Monday, July 23rd, 2012. Happy Birthday, Sasuke!
Hey everyone! I'm updating cuz it's our Sasuke-kun's b-day!
Just sayin, but for those of you who don't like how this story is written, then don't read it. Yeah, for now, it'll be pretty similar to the series, but the changes will start soon. Maybe even in this chapter.
Longer chapter today, by the way!
So, since it's Sasuke's b-day, he'll do the disclaimer.
Sasuke: I just did the disclaimer for the first chapter of the 3-shot you started.
Me: So? Oh, read it btw. I'm writing a one-shot-turned-3-shot and I just posted the first chap. I was going to post the second, but I'm not done with it. I originally planned for it to be a sorta long one-shot in the first place, but it's TOO long now. I'm in the 2nd chapter with almost 9k+ words right now.
Sasuke: Anyway, Echo (one Epic Otakku Cherry's nicknames) doesn't own Naruto. If she did...what hadn't she said yet...Matsuri would have character development and screen time. She wouldn't be a fangirl but still like Gaara (read as "love Gaara") and Gaara would begin to fall for her. Who is this "Matsuri" anyway?
Me: I forgot you never met her. She was Gaara's student. She's a Chuunin, now.
Sasuke: Oh. Whatever.
Now scroll and read, my loves!
Chapter 8: What to do? Gaara vs. Lee!
Tenten POV
Shit. I'm so nervous… last time, Lee was in the hospital for months and wasn't thought to continue living after a surgery; much less survive the surgery itself. This time? I don't know. Do I stop it? Interfere? What do I do!
Temari POV
You know, pacing around like a crazy woman isn't going to help you. Kankuro looks at us like we're finally lost it and Shika-kun seems suspicious of us.
Inner? I thought I left you in the future!
Well honey, the future doesn't exist yet and I came along for the ride.
Great. Something else to deal with. Like Gaara nearly killing Lee wasn't enough.
Hey!
Shut up. I need to decide what to do. Do I interfere when it gets too rough or do I let it be?
Hey Sandy. What up?
Ino? Are you communicating with the others too?
Yeah. We decided, at latest, to interfere when Lee uses that Lotus that he used last time before his arm and leg were crushed. Forehead is going to punch the ground, creating a crater and dust cloud to distract him and you're going to blow some of the sand and dust away from Lee. Tenten and I are going to get Lee-kun out of there. We get back up to the stands while you try to keep Gaara from losing it and Sakura and Karin will heal Lee a little until Tenten comes back with the paramedics. Hopefully, Hayate-san will call the match off and I will tell him, anyway. Understand? Now watch, it's coming up soon. Kankuro, luckily is on the other side of the arena with Naruto, so he can't stop you.
Got it, Ino.
Good. See ya. Just act when you see Sakura go down.
Hai.
Now you aren't stressing yourself out on whether or not to interfere.
Whatev. Hadn't Lee already opened like the 3rd or 4th Gate by the time Gaara incapacitates him?
Incapacitate, huh? That's a nice way of putting it. But yeah. Hey, what's Sasuke doing here?
Sasu- what is he doing here? He should be unconscious and then Kakashi takes him to train until the very last minute of his match in the finals!
Yo, Tem. Seems like a little change here, Sasuke woke up and he's been watching since the beginning of my fight with Billboard Brow. I'm glad he heard my proclamation. I don't feel like repeating it. He also overheard the explanation of Neji's hatred. Knowing him, he's going to feel angry that he was beaten so quickly by Lee who's getting his ass whooped by Gaara. He'll feel power hungry and challenge Gaara if he can't wait until the finals. He can be such an ass sometimes. I think this was the time where Sasuke acts like a prick the most. He usually isn't this bad.
…You got all of that from Sakura didn't you?
How'd you know?
You don't know Sasuke that well. Much less the past Sasuke.
You're right. But I gotta go, Sakura's about to start!
Fuck! I turned to the railing, getting ready to jump in, not caring if someone noticed what my stance was for.
BAM!
That was her alright. Let's go!
One step ahead of you!
