Troah adjusted the straps to his guitar case across his back as he walked down one of the empty streets of Konoha. The song that they were working on drifting through his mind, rather… Soma's singing voice drifting through his head. He heard voices up ahead, both familiar. 'Sounds like Katara found Naruto,' he thought, walking a little faster.
He didn't know where all this worry came from… all he knew was that he didn't trust Katara like he once had. As Troah approached the two, he heard Katara saying, "see you later," to Naruto. "Hi Katara… funny how we keep running into each other," Troah said, as, what he thought as, normally as he could.
"Hi…" Katara muttered. "I thought I'd walk you home," Troah said, "with all those freaks out there." Katara gave him a funny look, "shouldn't you be protecting Soma from all those…"freaks"?" she asked, suspiciously. Troah smiled, "I already walked her home," he lied.
Katara smiled, "sure…" she said. Troah smiled back, "so… shall we go than?" he asked, holding out his arm and turning in the direction of her and Soma's home. Katara nodded, taking his arm, out of courtesy, and began walking home.
Soma stepped outside, her journal under her arm. She looked up at the sky, watching the pinkish coloring. She loved dusk. She looked down the road and her eyes widened. Troah and Katara were walking down the street together… arms linked! Soma gasped, 'did… her and Neji actually break-up… and now her and Troah…? Or… is she cheating… she probably is! That's why she's acting so strange!' she thought, scowling at her.
"Katara how could you!" Soma yelled. Katara blinked at Soma, 'was she… over Gaara… and now… in love with Troah… what? What is she talking about?' she thought. "How could you do this to Neji?" Soma asked. '…imbecile,' Katara thought, sighing.
"See you tomorrow, Troah," Katara said, dragging Soma inside. "Yup… night Katara… night Superstar," Troah said, winking. "I'm not a Superstar!" Soma exclaimed, as Katara slammed the door.
"Where are we going tomorrow?" Soma asked, once the door was closed. "Imbecile! Have you forgotten already? I thought you'd be jumping for joy all week… explains why you were strangely quiet most of the time," Katara commented. "What? Where are we going?" Soma asked again. "Suna…" Katara said, almost kicking herself afterwards. "SUNA? REALLY? YAY! I'LL GET TO SEE GAARA!" Soma exclaimed.
'I shouldn't have told her… she's not going to shut-up the entire trip now…' Katara thought, sighing again.
"Late as usual…" Troah sighed, looking at his watch. "Some one should just go get him," Soma complained, bored. 'Stupid Naruto,' Katara thought.
"Sorry I'm late!" Naruto yelled, finally joining them. "Where'd you go? To get your hair done or something?" Soma asked, a little annoyed. "No… to get more Ramen," Naruto said, with a smile. "It took you an hour… to get one more ramen?" Troah asked, in almost disbelief.
After a few minutes of walking, Soma dropped back beside Neji, who was at the very back of the group. She placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to give her an odd look. "Neji… I am soo sorry," she said, sympathetically. Neji raised an inquiring eyebrow, part of him thinking she was crazy.
"I am soo sorry that Katara use to think you were a jack ass," Soma said. "She still thinks that at times," Neji said, unfazed by the comment. "And that she wanted to punch your face in," Soma said. Neji looked at her in surprised… that was new.
"I am also sorry… to report to you… that my dear sister… Katara… your girlfriend… has been cheating on you," Soma said, wiping away a fake tear. Neji looked at her oddly again. "I know… it hurts… but we'll get through it…" Soma said, giving him a sympathetic hug.
"What the hell are you doing now?" Katara asked, standing behind them. Soma jumped. "Well I was just comforting Neji with the knowledge of knowing that you hated him for a while, and that you're cheating on him," Soma said calmly. "How can you say that with a straight face?" Katara exclaimed.
"Really? Katara cheating on Neji?" Naruto asked. "Really now?" Troah asked. "Don't play… FAKER!" Soma yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Troah. Troah gave her an odd look, "now you lost me…"
"Are you serious?" Neji asked. "Well… I was standing outside while the sun was setting, writing in my journal… completely innocent and unknowing the sight that I would see while briefly looking up. Katara and Troah were walking down the street together… no more like skipping happily. They stopped momentarily and Troah picked her up and Katara gave him flowers! I was dumbfounded! I was clearly the victim of this story… because I knew I would have to tell you… I feel so sorry for you Neji," Soma said, fake crying again.
"Really? That's what happened? Troah… Katara… for shame!" Naruto yelled. Neji shook his head slowly, 'fool…' he thought, sighing. Troah and Katara stared darkly at Soma. "THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED!" they both yelled.
