Island of Storms [Sakura]

Chapter 33 | Race

"You weren't lying," Temari mused as she looked around the rest of the land that sat between the gate behind them and another that sat what must have been a fifteen to twenty-minute walk away. The path curved from what they were able to see.

"It's a lot different once you see it, huh?" the brunette grinned. "Well, come on. I want to show you the different ones there are to choose from."

She led them past her home.

The beginnings of walls hugged the sides of the road, streets turning off here and there. It looked as though the walls would be built to separate the road from the homes, and the different clans would be walled off from one another.

"I thought Temari would like this one," Tenten stated as she stopped upon passing the wall that cut off her area from the rest. The others looked to find a moderately sized home that sat just far enough from Tenten's wall to allow for a small garden. "Lady Iro is in charge of this district's overall appearance and presentation, so you won't have much say on the look of the walls or the exact layout of the buildings. But this is where you'll get the style you wanted."

"This place is beautiful..." Temari smiled, having been taken with the location the moment she saw it. The group entered the building and Shikamaru watched as the women made their way around the rooms.

It was rather spacious for its size, and it turned out that the garden was larger than it had appeared from where they had been. The back of the home had an indent, decking running along the edges. After viewing the whole of the home, they stood out front.

"It seems well built I guess... I never thought I'd go house shopping so I don't really know what to look for..." Shikamaru muttered after Temari gave him a questioning glance.

"Could you imagine living here?" she asked. He looked at her in silence for a few moments, imagining what the future could hold for them before he responded.

"Yes."

"Then it's settled!" Tenten cheered as she slapped their shoulders, scaring them. "Now to find Puppet Master's house!"

"Puppet Master?" Temari asked, amused by the woman's title for her brother. Tenten only shrugged before leading them back toward the gate.

"I actually thought about a place after you said you wanted space for your puppets." They entered the gate and took a left, heading down a side street before she stopped and looked up at a two-story home. After viewing the home, Kankuro pulled the for sale sign off of the front door. The group was discussing where to look for a home for Gaara when the young man turned to them.

"Would I be able to view one of those homes?" he asked, pointing up at the nearest mountain. Tenten followed his gesture to look up at the homes that wound around the protrusion.

"Yeah! Of course! Kosai lives up there and from what I hear, there are still some that are empty."

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"Come on Inari! You can do it!" Kosai called from an outcropping of rocks offshore of the North Fissure beach. Inari grit his teeth as he focused his chakra on the souls of his feet. He took a step off of the sand and onto the shallow water.

"Go Inari!" his friend cheered. He began placing his weight onto his foot and was excited when it didn't break the surface. He placed his other foot onto the water and tried to balance the chakra flow between them when he heard his teammate call out to him. He looked up to see a moderately sized wave coming directly at him.

He let out a yelp as he turned and ran back to the grass line. He heard the wave crash behind him and bent over, panting comically. The laughs of his friend reached his ears and he turned around.

"Why can't we do this at the hot springs!?" he yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth.

"Because they're not done yet!" Kosai yelled back.

"It's almost noon..." Inari observed as he looked up at the sun.

"What!?"

"I said it's almost noon!"

"Oh! We should go see if Big Sister Tenten has any more dumplings!" Kosai referred to a few days prior when Tenten had made beef dumplings. The two boys had loved and eaten almost all of them. Kosai jumped from the outcropping and dropped into the water with a splash. He surfaced and laughed to himself before swimming his way over to the beach. He stepped onto the sand and rang out the legs of his wintergreen swimming trunks.

"Why don't you just walk over? I'm the only one having problems..." Inari muttered.

"A few reasons," Kosai smiled up at his teammate with a grin. He began putting on his shoes. "I need to get better at swimming and I already said that I'm not gonna do it 'till you can. I'm not gonna show off. Plus we're teammates, we need to help each other out."

"Thanks..." Inari smiled as they began walking.

"No problem! Wanna' race?" Both boys grinned and lined up at the beginning of the dirt path.

"Ready..."

"Steady..."

They looked at each other.

"Go!"

They sped off. Inari was in first for the first stretch. He rounded a bar to get on the quicker path but let out a yell. Relying on his reflexes, he slid under the cart of fishing supplies and skidded to a stop. He sat cross-legged on the ground and panted. "Sorry, sir!"

The man who was pushing the cart grumbled to himself and continued. Kosai whizzed past Inari and laughed.

"Now I'm in the lead!"