Chapter 11
Gaara's Reaction
It was the ocean. Hinata hadn't even been on the right river. And now she was utterly and completely lost. She knew that the beach was far away; from the beach, you could see for miles in all directions, and there wasn't a river in sight.
"Well, I should probably find a place to sleep for the night." she said aloud, to break the silence. "I see if I can get back to Konoha in the morning." She hummed to herself as she chose a cave with a bit of seaweed in it and lit a fire there. Then she lay down and quickly fell asleep.
Sakura wanted to give something to Naruto. He was always so kind to her, and he had given her a beautiful ring/bracelet. She remembered the occasion.
Naruto walked up. It was their third date, and Naruto looked especially happy. When she asked him where he wanted to go, he surprised her by taking her to a rich restaurant. After the meal (not Raman!), Naruto handed her a medium box, wrapped in burgundy velvet. When she opened it, she gasped. It was a golden bracelet with rubies set in it, with a net of gold and rubies thinning down to a gold thread that attached to a red gold ring for her middle finger. It created a shining Konoha leaf of red and gold.
Naruto helped her put it on and she hugged him, elated. After that, they had shared a large slice of chocolate cake, the kind that almost melts in your mouth.
Sakura still didn't know where he had gotten the money, but she wanted to pay him back. Suddenly, she got an idea. She would clean his house. She changed into an orange halter top and a short pink skirt. She put an apron on over it; this would be a messy job.
Naruto was walking home from the Raman restaurant, feeling thoroughly satisfied with himself. When he got home, he instantly noticed that something was different. He sat down in a free chair to think about it.
Wait! A free chair? There wasn't a free chair in the morning. My house…it's clean! Spotless, in fact. He stood up, wondering who did it. He walked into every room in the house to see the same spotlessness. He went into his bedroom last, afraid that it was all a dream he would wake up from when he entered his room.
There, tucking the last clean shirt into a drawer, was Sakura.
"Sakura," he started, his eyes tearing his happiness.
She turned around. "Hey, sexy." she called, teasing him. He ran over and hugged her, knocking her to the floor. She looked slightly startled. She looked up at him, from a mere few inches below him, smiling. He kissed her passionately, taking her by surprise before she relaxed into it. It was the first time that Naruto had kissed her instead of the other way around, and Sakura enjoyed it.
Neji decided that he needed advise from someone with a girlfriend. As much as he hated it, that meant Naruto. He knocked on the door before entering, and looked around for Naruto. He had heard that Naruto was a slob, but his house was perfectly clean, sparkling, almost.
He looked in the bedroom. Naruto was there, alright. He was on Sakura, kissing her, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. He decided to leave silently and try again later.
Temari was getting worried. She was waiting at Sakura's house, as the other girl had agreed to lend her something for the date. She ha been there for an hour, and it was only forty five minutes until Shikamaru arrived at the restaurant. Finally, Sakura arrived, looking disheveled but happy.
She led Temari into her room, then the closet. Temari gasped as she walked into the closet. It was huge! Even if Sakura wore the same outfit a lot, she sure had a lot. Temari knew that it wouldn't be that formal, so she looked for something nice but casual.
In the end, she chose a jean knee length skirt and a black tank top. Sakura approved, so they set about her hair and makeup. She wore her hair loose (de-frizzed) with a headband.
Then she walked to her hotel to meet Shikamaru. When she got there, she only had to wait for five minutes before he arrived, looking the same as always. He hadn't even dressed up. When he got there, she opened the door, and he blinked a few times. "Temari." he said. "You're more beautiful every time I see you."
Temari blushed, looking down. "Don't lie like that." she said, thinking he was joking.
"But it's true." he replied. "Come on, we don't want our reservations canceled." She walked beside him, happy, but unsure of herself.
"So, after dinner, would you rather go to karaoke or DDR?" he asked her.
"Do you do DDR?" she asked. It seemed unlikely that Shikamaru would do DDR.
"Yeah." he replied. "I've got to have a hobby in life."
"Then let's do that." she said.
