I really wanted to explore some of the less common tema friendships for this (I did wanna do karui, hina, shika, tenten and matsuri too, buuut I've had a long ass day at work today so had to just write what I could)

hope yall enjoy!

Day 6 - Bonds of friendship

"No way."

"I promise it's true!"

"You got any proof? Because I'm not gonna believe you until I see pictures." Honestly, did Chouji really think he could pull a fast one on her?

He chuckled as he started digging through the pouch attached to his hip. "I've got more than just photos," he said, and she could already feel her grin widening at where this was going. Finally pulling out the summoning scroll he'd been searching for, he rolled it out, made the necessary hand seals and waved away the puff of smoke that bloomed from it.

She felt her heart leap at the well-used video camera lying unassumingly on the paper. "Oh, oh please tell me this means what I think it does," she breathed, desperate to grab the thing, but hesitant to break the spell of hope swelling within her.

"Yup," Chouji said, grinning as he flicked out the small screen and started fiddling with buttons, "video evidence of baby Shikamaru dressed in a deer costume, frolicking through the woods."

Her cheeks were already aching. "You sir, are a goddamned hero."

The soil here was different, wetter, richer, it felt more… vital in her hands. But she still didn't think she could ever grow to love it like the soil back home.

"There, done, did you have the bulbs ready?" she asked, turning away from the large pot – filled with dark, mushy compost, a wide, shallow well dug into the centre of it – and glancing at the head of long, blonde hair bent over a long tray of seedling morning glories.

There were other ways she'd prefer to be spending her time off, but she liked Ino well enough and her hands had been feeling antsy anyway, so helping the girl out in her shop would have to do.

"Yeah, just a sec," Ino said, quickly putting down her watering can and wandering over, picking up a small bag on her way, "ok, we're going to be planting some amarcrinum in here, they grow really well in this climate and-" She stopped dead, her hand still rummaging in the cloth, her expression went from annoyed to uncertain, in just under a second. "Ah, sorry, must've forgotten to tell you to dig a hole for it."

She raised an eyebrow, as she stared between the shorter girl and the pot. "No, it's right there."

Ino hesitated, before her brows settled into a frown, her words came out as a sigh, "Not deep enough, these need to be buried about four inches down."

Already taking the nearest trowel, she quickly dug away until the well was the desired depth.

Temari crossed her arms as she watched, subtly biting at her lip. She was actually a little embarrassed, she took so much pride in her knowledge – both in general and of gardening – it was stupid of her not to actually check she was doing it right first.

A hand grimy with dirt pulled one of her own away from her arm, she watched curiously as Ino dropped a single flaking, oblong bulb into her palm.

"I guess growing things in the desert is pretty different to growing things here, huh?" she said, a bright, disarming grin on her face. "Once we're done with this, you should teach me a little about how you do things back home!"

"Wow! What sort of building is that?" Lee's exuberant voice had drawn more than a few stares, but instead of feeling annoyed by it, she just found herself smirking slightly.

"It's one of Suna's aviaries; a lot of people still use birds to hunt around here, but can't house them personally, so we keep them here and the birds can be rented out whenever they're needed," she explained, pointing out the large cages jutting out of the octagonal structure.

Lee gasped. "Amazing! Do you think we could go inside?"

She chuckled and started heading towards the entrance. "Sure, though do try to keep your voice down, the birds can be a bit skittish."

"Oh, of course, sorry," he whispered, though there was a definite bounce in his step as they walked through the heavy stone doors.

Despite his constant, pestering questions and loud, booming way of asking them, she found herself quite fond of him; his genuine curiosity and earnest joy were just so refreshing to an eternal cynic such as herself.

She grunted, putting all of her strength into resisting the push, but she could feel herself faltering, ever-so-slightly.

Sakura's eyes were wide and wild as she kept her focus fixed on her opponent, but her smile was stretching to both ears and her breathless laughs made it clear how much enjoyment she was getting out of this.

They were both panting and sweaty at this point, but she was of the exact same mind as her opponent, grinning as she pushed her hair out of her eyes.

"Breathing's getting a little heavy there, huh petal," she said, her voice oozing as much self-assurance as possible when she had so little breath left to give.

Sakura snorted, shifting in her seat. "Not at all. I can keep this up all day."

She chuckled, ignoring the strain stabbing up through her arm, in favour of pushing her fist a little further. They'd been at this deadlock for about fifteen minutes now and what had once been a passionately cheering crowd, was now sitting in rapt, horrified silence, as their locked hands wavered back and forth, back and forth, neither side ever quite looking set to claim victory.

"I bet you'd just love to use some of that chakra of yours right now, it'd make it so easy to win."

Gritting her teeth, Sakura's bicep quivered as she struggled against Temari's unrelenting pressure. "A deal's a deal, no chakra, just muscle," she muttered, eye closing against the bead of sweat dripping down into it.

Had she not been so insistent on that rule, she would've won ten times already.

The crowd leaning in was practically tangible, as the tide shifted in the pink-haired girl's favour. She pushed their hands back to centre, but she knew that she'd have to end this fast, if she wanted to win.

Subtly planting her feet a little firmer to the ground, disguised as casual shifting, she prepared herself to make her final push.

She'd barely registered the feel of hard wood crashing against the back of her hand, before the silence was shattered by a dozen screaming voices, the gathered group of friends – and a few curious passers-by – all jumping and clapping and shaking the shoulders of the two combatants.

Temari blinked, staring at her hand, still trapped beneath Sakura's, her arm bent back awkwardly.

Even dazed and exhausted as she was, she was at least graceful in defeat.

Pulling their still-locked fists up, she gave Sakura a single stiff handshake. "Well, good performance," she said, tightening her grip to a probably uncomfortable level for a brief second, as she pulled the girl in closer, just enough to whisper in her ear, "but next time, you're going down.