Chapter 15: Dinner

When it was just about time to head to the restaurant, Naruto told Neji to stop cleaning and follow him. Once they were on the street, Naruto turned to him and said, "Act normally until I say your name. Only when I say your name. When I do, you will go back to serving me."

Neji nodded and walked off.

"No! You can't make me!" came Kiba's voice.

Naruto turned around and saw Kiba clutching a tree branch for dear life as Shino held the bouquet directly below him. Kiba was acting as if the flowers were a roaring bonfire. He would not come down from the tree no matter how many times Shino asked.

At this rate, they would be late to dinner. It was a really stupid reason to be late, too.

Shino didn't want to miss dinner, even if this was an amusing game. The only reason he kept up his side of the agreement with Naruto for this long was because he enjoyed tormenting Kiba. It wasn't just because Naruto had asked. It was fun. But now it was starting to get tiresome. So why was he still doing it?

Put simply, even Shino no longer knew. He wanted to stop, but for some reason his brain never sent the message to his arm to lower the flowers.

Unbeknownst to anyone, this was an unforeseen effect of the command he had been given.

Naruto had told Shino to do this and Shino agreed without question because he couldn't question. It sounded like fun and he was right. This was rather amusing. And yet, he couldn't stop once he got started. It wasn't because he was having too much fun to stop now. It was because he couldn't. Not without questioning why he was doing this in the first place, which also meant questioning Naruto, which was something he could not do.

When Naruto had given him the command, to Shino, it meant not questioning him mentally or verbally.

He couldn't lower his arm without mentally wondering why he had been doing this or if it was ok to lower his arm and stop doing what Naruto asked of him, because wondering also meant questioning. Being incapable of doing that meant he couldn't perform any action that would cause him to question his own actions resulting from anything Naruto told him to do.

This is why the signal never reached him. Shino's mind was far more complicated than Naruto anticipated. No two minds were alike. To someone else, this was overthinking the command and they would have been able to carry out the order perfectly. To Shino's mind, the command was too ambiguous. This was what halted him from making a free-willed decision when he should have been able to.

He could not stop what he was doing without questioning Naruto, which resulted in a stalemate. Shino would only be able to stop if Naruto told him to do so.

Naruto didn't realize just how big an issue this was, but he realized that this was a problem. He was able to realize that, unlike Neji, Shino was fully aware of what he was doing but was simply incapable of stopping. He could not wonder why without questioning Naruto, which he could not do. Knowing this, Naruto took pity on Shino and gave him a different command.

And just like many situations where Naruto only saw part of the problem, he made things worse.

"Shino, stop that."

Shino let his arm drop. Kiba swung from one branch to the next until he was out of sight.

"Come here a second."

Shino approached.

Naruto snapped his fingers. "Sleep."

Shino's head tipped forward slightly.

"Shino, whenever you hear a clang, like someone clanging a glass, you will hug the nearest person." He snapped his fingers. "Awake."

Shino lifted his head.

"Coming to dinner, Shino?" Naruto asked him.

"Yeah. I'm not sure where Kiba ran off to. He'll show up if he's hungry."

"I'll meet you there."

"Great! Everyone's here!" Choji said happily. "I just put in an order for salted beef while we wait for everyone to order."

"Thinking all the time, Choji." Leave it to Choji to order before everyone got a chance to arrive so the food would show up around the time everyone else gets the chance to browse through the menu. Everyone knew this was how Choji coped with having to wait for the main meal. Basically, this was the appetizer.

Choji looked around with a sad expression on his face. "Aw, Shikamaru didn't show up. I saved a seat for him and everything."

"He's doing some work at the Hokage building," said Ino. "I doubt he'll show up. He'll be busy for a while.

"Aw, man." Choji sighed. "Oh, well. We'll just have to make the most of it. Everybody, dig in when the food gets here. I'll just describe how it tasted to Shikamaru since he couldn't be here."

"To make him feel better or to tease him?" Naruto asked.

Choji shook his head. "To make him feel included. Meals are meant to be shared with people. It's bonding time. A time to eat, chat and hang out with friends. Even if Shikamaru can't be here even though he was invited, he still deserves to feel like he was a part of it. A part of our group."

Lee started sniffling. "A true testament to deep bonds. That was so moving, Choji!"

"Please," Ino said with a scoff. "You just want to relive this meal over and over again, and talking about it to him will have you tasting the food all over again."

"While that might also be true, I still meant what I said."

Naruto started to look over the menu. Though he had been here numerous times with friends, every now and then, he liked to get something different. He usually just picked the first thing that looked good to him without reading the whole menu. That changed the more they frequented the restaurant. Now he read the menu cover to cover.

He felt a tug on the menu and look to his right. Sai was eying him with a big smile. "What are you getting, Naruto?"

