"Ugh, why did I need to drink?" Gaara cursed his brother for his idea. He rolled out of bed with a major headache. Luckily he had already put painkillers and a bottle of water on his bedside table.
"Ow." Sakura whimpered into her pillow. Her head hurt so much. There came a soft knock from the door. Even though the knock was soft it felt like it was drilling into her scull. Rolling out of bed noticing she was still in the bathing suit from the day before she opened the door slowly, conscience of the sun shining in the room from underneath the door. A grumpy looking red head greeted her.
"Get up, the guys want to play some Wii and they need another player." Gaara said in way of greeting as he handed her a controller.
"What game?" she asked as she walked into her walk in closet.
"Table tennis." Gaara said leaning against the doorframe of her room. He knew he would get into a lot of trouble if he went into her room without permission, with a few extra bruises.
"I'm not very good at it." Sakura's voice carried out of the closet.
"You don't have to be if you don't mind losing. You're playing with Shikamaru." Gaara said by way of explanation.
"Fine." Sakura said as she exited her closet and walk out the door leaving behind Gaara who was still leaning against the doorframe.
Gaara sighed to himself as he pushed of the doorframe with a shoulder. 'Better go see Hinata.'
When he made it to Hinata's room, he found her already up.
"Hinata?" He asked from her entryway.
She spun around quickly with a quiet squeak. "Gaara!" she brought her hands up to hide half her face, like usual.
Gaara took in her attire with a quick glance. She was wearing a one-piece swimsuit with her oversized hoodie.
"Come on. It's time for our second date." Gaara nodded his head out of her bedroom and moved to the side to allow her to exit.
She walked by him quickly with her head down in respect. "Where are we going? Do I need shoes?" She asked as she waited for him to lead the way.
"No, we're just going to the beach." Gaara said walking in front of Hinata.
On their way to the beach, they passed the living room to find it packed with everyone else except Matsuri. Gaara and Hinata walked quickly through the double French doors to get to the beach. Gaara picked a direction and Hinata followed in silence. Finally Hinata's curiosity got the better of her ingrained manners.
"So, um, how did Sakura get you to talk?" Hinata's voice barely carried over the sound of the waves.
"She punched me, and screamed at me for messing up her life." Gaara thought back to that incident, not three days before, and was in shock at how the riled up Sakura got him to talk.
"Sh-she hit you?" Hinata asked amazed that Sakura hadn't been thrown out on her butt for insubordination.
"Yeah, but for some reason I don't dislike her for it." Gaara said quietly, his forehead furrow in a way she knew to be a thoughtful expression.
"So," Hinata paused working the question around in her head. "Do you like her better than us?"
"I like her better than Matsuri." Gaara thought about how he should answer her question. "You and Sakura are trading first place." Gaara looked out at the sea giving himself some time to think.
They continued on in silence, gently strolling along the sun-warmed beach.
"Have any of the other girls made it this far?" Hinata broke the soft silence.
"No." Gaara said kicking sand.
Sensing she would not be getting anything more without enragement she ventured to ask a probing question. "Why did Sakura and I pass the first date? What made us so special? Or," She continued after thinking better of her question "Was it because your father forced a girl on you?"
"It wasn't particularly that my father forced a girl on me. The three of you were all right. Each of you has something unique that doesn't make me want to throttle you in your sleep." Gaara shrugged his shoulders at her questioning glance. "I don't know how else to explain it. Tenten would have throttled me back, Sakura would have found a way to revive herself so she could hit me upside the head for killing her, and you, you're to quite that no one would have noted your passing." Gaara stopped abruptly and turned around. "Lets head back. I don't want to talk anymore."
"Alright Gaara." Hinata agreed quietly, also turning.
Meanwhile back at the mansion.
"Fuck!" The shout echoed through the halls for the servant ears to hear. "Bitch!"
"Maybe we really should do something." The Butler said. "I'm sure if the three of us go no one will get fired."
"Alright but if they want to know whose idea it was to go snooping I'm ratting you out." The Cook said as he pushed the Butler into the lead position.
"Hitome, be nice." The nice servant chided as she followed the two males. They followed the screaming to Temari's door.
"Shit!" The shout came again.
"Alright on three we open the door." Hitome, the Cook whispered to his companions. The Butler and nice servant nodded back their agreement. With his finger the Butler counted down. One…He reached for the doorknob. Two…He twisted the doorknob. Three… The Butler flung open the door to reveal two tangled female bodies in the heat of passion. The one with dark brown hair rolled her head back and cursed again loudly. The nice servant is the first to recover and she quickly closes the door before Temari noticed the open door and three observers.
"Um… Alright." Hitome blinked a few times looking like he was trying to wake up out of a dream.