When they arrived at the restaurant, a waiter guided them to a small table with bad lighting. As Temari squinted at the menu, trying to read it, she wondered what dates where supposed to be like. Somehow, she didn't think that not knowing what to say was it. She got a salad. Shikamaru got Ramen.
When the food arrived, Temari started poking at her food, unsure of what to do.
"Is something wrong?" asked Shikamaru.
"Iie, it's nothing."
"No." he replied. "Tell me what's wrong."
Temari looked at him. He was so sure of himself, so hott and confident. He gazed steadily into her eyes.
"Well," she said "It's just that this is my first date and I don't know what to do." She was blushing, her face crimson. Shikamaru smiled.
"It's okay." he said. He knew that she didn't really want to talk about it, so he changed the subject. "When do you think we should tell the others that we're going out?" he asked.
Temari blinked. She hadn't thought of that. "The next time we see them, I guess."
Shikamaru nodded. They ate, talking about random things of no importance and enjoying each other's presence.
Iruka was walking home, thinking about his students, when he heard someone call his name.
"Oy! 'Ruka!" Iruka turned. It was Kakashi, who was quite drunk.
"Come over here!" Iruka ignored him. Kakashi walked over. Iruka walked faster. Kakashi grabbed his shoulders and turned him around to face him. "Why won't you even look at the man who loves you?" Kakashi asked when Iruka looked down to avoid eye contact.
'The man who loves me?' This is worse than I thought! I'll take him to my house for the night so he doesn't hurt himself. Iruka grabbed his hand and started hauling him towards his house. Kakashi wasn't very hard to drag when he was drunk.
When Iruka gat to his house, he yanked Kakashi inside so that no one would see him.
"Kakashi, you're drunk again." Iruka told him.
"No I'm not!" Kakashi complained. "I only had a bottle and a half!"
Only? Kakashi stumbled towards Iruka, who watched him carefully. When Kakashi, lunged forward to kiss him, he was caught by surprise. He kicked Kakashi, hard. The Jounin went tumbling backwards like a Gennin, what little balance he had gone.
Iruka wiped his mouth, scared. Maybe he really does like me, but not so openly. This is terrible!
But I might have enjoyed that if he wasn't drunk… Iruka shook the thought from his head. What am I thinking? I'm straight, dammit!
"'Rukaaaaa," Kakashi called. "My head hurts." That was the last thing he said before he passed out, leaving Iruka extremely confused at himself.
Gaara stared at Temari.
"She's gone?" he asked, not quite taking it in. "Where is she?"
"We don't know."
Suddenly, he absorbed the information, his face taking on an extremely unhappy expression as he got up. "Gaara, where are you going?" Temari asked.
"To find her." he stated simply. Temari knew better than to intervene.
Hinata is gone. he thought. I have to find her, or the ones responsible will pay in blood.
He let his sand out and told it to find Hinata. It asked how he wanted her killed. It took him forty-five minutes to convince the sand that he didn't want her dead.
The sand spread itself very thin over Konoha, looking for the girl. It spread farther and farther, until the surrounding country was covered for miles around. There would be consequences, but he would think about that later.
After two hours, he started searching the ocean, too. Soon after that, the sand told him Hinata was IN the ocean.
She wouldn't be! All the same, Gaara went towards the ocean as fast as he could. When he got there, he sat a limp shape, floating. He couldn't swim, and the sand would die underwater. He decided to risk it. He waded into the water, hoping it wasn't too deep.
Luckily for him, it was fairly shallow. He wavered for a moment upon seeing her. Is that really Hinata? What if it isn't? He decided that if it wasn't Hinata, he would give it a painful death. In the end, he picked it up the most convenient way possible, which was bridal style.
"N-Naruto-kun," She murmured in her sleep. "You're so warm…"
Gaara fought the sudden urge to kill her. He stood there for ten minutes, telling the sand that it shouldn't kill anything that he wanted dead. Finally, he convinced it that he wanted to kill her himself, and it left him alone. He walked to shore with her, and then into the forest, where he chose a hollow in a tree and set her down, hoping that he could get her to Konoha before she woke up or someone found her. He left to get firewood.
