A/N: Hey guys! Lately I've been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. The TV show that is! Not the movie. It's actually really cool! It's like Naruto without the Ninja. Instead they've got benders. It's really cool to watch! When you get the chance, go watch Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's amazing.

This chapter is dedicated to: , The MysteriousRed, rosesecret02, SnowStar145, sumbunnyluvsu77, SparkDazzleDuez, AnuHit, ChibiTennie-chan, Katarina Wolffe, Sk8tr gal99, Waymirec, Rixclassa, mizzgirlygirl10, DarkAngel2098, Sasukesbiggestfan, and theAMAZing1. Thanks for the reviews guys!

Chapter 14: Formalities

Neji woke up the next day feeling as if he could fly. He was lying on the couch, and he couldn't completely remember how he got there. He remembered something about being sick, but not much else.

"Hey! Are you feeling better?" Tenten's bright voice met his ears.

Neji rubbed his eyes and sat up. "Yeah I think so."

"Good!" Tenten wrapped her arms around his neck from behind. "You had me worried."

Neji leaned back on the couch and kissed her cheek. "Have we started for Barabana yet?"

"Yeah," Tenten said, jumping over the back of the couch and sitting beside Neji. "Once your fever went down and you fell asleep, Yamato and Kakashi started off."

"How long until we get there?" Neji asked, pulling her closer.

"Kakashi said that it would be at least two days until we got there. We only traveled for half a day yesterday, so we have another day or two to go." Tenten leaned her head on his shoulder. "I wonder what it's going to be like."

"Come on," Neji said standing up. "Let's make food."

Ten minutes worth of cooking got everybody out of bed. Not surprisingly, Sasuke came downstairs with Sakura clinging to his back like a baby koala bear. Sasuke was even piggybacking her.

"Stop hitting yourself," Naruto taunted Hinata as he gently made her slap herself in the face over and over again. Hinata blushed and giggled the whole time.

"Naruto, stop making Hinata hit yourself, or I'll hit you." Neji grumbled putting the pancakes on the table.

Hinata laughed as Naruto let go of Hinata's wrist and dove onto the pancakes, which Neji pulled away just as quickly.

"Aw, Neji!" Naruto groaned. "Return the hotcakes!"

"Hotcakes?" Neji asked.

"That's what McDonalds calls them." Naruto said with a shrug.

Neji raised his eyebrows. "Are you comparing me to a fast food joint?"

"No!" Naruto cried quickly. "I'm sorry! I'll never do it again!"

"Get on your knees and beg." Neji ordered. "HEY!" Neji turned towards Renji who had just snatched a pancake off the top of the pile and put it on his plate.

Renji grinned as he took a bite of the pancake.

Neji rolled his eyes and put the plate down. Everybody dove on it.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Neji." Itachi said as he ate his pancake.

"Why? So you can eat my pancakes again?"

"No. I told them to dump the cooler water on you." Itachi said with a sigh.

"Oh you did, did you?"

Itachi hung his head in shame.

"We're just going to have to do the same thing to you then." Neji said simply.

Itachi nodded.

"All right guys I have something I need to tell you guys before we get to Barabana." Renji said once they finished their pancakes.

Everyone looked at Renji.

"I don't think you guys are going to like it much."

Everyone continued to look at Renji.

"The fact is, Barabana is an incredibly formal place. If you guys went into Barabana acting the way you usually do, you'll be arrested for disturbing the peace."

"What?" Sasuke said with shock. "Then why are we allowed to hold a concert there?"

"It's called Rebel Teens." Renji explained. "You'll understand their pain when you get there."

"So it's like the 1950's?" Itachi asked.

"Sort of." Renji scratched his head. "I don't know how to describe it really."

"Do your best." Itachi encouraged.

"Being there is like..." Renji stared at the roof in thought. "It's like being at one of those medieval time balls that are held in castles. Everyone has perfect posture, the men wear suits and top hats, and the women wear dresses and feathered hats. The way they talk is impossible to explain, and they don't curse."

"Wow. That's kinda weird." Neji muttered.

"Kinda weird?" Naruto questioned.

"Really weird." Neji corrected himself.

