Run with the Wind 9 Series: Naruto Characters: ensemble Pairing: Gaara/Lee, various Type: hs au Warnings: none Spoilers: none Word Count: 585 Etc: Dissatisfied with this, but it's at least mildly amusing, and beats having a break in the fic. Maybe, one day, I'll write something I like and that has a point. I play fast and loose with pairings because I'll try almost anything outside my OTP.
The rest of the group fluctuates in who’s dating who, but Lee and Gaara remain constant. Their arguments are rarely serious and always resolve quickly—mostly because Lee forgives Gaara instantly. They never even think of breaking up. Lee has trouble keeping track of it all and doesn’t understand the concept of casual dating. Gaara doesn’t care and wants people to stop making such a fuss—it irks him that things never settle down.
Kankurou, who can’t keep a significant other more than a month, makes faces and jokes about how unbelievably sappy they are.
Temari, who has love/hate relationships with Shikamaru, Ino, and Tenten, envies her brother for having it easy. Eventually she tires of the rivalry and pursues Neji, which proves to be an exercise in futility. It doesn’t help her standing with Tenten one bit.
Ino dates everybody except Hinata at one point or another, some more than once. Eventually she declares she’ll date the best kisser, who ends up being Chouji. When other girls ask why the (self-proclaimed) prettiest girl in Leaf is dating a fat kid, she snarls, “He’s big-boned!” and proceeds to spread nasty rumors about anybody who dares insult her boyfriend’s weight. When people ask Chouji why he’s dating Ino, he answers, “Her heart is in the right place no matter what she says, and she makes a mean barbeque.”
Sakura, who can’t make up her mind if she likes Naruto, Sasuke, or Sai best, tends to wax poetic about how Lee and Gaara’s relationship is perfect. Since she can’t decide, she settles for beating the crap out of her boys in the meantime.
Naruto, still head-over-heels, endures it with a smile and doesn’t mention how sometimes he thinks things a little more than brotherly towards Sasuke and Sai. As time passes, Sakura begins to give up on their former best friend but Naruto retains hope.
Shikamaru declares he’s gay just so girls stop bothering him. Kankurou does the same because he can’t stand the thought of there being even a chance of having kids. Their attempts at dating (or in Shikamaru’s case, not-dating) guys are disastrous. Neither young man is able to stick with his homosexuality, they settle for being bi and go back to dating girls when they aren’t arguing with them.
Tenten and Temari date until they have a huge argument and ruin the secret lesbian fantasies of the male populations in their respective schools.
Nobody dates Hinata because she’s obviously infatuated with Naruto and Neji glares murder at anybody who dares approach her. Those that make it past her cousin usually quail at the protectiveness of her two best friends. Kiba and Shino are exempt from Neji’s ire since they’ve known her so long, and it’s Shino who takes her to the school dance. Hinata is too busy looking forward at Naruto to realize she has two young men who care standing beside her.
Sai dating is an unholy terror like the world has never seen. He loves stirring things up and will do anything on a dare, which leads to quite a few problems. (Neji still hasn’t forgiven him for stealing his first kiss, though says nothing outright.) Like when the artist nearly gets mauled by Gaara after he puts a hand on Lee’s thigh and flirts with him. (Both Naruto and Lee hold him back, but Lee doesn’t try very hard.)
Yet no matter what happens, no matter how horrible the arguments get, they never stop being a tight-knit group of friends.