Finnished chapter 7, I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 7
The Finals, Followed by Great Beauty.
"Next match: Hinata and Neji." Hinata swallowed and looked at the stage, remembering the last time she had fought Neji. And Neji had been going easy.
"This is a mock battle, not the real thing," said Tenten. "It's first blood." Tenten was in love with Neji, though, so she thought the best.
Just as she was about to go up, Gaara spoke to her. "Do something he won't expect," he said. "He knows your style, so change it."
Hinata smiled. She could do that.
Neji was already on stage for about three minutes when she went up.
"You're late," Neji said. "Even if you are a squirrel, small and stupid, you shouldn't be that late. Ants could do better."
"I am fashionably late. You're early, like the teacher's pet you are." Hinata's voice was quivering, though, taking away from the quality of the insult.
Hinata herself was quivering. Neji drew a knife. Hinata drew two. As Neji charged, Hinata cringed a bit. She blocked his attack, but he rotated his wrist, catching hers, and creating a spurt of blood. She had lost.
"You may vote," said the Hokage. "For Hinata?"
It was split in half. Tenten was split in half, too. She loved Neji, but Hinata was her best friend.
The points didn't go to either of them.
"Winner—Neji, with ten points."
"You would have won, if he hadn't twisted his wrist like that!" Sakura exclaimed.
"She was too nervous," said Shikamaru. "If she had been meeting him for the first time, she might have stood a chance. As it was, she didn't stand a chance."
Gaara said nothing, instead of trying to console her. Hinata was thankful for that, everyone's consolations were just making her feel worse.
"Next match: Temari and Gaara."
Temari was quivering. She had seen the worst of Gaara.
She had seen him kill about three dozen people at once for no reason. She remembered the screams of the children that had been in that group, their wide eyes. And she knew that Gaara cared little enough not to remember.
There was worse, too, but Temari didn't want to remember that. She wouldn't try. She would let him win.
"You can barely write, yet you claim to be a ninja? Is your brain of sand?" Temari knew these things wouldn't anger Gaara from experience. He didn't listen to insults.
"You shouldn't have such long hair." Gaara said, knowing it was something she would listen to. "If you had to cut it off or die, you would die to keep the memory of long ago alive."
Temari drew a knife. Gaara let the sand out. She attacked him, knowing she would fail. He used the same attack as last time, and pierced her finger in the same spot as he had pierced Tenten.
Temari lost. The vote came.
"You may vote." Said the Hokage. "For Temari?" Temari and Gaara were almost split, but there were two more for Temari.
"Winner—Gaara." Gaara looked at Neji.
"I will forfeit the finals, as if I get too angry, the monster will come out and many here will die." Gaara said. He didn't know whether it was true, but he knew that at least a dozen would die before he was eradicated.
The Hokage looked worried, but accepted his withdrawal. Neji didn't look too happy about it, but he accepted the metal. It had the Konoha symbol on one side and a throwing knife on the other.
He looked pleased with himself as he bowed to the crowd, and less pleased with himself when he was swamped by female admirers.
Hinata looked over at Tenten. She had a strange look on her face, like longing and happiness and sorrow, all mixed into one. Hinata knew the feeling well. It was one that she felt often.
As Gaara walked off the stage, people cleared out of his way. Hinata walked up to him. "You did well," she said. Gaara smiled. People were looking at her strangely, but she felt sorry for Gaara. She wondered whether there was a way to seal the monster, the way Naruto had got the nine-tails sealed. She and Gaara walked side by side through the crowd, with people staring at them from a 'safe' distance.
Hinata hated the feeling, but she wouldn't let Gaara face it alone. Suddenly, the tension was broken, as Tenten ran up. "Hinata, I've been looking all over for you!" she said. "We have to go get our dresses and makeup for the beauty contest!"
"Okay," Hinata replied. "I'm coming."
Tenten and Hinata met Ino and Sakura (who were now friends, since Sakura has obviously given up on Sasuke). When they arrived backstage, they saw Temari, who was also competing. Even though it was a competition, they were all friends, so it was a friendly competition.
Tenten grinned. "Hey Temari-san!" Temari looked around. "Over here!"
"Hi everyone." Temari was wearing her dress already. It was the same shade of lavender as her normal clothes, but it was tighter, and showed off her form. It was sleeveless, but not a tank top. Her hair and makeup weren't done yet.
"Tenten-san, could you help me with my hair?" she asked. "I have trouble with it."
