-1Hm…I didn't get a lot of reviews for the last chapter, but it's not your fault. The story was published when it was around 11:30 pm, and usually people on the East Coast have gone beddy-by, so no one read it. One review was all I had received. And that, I'm thankful for.
One thing though…
NO ONE ENJOYED THE SASUKE FALLING INTO HIS DISH PART?
I thought that was the most funniest thing I've read…Oh well.
Disclaimer: Naruto isn't licensed to me.
Enjoy.
Cold Play: The Ice Duo
Chapter Two: Arrival At The Battleground
Naruto woke up to the bright light of the sun. He put his hand up to shield his eyes. He felt a bit dizzy and laid back down, arms spread out on each side.
In doing this, he startled a certain fish smelling covered face shinobi who was sleeping on another bed beside him.
Sasuke blinked his eyes open. He felt something on his nose.
"Nawuto-" he said, in an unusual tone.
"Mm…" Naruto shifted to the side, moving everything, EXCEPT FOR HIS ARM.
"Get. Yo. Handsh. Offe. Maieh. Facesh." Sasuke noticed that Naruto wasn't moving, so he decided to quit playing nice and take his hand of his face, trying to break his arm in the process.
"GAH! SASUKE-TEME! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Naruto screamed. This, of course woke up Kakashi, who yawned, and sat up. He rubbed his eyes.
"Yo…Ohayou…" (A/N: Remember, I'm CHINESE. NOT JAPANESE. Got it? This is from memory when I saw an episode.)
Kakashi winced.
"Eh…Naruto? Sasuke? You're all better?" Then, he held his nose. "…Sasuke…go to the bathroom…"
Naruto sniffed the air. Then he held his nose too.
"Sasukeh-temeh…go to the god damn bathroom…you smell like…raw fish."
Sasuke winced innocently. He looked at his wardrobe. He was wearing his navy blue sleeping clothes. He remembered that he was trying to stay awake at the restaurant, and then that was it. He didn't change or anything. He looked at Kakashi. 'Kakashi-sensei must of changed for me he thought.
Sasuke felt his face very uncomfortable. He touched his face. It was sticky with an oily touch with it as well. He sniffed. His face wrinkled up. He felt something in his hair. Sasuke reached up, and felt around his hair.
Suddenly, Naruto and Kakashi burst out laughing.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"
Naruto shook his head while laughing. "Nothing! Nothing! I'm going to go shower first then!" Naruto made a break to the restroom while laughing his head off.
Sasuke stared. Kakashi was still chuckling.
"Well, Sasuke. Get ready. We should be leaving soon. Don't want to make the others wait." Kakashi got up and walked away. He was still chuckling. Sasuke just stared. What was it exactly that was so funny?
"Mou…Kurenai-sensei…what exactly happened last night to us?" Sakura asked. The girls had woken up the earliest among the group, and now were trying to clarify what had happened last night.
"Well…" Kurenai gave a sigh. "The food, turned out to have a large dose of white wine in it."
"Wine?"
"It's a new alcohol." Kurenai said. "Look." He pointed at the bottle in the corner of the table nearby. It was a neatly packed wine bottle.
"It's red." Tenten said. "So, if that was added into our dishes, we would of noticed."
"Yes, but there are other types of wine. The wine added into your dishes was white wine. It's clear."
"Oh. No wonder." Sakura said a bit flatly.
"Gosh…no wonder I fell asleep…" Ino thought out loud.
"I hope we are careful not to eat there a-again…" Hinata added.
Kurenai nodded.
"What exactly happened again, Kurenai-sensei?" Sakura asked.
"Hm…" Kurenai pointed at Sakura. "I remember seeing you, Sakura. You seemed to be pretty dizzy, and passed out, still dizzy."
Kurenai pointed at Ino. "You, had fallen asleep leaning over on Shikamaru's elbow a bit…" she pointed at Hinata.
"You were blushing madly. Probably not from embarrassment though. You fell asleep after that." then she moved to Tenten.
"You kept rubbing your temples while trying to make your effort to stop Lee. When Lee was under control, you just tumbled over beside Neji and just slept, like Neji did. Then Lee fell on top of both of you."
"Oh…" they all said, deep in thought with a slight blush exposed.
"Lee."
…ZzzzZZZ…
"Lee."
