Cry A Little
The day had ended peacefully, and Lee put some effort into gathering information for Kakashi-sensei's game. As he pretended to be asleep he listened to Chouji talking about going out for their favourite- Yaminiku- after everything was over. He also heard Shikamaru say back in a rather irritated voice that he was sleeping, and preferred Ramen to Yaminiku anyway.
Chouji continued to blather on and on, giving away much valuable information, to which Lee was sure to lock away in his memory for later.
He learned that Shikamaru had a pet named 'Skipper' which was a turtle. His parents had made him get a pet to prove he was responsible enough to go to the Ninja Academy, and that the turtle was still alive to this date.
He also learned that Shikamaru liked Ino, but found it far too troublesome to pursue said feelings.
Chouji had a little sister that was in the Academy with Konohamaru, and his room was blue.
Lee wasn't quite sure how all of this fit into one lazy conversation, but it did not matter if he was learning what he needed to know.
Kakashi stood outside the tents, he could hear Shikamaru and Chouji talking in hushed voices, and wrote down whatever little bits of information seemed valuable enough. He presumed that both Lee and Sasuke were hearing this and storing the information into their memories... But it was also hard to get information from the lazy Shikamaru, and he would have to take what he could gather.
That and Kakashi was lazy himself, not really desiring to TRY and delve deeper into the person that is Shikamaru.
Too many students did not want to put too much effort into this, anyway, and to make it particularly hard would just be cruel and unusual torture on a retreat that was supposed to be fun for the students,
Morning came and Lee joined up with Naruto to share the information they had gathered, careful not to let anyone overhear.
"Hinata told me some stuff about Ino, but she didn't want to rat any of her friends out in the game. I learned that Ino's favourite colour is navy blue and that her favourite boy to be with other than Sasuke is Shikamaru."
"And?"
"She and Sakura were best friends until they both started liking Sasuke."
Lee looked away for a moment before looking back at Naruto. He had to swallow those sick feelings in his stomach and face the facts that Sakura loved Sasuke.
"Anything else in particular?"
"Uhh... She's got a blonde hair?"
Lee smiled at that and let out a soft chuckle as he looked towards the teachers.
"YOSH!" Gai cried loudly.
Every student and teacher groaned.
"Gai, why don't we just skip your game for now, and go on to something else?" Asuma offered hopefully.
Gai thought it over for a moment.
"All right, it's better played at night-time anyway."
"That makes it your go, Kurenai..." Kakashi said, nudging the only female teacher in the back.
"Oh.. Hai... All right, today we are going to..."
Gazing across their large clearing, 8 or so tents set up in the far distance, Uchiha Sasuke could see a figure running in the distance. This game was much like Kurenai's last two, a game of hunting your prey, and winning through strategy.
The entire group had been separated into two groups.
Team Red- Team Uchiha Leader: Uchiha Sasuke Medical Expert: Haruna Sakura Yamanaka Ino Akamichi Chouji Aburame Shino Hyuuga Neji
Team Blue- Team Lee Leader: Rock Lee Medical Expert: Hyuuga Hinata Tenten Nara Shikamaru Inuzuka Kiba Uzumaki Naruto
From there, every player had been given a backpack and a laser gun, very similar to Laser Tag. The only difference in this game was that If the medical expert found someone who was shot quick enough, they would be allowed to continue in the game. If the leader and medical expert were killed, that team loses.
Kurenai had explained that the idea is similar to actual Jounin missions, a difference in weapons, but otherwise a very similar game. You work in your teams and if people are killed then the mission is considered a failed mission, or rather, it was a completed mission but the point of it was NOT to die.
Sasuke continued to stare, the sun was blinding to him as he stared into it, following the shadow as closely as possible. He was unsure if it was one of his own team mates, or if it was an enemy. He had sent Ino down that way, but what if Ino had been shot? What if this person had spotted him and was coming after him next?
He stalked forwards, using the trees as camouflage, shifting from shadow to shadow in complete silence. He was an excellent leader for his team as few would be able to catch to spot him in the darkness.
He got closer to the figure, and soon found it was Sakura.
But he hadn't sent Sakura down that way.
He took aim and fired, but not before the other person had fired at him as well.
Both were hit, and Naruto dropped the guise of Haruna Sakura, and couldn't help but cheer.
"I SHOT SASUKE!"
