Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Nuff said.

Tsukiko: Sorry for the slight delay! Aaand... haaappy birthday, Sasuke-kuuun!

Chapter 2: Ganbatte! The Fight For Orochimaru's Attention

"Eh... heeello, Orochimaru-kun!" she grinned nervously, as she walked out of the bushes.

"Hi. I was wondering what you were doing in the bushes?" he asked calmly.

"I... uhh..." Tsunade searched her brain for a good reason."I was looking for my necklace!"

"Your necklace?" Orochimaru raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah... I think I lost it on my way home", lied Tsunade.

"On your way home?" he repeated, his eyebrow raising somewhat more.

"Uhh, hai, I always walk past here -"

"Liar", he said with the very smallest hint of amusement, "You don't walk this road home. You live in the other end of Konoha."

"How do you know that?" Tsunade said, looking surprised. "You've never even been at my house."

To Tsunade's big amusement, Orochimaru looked away, staring at the ground instead of her. "Err... Jiraiya said where you lived", he excused himself, but Tsunade could see he was lying, and she found it very entertaining.

"Anyway", he said, changing the topic, "What's with the '-kun' suffix? You never call me... Orochimaru-kun..."

"Err..." Tsunade didn't know why she had done it herself. It had come automatically; normally she only added the '-kun' suffix to boys she was currently having crushes on, and since she obviously didn't have a crush on Orochimaru, she added to herself, it was just downright weird. "I just... felt for it."

"I see."

Tsunade then smiled. "Well, I've got to go! See you around!" And she turned around and ran off, not seeing the little smile Orochimaru wore on his face... (A/N: Naaw, that's just so cute... imagine Orochi smiling cutely. :D OK, maybe it's a bit OOC, but...)

"Aiko! Aikoooo!" Tsunade shouted as she ran towards her friend. The fifteen years old blonde looked up, surprised, and then smirked at the sight of Tsunade, before resuming her conversation with another girl, who was a brunette.

"Aiko!" Tsunade panted as she came to an abrupt stop in front of the older girl. "I need your help!"

"What now, Tsunade?" Aiko heaved a sigh. "If you want me to use the Maito Ai no jutsu on my brother again, it's useless. I've already told you it doesn't work, he knows how to break the genjutsu -" (A/N: I got the idea from Gai's name, Maito Gai, which means Mighty Guy. Since ai means love, Maito Ai would mean mighty love.)

"It's not him I want to use it on", Tsunade cut her off with an impatient gesture. "It's Orochimaru."

Silence. Then...

"Ahahahahahahahahahah! Hahahaha!"

Aiko and her brunette friend were laughing their heads off. Tsunade glared at them, but they failed to notice.

"Out of all the crushes you've had so far, this was the silliest one! Tsunade, have you eaten something improper, or have you just gone insane?" Aiko said through her laughter.

"I don't have a crush on him", said Tsunade, but she could feel her cheeks hotten somewhat.

"Why do you want to use the Maito Ai no jutsu on him, then?" Aiko's friend grinned teasingly.

"Because I've a bet with Jiraiya", Tsunade snarled at her, and then looked around with a sigh out of relief. Orochimaru was nowhere in sight.

"Okay, that made more sense", Aiko said and stopped laughing. "So you want me to make him fall in love with you for a day?"

"Yeah, or just any girl", Tsunade replied with satisfaction in her voice. "I need to make him go outon a date with just anyone."

"Preferably you, that is", Aiko taunted.

"I didn't say that", Tsunade muttered, her blush appearing again, and her two friends burst into laughter once more.

"Honestly, Tsunade, what do you see in that guy? I mean, he looks like a snake, he behaves like a snake and he's just... ew", Aiko's friend said witha sneer. "Besides, he's gay."

"He's not that bad once you get to know him", Tsunade retorted defensively. "He's actually pretty cute. And..." She took a deep breath. "HE'S NOT GAY!"

"Are you honest when you say you don't have a crush on him?" Aiko teased, and began laughing again.

"Oh, shut up", Tsunade said irritably. "Just listen to what I've to say now..."

And the next day arrived. Sarutobi had to go on a meeting for special jounins, so Tsunade, Orochimaru and Jiraiya were free to do whatever they wanted to. Of course, Orochimaru went training by himself, and Jiraiya seized the chance to spy on Tsunade so that he could prevent her from winning their bet...

