Ayame frowned as she looked up at the ninja stuck in her team's trap. If they had just given up their scroll, they wouldn't be dangling there, half-dead. Ayame just sighed as she handed the scroll to Hinata, her teammate smiling at her shyly.

All four of them instantly jumped back into the trees, running towards their destination since they had both the scrolls now. Ayame pouted when she realized she wouldn't fight. She had been looking forward to it. However, now Ayame's eyes widened and quickly dismissed the thoughts from her head. She was trying to change but her thoughts of constantly fighting and killing always found someway into her small head.

Ayame shook her head, dismissing the thoughts entirely. She groaned when she saw Kiba stop, a sheepish expression on his face.

"Sorry, a man's gotta do what he's gotta do." He went off into the trees, doing his stuff and came back, a smile on his face, eager filling his eyes.

"Ne, guys, what if we took more people's scrolls?!"

Ayame frowned at him, tilting her head as her hair fell in red curtains behind her back. "Why? We have both of ours so there's no point."

"It'll eliminate less competition, baka!"

Ayame huffed, crossing her arms across her chest and turning away from him. She was going to deny but Kiba was already leading Hinata and Shino away to where he saw two teams starting to fight. Ayame sighed but followed her teammates, her thoughts going elsewhere.

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Ayame caught up with her teammates about five minutes later, getting pulled down into a crouching position next to Kiba. She frowned even more when she saw Akamaru cuddled into Kiba's arms, shaking horribly.

Ayame looked up just in time to see boy kill three ninja by encasing them in sand and crushing them to death. Her eyes widened and she fell backwards, shaking her head. She got a strange feeling from the boy and she couldn't put her finger on it. She knew that he would kill her team if they tried confronting them.

Ayame started to back up when one of the boys looked over where her team sat. Ayame swore that she stopped breathing when he started walking over to where they sat, his eyes holding a certain look that Ayame knew all too well.

Ayame closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of the boy's footsteps getting closer and closer.

"Gaara! We've got our scrolls now, come on!"

Ayame opened one of her eyes, peeking out as she watched the boy walk back over to his teammates without sparing them a second glance. None of Ayame's teammates nor herself breathed until they were sure that he was gone.

"His aura. . .it was terrifying." Ayame muttered, holding her hands close to her heart.

Akamaru whimpered in agreement and even though no one else said anything, Ayame could tell that they agreed with her. Ayame forced a smile onto her face, deciding to try and make her teammates happy even if she wasn't herself.

She took Akamaru from Kiba's arms and snuggled him closely to her chest, smiling at the dog.

"W-what are you doing?!" Kira asked, well, more like shouted.

Ayame just glared at the boy before she just went back to stroking the dog, trying to get him to calm down. She started holding Akamaru with one hand while she reached into her weapon pouch and brought out a small dog treat that she had form awhile ago.

She grinned even wider and feed it to Akamaru, the dog happily accepting the treat.

"We should get moving."

Ayame jumped, having been in deep thought when Shino's voice broke that thought. She frowned but nodded, handing the slightly calmer Akamaru to Kiba. He just nodded at Ayame, thanking her in a silent kind of way.

The redhead just rolled her eyes, taking Hinata's hand and leaping into the trees, her two male teammates following closely behind.

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Ayame held her hand to her face as she tried to stop herself from yawning but failed. She could see the tower in the distance so she knew that her teammates wouldn't want to stop. She also didn't want to risk the thought of them getting hurt because she wanted to stop and rest.

Ayame failed however when Shino noticed and signaled for them to stop, "Hinata, please look around the surrounding area to see if there is anyone."

The Hyuga just nodded, her Byakugan activating. Ayame watched, fascinated by the fact that Hinata's veins literally stuck out of her face. She had never seen the Byakugan used before and now that she had, she was thrilled by the fact.

"T-there doesn't s-seem to be a-anyone." Hinata stuttered out, her face turning slightly tired from the small act of talking.

Shino just nodded, "We'll rest here for the night. I will keep first watch."

No one disagreed and instantly they found a spot that would conceal them. Ayame brought out her small sleeping bag from her backpack, setting on the opposite side of Hinata.

The girl just smiled shyly at Ayame, setting out her own bag, making it as neat as possible. Ayame glanced back and forth between her's and Hinata's bags, noticing that her bag was just a big jumbled mess while Hinata's bag was neat and straight.

She pouted but laid inside her sleeping bag anyways. She yawned once again as she listened to the sounds of nature all around her and fell asleep shortly after.

Hinata watched her teammate with interest, wondering why her bag was so messy and jumbled. The young girl just dismissed and she sat on her bed quietly, looking over at Kiba who was already passed out. She sat there quietly for a few more minutes before she finally laid down.

Hinata, however, did not go to sleep. She was too afraid to fall asleep in a terrible forest like this. When Hinata heard someone approaching their hiding spot, she sat up, rubbing her eyes. She had expected it to be Shino, seeing as they were to take turns during the night but was surprised to see someone else standing there.

Hinata paled as she came face to face with the man who called himself Kabuto.

Kabuto jumped, startled to see the Hyuga awake. It was simple to take out the Aburame, and he had it planned that he would attack Ayame while the others were still sleeping.

Kabuto decided to play it cool, scratching his head nervously while giving off a quiet laugh. "I don't mean to startle you, but I found your other teammate, I'm assuming, passed out over there. As a fellow leaf shinobi, wouldn't want to see you all killed for careless actions."

Hinata slowly lowered the hand she had been using to reach for a kunai, noticing that Kabuto was watching her every move. She just nodded quietly, standing up. She waited for Kabuto to leave from the entryway before she followed him out.

"T-thank you."

The silver-haired ninja just nodded, putting his fingers up in a mock salute before jumping off.

Hinata shook her head, ridding the feeling that he was a bad person from her mind before she ran over to where Shino had been knocked out.