前説: 夏が来た
Prologue: Summer Has Come

It was June, and summer had descended upon Konoha like a warm, wet, suffocating blanket with heat and humidity levels rivaling those of a tropical beach but without the cooling ocean breeze.

Despite the disagreeable weather, Rock Lee was still training ferociously and actively encouraging his teammates to join in.

"Come on, Neji! I bet I can do five hundred pushups faster than you can!" he challenged.

Neji groaned; he had absolutely no desire to do physical activity of any kind, let alone pushups, in this weather.

"In this heat? I doubt even you, Lee, could complete five hundred pushups."

"Yeah," Tenten agreed, fanning herself with one of her scrolls. "You'd be lucky if you could even do fifty."

"Fifty pushups is nothing!" Lee exclaimed. "I bet I can do a hundred before either of you can do fifty!"

Neji shot Tenten a look that said "Great, now look what you've got us into," and Tenten shot him one right back before joining Lee in his training.

"Last one done has to buy juice for the rest of the team," she sang, prompting Neji to drop down and do pushups as if his life depended on it; weather be damned, his pride was at stake.

They were almost finished when Gai confronted them on the training ground.

"What are you doing?" he shouted, grabbing Lee and pulling him into a standing position. "It's summer!"

Neji and Tenten froze; Gai had never, ever, interrupted training before.

"Gai-sensei, we were training," Lee explained.

"Well, you'd better stop," Gai said. "Didn't you see the sign?" He pointed to a large billboard erected over Hokage Mountain.

"Summer vacation has officially begun," Tenten read. "So? What's that got to do with training?"

"No, there's a footnote," Neji said, using his Byakugan to read the fine print. "It says, 'By order of the Hokage, all training is expressly forbidden.'"

"Forbidden?" Lee looked as though he was going to go into shock. "But…but why?"

"Isn't that dangerous?" Tenten asked. "We're ninja; we have to keep in top form."

"And what about missions?" Neji added. "Are those cancelled too?"

"Well, it's peacetime," Gai explained. "The Hokage decided that after the events of the last war, everyone deserved a vacation. And what better time than summer?"

Neji could think of a few better times than summer—maybe a season that didn't make him feel like he was melting—but he appreciated the sentiment behind Tsunade's actions. When was the last time he'd had a vacation?

"But without training," Lee continued, still mentally stuck on the ban of his favorite pastime, "what will we do?"

Gai flashed a blinding smile. "There are all sorts of things to do in the summer! Go swimming, visit the beach, watch some fireworks: the air is thick with youthful passion!"

A light bulb went off in Lee's head. "I'm going to get Sakura-san to go on a date with me!"

"That's the spirit, Lee!"

Tenten turned to Neji. "I can't believe this…we aren't trapped in a genjutsu, are we?"

Neji shook his head.

"Tsunade-sama really thinks this is a good idea then…"

There was a pause where they all contemplated their new state of freedom.

"So…" Lee said, breaking the silence, "if none of us finished last, who's buying the juice?"

あ～、夏休み!
Ah, Summer Vacation!

第一間: かき氷
Chapter One: Shaved Ice

It was determined that since no one had finished fifty pushups, the person who had done the fewest was responsible for buying the team drinks. As he brought Lee his melon soda and Tenten her iced coffee, Neji lamented his now-almost empty wallet; when had Tenten gotten so good at pushups?

After finishing their drinks, the team found themselves aimlessly wandering the streets of Konoha, trying to think of something to do.

"We've never had a vacation before," Tenten mused. "Not since we graduated from the academy, anyway. I don't even remember what I used to do back then."

"I used to watch a lot of movies when I wasn't doing homework," Lee said.

"We could go see a movie now," Neji suggested, but Tenten shook her head.

"There's nothing good out yet."

"Well, can we at least go somewhere with air conditioning?" Neji pleaded, convinced he'd lost half his body weight through sweat, but his request was unheard as Lee pointed out Naruto and Sakura.

"Let's go see what Sakura-san and Naruto-kun are doing!" he said.

"Hey, Bushy-brows, Neji," Naruto greeted them. "What are you doing?"

"We were about to ask you the same question," said Tenten. "We're trying to figure out what to do now that we're all on vacation."

"I know what you mean; it's so strange!" Sakura said. "We haven't had a vacation in so long!"

Neji grit his teeth in frustration; he knew that it was polite to make the required small talk ad infinitum before jumping to the next topic of conversation, but really, there was a limit.

At least no one had brought up the weather, he thought.

"Yeah, it's gotten so hot all of a sudden," Naruto said. As Lee agreed, "You know, it really has," Neji felt his blood pressure starting to rise.

"It's much too hot for this." In desperation, he looked around and saw a shaved ice vendor. The man was turning the crank of the shaving machine, creating a flurry of tiny ice particles.

He didn't even bother pointing this out to the others and just started walking towards it; Tenten noticed and followed, unconsciously leading the others to the stand.

"Oh, hey, kakigōri," Naruto exclaimed when he realized where they were. "We should totally get some!"

"A most excellent idea," Neji said.

They got in line and waited for the man to shave enough ice to serve everyone when Hinata and her teammates showed up.

"Hello, Naru…I mean, everyone," she said, prompting everyone to exchange greetings.

"Seems like everyone had the same idea today," Kiba said. "Probably because it's too damn hot."

"But that's what makes shaved ice so refreshing," Shino said. "Why? Because if it wasn't hot, we wouldn't want it, and its purpose would be lost."

Neji couldn't help staring at Shino: how could he stay so calm and cool while wearing so many heavy layers? Neji's own clothing was relatively light, but the moisture in the air made them damp and heavy. Lee had the right idea with those thin tights, he thought before immediately bringing that notion to a halt. Approving of Lee's wardrobe choices? The heat was affecting him worse than he'd thought.

At last, it was his turn in line. He ordered cherry ice and watched as the vendor scooped the ice into a paper cup and poured the bright red syrup over it.

"Three hundred ryou, please," the vendor said. Neji happily pulled out his wallet to pay when he noticed how light it felt and opened it to see only two coins.

No, he thought. This can't be happening. I'm too close…

His teammates had already paid for and started eating their ice, and he couldn't step out of line without losing his spot. He just wanted his cherry ice…

"Um, make it two, please," Hinata said from behind him, putting six hundred ryou onto the tray. "Except make mine strawberry."

"Hinata-sama?"

"It's OK, Neji-nii-san. You can pay me back later."

Even though he was embarrassed that he had to be bailed out by her, Neji was still grateful—honestly, if Hinata hadn't stepped in, he probably would have died of heat stroke, so when he mumbled his thanks, the intent was genuine.

At last, he had his cherry ice; after one bite, he instantly felt cooler. Everyone else seemed to have the same feelings as they ate their own ice in satisfied silence. Neji sighed contently; perhaps summer wouldn't be so bad after all.