Author's Opening Rant- ::Gagging on Octopus balls:: X.X; …so…gross, gahhh! Pass the chicken on a stick, please?
Moving right along with the chapters now! I can't believe I'm up to Ch 8!! Wow! Thank you guys all so much for reading and reviewing, it means a lot to me!
Yes. I promise, that EVENTUALLY, there will be NaruHina! I don't want to slide anyone too OOC if I can avoid it, and well, Naruto's dense and Hinata's shy! But don't you worry! In fact, I'm pretty sure this is gonna turn out with all the traditional Kishimoto pairs now (InoShika, NejiTen, ect.) Sorry if that disappoints anyone. But...well...those are my favorite pairings. I can't help it.
At this point, I'm not really sure how long this fic is going to run to. I was hoping to get it done in 9-10 chapters. Now it's looking more like 13-14. Oops! n.n; Oh well, on with the story!
Chapter 8- DecisionBouquet of roses. Check
Formal bow tie. Check
Enough youthful courage and determination to choke a horse. Double Check.
Rock Lee was now ready to ask Sakura to the Festival dance. It was his latest plan, Plan C: Impress-Sakura-san-With-My-Sweet-And-Romantic-Side-So-She-Goes-To-The-Dance-With-Me-And-Not-Sasuke-Or-Neji! The name of the plan itself was brilliant, so of course the plan had to be brilliant too. Lee was going to stride right over to Sakura, offer her the roses, possibly spout a few phrases in French that Gai-sensei had assured him were romantic, and ask her to go with him. It was fool proof! Lee wandered the streets of Konoha looking for his crush, dressed in his usual green leotard and orange leg warmers, but with a little red bow tied around his neck. It was about as 'formal' as Lee could look. His dark eyes scanned the crows of people beginning to again flood the streets for another day of festivities. But instead of Sakura, Lee caught sight of the Hokage, Tsunade, being chased by one of her oldest friends.
"Please, Tsunade!" Jiraiya, the famed Toad Hermit—or, 'Pervert-sage' if you were short, blonde, and possessed by a demon fox—was hot on Tsunade's heels, smiling through a begging tone of voice, "Just one dance won't kill you! Please? For old time's sake?"
A vein in the current Hokage's forehead throbbed, threatening to burst, "For the last time, NO you filthy pervert! If you so much as touch me at the dance, I'm going to snap both your arms off!" Lee watched the two of them move swiftly down the street, one pleading and the other shouting death-threats. Just before they were totally out of sight, a rather large blur sped past Lee and towards the pair of them.
Akimichi Chouji ran as fast as his stubby legs could carry him after Tsunade, "Hokage-sama! Wait! Will YOU go to the dance with me?!"
Lee just smiled and shook his head, "Such abundant youthful energy! This only inspires me more! Where are you, Sakura-san?" He turned to glance around, now blushing in anticipation of her answer; which would of course be 'yes.' But once again, Sakura was nowhere to be found. Instead, Rock Lee caught sight of the trio of sand siblings gathered around a souvenir booth. He certainly was not one to rudely ignore a friend, so Lee made his way through the thin crowd over to them, "Gaara-san! Good morning!"
Gaara and Kankuro looked over at the taijutsu master through arms full of Konoha souvenirs, both struggling slightly under the weight of their sister's newest shopping escapade. Temari also turned to him, quickly slipping the booth vendor a few coins as she heaved another package at Kankuro, "Well, if it isn't Mr. Russet-colored Tree. What brings you around, and…looking…like that?" Temari's eyes fell squarely on the little red tie around Lee's neck, "You look like a great big, skinny, green penguin."
Kankuro outright snorted with laughter, obviously agreeing. Gaara stared at Lee's get-up for a moment, trying to decide for himself if his sister was being funny, or just mean. Though, he also managed a kind of chuckle at the bow tie.
"Ahh…y-you think so?" Lee's face went blue with embarrassment, lifting a hand to tug on the tie, "But, Gai-sensei said that this would impress Sakura-san…"
"It might. Does she like penguins?" Kankuro continued to laugh, a few packages slipping from his arms. Luckily, Gaara's sand was able to catch anything that shook loose before it fell to the ground.
