Author's Notes:
Here we have part two of the three part chapter, and since the third segment is already done, I'm going to spend the next couple days writing what will be the final chapter of the story. There will still be a few more chapters before we get there, but the end is in sight.
On a more positive note, this will give me the chance to re-think my writing strategy. Unseen has been neglected because I've been focusing exclusively on NCT, and if I ever want to have more than one story in production at a time, (and I do) I'm going to need to learn to schedule more efficiently.
Check my profile for updates with regards to the new stories, since I will need some pre-readers in the next little while.
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"Well, well, well…"
Naruto's mind, deeply in sleep though it was, reacted to those words like a cold bucket of water, but he kept his eyes shut tight and spoke softly, "Hello Itachi, when did you get back?"
"Oh, just now…" Naruto could hear the amusement dripping from his voice, "you two certainly look…cozy"
"What time is it?"
"Just past three"
Naruto groaned and slowly started to move, which of course immediately woke Temari. The two were back on their feet in seconds and, after a few yawns, fully awake.
Naruto stretched and then suddenly noticed something odd, "What's with all that crap you have, Itachi?"
The Uchiha was holding numerous boxes of many sizes, all filled with stuff, "That's why I'm here, I got tired of carrying all this around"
Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Temari leaned forward, "But what is it all?"
"I managed to get some free stuff from just walking around, then found an underground casino. I kept playing and kept winning, but decided to stop half an hour ago since I had almost more than I could carry. I plan to go back there now that I've dropped this stuff off"
"Oh…"
With a wave, Itachi vanished.
"Well," Temari said bluntly, "that was rather embarrassing"
"Could have been much worse"
"How do you mean?"
"It could have been Kisame that found us like that"
Temari opened her mouth to argue, then closed it again and thought about it, "Okay, you have a point there"
"Actually," Naruto said, "it's probably a pretty good thing Itachi dropped by, or we might have been late for the movie"
"Meh, we have half an hour yet"
Naruto looked at her curiously, "How come you fell asleep, anyway? You had just woken up"
"Well, actually" she said hesitantly, "you fell asleep a while before me"
"Then what were you doing all that time?"
"Nothing"
Crickets chirped in the background.
"Really?"
"Yes, really!"
More crickets.
"If you say so…"
With that, Naruto went over to clean up the forgotten lunch dishes, but Temari suddenly spoke really quickly, "Ok, I'll admit it. I noticed something while you were asleep that seemed strange, and it's been bugging me ever since. How come you don't have any scars?"
Naruto stopped and looked at her, "Huh?"
"Scars," she held out her arm to illustrate, "all shinobi get hit sometimes and so most are covered in scars, even Itachi has some, but not you. Why?"
Answering this question required Naruto to dredge up the memory of a conversation he had had with the Kyuubi some time ago, "Because I don't heal, I regenerate"
"I know you heal fast, but there should still be a scar…"
"No," Naruto corrected her, "Healing and regenerating are two completely different things. Healing is when your body replaces destroyed or damaged tissue with new tissue. Regenerating is when your body replaces damaged tissue with the same tissue"
"Um…what?"
"Its hard to explain to some who can't do it…" Naruto pondered and was suddenly struck by inspiration, "Okay, you and Kankuro are siblings, right?"
"Yes…"
"But you're not the exact same. The two of you have the same parents, but there are many differences between the two of you. That's how healing is, the new flesh is similar to the old, but not quite the exact same. Now regenerating on the other hand could be compared to a set of identical twins. Not only do they have the same parents, they are physically identical in every way"
"So then when you get hurt, your body replaces the material with flesh completely identical to what was damaged?"
"Exactly. Regenerating isn't very common, since it's pretty much a demon thing, but theoretically, I could even regenerate whole limbs with enough time and chakra"
Temari was silent for a moment, "So you could get a tattoo, and then when you were sick of it, cut off your arm, grow a new one, and get a different tattoo?"
Naruto sweatdropped, "Yes…"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Their movie was on at quarter past four, so they left camp at about three thirty. Before they left, Naruto went over everything the Kyuubi had told him.
/-/Flashback/-/
"Okay brat, since you seem to serious about this, you'll have to follow a few basic rules"
"No problem, give them to me straight"
"You're going to have to not be an idiot. You often don't remember to do things like think before you speak"
"Fine then, but lets try to avoid the personal insults from now on, shall we?""Technically, you're going on a date with a coworker, so the same rules apply. No discussing anything shinobi-like and no bringing weapons"
"But…what if Temari brings her weapons?"
"She won't"
"But…"
"She won't"
"But…"
"Good god, she WON'T bring any weapons"
"How can you be so sure?"
"You live as long as me, you learn a few things. Now do you want my help or not?"