Though of course, Jiraiya added in his mind as he saw Tsunade lean against a tree, it'd be impossible for her to win. Orochimaru would never go on a date.

"Ah, there you are, Aiko!" he heard Tsunadeburst out.

Aiko? Jiraiya stifled a scornful chuckle. The girl who's infamous in Konoha for her laziness and weakness? The only thing she can do is to perform her family's special genjutsu, Maito Ai...

Maito Ai? Jiraiya's scornfulness disappeared immediately. Uh-oh...

"Hi, Orochimaru! What're you up to?" Tsunade said cheerfully as she approached her black-haired teammate, who was currently kicking a target on a tree.

Orochimaru looked up from his training, with the same expressionless face as always, and then returned his attention to the target. "Training", he responded.

"Eh..." Tsunade forced her brain to think up something more to talk about so that Orochimaru would look at her... and then... she hid a triumphant giggle. "So... er... what do you plan to do after training?"

Orochimaru looked at her again, and then stared at his target once more as he now punched it. "More training", he replied.

How boring, Inner Tsunade groaned. Don't you do anything else except training?

"Er.. you don't feel for... um.. joining me and... eh..." Tsunade tried to think of another person. Sensei? No, he's away. Rina? No, she's mad at me, and besides, she's busy telling everyone I'm dating Jiraiya. Aiko? No, she must be hiding so that she can do the Maito Ai no jutsu. Er... Jiraiya? ARGH! NEVER! SHANNARO! "Eh.. me, that is! Eh heh heh!"

"Join you in what?" Orochimaru asked, looking at her boredly before kicking the target again.

"Join me in... in..." Come on now, Tsunade! I can't think of anything... "... in..."

"In?" Orochimaru repeated, now looking slightly amused as he looked at her again, and kicked the target a last time before the entire tree fell down, and went to the next target beside the previous one.

"In..." Orochimaru now was clearly entertained, as he wore a smirk on his face as he watched Tsunade have an inner battle with her brain. Tsunade felt her cheeks go slightly pink. He looks good when he's smirking... DAMN! Aiko is watching me! She'll tease me after this! SHANNARO!"Er... in -"

"Hi, Orochimaru, flat-chested Tsunade! And what're you two doing this, eh, fine afternoon?" interrupted Jiraiya with a scornful smirk. A vein popped on Tsunade's head.

"JIRAIYA!" she thundered and punched him in the face. Blood was streaming out of Jiraiya's nostrils as he fell to the ground, birds circling above his head as he was currently knocked out. She saw Orochimaru look at Jiraiya, looking bored/unemotional as always. Damn! If he doesn't look at me, the Maito Ai no jutsu won't work! It's all Jiraiya's fault! Shannaro!

"Eh, as I was saying, Orochimaru...", Tsunade began, plastering a fake sweet smile on her face, "Would you mind joining me in -"

But Jiraiya had gotten up and said loudly: "As I was saying, what're you doing this fine afternoon?"

"Orochimaru", Tsunade continued through gritted teeth as she bravely tried to ignore Jiraiya, and ignore her desire to punch him to death, "Would you like to -"

"Are you going to train? Yay, let's do it together!" Jiraiya said and quickly stood in front of Tsunade, so that Orochimaru would look at him and not Tsunade.

"Never mind Jiraiya, Orochimaru", Tsunade pressed herself to say with a continued sweet smile, which now looked more like a grimace of anger, and pushed Jiraiya away, "Listen to me instead, I was saying -"

"No, listen to me", Jiraiya interrupted once more, and quickly stood up in front of Tsunade, "I -"

"JIRAIYAAAAAAAA!" Tsunade roared, and her eyes flashed dangerously as she once more aimed a mighty punch in Jiraiya's face. She then returned to Orochimaru with a sweet smile, this time a more real one. Orochimaru sweatdropped, for the first time ever. "So, Orochimaru..."

"Don't listen to her, Orochimaru! All she wants to is to use you for a bet!" Jiraiya blurted out in his panic.

"No, no, noooo, of course not...", Tsunade protested in a singsong voice, trying to look as convincing as possible, but she could see Orochimaru raise an eyebrow... what the hell was she going to do now? If Orochimaru found out, maybe he'd get angry or something after the MaitoAi nojutsu... and even if Tsunade didn't want to lose the bet, she didn't want to get her crush - err, I mean her teammate - angry, right?

"What are you two doing, anyway?" Orochimaru asked with the same calm voice as always, as his glance switched to Jiraiya on the ground who crawled on the ground, attempting to stand up.