"That puts the raping theory to the chopping block." The Butler said before turning around and promptly heading back the way they came.
"Agreed." The nice servant said as she followed suit. "Let's all agree never to talk of this."
There were agreements from both males as they went back to there own business as the screaming continued into the night.
When they arrived back at the house they found Lee, Kankuro, and Sakura playing an intense tennis match on the Wii. Shikamaru had moved on to play solitaire at the card table. Lee was waving his controller around like a child who didn't get the concept of how to work the controller. Kankuro had an unusual concentration about him as he played, grunting softly as he swung. Sakura was bouncing from foot to foot looking like she was actually in the court and not in the middle of a living room.
'Hun, Guess I could have expected that.' Gaara thought looking at the competitors. Sakura was offering the others a run for there money. 'She is quite the determined girl.'
Gaara leaned against the wall watching the trio play. He let his mind wonder to what he had to do. 'I wonder how much longer Matsuri will hang in for?' He watched as Hinata went and sat beside Shikamaru to watch him play. Matsuri stumbled into the room looking like road-kill as she searched the cabinets in the kitchen. 'Doesn't look like the guys helped her out with her hangover.' Gaara let his eyes roam over her body as he moved. His brows knitted together watching her movements. He shifted his gaze to Sakura then to Hinata then back to Matsuri. 'Matsuri moves like she's scared and her limbs are moved clumsily. Sakura moves like she's confident and knows how to fight. Hinata moves gently but with a certain grace that speaks of power.' He tilted his head as he considered the three girls. 'It looks like Hinata's personality and Matusuri's should be switched with the others body movements.' Pushing himself off the wall he walked over to Kankuro.
"Kankuro?" Gaara's voice came out smooth.
"Hang on." Kankuro said with a grunt as he swung.
Gaara watched as the game finished with Sakura winning. He watched as his brother look at his boyfriend with his eyes narrowed, before he turned to face Gaara.
"What's up?" Kankuro said as he put his controller away.
Nodding his head toward the door leading out to the beach Gaara started walking towards it. He listened as Kankuro excused himself from another game before he followed.
"I'll repeat myself, what's up?" Kankuro asked as he caught up to Gaara who was standing next to a pole for volleyball.
"Is there a dojo or other place we could spar safely around here?" Gaara asked letting his gaze shift back to the house as he let his plan form.
"Yeah, there's a dojo run by a friend of Leelee's not far from here. Why?" Kankuro asked raising an eyebrow.
"I have a plan." Gaara said walking back towards the house.
"Okay?" Kankuro said as he followed his younger brother back into the house. When Kankuro got back to the house he saw that everyone was gone except Gaara.
"We're going to take them sightseeing." Gaara said turning to look at Kankuro. "With our destination the dojo, but they don't know that."
"Hold on, time out." Kankuro made a T with his hands. "Why are you taking the girls to a dojo? Especially Shy Girl."
"The only one who would probably get their ass handed to them is Matsuri." Gaara said as he walked off to his room.
Shrugging his shoulders Kankuro expected his brother to explain himself when he was ready. He went to get himself ready for the outing.
When Kankuro pulled the car up outside of the dojo the girls went ballistic. A chorus of female voices rose at once.
"Why did you take us here?"
"What are you trying to get at?"
"When did you decide to fight us?"
"Do not worry girls." Lee's voice rose above the clamor in the back of the car. "The Sensei here is excellent. You do not have reason to fear."
"God, just shut up you loud ass." Matsuri retorted back and kicked the back of his seat for good measure.
Kankuro couldn't help but smirk at Lee. "Come on, Gaara wanted to show you this place for a reason."
Everyone piled out of the car. They all made their way to enter the building and the air-conditioned room.
When Gaara saw the Sensei all he saw was green and orange. Then as his eyes took in the face as well he had to lean over to Kankuro.
"This is a friend of Lee's and not his Father?" Gaara said barely a whisper.
"I've found it goes a lot easier if you just go with things when they concern Leelee." Kankuro answered just as quietly.
"Right." Gaara leaned away from Kankuro as Lee and the Sensei approached.
"This is Gai Sensei." Lee introduced his look alike.
"Hello, My name is Gaara, I was wondering if you could teach us some defensive moves." Gaara said shaking the man's hand.
"I would be delighted to teach all of you youthful people, youthful moves, to protect your youthful selves." Gai struck a pose that had both Kankuro and Gaara raising their eyebrows at. "Please follow me to the training room area."
The group of teens followed the man in green spandex. Lee was happily chatting away with the man leaving the rest of the group to there own discussions.
"Why do we have to do this?" Matsuri asked turning to Gaara.