...ZZZzzz…
"Lee…wake up…"
…ZZZZZzzzz…
Neji closed his eyes. 'Must I get Tenten?' he thought. 'Tenten was the only one who ever managed to get Lee up anyway…' Then he thought of the possibilities of what might happen if he went into the girls room. Chaos. 'Then again, maybe not.'
Neji was sitting on his bed, leaning over trying to get Lee up. He shook his shoulders with one hand over and over again.
"Lee!" Neji was the first to wake up that morning. He decided he'd ask Gai what had happened later on.
Neji sat back and moved his foot instead. Pushing his shoulders.
"Lee! Wake up!" Neji sighed. He decided to go to shower, and wait until Tenten came. Or something. Jyuuken. Then use Hakkeshou Yonshou on him or something. He'd advance to One twenty eight if he had to.
Neji took up a pair of clean clothes to change out of his night clothes. He went into the bathroom.
Moments later…
Neji came out, with his hair wet, shirtless and trying to put on his shirt. Suddenly, Tenten burst in somehow. He saw the key in her hand…
That is, right before he got slammed into the wall by Tenten.
Tenten heard that she hit something and moved the door. She gaped, blushing.
Neji's shirt was on his head. His torso still showed.
"N-Neji…gomen ne…" She helped him up, not being able to do anything but stare.
"Please knock the next time you come in, Tenten." Neji said, shirt still on his head as he stood up.
Tenten flushed. She took off his shirt and handed it to him, just staring in the process, since Neji was just so lean, since he was only wearing his shorts and his shuriken holder.
Tenten watched as Neji slipped on his shirt, still blushing.
"Tenten," he said when he was done. "Get Lee up. I can't get him up." he sighed of defeat.
"Huh? Oh, uh…sure." Tenten hurried to Lee and quickly woke him up, just like that.
Meanwhile, Neji woke up Gai. He shook Gai's shoulders a bit, then Gai shot up, hitting Neji's face in the process. Neji fell back on the ground against the wall.
Tenten jerked her head around. "Neji!" She hurried over to him. "Daijabu, Neji?" Tenten stared at the blood that ran down Neji's nose. Poor Neji. This was not his best day.
Tenten grabbed a tissue and started to wipe his nose for him. Neji took her hand instead, in attempt to take the tissue. He wiped it off. But the blood still came so Tenten helped a bit more, then went to the bathroom, getting a wet tissue and handing it to Neji so he'd stop the nosebleed. Tenten may have like Neji, but not enough to want to stick something up his nostrils. (A/N: BUT WE SHALL SEE NOW SHALL WE! Big NejiTen fan here.)
Gai quickly apologized to Neji and started helping him with then nosebleed as well. But, being as strong as he was, it only made Neji's nose bleed more. So Lee came to help, but made it even worse! Now everyone was gathered around Neji trying to help. Goodness…have pity on Neji!
Finally, Tenten just felt too sorry.
"Gai-sensei! Lee! Why don't you go shower? There are two restrooms correct?"
Gai and Lee nodded, then quickly went to shower. Tenten removed Neji's hand and decided to do it herself.
Poor Shikamaru. He was pretty close to dying when Chouji accidentally rolled on top of him during his sleep. Thankfully Asuma shoved him off. No wonder Shikamaru was breathing shallow.
The teams had to go meet each other downstairs at the lobby. Kurenai went to check on Shino and Kiba. They were fine, sleeping as they were. Though Shino had a bit of trouble sleeping because of Kiba's snoring.
Tenten opened the door and started walking out behind Gai and Lee. Neji closed the door behind him.
"Tenten."
"Huh?" Tenten twirled around gracefully.
"Thank you."
"Oh uh…don't mention it Neji. We're teammates, that's what we do. Like friends!" Tenten smiled and continued walking with Neji behind her.
Each team took the elevators down to the lobby, looking out at the view of Snow country once again. Neji asked Gai what had happened last night, and when Gai told him, he flushed. Just a bit. With Tenten sleeping beside him and him getting dizzy because he was a bit drunk. Especially with Lee falling on top of him. Man, that must have been embarrassing!
Kakashi's team was the last to come out, since Sakura had went to tell them it was time to leave then left, she was at the lobby already. She didn't see Sasuke, so she presumed he was in the shower.
When Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke came out, everyone gasped.
Kakashi and Naruto were smiling, while Sasuke had his usual facial expression.
