Chapter 12: The Making of New Friends!
(That evening at the Konoha Hospital)
"WAAAAH!!!! GAI-SENSEEEEIII!!!!" wailed Rock Lee as he began crying over the bandaged up body of his beloved teacher. Or at least what's left of him at the moment.
Shizune sighed heavily as she placed her hands on the boy's shoulders. "There, there Lee-san, he's going to be all right, now go wait in the lobby with the others..."she said gently as she began leading him out the door.
"Hai....."
Shizune turned to look at Zakuro and Kaori who were sitting in the room. "Despite the fact that Gai-san was literally a bloody pulp when you brought him in, he should be back on his feet in about 6 weeks," explained Shizune closing the door behind her and Lee.
Kaori sighed heavily and folded her arms. "Like I said before...onee-sama you were too rough on him..."
Yue who was asleep on Kaori's shoulder opened one eye to side glance at Zakuro whose face remained in different. "Might I ask what did he do to make you stampede him like that?"
Zakuro sat herself down on an empty hospital bed beside Gai's, crossing one leg over the other. "I'm not telling."
Kaori looked at her older sister blankly. "Instant proposal?"
"More or less....."replied Zakuro bluntly.
Tsuchi stood on the sidelines with Yue on her head. 'Didn't she just said she was not telling?!'they both mentally asked.
Zakuro yawned and stretched her arms, cracking her neck at the same time. "Come on, let's go Kaori," she said, exiting the room with Yue who rode on Tsuchi's head. The girl nodded and walked towards the door.
"Oi! Don't leave me here! WHAT ABOUT MY PRECIOUS STUDENTS?!" asked a familiar voice that sounded somewhat disembodied.
Kaori turned her head to look at the thing hovering above Gai's body; or to be more exact, the spirit of Gai.
"Daijobu Gai-sensei.... you're not dead.... but I suggest you stay in your body for the time being or else the shinigamis would try to make you pass on...." said Kaori with her pupils in slits.
Gai's spirit looked down at his body and shrieked in shock. He looked at Kaori with waterfall tears pouring out of his eyes. "Hai....."he said sniffling as he floated back into his body and with that, Kaori slid the door close behind her.
(In the lobby....)
"Hnnnngg....Gai-senseeeii......" sobbed Lee with depression weighing heavily on him.
Tenten, Neji, Hikari and Akane looked at him in disdain. "He's not dead you know....." they all said bluntly.
Cori and Jubei looked at Lee with sympathetic looks. "Poor senpai...."
Suddenly Lee felt a hand placed on his head. He looked up to see Zakuro who bent down to his eye level. Tsuchi stood behind her looking at the boy with apologetic eyes. Her eyes were shadowed by her fringe so Lee couldn't get a proper look at her face. Her lips formed a small apologetic smile at the boy. "Gomene, Lee-kun,"she said in a gentle voice. "Your sensei was such a sweet man to go easy on me but I went overboard..."
Lee looked at Zakuro with his big round eyes. He felt comforted by the sound of her voice. "H-hai..."
Zakuro smiled at the boy before straightening herself up. "Yosh! Since I went little overboard with your sensei, how about I make it up to you guys by supervising your training for the time being?"
"EH?!"exclaimed Tenten and Neji at the same time.
"Sounds like a good idea, after all it would be interesting..." said a voice from in between Tenten and Neji.
"WAAH! Kaori-san! When did you get here?!" exclaimed Tenten in shock.
"Yeah! I get to spend more time with Tenten-senpai!" exclaimed Hikari happily looking at the said person with stars in her eyes.
Akane joined Yue on Tsuchi's back along with Jubei. The kitten looked at Hikari with a huge sweat drop hanging at the back of her head. 'H-hikari-sama.....'
"I think it's a wonderful idea! Ne, Lee-senpai?" asked Cori clasping her hands together and smiling at Lee.
Lee quickly blushed and stood erect like a board. "H-hai! Cori-chan!" he said in such a way that Neji raised an eyebrow at Lee questioningly.
Meanwhile in the background, Tenten immediately started shifting away from Hikari. The girl began shifting towards Tenten. A vein throbbed just above Tenten's eyebrow as she shifted away again. Hikari shifted towards her and so the process continues out the building. The rest all sweat dropped as they followed the two. The moment the grouped stepped out of the hospital compound, Neji stiffly turned his head to look at Zakuro. "Uuuh....."
"Hm?" Zakuro glanced down at Neji. "Want to get some ramen? I'm famished!" she asked suddenly.
Hikari turned to look at Zakuro happily with stars in her eyes. "YATTA! FINALLY A CHANCE TO EAT KONOHA'S FAMOUS ICHIRAKU'S RAMEN! URESHII~!"
Akane jumped onto Hikari's head looking just as excited. "NYA~! RAMEN~!"
"OH!" shouted Hikari, pumping her fist into the air.
"NYAAH~! RAMEN~!!"
"OH!!"
Everyone else nodded in agreement except Neji. "Uuuh...." he began to say.
Zakuro placed a hand on the boy's head and tussled it vigorously. "Don't worry your little Hyuuga head, Princey! It's my treat!" she said grabbing Neji's wrist and jogged, pulling him along while Hikari with Akane riding a top her head jogging ahead of the group cheering "RAMEN!" "OH!"
The remaining genin and cats too began to jog with the others to keep up. "Princey?" Rock Lee and Tenten asked , looking at each other incredulously before looking at Kaori and Cori who jogged on either side of them. Kaori just shrugged at Tenten while Cori once again gave Lee a smile, causing him to suddenly jog stiffly ahead in order to hide his blush leaving the girl confused in his wake. Tsuchi, Yue, Jubei along with Tenten and Kaori all sighed heavily at Cori's cluelessness.
