Disclaimer:I don't own the song "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder…and I don't own Naruto…but if I did…well, you read the disclaimer from the last chapter right? Oohhh…yeah…c'mere Kakashi…
Gaara/slaps blacksyryn/
blacksyryn: thanks
Gaara: what's with you?
blacksyryn: blame it on this picture /shows piture of Kakashi nekkid from the waist up/ (Sorry I can't post the link here...)
Kina and Temari: Oooohhhh….drools
blacksyryn: thank you dragonrider6, whoever you are!
Gaara: can we start the chapter now?
blacksyryn: thank you so much from the bottom of my heart and—what? Oh, yeah, the chapter…hehehe
Gaara: Filler End!
Chapter 13: Dinner and Music
Naruto, Gaara and Kankuro stood outside of the girls' dressing room. The dinner was downstairs and they couldn't afford to be late. "Kina!" they heard Temari yell from behind the door. "Hold her down!"
After a short scuffle, the door opened and Temeki was shoved into the hallway followed by an out of breath looking Kina and a flushed Temari. Even though they had obviously fought the former Uchiha into the dress, the two Sand kunoichi looked fresh and beautiful.
Temari wore a silvery gray kimono with dark blue accents and a dark blue obi. Her hair was left down around her shoulders and her make-up accentuated her dark blue eyes. Kina wore a dark blue kimono—and Gaara was glad to notice that it was a traditional kimono this time—with royal blue accents and a blue obi that matched the blue on the Kazekage robes Gaara was wearing. Her hair was up in its usual crown of braids, but a few locks fell loose along her cheeks. Her eye make-up was light, but her lips were painted a dark red that made Gaara want to chew on them.
Kankuro and Naruto each wore black yukatas. Kankuro's had accents of purple on them while Naruto's had accents of red and orange. The puppet master's face was devoid of make-up for the third time in Kina's presence and he looked somewhat uncomfortable with the stares Naruto and Temeki were giving him.
"I'm not going downstairs," Temeki said.
Naruto tilted his head and looked at the girl. "What's wrong with your dress?" he asked.
"More importantly," Kankuro asked. "What's wrong with your voice?"
It was true; the former Uchiha's voice was croaky and changed from low to high pitch with every word.
Kina laughed. "Temeki-chan's body is getting used to itself," she explained. "Her vocal chords are going haywire."
"And as for the dress," Temari said. She showed the men the front, which was a flattering off-white color with a dark blue obi. Temeki's make-up was light, like Kina's, but unlike Kina, instead of dark red lipstick, her lips were coated with a shiny pink color.
Naruto didn't see what the big deal was. It looked like a normal kimono to the leaf shinobi. Kankuro and Gaara, who had seen Kina's Valentine's Day dress, smirked as Temari turned the mortified Temeki around.
Although the sleeves of the dress covered the back of her shoulders, the rest of the dress was cut to reveal Temeki's smooth white skin all the way to where the obi rested on the small of her back. Temari had arranged Temeki's hair in a way that kept it piled high on her head and refused to allow one strand down to conceal her skin.
"Oh, my god," a voice came from behind them.
Temeki knew that voice and stiffened before she turned around. Her worst fears were confirmed when Tsunade and Jiraiya stood at the top of the stairs.
"You're going to let Temeki downstairs in that?" Tsunade asked. Jiraiya was too busy taking care of his nosebleed to say anything.
"Why not?" Kina asked. "I looked at the guest list. A lot of the feudal lords who came to our Valentine's Day dinner are here and they saw me wear the same type of dress there."
"Your back was covered by your hair," Gaara mentioned.
Temeki went ballistic. "You covered your back with your hair?" she shouted. "Why can't I do the same thing?"
"Because you don't have a husband," Kina shot back.
The others were confused at her response, so she decided to explain.
Or in other words…lie.
She wanted the former Uchiha to suffer, after all.
"In my country," she began. "Maidens wear dresses like that to attract potential mates."
"But you covered your back with your hair…" Temeki whispered.
The girl smirked and leaned against Gaara. "I already considered him my mate at the time," she admitted. "He just didn't know it."
