:twiddles thumbs: Yeah. So, I know what you all want to say. I know that I haven't updated in ages, and I'm horrible, and yadda yadda yadda. I haven't had a spare minute to myself until now, because college, my friends, is an ass-kicker. I'm on my spring break currently, so I decided to be nice and update. Huzzah.
Oh, and to those of you who don't know what Ho-Hos are, I shall enlighten ye. They are log-shaped chocolate cakes with cream circled around the middle, made by Hostess. Good stuff.
And on we go.
Chapter 9: The Battle of Bunker Hill (Sort Of)
To say that Sasuke was a tad put out by the sudden outburst he'd been subject to for doing nothing other than waking up at the wrong time would be an understatement. He attributed it all to horrid luck. On a normal morning, someone such as, say, Itachi could be standing over him with a knife to his throat, and he would remain dead to the world—of course, if Itachi really were to hold a knife to his throat while he slept, he would be dead in a literal sense, though that trifling bit of information is not relevant to this story (or even to Sasuke himself, as he would much rather be dead anyway than to admit a weakness).
This morning, however, was not normal. At all. There had been such a racket in the family room that it was impossible for even him to stay comatose—he was convinced that a rock would have chosen to animate itself in order to roll away from the deafening roar—so what other choice did he have but to wake up?
"I'm not psychic," he grumbled to Gaara, who was nearest at the moment. "I didn't know Kakashi and Anko appeared out of nowhere overnight."
The Sand-nin glanced up from his GameBoy without sympathy. "And there he goes. The mighty Ooooochiha Avenger, whining about his problems yet again." Scrunching up his face in an imitation of the dark-haired boy's usual brooding expression, he said in a melodramatic voice, "Oh, no one understands me! I hate everyone! Itachi needs to die! I've gotta kill him, the dirty bastard! DIE, DIE, DIIIEEEE!" With a grin, he returned his attention to Link, who seemed to have taken the bait when threatened with being chucked against a wall, and died much less often now. Gaara was rather pleased with himself for that.
The mighty Uchiha was not pleased. "Wh—wh—wh—" was all he managed in his own defense. Quite pathetic, no? And, to make matters worse, his enemy was ignoring him. For a GameBoy. Without realizing it, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed, leaving a large crease in the middle of his forehead—which, on him, appeared more like a shoddy replication of Gaara's act than the real thing. How dare he? I do not whine! And I sure as hell don't sound like that, either! I'm much more…dignified! He crossed his arms over his chest. He's just jealous of me. I mean, look at the guy! Talk about freak show! Of course, Sasuke would never be brave enough to say all of these things aloud, because he knew full well that he'd end up as mincemeat, but that was beside the point. Oh whatever.
Aware of the fact that he'd won, Gaara smirked to himself. I've got you down to the letter, pretty boy, and I won't let you forget it, either, I promise. The smirk became more pronounced. Maybe this trip wasn't such a bad idea, after all.
For a reason unknown to him, Sasuke was filled with a sense of foreboding, as if he had just endangered his person and invited all sorts of unpleasantness to come strolling his way by playing into a clever trap. Once he realized that, he immediately uncrossed his arms and schooled his features into an appearance of cheerfulness. Damn it! That was foul play! His lips started to twitch. First Lee steals my Ho-Ho, and now this! One of these days I'll get both of you. Oh-ho yes! And it'll be good. REAL good. He stifled maniacal giggles behind a hand. HAHAHAHAHA! SUCKERS!
Meanwhile, Naruto, who had not yet allowed his pink-haired girlfriend out of his grasp for fear that she would end up destroying something, tried to size up the situation. "I think it's only fair that you two make breakfast then, as a peace offering," he stated after a moment, leaving no room for argument.
