Chapter 10:::Visits and Encounters

When Chikako walked out of the hospital she was confronted by one of the examiners. "Akimichi Chikako?"

She nodded and the examiner handed her a scroll and walked away. She raised an eyebrow and opened the scroll. It was a letter from the Hokage.

Dear Miss Akimichi,

Congratulations on passing the preliminary rounds. Because you were hospitalized during the fights you missed the explanation for the Third Exam and the fighting pairs.

The main match fights will be shown in front of everyone. We all wish for you and the other fighters to try your best and show all your abilities. Seeing as the fighters may need more time to train the main matches will be held in one month.

At the end of the preliminary round all winning candidates had to randomly choose a number to see who they were fighting. Since you were not present during the drawing a number was chosen for you.

You are number 11.

Your opponent, who drew number 10, is Riyukin Seto.

Be at the arena at 12:00

Train hard,

Third Hokage.

Chikako's hands were shaking. "I have to fight Seto?" She put the letter in her bag and ran as fast as she could where she knew her brother was, the barbecue shop.

She ran inside and looked around. She spotted Asuma and Shikamaru and the top of Choji's head. She saw the waiter bring them more meat and she could hear her stomach rumble. She quickly walked over and took the meat Choji was about to eat.

"Hey!" He looked up at her and she smiled. His eyes widened. "Chikako! You're out of the hospital...Hey you stole my last piece of meat!"

She rolled her eyes and pushed Choji over so she could sit down. "Yeah I got out about an hour ago and I'm hungry so shut up and order seconds.

Choji glared, then smirked. "Seconds! Ten servings of galbi, please!"

Chikako smiled and looked at Shikamaru. "Congratulations on winning your match Shikamaru."

"If you just got out how do you know that I won?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Kiba told me."

Shikamaru's eyes flashed and Choji chocked a bit. "Kiba? When did you see him?"

Chikako rolled her eyes when she heard the tone of Choji's voice. "He was at the hospital when I woke up, he told me about the rest of the matches." She blushed remembering what happened and quicklychanged the subject. "Asuma-sensei, do you know where Kei-sensei is?"

Asuma nodded. "I believe he's training with Seto right now over at training field 9."

Chikako nodded and stood up. "I should probably start training."

"But what about your arm?" Shikamaru asked.

Chikako looked at her right arm. "If I have to fight Seto then I'm not going to let a few cuts stop me from training." She tried to make a fist, but flinched.

"Bye."

She turned and walked out of the restaurant. She passed Ino and Sakura.

"Chikako!" Ino called, but Chikako just lifted her left arm and waved a bit, not stopping. She had to train.

After three weeks Chikako's arm was much better and it no longer needed to be bandaged. There were still scars, but they'd go away eventually. She had been training hard, but since both her and Seto had to fight they had to train separately. So while one trained with Kei-sensei the other would train alone. Fuuta was able to leave the hospital, but he was still mad that he had tied with the Rain-nin, so Chikako hardly saw him. He was usually with Seto or training.

Chikako and Seto had come to an agreement not to hold back on each other just because they were teammates. Part of Chikako was happy about that, but the other was very scared. She could still remember his black eyes and cruel smirk.

After a very exhausting training session with both Kei-sensei and Fuuta, Chikako was walking, well limping, home. She leaned against a wall and sighed looking up at the clouds. It was about two in the afternoon, she'd been training since eight that morning. The first thing she was going to do when she got home was sleep.

"Hey, Chikako." .

She turned and blushed when she saw Shikamaru. "Shikamaru?"

He walked up to her and put his hands in his pockets, taking in her battered form. He raised an eyebrow "Just get back from training?"

She nodded and tried to straighten out her clothes. "Is there something you need?"

He shrugged and looked away. "...Do you want to get some ramen tommorow?"

Chikako's eyes widened. "You want to get ramen with me? Like a date?"

He shrugged and a bit of red appeared on his cheeks. "Yeah, Sure."

Chikako smiled. "12:00?"

He nodded. "Okay."

Chikako got on her tip toes and gave Shikamaru a kiss on the cheek, one that was dangerously close to his mouth. He blushed more and she backed away, smiling widely.

"See you then." She walked home, feeling very happy.

When she arrived she heard the sound of something falling, coming from the kitchen. She raised an eyebrow and walked into the kitchen.

She giggled when she saw Choji on the floor with swirls in his eyes. It seemed that he was trying to reach a bag of chips that was on the top shelf. Instead of getting the chips he broke a shelf full of pots and pans.

"Choji, you idiot." She dragged a chair until it was next to the counter. She got on top of if and grabbed the bag of chips and got back down. Choji quickly got up and took the bag away from her "Mine." He opened it and began to eat it fast.

Chikako rolled her eyes and pulled the chair back over to the table. "Choji the chips won't disappear if you slow down. Why do you always eat so fast?"

Choji ignored her comment and left the room. She sighed and went to her room. As she passed her full length mirror she paused, frowning. She looked like a wreck. Her hair was messy, her clothes were dirty and she had bags under her eyes.

I'll have to take a bath before my date with Shikamaru...MY DATE WITH SHIKAMARU! Chikako mentally squealed, smiling happily while she changed into her pajamas. She set her alarm for 9:30 and fell into a dreamless sleep.

Beep...BEep...BEEp...BEEP!

Chiako groaned and turned off her alarm. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, yawning. She paused and looked out the window trying to remember why today was going to be a good day...Her eyes widened and she quickly got out of bed.

