A trick up his sleeve
Chapter 7: The finals
Koomahana
Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site
Thoughts
Paragraphs are memories
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What happened? Sakura thought as she stretched out in her bed, noting how she left her window wide open and let her blankets tangle around her.
When did she get back to her house?
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"I'm not joking Sakura" Kiba grumbled, as he walked beside her, "You seriously need to stay away from that Suna-guy."
"Why?" Sakura asked with a smile, delighted despite herself as she made Kiba glare at her, "Oh relax Kiba, it's not like he's going to kill me. We were alone for like five minutes before his siblings found us and then you showed up not even a minute later."
"I still don't like him," Kiba frowned at her, pausing as she opened the door with her keys. Sighing Sakura opened the door and ducked back out to kiss Kiba on his cheek, startling him and making him blush brightly.
"I'll see you at the examines tomorrow," Sakura chuckled at Kiba's bright red face, "Be safe on the way back to the compound." She ducked in side and hurried to her room before she passed out without changing
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She couldn't stop the giggle that escaped her as he trailed kisses down her neck, smoothly undoing her pink kimono with one hand while the other pinned her to the wall they were hiding behind. He covered her mouth quickly when he bit harshly on her shoulder and lifted one of her legs to wrap around his waist; she ran her fingers over his chest, tugging at the folds of his own dress and opening them slightly to reveal his pale skin.
He replaced his hand on her mouth with his own mouth as he pushed the last of his own robe out of the way and lined himself up with her, only to pause briefly when she bit his lip and rolled her hips towards him. He groaned and pinned her arms above her with one hand, using his other to fix his robe half-heatedly. She groaned and thumped her head against the wall, tightening her legs around his waist and rolling her hips against him, trying to sway him into doing what she wanted.
"You'll regret it," he murmured against her throat, his warm breath sending shivers up her spine
"Doubtful," She murmured back with a smirk, turning to give him a kiss, huffing when he quickly pulled back from her. "Please?"
"It'll hurt," He answered pushing his forehead against hers and pinning her in place with his jade eyes. "We could do something else... I doubt you'll like it..."
"If you leave me like this I'll never forgive you," She grumbled with a faint blush, making him smirk
"Hold on," he ordered, tightening his hold and pulling her down the hall and quickly into her room, "Try to be quiet." She gasped as he bent her over her bed and rammed into her from behind, one hand quickly smothering her shout as he worked behind her, kisses trailing up and down her neck, shoulders and back.
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Another dream? Sakura thought with a frown, stretching experimentally she realized that her body wasn't sore, not even a pinprick of pain. Whatever... I'm tried, time for sleep, When she pulled herself onto her side and looked at her clock on her desk and the calendar just above it, Sakura saw that it was just a few hours before the final examine.
Examine, Sakura thought dully, the final examine is today...
"S#*T!" Sakura stumbled out of her bed and rolled in a tangled mess of sheets on her floor before she was able to grab her robe and run into her bathroom for a quick shower.
All the while never noticing the small light brown bracelet with little white and black decals resting on her desk
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Several hours later
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It was the day of the final round, the finalist were all lined up together, looking almost the same as they all last saw each other. Except Sasuke and Naruto, who were absent, and Sakura who was wearing her old crimson dress that Gaara swore he tore to shreds. True there were minor differences, like the long bell sleeves and the longer skirt that brushed at her knees with the slits to her hips that showed her black shorts and the high leather boots he'd seen in her closet months ago. Honestly how did she think she could move in that tight fitting outfit? And what about the cat held in her arms? Wouldn't that tinny kitten just get in the way?
Her first opponent uses sound as a tool; dose she think that a pet and a dress is going to save her against someone like Dosu? Gaara stiffened at the thought that flew passed his head like nothing. When the hell, did he start caring weather or not she won her matches? He was expecting her to fail in the prelims!
"WHAAA!" everyone turned to look at the blonde who came flying out from the entrance and skidded to a halt a few feet away.
Idiot, Gaara thought glancing back at the blond only to see Sakura half bent over looking down at Naruto curiously
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"Ha~, Ha~, Ngh!" He covered her mouth before she could shout, finding it easier to move against her this time as compound to last time. He felt her tong dart out and lick the sweat on his palm, glancing over her shoulder at him with a bright blush on her cheeks. Pulling her flush against him and crushing his lips against hers with a smirk, his hand trailing down her chest teasingly; she gasped against his lips and tightened on him in warning—she didn't like be teased.
