Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Camp Winthrop ❯ Day One: Arrival ( Chapter 1 )

Kat: Hey, readers. I needed to write this so the plot bunny would leave me alone, and so I could get back to my other stories. Oh, spork ai, please don't bitch slap me for this. I'm actually not sure which pairing this'll turn into… it may just be total crack. Or, hell, maybe I won't have pairings at all! (I doubt that… it's never any fun without pairings!) Yosh!

 

 

Day One

 

Arrival

 

 

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Bus One

 

“I HATE nature. I HATE nature.”

 

“Oh, come on, Gaara! It's not that bad…”

 

“Maybe not for you.”

 

“Well no one asked you to wear your angry face today!”

 

“And no one asked you for your opinion.”

 

“Oh! Fie on you.”

 

Gaara Sabaku, a freshman, turned one lazy green eye in the boisterous blonde's direction, then continued to glare at the back of the bus seat in front of him. In his mind's eye, it was all the chair's fault that he was stuck on this smelly, damp school bus with his entire class, on their way to the middle of nowhere. It was the chair's fault that he had to get up at six o'clock that morning. It was the chair's fault that he was wearing jeans, tennis shoes and a black sweatshirt instead of his usual, much more… `creative' apparel.

 

Naruto Uzumaki, also a freshman, on the other hand, was sporting his usual dress of jeans and bright orange jacket. His backpack and sleeping bag were resting on the ground between his legs, and his arms were crossed.

 

“I don't see what the big deal is!” he said. “It's just a lousy week. It'll be fun!”

 

“…Define `fun'.”

 

“Oh, cousin, don't be so melodramatic,” came the monotonous yet dexterous voice of his cousin, Sasori Sabaku, sophomore. He was seated on the bench behind Gaara and Naruto, his hands folded neatly in his lap. His silvery-yellow hair was matted against his skull, and his eyes portrayed boredom. He leaned forward against the chair back, and folded his green windbreaker covered arms at the top of the seat, resting his head on them. “Who knows? It may actually be… enjoyable.”

 

“Enjoyable, yeah,” Deidara, a dusty blonde haired sophomore, put in. He was sitting Indian-style on the bench, his wild eyes glaring dispassionately at a lump of red Playdough in his hands.

 

“Dude, what is with the Playdough?” Naruto asked, twisting in his chair to get a better view. His clear blue eyes studied the red mush in Deidara's hands, before moving up to his fellow blonde's face.

 

“Nervous habit, yeah.”

 

“There's nothing to be nervous about.”

 

“That's what it's for, yeah.”

 

Naruto realized that this conversation, like many conversations people attempted to have with Deidara, was going nowhere. He rolled his eyes, and turned to stare at the back of Kiba Inuzuka's head.

 

Gaara sighed audibly, pulled out his CD player (which this time he had remembered to pack extra batteries for, thank-you-very-much), and turned up the nice happy Rammstein music.

 

The students of Konoha high school freshmen and sophomore classes were taking a `week-long nature expedition', as the pamphlet they had all be given stated, to a remote forest area close to the mountains, to study the plants and such. Other than that, no students were quite sure why this trip was taking place, but, hell, if it got them out of class for a whole week, then they weren't likely to complain. Of course, there were always exceptions, Gaara being only one of them.

 

Sasuke Uchiha, freshman, was not pleased in the slightest about the arrangements. His arms were folded stoically over his dark blue pullover, and his face bore a scowl that caused many a teenage girl to flounder with hormonal imbalance. Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka were no different.

 

“Ooh, Sasuke! You should hang out with us!” squealed Sakura, a pink-haired freshman with too-tight clothes, who was sitting in the seat behind Sasuke.

 

“Yes! Sasuke, we want you to come with us! We're going to go hiking! It'll be so romantic!” Ino, who was beside Sakura, agreed. Ino was a freshman, blonde, and dressed just as insensibly as Sakura. Sasuke turned his head to face the bus window, and ignored them all.