His former sensei raised an eyebrow. Instead of feeling 'punished,' he was quite the opposite. Breakfast making provided the perfect opportunity for him to impress Anko with his cooking skills, which would be a definite plus for his side. From his experience, women loved men who could cook, and, after running around all over with ANBU when he was a teenager, he had learned how to be a good at it on the fly. Since Anko was proving to be a much more difficult conquest than he was used to, he hoped that this would be enough to tip the scales somewhat in his favor—she loved to eat almost as much as Naruto. Score, he thought wickedly before grinning. "I don't have a problem with that. Just leave it to us," he rested a hand on the Special Jounin's shoulder, noting that she seemed a bit tense. Eh?
Anko was panicking. Cook? Me? Oh good lord…I'm going to make a fool of myself…and in front of that idiot too…I knew we shouldn't have barged in like this! It's his fault! Bugger…I can't back down, or else he'll look better than me, the jerk. "Sure, sure," she waved her hand as if such a menial task was cake. "No big deal." Did that sound convincing?
"In my house…" Sakura muttered, not quite calm, but no longer frantic, either. Somewhere in between. "Middle of the night…"
Exchanging a glance, Kakashi and Anko decided that it might be beneficial to remove themselves from her line of sight and get to work, so they turned heel and bolted into the kitchen.
Shikamaru watched the scene with half-lidded eyes, wishing that he could be back in bed with the covers piled on him, Ino burrowed next to him…
WAY too early to be thinking like that, Nara, he scolded himself , frowning. You haven't even been awake for more than a few minutes, and your head's already stuffed with fuzz. Cool it.
But some things are so much easier said than done. What had happened to all of his will power? At one point, he had been able to float through life without so much as blinking—well, perhaps he blinked once or twice in the middle of a fight—but now his mind always had to stay on the alert, otherwise he'd wind up in a very tight fix. Who knew what his hormones were capable of if he didn't keep a leash on them at all times? However, there were moments in which he had difficulty focusing—whenever Ino was near—and he had to exert more energy than he felt necessary to keep his thought processes in line.
Troublesome.
But then again, his entire life was troublesome.
And it became even more troublesome when he felt pressure against his back, right between his shoulder blades.
Apparently, Ino felt the way he looked, and was too exhausted to remain coherent standing. His back provided a convenient place for her to rest her head, so of course she took advantage of the opening.
Shikamaru's mental security system began to wail. Not good…not good at all… He tried glancing over his shoulder to get a look at her, which really wasn't a swell idea, because, from what he could make out, her hair was mussed, her eyes were closed, and her mouth was slightly open.
Adorable.
The shrieking of the alarm grew louder.
Oi! Would you knock it off? I know that I'm in trouble! He winced, annoyed. "Er…Ino? Hey, Ino!"
The blonde girl did not budge, nor even acknowledge the fact that she was being spoken to. Mmm…comfy… Cold days often made her more tired than normal, and today had to be the coldest yet. As a child, she learned that the best thing to do on a day such as this is to stay in bed and sleep, which is exactly what she planned to do. Let the others get hyper over Kakashi and Anko. Her pillow was nice and firm—warm, too—and she did not see any pressing need to abandon it.
Shikamaru sighed. Why me? He tried again. "Ino, you're—"
Damn pillow was too noisy! "Wangobasleep," she mumbled. "Shup."
Oh dear.
"Ino," he tried one last time. "I'm not a bed."
Not a bed? Then where was she?
Her eyes cracked open.
Well, how very odd. Her pillow didn't look one. Not at all, in fact. It looked more like…
"Shika?"
"Very good," he grumbled dryly, though a pesky part of him wished that she had stayed asleep so he'd have a good excuse to carry her back to their room. I'm turning into a romantic sap, he realized with horror. In less than a week, I've become my father.
If she hadn't been fully awake before, Ino was now. I cannot believe I did that…I totally zonked out on him! She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. Fantastic. "You should've said something, Shika!" She snapped, trying to keep up appearances. "Why did you just stand there like a lump?"
A lump?
"I did say something," Shikamaru replied as calmly as he could. "But you didn't hear."
