Bound
Chapter 37: The Perfect Match

Hiro and Rei leave not long after that, and I return to the arena alone. Rei has left me with a million things to think about, but I'm much less uneasy about everything than I had been previously. I think it's because I don't have so much of the weight of the bond on my shoulders anymore. With help, I feel close to my goal than I have ever been in my life; at the same time, with the bond out of my hands, I feel as though I will never reach the end of the line.

I have to have faith, I think as I push through the last of the trees in front of the stadium and hear another wave of cheers sweep through the air. Rei has a good head on her shoulders—most of the time. And if she ever loses her place, at least I can trust Hiro will be there to help lead her through. They seem like that kind of pair, one that bounces off of each other, almost like me and Shikamaru. They're certainly close enough.

"Did you find your brother?"

I blink at the sound of the voice and look up at the two shinobi who are standing at the front doors of the stadium. They watch me expectantly, faces etched with concern that turns into suspicion when I ask, "What?"

"Your brother," the one on the right says, exchanging a glance with his partner. They don't offer me more, probably because they want to catch me in my lie, but then I remember.

"Yes," I say, putting on an air of fatigue. "He decided he didn't want to deal with me anymore and went home. How much of the match did we miss?"

My act seems convincing enough because the two shinobi let the subject drop. "I think you missed it entirely," says the one on the left and my stomach drops. Great. "From what we could hear, it was one hell of a match."

"Even better," I mutter, pushing my hair back. "Did you hear who won?"

They nod. "Naruto," one says, and grins. "Can you believe it? The fox—"

His partner jabs him and cuts him off. I pretend I have no idea what he could have been leading into, knowing that the subject of the Nine-tails is one that's supposed to be kept a secret from our generation.

"You should go ahead back up before you miss anymore," he says, giving his partner a stern look. "It's Uchiha versus one of the kids from the Sand."

I thank them and do as he proposes. As I make my way up the stairs, I use the bond to check in with Sasuke again, hoping that he made it during Naruto's match. If what the two shinobi at the door had said is true and Naruto has won, what a great accomplishment it would befor him to rub in Sasuke's face. And for Sasuke to witness Naruto's strength would be even better.

But, as it turns out, Sasuke is still in the middle of nowhere, so concentrated on perfection he fails to notice me as I prod around his brain. He doesn't seem to have any intention of coming home soon and I wonder if he'll be arriving at all.

Orochimaru isn't here for nothing, Rei's voice echoes in my head and I shiver.

Come to think of it, it'll be better if Sasuke doesn't show.

I remember where Sakura and Ino were sitting and find them without a hitch. I take the empty seat at the end of the aisle, surprising them, and I say, "Hey. How'd the match go?"

"Ren!" Ino says, eyes wide and then narrowed with irritation. "Where were you! What did you think you were doing, running after that Sound boy like that? You missed Naruto's match completely!"

"I didn't run after him," I say, dismissing her accusations with a wave. "There's only one way out of here and there was something I had to do before the tournament that I'd forgotten about. It took me longer than I thought it would; I didn't mean to miss Naruto's match."

Sakura regards me dubiously, like she knows exactly where I had been, what I had been doing. She doesn't say anything, but that's fine because Ino is an absolute chatterbox.

"Well, you really missed out," she huffs. "It was amazing! Naruto was really impressive, especially considering he was up against that Neji guy."

"Is that right?" I ask, grinning as I take in the craters and holes that spot the arena. And I'm truly sorry that I missed Naruto's match, but I never doubted him for a second. I knew he would pull through because the kid is a goddamn machine that is incapable of being broken or deterred.

"It was odd, though," Ino says, leaning back in her seat. "At the beginning of the match, Neji kept going on and on about something—a mark on his forehead. I couldn't hear well enough to make out why it was significant, but they were talking about it for a while. Whatever." Ino waves it away, like it couldn't be less of her concern. "Here's the real drama though," Ino says, lowering her voice. "It turns out the scandal at the beginning of the tournament? The two Sound Nin dropped out. The Dosu boy who went up against Chouji had the decency to quit before the tournament, but the girl Shikamaru was supposed to be fighting sent a messenger to do her dirty work for her, just a few minutes before the tournament started!"

Ino points at where the matches have been posted on the adjacent wall. I glance at it and see a big red x slashed over the last name, leaving only eight contestants of the original ten.

