"HEY SAI, I HAVE ANOTHER GREAT IDEA DATTEBAYO!"
Oh no, must hide, can't let that crazy person find me. In the few seconds he had before Naruto got there, Sai searched desperately for a hiding spot. But, alas, he was standing in the middle of the street, in plain view. Naruto ran up to him. He had a horrible gleam in his eyes and was grinning from ear to ear.
"Hey, you know how the whole Aburame clan is still stuck outside the village," said Naruto.
"…Yes," replied Sai a little uncertainly. He didn't like where this was going.
"Well, we're going to raid Shino's house," Naruto giggled (not like a girl though, more of a mischievous giggle).
Now Sai was sure of it. His teammate belonged in the loony asylum. Or maybe a jail, if he went through with this disturbing idea. Sai didn't reply, he simply began to walk away. But unfortunately, Naruto had already grabbed onto his sleeve (again) and started dragging him down the street.
"Why exactly is raiding Shino's house a good idea?" he decided to ask.
"Because, three years ago, I went on a mission with Shino where someone drugged him so that he kept laughing uncontrollably. It was probably the scariest thing I've ever seen, well next to Orochimaru's face. Anyway at the end of the mission, the old hag who drugged him gave him a bottle of the laughing potion."
" What makes you think he still has it," asked Sai, who was still be dragged down the streets.
" If he ever used it, we would have known and he wouldn't have been careless enough to throw it away. I just hope his house is cleaner than mine or it'll take forever to find it."
As it turned out, Shino's house was actually very neat and organized. Surprising for someone who didn't mind having cockroaches crawling through their hair (I mentally cringe). After less than an hour, Naruto found a vial of mysterious liquid in Shino's underwear drawer. Sai had not participated at all in the search, just to let you know. He was far too decent for that (even though he's not very decent when it comes to other things…).
"Are you sure that's it? It could be poisonous."
"well we're gonna find out once I put some of this in Neji's breakfast, hehe," said Naruto.
"But if it's poisonous, it could kill him," said Sai. He thought he was far too young and good-looking to go to jail.
"No one's going to suspect us, trust me. After about a year or two the authorities will realize they can't find the murderer and the whole thing will blow over like it didn't happen. The only ones who will care are Hinata and possibly Tenten (and Neji's fan girls)."
"But…Neji will be dead."
Naruto thought about this for a moment, " If he's dead then we won't be able to throw parties at the Hyuga compound when his uncle's away…we better test this on something else first."
By this time they had already left Shino's house and were walking down the street. Coming from the opposite direction was Konohamaru's gang. Konohamaru was carrying another old lady's lost cat, that kept trying to claw at his face.
"Oy, Konohamaru, can we borrow that cat?" yelled Naruto. He ran up to Konohamaru and grabbed the cat before Konohamaru could answer. "Sai, hold its mouth open dattebayo."
Sai thought about running right then and there. If the liquid did happen to be poisonous, he didn't want some old lady beating him with her walking stick when she found out. But then again, if it was the laughing potion, Sai was rather curious as to how it would affect the calm and cool Hyuga protégé. So he pried open that poor animal's mouth and Naruto dripped a tiny amount of the liquid into it.
Immediately the cat started cackling. It was freakish to say the least. Naruto moved that up on his list of scary things, after Orochimaru's face and before laughing Shino. He dropped the cat and it started to roll around on the ground laughing (if you could even call it that) bizarrely. Before Konohamaru could even say a word, as he was still in shock from what had just happened, Naruto shouted, "It works!" and then dragged Sai off to Neji's house.
They were standing outside the open window of the Hyuga kitchen waiting for Neji to depart from the area so they could slip the potion into his food. From what they could hear from their positions on either side of the window, Neji seemed to be making pancakes. After about ten minutes they heard a voice that made them jump.
"Syrup, where did I put that syrup." They heard him opened the fridge and rummage around in it. "Oh yes I remember now." They heard him walk out of the kitchen.
"Now's our chance," whispered Naruto, "now where's that breakfast."
Sai peered through the window and then stared in shock at what he saw on the stove, "Um Naruto, do those pancakes look like what I think they look like?"
"Huh, what do you think they look like," replied Naruto as he reached over the window sill for the pan.
"They…look like Tenten's head… see the big circle's her face and the little ones are her panda buns."
"I don't know," said Naruto as he put the laughing serum onto the pancakes, "They could be pandas or maybe he has a mickey mouse fetish. Okay there it's done, now we just have to wait until he eats them."
They returned to their positions at either side of window. Then they heard humming. It was Tenten walking down the road to Neji's house to ask him to join her for an early training session. Naruto and Sai looked at each other. There was nowhere to hide, so they just stood still and hoped she didn't notice them. She walked by them, stopped humming and took five steps back back. She stared at them, blinked, and then kept walking.
They listened as she walked into the Hyuga kitchen and found it empty. While she waited for Neji, Tenten decided to take a look around the kitchen. Wow, this place is huge, she thought, they must have every kind of appliance money can buy and…wait what's that. She walked over to the stove and picked up one of the pancakes gingerly.
"What in the heck are these!" she whispered. Then she heard footsteps coming toward the kitchen and immediately threw the pancake back into the pan and turned towards the hallway door.
Neji walked in holding a half filled extra large bottle of maple syrup. "What brings you here Tenten?"
"Oh, I was just wondering if you wanted to go to the training fields early today before the Hokage gives us another mission—and what are you doing with that bottle of syrup?"
He inspected the bottle of syrup in his hand, "I am going to put some on my pancakes. Is that not normal?"
"B-but you just walked out from where your bedroom is. What was it doing in there?"
"Naruto decided to have a get together at my house since Hiashi-sama is away. I tried to get rid of him and the buffoons that he invited into my house, but my attempts were in vain," Neji replied thinking about the unpleasant ordeal. They had told him to, "Lighten up," and that, "Teenagers are supposed to throw wild parties while their parents are away."
Tenten was confused, "But what does that have to do with syrup?"
Neji decided to change the subject, "I must eat breakfast now. I will meet you at the training fields in approximately half an hour."
Tenten left his house immensely confused, " Syrup, party, pancakes shaped like my head, it just doesn't make any sense…"
Sai looked at Naruto, " I am rather confused as well. What happened with the syrup." (he hadn't been invited to the party)
Naruto was cracking up (quietly of course). " There was this…and lee…and the chugging contest…and the hobo. Man that was a great time!" he said in between bursts of laughter.
Meanwhile, inside the house, Neji was sitting at the kitchen table preparing to eat his pancakes. He slowly lifted the fork to his mouth, bit down on the food, chewed, then swallowed. Something was very strange. He put the fork down carefully and stared at the pancakes. They seemed a bit moist, as though someone had dripped some water on them. Then something odd happened in his throat. He felt like he was going to choke. Instead he burst out laughing. He clamped a hand over his mouth. Where had that come from. Then he happened again. After about a minute, the almighty Hyuga looked like a maniac. He laughed so hard that he fell out of his seat and onto the floor.
I had rather die than look like this in public, he thought, but I have to meet Tenten at the training grounds. I can't let her down so I guess I'll just have to try and contain this horrible laughter. And with that thought, he got up and made his way to the door, unaware of the two pranksters who also doubled over laughing by the window.
"Naruto-kun, I think I'm finally beginning to understand why you think pranking is fun," laughed Sai.
Well, all I can say is good luck Neji. But I'm not done with him yet, so if you want to see what becomes of him as the day progresses don't miss chapter five: The Price of Youth. The title may not make sense as of yet, but it soon will. Please review if you didn't hate this.