Ino stared. "Oh." Idiot! You're drowning, here! "Well…make sure that I hear it next time, okay?"
She called me a lump… "So… it's my responsibility to make sure you don't fall asleep on me again?"
"Of course it is!" She exclaimed, jabbing a finger against his chest. "I was out of it, and you weren't, which means that you were the one who had control over the situation, not me!"
He tried to understand her rationalizing for a moment, but he just could not seem to move past the 'lump' part. "Do you really think I'm a lump?" He inquired in what he hoped was a casual tone. Yes, perhaps he did act like one from time to time—well…a lot of the time—though hearing it aloud from Ino, no less, made it sound so…degrading…
Ino blinked. What is he talking about? "Huh?"
"You called me a lump."
"I did?"
SHE FORGOT ALREADY? "Yeah, you did."
Her brow wrinkled, and she tapped a finger against her chin. "OH!" She began to laugh, which did nothing to improve Shikamaru's mood. "It was a figure of speech, Shika," she said condescendingly as she patted his cheek. "You can be lazy, but I know you're not really a lump."
It was his turn to stare. I can't do this…she's going to be the end of me…every ounce of sanity I have is gonna be shot to hell… "Well that's good."
Ino smiled, heart fluttering. I never expected him to get all worked up over that…I guess he cares more about what I think of him than I realized… "I'm gonna hop in the shower, okay? Knock when breakfast is ready." Patting his cheek once more, she headed down the hall and disappeared into the bedroom.
"Did you see that?" Shikamaru said to Lee as he flopped next to him on a couch, exasperated. "I don't get women. They're all crazy, every last one of them."
Lee bit back a grin. He did see, though he had a hunch that he saw far more than his harried friend had intended to reveal. You've got it bad buddy. "That they are. But the world would be a boring place without them."
Boring? Try less hectic. Fewer headaches. Heavier wallets.
"She wears me out," Shikamaru sighed.
"Exercise is good for someone like you."
"Shut up, Lee."
"What? I was just pointing out the truth."
"I mean it. Shut up."
"Grouch."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
"Lee—"
"I'm finished."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Positive?"
"Yes."
"All right."
"Mr. Sunshine."
"Damn it!"
"Anko, what are you doing?"
"I'm…um…making eggs?" She held out a frying pan, the contents of which resembled a quivering mass of yellowish-brown goo, and it took all of his willpower for Kakashi to keep from laughing. He'd been exposed to some bad cooking in his day—most of which came from his male counterparts in ANBU—but this was a first. He had always believed that it was impossible to burn eggs, yet Anko had just managed to prove him wrong.
"Wow…" He could not think of anything else to say.
Anko looked from him to the pan and back. "I don't know what I'm doing!" She wailed finally. "I've never been able to cook! All the stuff I make ends up like this!" There. Her secret was out. All that was left was for him to laugh at her.
On cue, he did.
Such a nice guy.
"I'm sorry, kiddo, but those have gotta be the worst excuses for eggs I've ever seen," Kakashi wheezed, tears streaming from his eyes.
"Gee, thanks a lot. I appreciate it."
"I'm sorry! I don't mean to laugh, but…that's really bad!"
"Yeah? Well you're not helping at all!"
The laughter stopped. "Now that's the truth, isn't it?" Plucking the frying pan out of his companion's hand, Kakashi upended it over the sink while Anko watched him, her jaw working but no sound coming out. "You at least know how to make toast, right?" He asked her as he opened the fridge and dug around more for eggs, glancing back over his shoulder in time to see her scowl at him.
"I wasn't raised in a box."
She's so cute when she's angry, Kakashi thought, a large grin tugging at his mouth.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said quickly, and returned to his task, leaving Anko to hers.
