Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Leaf in the Desert ❯ Chapter 5

Wheeee! I'm back! And with a new chapter for y'all! Boy, was this hard to come up with after so long a hiatus. I hope y'all like it, so in order to keep me well-informed, you need to READ AND REVIEW! If I don't know if you liked it or hated it, how can I fix it or continue on as I have been? See? Common sense. XD So be sure to comment, and I'll see you next chapter!

 

Chapter 5

 

For the next couple days, the village of Konoha was all abuzz with preparations for the final round of the Jounin exams. As more and more finalists arrived and confronted each other, tensions rose and tempers nearly flared. Luckily, these weren't ignorant Genin, eager for glory. These were seasoned Chuunin, more refined and even, to a point, more mature.

 

Well, most of them were, anyway.

 

“I told you before, Leaf-nin, begone!”

 

Kohaku gave a rather charming moue at the familiar rebuttal from the lovely sand kunoichi. “Come on. It's just dinner. Why won't you let me treat the only daughter of the Kazekage?”

 

Icy eyes glared up at the young man from under long crimson bangs. “I dislike repeating myself,” Aikou hissed, “but you seem even more dimwitted than a sand flea. I. Do. Not. Like. You.”

 

The orange-haired ninja merely shrugged. “This has nothing to do with liking anyone. It's more… polite politics.” He held out his hand and gave her a soft smile- an honest one, for once. “Please. For our fathers.”

 

She eyed him for a moment, as if weighing his words for deceit. “Where?” was her only reply- neither an affirmative nor a negative.

 

“Ichiramu's.” At her blank look, he grinned, making him look even more boyish. “Have you ever had ramen before?”

 

She blinked slowly. “I cannot say that I have. What is… ramen?”

 

Gesturing gallantly with his arm, he indicated that he would escort her- without touching her. “Let me introduce you, Princess, to the wonderful world of Ichiramu cuisine…”

 

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Inoko and Mimi sighed as they watched their beloved Kohaku walk away down the street with the Kazekage's indifferent daughter. “It so isn't fair,” Inoko whined.

 

Mimi merely gazed sadly at the retreating pair. “He hasn't spoken with us in days,” she said softly.

 

Inoko snorted. “Ever since she came to Konoha, he doesn't have time for us anymore.”

 

“She who?” asked a pair of voices behind them.

 

The two love-struck girls turned around to see two pairs of identical white eyes blinking in quite a fetching manner. Mimi smiled in surprise and even Inoko had to grin.

 

“Gin! Kin! Where have you been?” Mimi exclaimed in her feather-soft voice as she enveloped the twins in a warm hug. “Uncle Neji refused to tell us where you had gone!”

 

Gin Hyuuga grinned at her older cousin. “He sent us on a training mission with Mother.”

 

Kin Hyuuga flashed an identical grin. “He said that if we can utilize her scroll weaponry skills and his Byakugan, we'll be unbeatable.”

 

Mimi lifted a delicate eyebrow. “You've already mastered Hakkeshou Kaiten, then?”

 

Twin smiles of glee appeared on the girls' faces. “But you're only fifteen!” Inoko said, astonished that the twins could master such a move at so young an age.

 

Kin shrugged one shoulder. “Father mastered it around our age,” she replied logically.

 

Gin shrugged the other shoulder. “He said there was no reason for us not to, especially since Big Brother mastered it at thirteen.”

 

Inoko blinked in shock. She turned to Mimi. “He did?”

 

Mimi flushed and nodded with evident pride. “He's a genius, like Uncle Neji,” she murmured, hiding a smile. She turned back to her identical twin cousins. “Have you been home yet?”

 

“Nope,” came the dual reply.

 

“We're going there now,” Gin said.

 

“But we wanted Mother to have a chance to greet Father properly after 3 weeks' absence,” Kin added mischievously.

 

Mimi turned bright red and Inoko laughed out loud. “Well,” the mahogany-haired kunoichi managed to gasp out, “it's good to have you back!”

