Omake 2
"Wah! We haven't gotten much screen time, and author-san calls us in for this?!" Matsuri cried indignantly. She folded her hands in a prayer-like gesture and gave puppy eyes to the camera. "Pwease author-san, give us more time with the audience!"
"Please calm down. Author-san is only trying to move the story along." Gaara calmly replied. Then, his eyes turned cold and tone menacing. "Isn't that right, author-san? We'll have plenty of time to help my friend."
A lazy sigh caught their attention, and they looked up to see…a surprisingly Naruto-like blond. They gasped as he put a finger over his mouth to shush them. "Now then, isn't there a reason author-san called you guys to do this omake thing?"
Matsuri pouted and grumbled, but she complied. "Well, I did want to answer a question from last time. Gaara and I went off to ma-mmph!" Her eyes widened as she followed the arm of sand to her beloved. Then, she frowned as she controlled sand to break his technique. "What was that for?!"
Gaara kept his impassive expression on the camera. "We aren't here to answer those questions, and they are inappropriate anyway. We are here to apologize profusely for author-san." They both bowed to the camera…
…but the blond man spoke. He rubbed his nose as he closed his eyes. "As much as it pains him, he wants to make sure you guys have as good a chapter as possible to read. With his vacation coming up, he was worked to the bone at work. He was so tired that when he looked at what he had written (and how terrible it was) he knew he wouldn't be done in time."
Gaara nodded. "However, it will be done next week despite his vacation. The family reunion was canceled, but he needs to get his domicile cleaned for important, if small, guests."
Matsuri smiled widely. "He's gonna be baby-sitting!" She paused and pushed her chin with a finger. "Well, somebody in his household will, but he'll be happy to see the two little girls!"
The blond nodded. "Yes, yes, but he has made a promise. Over the next few chapters, there will be some epic scenes. Let's see, he's promised that [censored]…."
A scrambled window moved to one corner, and Shikamaru appeared sitting next Temari. He started with his usual lazy drawl and roll of the eyes. "Well, author-san was so distracted from listening to Mark Schultz that he almost didn't notice the little slip."
Temari slapped him upside the head. "That's not what we're supposed to say!" She bowed apologetically. "We're sorry for the interruption and will be returning to our irregularly scheduled program shortly."
Shikamaru sighed and eyed her warily. "Troublesome woman..." He received another slap as the static stopped and took over the scene, returning Gaara, Matsuri, and the blond man.
"… [censored]. Then, pow, it'll be awesome!" He punched the air excitedly as he looked around the studio. He noticed the odd glares he was receiving and looked to a piece of cardboard being waved angrily around. "Oh… I wasn't supposed to say that?" He rubbed the back of his head and laughed. "Sorry, sorry…"
Gaara and Matsuri looked at each other and shared the same, exasperated thought. "He's not sorry at all…"
"Anyway…" Gaara stared, getting back to business. "As you can tell, author-san didn't want his audience to worry. He's working hard on The Path We Walk and his other amazing stories."
Matsuri nodded enthusiastically. "He also is working hard on scenes for the next few chapters to make them as suspenseful as possible. He has a few scenes that he wants to get just right, and he can't do it when he's as tired as he is now."
The blond rubbed his nose with a wide grin. "I hope I get to see some screen time! Anyway…" The scene started fading black with a big, red [censored] sign coming. "Hey! I'm not going to say anything!"
Gaara and Matsuri each felt a cold sweat as everything returned to normal. It would seem 'author-san' didn't want to take any chances.
The blond continued to glare angrily until the scene was completely back to normal, at which point a wide grin retook his face. "I hope you guys can forgive author-san. He's dead tired, and it didn't help that something happened to make his already hard schedule worse. He's also a senior in college this year, so, unfortunately, he may be more distracted than usual."
The three bowed as the camera panned out to reveal the entire cannon and 'author-san' original cast, even dead characters, bowing apologetically. "We are immensely sorry!"
I really shouldn't mention work while listening to Running Just to Catch Myself by Mark Schultz... "I'm overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated. It's just the burden of being middle-class and educated." The song is freaking hilarious!
Anyway, I'm really sorry. Though I'm happy that I am a senior this year (Yay!), I'm still at a dead-end job trying to survive. My car breaks down, and only my savings (cries) saves me. Plus, I have to work pretty much four days in a row all day long... Ugh!
My readership needn't worry about my next update. It'll be up on Monday July 13 instead of tomorrow. My family reunion got canceled for reasons I won't discuss, but I have to prepare the house for two little cuties that I've missed baby-sitting. Yays! Anyway, look forward to next week's update for sure!