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Gaara quickly turned away as Shino and Shikamaru lifted Naruto from the ground; Sakura placed glowing fingertips to his bleeding nose carefully, smiling as the blonde thanked her with a sheepish smile. Gaara ignored the subtitle tightening of his right hand on his left arm and the looks his siblings gave him and the proctor who showed them their match ups again. He was glade when they were told to move back into the box, leaving behind Naruto and the white eyed boy. Gaara found his eyes locked onto Sakura's back as she walked beside Shikamaru and Shino, chatting with a smile and giggling every time one of them said something funny.
By the time they got to their designated waiting area, Kankuro and Temari were huddled close to him preventing his point of view of the pinkette which made him lean against the opposite wall where she was standing just so he could look at her while pretending to be looking at Temari as she and Kankuro chatted. More than once, he locked gazes with the Nara boy, who was at first confused when he first caught Gaara looking in their direction but it wasn't long before he figured it out and stepped around Sakura to block Gaara's view.
About half way through Naruto's fight, about the same time the blonde made a show of getting his chakra to move despite the Hyūga boy's words, Shino stepped around a distracted Sakura to stand beside Shikamaru. His face turned in the siblings' direction, which irritated Gaara further because he knew that now the bug boy had caught on and was acting like a shield with Shikamaru.
BOOM
Gaara flinched and looked down into the arena curiously, watching how two dark forms burst from the tall dark cloud and slammed into smoking piles at opposite areas of the arena. What in the seven hells did he just miss?
"Come on Naruto!" Sakura shouted leaning over the railing with panic echoing in her emerald eyes, "GET UP!"
She's making things worse, Temari thought with gritted teeth, watching how Gaara had stiffened at the sound of Sakura's voice. She placed herself a little closer to Kankuro, purposely keeping Gaara's eyes off of Sakura, while her own were locked on the arena, searching for the winner.
"Figures," Temari smirked as Neji pulled himself out of the hole he had been slammed into, Neji stumbled forward to look down on Naruto's hole, teeth gritted together and glaring down at the curled up ball of orange. "What the hell?!" Temari gasped as Naruto burst out from beneath the earth, right fist colliding with Neji's jaw hard enough to knock him flat on his back.
"About time!" Sakura shouted her smile wide and her eyes dancing, "That's my boy!"
Geez Sakura, Shikamaru flinched as he felt the agitation roll off Gaara; he shared a look with Shino and sighed. How oblivious can you be? Apparently, she was very oblivious. Sakura pushed Chicho into Shikamaru's arms before she jumped over the railing laughing and hurried over to Naruto, enveloping him with a hug that nearly knocked him over.
"Oh wait," Sakura pulled away from Naruto with worried eyes, not seeing Shikamaru quickly pass the hissing fur ball over to Shino quickly, who simply made a cage with his insects. "Sasuke's match is next and he's still not here yet."
"Hay proctor, what about Sasuke?!" Naruto asked loudly, turning to look up at the grinning brunet as the medics carried Neji away "He's still not here yet."
"It's really not like him..." Sakura added, "He should be here soon..."
"Hmmm," Genma stared down at the two teens, a smile pulling at his lips "All contestants have until their round to arrive, if they don't then they're considered to have forfeited their fight."
"What? But—!"
"Naruto," Sakura called, putting a restraining hand on the blonde shoulder, "The whole village can't wait an entire day for one contestant to show up when they decided to drop out or if there was an accident and they couldn't arrive."
"Fine," Naruto sighed, both teens perked up at the scared Jonin who land behind Genma and whispered into his ear before leaving as quickly as he arrived.
"Well it sounds like you two get your wish," Genma smirked at their matching masks of confusion "Do to unforeseen circumstances; Sasuke Uchiha's match will be postponed until the last round!" The crowd grumbled, Temari and Kankuro shared a worried look, Naruto and Sakura cheered and Shikamaru whined about his match being bumped up.
"Alright you two, clear out," Genma chuckled as Naruto spun Sakura around
"Right!" the two laughed and ran straight for the stairs all smiles and giggles
"Kankuro Sabaku of Sand and Shino Aburame of Leaf, get down here!" Genma called out, looking expectantly at the two boys in question. Temari and Kankuro argued for a moment but it was silenced with a few short words from Gaara; with gritted teeth, Kankuro marched away passing Naruto and Sakura in the hall as he left.