Lee's shoulders slumped in defeat, "I see." He slowly reached up and gave the tie a quick tug to free it from his neck. That at least finally made the puppet master stop laughing at him. With a soft sigh, Lee looked back up at the dark-eyed shinobi, "Gaara-san, I thought Naruto-kun was showing you around the town. Where did he go?"
"Not sure." Gaara's icy jade orbs glanced away in thought, "He said he had someone's ass to kick today, and when I asked if he wanted me to kill someone for him, he just told me that he would rather do it himself." His eyes then moved back onto his older sister, "So I came to help with this."
"Yeah, don't you think we've got enough now, Temari?" Kankuro glowered at the sand kunoichi, barely managing to take a step forward under the bulk of his packages.
Temari placed a finger to her lips, her gaze playing over the multitude of presents she would be bringing back home, "Hmm. Maybe."
"Maybe?!" Kankuro felt his eye twitching in irritation. All week long, he had been enjoying himself at the hotel room, driving room service crazy and just eating and sleeping this festival away. The Hokage was picking up their tab, after all. But this morning, his sister had gotten the urge to spend her money on any and every thing in sight, so she had dragged him and Gaara away from what they were doing to help. And frankly, Kankuro was not in the mood to carry heavy packages around all day.
"Well, let's at least put this stuff back in our room." Temari just shrugged.
Kankuro just about growled at her, his tone completely mocking, "Oh, yes. Let's!"
His sister sent him a warning glare, and took a mental note to hurt him later on. Her attention went back to the sulking Rock Lee, "What about you, Tour Guide? You want to help?"
"Ohh…Ohh, I'm very sorry, but I can't right now!" Lee smiled nervously, not really wanting to get roped into carrying souvenirs. Besides, he had to go home and think up another brilliant plan to impress Sakura. He bowed politely to leave, suddenly remembering the bouquet in his hand. Well…he certainly couldn't let it go to waste. Lee shoved the flowers at Temari and excused himself, "Here. You can keep these. I suppose I will see you three around. Take care." The proud green beast of Konoha stuffed his penguin tie into his shuriken pouch and started back home, unaware that he had been the first guy in a long time to leave Temari speechless.
Tenten lie in wait, crouched behind a stack of crates filled with festival goods. She was going to put an end to this war once and for all. She peeked cautiously around the edge of the crates, slowly sliding a kunai from her pouch as her target came into view. She had had enough of this stupid little catfight between her and the younger female ninja, that walking forehead, Sakura! Tenten quickly leapt from her hiding spot, whipping her weapons around at her "target".
And how very surprised Neji was when all those kunai and shuriken came raining down on him, "What the--?!" On impulse, he twisted and spun, letting his Kaiten deflect the weaponry before it could hit him. Neji turned to see who or what was attacking him, only to find that another wave of weapons was now coming at him from the opposite direction. He glanced around, taking careful note of all the villagers diving for cover, and decided that dodging would be smarter than his Rotation Technique. He hopped out of the way, finally catching sight of his attacker, and gasping in amazement, "Tenten?! What is going on here?!"
"Take this!" Tenten didn't bother answering him, only pulled even more of her endless weapons from her bottomless pouch and tossed them. Neji was so utterly surprised at her actions that he couldn't think enough to dodge or deflect them. Her weapons caught the edges of his clothing, pinning the Hyuuga heir very tightly to the earthen street below him. Neji stared up at the sky, wondering what he had done to bring on this kind of an attack. Tenten stepped over to him as he struggled to get an arm free, a stern look across her face, and both hands threateningly on her hips. She glowered down at him, and then very forcefully spoke, "Hyuuga Neji! Will you go with me to the festival dance?"
Neji stared at her in disbelief for a long time before he remembered how to talk, "Wha…what?!"
"Go with me to the festival dance!" Tenten simply repeated herself.
"…You're kidding me." Neji tugged an arm free and stared up at his captor, "THIS is how you ask someone out?!"
Tenten blinked down at him, a little confused at his reaction, "Yeah. Why?"