Everyone snickered. Except for Sasuke and Sakura, who just laughed nervously. He raised an eyebrow. "What?"
The pointed at his head. Then held their noses and laughed. It stunk, but it was funny.
"What!" Sasuke exclaimed, frustrated.
"Sasuke…kun…" Sakura nudged Sasuke from behind. Sasuke turned around.
"Look at me." Sakura said sympathetically.
"I am." Sasuke made a face.
Sakura took a deep breath. "Okay, now look at yourself." Sakura stepped out of the way, revealing Sasuke to the clean glass that was behind Sakura.
Sasuke gaped. His jaw dropped. Literally.
Sasuke's hair…was a cockatoo's. Literally. It was even more like it, with all that sauce which had acted like gel to keep it up as he slept. Sasuke had bits of rice and fish as well as traces of fish sauce in his hair. It smelled too. His face was covered in it. PLENTY of it.
"NNNNOOOOO-!" Sasuke screamed. He glared at the laughing group that was all on the floor, except for Neji and Shino, who were still laughing, pointing, and holding their stomachs.
"S-Sasuke-kun?" Sasuke turned around and glared at Sakura, then it softened at her soft, sympathetic expression.
"W-What…?" He asked in reply.
"Would you like me to get it out for you? The fish? It'd be humiliating to do it here…" she said.
Sasuke thought for a moment, then agreed.
"Aa. Thank you."
Sakura shook her head. "It's okay." She started to take out the fish in his hair, then started wiping his face with a wet paper towel when they got to the nearest bathroom. Both of them flushed at the touch and how close they were. Sasuke's were barely visible, but still present.
Sasuke went upstairs to Sakura's room, since it was the closest on their floor, and went into the bathroom. Sakura waited outside for Sasuke as he washed his hair. Soon enough, he had came out, and they went down the elevator together to meet the rest of the group.
They had all recovered, Neji, Shino, and Shikamaru first, from the laughing.
"Hn…" Neji smirked. "You didn't like you new hair style, Uchiha?" his arms were crossed.
"Very funny, Hyuuga." Sasuke glared.
"Well, is everyone here?" All the jounins nodded.
"Okay, let's go get some breakfast, then go the ice rink now shall we?" Kakashi smiled. The genins and chuunin nodded. (Shikamaru:chuunin.)
So, instead of going to that same place as last night, they went to a local shop outside. Thankfully, it had just had just opened up, and it fit exactly sixteen people.
The food was very, very good. It was oriental, as well as western food with fries and hamburgers. Even with a good basket of juicy tomatoes…
After that point they headed towards the ice rink that was a couple blocks down. Everyone stared at the landscape, how tall and elegant he buildings were. It truly was breathtaking. Not like anything the shinobis were used to.
They arrived a large dome like building, that was very wide. They entered through the automatic doors opened with a swoosh, to find a humongous ice rink. There were a few people skating around, experts and beginners of all ages.
"Oh! You must be the Konoha shinobis! Welcome to our brand new ice rink!" a man came up neatly dressed and welcomed them.
"Greetings my dear enthusiastic friend! Will you please escort us to-" Gai was cut off. Skates were immediately dropped in front of all of the shinobis, who gradually grabbed them before the blades chopped of their poor toes.
"There you go!" the man said.
"A-Ah…thank you…very much…" Gai said, holding the skates as the man grinned madly.
"Do enjoy your stay! If you need anything, just ask! Have fun!" the man walked-er-skipped away.
Everyone winced and just stared at the skates, then the skates, then the man, then the skates.
"The bleachers are over there. Let's put out skates on over there." Asuma pointed. All of them walked over to the empty bleacher and sat down, tying and putting on their skates. It took a while, but since they were ninja, it was quicker the a normal citizen.
They all put on their jackets, and started towards the ice rink.
Sakura's was pink of course. Hinata's was a light blue, Ino's was a shade of blue, and Tenten's was a gentle shade of red.
Couji's was a bit green, Shikamaru dark green jacket, Shino wore a color a bit darker then what he was wearing now, Kiba didn't need one. Lee's were green, Neji's was a dark blue, Naruto's was a black with orange speed designs, and Sasuke's was navy blue.
The jounins wore black jackets with white design.
(A/N: You guys would complain if I didn't tell you what they looked like, so I just made some up.)