 

Neji Hyuga, a sophomore, who was on the outside of the seat that Sasuke was in, was not exactly what one would call a `happy camper'. Neji was a man of few words (compared to Naruto, anyway), who wore a blank expression. His pale eyes didn't help much with it, either. Neji was not happy because Sakura and Ino were hurting his ears, and no doubt would be doing that for some time if he planned on hanging out with Sasuke at all during the next week. He adjusted the bandana tied around his forehead, and tried to make himself invisible.

 

Hinata Hyuga, cousin of Neji Hyuga, freshman, was close to the front, and twiddling her fingers. This was not unusual; Hinata was a very nervous person and was always twiddling her fingers. Today she happened to be twiddling her fingers because that cute and nice Kiba Inuzuka had sat down next to her and said `Hey.'

 

Oh! She was so embarrassed! She didn't have any figure to show… her tan parka covered everything up. She had thought that wearing clothes like Sakura and Ino would be bad for tromping around in the woods, but she wanted to make a good impression on Kiba too! She hadn't even known that he would sit next to her! Oh dear, oh dear!

 

Hinata's fretful mind raced a million miles a minute while Kiba Inuzuka pushed back the hood of his dark gray jacket, and looked over at her.

 

“You okay?” the other freshman asked boredly, blinking.

 

“MMPH!” Hinata squeaked, nodding, and blushing furiously. Kiba blinked, shrugged, and turned so he could talk to Naruto.

 

Asuma and Kureni were not happy that they had gotten dragged into this stupid trip. The school principal, Tsunade, had IN-SIS-TED that they go for supervision purposes (not that she didn't trust the bus supervision to Kakashi and Gai… no, wait, that was pretty much it). They were seated awkwardly in the front, Kureni adjusting her sunglasses against the non-existent sun (it was oddly cloudy today), and Asuma was counting the minutes before he could have a cigarette.

 

Ten-Ten Somiko, a sophomore and volleyball player, was relatively content with the surroundings. She was far enough away from Sakura and Ino that she wasn't deafened by their constant squeals, but also far away enough from the front that any teachers wouldn't see her. Her jeans and tennis shoes were clean, and her pink sweatshirt had been washed the night before. Her light blue backpack and sleeping bag sat on the ground next to Rock Lee's forest green ones.

 

Rock Lee, martial arts club sophomore, meanwhile, was ECSTATIC! CAMPING! NATURE! YOUTHFUL NATURE! There was nothing better! The dark green vest that covered his sweatshirt was jammed full with survival equipment, including a compass, a wattle bottle, a lighter, a box of matches, a flashlight, a granola bar, a poncho, a walkie-talkie, extra batteries for the walkie-talkie, a package of crackers, and a map! True, it was a map of Wonko Land, but still!

 

Gaara was still listening to the CD when Naruto tapped him on the shoulder. He pulled off one of the headphones and said, “What?”

 

“How long until we get there?”

 

“… Why?”

 

“'Cuz I'm bored!”

 

Gaara rolled his eyes, and put his headphone back.

 

`You're not the only one,' he thought.

 

Sasori leaned back against the back of the chair, and yawned. He glanced at his watch. It was only eight o'clock in the morning. They had left the school at seven. He looked over at Deidara, who had stopped his furious molding of the clay, and was staring down at the floor.

 

“What is it?” Sasori asked, also looking down at the floor. Deidara shook his head.

 

“Spacing out is all, yeah,” he said with a shrug. He had formed the Playdough into a rather detailed bird. He mashed it back into a ball, and started molding it again. Sasori blinked, and yawned again.

 

“Are we there yet?” Naruto asked the air, resting his chin in his hands.

 

“What do you think?” Kiba asked, rolling his eyes, before yawning widely.

 

“How `bout now?”

 

“Feh.”

 

At that same time, Ten-Ten turned to stare at Lee, who was staring at his compass, then looking down at his map, drawing a line between dots, then back at his compass.

 

“Lee…” she asked slowly, so not to overexcite the boy. “What are you doing?”

 

“I'M TRACKING OUR COURSE!” he said triumphantly.

 

“…Why?”

