"What do you mean you're going out on a mission, un?" he asked, using his uncontrollable high pitched voice. "How are we going to collect the coins now, hmm?"
The weapons master smiled at her little girl. "Jeez, don't be so worrisome, Dai-chan! We'll be back before you know it!"
"But missions takes days, right?" asked a little redhead. He pouted his lips, bowed his head and began kicking softly the dust on the ground, as if he was pleading for them not to go.
"Aww… how cute…," thought Tenten. She placed her hand on the head of little Sasori, and rubbed it with little strength.
"Stop it nee-chan… I just combed it a while ago!"
She giggled, like a happy little girl. Then her eyes met Sasori's. "You're going to miss me, aren't you, Satoshi-kun?"
The boy blushed. "I am not going to miss you!"
He then bowed his head, and continued to kick the dust. "… well, at least maybe not SO much…"
The kid looked so adorable that the tomboy hugged him so tightly.
"Oooh… I didn't know danna would be so good when it comes to acting!" thought Deidara. He smirked as he saw how Sasori nearly choked to death due to his sempai's power hug. "Aw… those two look so cute together – "
"C'mere, Dai-chan! I know you want a hug from me too!"
"Ah… heh… it's not necessary, nee – AAH!"
The girl squeezed the little boy, who was dramatically gasping for air. Now, it's Sasori's turn to mock his partner.
"You girls make a good combination…"
"Shut up, danna!"
"I agree with him! You know what, Dai? We could be unrelated sisters! I'll do stuff with you, like shopping, combing each other's hair, taking a bath together… Oh! You could even help me separate my dangerous weapons from my explosive tags…"
"Yeah… maybe…?" said Dai, forming beads of sweat.
"No f****** way, un! There's no way I'd spend time with some girl who barely knows art!"
While Tenten blabbed on and on about the stuff she's going to do with her little Dai, Neji silently appeared from their backs.
But only Sasori noticed him.
"Do you think that you could still train without us?" asked the talented Hyuuga. He stared hard into the puppet master's golden eyes.
The little boy just stared back, but his stare was filled with innocence. "I'm sure we could survive without you, Neji-nii! After all, I'm going to be an awesome shinobi some day! What's the point if we can't even stand for ourselves?"
A faint smile appeared on the emotionless face of the Byakugan user. He caressed Sasori's head, as if he were some kind of tiny kitten. The redhead somehow enjoyed the touch of the gesture, and he even purred softly. "That was an exact answer, Satoshi-kun. You're going to be a good shinobi someday."
"I already am, brat."
Tenten still didn't stop her blabbing with Deidara, who was seriously getting annoyed. The kid kept of thinking of ways to make the woman in front of him explode. His forced smile slowly faded away from his face, and even his Neji-nii noticed that he wasn't very much enjoying his current situation.
"That's enough, Tenten. We need to move now. Both Gai-sensei and Lee are at the training grounds. They said we need to meet them there as soon as possible."
"Yes! I'm saved, un! Thank you Neji-nii!"
Deidara smiled widely at him, thinking hat his action wouldn't be noticed by the Hyuuga. Surprisingly for the clay-user, the older guy smiled back at him, in a faint way. It was as if he said those words for the just for his sake.
The weapon user was unaware, though. "You're right Neji… come on guys, we'll need to meet those two right now."
She grabbed Dai's tiny hand, while Neji held on to Sasori. They silently walked through the village, towards the training grounds.
After the long silence, one of them spoke up.
"A… ano… Neji-nii, Tenten-nee?"
"Yes, Dai?"
"Good luck on your mission… and please don't die yet! We need you for the 500 coins thing…"
Both smiled at the innocence being emitted by the kid.
"Don't worry, Dai. We'll stay alive just for you two."
The girl was seated on a giant log, which decided to silently rot away it witnessed the various events that happened around him. She didn't care much for the log she was sitting on, though… because her gaze was fully fixed on the big rock.
Funny though, it was exactly what our pink-haired kunoichi did once she arrived at training grounds no. 2. Staring at the really big rock…
And that was around fifteen minutes ago.