Naruto leaned away from him. "Uh… Well, I was thinking…"

"Whatever you get, I'll get it, too. You have the best taste."

Naruto leaned further away from him. "Well, sometimes I get the same thing Choji gets because he doesn't like to share if he can help it, and normally everyone gets something different and shares it. But if you're getting the same thing as me, I guess I don't have to do that this time since there'll be twice as much. I can order whatever."

Sai moved closer to Naruto. "You have the best ideas. You're so smart."

This admiration was going a bit too far now. Sai was becoming obsessive. More than before.

But he couldn't undo the command here in front of everybody, so it would have to wait until later. Hopefully there wouldn't be too many distractions this time.

"What are you getting, Naruto?" asked Sakura. "Same thing as Choji?"

"Nah. Sai said he'll order the same dish so I won't have to. I can get something different this time."

Sakura raised her brow at him. "How will that help? Sai will have the same thing as you and Choji will have his. Wouldn't it make more sense to have him order the same thing as Choji rather than you?"

Naruto blinked. "Dang it!"

"Completely slipped his mind," said Neji.

"Leave it to Naruto to overlook something so obvious," laughed Kiba.

Naruto waited for Shino to say something but he didn't. Having Shino not question him turned out to be a pretty good decision. Neji was acting normal, but that would all change if Naruto spoke his name out loud. He would hold off, of course. Now wasn't the time.

"I think I'll get…" Naruto paused as Sai moved closer to see what he was looking at on the menu. Naruto leaned away from him. "Sai, you order the same thing as Choji. I'll get the marinated short ribs."

Sai pleaded with his eyes. "Oh, but what you want to order sounds so good. I want to have it, too. I want the same thing as you, Naruto."

Naruto moved closer to hiss at him, "Sai, it would please me if you ordered the same thing as Choji. You want to make me happy, right?"

Sai's eyes sparkled. "Ohh, yes, I do..!" He nodded up and down. "Ok, I'll order the same thing as Choji."

"Thanks, Sai."

Sai was practically blushing as Naruto praised him. He was so happy to receive his praise.

"The yukhoe looks good, too," said Lee. "I think I will get that."

"An order of kalbi for me."

"Hey, they have a special on reimen."

"That's cold noodles," said Kiba. "Order something with meat in it, for crying out loud. Why else go to barbeque?"

"Is the waitress back? I know what I want."

Soon, everyone had placed their orders and were sitting around chatting while they waited. When the food arrived, everyone started grilling. Choji barely paid attention to the conversation, focusing all his attention on the grill. This was normal.

Naruto told Sai to grill the meat for him so he could talk with everyone without having to worry about burning anything. Sai was happy to do it. This seemed like a good idea… until the meat was finished cooking.

Sai held the meat out for Naruto with his chopsticks, only he wasn't trying to put it on Naruto's plate. He was trying to feed him.

"Stop that," Naruto hissed.

"Open wide. It's nice and juicy."

"Knock it off!"

Kiba started snickering when he saw this. "What's up with Sai? Is he the best you can do now?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked, his face turning red.

"I'm saying he can't do any better than you? That's great." He started laughing. "No, really. You two look cute together."

"It's not like that! Shut up, Kiba!"

Sai poked Naruto's cheek with the meat. "Say, 'ahh', Naruto."

"Stop it!"

"Aw!" cooed Kiba. "How romantic."

Naruto glared daggers at Kiba, then picked up a spoon, and clanged it against his glass of water.

Shino threw his arms around Kiba in a passionate hug.

Kiba stopped laughing at once.

They both looked at each other with wide eyes.

"What the hell are you doing, Shino?"

"S- sorry." Shino took his arms from around Kiba and put them at his sides.

At least this got the attention off Naruto and Sai.

Shino wasn't sure what happened. He wasn't in control of his actions.

"Why did you do that?"

"I… I don't know." Shino honestly hadn't a clue. His body just… reacted.

Naruto took the chopsticks away from Sai, snapped them in half and handed them back to him. He ate the grilled meat with his own pair and told Sai to just fill up his plate; not to feed him.

"Can we just get back to eating?" Ino asked.

"No way," said Kiba. "I want to know why Shino did that."

"I told you, I don't know why."

After being woken from his most recent trance, Shino's mind interpreted the first command he had been given differently than before. Almost like a reset. He still could not question Naruto. That part remained true, but now he was able to question his own actions. He just could not wonder if Naruto had something to do with this.

This was why he never considered that Naruto clanging the glass deliberately and him hugging Kiba were connected. It only happened once, so it was probably just a fluke.

The group tried to resume dinner, but it was very quiet for the next few minutes. The conversation picked up again and everything went back to normal.

