Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [1]

☾ Stone of Gelel - 1 ☽

Tsukiko, Naruto, Sakura and Shikamaru sat in wait, hidden away behind the trees as their eyes followed their target moving through the forested area, sniffing out the bread they had laid out for him to follow all the way to the trap they had set up. It was a simple mission for a laidback day.

"All right!" Naruto cheered as the ferret finally made its way to the trap they had set up. It was actually not that intricate. "It's heading towards it!"

"Hey!" Sakura scolded their knuckleheaded teammate. "This is important. Be quiet!" She motioned him to remain quiet with her fingers. "Honestly..."

"Both of you should quieten up, Usa," Tsukiko told them, keeping her voice low as she kept her eyes on the ferret making its way through the forest. "So, cute..." Shikamaru sweat-dropped. "It is cute!"

The ferret reached out to grab at some of the traps they had strung out and freaked out when they fell onto the ground, and it went rushing around in circles before running into the box they had propped up. The stick fell away and trapped the ferret under the box, causing the four kids to cheer.

"We did it!" Naruto cheered loudly as the four of them went rushing ahead toward the box. "He went right in!" Tsukiko reached for the box.

"Don't scare him off with your loud voice, Usa!" Tsukiko told him before slowly moving the box up and reaching for the ferret gently. "Come on, little boy,"

Sniffing her hand, the ferret quickly climbed onto her arm and all the way around her shoulders. Tsukiko furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as the ferret draped himself around her neck like a scarf. She then chuckled and reached up to stroke his head with her finger, grinning.

"Hey, hey," Sakura said. "You're a good boy, right?" She reached out to pet the ferret, too, but he moved away from her hands, causing a tick to slap onto her head.

"I think he realised how temperament you are," Tsukiko commented, chuckling as Sakura freaked out over getting ignored by a ferret. "Animals are very perceptive, isn't that right, boy?"

"He has black fur on his back legs," Shikamaru said as he looked at the ferret nuzzling against Tsukiko. "All right, it seems like there's no mistake," He looked at the blond. "Naruto, the cage,"

But Naruto started to laugh as he looked at the ferret.

"You're calling him perceptive, Tsukiko-Chan?" Naruto asked, doubling over in laughter. "He's so stupid...! To be caught in this lame trap!"

"Usa, you were the one who came up with it, weren't you?" Tsukiko pointed out. "Are you calling yourself lame?" Naruto stopped laughing.

However, before any of them could say anything – the ferret hissed at Naruto.

"Huh?" Naruto asked as he looked down at the ferret. "What is it?"

"Hey, Naruto!" Sakura blew up at the blond. "What did you do?!"

"Something?" Naruto asked as he looked around in confusion. "What did I do? I just got the cage –" He was cut off as the ferret launched himself at him, scratching him. "H-Hey! Ow, ow!"

Once the ferret was satisfied with the scars on Naruto's face, he ran off away from them.

"Stupid!" Shikamaru shouted as the four of them went running after the ferret – with Naruto in the lead. "Don't let it get away, Naruto!"

"If you let it get away, I'm going to kick your ass, Naruto!" Sakura shouted at their teammate. "Tsukiko, where's the cage?!"

"Naruto, you dropped the cage, too!" Tsukiko exclaimed as she turned around to snatch the cage from the ground before rushing back with her friends. "What a mess!"