Day 7: Actions

Disclaimer: I own nothing in 'Naruto'

'Team 7' and '10'

"NOOOOOOOO! PLEASE, ANYTHING BUT THAT! PLEASE! NO, NOT THE-" they heard Kankuru cry desperately. The six subs all looked at each other, a look of horror on their faces.

"He said 'Not the-'. Not the..what? " Sakura wondered aloud, her eyes bugging out a liittle. She looked scared to death. "I wonder what happened to Kankuru." Then they were back with the suggestions:

"Not the..hmm" Ino said thoughtfully, screwing up her face in concentration. Then she brightened up, "I know! 'Not the torture'!"

"No, that sounds lame. It probably is just something like...DUN DUN DUUUUUN" Naruto said dramatically, " 'Not the burnt ramen!' "

"It's probaby 'Not the beat-down!' “Sakura announced,"Yeah, I mean why else would he scream like that?"

"Mabye it's 'Not the torch'. She'll probably burn his doll thingy to smithereens." Chouji guessed, once again refraining from stuffing his face so that he could voice his thoughts. He sighed. This is getting tiring he thought while resuming his face stuffing.

"It's probably 'Not the..'. Oh, whatever." He sighed, "This is too troublesome. She's just gonna kill him." Once again, every one seemed satisfied with this last comment, which was of course, uttered by Shikamaru.

But, once again, they're talking and arguing was interrupted by another heart-rendering scream. This time, however, it was not Kankuru who voiced it. It was..

Somewhere in the trees

Kiba stopped screaming bloody-murder only after realizing that the 'heart-rendering scream' was actually coming from his mouth. Not that he didn't have good reason to scream. Oh no, the sight that met his and Akamaru's eyes was definitely worthy of his heart-rendering scream. He knew he would never forget it. It would replay in his head, again and again, for the rest of his life. He saw Kankuru and Temari in a small clearing. But what had happened to Kankuru was worse than anything 'Team 7' or '10' could ever imagine-including Shikamaru's suggestion. Yes, it was a fate worse than death...

'Team Gai'

They all heard the screams, but they were too engrossed in continuing 'The Tick' ritual. Lee returned to Tenten and Neji carrying a small tool-like box. It seemed harmless on the outside, but Neji knew, he knew that this was the most eligible proof that 'looks can be deceiving'. Although the box was no bigger than a walkman cassette player, it contained something very powerful, perhaps only in Neji's case was it powerful, but it was powerful nevertheless. He eyed the box wearily. His mind went, against his will, back to the first time his so called teammates had tortured him with 'The Ticks'. He shuddered at the memories, a look of horror etched on his face.

Flashback

Neji was a semi-chubby little 5 years old. He wore a pair of dark blue shorts and a cream-colored t-shirt. He was walking down one of the streets in Konoha Village, looking thoughtful. Suddenly Lee and Tenten jumped out from behind a nearby bush and ambushed him.

"Hey, Neji, you seem a bit out of it today, huh?" Tenten asked slyly. She, too, was a 5 year old miniature version of her current self-with the exception of childhood roundness. She wore her hair in two buns, with two short bangs hanging in front of her forehead. She wore a sleeveless pink shirt and dark green pants. She carried, on her back, a short katana. Of course, she didn't have her Konoha forehead protector yet. "Gee, did something happen or something?"

"Uhh, no." Neji replied instantly. "Nothing happened."

"Is that so?" Tenten countered.

"Yes." Neji replied.

"Come on Neji, you can tell us." Lee edged him on. Like the other two he was 5 years old and slightly on the chubby side. He still had, as Naruto would say, 'fuzzy eyebrows'. His hair was not in a 'Gai-sensei bob cut' because he had not yet met his future sensei. It was now simply let out and cut slightly higher than his shoulders. He didn't wear green spandex either, he wore...red spandex! Just kidding! He wore black pants and a white t-shirt that buttoned up in the front.

"No, I can't." he mumbled to himself. But Tenten heard him.

"Oh, so something did happen." she said.

"Nuh-uh." Neji said defensively.

"Uh-huh." Tenten nagged.

"Nuh-uh!" Neji insisted.

"Uh-huh!" Tenten counter insisted.

"Nuh-uh!" Neji said, getting tired of arguing.

"Ok." Tenten said simply.

"Nu-" Neji stopped in the middle of his now-automatic response. He looked at Tenten suspiciously. "O.k.?"

"Yeah, o.k." she repeated. Lee gave her a questioning look. She walked about 3 meters away from the two boys and beckoned for Lee to follow. He did just that.

"You said o.k.?" he asked incredulously. “But, Tenten-san, why-

"Yup." Tenten replied cheerfully but in a quiet voice, "I have an idea. So listen up."

"Oh, o.k." Lee said following suit and lowering his voice as he pushed his ears toward Tenten so that they looked extra big. "I'm all ears."

Tenten whispered animatedly into his ears for a few seconds. It had just occurred to Neji to use his 'Byakkugan' and lip-read to find out what they were saying when Tenten stopped speaking abruptly. She turned to Neji and narrowed her eyes.

"Come on Lee." she said, still looking at Neji suspiciously, "Let's go talk somewhere else. I think Neji's trying to hear what we're saying."

"Huh?" Lee let go of his now elephant-like ears so that they went back to normal and looked at Neji in surprise. He had forgotten he was there. "Oh, uhh, right."

Uh-oh, she heard me! WhatdoIdo?-! WhatdoIdo?-! Neji thought frantically. He took a deep breath. Hmph, I'll just play it cool.

