Chapter 2: Usagi the Matchmaker
-The Next Day-
"Usagi-chan!" called a high, sweet voice from somewhere off to Usagi's left. She glanced around to see her Aunt Ino waving cheerily at her from the doorway of the flower shop. Ino by far had the longest hair of any of Usagi's aunts, and she suspected the long blond ponytail was even longer than her mother's raven colored cascade of hair. Ino was smiling her sweetest, friendliest smile, a pink apron covering the front of her normally revealing clothes.
Usagi quickly darted over to the flower shop and Ino bent down until she was at eye level with the little girl. Usagi knew perfectly well what Ino was up to, but she didn't mind. She had business here anyway.
"Would you check these for me?" Ino asked sweetly, smiling a simpering smile and directing Usagi towards a recently erected display. "I have to make sure they're perfect, and who better to judge how fresh they are than a beautiful young blossom like you?" Usagi returned Ino's smile and began picking her way through the elaborate arrangement. The first few times Usagi had ever been called into the flower shop, 'to check the flowers' Ino would always say, she had been startled to find that the reflection she caught from the opposite shop window upon leaving featured done up in some exacting style. Once it had been pigtails, once an assortment of braids, and once even four spiky ponytails like Aunt Temari's hair. Ino loved to play with Usagi's hair, and simply would never pass up the opportunity to do something with it while Usagi wasn't looking. She never felt Ino's nimble, gentle hands, but she knew instinctively that each time she put her back to the blond woman a new style was being inflicted upon her.
Ino had always wanted a daughter. Ever since she had first started to take care of Sakura she had wanted a daughter. Someone to take care of. Someone to dress up in pretty clothes. Someone who would let Ino play with her hair. So of course when Ino had first gotten a good look at her niece's thick blond hair she had immediately decided she was going to enjoy being an aunt. She watched the little girl closely as she picked her way purposefully through the flowers. She seemed almost to be looking for something, Ino mused as she ran her fingers deftly through the blond strands.
"Usagi-chan?" she asked after a moment.
"Mhm?" Usagi replied, not looking up from the flowers.
"What do you think of your uncle Choji?"
Usagi grinned, careful not to let Ino see her smug face. That was the second thing she had to do here today. "Oh, he's the greatest!" she replied enthusiastically, as though she were delighted just thinking about him.
Ino was caught slightly off guard. "He is?" she asked, nonplussed.
"Oh yeah," Usagi replied, pretending to be absorbed in what she was doing so as not to have to look at Ino. "He's always around when I need him, he always gives me a bite of whatever he's eating, he never lets me down when he makes a promise, he's always there to cheer me on . . . you know if I had to pick one of my uncles I would like to be my father if it weren't for my real father, it would be Uncle Choji!"
Usagi pulled a slight face into a clump of violently pink flowers. She generally made it a point not to compare her father to anyone, but it was necessary today. And anyway, knowing how unlikely it was for her to make the comparison would only make Ino take it more seriously.
Ino, for her part, did take it seriously, so shocked she even stopped playing with Usagi's hair.
What Ino hadn't noticed was her own sharp intake of breath, something Usagi had been listening for. She grinned, reaching for a light pink flower that might work well.
"Say it!" squealed a high voice that seemed to be coming from somewhere outside the door.
Usagi turned, forcing Ino to reel back, then kneel on the floor beside the tiny girl in order to watch what was going on outside.
"Say it! Please!" Sakura simpered from the shadows beside the flower shop.
"Sakura-san, we're in a public place, I don't . . ." began Lee before he was cut off again by another whine from Sakura. They were standing concealed in the shadows, careful not to step into the light where they could be easily seen. Lee had his arms around Sakura's waist and she was pressed against him, her palms flat on his chest and her face just a few inches below his.
"Please Lee-kun! Just the one time!" she crooned, rising on her toes to press her forehead against his and nuzzle his cheek with her nose.
Lee glanced to either side as though making sure no one was watching, thankfully forgetting to look into the flower shop where Ino and Usagi were listening with rapt attention.
"Alright," he said after a moment, leaning down to nuzzle his mouth close to Sakura's ear, "I love you, Sakura-chan."
Sakura squealed in delight and rewarded her husband with a kiss that was heated enough to make Ino clap one hand over Usagi's eyes and the other over her own mouth to stop her giggles.
Usagi wiggled out of Ino's hold. She really didn't care what they were doing, but she had business to attend to. Quickly she turned to the arrangement and grabbed the small pink flower she had been eying earlier. It was a small accent, with only five petals, but it would work well. Tucking the flower safely in her pocket she darted back out the door.
"Aunt Sakura!" she called as Ino lunged out the shop door after her, landing in a disgruntled heap on the ground in front of the kissing couple. Two patches of red appeared on Lee's cheeks, but Sakura simpled turned in her husband's arms until her back was pressing into Lee's chest, his arms folded across her stomach. "Good morning Usagi-chan!" she said brightly, "Good morning Ino-pig!"
