Neji opened the door, revealing a luscious, green, grassy garden with one table in the center, surrounded by chairs. Ino and her friend sat on two of the chairs at the table, their eyes glued to a laptop screen in curiosity. They both looked up when Neji and Tenten walked towards them, the exit closing itself.
"Neji! Tenten!" You made it out!" Ino beamed happily. "I suspected you two would be one of the first but I actually thought Shika would escape first with that big 200 IQ brain of his. Turns out, he's using his brain to focus on making out with Temari."
"Wait seriously?" Tenten asked, rushing over to the computer in curiosity. Sure enough, the Nara was kissing Temari a little too passionately for spectators.
"One of my ships came trueeee!" Ino squealed happily, then frowned. "Sakura and Sasuke haven't talked much, and when they do, they seem like they're snapping at the other. They're close to finishing though. Naruto and Hinata seem to be laughing and having a good time, so we're making progress. The rest of the people are either getting there or not getting anywhere at all."
"By the way, my name is Aiko," Ino's friend introduced, shaking both Neji and Tenten's hands as they sat down in front of the laptop. "Are you two dating?"
"Nope, but most people believe we are," Tenten replied. "It's...complicated." In one week, they would be officially "broken up", which would benefit Ami greatly, unfortunately. However, the brunette doubted Neji would want to ever engage in a serious relationship with that rude woman, much to her relief. Tenten watched Ino click on a scene with Sakura and Sasuke. They seemed to be bickering about something. "Ino, could you turn on the volume to that scene?"
"Sure, but once they move to another camera's view, I'm gonna need to find the new scene," Ino replied, clicking on a volume button in one corner of the scene.
"...don't hate you, Sasuke! I just, ugh, I'm done being one of your stupid fangirls that thinks you're so-" Sakura was yelling.
"That doesn't mean you have to give me the cold shoulder and ignore me completely," Sasuke replied, his voice anger-filled.
"Well I'm sorry Mr. Arrogant, please go blame Ino-pig for pairing me up with you!"
"Why don't we just try to get along? We're supposed to be a team."
"It's not my fault we're a team. It's also not my fault you're a cold, rude-"
"Do you ever shut up?"
"No! And I won't shut up because you're a fucking jerk!"
"Hn. Let's just escape before we end up being the last team."
"Fine, but this argument won't be forgotten! Ugh, Ino-pig probably saw it all..."
The four watched as the two walked off. "Naruto and Hinata time!" Ino cheered, going back to the page displayed with different scenes and clicking on one with Naruto and Hinata. The two were chatting happily as they poked at a wall, trying to find a clue most likely.
"Ino, did you help with the clues?" Tenten asked, "Some were...dirty."
"Yep," Ino replied with a grin. "I helped Aiko and the other owners of the haunted house make up clues." She winked at Tenten and Neji, asking, "Soooo, did you two have a little fun in the bed?"
"No!" They both cried out.
Ino burst out laughing and Aiko was trying not to laugh.
"Do people schedule to come here?" Tenten asked once Ino had settled down.
"Yeah," Aiko replied, "The next group comes at eight, so you all have around an hour left."
"Shika and Temari stopped making out," Ino announced.
"Is that one guy eating in the haunted house?" Aiko murmured, "How did he sneak a bag of chips in?"
"Uh, do people get disqualified for eating in the haunted house?" Tenten asked.
"I mean, he isn't cheating, so I guess not," Aiko replied.
The four continued their spectating until Naruto and Hinata stepped out of the exit, their faces happy and smiling. Naruto took in the sight of Ino, Aiko, Neji, and Tenten all sitting at the table.
"Congratulations on escaping!" Aiko beamed, smiling. "My name is Aiko. Feel free to spectate the other teams while you wait, or you all can just talk."
"Thank you," Naruto replied to Aiko before grinning at the others. "Wow, I never thought we'd come in second. Home come teme and smart brained Shikamaru aren't out yet?"
"Shikamaru is busy sucking Temari's face off," Neji muttered, "And Sasuke and Sakura are always bickering."
"Ooh! I'll have to tease Shikamaru later," Naruto chuckled.
"What matters is we had a fun time, right Naruto?" Hinata said, smiling happily at the goofy blonde.
"Yes Hina, we had a great time!" Naruto replied.
Neji went into overprotective cousin mode, observing Naruto suspiciously. Tenten poked Neji and whispered, "Let them be. They're perfect for each other!"
"Fine."
Ino was muttering to Aiko about how Shikamaru and Temari have been making out for too long.
"Are there built in speakers in the cameras?" Naruto asked, grimacing when he saw Shikamaru and Temari's scene, "Cuz we can just yell at them them stop kissing and get outta there."
"That sounds like a good idea," Ino replied, clicking on the scene and clicking some buttons before leaning over to the left side of the computer. "Hey you two!" She yelled, "Save the make out session for later!"
Shikamaru and Temari broke apart, their eyes scanning the room for the source of the voice. The two lovebirds soon left the room in search of clues.
"Finally, they're on the move again," Ino muttered, sighing. "I mean, it's sweet and all, but hello! People are spectating the teams! We don't wanna watch two people make out."
"They better start dating after this," Tenten said.
Ino nodded in agreement. "I've been shipping ShikaTema for too long! That's my ship name for them," She added, grinning.
"I can tease the lazy ass about Temari now!" Naruto cheered.
"Keep it PG when Temari's around, or she might end up breaking a bone or two," Ino warned.
"No worries," Naruto replied sheepishly, chuckling nervously as he scratched the back of his head.
"It's not like you keep your teasing child-friendly, Ino," Tenten muttered.
"Pfft."
The group heard a noise from the house and the wall opened, revealing an angry-looking Sakura and an irritated Sasuke. "Finally, I escaped this place! Now I can get away from you," Sakura scowled, marching over to the group. "Ino-pig, why did you put me with this arrogant bastard?!" She screeched, grabbing her best friend's arm and glaring at her.
"Maybe because he's your-" Naruto began, but instantly snapped his mouth shut at her glare, which was filled with murderous intent.
The group continued to chat while Ino and Aiko guided the other teams to the exit. When everyone was out, they headed to the restaurant. On the way, Tenten stared at the sunset while trying to ignore Ino's constant, cheerful blabbering about topics such as how glad she was that no one threw up this year.
Once they got to the restaurant, Tenten squeezed into a large, circular restaurant booth between Neji and Ino. She talked and laughed with the others, the evening passing by.