A/N: This story is rated M for later events and it does not necessarily contain any important spoilers since this is set during the first part of Naruto and I assume you already know of those things before you came to read a Naruto fic, hehe xD. I hope you're going to have a pleasant time with reading this :)!

By the way, a review just scolded me for not giving you guys a proper warning about the upcoming M rated events and said that I was an irresponsible author for not doing so... Now I'm not trying to be rude or disrespectful, but I'm not gonna give you the warning she /he wants me to give you because it's against my own policy to spoil people with warnings like that. It says nowhere in the rules of fanfiction that the author has to give such a warning – it only says that you have to give it a proper rating that fits it so people who for example doesn't wanna read anything M rated doesn't get any nasty surprises. When you see something is M rated, you know that it can either be due to violence, bad language or sexual contents and then you decide for yourself if you wanna risk anything by opening and reading that fic.
So now if anyone wants a heads up when it comes to why this fic is M rated, you can go read her review because I will not spoil people who like me does not want to be spoiled either.

Unexplainable Pain

Chapter 1

"This is gonna be a drag," Shikamaru said, crossing his arms over his chest and sulked. Naruto and Choji looked at their classmate who was obviously feeling sorry for himself.

"Come one, Shikamaru, it's not gonna be that bad. I bet it's gonna be fun. I for sure can't wait for those grilled sausages Iruka-sensei promised us!" Choji cheered the brunette who he sat next to on the bus.

Naruto sat beside Sasuke on the seats next to Shikamaru and Choji. He leaned over the armrest, closer to his classmates, wanting to feel more like he was a part of the conversation. Besides, he did not really enjoy sitting next to that Uchiha kid since he was rather silent and if there was one thing Naruto was not fond of it was silence. "Yeah, I have to agree with Choji on that. All those treats Iruka-sensei mentioned sure sounded delicious!" Naruto drooled and looked like his mind was in a different world. Choji was wearing the exactly same face as the blonde. Shikamaru just snorted and looked out of the window and away from his annoying friends.

"I don't care about food, unlike you two idiots. Excursions are never any fun. If my mother hadn't insisted so strongly, I'm sure I could have convinced my dad to let me stay at home." Shikamaru watched the passing trees, bushes and clouds. They had been on the road for hours and he was getting tired. He hated being closely packed inside a bus with his classmates. Especially Naruto. He did not particularly hate him, he just found him annoying in certain situations - situations like these where he could not escape if it all became too much for him. He sighed and tried not to focus on Naruto's piercing voice.

"It's only five days and you don't have to sleep in a tent or something like that so I don't understand why you are making such a big deal out of it?" Naruto asked confusedly. He loved these kind of trips. He was the only one who never got homesick or missed his parents, for obvious reasons. This was his way of escaping the fact that he did not have any parents. When they were on school trips, he felt like he was on the same level as everyone else.

"Naruto!" a firm voice growled their way. All three of them looked up, seeing their irritated teacher. "How many times do I have to tell you to sit properly in your seat? And I'm sure that Choji and Shikamaru can hear you without you shouting all the time!"

"I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said with a lowered voice. "It's not like he's any better himself," he whispered in a huff to Choji who nodded agreeably.

"Was there something you would like to add, Naruto? I didn't quite catch that," Iruka glared down at the orange dressed boy. Naruto just shook his head and Iruka turned around satisfyingly, looking out at the setting ahead of them. They were almost there now.

Naruto wrinkled up his nose, crossed his arms and grunted snuffly. He was not allowed to do anything. Iruka-sensei was allowed to stand up on the bus, but Naruto could not even lean away from his seat? It just did not seem fair to the annoyed boy.

He glanced over at Sasuke who seemed to be asleep. He was not, though, and Naruto had to discover that the hard way because when he poked the black haired boy, he immediately grabbed Naruto by the wrist and twisted it around.

"Argh!" Naruto exclaimed and tried to pull his hand away from Sasuke.

