Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [1]

☾ 45 ☽

Tsukiko waited for Naruto in the hallway while he went off to use the toilet before they could head off to practice together again. She looked over at the resident cat and smiled as she moved toward it, crouching down next to her and scratching her over the head. Tsukiko loved animals and children.

"Naruto's not going to be happy to see you playing around with that water balloon," Tsukiko mused as she watched the cat move the ball around with her feet. The white-haired girl looked up when she heard Naruto come out.

"Hey! That's not your toy..." Naruto trailed off, watching the cat roll the ball back and forth between its paws until the water balloon suddenly burst, scaring the cat. Tsukiko looked at Naruto with interest when he muttered, "That's it..."

"You're going to use two hands?" Tsukiko asked Naruto as she passed him a water balloon. Naruto nodded in response and Tsukiko watched as he attempted it, holding the balloon in his left hand and using his right hand to make it burst. And it really did burst...

"Yahoo!" Naruto cheered loudly, causing both Tsukiko and Usajii to block their ears. "I did it! I did it, Tsukiko-Chan, dattebayo!" Tsukiko could only smile as she nodded along, actually happy he got it. "Let's go show it to Pervy Sage!"

Naruto rushed in front of her to their hotel room and Tsukiko jogged behind him to catch up. She unlocked the door and sweat-dropped when she saw that the Toad Sage was still passed out and snoring heavily.

"It's time to wake up, Pervy Sage!" Tsukiko said loudly. "Are you going to sleep in until afternoon, Usa?" She kicked the empty sake bottle and it hit the man over the head, jolting him awake as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.

"Oh... Naruto and Shirayuri," Jiraiya muttered, dozing off again. "Good timing! Why don't you go and bring me some water...?" Naruto burst another balloon onto his face to wake him up. Jiraiya let out a strangled laugh.

"The first step is cleared!" Naruto announced. Jiraiya looked confused, as if he could not understand what step he was talking about. Tsukiko threw a towel at his face and Jiraiya wiped his face.

"Cleared, huh?" Jiraiya asked, gaining some senses. "Well, let's have you show it to me," Tsukiko passed Naruto the water balloon.

"All right! Watch it careful!" Naruto said. Tsukiko watched as Naruto took a dramatically deep breath and placed the balloon in his left hand once more and began to work the Chakra at it with his right hand. And it burst again. "All right! See that?! See that?!"

"He fell asleep again, Usa," Tsukiko muttered, exasperated. "Pervy Sage! Get up!"

☾

"Sorry, sorry," Jiraiya said as he sat down for breakfast. Tsukiko and Naruto sat across him with tea, waiting for him to get done with his food. "I'm tired from the days and nights of gathering information," Tsukiko and Naruto gave him blank looks.

"No doubt about that," Tsukiko muttered sarcastically. She took a sip of her tea and glanced out the window, looking at the birds sitting on the wire. "Totally gathering information..." Does he know that he stinks so much of alcohol that it suffocates her and Naruto every night?

"You understood the trick pretty well, it's all thanks to me, though," Jiraiya said. Tsukiko looked over when she heard the resident cat come meowing over and jump onto her lap. Naruto patted the cat's head and she was revelling in the attention she was being given.