Normal POV
Gaara was surprised by the sudden flash of pink then the sudden cracks spreading across a portion of the concrete arena. He let go of his target and cleared the sand out of his way to see who or what the hell was interrupting his quest for blood.
After Sakura had mutilated the fighting arena, she made room for Hinata and Tenten to retrieve Lee and went back up to her place to the stands. Ignoring the shocked look of those near her and the slightly suspicious ones from Neji, Sasuke, Shikamaru and the sensei, she calmed herself down to store up her chakra to collect enough to heal Lee. She'll leave the rest to the paramedics; she only has enough chakra to make sure some of the injuries aren't permanently fatal. Unfortunately, time decided to crush Lee's arm and leg before Gaara did previously, so she acted as soon as that had happened.
"Sakura!" Tenten and Ino gently set Lee beside her and Ino tied the pinkette's hair up, as to not distract her. Said pinkette nodded her thanks, but by then, Ino was already was already heading to the proctor, who had just gotten out of shock from the unexpected events.
"Haruno," a voice whispered. Sakura looked up to find Karin smiling gently, trying to lift the mood. Sakura smiled, glad for the help.
"Lee-san, bite me. Now." The others at that side of the arena in the stands had gathered around the two girls and Lee, wondering what the hell was happening and whether or not they could trust this redhead from Grass. Sai was the only one not suspicious; he was only worried for Lee.
The green-wearing boy had fallen unconscious after his leg and arm were almost destroyed but still tried to fight. He had woken up when Sakura started healing him.
Ino joined in the healing session.
"W-what?" the slightly disoriented teen asked. Karin put her hand out again, above his mouth. "Bite. Or I'll make you. I'm not going to kill you." He was still doubtful.
"Please, Lee-kun. Just bite her arm; it's not going to hurt her or you." Sakura pleaded, trying to heal Lee's crushed leg. After hearing her, Lee bit into Karin's arm. She muffled a little sigh at the delicious sensation. (1)
The ones watching were astonished seeing green chakra flowing both from Sakura's hands into Lee and Karin's arm into Lee.
"T-thank you." Lee muttered around Karin's arm before falling into unconsciousness.
"What did you do to him!" demanded a worried Chouji.
"I think…that they're using medical ninjutsu. But I've never heard of the way the redhead's doing it. You see those bite marks on her arms and body? She's obviously done this before." Answered Kurenai, since the girls were too busy concentrating.
A couple minutes later, Sakura pulled away, panting. Ino did the same seconds later but fainted. "That's all the chakra I can give without completely depleting my reserves and killing myself *pant*" explained the pinkette for those who were wondering why she stopped. "Me *pant* too. Karin, how much do you have?"
"Not much." The Grass nin replied, taking her arm from Lee's mouth. "My jutsu isn't entirely complete, so it's not as great as it could've been. The way my healing works, it spreads to the whole body, and it won't heal those parts as sufficiently as your way of healing could have at this point. I can't necessarily concentrate it at a certain point, but I tried going for his internal organs and brain; where the gates are. If Hinata was here, we'd have her close them. The fact that he's unconscious makes healing him harder, since it's easier to heal while he's sucking the chakra, not me pushing it into him. Not to mention, my reserves are a little low from the Forest of Death and this takes up a lot."
"You did your best, Karin. Thanks." Sakura said, then fell unconscious next to Ino who went out during Karin's monologue.
Karin didn't fall unconscious, however. She picked Lee up as gently as she could and carried him to the paramedics that Tenten had brought in, putting him in their stretcher.
"We healed him partially, but he still needs serious help. Especially for his right leg and arm, internal organs, chakra gates and brain," She told the medics. They nodded then took them away.
She and Tenten turned to each other. They nodded in thanks and to signify that they're done with their part. Karin went to her place in the stands and Karin went back to hers next to Anko and the Hokage, who were staring at her with question in their eyes.
*To Temari and Gaara, minutes before*
"Gaara!" shouted Temari. "Stop! Now, stop this! Get a hold of yourself! The match is over, you can't continue!"