"Because of all this, you guys are going to stand out like coal on snow. That's why..." Renji sighed. "Formal school is now in session."

The room groaned.

"I know. If I could avoid this, I would." Renji said. "How many of you actually know formalities?"

Neji and Hinata's hands went up at the same time.

"Neji?" Itachi said with awe. "You of all people know how to be formal?"

"It's called 'the Hyuuga clan'." Neji muttered.

"Oh right...Rich clan..." Itachi trailed off.

Renji motioned for Neji and Hinata to stand beside him. "You guys can help me explain."

Neji and Hinata nodded.

"Do we have to waltz?" Hinata piped up suddenly.

Renji laughed. "Even I don't know how to waltz!"

Neji and Hinata laughed.

"Judging by the looks on your faces, you two do." Renji said.

Neji regretfully nodded. Hinata merely smiled and shrugged.

"Now THAT I want to see." Itachi laughed.

"I haven't done it for years." Neji told him, a clear flush to his cheeks.

"What CAN'T you do, Neji?" Temari asked suddenly.

"For once, I agree." Shikamaru agreed.

Neji shrugged. "I can't...Uh..." Neji scratched his head. "I have no idea."

The room laughed.

"Arrange flowers!" Neji finally said.

The room laughed again.

"All right, all right." Renji said. "We have to learn formalities otherwise we'll be out of Barabana before we can save those poor teenagers from the worst of fates."

Everyone went silent.

"We'll start with sitting." Renji said. "Everyone sit on the couch."

Everyone sat down on the couch.

"One thing you have to work on when you're being formal is perfect posture. Take your hands, place them in the small of your back and lean your shoulders back."

The group did it immediately.

"Then let go with your hands and hold the position."

Neji and Hinata made it look easy.

"I can't hold it!" Tenten moaned. "I want to lean back too much!"

"That's why we have to get this right." Renji looked at Neji and Hinata. They were sitting still in perfect posture staring straight forward, their hands in their laps. They weren't speaking, or showing emotion.

Renji pointed to them. "This is what you have to do."

The group looked at Neji and Hinata.

"Dang it, you make it look so easy!" Naruto groaned.

"They've been doing it all their life, Naruto." Shikamaru reminded. His voice was emotionless. He seemed to be getting the perfect posture thing down as well. His back was perfectly straight. He put his hands in his lap and stared straight forward like Neji and Hinata.

"Shikamaru, you've got it." Neji said in a monotone.

"YES!" Shikamaru cried pumping his fist in the air.

"Shikamaru, no emotion." Neji continued with his monotone voice.

Tenten got it next.

"Feet flat on the floor, Ten-chan." Hinata told her.

Tenten sighed and shifted forward enough to put her feet flat on the floor.

"What's the purpose of learning all these formalities?" Itachi sighed. "I mean, yeah I know we're going to Barabana, but why does it have to be so dang formal?" Itachi pressed on his back again and a distinct crack was heard throughout the room.

Everyone burst out laughing, including Neji, Hinata and Shikamaru.

"OW!" Itachi groaned. The odd thing was his back was now perfectly straight.

"I've never seen a straighter back, Itachi." Renji laughed.

Itachi laughed again. He put his hands in his lap and proceeded to stare straight forward like the four people before him.

By now, the group was beginning to get the whole perfect posture thing. It was incredibly boring, but if you wanted to eat with, say the Queen, you'd have to know how to sit quietly and keep your eyes planted firmly on something. When the room quieted down, Neji and Hinata broke their posture and stood up to check everyone else's posture.

"Chin up, Sasuke." Neji ordered. Sasuke lifted his chin.

"Your eyes are moving too much, Temari." Hinata said. "Focus on one thing straight ahead of you."

Temari smirked and decided to focus on Shikamaru's ponytail.

"Naruto, don't tap your feet. That's the worst thing you can do." Neji told Naruto. "I'll put rocks in your shoes unless you stop."

Naruto tried to hold his feet firm.

Renji, Hinata and Neji stared around at the group. They definitely had it.

"All right, release." Renji ordered.

There was a synchronized sigh throughout the room as everyone slid from perfect posture to...well...imperfect posture.

"Dang, how long do we have to sit like that?" Naruto sighed.