"Don't. ever. do. that. again. Got it?" Sasuke whispered angrily through his teeth and shot Naruto a deadly glare.

"S-Sorry," Naruto gulped, Sasuke finally letting go of his wrist.

Shikamaru watched as the blonde massaged his wrist with his other hand, not looking very pleased with the situation. "Pff," Shikamaru snorted and rolled his eyes at the hurt boy, earning a confused look from his chubby friend beside him. He should know better than to get involved with the cynical Uchiha. That boy is a total drag, he thought to himself before turning away to look out at the sky again.

There did not happen much for the next thirty minutes. Shikamaru was staring out the window, being close to falling asleep. Choji was having a snack and did not pack it away even though Iruka told him that he should not spoil his appetite with nutrition lacking snacks like that, he just hid the bag of chips and made sure that he was not too noisy when reaching for one of those crispy potato chips.

Naruto was trying to get the attention of the girl who sat in the seat in front of him by tugging at her long pinkish hair, but she only got mad at him and told him to stop. Her sudden out burst did not awake Sasuke - that was if he was actually sleeping. It could very well be that he just did not bother to look at them.

Finally they arrived at their destination and Iruka told them to stay calm as the bus stopped and he asked them to slowly get out of it and find each their individual bags and take it with them to the meeting place by the bonfire that was located in the middle of the camp. He did not expect them to actually listen and he was in his right place to assume that because within a few seconds all the students were up on their feet, pushing each other to be the first ones to get out of the stuffy means of transport.

Shikamaru and Choji found their bags and went to the place where Iruka had instructed them to go as two of the only ones who was actually doing what they were told. Kiba was running after Naruto in anger after the blonde had splashed water all over the other. Kiba's dog, Akamaru, was catching up to Naruto and it was barking insanely and snapping after it's prey's heels. Shikamaru found the act highly annoying.

It took almost a quarter of an hour before Iruka had managed to gather all the students where the majority of them were still too excited about having an excuse not to go to the academy for days to listen to what their sensei was saying. When Iruka had gotten everyone to take a seat on the ground, he spoke.

"Okay, since most of you will probably be tired from the relatively long bus drive, I won't force you to do much today. First thing we have to do is assign each of you to a cabin." Iruka watched as the students became disorderly again. They yelled to one another, planning who they wanted to share a cabin with. The teacher shook his head despondently before making everybody shut their mouths by shouting, "If you don't shut up right now, I won't hesitate to personally escort you back to the academy and then you'll have to write a five pages long essay on the former and current hokages!"

Iruka knew just what to threaten them with. Even though it did not always look like it, most of the students had a lot of respect for the man. They knew his threats were never empty. Well, they figured he would not send them back to the academy, but the essay was not just a threat.

"Good, now that I have everyone's attention, I'll continue. There are three bedrooms in each cabin with two beds in each room so you will be six people sharing one cabin, but you will only be sharing bedroom with one other person." Iruka cut everything out in cupboard. He knew that was necessary because boys like Naruto was on the trip too and he hated having to explain himself twice. "You're allowed to choose yourself who you want to share a cabin with, but if I find it essential to relocate any of you, I will do it in a second. So, choose wisely. Oh, and I will note allow mixed cabins," Iruka said and placed his hands on his hips, watching as everyone began to pair up.

It did not take long for the students to pair up in groups of six and Iruka noticed that most people were in the groups he had already foreseen. He was a little worried about Ino and Sakura sharing a cabin, though, but since there were not many girls in the class, it simply could not be helped. He sighed when he saw that Naruto had not found a group yet and was sitting by himself, looking at his feet with a sad expression on his face.