A long pause came between them. Neji had shut his eyes and bitten his tongue to keep from criticizing her social skills further, and Tenten was staring at him curiously, wondering exactly what was wrong with they way she asked guys out. After a few moments longer of silent contemplation, that rare and gentle smile came across Neji's lips, "Okay, okay…I'll be your date for the dance."
"Really?!" Tenten squealed with joy.
Neji chuckled slightly, sending a glance around at the hoards of weapons littering the street, "Do I have much of a choice?" Tenten squealed again, not actually making any words this time. She bounced around happily, leaving Neji to free himself from the shuriken and kunai, chanting something about 'Winning-over-a-stupid-large-fore headed-brat.' Finally, someone had a date for the dance!
It was still very early in the day, far too early for lazy little ninjas to be awake. Shikamaru was still tucked into his bed, having the usual dream about cloud watching on a hill far far FAR away from any troublesome women. He snorted softly in sleep, a hand flopping next to his head as he turned over onto his back. It was such a realistic dream; he could practically feel the wind. No…wait. He really could feel wind! The thought jarred him from his pleasant dream, a single shady eye peeking open. For some strange reason, his window was wide open, even though he was sure he locked it last night. Shikamaru turned his eyes to stare at his ceiling, and was very abruptly woken up by a pair of smirking, pale blue eyes staring down at him: Yamanaka Ino. "GYAAAAAAAAA!!!" the Nara heir flailed at the sight, tumbling right off of his bed, sheets and all.
"Good morning to you, too." Ino grimaced at his reaction.
"What...?! How…?! Why…?!" Shikamaru's eyes fell back on his open window. Of course, she must have picked the lock and snuck in—Ino was a ninja, after all. He shook his head furiously, tripping over his sheets a few times before managing to untangle himself and stand, "Ohhh, no! Hell no!" He hurried out of his room, practically leaping down the stairs to escape her.
"Shikamaru!" Ino was hot on his heels, "Wait up! I wanna talk to you!"
The shadow shinobi reached his front door, a hand reaching to turn the knob, as he shouted back over his shoulder at her, "No! I don't wanna hear anything else about this-"
"Dance?" his sentence was finished for him as he swung open the door, coming face to face with Temari of the sand. Ohh yeah, it was going to be another one of those days!
"Ahhh!! Will you two STOP doing that!" the poor scared shinobi placed a hand on his chest to prevent his heart from leaping right out. Ino stepped over right behind him, and she and Temari exchanged one of those heated 'I'm-going-to-kick-your-ASS!' looks that had been flying around so frequently lately.
Ino spoke up first, "Shikamaru. This is getting ridiculous! Just choose!"
"She has a point." Temari coldly added, "Pick one already!"
"Shikamaru!"
"Just pick!"
The two girls had backed him thoroughly into a corner. Shikamaru's eyes went back and forth between them a couple of times, wondering how he would get out of this. Once he recovered from the shock, he let his eyes shut tight and folded his arms across his chest to think. He stood like that for a very long time in thought, Ino leaning in slightly to stare as Temari scowled in impatience. Suddenly, his eyes snapped back open, causing Ino to back away slightly, "Alright. I've decided." Another long pause from the lazy ninja, in a desperate attempt to stave off whatever punishment would follow.
"…well?" Ino prompted, jabbing him with her elbow.
"Don't keep us in suspense, Nara." Temari's glare only became more and more venomous the longer she had to wait.
"Okay. I've decided…" Shikamaru took in a deep breath in preparation, "…that I'm not taking EITHER of you to the dance!" This was apparently the wrong answer, because as soon as he had said it, Temari's foot went into his gut and Ino's fist went into the back of his head. Shikamaru went down in a heap, twitching ever so slightly.
"Guess again, cry baby!" Temari howled down at him, holding up a fist.
"If you think that you're getting out of this, you're seriously mistaken!" Ino howled as well. Poor, poor Shikamaru just lied there, taking the onslaught of verbal abuse as he held his stomach. Once more, the word 'Troublesome' echoed through his brain. What…a…mess!