One by one they got on, and surprisingly, it wasn't that hard. Chouji had to learn how to balance because of his size, so he was literally figure skating on the ice. Ino took lessons and had played on the ice with Shikamaru before too as well, so it was a breeze for both of them.
Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, and Lee had to go around the rink once before they got used to it, and began to slowly pick up speed. Shino, Kiba, and Tenten, once they got on, they moved along, well balanced. Kiba wobbled slightly, but he was okay. Tenten tripped once or twice but brushed it off. The jounins were enjoying their time as well. Skating and talking. Gai did a triple loop in the air. The jounins clapped, then laughed when he slid into the wall.
Oh…you must be wondering what Sasuke and Neji are doing huh? Well…
"AH! WATCH OUT!"
CRASH!
Sasuke and Neji ran into each other for the fourth time in the first five minutes they were on. They helped themselves up, and tried to skate again, but Sasuke kept moving and wobbling and accidentally picked up one foot, not putting it down, so he kept crashing into the walls at each end while trying to keep his balance with one foot! And when he stood up, HE FELL! Every time!
Neji just couldn't get it right. If he fell, he could get up easily, but when he did he just wouldn't move! He just stood there. When he took one step, he moved himself so fast, he was at the other end and ran into a wall like SMACK!
So, Neji is can get up but can't move (Or moves too fast) and Sasuke can barely move but can't get up! Because he keeps falling!
Oh my…what's in store for our two prodigies next? Well, falling and slipping sure catches a lot of attention so…
ALL of the Konoha Shinobis EXCEPT for Sasuke and Neji just fall on the ice (Or grab onto the side wall) And start laughing like hooligans at them of course!
Then, they start skating, then they snicker at them every time they skate past them! Oh what torture!
Tenten skated slowly over to Neji.
"Neji?" Neji looked UP at Tenten. Neji would of glared, but since this was TENTEN, he didn't.
"What?"
"Do you…need some help?"
Neji shook his head no.
"You seem to be having a bit of trouble though."
"No. I'm fine. Thank you for caring." he stood up.
"Okay then…" Tenten skated off, snickering at Sasuke who glared daggers at her.
"Sasuke-kun! Let me help you." Sakura skated up.
"AH HA! Sasuke-teme can't skate!" Naruto laughed and skated off.
"No. I'm fine." Oh he was fine alright. Mighty fine after he just got pissed off because of Naruto.
"Are you sure?"
Sasuke nodded. "I'll be fine. You go ahead."
"O-Okay…then…I'll see you…I guess…" Sakura skated off.
Sasuke ATTEMPTED at standing up, and fell square on his behind. Again.
'Damn…' he cursed. 'Should have stayed with Sakura when I still could…' He looked around, and noticed that Neji had the same trouble as he did. He watched as Neji stood up easily and just…stood there.
'Why isn't he moving?' he thought. Then, he watched Neji take a tiny step then…
Fell flat on his face.
Sasuke made an effort to not laugh, so he snickered.
Neji on the other hand was on his bottom and started to stand up with ease in one quick swoosh. He stood up and looked around. Sasuke was on the ground-er-ice. He decided to watch him for a moment…
Sasuke decided to try and make the best of his time, so he stood up. Or, tried to.
Once he TRIED to stand, he fell.
And this made the Hyuuga hold the urge to laugh. So, he snickered, as Sasuke did earlier.
Sakura had came around for another skating round, stopping by Sasuke, who's rear end was sore from falling.
"Sasuke-kun…?" Sakura stopped by, bending down.
Sasuke tempted to not glare, and it worked, since this was Sakura and all…(A/N: CoughcoughMAYBEMINORCRUSHINSTORYcoughcoughcough…)
"What." Sasuke looked up. The first thing he noticed was Sakura's hand. Sasuke stared, with a half shocked half confused look at Sakura. Sakura smiled, blushing.
"Sasuke-kun!" she said again. Sasuke winced. Then, a small smile came up on his face. Just a small one. Then it turned into a smirk.
Sasuke took her hand and used Sakura's support to stand up. Then, they started skating.
"Neji!" Tenten had stopped by as well. Neji looked up, wanted to glare, but just couldn't. He just couldn't.
Tenten held out her hand, blushing slightly.
"Huh…" Neji flinched. He looked up at Tenten.
