. "Spit it out"

"Twenty-seven were found dead in less than two months. Their bodies were found in dark areas….like alleyways. What's strange is that they were all killed with no trace of blood but their bodies were disjointed in many ways that don't even seem possible. The mayor of Suna was also…murdered in his office. The murderer hasn't been found yet."

Startled, Shikamaru and Ino looked at their friend, not knowing what to say. Finally, Shikamaru broke their unnerving silence.

"A-are you serious? Pass it to me." Shikamaru grabbed it out of Chouji's oily hands.

"I-it could be a joke." She tried to laugh it off but her voice waned.

After reading it through, the Nara tossed it back to its original place. "This is the paper from two weeks ago. The killer could be caught by now." He said, trying to relieve their uneasiness.

The Akimichi, still worried, asked his wise friend a question. "But what if he's not caught, does that mean that we're not safe?"

He shook his head. "Most of our activities require sticking with the class or in a group. He or she wouldn't attack us."

Ino sighed in content. "Good." She uncrossed her legs, got up and grabbed the newspaper. "Just to be safe, I'm going to tell Asuma-sensei."

I'm sorry for this chapter not 'flowing' right. I was in a rush while typing this one (it was like 2 almost 3 AM while I was typing the first part) but i hope that you enjoyed it none-the-less. But finally a new arc starts YAY!

Anyways I hope you guys check out my new story "The Wanderer's Protection". I hate to admit it but I have lots of ideas writing that one and im finding it much more funner to write that story. Oh and please check out my tumblr for some pics of this story. It took me a while to put those on and I'd appreciate it if you took a look at it.

Until next time

~ Fred