It took a good while to come up with another plan, but Rock Lee was back out wandering the streets, looking for Sakura. After having his ego completely deflated by Temari's "Big Green Penguin" remark—and how glad he was that the rest of his cell hadn't heard that one! Neji and Tenten would have dubbed him The Big Green Penguin of Konohagakure for at least a month! —he had officially named Plan C a failure and had retreated home to think up another one. It was simultaneously his most genius and most pathetic plan of all, his final plan to Impress Sakura. It was Plan D: Flat-Out-Begging. It didn't have a long, brilliant name, but he was pretty sure it would be effective. The plan was to just drop to his knees at the sight of the pink-haired kunoichi, then beg, plead, and sob until she agreed to go with him, either out of pity or guilt. It just HAD to work, because he couldn't think of any other way of winning her over! Lee paced the streets, swallowing continuously against the nervousness building up in his chest. Finally, after all his waiting and preparations, he caught sight of Haruno Sakura, and nearly tripped over himself to get to her, "Sakura-san! Sakura-san, wait!"
Sakura didn't even glance up. Her emerald orbs were staring vacantly at the street as she walked, a decidedly sad look dominating her features. She was still in a daze from her talk with Sasuke. The whole conversation kept replaying in her mind, over and over, as did the sickening feeling in her stomach. She didn't know what to do. Was Sasuke beyond help? Or…was he right? Was this all her fault?
"Sakura-san!" Lee shouted a final time, moving in front of her so she simply couldn't ignore him, "Sakura-san, hello! I have been looking all over for you!"
"Huh…?" at last her eyes moved to regard the taijutsu master, "Lee-san? Oh…sorry. Hi."
Her expression was unmistakable, "Sakura-san? What's wrong? Are you alright?"
"Ohh…Oh, I'm fine. It's…nothing." The kunoichi out right lied, glancing to the side as she laced her fingers through her bubble-gum pink hair.
"Sakura-san," Lee wasn't fooled for a moment, "If…something's bothering you, it might be better to talk about it than trying to cover it up."
Her eyes flew to him; was she really that transparent? Either way, she certainly didn't want to upset the older ninja by telling him all of the details, "Well, I just…it's not something I wanna talk about, Lee-san. It's okay, though. I'm fine."
"I see." Lee sighed. He was obviously not helping, no matter how true his intentions. And this certainly was not the time to attempt one of his hair-brained schemes to catch her attention. Not wanting to bother her anymore, Lee forced one of his wide smiles onto his face and excused himself, "That's alright, Sakura-san! We all get depressed once in a while, right? I…will see you around then. Goodbye!" He turned before his smile could fade, walking off towards home once again. Plan D was also a failure before he could even give it a try. Ahh, who wanted to go to a stupid dance, anyway? It was no big deal…right? Lee sulked off, feeling that familiar sensation of his heart being smashed into scraps.
This is so stupid! Sakura's Inner self demanded attention suddenly, Why am I dragging myself around in a fog when Sasuke-kun is probably not thinking about it at all?! He's probably enjoying himself somewhere, I'll bet! That wasn't true, Sakura reminded her Inner self, because he hadn't enjoyed a single moment of anything since the festival began. But it was a good point. Why was she the only one getting worked up over this? Sasuke didn't care; she knew that fact well enough. And Lee, who actually did care, was now shuffling away from her, looking like a kicked puppy-dog. Her depression had become contagious, and Lee certainly didn't deserve it. And neither did she, she decided! This would be step one of her 'trying to get over Sasuke' program, "Lee-san! Lee-san, wait up!"
Rock Lee's head snapped up in surprise as Sakura came bounding over, "Yes?"
Sakura smiled up at him, "Lee-san? Would you…like to go to the dance with me?"
Author's Ending Rant- Do I even need to post Lee's answer?! O.o; Of course he says yes!
All right! We've got some couples shaping up for the dance already! And…of course, Shikamaru's got problems! n.n; Poor guy…but…it's just too fun!
But nothing is yet set in stone! :D Kukukuku…::Evil laughter::
And as for you, Chubby! ::Pries Chouji off of Chaotic Demon:: NO! No going out with people not in the ficcie!
::Chouji:: oU.Uo Awww, PLEASE?! Pretty pretty please?
As always, R&R! Thanks, guys!