A Girl's Mind is a Dangerous Place

Chapter 51

A/N: First, I gotta say guys. Taking two weeks where I didn't even TRY to force myself to write this fic was really nice, this chapter flowed out so NICELY! It was done inside of 3 hours on Sunday.

And then it was gone over by my betas by Monday evening.

And then a combination of cooking woes, migraines, and insomnia conspired to keep me from going over their edits to post it.

*sigh*

Clearly the universe hates me.

But honestly, I'm SO happy with this chapter, I just really really like how it went?

Hopefully you guys enjoy it as much as I do!

As always, thank you for reading!

Natsu wakes up to the overpowering smell of ramen, and for a single, long moment wonders how he got stuck in Naruto's head and if the demon in him actually liked ramen too.

Then he opens his eyes and realizes, with his face buried in a bright orange jacket, that Naruto's carrying him.

The ramen smells so fresh though, and Natsu's pretty sure the piece of jacket he's leaning against is slightly damp, and now he's hungry.

His stomach rumbles loudly, and Naruto nearly trips in response.

"Natsu! You're awake!"

Even as Naruto goes to set him down, Natsu knows something's wrong.

Normally the blond would yell, excited and eager - this quiet response, more relieved than excited and more worried than eager, is not what Natsu wants to hear.

He gets his feet under him and glances around, looking for enemies.

There aren't any.

But they're also missing half their team, Jiraiya and Sasuke nowhere to be seen. A near-army if Naruto clones is in their place, some bunched around an unconscious man Natsu vaguely recalls, and the others spread out in a clear defensive grid.

Something has gone very wrong.

How?! I wasn't even out for that long!

He turns to ask Naruto, but the blond's eyes are everywhere but on him, scanning the forest without pause.

The clones are too, now that he looks, and that's worrying too.

He reaches out and pokes Naruto's shoulder. "Hey, c'mon- what's up? Where is everybody?"

Naruto babbles, grabbing Natsu's hand and dragging him back into motion as he does. "We split up- Jiraiya made a-a shadow clone, like I do, and it left with Sasuke to go to some Sakuragi-guy's house for some info or something, and Jiraiya and I stayed with you and that guy, and- and we were just- and then Jiraiya's clone popped, and Sasuke's all alone, but the clone got him to run away before it 'sploded, and Sasuke was running this way, so we're supposed to look for him, a-and meet up, and the real Jiraiya was goin' after the guys they were fighting, but Sasuke's not here and I think we passed where we were supposed to find him and I don't know what to do but maybe I didn't pass them maybe I'm just not there yet I don't know I thought if I made enough clones it would be faster, and Jiraiya said s'mthin about how I can like remember their stuff or something but no one's found Sasuke and I don'tknowwhattodo-!"

Natsu stops, twisting his arm to grab Naruto's wrist and make the blond stop as well.

"Right." he says, when Naruto turns, mouth open, to argue. "Sasuke's missing and Jiraiya's fighting some guys, and we don't know if there's more of em, yeah?"