"Still, it doesn't matter who Shikamaru is up against," Ino says, clenching her hands into fists. "I'm sure he'll be able to beat whoever he fights and win!"

I scoff, flicking my hair from my eyes. "Yeah, definitely," I say.

Ino glowers at me and demands, "Aren't you his best friend, Ren? You should be more supportive of him!"

"I am supportive," I say. "I want him to win this match as much as you do."

"Then why did you sound so dismissive?" Ino says.

"It's one thing to win the match," I say, "but beating out Temari is another thing all together."

Ino regards me quizzically, but doesn't get the chance to ask me what I mean, because a man behind us shouts, "HEY. What's the deal? Hurry up and start the next match!"

"Yeah, what's going on!" someone else pipes in as I wipe what I know is probably spittle from the first man who had been yelling off of my cheek. "How long are you gonna keep us waiting!"

I scowl into the arena, disgusted, as Ino says, "I suppose it has been a while since Naruto's match ended. What's the matter—has Sasuke-kun still not shown up?"

Around the spectator's box, handfuls of other villagers are becoming restless as well. They shift in their seats and begin sharing grievances with each other. I can't help but notice a few of the Nin in the crowd are sitting tensely in their seats, backs stiff and gazes as alert as ever.

I lean against my armrest, wondering if they're on edge because they know the details of the situation or because they're preparing themselves for a fight in the crowd should one break out. In the corner of my eye, I see Sakura sitting forward and glancing over at me.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Sasuke-kun is," she says slowly, "would you, Ren?"

"Huh?" Ino swivels toward me. "Why would you know where Sasuke-kun is?"

I arch my brow. "I wouldn't," I answer, shaking my head. "Sorry to disappoint you. But he'll show up eventually, right? I don't think he'd miss this." He really should be here now, though, before he gets himself disqualified. But god knows where Orochimaru is in this crowd, I think, scanning the faces even though, with the higher-ups looking out for him, he's probably in disguise, like he had been in the Forest of Death. Hopefully, with all his Nin out of the running for the tournament, he up and left a while ago.

But that would be all too convenient.

In the center of the arena, the proctor for the final exam stands speaking with another shinobi who has leaped from the highest box, the one containing the Hokage, Kazekage, and other important men from across the nations. They discuss something heatedly and then the other man jumps out of the arena, leaving the proctor alone.

Amidst the protesting, the proctor raises his hands to silence everyone, and once things are relatively settled he says, "One of the contestants for the next match has not arrived yet! Therefore, the match will be postponed until he is here, and we will proceed."

"Great!" Ino says, clasping her hands together. "Then Sasuke-kun won't be forced to forfeit."

"Fantastic," I breathe, slumping into my seat. It is, without question, another special circumstance for the last member of the prodigious Uchiha clan. This is the match everyone has been looking forward to; we Leaves wouldn't want to do our neighbors a disservice by keeping them from seeing Uchiha Sasuke.

"The next pairing is, then," the proctor says, "Kankuro and Aburame Shino. Please come down!"

There is a small upheaval as the other spectators being to understand that they're serious about postponing Sasuke's match, and more cries fill the air. I watch the proctor look expectantly up at the contestants' box, waiting for the boys to enter the arena. But then someone waves his hand and takes a step away from the railing, and before I know it a girl is soaring into the arena on top of a large fan.

"What's going on?" I ask, sitting upright in my seat. "I thought—"

"Kankuro of the Sand has forfeit," the proctor's voice comes over the shouts of the crowd, sounding as displeased as everyone else. "Aburame Shino wins by default. The final contestants are Temari of the Sand and Nara Shikamaru."

Temari, already poised with her fan in the arena, glares into the contestants' box, waiting for Shikamaru. I shake my head, sighing, and say, "Poor sap. He was supposed to go last and now he's being thrust into a crowd that would much rather be watching Sasuke."

Ino elbows me gruffly, and I wince, rubbing my new injury. She puts a finger to her lips and gestures to Sakura, whose wears a glum expression. I roll my eyes. "Right. Sorry," I say, despite the fact that Ino had said Sasuke's name earlier and it had been okay then. "Didn't mean to upset."

While I understand Sakura's distress over Sasuke's wellbeing—because, after all, she loves him dearly—I'm thoroughly over the fact that she holds her heart so blatantly on her sleeve. She can't expect to be a full-fledge shinobi if she doesn't at least try to hide the fact that she is distressed by Sasuke's absence, or anyone's absence for that matter. Does she even realize what kind of dangers we'll have to go through because of who we are and what we do?

