Ethereal Maelstrom
Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto, I'm just a poor college student; if I did own it I dang sure wouldn't be in college to make money in the future right now.
6:29 am.
The young teen glanced over at the clock. It was too early in the morning. He had given up on alarms due to several past experiences regarding their annoying tendencies. Like, for example, waking him up from peaceful dreams.
6:32.
Why doesn't it just change to the time when he would need to get up anyways? He reached blindly to the stand on the right side of his bed, where the remote was conveniently placed. Pushing the trusty red button he turned on the radio to the AM station it was on the last time it was cut on. Some people talked about weather reports. Apparently it was supposed to rain later in the day.
Thinking about the weather is tiring. If you're tired you go to sleep. Sounds like a plan.
A few minutes later he was roused from his sleep by screaming. It isn't even time to get up yet. With that the boy looked over again to the clock.
7:35.
"What the heck are you doing!? Get out of bed! You need to be there in 25 minutes!"
This is bad he thought. He slid out of bed. Shirt and pants were conveniently laid out on the desk chair. Slipping on the shirt, he wandered into the living room, where a piece of toast was shoved into his face.
"You must enjoy me driving you to school to keep missing your bus in the morning like this." She already had coat, and what appeared to be an umbrella tucked under her arm. The clock on the side of the mantle read 7:49. It had taken him 14 minutes to put on his shirt and pants.
With barely the time to recognize what was going on, he was pulled by a force outside and towards the grey Excursion.
"Shoes," he said with a cough, with little pieces of masticated toast flying from his mouth.
"In the car" she replied. Opening the door and flinging her charge in the passenger seat. Strapping herself in after he more calmly opened and shut her own, he said only two more words;
"Buckle up."
From their location in their quiet community, the school was within walking distance even. But the driver was practiced at this route. All things considered, this was a rather easy morning. The images outside of the window were only a blur. The shocked faces, the leaping pedestrians. A proficient player of that Grand Auto game or something would've been proud. But when one is in fear, one doesn't think about these things when one's life is threatened. Then your body runs on basic self-preservation, pumping out adrenaline and endorphins throughout the body in order to heighten the senses. Better than coffee, and no need to wait for brewing.
The car slammed on the brakes, and he was shocked out of his reverie with the belt halting his forward momentum, and similarly whiplashing him back into the seat. He glanced at the perturbed face in the driver's seat, then down at the dashboard.
7:53.
It was supposed to be a 10 minute drive. Her top time was 1:34 from driveway to drop-off though, so all things considered this was a rather peaceful drive. He gazed once more at the face glowering down at him, and it broke out into a caring smile.
"Have a nice day at school Shikamaru."
With a corner of his toast still in hand, he shakily got out of the car, and as soon as the door was closed, the car sped off. Chewing, he heard the quiet chuckles of the students around him. Indeed some of them were milling about the gates to the school. He suspected that some of them found some type of entertainment from the morning spectacle. But they had the decency to not make a big deal out of it.
Then again, one of the voices wasn't exactly chuckling. Wasn't exactly quiet either. He turned his neck as far as he felt and saw out the corner of his eye the female that was now bent over in palls of laughter.
"Yea yea yea" Shikamaru said, walking past the voice through the gate.
"But you didn't see your face" said the voice, as she appeared to get her laughter under control. Out of the corner of his eye Shikamaru noticed the glitter of blonde hair as she turned to follow him. How did he manage to become friends with her anyway? You would think he had learned from his mom's example.
He fully glanced back to view her as he passed through the door, and she was following him about 2 paces behind. The door into the main high school building was just shutting so he slinked in, which had the effect of barring Ino from passing just as she got to it. She glowered at him from the outside, and like the dutiful man, he made to open the door, sighing as he did so.
"Why thank you sir." She tossed her hair back and paraded through, a small throng of girls seemingly materializing on the other side to whisk her away. How were they always there anyways?
He sighed again. Through the halls, up the flight of stairs, to the left hand side by the water fountain that never worked. You'd think that the school would've fixed that by now, but they hadn't. But next to that fountain was his first destination.
"47…9…54." He opened his locker and took out his English book and notebook. There were other classes but he didn't particularly care for them as much, so those books could stay right where they were. They weighed too much anyways.
"Shouldn't you get your history book too?" The locker next to his opened up as his friend grabbed his books for the morning.
"Morning Chouji."
"Morning Shikamaru." Chouji pulled an apple out of his backpack and took a bite out of it, even as he continued to add more books into his arms. Complete, he closed his locker and followed Shikamaru, who had already begun to walk towards homeroom.
"Why don't you ever put your books in your backpack? It'd be easier to carry them around."
"Easy" Chouji said taking the last bite from the apple and setting the core on top of his books. "I wouldn't want my sandwich or chips to get crushed in the bag by them."
"But you can put them in a box to do that you know."
"Yea, but if you carry your books then you would have more room to carry lunch, plus snacks for the day."
