Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
7 Days, Come What May
Chapter XXII: Winning Appreciation
"Ahhh…" Lee groaned and sat up. He looked around for a moment, confused at finding Kankurou, Ino, and Chouji lying all around him, still unconscious.
'Oh, that's right…the swamp illusion…a hand grabbed us down…we were buried…I pushed Hinata out of here so she could escape…' his mind briefly recalled what had happened. '…But why is the swamp illusion gone now? …That must mean…somebody beat the Sound nin?'
Lee heard a shuffling noise behind him and turned to find that it was Kankurou, waking up from his unconsciousness.
"…You okay, Kankurou?" the Green Beast of Konoha asked.
The puppeteer nodded. "…So, somebody's already beat up that Sound nin, eh?"
"Yea…."
By this time, Ino and Chouji had already awakened.
"That was the worst illusion in the world!" those were practically the first words that came out of Ino's mouth. "...Oh, horrifying! I am going to give that Sound nin a very good beating up when we find her!"
"…Ugh, yea," Chouji agreed. "I'd thought I'd die."
Then, out of the blue, they saw Gaara's sand transporter zooming across the sky. But that was not what made everyone stare in awe. It was what was on the sand that made everyone stare.
"…I-Is that…the Nara…" Kankurou's voice held a very dangerous edge to it. "…Kissing…my sister?"
Chouji, being Shikamaru's friend, did not want to see the genius being beat to a pulp by a blood-crazy puppeteer.
"Hey! No, Kankurou! I'm sure that was like, a trick of the light or something!" Chouji tried to make excuses for his friend. "Come on, man, stop imagining things!"
Secretly, however, Ino and Lee thought the couple was cute. But, they dared not say anything in front of the puppeteer now. Kankurou now stood up and began running like crazy after his brother's sand transporter. Chouji, Ino and Lee followed.
"Hey, wait up!" Lee called.
Apparently, Kankurou didn't even hear.
'…When I get a hold of that Nara…he's dead.'
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Neji pulled her closer and kissed her even harder. Ten Ten kissed him back just as passionately, her hands in his silky black hair. Yes, somehow, the couple had managed to turn their trapped time in the maze into a hot make-out session. Let's just say that if Kakashi had seen the Hyuuga being this hot to a girl, he would've been very, very proud. The thing is, Neji didn't even need an "Icha Icha Paradise". And, this time, Neji wasn't even drunk.
Even Ten Ten had no idea how it led up to this. One moment, the two were just sitting in the maze, nothing to do, since they were both trapped…and the next moment…
'…The next moment…we were talking…and then it got further…and further…' Ten Ten thought, herself being pinned against one of the bushes in the maze as Neji kissed her even more.
Somehow, she didn't mind. It didn't seem awkward, even if it was so sudden. To both of them, it was comfortable, like something that's always been with you ever since you were born…something familiar.
Then, without any warning, the bushy walls of the maze around them simply disappeared into thin air. Ten Ten, who was leaning on a wall, fell, but Neji cushioned her fall. The Hyuuga didn't even take notice that they were free from the maze. He proceeded to give Ten Ten another kiss. However, this time, Ten Ten pulled away.
"…Neji…the maze…the poison has worn off…it's gone…" she said.
Maybe there was a hint of disappointment in her voice.
Neji didn't seem to care. He just smirked. "…That doesn't really stop what I'm doing here, Ten Ten…"
She blushed. "…H-Hey, Neji! We don't have time for this…we have to save those—"
A sand transporter zoomed over both of them in the sky. With his Byakugan, Neji could spot that Naruto and Temari were on it, safe and sound.
"…They're already saved, Ten Ten," although his face was still as emotionless as ever, Ten Ten could spot a hint of a smirk on it. "…I'll continue what I'm doing now, okay?"
Ten Ten wondered what was the point in asking. She didn't even have the chance to answer before he bent down and perfectly demonstrated to her the most sophisticated technique of all in "Icha Icha Paradise".
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"Hey, hey, look, Hinata, look down there!" Naruto poked his head down and pointed from the edge of Gaara's sand transporter.
Hinata lay down beside the fox-boy and poked her head down in the same position.
"W-What is it, Naruto-kun?"
"There, there! Hey, everyone, come look!" Naruto practically shouted.
Shikamaru, Temari, and even Gaara ran to see. Temari's eyes widened.
