Chouji liked the idea of being able to have a scavenger hunt with most of his great friends.
Even though Ino wasn't here, the rest of his friends were.
Maybe they could invite Ino over the next time they did this. Because he was sure that Sakura and Kiba would love this so much that they would eventually want to have a scavenger hunt with Shikaku Nara again.
Shikamaru took his sweet time getting dressed. But seeing how they would have to wait for his father to get ready as well, Chouji didn't really mind the wait. Especially because he was already extremely accustomed to the Nara way of life, which was one that prided itself in taking things easy.
He was kind of worried, though, about how Kiba was reacting to both members of the Nara clan. He didn't seem to like either Shikaku or Shikamaru all that much. And Shikamaru certainly hadn't helped by being uncharacteristically chatty when it came to Kiba's demands.
Did Kiba already know Shikaku? From where? Chouji didn't remember the Inuzuka ever being around the Nara whenever the Clan Heads got together.
"Okay, kids. I'm going to go ahead and change so we can get started on that scavenger hunt. Shikamaru should be here in a few minutes, so just stay put." Shikaku told the kids after he had finished eating his breakfast, getting up from the kitchen table with a heavy sigh.
The Nara had taken his sweet time eating his food. Just like Shikamaru was being extremely slow getting dressed. Which didn't surprise Chouji, considering how much time he had already known both males.
Once Shikaku was gone, Kiba huffed beside him, pushing at the barely touched glass of water he had been given.
"You're lucky I like you, Chouji."
This made the Akimichi quirk a questioning eyebrow at the Inuzuka, who merely crossed his arms on the counter before him and rested his chin on them.
"You said this scavenger hunt would be fun, right?" He questioned, "Cause I don't want to do nothin' that won't be fun."
"Of course it'll be fun, Kiba." Sakura murmured as she sipped softly at her own drink. "Chouji wouldn't lie to us."
"Yup. What would I get out of lying to you, Kiba?" The Akimichi questioned, then smiled broadly. "I promise it'll be fun! Mr. Nara really knows how to make things fun and balanced for us! Promise!"
Sakura smiled softly at him with a nod, clearly believing his words. Kiba though, just huffed and continued to push his cup around.
Sakura could tell that Kiba didn't like waiting around for a game. He didn't like waiting around for much, actually. He could be incredibly impatient at times. Unbelievably so to her, considering how she actually knew how to wait for things without growing annoyed. It was something he should really work on if he wanted to grow up to be a good ninja in the future.
But, in all honesty, she didn't mind waiting too much for Mr. Nara or Shikamaru to get ready. She wasn't the most athletic kid around and wasn't too eager to lose against people that clearly knew more about the terrain they would be playing on than her. And seeing how Kiba was with them and he was supposed to have an unbelievable sense of smell and hearing, she wasn't all that eager to get started.
Although she had to admit, if she wanted to continue running around with Kiba, she would most probably need to become more accustomed to running around. Especially if she didn't want him to make fun of her. He hadn't done so yet, but she was sure it was only a matter of time before he tired of having to wait up for her.
As they waited for both Nara's, Sakura kicked her legs from her seat up on the very high chair. She enjoyed swinging them, it was always fun to do. She didn't really know why. But it brought her great joy and she had yet to get scolded for it by anyone other than her mother. (It was her little guilty pleasure to do this whenever her mother wasn't around.)
After ten minutes of waiting for Shikamaru, Sakura stopped paying attention to the time. Then when he did arrive, it took his father a good ten more minutes to appear as well. But while they waited for Mr. Nara, Chouji struck up a conversation with his friend.
Sakura felt a bit left out as Shikamaru and Chouji began to speak about past experiences in these scavenger hunts, but she didn't say anything about it. Instead she focused on the still frowning Kiba and decided to make that frown turn upside down.
What did Kiba enjoy talking about? He liked dogs, chasing after cats, using bad words that usual ended up with adults glaring at him, and thinking up of ideas for pranks. He also really liked running around and going down to the parts of town kids weren't supposed to go to.
Hmmm... Ever since he had started hanging out with them, Kiba hadn't gotten into too much trouble. Of course that had only been a week, but it was odd to not see the boy getting into trouble every single day of the week.
