They kept moving.  The longest they would stay in one place was five days to a week, but they always moved.  “This is getting troublesome,” Kiba thought.  “I mean, I’m thinking like Shikamaru.”  He was busy packing the food that the group had secured, and that was just a small amount of herbs and roots.
     Pretty soon they were done packing.  “Where to Ron?” Harry and Hermione asked.  Ron was the one who chose where to go next.
     “There’s this village nearby the place I live.  We’re going to go there,” he said.  Ron was obviously enjoying being leader for a while.
     With a whoosh they were gone and had landed at an open area close to a town.  Immediately Hermione and Harry set up camp.  Neji used his Byakugan to see if there was anyone nearby that might catch them there.  “No one is close enough to see us,” he announced, dropping the Byakugan.
     So it went.  Neji would always say, “No one is close enough,” and everyone would sigh in relief.
     “Hermione?  I’m starving,” Ron complained once.
     “I’m sorry I don’t know what to do!  We’ve run out of food and…” Hermione broke into sobs.
     “Great, now they’re starting to have nervous breakdowns,” Kiba thought, staring at Hermione.
     “Is it just me or are they just not ready to be out like this?” Sakura asked.  The shinobi nodded in agreement as they watched Harry and Ron try to console Hermione.
     “But you’ve got to admit that it took her almost two months to break down,” Naruto pointed out.  It was early November at this point.
     “Hey Naruto, don’t you have any ramen?” Sakura asked suddenly.
     “Yeah, but I was hoping to keep that as a final resort.”
     “This is a final resort!” Kiba insisted to him.  “We’re starving, and if we have to eat the ramen, let’s eat soon!”
     “All right, all right, I’ll get it out,” Naruto said, putting his hands up.  He brought out the ramen and handed it to Sakura, who quickly made it and placed it on the table.
     “Come and get it!” Sakura called, and the trio reluctantly came to the table, expecting a meager meal of what little herbs and roots could be found.  To their surprise they found ramen and dove for it hungrily.
     “Hey, this is all we have for now, so make it last!” Sakura told them, and they slowed down.
     Thus their hunger had ended for a while.  But from all the lack of food and the severe training that was taking place, the trio began to snap at everyone.  Hermione couldn’t handle Naruto’s loud voice; Harry couldn’t handle complaints about moving around; and Ron just couldn’t handle almost everything, the lack of food, that Hermione and Harry were ‘making plans’ without him, that they hadn’t found any other Horcrux yet, and that they hadn’t managed to open their first Horcrux.   Eventually he snapped.
     Ron left in an angry argument, leaving the Horcrux and taking with him Shikamaru and Lee.  Hermione looked empty for days, and Harry looked like he had been severely wounded.  Neji would sigh a lot and say, “I just hope Shikamaru uses his brains to bring them back and that Lee cheers Ron-san up.  Our numbers are now severely crippled.”
     ~A week before Christmas~
     “Harry, let’s go to Godric’s Hollow,” Hermione suggested one frosty afternoon.
     Harry choked on his thin soup of onions and mice meat.  “Really?  I thought you were against it.”
     Hermione sighed.  “Not anymore.  I don’t think we’ve got another choice.  There might be something there.”
     “When should we go?  Now?”
     “If that’s all right with the others.”
     “They always talk about them being at our disposal.  Of course it’ll be all right with them.”  Harry stood up and turned to find the shinobi ready.
     “We heard you.  Let’s go,” Kiba announced.
     It took only a matter of minutes for Harry and Hermione to pack everything.  But it took over half an hour to figure out where exactly Godric Hollow was.  The two wizards’ heads were so close together, squinting at the map, that it was a bit claustrophobic for the shinobi to watch.   “Found it!” Hermione cried at last, jabbing the map.
     “All right, let’s go then,” Naruto demanded.
     Once more the wizards grabbed the shinobi and away they went.  “Yikes, what’s this stuff?” Kiba demanded, after jumping up from the snow.
     “It’s snow.”
     “It’s cold,” Neji muttered.
     “Well, luckily you’ve got warm clothes on.  Come on, let’s go find my house,” Harry said, beckoning them forward.
     “We’ve got to be careful Harry, don’t forget,” Hermione whispered to him.  He grabbed her hand and gave it an assuring squeeze.
     “We’re here for each other, and we’d be there for Ron too if he was with us.  Come on.”
     Since they had landed near the church lot, Hermione insisted they try to investigate that first.  They slowly swung the gate open and walked in.  “I don’t know Hermione… what if they weren’t buried?” Harry uncertainly looked around him and the frosted and snow-covered tombstones.
     “Don’t worry Harry, they’re here somewhere.  Let’s look.”  Hermione moved away from the group, immediately followed by Sakura and Kiba.  Harry looked around him and started to wander through the graveyard.  Suddenly Hermione shrieked a wail as unearthly as a barn owl’s.  “HARRY!  THERE’S A BODY OVER HERE!!”  Her voice sounded hysterical.
     “Hermione!” Harry exclaimed, running to where she was.  He found her trembling as she was clinging onto Sakura.
     “Hey, wait a minute,” Naruto said, looking at the body.  “She looks familiar.”
     “She’s not dead either, but she’s barely alive as it is,” Neji announced, taking a step forward.
     Kiba and Akamaru brushed off all the snow and everyone stared.
     “Temari!” the gasped all at once.
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~