No author's note this time! Yay....... Wait, isn't this an author's note? O.o Aw, never mind, so while I'm here… I would like to thank timmy102 and Rainy Soshi again for their ideas which were used in this chapter. We'll start off with Hinata and Kiba …
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"Ok… where is everybody?" Kiba asked, looking at his watch.
"I don't know… it's not like them to be late…" Hinata replied, looking around the lodge.
"Except Naruto and Sasuke… but I seriously wish they would get here 'cause I'm starving," Kiba whined, looking at the food.
"They'll be here soon… look, there's Shika and Temari now," Hinata said, waving. "Hey, guys!"
"Hi Hinata, Kiba, sorry we're late… hey, where is everyone?" Temari asked, looking around.
"We don't know. It's not like Naruto to miss a meal though… wonder what happened?" Kiba replied, checking his phone. "It's 1:15 already."
"Don't worry about him; here he comes…" Shikamaru sighed, and everyone turned towards the door.
"GUYS! GUYS I DID IT! I BEAT SASUKE!!!" Naruto screamed, bursting through the door with Lee immediately behind him.
"Good job, Naruto! … but where's Sasuke?" Kiba exclaimed, giving him a high five.
"He went off to find his own instructor," Lee replied, throwing his coat on the table. "Cause Itachi was our coach."
"Itachi?! His brother?!" Hinata gasped, confused. "What is he doing here?"
"I don't know, but I won! Let's celebrate with some food!" Naruto cheered, heading for the food court.
"Oh no, Naruto. We have to wait for everyone else," Shikamaru said, grabbing the back of his shirt.
"But where is everybody? I'm getting worried…" Temari mused, checking her watch.
"Hey guys, guess what? I beat Naru--" Sasuke called as he walked in.
"No way, Sasgay, I beat you!" Naruto cried walking towards him.
"We don't know that, do we now baka? We separated, remember?" Sasuke replied, getting angry.
"No fighting!" Lee said, pulling them away from each other. "We'll just change it a bit—you two will just race down the bunny hill and first to the bottom wins!"
"Deal," both agreed, starting to head outside.
"Wait! After lunch… where is everybody??" Temari scolded, starting to pace around the floor.
We'll check on Neji and TenTen…
"WHY DO WE ALWAYS GET SO LOST?!" TenTen screamed, pulling over to the side of the trail and checking her watch. "We're already late, it's 1:03 now!"
"Let's see where we are…" Neji replied, activating his byakugan. "Good news, once we make it to the bottom the lodge is only a short walk away."
"Finally! They better have waited for us…" TenTen muttered, starting to pull away.
"Yeah, I'm starving…" Neji added, following.
They raced down the rest of the trail, un-strapped their bindings, and ran toward the lodge.
"Sorry we're so late!" TenTen exclaimed, trying to catch her breath.
"We were starting to get worried! Are you guys ok?" Hinata asked, watching them gasp for breath.
"We're fine, we just kept getting lost…" Neji replied, looking around. "Someone's missing…"
"Gaara still isn't back yet. He's probably messing around in backcountry," Kiba answered, shaking his head.
"I'm HUNGRY!" Naruto yelled, slumping down further in his chair.
Temari looked at Shika. "Should we go look for him?"
"I'll go, you and the others start getting food 'cause the line is enormous," Shika replied, kissing her on the cheek. "I'll find him."
"Ok… be careful," Temari called after him. Seriously, what has gotten into him??
This will be a good chance for me to talk to him about tomorrow… better hope he doesn't kill me…Shika thought as he walked out of the lodge.
Let's check on Gaara and L, shall we?
"You guys are in a lot of trouble. What, did we not see or just ignore the bright orange 'Out-of-Bounds' sign?" the ski patrol officer sneered, shoving them into the office. "We have a couple of trespassers."
"Perfect," another man called, and came out. "Put them in the back room until Brian shows up. He has to punish them."
"Ok," the man pointed Gaara and L to another room. "Wait in there."
After they were inside, the man slammed the door.
"So… what do we do now?" L asked, sitting down (abnormally of course).
"I don't know… let me think…" Gaara muttered, leaning against the wall. Damn, it's already one o'clock. Temari is going to kill me… how do I get out of this?
