Betrothal
A Naruto fanfiction.
Chapter 3 – Distrust.
"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Temari gasped in surprised as, suddenly, the clearing wasn't so clear anymore.
There were clones of Naruto all over the place, ten, twenty, no, at least thirty in all. Each one of them grinning the same 'you're going to lose' grin that the original Naruto still had plastered across his face. Then, half of the clones bought up their hands and did hand-symbols of their own. Their combined cries, as they pulled off their jutsu was almost deafening.
"Henge no Jutsu!" Small puffs of smoke and dust obscured many of the clones for a moment, finally dissipating to reveal that several of the clones had transformed into perfect copies of Temari.
"Well now," They declared, and Temari was quite amazed to hear how well the transformed clones reproduced her voice, "Did you think we'd make it easy for you?" They stated, before starting to leap and run about hooting and yelling as they did so. The two nasty chuunin turned around in confusion as suddenly they had several targets which looked identical to their original targets.
Temari smirked when she realised what Naruto had done, and was only too eager to follow as the original Naruto grabbed her hand and led the two of them quietly out of the clearing. Behind them they could hear occasional screams of rage and the dull 'fwoom!' sound as Naruto's clones were, one by one, being destroyed.
"This way!" Urged Naruto, as he half-dragged Temari down a small path which led between a thick row of bushes and a rather decrepit building. As he led Temari down numerous small paths and alleyways in their escape, he couldn't help but notice that Temari's hand felt so nice and soft...
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"Huh... he's not here. How odd." Kakashi murmured as he stepped out of Naruto's home. "Didn't even lock the door, then again, that's not unusual for someone like him."
The grey-haired jounin walked down the street, heading in the general direction of Naruto's favourite Ramen stand. In theory he could have got there in a matter of seconds, but frankly he liked walking. Besides, why waste energy when he didn't have to? There was no particular rush in finding Naruto so he didn't have to use any of his tremendous speed.
"Ah! Kakashi sensei!" Kakashi blinked as he heard his name and turned to face the speaker, a pink haired girl in a read dress-like outfit who was standing in the doorway of one of the houses he had just passed. Odd, he thought Sakura lived almost on the other side of the village, what could she be doing here?
"mmm... I didn't expect to see you around here Sakura." He said, his one visible eye arched in a happy expression. "Perhaps you could help me... have you seen Naruto anywhere?"
Sakura blinked, "No... I haven't seen him since the day before yesterday, is he in trouble?" Whilst Sakura seemed rather polite on the outside, her little inner Sakura was gleefully dancing around singing 'Naruto's in trouble! Naruto's in trouble!'
"Well, I'm sure you'll find out eventually." Replied the copy-ninja, nodding his head and turning to walk off. "It's not like you'll be able to miss it anyway."
"Huh?" Sakura just stood there in the doorway, confusion filling her mind. "What did he meant by that?"
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Temari's legs pounded up and down, her feet barely making contact with the ground before lifting up to take the next step forwards. It was an effective, if exhausting, running technique all ninja knew, it defied the law of gravity by using ones own chakra to stay balanced whilst their legs took on the single job of propelling them forwards. Apparently the theory led onto other techniques, such as water-walking, something Temari had never really had the leisure of being able to try.
"Down here!" Naruto suddenly changed direction, pulling Temari to one side and into a doorway. There was no door in the doorway which, really, was quite understandable considering the condition of the building. The place looked like it might fall down any minute. Behind her, Temari could hear the faintest pounding of feet and that annoying chittering laugh that signalled the approach of their two adversaries.
The room the entered into was quite large and obviously wrecked. Holes in the ceilings and walls let in the light, and one whole corner of the room had apparently caved in. It was Temari's first thought that Naruto would lead her through the caved-in section and out through some maze of passageways like he had been doing before.
How wrong she was. Instead, Naruto pushed her into the remains of a storage closet, with hasty instructions to keep as quiet as she could. Fortunately for her, the closet door had a few holes of it's own, and so she could see what transpired in the main room fairly clearly.
The two rather mean leaf-nin rounded the corner and dove into the room, weapons ready... and stopped dead as they took in the sight of one, two, three, no, easily more than six naked blonde haired women. The two of them stared, eyes wide at the sight before them, little knowing that this was Naruto's dreaded 'Harem No Jutsu' at full power.
"Hey boys..." Cooed one of the women, making a beckoning motion with her hand. "Come a little closer..."
The two chuunin, being full blooded – and rather perverted – members of the male sex did just as the woman asked, slowly edging forwards towards where the women were gathered together. Grinning lecherously, the taller one reached out with one hand – only to have it gently slapped away by the lead female.
"Nuh-uh-uh, no touching... not until after we give you our surprise." The girl nodded, then blushed and looked demurely at the two males. "You will let us give you our surprise, won't you?"
"Oh! Yesyes! You can give us any surprise you want!" Chittered the rat-like ninja, eyes gleaming in awe and perversion.
"Ohhh... well then, if you close you're eyes, we'll give you a lovely surprise..." Purred the six girls in unison, each one making a slight movement which made the two chuunin come up with various, and all very perverted, ideas as to what the surprise would be. Grinning stupidly, both of them closed their eyes and waited.
Inside the closet, Temari was practically fuming. Did... Did this boy have ANY idea of how shameless this was? Of how degrading his act was to girls like her? Ugh! He was even more immature than she had first imagined.
So caught up in her annoyance and disgust was she, that Temari almost failed to notice one of the female-Naruto's waving at her and indicating that she should sneak out. As she made her move, the six girls vanished in puffs of smoke and dust to reveal six boys, all with identical evil, shark- like, grins on their faces.
"SURPRISE! One thousand years of pain redux! A lifetime of agony!" They yelled, before delivering their surprise.