"Hehe…" Tenten cutely tilted her head to the side, her other hand on her knee, bending over.
Neji smiled. He took Tenten's hand and stood up, easily getting up even without her help. Surprisingly, skating around with Tenten wasn't so hard either.
So, for the rest of the time, Sasuke and Neji skated around with Tenten and Sakura hand in had. They managed a few laps, before leaving.
When they left…
Tenten and Sakura were in the front, so they didn't hear anything.
They didn't hear everyone pointing and teasing them for falling on their rear ends and needing a GIRL'S help to skate around. They were still going at a slow pace.
"PRODIGIES NO MORE!"
That quote, was the one that REALLY made Neji and Sasuke twitch. Badly.
So, with a determined look on their face, they decided to make out a plan. Being the Neji and Sasuke they were.
Neji looked at Sasuke, who just stared back. They winced, paused, then smirked, nodding.
Sakura and Tenten gave a look back, slightly confused. Tenten just shrugged it off and continued walking.
'What's with that look…?' Sakura thought, walking alongside Tenten out the door, back into the hotel.
It was time for dinner once again, and since the hotel had room service, they decided to order from there.
THANKFULLY, they had things that had SATISFIED their appetites. Sasuke had just finished his main course, and had just picked up, eating away at his tomatoes. He had an sudden look of determined look on his face, sitting on his bed. Naruto just stared at him, half eaten his ramen.
Neji held up his chopsticks, which held a piece of rice. He smirked, with a confident expression on his face, sitting on his bed.
"Hn…" was all he said.
A bewildered Lee watched as he chewed up rice, then for some reason, bending down and taking a piece of his food and setting it in his mouth, chewing. Neji wasn't looking either.
Lee had brought and requested the curry of life, which was exactly what he had received.
"Naruto, pass me some sauce." Sasuke gave a sideways look at Naruto, who didn't feel like arguing, and went to fetch some sauce for him.
"What kind?" he asked, with some soup on his face from slurping.
"Any, just hurry up dobe."
Naruto glared. "Shut up or I'm not handing it over…" he said. There was only one sauce that was given, and it was the sparkling red one. Naruto thought that Sasuke, being Sasuke, knew which one he wanted, since this was the only one and all. He picked up the sauce and tossed it over to Sasuke, who caught it with one hand and started pouring it all on his other meal, since he decided to save his tomatoes for later.
Naruto stared…'All that curry of life sauce…Well, at least now I have an absolute answer if Lee asks me if I used the curry sauce or not…' he thought. 'But ALL THAT CURRY OF LIFE SAUCE!' Naruto stared, wide eyed. (A/N: Episode 157 at the end… "My eyes have gotten a bit watery."-Naruto. Those eyes.)
Naruto watched as Sasuke lifted the spoon with ALL THAT CURRY OF LIFE SAUCE on his food and put it in his mouth.
'I know! Neji must finally have taken a liking to the curry of life! I knew he'd pull through!' Lee thought, eyes burning with a fist.
Lee had added as much curry as he possibly could get his hands on. So much, his rice didn't look like rice at all. More like miniature glowing red peppers and other ingredients.
Lee watched as Neji set the rice in his mouth.
Everything, including Naruto watching Sasuke, seemed to be in slow motion. Finally, when it got into their mouths…
"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"LLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"NAAARUUUUUUTOOOOO!"
"NOT THIS AGAIN!"
"WHAT THE HECK IS THIS!"
"I CAN'T BREATHE!" Choke, choke, choke away…red in face…
"GET ME SOME WATER DOBE!" Gag, gag, gag away…red in face…
"YES! THE CURRY OF LIFE HAS MADE MY WORTHY RIVAL VERY ACTIVE! MAY YOUR YOUTH BURN ON!"
"Shut up! You're the one who asked for sauce. And sauce I gave you. SINCE THAT WAS THE ONLY ONE SASUKE-TEME."
"WWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRR!"
Ohohen: Eh hem…yeah. Sasuke's first encounter with the curry of life. Neji says and starts off with "Hot" then Sasuke and goes in a pattern. Self-explanatory kinda.
Well, I would of updated sooner, but just didn't feel like doing it at 11:30 at night where no one's gonna read it, so yeah.
Completed at 7:23 PM April 13, 2006. Charlotte, North Carolina.
13 pages.
NOTICE: This will be submitted on the 14th.