Chapter 52- Halloween Part 2

"Okay so anyway…" Gai continued. "We're back."

"Before we move into the final battles, we'll talk a little bit about what we expect come November." Kurenai said.

"Yes!" said Asuma. "And, since Kakashi is SO good at explaining, he shall do the honors!"

Kakashi cleared his throat. "As you all know, November is the second to last month of the year—"

"HURRAY!" cheered everyone.

Kakashi cleared his throat again. "As I was saying…" he continued. "As you probably DON'T know, November is also National Adoption Month."

"Why are there so many months that celebrate my parentless state?" the knight demanded.

"Sh," said Kakashi.

"The Chuunin exam also takes place on November 20th." Spiderman made sure to point out.

"I was getting to that." Kakashi said with a glare. "But the first order of business has everything to do with National Adoption Month, which we will celebrate on the 2nd."

"What sort of torture are we orphans going to be forced to deal endure?" Harry Potter said. (how ironic!)

"Oh, don't be so negative!" said Kurenai.

"How can we put a positive spin on this subject?" Asuma pondered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Well, keep in mind that it's National ADOPTION Month, not National ORPHAN Month, if that's any consolation!" cheered Gai.

"But you don't have to think about that until the 2nd." Said Kakashi.

"That's only a day from now." The power ranger pointed out.

"SHUSH!" said all the teachers.

"The 8th of November is also Remember the Uchihas Day." Kakashi continued.

"Do we REALLY have to celebrate that?" whined the knight.

"Shut up!" snapped Darth Vader and Snow White.

"Well, we weren't even aware of this holiday until Sasuke filled us in!" admitted Asuma.

"What a crime…" the power ranger sighed under his breath.

"Should we give away any more of the month?" asked Gai.

"Why not?" said Kakashi. "The 18th is Yankee Swap Day, which we'll explain more when that time comes. And then the 24th is—"

"THANKSGIVING!" interrupted the one with the scary mask.

There was a slight pause.

"What?" said the one with the scary mask. "I like Thanksgiving."

"Good to know." Said Kakashi with a raised eyebrow, but it was the eyebrow that was COVERED so nobody knew that he did it, except for you and me of course. And that's all that's important, isn't it?

"And finally…" said Kurenai. "We have a birthday on November 27th!"

"Lee, that's you!" said Gai.

"YAY!" cheered Cinderella. (Okay, okay, so we totally just gave that one away. But you all knew it was him anyway.)

"Whose job is it do plan this party…?" said Asuma absentmindedly. "Oh right! It's me! Teehee!"

"Ew, Asuma…did you just say 'teehee'?" said Snow White, looking disgusted.

"Yeah…so?" said Asuma.

"Nothing." Said Snow White. "Never mind."

"It sounds like we have a really fantastic month ahead of us." Said the genin. And no one knew if he was serious or not.

"Can we get these fights over with?" said Belle. "It's getting late and my mom wants me home by a certain time."

Everyone took turns making fun of Belle before decided that they really did have to proceed.

"The next fight shall be between the knight and the power ranger." Said Kakashi anticlimactically. In fact, it was SO anticlimactic, that no one even really knew he had just announced the battle.

"Wait, sorry, say that again?" said Sleeping Beauty.

"The knight will fight the power ranger." Kakashi repeated with limited enthusiasm.

"OKAY!" cheered everyone as the knight and the power ranger took center stage.

"I WILL WIN!" the knight practically screamed as he whipped out his knight's sword that looked like it was home made out of cardboard and tinfoil.

"Be careful with that!" fretted Belle. "That took forever to make!"

"And uh…yeah." Said the power ranger almost as unenthusiastically as Kakashi had earlier. "I'm willing to give you the win. I really don't care, and I want to go home too."

"No way!" said the knight. "No throwing the fight!"

"Yeah, and besides, a power ranger would definitely win in a fight against a knight." Said the genin.

Belle stared at him.

"What?" said the genin, annoyed with Belle's staring.

"Nothing." Belle replied. "You watch Power Rangers, don't you?"

"I USED to." Said the genin.

"It's okay to admit that you still do." Said Belle.

"Just because you act like you're still a child doesn't mean everyone else does too." Said the genin.

"When did I ever say that I still watched Power Rangers?" demanded Belle.

"When did I?" the genin pointed out.

"Never mind." Said Belle. "You're no fun at all. Ever."

"Yay me." Said the genin.

"ARE WE PAYING ATTENTION?" demanded Gai as he smacked both Belle and the genin upside the head to force them to pay attention to the battle, which was actually just the knight swinging his sword around blindly while the power ranger ducked. Even though it was only a fake cardboard sword, it was quite clear that the power ranger didn't want to be swatted with it.

Finally, the power ranger grabbed the sword and stuck it under his arm.

"You got me." He said, pointing as if he had just been stabbed with the sword though it was OBVIOUS that he hadn't been. "I'm dead."

"Hey!" said the knight angrily. "That doesn't count!"

"THE KNIGHT WINS!" screamed Asuma since he had zoned out and come back in to see that the knight was in a winning situation.

