Author's opening Rant- I love you guys so much for reviewing! Really! It keeps me inspired. Thank you all so much!
Wow. I'm up to the fourth chapter already? I never thought I'd make it past the first! Sugoi! (Wonderful!)
Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto. If I did, I'd be making, not losing, money on plushies.
Chapter 4- Unexpected TouristsTroublesome is a fascinating word. Especially when your mind repeats it over and over in rapid succession. This was what Shikamaru's mind had launched into upon sight of the now all-too-familiar blonde Sand ninja. The word was shooting through his head so much and so quickly that all he could really manage to do was sputter strange little sounds of confusion.
Temari, of course, delighted in his reaction, "Nara Shikamaru. It has been too long." Where as a regular girl would have pulled a tiny paper fan from her sleeve and flipped it open before her, Temari slung her massive weapon from her back and slammed it into the ground, sliding it open and coyly hiding half of her face. Her eyelashes fluttered, and Shikamaru's face went directly from pale to crimson.
Naruto, clearly the most clueless of them all, immediately hit the dirt and covered his head, "Ahhhhhh!! The Sand ninjas are attacking again!" This instantly earned him a glare from all the rest of the Konoha Ninjas.
"Don't say that!" Kankuro's composure quickly dissolved into panic. He certainly didn't want a group of ANBU to show up, misunderstand everything, and kick the three of them out of the village.
Gaara shook his head, short red hair bobbing around, "Baka."
"Huh...?" Naruto cautiously opened a bright blue eye and looked back up. Closer inspection revealed that, while both Gaara and Kankuro were in their typical clothing, Temari was dressed in a strangely formal purple yukata. Very slowly, Naruto got back to his feet.
Sakura recognized the blank expression on his face, "They're just visiting, stupid! For the Leaf festival! Many Tourists come this time of the year, remember?"
"Oh...oh! Oh, of course I knew that!" Naruto puffed out his chest to back up his bluff, "I was...only teasing them, Sakura-chan! Right, right? You got it, right guys?" He nodded a couple of times at the Sand trio, who only sighed in response.
"Ah. I see our honored guests have arrived." The surprises just kept coming; Tsunade, the acting Hokage of the village, rounded the corner with her assistant Shizune. The two of them smiled pleasantly and bowed to the siblings, who quickly mirrored the action.
"Guests, Granny Tsunade?" Naruto blinked at the Hokage, obviously still not grasping the whole concept of tourism.
"Yes, brat!" Tsunade's eyebrow twitched at Naruto's comment, both hands resting on her hips in irritation, "As a sign of continued alliance between the Sand and the Leaf, I have personally invited the three children of the former Kazekage to attend this year's festival."
Naruto heard nothing of her explination, "Don't call me a brat!"
"I see." Shikamaru finally found his voice again, glancing sideways at the Hokage to, if nothing else, get his face back to a normal color.
"I'm glad somebody does." Tsunade had to lean to the side to avoid Naruto's flailing fists. A light groan of frustration as she shoved the always-hyper ninja away, "And as honored guests of Konohagakure Village, I expect each of you to treat them with the utmost respect. No picking fights." Her gaze was squarely on Sasuke, whom she could only assume was being held up by his sensei for doing something wrong. The very cranky Uchiha met her gaze evenly as Shizune did her best to calm a still shouting Naruto.
"Humph." The instant he felt sensation in his legs, Sasuke wrenched himself free of his teacher's grasp. He turned away from everyone, shoving his hands into his pockets and starting to walk away. He was more than sick of this garbage already.
"Sasuke-kun!" the Haruno kunoichi called after him, "Where are you-"
"Home." He cut her off for a second time. Sasuke offered no further explination than that. Sakura just sadly watched the Uchiha symbol on the back of his shirt as he left, wincing internally at just how cold he could be.
Kakashi also kept an eye on Sasuke's retreat, "...Mmm. That boy has a chip on his shoulder that could topple a building."