"Yes!""Then shut your mouth and listen"
Naruto shut his mouth.
"Now, as I was saying. I know this might be a stretch for you, but you should try and work on your charm"
"Charm?"
"Yes, charm. It's not hard, it just requires you to think in a different way than you usually do"
"Explain"
"Being charming means smiling, using what little wit you possess, and that sometimes you need to do something, often something frivolous, for someone even though you know they're fully capable of doing it themselves"
"That sounds dumb, but I know what you mean"
"Good. You again prove that you are, in fact, smarter than you look"
Naruto was tiring of the fox, "Is that it?"
"No. Most important of all, you have to learn to be less of a weenie"
"Remember the personal insult thing?"
"Yes, but I don't care. You need to stop being a weenie. No girl is going to respect someone who has a phobia of physical contact"
"May I remind you that my being so screwed up is mostly your fault?""Again, I don't care. And just so we're absolutely clear on this, if you don't keep up your half of this bargain I'm going to kill you in your sleep, and consequences be damned"
"Yeah, yeah, very scary. To my immense surprise, you've been pretty useful today, so don't worry about your reward"
"And remember, brat : No weenieness"
"Go to hell"
/-/End Flashback/-/
As they were just about to leave, Temari was slightly shocked when, before she even suggested it, Naruto said he was planning on leaving his sword behind. She was again surprised when he suggested they walk instead on run, and doubly so when he asked to hold her hand.
By the time they actually reached the theater, she was starting to wonder whether this was really Naruto. They arrived with plenty of time, but wanted good seats, so Naruto gave Temari money to buy snacks while he got tickets.
Temari considered her many snack options and turned to the greasy man behind the counter, "Large popcorn please, and two root beers."
The man wiped his greasy hands on his greasy shirt and grabbed the popcorn scoop, "What'r you goin to?"
"JAWS, since it's supposed to be really good"
"Aye, it is, but you might find it a bit strange today"
Curious, Temari grabbed her popcorn, "How?"
"Well, this strange bluish guy came in this morning and bought tickets to every single showing today. Even weirder than that, the guy always cheers for the shark, rather loudly I might add. A couple people have even left the theater because he disturbed them so much"
Going white, Temari bolted to where Naruto was just about to buy tickets, "Naruto! Changed my mind, lets go to," she looked quickly to see what else was on right then, "Harry Potter Meets Godzilla"
Naruto blinked, "Okay then, no problem"
/-/-/-/-/2 Hours of Melodrama Later/-/-/-/-/
Naruto and Temari walked out of the theater in a kind of daze.
"Well," Naruto said dryly, "I was right about those moviemakers being clever. By the time Godzilla showed up, I was ready to rip into those whiny wizards myself"
"Well, it certainly was an…experience"
"Speaking of which," Naruto suddenly asked curiously, "how come you didn't want to go to JAWS?"
"I heard a rumor that someone strange was in the theater and was causing problems"
"Ah well, I guess we'll need to see JAWS some other time…you hungry?"
"Yeah, kinda" Temari said a bit self consciously, having hoped that her rumbling stomach hadn't been loud enough to hear.
"So what do you feel like eating then?"
"I don't know…why not find a seafood place? We are in water country after all"
"Sure, though I can't imagine seafood can get better than that fish Itachi made"
"That's because you've eaten nothing but junk your whole life"
"Hey, instant ramen is good!"
Temari rolled her eyes, "Instant ramen barely qualifies as food"
"Fine then, you pick where we eat and then we'll see if I think it's better"
Deciding to humor him, Temari found a convenience store and grabbed a tourism book, passing the man behind the counter a few coins.
Going back outside to where Naruto was waiting, she brandished the book like a weapon, "You better prepare yourself, because today your concept of food will be blown away"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Sasuke wandered back and forth in his hotel room nervously, his dinner long since forgotten. He tensed when felt someone at the door, but calmed when Kabuto slid quietly into the room, "Any sign?"
"No, Sasuke-sama. There don't appear to be any cloud nin in the city"
"Fine, but this will be the last night we spend in town. How did your intel gathering go, anything new?"
"Not really, this Mamoru is a tough customer. All his ex-employees are so afraid of him that I couldn't get so much as the name of his wife out of them"
"This probably goes without saying, but you were discreet in your questioning, I hope"
"Of course, not a one of them suspects I was anything more than a nosy reporter"
Dropping onto his bed, Sasuke stared vacantly at the ceiling, "So, we're going to just have to go to the estate ourselves and see what we can find out"
"Looks that way, Sasuke-sama"
"What did I tell you about doing that?"
"Doing what, Sasuke-sama?"
"Adding 'Sasuke-sama' to the end of your sentences. I thought I told you to stop that"
"You did, Sasuke-sama"
"Then why haven't you stopped?"