... Would it be wrong if Sakura wanted to see him create one of his famous pranks? Or to find out about how he managed to sneak out of class without their teacher finding out?
His pranks were the best in the group. Naruto's were good, but they were sloppy. Kiba's were rough and sometimes crude, but he'd managed to get away from their teacher's scolding more times than Naruto had. And they were always hilarious. Whenever one of them came to life before her eyes, all Sakura wanted to do was burst out laughing. Although she managed to compose herself to not glared at by her teacher.
She knew her mother wouldn't want her to learn how to misbehave... But... If she learned how to misbehave, then she would know what not to do if she didn't want to get in trouble.
Yeah! That was a good plan! And it would undoubtedly get Kiba to smile to speak about the things he enjoyed doing.
"Hey, Kiba? Have you planned out any good pranks for when we go back to school?"
The question was sudden and Kiba hadn't been expecting it. Especially from Sakura Haruno. Hell, none of the kids he knew wanted to get in trouble by pranking people. They were too much of cowards to do anything they considered 'dangerous'.
Kiba quirked a confused eyebrow as he turned to look at Sakura, only to see her cheeks begin to redden softly even as a small smile came onto her face. "Do you want to get me in trouble or something, Haruno? Do you want to snitch on me?"
That was the only true answer for a goody-two-shoes like Sakura wanting to find out about his plans for the future. And this made a displeased frown tug at his lips as his eyes began to narrowly dangerously. He hated snitches. They were traitors.
"Not at all!" Sakura quickly shook her head, then looked at him with wide eyes, "You just always do things that make us all laugh a lot! I was wondering if you'd still be doing that and if you had any planned." She admitted softly, then shrugged, "It'd be kind of sad if you didn't do any this year."
If Kiba had been shocked to hear Sakura asking about planned pranks before, he was stunned beyond belief at what he heard now. "You... You like my pranks?"
They'd been hanging out for quite some time now, but the topic of pranks had never been one they had touched. Kiba didn't talk about them because the other two kids were cowards that didn't want to get in trouble. The others most probably didn't bring the topic up for the same reason.
But Sakura had thrown him for a loop now.
"Well... I mean... They're funny." Sakura hesitated, face reddening completely, then shook her head. "Do you have anything planned or not?"
Sakura wanted to find out about pranks... It was weird... But Kiba smiled proudly over at her, then nodded. "Do I!"
Then he began to explain to her the greatest prank he had ever planned in his life! It would be amazing and leave all of the Academy stunned! The only true problem he had when it came to planning it was masking his tracks so well that he couldn't even be considered as a suspect for it. He didn't really know how to fix this one problem and so didn't think of going through with it as soon as the semester started.
Considering how they were supposed to be on probation when the semester began, he didn't want to risk getting into trouble. His mom had beaten quite a bit of fear into him. And he was more than sure if he went through with this prank this semester, he may not live to see his seventh birthday.
"You just need to buy your supplies outside of the village and make it look as if someone else did it."
"Huh? What are you talking about, Shikamaru?"
They had been catching up on everything they had done during their break when Shikamaru had suddenly turned to look over at Kiba and talk to him. Chouji was confused by this seeing how his two other friends had been speaking to each other and not to him. And he wanted to find out just why Shikamaru had said what he had.
The Nara looked over at him and explained himself, "Kiba's 'master prank'." He muttered with air quotations, which made Chouji cock his head to the side. "What he's planning on doing is big and could get him into a lot of trouble. The way to avoid people finding out it was him to do it he'd need to buy the supplies outside of the village to make sure nobody in here could point the finger at him. And he'd need to make it look as if someone else came up with the whole thing."
Chouji blinked at his best friend in shock and confusion. Was Shikamaru really helping Kiba out with a prank? Did he know he was doing it? Or was he just trying to get a rise out of the Inuzuka?
The Akimichi turned around on his seat to look over at Kiba, completely ready to see him glaring at the Nara. But instead he found the tattooed boy with his hand on his chin, face scrunched up in thought. Chouji had come to recognize this face as the Inuzuka's thinking face for he used it a lot when he wanted to decide on something he deemed important. One time he'd seen him using it when trying to decide on which cut of steak to order for lunch.
