-1I should start updating. Yeah. I know.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Or the copyright.
Yeah. Enjoy.
Cold Play: The Dynamic Ice Duo! (I am so not in the mood for exclamation marks…)
Chapter Four: Tension
Day after day they went to the private rink. Hour after hour they trained.
"Tomorrows the day…" Neji murmured pass Sasuke as they skated.
"Mm…" Sasuke nodded.
"We should try the routine some more."
"Good idea."
They each gathered to the entrance, and skated out to each corner of the ice rink, then skating around to the center at the same time, then leaping up into the air and twirling, then landing on their foot, with the other foot up and leaning forward, skating around the rink. Then, Neji skated towards the middle, leapt right before they hit the center, then landed in the center, moving his feet to blend into a Kaiten.
Sasuke then skated around, closing in on Neji as he did, then, he leapt up and landed right on top of Neji's Kaiten, twirling along.
After a while, Sasuke back flipped off Neji's Kaiten, with Neji still spinning without his Kaiten.
Then, when Neji stopped, he immediately started to skate around like Sasuke did, until they were in sync, and across the rink from each other. Then, they took a sharp turn towards the middle of the rink again, the grabbed each other's hands, then leapt into the air, twirled, then landed on the ice again, still holding hands and twirling. Then, they pushed off each other and landed the same distance from each other and every wall around them, twirling on one foot and the other foot in the air again. Then, they switched and crouched down lower to perform another move…
When they finished, the collapsed in the middle of the rink, panting.
"We should try to extend our stamina. We still can't pull off the finishing move." Sasuke told Neji.
"I never thought ice skating would be such stress on our chakra…"
"Me neither…"
They both sighed.
Neji and Sasuke entered the public rink, tripping again, purposely. Sasuke held the wall and went over to his team, while Neji watched as Tenten skated over.
"Neji, where have you been?"
"Nowhere important."
Tenten scowled.
"You're getting me worried, you know that?"
Neji just started at Tenten.
"What?"
Neji shook his head and tried skating away, instead, falling flat on Tenten.
"GAH! Neji!"
Tenten pushed Neji off of her and helped him up.
"I still think it's so funny the way you fall on your face. But this time, you had a cushion."
"Hmpf."
Sakura gasped.
"Sasuke-kun!" she skated over to him and helped him over to their team.
Naruto was still laughing at him. Sasuke glared. He still laughed.
"Well, Sasuke. Having problems skating?"
"Hmpf."
"You have an attitude problem too, I see."
Sasuke didn't say anything.
It continued for an hour, skating that is. Before Kakashi called it quits and lead them all to a resturaunt.
On the way, Kakashi remembered the resturaunt they had saw before. Or, he had.
'Hm…what was it called again? The Island, was it? It sounds interesting…' then he thought, 'But we had also discussed that we'd go to the other one, and we have to go tomorrow…huh…'
"Eh, wait." he commented shortly, one hand in pocket the other in the air to represent a halt. Everyone turned their attention to him, with a questioning expression readable on their faces.
"I have to choose between two restaurants, and we only have today for dinner and lunch. So, I presume, Gai and the rest of us jounins will go to the one I saw today for lunch. Then, you guys will go to the one that we were headed to a couple minutes ago. We'll go our ways, so since this is the last day, you can run around on your own, and dinner, you go to a restaurant called The Island, and we'll go to the one you went for lunch. Then continue running around, just not into trouble. Got it?" The genin and chuunin nodded, then he turned to Asuma, Gai, and Kurenai.
"Is that okay with you three?"
They nodded. "Sounds like a reasonable plan." They walked over to their teams to talk with them for a moment before leaving. Except for Gai, of course.
"Well. I know what to expect from you three, just do what I said and I'm sure nothing will happen." Kakashi told them.
"Do we have to stick together?" Sasuke asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
Kakashi thought for a moment. He knew that the other jounins heard what he had asked, so he replied, "That'll be up to the other jounins' choices. I say you can split up as long as you're done with the resturaunt, and then…" he reached into his pocket and pulled out some small headphones that were small, and hung on your ears. Then he took out three watches, with a small screen. "Use these to communicate. The headphones are for listening and talking, while the watches are a choice of who you want to talk to. You have a choice of talking so that only you're team can hear, only the person who you're talking to can hear, only the selected teams can hear, all the teams can hear, or the selected people can hear. You can also communicate with other teams and team members, with the same options."
Kakashi paused and thought for a moment.
"And the watches tell time."
"I trust you all, you guys should be smart and intelligent enough to stay together, and you can split up if you want, and I think Kakashi already said the rest that needs to be said, so just be careful and you'll be fine." he handed them the communicators.
"Well, hopefully you guys were smart enough to listen, so yeah." Asuma handed them the communicators and turned around, leaving. "Be careful."