Gaara laughed and ran his hand down his wife's covered back. "It was a quick way to get my attention, Kina-chan," he acknowledged.
"That's the point, Gaara-kun," she replied.
"But what about the Clans?" Tsunade asked.
"If they ask, then tell them that it is a traditional gown from my wife's homeland," Gaara said, holding onto Kina's waist. "And if they have any objections, they can take it up with me."
"Why are you here anyway?" Kankuro asked. "Aren't you supposed to be receiving your guests?"
Tsunade patted her hair, which was held in an artful disarray at the crown of her head, and ran her hand down her light gold kimono. At the same time, Jiraiya straightened his dark red yukata.
"I forgot to tell you about the Opening Ceremony," she said.
"Opening…Ceremony?" the Sand nins, plus Temeki, echoed.
Naruto slapped his hand against his forehead and laughed. "I forgot about that!" he said. "So who's doing it this year?"
Tsunade frowned at the blonde boy. "I thought that you'd never been to a Welcoming dinner before?"
"Not officially," he answered with a mischievous smile on his face.
"What's this Opening Ceremony?" Gaara asked, impatient with their banter. (A/N: "banter" that's another great word. I wonder why I didn't use it earlier.)
"One of the guests sings a song to start the dinner and the Summer Festival," Naruto said.
"And this year, the Council decided that, as our ally and as a way to help people forget that Suna was part of Orochimaru's attack two years ago, a person from the Kazekage's entourage will have the honors of the Opening Ceremony," Tsunade finished. (1)
"NANI?" the four Sand nin shouted.
"I can't sing!" Temari gasped.
"I'm not singing outside of a shower!" Kankuro said.
"No," Gaara calmly declined.
Everyone turned to Kina, who squeaked and looked behind her, as if another person from Suna would magically appear there. "What about Temeki?" she asked.
"The Council wouldn't be happy with anything less than a member of the Kazekage's family," Jiraiya said, recovered now that Temeki's back was facing away from him.
"And you know that she can't sing with her voice in the condition it's in," Temari said. Temeki grabbed onto any excuse she could and violently nodded her head up and down.
"You play piano all the time, Kina-chan," Kankuro added.
"Can it just be an instrumental?" she asked, crossing her fingers and hoping to God for an affirmative.
"No. It has to be a song with words," Tsunade explained.
Damn, she thought. "How about if I sit at the piano and played and sang at the same time?" she asked. Then I don't have to look directly at the audience!
Tsunade nodded. "That's fine," she said and grabbed Jiraiya's elbow. "Let's go downstairs, people are waiting."
Naruto bowed to Temari and offered her his hand. The Sand kunoichi giggled and took it. "You know that Shikamaru's my boyfriend," she said.
The blonde shrugged. "He'll be sitting with his and Chouji's Clan. I'm sitting with Ero-sennin, Tsunade-baachan, and your Clan at the High Table," the boy mentioned.
"How'd you manage that?" she asked.
"I'm Jiraiya-sama's apprentice," he scoffed. "He refused to come if they didn't invite me too."
"That's mean of them. But nice of him," Temari whispered.
Naruto looked at the back of his sensei and smiled. "I know."
Kankuro didn't bother bowing, but took Temeki's hand and placed it in the crook of his elbow. "Let's get this over with," he murmured. "And don't forget to act like a girl."
Temeki frowned and tried to stomp on the puppet master's foot, but the feel of a draft against her back distracted her enough to make her miss.
Damn dress, she cursed.
Gaara offered Kina his arm and she took it. He noticed her hand shaking and placed his own over it. "It will be alright," he whispered. "Just look at me the entire time and the song will be over before you know it."
"I don't even know what song to sing!" she said, panicking.
"Sing something from your heart," he said lovingly. "Something from your homeland, maybe."
Kina looked up into Gaara's green eyes and suddenly knew what to sing.
00000000000000000
Neji was excited to have the girl he wanted standing next to him and held her hand in the crook of his arm. Finally, the Hyuuga thought.