"There are no windows, the door is locked, and there are two, possibly three ski patrol officers outside the door… what to do?" L muttered, biting his nail.
"…Any ideas? I can pick the lock but those morons outside would see us as soon as we tried to leave…" Gaara told L, watching him.
"So we need a distraction? Hm…" L thought for a moment. "Is… Cookie Monster still with you?"
"I forgot about him…" Gaara smirked, opening his backpack, with the raccoon leaping out for freedom. "I must have closed the bag when we were trying to run away…"
"He shall serve as our distraction, and I remember the way to the door so it will be a fast escape. Will he come if you call him so he will not be left behind?"
"… Probably. Ok, let's go." Gaara walked over to the door, pulled out a tool he had fastened himself for this particular reason, and got to work. Within a minute, the door gave a little click. Gaara picked up Cookie Monster and looked at him.
"You just run around and don't let them catch you. Come when I whistle, ok?" He whistled, hoping the raccoon would understand. "Alright, show time…"
Gaara slid the door open carefully and pushed Cookie Monster outside.
(Cookie Monster's perspective… YAY! translated by me to English!)
I sat there for a second looking around, until I spotted the man in the red thing in a chair. I run toward him, because he is the same color as that guy's fur who carries me around everywhere. Maybe he knows where my guy went! I jump on to his lap and look at him, and he looks funny. This man has bushy things that look like caterpillars over his eyes… Hey! That weird green guy that my person doesn't like has things like those… I wonder if they come off??? I started scratching at them, but they won't budge!
"… I don't hear--" Gaara started but was cut off by a yelp from outside the door.
"Let's go see…" L said, but Gaara was already starting out the door.
"GET THIS THING OFF ME!!!" The ski patrol officer cried, trying to keep Cookie Monster from clawing at his eyebrows.
"Frank, what's wro—WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" The other ski patrol officer yelled, trying to grab at Cookie Monster to pull him away but the raccoon was too fast for him.
As this was going on, Gaara and L made their way towards the entrance. Once the door was open and they had each grabbed their boards, Gaara whistled and Cookie Monster turned his head toward the noise. That sounds familiar… where have I heard that weird noise before… oh right! That guy made that noise before I ended up out here… it must be him! Yay! Bye peoples! Cookie Monster hopped of Frank's face and ran towards the source of the 'mysterious' noise. Once he saw Gaara, he hopped into his arms and out they went.
"… I do not think I will be venturing out into the backcountry area for a while," L said as they ran towards the chairlifts.
"Yeah, we can't be caught again. They'll remember us," Gaara replied, putting Cookie Monster back in the backpack with his furry head sticking out.
"I agree… I see Light and Misa and I think I'm going to rejoin them, but it was very nice to meet you and we had quite an adventure that I shall not be forgetting," L said, smiling.
"I'll be in the lodge for a while if you get bored of them," Gaara replied, checking his watch. "Damn I'm late…"
Gaara stood there for a moment as L left before he spotted Shikamaru heading towards him.
"There you are… where have you been? You're giving your sister a heart attack," Shika said once he had reached him.
"Nowhere, I just lost track of time," Gaara replied, giving him a weird look. "So… why were you looking for me?"
"Because I thought your sister could keep the rest of the gang under control better than I could and I knew where to find you," Shikamaru answered as they started to head towards the lodge. "You were caught out-of-bounds, weren't you?"
"The real reason? You've been acting funny for a few days now," Gaara demanded, stopping.
"Ok, ok. I knew you knew something was up… the real reason I came was so I could talk to you one-on-one about something," Shikamaru said, turning toward him.
Gaara gave him the 'spit-it-out' look so he continued, growing less and less confident by the minute. "It's about your sister. Tomorrow, I was—I was planning on proposing to her." Shikamaru used every ounce of willpower not to cringe as he waited for Gaara to reply. Well, I said it, so it's too late to turn back now… I hope he doesn't try to kill me…
Gaara stared blankly back at him, trying to absorb what he just heard. Did he just say he was going to PROPOSE to Temari?! Gotta give him some credit to have the balls but… DAMN… and he said it to my face… what to do… I could kill him now but there are too many people…But I CANNOT have him as a relative… I need to consult Kankuro… When did he say he was proposing? Tomorrow? That doesn't give me a lot of time… What to say… "… tomorrow you said?"