 

“So what have we missed?” Kin asked.

 

“How is Kohaku? We really missed him!” Gin added.

 

At the mention of the orange-haired ninja, Mimi and Inoko grew serious. “Our territory's been invaded, girls,” Inoko informed them.

 

“Say what?” they squealed. “By who?”

 

Mimi sighed softly. “Suna.”

 

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Naruto sighed as he shrugged out of his Hokage robes and tossed them unceremoniously on the floor. “It's as we thought.”

 

Gaara nodded, having already changed out of his Kazekage robes into more comfortable dried-blood-red shirt and pants. “We should not be surprised,” he said quietly, “and yet…”

 

A grunt was his reply as Naruto pulled on his favorite black shirt and orange vest. “Yet here we are, at a loss of what to do. Kanaye is planning to attack Konoha during the Jounin finals, and kill us both.”

 

Aquamarine eyes stared into bright blue ones. “I am not so easy to kill,” Gaara replied.

 

Naruto had to chuckle. “Says the man who's already died once.”

 

Gaara whacked the blonde man upside the back of his head as they walked out of the room. “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”

 

“But, like I said- you've been killed once. So where does that leave you?”

 

“About to squash you with sand, as usual.”

 

Naruto realized that they had a problem on their hands, but he was loath to broach the subject with his friend. “Let's stop for a quick lunch, then we'll discuss our options,” he offered. “I can't think on an empty stomach.”

 

“Or a full one, for that matter,” Gaara deadpanned.

 

A broad grin was the sand master's reply. “After all these years, you still don't have a sense of humor.”

 

“Nor do you have any sense of seriousness.”

 

Any rebuttal was quickly dissolved as Naruto caught sight of Ichiramu's- and who was sitting at the counter.

 

“Gaara.”

 

He didn't move his head as they walked but instead slid his pale eyes over to his friend. “What?”

 

“Gaara.” Naruto stopped walking.

 

“What?” Gaara stopped and looked back at him.

 

“Gaara.”

 

“What?”

 

“Look.”

 

Following Naruto's wide-eyed gaze, he saw the ramen stand that they had visited so many times before, except that this time there were already two people sitting there. “So? I am certain that there are other fans of ramen besides yourself.”

 

“No, sandy-ass. LOOK.”

 

Taking a better look at the couple inside the shop, Gaara blinked several times in surprise- even shock. His face dropped its normal blank countenance and actually showed his amazement.

 

“Aikou? And Kohaku?” he gasped out.

 

Naruto nodded frantically, his eyes wide in “stupefied” mode. “Are they… on a date?”

 

Gaara lifted a finger and a thin tendril of sand swirled around him. “He's dead,” he scowled, taking a step toward the ramen bar.

 

Naruto put a hand on his friend's shoulder and pulled him back to his side. “Stop that!” he hissed as he pulled him into a nearby bush as concealment.

 

The Kazekage glared at him from underneath their leafy bower. “Your son is schmoozing my daughter.”

 

Naruto grinned at him. “Relax, sand-boy. He's not `schmoozing' anyone. He was probably already there and she joined him.” Then he lifted a blonde eyebrow. “And where did you hear that term anyway?”

 

“I hear things,” Gaara replied uncomfortably. “But that is not the point. Your son has a reputation- he is a heartbreaker, and I will not have him breaking my Aikou's heart!”

 

Bright blue eyes rolled at the drama. “Your daughter is more than capable of defending herself against unwanted attentions, Gaara,” he reminded his old friend. “She inherited your sand defense, right?”

 

His irritation dwindled somewhat, simmering in the background of his mind. “Indeed.”

 

“Then she's fine! And Kohaku, for all his lover boy ways, does have morals, and would never force a woman to do anything she didn't want to.”

 

Gaara glanced up at him from underneath his crimson bangs. “You are certain she will not be harmed by your son?” he asked quietly, almost as if he were ashamed to think of his daughter in a romance.

