Chapter Five

Courage? What a Drag!

Sakura blinked in surprise. The woods around them had gotten darker and creepier. When had that happened? Her attention had been focused on trying to explain the true situation to Sasuke, an exercise in frustration that had gained her nothing. Much like Naruto, the Uchiha remembered and recognized his teammates, but couldn't explain how he had gotten to the center of the clearing. When queried about how long he had been stuck there, silence was her only answer. He also continued to refuse to use the sharingon. In the end, Sakura had dropped the subject, not wanting to further distance Sasuke.

Unfortunately, since she was the only one who was aware of the genjutsu, she was also the only one paying attention to their surroundings, a duty she had been rather lax on since the handsome, raven-haired object of her affection had joined the group. Her teal eyes narrowed as she rectified the situation. It was quiet in this section of the forest; no sounds of birds or beasts, only the forlorn rustling of the tree's leaves. Their own sandaled feet made no noise as they traveled down the yellow dirt path. The canopy was thick here too; hiding away the cheerful sun and its brightness behind a dense lattice work of leaves and branches. It was almost intimidating.

Still, Sakura wasn't a simple farm girl from Kansas; she was a trained shinobi. And their guide, Pakkun, wasn't a yippy little terrier prone to getting into trouble; he too was trained in the ways of the ninja. Although he had yet to talk, Sakura still trusted the instincts of her sensei's favorite dog. Thus far he had given no indication of danger about them, and unlike her, he hadn't been distracted by the newest member of the group. His head was up, alertly moving from side to side as he tested the air on both sides of the path. His ears, despite being folded over, also twitched this way and that. The breeze that whispered and rustled its way through the canopy also found its way down to earth, flippantly playing with the small cape that the dog wore. A larger dog probably would have looked heroic: leading the way alertly while a cape flew from around his neck. On the short pug-mix, though, the effect just made him look cute; an observation that Sakura wisely kept to herself.

Naruto's blond head whipped from side to side as he glared into the depths of the murky forest. "Hey! It sure is quiet here!" he stated loudly. "What kind of animals do you think live in a place like this?"

"Oh, you know, probably blood leaches, and giant centipedes, and snakes." Sasuke answered with a smirk. "You aren't scared, are you?"

"Who? Me? No way! My name is Naruto Uzamaki and I'm going to be the greatest scare-ninja ever!"

Sakura leveled a glare at him. "Then how about keeping it down and acting a little more stealthy, Mr. Scare-ninja."

"Humph," the blond pouted. "Sasuke started it."

The sound of a snapping branch off in the woods silenced them all. They froze in position, listening. Only Pakkun paid it no mind, pausing in his forward motion to give the group of youngsters a look that expressed volumes. Then he continued on. Sakura breathed out and shook her head. She couldn't help but feel a rush of anger, directed mainly at the blond. Sasuke was simply too cute to be mad at for long. Still, she felt like bonking them both. She had enough problems without them bickering like children.

Glancing sideways as them followed after Pakkun, the kunoichi noticed that Naruto's hand hovered over his shuriken holster. Remembering a time when he had almost decapitated a bunny in his eagerness to prove himself, the strawberry-haired girl sought to calm him down before the hyperactive ninja could repeat the episode.

"Naruto, Sasuke was just kidding… Right, Sasuke? There are probably just a few rabbits and squirrels living in these woods."

And one lion, I mustn't forget that. Sakura was paying close attention to her surroundings now; this was where the fourth member of the group was supposed to show up by jumping out and threatening the dog. As they kept walking, the anticipation was killing her. It had to happen soon.

Any minute now… Any minute now…

Nothing happened. Sakura was beginning to think that the story was going to continue without a lion at all when Pakkun came to a sudden stop. He started sniffing the air on the side of the path and then bolted into a bush. Before Team Seven could react, a loud yell echoed out.

"Ow! Ow! Get this mutt off of me," a familiar voice yelled as another boy came crashing out of the bushes and onto the path. Shaggy black hair bound back in a short pony-tail, small silver hoop earrings adorning each ear, and Pakkun dangling from one hand: Shikamaru looked none the worse for wear as he eyed the group on the path.

"Oh, it's you guys. What a drag."

"Shikamaru!" Sakura snapped an accusatory finger out at him. "You were just going to let us walk by without saying a word; weren't you?"

The pony-tailed chunin of Cell Ten grimaced as he pulled on Pakkun's cheek, trying to get him to let go. "Well, yeah. I was all settled in and comfortable. Why would I want to change that?" The pug-mix finally let go; Shikamaru sighed as he regarded the slobber on his hand. "Man, what a pain."

Sakura's pink eyebrows furrowed down. The lion of the story was supposed to be cowardly; something that she knew Shikamaru was not. Instead, he was about the laziest person in their graduating class. Lazy… cowardly; eh, it was close enough. She was actually kind of glad to see him. Like her, the dark-haired member of Ino's team could break genjutsu. Maybe together they could end this farce. That is, if she could manage to motivate him to help her.

Sakura opened her mouth to speak, pausing when she noticed Shikamaru staring at something behind her. Turning her head, she too stared.

"Sasuke, man, what are you doing?" the newcomer asked.

"It's called 'Downward Facing Dog."

Sasuke's sandaled feet were pressed firmly against the path. His hands were the same. Bent at an angle slightly more acute than ninety degrees at the waist, he looked like an inverted letter 'v'. Sakura felt her mouth go a little slack. The highest point on his body was now his posterior, and the way he was bent over had drawn his normally loose shorts tight against the perfect curves of his ass.

"Uh, Sakura? You have a little bit of drool…" Naruto pointed at her face.

