"OI! Blondie!"
Her head jerked up. It turned in search of the cause of the sound and found it immediately. Azure eyes were staring directly into her own.
"Huh?" She asked, still a little confused.
"Sorry to wake you, but are those seats taken?"
Ino blinked. She needed another second to realize that those eyes belonged to someone. Specifically, they belonged to a boy. A blond sunnyboy at about her age. And he was staring at her, patiently waiting for her answer.
She drew a breath to tell him to sit somewhere else, but as she looked around briefly, her seats were actually almost the last ones unoccupied.
"Sure." She sighed as she released the air again and hurried to pull her feet off of the seat opposite her and move her bag from next to her onto her lap.
"Thanks." The blond smiled and sat with his two friends who had mysteriously appeared behind him.
Ino hummed in response and repositioned her head and shoulder against the cold window before she closed her eyes again.
"Erm..." The blond cleared his throat opposite her.
The girl drew another deep breath and tried to ignore it. She wanted to sleep, damn it!
"Er-ehrm." The boy tried again.
"What?" Ino growled at him as she opened her eyes.
"Well, sorry, but shouldn't you tell us where you want to exit when you're going back to sleep? I mean we could wake you up, couldn't we?" He scratched the back of his head uncomfortably, obviously caused by her snappy response.
Ino blinked again. That was smart.
"Sure, thanks. My exit's this boarding school... What's it's name? Klo- Kora-... Whatever."
The blond boy's eyes lit up.
"Konoha Institution?" He almost squealed.
"Errr... Yes?"
"Awesome!" He yelled, causing not only Ino to flinch slightly. "We're going there, too! Whew, and I thought we'd have to find the way all by ourselves."
"Oh!" Ino's mood brightened. She had thought she would have to go all alone, too, she was relieved she found someone to calm her excitement. "Great! I'm Yamanaka Ino."
"Uzumaki Naruto." The blond boy grinned back. Only now Ino noticed three little horizontal scars on each of his cheeks. "And those are my friends-"
"Naruto, we can introduce ourselves, you know." The boy next to Naruto intervened.
Ino directed her attention towards him for the first time now. He had dark brown hair, almost black, his eyes just as dark. He looked a little like a yankee with his hair all long and up in a ponytail. The yankee-boy looked at her, boredom the only obvious emotion on his face.
"I'm Nara Shikamaru. Nice to meet you, I guess."
"Uchiha Sasuke." Came a voice from her right that made her jump. She had totally forgotten his presence - he was so quiet!
Now she turned to look at him and this time was sure of his pure jetblack hair. It shimmered in a shade of blue and his eyes were just as dark as Shika... Shika... What's-his-name's. She would learn his name eventually, she shrugged mentally. And if they didn't meet again... well, then she wouldn't.
"Nice to meet you, too." Ino smiled with a quick look at the two.
She turned back to Naruto and saw his eyes snap back up to her face. He had totally checked her out! She tried to hide her grin. Then she remembered what she was wearing and couldn't blame him anymore. A short lilac skirt and a white Snoopy-shirt combined with black Converse weren't her fanciest outfit - oh no, by far - and her long blonde hair was up in a ponytail and lay smoothly over her right shoulder. Oh well, travelclothes.
She bit her lip. She could've slapped herself. She may have barely glanced at them, but Ino's trained eye had immediately seen that those three were pretty hot. Ohh, why did she have to choose comfortable clothes over pretty clothes?!
Naruto must've seen her unease, because he pulled out a necklace from under his shirt and showed her a golden Snoopy dangling from the chain. He grinned at her and she returned the grin gratefully.
"So, which year are you in, Ino?" asked Naruto.
"Naruto!" Sasuke said from Ino's right.
"What?"
"Shouldn't you at least ask Yamanaka-san first, if you could adress her by her first name?" He sighed and shot her an apologetic look.
"Oh that's okay." Ino said quickly, before Naruto could open his mouth to retort to his friend. "I don't like all that last name-stuff anyway."
"Fine, Ino." Sasuke poked his tongue out at her and she laughed.
"You okay with that?" She asked him and glanced at Shikamaru, too.
"Sure."
"Whatever."
"So, which year, Ino?" Naruto repeated his question, glad that that had been settled.
"I'm just starting High School." Ino smiled.
"So we're in the same year! Maybe we'll have some classes together!" The blond smiled brightly.
"Ha! If Shikamaru and I are lucky, we're rid of you soon!" Sasuke grinned and Shikamaru gave a scoff.
"What?! Why?! That's not nice, Teme!"
"Oh, I'd be glad to have you, so I'll take him from you." Ino said casually.
"Ha!" Naruto told to his friends proudly.
The three grinned at each other and even Shikamaru couldn't completely supress the smile that tugged on the corners of his mouth.
Ino was surprised how well they got along although she knew the boys for fifteen minutes at most. She felt comfortable with each of them, even the silent Shikamaru. With Naruto it was like they had known each other forever already. They were like a well-working machine, knowing immediately how to support each other against the other two. That was way weird, but she dismissed the thought for the time being.
One and a half hours later they slowly approached their exit. Ino was happy that she would breathe some fresh air soon and have a break from laughing - her sides and cheeks were hurting already.
"So, what kind of boarding school is this? My parents told me almost nothing, they just send me here and said it was 'long decided' that I would enter for High School. I know nothing!" The blonde girl asked her new friends curiously.
"We noticed that." Chuckled Shikamaru.
"Yeah, you can't even remember the damn name." Sasuke laughed beneath her.
She glared at the two and turned towards Naruto.
"So?"
"Well, it's a normal boarding school, isn't it. It's in the mountains, but else... it's just a boarding school." He informed her, his gaze darting from Sasuke to Shikamaru for reassurance.