"This match *cough* is over, since Lee is unable to continue, given his… *cough* state…Gaara of the Sand wins. *cough*" Announced their proctor, after Ino had snapped him out of the shocked stupor he was in.
"See! Gaara, take control! Don't let him rule you! You'll have your thirst quenched at a different time! If you continue *grunt* now, you'll be disqualified." Temari was trying to calm down Gaara or knock him out. Not that he'll be happy when he wakes up, but right now, Shukaku is trying to get out. Temari was also trying to blow away or block the sand coming at her from Gaara. She wasn't doing very well.
"Temari? What the hell do you think you're doing!" Shrieked Kankuro as he jumped down to help his sister calm down their almost-out-of-control brother.
"Dressing up like a pretty, pink princess! I'm stopping him, Wood-For-Brains! Now help me!" She responded. He snarled but helped nonetheless.
Finally, their efforts seemed to work. Gaara was now, more or less, calm.
"…Kankuro?" asked Gaara in that rough voice of his.
"…Yes?" His older brother said warily. He wasn't sure if Gaara was going to kill him or not.
"I'm fine now. Let. Me. Go. Now." Reassured, Kankuro let Gaara go from the bind that he had Crow hold him in.
"I'm satisfied for now." And with that, the redheaded shorty (a/n: I think short people are cute. No offense to short people, please) ventured up the stairs to his previous place in the stands, ignoring the frightened or astonished expressions of the others around him.
Temari sighed, huffing from exhaustion. "Well. That went a whole lot better than I thought it would."
And with that statement, she wiped sweat off her brow and calmly walked back up to the stairs.
…On the opposite side of the arena that she was before.
When the rookies and sensei gave her an inquisitive and questionable glance, she merely shrugged and said in a small voice. "I think I'll stay with you guys for a while. You seem…sane enough." She scooted a little closer to Shikamaru; not that he really noticed or cared, but the newly awakened Ino and Sakura did. They barely hid a smirk; and Ino a snicker.
"*cough cough* Well…that was an interesting match. Uh, Dosu Kinuta of the Sound and Chouji Akimichi of the Leaf; you're up next." When they arrived, Hayate started the match. "You may begin."
And so began what I like to call, a "curbstomp battle".
(a/n: check it out on this website I love: /Main/CurbStompBattle)
As Tenten watched, she commented at the end. "Now that is what I call a 'curbstomp'. Poor guy; the fight barely lasted a 2 minutes."
Neji looked at her, eyebrow raised. "Have you been on that TV Tropes website again?"
She looked down, embarrassed that Neji figured it out so quickly. "Yes." She muttered softly. He merely sighed, then asked. "Where's Gai-sensei?"
"He was frozen when we went to rescue Lee, and then went after the paramedics to check up on him. Poor sensei; I don't doubt he's blaming myself for this."
Kakashi sighed. "That would be just like him. But I've never seen him look that…solemn and sad before. I know he's going to beat himself up for this; it wouldn't surprise me if he did it literally."
Asuma, saying the first thing he's said for a couple chapters…said, "Look! He's coming back."
Everyone turned to him, wondering what has come for the fate of the young man that had begun to grow on them, whether or not they'd admit it.
Noticing no one was going to say anything and that Gai looked that he wasn't even paying attention, Sai said "Well? What's going to happen to Lee?"
Gai snapped his head back up, and looked surprised and like he never noticed that they were all there. "H-huh? O-oh… the medics…said…said..."
"Said what! Spit it out, man! You're kinda killing us here!" Naruto shouted, losing his patience.
At the word "killing", Gai flinched, and then looked even gloomier than he was before.
"That doesn't seem good…" Everyone, (more or less) thought.
"The medics said…"
(1): Whenever she does Heal Bite, she always moans. On Narutopedia, it says she apparently feels very...good doing it. No idea why, but she does. I thought it was only because it was Sasuke biting her when she did it, since we've only seen Sasuke bite her. But thank God that's not it.
Ooh! Cliffy!
It's a good thing you'll only have to wait 2 days for the next chapter. But by then, I expect at least 1 review, or I won't update.
You hear? So review this and read my 3-shot! And review that, too!