"Aaahh...?" Naruto joined his teammates in watching Sasuke leave, squinting his eyes to get a better look, "I don't see anything on his shoulder, Sensei." Kankuro just barely suppressed a chuckle at Naruto's continued ignorance. But the white-haired Jounin didn't even bother responding to Naruto; he had better things to be doing. Very slowly, and strangely cheerily, Kakashi made his way over to Shizune for a little small talk. Sakura watched her Teacher in surprise. She never would have figured that he'd go for someone like Shizune. But as always, Naruto seemed to miss the point.
"Well then. I have matters to attend to. So, I bid you all a farewell." Tsunade bowed again, and the assembled ninjas mimicked. The Hokage quickly strode away, Shizune on her heels, and Kakashi all to eager to follow.
Sakura managed a tiny smile at her Sensei's attempts at flirting, "Please, though...just don't read your 'book' in front of her, Kakashi-sensei!"
"Sakura-san! Sakura-san!" the pink-haired ninja's head snapped back around as someone called out to her. With the widest grin possible, Rock Lee came bounding over to her, a bandaged arm waving frantically in the air for attention, "There you are, Sakura-san! I've been looking all over for you!"
Naruto smiled as well, "Hey! It's the Fuzzy-Eyebrows!" Sakura's elbow went swiftly into his ribs as a sign to shut his stupid mouth.
"Sakura-san. I have something very important to ask of you." Lee's face went strangely serious on them.
Just behind the green-clad ninja, his two teammates Neji and Tenten came wandering over, both carrying more bags of leaves than seemed possible. Neji poked his head out from behind his baggage, "Lee. Come on."
Neji went completely ignored by the single-minded Lee, "Sakura-san. I was wondering-"
"Lee."
"-if you have not asked anyone yet-"
"Lee! Let's go!"
"-would you mind terribly going with me to-"
"LEEEE!" Neji's last shout sent a bag of leaves tumbling to the ground, but had finally gotten the attention of his partner, "Tenten and I can't carry all of these by ourselves!"
"Oh, Neji." Lee blinked. He hadn't even noticed that Neji and Tenten were following him. In fact, it came as something of a surprise to Lee that he and Sakura were not alone here, "Ohh! And Gaara-san! You are here too. Welcome." The dark eyed sand shinobi nodded softly. After finishing up their last mission, Lee, Tenten, and Neji had gathered up the many bags of leaves to dump off under the Hokage monument carved into the mountain—where all the other bags gathered by the Gennin were kept until the Festival bonfire. But, as if he had some strange kind of 'Sakura-sense', Lee shoved his share of the bags at his teammates and went rushing off to greet the pink-haired kunoichi. And this, understandably, left the Hyuuga somewhat angry. Even now, Lee's attention had wandered far from his chores, "Gaara-san, did you just arrive at Konoha? Visiting for the Festival, correct?"
"Uh-huh." Gaara was feeling as talkative as always.
"Excellent!" Lee's usual grin returned to his face, "If you would like, I could give you a tour of Konoha! What do you say?"
"Lee!" Neji's voice dripped of poison.
Even Tenten had to speak up now, "That's enough, Lee! Help us take the bags away first!" There was a reluctant pause from the proud green beast of Konohagakure Village.
With a tiny little smile, Sakura walked up to Neji and started plucking a few bags from his arms, "It's okay, Lee-san. I'll help with this, and you can give the Sand ninjas your tour." Thinking she was helping, Sakura walked away with a very relieved Neji and Tenten.
Lee's shoulders slumped as she disappeared from sight. So much for plan A: 'Impress-Sakura-with-my-kindness-and-intellegence-so-she-asks-me-out'. A loud sigh came from the taijutsu master as he watched his ridiculously long-named plan fail so easily.
"A tour sounds like a good idea!" Temari latched herself onto Shikamaru's arm for no good reason at all, "Not as if we have anything better to do, right?" Her brothers nodded at her, and poor Shikamaru just squirmed in her grasp.
"Ahh...the festival doesn't even start until tomorrow. Might as well, since our missions are done." Naruto laced his fingers behind his head and stared at Lee, waiting for him to start.