Tenten smiled. "I've wanted to do your hair since I saw you in the Chuunin exams," she said. "I'll enjoy it." She walked up to one of the hair/makeup tables and motioned for Temari to sit down. She took out the elastics, and Temari's hair let itself down, but it was extremely frizzy and slightly curly. Tenten frowned for a moment. "We need to wash this," she said. "I can't work with this much frizz."
Temari's hair was washed with a special shampoo and conditioner. It came out with body instead of frizz. Temari looked shocked. Instead of a shock of fuzzy blond hair, she now had a head of blond hair that shone perfectly.
Tenten smiled. "It won't last forever, but until you wake up tomorrow, it'll last."
She brushed Temari's hair for a while, then put in a headband. "We'll leave it loose so you can show it off." Tenten said. "Maybe Shikamaru will notice."
Temari looked stricken, as she blushed at looked at her.
"Come on, it's not like you hiding it that well."
"If you noticed me, did you notice our other couple, too?" she asked.
"If you mean Gaara and Hinata, how could I not notice?" Tenten replied. "They might not have noticed, but I certainly have."
Tenten smiled. She didn't have to go about matchmaking alone. She thought back to Temari and Shikamaru's match. Shikamaru would have told the Hokage earlier, if that was the real reason. Something else influenced it.
"Temari, I think that Shikamaru knows."
"Really?" Temari seemed worried.
"Yeah," Tenten replied. "But we still have a chance."
"Why do you think that?" Temari was obviously distressed.
"Because Shikamaru is really smart; he'll figure out what he's supposed to do. In the mean time, us four will find out what sort of girl he wants, and tell you, hopefully without him knowing what our reason is."
Temari blinked. "Would you really do that for me?" she asked.
"Of course!" Tenten exclaimed. "That's what friends are for, after all."
Gaara, Kankuro, Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Neji were all seated together, as it was their group that would be up there. People were betting on who would win.
Sasuke had his money on Tenten, Naruto was betting on Sakura, Neji and Gaara were sticking with Hinata, and Kankuro was betting on Temari. Shikamaru deemed the whole thing troublesome.
Ino came out first. Her skanky outfit didn't go over well with the crowd or the judges. Quite a few people flinched or raised their eyebrows.
Temari was next. Kankuro's jaw dropped; he had always thought of Temari as less than pretty, but with her hair like that, she looked a lot nicer. Shikamaru was having second thoughts on the troublesomeness of Temari liking him.
Tenten came after Temari. Sasuke smiled, thinking that he had placed him money well. Neji frowned slightly, perhaps thinking it would have been better to put his money on his teammate. But he had seen Hinata dressed up before, and he had confidence in his cousin.
Sakura was next. Naruto said "Wow!" and began jumping up and down, telling everyone that she was his girlfriend. Sakura saw him, and almost started laughing.
Finally, Hinata came out. Neji smiled, quite sure that he had won the bet. Kankuro glanced at Gaara, who seemed puzzled, not because of Hinata, but something else. Kankuro hoped that Gaara's confusion wouldn't make him angry.
The judges conferred. Sakura was laughing, telling the other girls about Naruto's reaction to her dress. The other girls laughed, too, picturing the blonde boy doing yet another stupid thing.
"We have made our decision!" the judges thundered, quieting the exited chatter. "The runner-up is…" they paused for effect. "Hyuuga Hinata!" A lot of people cheered, and Gaara and Neji received a fair amount of cash. "And the grand winner, the most beautiful girl in Konoha is…" there was exited murmuring throughout the crowd. "Haruno Sakura!" The crowd burst into cheers, and Sakura blushed, invisible under her makeup. She went out to receive her prize, a metal with the Konoha leaf on one side and a shopping bag on the other.
Sakura was puzzled about the shopping bag. "The shopping bag means that you get a free shopping spree in one hour of your choice.
Sakura's face lit up further. "Really?" she asked.
"Really." the judge confirmed. Naruto arrived, and hugged her. Sakura fell over, and Naruto landed on top of her. Sakura smiled as Naruto got up and helped her up, looking embarrassed. Luckily for her, There was a wooden stage for te judges, so the dress was fine. Naruto grimaced; he had a splinter. Sakura took his hand and pulled it out, for which Naruto hugged her again, this time without enough force to knock her over.
"Can't breathe…" Sakura whispered, upon which Naruto let her go, and asked with embarrassment if she was okay.
"Hai," she replied. "I'm fine."
Oops
Temari's hair was washed with a special shampoo and conditioner. It came out with even more frizz. Temari looked shocked. "Tenten-chan, how could you!"
There will be SakuNaru in the next chapter, I promise. Please leave a reaview!
