Disclaimer: If I owned the characters in Naruto, I'd be dead of happiness and not here at my computer typing.
A/N: First attempt at actually writing out a Naruto fanfiction rather than composing it out to bloom and wither in my head. So, please don't be too harsh with the reviewing.
The sixteen-year old glared dully at the basket of laundry that refused to clean themselves. Of course, that would have impossible as they were a pile of inanimate pieces of clothing--make that inanimate pieces of dirty clothing--but it didn't prevent her from wishing that they would magically clean themselves and spare her from doing the tedious chore. She sighed. I'm a teenager, for Chrissake! Doing the laundry would waste approximately one hour and fifteen minutes of my time, when I could be playing video games, or reading comics, or making myself a nice snack, or going for a quick shopping trip, or the movies, or--
Before she could list all the various activities she would rather be doing, the carelessly-placed laundry basket tipped over and spilled all over the floor, disrupting her train of thought.
"GAH!!" she rolled off the couch (less energy required) and shuffled over to the laundry basket, scowling, and shoved the spilled laundry back into the basket in one sweeping movement (easier than picking up each item of clothing and placing it back into the basket). It would probably suit her lazy nature better if she wore fewer clothes so she wouldn't have to do the laundry as often, but as it was, she was considered to be quite stylish, even by adults, and changed outfits often. The end result? A whole lotta laundry.
A quick glance at the clock showed that it was nearly six o'clock. Her mom would be back around seven-thirty and she had to get the laundry done before that time, or earn a lecture that would waste another half-hour of her life. With a resigned sigh, she slipped on a pair of sandals and picked up the laundry, grumbling. Balancing the basket on her hip, she went out, locked the door to the apartment, and headed towards the community laundry center.
Three wilted-looking kids stood on a bridge. One of them, a black-haired boy with sharp eyes, stood a little distance apart from the other two, a short blonde boy dressed in an eye-smarting shade of orange and a green-eyed girl with hair an equally eye-smarting shade of pink. The three stood in an extended period of silence.
A bird flew by overhead. Crickets chirped. A duck swam under the bridge.
"Ne..." the blonde kid spoke up finally, weariness written on every part of his face. "Sakura-chan....How long have we been waiting now?"
The pink-haired girl called Sakura moaned. "I don't know, Naruto...but it's been....over six hours at least........." She groans. "I think he broke the record this time..."
"What was the last record?" asked the blonde boy tiredly.
"Five hours, twenty-seven minutes, and forty-three seconds," the black-haired boy muttered out loud.
The other two turned to stare at him oddly. W-wow....I never knew Sasuke-kun was so keenly aware of the time... thought Sakura. Whenever we're waiting he always seemed to have his thoughts on something else...
Naruto sank to the ground in defeat. "I think I'm gonna faint from starvation....I didn't get time to eat breakfast...uggh! WHY did I even bother to rush here this morning, anyway???" he demanded indignantly, then sunk back down to the ground. "Ugh...I give up...I don't even have the energy to get mad anymore..."
In the meantime, Sasuke had been warily watching Sakura, who had been shaking silently while Naruto had been talking.
"UGH! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!" she finally exploded, shaking her fists in the air. "I swear, unless he has a REALLY GOOD reason, when Kakashi-sensei finally shows up I'm going to--"
A poof of smoke suddenly appeared on the railing of the bridge, which was quickly replaced by a gray-haired ninja holding an orange-book labeled Icha Icha Paradise. "Hello, ladies and gentlemen...I ran into an enchanted princess trapped in a guise of a crane along the way, so..."
Three weary and extremely skeptical faces stared him down.
The masked Jounin scratched his head. "I guess you don't believe me, huh..."
Naruto leaped up and stabbed an accussing finger at his mentor, sputtering with rage. "Y-Y-YOU!!! Your excuses just get LAMER and LAMER everytime!!!"
Kakashi sighed. "Well, at least we have an interesting mission today..."
At that, his students brightened up somewhat. "Well, well??? What is it what is it??!" Naruto was the first to ask.
"The Hokage's grandaughter was out hiking yesterday and she lost her favorite book somewhere on the mountains. You guys get to find it."
In unision, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke sighed and hung their heads in defeat, in part at their own naivete. In theory, they should have been used to Kakashi's twisted sense of humor by now. They sighed. This is going to be a long day...