Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kisimoto-sensei.
The Hangover!
.:Chapter 2:.
Sai's weighted eyelids parted, but he was still staring into darkness. That didn't seem quite right. He recalled all the other times when his eyes opened there was light, what was different? He blinked a few times, only to continue staring blankly into the inky black. Figuring that no good would come of sitting around, he attempted to sit up and failed miserably, his forehead smacked into a hard cool surface inches above his head.
Surprised by the contact, he lifted his arm up deciphering his surroundings. The underside of his elbow and forearm collided with the cold surface again, while the rest of his limb continued to reach into the space above.
I'm under something, the impassive man realized flatly. He pressed the palms of his hands to the outside of the object above him, sliding himself from the darkness. His eyes were hit by sunlight, pouring into the room from an open window. He cringed away from it, his onyx orbs were for some reason extremely sensitive.
Curiously, the man glanced back from where he'd slipped out of. The source of his darkness was that of a black coffee table. He assumed he'd fallen asleep on the floor and rolled under it, since the actual memories were not there.
His palm rubbed his forehead in a circular motion, appeasing the throbbing of the bump only to find that his head was aching from the back as well. Ignoring it, he resumed scanning the room. It was of average size, grayish-blue painted walls, off white furniture, and an assortment of magazines on the table. A hotel, that much was obvious. He rose to his feet, feeling woozy, then nauseated.
He raced to the bathroom, hanging his head over the pale white basin and letting everything come up. After retching for the third time in a row, he wobbled to the sink. Rinsing out his mouth of the repugnant taste, with help from a bottle of mouth wash, he felt slightly better. Though it did not wash away the ill sensation completely.
As if the bathroom was spinning, Sai sunk to the floor, collapsing onto his side. Two paper white arms wrapping around his bare chest, clutching onto his upper arms, shivering slightly from the feel of the cold tiles on bare skin. Sai's cheek pressed up against the tile, cooling his overheated face. It felt comforting and good, relieving him of some tension.
He let out a sigh, closing his eyes briefly. This action was not of any help though, it only made his head spin more. Reopening his eyes he became aware of the fact that there was a familiar sound coming from close by.
Pushing himself upright once again, he turned to the bathtub. Tearing back the curtains, he found something very unexpected.
A soaked Ino Yamanaka was lying on her back, with the shower on. She looked completely trashed. It appeared that at some point during the night, fully clothed she clambered into the shower, turned on the water, and then passed out.
Sai hastily turned off the shower, ceasing the ice cold stream of water. Next, he moved to check if Ino was still alive. He feared that she might have drowned herself, but that thought was disapproved when the blonde let out a quiet moan.
"Ino? Ino, are you alright?" tried the dark-haired ninja. It was a stupid question; since she most certainly was not alright in any way.
Receiving no response, Sai gathered her limp body in his arms and successfully lifted her from the tub. Ino was freezing and on fire; having a temperature and shivering at the same time.
First, Sai brought her into the bedroom. Dumping Ino onto the bed, the dizzied ninja tried to think of what he should do. He raced back to the bathroom and retrieved two white towels before he removed the her clothes. Discarding the white dress she had been wearing onto the floor in a puddle of icy water beside her black heels, Sai wrapped the waterlogged girl in the hotel towels. Then hurriedly tucked her into the large bed.
While doing all this he was having a tough time suppressing the urge to puke his guts up. Giving into the nausea Sai had to run for the bathroom, yakking until his stomach was completely emptied. He was left leaning over the toilet bowl, dry heaving, when there was a crash in the other room.
To the pale ninja's surprise, he discovered that there was another person present in the hotel room. Missing his green jumpsuit and instead clad in a pair of black pants and a white shirt, his notorious bowl cut was the only way Sai had recognized the Might Guy look-alike from behind. Rock Lee was frantically attending to an overturned lamp that had toppled over and broken against the tabletop that Sai had been sleeping under only moments ago.
"Ee-gawds! This poor youthful lamp! It's days ended far too soon!" howled the boy, tears streaming down his face as he collected the broken shards.
Incredulous, the former ROOT nin spoke up, "Lee?"
Said person span around searching for whom had addressed him. When Lee's large eyes landed on a very sickly looking Sai, his expression brightened considerably. The bowl-cut sporting shinobi enthusiastically greeted his comrade with a, "Good morning, Sai!" His signature thumbs up and bright smile following after. He'd made an instant full recovery from mourning the loss of the 'youthful' lamp.
The mere volume of the energetic boy's voice caused Sai to immediately turn back around and retreat into the bathroom. Slamming the door shut behind him, Sai left Lee with a downtrodden and somewhat confused expression. Hovering once more over the basin of the toilet, Sai determined that he would deal with that in a minute. For then, he wasn't fully prepared for Lee's gung-ho attitude.
After about a good fifteen minutes, Rock Lee came knocking on the bathroom door. He'd finished cleaning up the remnants of the lamp and was beginning to worry about Sai's wellbeing.
The concerned question, "Are you okay in there?", drifted past the wooden barrier and swam through the queasy black-haired man's head.
Pulling what little of himself together that he could manage, Sai reentered the other room and joined Lee. The older of the two black-haired men looked hopeful at his friend's reappearance, but the other just looked unwell.
"What happened last night?" Sai inquired, his hand holding his gut protectively. It seemed that the fire in his belly was not about to abandon him anytime soon, so, he was going to have to persevere through it.