"Isn't that…your cousin, Hinata!" Temari said in shock.
"Yea, that sure is Neji!" said Naruto excitedly. "…And making-out with Ten Ten, no less!"
"O-Oh…M-My…G-God…"even the polite Hinata could not resist swearing. "…M-My cousin…"
Gaara now slowed down the sand transporter until it stopped in a position above the sky where everyone could see the couple clearly. Everyone was silent for a while, carefully watching the Hyuuga male do things that no one had seen him do before. The one observing most intently at the couple was, of course, Gaara. The redhead had now made it his goal to learn the most social skills he could.
"…So, sister…those two are in love, yes? …Just like you and Shikamaru..." Gaara commented, taking note of how Neji liked to kiss Ten Ten very roughly on the lips.
Temari, who had forgotten that Gaara was watching, now quickly turned to him with an embarrassed look on her face.
"G-Gaara! Stop watching! You're too young!" Temari said, a bit worried.
"It's okay, sister…" Gaara turned his full attention back to the make-out session down below. "I already saw you and the Nara do it…Besides, you said I need to learn more social skills."
'Ugh…brother, not THIS kind of social skills!' Sabaku no Temari thought, but kept quiet.
She knew that Gaara wouldn't listen to her anyway, so she went back to observing Neji and Ten Ten.
Naruto gave Gaara a hearty pat on the back.
"Yea, man! You gotta learn this kind of social skill most of all!" the fox-boy said enthusiastically.
Sabaku no Gaara took in every word that Naruto said, and every movement that the Hyuuga made on Ten Ten. The redhead nodded.
'That…damn…Naruto!' Temari looked like she was about to kill Naruto.
Shikamaru noticed this and decided to turn her attention to something else, so she wouldn't think of murdering Naruto.
"Hey, Temari, look…did you see that? Ten Ten just pulled away from Neji!" Shikamaru tapped Temari on the shoulder and pointed it out to her.
"What! Where!" Temari immediately forgot all about her intent to kill Naruto and continued observing the couple.
Sure enough, it really did look like Ten Ten had just pulled away…and Neji had pinned her back down…and continued to make out! Naruto let out an exasperated gasp.
"Whoa! Neji's a naughty boy!" the fox-boy commented cheerfully and loudly.
"…Hey, woman. We should try out that trick sometime…" Shikamaru teased Temari lazily.
Temari elbowed the Nara in the stomach.
"Shut up!" she said, her cheeks flaming.
"Hey, everyone, look at this! It looks like Kankurou is running to us!" Naruto said suddenly.
Everyone stopped and looked below. Sure enough, the puppeteer was running as fast as his legs could carry him towards the sand transporter in the sky. Following him were Ino, Lee, and Chouji. The group ran past where Neji and Ten Ten were making out without even noticing. Ten Ten screamed when she saw the group of people running past her. Neji's faced reddened like there was no tomorrow.
In no time, Kankurou, Ino, Lee, and Chouji were just below the sand transporter.
"Hey, Gaara! Lower that sand transporter right now!" Kankurou shouted up angrily to them. "…I need to give that Nara a lesson!"
Shikamaru's faced paled.
'Ugh…how troublesome…'
"Kankurou! Why, what's wrong?" Temari called down.
"Temari, don't think I didn't see that! That Nara was taking advantage of you! He was kissing you!" the puppeteer shot death glares up at Shikamaru.
"Hey, that was a misunderstanding, Kankurou—" Shikamaru started.
"How is that a misunderstanding, Nara? I saw with my own two eyes what you were doing!" It really was too late for the puppeteer to calm down. "…And if you don't come down here, Nara…I will call out Karasu, Kuroari, and Sanshouuo!"
Now that was a threat. Gaara didn't lower the sand transporter just yet.
"Look, Kankurou, I didn't do anything wrong to Temari, okay?" the Nara called down, trying to sound as agreeable as he could.
"Then what was that called, huh? Kissing—" Kankurou was cut off by no one other than Sabaku no Gaara.
"Hey, Kankurou, I think it's okay for them," the redhead surprisingly sided with the Nara. "…'Cause they told me, they're in love."
Everyone there turned to stare at Gaara.
'What the heck?' thought Ino, who was witnessing the scene. 'Didn't know Gaara would be so kind as to stop his brother…'
Kankurou's eyes practically popped out of his head.
"W-What! Gaara? Are you serious?" the puppeteer asked exasperatedly.
