Edited 22/04/2019

The music linked is just what I was listening to as I wrote the last part of this chapter, if you're interested. Music without lyrics can sometimes help me write.

Ashley's POV

I look up at the white material of Choji's long scarf streaming out behind him as he bounds through the trees above me, Sasuke and Asuma not too far ahead of him. We've been running for a couple of hours now, with only a short break, and I'm beginning to feel a little tired. Not that I'm about to stop or anything!

Unlike the others, I'm running across the ground rather than jumping through the trees. I'm supposed to be the Sensory Ninja in this team, despite not actually being one, and to be able to sense vibrations in the ground, I can't exactly jump through trees.

Asuma was hesitant at first, but I had eventually managed to convince him to let me down on the ground. I know he's keeping an eye on me though, I keep seeing him turn his head every now and then. Sasuke's Sharingan is activated as well, so he's probably keeping tabs on me too.

A sudden soft thud in the ground makes me skid to a halt, blinking in surprise, before I drop down into a crouch and press my palms into the dirt, trying to get a better feel for what's happening.

That was odd.

My sensing range is not very far, maybe a kilometre at most, and the thud had come from just within my range, so it was extremely faint. I stare at the ground and scowl, trying to focus as much as I can.

"Ashley?" a voice calls from above, only for me to look back up and see that Choji, Sasuke and Asuma are perched on a branch above my head.

"What's wrong?" the Jonin asks, as I rise to my feet, now looking ahead.

"I'm not sure" I say slowly, an uncomfortable feeling settling over me. "I....I barely felt it but.....Something happened up ahead."

"You sure we're not just catching up to Kurenai's Cell?" Asuma questions. "Maybe it's them that you're sensing."

"No....." I disagree, feeling a serious of small thuds up ahead. "I know the difference between people running and.....and whatever that was. We need to get closer, then maybe I'll be able to figure it out."

"Alright" Asuma says with a nod. "Let's pick up the pace then."

He takes off again, with Sasuke lingering for a second, staring at me with a serious expression. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was worried.

As Sasuke and Choji jump after Asuma, I break into a run, everyone moving faster now that there's the possibility of a problem up ahead. Choji has his mouth set in a hard line, probably wondering if Shikamaru and Ino are okay.

As we move further and further along, my eyes widen slightly, the vibrations in the ground growing stronger and stronger with every second. I feel things falling to the earth, things being dragged across the ground and shaking it violently, people running in all directions....

"Asuma!" I call out urgently, causing the whole Cell to look down at me. "There's definitely a fight going on up ahead! I can't tell who's an enemy and who isn't, but there are a lot of people!"

Asuma's brow creases at my announcement, his teeth gritting together. I don't think he had actually been expecting to engage in any fighting.

"Right" he says. "Let's hurry up and get to the Snare Cell so we can do what our team was made for!"

Third Person's POV

Shikamaru crouches down with his hands placed together, glaring at the Ninja frozen in place ahead of him. The Ninja tries to struggle against the shadow now attached to his own, though he is unable to break free.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu complete" Shikamaru smirks, glancing up at Ino's back. "Go Ino!"

"Right!" the blonde shouts, putting her arms out in front of her and placing her fingers together in a sign. "Mind Transfer Jutsu."

As Ino's mind is sent into the enemy's body, her own body crumples and falls to the ground. Shikamaru quickly releases his Jutsu and catches Ino's body, as the Ninja in front of him suddenly grins.

"Too easy" he chuckles, quickly spinning on his heel and pulling out a kunai.

Before Shikamaru can move to hide Ino's body from view, her Jutsu having been successful, he is suddenly kicked in the stomach.

The Nara is sent sprawling across the ground on his back, leaving Ino's limp body lying out in the open. His eyes widen slightly, when a kunai is pressed against his throat, a muscular man now looming over him.

"You Leaf Ninja are becoming pesky" the man growls, a mask covering the lower half of his face. "You should have just let us take your stuff."

"Uzumaki Barrage!" multiple voices shout, before Naruto and three clones nail the enemy Ninja right in the back with powerful kicks.

He flies straight over Shikamaru's head and collides head first into a tree, as the real Naruto helps the Nara to his feet.