Rock Lee shook his head of silky black hair, stating, "I do not know. . . Last night's events seem to escape me." His frown was lopsided as he tried to conjure up any memories from the night before.
So, they were both in the dark on that matter.
There was a cough from the bedroom that sent Sai running to Ino's side. The blonde was awake, hacking into her open palm before she glanced up at the two new faces standing in the room.
"I-I'm f-f-freezing," chattered the Yamanaka, clutching the sheets up to her neck.
"I shall turn up the heater!" volunteered Lee, racing back out of the room to hunt down the thermostat.
The remaining dark-haired ninja gravitated to the bedside, informing the girl within it, "I found you passed out in the shower with the water on. How are you feeling?"
"Hor-r-rible," she shakily replied. Smothering her face into the fabric that covered her, she mumbled, "Oh l-lord, I m-m-must hav-v-ve been sm-mashed last n-night. I b-blacked out, what ha-happened?"
"Don't know," admitted the black-haired male flatly. "Lee and I are both in the same boat."
The blonde snorted. "Great. We m-must've been the drunken idi-diots that ev-v-veryone didn't want to b-baby-sit so they d-d-dumped us off here." She let out a small whine, lifting her head to glance at Sai. "I h-hope that-t I didn't do anyth-thing too stupid."
"I have successfully turned up the heat!" exclaimed Lee from the next room, his loud footfalls following after. Grinning proudly, the bushy-eyebrow-ed nin entered the bedroom giving the pair another thumbs up.
"Thanks," said the kunoichi appreciatively. She leaned back against the headboard, the blankets held against her chin as she shivered.
After a moment, Lee went off to make a pot of coffee and Sai laid down on the couch in the main room.
As the warmth flooded the rooms, the Yamanaka felt somewhat better. She rested her head on the large fluffy cushioned pillows. Lifting her hands above her head to stretch out, the blonde's blue eyes narrowed on an unidentified presence circling her finger. A thin golden band was wrapped snugly around her ring finger.
"Huh," she muttered to no one in particular. "This isn't my ring."
Removing the jewelry and twisting it around between her thumb and index finger, the kunoichi inspected her findings. Debating the possibilities of where she may have acquired the little ring from, the blonde feared she might have stolen it last night, for she had no other memories of a plain gold ring.
A little while later, Lee came bounding in the room with a cup of coffee and a cheery grin. Sai followed in behind him. Passing Ino the piping hot beverage, his large charcoal-colored eyes drifted to the puddle on the floor.
"Ino, your dress is soaking wet," remarked the taijutsu specialist, bending down to lift the sopping gown from the floor.
When he held the white bundle up, the Yamanaka frown, replying flatly, "That's not mine."
"Are you sure? You were wearing it in the shower," countered the artist, his eyes rechecking that it was indeed the same dress. Though, now that Ino mentioned it, it did strike the ninja as odd. The blue-eyed female was always wearing purple, not white.
The blonde shook her head, adamantly saying, "I've never seen that dress before." Then she examined the gown more closely and remarked, "It looks like a wedding dress. . ." Sapphire eyes widened as the metal band re-secured around her finger suddenly held meaning. Her hand shot up in front of her face once more.
"Ah! Ino, you have one too!" happily noted Lee, drawing the Yamanaka's attention away from her fingers to his. Just as he'd said, a golden circlet was visible on the man's matching finger. He continued to say, "I'm not sure where it came from though. Did you perhaps give me this ring?"
Ticking like a bomb, Ino's thoughts raced to connect the pieces until it all clicked together.
Three. . .
"B-but that means. . ." stuttered the Yamanaka, utterly horror-struck.
Two. . .
Her blue orbs trailed up Lee's form before they hesitantly fixating on a pair of smooth pink lips.
One. . .
Rock Lee's lips parted, her name escaping them, "Ino?"
ZERO.
A deafening wail pierced the air, "NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"
As if a million explosives had been set off in Sai's head he leaned forward, hands gripping the bedcovers for support. If he'd had a headache previously, it was a full blown migraine now. One thing the artist could give her credit for, the Yamanaka had an unrivaled set of lungs.
"I've been defiled! No! No! No! No! No! NO!" screamed the distressed female, thrashing about underneath the bedcovers.
Both boys, completely lost, began asking her what was wrong and if she was okay. Of all people she had to be saddled with the most socially clueless of shinobi.
Pointing an accusing finger at Rock Lee, Ino clarified in a disgusted yelp, "We got married!"
There was silence.
The husband looked as though he would burst into tears of joy, the wife appeared ready to break down in sobs of sorrow.
Uncertainly glancing between the pair, Sai stated the proper response, that he'd learned in his books, for this news:
"Congratulations."
AN:
So, what'd you guys think? I surprised myself with this one. LeeIno FTW! xD
I'd also like to thank the following AMAZING people who reviewed: itachimeri1989 , pattie mayonnaise , katieXtheXkunoichi , Liseli de Kampf , SilverWolfStar , Bone-Conjurer , experiment13 , .Crazy , VampireHuntress72095
Each one of you really inspired me. I went back and reread your reviews everytime that I worked on this chapter (which was a lot). I'd also like to acknowledge the silent readers who took the time to look at my story, set it to your alerts, and those who favorited --I know not everyone expresses themselves in words.
So, THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERBODY.
.xXxXxXx.
Next Chapter:
Um, who are you?Peace and love
--RainingSprinklesDownMyThroat