"Hay Girly..." Kankuro paused in the hall, drawing Sakura and Naruto's attention with his soft call "you better lose to sound boy, if you don't..." Kankuro shifted uncomfortably, his eyes locking in on Shino as he approached "Trust me you don't want to go against Gaara." Honestly, I don't know what he'd do to you...
"If you're worried about my health you don't need to be," Sakura said with a strained smile and ticking eyebrow, "There's no way I can win my fight without getting a good amount of damage done to myself. My fight will properly end in a tie."
I don't know if that's good or bad, Kankuro thought with a sigh, quickly turning and moving into the arena before Shino could get too close to him. Either way, Gaara will have a less then pleasant reaction.
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Twenty minutes later
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"That was lame," Sakura grumbled with a frown, absent-mindedly petting Chicho, making Naruto chuckle beside her. Kankuro did put op a good fight but he failed to take into account that Aburame's nearly had an endless supply of tiny ass bugs. As such he was currently being treated for chakra exhaustion while Shino was being hospitalized for poisoning, neither one of them would be able to continue in the chunin examines so their round ended in a tie.
"At least Shino won... technically," Shikamaru grumbled, Why'd you have to get poisoned? You know I need you up here to help me with Sand boy!
"Hay Shikamaru," Sakura grinned as Temari jumped down and headed into the center of the arena, "You're next."
"Damn it," Shikamaru hissed, eyes glancing over at the last sand sibling, Naruto's oblivious and Sound boy hates her guts, no one else is up here to keep sand boy away from her... should I—
"Oh come Shikamaru!" Naruto shouted out, bursting from behind the brunet and slapping him hard on his back, "Make us proud!"
"Wha-wha—aaah—!"
"Naruto-baka!" Sakura shouted, eyes widening as Shikamaru went over the edge of the burrier and landed back first on the ground. "Are you trying to kill him?!" Sakura asked slamming a fist into Naruto's blond head, ignoring Gaara as he lifted off his wall and walked away as if he was hopping not to get associated with them. "What if you just got him disqualified because he landed on his ribs wrong and got them broken?! He wouldn't be able to give Sasuke more time to get here! IDIOT!"
Maybe I should do that just to get back at him, Shikamaru thought as watched Sakura beat Naruto for not thinking strait, it was the perfect way to get back at the blond but it was also unfair to Sasuke... and Sakura, that meant she'd spend more alone time with the red head because the first round of the second stage would pull Naruto away from her to fight whoever won this match.
"S-sorry Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined, rubbing at his head in pain
"Think before you act," Sakura hissed, turning to look worriedly down at Shikamaru, Please don't get back at him by being mean to Sasuke...
Sakura flinched several minuets later, when Temari lost her patience and swung her fan with a furious shout. She watched for a few more minutes before noticing Shikamaru was in his 'famous' thinking pose.
"I'm going to the bathroom," Sakura sighed with a slight smile, pushing Chicho into Naruto's hold and patting her so she knew that Naruto was a friend and wouldn't bite him this time, this round is over
"Don't take to long," Dosu murmured as she passed "I wouldn't want you to miss out on our little fight."
"Don't worry," Sakura smirked back, "I just have to play with my hair." She pulled on an unruly lock for emphasis as she kept walking, not looking back at the older boy. Sakura walked down the hall, passing Gaara without looking at him and stepped into the bathroom easily. Sakura walked straight to the sink, pulled out a few paper towels, soaked them and patted them against her slightly longer hair.
Calm down, Sakura told her self, watching her reflection carefully, pressing the wet towel to the top of her hair Sakura carefully lifted her hair and repeated the process to the underside. He uses sound, nothing is faster then sound... well technically that'd be light but how do you fight something that's second only to light?
Sakura gently pulled a hair band from her wrist and pulled as much of her hair back into a high ponytail as she could.
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"Now Sakura listen carefully," Hana instructed gesturing for the pinkette to sit in front of her, Sakura did so wirily, at this point she's learned to expected the unexpected and if Hana was being still it typically meant she was either serious or planning something extremely painful.
"A real Kunochi doesn't do diets," Sakura nodded in understanding, "nor dose she put her looks before her skills," Sakura felt her eyes narrow in suspicion, "A true Kunochi will do whatever it takes to keep any and all distractions out of her point of view. If that includes her longer-then-should-be hair, then she'll cu—"
"Hell no!"
