Chapter 28: Coming to Panel
Somehow, Kankuro managed to make it to panel in one piece after all.
Despite Gaara's intimidating presence, Kankuro still had a sense of self-preservation and ran when the time called for it. He managed to hightail it back into the house before the redhead could grab him, even having the audacity to let out a chuckle as he ran for his safety.
Okay, so maybe he doesn't have a sense for self-preservation after all.
Knowing that his brother likely ran for his bedroom, and not wanting to disturb anyone else's rest, Gaara was stuck with grumbling about his annoying brother for the rest of the night, which meant I was stuck listening to him grumble until daybreak. He wasn't really obnoxious with it; just quiet murmurings here and there every once in a while. It was a different side of him that I didn't expect . . .
But hey, at least I got to see what he looks like when he pouts!
And yes, the sight of Gaara pouting is quite a cute sight indeed. If I had my camera on me, I would have taken a photo, or a few.
He did manage to get some revenge the following day. When he saw Kankuro standing by the pool around noon, he did not hesitate to strike, coming up behind him to push him into the watery pit like he was a dad pushing his kid going for their first solo bike ride. Of course, this happened while most of us were in the backyard, and seeing Gaara - one of the calmest members of the house - suddenly push his brother into the pool for no apparent reason was a cause for a good laugh for everyone there to witness it, Temari especially.
Unfortunately, Kankuro was quick to get a smidge of revenge in return. He was quick to grab hold of Gaara's ankle, hoping to pull him in too, but the redhead wasn't having it. He tried to hold on to the nearest thing he could grab - that thing being a very annoyed Sasuke - but the Uchiha was in no mood for another sudden dip, shoving his arms away before my insomnia-afflicted contemporary could get a grip on him.
Thus, Gaara was at the mercy of the water, but luckily for him, they were in the shallower end of the pool, much to my relief.
I didn't want to think about what could happen if he was pulled into the deeper end, even after our lesson last night. Gaara was progressing, but I didn't want him to tackle the deep end in that way just yet.
Splash down will come, in time.
Once both the boys were out of the pool, all was normal till it was time to get ready for panel. After a few shoving matches for the bathroom and one too many dates with the hairspray - I'm looking at you Kiba! - we all got on the bus, ready to see what the judging panel had in store for us.
When we reached the elimination skyscraper - yes, it's officially being called that till we could figure out a proper name for it - we quickly made our way up to the waiting area. The double doors were still closed, which meant we were stuck waiting for who knows how long till it was time to go inside.
"Do you think they'll make us wait long this time around?" Hinata asks as we sat down in the seats in a far corner of the room.
"I doubt it. They won't make us wait too long; just enough to make us a little worried about our places in this competition." TenTen mumbles in her matter-of-fact kind of way as she checked her nails.
"I don't blame them if they take long though," my brother mumbles as he leaned his head back. "You all remember what Kakashi said after the challenge. It's not just the main photoshoot that the judges will be evaluating us on this week."
"Oh yeah, the challenge photos. I completely forgot about that," Kankuro mumbles as he shakes his head. "Do you think anyone was successful in that one?"
"I have no idea." Neji says with a shake of the head. "We did that shoot after doing both one hell of a workout and running up fifteen flights of stairs. I don't know about you, but doing a photoshoot right after that is usually the last thing on my mind."
"I don't mean to play devil's advocate, but we should have seen this coming," Temari mumbles as she gestures around the group. "This competition is notorious for putting its contestants in challenges when they least expect it."
"That's true, but that doesn't mean I still can't feel a little salty about it." Naruto adds, his feelings shared by pretty much everyone in our little circle of friends.
"Speaking of salty," Temari mumbles as she turns to her brothers. "What the hell exactly happened between you two that warranted the dip in the pool earlier?"
"Oh yeah; that was so out of the blue," TenTen adds as all eyes went to the Sabakuno brothers. "I can see Kankuro being the kind of guy to push people into the water before they realize what's happening, but Gaara? What the hell got into you?!"
"I don't know, but it sure was funny!" Naruto adds, holding back another snicker. "I honestly don't know which was better: Gaara pushing Kankuro into the pool or Sasuke making sure that he didn't go in again!"
"Are you two honestly okay?" Hinata asks, being the kind-hearted person she was.
"Everything's fine. It was all because of a misunderstanding between us last night, that's all." Kankuro mumbles, downplaying his actions last night. It wasn't an answer that Gaara approved of, if his 'Are you serious!?' stare was anything to go by.
"Hmm, it looks like Gaara doesn't agree," I add, as I nodded my head his way. "You okay Gaara?"
"I wouldn't describe it in the way that my brother just did," the redhead mumbles with a shake of his head. "Like seriously, how long were you watching me take swim lessons with Izuka in the pool last night?!"