It's a known fact that Ninja have incredible pain tolerance, one that went hand in hand with a high physical strength. For the most part this was a result of strict, or just plain excessive, training. Unfortunately, it is very, very hard to raise the pain tolerance of the groin – especially in a male.
This was why, when stuck simultaneously by three kicks from three booted feet by three copies of Naruto each, the two Chuunin felt nothing but pain. In fact, they felt pure agony – as fitting the name of Naruto's impromptu taijutsu technique.
"Y... You..." Squeaked out the taller of the two chuunin, before collapsing forwards, doubled over, his face white with pain. His companion falling to the ground beside him.
"Hehehe, I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I won't be beaten by the likes of you!" Naruto yelled, pointing down at his fallen opponents. "And if you try it again, I'll beat you even worse than this time!" With a victorious grin Naruto stepped out of the building – and right into the path of a particularly vicious slap.
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"Are you sure you wish to go ahead with this child?" The dusty voice of the old woman in front of her cut through the tense atmosphere like a hot knife through butter. "It is usual to wait until one is eighteen before one goes through with this."
"I... I'm sure grandmother." Her tone was formal, her voice filled with respect. She was, after all, in the home of her grandmother, the oldest living relative she had. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."
"Why, girl? Why do you wish to go through with the... ceremony? You are competant enough-"The old woman's voice was cut off as the girl jumped to her feet, tears in her eyes.
"I'm not!" She screamed, "Everyone does their best to protect me, the one time I tried to protect them I failed! Sasuke, Naruto and Lee gave their all to protect me!" She bit back a sob and mentally chided herself for her outburst. "I... I'm sorry grandmother, I did not mean to be so, so rude..." The girl sat herself down again, her head held down in a symbol of apology.
The woman opposite her chuckled slightly, "Apologies, my dear, are not needed. You feel you are a burden yes?" She asked, and sighed when the girl nodded in response. "You wish to be able to look them in the eye and say 'I can protect everyone too' is that it?"
The girl nodded dumbly, tears running down her cheeks – only to fall and land upon her dress, spotting the rather expensive material with the salty liquid. "I want to protect them," She replied, "because they protect me."
The old woman nodded and reached out to gently pat the much younger girl on the cheek. "Dry your tears girl," She stated, "It is not fit for a ninja to be seen crying you know." Then she smiled, her face deforming into a collection of wrinkles that looked like a vague 'U' shape. "I have heard you reasons, and I have deemed them to be just. You yearn for the technique so that you may protect those you care for, this is as it should be."
Beside the old woman, a slightly younger woman spoke up, "It will hurt, daughter, the ceremony is painful – like nothing else." Then she paused in thought, "Almost nothing else at least. But the ceremony doesn't have the joy of a child attached to it."
That made both the girl and the old woman smile slightly. The third member of their group always did have a rather twisted sense of humour, but the vague pun did lighten the mood a little.
But only a little.
"... I will go through the ceremony." The young girl stated, lifting her head. "I, Haruno Sakura, will learn our family's special jutsu – even if it kills me."
Ten minutes later she was screaming in pain, unfortunately for her the pain would be lasting for quite, quite some time.
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Naruto's head snapped to one side, a bright red hand-shaped mark already appearing where he had just been slapped. In front of him Temari stood, arm out, her hand stinging slightly from making contact with Naruto's face.
"How dare you." She whispered, her eyes flat and glaring at Naruto. "How dare you do something as... as... degrading as that!?"
"Wha?" Naruto blinked and rubbed his cheek with one hand. "Do what? All I did was my Sexy No Jutsu, nothing wrong."
"Nothing... wrong?" Temari's left eye twitched slightly. "Nothing wrong with turning yourself into a naked girl?" The eye twitched slightly more. "Do you have any concept of such things as decency!?" Her voice was slowly raising from it's normal tone to a higher pitched shriek.
The young blonde ninja nodded his head thoughtfully. "Oh." He said at last, "You're upset because I gave those two a free show!" he declared at last, much to Temari's annoyance. "Huh, I don't see how that would make you so angry though."
It was fortunate for the boy that he had at least managed to get half the answer right, it was quite possibly just this fact which prevented Temari from delivering 'a lifetime of agony' unto the boy herself. "That is not," She began, then paused and thought for a moment. "Do you have any idea what 'sex' is?" She asked after a moment. Naruto just looked at her oddly, his face a show of incomprehension.
"Uhmm... No?" He offered at last, causing Temari to sigh in annoyance. It was bad enough that she had to be betrothed to a leaf-nin in the first place, it was worse when it was one at least two years younger than she was. But for her 'husband-to-be' to not even understand such an important topic as the differences between boys and girls was... was... well, it was unforgivable!
"When I find out who should have been responsible for teaching you this..." She muttered, just below Naruto's hearing, "I'll do to them what I was going to do to you."
"What did you say?" Naruto cocked his head to one side as he asked the question, his face looking even younger as it held an expression of childish interest. Temari forced herself to smile and shook her head slightly.
"Nothing," She said, then put one hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Now you and I are going back home, and I'm going to tell you why you shouldn't use that technique ever again." She paused for a moment, then added, "At least, not unless you keep some clothes on her when you transform."
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Oh gods, the pain. The pain was almost unbearable. It felt like red hot needles piercing her skin again and again and again.
Mostly, because that happened to be exactly what was going on. For the seventh time that day Sakura regretted making the decision to go through with the Haruno family Jutsu ceremony a few years early. Then images of Lee, beaten up with his sense of balance temporarily destroyed came to the front of her mind.
This was promptly followed by the memory of Sasuke, glowing an ugly color and covered with black curse-markings as he snapped the arms of one of the three Sound-nin that had attacked them in the forest of death.