Gaara lowered the sand transporter, so that he, Shikamaru, and Temari were face to face with Kankurou.
"Wow, this is the funniest 'in-laws' scene yet!" Naruto whispered into Hinata's ear.
"…Yea…" said the Gaara, his face straight. "…You should give them a chance."
Kankurou stared. The Nara genius tried to take advantage of this. He would never admit it, but he also desperately wanted for Temari's brothers to at least like him, since he was her boyfriend and all…
"Yea, Kankurou, you should give me a chance, I'm the first one of all of you to pass the Chuunin exam, after all," Shikamaru drawled.
"Come on, brother! And also, if he hurts me in any way, you can beat him up!" said Temari, cheerfully poking the Nara's arm a bit too hard.
"H-Hey, woman! What's that supposed to mean?"
Temari just grinned playfully back at him.
'…And, another troublesome issue comes…first, dealing with the woman's brothers, and now, actually dealing with the woman…' Shikamaru couldn't help thinking, while looking sheepishly down into Temari's face.
Apparently, Temari's statement worked on Kankurou.
"Fine…" the puppeteer reluctantly told Shikamaru. "…If you're gonna be Temari's boyfriend, you have to take care of her no matter what, you understand?...And if you don't behave well….in that case, let's just say Karasu, Kuroari, and Sanshouuo will have a very, very fun time playing with your corpse…" Kankurou finished all this with a snarl.
"Yay!" Temari cheered and then clung unto the Nara's arm. "…I'm your responsibility now, you understand, genius? ...Otherwise you'll get beat up by Gaara and Kankurou!"
A long, stunned silence followed from the Nara. Finally, he sighed with an 'I-give-up' kind of small smile of his face.
"How troublesome….but yea, I guess it's worth it…" he said.
Clapping sounds came from Ino, Chouji, and Lee's direction.
"Hey, you lazy ass, congratulations on finding a girlfriend at last!" Ino whooped.
Naruto joined in and whistled. "Whoa, Shikamaru, you're in big trouble!"
"…Thanks for reminding me, Naruto…." The Nara answered, his tone as lazy as ever.
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"Emiko, you know what?" Kiba continuously poked the unconscious Sound nin that he had captured with a stick. "…You're such a bitch."
Of course, Emiko didn't reply. She couldn't reply, since she was unconscious.
"You!" the stick poked a little bit harder on her face. "…Number one, you wasted our time here by capturing people. That's fine, I don't hold that grudge against you. Number two, you pushed Sakura down the cliff. Yea, that's fine by me too, since the Uchiha's the one saving her, not me. Number three, you just had to put bombs in the cave, huh? You bitch…well, even that's fine by me. But what's NOT fine by me is that you made me freekin' miss riding on Gaara's super cool sand!"
Kiba now poked Emiko in the forehead with his stick. It left a red mark on her forehead. The dog-boy was apparently so bored of being assigned the task to look after an unconscious person that he had to talk to himself.
"Arghhh, Emiko, you're a bitch, did I tell you that?"
Akamaru barked and licked Kiba's hand to cheer him up. Kiba rubbed his head.
"Ahh…that's all right, Akamaru….thanks," said Kiba, then stood up.
The dog-boy figured it would be no use looking after Emiko any longer. He wanted to find the others and see if everyone was alright. Most of all, he wanted to ask Gaara for a ride on that sand thing. Kiba had an obsession for speedy things, like that sand transporter.
The moment that Kiba turned around, Emiko started rubbing the bonds on her hands so that it would break. Apparently, she wasn't unconscious. Kiba didn't even notice this. He was turned around the other way, mumbling complaints to himself. Emiko thought she had never seen another guy complain this much (she was wrong, for if she had seen Shikamaru, she would have been surprised at how much he complains).
Then, Akamaru began barking at Kiba. The dog was clever, and had noticed that Emiko was trying to free herself.
'…Damn that dog…' Emiko thought, now free of her band bonds. '…Only a bit more, and I'm free!'
"…Hmm, Akamaru? What's wrong?" asked Kiba to his dog.
Akamaru barked again and Kiba realized immediately what just happened right behind his back. The dog-boy swiftly whirled around, but it was too late. Emiko had freed herself of the bonds and was now running in the other direction. Kiba and Akamaru ran after the Sound nin as fast as they could.
'Gosh, how could I have been so careless?' thought Kiba, furious with himself.
