This is where it started getting better. Thanks for bearing with me this far. .
5
Food and Vomit
Gaara decided that he would go to the tournament, but he wouldn't compete unless someone asked him to. He hoped that the people giving him frightened glances wouldn't throw him out.
He sought out Hinata, as she had been the one to invite him, but Temari reminded him what had happened last time, so he decided not to. When he walked past a information booth, he was handed a booklet with the times of the different contests and times in it.
Lunch Everyone 12:00
Eating Contest Everyone 1:00
Mock Battle Young People 2:00
Beauty Run Females 4:00
Banquet Everyone 5:00
Music and Arts Contest Everyone 7:00
Ending words Hokage 10:00
It was 11:00. Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro headed to the dining area, which was a large clearing just outside of Konoha. When he arrived, he found a place to sit. About five minutes later, Hinata, Tenten, Ino, and Sakura sat beside them.
"Ohayo, Hinata-chan, Tenten-chan, Ino-chan, Sakura-chan." said Temari.
"Ohayo, Temari-chan, Kankuro-chan, Gaara-kun." replied Hinata. Temari silently noticed that she was on less formal terms with Gaara than with her and Kankuro. She also seemed to have forgiven Gaara completely.
"Ohayo, Hinata-san, Tenten-chan." Gaara replied. He didn't know Ino and Sakura, so he ignored them, true to his ways.
"So you're Gaara." Tenten said. "Why did you attack Hinata?"
"Tenten, calm down!" Hinata seemed uneasy, now. "I invited him here, he didn't mean to!" Tenten looked at Hinata with confusion. She hadn't been told the circumstances. "He left flowers for me, and they were the first things I saw when I woke up. They made my day."
Temari concluded that though neither Gaara nor Hinata knew it, they were both in love. Sakura decided that this was a great time to gather up the 'boring people': Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Negi. Ino and Tenten complained that they weren't boring, but Sakura was already gone.
About twenty minutes later, Sakura was back, with Negi, Shikamaru, and Sasuke looking as if they had been dragged there (Maybe they had been.) and Naruto looking hyped up.
Shikamaru looked the Sand people over, Gaara first, then Kankuro, and Temari last. When he made eye contact with her, she blushed and looked away. Shikamaru noticed, but his 200+ IQ didn't cover much about love, crushes, or anything else of the sort.
Sasuke simply sat as far away from Ino as he could. Negi chose a free spot and sat there. The free spot was beside Tenten, who seemed happier than she had seconds ago. Sakura and Naruto sat together near Ino. Shikamaru finally decided that Temari fell into the large group of 'troublesome' people. He looked at the clouds and wished he was as free and happy as them. Then he sat down, and said "How troublesome." Temari smiled.
Tenten was in a beautiful mood, for two reasons. One, Negi was sitting beside her, and two, there were two couples waiting to happen right there. Thought she doubted they knew it, Hinata and Gaara were in love.
And then there was Temari, who had an obvious crush in Shikamaru, for reasons unknown. Shikamaru was oblivious to her affections, though, judging by the way that Kankuro quivered with silent laughter, he was quite aware of in. She would have to make sure he didn't tell Shikamaru, as that would ruin her chances. She would tell the others in the dressing rooms for the beauty contest.
She hoped Temari would compete, Tenten wanted to style her hair.
A waiter came by. When she got to Naruto, he surprised everyone but Shikamaru. "No thanks." The waiter and everyone else were confused.
"But, Naruto, you didn't eat anything all day!" Sakura said. "You'll starve!"
"That's' the point." Naruto replied.
"He wants to be able to eat as much as possible in the contest at one." Shikamaru said. "It's not that hard to figure out." Temari smiled.
"Are you sure you can watch us eat, Naruto?" asked Sakura. Naruto smiled with determination.
The food was delicious. Naruto managed to not eat anything, even the chocolate cake that was desert, though he got Sakura to save him a piece.
Hinata finished the small amount she wanted quickly, and watched Gaara eat his food. He ate it quickly, as if he was very hungry. But Gaara finished his cake before Hinata, so when she looked at him, he caught her eyes in his and held them there for a while. Though his eyes normally scared her, she saw something new in them, something warm and human.
Gaara noticed Hinata watching him throughout the meal. When the cake came, he ate his quickly, and watched her savor hers. When she looked at him, he caught her eyes, and looked into her eyes, trying to see her thoughts through them. He didn't see fear any more, though he had last time. He saw a mirror of the new feeling he had, and something else all together. He wished he knew what it was.
After lunch, the group went to watch the eating contest. Only three people had entered: Naruto, Chouji, and Kiba.
Naruto sat down looking hungry, Chouji looked less hungry, but still, he was from a clan based on eating Kiba and Akamaru looked hungry all the time, so it was hard to tell for them. Shikamaru and Ino cheered for Chouji (though Shikamaru didn't seem to want to cheer at all and Ino looked like she would rather cheer for Naruto), while everyone else either stayed quiet or cheered for Naruto.
The owner of the place seemed exited. He had huge vats of Raman for the two of them.
"Hey, Hokage-sama, is Akamaru allowed to eat, too?"
"Hai." The Hokage replied. Naruto looked unhappy about it, but didn't complain.
"Ready?" The bowls of Raman were set out.
"Set?" The contestants picked up their chopsticks and bend over their bowls. A nurse got out a few bottles of extra-strength Tums.
"GO!"
The screaming started seconds after the eating. At the one minute mark, Chouji was on his third bowl, Naruto was finishing his second, and Kiba and Akamaru were starting their third.
At three minutes, Akamaru stopped after helping with ten bowls. Chouji was finishing his twelfth, and Naruto was starting his twelfth.
At twenty bowls, Kiba threw up, thus being disqualified. Naruto was going slightly slower on his thirtieth, and Chouji was looking a bit green on his thirty-seventh.
After ten minutes, Sakura threw up watching them, and Hinata was feeling ill. Ino was swallowing consistently. Shikamaru had looked away a while ago. Kankuro looked greener than Chouji, who was about to go at bowl forty-six.
Hinata felt a hand grip hers. She looked to the side at the person: Gaara. He seemed to be the only one who was unaffected by the sight of Chouji and Naruto go at it. Hinata smiled.
Naruto and Chouji blew chunks at the same time. They were both into bowl forty-nine. A brave judge looked at the bowls.
"Winner—Uzumaki Naruto." A huge grin spread across Naruto's face, even as he ate the Tums. Sakura ran up and hugged him, and everyone laughed (except Gaara and Shikamaru) as Naruto looked desperately around for help.
Once Sakura realized and stopped what she was doing, the Hokage gave Naruto a gold metal with the Konohaleaf carved into one side and the shop's symbol on the other. Naruto took an outrageous bow, and everyone cheered.
Everyone dispersed to get ready for the mock battle, next. Hinata went home to get some knives and throwing stars. Gaara wondered whether he should battle and risk losing himself. Ino flirted shamelessly with an annoyed Sasuke who was trying to get ready for the mock battle. Sakura asked Naruto whether he was okay before going to get ready. Naruto decided that he didn't want to upset his stomach again, as did Kiba and Chouji.
Oops
And then there was Temari, who had an obvious crush in Shikamaru, for reasons unknown. Shikamaru was oblivious to her affections, though, judging by the way that Kankuro quivered with silent laughter, he was quite aware of it.
"Oy, Shikamaru, I think Temari here likes you!" Temari blushed.
"Really!"
Please review. I don't remember names very well, so if I spelled something incorrectly, or got one totally wrong, tell me.
