Disclaimer: Naruto's not mine…if he was, Kakashi would be running around without a shirt on all of the time…drools

Chapter 12:
Sasuke's Day Planner
2 o'clock: Lunch with the Girls
6 o'clock: Ninjutsu with the Hokage

Temeki could never figure out what girls talked about when they were alone. Never really cared to find out, actually. But now that she was "one of the girls," she finally got the chance to know.

"Naruto!" Sakura said, angrily. "Don't bother us. We want to talk to Temeki-san!"

Naruto frowned and stared down the pink haired girl. "I'm under orders from both Tsunade-baachan and Gaara, as well as Kina-chan, to protect Temeki-chan," he said. He then held out the heavy bags he carried. "And I'm carrying all of the shit you guys bought! You promised me ramen if I carried your stuff and I'm collecting on that promise, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura looked over at the other girls and sighed when they nodded. "Okay, fine," she conceded. "But sit three seats down from us!"

"It's gonna take that many seats to hold your bags anyway," Naruto muttered, but sat down and ordered some ramen.

Temeki ordered some miso ramen and sat down. After a few moments of silence, she turned to look at the other girls and sighed. "What are you staring at?" she asked, irritably. "Aren't you going to order?"

"We want to be able to fit into our kimonos for tonight," Ino answered for all of them.

"Well, I'm not going," Tenten said, trying to keep the disappointment from her voice as she ordered a bowl of ramen. "I'm not from a major Clan."

"Aren't you worried about fitting into your clothes, Temeki-san?" Hinata asked.

The dark haired girl scoffed. "I'm not going either," she said.

"Yes you are, Temeki-chan!" Naruto said from the other side of the shopping bag wall he had created. "Gaara and Kina-chan want you to have the full Festival experience here."

"I don't have anything to wear," Temeki said, sounding even to her ears like a girl complaining about the lack of decent clothing in her closet.

Naruto laughed and swallowed the bit of ramen in his mouth. "Kina-chan has that covered," he answered.

"See?" Sakura said. "You are going."

Temeki was about to reply when Neji stepped up next to Tenten. The girl noticed and turned around.

"Neji!" she said. "What's going on?"

The white-eyed genin coughed into his hand and looked over Tenten's shoulder to his cousin. Hinata smiled and made encouraging motions to her cousin. I got her here, Neji-niisan! It's up to you to ask her, she thought to herself.

Neji coughed again and blurted out, "Hiashi-sama has requested that I attend the Welcome dinner tonight, since Hanabi-sama is too young to attend. But that leaves the Hyuuga entourage at an odd number. Hinata-sama is to accompany her father, so I cannot escort her. Will you go to the dinner with me? I will be wearing a cream and light green yukata. Okay, we will pick you up at 8:30 this evening. I'll see you then. Goodbye."

The genin was gone before Tenten could blink. She turned to the others and asked, "Did he just ask me to the dinner tonight?"

The girls remained silent with the exception of Temeki.

"Yeah," she confirmed. "He did."

Temeki briefly heard Naruto mutter "Now you've done it, teme." into his ramen before the squealing started.

"Oh, my god!" Tenten cried. The sentence was echoed by the other girls—again with the exception of Temeki—at increasing volumes until Naruto's ears were ringing. "What am I going to wear?"

"How about the kimono you bought today?" Ino asked. "It's light green with cream accents."

"It's perfect!" Sakura added.

Tenten nodded and then scowled when a thought occurred to her. "Too perfect," she said. "Hinata, it was you who persuaded me to buy that kimono wasn't it?"

The pale Hyuuga took an increased interest in Ichiraku's laminated menu. "I didn't know he added leeks to his miso ramen," she whispered.

"You didn't tell Neji where we were going to eat lunch, did you Hinata?" the weapons mistress asked.

Temeki expected the shy girl to cower immediately, but was surprised when she only placed the menu down on the counter and calmly faced her friend. "And what if I did?" she asked. "It got you what you both wanted, didn't it?"

"You go, Hinata-chan!" Naruto cheered from behind his wall-o-shopping bags.

Tenten stared at the girl for a minute before she broke and hugged her. "Thank you so much! You're the best friend ever!"

Hinata laughed and patted Tenten's back. "Okay, gotta breathe, Tenten."