"Pshh" one of the clones scoffs. "As if we're just gonna let a bunch of rogue Ninja rob us."

"They're pretty strong" Shikamaru admits, rubbing the back of his neck. "I knew this mission was gonna be a huge drag."

"Fang Over Fang!" Kiba shouts, as he and Akamaru leap into the air and drill straight through a crowd of water clones, causing them to melt to the ground harmlessly.

"Heh" the Inuzuka smirks, he and his Ninken landing back on the ground, only for his face to fall. "What is with this chick?...."

The female rogue sneers at Kiba, creating more water clones. They immediately surround Kiba and Akamaru, pulling out kunai knives. The Inuzuka narrows his eyes and turns his head, looking at the clones intently.

He'd already taken out a good twenty or so, but this woman just kept creating more! He was going to run out of chakra if she kept this up.

Just as the woman and her clones all leap for Kiba, he and Akamaru are suddenly surrounded by a swirling dome of beetles. As the clones come into contact with the protective swam, the insects immediately break out of their formation and surround each individual clone.

Within mere seconds, the clones are crushed, causing them to splash to the ground just as all of the others had. The beetles, buzzing loudly, fly back over to Shino and hover around him, ready to attack again if necessary.

"Heh" Kiba smirks once again, looking from his teammate and back to the rogue Ninja, "Thanks Shino. Me and Akamaru are gonna finish this thou-"

Kiba cuts himself off at the sound of a cry of pain nearby, only to see that Hinata has been hit in the arm with a senbon needle. Another needle lodges itself in her shoulder, before the Hyuga regains her composure. Byakugan activated, Hinata takes up her previous battle stance and deflects the senbon being thrown at her in rapid succession with her palms. Using a similar movement pattern to that of Neji's Eight Trigrams, Hinata manages to block every single senbon needle.

Kurenai, wanting to help her student, spots the needle thrower in the trees and leaps up into the canopy to try and disable him.

"Kiba!" Shino calls out, causing the Inuzuka to turn back to his opponent.

His eyes widen, before he, Akamaru and Shino are all hammered with a powerful wave of water that sends them tumbling backwards. Kiba is smashed into a tree, as Shino is thrown up into the trees, with Akamaru somehow managing to catch onto a low hanging branch and save himself.

Sakura runs to help Ino fight against a fourth rogue Ninja, having seen the girl struggling against his Taijutsu.

"Ino!' the pink haired girl calls out "Duck!"

Without so much as a question, Ino drops down into a crouch, only for a kunai to fly over her head. Just as it is about to pierce through the rogue's chest, he jumps up into the trees. The knife lodges itself into a tree trunk right below him, to which the rogue laughs.

"Not even close" he mocks, only for Sakura to grin up at the man knowingly.

"Oh really?" she asks in a mysterious tone, one eyebrow raised.

The rogue glances down, only for his eyes to widen when he notices an explosive tag wrapped around the handle of the kunai. It immediately explodes with a resounding bang, sending splintered wood flying in all directions.

Ino and Sakura throw their arms up as some billows overhead, only for the rogue that had originally tried to attack Shikamaru to appear. He charges at the two girls and violently kicks them both in the back, causing them to crash into the same tree that had just partially exploded.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cries out, immediately running over to help.

Kiba groans as he slowly tries to climb to his feet, leaning against the tree he'd crashed into for support. One hand to his head, he glances up, seeing Shino up above him, also trying to stand.

"Arf!" Akamaru barks urgently, sprinting as fast as he can towards Kiba, the female rogue Ninja hot on his heels.

"Akamaru!" Kiba calls out, pushing away from the tree and running to meet his Ninken. His eyes widen when he sees the woman perform some hand signs.

"Water Style: Liquid Bullets!" she cries, before shooting a dense call of chakra infused water at Akamaru.

He yelps in pain as he explodes against his back, driving him into the hard earth. The woman then raises her head and, jumping over Akamaru, continues to run and shoots more bullets at Kiba and Shino.

Kakashi, seeing the commotion, runs over and performs some swift hand signs. Kiba narrowly manages to avoid getting hit in the face with one of the liquid bullets, though it splinters the tree right next to him.

