Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
False Confessions, Secret Intentions
Chapter Six: Missing Client! Shikamaru's Flight!
"Sea Country!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.
"…" Hinata smiled shyly at him. Sakura looked around.
"Where's our client?" she asked. "Tsunade-sama said that he'd meet us on the docks—where is he?"
"Maybe late," Tenten suggested. The response was a cold-eyed glare. "Uh, that's just what I thought…" Tenten looked away quickly.
"Late…" Neji checked the sun's position. "It's a little after noon. He said he would meet us at noon—late is probably a logical suggestion."
"So, uh, you know the guy's late, right?! Which means we have time to go and eat somewhere! I'm starving!" Naruto said happily. Sakura pounded him on the head.
"Naruto!" she said angrily.
"Well, we missed breakfast 'cause we were in such a hurry to move on…" Naruto whined.
"STUPID! If we go and eat somewhere, we might miss our appointment—plus, that would also delay our travel time to Tea Country! Tsunade-sama said that we should 'aim for good service!'"
"Granny Tsunade said that?" Naruto said slowly. "You know, that sounds like we work at a grocery store and they say that they should aim for good service with customers so they buy more…and they say 'Have a good day!' when you leave."
"Baka," Sakura and Sasuke said with feeling.
"…" Hinata looked questioningly at Naruto. Neji and Tenten eyed him with twitching eyes.
"…how creative," Tenten said at last.
"…hn…" Neji turned away, and came face to face with their client.
"Hello!" cried the client enthusiastically.
"…hi, peppy…" Naruto muttered. Sakura hit him on the head again. Hinata let out a little gasp and went and started looking at the two large bumps on Naruto's head.
"You're late," Sasuke said dully.
"I know! Exactly fifteen minutes and thirteen seconds! And I am very sorry!"
"How in the world did Tsunade-sama manage an arrangement with this guy…?" Tenten muttered.
Neji, who didn't dare say this aloud, thought to himself, This guy is so annoying he's more annoying than Naruto. That happiness—that gleefulness—and that grin—and that annoying face…but Neji's face remained as stoic as ever.
"That's…good," Sakura said. "Is there anything you have to do before we leave?"
"…" the guy's eyes widened. He blushed. He was at Sakura's side in an instant.
"Beautiful lady," the guy bowed. Then he took Sakura's hand and kissed it. Everyone's eyes twitched. Sakura's eyes were as large as bowling balls. The guy was still looking at Sakura's eyes with a freak smile on his face.
"I've got something for this." Tenten reached into her weapons pouch and drew out a balloon, blew it up as large as possible, tied the end up, walked up to the guy, put the balloon right in his face, and stabbed a needle into it. BAM!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" the guy cried.
"Tenten!" Sakura said.
"Tenten…" Neji said.
"…hn…" Sasuke said.
"…" Hinata shyly played with her fingers.
"RIGHT! GO TENTEN!" Naruto cried.
"I AM VERY SORRY!" the guy cried. "It was just—It was just—I was so stricken by this beautiful lady's great beauty I was stunned—"
"Forget it. Let's get moving." Tenten grabbed the guy's collar and began to drag him away in the direction of the Tea Country. The rest looked at each other and followed.
With Temari and Lee…
"Right. Lee—that incident back there was all your fault. Now you are going to be quiet with your youthful scrap of cloth while I spy—watch—yeah, watch Shikamaru and Ino on their…something-something date."
"OKAY!" Lee cried enthusiastically. Temari looked at him before bashing him on the head with her fan.
"Shut up!" she whispered.
"MMPH!" Lee said muffled, tying his cloth around his face.
"Good." Temari turned and peeked around the corner of the building. There were Shikamaru and Ino—Ino was chattering endlessly and Shikamaru—he was—well, you couldn't really tell it was Shikamaru behind the piles of bags and boxes he was carrying.
"…troublesome woman…" Shikamaru said with annoyance.
"Jeez, Shikamaru! Don't complain so much! After all, you did force me to carry my purse. It's only gentlemanly to offer to carry a young lady's bags!"
"…young hag…" Shikamaru whispered under his breath.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY, SHIKAMARU?!"
"Uh, troublesome day, isn't it?" Shikamaru said quickly. "You know what, I think today is a good day, to, uh, talk about a lot of troublesomely random stuff! Did you know that Naruto might stop going after Sakura and go after Hinata? That's what I've heard! And, uh, that—uh, Neji is having a secret relationship, uh, with Tenten? And I've also heard that, um…" Shikamaru thought. "I—uh…"
"OHMYGOSH! I'VE HEARD THAT TOO!" Ino cried in joy.
Shikamaru sighed. At least he'd had a lot of practice changing the subject, with having Ino as a childhood friend as well as a teammate.