(At Ichiraku's Ramen)
"Irashaimassen!" exclaimed the young woman behind the counter cheerfully. "What would you like to order?"
Hikari and Akane's nostrils flared at the smell of ramen. "Smells good! Onee-chan! Chicken Ramen please!" she exclaimed putting up a hand. "With four plates of fishcakes please!"
"HAI! my father will be ready with your orders soon and please, call me Ayame~" came the reply, cheerfully.
The others placed their orders and sat down. "Here you go," said the young woman placing everybody's ramen on the table.
"And the fishcakes for the cats!" said an old man walking out from behind the counter, placing the plates on the ground. Tsuchi immediately transformed into a regular sized cat and meowed happily. The four felines looked at the plates filled with fishcakes with huge sparkly eyes. They began licking their chops as the Nekojiwa sisters and Team Gai grabbed and broke apart their chopsticks. "Itadakimasu!" they all exclaimed.
The very moment Zakuro and Hikari took a mouthful of their ramen, their eyes began to light up with stars as the air around them became sparkly. "Oiishiiiiiiiiii~!"
"Nya~!!!" agreed Tsuchi and the kittens.
Pop! Pop! Suddenly, two locks of hair on each on Zakuro's and Hikari's hair popped up stood on their heads and twitched. Cori swallowed the ramen in her mouth and smiled and held her face to hide the blush of delight she felt. "Oishii~ nyaa!!!" she mewed adding more stars to the air. Pop! Two locks of hair began to stand on her head as well. POP! Same thing happened to Kaori despite her expressionless face. Team Gai, Ayame and the old man stared at the sisters with large eyes as the hair locks began to twitch. For a moment, the 4 girls were replaced with four cats instead in everybody's eyes.
"N-NEKOMIMI?!!" Team Gai exclaimed in shock. (A/N: Nekomimi =Cat ears)
The old man chuckled in amusement. "Well, I never had anyone react to my ramen like that before!"
The sisters looked at them before feeling the top of their heads. "Oh dear, they popped out," said Cori before smoothing them down. Neji, Tenten and Lee looked at each other.
Kaori ate her ramen quietly as she shrugged and glanced up at the old man. "First time for everything Teuchi-ojisan..." she said.
Teuchi looked hard at Kaori looking evidently surprised. "Funny, how did you know my name? I don't recall mentioning it, did you Ayame?" Ayame shook her head.
Kaori downed down the rest of her soup before politely wiping her mouth. "I know a lot of things sir, that and your name tag told me..." she said pointing to the old man's tag causing everyone to sweat drop.
Zakuro finished off the remaining noodles in her bowl and dabbed her mouth with a napkin. The 'ears' on top of her head twitched first before flattening themselves down on her head. "Don't ask... " she said suddenly growing serious. "By the way, tomorrow afternoon, meet me at the lake near the forest. Oh, and Tenten, bring your swimsuit along okay." It was an order, not a request.
The team immediately began to blush, Tenten being the reddest and for some reason, blood was trickling down Neji's nose. Cori noticed this and instantly her pupils began to shrink until only the whites of her eyes can be seen. She began to shudder greatly as her body became rigid. "B-b..." she began to stutter.
Her sisters saw this and quickly noticed Neji. "Holy Crap! Neji-Senpai, your nose is bleeding!" yelled Hikari as she quickly grabbed a few paper napkins from the counter and shoved them up Neji's nose. Neji gasped for breath and fell of his chair in shock. He glared at Hikari as he plucked himself of the ground and pulled the bloody tissues out of his nose. "Thanks a lot Hikari-chan..." he said through his teeth while forcefully smiling.
Hikari smiled back despite noticing Neji's insincerity as Akane jumped on her shoulder. "Your welcome Hyuuga-sama.." she replied sarcastically. Akane turned her head into the shadows. 'I smell war's acoming, nya-nyu...' she said to herself mentally seeing possible signs of tension between the Hyuuga and her mistress.
Suddenly Hikari felt herself getting picked up and tossed upon Zakuro's shoulder. Akane quickly jumped onto Tsuchi's back. "Hey! Put me down oneesama!" she yelled in protest as she struggled but Zakuro had wrapped her right arm around the girls legs restricting the red head's movement. Zakuro ignored her little sister's cries of protest. "Remember, tomorrow 12 noon, lake, be there," she said paying old man Teuchi the bill. "And Tenten, don't forget your swimsuit."
Tenten blushed a second time. "I-I know that!" she replied in a flustered voice.
Zakuro smiled. "Good. Let's go girls," she said walking off with a thrashing Hikari still slung over her shoulder. Kaori bowed and trotted after Zakuro with Tsuchi and the kittens behind her. Cori simply smiled and said "I can't wait to see you again tomorrow Lee-senpai!" before bowing and catching up to her sisters.
Cori's last words echoed like heavenly bells in Lee's ears as steam came wafting out of his head while he became red with joy. Tenten and Neji looked at their teammate as if he was bonkers when he began chuckling to himself and started skipping his way home humming the waltz with flowers and sparkles floating around his head. Yeah, you read that right. He was SKIPPING! The two remaining team members side glanced each other with raised eyebrows. "Neji, I think he has completely lost it...." said Tenten. Neji folded his arms and nodded solemnly.
R.F: Hi everyone! Sorry it took me so long to write this chapter! I had tons of school work to do and right now, I'm bushed........ -_-...... ASOBITAI!!! * throws arms up in the air*
Lee: *still skipping happily unaware of surroundings*
R.F: *Looks at Lee and sighs* Oh I'll get him later.... Later days minna-san!