"It would be too disrespectful, Sasuke-sama"
"Okay, now you're just doing it to annoy me"
"I would never, Sasuke-sama. I can't even imagine going out of my way to annoy you, Sasuke-sama. Don't you know that, Sasuke-sama?"
Sasuke shifted his gaze to Kabuto, "See, the thing is, I can't tell if you're being serious or not"
"Why would I not be being serious, Sasuke-sama?"
"………Never mind"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Naruto looked at the restaurant Temari had chosen with a detached sense of awe.
"You plan to eat here?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"It's…so fancy"
"It's a sushi restaurant, Naruto. There's nothing fancy about sushi"
"I've never been to a place like this before"
"Which is why we're going, now come on"
Sitting down, Naruto grabbed his menu and began to read with fervor, while Temari casually glanced through her's.
Once their order finally was taken, Naruto almost collapsed, "Man…it was really hard to decide"
"Only because you acted like the fate of the world depended on what you ordered"
"I had to be sure I made the right decision"
"You do realize that if you really wanted to, we could come here again tomorrow"
"………" Actually, he hadn't realized that
Feeling foolish, Naruto searched for a subject change, "I was pondering something earlier. Why do people think movies make good dates, anyway?"
"Because they don't require any interaction"
"But doesn't that eliminate the purpose of going on a date?"
"Yes. But people like nice passive activities since they eliminate the need for such inconveniencing things as conversation"
"Are most people really that shallow?"
Temari shrugged, "It's just human nature. Remember the first girl you had a crush on? If you think back to it now, what was the crush based on?"
Naruto hung his head, "Point taken"
It was while Naruto was looking at the ground dejectedly that he suddenly felt something tickle his senses. Not wanting to needlessly cause anyone alarm, he lifted his head back up and his gaze scanned the nearby tables in what he hoped was a casual kind of way.
Three tables to his right, there was an old man sitting with middle-aged woman, and Naruto's eyes were drawn to the pair. It seemed to him at first to be nothing more than a woman going out to dinner with her father, as neither looked particularly strange, but there was something about the old man.
At that same table, the woman was getting nervous, "Father, that boy is staring at us…"
"Don't look! He felt my chakra, just a moment ago"
"How? It's perfectly masked"
"I sneezed. When you sneeze every bodily function stops for a fraction of a second, and during that fraction of a second I lost control and he sensed the chakra that leaked through"
"Impossible. I didn't feel a thing"
"Well that," the old man said while stroking his chin, "is because your senses are not yet well enough attuned"
"He is young, Father. There is no way someone of his age could have such perception"
"Ah, but you assume to much. Let us go, we shall eat somewhere else"
"But do we really have to go?"
The old man glanced sideways at Naruto, "Yes"
Naruto watched as the old man pulled a huge walking stick from under the table and stood up, at which point his daughter helped steady him and they walked out of the building. Then, there was a hand being waved in front of his face, "Hello? Earth to Naruto"
"What? Oh, sorry. Was just a little distracted"
Temari Hmmmed, "Yes, you were. What was up with those two people?"
"I'm not sure…and really, I don't care"
"So I can get to interrogating you about relationships now?"
"It's not like there's anything to tell. I'm not sure why, but every girl I knew was either stupid, weak, or more likely, both"
Temari searched her blurry memory of time she had spent in Konoha, "They didn't seem quite that bad…except that Sakura girl, she always pissed me off"
The effect on Naruto was immediate. His muscles tightened, his pupils narrowed, and he half snarled, "I'm not even going to think about her. Even bastard Sasuke worked and improved himself, but Sakura has never been anything more than pathetic. Even worse, she uses cruelty to mask her own uselessness"
"She sounds like a bitch"
"Yeah…that's about right… she was one of the main reasons I left the stupid village in the first place…"
"That, however" Temari said with a smirk, "is most definitely her loss"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
The old man walked down the street with a sense of urgency, his daughter trailing behind. Growing impatient with his lack of explanation, she grabbed his arm, "Geeze, dad! What's going on?"
"We're going to see the Poohbah"
"What? WHY?"
"Because, I think that boy might be far more that he seems, and if anyone in this city would know about any powerful shinobi in the area, it would be the Poohbah"
Setting a brutal pace, he burst into the city's central tower only minutes later, making the lady at the desk jump, "Can I help you, sir"
The old man (who looked fine, compared to his heavily breathing daughter) smiled in the wizened way that old men do, "Please tell the Poohbah that Szark and Seraphim are here to see him"
"I'm sorry sir, but he doesn't take guests this late"
Szark rubbed his head, "Ah, I'm sorry then, for not being specific. In that case, tell him that a Swordmaster of Hidden Mist is here with his daughter"
The desk clerk's face went ashen "Th…Th…Those names again, sir?"
