Second Chances Exist •Naruto Fanfic•

Killer Instinct

"Instinct is an untaught ability."

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"You guys aren't forgetting anything, right?" Suzu asked as we stood by the stone bridge, waiting for the princess and ready to exit the compound.

Keiji had a dark cloud above his head as he looked down. "I'm forgetting my dignity."

Haru gave him a look while I unconsciously snorted at that as I was going through the contents of my bag. "You forgot that a long time ago."

When we went out last night, I swear Keiji hit on every girl he saw in the city. In return, every girl rejected him making him depressed. Haru let out a mushroom sigh before going over to our glum redheaded teammate. "You still have Ino back home~" Haru sung at an attempt to cheer Keiji up before stepping away, smirking at me.

Keiji jumped up, the dark cloud dissipating along with his melancholy attitude. Instead, his eyes sparkled. "You're right, man!I have my little pig waiting for me, so let's hurry up and finish this mission!" He exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air.

"And that's how you cheer up and motivate a guy like him." Haru told me in a low tone laced with triumph.

I couldn't help sweatdropping. "Did he just call her his little pig...?"

"Then the fool wonders why he can't grab a girl's attention..." Mamoru muttered behind me. "At least he doesn't call her that to her face." He laughed. I joined him not noticing the servant, the princess and her mother approaching us on horses. The princess rode a white horse with black splotches on it. The horse the servant rode was light brown and the other was cream colored.

The servant and mother hopped off their horses while Usagi stood on hers. "I hope they should ease your journey there." Usagi's mother said with a smile, handing me the reins of her horse while the servant handed his to Keiji.

Suzu returned the smile. "Thank you, it's most appreciated." So, Suzu mounted the spotted white horse with Usagi, holding the reins from behind her. She made Keiji and Haru get on the same horse with Haru taking the reins in front of Keiji. Mamoru and I were supposed to share the same horse but Mamoru changed into his cat form and climbed into my bag, his head poking out of it. So I was basically alone and had more room.

Suzu urged her horse forward, taking the lead with Haru, Keiji and I following in line, an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach roused but I ignored it for now. I glanced over my shoulder. "Mamoru, if you're hungry- don't eat all my sushi, okay?... And that ramen is for Naruto." In response, Mamoru simply meowed. Last night, I started buying food for today and the rest of the trip when I saw this funny looking ramen called Gito Gito Tei. The woman at the shop said it's rich tasting high quality ramen, so I figured I'd bring it to the ramen expert. Besides the sushi and ramen, I picked up bean jam cakes and yakiniku.

After hours of traveling on horse, the feeling in my stomach didn't go away like I had hoped but only stirred more. It was almost making me sick. I thought it was from the feeling of riding a horse for the first time but I dismissed it, knowing this feeling. I felt something appear directly behind me and lean against me slightly, making me quickly glance over my shoulder. "My Lady?"

I sighed in relief that it was only Mamoru, why was I so jumpy all of a sudden? "Yeah?" I gave up trying to make him call me just Rinai.

"I can sense you've been uneasy... Is there something wrong?" He asked in a hushed voice.

I stood quiet for quite a few moments. I watched Suzu and Usagi conversate casually ahead of everyone while Keiji was sleeping on Haru's back in front of me. We already were in the Land of Wind's desert but it was a long way til we reached the designated town, according to Suzu. The desert stretched on for days-literally. Nothing but the sand and heat to keep our company on our trip, I just hoped we don't run into the sandstorms Haru told me about that occasionally happen.