Kakashi suddenly skids to a halt in front of the Inuzuka and slams his palms down onto the ground.

"Earth Style" he shouts, "Mud Wall!"

Instantly, a huge wall of earth rises up out of the ground in front of the Jonin. The wall rumbles as more liquid bullets pelt it, small lumps of dirt crumbling away. Not wasting a second, Kakashi performs another hand sign and then reaches down to grip his palm, lightning forming in his palm.

He leaps over the wall and charges the female rogue, only for a huge Wolf made of electricity to come racing out from the trees. It collides with the rogue Ninja's back and electrifies her, the pain causing her to scream and writhe.

After a few seconds, she slithers to the ground in a heap, the lightning fading from Kakashi's hand as he looks up.

"Human Boulder!" someone shouts, only for Choji to suddenly come bursting out of the trees.

He slams straight into the Ninja that had kicked Ino and Sakura, knocking the man out of battle with Naruto and sending him straight through the trunk of a tree. The top of the tree collapses to the ground, shaking it, as Choji comes to a stop next to Naruto.

"Heh, good shot" Naruto chuckles, beads of sweat dripping down the side of his face.

Sasuke suddenly appears, leaping out of the trees and high into the air as he pulls something out of his weapons pouch. Just as the man that had held a knife to Shikamaru's throat performs a hand sign, his eyes focused on a still fighting Hinata, Sasuke sends a kunai knife sailing down at him.

The man easily sidesteps the knife, as well as dodging a second one. The two knives hit the ground uselessly, sticking straight up.

"Your aim is off" the man sniggers, only for Sasuke to smirk.

Landing in a crouch on a branch, the Uchiha tugs on an almost invisible wire, pulling the two kunai back up out of the ground. The rogue Ninja quickly finds himself entangled in the wires and falls over, landing on his stomach. Before he can try to squirm away, Sasuke jumps down from his tree and jams his knee into the man's back. The man grunts in pain, drops of blood expelling from his mouth and dripping down his chin.

"Alright Ino" Asuma suggests, picking up the Ninja that she had transferred her mind into by the back of the neck, "Time to get back into your own body."

"You got it Sensei!" the rogue responds joyfully, before closing its eyes and suddenly falling limp.

Shikamaru, no cradling Ino's head in his lap, looks down, as the blonde girl reopens her teal eyes and slowly sits up. She blinks a few times, before grinning over at her Sensei and giving him a thumbs up.

Ashley sits perched on a tree branch, observing the situation through hooded eyes. She spots a woman lying on the ground, her clothes looking a little charred. Disappointed that she'd only gotten to hit one enemy, the girl flips down from the tree, only to notice a small crater by her feet.

"Akamaru!" Ashley cries with alarm, immediately squatting down to gently scoop up the injured puppy.

"Mmm mmm......." Akamaru whimpers, trembling slightly.

Feeling concerned, Ashley glances around for Kiba, only to spot him stumbling out from behind a large earthen wall. Brows furrowing slightly at his disheveled appearance, Ashley runs over to the Inuzuka.

"Kiba" she addresses, holding Akamaru out to him.

"Akamaru!" he exclaims, eyes wide with panic as he immediately grabs the puppy and cradles him delicately. "I'm sorry buddy...."

".....I-I don't know much about healing animals" Ashley offers, sounding somewhat tentative, "But I can try to heal him if you want?"

"Please" Kiba pleads, looking to Ashley with wavering eyes. "If you can- Ashley, look out!"

Before either Kiba or Ashley can react, the blonde is suddenly slammed in the back with a huge liquid bullet, causing her to instantly disappear from sight, almost as if she had teleported.

Ashley hisses in pain as the chakra infused water stings her back, before she hits the ground at speed and tumbles along it for a few metres. She eventually comes to a stop, lying on her stomach with her eyes closed.

"O-Ow...." she groans, cracking one eye open and leaning up on one arm. "How did I not sense that woman get up......I must have been too preoccupied with Akamaru....dammit...."

Feeling annoyed and somewhat angry that she'd been hit, Ashley shakily climbs to her feet, ignoring the searing pain in her back the throbbing in her head where it had collided with the ground.

