Shizune and The Picnic

(Shizune's P.O.V)

"A… picnic?"

"Yeah! You've never heard of one…?"

"Um… I mean, of course I've heard of one! But, uh, what is it… exactly?"

I heard, through the phone, the sound of Nathan heaving a sigh.

"A picnic is, well, you basically pack your lunch and eat out someplace… like, a meadow or open field or something… you get the gist of it, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded and smiled, "So is it just going to be the two of us?" Tonton Jr. squealed happily and leaped onto my lap and I chuckled lightly, "And Tonton Jr. as well!"

"Of course, unless…" He paused, possibly considering what to say next, "Your mom or your brother wants to come…" I waved a hand absentmindedly,

"Naw, I'm sure they wouldn't want to or dream of coming. So, how are we going to get there?" In my mind I was thinking of using a jutsu or something to teleport there but then, remembering that I was no longer in the ninja world, banished the thought from my mind but it was too late to take the question back.

"Um…." Nathan began uncertainly and I was almost sure that he was scratching his head in confusion, "We're gonna drive…"

"How's about we walk?"

"It's like… twenty miles from here!"

"Walking is good exercise, unless, you want to run…?"

"Are you kidding me?"

I sighed, "Alright, so what's the time?"

"Hm… well, it's like, 11 something right now so how's about 12:30 PM?"

"Sounds good!"

"I'll bring a picnic basket with the food-"

"Are you sure you don't want me to bring my own lunch…?"

"It's on me today."

"Are you really sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Alrighty then…" I was uncertain of what to say and now it was getting a bit awkward until,

"Love 'ya." I was petrified with shock. Did Nathan just say 'Love 'ya'? So… that means he loves her! He loves Pauline! Um… what was I supposed to say next?'

"'Kay… bye!"

"Bye…" He sounded a bit disappointed… probably waiting for me to say 'I love you' back or something… but I couldn't do that. I'm an unmarried woman in another person's body! I didn't want to confess my 'fake' love for an almost complete stranger! Snapping Pauline's phone shut, I stood up from my bed and headed downstairs. As usual, I found Mrs. Jane washing the dishes.

"Mrs. Jane, I'm going out on a picnic with Nathan at 12:30, 'kay?"

"That's fine, just be careful," She said, flashing a smile in my direction, "And don't let anything… bad happen." She finished in a suggestive tone that made me wonder just what the heck she was hinting at.

12:30 rolled around pretty quickly, as did the car ride to the picnic site and I sound found myself standing on a field of rolling hills of grass. Tonton Jr. leaped out of my arms and began frolicking through the tall grasses that grew up to my knees. As Nathan and I set up the picnic, spreading out the blanket and hankering it down, I watched out of the corner of my eye in amusement as the adorable piglet sniffed and chewed wild flowers that dotted and colored the sea of grass. Once everything was set up, we ate our lunch and Nathan and I took turns tossing bits of pig food to Tonton Jr. every once in awhile while we, as well, tossed foods into each other's mouths.

"I caught it!" I declared, sticking the grape between my teeth and smiling. Nathan threw his head back and laughed along,

"After your twentieth try! I got it on my first!"

"Hey, you cheated! You jinxed those grapes or something!" I joked, tossing him another grape and watching it land squarely on his extended tongue, "Or maybe I'm just that great a grape tosser!" He ate the grape and his face turned serious making my laughing cease.

"What's wrong?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.

"I have to ask you something…" A bad feeling was stirring up inside of me. This wasn't going to be good…

"Sure, go ahead…" I said with unquestionable uncertainty.

"I love you, Pauline… Do you… love me back?" The same shocking feeling fell upon my body like a curse and in my head a voice screamed, I knew it! I knew he was going to say that!

I told the voice to shut up before returning to reality. What was I going to say? Well, I was surely not going to say that I loved him back… was I?

"Um, don't you think this is a bit… sudden?" He shook his head.

"No, I know my feelings and they're for you… Please, can I have your answer?" I shifted uncomfortably on the picnic blanket, willing to be somewhere else and out of this position.

"Well… um…" Should I just tell him that I'm someone else? "You see…" And that was when it happened; a streak of silver dashed before my eyes followed by a brown lump and yet another streak only this one pink. Wait, pink? My head whipped around and I saw what Nathan and I had been searching for during that last, whole week. It was Inner, Hideaki, and Tonton Jr., all running in a straight line and without thinking, I chased after them, not noticing the disappointed face of Nathan's.

Yeah… so that's it! I hoped you enjoyed it!

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In war… and in strife!

(what the heck?)

Well, ANYWAYS, you get my point!

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