Finally, an image of Naruto came to mind. An image of Naruto as he allowed himself to be smashed to the ground by Zabuza – just so he could regain his forehead protector from where it lay under Zabuza's foot.
They were all so strong, so incredible, and so protective of her. Of her. They were the ones who let themselves be hurt for her sake, to keep her safe, to make sure she got through without injury.
And then, the one time she had tried to do the same for them – she had failed.
The pain was lessening now, as the ceremony drew to a close and the needle- pains grew dimmer. Her skin still hurt, and her back and arms would probably be one huge scabrous lump for a few days, but after that she'd be able to learn her families single unique jutsu.
Well, it wasn't exactly her families jutsu, in fact the technique was only ever passed down by the women of the family and it was reputed to be almost as old as the village itself. Though, frankly, she thought that last part was a bit of an exaggeration.
"There," Stated the voice of her grandmother, "All done." Dimly, Sakura realised that the pain was gone now, and that she could feel the cool pure sensation that was the healing ointment being applied to her back.
In a few days...
In just a few days she'd have a technique with which she could protect the people she cared for.
But before that, she still had to make the signing. Though, at least that would be easier, and much less painful, than the first part of the ceremony.
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"So, you mean every time I've done that..." Naruto's face was a mixture of shock and horror, with not a small amount of disgust thrown in for good measure. "I've been inviting them to... EWWWWWW!" His face scrunched up in a look of abject disgust as, finally, the actual consequences behind his Sexy No Jutsu came to light for the first time.
He had always known that when a guy looked at a naked, or at least semi- naked, girl that it was a perverted and wrong thing to do. Before now, however, he hadn't actually known why this was so. Of course, thanks to Temari's rather patient explanation he understood. The two of them were sat opposite each other at the table in Naruto's small kitchen area. The same table they had been sitting at before they had set off to explore that day in fact.
"I take it you understand now?" She asked, smirking slightly. In educating Naruto she'd had a good chance to discover who was probably the most at fault for his cluelessness concerning the opposite sex. Mentally she had made a note that Iruka deserved one nice, solid, kick to the groin. Or to the head, depending on which would be easier to kick when she got the chance.
Still... there was one tiny little thing she wanted to ask, some small little detail she'd noticed when Naruto had used his Sexy no Jutsu.
"Naruto," She started, "How did you slap that guy's hand away?" It was a strange question to ask, one with a seemingly simple answer. The meaning behind the question, however, was much, much more important than it first seemed. The blond ninja looked confused for a moment, before scratching at his chin.
"I just did." He answered, nodding his head. "It's nothing special." His eyes were closed in that smug expression some people get when they're sure that they know what they're talking about.
"You're wrong," Temari stated, poking Naruto in the chest to emphasise her point. "The Henge No Jutsu is just an illusion, you shouldn't have been able to touch them without 'her' hand passing through them. After all, 'her' arms are longer than yours."
Naruto blinked a few times, then cocked his head to one side. "Huh?" He grunted, summing up his entire understanding of the subject. This made Temari want to scream and shout and tear her hair out, didn't this boy know anything!?
"You," She started, her teeth grinding together as she spoke. Not that Naruto actually noticed this of course. "You can't transform into someone of a vastly different body shape and expect to be able to touch someone. The Henge no Jutsu doesn't mean you actually turn into someone else, just that you place an illusion of looking like someone else over your body."
"So... if you were to transform into someone twice your height, the top half wouldn't be real?" Naruto asked, a little inner light-bulb having clicked into the 'on' position and illuminated a mental diagram of the problem.
"That's right!" Temari smiled at Naruto, she was quite pleased that he'd grasped the concept so quickly. Given what she knew of him she had expected to stay talking for the rest of the afternoon trying to explain it at least.
"But... I don't think it's different from the normal one, I mean, the hand seals are the same..." Naruto murmured, obviously confused. "Though..." He added, "I don't move my chakra like I used to, would that do it?"
'Aha,' thought Temari, 'so now we start to see how he does this...' Then she sighed and hung her head. 'This is almost an exchange of Jutsu. I, I've really begun to think that I'm never going to get out of this, haven't I?'
She said none of this however, instead she just stayed silent. Her mind had travelled back to her memories of her home, of her parents, of Kankuro – heck, even Gaara. It was late now, almost the end of her first complete day in the village where everyone hated her.
Well, almost everyone.
Naruto seemed a bit distrusting, but he was obviously being open and honest with her, a trait that only he seemed to have apparently. From the look of it, he'd also mostly forgiven her for what had happened in the attack just those few short days ago.
Iruka, too, seemed displeased with her presence. Then again, he seemed more angry at the fact that it was Naruto she was being betrothed to, rather than at her for who she was.
And Kakashi who... well, she had no idea how Kakashi felt but he had acted kindly enough during those few moments they had talked whilst waiting for the leaf council to make their declaration.
"Temari?" Naruto's voice was quiet, caring, as if he actually worried about her. "Temari? Did you fall asleep or something? I know I used to fall asleep a lot when it got this late, are you tired? Shouldn't you go to bed?"
Temari smirked, "Who could ever sleep with you yelling in their ear so loudly." She responded, sitting up and wiping damp eyes on the edge of her sleeve. "... Naruto... I," Naruto cocked his head as Temari's voice faltered slightly. "I want to thank you, for helping me, when I couldn't fight back."
The fox-like young ninja smiled, his eyes half closed as he grinned a grin that stretched from one ear to the other. "Don't worry about it!" he proclaimed, "It's wrong to pick on people who can't fight back! Even if they are-"He cut off, not wanting to finish the sentence, knowing that it wasn't something he should have said.
