You thought I stopped writing, didn't you? Mwuahahaha, no I'm too evil. After more than two years, here's the new chapter. This is sort of empty in plot because I just need to get back into this. But really, haha I thought I stopped writing this too. But Naruto seems like it's going to end soon, so let's not leave this string hanging. Well, to anyone who reads this still, I present to you…

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Chapter 25: The Magnificent Power of Orange

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Gaara folded his arms has Naruto appeared behind him, jumping in that odd and annoying way he did things. "Okay, you're not getting me to go back."

Naruto stopped jumping suddenly. "I don't want to go back either. But I told them I would get you. So by the power vested in my by the color orange, I command you to follow me back to my girlfriend's room where we shall play games and laugh and be merry! Because, as I always say, when life gives you lemons, make orange juice!"

Gaara rolled his eyes. "There's something wrong with you." He held his hand out. "Well, it's still raining."

"Raining lemon drops and gum drops? Because you know when life gives you lemon drops…"

Gaara sighed. "Let me guess. Make orange soda, or something orange like that."

"I was going to say, orange flavored Pix-Stix."

"Of course you were." He looked at his muddy sandals. Then he gave Naruto his orange-is-a-horrible-color-I'll-pwn-you-with-red-which-is-the-color-of-blood look and unfolded his arms. "Okay, back to Hinata's room then."

Naruto jumped. "Yes! THE POWER OF ORANGE HAS PREVAILED!" And he commenced jumping, all the way to Hinata's room. And Gaara was much annoyed.

And when they got to Hinata's room, the insanity started all over. "Hinata!" Naruto yelled. "You're awake again!"

She blushed. "Yup…"

"Hey, Gaara! Have you heard? Hinata's my girlfriend now!" Naruto wrapped an arm around Hinata, whose eyes were wide with effort not to faint again.

Gaara turned around, and as he did, the giant gourd on his back knocked over Hinata's computer. "Oops. Uhm, I'll pay for that… Or something…"

Hinata looked at the broken pieces of her computer, some of the electrical wires still sparking, and then her knees stopped supporting her, and she began to fall.

Naruto caught her. "Quick, does anyone have orange juice?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Right, like anyone carries a carton of orange juice around with them."

"I do," Shino said, out of nowhere. He pulled out a carton from his sleeve. "I be cooler than you."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Don't push your luck. You've already awakened the monster once. Don't be stupid."

"You mean like you just were?" Shino asked, leaning back in his chair.

"What?"

"You called her a monster."

Sakura's head turned towards them suddenly. "You called me a WHAT?"

Shino whispered quickly, "Say you had a really long sneeze."

At this Neji stood up triumphantly. "Neji Hyuga doesn't sneeze. I am too important for sneezes. Sakura, I called you a monster."

She glared, a spark of the devil's soul in her eye. "You will die."

"I… oh, shit." And he made a run for it.

Sakura chased him out the room, out the house, and all around Konoha. And when they got to the mall, Iruka saw them. And since he had recently gotten a job as a security guard, he arrested them, yelling "DETENTION!" the whole time. Neji made their one phone call to Shino, who didn't answer. And so he started trying to send telepathic messages to Hinata. Sakura laughed at him, but he said it would work, but he insisted.

And during all this, Naruto was pouring orange juice into Hinata's mouth.

"This is totally going to work," he said.

Gaara hit his head against the wall. "It probably will. You're all crazy. Maybe I'm going crazy…"

Temari had a smug look on his face. "My little brother is going insane. I have succeeded as an older sister." He looked over to where Kankuro was sitting next to Ino. "And I just meddled with your love life. Complete success."

"Aha, her eyes are opening!" Naruto lifted Hinata up as her eyes are opening.

"N-Naruto-kun?" She looked down, and all around her. "Why are you carrying me?" She grew pink, then red, and then you can pretty much guess what happened next.

Ino looked at Hinata on her floor. "We should probably set her off before the pieces from her computer electrocute her or something. Come to think of it, if we have computers, why don't we have TV?"

Kankuro, who was sitting next to her, shrugged his shoulders. "Heck, I don't even know what TV is. Our point in technological advances has always been ambiguous."

"Yeah, but we had a car wash. Where did those cars come from?"

"Aliens," Shino answered. "I'm telling you. We have extraterrestrials in Konoha."

"Gai-sensei spoke once of these aliens," Lee said. "Little green men, he called them." Then he saw his reflection in the mirror and gave himself a thumbs up. "Aliens are pretty dashing."

"What's an… al-i-en?" Naruto asked

Kiba laughed. "Shino, you can stop. If he doesn't understand it, you can't scare him."

"I'm not trying to scare him," Shino said. "It's true. There's aliens around us."

They stared at Shino for the duration of an entire moment of silence, until Shikamaru sat up in his chair. "That's troublesome, if it were true."

