Sleepover
The sun was just barely floating over the horizon when Choji Akimichi started laying things out for his sleepover. His bedroom was... well, messy, to say the least, and so, his parents had told him to set up for his friends in the living room.
The living room itself had a rectangular base, and it was fairly empty, having been cleared of it's usual sparse furniture for Choji's sleepover. The ceiling was hardly a ceiling at all, with most of the space taken up by a giant skylight window that gave a view of the few wispy clouds above. His father'd always told him it could slide open and a ladder could be pulled down. The hardwood floor was made of polished maple, and the walls were an off-white cream color. There were four doors in the room, one on each wall.
One was a traditional-looking, bonsai-patterned, paper-screen door that you could mostly see through from inside the room. That one led to a now rarely-used hallway where he'd played as a toddler. Another, on a wall perpendicular to to that one, was really just a doorframe with a green bead curtain hanging in it. That led to the entrance foyer, which had a name much grander than it was. Across from the foyer doorway was a door that led to a simple bathroom. Perpendicular to that, and directly across from the paper-screen door, was a glass sliding door that led to the backyard. There, fireflies danced like will-o-wisps and the maple tree's branches were lit with beautiful, red-gold fire every day at dusk during the summer.
But, what with it being April rather than June, there were only pale moths gathered around a lantern hanging from the roof's ledge and the sunset was slightly to the left of the maple tree.
Never mind that though. Back inside, Choji rocketed to the paper-screen door, and slid it open. He leapt into the hall, shutting the paper screen behind him, and pattered down a few yards to reach a small closet door. He pulled that open as well, and rummaged about inside while on his knees. The eight-year-old stood back up with a wobbly, multi-colored tower of board games and toys that looked at least as tall as he was. He carefully shuffled away from the closet a few feet, delicately balancing his stack. Choji then realized that he'd left the door open and reached a foot out to his side.
Shunt!
The door slammed shut, but Choji now had the nasty predicament of carrying a swaying stack of games taller than he himself was while standing on one foot.
"W~o~a~h!"
His knee wobbled, and the stack of games began tilting to the left.
"Aaa~aah!"
He hopped to the other foot, while at the same time trying to get back to the living room's screen door. The stack began leaning the other direction.
"Wa~a~ah!"
Choji jumped to the foot he'd been standing on at first, desperately trying to prevent his stack from falling down. He stiffened his leg, trying to keep still, and, by a stroke of luck, it worked. The stack of board games didn't fall.
"Whew." He sighed in relief, relaxing even while in the awkward position of having one foot on the ground and the other knee helping to support a burden.
His grounded leg wobbled. The stack tilted.
"Eee~aahh!"
Choji hopped to his other foot. The stack leaned the other way.
"Nya~eh!"
Hop. Tilt.
"Ee~hehh?!"
Hop. Tilt.
"Gwa~ahhh!"
Hop. Tilt.
He continued all the way back to the living room that way. Hop. Tilt. Exclamation.
After what felt like an eternity but really couldn't have been any more than a minute, Choji got back to his living room's sliding door... And it was closed.
I really didn't think this through. He thought, sweat-dropping at the sight of the handle.
"Aw, man!" He groaned aloud.
But I can work through this. Right? Okay... first thing's first. Need an idea... Think like Shikamaru! He's good at fixing problems! If I were Shikamaru... I wouldn't've gotten up in the first place. Dang. Okay... Need a plan... Got it! It'll be easy. Step back. Raise a foot forward. Nudge the door open. Easy as pie! Mmm, Mom's cinnamon cream pie... No, Choji, focus!
He stuck the tip of his tongue out the corner of his mouth in concentration, attentive on the problem at hand. Or foot, as it were. He stepped back, raised a bare foot, careful to stay balanced, and slipped a toe into the gap between his living room sliding door and the wooden frame.
Slowly... slowly... Take your time...
The door shifted to the side an inch. Two. Three. Four.
His knee wobbled.
"Aaahhh!"
Choji fell backwards, his arms flinging over his head, the stack of games with it, and his backside was quickly headed towards the floor.
Schkmp!
His back hit against something, but it definitely wasn't the floor. For one thing, it felt distinctly foot-shaped, and he hadn't heard the games clatter to the ground either. Choji glanced over his shoulder.
His father, Choza Akimichi, mighty leader of the Akimichi clan, skilled master of their family's taijutsu techniques, and a well-respected and revered member of the council and community, was in much the same embarrassing position his son had been in moments before. Only his father's foot was supporting Choji rather than tweaking open a door. He'd caught the stack of games before they fell to the ground, and caught Choji too. However, Choza had had the sense (and the size) to lean his back against the wall to support himself.
"Oh... Hi, Dad!" Choji tried to laugh off their mutual embarrassment, scratching the back of his head.
"Hello, son." Choza attempted to give a half-hearted wave but the stack of games began tilting again. "Grrk!" He drew back his waving arm and tried to nudge the teetering tower back into submission. Just barely managed it. "Er, could you get the door, son?"
"Oh! Right!" He put his weight back into his own two feet and grabbed the wooden handle.
Before Choji pulled the door open, he thought. Glad Ino isn't here yet. She'd tease me for tripping like that.
Before Choji pulled the door open, Choza thought. Glad Inoichi isn't here yet. He'd tease me for this awkward position.
Somehow, it seemed as if they each knew what the other was thinking, and met each other's eyes. They laughed.
"Gwa-ha-ha!" Choza boomed, guffawing. "Son, be more careful the next time you want to carry this much stuff. Come to think of it-where did this all come from?" He looked the tower of toys he was holding up and down.
Choji trailed off in his spasm of chuckles and replied. "Well, it was in the closet down there." He pushed the screen door open the rest of the way before gesturing with his arm.
Choza blinked, surprised. "The white one with the two caterpillars painted on it? One green, one blue?"
"Um, yeah." Choji took the top half of the tower stack from his father's arms, leading the way inside the room.
His father followed with the rest of the games, setting them in the corner next to where Choji dropped his. Choza glanced behind his shoulder, in the direction of the closet door, warily.
"Dad?" Choji asked, curious.
"Hmm?" The head of the Akimichi clan turned back to look at his son again. "Oh. Right, you're probably wondering..."
Choji nodded.
His father continued. "There's a story behind that door, son." He looked at the pile of games. "And a story of where those came from. Or rather, who." The dimming light and long shadows cast an eerie glow on his face.
"What's the story?" Choji asked, eager to know.
A dark and serious look flew over his father's face for a brief moment and then left. Then, it came back and camped there. Do I really want to know? Choji wondered. It must be something serious...
Choza's expression suddenly brightened. He said. "You know what, I'll tell you tonight, with your friends. When it's good and dark, and everyone feels like hearing a good story!"
Akimichi the younger could've fallen down and face-faulted. He was about to complain, but was interrupted.
Ding~Dong~!
AN: Rio here! I hope this chapter was enjoyable, even though it was short. Please leave your thoughts in a review!