 

“Believe it!” Naruto grinned brightly. “If anything, Kohaku's got more to worry about from her than she from him!”

 

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“Oh… my…” slurrrrrrp. “This… is…” slurrrrrrrrrp.

 

Kohaku grinned as he watched his lovely companion devour her third bowl of ramen. “I take it you like it?”

 

Aikou paused long enough to give him a smile so full of delight and wonder, he had to fight the immediate reaction rising in his pants. He could almost see her, with that same look on her face, underneath him, writhing in a different type of delight…

 

“It is wonderful,” she purred as she dipped her chopsticks into the bowl again.

 

Kohaku adjusted himself while Aikou's attention was back on her ramen. “So… truce?”

 

Aikou blinked ice blue eyes at him in slight confusion, turning to him with noodles hanging out of her mouth. “Hmmf?”

 

“No more trying to flatten me with your sand?”

 

She swallowed her mouthful of noodles and tilted her head to the side, regarding him curiously. “You are still trying to seduce me,” she accused him.

 

“Absolutely not. I refuse to spend my time flattering women who don't want to be flattered. Waste of my talents.”

 

In spite of her serious nature, Aikou had to smile at his mock-offended behavior. “And you are such a talented ninja, yes?”

 

He grinned. “Of course! Surely you've heard…”

 

“Oh, yes,” she replied as she slurped from her bowl. “The Leaf kunoichi are very eager to tell me tales of the Hokage's talented son.”

 

Kohaku winced. “Wh-what tales?”

 

Aikou studied her chopsticks very closely, as if fascinated with the wood. “Oh, many things. Embracing… wooing with words… kissing…”

 

Kohaku winced again. Kissing? I haven't kissed anyone… Apparently the tales were getting a bit out of control. Wonder who started the kissing one… “And do you believe these… tales?” he managed to ask.

 

A delicate red eyebrow lifted. “Should I?”

 

He managed a weak chuckle. “Well, that's only for you to decide,” he said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

 

She propped her chin on her hand and leaned her elbow on the counter, regarding him with those ice blue eyes. “I think they are lying,” she declared after a moment.

 

Surprised, he blinked at her. “You… do?”

 

“Yes,” she said nonchalantly, as if it didn't matter. “I do not think you are as fabulous as they say.”

 

Kohaku did a full body flinch. Ouch. Getting flattened by her sand wouldn't hurt this much.

 

He offered her a small smile. “Would you… be willing to let me prove it to you?”

 

“Pardon?”

 

He leaned closer. “Let me take you out. On a real date. Then you will see if the tales are true.”

 

Aikou got the haughty “I'm-the-daughter-of-the-Kazekage” look on her face again. “I told you I am not interested in romance. I am a kunoichi.”

 

Kohaku grinned softly. “Come on. As a challenge. If I cannot win you over, then you are the superior ninja.”

 

“This is hardly ninjutsu,” she replied, but her voice wavered. She didn't want to back down from a challenge.

 

“The Jounin finals are tomorrow morning,” he said softly, his voice like velvet in her ears. “If I make it past the first two rounds, you will agree to let me take you out on a real date.”

 

Her eyes grew wide. “The first two rounds? You certainly have a lot of confidence for a bumbling buffoon. Why not just say that you will be the winner?”

 

“Let's just say I have more than a few tricks up my sleeve. So- do we have a deal?”

 

Aikou thought for half a moment before nodding slowly. “Very well, Leaf-nin. If you make it past the first two rounds, then I will allow you to take me out on a real date. Are you satisfied?”

 

Kohaku gave her a genuine, delighted smile which made him even more good-looking than before- not that she would ever admit to such a thing. Before she could move, he had leaned even closer.

 

“Only if we seal our bargain with a kiss,” he said before he really thought about what he was saying or doing. With his right arm he slid his hand around her neck and pulled her to him as his lips met hers.