Along Came Kakashi (ON HIATUS)

Two

        Blah blah blah is all you can think of as you hear Gai ramble about his winnings compared to Kakashi's, something about how the gray-haired dude loses the simplest of contests to the black-haired dude.

        "Blah blah blah blah? Blah blah! Blah blablabla. Blah. Wibble-wobble. Wibble wibble wobble wobble. Sizzler sozzler."

        You nod at random moments and look at Gai, "Well, it was nice befriending you and all that jazz, but I have to go now; this is me." You gesture to your shop/house and Gai nods, then quizzically look at the building, then you, then the building, then back at you with the tilt of his head. You find him to be a somewhat puppy-like person then and there.

        "You live here? Wasn't this your bakery shop?" Gai voices his questions. You nod a yes. You explain, "I have a business here, yeah, but upstairs is my home. It's both a shop and my house. Like a 2-in-1 shampoo-conditioner bottle."

        "Ah. Can I be your company then?"

        You shrug, "Whatever floats your boat, Gai, do whatever. Just don't battle in here."

        He salutes and looks around, "Wow, this place is comfy!" You crack a small smile and sit on one of the two bean bag chairs you have. You can't imagine this place without you and vice versa. "Yeah, I'm glad I was able to get this place and renovate it at a cheap price," you grimace, "it used to look like a piece of garbage."

        Gai laughs energetically, "Well you have a fine eye for decor, I might just let you renovate my place!" You shake your head at his silliness. You call him a dork. You and Gai then talk about trivial stuff like what your favorites were: favorite book, favorite place, et cetera. You find he likes to challenge Kakashi in contests and also train hard. You wonder if you should train with him someday.

        You note there are barely any customers so you decide, why not challenge Maito Gai in a contest? It'll definitely be easy. You smack yourself in your head. Why did you challenge someone who likes challenges?

        What was the contest?

        A staring contest.

        Haha, you got this in the bag. You'll just have to make him blink. "Ready, steady, go!" Gai stares intently while you relax your face. You find that keeping your calm and not thinking about blinking would--HEY, NO BLINKING! You widen your eyes instantly when you feel the need to blink.

        Gai laughs at your sudden widening of eyes and you decide it was funny too, so you let out a few chortles of laughter. The thing is, though, that when you're having fun and laughing, it's hard to keep your eyes closed. Your eyes almost come to a close, three-fourths to be more specific, so you almost lost the contest.

        You widen your eyes even more.

        You made Gai laugh even more and he is forced to lose and you lose your composure, "I win!"

        You two continue laughing and making wide eyes at each other. The laugh dies slowly and you let out a little giggle. "This was fun, we should do this some more." You tell him. Gai nods, then look at the time, "Oh, I have to meet Kakashi now--yesterday I challenged him and he told me 'tomorrow'. I'll see you later!" Gai leaves after waving you a bye and you shake your head.

        You can't believe you were laughing like a maniac just today, last time you did that was, what, a lifetime ago? You don't know.

        You snigger and decide to close up shop. You clean up everything and then go into the kitchen to take inventory. Your stomach rumbles, you look down to it. You sigh and observe what you can make for dinner. You note you have enough ingredients to make your favorite food and still have leftovers, so you decide why not? Today's been a great day for you, you want it to last longer.