It took him a moment, but the usually bouncy Rock Lee sprang back to life with a rather sparkly smile, "Yosh! Prepare yourself, for Rock Lee's tour of Konoha!" Lee turned and set off, Naruto and Gaara right behind him, Kankuro strolling just behind them, and Temari physically dragging the more than reluctant Shadow ninja at her side. His 'tour' as it turned out, was not much. Instead of actually pointing out places of interest in the village, Lee was simply calling attention to every single tree, struggling each time to come up with a different word for the many colors, "There is a very nice, uhm, Amber one. Oh, and here! This is an excellent example of tree. And there's a Crimson one right next to it!" Naruto and Shikamaru both rolled their eyes. This...was going to be a long tour...
While Lee set off on his own lunacy, his teammates had finally dumped off their bundles under the Hokage monument. Tenten and Sakura took a moment to crack their sore shoulders while Neji stayed stooped over their pile, making sure it was perfectly arranged.
"Hey, Sakura." Tenten spoke to the younger girl, "Do us all a favor, would you? Just go with Lee to the Leaf Festival Dance. Otherwise, we'll never hear the end of his whining."
"And if she goes with him, we'll never hear the end of his BOASTING!" Neji grimaced at the thought, wondering which option would be the least annoying.
"Go with Lee-san...?" Sakura glanced over at Tenten curiously, "But...I was going to ask..." She simply trailed off, thinking about how very against the festival Sasuke actually was.
It was no real secret who Sakura intended to ask. "I don't think he even wants to go." Tenten stretched her arms over her head, "Why not give Lee a chance? He's really a nice guy, you know."
"Yeah, I know..."
Neji suddenly, and rather unexpectedly, entered the conversation, "It is strange though. All the time I have known him, Lee never seemed the type. Who ever thought beautiful girls were his weak spot." Both girls found themselves staring open-mouthed at the aloof Hyuuga.
Sakura felt a blush quickly break out across her face, "Did...did Hyuuga Neji really just call me beautiful...?"
Tenten's face also went red, but for a very different reason, "Did Neji just call her BEAUTIFUL?! Are you kidding me?! Why that little..." Her thoughts became so violent that it was a small miracle that the weapon's master didn't just pull a kunai from her pouch and stab them both. How could Neji regard Sakura as beautiful? And how could he say so right in front of Tenten?! And how DARE that little pink-haired brat start blushing over it! There was no way Tenten was going to let this go. And so the chocolate-haired kunoichi quickly managed a wicked smile, her voice becoming both playful and deadly at once, "Well...now that I think about it, maybe Sasuke doesn't want to go to the festival because there's no one asking him who he's interested in. Maybe he likes...older women."
Neji's head lifted from his work, "Tenten, you wouldn't."
"And why not?" She snapped back at him, her fake smile quickly giving way to a fierce pout.
Sakura's emerald orbs turned back to the older girl, burrowing into Tenten's very being. There was some strange kind of fiery lightening reflected in her eyes, and her inner self went berserk, "NEVER! I would NEVER allow you to have my Sasuke-kun! He's mine! MINE MINE MINE!" Her lip twitched in aggravation, but Sakura proved just as good as Tenten at manipulation, "Ohhh, go right ahead and ask him if you like. That just means I'll have to find someone else...maybe someone who finds me beautiful." At that last biting comment, Sakura turned and stormed off, leaving Tenten fuming like an angry lioness. Poor Neji, who had a pretty good idea of what had happened, gulped. What had he done?
"Ohh, and over here," Rock Lee was still leading his little tour across Konoha, still doing nothing more than point out trees, "is a very...nice, uhmm, Russet colored one."
Shikamaru felt his insides squirm, "Just say 'brown' if it's a brown tree!"
"It is very pretty, don't you think?" Temari, still attached to the miserable Nara, turned slightly to her brother Kankuro. The puppet master, however, had stopped paying attention to Lee's tour long ago. He was just looking for a good place to find dinner in between all those 'Burgundy' and 'Golden' and 'Ginger' trees.