"Out of village you say?" Kiba mumbled out in thought, raising his eyes to look at Shikamaru. "That could actually work. Especially if I make it like Naruto did it. It shouldn't be too hard. The idiot's always leaving clues as to him being the one to make the pranks."
His best friend nodded, then sighed softly, "Although should you really do it with Naruto? The kid's always getting himself in trouble by himself. And by your plans, this sounds much too sophisticated for you. Even more so for someone like Naruto."
There was a flash of insult on Kiba's face as he processed the words, but he soon looked away and over at the kitchen's stove, his face scrunched up once more. "Then I'd need another sucker..."
"Or..." Sakura spoke up from beside Chouji, making all the boys turn to look at her in surprise.
She wasn't really the kind to pull pranks. Knowing her, she would most probably try to talk Kiba out of pulling whatever he wanted to do to avoid him getting into trouble.
"You could wait for Naruto to evolve?" She offered, managing to surprise Chouji. She was helping Kiba out with a prank. Just like Shikamaru.
Today was just full of surprises!
"I mean the only two pranksters in our grade are you two. You wouldn't really be able to blame anybody else. Besides, he's always fighting with you so I guess you wouldn't mind getting him into trouble."
What Sakura was suggesting... Chouji didn't like it. Even though they didn't get along, Kiba didn't need to frame Naruto.
He really wished he had heard Kiba's ideas to be able to follow this conversation completely...
"If he ever gets smart." Shikamaru scoffed, but then shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt to wait, though. Would give you some time to get everything you want without raising suspicion."
With this, Kiba nodded. He wasn't glaring at Shikamaru anymore. Instead he was actually smiling.
"Thanks, Nara! Who would have thought you could actually be useful for something?"
Her heart was racing after she had given her two cents for the elaborate prank Kiba was planning. She had never helped anyone that they knew would get them in trouble. And, she had to admit, it was an amazing feeling!
She'd never felt so alive!
Kiba was smiling and Shikamaru didn't look as annoyed anymore. Chouji, though, seemed unsure about what was happening.
"Don't worry, Chouji." She smiled at him, offering him some comfort. "Like Shikamaru said, it'll most probably take some time to get everything Kiba needs. And it'll undoubtedly take a lot more planning than what Kiba already has if he wants everything to go perfectly."
From behind her she could her a displeased sound come from Kiba, but the boy didn't say anything about it. Instead he allowed Chouji to speak.
"It's not right to frame people for things you've done, Sakura."
His words were honest and heartfelt. They instantly made her begin to feel bad.
"We're ninja, Porky!" Kiba suddenly jumped up onto the counter in front of them, making them all look at him in surprise.
This wasn't his house! What was he doing jumping up onto places he shouldn't be standing on?
"We can't feel bad about hurting our enemies. And, I don't know if you haven't noticed, but fox boy and I don't necessarily get along." Kiba frowned down at Chouji. And when Sakura turned to look at the Akimichi, she found him frowning back at him. Kiba soon sighed and rolled his eyes, then sat himself on the counter in between both his friends. "Okay, how's about this, Porky: If Naruto isn't as annoying as he is now by the time I've got the prank all ready to be done, I won't frame him?"
This was actually a rather kind offer considering how much Naruto and Kiba truly hated each other. They couldn't be in the same classroom without getting into some kind of argument if they so much as made eye contact. But Sakura guessed that Kiba was offering it just to not have to listen to Chouji tell him off about being dishonest.
Although... He had a point... Ninja shouldn't feel bad about hurting their enemies. Even though Iruka Sensei would most probably tell them that Naruto was their ally, not an enemy to fight.
Chouji's frown lightened once he heard this, but he didn't smile. Instead he just huffed and nodded once, "I would really appreciate it if you didn't break this promise, Kiba."
At this Kiba smiled toothily, nodding at him, "Inuzuka don't break promises! We're too awesome to be dishonest, Porky!"
After he had finished shouting this out, Kiba suddenly heard the clearing of a throat from the opening in the kitchen that led to the rest of the room. And when he turned his head to look in that direction, the boy found Shikaku Nara standing at the doorway, a lazy look on his face even as he frowned.