Put off by Sakura's moping, I turn back to the arena in time to see Shikamaru falling into the ring and landing on top of some brush and bramble with an unsavory crunch. I wince, clouds of dust mushrooming around Shikamaru from the impact as Ino continues to cheer for him, apparently mistaking Shikamaru's stumble for an enthusiastic leap into the arena. The crowd jeers at him, and I am all at once defensive of Shikamaru. I mean, I wouldn't bet money on Shikamaru to win, but I know that Shikamaru winning isn't an impossibility because it isn't that he is incapable of winning, only that he is severely unmotivated to win.

I just hope he's able to shut these bastards up.

"Start the match already," someone groans.

"Yeah, hurry up and get it over with!"

I'm about to stand in my seat and give these punks a piece of my mind when I catch movement. Temari, apparently sharing the same frame of mind as these men, is making a beeline for Shikamaru, her closed fan raised high, despite the fact that Shikamaru is still on the ground. She slams it into the dirt where Shikamaru lays, and a storm of dust rises in a flurry, covering the pair from our view.

The men behind us cheer, and my brow twitches in irritation. What meatheads, I think, as the sand clears and Shikamaru is miraculously floating a foot above where he had fallen, back pressed against the wall. He'd taken two kunai and used them as braces to avoid the attack, and now stands on them, hands shoved in his pockets, an easy smile on his face.

Shikamaru and Temari exchange a few words before Temari takes her fan and flips it open, swinging it forward and sending a blast of wind flurrying around the arena as she is pushed backward by its force. She lands elegantly in the center of the arena, whereas Shikamaru is nowhere to be seen.

Ino is pumping her fists into the sky as she cheers, "You've got this, Shikamaru! Knock her out with a sixteen punch combo!"

"Despite the fact that he doesn't have a move like that," I say pulling Ino back into her seat. "Relax, Ino, the proctor hasn't even started the match yet."

Ino turns to admonish me again for my attitude, I'm sure, but then she notices something over my shoulder and says, "Oh!"

I turn to follow her gaze and find Chouji standing there, a bag of chips clasped in one hand and the other bringing a chip to his mouth. "Is there a free seat down there?" he asks.

"I think it's better if you take this seat, Chouji," I say, squeezing past Ino and Sakura. "You're lucky there's another seat, in any case. We didn't think you'd make it."

"Your stomach is better already, is it?" asks Ino as Chouji sits down. Chouji nods, but at the rate he's downing those potato chips, I don't think he'll be feeling as well by the end of the day.

"I thought Sasuke's match was next," Chouji comments, jerking his chin into the arena. "What's going on?"

Ino shushes Chouji and points to Sakura whose head hangs in misery at the mention of her beau. As Ino explains to Chouji what's happened, I say to Sakura, "I've told you this once, and I'll tell you again: You don't need to keep worrying about him like this. He's a big boy. He can take care of himself."

Sakura shakes her head and says, "That's not the point, Ren. Even if…even if there wasn't the curse mark—" She whisper-says the word so that Ino and Chouji can't hear it as they have their own side-discussion. "—for me to worry about, I would still worry about Sasuke-kun. As his friend, I can't help it. It's what friends do. You of all people should know."

I narrow my eyes at her. I say, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I meant in regards to Shikamaru," she says with a sigh. "You're worried about him now, aren't you? In his match against Temari, even though you know he'll do fine?"

"I…that is," I say, "yeah, I guess, but—"

"No buts," she says firmly. "It is the way it is, Ren."

I scowl at Sakura, hating the way she's trapped me in her argument, and although there's more for me to say on the subject, there's no reason for me to continue if she's only going to fall back on that excuse. Besides, the proctor has declared Shikamaru's match a go and, while I can't make up for missing Naruto's match, I will not miss a single moment of this.

Shikamaru is still taking cover in the shadow of the trees, and from what I can tell he is staring dreamily up at the clouds. He's seemingly resigned himself to losing the match, which I expected, but I hope he puts up a good fight so these idiots in the stands will stop talking smack like they know how to throw a punch correctly.

As I contemplate beating the ill-tempered spectators sitting behind me to a pulp, Shikamaru continues to sit in a daze by the trees, and before long Temari loses her patience. She takes her fan with both hands and swings it back and forth at the trees, trying to fish Shikamaru out. The force of the gust sweeps dust into the stands and we have to shield ourselves from the grains of sand that assault us. The winds die down quickly, but the dust takes longer to settle. Temari has succeeded in obstructing Shikamaru from her view and just barely notices when a dark mass shoots across the ground, right for her feet.

