Feeling This
They awoke late in the morning, as there were no alarm clocks, Asuma was lazy, Kakashi was astoundingly lazy, Kurenai had been up until after 5:00 AM watching the girls, and the boys just felt like sleeping in.
The only reason they had even awoken before noon was that Gai had gone and 'caught breakfast'. They all awoke to the smell of delicious food, though none asked what it was for fear of finding out. The one time someone was about to ask, Tenten had told them to hush quickly, as Gai seemed to find odd delicacies that would make any normal being's stomach churn.
They all ate, put out their campfire, stretched, and got ready for the day ahead.
Excluding Shikamaru who was still asleep. He HAD woken up and gone to breakfast, but had fallen asleep in his place before anyone had noticed he had even arrived.
Lee had already redressed into a fresh.. jumpsuit, and put their tent into reasonable order before everyone had finished eating, and had already gone to fetch water before anyone had noticed he was GONE.
"Hey.. Where did Lee go?" It was Sakura. She still felt horrible for Lee, and was irritated that Kiba had come running at her the night before in manhunt as she was chasing after Lee. He remembered him demanding that she marry him, then having an argument with Kiba over his undeniable love for 'The pink haired chick', then finally letting her tag him before pointing over his shoulder.
"Naruto should be tagged by now, you might as well get me out so the game's over, right?"
She had wanted to speak to him alone, but now he was gone again, it was apparent he wanted nothing to do with her right now.
She sighed.
"What's wrong, Big Forehead?" Ino asked, gently putting a hand on her friend's shoulder.
"None of your business, Ino-pig."
"Aww, you're being so harsh, Bi- - Sakura-chan... Does it have anything to do with Lee-kun?"
Sakura turned her head away, scrunching up her face angrily.
"Why would it have to do with Lee-kun, Ino-pig?"
"Because you just asked about him, then started looking all depressed."
Sakura's shimmering eyes turned to gaze at Yamanaka Ino for a moment as her mouth opened in surprise.
"What is it then, Sakura?"
"It's really nothing... My pet cat just died, is all, and I remembered I had named her Leigh, pronounced the same way as Lee-kun, so it made me sad."
Ino nodded, though she knew that Sakura did not have a cat, let alone would she name it anything remotely close to 'Lee'. No, if Sakura had a cat, she would name it Sasuke so she could say stuff like 'Sasuke slept in my bed last night, and we cuddled', or 'Sasuke spent all night at my house last night, and he even stayed in my room, Ino-pig!' just to make Ino mad.
Sakura looked away once more, then gazed down at her toes, wiggling them through the large hole in her zori (sandals).
Her toenails were painted cotton-candy pink, to match her unorthodox hair. She wiggled them a bit more before standing up and going to find Sasuke or Naruto. They were her closest friends now, and she just needed to see a happy, smiling face right about now...
Naruto looked up from his breakfast, it tasted good and this was his third serving, it wasn't ramen with miso, but it tasted good enough to do him for the next hour or two. He patted his bloated belly before looking at the approaching Sakura.
"Sakura-chan! I just ate THREE of whatever Gai-sensei made! And everyone told me I'd throw up..."
Naruto seemed very proud at his accomplishment, as though he should earn a medal of some sort, or at least a T-shirt that said 'I Survived Maito Gai's Cooking' across it.
Sakura smiled at this, but couldn't help but smack Naruto over the head as she passed.
"That made me feel a whole lot better, Arigato Naruto-kun!"
Sasuke was sitting by himself, as usual..
Wait, no he wasn't. Shino was sitting next to him, and they were speaking to each other in limited terms, somewhat limited to one word responses or simple grunts. It was like a primitive language.
Or at least, that's what Sakura saw it as, and giggled slightly at that. Already she was feeling a lot better.
"Sasuke-kun, did you sleep well?"
"Yeah, except Chouji kept talking to Shikamaru... Even though I told him about fifty or so times that Shikamaru was already asleep."
Sakura giggled slightly again as she sat down next to Sasuke.
"Ohayo, Shino-kun." She offered after a moment. He simply nodded and gazed through his sunglasses at God only knows what.
"Sasuke-kun, do you think we could talk... Alone?"
Sasuke shrugged, and Shino took the hint, stood, and strode off to have another primitive conversation with someone else... Likely Neji.
Lee returned to the group after a little while, being sure to stay out of Sakura's view as he had even started a conversation with Asuma and Kakashi.