"YOSH! Please be careful everywhere you go, watch out for your teammates, and may you have fun in the springtime of youth!" Gai started walking forward, and Team Gai KNEW what was coming. And two of them didn't like the thought of it.
'Oh hell…'
'Oh shit…'
"COME HERE MY FELLOW STUDENTS AND PUPILS OF YOUTH!" Gai spread his arms out wide and tried to hug them. Lee just stood there ready to receive the hug of the fountain of youth from his sensei, while Neji and Tenten tried, oh how they tried to get away as fast as they could, but…
Gai succeeded.
"Eugh!"
"Augh!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
The other teams just stared at Team Gai like O.o. Except for Shino. Because his shades don't do that.
"PLEASE BE CAREFULY MY FELLOW STUDENTS AND PUPILS OF YOUTH!" Gai cried.
"I WILL GAI-SENSEI! DO NOT WORRY!" Lee cried in reply.
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI"
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
It started, again. And the worst thing was, Neji and Tenten were stuck in the middle of it, caught up with it.
Neji tried to twitch, but couldn't. For reason that he was being pushed, pulled, and squished all at the same time. Tenten just wanted to yell in pain and agony, but due to the lack of air, she couldn't.
Pretty soon, they left, and the genin (with the chuunin) all left to the restaurant. It was an Italian one, they say. Though they had no idea what 'Italian' was. But the food was good, especially the 'Spaghetti' and 'Garlic Bread'. They had no idea what it was, but it was good, which was all that mattered. Afterwards, they paid with the money that Kakashi gave them, or, gave tips actually, since they ate free.
They all walked off, into their separate directions, as did Neji and Sasuke. Tenten was worried, wanted to follow, but decided best not to bother. He didn't want to turn out like another Sakura or Ino relation with Sasuke, so he just told Neji to be careful, and watched him leave.
Sakura on the other hand, was worried about Sasuke, and showed it.
"Sasuke-kun! Stay with us. It'll be better…"
"No. I have business to take care of. Just do what you want." and he walked off.
"But Sasuke-kun!" the only reply she got was Sasuke's back towards her as he walked away.
Sakura sighed. She turned around to meet Naruto, only to find that he wasn't there.
"Naruto?" she looked around. She ran around, hoping to find Naruto, but instead, ran into someone.
It really shouldn't be a 'Someone' since--
"Sakura?" Sakura looked up at the person she had ran into.
"Ino?" Sakura blinked.
Tenten looked at Sakura from behind Ino, and Hinata came in front.
"S-Sakura…?"
"It's you? Sakura?"
Sakura nodded. "I didn't see you there, Hinata, Tenten."
"Neither did we." Tenten replied.
"Oh…" Sakura then remembered she was looking for Naruto. "By the way, have any of you seen Naruto?"
Tenten shook her head. "No. I just met up here."
"N-Naruto-kun went with Lee to try some ramen at the ramen stand nearby." Hinata answered.
"Oh…"
"Why don't you follow us?" Hinata suggested.
"Yeah. Lee's with Naruto and Neji left somewhere, so I'll be here too." Tenten added.
"Yeah. Why don't you Big Forehead?" Ino grinned a challenging grin.
"Who said I wouldn't, Ino-pig?" Sakura grinned right back at her.
Tenten beamed happily. Hinata smiled.
"It's good that we can stay together."
Tenten shook her head. "Well, yeah. We kunoichi never get credit for doing anything…" she sighed.
"So, we should s-stick together, Tenten." Hinata replied.
"Hehe…yup."
Something hit Ino all of a sudden.
"Hey, you know I saw a really nice designers store on my way here…"
Sakura grinned mischievously. "…and since we don't have to pay for it…"
Hinata just stared. Tenten gave an inward groan.
'No…'
Before they knew what hit her, Sakura and Tenten was already pushing her to the large and stylish store written in sleek text.
"This is…this is…"
"I know, Kurenai. I know."
"YOSH! Let us enter with pride filled hearts!" Gai pushed Asuma and Kurenai into The Island. But of course, Gai didn't know what it was…
"Kakashi…don't tell me that you knew all along." Kurenai glared daggers at the back of Kakashi's head.
"Hm…?" Kakashi turned around. "Knew what?"
"You know…about The Island." Asuma glared too.
"No. I don't." Kakashi faced forward and continued walking.
"Welcome!"
Kakashi had a face on.
Gai had a O.o
Kurenai covered her eyes, looking away, holding her forehead.
Asuma twitched uncomfortably.
"AH!" Sakura and Ino squealed, holding hands and leaping up and down.
"Eugh…"
"…"
Tenten shivered. Hinata was red all over.
"That's so CUTE!" they squealed.
"I feel weird…" Tenten pouted. She looked over at Hinata. She was looking at herself in the mirror.
Tenten walked over to Hinata. "Lavender fits you, Hinata." she smiled.
"T-T-Thank you, Tenten. You look nice in yellow."