"Katara… is this true?" Neji asked, seriously. "WHAT? NO? Who are you going to believe… your girlfriend or this nut job?" Katara asked, pointing at Soma. "HEY!" Soma exclaimed.
"I believe Soma…" Naruto said, not understand what there wasn't to believe. Troah punched him, hard, in the shoulder, "no one cares."
Neji shook his head slowly, "I just don't know anymore, Katara," he said. "You… you actually believe her… you… you know I would never… with Troah?" Katara said, in disbelief. "Is it just him… or are there more?" Neji asked. "WHAT? How could there be more? There isn't even him?" Katara yelled in dismay.
"How do I know you're not dating Naruto as well?" Neji asked, skeptically. "WHAT? I'm not dating her!" Naruto yelled. "WHAT? I'm not dating him!" Katara yelled at the same time, pointing to each other. Neji gave Katara a funny look.
"You little!" Katara yelled, immediately realizing that he was joking the whole time. "Katara! You cheated on HIM and now you're yelling at him?" Soma asked. "Yes… I am sorry Neji… but I have always loved Troah," Katara said. "Eh?" Troah said, very confused.
"I also… have a thing for Naruto as well… just the way he can eat so much Ramen, gets to me," Katara said. "What?" Naruto asked. "Katara! And you say I'm boy crazy!" Soma exclaimed
Katara just gave a look to Soma then smiled and looked at Neji; he returned the glance. Both Katara and Neji continued on to walk while Troah, Soma, and Naruto stood there dumbfounded as to what just happened. "I have no idea what just happened…" soma said confused. Thinking for a second Troah finally understood that Neji and Katara were just joking "AHAHAHAHAHA, good one guys" he said as he ran to catch up.
"So does this mean I get to go out with Katara now?" Naruto ask with some curiosity and excitement, Soma replied " I ….don't….know….." Eventually Soma and Naruto ran to catch up with their friends. "So does this mean Katara's crazier for guys than I am? I have no idea what just happened! CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN?" She said anxiously "I don't get it either you guys…." Naruto added. "You two are a bunch of twits" Katara mumbled, but was clearly understood.
"Just drop it Soma, as usual you over exaggerated things with your imagination and nothing happened, it was just a joke" Troah said with a kindness in his eyes as he looked at her. "oh…ok…" she said.
They needed to get to Suna because they were a sent backup for a nearby Akatsuki disturbance. Gaara had originally requested no help, but Tsnuade insisted. Once Katara got wind of the situation she volunteered herself, Naruto and Soma. However since it was Akatsuki so Tsunade was uneasy and sent Neji and Troah along as well.
The group was traveling for a long time and along their way they ran into a group of travelers. They had a camp set up and noticed Naruto and the group walk by. "Hey you guys" A man, appearing in his mid forties with a grungy look, said to them " Do you mind helping us find our comrade?…he seems to be lost." Neji looked at them like he was examining them from head to toe, he mumbled to Katara " I don't trust them" "Neither do I" she replied.
"OH YES OF COURSE WE WILL THAT'S SO SAD!" Soma yelled "LET"S HELP THEM" Naruto said with a beam. Instantly Troah, Katara, and Neji sighed. "We can't we have to get to Suna, they can look for their comrade themselves" Katara said with an odd look in her face "Katara your face looks really scary right now…." Soma said as she crawled behind Naruto. Troah looked at her and noticed Soma was right….what was wrong with Katara he asked himself.
" Well can you at least lend us some money or food, our cart is empty" another man said. He seemed slightly older and he had a more devious look on his face. "What's your comrade's name anyways? How can we help him?" Neji questioned as he narrowed his eyes, hoping for some more information from these men.
Meanwhile Naruto had strolled off and was looking through their things, he was curious as to why they were carrying a cart around if it was empty. The men were lying, their cart was filled with jewels, money, and valuable fabric. Plus, there was plenty of food stored in the back.
Immediately Naruto heard some chaos happening outside, and the next thing he knew he was knocked in the back of the head.
"Wha?...what happened?" Naruto said as he began to wake up. He looked around, Troah, and Neji were still knocked out and lying on the ground. Katara and Soma were no where to be seen.
Soon after Naruto, Neji and Troah woke up. "what? What the hell was that?" Troah asked, " I dunno, I think it was some kind of knock out gas" Neji replied " well I wouldn't be surprised these people are clearly robbers, I found all sorts of treasures in their storage" Naruto said as the two looked over. "Where are Soma and Katara?" Troah asked as he looked around "And why am I tied up?".