"But that's not fair!" said the knight. "I wanted a glorious battle!"

"Too bad." Said the power ranger, handing the knight back his sword. "Only two more fights…"

"I'm disappointed with the remaining competition…" said Spiderman woefully as he looked at Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and the one with the scary mask.

"I resent that!" said Sleeping Beauty. "I hope I'm fighting you so I can show you a thing or two."

"Um…okay…you can…TRY…" said Spiderman.

"Well, the next battle will be between the Scary Mask and Snow White!" said Gai.

"Worst battle ever." Said Harry Potter AS IF HE KNEW.

"Hey!" said the one with the scary mask and Snow White.

"HA!" said Sleeping Beauty, pointing at Spiderman. "I get to fight you!"

"Why is that a good thing from your point of view?" said Spiderman.

"Shut up!" said Sleeping Beauty.

"So…" said Kakashi, urging the one with the scary mask and Snow White onto the appointed battlefield.

"The only thing Snow White does is cook and clean and scream helplessly!" complained Snow White.

"And I'm just a guy with a scary mask." Shrugged the one with the scary mask.

"Maybe you were right about this being the worst battle ever." The knight whispered to Harry Potter.

"Of course I was right." Said Harry Potter.

"All right then, that's enough of that." Said Asuma, giving them both a punt. "The final battle!"

"Hey, we don't even get a chance to try?" said the one with the scary mask.

"You both said that your battle was going to be bad." Kurenai reminded them. They couldn't disagree so they finally retreated back to where everyone else was just chilling and eating candy.

"The last battle is between Spiderman and Sleeping Beauty!" said Gai.

"Remember, even though I could easily beat you if we were fighting as ninjas…" Spiderman began. "You have to fight like Sleeping Beauty would fight."

"What?" demanded Sleeping Beauty. "She slept throughout the whole movie! I can't do anything else!"

"That's not true." Said Cinderella. "You can walk once upon a dream."

"I'm going to punch you." Sleeping Beauty threatened Cinderella.

"You WOULDN'T!" gasped Cinderella.

"If you refuse to fight as Sleeping Beauty or find that you are unable to fulfill your duties as Sleeping Beauty then just back out of the fight now because we don't feel like watching you struggle." Said Kakashi.

Sleeping Beauty wanted to argue but she couldn't. "Fine!" she said, turning to Spiderman. "But you and me are fighting tomorrow, got it?"

"Whatever." Said Spiderman.

"Can we change out of these costumes now?" Belle asked.

"Why not?" Said the teachers.

Everyone cheered and ran into the other room so they could change. The boys and girls separated OF COURSE.

"It's so good to get this off!" said Kiba as he pulled off his Belle costume and threw it on the ground.

"I don't think Ino would appreciate it if you threw her costume on the ground." Said Shikamaru, getting the last of his green power ranger costume off.

"I'm so happy to have this back!" said Lee, making a dive for his costume but accidentally tripped over the Cinderella one instead.

"Lee, take that dress off RIGHT NOW." Said Neji as he tore Lee's plastic Cinderella crown off.

"Neji…that's so mean!" cried Lee, and then he looked at the neatly folded Spiderman costume in the corner. "And how did you get out of your costume so fast?"

"I didn't want to wear it anymore." Neji said.

"Personally, I'm offended that the teachers made us switch costumes." Sasuke said as he smudged his lightning bolt scar off his forehead. "I bought that Spiderman costume so I could be Spiderman. Not so Neji could be Spiderman."

Neji stared at him.

"Okay." He said finally.

"Here you go Neji." Said Chouji, handing the scary mask to Neji and then taking the Harry Potter costume from Sasuke. "I'll see you guys later then?"

"I guess." Shrugged Sasuke.

"Naruto, hurry up and finish taking off my costume!" Kiba yelled angrily.

"Stop staring at me!" said Naruto. "It's annoying me!"

"You're taking forever!" Kiba argued.

"That's because you're staring at me!" Naruto yelled.

While all that screaming was occurring, Shino calmly approached Shikamaru. They stared at each other and then sighed.

"Sorry, Shino." Said Shikamaru. "The truth was, I didn't really even bring a costume and I took my Chuunin vest off and threw it in the bushes in front of this house that shall not be named."

"It's okay." Said Shino. "At least I didn't have to wear a stupid costume."

"Do you want me to take the Belle costume to the girls, Kiba?" Lee asked. "I have to return the Cinderella one anyway."

"Sure." Said Kiba.

"And I'll retrieve everyone's costumes that were worn by females!" Lee announced as he marched off into the other room and strolled in as if there weren't women changing. They all threw lamps at him and screamed so Lee retreated and patiently waited for them to finish.

"Stupid Lee!" said Sakura as she finally finished with the seven-piece store bought Darth Vader costume and stuffed it in a bag. "He did that on purpose!"

"You could at least fold it, Sakura." Tenten raised an eyebrow as she handed Sakura her folded Sleeping Beauty costume.

"It's just NARUTO." Said Sakura.