"The counter is used for food and drinks, kid. Not to sit on it."
His brightened mood darkened upon hearing the slow as all hell Nara go through his words as slow as humanly possible, then Kiba frowned and glared over at the man.
"What you gonna do 'bout it, old man?"
Using the insult felt wrong. Like the term old man just didn't fit the clearly aged man in front of him. And Kiba couldn't really figure out why that was.
"Nothing really..." Shikaku sighed with a shrug, then motioned for the kids to follow after him. "Let's get going, yeah? I'm sure you kids would like to play while there's still sun out."
"There'll be sun out for more than five hours, dude." Kiba grouched with a roll of his eyes, even though he moved to jump off the counter as he noticed his friends getting out of their seats.
At this the man shrugged once more, even though he didn't turn to look to make sure the kids followed him. Instead he just continued to walk away. As if he was sure they would follow along like good little soldiers.
Kiba hated these kind of people.
Forget how much better he was feeling after Shikamaru had helped him make his prank a thousand times less dangerous for himself. The Nara still sucked.
"Fine, kid... If you don't move now, I'll go back to bed and there'll be no scavenger hunt for you to go on."
Kiba really felt like biting back at him and answering sarcastically. But then he felt Chouji's hand fall on his shoulder and when he turned to look at his friend, he found the Akimichi shaking his head softly.
"I really want to go on this hunt, Kiba..."
Kiba couldn't get himself to care about being proper when around people he didn't like... But he liked Chouji. And he had been the idiot to offer to allow Shikamaru to tag along just to have the plump boy smile... Him and his stupid, sappy emotions.
With a huff, the boy crossed his arms over his chest and grunted out, "... Fine... I'll play nice... For now."
As Chouji promised, Shikaku delivered an exhilarating game of scavenger hunt that pitted Kiba and Sakura against Chouji and Shikamaru. Both teams had to work together to be able to solve mysteries and get to items as soon as possible with the warning that if they didn't hurry up, Shikamaru's father may just fall asleep and not want to wake up.
Chouji and Shikamaru had honed their skills in working together over years of friendship, so they were an exceptionally good team. Especially with Shikamaru's intelligence and knowledge of the Nara forest.
In the beginning, Shikaku had offered that both kids that usually spent their time around the forest should team up with the kids that had not been there before. But Sakura and Kiba insisted that they could be a good team, even though Chouji felt as if they would be cheating because they knew the place so well.
Well, he would have felt like that if Kiba and Sakura hadn't somehow managed to beat them to the first item. When he'd seen that both of his new friends had gotten their hands on the rare flower that could only be found in the cooler forest areas of Konoha, Chouji knew that this would not be a regular game of scavenger hunt. In his mind, it was going to be more fun.
And that it was.
Running around with all three of his friends had been amazing. And after their game ended in a tie with equal amounts of assigned objects having been found, Shikaku decided to call it a draw and call the kids in for lunch. After they had eaten the meal prepared by Shikamaru's mother, Kiba had asked if the rest would like to go out and have some regular kid fun without adults. Sakura and Chouji agreed to it without much problem, although it had taken some convincing to have Shikamaru accompany them.
The rest of the day had been spent running from one spot to another, chasing after Kiba as he deemed having fun was more important than waiting for his friends.
At one point, in between lunch and dinner time, Sakura, Chouji, and Shikamaru had sat down on a bench in a park and allowed Kiba to run loose. They lost sight of him pretty quickly, but none of the kids were too worried. If any of them knew Konoha, it was the wild Inuzuka that explored their home as often as possible.
While they caught their breath and relaxed, the three kids spoke of whatever came to their minds. They compared notes on school, spoke about what they had done during the break, and wondered about the upcoming semester.
At one point, during a silence between them, Chouji decided to ask something that had been on his mind for a little while now.
"Hey, Shika, where's Ino?"
The Nara had his face turned up to the sky as he lazily watched over the cloud and didn't seem to react other than the one shrug he managed, "She's accompanying her dad on something outside of the village... Diplomacy or something..."
