First Double Date!

I waited outside the door of Gaara's room until the medical ninjas said it was alright for me to enter. When I went in there, he was still asleep, so I went back to Hinako to see what was the news about the next round of battles. When I came back Gaara was already awake. "Ah!," I smiled warmly as I sat on the chair next to his bed. "You're quite the sleeper."

I was surprised by the look on his face. It was that of sheer terror. "I w-was...asleep?"

"Well, you weren't completely asleep. You kinda went in and out, you know? It was more like a deep daydream. But nevermind about that. How do you feel?"

"Well enough."

I smiled bitterly. "That's good. Sorry for nearly killing you and all. It seems we both have sides that we don't like to show. I just got a little excited, that's all."

"You were covered in scales."

I started for a second. "Yeah. Some day, I'll tell you about that, but not now. I don't trust you enough. One Day. But in the meantime, you better start thinking of where you wanna take me on our first date. I won the bet, remember?"

Gaara frowned. "Don't remind me of unpleasant memories."

I giggled. "Oh, come on. It isn't that bad. You'll see. You'll love it. You don't have a choice. You better hurry up with that thinking, though, we only have one day left."

"Huh? How long was I out?"

"Oh, only a couple of minutes. The Raikage declared the first Round over, and now we have a free day of rest. The Second round won't start until Thursday. And also, yesterday was Valentine's Day." I gave him a look worthy of Mr. Kyo.

It frightened him. "What do you have in mind?"

My smile broadened. "A double date!"

Gaara seemed stunned for a bit. "W-With who?!"

"Neji and Hinako, of course! Who else? What'd you think I'd do? Invite Orochimaru along? I'm sure he'd enjoy it, but his fatherly instincts-if he has any-might get in between us." At that note I scooted closer to him. Placing my head on my hand.

This caused Gaara to scoot even farther away from me. "I'm not liking this."

"It doesn't matter," I said, gripping his arm tightly, with inhuman strength, "You have no choice! Now, come!" I pulled his arm and dragged him along with me.

We arrived outside of the valley and were transported by Shigame-sensei, down the mountain, through a tunnel that was a lot faster than any other route. It was very dark inside, but Gaara made sure to keep Shigame-sensei in between us at all times. When we finally got out of the mountain range, I led Gaara to a restraunt just on the edge of town. Inisde, Neji and Hinako were already waiting for us; Neji, quietly smoldering, and Hinako grinning brightly. I let Gaara sit down as me and Hinako high-fived and declared, "Mission: Capture the Hotties, SUCCESS!" Both Neji and Gaara gave a sigh.

We ate dinner, (it was 5 o'clock when the first Round finished.) and congratulated ourselves, declraing that girls were better than men, with a toast. Neji seemed to want to go somewhere else, while Gaara was resisting the urge to kill us all. After that, we decided to go out and enjoy the nightlife. We watched a movie about a young boy fighting against his evil aunt who forced all the innocent people to eat their vegetables. Sadly, I was the only one that cried, which gave Hinako and Neji something in common: they both thought I was an idiot.

After I had dried up my tears, I was on a sugar craze, so we looked around all the sweets shops. I ate tons of pastries, chocolates, truffles, and cakes, and we can say that I got a bit-what's the word-drunk. (Off of chocolates, yes, I know.) At first, I just laughed at everything and danced down the road, but then, I began to tickle the locals till they were sobbing for mercy. After some restraint from Neji and Hinako, I settled down, but my mischevieous spirit hadn't died down yet. I soon started dancing with random people. I tried to dance with Gaara, but he smacked me off. But that wasn't the worst. Not only had I become drunk, but the Moon Dragon, who shares, my body, was drunk as well, so its chakra was out of whack. Out of no where, the Moon Dragon's chakra would strike, like lightening, at a random booth, or building and explode it. Gaara tried to conceal me with his sand, but my chakra would come out through my face-which Gaara couldn't cover, unless he wanted to suffocate me, which was becoming a possibility. As Hinako and Neji tried to restrain me, Gaara growled, "I blame this on you, Neji, you were the one who gave her those triple chocolate truffles. That must've been the cause of it!"

Neji started in alarm. "It wasn't my fault! Hinako was the one who suggested it!"

"AH!," Hinako gasped. "How was I supposed to know she'd get drunk off of sugar? Well, that settles it. For her bachelorette party, she is NOT going to drink!"

Gaara became flustered. "What makes you think she'll have a bachelorette party?"

"Sarafu? It's only a matter of time before she gets hitched. I mean, look at the girl. Getting drunk off of candy isn't a safe thing. The girl's so siple-minded and care-free she's an easy target."