"Y—yes," Shikamaru replied, unsure if this was good or bad.
"I see…" Gaara murmured, starting toward the lodge again.
"Wai—" Shika started, but then stopped and followed Gaara silently. What am I thinking? If I say anything he could change his mind and decide to kill me…
"THERE YOU ARE!" Temari yelled as Gaara and Shika entered the lodge. "Where were you?!"
"I lost track of time," Gaara replied, throwing everything on an empty chair at the table except his backpack and heading for the food court.
Temari sighed and looked at Shika. "Where was he really?"
"He was just standing by the chairlift talking to some guy," Shikamaru replied, looking around the table at everyone's food.
"Huh… that strange…" Temari mused, but then smiled. "You may as well go get your food, too. We've been waiting but I don't know how much longer everyone can wait."
"I will wait as long as it takes," Lee said, standing up. "In the meantime, I'll do push-ups!"
"Hurry up, Shikamaru! I'm sooooo hungry!" Naruto whined, staring at his food drooling.
"I'm going, and Lee you're weird. You guys could start—" Shika started to reply, but was cut off.
"HEY, CAN'T YOU READ? NO PETS!" Someone yelled, and everyone turned to look.
"Oh crap… bet that's Gaara," Shika muttered, following Neji, Naruto, and Temari who were already running towards the yelling.
"He's not bothering anyone; now back off before I kick your ass," Gaara replied, turning and facing the man.
"I don't care. The rule is no pets and that means whatever it is you have in there," The man said, reaching out to take Gaara's backpack.
"Don't even think about it," Gaara hissed, taking a step back and remembering that he left his gourd behind.
"Hey! What's going on here?" Temari asked, walking towards the man.
"Are you with him?" The man asked, pointing at Gaara.
"I'm going to—" Gaara started, but was held back by Neji and Naruto.
"Chill out dude, your sister and Shika will handle it," Naruto muttered.
"Yeah, here I'll get your food and bring it to the table and I'll take Cookie Monster, too," Neji added, grabbing the tray Gaara had made and the backpack and leaving.
"….. Ok, fine. But make sure you keep that thing under control," the man warned, and left in a huff.
"How did you do that!?" Naruto asked when Shika and Temari turned toward them.
"That's our secret," Temari replied, smiling. "He was pretty cool, he just doesn't want to get in trouble with the managers, so make sure that he stays in the bag at all times, ok?"
"Whatever," Gaara murmured, heading back toward the table.
"Wait up, Gaara!" Naruto cried, chasing after him.
"What did you and Gaara talk about?" Temari inquired as her and Shika headed after them.
"Nothing, I just had to ask him a question, that's all," Shika replied, putting his arm around her shoulder.
"HUH? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FOOD, GUYS???!!!!" Naruto yelled when they reached the table.
"What? Naruto, its right—" TenTen started then looked down. "WHAT THE FUCK?"
"All we did was look to see what was going on with you guys and I guess something happened when we weren't looking," Hinata said, looking around at all the plates. Everyone's tray was empty.
"I had put Cookie Monster down…" Neji replied, looking towards the bag. Sure enough, Cookie Monster was out of the bag looking at everyone with big innocent yellow eyes.
What everyone failed to notice, as they scolded poor innocent Cookie Monster, was that while they weren't paying attention a guy at the table next to them had stretched out his arm to an impossible length and he stole all of the food! Said guy was wearing a straw hat, red vest with no sleeves (in the winter?!), and blue snow pants.
"Well, what are we going to do now? We are all hungry and we have no food and can't afford to buy another round," Sasuke sighed, leaning against the table.
"I guess we should probably call it a day for now… I think we've had a long day already…" Temari suggested, looking at her watch. "It's already three o'clock."
"Wait! Me and Sasuke have to finish our bet!" Naruto whined.
"Alright, let's all watch them and see how the bet plays out then we'll head home," Kiba suggested and everyone agreed.
"Yeah, I'm exhausted," TenTen sighed as everyone started to head outside.
"I'll start running things to the cars! It'll be more training!" Lee exclaimed once they were outside. He started picking up skis and snowboards and running towards the cars.