 

“BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT ALL GOOD NATURE WALKERS DO!”

 

“…But we're on a bus.”

 

“ALWAYS BE PREPARED!”

 

“…Okay.” Ten-Ten blinked in confusion, then shrugged. “Have fun with that.”

 

It was at that moment the bus came to a sudden lurch, then a complete stop. Everyone was slammed forward in his or her seats. An irate cry spiraled up from the riders.

 

Sakura in particular was outraged. At the exact same time she had taken out her lipstick to make a quick reapplication, the bus had stopped. Now instead of just her lips being Fire Engine Red, so was half her nose.

 

“AAAHH! MY FACE!” she screamed, clamping her hands firmly over the deformation. “Ino! Help!”

 

“I know!” Ino said, digging through her own make-up bag for waterless make-up remover.

 

Naruto peeled his face off of the back of Kiba's chair, his left cheek now greatly resembling the creased patterns in the brown material.

 

“…Ouch…” he said, gingerly rubbing a finger over the sore. “…That hurt…”

 

Gaara was in much worse condition. He had braced his feet up against the back of the chair only seconds before the bus stopped. His nose had slammed, quite painfully, into his knee. He was holding in, and praying that it wasn't bleeding.

 

“Whoops…”

 

Naruto turned, to see a very vexed Deidara scrambling down from the chair to his hands and knees. He re-emerged from the floor, holding a rather dirty chunk of Playdough.

 

“Oh, that's not pretty, yeah.”

 

Meanwhile, up in the front, Gai was having some trouble adjusting the gears.

 

“OH! THIS MACHINE OF YOUTHFULNESS IS PROVING QUITE PESKY!” he cried, his teeth flashing. Kureni extracted herself from the seat, and stood straight up.

 

“Is everyone all right?” she said loudly, pulling off her sunglasses. No one answered, so she sat back down. “You okay, Gai? Kakashi, help him…”

 

Kakashi was currently leaning against the window of the opposite seat, his nose buried in another of his adult books. He looked up drowsily.

 

“Eh?”

 

“…Never mind,” she said, replacing her sunglasses and closing her eyes, praying to God that there was an espresso stand within walking distance of the camp.

 

 

Bus Two

 

 

“What the hell?” Itachi Uchiha, a sophomore who was on the boy's basketball varsity team, snarled angrily, rubbing his sore forehead, and craning his neck to see better.

 

“Ow… my face…” Kisame Hoshigaki, another sophomore who, when asked, would proudly proclaim that football was his forte, groaned, massaging his hurt nose with the back of his hand. “That was not fun.”

 

“You think?” Itachi said sourly, sinking down in the seat, and staring boredly out the window.

 

“What's gotten into YOU, Mr. Cranky Pants?” Kisame said sarcastically.

 

“…” Itachi chose to remain the strong silent one in the conversation, bracing his feet on the seat in front of him, and shutting his eyes.

 

Kankuro Sabaku, a sophomore drum major, was in no better shape.

 

“That… hurt!” he hissed, kneading his afflicted head with his fingertips. His twin sister, Temari, looked over at him distastefully from the opposite seat.

 

“Smooth,” she said, picking up her dropped CD player and restarting it.

 

Closer to the back, Haku Mizukure, one of the youngest freshmen, was also rather distressed.

 

“Oh no! I dropped my book!” he cried, sliding down to the floor, and reaching under the seat. Zabuza Momochi, a sophomore, and Haku's seatmate and friend, rolled his eyes.

 

“Calm down. It's just a book,” he said bluntly.

 

“Here, Haku,” said Shikamaru Nara, one of the smartest freshmen, no, one of the smartest humans on the bus. He handed a small blue book to the grateful Haku, who gave his thanks, and settled back to continue reading. “How troublesome,” Shikamaru stated, regressing down into the seat. The sudden stop had caused his head to fall off of his sleeping bag, and had woken him up from his nap. It had been a good nap, too. The kind with no troublesome dreams. Just a nice one about clouds. Shikamaru liked clouds.