The answer was lazy, but Chouji understood it well enough. The reason why Ino wasn't pulling them around to follow behind her was because she wasn't in the village to do it. But if she were, there was no doubt in his mind that she would have appeared at his house various times to make him hang out with her.
Sharing a conversation with Chouji and Shikamaru was peaceful. Both boys were really calm and nowhere near Kiba on a hyperactive level. They just liked to talk and think, not run around as if the world were about to end any given minute. She enjoyed being with them. Although it was odd to not have to run behind Kiba even though he was (supposedly) close by.
The pink haired girl would not be surprised at all, though, if they were to find out that the Inuzuka had left them far behind to chase after some cat or vendor and wound up far away from them.
Ino was pretty lucky. She was able to leave the village with her father to do clan stuff. Her father didn't let her accompany him whenever he left the village because he said it was much too dangerous. Which, if Sakura was being honest, was pretty annoying. If she was going to be a ninja, she needed to face danger head on! Not run from it!
With a soft sigh at her thoughts, Sakura looked around the park they were in. She took in the sparse trees, much too colorful playground equipment, and lack of kids accompanying them. It was getting dark again and Kiba was nowhere to be found.
"Are you guys hungry?" She asked suddenly, looking over at both boys accompanying her. "I'm starting to get hungry."
Chouji nodded immediately. Sakura had to suppress the urge to giggle at the way his eyes lit up, but then she turned to Shikamaru and waited for his answer.
Upon noticing that her eyes were on him, the Nara sighed dramatically and shrugged once more, "I guess I could eat something."
"Alright!" Sakura smiled broadly, "Let's go find Kiba and then we can decide where to eat!" She jumped off of the bench as she said this, then pointed in the direction she had last seen Kiba heading towards. "Let's get going!"
Shikamaru groaned as he got up, but Chouji just followed after the pink haired girl without any kind of whining. And this made the girl smile broadly because it made her feel like, just maybe, this might be Shikamaru's way of showing he was comfortable around her. Or maybe it was just how he acted around everybody. Still, it was kind of funny to see him so extremely grumpy.
At first, she was very sure that they would find Kiba pretty quickly. But after a few minutes of searching without any kind of results, she began to wonder just where the Inuzuka had ran off to. But, luckily enough, she didn't have to wonder too much, for the hyperactive boy bounded up to them with a broad smile on his face. One that Sakura immediately knew meant he had a secret.
"Kiba? Where did you go?"
His friends needed to get stronger and more used to running. They were too slow and too unused to running. He really had to train them up to be as awesome as him if he wanted to keep them as good friends.
Luckily for him, because they had decided to bail out on him because they were too tired, Kiba had run into one of the most awesome people in the world. Even bought him a drink.
"To the bar." He answered Sakura's question with a toothy smile, then motioned for Chouji and her to get closer to him. "I gotta tell 'em something quick, Nara."
The Nara quirked a curious eyebrow at this, but took a step back to allow the three to speak without him listening in. Once his friends were close enough, Kiba told them, "Guess who I just found."
Both kids were confused by his sly whisper, and Sakura questioned, "Who?"
"Didn't I tell you to guess." Kiba huffed, but soon shook his head. "The old man!"
Immediately both of his friends gasped in shock and began to ask him questions. Kiba knew this would be their reaction and he was proud to have convinced the old man to stick around for a little while.
"Come on! He's over at that little tea shop we went a while ago!"
"But... Kiba, we can't leave Shikamaru alone..." Chouji mumbled, which had the Inuzuka scoffing.
"He's a big boy, Chouji! And the old man isn't here every day now is he?"
"But..."
"We promised we'd keep the old man a secret, porky." Kiba growled, becoming annoyed with the Akimichi. "And we can't really keep him a secret if you bring the Nara along."
Chouji looked down at the floor regretfully, but soon breathed out and nodded. "Okay... I'll tell him to go home..."
"Good." Then Kiba looked over at Sakura, "Come on. We'll get a head start to make sure he doesn't run out on us or something."
Sakura nodded shakily, unsure because of how sad Chouji suddenly looked, but followed after the Inuzuka quickly enough.
Sorry about taking so long to update, I blame the lack of a muse and college life. Please don't forget to review and tell me what you think! I love reading what y'all think about my stories!
