Chapter 24 - chapter 24

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto!

By this point, Sakura had on her ‘disguise.’ It consisted of a hat to cover her pink hair, and a magazine to hide behind. It was also good for when she was waiting on them to move to another location, like she was now.

With Neji and TenTen

When the waiter came, Neji placed the order for them, and TenTen looked out over the water. There wasn’t really a lot out there at this time of year, but she did see one or two boats making their way downstream. She watched them as they drifted by, looking down upon them.

“It’s a great view, isn’t it?” Neji asked her as he looked out the window with her.

“Mhmm.” TenTen replied. “It’s beautiful.” They looked out over the river in silence for a few moments before Neji spoke up again.

“I think this is actually one of my favorite places.” Neji said.

“Really, why is that?” TenTen asked, turning to look at him across the table from her.

“For one, it really is beautiful like you said.” Neji said. “And two, its design is amazing. Third, it’s where I asked this really special girl to be my girlfriend.”

TenTen looked at Neji, awestruck. ‘What is he talking about? Is he talking about me? No, there’s no way. Does he have a girlfriend and no one ever told me? Or maybe…?’

“TenTen, will you go out with me?” Neji asked her.

“Yes. I’d love to.” TenTen said, her smile spreading from ear to ear, her shock and surprise dissolving as she felt her heart warming up.

“I’m glad.” Neji said, smiling back at her, if only just a small smile. It was a lot more emotion than he’d ever let anyone see, but he felt that he could let TenTen in on that, if only just a little bit.

With Lee and Akane

“Lee! Be careful!” Akane screeched from her perch on top of his shoulders. They’d tried retracing their steps, but it hadn’t helped much. They’d just become even more lost. In an effort to try and see their way out of the maze, Akane had gotten onto Lee’s shoulders to attempt to see over the hedges. Unfortunately, Lee had been looking up at Akane and the direction that she had been pointing in, and had run straight into the hedge.

“Hehe.” Lee laughed nervously as he helped Akane down from his shoulders. “I guess that idea did not work so well.”

“Well, some of it did.” Akane said. “The exit is over that way.” She pointed off to her right. “The only problem is, I didn’t get a chance to count how many turns there are from here to there.”

“It is a start at getting out of here.” Lee said. “So which path do we take this time?”

“The one to our left, then a right. That’s as far as I got.” Akane said.

“Well, it’s better than nothing.” Lee said as they started walking taking the left path as they went.

“So, what are we doing after we get out of this maze?” Akane asked Lee.

“Well, I was thinking we could go get lunch, then go to a movie. They’ve added a new Movie Theater, and it’s amazing. I figured you’d like to see it.” Lee explained.

“Really?” Akane asked. “Last time I came home there was still just that tiny one.”

“This one’s a lot bigger.” Lee said. “They show around twelve movies at one time, plus an empty theatre room.”

“That is a lot bigger.” Akane said as they came to the next turn and took a right. They walked in silence for a little while, enjoying the sights of rabbits scampering through the hedge, and little birds flying away when they neared.

Lee snuck a side glance at Akane a little while later. ‘Neji’s sister really is pretty. And she’s funny, and nice too. I wonder what Neji would do to me if I asked her out on a date. Well, a real date?’

“What are you thinking about, Lee?” Akane asked focusing on the silent boy walking next to her.

He blushed a little as he quickly said, ‘Oh nothing. Why?”

“Well,” Akane said, “I was just thinking about how nice this is. Walking through the maze, seeing all the nature, being with you.”

‘Did she just say…?’ Lee wondered, his eyes widening slightly in amazement. Akane smiled prettily at him as they continued walking.

With Ino, Hinata, and Sakura

“Sakura?” Ino asked into the walkie talkie.

“Ya?” Sakura asked back.

“Anything yet?” Ino asked her.

“Ino, I told you I’d let you know when they moved locations.” Sakura sighed into her walkie talkie.

“Well, I’m sorry, but I’m extremely bored.” Ino replied back to her friend. ‘Akane and Lee went in there half an hour ago, and they haven’t come out yet.”

“They probably got lost.” Sakura said. “It is a maze after all.”

“How long do you think it’ll be before they get out of there?” Ino asked Sakura.

“Another half hour to an hour.” Sakura replied.

“Are you serious?” Ino asked incredulously. “But all I have to read is last week’s newspaper!”

“Ino, why did you bring last weeks newspaper?” Sakura asked.

“To hide Hinata and I’s faces. Duh.” Ino said.

“Did you think to bring a magazine?” Sakura asked. With all the magazines the two subscribed to, you’d think one of them would have brought one.

“Well, I told Hinata that I’d take care of the disguises, and then I forgot, sooo…I grabbed last week’s newspapers from the pile by the back door!” Ino exclaimed with a giggle to Sakura.

“Ok, then.” Sakura said. “So have you heard from Hinata?”

“Well, we separated half an hour ago.” Ino said. “She didn’t have a walkie talkie, so, nope, haven’t heard from her.”

‘Ok, well, then, go find her. They’ll be out within the next hour. Since they aren’t out by now, they’re not trying to out the way they came. You should both be near the exit. But please, stay out of sight.” Sakura said, warning her friend.

“Come on, forehead, that’s kind of obvious.” Ino said.

“For you? You never know.” Sakura said. ‘Well, over and out.”

“Over and Out.” Ino replied, checking the entrance way one last time before going to find Hinata.

A/N: Ok, I updated as soon as I could. With exams and everything, I pretty much crashed as soon as I got home Thursday, then Friday my dad took me to get my learners permit. Today, we had to go Christmas shopping for my mom, and I just finished this up a few minutes ago. Neji finally asked TenTen to be his girlfriend. He seems a bit OOC to me, but there’s nothing that could be done. His character is just…extremely hard to keep in Character when doing something like that. Well, reviews are much appreciated! Oh, and merry Christmas to everyone, and Happy Holidays to everyone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas!

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