"Or!" Hana said giving Sakura a glare that said she'd regret bursting out like that later, "Or she can tie her hair back." Sakura blinked dumbly as Hana pushed a box of different colored hair bands into her hands, "Wear these for the final examine, you see these ones here with the bells? They have small balls of poison in them; the blue bells on each band are the cures to each poison it's paired with. These scrunch-ies actually have seals stitched into them, your father made them for me when I was still a little girl, I think it's time you've had them."
"Thank you," Sakura whispered pulling the box close and staring at the five differently colored scrunch-ies with a soft smile
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Deep breathes, Sakura instructed herself calmly, gripping the edges of the sink tightly, You can do this... the best way to fight sound is with sound... Sakura sighed and turned to leave the bathroom, knowing that Shikamaru should have won by now. I should have bought some earplugs when I had the chance... Sakura sighed as she stepped into the hall and turned to return to her teammate's side
"You've been called," Sakura jumped and squeaked at the low voice, turning to look back down the hall, only to see that Gaara was a lot closer then she thought he was. "They're waiting for you"
"Ah, thank you," Sakura smiled and turned on her heal, "Is Chicho—"
"Your cat is waiting for you in the arena" Gaara answered walking passed her, "You'd better win,"
Why? Sakura thought turning slightly to watch the red head continue down the dark hall as if nothing had happened
"I want to see how good you've gotten" Ah, that's why
Sakura rolled her eyes and hurried down the hall, unaware of the smile that tugged at her lips and the pair of eyes that watched her leave.
"I'm sorry!" Sakura shouted as she burst out from the door way and into the arena, "I thought I had... had..." Sakura stared dumbly at Shikamaru and Naruto, who were standing with a peeved looking Temari nearby "What'd I miss?"
"You have awesome timing Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted rounding onto her with a bright smile, "Shikamaru just finished not even five seconds ago!"
"Really?" Sakura asked walking forward and nodding politely at Temari as she passed, "Sorry Shikamaru, I went to the bathroom so I didn't notice your ending shot."
"That's fine," Shikamaru grumbled, "I take it you already figured out what I planned to do?"
"Nope," Sakura grinned, "I just figured you'd use the wind against her"
"I did," Shikamaru snorted, "by the way that cat you own"
"Yeah?" Sakura asked blinking as Shikamaru lifted his leg to show that Chicho was latched onto him tightly
"She's bipolar as hell"
"Chicho let go of him!" Sakura reprimanded but only ended up laughing, "I take it you won?"
"No," Shikamaru grumbled, wincing as the cat let go and walked up to Sakura like a perfectly innocent queen "I quite"
"That's why Chicho-chan jumped out of my arms and targeted Shikamaru" Naruto laughed, "I don't think she likes quitters!" Sakura giggled as she let the kitten jump into her arms, putting her paws onto her chest to lick affectionately at her face.
"Alright you brats," Genma said with a smirk, "Get out the next round is about to start."
"Good luck Sakura-chan!" Naruto hollered as he turned and ran back into the building, "Kick his a$$!"
"Language Naruto!" Sakura shouted after him in irritation, only earning Naruto's laughter in answer
"Sakura," Shikamaru called, hesitating slightly, "Keep the cat close and be careful."
"I know Shikamaru," Sakura grinned at him,
"No I mean—"
"Oi! Dosu of sound get down here!"
"...try not to get killed," Shikamaru sighed, turning to walk away "Give him an inch and he'll take a mile."
"Right," Sakura said with a curt nod and narrowed eyes, understanding filling her as Chicho curled up in her arms, letting Sakura raise a hand to pet her reassuringly.
"You ready?" Genma asked when Dosu stepped up in front of him, just steps away from the pinkette
"As I'll ever be," Sakura sighed with a deep breath
"I can't wait" Dosu said sarcastically, To kill you that is...
"Ready... set... GO!"
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"Ino are you sure you're okay?" Chōji asked as he helped the blonde to her feet so she could watch Sakura walk further into the arena "She cut you up pretty bad..."
"I'll be fine," Ino murmured watching the pinkette carefully, "she pulled her hair back..."
"She still has that damn cat," Chōji grumbled lowly, not liking the animal that had taken possession of Sakura to hospitalize Ino.
"The Haruno's can't pick their guardians," Ino replied softly, "the guardian is often a reflection of the Haruno in question..."
"So what dose that make Sakura?" Chōji asked with a frown, "That she has the soul of a cat?"