"Dying people don't dance like that, Dunce. Lay down and hope that your medical expert gets here."
Sasuke looked furious. Sakura, a team mate and friend.. And perhaps something a little more?
Her face had been used against him. He was livid.
Another figure was approaching cautiously. And Sasuke felt particularly angry at this.
It was Hinata.
It appeared that she had simply been following Naruto, preparing for this exact scenario ahead of time.
Upon tagging Naruto, the kyuubi boy stood up and continued to dance.
"HAH HAH! IN YOUR FACE!"
"Naruto-kun.. We should be quiet or else we met get shot too..." Hinata whispered, and Naruto nodded.
"Right.. Let's go..."
Lee glared through the bushes. He could see Sakura, and with his green body suit he was perfectly camouflaged.
Even Sakura would have a hard time spotting him in his hiding place.
Her hair glittered white from the Sun's golden rays, and as she began to look slowly around her, inspecting her surroundings to the best of her ability. Her eyes shimmered like turquoise pools under the desert sun, inviting. Water for the thirsty man trudging through the wilds. Normally Lee would have found this all to inviting and given in... Shown himself for her to shoot and win.
However, now he felt like she was stalking him at this point, no matter where he went, she was there.
He slowly raised his gun, took special aim...
"Lee-kun?" She appeared to have spotted him. Those beautiful turquoise pools captured his own dark and mysterious orbs.
He fired.
Her backpack flashed, indicating she had been shot, and so she fell to the ground.
Lee turned and walked away, despite Sakura's cry.
Luckily. Sasuke had already been revived. But now they had no medical specialist, they had to take special care.
"I'll get you back for that, Naruto." The Uchiha growled as he took aim from his newest hiding place. He could see Naruto clearly. Naruto's orange outfit was not hard to spot against his green surroundings.
He slowly pulled the trigger, and down Naruto went, shot.
Hinata had been hiding just out of view, now, and was afraid to go help Naruto when she knew she might be shot. How could she help Naruto if she was dead too?
She scanned her surroundings, but found nothing. Sasuke was excellent at hiding, and she did not know his own training style well enough to guess at his hiding place, let alone if it was indeed him that had shot poor Naruto- kun... Instead she slunk back into the darkness, perhaps she should go find Lee and that way she could be sure to protect their leader? But then with both the main targets there, they would be picked off easily. Really, Hinata was the key player for her team, and she was always so shaky during missions... Would it spill out into this game then, as well?
She remembered when they had chosen each player for their team. Naruto had nominated her to be medical specialist, and Lee had offered nothing but encouragement.
"You're an excellent ninja, Hinata-chan. ou'll do an excellent job. I'd place my life in your hands during a mission, just as we all are placing our game lives in you during this game."
Naruto had nodded enthusiastically and yelled, "Yeah! HINATA FOR MEDICAL SPECIALIST!" at the top of his lungs.
"Tell the whole world, baka." She had remembered Kiba saying while smacking Naruto over the head as well.
Hinata shifted her wait in the shadows, waiting silently and patiently. Those were her strong points.
Then she saw something move in the trees.
Raising her gun slowly, she took aim as best as she could while seeing the 360 degrees around her, and fired.
Sasuke cursed loudly at his own stupidity. Of COURSE someone had been with Naruto, the Uzumaki boy would have prepared himself for a return attack for shooting him earlier...
And that made the leader AND Medical Specialist for team red, dead.
The backpacks all let out one loud beep, and the guns shut off, letting the entirity of the large group know that the game was over.
Team Uchiha had LOST.... With the perpetual winner Sasuke and the number one Hyuuga in the entire bloodline, Neji, on the aforementioned losing team.
And Hinata had made the winning strike.
"Way to go, Hinata-chan!" Naruto had said as he practically hugged her from joy, "You beat SASUKE!"
Hinata was blushing furiously now, she had almost been hugged by Naruto- kun...
"A-Arigato, Naruto-kun..."
Lee arrived back at the large clearing first, sitting in the middle of the tents with the teachers looking very proud of himself.
"Does it say who made the winning shot?"
"It says here that Blue's Medical Specialist made the winning shot, which means that Hinata won it for your team."
Lee grinned, his teeth sparkling white against the now setting sun.
Gain looked overjoyed that his pupil was smiling so brightly again.
"I knew Hinata-chan could do it!"