Surprisingly, it was Gaara who answered his sister. "It is."
Naruto couldn't help but grin to himself, "It's alright. Just so long as you don't have to rake all of them!"
"It is more than alright!" Lee stopped short, and Naruto walked right into the elder ninja. "It is gorgeous! And it is always gorgeous!" Lee balled up a fist for an instant, but an unmistakable smile crept slowly across his face, "In winter, the icicles hanging from the tree branches sparkle in the lazy sun; In Spring, the buds of new life are numerous in the youthful air; In summer, wild flowers dot the heated terrain; and in Autumn, the dying leaves shine with the brilliance of the sunset! Konoha is always a vision of beauty, no matter what adversity it faces!" Clearly, this was a speech Lee had rehearsed many times before.
Naruto, Kankuro, and Shikamaru paled at the corny tirade. Even Gaara was mildly curious just when the bowl-headed Ninja had completely lost his mind.
Temari was the exception. She smiled at Lee from Shikamaru's side, "Very well said." She was rewarded with the usual 'Thumbs-up' and pinging sound of Lee's trademark pose. He really wasn't such a bad guy, she figured, just a little...well...something. But overall a nice guy.
"Now then, are there any questions?" Lee addressed his little group of tourists.
The only one to raise his hand, however, was Naruto, "Me. Me, me, me. I have one!"
One of Lee's thick eyebrows rose curiously, "Naruto-kun? You live here. How can you have a question?"
"Why do I have to take someone to the Festival dance?" the blonde blurted out, ignoring the logic of Lee's inquiry. Shikamaru couldn't help but slap his forehead with his free hand.
"Well, really, you don't HAVE to take anyone. But, if there is someone you care about, you should want to take them." Lee's gaze drifted away and his face flustered, obviously thinking of his crush again.
"Oooh." Naruto scrunched his face for a second in thought, and then glanced back at Lee, "Then, can I take Iruka-sensei?" Both of the other Leaf boys just about fell over with giggles-- Naruto still didn't understand.
"Only if you want to be made fun of for the whole rest of your life." Shikamaru smirked, thinking up all the rumors that would spread from something like that.
"No, wait! I know!" Still trying to grasp the concept, Naruto reached over and grabbed Gaara's hand, lifting it into the air, "I'll take Gaara! Since he doesn't know where it is, that makes more sense, right?" Gaara's pupils shrank in a mixture of embarrassment and irritation, and Kankuro couldn't help but bawl at the thought of his brother in a frilly little dress. But a quick murderous look from his younger brother stopped his laughter soon enough.
"Ahh, baka!" Shikamaru scowled. How could anyone possibly be this stupid? "That's not what it means to take someone! It's-"
"SHIKAMARU!" The shadow ninja paled as he heard his name being screamed out in that familiar and obviously outraged voice, "Where have you been all day?! You left Chouji and me to pick up leaves all by ourselves!"
"I-Ino?!" he turned, and sure enough there stood Yamanaka Ino glaring death at him. Next to her, Chouji staggered around, dizzy from using his Meat Tank technique far too many times.
"Ohhh? Who's this?" Temari blinked not-so-innocently at Ino, taking a firmer grip of Shikamaru's arm.
A vein popped in Ino's forehead, and she went from angry to outright pissed off, "You've been flirting all day?! You good for nothing Jerk! You're gonna get it!"
"N-n-no, Ino! Wait! I can explain!" Shikamaru wrenched his arm free of Temari's hold and took off running as Ino charged after him. The two of them went screaming down the street, leaving a very confused and very tired Chouji behind to explain things.
Lee figured this was good a time as any to end his tour.
Author's Ending Rant-
...heh. Maybe I should change this from Romance/Humor to Humor/Romance?
Yep! Tenten and Sakura are gonna have a war!
And it's a miracle I managed to type out Lee's little 'Konoha is beautiful' speech—I kept pausing to laugh. And poor Shika-kun is gonna be TORTURED! Kukukukuku!!
Sorry for the really long Chapter! Until next time, all!