"You were watching Gaara take swim lessons from my sister last night?" Naruto instantly asks, his eyes going straight to the brunette, and then they turned to Gaara, looking even more perplexed. "Wait, you need swimming lessons!?"
"Yeah; I have a bit of a drowning fear, which has prevented me from learning how to properly swim," Gaara mumbles, not liking that he had to admit it in front of so many prying eyes. "So, I asked your sister to help me overcome it."
"So, you asked someone else to teach you, and not me, your own dear elder sibling!?" Temari asked, in an obvious sign of mock hurt, complete with fake tears.
"Sis, have you seen yourself teach?!" was Gaara's immediate response, completely serious even though his reaction was borderline comedic at the same time. Naruto and Tenten thought it was funny. They broke into laughter almost immediately.
"My teaching is not that bad! You just couldn't adapt to it!" came Temari's rebuttal, right as the doors slowly swung open. "Crap, it's time to go in . . . We'll talk about this later."
"Gladly!" Gaara managed to say before getting up from his seat. When we entered the room and stood on our platform, all eyes were on Tsunade, who was standing behind the table this time around. She was dressed in a dark green dress that stopped a little above her knees, with long sleeves and a V-neck that showcased her ample bosom.
I'm sure Jiraiya was quite pleased with her choice of outfit tonight.
"Evening models, and welcome to your second evaluation," she announces with a smile. "There are nineteen of you standing here tonight, but by the end of panel, there will only be eighteen left to continue on in the competition."
"Eliminations are not the greatest thing in life to experience, but of course, the less people there are, the closer to victory you get." says Orochimaru, his smirk already in place as he watched us keenly with his snake-like eyes.
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Jiraiya agrees in a rare show of unity with the leaner man. "Oh, sorry for the interruption Tsunade."
"It's okay. Orochimaru did make a good point, but still, don't make it a habit please. We still have work to do," she tells them before turning her sights back on us, her words feeling both comforting yet threatening at the same time. "Anyway, I'm sure you're all familiar with my usual partners in crime: the design star himself Orochimaru, and our resident camera whiz Jiraiya."
"Good evening models," Jiraiya says in greeting while Orochimaru settles for a small wave of his hand. "I see you all recuperated nicely from your workout with Guy this week."
"I see that just mentioning his name has brought back bad memories for some of our models. A couple look absolutely scarred right now." Orochimaru points out as he looks toward a few of us.
"He does tend to have that effect on people," says Kakashi, sitting in the seat that Shizune had kept warm last panel. "Don't get me wrong. Guy is a good man that means well, but his energy can be too much at times."
"Then again, have you ever tried to interact with him on his level?" Tsunade couldn't help but ask as she turned to the mask man, who we all figured would be our guest judge this time around. It was either him or Guy, but Kakashi just felt like a better fit this time around.
"No one can match him in energy. I don't even bother to try. I know I'll just fail in the attempt anyway." Came Kakashi's blunt response as he turned back to us.
"Hmm, I don't know about that," Tsunade mumbles as she turned back to us. "You all remember Kakashi. As you all know, he is your creative director for all of your photoshoots, but tonight, he is your guest judge for these proceedings."
"I look forward to criticizing some of you before the night is up," Kakashi adds, likely smiling under that mask of his. ". . . Don't worry, I will not pull any punches."
"I don't expect you to," Tsunade mumbles, sneaking a glance at the silver-haired man before looking back at us. "Anyway, the winner of 'You Wanna Be On Top?' will win a bevy of prices, including a year-long modeling contract with Senju Model Management, a cover and five page spread in Fashion Ninja magazine, a cash prize of $11,275,500 yen, and a two week, all expenses paid vacation to anywhere in the world, courtesy of Kaze Travels. . . Are we ready?"
"YES!" we all said in unison, earning ourselves an appreciative nod from the blonde as she sat in her seat.
"Alright then, physical fitness and how you adapt to what comes your way were major themes this week, and we did not go easy on you in that regard." Orochimaru and Jiraiya were both side-eyeing her, waiting to hear what she had to say next. Kakashi, who was much more familiar with what happened to us this week than the other two, simply sat there waiting for the hammer to drop.
"You all enjoyed a workout at the Might Gym, had to run up one of the tallest elevator-less buildings in Osaka, only to take a quick shoot right afterward for your challenge, and then you had to take a photoshoot amidst a room full of ice, trying to look natural despite the severe conditions."
"Looking natural regardless of what's going on around you is a hard skill to master, but it is a crucial one to have if you want to be a successful model," Orochimaru sagely iterates as he brings a hand to his chin. "This should be fun."