Naruto hated when Iruka did this. When they had to find into groups themselves, Naruto was always the last one to be placed into a group. It was embarrassing. He could not help but notice, though, that he was not the only one left without someone to share a cabin with. Sasuke Uchiha was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, looking like he could not care less if he was one of the only ones left to be placed. But Naruto was not stupid. He knew if they had been allowed to share cabins with the girls, Sasuke would not have a hard time finding someone to be with. The only reason why he was not in a group now was because most boys were either afraid or jealous of him and therefore no one bothered to ask him if he wanted to join them. Naruto wondered for a moment if he should ask him to pair up with him, but he brushed the thought away pretty quickly. He did not really feel like sharing a cabin or room with Sasuke, the oh so awesome and handsome yet to become ninja who all the girls adored – including the girl who held Naruto's affection. Sakura Haruno.

Shikamaru looked around at the different groups that had formed around them. Everyone seemed to have paired up in groups of six except for them. They were only four. He sighed heavily when his eyes fell on Sasuke and Naruto who were the only ones who were not in a group yet. Great, now they have to stay with us. What a total drag! he thought and nudged Choji's shoulder gently with his own. He got the point across pretty quickly and Choji nodded approvingly.

"Hey, Naruto," the brunette in the fishnet shirt shouted towards the lonely boy whom sat a few meters away from them. His head shot up immediately and he looked at the person that was trying to get in contact with him. "Wanna share a cabin?" Shikamaru asked, trying not to put it in a way that would only make Naruto feel like a burden. He saw how Naruto's big blue eyes suddenly lit up like colored lights at Christmas time and he nodded eagerly, instantly getting up on his feet and walking over to the now group of five. Shikamaru might have been one lazy ass, but he did have a heart after all.

"What about Sasuke?" Choji whispered to his slightly shorter friend.

"Nah, don't bother. Look around, he's the only one left and our group is the only one missing one person. Iruka-sensei is gonna put him in our group no matter what anyway." Choji stared at Shikamaru for a moment, trying to figure out what was going through his friend's mind. He had an idea of what it could be, but he was not sure.

Shikamaru put one hand on his hip and waited for the inevitable to happen. Everyone knew that he was not particularly fond of the Kyuubi kid, even though he did not know that he in fact contained the nine-tailed fox within him, but he could not help but feel sorry for the hyperactive knucklehead at times. Times like these, especially. Shikamaru was not exactly a popular guy himself, but he was not unpopular either. And he had Choji. Naruto had no one.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was an arrogant idiot. Shikamaru had nothing but scorn for that boy. The girls loved him, why, Shikamaru could not figure, which annoyed him boundlessly because he was usually the one with all the answers – as long as he actually bothered to answer. He thought it served Sasuke right to try, if just for once, to be the one left to stand alone.

Shikamaru turned out to be right, as always. Iruka asked Sasuke to join Shikamaru and his group and after that the different groups were assigned to a cabin each. The girls' cabins were smaller than the boys'. There was only room for four girls in each cabin.

Iruka told them to go to their cabins, unpack only their shared stuff and then wait for him to turn up and tell them what to do next. Within a few minutes, the meeting place was deserted and everyone had gone to find their cabins.

Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Shino, Naruto and Sasuke went to cabin "4." All of them, except for Shikamaru, had no idea of why Iruka had indirectly told them not to unpack their private things, but they did not really give it much thought and when they were done with unpacking the food and such, which the school had provided them with, they sat around in the free space in cabin "4," waiting for their sensei to show up.

The atmosphere was rather oppressive around the six academy students. No one said anything to each other. The only one breaking the silence was Naruto who had gone to the kitchen, which was integrated with in the living room, to make water for the extra instant ramens he had brought along with him. With the enormous usage he had of ramen, the school would not be able to feed both him and the rest of the students and apparently he had been smart enough to figure that out himself. That boy could not live without his daily ramen. Instant noodles were not as good as the ones they made at Ichiraku Ramen's, he had to admit, but it was better than nothing at all.

Just when the pre-genins had started to feel very impatient, Iruka finally appeared.