Tenten laughed nervously. "It reminds me of a banana."
"You have to get that, Hinata! Tenten!"
Hinata nodded uncertainly, but she still agreed.
"But…but…didn't we get enough?" Tenten was wearing a plain black sleeveless top and a light yellow dress that reached below her knees. Everyone was wearing about the same thing, slightly different designs, and color. (A/N: I absolutely HATE explaining clothing, but Sakura's was pink, Ino's was blue, Tenten yellow and Hinata Lavender. Gosh. What a waste of time.)
"We each only bought five outfits. You guys got three." Sakura pointed out.
"Yes, but what about…" Hinata was cut off.
"Kurenai-sensei asked me to, Hinata." Ino told her.
"But that totals…" Hinata stopped.
"….Thirty two outfits…" Tenten finished.
"Yeah, so?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"But…don't you think that's…a lot?" Tenten asked her.
"No." They said in reply.
Hinata and Tenten sighed.
"We'd have to get at least sixteen anyway. For all the clothing one each for everyone."
Hinata and Tenten gave up.
"Whatever you two say…"
Neji was practicing his moves, using less chakra and more moves without tiring himself, or lessening the quality of the moves. He was at the point where he and Sasuke had to meet in the center, until he heard a beep in his ear.
"Eh, wait Sasuke." Neji stopped. Sasuke stopped and skated over to Neji.
"What is it?" he asked. Then, Sasuke heard a beep in his ear. He held his communicator pressing it against his ear as it was attached.
"Oi! Sasuke-teme, we discussed that we'd meet at dinner at 8:30 got it? And where the hell are you? We've been trying to--"
"Just shut up. Go eat your ramen or something."
"HMPF. In fact, I WILL." and then Naruto was gone. Sasuke looked over at Neji, to see how he was doing. At first, there was no sound, but then, all of a sudden, Neji and Sasuke's hair flew back from the noise coming out of Neji's headphone. Sasuke held his ears and head, but unfortunately, Neji couldn't since if he did it'd only make it worse.
"YOSH! NEJI MY GREAT RIVAL! WE HAVE DISUSSED THAT WE WILL MEET AT THE Island AT 8:30! I CHALLENGE YOU TO SEE WHO SHALL GET THERE FIRST! AND YOU WILL NOT DECLINE MY CHALLENGE FOR THAT MEANS THAT YOU ARE BACKING DOWN AND I SHALL BE--"
"LEE. YOU CRACK GLASS WITH YOUR VOICE. HUSH."
"YOSH! DOES THAT MEAN YOU ACCEPT MY CHALLENGE MY WORTHY RIVAL?"
"…If you agree to shut up and not bother me while I meditate at training when we get back to Konoha, then fine."
"YOSH! YOU SHALL NOT REGRET IN ACCEPTING THIS CHALLENGE! I SHALL--"
Neji cut him off. He took off his headphone and started rubbing his ear.
"This is worst then Dosu's attack with Lee during the chuunin exams."
"What? I can't hear you." Sasuke made a confused face.
"I said that the damage that Lee did to my ear was worse then Dosu's attack with Lee during the chuunin exams."
"Speak up. I still can't hear you!" Sasuke frowned. Neji was starting to get made. A vein popped into view.
"I SAID, THIS DAMAGE IS WORSE THEN THAT OF LEE'S WHEN DOSU ATTACKED DURING THE CHUUNIN EXAMS!"
"Oh…" Sasuke snickered. Neji sighed.
"Let's just get started…"
"What time is it, Neji?"
"Can't you look at the watch?" Neji frowned.
"Can't you look at your watch? It tells time."
"Oh sure…it's 4:00 am Neji." Sasuke glared.
Neji raised an eyebrow. "Did your watch overheat or something?"
"Probably. I guess you're not he only one who needs to try and tone down power."
"Mm…" Neji checked his watch. He raised his eyebrows. "8:25...am…"
"Let's just say it's 8:25 PM. I have a feeling yours actually tells us something unlike mine…4:00 AM…"
"We should get going then."
Sasuke nodded, and they skated towards the exit, taking off their skates, readying themselves to go to dinner.
They went around until everyone met together at The Island. Well, it was more like one group came after another every ten minutes type of thing, but they still came together.
But it was a time like this, that they'd rather be stuck in the middle of Lee and Gai's hug...
Ohohen: Hehe…I bet you guys can guess…
Sorry for the long update. I'm trying to update as much as I can, so then I can get back to my summer project, and starting on my CCS stories. And Megaman, of course. XP I never really intended to make a Naruto story before, actually. Only CCS. But then Megaman came, and then Tales of Symphonia, but that was only a single one-shot. Then Naruto popped up. Yeah…
I guess this isn't the second to the last chapter after all. More like the third.
Completed 8.8.06 6:00 PM Charlotte, North Carolina.
Weird how I finished at EXACTLY Six o'clock...