"Are? Are what?" Asked Temari, one eyebrow raised in a questioning glance. "Are the 'enemy'? Are a 'desert dog?" She snorted as her evaluation of Naruto fell by several notches. Standing up she glared at the boy. "I'm going to bed." She declared, "If you follow me... I'll kill you. No matter if you're my fiance or not."
With that the ex-sand-nin stomped angrily out of the kitchen, down the hallway and up a set of stairs to the room she had been allocated. Obviously she was taking great care to make as many loud, stomping noises as possible. Naruto winced when he heard Temari slam the door to her room, it had enough force to knock one of his scrolls from where he had stacked it.
Mentally the boy was kicking himself, he'd really done it that time. Even if he had cut off the sentence, he had still thought what he meant and, now that he looked at it again, he realised just how bad it had seemed.
"... I'm sorry." He whispered, picking up the scroll and placing it back on the stack. Then something occurred to him. "Hey... If she's sleeping up there then... Where the hell am I supposed sleep!?"
"QUIET!" Came the answering yell from upstairs. Naruto just sighed and slumped over slightly. It looked like he was just going to have to sleep on the floor tonight.
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Up in the, rather clean, room Temari was busy pulling things out of her packs in search of her night-clothes. So far she'd found pretty much everything else she owned, but not them.
'Did I pack them?' she though, 'or did Kankuro?' She smouldered as she pulled another set of desert clothing from the box it had been kept in. 'If he did I'll kill him!' Her hand reached inside the box once more and gripped something else to pull out.
Odd... It was wrapped up. She didn't remember putting anything wrapped into her boxes, and she didn't remember Kankuro doing so either. Dropping what she held in her other hand, Temari reached in and pulled out the paper- wrapped object. Carefully she unfolded a corner of the wrapping and gasped in shock when she saw the rich blue material underneath.
"This..." She whispered, "This was mothers wedding kimono..." Tears filled her eyes as she remembered her mother. Not that she had many memories – she had died whilst giving birth to Gaara after all. But still, the few memories she did have were just... they were... well. There was no real way to describe them, because Temari had never heard any words which could fit the feelings of happiness she had back then. As she hugged the package to her chest, she peeked inside the box and saw that there was a tiny little letter, with her name on the envelope.
Plucking it from the box, she opened the letter and read it in silence, a silence that was occasionally punctuated by a soft sob as Temari realised just how homesick she felt.
'Temari. No, 'Sister' is probably a better way to start this.' Temari smiled, the handwriting was definitely Kankuro's, there was no way she could mistake his chicken-scratch like script. 'by now you've been in the leaf village for a day or two and, if I know you, you're probably already missing your room.'
It was true, she did miss her room, the one that was filled with painted fans of all kinds, as well as with more than one poster of the latest musical group in the country. She hadn't been able to take the fans, because they didn't actually belong to her but instead to her father, who owned the house.
'Well, Gaara suggest that maybe we should give you something to remember us by. Well, when I say suggested I mean he said "make sure she does not forget", which I guess is the closest he can come to that sentiment.' He was right too, whilst Gaara was learning about such things as 'asking' and 'being civil' he still had great difficulty expressing his feelings.
'If you're reading this, then you already found mother's wedding kimono. You'd be surprised to know that Baki-sensei was the one who acquired it for us, saying that our mother would have wanted you to be married wearing it.' Baki-sensei? Temari would have never expected him to pull of something like this. Then again, he had been their instructor for several years, so maybe he cared for her as a student?
'One more thing, myself and Gaara, well... We copied some of the family scrolls and stashed the copies in your packs. After all, we don't want you to be out there unprotected – we all know how bad you are without your fan.' Making a mental note to check the rest of her packs later, Temari scanned through the remainder of the letter. Most of it was the usual, 'we hope you do okay' and the like, nothing else was particularly interesting. Finally, she reached the end of the letter.
'We hope that... that you'll find some way of telling us that you're okay there. – Remember, we care for you. (even if Gaara doesn't show it much). From: Your younger brothers.'
Tears fell from the girls eyes, as she hugged the letter to her chest. Somehow she doubted that she would be able to find a way to contact them back but... But for now, this was enough.
Not long after Temari was asleep on her bed, the letter still clutched tightly to her chest.
All in all, it hadn't exactly been a bad first day.
Not good, but not bad either.
Who knew what the next day would be like?
Chapter 3 – ended.
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Authors notes –
Whee. Chapter 3 ended. That about sums it up really ^^;; These first three chapters have been difficult for me, as a barely legible writer usually I have no idea where I've found the skill to pull these off.
Currently I'm discussing with a friend over getting a nice ad-free site, if and when I do I'll probably reproduce these up on it. Also, I'll be glad to put up any artwork people want to do once I have the space for it =P
So, I'm a bit worried that this chapter is worse than the previous two x.x because I've taken a few more liberties than I did previously. Hopefully, though, these liberties will blossom into something that'll keep you amused and interested for as long as you read the fic ^_^
Thanks to all the people who've reviewed this x.x you wouldn't believe how much I needed the ego stroking ^^;; I'm almost as bad as Hinata sometimes where my courage is concerned.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the fic, and I also hope that you don't have to wait too long for the next chapter ^^;;
Oh yeah... for reference, at present the fic takes place after the attack on Leaf village, but prior to Naruto leaving with Jiraiya. I'm considering writing through and around that arc – namely in what happens whilst Naruto is away ^.^ Since I have some plot points which would fill that space nicely. (of course, if the manga takes a sudden U-turn that plan will be altered x.x)
One more thing, the 'mr. Bunny' bit, is a reference to how Naruto reacts after he almost hits a bunny rabbit just prior to Zabuza's appearance in the wave country arc. ^.^
- lackey H, wondering what yellow smells like.
