Land of Water: Elite 1, 2-2

Kirigakure, as usual, was hidden behind a waterfall.  Once the team got through and dried off, the Mizukage arrived in the room they waited in, smiling.  He was a small man with graying hair and a beard, reminding Shikamaru bizarrely of the third Hokage.  The man’s blue and white robes were neat and freshly pressed, hiding the village’s inner turmoil.

As soon as the man stepped inside, Neji stood and walked to him, the two speaking quietly for several moments.  Meanwhile, Sakura started to complain that she’d never get the grime from the river out of her hair.  Kami, it gave him a frightening flashback of Ino.

“Sakura-chan! I’ll help you get it out!” Naruto offered, oblivious of the disappointed looking Hinata just behind him.

Shikamaru sighed.  “How troublesome,” he muttered.

“Youth is troublesome!” Lee insisted, standing and doing a pose reminiscent of his former sensei.

Naruto, without bothering to look, swung his arm back and knocked the other boy over.  “Shut up, baka!” he snapped over his shoulder before returning his full attention to Sakura.

Hinata sighed and sat down on the bench Shikamaru was perched upon.  Another sigh forced the genius to look at her.  She was fumbling with her fingers again.

“Hinata-chan,” he sighed.  “Try talking to him.  I’m sure he’s noticed you, just not the way you want,” he offered half-heartedly.

She blinked and looked up at him.  “R-really?  Y-you think so?” she asked softly.

Before he could reply, Neji turned on his heel and pinned them all with the famous Hyuuga glare, silencing their murmurings.  After a solid minute, he nodded.  “I think we’re set.  Just a room, then,” he said, turning back to the Mizukage.

Naruto sighed in relief.  “He scares me sometimes,” he whispered to Hinata.

She blushed and glanced at Shikamaru, who nodded encouragingly.  Taking a deep breath, she looked at the blond.  “U-un.  B-but he’s not a-all that bad.  Just… stern.  A-and very protective.”  Her face flushed.

“Yeah?” Naruto asked, giving her a curious glance.  “Something wrong, Hinata?  You’re all red…”

Her eyes widened and her face turned a few shades redder.  “I-ie,” she whispered.

The blond reached up and put a hand to her forehead.  “And you’re kinda warm.  Are you sick?”

That, apparently, was way too much for the innocent girl.  She fainted without warning and only quick reflexes on Naruto’s part saved her from a headache when she woke.  Lee and Sakura were trying hard to hold in their laughter, Neji looked annoyed, and Shikamaru was hiding his face in his hands.  So much for that idea.

“Naruto,” Neji growled.  He glared at the oblivious blond before sighing and shaking his head.  “The Mizukage has told us that Jousho Murasaki is at our disposal for the duration of our stay.  She’ll show us to our rooms.”

Sakura tipped her head curiously.  “You would think we’re just here as tourists,” she commented idly.

“We are,” Neji replied.  “At least to the general public.  Until this thing is taken care of, we are nothing more than emissaries in the name of the Feudal Lord and Konoha.  Got it?”  He shot the group a glare.

“Isn’t there an emissary here already, though?” Shikamaru asked, frowning.  “Sai or something like that.”

“That’s right!” Sakura exclaimed, hitting one open palm with her fisted other hand.  “Sai came here about six months ago as emissary.  Didn’t he bring a gift of peace or something?”  She tipped her head to the side, staring up at Neji from her seat on the floor.

He nodded.  “Hai.  Our story is that we were the rest of his initial party, but a long mission pulled us away from our duty,” he explained.  He sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets.  “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re going shopping.”

Sakura squealed in excitement and Naruto, Shikamaru and Lee groaned.  Hinata was still out like a light, gently cocooned in Naruto’s arms.

-

“Ooh! Hinata-chan, what do you think of this one?!” Sakura asked happily, brandishing a pretty red kimono with a white flower petal design.

The Hyuuga heiress turned from inspecting several pretty yukata on a rack.  She beamed when her eyes landed on the garment in the other woman’s hands.  “Oh, it’s beautiful Sakura-chan!”

Sakura grinned and looked at the price tag.  She sighed.  “It’s too much, though,” she said, glancing in her wallet.  She didn’t have nearly enough.

“Well, if Sakura-chan helps me pick out something that I’ll look good in,” Hinata said thoughtfully, “I’ll buy that pretty kimono for you.”

Sakura blinked and looked up at the white-eyed girl.  “Really?” she asked.  “Are you sure you have enough?”

Hinata laughed.  “Uh-huh!  I’m rich, remember?”

“Oh!  That’s great, then!  No problem!”