"Szark and Seraphim"
"I'll tell him right away!"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
When Naruto and Temari finally got their food, they had been waiting so long that they both ate like they were starved. Naruto ate with such excessive speed that he didn't even taste his first few bites.
When he slowed down a little bit, the first taste hit his tongue, "Crap…this stuff is really awesome. I hate it that you're always right"
"The faster you get used to it, the easier your life will be"
Naruto spared her an amused glare between bites, but only for a second. Temari was quite hungry herself, and so their meal went on in relative silence.
When there was no more food to be found, Naruto laid back in his chair, "Ah…that was tasty. I need to try some more new kinds of food"
"But later, because I'm going to explode if I eat any more"
"Like you said, there's always tomorrow!"
"It worries me that you sound so enthusiastic"
Naruto reached into his wallet and pulled out a few bills, "How much should we tip?"
"Some people say a percentage of the meal price, but I just say give the server whatever you think he or she deserves"
Leaving 2000 Yen for a tip, Naruto stood up, "Ready to go?"
"Sure, it's actually getting pretty late"
As they left the building, Naruto suddenly realized Temari was right, the sun had already set. The night made the walk back seem surreal, as the only light came from flickering streetlights and a sliver of the moon.
They turned a corner and were suddenly hit by a cold wind, causing Temari to shiver, "How come you never seem bothered by the elements?"
"Aren't you just full of questions today?"
"Once I get a chance to examine you, I notice all this neat stuff and then I get curious," she pointed at where their hands were interlocked, "my hand is cold, but yours is warm despite the wind and the low air temperature"
"I don't know exactly how my body does it, but my temperature almost never changes. It has something to do with my chakra system and body composition, both of which are different than, say, yours"
"What did you do to yourself, anyway?"
"Forced near lethal amounts of demonic chakra through my system"
"I knew you were crazy, but that might be a record"
"Nah, it's worked out pretty well for me in the end. As well as being, as you put it, 'neat', there are major advantages to having a body like mine, and even now I'm not even sure I've figured all of them out yet"
Temari suddenly grabbed his arm and hugged it to her chest, "Okay then, I'm borrowing some of your body heat"
Even as most of Naruto was getting nervous, a little voice in his head repeated "weenie…Weenie…WEENIE", and he willed himself to calm down. Once he cooled his head, he actually quite enjoyed the contact, as it gave him a warm fuzzy feeling in his gut.
It was in this way that they continued back to camp, neither really feeling the need to talk any more. Once they passed the city limits and entered the forest, the night became almost pitch black.
It was times like this that for Naruto, the world truly came alive. He closed his eyes and let his other senses take over, smelling, tasting, hearing and feeling the forest. Even without sight, he felt no fear, as he was fully aware of his surroundings.
It was nice, he mused, to use his advanced senses to just enjoy his surroundings. He could hear Temari's heartbeat, the scratching of small animals, and the rustling of leaves as if amplified by hundreds of small hidden microphones. It was not, he mused a moment later, the most emotional or dramatic simile, but it was accurate.
They stopped about a half-mile from camp and Temari seemed annoyed about something. Not wanting to cause trouble, Naruto remained quiet until she spoke.
"We have a dilemma"
"What kind of dilemma?"
"See, often the success of a date can be determined by whether the guy offers to walk the girl home/to her door"
"We live in the same place…"
'Exactly!"
"And this is a dilemma?"
"Yes, it is"
Looking down at her slightly pouting face in the moonlight, a maelstrom slowly brewed in Naruto's belly. He wanted more than anything to go for it, but his body was frozen.
"WEENIE!"In that one moment, his inhibitions were shattered.
Pivoting on his right foot, he wrapped his free arm around her waist and kissed her with everything he had. Temari squeaked in surprise, but didn't make any move to push him away, and slowly started to kiss him back.
In the world of kisses, this one was rather clumsy, neither of the participants having much experience, but it had a certain illogical wonder about it, not unlike that of a young child's first spoken word.
When they broke apart, the warm fuzzynesss he had felt earlier was back, replacing the maelstrom that had been churning Naruto's stomach only moments before, "I think that was a good enough indication that our first date was a success"
Temari rallied her confidence and grabbed his shoulder, "Actually, I don't think I quite got the message the first time"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Back at camp, Kisame sat surrounded by JAWS memorabilia, "What are those two doing out there? They haven't moved for five minutes now!"
Itachi looked up, "Do you want to be the one to go check? And maybe walk in on something?"
"I never said anything about going to check, but I am curious"
Itachi sorted through the box of stuff he had won gambling, "Think of it this way, if we don't actually know what they're doing, we can just assume whatever we want"
Kisame grinned, "And, of course, mock them ceaselessly about it"
"Exactly"