"Hey boys," Iruka said and glanced around the room quickly. Adding a "I see you've gotten comfortable already," when he lay eyes on the ramen eating boy who was finishing his third cup already. Naruto's cheeks turned a slight reddish color and he smiled widely at his favorite sensei with noodles hanging from the corner of his mouth.

Iruka asked them all to come sit on the long couch while he would explain to them how things were going to work out during this trip. Iruka sat on the edge of the coffee table that stood by his students with his legs stretched out and crossed in front of himself. Naruto, Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru's eyes widened and Iruka did not understand why they were staring at him like that.

"Iruka-sensei, you are sitting on the table," Naruto pointed out, stressing the last two words. Iruka looked down at himself, discovering that he had broken one of his own rules. He always told his students not to sit on the tables since it was impolite, unhygienic and it made you look like you were indifferent about everything and it seemed like you were trying to act cool – all high and mighty – which you were not, according to Iruka. He wanted to face palm himself at that moment, but knew he could not lose his composure in front of his students.

"That's right, Naruto. That's the biggest difference between being a student and being a teacher. You can't sit on the table, but I can." It was not hard for the boys to see through Iruka's act and he knew it. He was desperately fighting back a blush that threatened to take over his cheeks, knowing that it would only make the situation even worse for himself.

He figured it was better to just get on with what he was really there for and cleared his throat before speaking.

"As most of you have probably already guessed, the reason why I did not want you to pack out you personal things yet was because you don't get to decide who you share your bedroom with." Shikamaru was surprised to hear Choji, Naruto, Shino and Kiba gasp at what Iruka said. It was a not a brainer, how could they not have seen that one coming?

Shikamaru pricked up his ears; he could have sworn that he heard the person sitting next to him whisper something under his breath. Something sounding like, "Idiots." There you had it, Shikamaru thought, that damn arrogant attitude.

The stunned ones of the boys all crossed their fingers, hoping that they were put in the same room as their closest friend. "I've already decided who sleeps with who. Shino," Iruka started, "you will be sharing your room with Choji."

Choji was sad that he did not get to sleep with Shikamaru. He was sure that they could have had a lot of fun and long talks at night. But Shino was not the worst one he could have been paired up with. Sasuke was the last one he wanted to share his room with. That boy scared him a great deal.

Choji sent Shino a small smile, but the beetle boy did not change his expression, he only nodded slightly and Choji knew that that meant he felt the same way. He would probably rather be with Kiba, but Choji was not the worst to be stuck with out of the group of boys.

"Naruto, you and Kiba," Iruka continued, but did not get to say another thing before both Naruto and Kiba jumped up from the couch.

The blonde and brunette pointed at each other, exchanging challenging looks. "Not him!" they screamed in chorus. Iruka stood up at looked down at the two rivals.

"This isn't up for discussion. Sit!" he demanded high-handedly, but the two boys did not react immediately. They kept staring at each other intensely before snorting and sitting back down unwillingly. Both had to swallow their pride.

The sentence Shikamaru was best known for ran through his mind over and over again as he glanced at the black haired boy from the corner of his eyes. This meant he was going to share his room with him. Sasuke did not seem to have any reaction to Iruka's statement, though, so Shikamaru decided not to let anyone see how he felt about the situation either. He felt even sorrier for himself now.

"Okay," Iruka looked from Kiba to Naruto who both sat with their noses pointing upward with dissatisfaction written all over their faces. It did not seem like they were going to take up their quarrel again and Iruka figured it was safe to continue. He sat down again. "And of course that leaves Shikamaru and Sasuke. Now that you've been divided, you can go ahead and pick whatever room you want, but please, don't start fighting over them. They are all one hundred percent a like, I promise. Once you have made your beds and unpacked, you're free to do whatever you like until five o'clock where we all gather again at the meeting place. Understood?" They all nodded, some more lazily than others. Iruka smiled happily and was just about to leave them to themselves, already standing in the doorway, when someone behind him tugged his shirt lightly. He raised one arm and looked under it, discovering that it was Naruto who was trying to get his attention.

