A/N: Hey everyone! Chapter two is here at last! Thank you to those of you who took the time to review (and to those of you who didn't, shame on you!) Now you'll finally get to see the details of this reality show our "heroes" (you know, like the way they call the characters on TV "the heroes") have been tricked into. Read on, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.
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. : 2: Weathering the Storm: .
Now, as you may remember from last chapter, Kari and Lily announced that the guests of their "party/sleepover with a twist sort of thing" would actually be staying for a month on a reality show! How will they react? I don't know! …Actually, I do. 'Cause I wrote it! And soon you will too.
"A REALTIY SHOW!" everyone yelled at the same time. Once the idea sank in, the panic wasn't far behind.
Lee was on the floor in a heap, crying, "I wanna go home! I just wanna go home!" Tenten was tugging at her hair, lamenting over her teddy bear she left at home; Kiba was shaking Akamaru and yelling, "Your chew toys! I didn't bring your chew toys!"
Shikamaru was watching everyone freak out with a frown on his face. As Naruto nearly ran him over in his panic, he called after him. "Watch it! Geez, you're all panicking over nothing."
Neji was standing off to the side, trying to appear calm. "Tch, this'll be nothing…" he assured himself. On the inside though, he was sweating, trying to figure out how he would survive being in contact with so many people for so long.
Kari and Lily just looked as everyone was wigging out, not knowing how to calm them down. Then a lightbulb appeared over Lily's head with a little 'ding!' Pulling a megaphone from her pocket she exclaimed, "I've got it!"
She clicked it on, and Kari clapped her hands over her ears. "ATTENTION GUESTS!" the megaphone boomed, stopping everyone in their tracks. "Calm down! You'll only be here for one month." This last part was said without them megaphone, since Kari had slapped the megaphone from her hands, causing it to fly out of an ill-placed window.
"One month? That makes it so much better." Sasuke said, his arms crossed.
Lily rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Look, you'll like it here. Trust me!"
This time Shino joined the argument. "You want us to trust you – after you planned on keeping us here for a month without our agreement?"
Lily opened her mouth, probably to throw an insult at Shino, but Kari decided to step in. "We know you guys will like it here." No one looked convinced, so she decided to elaborate.
Now, I have no idea how ANYONE would get this motley crew to agree to such a thing, but Kari did it. Whether it was by way of threats, bribery, or blackmail, Kari somehow got them all to say yes.
"Now that that's out of the way, we thought you should know that we took the liberty of getting the rest of your 'important' stuff here," Lily said. "So there was really no need for that frenzy of panic you all flew into."
Everyone's jaws dropped in union.
"Couldn't you have told us that before we went crazy!" Ino demanded, and everyone else who had publicly embarrassed themselves cried out in agreement. Lily muttered sheepishly "Well, it was kinda funny and – Kari, hide me!" She jumped behind Kari for protection just before a tomato flew, hitting a spot on the wall where Lily's head once was.
"Darn, I missed." It was Shino, standing cool as a cucumber as usual, who had thrown the tomato. Everyone gasped melodramatically in surprise, shocked that Shino could have done such a thing.
Actually, they were just shocked that Shino had done ANYTHING, seeing as how he's usually just…there. Like a human rock. Then Kiba spoke up, the first to recover from Shino's sudden doing stuff-ness.
"A tomato, Shino?" he shook his head, and everyone half-expected him to reprimand the boy for doing such a thing. "A little old school, but I approve!"
Lily lashed out at him then, in anger that he defended Shino for "nearly killing her with that deadly vegetable".
"Actually, tomatoes are a fruit!" Chouji piped up. He knew his food facts all right – not that it saved him from Lily's fiery-eyed anger. She jumped on him next (not really, but figuratively) and was cut off mid-rant by Sakura, who hasn't made an appearance in the chapter so far.
"Can we PLEASE get off the topic of tomatoes!" she said, clearly irked. (heh heh, I like that word) She whirled around to face Kari. "Now, can you finish explaining? Please?"
Kari cleared her throat ceremoniously. "All right. Now, the house rules are posted by the front door and in all of the rooms as well. There are seven rooms, meaning that two people will each be sharing rooms – girls with girls, and boys with boys. Lily and I will share a room, Sakura with share with Hinata, and Ino with Tenten."
"As for the boys…" Lily continued while turning to face the male side of the group; they had subconsciously separated themselves from the girls, "…Shino will be rooming with Chouji, Kiba will room with Sasuke, Naruto will be with Neji, and Shikamaru will be with Lee."
The girls were overall pleased with whom their roommates were, but there were immediate objections from the boys. Naruto argued that Neji was creepy and bitter and therefore should room with someone else – Neji responded to this with a threatening scowl. He didn't want to share a room with ANYONE, let alone Naruto.
Kiba's objection was similar; he said that Sasuke should be sharing a room with someone just as antisocial and friendless as he was.
"I'll get you for that Kiba…maybe while you're asleep," Sasuke murmured to himself. Fortunately enough, no one heard him. But that was okay, because just saying the threat aloud was enough for Sasuke 'cause he's twisted like that.