The dog-boy with an obsession for speedy things lived up to his reputation. Not only did he like speedy stuff, he himself was speedy. Within a few moments, he was only about two meters behind her. Emiko wasn't stupid. She knew that she'd never be able to outrun Kiba, so she stopped. He also stopped.
"…Look, I don't know if it'd be too much to ask of you, but will you please let me go?" Emiko said.
"…Very straight-to-the-point, Sound nin. I like that, even though you're a bitch…And why should I listen to you?" Kiba inquired.
"…Because…" Emiko paused. "…Look, I promise that I won't come harm you Konohas again! Or, heck, even the Sand, for that matter! I'm going to go escape and not go back to Orochimaru! I won't even return to the Sound! Please!"
"…And give me a reason to believe what you're telling me, Sound nin," Kiba was not fazed. "…I know you enough to know that you're not always an honest person. Duh, anyone would've known that after seeing you push Sakura down that cliff."
"I…." Emiko's blue eyes held a kind of desperation in it now. "…I don't have any proof, or reason! Please, just let me and my brother go, we still want to live! We don't want Orochimaru to capture us, or go to some jail with you! Please!"
Now, the Sound nin's eyes were full of tears, threatening to spill out if Kiba refused again. Kiba didn't like to see people cry. Also, somehow, he sensed that Emiko was telling the truth.
'What the heck, why the heck am I doing this?' Kiba turned around, leaving a full chance for Emiko to run. 'Shit…and all this for a Sound nin bitch…'
"Go," was Kiba's one reply.
Emiko didn't need to be told twice. When Kiba turned around again, she was gone. It was one of those situations where you only meet someone once in a lifetime. Kiba never saw Emiko or her brother ever again.
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Joyce(rant): So, I haven't ranted in a long time so I felt that it's time for a rant:D I hope you don't mind….so…yea. While I was in the middle of writing this chapter, the telephone rang…and I got the WEIRDEST person talking to me on the other line. The guy was apparently English (judging from his accent)…and he was like "Hi..." and I was like "Hi…" and a LOT silence…and then I said "So, who are you?" and he said. "I'm Peter." I said, "I don't know you." And he was like, "I'm Peter. Peter!" (Yea, like I'm gonna remember who the heck 'Peter' is, since the only 'Peter' I'd know in my life is Peter Pan)…So, I said, "I…don't know you…are you somebody from my school?" He said, "Yea…" I said, "Oh…" Then, I said, " So why do you call?" He said, "Just to talk." I was like, "Okayyyyyyy then." He said, "So what you studying this summer?" I said, "Nothing, school's closed, it's summer." He said, "Oh, okay…how old are you?" I said, "I'm fourteen, hey, I gotta go make lunch now, so bye bye." (Yea, I made up some lame excuse so the guy would hang up, BUT. Guess what. He DIDN'T.) He just said, "Really…You sound very mature for a fourteen year old." I said, "Yea, thank you." (And then, I wondered if this was some kinda joke so I asked: ) "Hey, have you talked to anybody else in my class yet?" He said, "No, just you. You don't mind…?" I said, "Uhh…Okay, I don't mind, but I gotta go make lunch now…" He said, "Oh, Okay." And I totally freaked out and hung up!
AHHHHHHH! I'm sooo freaked out! REALLY freaked out! I hope, sincerely hope, that it's not another one of my stalkers:'( Yea, I got other...stalkers at my school. :S They're all elementary kids (but this 'Peter', apparently is NOT an elementary kid)…and it freaks me out. :S...I'M SO FREAKED OUT! HELP ME! :'(
And…ANOTHER freaky thought has just come to me:( If THIS was a JOKE from on of my moronic friends! (cracks knuckles) They will DIE! DIE DIE DIE! THEY KNOW I HATE STALKERS! Ahhhh!
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Okay, my mom has just called…and she knows about the stalker! She says the guy's been calling her for some time now, trying to reach my number! OMG:S I'm so freaked out! My mom says it surely IS a stalker :S. Argghhhh…and she says the next time 'Peter' calls, I should shout at the guy and then hang up. Yup, so that's my plan. :S. Arghhhh…:'( I'm too freaked out.
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Well, that's all, I hope you guys weren't too bored with my rant. :'(….yea….too lazy to reply stuff again (mostly due to the freaky phone call)..so, sorry! And I hope you like this chapter and review. :D