"Uhm... Iruka-sensei... can I... uh... talk to you for a moment?"

"Huh? Yeah... sure. What is it, Naruto?" Iruka could not interpret Naruto's expression. Either he looked sad or else he was pouting over something. Or maybe a mix of them?

"I wanna speak to you in private if that's possible," Naruto were almost whispering. Iruka was kind of surprised to see Naruto acting like that all of a sudden, but he granted him his wish nonetheless and they walked off together.

Choji and Shino went into their room to unpack their stuff right away. Kiba knew that Iruka had meant that it was not voluntarily to choose if you wanted to unpack or not before going out to have fun, but he did not care and was out the door the second Iruka and Naruto was out of sight. He threw his bag into the room beside Shino and Choji's room before going, though.

That left Shikamaru and Sasuke who had not spoken one single word to each other in years. This is such a drag, how the hell did I get stuck with him? Shikamaru wondered as he for once took the initiative and walked to the only room that was left to be taken. Their room was the one furthest away from everything, the only room that was located opposite the others' bedrooms. Shikamaru was not exactly happy to be placed with Sasuke to begin with, but now he had to share that room with him, he suspected that it was going to feel like he was cut off from the world and that he had to spend all of his time with the cold Uchiha now that they had gotten the room that was sort of isolated from everything and everyone else.

Sasuke did not follow Shikamaru. As Kiba, he left without unpacking, probably off for training or something. That was always his idea of fun, at least that was what it looked like to Shikamaru after having observed the boy for several years. He did not particularly take note of Sasuke, he never had, but Shikamaru was a very observing person so he did not have to be interested in people or study them to know how they were like and what they usually did in certain situations.

In the meanwhile, Iruka and Naruto had reached a spot that was far enough away from the camp for them to talk under four eyes. Iruka thought Naruto seemed a little uneasy, he could tell something really was on the boy's mind.

"That's far enough," Iruka stated and stopped. "So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Naruto fidgeted with his fingers, something he rarely did. He kind of reminded Iruka of Naruto's fellow student, Hinata, though he still did not appear nearly as nervous as she did at all times.

"I-I was just wondering i-if maybe you could put me in another room?" Naruto asked carefully, not looking up at his sensei.

"Huh?" Iruka was surprised to hear the words his student spoke, he sure had not expected anything like that. "That's all?" Naruto nodded slightly, still playing with his fingers. "No, I can't do that, Naruto," Iruka stated flatly though firmly.

"What, why not?" The boy looked up at his sensei with big, begging eyes. He almost looked heart broken and Iruka figured he was overdoing it on purpose in order to make him give up on his decision.

Iruka squatted down so he leveled with his student, the eye contact between them remaining. He sighed loudly and sent Naruto a small yet sad smile. "Naruto, I know Kiba can be kind of harsh towards you at times, but..."

"At times?" Naruto cut him off and shouted out loud, "Kiba is an idiot! I hate him and I don't understand why you have paired us up, we're gonna kill each other before the end of the day!"

"Calm down, Naruto, you shouldn't speak like that about you comrades. Kiba doesn't always treat you well, but you're the same way towards him, you know. And there's a reason why I placed you all like I did. "

"I don't care! I won't be able to sleep tonight because of Kiba and his stinking dog. They smell worse than a sewer! I bet his own mother doesn't even like him, everybody hates him. He's..." Naruto's eyes widened when his cheek suddenly started burning. Instinctively, he flung out at Iruka, but stopped right before hitting him, realizing what he was about to do. Iruka had not attempted to dodge the fist that was coming at him, he stood in the exact same squatting position as he had before.

Naruto knew he deserved that slap Iruka had given him and lowered his chin to his chest in shame. Not protesting any further. Iruka wanted to comfort the yellow haired boy, but he knew he had to be strict with him since he was the only one around in the boy's life to do so.