Still scowling, she pulled pieces of bread out of a bag and stuck them in a toaster oven—the thing was almost an antique, and so worn that the numbers on the heat dial had faded, which meant that the violet-haired woman had to guess the correct temperature to set it at and pray that the smoke-alarm wouldn't go off in a few minutes. Kakashi, meanwhile, was having a grand old time concocting an elaborate masterpiece out of his limited resources, checking on Anko every now and then when her back was turned. He noticed—though he pretended that he didn't—that she too checked his progress, and he exulted at the awestruck expression she wore.
Oh, I'm SO glad we decided to go skiing.
At least, he was glad until the toaster oven began spewing smoke.
There was much fun to be had in the kitchen then, so much fun, in fact, that this humble author is unable to go into too much detail for fear of laughing her you-know-what off (even though she already is).
"Anko, you're not allowed in the kitchen anymore." Kakashi stated bluntly when all was said and done.
Needless to say, she did not voice any disagreement.
"This is excellent," Lee complimented around a mouthful of bacon. He, along with everyone else, had a plate loaded to the brim, and he ate as if he were starved for years beforehand.
"Where did you learn how to cook like this?" Naruto demanded after he'd taken a large swig of milk.
"Here and there," Kakashi replied modestly, basking in his success.
Sakura, able to talk rationally now without danger of hurting herself or others, rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just crow a bit louder, eh? We all know what you're doing."
"Ouch. It bites."
She smiled sweetly. "Only when provoked."
"Point for the girls," Ino said amidst groans from the boys.
"The females in this house are so deceptive," Shikamaru complained as he motioned with his fork. "On the outside, they appear to be innocent little doves, but on the inside, they're vipers waiting to strike."
"They're like that everyplace else, too," Gaara muttered, remembering the whack he'd received from his sister a few weeks before after he'd popped off at her for being in a pissy mood—after that he learned not to talk to women when they were on their rags, not even to say something nice.
"Yeah, which means all of them are beasts," Shikamaru concluded.
"Amen to that," said Sasuke, who sat as far away from Gaara as he could. While breakfast did not bring him a new Ho-Ho, he could not complain about the quality of the food. I still want my Ho-Ho, though…damn Lee…damn Gaara, too…
Though she could have made a catty remark, Anko remained silent, her eyes darting from plate to plate where the remnants of her charred toast lived untouched. No one had called attention to the sorry state of the toast yet, and she was grateful for that, though she knew without having to ask what everyone thought. Since Kakashi had basically admitted to making pretty much everything, all that was left was the toast, and it was obvious that he didn't make it, which pointed the finger at her. She assumed that the others were being nice and sparing her pride by keeping their mouths shut, though she wasn't sure how much better that made her feel.
"Wise words, Nara, wise words," Kakashi nodded, and winked at Anko, whose cheeks ignited on the spot.
"And men are angels, is that it?" She shot back, eyes locked with the silvery-haired Jounin's.
"Of course we're not." He said unabashedly. "That's why we have women. It's your job to keep our black hearts from further corruption—well, in theory at least."
As one, Anko, Sakura, and Ino's jaws dropped.
Lee and Gaara, who sat side by side, looked at each other and howled with laughter.
Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sasuke focused their attention on their plates and shoveled food into their mouths to muffle their own laughter.
"That was good," Naruto chortled finally, slapping Kakashi on the back.
"I rather thought so," he grinned.
Anko breathed an inner sigh of relief. Now that the topic of conversation had moved on to the differences between males and females, she was almost positive that no one would think to mention—
"Oy, is this toast?"
Gaara prodded at the offending—thing—with a fingertip.
Silence.
"Not. One. Word."
Heads swiveled in the direction of the Special Jounin, who was staring them all down with the evil eye.
Lee spoke up a few moments later.
"So, anyone for a game of checkers?"
Sasuke could not find his boxers. He remembered flinging them aside when he rifled through his suitcase for a shirt, but he swore that he put them back afterward. Those were his favorite boxers, too! Granted, the electric yellow ducks were perhaps a bit gaudy, but still! He was as attached to those boxers as a toddler to his blanket, so losing them did not rank high on his 'happy events' list.
