Akaichi: Sorry if this turned out so crappy it vomit shits and other unimaginable craps. My drafts was deleted I literally have to rewrite half of this chapter like dammit what have i done to deserve this?!

As usual, if you spot some mistakes please tell me so I can do better. Constructive comments are nice too. Thanks.

x-x-x

Since Hinata was a small kid, his uncle Suga has been forbidding him to wander around near the forest. He wasn't even allowed to think of anything related to it. Uncle Suga said it was for his own safety.

There are stories around town that there live a vicious and morbid wolf inside the said forest.

People who dared to enter it either didn't come back or came back badly wounded.

The villagers feared the forest.

Except for Hinata.

"Or maybe they just fell off a cliff or got lost and died of hunger or something. We shouldn't blame every misfortunes they had to the wolves you know. They're just animals. They act on instincts."

He once told his classmates when he walked in on them talking about the latest "victim" of the wolves.

Tanaka scoffed, "But those stories are told by the people who came back from the forest. Said they saw it themselves."

Yamaguchi nodded to that.

"I think Hinata has a point." Noya interjected, "maybe they're just too shy to tell people that they're dumb enough to fall for their own traps."

Noya and Hinata high-fived.

Tanaka tried to rebut it as Yamaguchi silently watched them. There's no point arguing with these two when they're so set on believing into something. They're known to be the most hardheaded and stubborn pair in their class.

However, the incidents continued. It stayed the same for months, men coming back soaked in their own bloods, deep scrapes marking their skins. After a year, the forest became off-limits to all.

Not until a pandemic spread through out the village, killing many lives more than what the wolves had done.

Many were killed. Men, women, children and the elders- no one was able to escape. Those who got sick weakened until breathing almost felt like a torture for them. It's a slow kill.

And the only cure to this disease is a rare kind of herb that can only be found at the heart of the forest, said the oldest village physician.

But no one is courageous enough to dare set foot to the forest.

"What do you think you're doing? Are you crazy?!" Uncle Suga reprimanded him when he walked in on him in his room packing his things. Suga tried to get everything he had put on his bag out of it. "This is insane!"

"I know Uncle Suga. But if I didn't do this, no one would. Someone has to step up and be brave enough to get the only cure to this disease. I don't want to see anyone suffer anymore Uncle. I'm doing this for everyone- I'm doing this especially for you."

Suga dejectedly sat on Hinata's bed. He himself was stricken, the disease slowly sucking off the life out of him.

"I can't let you do this Hinata. I can't let you go to that death-trap called forest. It's so dangerous!"

Hinata kneeled in front of Suga and hold his uncle's hands and squeezed it gently.

"But I have to."

Suga was about to speak again when the front door of their house banged open and entered Noya, with a shaking Yamaguchi and grinning Tanaka at his back. All of them have backpacks on their backs.

"Shoyou! Ya ready?"

Hinata looked at Suga expectantly, his eyes almost pleading. He will go even if his uncle say no but he still wants his permission.

Suga closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened it again it was already brimming with tears.

"Promise me you'll be safe." He almost whispered. It's evident in his voice that he doesn't want to let his precious one in this very dangerous mission. "Promise me you'll come back to me safe. Please. Promise me Hinata."

Hinata smiled at him warmly his eyes blazing with a promise that will keep him fighting for his life no matter what.

"I promise uncle."

An arm fell on his shoulders making him hunch, "Don't worry Suga-san! We'll keep him safe!" Said a grinning Noya beside him.

"You be safe too boys. If you deem it to be too dangerous, just come back even if you hadn't got the cure yet. Sacrificing your lives for us is the last thing that I would want to happen."

"We promise you Suga-san!" They echoed and Suga kissed each of their cheeks to wish them good luck.

x-x-x

"I'm starting to think that this is the worst decision I have ever made since the day I was born."

Yamaguchi whined for the nth time Hinata is starting to feel the same.

"You shut up Yamaguchi! Your whiney voice is the only sound I heard ever since we entered the forest and it's starting to piss me off."

"But Tanaka-san-"

"One more word and I will bang your head on that tree."

Yamaguchi was silent after that.

It's so quiet that dry leaves crunching under the soles of their shoes, branches of small trees snapping and the occasional hiss and coos of different animals' the only thing they can hear and it's starting to feel creepy.

"Uwaaa ~ doesn't it feels like something straight from a horror movie or something? Sort of like a wrong turn or final destination scene maybe."

The other three made a choking sound.

"Y-y-you! Hinata! Don't say that!" Tanaka splattered.

"Y-y-yeah. There's no way we'll encounter such thing." Noya laughed nervously.

Hands fisting the hem of his shirt, Hinata looked around suspiciously.

"But what if a killer is stalking us right now, watching our every step and now his mind is working and playing different scenes of how he will kill us one by one and-"

Noya jumped Hinata and covered his mouth while strangling him.

"Aaahhh! I'm the one who's going to kill you first!" Tanaka hit Hinata in the head.

Yamaguchi sighed. "You aren't scared of vicious wolves that might appear and eat us but you fear some fictional character from a horror movie. What's with that?" If they aren't in this place and situation right now, Yamaguchi will laugh at their faces.

"Shut up!" They shouted at him in unison.