"Naruto," Iruka said calmly. Naruto hated how Iruka always Naruto-ed him. He had done it numerous times during their conversation already and he just would not stop. It was something Iruka always did and it made Naruto feel like a little kid. "As I said, there's a deeper meaning with the way I paired you. I knew you were all going to seek into your normal group of friends once I gave you permission to choose your housemates yourselves, but I also knew that your groups rarely consist of more than two to three people and therefore you had to live with people you don't usually talk with no matter what. I thought you all would be more comfortable with living with your friends, but I didn't want you to lock yourselves away and not give any of your other classmates the chance to talk to you so I decided to put you with people that you don't normally talk with in hope of that you work things out anyway and maybe become better friends. There are more than one aspect to this trip. One of the hidden ones are about teamwork and that's actually one of the most important lessons of this trip. Do you understand, Naruto?" Naruto stood in his place for a minute without doing anything, but then he nodded slowly. He was not always able to follow what Iruka was saying because he always had to give long speeches without pausing to catch his breath or allow Naruto to reflect over his words. It was tiring for Naruto's mind and he had a hard time with putting the pieces together when it was all spoken in one long sentence.

"I understand," he said in a low voice.

"That's good. You know, this exercise is actually for your benefit. You shouldn't waste your chance." Naruto did not like when Iruka was being so straight forward about it, but he knew he was right and he decided to just nod yet again. Iruka put on a small smile, stood up straight and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, causing the boy to finally look up at him. "I think I brought some instant ramen with me. Wanna join me for a cup or two?" The smile on the teacher's face grew wider and Naruto could not help but smile back. Iruka was not all bad. In the end, he was the best teacher a student could ask for. "But first," Iruka added, "you have unpack you things." Naruto's smile quickly faded. Yeah, he knew it had been too good to be true. Iruka could not help but chuckle at the changing expression on the younger boy's face.

The students got to do pretty much whatever they wanted to do for the rest of that day. At five, they all meet by the fireplace, which Iruka had already lit. They were each handed a bamboo stick before various meat, vegetables and dough for twistbread were served. Iruka was happy to discover that so far the trip was a success and everyone seemed happy. Even Naruto had someone to sit with. He and Choji seemed to be getting along pretty well, at least when there was food involved. But Iruka wondered if they were going to end up fighting when they would eventually run out off supplies?... Nah, Naruto could not possible eat as much as Choji. He would be done way before they could get to that point.

When everyone had finished eating, Iruka taped a piece of paper to his cabin. It was a list of names and appointments for when the different students were going to help him clean after meals and such.

"Remember it by heart because I won't accept the old "I didn't know that it was my turn" excuse," he said and everyone seemed to understand that they were not going to be able to get around cleaning at some point.

By the time Iruka was done with everybody, the sun had already set and he thought that it was for the best to call it a day. Everyone was tired anyway.

All the students went to their cabins and got ready for bed, but they had other things in mind than sleep, though. Some of them had already decided to met up once Iruka had gone to bed and stay up for a little while longer. Everything was always so much cozier and funnier when it was night and you were not allowed to still be up.

Kiba and the girls had been the ones to plan this and unfortunately for some, they had also decided that this was going to take place in cabin "4." Shino, Naruto and Choji did not mind. Shikamaru was not too fond of it, but went along anyway because Choji did. Sasuke was the only one who did not want to participate. He went straight to bed to the girls' deep disappointment. The only reason why they had wanted to meet up in the boy's cabin and not their own was because then there was a bigger chance that Sasuke would actually participate. Kiba had of course offered his cabin immediately and did not ever consider asking the rest of his roommates if they mind or not. Considerate as always.

Sakura, Ino and Hinata were the only girls who had showed up, the rest of them were too scared to go against Iruka's will. Hinata had not been sure if she should do it or not to begin with, but when Ino had told her that Naruto would be there too, she did not need another second to think it through, she was definitely in. Ino did not understand, though, why she wanted to participate all of a sudden, but she was just happy that she got one other girl with her besides from Sakura.

