The Following Day
Room 212 (Neji and Tenten)
Tenten’s eyes reluctantly opened as sunlight flooded in from the open window onto her bed. She yawned, stretched, and forced herself out of bed.
“What time is it?” She thought to herself as she searched the room for a clock. There was one on the nightstand that read 9:37 A.M.
“I still have another 23 minutes, no big deal.” Tenten decided that she could sleep another 10 minutes.
Oi, you! Get your butt of the bed and get going! Inner Tenten commanded.
“But I don’t want to get up!”
That’s just too bad! Do you remember the last time you thought you could sleep in? You were late for training and you had to run an extra 200 laps.
“Yeah, but it’s not exactly like Sakura will make me run laps.”
Fine, but do you want to look at the time now?
It was already 9:45 A.M. so Tenten had another 15 minutes instead of 23 thanks to her Inner self. As Tenten showered, she thought about how much she hated having a conscience that spoke back.
Meanwhile, Neji was already leaving the room for breakfast.
Room 213 (Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru)
Hinata woke up at something furry at the foot of her bed. She groggily opened her eyes to find Akamaru sleeping contently by her feet. The Hyuuga heiress sat up in bed and picked up Kiba’s dog, waking him up with a puppy yawn.
“What are you doing here?” Hinata asked while petting him, and then saw that her door had been left open. Akamaru must have come at night, while she was still sleeping. She decided to take a shower, since Akamaru had fallen back to sleep.
At that moment, Kiba was waking up too, expecting to find his dog at his feet. However, Akamaru was, at the time, in Hinata’s room, but Kiba didn’t know that. What he did remember was that last night, when he got back from the party, Akamaru was already asleep on a couch in the main room. Kiba decided he must still be outside. When he went to check, the room was empty. Now, saying Kiba started to worry would be a complete understatement. He was checking under pillows and couches, only to find nothing. Reacting to instinct, he ran into Hinata’s room, without knocking.
When he barged in, he yelled, “Hinata, it’s an emergency! Akamaru-“At that moment, the Hyuuga heiress was sitting on her bed petting Akamaru, wearing nothing but a towel. Hinata turned bright red at the sight of her teammate and instinctively grabbed her shoulders and yelled, “Kiba-kun!” Akamaru woke up and ran over to his master, who was having a nosebleed moment.
“Sorry, but can we talk about this later?!”
“Yeah, I’m sorry, sorry!” Kiba ran outside and slammed the door behind him. He went to his room to change and cool down his face. After a few minutes, Hinata came out, fully dressed and explained that Akamaru came to her room at night through her open door. They walked with each other to the elevators, where Hinata waited for the others to show up and Kiba left to the buffet.
Before they went their separate ways, he said, “Wait, Hinata?”
“What’s wrong Kiba-kun?”
Before either of them could think, he had held her by the arms and kissed her, a short kiss, but meaningful, no doubt.
“K-Kiba-kun,” Hinata by, this time, had turned bright red, “I, I’ve al-“
“Shush.” Kiba held a finger to her lips and said, “I love you.”
“Wait, did I just say that? She doesn’t like me, she likes Naruto!”
“I-I love you, too, Kiba-kun.”
“Did she just say she loved me?”
“Did I just say I loved him?”
“Um, I, I’m going to go now.” Kiba said as he left since he heard someone coming.
Little did they know, Naruto was hiding behind his fake wall the whole time and saw their entire little “episode.”
Told you, you were too late! Naruto’s inner self taunted.
“No, there’s still time. I, I can still win Hinata!”
If you say so… Inner Naruto said as he left.
Naruto decided to quietly pretend to walk in on Hinata, so she wouldn’t find out he was spying on them.
Room 214 (Sakura and Lee)
“Ohayou, Sakura-san!” Lee greeted cheerfully. He was already dressed in his signature green jumpsuit, running in place.
“Ohayou, Lee,” Sakura answered groggily. She hadn’t gotten much sleep since Lee was jump-roping in the main room until 3:30 in the morning. The pink-haired kunoichi wondered how Lee could be so active.
“Do you know what time it is?” Sakura asked as she got a glass of milk from the kitchen.
“It is currently 9:40 in the morning, desu!” Lee reported happily while switching to push-ups.
Sakura nearly choked on her milk.
“9:40?!” She yelled as she ran to her room, “Why did you tell me sooner? I have to meet the girls in 20 minutes!”
“You didn’t ask desu!” Lee said to Sakura’s shut bedroom door.
15 minutes later, Sakura ran out of her room, fully dressed, though looking a little stressed.
“Hi Lee, how are you? Good? Good. Got to go! Bye Lee!” Sakura rushed out of her room.
“I’m fine…” Lee replied to the empty spot where Sakura was a millisecond ago.