He gave the thumbs up, and Gai responded by striking a pose and returning the thumbs up.
The other teachers stared, but understood Gai's joy at seeing Rock Lee so happy once more. He had become less and less excitable lately, and Gai had been sure Lee was very sick at one point. Kakashi had quickly pointed one thing out to him.
"Girl trouble."
Gai sighed. That was right. He was madly in love with Haruna Sakura, but Sakura loved Sasuke. Everyone knew that.
Hinata tripped.
She had been watching Naruto prance happily about in front of her as they were beginning to return to the tented area. She hadn't noticed the rock in front of her foot, and when she shuffled her foot forwards she tripped.
Naruto noticed this from the corner of his squinted eye and turned quickly, dropping to his knees to catch her.
"N-Naruto-k-kun..." Hinata whispered as Naruto had caught her around the waist, his arms wrapped tightly around her.
Naruto was laughing now, and helped the young Hyuuga girl back to her feet, letting go of her slowly. Slowly, in hopes that perhaps he could suppress his own blush by that point. He hated to admit it, but something about the shy little girl was just... Cute...
Naruto hated the whole romantic relationship idea. But when his eyes caught Hinata's he felt his heart beat just a little faster.
"A-Arigato..."
"No problem, Hinata-chan.."
Hinata blushed the brightest shade of red now, and began to take a step, when she fell to her knees once more. "Ouch!"
Hinata was clutching at her ankle, which was red and rather swollen now, apparently twisted as she had fallen.
Naruto couldn't help but let his inner grin escape. He wasn't happy that Hinata had hurt himself. No. Of course not. He was really sad about that... But this meant he'd get to carry her back to camp...
"Here, Hinata-chan.. I'll piggy-back you back to the teachers."
The students had all gathered, Neji was rather proud of himself for hitting almost all of the other team's players (excluding Hinata and Lee) at least once, which nobody else had done. Even if his team HAD lost, it hadn't been HIS fault. He could blame that on Sakura and Sasuke for not noticing Lee and Hinata fast enough to shoot them.
The teachers had congratulated the students on a game well played.
But Lee was happiest of all.
"I told you that you could do it, Hinata-chan."
"Thank you Lee, you're a good friend."
The day had ended peacefully, and Lee put some effort into gathering information for Kakashi-sensei's game. As he pretended to be asleep he listened to Chouji talking about going out for their favourite- Yaminiku- after everything was over. He also heard Shikamaru say back in a rather irritated voice that he was sleeping, and preferred Ramen to Yaminiku anyway.
Chouji continued to blather on and on, giving away much valuable information, to which Lee was sure to lock away in his memory for later.
He learned that Shikamaru had a pet named 'Skipper' which was a turtle. His parents had made him get a pet to prove he was responsible enough to go to the Ninja Academy, and that the turtle was still alive to this date.
He also learned that Shikamaru liked Ino, but found it far too troublesome to pursue said feelings.
Chouji had a little sister that was in the Academy with Konohamaru, and his room was blue.
Lee wasn't quite sure how all of this fit into one lazy conversation, but it did not matter if he was learning what he needed to know.
Kakashi stood outside the tents, he could hear Shikamaru and Chouji talking in hushed voices, and wrote down whatever little bits of information seemed valuable enough. He presumed that both Lee and Sasuke were hearing this and storing the information into their memories... But it was also hard to get information from the lazy Shikamaru, and he would have to take what he could gather.
That and Kakashi was lazy himself, not really desiring to TRY and delve deeper into the person that is Shikamaru.
Too many students did not want to put too much effort into this, anyway, and to make it particularly hard would just be cruel and unusual torture on a retreat that was supposed to be fun for the students,
Morning came and Lee joined up with Naruto to share the information they had gathered, careful not to let anyone overhear.
"Hinata told me some stuff about Ino, but she didn't want to rat any of her friends out in the game. I learned that Ino's favourite colour is navy blue and that her favourite boy to be with other than Sasuke is Shikamaru."
"And?"
"She and Sakura were best friends until they both started liking Sasuke."
Lee looked away for a moment before looking back at Naruto. He had to swallow those sick feelings in his stomach and face the facts that Sakura loved Sasuke.
"Anything else in particular?"
"Uhh... She's got a blonde hair?"
Lee smiled at that and let out a soft chuckle as he looked towards the teachers.
"YOSH!" Gai cried loudly.