My date with Shikamaru!

She rushed out of her room and into the bathroom. A half an hour later she came back out clean and wide awake. She walked into her room and closed the door. Grabbing her hair brush she walked in front of her mirror and started to brush the wet strands.

Once done she walked over to her closet and tried to decide what to wear. She pulled out her regular light purple fighting outfit and shook her head. Looking back in her closet she looked at every outfit she had. Most were light purple or blue. She smiled when she spotted a dark blue one. It looked exactly the same as here regular clothes, but was a darker blue that matched her eyes and it also had the Akimichi clan symbol on the back. She smiled and changed into it, looking at herself in the mirror. She frowned and looked at her very frizzy hair. She quickly looked around for a hair tie. She found a white one and put her hair in a braid.

She looked at her reflection and smiledShe looked at her clock, it was 11:00. She walked out of her room and walked into the kitchen. Choji was sitting at the table eating his breakfast.

"Morning Choji." She said sitting at the table across from him.

"Morning." He grunted still eating.

Chikako looked around. "Where's dad?"

"Mission."

Chikako nodded and folded her arms on the table, resting she head on top. "So what are you going to do today?"

Choji shrugged and finished his breakfast. "What are you doing?"

Chikako stood up. "I...have...something going on."

Choji looked over at her. "What?"

Chikako blushed. "Nothing, nevermind."

Choji shook his head. "No, what?"

She blushed. "Well...um...someone asked me to have lunch...with them...today." She smiled nervously.

Both of Choji's eyebrows raised.

"Can I come?"

Chikako slapped a hand over her forehead. "No Choji...it's a date."

Choji's eye widened. "You're...going on a date? With who?"

"Choji what is so bad about me going on a date?" She pointed a finger at him. "And I definitely won't tell you who I'm going with, you'll make fun of me. Plus last time when I went out with Kiba you wouldn't leave me alone for days. Is there any boy in Konoha that you will let me go out with? " She asked annoyed.

Choji pointed a finger at her. "So you did go on a date with Kiba!"

Chikako sighed annoyed and slapped a hand on her forehead again. "NO!" She shook her head and walked past him. "I'll see you later Choji."

She walked out of the house and closed the door behind her. She took her hair out of her braid and walked into town. She smile an waved at the people she knew. She arrived at Ichiraku Ramen and sat down at one of the stools. She looked at the clock, it was 11:50

"Good afternoon Chikako, what can I get you?" Ayame asked

Chikako shook her head. "Not yet, I want to wait until my...friend...gets here."

Ayame smiled. "Got a date?"

Chikako blushed and nodded.

Fifteen minute had passed and Chikako looked up and down the road, trying to see if Shikamaru was coming. When she didn't see him she ordered some ramen.

Chikako glanced at the clock when she finished her fifth ramen. It was 1:15. She sighed sadly and her heart ached.

He's not coming.

She asked Ayame for another ramen.

"Hey Chikako."

She turned hopefully. Her face fell when she saw it was only Naruto and a tall older man with long white hair. He had two red stripes under each of his eyes and was wearing a gray headband with the symbol of oil on it.

"Hello Naruto" She sighed and thanked Ayame for the ramen.

Ayame smiled sadly. "I'm sorry Chikako."

She shrugged and stirred her food.

Naruto and the older guy sat down. "Order as much as you want Naruto." The man said.

Naruto nodded happily and ordered what he wanted. Chikako smiled a bit at his enthusiasm.

Naruto soon finished his first bowl and Chikako looked down at her full one. She sighed and pushed it over to Naruto. "Here, I'm not hungry any more." She put her money on the counter and stood up.

"See you at the main matches, Naruto."

Naruto waved. "Bye Chikako! Thanks."

She waved and walked out of the shop and down the road toward her house.

Why didn't he come? Maybe he forgot or fell asleep or found something better to do. Or maybe something came up and he didn't have time to tell me. Or maybe-

"Time to eat!" Chikako's head shot up. Choji? Her eyes narrowed when she saw Choji enter the barbecue shop with Asuma and Shikamaru behind him.

He forgot! He forgot and went out to eat with Choji! Tears formed in her eyes.

She angrily wiped them away and entered the restaurant, making a beeline for Choji's table. She made sure she made eye contact with Shikamaru before she stopped next to their table.

"Choji."

Choji looked up at her. "Chikako? What-"

"Choji," She interupted. "I've had a change of plans and decided to train today, so I won't be home for a while."

"But what about-"

"See you later." She spun on her heel and left, but not before glaring at Shikamaru. He ran a hand over his face and sighed.

I knew I forgot something. Man, she's scarier than mom when she's mad. This is bad.

"She said she had a date. If anything happened I'm going to make sure the guy gets whatever punishment he deserves."

Shikamaru's eyes widened. Now this is bad.

"Lazy forgetful bastard." Chikako muttered wiping her eyes. "Shouldn't have even suggested going out." She crossed her arms. "This day couldn't get any worse."

"Chikako!" Chikako turned and tripped over a rock. She gasped and fell backwards. She closed her eyes, waiting for impact.

Someone had grabbed onto her arms and stopped her from falling. They pulled her up and she opened her eyes, gasping...

A/N Oooooo, who is it?! Only you can tell...BY VOTING!

Who should be Chikako's rescuer?...

The polls for pairings is currently this:

Shikamaru/Chikako-5

Kiba/Chikako-2

I guess more people like the lazy one more than dogboy.

REVIEW!

LadySoftball