As everyone knows, it is a good idea when one has lost something to retrace one's steps and attempt to locate the missing item that way. Sasuke, being the brilliant, prodigal child that he was, did so, crawling backward down the hall and scanning every inch of the carpet with his nose almost crushed to it.
Gaara, occupying his couch again with the GameBoy in hand, watched this rather—unique—manner of searching in amusement, his cache of verbal ammunition growing ever larger. And the Uchiha exhibits his famed intelligence yet again…
"Damn! Where the hell are they?" Sasuke muttered, not realizing that he was nearing Sakura until he backed into her—literally.
"Sasuke," the pink-haired girl said in an irritated tone, "why are you crawling around on the floor?"
"I—" Now that he thought about what he was doing, he felt remarkably stupid. "I lost my boxers."
"You mean the ones with the ducks?" How Sakura managed to say that with a straight face, she did not know.
Sasuke stared. "You've seen them?"
"Yeah. I threw 'em in the wash because I had no idea where they'd been…" she wrinkled her nose. "I think they're in the clean bin in the laundry room, now."
"Oh good," Sasuke said as he got to his feet, and then dashed to the laundry room. Sure enough, right when he stepped foot inside the room, he caught sight of his boxers waiting on top of a pile of clean clothes, the electric yellow ducks smiling up at him. "Whew! I thought you guys were gone for good!" As he went to pick up the boxers, a piece of paper tumbled over the side of the hamper and landed on his foot. Raising an eyebrow, he bent over and swiped the paper, which had been folded into eighths. "Well, what have we here?" His curiosity got the better of him, and before he could glimpse the name on the outside of the paper, he sat cross-legged on top of the washing machine, unfolded the paper, and began to read.
It did not take him very long to realize that what he held was a love letter, and one addressed to a certain young lady currently in residence. Better yet, the author of the letter was also a member of the mountain house party, a lazy young man who always wore his hair in a ponytail.
By the time he reached the end, it was near impossible to stifle his laughter, though he did it.
"Find something interesting?"
Perhaps he had not done as good a job concealing his mirth as he thought.
Oh well. Too late for secrecy now.
"Come in here and check this out!" Sasuke whispered, grinning.
Lee's footsteps did not make a sound as he padded across the floor to the washer. When he was close enough, Sasuke handed him the paper and sat back to wait for a reaction, which he received within the first few seconds when Lee began to chuckle.
"Ah, young love," he sighed, a hand over his heart. "So sweet it makes you want to gag yourself, no?"
"Oh yes," Sasuke agreed, fluttering his eyelashes. "But I was so inspired by the fabulous metaphors."
Snickering, Lee deepened his voice. "Ino, would you be my fisher…lady?"
Sasuke pretended to hide his face. "Sto-op, Shika! You'll make me blush!"
In separate rooms, Ino and Shikamaru sneezed.
Someone's talking about me, Ino thought.
I need a tissue, thought Shikamaru.
Naruto happened to enter the laundry room amidst hysterical giggling, and for a moment he believed that he'd lost his marbles. Sasuke, perched on the washer, was fanning himself with a sock in one hand and used the other to playfully swat at Lee, who had slicked his hair back and was assuming a variety of princely poses, each more ridiculous than the last.
"Should I even bother asking, or do I not want to know?"
Lee halted mid-pose, and turned his head. The smile he wore made his face appear impish. "On the contrary. I think you do want to know. It appears we have a hunter in our midst."
Both of Naruto's brows inched toward his crown. As he attempted to figure out what Lee meant, he noticed a piece of paper clutched in the older boy's hand. Uh-oh. "Is that—"
"Naruto!" In a flurry of pink hair, Sakura barreled in, frantic. "The letter's gone!" She hissed. "I have no idea what—" A hand clapped over her mouth, and she was pulled the rest of the way into the room, the door closing behind her. Once released, she rounded on Naruto. "Why'd you do that?"