"Hey Ashley!" Kiba calls, peering through the trees to see if the blonde is alright.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, Ashley stalks right past Kiba, her hands curled into tight fists. She was going to teach that woman a lesson for hitting her with such a cheap shot in the back.

Much to Ashley's annoyance however, she sees all four unconscious rogue Ninja all tied together, with Kakashi sending Pakkun running off in the opposite direction.

"Don't worry Ashley-chan" Naruto chuckles nervously, seeing the irritation on his teammate's face, "Kakashi Sensei got her back for you."

"That's nice" the Minami replies lowly, glaring down at the woman, before she performs a set of hand signs. "Earth Style: Stone Column Sp-"

"Relax Ashley" Asuma orders, grabbing onto one of Ashley's arms. "You don't have to kill her."

"Why not?" Ashley demands to know, shooting the Jonin an accusing look. "They were obviously trying to kill us!"

"We know" Kakashi sighs. "But I've sent Pakkun back to the Leaf Village with a message to send the ANBU Black Ops here. They'll punish these guys accordingly."

Ashley can't help growling out loud at that, her teeth slightly bared at the woman that had attacked her. It didn't really seem like justice to her, to just let them live, after they had tried to kill her friends.

Despite her frustration though, Ashley didn't want to cause her Sensei any trouble. Their mission had barely begun after all.

"What did those guys even want" Ino huffs, crossing her arms. "We didn't do anything to them."

"They just attacked us out of nowhere" Naruto adds, grimacing. "They were pretty strong too."

"They're rogue Ninja" Kakashi informs everyone. "They're the kind of Ninja who abandon their Villages and do whatever they want. It could have been any number of reasons why they attacked us."

"Hopefully the ANBU Black Ops will scout the area" Kurenai suggests, tilting her head. "Lady Fifth won't be happy to know that there are rogue Ninja just wandering around in the Land of Fire."

"They'll take care of it" Kakashi assures the group. "For now though, lets all take a break and recover our energy."

"Don't mind if I do!" Choji grins, pulling out a packet of snacks and tearing it open.

He wanders over to Shikamaru and Ino, offering the packet to his two teammates. Ino waves the food away, dropping herself onto the ground and heaving a tired sigh. Shikamaru lies down beside her, one hand behind his head and the other holding a small snack.

Shino walks over to Hinata, limping a little himself, and helps her to sit down. He examines the needles sticking out of her skin, assessing how to best remove them.

Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai convene together, murmuring about their next course of action.

Naruto immediately dumps himself on the ground, with Sakura settling down next to him, tired from the fight. Her team had been the first to engage the enemy and it had been awhile before the Snare Cell had caught up to help.

Ashley shakes her head and turns back around, walking over to Kiba, who is now seated with his back against a tree, Akamaru lying in his lap. The blonde girl kneels down in front of Kiba, wincing at the pain in her back as she does so.

"Are you alright?" the Inuzuka asks quietly, raising his eyes to the girl's face.

"I'll be fine...." Ashley replies simply, placing her hands on Akamaru. Green chakra soon forms around her hands as she begins to heal the injured Ninken.

He whines in pain, much to Kiba's dismay. He didn't like it when his best buddy got so hurt. Feeling a little bad for Akamaru, Ashley silently continues to heal him, until he grows quiet and seemingly falls asleep.

Letting out a low breath, Ashley removes her hands from the puppy and sits back, satisfied that he seems to be okay. She probably hadn't healed him fully, but at least he was more comfortable now.

"Ah, that's better" Kiba smiles affectionately down at Akamaru, before raising his now shining eyes to look at Ashley. "Thanks Angel, I really appreciate it."

The blonde feels her face grow warm at Kiba's expression, to which she frowns and places her hands on his arm, averting her gaze.

"Hey!" Kiba protests. "Heal yourself first! You're injured too ya know."

"I know...."

Kiba's shoulders droop in defeat as he watches Ashley's scowling face, her cheeks a faint pink colour. He feels himself beginning to smile again, a warm feeling in his chest. He didn't know if it was from Ashley's chakra or from something else, but it felt nice nonetheless.

