A Virgin Kiss

Chapter 14: The Fight

When Gaara and Temari were finally sitting down at the table in Temari’s room, Temari just started to laugh saying, “Oh my god, that was the dinner party from hell.”

Gaara looked surprised and said, “I had fun.”

Temari started crying again and came over and kissed Gaara and hugged him.

“You like this kissing thing, too, don’t you?” asked Gaara.

“Yes, little brother, I do. Oh my god, Kankurou isn’t going to believe any of this,” said Temari sitting back down, “Do you think Shino and Kiba were doing it in the bathroom?”

“Yeah, and I suspect Kakashi and Iruka are doing it right now, Temari, but come on, the negotiations are going fine. What do you really want to talk about?”

“I, well, I’m sorry that I’ve been such a crappy sister to you, Gaara. We’re not a gift-giving sort of family, but my god, I am going to change that. For starters, I think we should insist on Neji as the liaison to Sand. I think you deserve to have your boyfriend with you. Or else you’ll be sneaking out to Konoha every chance you get, eh?”

“Do you want to be the liaison to Leaf, Temari?”

“Yeah, I’d like that, and I’d be good at that too.”

“I agree. Then I think we have to ask for Shizune. I’m pretty sure Tsunade’s got Yuura or Otokaze in mind in a trade for Genma or Raido.”

“My god, little brother, you’re getting good at this Kazekage thing—we’re going to have to start sending you on diplomatic missions by yourself. I see how that will work—we’ll bring up needing someone close to the Hokage or one of the great clans of Konoha in turn for the honor of the Kazekage’s sister coming to Leaf. That’s why you were so against chuunin today, you didn’t want Hinata to be an option. But do you think that the Hyuuga’s will let Neji go?”

“He’s branch family, not main family, and we can’t possible learn Neji’s jutsus since they require a blood inheritance limit. That will be another reason Tsunade will like it—let’s mention that we are increasing senbon training at our academy to make her nervous about sending Genma. Oh, that reminds me, I think we should tour the academy here and talk about some sort of interaction between the Leaf and Sand rookies.”

Temari’s eyes lit up, and she began spouting a dozen different ideas about how both Leaf and Sand could benefit from a close relationship. And both brother and sister sat there talking for the next hour, ridiculously happy, their minds focused firmly on their village.

Back at the barbeque place, Neji was seesawing between feeling proud and feeling enraged. He could tell that everyone’s opinion of him had risen tonight, but the teasing was making him want to fight. He felt an overwhelming sense of relief when Kotetsu and Izumo arrived announcing that Tsunade wanted to consult with Shikamaru and Neji promptly. Once outside, Neji was confused when Shikamaru slid some money into Kotetsu’s palm and thanked him.

“Come on, Neji,” Shikamaru said after the inseparable two chuunins had left, “I’ll make sure Gaara’s back in his room in ten minutes.”

“But, how did you know—I mean, when did you set that up with Kotetsu and Izumo?”

“Oh, a bit after we got the invitation from Shino. I had a feeling we might need an excuse to get out of there.”

“Shit, you should be a jounin,” said Neji.

“Nah, that’s too troublesome,” said Shikamaru.

“So what are you going to do about tomorrow night’s dinner?” asked Neji curiously.

“Not going to happen.”

“No convenient summons?”

“No,” said Shikamaru with a sigh as if it should have been obvious, “the dinner isn’t going to happen. Tsunade will be having a feast.”

“There’s no feast planned, Shikamaru! The Hokage can’t throw a feast together in a day.”

“Of course not, but a feast has been planned for the announcement of the end of the negotiations. They're going to end tomorrow, so the feast will be moved up to tomorrow night and not held later in the week. It can be moved up a few days without too much trouble.”

“Ok, I believe you,” said Neji after some thinking.

“So what’s with the nickname, Neji? Did Gaara really make you scream?” asked Shikamaru, making Neji lose his battle with anger and leap at the shadow master and slam a punch into his eye. Shikamaru countered his next punch and forced Neji back with a well aimed kick.

The fistfight didn’t last too long. Neither ninja went for a weapon or used any jutsus for a good five minutes. After letting Neji blow off a bit of steam, Shikamaru used his Kagemane no Jutsu as the fight moved under a bright streetlamp that cast strong dark shadows that the shadow-master was able to use to hold Neji tight.

“Feel better, now?” asked Shikamaru with a grin.

“Damn, you planned all this too, didn’t you? Yeah, well, thanks, I did need to throw a few punches to feel better. You’re a good egg, Naru, so I think I’ll put off killing you tonight,” replied Neji. “I’m sorry about the eye.”

“Hmmpt,” Shikamaru said as he released Neji, and the two moved on past the streetlight towards the hotel where the Sand delegation was staying. “I think Temari will be giving me plenty of sympathy and care, Neji.”

“God, you’re always thinking ahead aren’t you?”

“It saves trouble,” said Shikamaru. “But, hey, don’t scream too loud tonight, it will worry Temari.”

“Nara,” growled Neji, “there’s no more street lights before the hotel.”

“You want to spend the night in the hospital with Gaara, Temari, and Sakura, or even worse, maybe even Tsunade patching me up—that your plan, Hyuuga?”

“God, I wondered how come your team did so well on the chuunin exams, and why you were the first one of us to make chuunin, but damn, now I’m sure you deliberately failed that jounin exam.”

“Hmmmpt,” was all Shikamaru said, and the rest of trip was made in silence.