"Hopefully not at all." Renji told them. "But you'll have to learn how to walk in perfect posture."

"How could it get any worse?" Itachi moaned.

"Here's how." Renji continued. "The boys will have to wear suits and the girls will have to wear dresses."

"NO!" Temari and Tenten cried in perfect sync. Azimora didn't react drastically, but she still didn't look happy about it.

Renji left the room and returned with five suits and five dresses. He even had...ulp...high-heeled shoes for the girls and loafers for the boys.

"TENTEN KILL ME!" Temari cried.

"Kill me too!" Tenten moaned.

"I refuse to wear those shoes." Azimora said bluntly.

Renji put the dresses down on the couch and began to hand out the suits to the boys.

"Can we swap ties?" Itachi asked. "I am not wearing a blue tie."

"Yes, you can." Renji said, handing the dresses to the girls.

Tenten immediately gave her pink dress to trade for Sakura's green dress.

"Temari?" Hinata looked at Temari with puppy dog eyes. Temari had a dress that was a soft shade of lilac. Hinata clearly wanted it. Really badly.

"Yes, all right." Temari sighed and swapped her dress for Hinata's blue one.

Azimora stared at her peach coloured dress. "Anybody want to swap? Peach is not my colour."

Temari looked at her blue dress and handed it to Azimora.

"Oh my gosh, thank you." Azimora said gratefully and handed over her peach dress.

Neji stared at his red tie. He wasn't too happy with it. He went over to the group of boys and tried to haggle for a better colour.

"I'll take the orange one, Sasuke." Naruto said. He held a purple tie in his hand.

"I don't want a purple tie!" Sasuke said, staring at Naruto's purple tie.

Itachi was trying to convince Shikamaru to swap ties. Shikamaru seemed very possessive of his green one.

"Itachi, I'll swap with you." Neji said, holding up his red tie.

"Thank you!" Itachi said and took the red tie.

Neji could take a blue tie.

"I don't want a purple tie!" Sasuke said again.

Neji sighed. "Sasuke, take the blue one, Naruto, give me the purple one." Neji grumbled.

Sasuke snatched up the blue tie and tossed the orange one to Naruto. Naruto passed the purple tie to Neji.

"Are we all happy now?" Renji asked.

The group nodded.

"Good, go get changed."

"You're kidding!" Temari cried.

Renji shook his head. "Do you want the guys to change first, or would you rather get it over with?"

"Ugh, not at all..." Tenten sighed.

"All right, guys go upstairs and change." Renji ordered.

The guys filed out of the room with blank faces.

"Guys have no idea how lucky they are!" Tenten groaned.

"I know!" Temari cried. "Girls are expected to wear revealing clothes and look pretty for the guys."
"I love how it's opposite in the bird world." Tenten giggled.

"What do you mean?"

"In the bird world, it's the males that look pretty for the girls. They even sing for the girls in hopes that one will come along and take interest."

"Now that is a world I could live in."

"Guys still do show off for girls." Azimora said in a monotone. "They try to look all awesome and cool for the girls with their skateboards and their fancy tricks."

The girls laughed.

Renji meanwhile was staring at them with raised eyebrows.

"You know it's true!" Azimora cried.

"Yeah we do. That's why we're laughing." Tenten laughed.

Temari stood up and began to flex her arms as if to pretend to show off a massive amount of muscle. "Look at me!" She said in a gruff voice. "I can lift five-hundred pounds! Love me!"

The room broke out in laughter. Even Renji laughed.

Temari puffed out her chest. "I can do a thousand sit ups without stopping! I'm awesome!"

Hinata giggled. "No Temari! You got it wrong!" She stood up. "If you're going to puff out your chest, you have act important."

Hinata puffed out her chest. "Look at me!" She said in a voice that was an octave lower, but somehow it worked. "I'm the owner of a toilet company, and I'm a millionaire!"

The girls howled with laughter.

"What the..."

The girls turned towards the door to see Neji standing there. He was blinking rapidly.

They began to laugh again.

"Dare I ask?" Neji asked, running a hand through his hair.

The girls looked at each other and smiled.

"We're imitating guys." Temari laughed.

Neji raised an eyebrow.