"You taught Sasuke most of my basic Taijutsu moves within the span of one month.. How did you do that? Was it just the Sharingan, or what?"
"No, no, no! You see, Sasuke has a Taijutsu body, the Sharingan makes him capable of using Genjutsu and Ninjutsu with little to no effort, so to train in Taijutsu would strengthen his only weakness. We simply went over your moves and trained his body to become used to it."
"I see... Does that mean you could show me Taijutsu moves that even Gai- sensei does not know? Would you be able to train my body to improve that quickly?"
"It depends on your body type. You are a Taijutsu master, but it has taken you the most part of 7 years to earn your strengths, which shows that your body accepts it well, but takes a while to adhere to the new things you teach it.
How many times did you practice Renge before you got it right?"
Lee paused, counting in his head.
"As many times as possible within the span of a week." He finally answered, his math skills never having been that impressive.
"I see... Well, I could- - -"
Shikamaru was no longer asleep at this point. Now he was staring at the sky, making funny shapes out of the pretty clouds. One looked like a bunny rabbit. The other looked like a severed head.. The last looked almost like Chouji using Omote Renge. It was a very odd sight, but Shikamaru couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle.
Asuma yawned, looking over at Kurenai.
"Look like my plan worked out well."
"What do you mean by that?"
"By forcing them into such a small area, they are all being forced to communicate with each other, without knowing they are being forced to do so. It's a genius plan if I do say so myself. By forcing awkward situations between some groups, you get odd coupling communicating as well. See, I just told Tenten that Neji was bisexual and now she's talking to Naruto."
"You did WHAT?" Kurenai snapped.
"Kidding. She saw Naruto looking at Hinata and is now trying to get them together.. It's some sort of.. Girl thing, right?"
Kurenai sighed as she looked away from Asuma. He inhaled deeply on his cigarette and blew out an 'O' shaped cloud of smoke into the air.
"You're so stupid some times."
"But that's why you love me."
He blew out a ring of smoke in the basic shape of a heart.
Kurenai glared, he wasn't supposed to say something so stupid like that.. So stupid... BAKA! Why would he go and spit the truth out like that? It just wasn't fair.
"Baka."
"I know, but I'm a brilliant baka."
They awoke late in the morning, as there were no alarm clocks, Asuma was lazy, Kakashi was astoundingly lazy, Kurenai had been up until after 5:00 AM watching the girls, and the boys just felt like sleeping in.
The only reason they had even awoken before noon was that Gai had gone and 'caught breakfast'. They all awoke to the smell of delicious food, though none asked what it was for fear of finding out. The one time someone was about to ask, Tenten had told them to hush quickly, as Gai seemed to find odd delicacies that would make any normal being's stomach churn.
They all ate, put out their campfire, stretched, and got ready for the day ahead.
Excluding Shikamaru who was still asleep. He HAD woken up and gone to breakfast, but had fallen asleep in his place before anyone had noticed he had even arrived.
Lee had already redressed into a fresh.. jumpsuit, and put their tent into reasonable order before everyone had finished eating, and had already gone to fetch water before anyone had noticed he was GONE.
"Hey.. Where did Lee go?" It was Sakura. She still felt horrible for Lee, and was irritated that Kiba had come running at her the night before in manhunt as she was chasing after Lee. He remembered him demanding that she marry him, then having an argument with Kiba over his undeniable love for 'The pink haired chick', then finally letting her tag him before pointing over his shoulder.
"Naruto should be tagged by now, you might as well get me out so the game's over, right?"
She had wanted to speak to him alone, but now he was gone again, it was apparent he wanted nothing to do with her right now.
She sighed.
"What's wrong, Big Forehead?" Ino asked, gently putting a hand on her friend's shoulder.
"None of your business, Ino-pig."
"Aww, you're being so harsh, Bi- - Sakura-chan... Does it have anything to do with Lee-kun?"
Sakura turned her head away, scrunching up her face angrily.
"Why would it have to do with Lee-kun, Ino-pig?"
"Because you just asked about him, then started looking all depressed."
Sakura's shimmering eyes turned to gaze at Yamanaka Ino for a moment as her mouth opened in surprise.
"What is it then, Sakura?"
"It's really nothing... My pet cat just died, is all, and I remembered I had named her Leigh, pronounced the same way as Lee-kun, so it made me sad."