"Oy… Sakura-chan…," said Naruto. He came closer to his friend, and stared at her with wide eyes. "SAKURA-CHAN! ARE YOU STILL THERE, TE BAYO?"
"Huh… wha? Oh, hi Naruto! When did you arrive? I never did seem to notice you come by already…"
A long silence followed.
"Sakura-chan… I arrived 10 minutes ago, te bayo…"
The girl gave him a shocked look. "Really? I never noticed…"
"Was it because you are thinking of something strange?" asked Sai. He was seated on a branch of a tree, making doodles of tiny animals on his sketchpad.
The two ninjas turned their heads to him. "Sai! How long have you been sitting there?"
"Around 20 minutes ago, before you even focused on that rock over there."
Sakura blushed, due to sheer embarrassment.
"So…," asked Sai. "What were you thinking about, Sakura?"
The girl smiled faintly, then looked up into the blue sky. "Oh, it's nothing… It was just…"
"Was just what te bayo?"
"It was just some doofus actually entered my house… I don't know the real reason, but I think he was supposed to be spying on me…"
Naruto's heart skipped a beat.
"S-s-s-spying o-o-on you… t-t-te bayo?"
Sai looked at the kyuubi boy. "Do you know something about it, Naruto?"
"I KNOW NOTHING, TE BAYO! I ate a late meal at Ichiraku ramen… there's no way I'd spy on HER!" he said, suddenly making weird and fast movements.
Sakura started to become suspicious of the guy… but didn't mind anyway.
She started to tell them the whole story, but their taichou arrived from nowhere…
POOF!
"Hi… good morning guys…," he mumbled. The wood nin looked so tired, and he gained big eye bugs. He also had some kind of weird bandage on his right hand.
"What happened to you, Yamato-taichou? Did something happen on your sleep, te bayo?" asked Naruto.
Their captain scratched his head. "Ahaha… I'm not so sure really…"
"What about my story?" complained Sakura. "I was just about to tell it to you!"
"Yeah yeah… let her start first…," mumbled the captain. He was too tired to care…
The pink-haired girl smiled cutely, and then started her story.
"Well, it's not so long… and besides, we're still waiting for the kids… so here I go!"
Everyone listened intently.
"I took off all my clothes, and started to walk towards the bathroom. Slowly but surely, I rubbed every part of my skin softly, to make sure that it'll remain smooth. I began to rinse my whole body, and the water gently caressed me… NARUTO! GET RID OFF THAT WEIRRD EXPRESSIION!"
The boy snapped back to reality… "Hah!... ah… sorry, Sakura-chan… continue please… te bayo…"
"Anyway, some weird kid came inside the bathroom, not through its windows but through the door… I don't even know how, but anyway… he seemed to be looking for some place to pee, and felt relieved when he found the toilet bowl…"
"Phew… so it wasn't me she was talking about, te bayo!"
"… Being the ninja I was, I quickly grabbed hold of a nearby kunai and threw it straight to him…"
That caught Yamato's attention. "Did you hurt the guy? That would be dangerous…"
"Just let me finish, taichou… I wrapped myself with a towel, and went straight to him. That's when I got a good look on his face."
"So, what did he look like?" asked Sai.
"He was a really cute guy, and he had brown hair… like Yamato-taichou… that's all I saw though."
"So," asked the captain, did you hit him with the kunai?"
"Yeah, I did. It cut him on his right hand…"
"Oh no… suddenly I don't want to here this…," thought Yamato as he hid his hands behind his back. He finally found out about what really happened to him last night. "Jeez… it feels like listening to a horror story."
"So… what did you do to him?"
"Oh… Well, I just beat the living crap out of him. When I was finished, I hang him out on the tree near my house."
That gave Yamato a near death memory. He almost had a heart attack on the spot… in fact, he started to pale quickly…
And eventually, he fainted.
That's when the two arrived.
"Sakura-nee Naruto-nii Sai-nii… Hi!... What in the world happened to Yamato-taichou?"
Naruto just looked at Naoko with a confused on his face.
"I have no idea, te bayo."