Yeah. This is where I start the Naruto fanfiction! Sweet! Okay. After I write this chapter, I am going to summarize the characters. Maybe. Probably not. But then again… I don't know. STOP MESSING WITH ME! Oh, and flame if you're emo. Go ahead. I laugh at you. So do Gaara's cat and fish. Ha.
Chapter ONE: The Guys Begin
Uzumaki Naruto wasn't just obnoxious, he was really obnoxious. Naruto was rip-out-all-your-hair obnoxious. He was scream-until-you-faint obnoxious. He was light-your-pants-on-fire-and-run-around-like-a-chicken-because-you-hate-him obnoxious. Just how obnoxious he was, Uchiha Sasuke was experiencing first hand. And Sasuke was aggravated.
Ten minutes before, Naruto had pulled up to Sasuke's house in an RV. Naruto had gotten out, with his stupid grin, and told Sasuke to pack his bags for a little trip. At first, Sasuke had naturally refused. Emos don't go camping- everyone knows that.
Everyone, it seems, Sasuke thought venomously, but a certain stupid blond in his stupid orange shirt and his stupid little grin. With this last thought, he shoved more clothes viscously into his suitcase. Naruto didn't seem to comprehend that Sasuke must be emo at all times- from his emo hair to his emo shoes. No matter the cost. But some prices are too much to pay, and in the end he had been blackmailed. Uchiha Sasuke- the heart throb from one of the most prestigious families in Japan, had been blackmailed by a dumb blond. Sasuke wasn't just aggravated. He was furious.
I wonder how he knew about it, Sasuke thought. But then again, I shouldn't be surprised. After all, he looked around to make sure no one was there, and whispered quietly, almost impossible to hear, "He is my best friend." And with that, he smiled. Just before ramming his suitcase shut, punching a hole in his wall, swearing loudly, and heading downstairs.
Seeing, or rather hearing Sasuke coming, Naruto grinned and stretched his arms skyward by way of greeting. Taking the opportunity, Sasuke threw his suitcase as hard as he could at him, and was quickly satisfied with a dull, "thud" and a pain-filled yelp. He smirked and got into the passengers seat, waiting for Naruto to recover.
A few minutes later, Naruto climbed in clutching his nose, which appeared to be bleeding profusely.
"Damn, Sasuke. You didn't have to do that, you jerk."
"So?" Sasuke replied offhandedly.
"What do you mean, 'So'? Look at my nose!"
"I would," Sasuke grinned, "but I can't see it under all of that blood."
The blond punched the steering wheel angrily, and was awarded with a loud beep. "Dammit, Sasuke!" was all he said.
"Shut up blockhead. Are you so weak you're crying over a bloody nose?"
"NO!" He replied, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.
"Then hurry up and drive. The sooner we leave, the sooner I can get back." Sasuke crossed his arms.
"But I have to pick up the rest of the guys."
"Wha- WHAT?" He gasped, as his obsidian eyes widened in horror.
"Ha! You thought I would only take you? Now who's the idiot?" Sasuke was mortified. Not only did he get blackmailed into this nightmare, other people would be watching him. And worse, someone could find out about-
"Sasuke?"
"Mmm." He turned toward Naruto, eyes blank and glossy, in his own personal hell.
"Okay!" the idiot cheered. He had taken Sasuke's zombie-like reaction as a signal to move on. He started the engine, his nose not seeping anymore. He didn't even notice his passenger mutter, "Oh God," and buckle up, his face tinged green.
Sasuke was a bit relieved when they pulled up to their friend Chouji's house. If it was just Chouji coming, then he wouldn't have to worry.
His relief, however, didn't last long. It disappeared when Hyuuga Neji and Inuzuka Kiba came out with him. Akimichi Chouji was a big guy- never fat. If he was fat, he would leave you in a pulpy mess (unfortunately, Naruto had found out the hard way). Today his messy brown hair was pulled back in a loose, sloppy ponytail. He dressed in a baggy, slightly rumpled jersey and blue jeans. As usual, he was munching on chips.
Neji was a year older than everyone, but had befriended them in middle school. Like Sasuke, he belonged to an old, prominent family, and was often stalked by hordes of squealing fan girls. Neji was on the same level, as far as looks went, as Sasuke. He was sporting a dark blue men's kimono, as members of his family usually did. His hair was long and almost black. One flip would send fan girls into seizures. But his signature trait was his family's pale, pale lavender eyes. It gave him a striking appearance, especially on top of having perfect facial features, and lean muscular body.
