I'm so happy to be re-editing this story. I think I'm making it much better than it was the first time around. It's been like; a year since I started this, and I can't believe how much my writing style has changed.
I hope that it's getting better. I think I may be able to finish is it soon. I've already decided what the last three chapters will be called. Be proud of me. X3
The story itself has developed and changed. I am angry that I chose Luffy for my OC's name. I went back and changed it. Her look and her name.
Main Pair: Naruto/Sakura
Secondary Pair: Sasuke/OC
Featured Pairs: Ino/Shikamaru, Temari/TenTen, Neji/Hinata
Mentioned Pairs: Asuma/Kurenai, Jiraiya/Tsunade
Warnings:If you consider NejiHina incest, then there's incest. And if you consider yuri bad, then there's some TemaTen. So suck it up. There's a little language and some light sexual humor. *faux gasp*
Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
Fiction & Shikai Kana © LuffyKun3695
Chapter 3: Trapping Love
The Next Afternoon…
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke showed up in the woods outside the village where they had their first exam with Kakashi. He had advised them to be there at noon exactly, only this time they were allowed to have breakfast beforehand. It was a slightly cloudy day. The kind where all of the clouds blend together in a sea of gray and the sun is barely visible from behind the sheen of solid gray.
Kana was seated on the ground when they arrived. She was picking pieces of grass and ripping them in half with her fingers. There was a pile of ripped grass clippings next to her. When Sasuke spotted her, Naruto was sure he could see his face turn ever-so-slightly pinker.
The black haired girl pushed herself up off the ground and greeted Sakura with a firm hug. Sakura was taken aback, but did not push her away. What an odd thing to do to someone you just met the day before…
"Hello," Sakura hugged her back skeptically. Naruto eyed them questionably. Sakura spotted him watching her. He looked away blushing. Kana broke away from Sakura and turned to look at Naruto and Sasuke. A small smile drifted across her features momentarily and a single eyebrow rose toward her hairline slightly.
"This is him, eh?" Her grin widened as her eyes focused on Naruto. She wiggled her eyebrows at Sakura, whose eyes widened with embarrassment. Kana's eyes shot back to Naruto. He looked at her with confusion in his eyes. "Hey," Kana held out her hand to Naruto. "I'm Shikai Kana." Naruto took her hand, the slightly rough material of her fingerless gloves rubbed against his palms. She pumped his arm up and down. Sasuke felt another unfamiliar wave of emotion wash over him… jealousy.
"I'm—"
"—Naruto." Kana finished for him, grinning. "I read minds, it's the Shikai Clan's bloodline limit." She added, pointing to her headband's symbol of clouds. Sasuke squirmed, what if she could tell?
Kana turned to Sasuke, and smiled. "Good afternoon, Uchiha Sasuke." Her voice was low and enticing. He blushed visibly. Sakura stared at his reddening cheeks with shock. Suddenly, her Inner-Self resurfaced. She was angrier than ever.
"What's wrong with you? Why aren't you jealous? Sasuke's obviously in love with that girl!"Her Inner-Self asked.
"Haven't you been paying attention? What kind of Inner-Self are you? I'm in love with Naruto-Kun, I think. Sasuke just, doesn't do it for me anymore. I want Kana to have him. That way, she'll stay away from Naruto-Kun."
"I see... then why don't you do something about it?"
"Like…?"
"Like tell him! Tell him how you feel."
"Okay, okay."
Sakura smiled to herself. Naruto glanced at her in just enough time to catch her in her private grin. What an incredible smile, he thought to himself. He smiled back and Sakura realized he was looking. She jolted and blushed, Sakura hadn't realized she was smiling!
"YO!" Kakashi's voice rang out through the trees. The four ninjas jumped, not one of them had been on guard. Not a single one had sensed him at all, an embarrassing rarity for at least one of the team members. Kakashi hopped down from a nearby branch, his visible eye crinkled up in a smile.
Kana was the only one who responded. "Hey!" she beamed, "I'm—"
"I know, I was told by the Lady Tsunade that you'd be joining us." Kakashi smiled down at the kunoichi, who stared back up at him with matched confidence in her stance, an identical grin plastered on her round cheeks. "Welcome Kana-San. I am your team leader, my name is—"
"—Kakashi-Sensei." Kana smirked. She shot a glance at her teammates that would have made the grim reaper shiver.
"Okay…" Kakashi continued, a little shaken up. "On a mission a person has to eat, no?" none of them answered, but nodded respectfully; "Which if you're Naruto, means that you have to eat A LOT!" Sakura giggled and Naruto blushed deeply. "Glad to see someone thinks I'm funny! Anyway, we're going to make simple rope traps. Similar to the one I trapped Naruto in on the day of our first fight…twice." More giggles, more blushing. Kakashi grinned.