As for Shino, he didn't say anything, but you know he had a problem about rooming with Chouji. But even if he did – which everyone knew he did – he didn't say it. (repetitiveness rules.) Chouji didn't mind too much, but Shikamaru was clearly dreading the days to come. Lee, in all his youthful splendor, would have been happy to room with anyone because he is so chipper and dandy and all that good stuff.
Kari and Lily weren't planning to change the rooming arrangements, but Kiba and Naruto's complains- and Shino and Shikamaru's silent ones - were getting so annoying that she shouted, "All right! We might change the orders later…maybe."
"YAHOO!" Kiba and Naruto cheered, jumping for joy with their arms in the air. They hung in midair for a few moments while the camera panned around them, and then landed back on their feet.
"…Whoa. That was awesome!" Naruto said.
Lily went on to explain that there would be contests, games, and competitions regularly – to make it interesting for the viewers. "They could be team events or partnered events depending on what Kari and I feel like doing."
"Oh, and the video confessional-thing that no reality show would be complete without is over…" she raised her arm grandly, pausing to build dramatic tension. "…there!" Her finger landed on a wooden door in the main hall that looked to be of no real significance.
"And don't worry," Kari added, "no one will be able to hear what you're saying in there from the outside. Just go in there to blow off some steam or whatever."
With everything explained, the guests were allowed to go upstairs an unpacked. To save myself the trouble of explaining, everyone's belongings were already placed in the same rooms as heir roommates. Ino and Tenten grabbed their room at the far end of the hallway, and Ino flopped onto her bed.
"Jeez, can you believe this?" she said to Tenten. "A whole month living with those…people!"
"I don't know, it doesn't seem that bad to me," Tenten replied. "Think of it as an adventure!" Ino merely sighed in response and began unpacking her things.
Shikamaru and Lee seemed to be having a few problems. Shikamaru was slowly pulling his things from his bag, contemplating all the negative points of being on the show. Lee, however, couldn't be happier. He unpacked his belongings at the speed of light and was practically bouncing off the walls.
"Oh, this is going to bee so cool! I've seen tons of reality shows, but I never thought I'd be in one! Oooh, like The Gauntlet and The Real World! I love The Gauntlet, don't you? Like the time when the guy did the thing in the place…oh, and that one challenge with – with the thing! Oh, that was hilair-"
"LEE!" Shikamaru shouted. He thought he may have gotten used to loud, annoying people – he was on the same team as Ino, after all – but this was nuts. Lee was on a whole other level of annoying. "Can you just…try not to talk so much?" It was a feeble try, but better than nothing.
"YES SIR!" Lee saluted him comically, and all Shikamaru could do was shake his head.
Two doors down, Neji was experiencing similar issues with Naruto. On the one hand, he DEFINITELY didn't want Naruto as a roommate – after all, he had beaten him in the Chuunin exams; though no one said anything to his face, he knew they were all thinking, "OMG! He lost to NARUTO!"
On the other hand, this was his chance to prove that he wasn't a cold hearted bastard and that he could have friends as well.
Naruto was a little wary of Neji; he was secretly afraid that Neji might strangle him in his sleep or smother him with a pillow for revenge. He decided right then and there to make peace with him – and hopefully not die trying.
"Listen Neji…I don't like you, and you don't like me, let's get that straight," he began, "but we are civilized people, and civilized people don't strangle others in their sleep or smother them with pillows for revenge!"
Neji looked up from his unpacking, confused. "Wait, what…?"
Naruto pointed at him accusingly, and slowly backed toward the door. "I'm leaving…but don't try anything funny, 'cause I'll be watching!" He gave Neji the little sign for 'I'm watching you!' and dashed out the door.
Rolling his eyes, Neji went back to folding one of his many white jackets. "Talk about paranoid…that guy must be smoking something.
A voice yelled from downstairs, "HEY, GUYS! CHANGE INTO YOUR PJ'S AND COME DOWNSTAIRS!" everyone finished sorting their things and changed faster than you can say…well, something you can say really fast. Like 'cheddar' or 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'.
Lily and Kari were at the foot of the stairs with the party mess cleaned up behind them. "Okay, now that you're all settled in…" Lily said. Her pajamas consisted of a pale purple tank top and purple pajama bottoms with a fishy pattern.
"…we'll start off the first game: Truth or Dare." Kari finished. She was dressed in a lacy black nightgown that was super-gothic.
At the mention of Truth or Dare, some people (mostly the girls) squealed with glee. Others (mostly the boys) groaned in distress. Still others (mostly Shino) didn't show any emotion at all.
"Aaaaaaaall righty then!" Lily waved her arm toward the large living room, which had been cleared of furniture and was now filled with pillows. "Let's begin!"
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A/N: Dun dun dun..! Suspenseful…well, it should be quite an interesting game of 'T or D'. I'm still accepting ideas, especially for the Truth or Dare chappie coming up. (I would really appreciate it.) So please…if you have an idea, don't hold back! Submit it! Thanks for reading, and keep up the nice reviews. Ta ta! ((smooches XP))