Yamaguchi held up his hands in surrender, "Fine. I didn't say anything. But do you think we should find somewhere we can rest the night now? It's getting dark already."

Since they're inside the forest, tall trees are looming around them blocking the lights from the heaven making it a bit darker even if it's not that late yet.

Noya nodded. "You're right. Maybe a cave or something."

"Come on, let's move faster before it gets really dark."

x-x-x

When the group found a decent cave to rest the night out, the whole forest is quite dark already.

"We're lucky." Hinata sighed contentedly, "or else we have to camp out in the open and that will be more dangerous."

Noya nodded, "Yeah."

"I didn't peg you for being a camper Yamaguchi. You surprise me." Tanaka stared in awe at Yamaguchi who magically started a fire at the center of the cave with just dry leaves and dead woods and a pair of stone.

The freckled boy smiled sheepishly, "My dad used to bring me to camps when I was young. When the forest was still safe and wasn't off-limits."

"So that means you know this place really well."

Yamaguchi shrugged, "Maybe. I don't know. I was really young then and it's been years since I last set foot to this place. I'm not really sure if I still remember anything except for what my dad taught me."

Noya tapped a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay Yamaguchi. It's worth a shot though, if you remember anything. You know, like an instinct or a vague memory or something. But if you didn't.. well, there's four of us. We can think of something."

"Right!" Hinata nodded vigorously. And then he frowned, "Where do we start searching tomorrow though? Do we have to wander around till we find the herbs?"

"I don't think wandering around the forest aimlessly is a good idea."

"Noya-san is right. We might get lost, especially because we aren't familiar with this place. Plus, wild animals might be wandering around too." Tanaka-san reasoned out.

Yamaguchi rummaged his own back pack and got out a compass and a roll of an old paper, almost already crisp and yellow from it's old age. "Don't worry, I brought stuff." He grinned.

The other three boys cheered; Tanaka had him on a playful head lock, Noya ruffling his head and Hinata swinging his arms up and down. He chuckled.

"The map's really old though. But it's the only thing I got from my father's study."

"Nah. Better than nothing right?"

"Right."

They laid out the map on the floor.

"So.. Where is this 'heart of the forest' located exactly?"

"Beats me."

Noya groaned. "Why do that physician have to always say things in vague ways? I mean, he could have told us the exact location or a landmark or something. Not this" he tried a very failed mimicry of the physician's voice and made face, "'heart of the forest' thingy. Where do he think we are? On a fairytale?" He snorted.

A short silence followed while the boys' thought deeply. The only noise filling around the cave are the sound of leaves clashing together from the night wind outside the cave, coos of nocturnal animals and the crackling sound of the woods burning.

And then Yamaguchi lifted a finger and pointed at the map, "Maybe the old physician meant the center of the forest?"

"Possibly. And where do you think we are right now?"

Hinata put a finger on the map, "Maybe somewhere around here? This thing here looks like the entrance of the forest. That's where we entered right?"

"Hm.. Maybe. How long do you guys think will it take us to get to there?" Tanaka asked.

"Half a week? 3 or 4 days?" Hinata guessed.

"I think it will take us a whole week." Noya said.

Yamaguchi grimaced, "Or maybe longer than that. This forest is really big- we're not even sure where we are exactly. If we walk continuously without interruption, or if we didn't get lost somehow, it'll take us a week or so. In a worst case scenario, a few weeks or a month maybe."

Hinata's eyes widened, "A month?!"

"Yeah."

"Oh my god."

Hinata thought about his uncle. He's just hoping they would find that place sooner. He doesn't want to come back home too late to save his uncle.

"That's why we have to start early tomorrow. We can't waste any more time. And might I add, we don't have enough supplies to last us a month. Sooner or later we have to search for our own food inside this forest."

Noya flopped down on his improvised bed, "Gee. I didn't think this would be this hard."

Tanaka nodded, his eyes dazed in deep thoughts, "Me too Noya-san."

Yamaguchi eyed his friends thoughtfully, "At least now you are starting to think seriously. I mean, really serious."

"Yeah.."

Heavy silence filled the air.

Yamaguchi doesn't want to depress his friends but he was just being realistic. This mission is really dangerous and they have to make sure every single one of them is ready in mind and body to avoid great casualties.

He brought out a bag where he stashed his foods. His lame effort to cheer up his buddies.

"Um.." he started. "Fancy some 'dinner'?"

Three heads looked up to him and simultaneously grinned.

Thank the gods it worked.

"Hell yeah!"

x-x-x

And they slept that night with full stomach and grins on their faces. They weren't even aware of the pair of golden eyes floating in the darkness eyeing the cave they were sleeping in before running away and disappearing into the dark.

to be continued.

x-x-x

Akaichi: This was supposed to be a oneshot Kagehina (just look at the title. Come on) until everything got out of hands and now this. I will make this short tho. Just like every fic I have. I don't know when I'll be able to post again tho since school just started and I'm nervous af with the internship thingy (please pray for me). I'm not even done with GONE yet and now I also currently writing another Tsukkiyama so I would really understand it if u decided to go ninja on me and kill me in my sleep.

Just think of this as some little idea. For now at least. I'd be back. Alive hopefully pfft.

PS: PLEASE PRAY FOR ME OHMYGOD THAT INTERNSHIP WILL KILL ME AND RUIN MY SANITY HELP ;;