A Naruto fanfiction.
Chapter 3 – Distrust.
"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Temari gasped in surprised as, suddenly, the clearing wasn't so clear anymore.
There were clones of Naruto all over the place, ten, twenty, no, at least thirty in all. Each one of them grinning the same 'you're going to lose' grin that the original Naruto still had plastered across his face. Then, half of the clones bought up their hands and did hand-symbols of their own. Their combined cries, as they pulled off their jutsu was almost deafening.
"Henge no Jutsu!" Small puffs of smoke and dust obscured many of the clones for a moment, finally dissipating to reveal that several of the clones had transformed into perfect copies of Temari.
"Well now," They declared, and Temari was quite amazed to hear how well the transformed clones reproduced her voice, "Did you think we'd make it easy for you?" They stated, before starting to leap and run about hooting and yelling as they did so. The two nasty chuunin turned around in confusion as suddenly they had several targets which looked identical to their original targets.
Temari smirked when she realised what Naruto had done, and was only too eager to follow as the original Naruto grabbed her hand and led the two of them quietly out of the clearing. Behind them they could hear occasional screams of rage and the dull 'fwoom!' sound as Naruto's clones were, one by one, being destroyed.
"This way!" Urged Naruto, as he half-dragged Temari down a small path which led between a thick row of bushes and a rather decrepit building. As he led Temari down numerous small paths and alleyways in their escape, he couldn't help but notice that Temari's hand felt so nice and soft...
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"Huh... he's not here. How odd." Kakashi murmured as he stepped out of Naruto's home. "Didn't even lock the door, then again, that's not unusual for someone like him."
The grey-haired jounin walked down the street, heading in the general direction of Naruto's favourite Ramen stand. In theory he could have got there in a matter of seconds, but frankly he liked walking. Besides, why waste energy when he didn't have to? There was no particular rush in finding Naruto so he didn't have to use any of his tremendous speed.
"Ah! Kakashi sensei!" Kakashi blinked as he heard his name and turned to face the speaker, a pink haired girl in a read dress-like outfit who was standing in the doorway of one of the houses he had just passed. Odd, he thought Sakura lived almost on the other side of the village, what could she be doing here?
"mmm... I didn't expect to see you around here Sakura." He said, his one visible eye arched in a happy expression. "Perhaps you could help me... have you seen Naruto anywhere?"
Sakura blinked, "No... I haven't seen him since the day before yesterday, is he in trouble?" Whilst Sakura seemed rather polite on the outside, her little inner Sakura was gleefully dancing around singing 'Naruto's in trouble! Naruto's in trouble!'
"Well, I'm sure you'll find out eventually." Replied the copy-ninja, nodding his head and turning to walk off. "It's not like you'll be able to miss it anyway."
"Huh?" Sakura just stood there in the doorway, confusion filling her mind. "What did he meant by that?"
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Temari's legs pounded up and down, her feet barely making contact with the ground before lifting up to take the next step forwards. It was an effective, if exhausting, running technique all ninja knew, it defied the law of gravity by using ones own chakra to stay balanced whilst their legs took on the single job of propelling them forwards. Apparently the theory led onto other techniques, such as water-walking, something Temari had never really had the leisure of being able to try.
"Down here!" Naruto suddenly changed direction, pulling Temari to one side and into a doorway. There was no door in the doorway which, really, was quite understandable considering the condition of the building. The place looked like it might fall down any minute. Behind her, Temari could hear the faintest pounding of feet and that annoying chittering laugh that signalled the approach of their two adversaries.
The room the entered into was quite large and obviously wrecked. Holes in the ceilings and walls let in the light, and one whole corner of the room had apparently caved in. It was Temari's first thought that Naruto would lead her through the caved-in section and out through some maze of passageways like he had been doing before.
How wrong she was. Instead, Naruto pushed her into the remains of a storage closet, with hasty instructions to keep as quiet as she could. Fortunately for her, the closet door had a few holes of it's own, and so she could see what transpired in the main room fairly clearly.
The two rather mean leaf-nin rounded the corner and dove into the room, weapons ready... and stopped dead as they took in the sight of one, two, three, no, easily more than six naked blonde haired women. The two of them stared, eyes wide at the sight before them, little knowing that this was Naruto's dreaded 'Harem No Jutsu' at full power.
"Hey boys..." Cooed one of the women, making a beckoning motion with her hand. "Come a little closer..."
The two chuunin, being full blooded – and rather perverted – members of the male sex did just as the woman asked, slowly edging forwards towards where the women were gathered together. Grinning lecherously, the taller one reached out with one hand – only to have it gently slapped away by the lead female.
"Nuh-uh-uh, no touching... not until after we give you our surprise." The girl nodded, then blushed and looked demurely at the two males. "You will let us give you our surprise, won't you?"
"Oh! Yesyes! You can give us any surprise you want!" Chittered the rat-like ninja, eyes gleaming in awe and perversion.
"Ohhh... well then, if you close you're eyes, we'll give you a lovely surprise..." Purred the six girls in unison, each one making a slight movement which made the two chuunin come up with various, and all very perverted, ideas as to what the surprise would be. Grinning stupidly, both of them closed their eyes and waited.
Inside the closet, Temari was practically fuming. Did... Did this boy have ANY idea of how shameless this was? Of how degrading his act was to girls like her? Ugh! He was even more immature than she had first imagined.
So caught up in her annoyance and disgust was she, that Temari almost failed to notice one of the female-Naruto's waving at her and indicating that she should sneak out. As she made her move, the six girls vanished in puffs of smoke and dust to reveal six boys, all with identical evil, shark- like, grins on their faces.
"SURPRISE! One thousand years of pain redux! A lifetime of agony!" They yelled, before delivering their surprise.