"Oh, in THAT case…" Tenten said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

"Here's your costume too, Tenten." Said Ino, giving Tenten the Snow White costume.

"Thanks!" said Tenten.

"I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to fight though…" sighed Ino.

"Me too!" said Tenten. "But me and Neji are going to fight tomorrow."

"Uh…huh…" Ino said slowly. "Hey Hinata, are you done?"

"Yes." Said Hinata. "I'm going to return this to Shino. Sakura, do you want me to take that costume to Naruto?"

"Sure!" said Sakura as she handed over the Darth Vader costume. Hinata walked outside the room to find Lee, and they exchanged the costumes they were holding so Hinata turned right back around and reentered with the Belle and Cinderella costumes as Lee returned to the males with the Darth Vader and Auron costumes.

There was much rejoicing as everyone departed as TEAMS of course!

"My mom is going to be mad at me for getting my vest all messy…" Shikamaru whined as he brushed his dirty vest off.

"Well, that's no one's fault but your own." Said Ino. "If you hadn't been so lazy and gotten yourself a costume then—"

"Ino, it's late." Said Shikamaru. "I don't feel like dealing with you calling me lazy."

"Of course you don't feel like it!" Ino said. "You're too LAZY!"

"One of these days Ino…" Shikamaru shook his fist. "One of these days…"

"Oh you two." Chuckled Chouji.

"Chouji, where's all your candy?" Shikamaru said skeptically.

"I ate it all." Chouji replied as if it were obvious. BUT IT WAS.

"Oh." Said Shikamaru. "You want mine? There's no way I'll eat all this."

"Yeah!" said Chouji. "Is that a trick question?"

"Here, take mine too." Said Ino. "Just so I don't eat it. I don't need it. Then again, it's not like you need it either…"

Chouji didn't listen. He just took the candy.

Meanwhile…

"Does anyone know the time?" Hinata asked.

"I dunno… probably almost eleven." Kiba replied.

Hinata gasped. "I promised my dad that I'd be home by ten!"

"It was a wild guess on my part." Said Kiba.

"It's five of eleven." Said Shino, looking at his watch.

"Shino, shut up!" said Kiba. "I hate you!"

Shino blinked a few times.

Then Kiba laughed. "Just kidding Shino!" he said. "You should have seen your face! Man, that was awesome."

Shino tried not to look too disappointed.

"Do you guys mind if I go home first?" Hinata asked as if they DIDN'T always drop her off first. They shrugged and said they didn't mind and so they moved onward to the dwelling of the Hyuugas!

"Don't forget to say Rabbit Rabbit when you wake up tomorrow morning!" Kiba called to Hinata.

"Okay!" Hinata waved to them and then ran inside.

"What does Rabbit Rabbit mean?" Shino asked Kiba as they walked towards their own domains.

"It'll give you good luck all month if that's the first thing you say when you wake up in the morning." Said Kiba.

"That's not true." Said Shino.

"Shino, why do you always have to be the rain on my parade?" Kiba said, crossing his arms.

"You're just lucky I guess." Said Shino.

Meanwhile…

"I'm kind of excited for the holidays that are lined up for November!" Naruto said. "Except for that stupid Remember the Uchihas Day. That sounds dumb."

"Naruto…" Sakura started.

"Sakura, just because YOU'RE afraid to touch that subject with a forty foot pole, doesn't mean that I am!" said Naruto. "In fact, I thrive on annoying Sasuke!"

"You're not annoying me, Naruto." Said Sasuke.

"What?" said Naruto, looking hurt. "Yes I am! You're lying!"

"I'm not lying." Said Sasuke. "I really don't care that you're mocking the deadly tragedy in my family that traumatized me for my entire life."

"Oh." Said Naruto, getting depressed. "That's not fair…"

He sniffled a little bit and then parted ways with his two teammates.

"Sasuke, are you really over it?" Sakura asked, in awe.

"Sakura…" said Sasuke with a sigh. "Don't make me smack you around."

"Huh?"

"I will hurt you." Sasuke said.

"Oh…" Sakura backed away. "Oh look! Here's my house!"

And with that, Sakura ran into a bush.

Meanwhile…

"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's ner—" Lee sang loudly and enthusiastically, but Neji grabbing his collar and pulling him over promptly silenced him.

"Shut up." He said. "You're getting on my nerves."

"Haha!" said Lee. "I know! That's the point of the song! Isn't it great?"

Neji let go of Lee and mumbled something under his breath that sounded remarkably like, "Why me?"

"Don't forget, Neji, you promised you'd fight me." Tenten reminded him.

"What are you talking about?" said Neji. "You blindly challenged me to a fight and I never said anything about it."

"Well be a man and accept my challenge!" said Tenten.

"Are you doubting my manhood?" Neji inquired in a very serious tone even though what he was saying was comical.

"You DO look kind of feminine, Neji." Lee nodded.

"Lee, I swear, if you say anything else that even remotely irritates me then I'll gentle fist you into next year."

Lee gasped. "So I could be the same age as my darling Sakura!" he exclaimed.

That was Neji's boiling over point. You can imagine what might have happened next.