Ino nodded, though she knew that Sakura did not have a cat, let alone would she name it anything remotely close to 'Lee'. No, if Sakura had a cat, she would name it Sasuke so she could say stuff like 'Sasuke slept in my bed last night, and we cuddled', or 'Sasuke spent all night at my house last night, and he even stayed in my room, Ino-pig!' just to make Ino mad.
Sakura looked away once more, then gazed down at her toes, wiggling them through the large hole in her zori (sandals).
Her toenails were painted cotton-candy pink, to match her unorthodox hair. She wiggled them a bit more before standing up and going to find Sasuke or Naruto. They were her closest friends now, and she just needed to see a happy, smiling face right about now...
Naruto looked up from his breakfast, it tasted good and this was his third serving, it wasn't ramen with miso, but it tasted good enough to do him for the next hour or two. He patted his bloated belly before looking at the approaching Sakura.
"Sakura-chan! I just ate THREE of whatever Gai-sensei made! And everyone told me I'd throw up..."
Naruto seemed very proud at his accomplishment, as though he should earn a medal of some sort, or at least a T-shirt that said 'I Survived Maito Gai's Cooking' across it.
Sakura smiled at this, but couldn't help but smack Naruto over the head as she passed.
"That made me feel a whole lot better, Arigato Naruto-kun!"
Sasuke was sitting by himself, as usual..
Wait, no he wasn't. Shino was sitting next to him, and they were speaking to each other in limited terms, somewhat limited to one word responses or simple grunts. It was like a primitive language.
Or at least, that's what Sakura saw it as, and giggled slightly at that. Already she was feeling a lot better.
"Sasuke-kun, did you sleep well?"
"Yeah, except Chouji kept talking to Shikamaru... Even though I told him about fifty or so times that Shikamaru was already asleep."
Sakura giggled slightly again as she sat down next to Sasuke.
"Ohayo, Shino-kun." She offered after a moment. He simply nodded and gazed through his sunglasses at God only knows what.
"Sasuke-kun, do you think we could talk... Alone?"
Sasuke shrugged, and Shino took the hint, stood, and strode off to have another primitive conversation with someone else... Likely Neji.
Lee returned to the group after a little while, being sure to stay out of Sakura's view as he had even started a conversation with Asuma and Kakashi.
"You taught Sasuke most of my basic Taijutsu moves within the span of one month.. How did you do that? Was it just the Sharingan, or what?"
"No, no, no! You see, Sasuke has a Taijutsu body, the Sharingan makes him capable of using Genjutsu and Ninjutsu with little to no effort, so to train in Taijutsu would strengthen his only weakness. We simply went over your moves and trained his body to become used to it."
"I see... Does that mean you could show me Taijutsu moves that even Gai- sensei does not know? Would you be able to train my body to improve that quickly?"
"It depends on your body type. You are a Taijutsu master, but it has taken you the most part of 7 years to earn your strengths, which shows that your body accepts it well, but takes a while to adhere to the new things you teach it.
How many times did you practice Renge before you got it right?"
Lee paused, counting in his head.
"As many times as possible within the span of a week." He finally answered, his math skills never having been that impressive.
"I see... Well, I could- - -"
Shikamaru was no longer asleep at this point. Now he was staring at the sky, making funny shapes out of the pretty clouds. One looked like a bunny rabbit. The other looked like a severed head.. The last looked almost like Chouji using Omote Renge. It was a very odd sight, but Shikamaru couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle.
Asuma yawned, looking over at Kurenai.
"Look like my plan worked out well."
"What do you mean by that?"
"By forcing them into such a small area, they are all being forced to communicate with each other, without knowing they are being forced to do so. It's a genius plan if I do say so myself. By forcing awkward situations between some groups, you get odd coupling communicating as well. See, I just told Tenten that Neji was bisexual and now she's talking to Naruto."
"You did WHAT?" Kurenai snapped.
"Kidding. She saw Naruto looking at Hinata and is now trying to get them together.. It's some sort of.. Girl thing, right?"
Kurenai sighed as she looked away from Asuma. He inhaled deeply on his cigarette and blew out an 'O' shaped cloud of smoke into the air.
"You're so stupid some times."
"But that's why you love me."
He blew out a ring of smoke in the basic shape of a heart.
Kurenai glared, he wasn't supposed to say something so stupid like that.. So stupid... BAKA! Why would he go and spit the truth out like that? It just wasn't fair.
"Baka."
"I know, but I'm a brilliant baka."