It's a known fact that Ninja have incredible pain tolerance, one that went hand in hand with a high physical strength. For the most part this was a result of strict, or just plain excessive, training. Unfortunately, it is very, very hard to raise the pain tolerance of the groin – especially in a male.
This was why, when stuck simultaneously by three kicks from three booted feet by three copies of Naruto each, the two Chuunin felt nothing but pain. In fact, they felt pure agony – as fitting the name of Naruto's impromptu taijutsu technique.
"Y... You..." Squeaked out the taller of the two chuunin, before collapsing forwards, doubled over, his face white with pain. His companion falling to the ground beside him.
"Hehehe, I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I won't be beaten by the likes of you!" Naruto yelled, pointing down at his fallen opponents. "And if you try it again, I'll beat you even worse than this time!" With a victorious grin Naruto stepped out of the building – and right into the path of a particularly vicious slap.
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"Are you sure you wish to go ahead with this child?" The dusty voice of the old woman in front of her cut through the tense atmosphere like a hot knife through butter. "It is usual to wait until one is eighteen before one goes through with this."
"I... I'm sure grandmother." Her tone was formal, her voice filled with respect. She was, after all, in the home of her grandmother, the oldest living relative she had. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."
"Why, girl? Why do you wish to go through with the... ceremony? You are competant enough-"The old woman's voice was cut off as the girl jumped to her feet, tears in her eyes.
"I'm not!" She screamed, "Everyone does their best to protect me, the one time I tried to protect them I failed! Sasuke, Naruto and Lee gave their all to protect me!" She bit back a sob and mentally chided herself for her outburst. "I... I'm sorry grandmother, I did not mean to be so, so rude..." The girl sat herself down again, her head held down in a symbol of apology.
The woman opposite her chuckled slightly, "Apologies, my dear, are not needed. You feel you are a burden yes?" She asked, and sighed when the girl nodded in response. "You wish to be able to look them in the eye and say 'I can protect everyone too' is that it?"
The girl nodded dumbly, tears running down her cheeks – only to fall and land upon her dress, spotting the rather expensive material with the salty liquid. "I want to protect them," She replied, "because they protect me."
The old woman nodded and reached out to gently pat the much younger girl on the cheek. "Dry your tears girl," She stated, "It is not fit for a ninja to be seen crying you know." Then she smiled, her face deforming into a collection of wrinkles that looked like a vague 'U' shape. "I have heard you reasons, and I have deemed them to be just. You yearn for the technique so that you may protect those you care for, this is as it should be."
Beside the old woman, a slightly younger woman spoke up, "It will hurt, daughter, the ceremony is painful – like nothing else." Then she paused in thought, "Almost nothing else at least. But the ceremony doesn't have the joy of a child attached to it."
That made both the girl and the old woman smile slightly. The third member of their group always did have a rather twisted sense of humour, but the vague pun did lighten the mood a little.
But only a little.
"... I will go through the ceremony." The young girl stated, lifting her head. "I, Haruno Sakura, will learn our family's special jutsu – even if it kills me."
Ten minutes later she was screaming in pain, unfortunately for her the pain would be lasting for quite, quite some time.
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Naruto's head snapped to one side, a bright red hand-shaped mark already appearing where he had just been slapped. In front of him Temari stood, arm out, her hand stinging slightly from making contact with Naruto's face.
"How dare you." She whispered, her eyes flat and glaring at Naruto. "How dare you do something as... as... degrading as that!?"
"Wha?" Naruto blinked and rubbed his cheek with one hand. "Do what? All I did was my Sexy No Jutsu, nothing wrong."
"Nothing... wrong?" Temari's left eye twitched slightly. "Nothing wrong with turning yourself into a naked girl?" The eye twitched slightly more. "Do you have any concept of such things as decency!?" Her voice was slowly raising from it's normal tone to a higher pitched shriek.
The young blonde ninja nodded his head thoughtfully. "Oh." He said at last, "You're upset because I gave those two a free show!" he declared at last, much to Temari's annoyance. "Huh, I don't see how that would make you so angry though."
It was fortunate for the boy that he had at least managed to get half the answer right, it was quite possibly just this fact which prevented Temari from delivering 'a lifetime of agony' unto the boy herself. "That is not," She began, then paused and thought for a moment. "Do you have any idea what 'sex' is?" She asked after a moment. Naruto just looked at her oddly, his face a show of incomprehension.
"Uhmm... No?" He offered at last, causing Temari to sigh in annoyance. It was bad enough that she had to be betrothed to a leaf-nin in the first place, it was worse when it was one at least two years younger than she was. But for her 'husband-to-be' to not even understand such an important topic as the differences between boys and girls was... was... well, it was unforgivable!
"When I find out who should have been responsible for teaching you this..." She muttered, just below Naruto's hearing, "I'll do to them what I was going to do to you."
"What did you say?" Naruto cocked his head to one side as he asked the question, his face looking even younger as it held an expression of childish interest. Temari forced herself to smile and shook her head slightly.
"Nothing," She said, then put one hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Now you and I are going back home, and I'm going to tell you why you shouldn't use that technique ever again." She paused for a moment, then added, "At least, not unless you keep some clothes on her when you transform."
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Oh gods, the pain. The pain was almost unbearable. It felt like red hot needles piercing her skin again and again and again.
Mostly, because that happened to be exactly what was going on. For the seventh time that day Sakura regretted making the decision to go through with the Haruno family Jutsu ceremony a few years early. Then images of Lee, beaten up with his sense of balance temporarily destroyed came to the front of her mind.
This was promptly followed by the memory of Sasuke, glowing an ugly color and covered with black curse-markings as he snapped the arms of one of the three Sound-nin that had attacked them in the forest of death.