She hops back, once, twice, three times to avoid the length of what presumably is Shikamaru's shadow, and when she notices it start to retreat, she strikes the ground, marking the extent of the shadow's reach. She's clever, I think as she lines her fan up with Shikamaru, to know her opponent's limits and use them to her advantage. If she's as smart as she's making herself out to be, Shikamaru's going to have to really apply everything he has to this match if he hopes to make it out in one piece.

Shikamaru glances up again at the sky, and I can picture him frowning in my head despite the distance between us. He must realize what I have and must be griping about the how troublesome this match is. As he crouches, Shikamaru draws his hands together, and even though I can barely see him, I know what he's doing.

He is, I'm sure, pressing his fingers, tip to tip, forming a cage with his hands. His eyes are closed and he is pursing his lips as he thinks, trying to form a plan from what information he has: the tactics Temari used in her match against Ten-Ten, his opponent's general skill level, what she specializes in, the geography of the arena. He is bringing what he knows together and tying them into a master plan and god I wish I could think like him. Maybe I would have been able to get myself out of this mess by now.

"Hey, Ren," Ino says, jolting me out of my thoughts. "What's with that stupid look on your face?"

"What?" I ask, turning to her. "What do you mean?"

"For a second, you just looked like this." She relaxes her face and her eyes go soft, dreamy almost, and her lips break into an obviously lovesick smile.

"I would never be caught dead looking that ridiculous," I say, regarding her with disgust. "Absolutely not."

"No," Chouji says, shaking his head. "I saw it too. That was exactly how you looked, Ren."

"You're not helping, Chouji. I wasn't—"

"It's two against one," Ino says. "Your argument is invalid. That was exactly how you looked and we all saw who you were looking at."

"F—Ino, there is a match going on right in front of us," I say, pressing a hand to my forehead. "A match in which our friend is fighting. Why wouldn't I be looking at Shikamaru?"

"I'm not saying you shouldn't have been looking at him," she replies. "I'm just saying you shouldn't have been looking at him like you were."

"You know, Sakura," I say, leaning onto the armrest between us and keeping my tone conversational. "It's a good thing you're sitting next to me, otherwise I might have already lunged across the seats at Ino and strangled her."

"Well, what do you think about all this Sakura?"

"Don't answer that."

"Ren, all I'm saying is—"

"I know what you're saying," I tell Ino, propping my head up on my fist. "Frankly, though, I think it's ludicrous and why don't we just get back to watching the match, huh? I feel like something's about to happen."

Ino laughs, reaching across Sakura to flick my arm teasingly. I swat her away. "Hmm, indeed!" she says with a wink. "And just so you know, when it does, I approve."

I can only shake my head at her idiocy as Shikamaru breaks from his pose. Seeing movement, Temari opens her fan again, preparing to create another seismic blast of air that sends the dirt and trees into a flurry. This time, no shadow emerges from the dust storm she creates. In fact, it becomes a long while before we see movement from Shikamaru again.

[+]

I don't have a watch on me so it's hard to tell for certain, but I'm sure an eternity has passed since Shikamaru has last made an appearance. Temari tirelessly assaults his hiding place with wind after wind, but nothing has been able to flush him out.

"He's never going to be able to get close to her at this rate," Ino says, clenching her knees, as Chouji finishes off his umpteenth bag of chips.

"Maybe he's dug himself a grave and fallen asleep inside," I offer with a shrug, and Ino glares at me. "He's sure had enough time to do it."

"You know, Ren, I think you're right when you say Shikamaru's already resigned himself to losing," Ino admits, crossing her arms. "But for him to give up without a fight is even too cowardly for him! He has to have something planned."

And just as Ino is saying this, a kunai breaks from the last gust Temari has sent at Shikamaru and she sees it early enough to jump aside before it hits her. Another kunai assails her in her new position, but she still manages to block it with her fan. I notice that she's careful to stay behind the line that marks the extent of Shikamaru's shadow, and rightfully so because a streak of black shoots across the ground, reaching for Temari's feet. She smirks as it comes closer, confident in her safety, but then the shadow jerks past the mark.

Quick on her toes, Temari only has to leap away once in order to avoid the shadow, which comes to a stop a mere meter over the old marker. She raises her head to glare at Shikamaru, who has emerged at last from the trees.