The two were barely holding in their laughs, Ino could tell from their lips pressed together tightly.
"Oh Naruto!" Sasuke exclaimed. "You know almost as much as Blondie here - as in nothing!"
Ino glared at Sasuke for the use of her new nickname.
"Ha! What did you expect, Sasuke? They're both blondes!" Shikamaru burst out and he and Sasuke roared with laughter.
Ino and Naruto exchanged quick glances of reassurance before their fists collided with their neighbour's heads.
"OW!" They bellowed, little tears in the corner of their eyes could be seen, although it was unclear to Ino, whether those were from the punches or from the laughing fits.
"Oh, shut up." Ino said.
"So, what's up with that boarding school?" Naruto asked unnerved, while eyeing the still gasping boys.
Shikamaru wiped the last tears away and eventually decided to share his wisdom with the two blondes.
"Okay, look, it's a casual boarding school like any other, except that it's pretty hidden in the mountains. That's why it takes us that long to get there and the students live in a little village of their own on campus, with small grocery stores and stuff like that. The special aspect about it, if you want to call it that, is that there's a separated class. It's a P.E. class. The students of the P.E. class are trained in several sports and are often separated from the rest of the school."
"The dorms are separated into Elementary, Middle and High School." Sasuke added.
"There are Elementary students there?!" Ino asked exasperatedly.
"Yes, but don't worry, there are separate houses for the P.E. students." Nasty grins flashed over Shikamaru and Sasuke's faces. "They are also taught separately in the basic subjects, like Math and English."
"They're almost a school for themselves, it's tradition." Sasuke shrugged.
Ino and Naruto's eyes grew larger with admiration. That sounded awesome!
"How do I get into that P.E. class?" Naruto asked eagerly.
"You would have had to apply before start of term, then you'd had to send in all your medical data, to see if you're fit enough or something. That's the usual way to get in. But you can also be accepted belatedly,when you're good enough, that is." The Nara-boy answered.
"No chance else?" Ino asked.
"Nope."
"Aww man! I hope my foster parents have applied for me to get in!" Naruto said and punched his leg in anticipation.
"Foster parents?" Ino looked at the blond in confusion.
"Oh... yeah, well..." Naruto scratched the back of his head again. "My parents died when I was a few weeks old..."
The girl's eyes became sad immediately.
"It's okay! Really! Misami and Heiji are super cool! They're almost like my real parents! I love them more than anything!" He exclaimed in a flash and grinned.
Ino's gaze warmed up. She had never met such a cheerful boy that dealt that easily with the loss of his parents. Naruto had to be something special.
"You're too cute." She exclaimed and ruffled his hair lovingly.
"Wah?! Hey!" He shook his head and tried to slap her hand off.
The blonde girl giggled and withdrew her hand, leaving a faint blush on Naruto's cheeks. A sideglance told her that the darkhaired boys were biting their lips hard to escape new bumps on their heads. The girl grinned at that.
"So, let's get back to the topic at hand." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the boys questioningly. "How do you know that much about the school? I searched the web, but found almost nothing. There wasn't even a school homepage."
"There are some people who know about brochures, you know?" Shikamaru teased her. "But, hey, not you, I guess."
Ino shot him a glare, but he shrugged it off and continued.
"I know about it from my father, he knows one of the teachers there from his time in school." He sighed. "Embarrassing."
"Tch." Ino and Sasuke said simultaneously.
"Well, my informations are from my brother. He graduated Konoha Institution last year. He was like the best in school." He grunted. "I bet the teachers will compare me to him all the time. Embarrassing." He echoed Shikamaru.
Ino sighed. They wouldn't keep that up forever, would they? Well... the question was, if she would even see them forever. They knew pretty much about the school, so would they be attending the P.E. class?! Her head shot up at this thought.
"Shikamaru! Sasuke!" She yelled at once and they jumped.
"What, girl?!" Sasuke snarled next to her, taken aback by her sudden shout.
"Did you apply for P.E. class?!" Now Naruto's head jerked around as well, eyeing his friends closely.
"You didn't, did you? You wouldn't have applied without telling me, would you?"
Sasuke and Shikamaru looked a little uncomfortable at this.
"Well, my parents applied, but I guess I only got in, because my brother spoke up for me last year." Sasuke shrugged.
The faces of the blondes turned towards the other boy.
"Shikamaru?" Naruto asked.
"Well, I don't know. My parents asked me, but I said I didn't care." He shrugged, too. Were those two kind of similiar, or was it just Ino's imagination?
"But we'll know tonight, won't we?" Shikamaru smoothly changed the point of attention of the two slightly sad blondes.
"Tonight?" Naruto asked and blinked.
"Yes, tonight, even I know that, Naruto!" Ino looked at the boy across from her. "The new students arrive the friday before school starts to get the chance to get used to their new surroundings. That evening before dinner, they assemble and get sorted into their classes."
"Like in Harry Potter?" Naruto asked grinning.
"Wha- Like- What?! Are you stupid?" Ino spluttered.
Shikamaru and Sasuke couldn't hold onto themselves this time, they burst out laughing, loudly.
"Oh Naruto!" Sasuke gasped. "That was embarrassing! First, you ask a thing that EVEN INO KNEW and secondly you bring your nerddom into this?!"
"What's that supposed to mean, even Ino, you moron?!" Ino slapped the Uchiha. "Don't be so mean!"
"What? I'm not mean! I'm just teasing you in advance, because we won't see each other much, starting monday!" Sasuke said.
"Teasing in advance, yeah, right." Then she snapped her head around. "And you better MAKE TIME to come see me!"
Sasuke chuckled. "Sure, whatever you say."