Almost as soon as they had gotten there, they began making warm chocolate for everybody. The boys did not complain.

Once they were all gathered around the coffee table, they started talking about the various events that had occurred that day and most agreed that it had been really fun. Shikamaru did not say much when being in that part of the conversation since he was sure that Iruka-sensei would have something troublesome in store for them the next couple of days.

Ino and Sakura kept asking if Sasuke was not going to join them, but none of the boys cared about Sasuke and did not even mind to go and ask him. They had offered him to join once and he declined, they did not need to make a fool of themselves in front of him more than necessary. The girls would become all fangirly anyway if he came out of the room and none of the other boys wanted to have to hear to their never ending speeches about how awesome Sasuke was.

Hinata sat beside Naruto. Her cheeks had been flushed constantly ever since he had placed himself beside her. She found the situation nerve racking, but she enjoyed sitting so close to him that she could smell him. Naruto was ignorant – he had not even noticed that it was Hinata he was sitting beside. The only one he was focusing on was Sakura who did not deign to look his way.

Shikamaru observed how everyone failed to woo their chosen ones. It was so obvious to him that it was sickening.

Kiba were doing tricks with Akamaru just for the girls. They were impressed, clapped and did all those polite things you had to do, but none of them meant anything by it. Sakura and Ino were mostly sulking over the lack of Sasuke's company while Shikamaru noticed that even Choji was trying to come on to one of the girls. Not you too, Choji, he thought and lowered his head dejectedly.

Out of all the girls in their class, why did he have to choose Ino? She was only going to hurt him if she ever noticed what he was doing. She was the girl who always teased him about being fat, which only made it worse when he tried to win her over by offering her chips. How could he fall for someone like that? Not that Sakura was any better and Hinata was... well... Hinata. Regardless of the other girls, it still seemed unlikely that Choji would fall in love with someone like Ino. At least that was how Shikamaru saw it.

"Hey girls, look what I teached Akamaru here the other day!" Kiba said excitedly.

"Sakura, if you want more cocoa, you can have mine!" Naruto shouted with a big smile on his face.

"Aaaah, why won't Sasuke join us?" Ino and Sakura whined in unison.

"Uhm, Ino, what's you favorite flavor?" Choji asked, pointing at his almost empty bag of chips.

Argh, Shikamaru's head was killing him and he swore to himself that if his head was not going to do the job, he would make sure to end his life himself if it was going to continue like this. Especially since everyone was so incredibly ignorant!

Shikamaru kind of wished that he had done the same as Sasuke and just went straight to bed. He had even prepared his evening glass of water and had put on his nightclothes and everything. The water was probably getting tepid by now.

He remembered Naruto asking him what the water was for before he had placed it on the nightstand in his room and the blonde had laughed him in his face when telling him that it was a ritual he had because he believed that if he drank one glass of water before going to bed, he would sweat out all the bad and toxic substances he had consumed throughout the day during the night. He knew it sounded stupid and it actually was, it was just an old habit that he could not get rid of again. The habit was kind of OCD like to him. He would not be able to sleep properly without drinking the water first.

Suddenly, someone cleared his throat and everyone turned their attention towards the door. "Would anyone care to explain why you are not all lying in your beds?" Iruka asked with a raised eyebrow. He seemed mad, but Naruto was almost sure that he could see a small smile tugging at the side of his teacher's lip.

And that was how their night was ruined. Well, Shikamaru considered himself saved, but all the others appeared to be down about being sent back to bed.

When the girls had gone back to their cabin, Iruka made sure that all the boys were lying in their beds before going to check on the girls.

"Naruto, what did I tell you about those hands?" Iruka said annoyingly, tapping on foot impatiently. Naurto sent him a puzzled look and placed his hands on his stomach on top of the wadded quilt.