 

Chouji Akimichi, another freshman, who was seated beside Shikamaru, was shoveling his chips down like there was no tomorrow. Chouji had heard rumors that they would have to… horror of all horrors… CATCH their food in the wilderness! This was very bad for Chouji, as he was quite overweight, and couldn't run or, as it was, catch a fish to save his life. He was very unsettled by this fact, and was thus so eating as much as possible before they arrived at the camp.

 

Shino Aburame was seated silently in the back seat, his tinted-glass sunglasses reflecting all that he saw as he observed his classmates. He quirked a brow, adjusted his high-collared jacket, and returned to staring mirthlessly out the window.

 

Iruka Umino was seated uncomfortably in the chair opposite of Ibiki Morino, who had his eyes shut. Iruka was uncomfortable because Ibiki was, for lack of a better term, scary. Iruka hated judging people solely on appearance, but this was not was he was doing at all. Ibiki was… a very… scary… person.

 

Ibiki Morino was currently pretending to be asleep, when in reality, he was just WAITING for a student to put a toenail out of line so that, like a TIGER, he could STRIKE!

 

Meanwhile, Itachi Uchiha was still bored out of his mind. He tugged at his blue flannel shirt, and stared out the window some more. God, he was so BORED. He had been on this bus for an hour already. How far away was this camp, anyway?

 

It was at that moment that, for the second time in as many minutes, the bus came to a sudden stop, sending everyone flying forward in his or her seats once more.

 

 

Bus One

 

“GOD DAMN SONUVABITCH!” Sasuke yelled, rather loudly, pulling his face off of the seat, and sitting up. Neji turned to look at him oddly, his pale eyes bearing the usual blank expression.

 

“Are you okay?” he asked monotonously, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Yes, I'm FINE,” Sasuke snapped, rubbing his cheek. “Where the hell are we, anyway?”

 

“If I had to guess,” Neji said with a frown, “I'd say…” He consulted his watch, stuck a finger in his mouth, and pulled it out, then held it up, as if testing the wind direction, then, turned back to Sasuke. “Then middle of nowhere. What the hell, Sasuke, you think I know?”

 

“And here I thought you were smart.”

 

“Woah, below the belt.”

 

“Hn.”

 

Naruto pried himself away from Kiba's seat once again, and said to Gaara, “Is this starting to bug you as much as it is me?”

 

Gaara merely glared at him.

 

“MY BABY!” Deidara screamed. Sasori jumped, looking over at the wildly freaked out teen.

 

“What is-“

 

Suddenly, Deidara leaped from the seat and into the aisle, where he dropped down to his stomach.

 

“…it…” Sasori blinked, then decided it would be best not to further his comments. When Deidara resurfaced, he was holding his Playdough, and looked quite piqued.

 

“Damn it! Not again!” he cried, pulling pieces of dirt and grime off of the dough.

 

Naruto burst out laughing, then furiously attempted to muffle it when he saw the filthy glares Deidara and Sasori sent him.

 

“…Please don't kill me.”

 

“Stop being weird, Naruto.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“All right, students!” Kureni called from up front. She was standing again, her sunglasses resting on the bridge of her nose. “We've arrived at Camp Winthrop! Will you please exited the bus in an orderly manner… That means YOU, Uzumaki,” she said, sending a knowing glare at Naruto, who was doing his best to look innocent.

 

Kureni quickly ske-daddled off of the bus, leaving Asuma, Kakashi and Gai to make sure things went orderly.

 

It was like watching a train wreck. Immediately, everyone stood, gathered their bags, pillows and sleeping bags, and began cramming themselves into the aisle like sardines. Naruto was eager to join the rush, but Sasori and Gaara grabbed his by the hem of his orange parka and dragged him back down to the seat. Deidara slid back against Sasori to avoid being very literally KILLED.

 

“AAH! MY SHOES!”

 

“Hey, hey, hey! Whose hand is that?”

 

“Uh… mine…”

 

SLAP!

 

“Oh my God WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?”

 

“That's my lunch! MY MOM MADE THAT FOR ME!”

 

“…Heh…?”