The kunoichi blushed as pink as her tresses, quickly averting her eyes from the Konoha heartthrob as she wiped her mouth. Shikamaru, an outsider to Cell Seven, was eyeing them all as if they had gone insane. Sakura gave him the edited version of what had happened up to this point: her encounter with Kurei, the Fairy Tale Jutsu, and the story that they were all trapped in, including the roles Naruto and Sasuke were playing. She hoped that he at least wouldn't give her the same blank look that her teammates had when she had tried to explain it to them. The look he gave her was bored instead of blank, with his eyes half-shut by the time she had reached the end of her narrative.

He gave a jaw-cracking yawn and a stretch before asking her, "What story are we trapped in again?"

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It's a children's book; spawned a popular movie… come on, Shikamaru, everyone knows it."

"I don't read books; it's too much of a bother. All those pages and words…" the boy's voice trailed off. "And television, what a drag. It's a big waste of time. I'd rather watch the clouds drift by… or the leaves dance in the wind…" His voice trailed off again and he stared upward at the interlaced network of branches and leaves that sheltered the path from the sun's light.

Sakura waited, her impatience mounting as he stared off into space for a long couple of moments. "All right, fine," she said abruptly, dragging his attention back to earth. "You may not know what this story is about, but you are aware that it is genjutsu; right? Don't bother to deny it because I know you can break genjutsu just as well as I can."

The pony-tailed ninja stuck a pinky finger in his ear, tweaking it back and forth. "Gee, you're loud," he muttered. Before Inner Sakura could react to the infuriatingly dead pan tone, he continued on. "Asuma promised he would play ten games of my choosing with me if I went into the woods and waited. When the genjutsu activated, I didn't see any point in trying to break it, so I laid back and watched the leaves dance. It was nice and peaceful until you guys showed up. Now you're telling me I'm supposed to go off on some quest with you? What a pain. Thanks, but no thanks. The genjutsu will go away by itself when the caster runs out of chakra. Why exert myself unnecessarily? You guys can jump through your sensei's hoops if you want to; Asuma should know better by now."

"Our sensei's hoops? What do you mean?"

Shikamaru heaved a sigh that seemed to come from the bottoms of his feet; he gave her a look that suggested that he saw little difference in the intelligence level between her and Naruto. "You mean you haven't figured it out yet? First your sensei sends you on a supposedly simple mission, without your teammates. Then this Kurei, who is hypothetically an ally of Konoha, unreasonably traps you in a jutsu with no other apparent goal than to make you play a role in some sort of fantasy tale. Finally, your missing teammates just so happen to be caught in the same jutsu, as well as me, who was deliberately sent here by Asuma. This is some sort of stupid test; what other conclusion can be drawn?"

Sakura blinked; in all honest, although the circumstances had seemed peculiar, it wasn't something she had considered before. So much for being the analytical one of the group. She gave a partially embarrassed glance towards her teammates. Naruto was standing there with his head cocked to one side, his face scrunched up as he tried to process Shikamaru's words. Sasuke had finished 'Downward Facing Dog'. Apparently caring nothing about the situation, he was now in a different yoga position.

Sakura sighed; Stupid, stupid master Kakashi! Shikamaru's words made sense. Why should she walk around, babysitting her two befuddled comrades? She felt the familiar stirrings of strong disappointment, not only at herself for not recognizing the circumstances for what they were, but also because Shikamaru's calm, logical words had eliminated the significance of the situation. For once, she had seemed to be the important one, but it was all an illusion. A voice disturbed her inner musings.

"Huh? What was that?" she asked.

Ino's pony-tailed teammate sighed. Clearly, repeating himself was on the very long list of things he found tiresome. "Not that I care or anything, but what role are you playing… in this story, I mean."

"Oh, I'm 'Dorothy'. I'm the main character." Sakura's teal-green eyes opened wide. That's right; Dorothy was the main character in 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.' The story began and ended with her. The young kunoichi realized why Shikamaru's revelation had disappointed her so; for once, she was the lead character, not a background player. So what if it was only a test? It meant that someone had found her worthy of being tested. Her: not the last of the Uchihas or the chakra-strong prankster of Konoha. For once it was all about her.

The befuddlement of her teammates was testament to that. She couldn't hide behind Sasuke's brilliance or Naruto's seemingly unlimited strength. Even the inclusion of Shikamaru was safe; he was so un-ambitious that he wouldn't purposefully outshine anyone. Sakura suddenly felt like giving him a hug. So this was a test. Well, she was excellent at taking tests and she had the advantage of knowing the material. This was going to be a breeze! All she had to do now was convince Shikamaru to come with them to the Emerald City. The lazy bum seemed dead set against moving from this spot; Sakura wondered how his platinum blond teammate managed to motive him. Of course, Ino was a lot brassier than Sakura could ever be.

"Shikamaru, I've come to a decision. We are going to the Emerald City and you are coming with us."

The slacker smirked a little. "No way. Why should I care about some test that isn't even about me?"

"You are playing the role of the cowardly lion; you have to come."

"Uh, no."

"Yes!"

"Not a chance."

Sakura felt her inner warrior begin to bare her teeth. How did Ino put up with this guy? Her brain started working overtime, dredging up the little bits of information she knew about Shikamaru and reviewing the section of the story that they were trapped in. Her own smirk emerged.

"Sic him, Toto!"

Pakkun needed no further encouragement. He launched himself into the air, biting firmly back down on Shikamaru's hand.

"Ow! Ow! Fine, I'll go with you. Just call off your dog!"

Sakura complied. The Cell Ten ninja shook the dog drool off his hand, a disgusted look on his face. "What a drag. Man, I hate pushy women."

A giggle was Sakura's only response.