Kiba wasn't bad to look at either; he just wasn't as exotic as Sasuke and Neji. Inuzuka's had once been a powerful clan in Japan who worshipped the dog of the zodiac. Over the years, they had developed a bit of a wild appearance, Kiba no exception. His hair was brown, short, and spiky, his eyes black. Generally, he liked to dress in things simple and black. Today he wore black shorts and a red tank top. His faithful puppy, Akamaru, was nestled in his arms.
"Hey!" Naruto called. He jumped out of the RV and ran up to the three. Presently, he tried to steal one of Chouji's chips, earning him a gigantic thwack on the head.
Everyone laughed. Except Sasuke, who did miniscule emo chuckle. Naruto danced around clutching his head. It must have been really sore; considering this was the second time it had been hurt within a space of twenty minutes.
"So what do you want?" Kiba asked. He was a lot like Naruto- loud and boisterous on the point of rude. Naruto paused his little jig and looked at him. "Oh yeah," he said. "We're going camping. Wanna come?"
"Nope." Chouji said.
"No thank you." Came from Neji.
"Yeah right." Kiba scoffed. None of them looked directly at him.
"Why not?" Naruto asked.
Silence.
"Hey," Naruto said, "What are you all doing here anyway?" Everyone shifted uncomfortably.
By some pure irony, a nerdy looking guy with shiny, black, bowl cut hair, very round eyes, and dressed all in green, came running up to the little group. He was waving an arm and holding a suitcase. Not noticing the threatening look from Naruto, or the pale, sweating faces of Chouji, Kiba and Neji. "Rock Lee has arrived! Ready to commence mission: Let's go camping! Hooray for youthfulness!" Lee said this while smiling radiantly and giving thumbs up. Then he noticed the little cloud of doom above the trio's heads.
Without even realizing what he had done, he cocked his head to the side and looked at Chouji. "Oh," he said. "Are Naruto and Sasuke coming also?" After about two seconds, he smiled blindingly once more. "Oh, I see. It was a surprise!" He switched his gaze to Naruto, who was glaring daggers, and said, "Surprise!"
Naruto cracked his knuckles and the trio behind Lee flinched. "Camping, eh?" His voice was deadly.
I would not want to be them right now, Sasuke thought. The only sound was a loud swallow from Kiba, and the crunching from Chouji furiously stuffing chips into his mouth. The daylight turned to night, and the summer heat seemed to have seeped away. Neji began to nervously twitch around his eyes, staring like a deer in the headlights. The short, blond, blue-eyed headlights. Lee had no idea what was happening.
"Enough, Naruto," came a deep voice behind Sasuke.
The day was suddenly righted, and everyone looked to see who it was. Aburame Shino stood there, hands in pockets.
"But, but! They were going to go camping without me, Shino!"
"Yes." Was all he said.
"They gotta pay! It's not fair that they-"
"Naruto." Shino interrupted. "If you hurt them, they can't go camping, right?"
He contemplated this. After a minute, he nodded. "You're right Shino." He said. "Now they're coming with me! Yeah!" Naruto threw his fist into the air and cheered, as though moments before he hadn't been close to slaughtering them.
"He sure changed gears fast," Kiba muttered.
"Yeah," Chouji agreed.
"Does this mean we're going with him?"
"Yeah."
"Crap."
"Yeah."
"What the hell just happened?" Neji said. "I almost died!" He put on his hands on his head. "Am I going crazy? He was evil! Pure evil! It was dark!" He continued to rant in a freaked-out way, which was very out of character for him, so everyone was entertained for several minutes (except Naruto, who was, in fact, still cheering)
"You saved us," Kiba said after a while, in the direction of Shino. Chouji munched his agreement.
Shino just nodded. He was a very non-verbal type of person. Hence, everyone knew very little about him. Except he always wore round sunglasses. It made sense to wear them outside during the summer, but he wore them inside and outside, all year. No one ever said anything about it, because Naruto had once laughed at him and tried to take them off. Well, let's just say he was in pain for a very long time. Shino's hair was all over the place, like he didn't even bother with it, and he always wore simple, unadorned clothes. His lack of caring about his appearance and his mysterious-ness-ism earned him his fair share of ditzy fans.