However it didn't last for long the three of them untied themselves easily. " We should go find the other two" Troah said and the three of them left the tent, and began to swiftly look around. "ugh, we don't have time for this, we have to get to Suna" Neji complained.
The three of them came to a campfire; however saw what they didn't expect. The two men were tied up and unconscious on the ground. There was a voice behind them, alarmed they all turned around " About time you newbs woke up, now we can leave" Katara said, who was standing beside a laughing Soma. " If you took care of the situation why didn't you wake us up, we could have left a long time ago" Neji asked with some frustration.
"Wellllll we tried, but you guys were knocked out cold, and Katara said we needed the rest anyways….. Besides it was funny" Soma said. "Ugh…..women" Troah sighed.
The five of them grabbed their things and were preparing to leave. "What should we do about them?" Naruto asked "I say we take their things and leave them here tied up" Katara said with a devious smile. Everyone else just looked at her in shock "Katara!" Soma snapped. "It was a joke morons" Katara said "we'll just leave them here for now, they'll wake up soon anyways." "Well there's nothing more we can do, and we have to get going so let's just do that" Neji said.
Soon after, they once again, set out for Suna. "WAHOO! we beat them so easily! I can't believe it!" Katara laughed and cheered " well actually I can believe but still!" she continued to say as she threw her arms in the air " SOMA MY FRIEND THAT WAS AWESOME!" "YES DEAR SISTER!" Soma yelled back. Everyone was just looking at Katara in surprise:
'WTF? she's never like this. This girl is off the wall sometimes even if she's not energetic,' Troah thought.
'WOW! When she's in this mood I love it!' Soma thought, excitedly.
'……' Neji thought.
'Well then, this is new,' Naruto thought.
'Damn it, her hormones are too freaky for me sometimes,' Neji thought.
'I want Ramen,' Naruto thought.
'Damn, last time she was like this she made me bake cookies with her. Thank god it doesn't happen often,' Neji thought, sighing.
"This is going to be a long walk" Neji sighed. And it was….was it ever a long a walk. But only for Naruto, Troah, and Neji. Neji in particular because for the time being he thought he was surrounded by idiots, including Katara. "OH MAN THAT WAS AWESOME KATARA CHA!" Soma yelled, she was going to take advantage of Katara's surprisingly excited mood.
"OH YES IS IGGLE NABER WAS!" Katara replied, " Did she just say iggle naber in the middle of that sentence?" Troah asked, and he was scared to find out. "I think so…." Neji responded. They continued to walk slightly behind the two girls and listen to their conversation. Slowly but surely they stopped talking in English.
"Yummer, Minner, opon jocken visicha Katara" Soma said happily, "wow…Hey guys I wanna join in too! What are you talking about?" Naruto said as he ran beside them. "Nu Kichen Jonen gom gom chia" Soma said with a chuckle "guuuyyyyysssss" Naruto persisted "You're not gonna wanna do that, leave it as it is Naruto. I don't wan things getting out of control" Neji said.
"I think it's a little late for that" Troah said As Katara and Soma became to talk at the very same time with the same words. It was kinda eerie. "Gombia Hiden jign ibber iggle niaber nutta click click clock clock!" the two girls chanted. "Katara are you okay? You're never this…..um…" Troah hesitated to continue.
The two girls stopped walking and at the same time turned around with an evil look in their eyes and said "Why yes Troah my friend, Katara is simply splendid. There is nothing to worry about she is fine" both Soma and Katara said this at the same time. "woah….."Neji said staring at the two of them a little uneasily. "that was freaky…on second thought I don't wanna join in anymore" Naruto said as he backed away. Troah just stood their and stuttered "uh…o-ok….j-just making….sure….."
Katara and Soma turned around again and the group continued on. Eventually Katara and Soma calmed down so the situation wasn't as loud as earlier on. Naruto seemed disappointed that he wasn't included in the conversation. He turned to Katara and asked "so what was you were talking about anyways?" Returning to her regular self she turned and said " We were talking about how much Soma loves you" "heh" Neji quietly said in the back.
"WH-AT!" Naruto, Soma and Troah yelled. Katara smiled and seemed pleased with the result she got; it was the one she was looking for. "Don't lie Soma we all know it's true" Neji added. Troah sighed and thought to himself I'm never hanging out with Neji and Katara again. This entire walk all they've done and make lies and stir everything up.