"I don't know what Jiraiya is doing", said Tsunade swiftly, "But, uhm... I was just going to ask... well... eh... never mind! I've got to go anyway, ja ne!"

And she got hold of Jiraiya's hair and began to drag him away from Orochimaru.

"OUCH! OUCH! Let me go! Ow!" Jiraiya complained and attempted to kick her, but the dangerous sparkle in Tsunade's eyes appeared again.

"Jiraiya...", she hissed.

"Okay, okay, I get it", Jiraiya sulked as they stopped, now far away from where Orochimaru was.

"You tried to sabotage me!" she accused as Aiko appeared beside her.

"What're you doing, Tsunade?" Aiko complained. "Are you abandoning our plan?"

"No, I'm not, I'm just having a little talk with someone who's sabotaging us", Tsunade responded calmly and then glared at Jiraiya.

"Well, we never said we weren't allowed to sabotage each other", Jiraiya defended himself.

"JIRAIYA...!" Tsunade gave him another punch and then left the knocked out Jiraiya on the ground and 'hmph'ed before turning to Aiko. "C'mon, Aiko, let's give it a new try."

And they walked away, leaving Jiraiya there. However...

-POOF-

The real Jiraiya appeared from behind the tree. "Phew, that was close", he sighed out of relief, and then smirked at where Tsunade and Aiko had been walking. "But... Tsunade-hime... a real shinobi is always prepared for everything..."

"Hi again, Orochimaru!" Tsunade exclaimed as she reappeared in the training grounds. Orochimaru looked up from the new target, on which he was throwing kunais and shuriken, responded 'hi' and continued concentrating on the target.

"So... ehm, I was just going to ask...", Tsunade began, but was once more cut across by a too familiar voice:

"Heeello, flat-chested Tsunade!"

UGH! Not him... AGAIN...I need to kill someone... SHANNARO! Inner Tsunade screamed.

"Orochimaru, would you mind going somewhere else -", Tsunade began.

"Yo,Orochimaru, do you want to spar? With me?" Jiraiya grinned at his teammate.

"Orochimaru, ignore him -"

"No, ignore her -"

"JIRAIYA! CAN YOU SHUT UP?"

"ARGH! I'M GIVING UP!" Aiko burst out from the bushes as she stood up. Tsunade looked at her in disbelief.

"Aiko! No, wait..."

"I'm getting tired of sitting there in the bushes forever! Besides, I'm already late for my date with Hachiro! So I'm going now... and, Tsunade -" Aiko turned around and glared at her friend, "- never ask me to do you a favor again. Get it?"

"But, Aiko...", said Tsunade desperately.

"Hmph!" Aiko merely said and walked off. Jiraiya was grinning broadly in triumph, and Tsunade gave him a death glare, three veins popping on her head as she gave him an almighty punch again.

"It's ALL your fault, Jiraiya! If it weren't for you, I... huh?" Tsunade looked around. Orochimaru was gone! And her plan had failed... what was she going to do now? And she only had this day and tomorrow left...

Tsukiko: I hope you guys liked it! Orochimaru was a bit OOC, but... not that much, I hope? x.x By the way, if you see things that are in bold or italics when it shouldn't be, or words that are "pasted" together likethis, or sentences that are repeated right after each other when they shouldn't be, can you tell me, please? I don't know why, but the things I just mentioned keeps happening all the time...
Inner Tsukiko: Happy birthday, Sasuke-kun! x3
Tsukiko: Will you please not change the topic?
Inner Tsukiko: I want to, I will, and I have already. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Sasuke-kun..
Tsukiko: Anyway... the next chapter will be done soon! (I don't know how soon, though...) And don't forget to request! And review! And... wish Sasuke-kun a happy birthday:D Ja!
Reviews Corner

Ryushi-the-DutchEroSennin:Thanks,I hope I didn't disappoint you with this chapter, Orochi was slightly OOC, but I hope it wasn't that bad... x.x
Corzova: Thanks:D
Shikabane-Mai: Thanks, I'm glad that you like it :)
Warda: Thanks :)

Sneak Preview of Next Chapter: The Final Decision

Tsunade smirked out of triumph, and laughed out loud at the thought of how Orochimaru would react; he'd do the most OOC things ever, like drooling, getting 'hearts' as eyes, begin flirting and everything... because deep inside, Orochimaru was like any other normal boy...

... right?