Naruto knew not to overdo this because it would arouse suspicion. However, fun was fun. He would just have to be more discreet about it.

"How about we toast to another successful mission?" he declared. "How about it, Sakura? We never did celebrate when we came back the other day."

"We can't celebrate every mission. Besides, that one was easy."

"Please? Sai wants to, don't you, Sai?"

Sai nodded up and down. "Whatever Naruto wants."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Fine." She raised her glass. "To another successful mission."

"Cheers!" Naruto clanged glasses with his friends.

At the same time, Shino hugged Kiba.

"Seriously, what is wrong with you?!"

"I don't know why I'm doing this."

"Well, stop it!"

Shino lowered his arms and sat quietly in his seat.

"Someone pass the soy sauce."

Naruto handed Kiba the soy sauce, making it clang against the side of his plate. Shino hugged Kiba again.

"Stop it!"

"I wish I could." He was not in control of himself. He just couldn't help it.

Naruto sat back down, grinning. He better not overdo this, no matter how fun it was.

"Anyone up for seconds?" Choji asked. "There's a whole pile of meat right here waiting to be cooked."

"I'll cook some," said Sai. "I'll give it extra attention since I'm cooking it for someone special."

Ino thought Sai was referring to her, but she was sadly mistaken and horrified when Sai gave the meat to Naruto instead.

Perhaps the meat wasn't cooked right. Yes, that must have been the reason why Sai gave it to Naruto. He burned it so Naruto deserved to have it. That must have been it.

"Would you like some of mine, Naruto?" Sai asked. "It's really good."

"Thanks, Sai. Just cook it and leave it over there. I'll get to it later."

"Ok."

Naruto moved closer to the others. "What have you guys been up to lately?"

"Just missions and training," said Neji.

"I've been so busy, I've hardly had time to do anything else," complained Tenten. "The last drill Gai-sensei had us go on lasted into the night so by the time I got to the store it was closed. I was looking forward to that new short sword they just got in, too. Shipped all the way from the Stone Village."

"Did you go back there and get it?" asked Ino.

"I did, but I had to get put on a waiting list because they're in such short supply. They only got a dozen."

"Isn't it first come, first serve?"

"Not in this case," she said. "Since it's a popular item, the owners decided to sell the few they have to those who pay a higher price."

"So it's a bid war?"

"That's how they're making a profit. If they sell the dozen they have for the written price, they'll only make so much money. If they have the last few sold in a bid war, then they'll get more money because we'll be going up from the sticker prize. I know it's not fair, but that's what the shop decided to do."

"Can they do that?"

"Yeah. I checked. They're not increasing the price themselves. It's the number of people who want it that make the price go up by offering more than what the sword's going for. The owners aren't doing anything wrong by accepting more money when the customer is offering it to them."

"Sounds about right," said Ino. "I went into a shop once and I had my eye on this cute outfit but it was the last one in stock and someone else wanted it, too. I offered to pay more than the other girl so I got it."

"Leave it to you to pay top dollar just to keep someone else from buying it."

"You're just jealous because I got it and you didn't, Sakura."

"So Sakura was the other girl in this story?"

"You sound surprised," muttered Neji.

"I had it in my hands and you snatched it from me! You know how much I wanted that outfit!"

"Then you should have brought more money!"

"I was there first! You only got it because you offered more and the greedy guy behind the desk was all too happy to get more out of it!"

"Then you see what I mean."

"It was nothing short of cheating!"

"Was not!"

"It was, too!" Sakura slammed her hands on the table and caused a couple of glasses to clang against some plates.

Shino hugged Kiba tightly.

"Shino, I'm going to punch you! I swear I will!"

"I'm not doing this on purpose."

Naruto reached for his bowl of rice only for Sai to get there first and hand it to him. "Uh, thanks." He reached for something else and Sai handed it to him with a smile.

"I had dibs on that outfit and you know it!"

"You did not! You walked in there, same as me!"

"How do you know? I could have seen it and saved up my money to get it and come back."

"It doesn't matter since I have it now."

"Because you took it from me!"

"Your name wasn't on it, forehead!"

Naruto leaned over to Sai. "Sai, tell Sakura…"

"I have it now, so shut up about it!" snapped Ino.

"It's the principal of the thing! I wanted it and you took it knowing that I had my eye on it!"

"It doesn't matter," said Sai. "You probably wouldn't have been able to fit into it anyway."

Everyone took their plates off the table and held them in their laps.

"What did you say, you jerk?! Cha!" Sakura stood up and punched Sai in the face. He tumbled backwards and lay flat on his back with a swollen cheek.

Sakura sat back down and everyone slowly put their plates back on to the table.

Naruto crawled out from under the table once Sakura sat back down. He had been sitting between the two of them and knew from experience that Sakura was willing to go through him to get to Sai. Now that it was safe to come out of hiding, Naruto took his seat and went back to eating.