He looked over at his cousin and smiled. Hinata-sama is finally opening up now that Hiashi-sama acknowledges her, he thought. He'd heard of the episode in the boutique from another Hyuuga Branch member and was surprised to hear that Hinata stood up to her father's accusations of idiocy and hot-temperedness. She claimed that as a Hyuuga, they upheld the honor of Konoha. Therefore, if they patronized an establishment that had no honor, then Hyuuga had no honor and by association, Konoha had no honor.
Hiashi had only stared at his daughter and grudgingly accepted her argument.
Neji was happy for his cousin.
He no longer held his grudge against the Head Family. He managed to sit in on a few Hyuuga Clan meetings and realized that his uncle fought very hard to help the rights of the Branch Family grow and change. His uncle had invited him to such meetings before, but he had always declined, thinking that the invitations were nothing more than false hopes that would lead to shattered dreams.
He knew better now and if the girl by his side agreed to remain there for the rest of their lives, he would die a content man. He wondered what the dark haired kunoichi was feeling at the moment.
Is she as excited as I am?
Tenten was nervous.
She'd never been to the Welcome dinner before and was afraid she'd screw it up somehow. She looked over at Hinata and wondered at how many personalities the girl had.
First there was the shy Hinata everyone knew. Second, there was the gossip loving Hinata Tenten knew. Then there was the verbal ass kicking Hinata from this afternoon.
Now, Tenten had the pleasure of seeing "Formal Hinata" as she had decided to call the current incarnation girl.
"Formal Hinata" had all of the grace and bearing expected of the Hyuuga Heiress. Gone was the hesitation, the shyness. This Hinata knew where she belonged and—better yet, in Tenten's opinion—believed that she deserved to be there.
Her friend looked beautiful in the dark gold kimono she bought that afternoon. I can't believe we found the same kimono in that other shop for less than half the price! Tenten thought. It gave Hinata an excuse to buy more clothes from the store, since her father expected a large bill on what she bought that afternoon.
She brushed her hand down her own pale green kimono and looked over at Neji.
The dark haired, pale eyed, shinobi wore a traditional yukata in cream and pale green. In fact, his clothing was a mirror opposite of hers. The weapons mistress looked over at Hinata again and sighed.
Just how long were they planning this?
She brushed the thought to a corner of her mind as she looked around the ballroom for her other friends. She knew that the Nara, Akimichi, Aburame, and Inuzuka Clan tables would most likely be close together. While the Yamanaka's table would be closer to the Nara's and the Haruno Clan would choose a table next to the Yamanaka Clan, as far away from the bug using Aburame Clan as possible.
Jeez, Clan politics is confusing, she thought.
Tenten looked over the ballroom again and found her friends sitting in almost the exact places she predicted.
Sakura was sitting in a spot that let her talk to Ino as well as Shikamaru and Chouji. Kiba was the closest to the quartet as he sat next to Shino at the Aburame/Inuzuka table.
The pink haired kunoichi wore a dark red kimono with light pink accents and a black obi. Her hair was up in what she called the "Haruno Hair-do of Death" and Tenten could see why—the quintet of braids circling the medic's head looked painful.
Ino was more fortunate in the hair style department than Sakura. But not so in the color coordination one. Her light blue kimono should have clashed with the bright orange obi she wore—What did she do…steal it from Naruto?—but strangely, the combination suited the blonde. Unfortunately, the color combo seemed to take the place of a Clan Crest since all of the Yamanaka's were attired in the two colors.
The boys' clothes were simpler—as most boys clothes were. Each one wore yukatas that were basically all the same with the exception of color and whether or not the boy in question chose to wear his forehead protector.
Shikamaru's yukata was black with accents of dark blue, his forehead protector was in its usual place on his arm. Chouji wore a light yellow yukata that flattered his complexion; he had left his protector at home.
So had Kiba. The boy wore a dark red yukata with black accents and a black belt that had a red paw print on it. Shino wore a black yukata that had no accents she could see. In fact, it just looked plain black. His forehead protector was on his arm, like Shikamaru, and without it, his spikey hair fell around his head and into his eyes every so often. (2)
Tenten looked away from her friends and followed Neji and Hinata to the Hyuuga Clan's table near the front of the room, right next to the High Table where the Hokage, Kazekage, and both of their entourages were supposed to sit. Too bad Lee's on a mission with Gai-sensei, Tenten thought. That way, everyone could be here. She looked over at Sakura's table and frowned. Well, almost everyone.