"So, shall we begin?" Kakashi asked. They nodded acknowledgement, "I'll put you in boy/girl pairs. How about Naruto and Kana be a pair and Sakura and Sasuke are the other?" He finished to find four upset ninjas. They were horrible actors, desperately trying to hide the fact that they were upset. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, What have I missed? Sakura was in love with Sasuke, wasn't she? I might need to keep up on this…
Kakashi handed them pieces of cheese for their traps. The young ninjas separated into their groups of two and Kakashi threw ropes at them. Sasuke caught his and Sakura's expertly, but Naruto tripped over his and Kana's. Until finally, Kana grabbed it inconspicuously and handed it to him, whispering "Smooth. That'll attract her." she winked, Naruto blushed fiercely.
"Okay," Kakashi said loudly and Kana and Naruto turned to face him. "Both groups take separate trees there and there." He indicated two large trees that were out of earshot of one another. Perfect. the silver haired Jonin thought to himself; he wanted to stem conversation so that he could better understand the situation. Kakashi was much smarter than his choice in reading materials let on.
Kakashi gave them a simple set of directions and they separated and went to their respected trees. The four quickly set to work and began to chat absently amongst themselves.
- 0 -
Kana & Naruto…
Kana turned to Naruto, her hands were moving but her eyes remained fixed on the blonde beside her. He continued to work without noticing her at first, but then he slowly became blatantly aware of her gaze. As time went on, he began to grow uneasy. He looked up at her.
"What?" he asked cautiously. She smiled a beautiful, yet sinister smile that sent chills up down his spine.
"Hon," she began, Naruto raised an eyebrow. How informal, calling him hon after they had just met. She spotted this, "Naruto-Kun." She corrected herself with a more formal, although still playful suffix. "Do you wanna talk about it? We've all been there." He gasped, she knew…
Of course she knew! He snarled at himself, she said she could read minds!
"Don't worry! I won't tell her." She reassured him, lightly patting his back. "But I suggest you do because if you don't tell her quick, she could get snatched away by someone else. Like that boy with the eyebrows that look like he drew them in with a marker!" she giggled and despite himself, Naruto did as well. She was actually sort of funny.
"His name's Lee." Naruto told her, "He likes Sakura. The trouble is that she's got a HUGE crush on Sasuke, but he's totally infatuated with—" He stopped himself. He couldn't do that to Sasuke. He didn't know why he couldn't. Usually, he would jump at the opportunity to humiliate Sasuke, but not today, not now. Not after what happened at Ichiraku.
Kana smiled again, "I loved someone too, you know." She told him, her voice fell low. Naruto looked up at her to find that her violet eyes had grown somber. He waited for her to tell her story, but she didn't and he didn't push.
They were silent for a time…
The rest of the time they had to work they talked very little, but never about love. They were preoccupied, fumbling with their 'trap' which looked like a pile of frayed yarn around a hunk of cheese, or rather a bit, since Naruto and Kana couldn't help but nibble at it.
- 0 -
Sometime later, Kakashi called to the groups. "Okay! All done?" he asked and received catcalls of acknowledgement, "Come here and let me inspect them." He marked his page in Ichi Ichi Paradise by folding the corner over in a dog ear and pocketing the small novel.
Naruto and Kana turned to walk back to Kakashi. They put their feet forward at the same time… into their trap.
FWOOSH!
The mangled trap snatched their feet and swung them into the air. Naruto and Kana clutched each other for dear life as they swung high enough to loop the tree and fall down, only to be yanked back with a jerk. The trauma finished with them swaying lightly, upside down.
Naruto sighed and whispered to Kana, "This is the third time this has happened to me." She giggled and flashed the peace sign to the onlookers to let them know that both she and Naruto were okay. She pushed her headband back up her upside down nose. Her cheeks reddened as the blood rushed to her head.
Then came the giggles. Sakura laughed until her sides hurt, Naruto was so CUTE! She clutched her hips and Sasuke looked at Kana oddly.
Normally, Sasuke would glare. When Naruto did this stupid stuff it was just plain annoying, but when Kana did, it was cute. Sasuke confused himself. He had emotions and he didn't like them.
"Well, wow… you two are just plain brilliant." Kakashi said sarcastically, unable to hide his smile from his students. "Can you get yourselves out?"
"Can do," Kana replied; she tugged a kunai from her pouch, it glinted in the light as she sliced the rope. She and Naruto fell to the ground in a giggling heap. Naruto stood up first and pulled Kana up. They grinned at Kakashi and walked to stand next to Sasuke and Sakura.
"I say we did well." Kana grinned. "We managed to trap two idiots. She picked the cheese from the trap off the ground and began to nibble it, still beaming.
Kakashi smiled back. "It would seem that you did. Good job." He glanced at Sasuke and Sakura's trap. "I think you both did well too." He gestured to Sasuke and Sakura, "I trust you a lot more than these two." Kana and Naruto rolled their eyes at one another. Sakura beamed, making Naruto's legs go weak. "How about I treat you to a bowl of ramen each?"
"YES!" Naruto shouted, hopping onto Kakashi's back "I love you Kakashi-Sensei!" He clung to Kakashi's shoulders until he fell over.
"I really don't think you're my type…"