"It should be because we have two sets of photos to judge this go around," Tsunade announces with a grin. "First up is the challenge photoshoot, and I am calling only four names forward. These four were the top performers, and they are Naruto, Lee, Kiba, and Temari. Lady and gents, please step forward."
The four mentioned stepped out from the group and made their way down to the smaller platform up ahead. I couldn't help but notice that all the boys had varying looks of eagerness on their faces, and considering why they were called up there, I couldn't blame them for that. Temari was the only one that kept their face impassive, but she did have a bit of a spring to her step as she joined the others in front of the judges.
"Okay, I'm going to start with you Temari," Tsunade announces as she looks to her fellow blonde. "I understand that you were the first one up for the challenge, so how was that for you?"
"Honestly, running up fifteen stories was brutal on the legs. . ." we hear Temari admit as she recounts her tale. "I'm still trying to figure out how I managed to still stand after I got through all those steps."
"Leg day is a cruel mistress when you push her too far." Jiraiya agrees, shaking his head in sympathy.
"Let's see your best photo!" As soon as the words came out of Tsunade's mouth, the image appeared on screen, and Kakashi was quick to pounce.
"You should have seen her after she finished the first half of the challenge. She was practically dragging herself in to the room," he announces as he points to the shot. "However, she immediately snapped into focus when I told her what the second half would entail, and I did not see a hint of a tired model in any of the shots I took."
"It really looks like a high-end sports ad. Everything just works here." Orochimaru mumbles. "You look like you just finished a good workout, you just got ambushed by a member of the paparazzi, but you're not even remotely fazed by it."
"How much were your legs hurting you?" Jiraiya couldn't help but ask as he turned back to her.
"As soon as Kakashi said I was done, I just collapsed. Like, I really needed to give my legs a break."
"Well, we can't tell if you're tired or strained or in pain in that shot, so well done. Now then, Naruto," The screen instantly switches from Temari to my brother, and I couldn't help but smirk at the serene look he had on his face. It was like an entirely different person in the shot, and I couldn't help but feel a little proud for my twin. "Temari may have looked like she was finished with her workout in her shot, but you don't even look like you worked out at all."
"I'll take that as a good thing!" my brother proudly accepts as he looks at his shot.
"You shot! You and Lee probably had the easiest time with the first part of the challenge. You two were the least bit winded, which is pretty impressive by itself," says Kakashi as he points to the screen. "Can we have Lee's shot on screen, right next to Naruto's?"
"Now I see what you mean," says Orochimaru, his eyes gazing keenly at the screen. "I think it's safe to say that you two are probably stamina freaks of the group because there are practically no signs of exhaustion on either of your faces."
"That is a plus in more ways than one, trust me," Jiraiya advises, earning a well-timed slap to the shoulder from Tsunade, likely from the insinuation hidden under his words. . . I have a feeling my brother is going to take those words in stride. ". . . I'm not taking those words back."
"I figured you'd say that," Tsunade mumbles. "But back to the photos. I love the ease that comes with your photo Naruto, and as for you Lee, way to harness your energy into a composed shot because this is definitely a step up from your work last week."
"Thank you!" says Lee, his body looking visibly relieved after hearing all the good words.
"And then we have Kiba," she says as all eyes went to him. "How was the challenge for you?"
"It was alright. I run, but going up fifteen stories was definitely new territory for me."
"It's new territory for anyone that hasn't done it before." Orochimaru agrees, shaking his head.
"Have you ever run up to the top of a multi-story building before Orochimaru?" Tsunade couldn't help but ask as she turned to the raven-haired man.
"The most I've done is three floors, so congratulations everybody, you've done a lot of steps in one day than I've probably done in the past few years." he concedes, unapologetic in his admission as Jiraiya and Kakashi start chuckling, especially Jiraiya, who was starting to wheeze.
"Let's see your best shot." Kiba's photo comes up just as Jiraiya and Kakashi recover from their laughter, replacing Naruto and Lee's shots in quick succession. Kiba's was definitely the most different of the four. While Lee, Temari, and Naruto leaned against the wall in their shots, Kiba was the only one that crouched. "Ooh, I like it. I like it a lot."
"You were the only one that really gave some definition in your shot. While everyone stuck to standing up or leaning against the wall, you were the only one that crouched, and that's the main thing I like about it." says Kakashi.
"As a photographer myself, we look for models that give us movement, preferably without having us instruct them how to move. That's the kind of model we like, and that's what gives you the edge here, so well done." I'm sure Kiba was grinning from ear to ear at the compliment.
"Thank you models. You will find out who won the challenge later tonight," says Tsunade as she looks back to the group at large. "Now, it's time for the more serious portion of our night. If you hear your name, please step forward."
A/N: Leave a comment if you like!