AN: Hello! Sorry, I didn't get home til late on Monday (as in 3AM Tuesday) and I had computer trouble yesterday… But I'll put up the last few chapters. And telling you now, this is where it starts to get kind of… crappy, in my opinion (year-of-the-gnat thinks different). This was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but we got carried away and eventually wanted to end it. But I still hope you like it. Chapter 9, initiate…
Temari and Shikamaru were trying to find someplace to eat dinner at. Suddenly, they saw Hinata, who was looking extremely depressed. They hurried over to her.
"What's wrong, Hinata?" Temari asked.
"It's Naruto-kun… I can't find him! He's not at home and Jiraiya doesn't know where he is, either. I'm worried!" she whimpered.
"Well, what happened? When did you last see him?" Shikamaru asked.
"Well, we-we kind of broke into the Uchiha mansion the night before last. Sakura found us and was leading Naruto to Sasuke, when she told me to leave and I did. And I haven't seen him since." Hinata finished.
"He couldn't be on a mission…" Temari muttered in thought.
"He's probably still at the Uchiha mansion." Shikamaru concluded. "But what could he be doing?"
"Sakura was acting weird." Hinata offered.
"Weird, how?" Temari asked.
"She looked kind of different." Hinata murmured.
"Maybe we should go check to see if he's there." Temari suggested. Hinata nodded.
Suddenly, Kankarou came walking quickly toward them, with Gaara trailing behind him.
"Kankarou, don't let her see us. She'll kill us." Gaara whimpered. Temari looked up. "Oh, shoot."
"Kankarou? Gaara? What are you doing here?" Temari asked.
"We've been following you ever since we got here..." Kankarou waved his hand dismissively. "But that's not the point."
"What is?" Temari asked, angrily. "And think carefully, because if it's not good enough, I'm just going to kill you."
"Oh, it's good enough." Temari raised an eyebrow. "Did you know that boy"-Kankarou pointed at Shikamaru-"is the male equivalent of a slut?"
"What?!" Temari asked. Shikamaru looked offended.
"What did you call me?" he asked, stepping in front of Temari.
"I'm sorry." He stepped forward, so that his face was an inch from Shikamaru's and screamed "I CALLED YOU A GOOD-FOR-NOTHING, LITTLE TURD THAT TAKES ADVANTAGE OF GIRLS!!" Temari punched Kankarou in the face. Blood spluttered from his nose. "God, Temari, calm down, we came to warn you!"
"What do you mean 'we'? I had nothing to do with it." Gaara added, quickly. Shikamaru stepped between Kankarou and Temari.
"Maybe you shouldn't fight." Shikamaru suggested. They pushed him out of the way.
"Temari, I have proof that Shikamaru is a—"
"Don't even say it, Kankarou." Gaara warned.
"—Bad person, ok, gosh…" Kankarou finished.
"What kind of proof?" Temari asked.
"I have an eyewitness." Kankarou proclaimed.
"Let me guess-a wasted Ino." Shikamaru suggested. Kankarou looked shocked.
"She was just vaguely buzzed." Kankarou said.
"Vaguely? She was crying sake and sweating it." Gaara smirked. Kankarou narrowed his eyes.
"Did anyone ask you?" he asked.
"No, no one has to ask me." Gaara snapped.
"Ino's exactly words were that Shikamaru was a woman's nightmare!" Kankarou proclaimed, triumphantly. Temari snorted, derisively.
"And then she called us women." Gaara politely interrupted. Suddenly, Naruto and Sakura were walking past them.
"Naruto?" Hinata cried. He did not seem to notice.
"Yo, Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled. Naruto did not turn.
"What's with him?" Gaara asked.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Hinata said. She ran over to Naruto and grabbed his shoulder. Naruto kept walking on. Hinata ran in front of him. "Naruto, why are you—" Naruto shoved her out of the way, to the ground.