-

Naruto caught Neji scowling at the seamstress for the sixth time in half as many minutes.  She shuffled nervously and pulled the pin she’d just put in his clothes – and probably him, from his expression – out.

Shaking his head, Naruto nudged Lee with his elbow.  “Aisu-ouji’s having a hard time again,” he whispered.

Lee followed the direction of his gaze and snickered.  “Hai,” he agreed.

“This is so troublesome.  Ouch!”

The proclamation gained Naruto’s attention and he looked over to see that the woman fitting Shikamaru was blushing furiously as he fidgeted.  Naruto laughed loudly, getting a glare from both Neji and Shikamaru.  The blond froze, eyes wide.  Lee snickered and elbowed him hard in the side, knocking him over.

“Ow!  Lee!”  Naruto leapt to his feet and shoved the other boy.  “What the hell’d you knock me over for?!” he demanded.

Lee growled and pushed him back.  “Don’t touch me, my rival for Sakura’s love!” he snapped.

“What the hell’re you talkin’ about, baka?!  You pushed me first!”

Before the potential fight could get any worse, they were both shoved apart and the boy between them cast the seamstress by Neji a smile.  “Forgive my friends.  They’re both idiots.”

“SAI!!!” came two identical screams.

-

When night fell, the group of Konoha ninja were assembled in the ‘living room’ of the lodge they were staying in.  Sakura and Hinata were talking animatedly about their purchases earlier in the day and wondering why they had to go out and buy dress clothes.  Lee and Naruto were having a glaring contest, neither willing to give up their ‘love’ for Sakura, Shikamaru had passed out on the couch, ignoring the general commotion of the room as usual, and Sai was having a rather pleasant conversation with Neji about past missions.

After a while, Hinata approached her cousin, a curious look on her face.  “Anou, itoko-kun?”

Neji looked up at her.  “Hai?”

“What did we get the kimono for?” she asked, tapping her fingers together nervously.

Neji frowned and looked at a clock on the wall.  “We’re invited to a welcoming party tonight.  We should get dressed.”  He stood, crossing his arms.  “Be on your best behavior and be as nice as possible.”  He shot Naruto a glare when the boy choked on his laughter.  “We’re honored guests, but if you piss them off, we won’t be.  Don’t make enemies; we’re not here for that.  Am I understood?”

The chorus of ‘hais’ seemed to satisfy him and he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

-

Ten minutes later, everyone was dressed.  Shikamaru looked around, eyeing what everyone had on.  Sakura was dressed in a pretty red kimono with white petals and a pink obi, and Hinata wore a pale blue silk kimono that went surprisingly well with her eyes, complimented by a white obi with dragons in black stitching along the length.  Naruto wore a black yukata with little orange foxes chasing each other around the hem and an orange obi belt.  He seemed dissatisfied with the outcome.  Lee wore a light brown yukata and obi, which surprised the Nara genius.  He’d expected the boy to be wearing green.

As for Neji and Shikamaru himself, well…  Neji had yet to appear; Sai was also missing.  Shikamaru had eventually let the seamstress dress him in a light green haori and hakama with a light yellow obi.

The genius sighed; he was looking like a more mature Lee.  Green.  Ick.

His thoughts were interrupted as Neji made his way down the stairs from the upper level, Sai trailing along behind him.

“Alright, is everyone ready?” Neji asked, stopping with a swish of white silk at the bottom of the stairs.  He and Sai also wore haori and hakama, white for the Hyuuga with a black obi tied neatly around his waist.  Sai wore rich, royal purple, the effect made further majestic by the light purple obi holding it together.

Sakura was gaping openly and Hinata was beaming.  Even Shikamaru had to admit that the two looked astonishing.  Why couldn’t he be that good-looking?  Even with Sai’s strange habit of white body make-up, he looked better than anyone – with the exception of Neji – in the room.

Naruto was glaring jealously.  “Hmph!” he grunted, turning to Sakura.  “Sakura-chan, will you-“

“Take my arm?” Lee interjected.

She stared at both of them in horror, mortified.  With a grin, Sai crossed the room and silently offered his arm, smirking victoriously when she accepted it.  Naruto huffed angrily and turned to Hinata, not about to be out-done.

“Hinata-chan, may I have the honor?”

Her eyes widened and she looked about to faint.  “Take it, Hinata!” Sakura hissed, jarring the girl out of her shocked stupor.

Hinata nodded numbly and let Naruto loop his arm around her own.  Shikamaru rolled his eyes and stepped outside the lodge, following Neji as the Hyuuga lead the way down the road.

How bothersome.