And it becomes clear to me why Shikamaru had been stalling earlier. As the sun dropped in the sky, shadows elongated, giving Shikamaru's technique more reach. He had been buying himself time in order to make his technique more effective. Still, it isn't enough for Shikamaru to possess Temari and let him win the match.

"So close," Ino groans, pounding her fists onto her thighs. "Come on, Shikamaru!"

As Chouji asks Ino a question about how Shikamaru's technique works, goosebumps run down my arms to my very fingertips. The bond nudges me, sending me jolts of excitement, and I figure Sasuke has made progress with whatever he's doing. My head pounds and I must wince or something because I catch Sakura's eye.

She turns to me, eyebrows knotted together, and says, "Ren, what is it? Is Sasuke-kun okay?"

"Wh-what?" I asks, massaging my temples. "How should I know?"

"I just…," she says, blinking at me. "I thought you were—"

"Look!" Ino cries, pointing to the sky, and we look and see a small parachute, falling from the immaculate blue of the sky. There isn't much to it—Shikamaru's vest, it appears, tied together and hooked through with his headband. A kunai weighs it down, helping it fall to the ground at a steady rate, and I wonder what makes it so significant when I realize: The parachute is creating a shadow right at the point before Temari's feet, where Shikamaru's shadow ends. It becomes an extra stepping stone for his shadow, and sure enough his shadow connects and cuts through, darting for its target.

Temari isn't so easily caught. She jumps back at calculated distances, estimating where the shadow will stop, and it isn't until she is three meters gone from where she had been standing that Shikamaru's technique reaches its second limit.

The make-shift parachute collapses to the ground as it finally loses its height, and Shikamaru's shadow fails again. It shrinks back, slinking past the holes someone had created in the previous match, defeated. Temari, realizing that she can't let this drag on any longer, opens her fan and plants it into the ground before her, pressing her hands together in a seal as she uses her fan as cover.

She pauses like that for a second, like she's coming up with a plan, but then her pause becomes a complete and sudden halt, and she is standing there like a deer in the headlights, and I think: He's got her.

Sure enough, Shikamaru moves to separate his hands from his own seal and Temari makes the same gesture. She turns her head as he turns his to allow her to see how he had managed to capture her. His shadow had fallen into the hole that had been there at the beginning of the match, and slipped through to trap her shadow from behind, leaving her none the wiser.

Ino gives a cry of delight and says, "That's how it's done, Shikamaru!"

I turn around at the men behind me who are now watching Shikamaru's match in silent awe, anticipating his next move with wide eyes. I smirk at them, glad to see them eating their words, when I notice, standing at the top of the stands, a masked person wearing a cloak that covers them from head to foot. ANBU, I realize grimly, my haughtiness fading as the reality of the danger the village is in becomes fatally clear to me.

I twist back in my seat to watch the match, hoping to abandon the seriousness of the situation, as Ino continues to cheer for Shikamaru, who is now walking Temari forward so that they meet face-to-face in the middle of the arena. I brush my bangs from my face and wish I could be as unconcerned as Ino or Shikamaru or even Naruto, who doesn't yet know about the curse mark, but instead I am in the middle of it all, worrying like Sakura.

"This is it, Ren," Ino says to me, holding her nose high, as Shikamaru raises his hand in the arena. "Watch as Shikamaru completely blows you out of the water!"

"How?" I ask, frowning. "By forfeiting? Because from the looks of it—"

"That's it," Shikamaru announces loudly, his voice echoing into the stands in the silence. "I'm done. I give up."

Ino's mouth drops open in horror and I snort, slouching in my seat as the proctor calls the match in Temari's favor just before Shikamaru's shadow breaks, allowing Temari to move on her own. As he rubs the back of his neck, Temari regards him with disgust. Or maybe it's wonder. I can't really tell from where I'm seated, but I laugh, shake my head, and say to Ino, "What were you telling me before?"

"I…but," she stutters, and then shouts, "What a waste! It was his chance to become a Chuunin. What the hell could he have been thinking?"

Chouji shrugs, discarding his back of chips to the pile he's building on the floor by his feet. "That's just who he is," he says, and I concur.

Shameless, lazy Shikamaru.