"If you are going to be my bride, you'll need to be able to protect yourself." Gaara said.
"But isn't protecting your wife suppose to be your job and not that of your own wife?" Matsuri countered.
"What if Gaara is busy fighting two guys and a third sneaks up behind you, you'll have to protect yourself. Why not get some free lessons on defense while you can?" Kankuro shrugged. He was starting to get where Gaara was going with this.
"Shut your mouth piece up, Kankuro." Matsuri bit back.
Gaara and Kankuro shared a look, Kankuro one of surprise and Gaara one of annoyance.
"Lee, would you do me the honor of helping me." Gai said as the teens started to line up in front of him in the training room.
"Yes, I would be very honored." Lee said stepping up to Gai's side.
"Now the most important part of this is learning to fall properly." Gai Sensei explained.
"Ow." Matsuri complained sitting down in the van.
"I cannot believe you could throw Lee like that." Kankuro ignored Matsuri's complaint.
"I-It's not that big of a deal. My father insisted I practice every day." Hinata said settling into her own seat.
"You should be proud of your accomplishment today Hinata." Lee said buckling his seatbelt.
"Shikamaru should be praised as well." Hinata said trying to get the attention off of her.
"We already know he can throw his weight around when he's not too lazy." Kankuro said backing up out of the parking lot.
"The only one who got a real beating was Matsuri." Sakura added from the back seat.
"Shut up. You don't seem to be affected by the alcohol from last night." Matsuri bit out as they hit a pothole.
"At least I can hold my alcohol better than you." Sakura snorted.
"Where did you learn to fight like that Sakura?" Lee asked. "You were able to keep up with Gaara."
"Well, I never lived in the most cozy of places as I grew up. You had to learn how to fight if you wanted to get by without to much trouble." Sakura shrugged at Hinata's concerned look.
"If you ever decide that you do not want to be a doctor you have a sound future in fighting." Lee said not getting the undertone of what Sakura said.
"How did you even get picked?" Matsuri sneered. "Hinata I get, she was raised with riches and socialization. I know how I was picked. But you, you were raised in what sounds like, the slums."
Shikamaru had to quickly restrain Sakura from reaching Matsuri.
"Bitch, let me go Shika, I'll only strangle her a little I promise." Sakura growled.
"Oh look, the beast has awoken." Matsuri said flippantly.
"Stop." Shikamaru growled to Sakura, before he ground out behind clenched teeth, "Shut up Mousy." To Matsuri
"Why does Hinata get to be called by her real name?" Matsuri pouted.
"Let me go, I'll just hurt her a little." Sakura growled struggling against Shikamaru.
"Just a little longer Shika." Kankuro said looking in the mirror.
"If you touch me Gaara will have to throw your slut ass out." Matsuri sneered.
"No, I don't." Gaara said.
"But that's ridiculous." Matsuri protested. "You can't have your girls fighting each other."
Gaara shrugged his good shoulder as Sakura's growls got louder. Sakura had helped him get acquainted to the training mat with his other shoulder.
"Let me go and I can let her practice her new defensive moves." Sakura spit in Shikamaru's face.
The van that the teens were using screeched to a halt in the driveway. "I'd run if I were you Mousy." Kankuro said as he cut the engine.
"Why?" Matsuri asked but didn't need an answer as Sakura finally got Shikamaru off of her. "Shit." Matsuri swore as she scrambled to get her seatbelt undone and out of the parked car.
Matsuri got two steps away from the van before Sakura was on her and began beating her to a pulp. Lee was the first one to get to the fighting girls. When he tried to pull Sakura off of Matsuri he got a bloody nose for his troubles. Kankuro was close behind and together they pull Sakura off by both of her shoulders. They pined her to the ground for her to cool off.
Matsuri was curled in on herself protecting her head. Shikamaru and Gaara were the last to get out of the car because they had to maneuver around Hinata's stunned form. Gaara squatted down next to Matsuri's crumpled form.
"I think you shouldn't stay here. You can go home." Gaara said dismissively.
"B-But you're going to marry me." Matsuri whispered looking up at him.
Shaking his head at Matsuri's tear streaked face. "No, I'm not." Gaara said getting back up to his feet.
"Yes you are. What do I have to do to please you?" Matsuri had grabbed his pant leg.
"Leave." Gaara said simply. "You constantly try to please me. You cannot fight to save your life. Your voice irritates me. I do not want you." Gaara pulled away from Matsuri's slackened grip. Gaara walked up towards the house.
"Harsh." Shikamaru whispered as Gaara passed him.
"Troublesome." Gaara shot back.
Sakura lay in the dirt stunned. It looked like Kankuro and Lee were just as surprised.