Sakura ran out and checked her watch and saw it was 9:57. She was the only one in the halls, so she decided it was okay to run to the elevators. On the way, she happened to bump into--
Room 215 (Temari and Shikamaru)
Temari yawned as she pushed herself out of bed and picked up the clock. It read 9:00 in the morning, much later than she was accustomed to waking up at. She was usually on the morning border patrol, so she had to wake up at roughly 6:00. The sand kunoichi got up, showered, dressed, and was ready to leave at 9:30. It was still 30 minutes before she had to meet the girls, so Temari decided to take a look at the amusement park through one of the room windows. Konoha Bay seemed to take the shape of a circle, the roller coasters on the outmost rim. In the center was the Fire Breather, a whirly-twirl kind of ride. The pole was molded into a dragon and the seats were painted to make them look like fire. The inside of the circle was littered with all sorts of rides and snack shops, even a few ramen bars by the looks of it. Even though it was early, there were a number of people already there, and a line already forming for tickets. When Temari re-checked her watch it was 9:50, so she decided to leave.
Shikamaru, unlike Temari, was very accustomed to sleeping in, and didn’t seem to want to break his habit anytime soon. He woke up at around 9:45, but only because he was getting hungry. By the time he had showered and all, it was 10:00 A.M.
“I’ll check if Choji wants to grab some breakfast together.” Shikamaru decided and started out the door. Little did he know, Temari had forgotten her V.I.P. pass in her room, so she was running to go it at the same time Shikamaru opened the door. The two collided, Temari pushing Shikamaru backward into the room. She was on top of him, her arms the only things keeping her from lying on top of the Nara genius. Neither of them knew that they were both blushing furiously.
“Wait, why do I feel all weird, it’s not like I like this guy.” Temari thought to herself.
For once, Shikamaru didn’t know what to think. Temari was… nice, he supposed, but he didn’t feel about her this way. Or did he?
They were both speechless for awhile, Temari still hovering on top of Shikamaru.
The sand kunoichi started to get up and said, “I’m sorry.”
What are you doing? This is your one chance, don’t blow it! Inner Shikamaru chose to strike.
“But I don’t like her!”
Yes you do! Come on, you may never get a chance like this again, she’s always going to be around her friends or worse, her brothers!
“But—“
No buts unless your getting off yours and telling her how you feel!
“Fine, fine,” Shikamaru submitted to his inner self and snapped back to reality. He used Temari’s shoulders to pull himself up before she could stand up. The Nara pulled her closer to him and kissed her.
Temari, at first, was shocked, and part of her wanted to slap Shikamaru upside the head. A bigger part, though, wanted to be with the lazy genius, so when he broke the kiss, instead of knocking him unconscious, she whispered, “I love you, too.”
To Shikamaru, those four words meant the world to him. She got up and helped him up, too.
Once Temari straightened herself, she cautioned with a smirk, “You know, having two brothers can be a pain, especially since both of them can whoop your butt in a second. It’ll be hard having me as a girlfriend.”
Shikamaru smirked and replied, “You aren’t trying to scare me away, are you?”
“Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Oh, and one more thing,” she added before walking to her room, “If I find you cheating on me, prepare to get kicked into the next century… and not by my brothers, if you know what I mean.”
With that, Temari left to her room, leaving Shikamaru to find Choji for breakfast, smirking all the way.
Room 216 (Ino and Shino)
Ino was used to waking up bright and early, since she usually had the morning shift at her parent’s flower shop. Nevertheless, when she woke, it was 9:00, thanks to the late night party. The Yamanaka stretched and yawned to the bathroom where she took a quick shower before changing. All this took around 30 minutes, with the full body bandages and all. With half an hour to spare, Ino whipped her diary out of her bag and lay down her bed. She opened the baby blue book and started writing.
“Dear Diary,
Today is my second day staying at the famous Konoha Bay resort. Last night, all of us, the Konoha 12 and the Sand Siblings had a party until 2:00 in the morning. I was amazed that some of us were still awake! Shikamaru looked like he would go at any second, though. Oh, yeah, Choji asked me to dance with him last night! He’s a pretty good dancer for someone of his ‘size.’ Kiba and Hinata seem to be getting fonder of each other, considering they danced for three songs. I just happened to catch Naruto watching them from the stage, and he didn’t look all that happy. I guess I was the only one who noticed, so I might be able to play this to my advantage. Billboard-brow was dancing with Bushy-brows, and they look like a perfect couple! I mean Billboard and Bushy brows! After dancing with Choji I went to Sasuke to ask him to dance, but he wouldn’t even look at me! He was too busy staring at something or someone on the dance floor. I would’ve looked too, but Choji asked me for another dance, and I couldn’t refuse! Well, that’s enough for now, I have to go meet the girls to hit the buffet, spa, and park.
-Yamanaka Ino
Ino closed her book and stuffed it at the bottom of her blue duffel. She grabbed her purse, checked that her V.I.P. pass was in it, and ran to the elevators.
Shino simply got up, showered, changed and went to explore the hotel gardens to collect more bugs.
Room 217 (Naruto and Choji)
Choji got up at roughly 9:45 and went out to the main room, still dressed in his pajamas. He used his V.I.P. pass to open the refrigerator and went to work getting himself a little snack. The Akimichi looked around for a bag of chips, but to no avail. Choji sat down, stumped, munching on a sandwich he made, muttering about how any self-respecting hotel should be supplied with an adequate amount of chips. He decided to go back to his room, change, and wait for Shikamaru.