Sai rubbed his cheek. "Ow…"

"It was your own fault," Naruto told him. "You could have chosen your words better."

Naruto had told Sai to say something to end the argument between Ino and Sakura. He should have been more specific. He should have known not to let Sai come up with what to say because it would probably come out wrong. And it did.

Sai didn't mind his stinging face. He grinned at Naruto and said, "I'm just glad you didn't get hurt, Naruto."

Naruto ignored him.

Sai cooked more meat and gave it to Naruto, telling him to eat up. Naruto let Sai do what he wanted.

The conversation had changed and the mood seemed to improve quickly. Now there was laughter and good-natured teasing. Lee tried to entertain the others by describing his latest training. Most of them were bored but let him talk anyway.

"You should see the tree," said Tenten. "It looks like an hourglass since he's been kicking it so often."

"Didn't he break a tree in half by kicking it during training?"

"That was a while ago, and it was a stump. Not a full tree."

"But he did break it in half, didn't he?"

"Yup. Soon this tree will break in half, too." Tenten snapped her fingers. "Just like that."

Sai dropped his chopsticks and slumped against Naruto.

"Sai, I…" Naruto was annoyed at first, then noticed that Sai was back in a trance. "How did..?"

Thinking back, Naruto realized that he only told Sai to go back into a trace when he heard someone snap. There was no verbal command, only an action. He had forgotten to give him both. However, he had given him both when it came to waking him up.

Naruto snapped his fingers. "Awake."

Sai opened his eyes and sat up.

"Naruto?"

"Nothing!" Naruto spun around. "What? Nothing!"

Sakura eyed him suspiciously. "What's going on over there?"

"Nothing. Nothing's going on."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What?" Naruto started to sweat.

Sai picked up his chopsticks and took some meat off the grill. When he set the plate down, it clanged against another, which, of course, caused Shino to hug Kiba.

"Dammit, Shino!" Kiba shoved him away. "That's it! Somebody switch seats with me!"

Kiba forced Neji to switch places with him. When he sat down again, Kiba bumped the table, causing a couple of glasses to bump into each other with a clang.

Shino hugged Neji.

Neji stiffened and looked at Shino out of the corner of his eye without a word.

Shino looked at him, silent.

"Um, Shino?"

"Yes?"

"Do you mind?"

"Sorry." Shino took his arms from around Neji.

Everyone went back to eating. Before long, someone else caused something to clang and Shino hugged Neji again, knocking the food from his chopsticks. Neji looked extremely annoyed and not just because Shino caused him to drop his food inches from his mouth.

"Can I help you?" he asked, darkly.

"Sorry." Shino lowered his arms again. He tried sitting on his hands but this made eating difficult.

Neji tried eating again, giving Shino a sideward glare as he did.

Naruto still thought it was funny but tried not to laugh.

"Pass that plate over here," said Choji. "I'll grill that up next."

"Ok." Hinata, who was sitting next to Neji, reached across him to hand the plate to the nearest person to pass down to Choji. Neji sat back to allow her more room, but this meant she was within Shino's reach.

As he moved to take the plate from her to pass down, the plate clanged against another plate. Shino leapt over Neji's lap and tackled Hinata in a fervent hug.

The plate fell and Hinata squeaked in surprise.

"The meat!" yelled Choji.

"Lady Hinata!" yelled Neji. He grabbed the back of Shino's coat and pulled. "Get off her!"

"Nobody panic," said Choji. "The meat landed on the table so it's still good."

"Are you alright, Hinata?" Shino and Neji asked her at once.

"I'm ok."

"What were you thinking?" Neji snapped.

"I… I didn't…"

"Didn't think? That's obvious."

"I'm sorry. I…"

"It's ok," said Hinata. "I'm fine so it's ok."

Shino moved away from the two of them. He didn't understand why this was happening to him. Why was he hugging everyone? It didn't make sense.

Neji helped Hinata back into her seat. He even served her some meat and refilled her water glass as a comforting gesture. He wanted her to feel better, but she honestly wasn't too upset by this. Neji seemed to be more upset than she was.

As Neji lowered the water jug, it clanged against a plate.

Neither were close to Shino this time. The closest person was the one directly across from him.

Shino flew across the table, reaching for Naruto with open arms.

"No! Shino, no! Wait!"

He tackled Naruto in a big hug, knocking over glasses and plates. Some water spilled onto the grill Choji was cooking on, causing a thick cloud of steam to shoot into his face.

"The meat!"

"Naruto!" Sai bent down to rescue him. "Are you alright?! Did the bug fanatic hurt you?"

"What'd you call me?"

"Get off!" Naruto screamed.

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