"Did you know that Hinata has a huge crush on Naruto? I think they'd be so cute together!" Ino cried giddily. "And Neji—well—I think that Tenten is much better suited for him than Sasuke! Actually, Sasuke should have been mine! Did you know that Sasuke is the gr—"
"INO-SAN! IT IS NOT YOUTHFUL TO TALK ABOUT OTHER GUYS WHEN YOU ARE WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND! AND SASUKE IS NOT GREAT! I AM MUCH MORE YOUTHFUL THAN H—"
Temari had already clapped a hand over Lee's mouth and was dragging him to meet Ino and Shikamaru.
"Uh, sorry, Ino, Shikamaru…" Temari said. "It's just—Lee and I—"
Shikamaru froze. He dropped his load. He stared with wide eyes at Lee and Temari. Shikamaru grabbed his head and started to run away as fast as lightning, shrieking,
"MY EYES! MY EYES! THEY BURN! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! BABIES—BLOND MUSHROOM-CUT SPANDEX-WEARING FAN-WIELDING TAIJUTSU USER PURPLE MAKEUP MASCARA EYES BIG EYEBROWS AND EYELASHES! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE THE HORRIBLE MENTAL IMAGES STOP!"
Temari stared after Shikamaru, then realized that this was her chance. She had approximately five minutes before Ino realized what was going on, went freakishly insane, and ran after him. She had to buy the time that Shikamaru needed to get away from Ino.
"So, uh, INO! OH MY GOSH!" Temari cried, faking the hyper girl tone. "YOU KNOW, I've heard about those things too! And did you know that, uh, that store down the street has a sale on shoes? And they're dirt cheap! And not to mention their five sizes too large for either of us! You know what—I think that we should go buy some now! And then get makeovers! And then—uh—we should go buy clothes! Lots of clothes! For no particular reason at all!"
"OH, YES!" Ino cried happily.
"Lee will carry the bags and stuff, won't you?"
"OH, YES!" Lee cried. "IF I CANNOT CARRY 1000 POUNDS OF BAGS AND STUFF, I WILL BUY 2000 POUNDS OF SHOES! AND IF I CANNOT BUY 2000 POUNDS OF SHOES, I WILL BUY 3000 POUNDS OF CLOTHES! IF I CANNOT BUY 3000 POUNDS OF CLOTHES, I WILL, uh, GET 4000 POUNDS OF MAKEUP DURING A MAKEOVER!"
With the mission…
"So, Sakura-chan, I, uh, what do you like to do?"
"I'm a medical ninja," Sakura replied, sweatdropping at the guy's attempts at conversation.
"That's so wonderful!" the guy cried. His name was…well, let's call him John for now. Not saying that's his real name.
"Right." Sakura said. "Also, at the age of eight, I began to have a crush on Uchiha Sasuke, the guy right there." She pointed at Sasuke, who was standing next to Naruto and Hinata. Neji and Tenten brought up the back. "And I am currently dating a guy—Lee."
"Sakura-chan…" Naruto said. His eyes were tearing. Yes, yes, he was very heartbroken when he heard that Sakura was dating Lee. Hinata patted his shoulder.
"C-crush…d-dating…" the guy said. He sounded disappointed. Tenten sighed before picking another balloon from her pocket and popping it next to the guy's face.
"I'M VERY SORRY—I ZONED OUT FOR A MOMENT!" John said. He looked at Sakura. "So, um, that guy—the one you're dating—he must be awesomely cool!"
Sakura looked at him. "No, not really. He's a green-spandex wearing, thick eyebrows, mushroom-cut guy who can only do taijutsu."
John stared at Sakura with wide eyes. His mind was slowly working this out.
"But, uh, Lee's a good guy," Tenten said quickly. "We should know. We're his teammates." She indicated Neji and herself.
"Yeah, too bad he didn't come with us! You could've met him! But he got severely injured!" Naruto said. Tenten felt guilty.
"I'm sorry to hear that," John said to Sakura.
"Huh, ye—" Sakura stopped.
Sasuke had already stopped, and Neji and Tenten. Hinata paused, and Naruto, seeing everyone stop, stopped too.
"WHY IN THE WORLD IS EVERYONE STOPPING WE SHOULD GET MOVING BECAUSE THE SOONER THIS VERY BORING and…" Naruto sniffed. "HURTFUL MISSION ENDS, THE BETTER!"
"Naruto, you idiot," Sasuke said, and pushed him. Naruto fell to the ground right on his bottom, and started yelling,
"SASUKE YOU BAKA YOU SUPER BAKA WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"
"I'll accept that as a thank you. I'll put this in simple terms for you…You idiot Naruto. You're too busy screaming your head off you didn't notice shiny, sharp objects flying out at you." Naruto looked at the ground. It was true. A couple of shiny shuriken lay there. His eyes widened.
Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, and Sasuke ran in formation around, uh, John. Neji made a few hand signs and activated the Byakugan, scanning the area.
"Tenten! To your right."
"Roger." Tenten leapt upward and immediately spotted her adversary, whipping out several shuriken and throwing them.
Her opponent dodged swiftly, and several more appeared out of the trees. Neji was able to defeat most of them using Gentle Fist before they had time to blink. Tenten took care of the rest with a couple well-aimed kunai.
Several more jumped out of the trees, aiming straight for the defense circle around, uh, John (I feel so awkward whenever I say John. It, uh, isn't very Japanese-sounding.) Naruto moved out and put his hands into a hand sign.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Five Narutos appeared, all of them attacking the enemy ninja. Unfortunately, they vanished in poofs of smoke once they took a hit. Sasuke made a few hand signs and blew a fireball at them—they retreated back into the shadows.
And suddenly, there were dozens—hundreds of enemies surrounding them—and they all looked the same.
"NO WAY!" Naruto yelled. Now, all of them were separated—it was impossible to tell where anyone was in the jumble. Tenten and Neji were back-to-back—and that's when Neji noticed something.
"Huh? Neji?" Tenten asked. She felt Neji but his kunai away, walk up to one of the enemies (the guy was snarling ferociously) and gave him a swift kick to the side. He vanished in a poof of smoke.
"Illusions!" Tenten said angrily. She eyed the ground. "That's how you could tell—no shadows."
"ILLUSIONS?!" Naruto asked loudly.
"Yeah, idiot," Sasuke said dully.
And pretty soon, all the illusions had vanished in a single puff of smoke. The teams regrouped.
"Were those—the same people who attacked you, Tenten?" Sakura asked.
"No." Tenten shook her head. "They looked the same—but…" she paused. "The guy I fought was really slow. At least these guys had minimal speed."
"But what—" Sakura said.
"I-I think t-that we h-have m-more t-to worry a-about," Hinata stammered guiltily.
"Huh? Like what? What's more important than finding the guys who were trying to attack our client?"
"U-Um…" Hinata stopped. "Our—our c-client—h-he disappeared."
"WHAT!?" Naruto cried. He looked around.
"You're right. He's gone." Tenten said.
"But—we really shouldn't worry about him," Sasuke said.
"Why not?" Tenten asked.
"Look." Sasuke pointed at the hill they were walking on, at the shuriken that had been thrown first.
"Yeah, what about it? Shuriken," Naruto said.
"Yes, but look at the angle," Neji said.
"The angle…" Tenten bent down and looked at it. "…no way…"
"What is it?" Sakura asked.
"Come take a look at this!"
"What? They're just shuriken," Naruto replied.
"YOU BAKA, NARUTO! THE CLUES ARE GETTING SHOVED IN YOUR FACE! LOOK HARDER!" Sakura said.
"I don't see anything."
"AAGGGHHH!!!" Sakura cried in frustration. Tenten sighed.
"U-Um, N-Naruto-k-kun…w-what they m-mean about the a-angle…"
"The angle!" Tenten pointed. "At this angle, it couldn't have been thrown from the trees! Then it wouldn't been at a slight diagonal. This—" she pointed. "We're on a steep hill. This throw signifies that this was thrown by approximately that position over there." She pointed a little further down the hill.
"Yes. Which means…" Neji began. Naruto waited expectantly, though in his mind he already knew the answer.
"…that these shuriken were thrown by none other…than our dear client," Tenten finished.
With Shikamaru…
"Coming! Coming!" Kankurou said with annoyance. Gaara got up as well and the two brothers went to the door. Kankurou opened it.
"Hello, troublesome relatives of the troublesome woman," Shikamaru said.
"Uh…hi. Do you know where Temari is? She's awfully late—it couldn't have taken her this long," Kankurou said.
"…she is in Konoha, dating Lee. I have run away as fast as my legs can carry me to try and escape the thoughts of blond, mushroom-cut, green-spandex wearing, taijutsu using, fan wielding, purple makeup wearing, mascara eye, big eyebrow and weird eyelash babies."
Kankurou and Gaara stared at the sweating Shikamaru with eyes as large as basketballs. Then they shut the door in his face.
"HEY! TROUBLESOME PEOPLE—HEY!"
Author's Note: I'm sorry the fight scene was short, for people who like that stuff. But since this was put in the Romance/Humor section, I decided that this shouldn't really be Action/Adventure. So that is why this chapter was sort of rushed. Also partially because I didn't want it to be too long. But I think I made it a tad too short. Also, for those who think that there will be no fluff during this mission, I assure you, there will be NejiXTenten moments. As much as I can squeeze in.