With this comment, everyone became quiet, except me of course, in my drunken ranting had begun to sing.

"Agh! Someone hurry and shut her up!" Hinako yelled as she covered her ears.

"Well, when Lee got drunk-" Neji started.

"Lee got drunk?" Hinako interrupted.

"It's a long story, but the point I'm trying to make is, that to settle him down we had make Gai-sensei lead him into a trap. And then he just fell asleep."

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"We have Gaara lead her into a secluded area, and then block all exits with a chakra barrier. After a while, she'll exhaust herself out, and pass out."

"Why does it have to be me?" Gaara seemed a bit annoyed by this.

"You're the person she likes the most, and you can protect yourself with the sand while you're in there. Strangely enough, she's more powerful in her drunken state because she can't control her powers. She could probably kill us all. So, you have to go."

Eventually, Gaara gave in, and he began to walk away. I noticed this and shouted, "Hey, honey! Where ya' goin'?! Come back, sweetie!" I began to follow him in my drunken stupor. After a while, I found us in a clearing of trees, and just before I could react, green and white walls of chakra surrounded us.

"Wha's dis?" I stumbled.

"Sarafu."

I blushed at the sound of Gaara calling my name. I went up to him and put my finger to his lips. "Hush, now. This isn't a time for words. I know what you want to say. All I need to tell you is. . .GIMME A PIGGY-BACK RIDE!!"

Gaara's mouth fell open. "W-Why do I have to do that? I don't want to!"

"Too bad!" I had already hopped on his back, and was clasped onto him securely with my legs. I wrapped my arm around his neck and fell asleep to the beating of his heart.

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When I woke up the next day, I had a terrible stomach-, tooth-, and headache. I looked around and saw myself in a small apartment room. Hinako was in the kitchen and she came to me with a glass of orange juice. I took it, gratefully, and chugged it down. Trying not to talk too loud, I asked Hinako what had happened.

"You got drunk off of sweets."

"Really? That's never happened before."

"That's because everytime you had any sugared item, Jin would steal it from you."

"Oh, yeah. But did I do anything...bad?"

"Oh, yes, I couldn't pull you two apart!"

My face grew bright red as I thought of all the things she could mean by that statement.

Hinako laughed at my embarassment. "That's not what I mean! Get your mind out of the gutter! You wanted a piggy-back ride from Gaara, so you latched onto him and fell asleep. Even though you were snoring, we couldn't pry your arms apart to free him. So he had to stay with you most of the night, until you finally let go. In fact, you were mostly childish the whole time you were drunk. It was quite funny to watch you."

I put my head down in shame. I acted that silly? Gaara must think I'm such a loser now! Getting drunk on our first date. . .oh, Kami-sama, I'm so embarassed. I don't know how I'll face him.

Looking at my face, Hinako said, "Why don't you go talk to him, if you're not feeling too bad? He has been asking about your health all night. I'm sure he would love to talk to you."

My face lit up. "Really?"

Hinaok smiled and nodded.

I jumped up in excitement and forgot all about my pains and rushed out the door. While I was out, Hinako gave a great sigh. "Ugh! Finally! I didn't know how much longer I could hold out with all that smiling! At least she's out of here. Gaara's gonna be angry at me for sending her back, but whatever."

I ran outside and, luckily, found Temari. I inquired as to where Gaara was located, and she pointed me out towards the valley. Ugh! Why do I have to go all the way out there? Can't the guy just be sitting right out my door. I'm going to give him a smacking for this! I formed the seals, and did my flying jutsu. Silver wings grew out of my back as I launched off into the air. I arrived at the valley and found Gaara sitting on a rock, located on the battle ground of the valley's grass. He didn't look over at me as I landed on the ground and undid my jutsu. I walked over to him nervously, and called out with a small voice. "Gaara?"

He looked at me and then back off into the distance. "What?"

"Umm...good morning?"

"Is that all?"

"No. I would like to apologize for my, obviously odd"-I blushed at this-"behavior. I don't remember exactly what I did, but if I did anything to offend you, I'm sorry."

"Yeah. You were such a hassle."

My eyebrow twitched. I may love the dude, but he was fueling my temper. I tried to suppress it with a smile. "I...I see. Well, we still have one day left of break. Why are you out here?"

"Because it's quiet."

"I see." Actually, I didn't. "On our next date, I'll tell. And I expect you to tell me too. Till then." I waved and walked away, just before I redid my jutsu and flew off.

...to be continued.