"And it's not like he really needs to win to become a Chuunin, right?" I ask, reminding her of what the Hokage had said after the preliminaries. "In my opinion, Shikamaru has a better chance of being promoted than anyone else. He wanted to get out of there without being hurt too badly. Is that the general mentality of Nin, simplified down to Shikamaru standards?"

Ino groans. "It just feels like he gave up too soon," she complains and I don't know what else to say besides, "You know I told you so. You could have avoided all this disappointment by listening to me."

I ignore the glare I receive from her to watch as, on the other side of the stadium, Naruto climbs over the railing that keeps people from falling into the arena and leaps into the ring. He has this scowl on his face as he jumps down and when he lands, he straightens himself quickly and points an accusatory finger at Shikamaru, shouting something at him.

Ino slumps forward and finally caves. "Well," she admits, "it was Shikamaru-ish to do that."

Chouji and I grin at each other. Sakura doesn't seem to notice any of the conversation going on right over her lap. Instead, she looks about the arena, panicked, and her eyes widen as they come to a realization. Her face falls and she turns to me, saying, "Ren, where's Sasuke-kun?"

"He'll show," I say, although at this point it's an empty promise. Sakura continues to stare at me, all bug-eyed and anxious, like she expects for me to tell her more. Like hell I'll tell her more.

Given, I can just check for her right now through the bond, so that my reassurance is more, well, reassuring, but there is something telling me that I shouldn't give Sakura any more reason to believe that there is anything between Sasuke and I at all. I've already slipped up one too many times in the past, starting in the Land of the Waves, then in the Forest of Death with Orochimaru first and his Sound henchmen later. Then in the preliminaries, when I had jumped in to make sure Sasuke was all right.

I think I had especially becoming suspicious in Sakura's eyes in the Forest of Death. In my defense, I hadn't even gone in there to take care of Sasuke in the first place. I had been looking to be intrinsically selfish and ended up doing Team 7 a massive favor.

"Ren," Sakura says again, and I shake her off.

"He'll be here, Sakura," I say with a shrug. "He'll come."

Naruto, still dawdling about in the arena with Shikamaru, has apparently Sasuke's absence as well and scans the place, high and low, for signs of his teammate or his master. The crowd starts to shift restlessly in their seats, Shikamaru's match forgotten and the highlight of the event—Sasuke's match—heavy on their minds once again.

With all these people so concerned about Sasuke, you wouldn't think he'd need me.

With a glance to Sakura, who has since given up on trying to get me to give her information on Sasuke, I close my eyes and relax the barriers I work so hard to keep between Sasuke and me. For a minute, I feel nothing. An untouchable blankness neither here nor there, but not quite nonexistent. And then there is a spark of light, of Sasuke, of the power he now exudes and is either vain or foolish enough to let it flow from his body in all its damning glory. He senses me faster than usual and sends me a message that is loud and clear:

I'm coming.

"About time, rat bastard," I mumble under my breath, opening my eyes and sitting up in my seat.

"What did you say?" asks Sakura, and I realize she'd only been pretending to leave me alone so that I would fall right into her trap and check on Sasuke.

The nerve of this girl.

"I said, 'It's time for the next match'," I say, "but that much is obvious. Here's hoping Sasuke arrives soon, hmm?"

Sakura's shoulders sag and she clasps her hands together in her lap like a helpless child. If she's hoping to gain my sympathy, I'm not biting. There are more pressing matters at hand, like the issue of the ANBU strategically stationed around the stands, hovering like omniscient statues built by the ancients to keep out evil spirits.

As I'm considering all the things that could go wrong during this tournament that would necessitate such extremes, the vibrations kick up. I blink at the seemingly random flurry of activity, looking back and forth between the stands for the source of the disruption. It spikes again, and this time I'm able to pinpoint it.

I'm coming.

From the center of the arena, near where Shikamaru and Naruto are still lingering, a flicker. And in an instant, leaves pitch up into the air in a mini tornado of sorts, whirling in a mass of dust and pebbles, and when it clears, who else but Sasuke stands there, decked out in a new get-up, Kakashi at his side.

Sakura's and Naruto's face simultaneously light up while I roll my eyes and Ino and Chouji regard Sasuke's sudden appearance with shock and awe. All I can do is shake my head, appalled by the duo's flashy entrance that would make Gai proud. IS it so horrible being normal for once and just arriving on time like they were supposed to have done?

"What a little show-off," I say with a sigh, but even in spite of it, the corners of my mouth turn up into a small smile. "Uchiha Sasuke. He never fails to make a scene."

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