"I know what you're doing, Tenten-chan." he said casually, making a quick recovery, "It won't work." She thinks that if she has a secret, I'll want to know it. he thought smugly, And maybe she thinks that I'll tell her my secret in exchange for hers. Hah! Yeah, right! Fate wouldn't allow that!

"We'll see about that, Neji-kun." Tenten responded confidently. It scared Neji a little, but he didn't show it.

"Whatever." he said.

"We'll see you tommorow, Neji-kun." Tenten said, emphasizing his name in a dangerous tone again. "Buh-bye now!" Neji could have sworn she let out an evil laugh as she and Lee walked away, but he couldn't be sure.

"Yeah, bye, Neji-san." Lee echoed, looking over his shoulder at Neji. Was it just Neji's imagination, or did Lee just grin evily?

"Yeah, sure. Bye." Neji replied, shaking the paronoid thoughts out of his head. He continued his walk and thought about their little encounter no more.

The Next Day

"Good morning, Neji-san" Lee said. He and Tenten were walking towards Neji. They were in their usual meeting place for class with their sensei.

"Good morning, Neji-kun." Tenten said with her usual cheerfulness. Whew! Neji thought, she doesn't sound scary anymore.

"Morning." he replied. Tenten whispered something in Lee's ear. Then they both pounced on Neji and tied him to a tree in one swift motion. He wasn't prepared and he was worried he would hurt them if he fought, so they succeeded and he got tied up.

"Now, Neji, last chance." Tenten said with a disturbing sweetness in her voice, "What happened yesterday?"

"Huh? What are you talk-" he asked. But Lee cut him off.

"You know, Neji-san." Lee said seriously.

"No, I...don't." Neji said, his words trailing off as yesterday's encounter came flooding back to him.

"Aha! See, you do remember!" Tenten exclaimed. Then her dangerous tone returned. "So, Neji-kun, what happened yesterday? This is your last chance." Neji rolled his eyes. Then he thought, What are they gonna do? They can't defeat me in battle...But then again, Tenten-chan does have that dangerous tone in her voice...

"Nothing happened." Neji replied camly, "So just leave me alone." Tenten sighed at his response and shook her head.

"Well, I really didn't want to do this but..Lee bring in..'The Ticks' " she said forcefully.

"The..'Ticks'?" Neji asked, looking at his teammates bewilderedly. They're both crazy he thought, Completely crazy. Then Lee whipped out a little box.

End of Flashback

It seemed to Neji now, that history was about to repeat itself...

Somewhere Else in the Trees

"You know what to do." Jiraya said to his companions."We must gather them in one spot and do what we came here to do."

"Hai, Jiraya-sama!" Iruka, Gai, Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai chorused. They all pulled out little pouches containing an odd white powder. It was a special powder that was rarely used and hard to come by. They all jumped into the trees and each of them separately went in a different direction. They didn't notice the dozen bugs that had gathered secretly and heard their conversation...

'Team 8'

"Wh-Who screamed like that?" Hinata mumbled to herself. It was the second scream she had heard since waking up, the first being the one that woke her. She knew that scream; she had heard it before. But she couldn't seem to put her finger on it's owner...

"..." Shino said/didn't say. He had just found out that their senseis were here and was wondering why. "Follow me." he said simply. Then he jumped off into the trees. He was headed for the source of the scream. Hinata followed him, wondering what was going on, exactly. They both stopped suddenly on a tree branch and tried to comprehend what they were seeing. There was Kiba, their familiar teammate. But there were also Temari and Kankuru. It was the sight of Kankuru that made Shino stop in his track and almost caused Hinata to fall off the tree branch she had just jumped onto...

Back with 'Team 7' and '10'

"Wha-Who was that?" Naruto asked loudly, "It sounded like a girl. Hmm..maybe it was Temari-chan."

"Temari?" Ino asked, "Why should she scream like that? It was her chasing Kankuru, not the other way around."

"Maybe so, but for once Naruto is right. I mean, that did sound like a girl." Sakura argued.

"Shut up, Forehead Girl!" Ino snapped, angry at being opposed by someone.

"You shut up, Ino Pig!" Sakura snapped back evenly, on auto-defense at being called Forehead Girl.

"No, you shut up!" Ino insisted.

"No, you shut up!" Sakura insisted harder.

"Hey! Don't tell Sakura-chan to shut up!" Naruto barged into the argument.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Both girls shouted back at him. He shrunk back, mumbling something like: "Girls..shouting..".

"Forehead Girl!" Ino shouted, resuming the task-of insulting Sakura-at hand, her face red with anger.

"Ino Pig!" Sakura retorted furiously.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru said, gazing lazily up at the clouds.

"Shut up, both of you. Then we can all find out who screamed." Sasuke interrupted sounding slightly annoyed.

"Forehead G-" Ino shut up instantly upon hearing "Sasuke's order." Sakura, meanwhile did the same. "Ino P-"

"Sasuke-kun, you're so smart. We're sorry. We won't bother you again." They both said, smiling warmly and batting their eyes like their lives depended on it.

Sasuke ignored them and jumped into the tree's. The others followed suit with Shikamaru saying "How troublesome." and sighing heavily as he bought up the rear. They all gasped-even Sasuke-and Chouji choked on his chips as he did so. The sight that met their eyes in the clearing before them was horrible, terrible, hideous, disgusting, and and any other thing that could make a person instantly nauseous. Shino and Hinata were half-hidden, perched on two different tree branches. There was Kiba with Akamaru on his head. Behind him, a little further away were Temari and Kankuru. It was Kankuru that nauseated them all...