"Lee! Don't you want to watch?" Neji called after him, but Lee just kept running.
"Okay, so the first person down wins. But you must use correct technique," Kiba stated, standing in front of Naruto and Sasuke. "Here's how it will work. Gaara will watch Sasuke and judge how well his snowboarding technique is and Shikamaru will judge how well Naruto's skiing technique is. The first one to the bottom wins only if their technique is correct, second person will win if their technique is correct and the winner's isn't. Understood?"
"Let's go!" Naruto cried, turning towards the chairlift to the bunny hill.
"You are going down," Sasuke replied, following him.
Eventually, Naruto and Sasuke made it to the top and began to get ready. TenTen counted down from three and they were off. On their way down, Sasuke cut off four people and Naruto narrowly escaped colliding with someone. Sasuke ended up making it down first, however…
"Ha! I beat you, Naruto!" Sasuke bragged as he un-strapped his snowboard.
"Not unless you did it right!" Naruto replied, looking at Gaara. "Did he?"
Everyone's attention was on Gaara as he thought about it. "…No. He just went in practically a straight line without turning or slowing down. Correct form is being able to link your turns smoothly and efficiently."
Everyone turned toward Shika to see how Naruto did. "Naruto's form was pretty much spot on. Naruto is the winner!"
"Ha! You loose Sasuke! Now you have to give yourself a SUPER ATOMIC WEDGIE!!!" Naruto exclaimed, dancing around.
"That's so not fair," Sasuke muttered as he walked back towards the car.
"C'mon Sasuke, you lost fair and square," Kiba said as he tried to catch up.
"Congratulations, Naruto!" Hinata called so he could hear her over his dance/cheer.
"Alright everyone, time to go!" Temari called out, guiding everyone toward the parking lot.
After putting all their equipment into the cars, the gang had an uneventful drive home to their cabin. Once they arrived…
"What does everyone want to eat?" Shika asked as everyone was getting out of their cars.
"Pizza!" Naruto called out.
"Naruto, we had pizza yesterday. How about sandwiches?" Neji suggested, stretching.
"That sounds perfect!" Lee agreed.
"Everyone ok with that?" Temari asked and everyone nodded. "Ok, I'll find a sheet of paper inside and everyone can write down what they want."
The gang slowly made their way inside and settled down. Temari is on the phone with a local deli giving them the very specific orders, Shika and Neji are playing Shogi, Lee, Naruto, and Kiba are playing Mario Party, Hinata is in the shower, TenTen is watching the Shogi match and the others play Mario Party, Sasuke is sitting in the corner sulking, and Gaara is reading while Cookie Monster on his lap, eating (you guessed it) peanut butter.
"Ok, they said the order should be ready in about 45 minutes," Temari announced.
"Whatever," Shikamaru replied, making his next move. "I think everyone is good 'til then. Oh, and Sasuke, when are we going to see that wedgie?"
"Oh yeah, c'mon Sasuke!" Neji added.
"You may-as-well get it over with," Kiba said, grinning.
"Fine!" Sasuke groaned, standing. Within a minute, his black boxers with red hearts on them were over the back of his head and covering his face up to his nose. "Happy?"
Everyone roared with laughter and started taking pictures. Hinata managed to come out of the bathroom in time to see him before he returned his boxers to normal.
"Since you're already embarrassed, Sasuke, why don't you tell us what your favorite toy was that Itachi broke?" Naruto inquired, grinning.
"No! I won't tell you!" Sasuke replied in a huff as he sat back down.
"Can we guess?" TenTen asked. "I bet it was… a doll of some kind…"
"What would be that embarrassing that he wouldn't tell us?" Temari asked out loud.
"What are some girly toys?" Neji asked. "Hm… there's Barbie but I don't think that's it…"
"NO! It was not Barbie!" Sasuke yelled, glaring. "And I'm NOT telling!"
"I used to have a bunch of My Little Pony dolls…" Hinata said, blushing. "That couldn't be it, right?"
Everyone turned towards Sasuke as his face turned bright red, prompting a fresh wave of laughter from everyone.
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Will Sasuke ever be able to live down the My Little Pony doll? Will Shika manage to propose without being killed? Will the gang ever get their SANDWICHES? All these questions will be answered…. In the next chapter!!