"Good morning billboard-brow." Ino replied stiffly, managing to get to her feet and dust herself off with an air of complete grace and dignity.
"Aunt Sakura," Usagi began, fully ignoring Ino, "have you seen Aunt Tenten today?"
Sakura blinking in surprise. "I think I saw her in one of the north training grounds," she replied, "Lee and I were just about to go and join her, but why . . ."
Usagi didn't give Sakura time to finish her sentence. "Great," Usagi cut her off, snapping up her glider from where she had propped in against a wall before Ino had spotted her, "could you tell her to meet me at the corner across from father's favorite ramen bar? Around noon?"
"Sure . . ." Sakura said, looking totally lost, as Usagi sped off in the other direction.
Usagi ran at top speed all the way to the barbecue restaurant. She didn't have much time to prepare, and she still hadn't finished her errands. She found the two people she was looking for where one would always find them on a Sunday morning when they didn't have mission; playing chess and eating barbecue.
"Uncle Choji!" Usagi called as she ran up to the window that exposed the table occupied by Choji and Shikamaru.
Choji grinned and pulled a juicy looking piece of meat off the grill, holding it out to her. "Hungry little one?" he laughed as she rushed up to them and struggled to catch her breath.
"Aunt Ino's looking for you!" Usagi panted, grabbing the food from Choji and devouring it as soon as she caught her breath.
Choji blinked, "what does she want?" he asked, bemused.
"No time!" Usagi gasped, tugging at his sleeve as though to pull him through the window. Choji got up and, after a hurried goodbye to Shikamaru, sped off in the direction Usagi had come from.
Shikamaru rested his chin on his hand as he surveyed his niece critically. He knew better than to believe Ino was actually looking for Choji, Usagi had that gleam in her eye, the same one Naruto had, that meant she was getting into mischief. "What are you up to, little one?" he asked finally.
Usagi cocked her head and stared at him with the most innocent looking face he could imagine. "What do you mean, Uncle Shikamaru?" she asked, as though she had never been in trouble in her life.
Shikamaru sighed. If Usagi didn't want to tell him what was going on, he would find out soon enough when whatever she was planning happened. "I heard Neji broke your glider," he replied instead.
Usagi suddenly looked very grumpy. "Yes!" she replied, very irritated, "he just threw a shuriken through it! Just like that!" she extended the gliders wings to show him, "There's a big hole in it now!"
Shikamaru eyed the slit in the glider's wing. "It's hardly a big hole, Usagi," he told her, though it didn't really matter. The glider's balance was delicate, and the fabric of the wings could not be patched. He would have to remake the wings altogether. Bothersome.
"Can you fix it?" Usagi asked almost pleadingly. For a moment Shikamaru considered lying. Then he cast the idea aside. If he told her he couldn't fix it she would simply beg him to make a new one until he gave in. He nodded.
Usagi immediately brightened. "How quickly?" she asked, jumping up and down outside the window.
Shikamaru sighed. "For anyone else, three days. For you, one bothersome afternoon. I'll have it for you by tomorrow."
Usagi leaped up pumped her fist into the air. "Yes!" she grinned, then turned and sprinted off in the other direction. "If you see Uncle Neji, tell him to meet me at the corner across from father's favorite ramen place. Noon!"
-Later-
Usagi was careful as she laid her trap. The wire was expertly concealed. Her position was perfectly undetectable. She crouched in the shadows, waiting for the sun to rise higher in the sky.
Her prey came. Just when she had expected, it came. Her hands were sweating on the wire as she counted the step, waiting for the perfect moment. One, two, THREE! She tugged, and her prey fell forward. The landing was perfect, and she pulled out the weapon for her master stroke. Judging the wind, she held the tiny projectile in her fingers, then let it fly. She couldn't help making a quiet, victorious gesture from the shadows. Direct hit.
Tenten fell for it. Usagi had laid a trip wire in her path, and she fell for it. She fell for it right onto Neji's chest. Usagi had sprung the trap just as she came round the corner; true it was a trap laid by a six-year-old, but being in her own village she had not been expecting a trap at all. So it really was not surprising that her foot caught the concealed wire. What was more surprising was that her fall placed her squarely on top of her teammate.
"Tenten." Neji said simply in surprise. Her chest was pressed against his, her hands flat against his shoulders, her face just inches above him. His pale eyes were wide as they looked back into her chocolate ones. Slowly, a single pink flower drifted down out of nowhere and landed in Tenten's hair. Neji couldn't help it. On pure instinct, he reached up and pulled blossom out of her dark hair. His wrist brushed her face and . . . was that a blush he saw creeping over her cheeks? His whole brain seemed to momentarily shut down, leaving a single thought. Damn she's beautiful.
From her place in the shadows, Usagi mouthed a disbelieving "yes!"