They all laughed and looked up when Ayame-neechan and her father placed bowls of ramen in front of them.

"We didn't order this," Sakura said.

"Don't worry," Ayame said, winking. "It's my father's 'Diet Ramen' so you can fit into your kimonos for tonight!"

The girls smiled and began to wolf down the ramen. Temeki hesitated then decided to try it. After the first taste, she ate as quickly as the other girls. This is the BEST ramen EVER! Temeki decided. (1)

"So, Temeki-san," Ino asked, innocently. "How long have you been working for Kina-chan?"

Temeki looked up, a ramen noodle hanging from the side of her mouth, and swallowed her food. "Umm…" she remembered what Kankuro had told them before they left the apartments. Keep your answers short and as close to the truth as possible! And make sure to tell us what you said later!

"Well," she started. "I got hurt on my way home after seeing my brother. Kina-sama found me and healed me. When they decided to come to Konoha, I was chosen to be her handmaiden. That's about it."

Temeki could feel Naruto relax on his side of the ramen bar and felt relieved that her answer was being accepted by the girls.

"So you don't know when they got married or how their personal life is?" Ino asked.

Temeki frowned. "They got married recently," she answered. "That's why they're here: to introduce Kina-sama to the Hokage. And as for their personal life, that's personal. The Kazekage wouldn't appreciate you butting into his business. If he wants people to gossip about him and his Lady, he'll start it himself. Like he already has, the baka. There's enough gossip going around about those two without me adding to it." (2)

Sakura opened her mouth to ask another question when Naruto popped up from behind the shopping bags. "Temeki-chan, it's almost 4:30," he said. "If we want enough time to get yourself and Kina-chan ready for the dinner and that thing you guys have to do before it, we have to go now."

"Nani?" the girls screamed. "It's 4:30?" They each grabbed their respective bags and ran off in different directions.

"I have to go get my hair done!"

"My manicure appointment!"

"Do I have time for a facial?"

"I have to buy a new pair of shoes!"

Naruto laughed at the girls' retreating figures and grabbed a small black bag. "Let's go, Temeki-chan," he said seriously. "The others will be waiting."

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At 6 o'clock that evening, while other people were getting ready for the Welcome dinner, five people were preparing for a difficult jutsu. Naruto and Gaara wore plain white robes, while Kina and Tsunade wore white kimonos. The women already had their hair fixed for the dinner, but didn't wear any make-up.

What was the point when sweat would soon smear it?

Sasuke stood in the middle of the room, caught by an intricate seal written on the floor, in his boxers. He looked down at himself and sighed. At least I'm male again, he thought.

He felt uncomfortable as a female. But the thing that worried him the most was that he felt oddly comfortable as a female as well. He'd even found himself checking out Kankuro and Naruto's asses as he walked behind them today. He didn't like what they were about to do to him, but, since he couldn't escape, took it as an opportunity to spy on the leaf and sand nin.

Tsunade took out a kunai and walked over to the Uchiha. After cutting a lock of his hair, she went to each demon vessel and got a lock of hair from them as well. When she got to Gaara, he pulled out a black lock of hair that had already been braided into a tiny braid.

"It's Kina-chan's," he answered the Godaime's unspoken question.

"Okay," she said. Weird kid, she thought to herself and took the braid along with a lock of the Kazekage's hair. She braided each of the locks of hair and placed them inside the silver locket that Naruto bought earlier. Tsunade hung it on the ankle bracelet and locked it in place on Sasuke's right ankle.

"Alright, kids," the woman said. "Naruto, stand at the North corner; Gaara, you take the South. I'll be the East and Kina will be the West. Naruto, do you remember the chant I taught you?"

The blonde nodded and folded his hands into the appropriate seal. Gaara and the others followed suit.

"Just imagine giving your energy to Naruto, Kina," Tsunade instructed. "He'll do the rest."

"What's the code word?" Gaara asked. "It has to be something we won't forget but will never say in an actual conversation."

"CD," Kina said. "The code word is CD."

Tsunade nodded and looked over at Naruto. "Ya hear that kid?"