"So both of you love me? There's only so much Naruto to go around AHAHAHAHAHA" Naruto said quite confidently. Soma began to panic and said "THAT'S NOT TRUE! SHE'S LIEING! KATARA SAY YOU'RE LYING!" "Now, now Soma it's difficult, but I'm willing to give Naruto to you" Katara said as she stopped and looked around. "eh?" Naruto said "I think we should stop here for the night" Neji suggested "I concur" Katara added.
They all stopped and started to set up for the night. "considering we were knocked out only a few hours ago and got some rest shouldn't we keep walking?" Soma asked, "naw, it's better to just do this now cause then early in the morning we can make it to Suna." Troah answered. "We need fire wood" Naruto mentioned.
"Neji you can get it" Katara said "why me?" he asked "cause the only thing you've done all day is be tied to a tent and sleep" Katara said with a tensely in her tone "DON'T WORRY NEJI I'LL GO WITH YOU" Soma cheerfully said as she skipped over to Neji. "great…." He mumbled.
"In the mean time we'll get some food" Troah said "see ya later superstar!" he snuck in before Soma and Neji left. "don't say that!" soma yelled "shut up and let's go" Neji said. Naruto was waving to the two of them and saying "try to bring back a lot so we can make a big fire for lots of ramen!"
"You know Neji you could try being a little nicer" Soma said as the two of them walked towards a nearby forest. "I could try, but I don't. And when I am nice I don't waste it on you." He responded. "Yeah, I should have known that. You use it on Katara…" Soma said looking at Neji hoping for a snappy remark.
However all he did was say nothing at all, and walked faster. All he said was " we should hurry up". "yeah, alright…" Soma said. The two of them reached the forest. It wasn't long before they grabbed some wood. The entire time was remarkably silent. Soma thought it was kind of awkward; however she was curious as to why Neji didn't respond to what she said earlier. She had at first thought he was embarrassed but now she was determined to find out the real answer, and she wanted him to say it aloud.
Soma now had a new personal mission, to hear Neji say his real feelings for Katara. They had been together for a long time, but Katara never really talked about her personal life with Neji. Soma just saw them a few times and could see that they had a good relationship (despite some of the quarrels they had). When Katara did talk about him Soma could tell she was happy, but she wanted to know if Neji felt the same.
"Hey Neji?..." Soma hesitantly asked "what?" he coldy responded. "you and Katara have been together for a while right….?" She continued "and I was just wondering…if.." "What do you want Soma?" Neji asked, sighing. "Uh…nothing…I was just wondering how you know…you" Soma was hesitant to ask, she realized it was very bold to ask him such a personal question.
"What?..." Neji asked, Soma noticed he actually seemed interested in what she wanted to say. "uh…no….never mind" Soma said, she had decided to leave it at that "we should head back now". So they did, with the fire wood. However when they got there everyone else was still getting food.
Soma just sat their silently, she really wanted to know how Neji felt. She was really concerned because her sister was one of the most important things to her in her life and she couldn't stand to see Katara get hurt. To be honest, she didn't want to see Neji or Katara get hurt. Though, Soma didn't know where this sudden concern for their relationship came from, they were clearly happy.
"Hey Soma" Neji asked as he turned to look at her. He sat down beside her; Soma was wondering what caused him to have such a strange look on his face. "yeah? What's wrong?" she asked. "I know you were trying to ask me something earlier… I was just curious as to what it was." He said as he looked down to the ground. " Oh that, I wasn't going to a—" Neji cut her off and said "yes you were, I know you were going to say something. I could tell by the look on your face. I don't really care if you ask me you know."
Soma was surprised; she had never seen such a sincere side to Neji before.
"Oh…um…I….don't" Soma realized she was in a very awkward situation, she didn't know what to say. She didn't want to just ask him if he loved Katara. " Is anything wrong with Katara?" Neji turned back to Soma "I mean you're not asking me anything cause there's something wrong with her are you? I know you're her sister, and she'd probably tell you anything so if something's bothering her…" tell me anything? Soma thought, hardly --.
"Uh…Neji it's okay nothings wrong" Soma raised her hands in reassurance "it's just…" "Just what?" he asked. Uh-oh, Soma didn't want to ask Neji if he thought Katara was acting oddly. She and Troah noticed a change in Katara's attitude but Soma didn't want to say anything about it to Neji. She also didn't want to ask Neji about his feelings for Katara. Soma was in trouble.