Every student and teacher groaned.
"Gai, why don't we just skip your game for now, and go on to something else?" Asuma offered hopefully.
Gai thought it over for a moment.
"All right, it's better played at night-time anyway."
"That makes it your go, Kurenai..." Kakashi said, nudging the only female teacher in the back.
"Oh.. Hai... All right, today we are going to..."
Gazing across their large clearing, 8 or so tents set up in the far distance, Uchiha Sasuke could see a figure running in the distance. This game was much like Kurenai's last two, a game of hunting your prey, and winning through strategy.
The entire group had been separated into two groups.
Team Red- Team Uchiha Leader: Uchiha Sasuke Medical Expert: Haruna Sakura Yamanaka Ino Akamichi Chouji Aburame Shino Hyuuga Neji
Team Blue- Team Lee Leader: Rock Lee Medical Expert: Hyuuga Hinata Tenten Nara Shikamaru Inuzuka Kiba Uzumaki Naruto
From there, every player had been given a backpack and a laser gun, very similar to Laser Tag. The only difference in this game was that If the medical expert found someone who was shot quick enough, they would be allowed to continue in the game. If the leader and medical expert were killed, that team loses.
Kurenai had explained that the idea is similar to actual Jounin missions, a difference in weapons, but otherwise a very similar game. You work in your teams and if people are killed then the mission is considered a failed mission, or rather, it was a completed mission but the point of it was NOT to die.
Sasuke continued to stare, the sun was blinding to him as he stared into it, following the shadow as closely as possible. He was unsure if it was one of his own team mates, or if it was an enemy. He had sent Ino down that way, but what if Ino had been shot? What if this person had spotted him and was coming after him next?
He stalked forwards, using the trees as camouflage, shifting from shadow to shadow in complete silence. He was an excellent leader for his team as few would be able to catch to spot him in the darkness.
He got closer to the figure, and soon found it was Sakura.
But he hadn't sent Sakura down that way.
He took aim and fired, but not before the other person had fired at him as well.
Both were hit, and Naruto dropped the guise of Haruna Sakura, and couldn't help but cheer.
"I SHOT SASUKE!"
"Dying people don't dance like that, Dunce. Lay down and hope that your medical expert gets here."
Sasuke looked furious. Sakura, a team mate and friend.. And perhaps something a little more?
Her face had been used against him. He was livid.
Another figure was approaching cautiously. And Sasuke felt particularly angry at this.
It was Hinata.
It appeared that she had simply been following Naruto, preparing for this exact scenario ahead of time.
Upon tagging Naruto, the kyuubi boy stood up and continued to dance.
"HAH HAH! IN YOUR FACE!"
"Naruto-kun.. We should be quiet or else we met get shot too..." Hinata whispered, and Naruto nodded.
"Right.. Let's go..."
Lee glared through the bushes. He could see Sakura, and with his green body suit he was perfectly camouflaged.
Even Sakura would have a hard time spotting him in his hiding place.
Her hair glittered white from the Sun's golden rays, and as she began to look slowly around her, inspecting her surroundings to the best of her ability. Her eyes shimmered like turquoise pools under the desert sun, inviting. Water for the thirsty man trudging through the wilds. Normally Lee would have found this all to inviting and given in... Shown himself for her to shoot and win.
However, now he felt like she was stalking him at this point, no matter where he went, she was there.
He slowly raised his gun, took special aim...
"Lee-kun?" She appeared to have spotted him. Those beautiful turquoise pools captured his own dark and mysterious orbs.
He fired.
Her backpack flashed, indicating she had been shot, and so she fell to the ground.
Lee turned and walked away, despite Sakura's cry.
Luckily. Sasuke had already been revived. But now they had no medical specialist, they had to take special care.
"I'll get you back for that, Naruto." The Uchiha growled as he took aim from his newest hiding place. He could see Naruto clearly. Naruto's orange outfit was not hard to spot against his green surroundings.
He slowly pulled the trigger, and down Naruto went, shot.
Hinata had been hiding just out of view, now, and was afraid to go help Naruto when she knew she might be shot. How could she help Naruto if she was dead too?