Reaching out, he snatched the letter away from Lee and waved it at her. "This thing sure gets around fast," he observed dryly.
Sakura made an odd squeaking sound in the back of her throat. "No one else was supposed to see!"
Sasuke, surprised at first by her reaction, finally began to catch on. "I may be completely off," he warned, "but something tells me that Ino and Shikamaru have no idea we have this."
Exchanging glances, both Naruto and Sakura heaved sighs, and the story poured out of them, Lee and Sasuke listening with rapt attention.
"And that's why we decided to drag them here," Naruto finished.
Lee let out a low whistle. "I feel like I'm part of a huge soap opera."
"Look, this is just between us, okay? Now that you two are involved, you can't drop any hints. You have to pretend like everything's normal, got it?" Sakura put her fists on her hips, the image of Tsunade—minus the ample bosom, of course.
As the boys were aware of the insane strength that Godaime had awoken in her pupil, they prudently chose to assure Sakura that their mouths would remain closed on the matter, and if they slipped, she had full right to exact any type of punishment she wished—that alone would be enough of a reminder to keep their tongues from wagging.
"Good," Sakura beamed at them, and made to leave, but Sasuke stopped her.
"Today's a good day for a snowball fight, don't you agree?" Jumping down from the washer, he mouthed 'play along,' before throwing the door open and pitching his voice to carry to the non-conspirators. "We could split up into teams, and build forts, and have an all out war! I mean, how long has it been since we've had a chance to act like kids, anyway?"
Naruto's eyes lit up. "He's got a point. It's snowing now, and there's plenty out there already." He grinned wolfishly. "Seeing Gaara sloshing around dodging snowballs will be worth it."
Even though that comment was muffled by laughter, Gaara still got the gist of it. "Like hell," he sniffed. "I'm staying right here. The only way I'll move is if they drag my dead body out."
Famous last words.
"Damn—stupid—snow."
Apparently, the seven layers of clothing that gave the Sand-nin a roly-poly physique did not provide enough cover from delinquent snowflakes that seemed to have singled him out as an appropriate landing zone, convincing the rest of the snowflake mafia to target him as well.
I'm going to kill all of you bastards, he thought as he shot scathing looks at the people who claimed to be his 'friends.' Oh, he had hemmed and hawed when they converged on him as a collective unit, and he came close to unlocking his sand shield—that would've got them all to back off very quick—but he decided not to at the last second. The wards that the Elders of the Sand had put on him were still fairly new, and he did not have the full grasp on how to control them yet. One wrong move would wake Shukaku, who, while sealed, could cause a fair amount of damage.
Now that he was outside—his body quite alive, mind you—he wished he had shot caution to the wind and done it.
He was satisfied with his fort, though. After examining everyone else's, he was confident that he could annihilate them quickly judging from the distance between his fort and the others, the height of the walls of his compared to theirs, and the amount of ammunition that he had piled by his side.
Since his companions were intent on making him miserable, he thought gleefully, he would beat them at their own game.
Nearby, Ino and Shikamaru, paired together by Sasuke—he had appointed himself officiator, since the fight was his idea to begin with—hunkered down behind their modest fort and waited. Shikamaru insisted that it would be suicide to make the first move, so there was nothing left to do but wait. And think. About closeness. And being alone. Together. Behind a fort.
A recipe for disaster? Perhaps. Or perhaps something more pleasant…
Before either could contemplate the advantages of the situation, a deluge began.
"Give me another one."
Anko handed a well-packed snowball to Kakashi, who hurled it at the enemy—Gaara—with deadly accuracy. When no one else had taken the initiative, they decided to bite the bullet and attack. She could not hold back a giggle when her silvery-haired teammate flung himself down, barely avoiding a snowball that whizzed past the spot where his head had just been.
"That's the ticket," he grinned, his cheeks rosy. "Hopefully they'll start being more aggressive now."