Finally, an image of Naruto came to mind. An image of Naruto as he allowed himself to be smashed to the ground by Zabuza – just so he could regain his forehead protector from where it lay under Zabuza's foot.
They were all so strong, so incredible, and so protective of her. Of her. They were the ones who let themselves be hurt for her sake, to keep her safe, to make sure she got through without injury.
And then, the one time she had tried to do the same for them – she had failed.
The pain was lessening now, as the ceremony drew to a close and the needle- pains grew dimmer. Her skin still hurt, and her back and arms would probably be one huge scabrous lump for a few days, but after that she'd be able to learn her families single unique jutsu.
Well, it wasn't exactly her families jutsu, in fact the technique was only ever passed down by the women of the family and it was reputed to be almost as old as the village itself. Though, frankly, she thought that last part was a bit of an exaggeration.
"There," Stated the voice of her grandmother, "All done." Dimly, Sakura realised that the pain was gone now, and that she could feel the cool pure sensation that was the healing ointment being applied to her back.
In a few days...
In just a few days she'd have a technique with which she could protect the people she cared for.
But before that, she still had to make the signing. Though, at least that would be easier, and much less painful, than the first part of the ceremony.
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"So, you mean every time I've done that..." Naruto's face was a mixture of shock and horror, with not a small amount of disgust thrown in for good measure. "I've been inviting them to... EWWWWWW!" His face scrunched up in a look of abject disgust as, finally, the actual consequences behind his Sexy No Jutsu came to light for the first time.
He had always known that when a guy looked at a naked, or at least semi- naked, girl that it was a perverted and wrong thing to do. Before now, however, he hadn't actually known why this was so. Of course, thanks to Temari's rather patient explanation he understood. The two of them were sat opposite each other at the table in Naruto's small kitchen area. The same table they had been sitting at before they had set off to explore that day in fact.
"I take it you understand now?" She asked, smirking slightly. In educating Naruto she'd had a good chance to discover who was probably the most at fault for his cluelessness concerning the opposite sex. Mentally she had made a note that Iruka deserved one nice, solid, kick to the groin. Or to the head, depending on which would be easier to kick when she got the chance.
Still... there was one tiny little thing she wanted to ask, some small little detail she'd noticed when Naruto had used his Sexy no Jutsu.
"Naruto," She started, "How did you slap that guy's hand away?" It was a strange question to ask, one with a seemingly simple answer. The meaning behind the question, however, was much, much more important than it first seemed. The blond ninja looked confused for a moment, before scratching at his chin.
"I just did." He answered, nodding his head. "It's nothing special." His eyes were closed in that smug expression some people get when they're sure that they know what they're talking about.
"You're wrong," Temari stated, poking Naruto in the chest to emphasise her point. "The Henge No Jutsu is just an illusion, you shouldn't have been able to touch them without 'her' hand passing through them. After all, 'her' arms are longer than yours."
Naruto blinked a few times, then cocked his head to one side. "Huh?" He grunted, summing up his entire understanding of the subject. This made Temari want to scream and shout and tear her hair out, didn't this boy know anything!?
"You," She started, her teeth grinding together as she spoke. Not that Naruto actually noticed this of course. "You can't transform into someone of a vastly different body shape and expect to be able to touch someone. The Henge no Jutsu doesn't mean you actually turn into someone else, just that you place an illusion of looking like someone else over your body."
"So... if you were to transform into someone twice your height, the top half wouldn't be real?" Naruto asked, a little inner light-bulb having clicked into the 'on' position and illuminated a mental diagram of the problem.
"That's right!" Temari smiled at Naruto, she was quite pleased that he'd grasped the concept so quickly. Given what she knew of him she had expected to stay talking for the rest of the afternoon trying to explain it at least.
"But... I don't think it's different from the normal one, I mean, the hand seals are the same..." Naruto murmured, obviously confused. "Though..." He added, "I don't move my chakra like I used to, would that do it?"
'Aha,' thought Temari, 'so now we start to see how he does this...' Then she sighed and hung her head. 'This is almost an exchange of Jutsu. I, I've really begun to think that I'm never going to get out of this, haven't I?'
She said none of this however, instead she just stayed silent. Her mind had travelled back to her memories of her home, of her parents, of Kankuro – heck, even Gaara. It was late now, almost the end of her first complete day in the village where everyone hated her.
Well, almost everyone.
Naruto seemed a bit distrusting, but he was obviously being open and honest with her, a trait that only he seemed to have apparently. From the look of it, he'd also mostly forgiven her for what had happened in the attack just those few short days ago.
Iruka, too, seemed displeased with her presence. Then again, he seemed more angry at the fact that it was Naruto she was being betrothed to, rather than at her for who she was.
And Kakashi who... well, she had no idea how Kakashi felt but he had acted kindly enough during those few moments they had talked whilst waiting for the leaf council to make their declaration.
"Temari?" Naruto's voice was quiet, caring, as if he actually worried about her. "Temari? Did you fall asleep or something? I know I used to fall asleep a lot when it got this late, are you tired? Shouldn't you go to bed?"
Temari smirked, "Who could ever sleep with you yelling in their ear so loudly." She responded, sitting up and wiping damp eyes on the edge of her sleeve. "... Naruto... I," Naruto cocked his head as Temari's voice faltered slightly. "I want to thank you, for helping me, when I couldn't fight back."
The fox-like young ninja smiled, his eyes half closed as he grinned a grin that stretched from one ear to the other. "Don't worry about it!" he proclaimed, "It's wrong to pick on people who can't fight back! Even if they are-"He cut off, not wanting to finish the sentence, knowing that it wasn't something he should have said.