"We concluded that guys are show offs and decided to mock them." Tenten said with a shrug.

"Huh..." Neji said. "That's original."

"It was hilarious." Renji said. "Look at me! I can lift five-hundred pounds!"

"You fail Renji!" Temari said. Then she began to do her impression of a guy again. "I can bench press eight hundred! Love me!"

Neji smirked.

Temari continued. "I can do push-ups until-"

"Temari, what the hell are you doing?" Shikamaru asked when he walked in the room. His tie wasn't tied. It was just looped around his shoulders.

"So you got the suit on, did you?" Neji asked.

"Yes, I got it on." Shikamaru sighed.

"Can't tie a tie Shikamaru?" Temari asked.

Shikamaru looked at her. Then he grabbed his tie and tied it easily.

Naruto, Itachi and Sasuke finally returned from upstairs. Itachi was constantly tugging on the neck of the suit. The boys didn't look half-bad in the suits. Itachi was the most striking figure. He had always been taller than the rest of the group. His six foot four height, plus the professional looking suit made him look like an important figure.

"All right, girls. Off you go." Renji said.

The girls left.

"You guys need your hats." Renji added to the boys. He began to pass out the top hats to everyone.

Itachi took it and put the top of it in the palm of his hand. He tilted his head forward, placed the hat on his head, held the hat there and did the Moonwalk in a perfect Michael Jackson impression.

"Nice Itachi!" Shikamaru cried.

While the guys didn't seem to have any complaints about their get up, the girls were dragging their dresses over their heads. They seemed to be an old style dress, with layers and layers of fabric on the skirts.

"The only things missing on these dresses are the corsets!" Azimora complained.

"I don't think we'd want a corset, Azimora." Sakura said.

Azimora wasn't exaggerating. The dresses looked as if they had come fresh out of the 1900's. If that's what Barabana was going to look like, Tenten was sure she wouldn't like it.

"It's so itchy!" Temari whined.

"Hinata-chan, help me do up the back!" Sakura called.

"One moment, Sakura..." Hinata called. She was still trying to pull her dress up.

"OUCH!" Azimora cried.

"I'm sorry!" Tenten protested. Tenten was trying to do up Azimora's dress. As she pulled the cords, Azimora's back seemed to be getting straighter and straighter. She finally tied it off.

"There is no way I can't sit in perfect posture now." Azimora grumbled bitterly.

"Okay, guys let's form a tying chain." Tenten suggested.

The girls stood in a line, with Tenten at the front and Azimora at the back. Sakura tied Tenten's dress, while Hinata tied Sakura's dress, and Temari tied Hinata's dress, and Azimora tied Temari's dress.

"This is not fun at all..." Temari grumbled as they stuffed their feet into the pointy shoes.

The girls attempted to walk down the stairs, but that didn't stop them from struggling to stay upright in the incredibly pointy shoes.

"Guys, I'm going to faaAAAall." Tenten grabbed the railing to hold herself up. Sakura grabbed her other arm to steady her.

"I can't walk in these shoes." Hinata moaned.

The girls got to the bottom of the steps, and stumbled into the television room.

Naruto made the mistake at whistling at them.

Tenten hammered Naruto in the gut.

"I'm sorry..." Naruto said hoarsely.

Azimora let out a horrifying scream and fell to the ground.

"What happened?" Renji asked.

"I twisted my ankle!" She cried furiously and threw her shoes across the room.

Itachi ran to the freezer to get her ice.

"STUPID SHOES!" Azimora cried, grabbing the shoe that bounced off the wall and back to her. She lifted it, and Itachi grabbed her wrist.

"Be nice to the bus, Azimora." Itachi told her.

"I want to kill the shoes!" Azimora growled.

"Yes, but throwing the shoes in here will only damage the bus."

Azimora dropped the shoe. Itachi helped her stand up.

"All right, time to learn how to walk." Renji said once Azimora put the shoes back on.

Neji scoffed. "Even strides, straight back, head forward, don't swing your arms." He said simply.

"Exactly," Renji said.

The group began to walk around the couches trying to do exactly what Neji had just told them to do.

"Too fast, Itachi." Neji told him.

Itachi sighed and slowed down.

"Shikamaru, hands out of your pockets." Neji ordered.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Shikamaru groaned.

