Teach me to love ~Naruto~: Chapter 1

Chapter 23: Mortified

"Alright, we changed the rules a little on you. Instead of a race around the village, you two have to find Charlie using only one clue. It's a short stanza poem that believe it or not tells you exactly where she is, but you have to know Charlie in a way to get it." Kobe went over the change of plans with Neji and I. It's hot out today. Small breeze, but I consider it a good thing we arn't doing the race now.
Charlie sat on the ground pulling up grass with a very disheartened face. She really doesn't like this competion but for some reason she just doesn't seem to want to speak up.
"Hey, Naruuuuutoooooo!!! Nejiiiii!! What are you guys doing??!!" Kiba called from half way across the feild. He had ever quiet Shino with him and Shikamaru and Choji followed not far behind. Sai
"It's very rare to see you two together and not tearing eachothers heads off." Shikamaru commented.
"Well actually-" I started but got cut off when two familier sand ninja faces appeared. "Gaara! Kankuro! What are you guys doing here?"
"We came for a short visit and Gaara has some kazekage work here." Kankuro smiled and rested his arm on Gaaras shoulder. He very quickly found himself on the ground.
"So what are you guys doing out here?" Kiba asked.
"Well, Neji and I are about to have a competion." I said with full confidence.
"A competion?! Cool! Whats the prize?" He sounded excited now. Oh jeeze, what did I do?
"Charlie is. Kobe says that Neji is better than me and desserves Charlie more than I do, but I'm gonna prove em wrong!" Everyone took one look at me, then to Neji, then to Charlie who by now had her face in her hands. Then they did the cycle all over again. And again, and again, and again.
"Um..." Shino cleared his throat. "We wern't aware you had... changed directions..." He said.
"What? Oh you mean Sakura? Naw, we're just friends. I got tired of getting smacked in the head!" A round of light laughter went around the group.
"Well I wanna join this competion too!" Every stopped and stared at Kiba. "What? I like competions."
"I could very well use Charlie as a model for my art. Such blended looks are hard to find." Sai mussed.
Choji walked up to Charlie. "Can you cook good food?" He asked.
"Yes." She answered cautiously.
"I'm in."
By the end of a full two minutes, every guy who showed up was in the competion, wanting Charlie for one reason or another. She sat there with a purely mortified face and currled up into a fetal postion, slowly rocking back and forth. "As a girl I go on two dates. As a guy everyone is fighting over me. What the hell man?"
"So how exactly is this thing going to work?" Kankuro, who joined purely out of boardum, asked.
"Yes well, I will read you a short stanza poem, Charlie will go hide, and you only have to poem to help you find where he is. Pretty simple." Kobe took out a sheet of paper and cleared hsi throat. "Closer to the sun, yet still hiden in shadows. The one place I dread to go, yet hold my dearest memory. Sound and sight both mingle here, in warmth of every grain of sand."
It was a very confusing poem, but nether the less I have to win this competion! Neji already won one, and the other guys don't know Charlie very well to figure this out right off the bat, so My only real opponet here is Neji. Charlie ran off to hide, leaving us all five minutes to ponder over the lines of the poem. Sai stood stalk still with his eyes closed. Fuck I just remembered that guys is huge into art and creative writing! He can easily decode Charlies poem! Kiba looked pumped and determined, Still not worried about him. But I have no choice now but to see everyone as a threat. I have to win Charlie! ...Where the hell did that come from?
Finally we all started looking. I decided to focus on the first line of the poem. Closer to the sun, yet still hidden in shadows. I didn't get it... How can you be closer to the sun but still in shadows? So I moved on to the next line. The one place I dread to go, yet hold my deepest memory. Again, don't get it. This kid is just to freaking smart for me! She trys to teach me but yet she can still think circles around my brain! Everything she does holds a secret deeper meaning, so how can I... deeper meaning... thats it! I know Charlie better than anyone in this competion and know stuff that they don't! I know how Charlie thinks, so all I have to do is think like Charlie! And she always starts with the end. Sound and sight both mingle here, in warmth of every grain of sand. Starting with sand, thats a clue, warmth, she means she was there when it was warm, sight and sound... That one is hard. Whats the place she dreads to go? I thought back to different things she's done. Teaching me, hospital visits, the beach, the park... Wait, she didn't know how to swim the first time we went to the beach, she was afraid to go! I ran in the direction of the beach thinking over the rest of the poem. I'm deffinatly headed in the right direction. Sight and sound, she means how she liked the sight and sound of te beach.
When I got to the beach I looked all around. The first part of the poem ran through my head. If she's closer to the sun but hiden in shadow, she is either up high but under something, or somewhere in the west. I went west first thinking that was the most likely answer. This is pretty close to the place that we first went actually. I climbed the hill and looked out to the camp site we had stayed that one time. There sitting with her fae to the setting sun, hair blowing back lightly, was Charlie. I had found her first. She looked over to me and smiled.
"I knew you would get it!" I walked over and hugged her. At that moment, Kiba and Neji raced eachother up the hill.
"Ha! Beat ya!" Kiba shouted. When he saw me his face fell. "Aw, damn it!"
"Sorry. I win." Charlie and I walked back to the meeting place. ABout damn time I won one.