"Oi, Shino?" Naruto said suddenly. Everyone looked at him. "Does this mean you're coming?"
There was a slight pause, and the group collectively held their breath. Except, of course, Sasuke, who was listening intently, but still looking emo in a nonchalant way, and Neji, who was twitching and muttering madly to himself.
"Yes." Shino said, in that freakishly deep, slow voice of his. The breath was released, and Naruto grinned. Meanwhile, Neji realized he was acting mental, so he immediately regained his composure with a flip of his hair that would have left rabid fan girls in spasms; Rock Lee was staring with the utmost concentration at a garden gnome; Kiba was absently stroking Akamaru and watching Naruto grin like an idiot; Chouji was eating at a more moderate pace; Sasuke was being emo; Naruto was beginning to squirm uncomfortably under the silence; and Shino, Shino was just there.
"All right!" Naruto said, a little too loudly. All heads swiveled in his direction, and he began to sweat profusely (he can handle everything but pressure). "L-let's go!" And with that he marched off to the RV, where he banged his head against the horn to relieve the stress. The rest of the posse just stared after him for awhile. Then Kiba started cracking up.
Eventually, everyone was settled in. Their friend, Nara Shikamaru, had been sleeping on Chouji's couch and would not be stirred. So Naruto and Lee carried him out to the camper and shoved him onto the space above the driver. Shikamaru already had clothes over there, so Chouji just shoved them in a gym bag and they were on the their way.
Naruto surprised everyone by stopping in front of a house that none of them recognized.
"I'll be right back," he said, and bounded out before they could bombard him with questions. Whilst he was gone, Kiba and Chouji speculated as to who the house belonged to.
"Naruto doesn't have a-" Kiba raised his pinky, "girlfriend, does he?"
"Maybe it's his Grandma's house," Chouji suggested.
Kiba shook his head. The two were sitting across from each other at the small table. Lee sat by Kiba, while Shino and Neji sat on the bench parallel to the table. Sasuke was riding shotgun. It seemed a little cramped, but no one was uncomfortable.
"Do we know anyone else Naruto would bring?" Neji asked. Everyone thought. And thought. And thought. They racked theirs brains until, out of the blue, Shino spoke.
"Sabaku Gaara." He said. All eyes shifted to him.
Sasuke asked, "You think he would bring Gaara?"
"Yes."
"Why?" This was from Chouji. Shino said nothing, but pointed towards the windshield. Sure enough, it was none other than Gaara and his brother Kankuro. They held bags in their hands. Kiba and Chouji mentally shuddered. Gaara, Gaara they could live with, but Kankuro was just- evil. On the other hand, Lee was excited.
"Gaara! This is wonderful! We will enjoy the bounties of nature together with our old friend." Tears began streaming down his face. "Youth is so beautiful!"
Everyone just looked at him. They were used to this- he was totally oblivious. "Dude," Kiba said. "Lee's on crack." Akamaru yipped, and the group nodded. At this moment, Gaara, holding a cat and a fishbowl, and Kankuro, holding two bags, opened the door. There was dead silence for a second, broken only by the sound of purring.
"Gaara! Kankuro! Good to see you!" Lee said, jumping right in front of them and smiling laser-beams.
"Yo," Kankuro said, in a bored voice. He squeezed past him and plopped down next to Chouji, who blanched.
"Hello," Gaara said, smiling softly. He was very quiet, but didn't look like the type of person who would be. His hair was flaming red, cut short and choppy. His eyes were aquamarine and highlighted with thick black eyeliner. Both of these traits made him look deathly pale and intriguing at the same time. To further this, he wore black and red everything. Gaara, Kankuro, and their elder sister Temari were in a Visual Kei band, and usually dressed the part. Kankuro wore black and purple. Today, they still wore their colors, but managed to tone them down into comfortable looking summer attire. Woot, brownie points.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, Naruto said, "Uh, can we go?"
"Yes!" said Lee, beaming.
"Okay," Gaara said. He sat by Neji on the bench, and Lee took his place by Kiba.
"Finally," Kankuro said. He had been helping himself to a helpless Chouji's chips, while the others looked on in mixtures of horror, mirth, and indifference.
"Let's go!" Naruto cheered, and revved the engine.
Dear God, Sasuke thought. I'm going to die. Everyone was thinking the same thing.
Thus, the fun begun for the guys.