Everyone jumped. "Another moment of silence that you broke," Temari said. "Maybe aliens are invading."

Ino laughed. "That would only explain so much… But seriously, let's get Hinata off the floor."

Naruto and Kiba moved around her and lifted her up together, and they placed her on her bed. She didn't move once they set her down. Even in her sleep there was a pink glow on her face. Naruto placed Jimmy beside her, and she held the beaver-bear close as he put the blanket over her body. Kiba watched her too, from a little farther away, knowing that in the end it didn't matter what he did. Jimmy the beaver-bear was proof that Hinata loved Naruto even through his imperfections, and his moments of utter lack of intelligence.

"She'll be okay," Kiba said.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah…"

Temari clapped her hands together. "Well, one thing left to do. We need to ask Gaara a would you rather question. Someone hurry before he runs away again."

Gaara was already considering the different escape paths he could take. Sakura wasn't guarding the door anymore, and that wall looked more and more fragile, and breakable. Sure, there was only one door, but it didn't have to stay that way.

"Gaara, are you planning on destroying Hinata's wall?" Temari asked.

Drat, foiled again. So he began to check the path to the window. It was a one level building, and there was no one in the way between him and the window, but when he looked closer, he realized it was one of those metal lever windows that he didn't know how to work. "Darn our simple sand windows," he said.

Temari raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"

Gaara sighed. "I'm not going to get out of this am I?"

"Nope. Now really, someone ask a question!"

Tenten smirked. "Okay, I got one… Would you rather dye your hair pink like Sakura's, or dye your hair the color orange."

Gaara blinked. "That's my question?"

Tenten nodded. "Pink or orange?"

"Say orange," Naruto said.

Sasuke was in agreement. "If you blaspheme the color orange, it'll come back and haunt you. And also you have to admit that Sakura's shade of pink wouldn't be at all suitable with your complexion."

Shino a finger on his chin and observed Gaara's face. "I quite disagree. With his complexion, pink could be a good match. But he'd had to change his style. Possibly a mohawk or a mullet?"

Gaara stared at Shino in horror. "No, anything but a mullet. I'll kill all of you before I let anyone give me a mullet."

Temari rolled her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about, little brother."

"Didn't Shino just suggest a mullet?"

Around the room people shook their heads. "All I heard was a sneeze," Kankuro said, and Ino agreed.

Gaara shook his head at them. "You're all insane… This time I'm going to choose orange."

"YES!" Sasuke held up his hand to Naruto. "This calls for the highest of fives!" Naruto slapped his hand to Sasuke's and they shared a very manly bromance hug. And Sasuke assures Sakura that it's a very manly hug and that she has nothing to worry about.

That was when they remembered that Sakura and Neji was still AWOL.

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Sakura groaned in frustration. "You're really just going to sit there?"

"Sh." Neji held up his index finger. "I think I'm finally getting a signal."

"What are you, a phone?"

"You silly girl. You think we have phones in whatever ambiguous time era we live in?"

"Eh, true." She leaned back in her chair in the security office while Iruka came in with a box of doughnuts. "What are you doing?" she asked him.

He took out a glazed doughnut from the box. "I'm security now. In the much revered tradition of security authorities, I'm going to eat the sacred meal of a dozen doughnuts." He continued to eat and chew loudly, treating each doughnut like an individual piece of gold.

Sakura watched him, and watched Neji with his eyes closed and chanting supposedly telepathic messages to Hinata. She brought her head to the table. "Neji, if we ever make it out of this, I'm going to kill you."

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Ino tapped her fingers on the windowpane. "Well, it's getting to be about that time. I should probably start to head home." She smiled at Kankuro. "Bye."

As she stood up, his eyes followed her. "Bye…"

Temari nudged his arm. "Follow her," she sang quietly.

"But, we already said bye."

"Okay, then offer to walk her home, or ask her about the flower shop, or something."

Kankuro narrowed his eyes at his sister. "You meddle too much."

She pouted. "I meddle just the right amount. Now go!"

When Kankuro had left, Shikamaru yawned. "I'm getting pretty tired too."

Temari looked out the window. "Yeah, the sun's begun to set. Come on, Gaara."

Gaara sighed. "Finally…" He turned to leave , and swung the gourd back onto his shoulders, tipping over the open orange juice carton in the process, spilling in on the remains of the computer. It made a spark, and then two, and then they came together and made a flame. Gaara watched its orange fire begin to pick up, and one thought went through his head.

No, not again. This can't be happening again.

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I'm going to make a prediction that chapter 26 will come out in the next three weeks. I mean, I just started this chapter today, and finished it today, so if I think I can do another chapter in 3 weeks. Yeah, I totally can, now that I have found new motivation. Well, find out what destruction lies in waiting in the flames in the next chapter.