"See, Iruka-sensei, I still don't get why I have to lie like this? It's cold, why can't I have my arms and hands underneath the quilt?" Naruto asked perplexedly. He did not notice that Kiba, who lay facing the wall, was snickering at Naruto's stupidity and innocence.

"It doesn't matter, just keep your hands there all night, okay? Same goes for you, Kiba." Unlike Naruto, Iruka had heard the suppressed giggles coming from the other boys bed.

"Sure, Sensei," he giggled and Iruka decided that he had to be satisfied with what he had gotten. Those two were the last ones of the boys Iruka had to check on before moving on to the girls and so he did. He had known from the very beginning that they were going to meet up, but he had not wanted to stop them right away since he too remembered how it was like to be as young as them. But that did not mean that he was going to allow this every single night. This was a one-time exception.

Shikamaru threw the shirt, which he had put on when hearing that the girls were coming over, onto the floor, drank his lukewarm water and went to bed. At the moment, he hated his mother for forcing him to come along on this excursion. It was a drag indeed.

oOo

"You're such a slacker, Shikamaru. If we had had someone else on the team we would have been done with this in a split second, which is exactly how long something like this should take!" Naruto yelled impatiently towards the brunette who was even further behind than Choji was.

"Come on, Shikamaru, let's just get this over with," Choji said encouragingly, but it did not change Shikamaru's pace. It was not that the logs Iruka had asked them to get for the fireplace for later use that was too heavy for Shikamaru, he just could not move in his normal pace because of the pain in his back. The weight of the log sure did not make it any easier.

"I told you already. My back is sore!" he shouted back to Naruto irritably, but the blonde would not hear any of it.

"That's just a bad excuse, slowpoke! Now get moving!" Naruto turned and moved on, not waiting for his two other classmates.

Choji stood still until Shikamaru reached him and then walked along side him. He really did look like he was in a lot of pain.

"Do you want me to take some of those?" Choji asked, referring to the logs. Shikamaru just shook his head. He was not going to make Choji do all his work just because he had slept badly. "Does it really hurt that much?" Choji sounded sincerely concerned.

"Nah, it's not like I'm gonna die. But yes, it hurts a great deal. I have no idea of what the hell I've been doing in my sleep. I'm beat. It must be those sucky mattresses they have here," Shikamaru complained, walking forward slowly, nearly loosing his balance when accidentally stepping on a lizard that was wandering around in the bottom of the wood.

"You probably just need a good stretching. When we get some free time, I can ask Iruka-sensei if we can go swimming in the lake?"

"No, I think I'm good. All I need is rest." Hopefully, Shikamaru mentally added. The pain was almost unbearable at times. It was not normal to have such piercing pains in your back and loin. It seriously felt like someone was performing a very bad session of acupuncture on him. Oh well, he just had to keep a stiff upper lip and get through the day the best he could.

Shikamaru sighed loudly. Who was he trying to fool? No matter how you looked at it, this was a complete and total drag!

oOooOooOo

Taking a break from Anything Else? and this is what came out of it.

This chapter was sort of an introduction to the characters, their relationships with each other, the setting and the upcoming events. For once, I tried to make the chapter a decent length – almost 7000 words, wuhuu :D!

This story is going to be around 4-6 chapters. I'm not completely sure yet since I've only written 3 chapters so far, but time will show how long it's going to get xD...

The next chapter will be uploaded on Wednesday since I need time to write the rest of the story and look the chapters through so it won't suddenly take me weeks to update. (Also, I need to take care of Anything Else? … It's not that I've given up on it – not at all ^^!) I plan on keeping the 3 day updating pace so I hope that the length of the chapters make up for that :)!

(If it bothers you that I do not use contractions in other than direct speech, I can't do anything else than apologize sincerely. My English teacher doesn't allow contractions in other than direct speech so I'm just trying to get used to it...)

I hope you enjoyed the story so far and are looking forward to the upcoming chapters.

See you on Wednesday!