Everyone stood when the Hokage, escorted by Jiraiya, entered the room. Shizune followed her teacher on the arm of a flushed looking Iruka. The Elders came in next, Asuma and Kuranai following meekly after them. Kakashi, in a silvery green yukata, escorted a blushing and strangely shy Anko.
The Hokage's entourage was followed by the Kazekage's; which was led by Gaara and Kina. Temari and Naruto followed and lastly, Kankuro and Temeki. Whispers flew as the guests saw Naruto and grew louder when Temeki passed by them.
Tenten had an idea why people were whispering about Naruto, after this afternoon she'd have to be an absolute moron not to, but didn't find it too strange that the boy was invited to the dinner.
He is Jiraiya-sama's apprentice, she thought irritably.
She didn't understand why people were whispering about Temeki until she heard an aunt of Neji whisper, "That dress is absolutely scandalous!"
She craned her neck and just about lost her eyes when they tried to pop out of her head.
Holy sh—!
The thought was cut off by the Hokage taking the small stage that the band was set up on. She held up her arms and began.
"I would like to welcome you to Konoha's Welcome dinner! This marks the beginning of our Summer Festival and as such, the person who has the honor of performing the Opening Ceremony is our guest from Suna, Kinabuhi-sama!"
Tenten watched as Gaara escorted Kina to the stage and stood in front of Tsunade-sama. He held out their joined hands and said in a clear and proud voice, "Hokage-sama, I would like to introduce to you and your guests my wife—Kinabuhi."
Whispers flew through the ballroom again as the Hokage took Kina's hand and ushered her to the piano, Gaara following close behind. She sat down at the piano and smiled nervously at the crowd. Tenten noticed Gaara's lips moving, like he was saying something, and Kina's smile changed from nervous to blindingly entrancing.
She placed her hands on the piano keyes and began the intro to her song. Tenten watched the girl take a shaky breath and started to sing in a strong, husky voice.
For once in my life
I have someone who needs me
Someone I've needed so long
For once unafraid
I can go where life leads me
And somehow I know I'll be strong
For once I can touch
What my heart used to dream of
Long before I knew
Someone warm like you
Could make my dreams come true
For once in my life
I won't let sorrow hurt me
Not like it's hurt me before
For once I've got someone
I know won't desert me
I'm not alone anymore
For once I can say
This is mine, you can't take it
As long as I've got love I know I can make it
For once in my life
I've got someone who needs me!
Kina moved her fingers over the keys and played the bridge of the song, her eyes never leaving the pleasantly shocked gaze of her husband. At the High Table, Naruto's eyes gleamed with unshed tears.
For once in my life
I won't let sorrow hurt me
Not like it's hurt me before
For once I've got someone
I know won't desert me
I'm not alone anymore
For once I can say
This is mine, you can't take it
As long as I've got love I know I can make it
For once in my life
I've got someone who needs me!
Kina ended the song and looked at her husband, who had suddenly appeared beside her. The ballroom was silent as the Kazekage held out his hand to his wife. She took it and he hauled her into his arms. His words echoed through the quiet room as clearly as if he'd used a microphone.
"From the heart, eh, Kinabuhi?" he asked.
Kina looked up into his eyes and smiled.
"From the heart, Gaara-kun," she answered.
The crowd finally broke into applause as Gaara pulled Kina closer and kissed her smiling mouth.
A/N:
Aww…damn it, I teared up a bit writing that scene…I love that song, it seems to fit in with Gaara and Haku and Naruto and Kimimaro and all of the other lonely characters in Naruto…
Wah!
(1) It's been almost two years since the Chuunin exams.
(2) Think Horohoro from that fight in Shaman King against that "preachy" dude during the Shaman Tournament, or that cute little Goth kid from South Park (the one with black and burgundy hair) that always has to toss his head to get his bangs out of his eyes.