"Soma?" Neji asked and she turned away and began to talk to herself in a panicky voice "oh no oh no…what do I do!" 'Great, she's talking to herself' Neji thought. Soma recollected herself and sat up straight again. She hit her chest and did a small cough to clear her throat. Neji was just looking at her wondering why she was so strange.
Even after all that work Soma couldn't find herself to ask him. "Soma you know you don't have to tell me if you don't want to I wa—" Soma cut him and blurted out the question. Although he didn't really pressure her, she was doing enough of it herself. "NEJI DO YOU LOVE KATARA!" she screamed, followed by that was a large gasp. "uh…what?" Neji said with some confusion.
"OH NO! NEJI I'M SORRY THAT WAS TOO FORWARD! PLEASE FORGIVE ME I'M SORRRYYY!" Soma yelled, she was screaming all of this into his face. Neji was a little overwhelmed, "did you just ask if I love Katara?"
"Well, I'm sorry, I just don't want to see anything bad happen and I thought that if I found out if you two actually loved each other it would be okay" Soma was embarrassed as she explained herself. Her head kept sinking closer to the ground. "I'm sorry" she said as her voice was muffled because her face was covered by her hands.
There was a long silence, or ay least Soma thought. The whole time Neji was just sitting there. Soma could tell he was still trying to fathom what she had just said. To be honest, she was scared to find out if he didn't care about Katara. "um….." Neji said quietly, but it was loud enough for Soma to hear.
Soma found the courage to take her face out of her hands. She turned to look at him, but he was looking at the ground and his face was mostly covered by a shadow.
"You know…." Neji started to say shyly "between you and me…." Soma couldn't believe it, he was going to tell her.
"Between you and me….I've never been so happy in my entire life. Your sister means everything to me…" Neji continued "I don't know what I would do if I lost her….So to answer your question I do…heh….I do love her" Neji finished as he looked up and gave Soma a sincere smile. Soma could tell that took almost everything he had to say it. "it's okay…wew…I'm just relieved...don't worry you're secret's safe with me" Soma said with a cheer.
The two of them had reached a mutual understanding. Then from behind them there was a rustling "Hey fools, sorry it took so long to bring back food Naruto caught a bunch of fish but then he dropped them in the river. Hey? Why are you guys looking at me that way?" Katara said puzzled. Soma quickly glanced at Neji and saw Troah and Naruto show up behind Katara "I'm not looking at you weird, you're just thinking crazy" she said.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….if you guys got fire wood why didn't you start a fire?" Naruto complained. "Shut up Naruto, because of you we had to get more fish and the trip was twice as long" Troah snapped as he hit Naruto's forehead.
"When is it going to be ready?" Naruto asked, in a whiney voice. "Not for another fifteen minutes, so go preoccupy yourself with something," Katara growled. "But I'm hungry!" Naruto whined. "God Naruto! You're so impatient!" Katara snapped.
"You don't have that much patience as well," Soma commented. "Shut up Soma," Katara hissed.
"Katara!" Naruto whined once more. "FINE!" Katara screamed, taking a fish out of the fire and tossing it at him, "eat if you want!"
"Yay!" Naruto said, smiling and wolfing down the fish. "Don't choke and die now… we still need you for the mission," Soma joked. "Wha-ack!" Naruto said, beginning to choke. Soma rolled her eyes, "Troah… your division if I'm not mistaken."
Troah sighed and rose, beginning to give Naruto the hemlock maneuver. "I told you… now what have we learned?" Soma asked. "Not to wolf down fish… they have bones," Naruto said, "Ramen is much safer." Soma sighed, shaking her head, 'he doesn't get it at all…'
Fifteen minutes passed and soon everyone else began eating, much to Naruto's complaint that he was still hungry and it wasn't fair that he had to sit there while they ate. "You already ate your fish," Troah growled. "Well… yeah… but… Katara didn't have to give it to me," Naruto said. "You wouldn't shut up!" Katara snapped, tossing the empty skewer at him.
Soma and Neji sat quietly eating, watching the action around them. Soma was thinking about what Neji said earlier. 'He really does love her… I wonder… if he has noticed a change… in her,' Soma thought.
"Considering what happened earlier… we should take turns keeping watch," Neji suggested, talking for the first time since his discussion with Soma earlier. "We need to be in our physical peak if we're to finish the trek to Suna tomorrow morning," Katara added.
"I'll keep first watch," Troah volunteered. "I'll go second," Soma said, "I'll drift off if it's too late." "I'll go third," Katara said. "Since Naruto isn't paying attention, I'll go fourth," Neji said. "Naruto you're last to keep guard," Soma said. "What? Oh… okay," Naruto said.