The brunette's breath catches in his throat however, when Ashley carefully places her hands on either side of his face. He blinks a few times, his own face now heating up as she looks back at him uncertainly, her eyes hooded.

"Wh-What're you-"

"You have injuries on your face" Ashley answers quickly, though her voice is soft.

"....Aren't you going to heal yourself?" Kiba asks kindly, slightly worried.

"I will once you're okay" Ashley answers, though her brows seem to furrow, as if she is troubled with her own answer.

Kiba, somewhat taken aback by that answer and the unusual gentleness in Ashley's demeanor, falls silent and allows the girl to heal him. He drops his eyes to look at Akamaru, who is sound asleep in his lap, as if nothing had happened.

From the corner of his eyes, Kiba sees the faint glow of Ashley's chakra disappear, meaning that she is done healing him. Strangely, she doesn't release him though, something that causes him to look up, puzzled.

He pauses when he finds Ashley staring into his eyes though, that troubled expression still on her face.

"Uh...." Kiba begins awkwardly, "Are um....Are you okay?"

".........I'm...." Ashley trails off, sounding confused. "...I'm relieved......"

"Relieved?" Kiba repeats. "Relieved about what?"

A blush spreads across Ashley's nose and cheeks, though she doesn't break her eye contact with Kiba. The cute look on her face, as well as her uncharacteristic closeness, causes Kiba's heart to beat faster.

"I'm relieved.....that you're okay...." Ashley admits, sounding as though she is taken aback by this feeling.

Kiba's eyes grow round at the girl's admission, never having expected her to say such a thing to him. He was the one she'd thrown through a wall after all. He thought she found him nothing more than an annoyance!

"Y-You are?" Kiba queries, leaning slightly closer.

"Yeah...." Ashley nods, the movement subtle, as she subconsciously leans forwards as well. "It's really weird....."

"Hey Ashley!" Shikamaru suddenly calls out, his voice tearing through Kiba and Ashley like a knife.

The blonde's eyes widen as she realises what she's doing and she leaps backwards from Kiba with such force, that she falls over backwards. Leaning back on her hands, Ashley stares at a shocked Kiba through wide eyes, her heart thudding wildly against her chest.

What was she doing?! Saying those weird things to Kiba and sitting so close to him.....What had that been all about?!

Shaking her head vigorously, an immensely embarrassed Ashley jumps to her feet and turns to face Shikamaru, her face red.

"Wh-What?" she just about squeaks.

"......." Shikamaru regards Ashley with a flat look as he walks towards her, totally unimpressed by what he'd seen. "....If you're going to heal people, you might want to start with Hinata."

"Huh?" Ashley asks, peeking around the Nara, only to see Shino trying to remove the needles from her shoulder and arm. "O-Oh, right. Of course!"

Ashley bounds over to Shino and Hinata, unusually flustered, trying to see if she can help in some way.

Ino and Sakura watch the blonde girl silently from their respective resting spots, only to glance at each other and giggle quietly, knowing looks in their eyes. They'd never seen Ashley act like that before and in fact, neither of them had even thought she could act that way!

Kiba hoods his eyes as he watches Ashley begin to heal Hinata's wounds, which aren't too severe, only to look up and give Shikamaru a dirty look.

"What did you do that for?" he demands to know, to which Shikamaru turns to him, arms crossed.

"I figured you'd want your teammate to be looked after" the Nara replies smartly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well duh" Kiba scoffs, rolling his eyes. "But we both know that's not why you did that."

Shikamaru just shrugs his shoulders, turning to walk back over to Ino and Choji, the blonde girl staring at him with new appreciation.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah right" Kiba retorts. "You interrupted on purpose."

"I didn't think there was anything to interrupt" Shikamaru fires back casually, glancing over his shoulder.

"Bullshit" Kiba mutters to himself, frustrated. "I don't know what that was, but it was definitely something...."

Sighing, the Inuzuka steals a glance over at Ashley, only to see her fussing over Hinata, almost in a panic. The Hyuga girl sweat drops, smiling as she shakes her head and tries to assure Ashley that she is okay now.

Kiba smiles to himself in amusement. Something had caused Ashley to lose her cool for the first time since Kiba had met her, and it seemed that she still hadn't manage to regain it yet.