Naruto nodded again and closed his eyes. He felt an enormous amount of chakra pour into him from the other three. Opening his eyes, he shouted, "Chikara henge no jutsu!" (Forced Transformation Technique)

Red/gold/purple chakra poured from his hands and surrounded Sasuke. He screamed with pain and felt the anklet around his ankle burn his skin. He wasn't sure, but it felt as if the anklet was burning itself into his flesh. He fell to the ground when it was over and lay there panting.

Naruto strode to the boy and placed his still glowing hands on Sasuke's head. "CD," he whispered. Sasuke yelled again as his bones and muscles shifted and he turned into a female once more.

Temari came into the room then and placed a white kimono around the girl. "I'll take Temeki to the room to change," she said.

"Do you have the dress?" Kina asked, a sneaky smile on her face. The Sand nin nodded and smiled back. "Good."

The others looked at Kina and raised their eyebrows. She shook her head and turned to Tsunade. "Tsunade-sama," she began. "That wasn't a normal henge."

"No, it wasn't."

"In fact, it wasn't a henge no genjutsu at all."

Gaara and Naruto looked up at the softly spoken comment and turned to the two women.

"No. It was a physical transformation," Tsunade confirmed. "How did you know?"

Kina brought her hand up to her temple and tapped it twice. "When I looked at Sasuke, I didn't 'see' him. I saw a female…I saw Temeki."

"Baa-chan," Naruto said. "What did you do?"

The older woman shrugged and said, "I may have misinterpreted the scroll and placed the anklet on the right ankle for the full physical transformation instead of the left for the illusionary transformation, instead."

"What?" Naruto asked. "So Sasuke's really a girl, with the hormones and the mood swings and everything?"

Tsunade laughed. "It will also take him a while to figure out how chakra flows in his new body. It's different for females, y'know," she said. "He's not going to be interrogated by Ibiki until after the Festival. He might as well endure some punishment for leaving until then."

At that moment, a loud yell came from the room Temari had taken Temeki to. Tsunade, Gaara, and Naruto looked over at Kina, who smiled brightly at them.

"Kina-chan…" Naruto trailed off.

"Tsunade-sama's not the only one who wanted to punish the Uchiha," she commented.

"Kinabuhi," Gaara growled.

"Do you remember my dress from the Valentine's Day dinner, Gaara-kun?"

The Kazekage nodded and growled again at the reminder of that indecent garment.

"Did you know that I had several of the same design made in different colors?"

Gaara's growl turned into a choking sound as he realized what she was trying to tell him.

"She's about the same size as me," Kina noted. "Except her shoulders are a bit broader. But considering the dress, it doesn't matter."

"So Sasuke—"

"Temeki," Naruto interrupted.

Gaara stared at the kyuubi vessel and frowned. "—is wearing one of the other dresses you had made?"

"Ding ding ding…and tell the boy what he's won!" Kina joked in a strange voice.

"I can't wait to see this," Gaara said, walking out of the room.

"I also told Temari to put Temeki's hair up."

The redhead speeded up and walked into the room that the boys were going to change in. "Now I really can't wait to see this."

"See what?" Naruto asked. Tsunade was behind him, an equally curious look on her face.

Kina looked at the duo and smiled a grin that reminded Naruto of the way Gaara was before they fought and the Sand nin became somewhat nicer.

"You'll see," she laughed.

Naruto shook his head as the sound of that laugh caused shivers to run down his spine.

"Y'know," Tsunade whispered to Naruto. "I never really thought that Gaara and Kina belonged with each other until this very moment."

The blonde nodded and headed to the room to change. He was thinking the same exact thing.

A/N:

Sorry for the lack of Gaara/Kina goodness, but there's a point to all this Sasuke/Temeki stuff, seriously!

And no, Sasuke isn't gay in this fic…at least I don't think so. My writing method is more a "in the moment" kind of thing, so he might end up gay, or at least bi-curious. (Switching sexes like that would confuse most people!)

Thanks again for the reviews and all of the support! I've got a few chapters brewing for the festival…don't worry it won't be all fun and games! ;) Take care, y'all!

(1) Remember the episode where Naruto, Chouji, and Sakura help the Ichiraku guy? Well, yeah, that ramen.

(2) Temeki is referring to when Gaara said Kina was in "a delicate condition" and how now everyone thinks that Kina's pregnant.