 

The aisle eventually emptied out, allowing the `smarter' people to shove their way in. Gaara dropped his CD player back into his bag, and followed Naruto into the now vacant aisle. They joined the crowd that had formed from both of the buses outside.

 

Gaara's first impression of the camp was that it was large. Very large, in fact. There was a wide field stretching out in front of them, and after the field, three large, yellow buildings. The paint on them was chipped and browning, and there was moss growing on the roofs. Past the buildings was nothing but trees. Gaara shifted uncomfortably on the gravel.

 

“STUDENTS!” a voice boomed. Gaara recognized it at once, his face contorting. What the hell was HE doing here? “WELCOME TO CAMP WINTHROP!” Ibiki Morino ranted. “I HOPE YOU REMEMBERED TO GET ALL YOUR STUFF OFF OF THE BUSES! BECAUSE THEY WILL BE LOCKED FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK!”

 

Sasori glanced over at Gaara, and they both had to muffle their laughter.

 

“NOW! YOU WILL SEE BEHIND ME THREE BUILDINGS!” Ibiki erupted, gesturing behind him. “THE FIRST BUILDING IS THE GIRLS' CABIN! THE SECOND IS THE BOYS' CABIN! THE THIRD IS THE MESS HALL, WHERE YOU SHALL PARTAKE IN YOUR DAILY MEALS!”

 

There was a large sigh of relief from Chouji Akimichi, who put a hand to his forehead in relief.

 

“YOU ARE ALL ASSIGNED BUNKS, SO DON'T TRY TRADING!” Ibiki continued, his beady eyes scanning over the crowd. “IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN SOMEONE ELSE'S BUNK, YOU WILL SUFFER!”

 

Naruto feared his might have burst a lung from trying not to laugh.

 

“YOU WILL ALSO SEE THE WOODS BEHIND THE CABINS! IF YOU GO INTO THE WOODS WITHOUT A TEACHER, YOU WILL GET LOST AND DIE OF STARVATION, OR BE EATEN BY WOLVES!” Ibiki thundered. “AND DOWN THE HILL, YOU SHALL SEE THE LAKE!”

 

Everyone turned, and looked past the buses. Indeed, a large, rather algae-filled lake sat quite contently down at the base of the hill.

 

“IF YOU FALL IN, YOU SHALL DROWN! SO DO NOT GO DOWN TO THE LAKE WITHOUT A TEACHER!”

 

When no one objected, he said, “NOW GO AND FIND YOUR BUNKS! YOU SHALL BE CALLED TO LUNCH AT NOON! UNTIL THEN, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!”

 

Ibiki stepped out of the way, and the crowd surged forward up the field. Gaara had truly no clue where he was going. He saw Naruto's orange jacket sticking out like a sore thumb amidst the denim and sweatshirts, and decided to follow that.

 

It was a longer walk than many had anticipated. Several people who had been walking fast and ahead had slowed down considerably.

 

“FINALLY!” Naruto moaned, once he reached the door to the cabin. “Oh my GOD that was a long walk!”

 

“Stop being a pussy and go inside,” Gaara said irately.

 

“Ooh, someone didn't have their coffee this morning, yeah?” Deidara said smugly, brushing past Naruto into the building. Naruto rolled his eyes and followed Deidara. Sasori followed Naruto, and Gaara followed Sasori.

 

“WOW! IT'S REALLY BIG IN HERE, YEAH!” Deidara said, looking around. The building was very long; it stretched at least one hundred feet down. There was a set of stairs down at the end of the building, which led to a second floor.

 

“All right gentlemen, let's find our bunks,” Sasori said, glancing down the rows.

 

The cabin was divided up into section, each of which held two bunk beds. The bunk beds were hard metal frames with pale blue, plastic mattresses. The walls that separated the bunks had pieces of paper taped up on them that stated who slept in which bunk. People were claiming their beds, dumping their stuff on the ground and rolling out their sleeping bags. Naruto scanned the papers.

 

“I don't see my name,” he said nervously. “Gaara? You see yours?”