Naruto was still sleeping while Choji was out in the main room, his eyes only flickered open at 10:00 in the morning. The Kyuubi boy dragged his feet to the shower, changed, and walked out to the main room for a snack. The hotel, however, did not supply instant ramen, so he searched through the cabinets. He found a bag of barbeque chips and started eating them on one of the couches. When he got down to the last chip, the other bedroom door flung open and out ran Choji, who pummeled a confused Naruto and wrestled the chip from him.
“Choji, what the heck are you doing?” Naruto asked, barely breathing under Choji’s weight.
“Where did you get this?” He commanded, shoving the chip in the Uzumaki’s face, “The hotel doesn’t have any chips!”
“Yes they do! They were right in those cabinets over there!” Naruto pointed.
Choji sweat-dropped and weakly said, “Really?”
“Yeah, really,” Naruto insisted.
“Oh,” Choji’s shoulders dropped and he apologized, “Sorry Naruto. Can I make it up to you?”
“How ‘bout you get the heck off of me?!” Naruto yelled, still being sandwiched between Choji and the couch.
“Gomen, gomen,” The Akimichi apologized and asked, “Can I keep this?” still holding the barbeque chip.
“Knock yourself out.” Naruto said while rubbing his back, “I got to meet the guys to go the park, you want to come?”
“Nah, I’m waiting for Shikamaru, we’re going to hit the buffet together for breakfast.”
“Okay, if you say so, bye!” The Uzumaki said before leaving Choji to wait another few minutes to go with Shikamaru to the buffet.
Room 218 (Gaara and Kankuro)
The Sand brothers woke up, showered, changed, and went to the buffet. Not much to talk about!
Room 219 (Sasuke)
Sasuke woke up at around 9:00, did his morning duties, and went out to train with the Wii boxing. After an hour or so, he decided to take a walk around the park. When he walked past room 214, Lee and Sakura’s room, he couldn’t help but peek in, to see if they really liked each other that much. When he looked, he only saw Lee, jump-roping in the main room, Sakura not in sight.
“Ksah, where is she?” Sasuke thought to himself.
Oh, is everyone’s favorite tough guy falling for a certain cherry blossom? Inner Sasuke teased.
All he thought back was a short “Hn” and continued on his way. On the way, he happened to bump into—
In the Halls
On the way, Sakura happened to bump into— Sasuke.
On the way, Sasuke happened to bump into— Sakura.
The two collided in the empty hallway, Sakura’s running force overpowering Sasuke’s walk, thus pushing her on top of him. Her head landed just to the left of his, and she sat on her knees, rubbing her forehead where it bumped the floor.
Sakura, of course, had her eyes closed the whole time, so she had no idea who she crashed into when she asked, “Why don’t you watch where you’re going?”
Sasuke replied, “Why don’t you watch where you’re running?” fully aware who he had just run into.
At the sound of his familiar voice, Sakura’s eyes widened open as she turned to face him.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Sasuke-kun! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but you have a cut on your head there.” Sasuke pointed to a small bleeding cut on Sakura’s upper brow.
“What?” Sakura tested it, winced, and saw blood on her finger. “Oh, don’t worry. I can get it healed.” She activated her medical jutsu and soon the cut was gone.
As she got up to go, Sasuke said, “Wait, Sakura.”
“What is it, Sasuke-kun?”
“Do you really like Lee?”
This caught Sakura off-guard and she asked, “What do you mean? Why do you care?" she paused, "It’s not like you like me.” The pink-haired kunoichi added, hurt.
Sasuke got up and kissed Sakura where the cut used to be.
“That’s what I like about you, Sakura; you can be so blind sometimes.”
Sakura, at this point, was blushing furiously, and murmured, “Sasuke-kun…”
“Sakura,” He interrupted, “I know it doesn’t seem like I like you, but I was just avoiding you because you know Orochimaru will do anything to get me, even if it means kidnapping my friends. If he found out that we were dating…” he paused, leaving Sakura to mull over what he just said, “I just don’t want you to go.”
“Sasuke-kun…” The Haruno whispered before hugging her childhood crush, “I don’t care if I will be captured by Orochimaru. I just want to be with you.”
“Then, it’s settled, we’re officially going out, ne?”
“Yeah,” Sakura looked up into his eyes, “Its official.”
They released each other from their hold and walked to the elevators. Little did they know, Lee was watching the whole time and was quietly following them from behind, his heart breaking in two. Before they reached the elevators, Sakura stopped, saying, “Sasuke-kun, we shouldn’t let the others know we’re dating. If Ino or Naruto found out…”
“Okay, I won’t tell, but meet me later back here to get some dinner.”
“Sure, that would be nice.” Sakura smiled as she took the lead, and before turning to the elevators, she looked back and said, “I love you, Sasuke-kun.”
The Uchiha smirked and started for the elevators himself, Lee still following.