"I've never seen a cat like that before, have you?" Ino asked, not even looking at her teammate, "I wouldn't be surprised if that's the animal her father died to protect..."
"Huh? But I thought he died on a mission..." Chōji murmured carefully helping Ino back down into her seat before she fell over. A few hours after Ino was treated for her wounds because of the prelims, it was discovered that her chakra net work in her left arm was heavily damage and that it would take a few years before it was back to normal. Ino was basically a civilian until the Hyūga clan deems her chakra network usable again and that might not happen for a very long time.
"...his mission was a search and retrieve mission," Ino answered softly, remembering over hearing her father telling her mother after it happened.
"I don't understand how you forgiven her so fast" Chōji murmured softly, not realizing that she heard him
"Because Sakura isn't the one who did it," Ino answered watching the proctor jump away from the two contestants "Her damn overprotective guardian did."
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"Chicho hide!" Sakura ordered, dropping the cat in her arm and spinning away from the proctor as Dosu had to adjust his strike for her knew position. Dosu swung his arm out at Sakura but she simply threw a hand full of explosives at him, forcing him to jump back from the explosion that disrupted his jutsu and protected the pinkette.
Glaring Dosu tried to charge with another swing but Sakura threw a few more small explosives to disrupt the sound waves around her. Noting how she was keeping her distance from him, Dosu swept forward as fast as he could, ignoring the thrown kunai with little pink pockets tied to their ends that missed him by a mile. Sakura's smile was calm and her eyes challenging as she moved forward swiftly, her speed obviously improved, and just before they met she threw a handful of small explosives and spun around him as they all made small 'popping' noises disrupting his jutsu again.
"Damn you girl," Dosu growled following Sakura as she spun around the sparks and tried to swing his arm out at her again. However, this time Sakura smirked and dove under his arm, glowing kunai in hand as she arced her blades up, one against his right arm cutting the leather straps and creating a long crimson gash from his wrist to almost to his shoulder. The other one was a little more lethal; she slammed her other glowing blade into his open ribcage, cutting passed his clothing, basic protection padding and layers of flesh, between his ribs and through what felt like a lung. She jerked her blades back and hurried away from him; spinning on her heals to face him, straightening and observing him carefully with glowing blades held out at the ready.
The metal armband slipped from his out stretched arm, quickly followed by Dosu collapsing to one knee, his left arm wrapped around his ribcage as he coughed out wetly, blood spilled passed his lips and stained the white cloth of his mask; which contained the sticky liquid and made it roll down his chin and down his throat and nearly making him choke in the process.
"D-damn y-you," Dosu coughed wetly, turning to glare furiously back at Sakura
"I-I can heal you," Sakura said stepping forward hesitantly, "I know how now..."
"Don't" Dosu growled out, dark eye glinting dangerously as he struggled to stand once more, dragging his metallic armband up with him. "I-I can st-still fight..." Dosu coughed some more, the proctor landed beside Sakura and observed him closely for a moment
"Sakura Haruno—" Genma called out
"NO!" Dosu snapped out swinging his armband up and sending a blast out to Sakura, who quickly made a hand sign. The proctor quickly jumped out of the way, eager not to get hit himself, and Dosu's eyes widened as he heard the hissing sound of explosives
BO-OOM
Just when did they get behind me? Dosu thought as his world was enveloped in darkness
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He blinked dumbly at the sudden brightness in his surroundings, Where was he? The blank pale white of... of wherever was coated over everything. Curious he looked down at his arm to see the damage that was done to it but his arm was perfectly unmarred and almost seemed to be smaller some how, was it just him or did someone take his clothes to replace them with his old gray T-shirt and dark pants? What happened to his thick coat?
"Dosu!" His head snapped up at the familiar voice, his eyes tearing up at the sigh of a younger Kin smiled at him, warm crimson kimono wrapped around her and her long Onex hair was pulled back into her once ponytail. "You're here Dosu, what happened? We've been waiting for you, what took you so long?"
"Hurry up slow poke!" Zaku teased, his grin was so bright it was nearly blinding, dressed in his old plain yellow shirt and gray shorts "If you don't hurry we're leaving you behind!"
"Coming!" Dosu heard himself call in a much younger voice, "I'm coming you guys..." He chased after them but he wasn't sure if he was going anywhere, it didn't look like they were moving further or closer as he ran, "don't leave without me!"
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Thoughts are helpful
Opinions are wonderful
Helpful criticismis lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?
Please no cursing!
And don't forget to review!
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