 

“No. I must be upstairs,” Gaara said with a shrug. “You too.”

 

“And me, yeah!” Deidara said, raising his arm in the air. “Can't find my name either, yeah.”

 

“Nope,” Sasori said with a shrug. “Guess they don't love me enough to put me on the first floor.”

 

“Heh. Right. Sure,” Naruto said, wiggling his eyebrows.

 

“What the fuck, Uzumaki?”

 

“Oh, never mind.”

 

Sasori hurled his pillow at Naruto's head. Bulls eye.

 

“DA HELL'D YOU DO THAT FOR, SABAKU?”

 

“Hm? Oh, you're yelling at him,” Gaara said, ambling over to the stairs. Deidara followed him, his eyes drifting around the room.

 

“Nothing pretty about this room, no sir-ee,” he muttered to himself, folding the Playdough over in his hands again.

 

Naruto and Sasori took the hint and followed Gaara and Deidara, Naruto deciding to extract his revenge later that night.

 

The second floor was almost identical to the first floor. However, the floor space was wider, the bunks spaced farther apart from their opposites, and the ceiling formed with the roof. Naruto began scanning the papers, until finally he saw his name.

 

“Here we go! Uzumaki, Naruto! TOP BUNK! HELL YEAH! And look, Gaara! You've got the bunk below me! Awesome!” Naruto said. He shoved his stuff up onto the bed, then looked over at the paper on the other side to see who they would be sharing space with.

 

“YEAH! CHECK IT OUT, GUYS! SASORI AND I ARE ON THE OTHER SIDE, YEAH!” Deidara shouted, waving at them from the bunks opposite of Gaara and Naruto. “We're like ROOMIES!”

 

“Great… utter joy…” Gaara grumbled, tossing his stuff onto his bed, and sitting down. Sasori did the same.

 

“At least I have the bottom bunk,” he said with a shrug. “Not much of a `heights' person.”

 

“I love heights, yeah!”

 

Naruto stared at the paper. There was no way this could be correct! There had to be some mistake… some flaw!

 

“Hey! We're with Itachi and Kisame! No way, yeah!” Deidara said, having hopped down and read the paper on the other side of their section. “Who'd you guys get, yeah?”

 

Naruto shook his head.

 

“Oh… no fucking way…”

 

 

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“I can't believe I'm on the second Goddamn floor,” Sasuke grumbled, dragging his stuff up the stairs.

 

“Calm down, Crankwad,” Neji said casually. He straightened his gray sweatshirt, which had an uber-cool Yin-Yang sign on it. At least, someone had said it was `uber-cool'. Neji wasn't totally sure what `uber' meant. He could only assume that it meant `super' or somewhere along those lines.

 

“Okay…” he said, reading the names that were posted. “Nara…. Akimichi… Aburame…” He scanned the rest of the names. “Must be that last one,” he said, shrugging.

 

“I can't find me either,” Neji said, blinking. “One of the last two, then.”

 

“Uzumaki? What the fuck… no… no way…” Sasuke breathed, seeing what Naruto was staring at. “We're… in the same… as you… oh shit…” He put a hand to his forehead. “I'm gonna die. That's it. I'm gonna fucking die.”

 

“Oh, wah! What about ME? I HAVE TO PUT UP WITH YOUR UGLY FACE FOR THE NEXT WEEK!” Naruto howled. “Oh, hey, Neji.”

 

“Naruto. Gaara.”

 

“Hey, Neji. Hey Sasuke.”

 

“What's up, Gaara?” Sasuke turned back to Naruto. “WHY AM I IN THE SAME ROOM AS YOU?”

 

“And guess what, Sasuke, yeah?” Deidara called from the top bunk of his own bed.

 

“What do YOU want?” Sasuke snarled, not taking kindly to anyone who was friends with his brother. Deidara giggled.

 

“ITACHI'S ROOMING WITH US!” Deidara cried, bouncing up and down on the bed. “ISN'T THAT GREAT, YEAH?”

 

Sasuke felt so ill that he had to sit down.

 

 

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