"Are? Are what?" Asked Temari, one eyebrow raised in a questioning glance. "Are the 'enemy'? Are a 'desert dog?" She snorted as her evaluation of Naruto fell by several notches. Standing up she glared at the boy. "I'm going to bed." She declared, "If you follow me... I'll kill you. No matter if you're my fiance or not."
With that the ex-sand-nin stomped angrily out of the kitchen, down the hallway and up a set of stairs to the room she had been allocated. Obviously she was taking great care to make as many loud, stomping noises as possible. Naruto winced when he heard Temari slam the door to her room, it had enough force to knock one of his scrolls from where he had stacked it.
Mentally the boy was kicking himself, he'd really done it that time. Even if he had cut off the sentence, he had still thought what he meant and, now that he looked at it again, he realised just how bad it had seemed.
"... I'm sorry." He whispered, picking up the scroll and placing it back on the stack. Then something occurred to him. "Hey... If she's sleeping up there then... Where the hell am I supposed sleep!?"
"QUIET!" Came the answering yell from upstairs. Naruto just sighed and slumped over slightly. It looked like he was just going to have to sleep on the floor tonight.
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Up in the, rather clean, room Temari was busy pulling things out of her packs in search of her night-clothes. So far she'd found pretty much everything else she owned, but not them.
'Did I pack them?' she though, 'or did Kankuro?' She smouldered as she pulled another set of desert clothing from the box it had been kept in. 'If he did I'll kill him!' Her hand reached inside the box once more and gripped something else to pull out.
Odd... It was wrapped up. She didn't remember putting anything wrapped into her boxes, and she didn't remember Kankuro doing so either. Dropping what she held in her other hand, Temari reached in and pulled out the paper- wrapped object. Carefully she unfolded a corner of the wrapping and gasped in shock when she saw the rich blue material underneath.
"This..." She whispered, "This was mothers wedding kimono..." Tears filled her eyes as she remembered her mother. Not that she had many memories – she had died whilst giving birth to Gaara after all. But still, the few memories she did have were just... they were... well. There was no real way to describe them, because Temari had never heard any words which could fit the feelings of happiness she had back then. As she hugged the package to her chest, she peeked inside the box and saw that there was a tiny little letter, with her name on the envelope.
Plucking it from the box, she opened the letter and read it in silence, a silence that was occasionally punctuated by a soft sob as Temari realised just how homesick she felt.
'Temari. No, 'Sister' is probably a better way to start this.' Temari smiled, the handwriting was definitely Kankuro's, there was no way she could mistake his chicken-scratch like script. 'by now you've been in the leaf village for a day or two and, if I know you, you're probably already missing your room.'
It was true, she did miss her room, the one that was filled with painted fans of all kinds, as well as with more than one poster of the latest musical group in the country. She hadn't been able to take the fans, because they didn't actually belong to her but instead to her father, who owned the house.
'Well, Gaara suggest that maybe we should give you something to remember us by. Well, when I say suggested I mean he said "make sure she does not forget", which I guess is the closest he can come to that sentiment.' He was right too, whilst Gaara was learning about such things as 'asking' and 'being civil' he still had great difficulty expressing his feelings.
'If you're reading this, then you already found mother's wedding kimono. You'd be surprised to know that Baki-sensei was the one who acquired it for us, saying that our mother would have wanted you to be married wearing it.' Baki-sensei? Temari would have never expected him to pull of something like this. Then again, he had been their instructor for several years, so maybe he cared for her as a student?
'One more thing, myself and Gaara, well... We copied some of the family scrolls and stashed the copies in your packs. After all, we don't want you to be out there unprotected – we all know how bad you are without your fan.' Making a mental note to check the rest of her packs later, Temari scanned through the remainder of the letter. Most of it was the usual, 'we hope you do okay' and the like, nothing else was particularly interesting. Finally, she reached the end of the letter.
'We hope that... that you'll find some way of telling us that you're okay there. – Remember, we care for you. (even if Gaara doesn't show it much). From: Your younger brothers.'
Tears fell from the girls eyes, as she hugged the letter to her chest. Somehow she doubted that she would be able to find a way to contact them back but... But for now, this was enough.
Not long after Temari was asleep on her bed, the letter still clutched tightly to her chest.
All in all, it hadn't exactly been a bad first day.
Not good, but not bad either.
Who knew what the next day would be like?
Chapter 3 – ended.
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Authors notes –
Whee. Chapter 3 ended. That about sums it up really ^^;; These first three chapters have been difficult for me, as a barely legible writer usually I have no idea where I've found the skill to pull these off.
Currently I'm discussing with a friend over getting a nice ad-free site, if and when I do I'll probably reproduce these up on it. Also, I'll be glad to put up any artwork people want to do once I have the space for it =P
So, I'm a bit worried that this chapter is worse than the previous two x.x because I've taken a few more liberties than I did previously. Hopefully, though, these liberties will blossom into something that'll keep you amused and interested for as long as you read the fic ^_^
Thanks to all the people who've reviewed this x.x you wouldn't believe how much I needed the ego stroking ^^;; I'm almost as bad as Hinata sometimes where my courage is concerned.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the fic, and I also hope that you don't have to wait too long for the next chapter ^^;;
Oh yeah... for reference, at present the fic takes place after the attack on Leaf village, but prior to Naruto leaving with Jiraiya. I'm considering writing through and around that arc – namely in what happens whilst Naruto is away ^.^ Since I have some plot points which would fill that space nicely. (of course, if the manga takes a sudden U-turn that plan will be altered x.x)
One more thing, the 'mr. Bunny' bit, is a reference to how Naruto reacts after he almost hits a bunny rabbit just prior to Zabuza's appearance in the wave country arc. ^.^
- lackey H, wondering what yellow smells like.