Naruto grabbed a handful of carefully prepared snowballs and whipped them all at once at the nearest fort—which happened to be Sasuke and Lee's. The retaliation came in an instant, an equal amount of snowballs flying over the wall and smashing against Sakura, who had no time to dive out of the way.
"AUGH! DAMN IT, NARUTO!"
Sasuke and Lee were being blasted by a rapid fire attack—most likely coming from Sakura—and if they didn't do something quick, they'd be in trouble.
"I think it's time to get dirty," Sasuke said.
Lee threw one more snowball before crouching down. "Oh?"
Sasuke motioned him forward and whispered something in his ear.
The Green Beast smirked.
Gaara was relentless. He attacked two forts at the same time, and it seemed to his enemy that his supply of snowballs replenished itself almost instantaneously. The Sand-nin, a maniacal grin plastered on his face, had fallen into a sort of routine—wait a few seconds to make the opponent think he was out, and then unleash hell.
"Demon of the Sand, baby!"
Or Snow.
But no matter.
"We have to take him out!" Ino cried as her missiles crumbled ineffectively against Gaara's stronghold. "He's killing us!"
"I know, Ino," Shikamaru replied calmly. He was having difficulty strategizing while snowballs rained down on him, and her chattering was not helping much, though he did not have the heart to tell her that.
"Well? Use that brain of yours and think of something quick!" Ino said in exasperation.
Stay calm, Nara. "I'm trying."
They had few options. Either carry on as they had been, by making snowballs as fast as they could and hurling them, try and hook up with another team, or leave the fort altogether in a surprise attack.
From this position, the surprise attack was looking pretty damn good.
"Come on."
Kakashi and Anko were thinking the same thing.
"Here, take these," the Special Jounin dumped a load of snowballs into Kakashi's arms. "Don't use 'em until we get that bugger in range."
Slinking around the fort, the two nearly collided with Shikamaru and Ino.
Hmm. Tricky. Pummel each other, or pummel Gaara?
Not a hard choice.
"Let's get 'im!"
Something was wrong. It was too quiet. Sakura felt very uneasy.
"Why did they stop? Should we check?"
Naruto's brow furrowed. "Maybe…that is weird…" He poked his head around the side of their fort and was greeted by a face-full of snow.
"MMPH!"
Sakura's eyes went wide, and she turned slowly.
Lee winked at her. "Hello there, doll."
"AIIIIEEEE!" A reflex action, she whipped snow at him before he could do the same. Once Naruto recovered himself, he joined in just as Sasuke entered the fray.
The battle ended in a draw, both parties sprawled laughing in the snow.
"I wonder how the others are doing?" Naruto said.
He did not understand how it happened. One minute he was kicking the snot out of his enemy, and the next he was on his back, enough snow piled on him that only his head remained uncovered.
"Why me?" He implored to the sky. "Why is it always me? What did I do that was so horrible?"
"Besides killing innocent people, you mean?" Kakashi said innocently.
Gaara looked at him. "Shut up, Hatake."
Anko concealed a grin behind her hand.
Meanwhile, Ino, who had flopped on the ground because her sides ached from laughing so much, reached out her arms for Shikamaru to help her up. He obliged happily—though he did not show it—taking her tiny, gloved hands in his and pulling.
Things did not work out the way he expected.
Instead of Ino being lifted to her feet, Shikamaru took a plunge, the snow that he'd used to brace himself on proving to be much too slippery to hold his weight.
Ino blinked. While the impact had hurt more than a tad, she was not concerned about the pain. No, what occupied her attention was the pair of cool lips that were pressed to hers.
She could only stare.
OHH CLIFFHANGER! Hee-hee! Sorry, sorry, but I had to do it. I realize that I'm taking liberties by saying that Gaara can turn off his sand barrier, but…this is my story, so there.
Oh, and I just wanted to let you guys know that I really appreciate all of your feedback! It makes me feel good. Truly. Thank you!