Temari laughed at him.

Once the group had finally gotten the art of walking formally, Neji, Hinata and Renji began to coach them in the art of walking formally in pairs. As in, boy-girl pairs.

Neji and Hinata linked arms and walked in sync with each other as if they'd been doing it all their life.

"Oh you're joking." Sasuke groaned.

"Whatever happened to holding hands?" Sakura asked.

Neji and Hinata broke their strides and watched the rest of the group walk around. Tenten and Naruto were stuck with each other. It was an amusing sight.

"Everybody stop!" Neji cried. "You're supposed to be in sync, walking at the same speed with equal strides, and walking with the same foot at the same time."

"Way to make it complicated!" Shikamaru groaned.

Azimora and Itachi stood still for a moment and began to move painfully slowly trying to synchronize themselves. Within five minutes, they were up to speed.

Temari and Shikamaru were staring at their feet trying to make it work. Sakura and Sasuke had been using the same technique as Azimora and Itachi.

Tenten and Naruto meanwhile, weren't getting along so well.

"Naruto! You're stepping too far!"

"You're not stepping far enough!"

Neji rolled his eyes and broke the two apart, taking Tenten with him. Hinata reunited with Naruto.

It was another five minutes until the entire group were synced.

"You guys have it." Renji said finally.

The group sighed and sat down on the couches. Tenten pulled off her shoes and rubbed her feet.

"Can we get changed into our normal clothes now?" Sasuke asked, pulling on the collar of his suit as if trying to air it out a bit.

"Yes, go." Renji said.

The entire group gave up on their pride and left at the same time. Once upstairs, the boys went into the other room to change.

Tenten sighed as if she was in heaven when she pulled her cotton shirt over her head.

"That's better." Temari sighed.

"Are you girls done changing yet?" One of the boys called.

The girls looked around at each other.

"Yup!" Sakura called.

The boys filed in looking relieved to be out of the suits.

"I'm glad that's over." Itachi sighed. He flopped down in a beanbag chair. "I'm going to slouch to my heart's desire now..."

The group chuckled and flopped down in the hammocks and beanbag chairs to slouch themselves.

"This is the way to go..." Tenten sighed. "No more formalities."

"You haven't even learned the language yet." Neji chuckled.

The room groaned.

"What're the rules for that?" Sasuke groaned.

"No contractions, no slang, straight to the point. Just talk like you wrote those formal essays back in high school." Neji told them.

"I refuse to speak in formal tongue." Azimora sighed.

"You just did, my lady." Itachi muttered.

"Shut up!"

The room laughed.

"I mean, silence. I will not be mocked!" Azimora corrected herself.

"I suppose talking formally is not so bad after all." Naruto muttered.

"We can have fun with it as well." Shikamaru added.

Neji cleared his throat. "Did I mention how you're supposed to formally greet somebody?"

"Please, Neji do not go there." Hinata sighed. "I am done with all this."

"You are certainly still speaking formally." Neji pointed out.

"It is infectious!" Hinata cried.

The room began to laugh.

"How do we get out of this?" Sasuke asked.

"Easy." Neji said. "Don't bother speaking formally anymore. It's boring and pointless. So, let's just get out of that habit."

"Right on, Neji!" Naruto cried.

"You da man!" Sasuke added

"I never told you guys to start speaking gangster." Neji said.

Everyone laughed.

Renji came up to see the group laughing and sitting on beanbag chairs.

"Guys, we're not done yet." Renji said.

"I've already taught them how to speak." Neji said.

Renji rubbed his face. "What about greeting?"

Hinata sighed. "Boys bow, girls curtsey. Boys kiss girls hand, girl let's them do it, unless they have a really big problem with said guy."

"Got it!" Itachi said giving the thumbs up. "I don't need to practice. It's easy enough."

"I'm going to quiz you tomorrow." Renji told them.

The group murmured in response.

Renji rolled his eyes and went downstairs.

A/N: There we go! A bit of a boring chapter, but I hope it was funny. I am melting here in Canada. Literally! I've got sweat running down my arms! I'm not cut out for this weather! D: Somebody get me some snow! I beg of you!

SilverEyeShinobi