She scanned her surroundings, but found nothing. Sasuke was excellent at hiding, and she did not know his own training style well enough to guess at his hiding place, let alone if it was indeed him that had shot poor Naruto- kun... Instead she slunk back into the darkness, perhaps she should go find Lee and that way she could be sure to protect their leader? But then with both the main targets there, they would be picked off easily. Really, Hinata was the key player for her team, and she was always so shaky during missions... Would it spill out into this game then, as well?
She remembered when they had chosen each player for their team. Naruto had nominated her to be medical specialist, and Lee had offered nothing but encouragement.
"You're an excellent ninja, Hinata-chan. ou'll do an excellent job. I'd place my life in your hands during a mission, just as we all are placing our game lives in you during this game."
Naruto had nodded enthusiastically and yelled, "Yeah! HINATA FOR MEDICAL SPECIALIST!" at the top of his lungs.
"Tell the whole world, baka." She had remembered Kiba saying while smacking Naruto over the head as well.
Hinata shifted her wait in the shadows, waiting silently and patiently. Those were her strong points.
Then she saw something move in the trees.
Raising her gun slowly, she took aim as best as she could while seeing the 360 degrees around her, and fired.
Sasuke cursed loudly at his own stupidity. Of COURSE someone had been with Naruto, the Uzumaki boy would have prepared himself for a return attack for shooting him earlier...
And that made the leader AND Medical Specialist for team red, dead.
The backpacks all let out one loud beep, and the guns shut off, letting the entirity of the large group know that the game was over.
Team Uchiha had LOST.... With the perpetual winner Sasuke and the number one Hyuuga in the entire bloodline, Neji, on the aforementioned losing team.
And Hinata had made the winning strike.
"Way to go, Hinata-chan!" Naruto had said as he practically hugged her from joy, "You beat SASUKE!"
Hinata was blushing furiously now, she had almost been hugged by Naruto- kun...
"A-Arigato, Naruto-kun..."
Lee arrived back at the large clearing first, sitting in the middle of the tents with the teachers looking very proud of himself.
"Does it say who made the winning shot?"
"It says here that Blue's Medical Specialist made the winning shot, which means that Hinata won it for your team."
Lee grinned, his teeth sparkling white against the now setting sun.
Gain looked overjoyed that his pupil was smiling so brightly again.
"I knew Hinata-chan could do it!"
He gave the thumbs up, and Gai responded by striking a pose and returning the thumbs up.
The other teachers stared, but understood Gai's joy at seeing Rock Lee so happy once more. He had become less and less excitable lately, and Gai had been sure Lee was very sick at one point. Kakashi had quickly pointed one thing out to him.
"Girl trouble."
Gai sighed. That was right. He was madly in love with Haruna Sakura, but Sakura loved Sasuke. Everyone knew that.
Hinata tripped.
She had been watching Naruto prance happily about in front of her as they were beginning to return to the tented area. She hadn't noticed the rock in front of her foot, and when she shuffled her foot forwards she tripped.
Naruto noticed this from the corner of his squinted eye and turned quickly, dropping to his knees to catch her.
"N-Naruto-k-kun..." Hinata whispered as Naruto had caught her around the waist, his arms wrapped tightly around her.
Naruto was laughing now, and helped the young Hyuuga girl back to her feet, letting go of her slowly. Slowly, in hopes that perhaps he could suppress his own blush by that point. He hated to admit it, but something about the shy little girl was just... Cute...
Naruto hated the whole romantic relationship idea. But when his eyes caught Hinata's he felt his heart beat just a little faster.
"A-Arigato..."
"No problem, Hinata-chan.."
Hinata blushed the brightest shade of red now, and began to take a step, when she fell to her knees once more. "Ouch!"
Hinata was clutching at her ankle, which was red and rather swollen now, apparently twisted as she had fallen.
Naruto couldn't help but let his inner grin escape. He wasn't happy that Hinata had hurt himself. No. Of course not. He was really sad about that... But this meant he'd get to carry her back to camp...
"Here, Hinata-chan.. I'll piggy-back you back to the teachers."
The students had all gathered, Neji was rather proud of himself for hitting almost all of the other team's players (excluding Hinata and Lee) at least once, which nobody else had done. Even if his team HAD lost, it hadn't been HIS fault. He could blame that on Sakura and Sasuke for not noticing Lee and Hinata fast enough to shoot them.
The teachers had congratulated the students on a game well played.
But Lee was happiest of all.
"I told you that you could do it, Hinata-chan."
"Thank you Lee, you're a good friend."