A bare smile crossed his face, as he got into homeroom. Most of the students were there already. As he got to his seat in the back, he noticed Ino wave outside to her clique and stroll into the homeroom, flicking her hair once again as she got into her seat. It was a wonder she didn't give herself whiplash sometimes.
"You know if you do that too much, you'll get carpal tunnel syndrome in your neck."
"Is it a crime to have such luxurious hair? I think it'd be a crime not to-"
"I think it might actually be a crime flower-girl. The fashion police have a warrant out for your arrest." The pink-haired girl in front of them said without turning around.
"Oh, I think they're already looking for you. And you're one to talk. Who has pink hair anyways?" Ino retorted.
Shikamaru sighed. This happened every morning. One would find something to complain about and then attack the other one, who would respond. Weren't those two like good friends last year anyways?
Thankfully at that time the homeroom teacher came in and told everyone to quiet down. Then the intercom came on and principle Sarutobi made his standard announcements, including the basketball team getting owned by Mist High. Now, that was a principle after his own heart. Principle Sarutobi never seemed to get particularly ruffled by anything. From what he had heard from teachers, he seemed almost like a slacker. Nothing like that...
"Now, midterms are coming up. You kids better make us look good!"
… like that vice-principle we have. She was just scary. She took everything too seriously. But soon enough announcements were over and the day began. First bell rang and the trio walked to their first class. As they walked in, Iruka-sensei was writing some figures on the board. Shikamaru and Chouji took their normal seats at the back, while Ino sat near the center of the class, where two of her throng were seated.
"Okay class" Iruka said after the last bell had rung. "Today we are going to go over-"
The door slammed open, and the perpetrator panted next to it. "Sorry fa being late teach. Had to make sure Akamaru was going to be alright."
"Being tardy is a serious offense Kiba. And this is the second time this week that this has happened." As he said this he had reached into his pocket he pulled out a small blue pad. "I'm afraid that you are going to have to serve detention on Friday." He quickly filled out the top sheet, and tore it off and handed it to Kiba.
Kiba turned around muttering to himself, as he sat in the row in front of the two friends.
"You should wake up earlier if taking care of Akamaru is truly a priority for you. Plan your time better and you'll be able to do it easily."
"Yeah yeah. Don't worry about me Shino."
Shikamaru took a moderate amount of notice when he spoke up. He was a notoriously quiet person, so whenever he spoke up you took notice. Even when teachers asked him questions he would only respond with short answers. And he always wore those same sunglasses, even in class. Teachers had used to complain about it but his grades were good, so they didn't even bother now. Did he ever take them off? How did he see at night anyways?
Shikamaru set his head on the desk while Iruka started to explain the new math concept. Classes were so boring. It wasn't even anything against the teaching style. It was just that when tangents become important to modern life, he would learn it then. Until then, using the energy would just be a waste of time.
"Hey Shikamaru! You awake?"
Shikamaru sat up with a jump, and glanced at the clock. Twenty minutes had passed into the class, and Iruka had called his name. Deftly wiping the moisture from his face, he made the obvious decision befitting a person in his situation.
"Uh, what did you say Sensei?"
With a sigh, Iruka pointed to an equation on the board. Shikamaru quickly realized that he was expected to give the answer to the problem. Well, if it was a new concept he'd have a little time to figure it out. He began to settle back into his chair.
"On the board Shikamaru" Iruka said, repeating what Shikamaru had already figured out. "Come up here and do it out on the board."
--
Shikamaru woke up with a start from the hill that he was on. Guess the grass really was pretty comfortable. He didn't look forward to getting home just then however, as he gazed into the horizon. The sun had already set, and the moon was just making it's presence felt into the night sky.
'Mom's gonna kill me' he thought as he stretched his bones as he made the motion to sit up. It was a real possibility for him to just decide to stay out all night. Going home just to get yelled at for coming home late was a fool's errand. And then there was the issue of everything that had happened at school that day. Going home definitely wasn't going to be a positive situation.
'However,' he thought as he forced his legs to work as he started walking down the hill 'not going home and facing everything tomorrow is going to be even more dangerous. Anyways-' the thought was cut midstream as a cold wind blew through his shirt, chilling his exposed arms. It wasn't too far from home, and this hadn't been the first time that he had fallen asleep after all. All things considered, getting home late wasn't even going to be that big of a deal. But as for the other problem…
He had to walk through a beat up part of the main city in order to get home. A lot of unsavory characters were over there at night. There was even rumors of gangs that fought it out in that part of town sometimes. He had almost even gotten involved in an annoying situation one time, but he managed to get out of the spot in enough time. He glanced to both sides of the street. Drunk, drunk, person who looked like he wanted to be drunk at a bus stop. The list of people he wouldn't want to ask for directions grew as he continued his path down the street.
He glanced up at another of the streetlamps that glowed and flickered above him. That was something that annoyed him more than the décor of the location that he was at. None of the lights in this part of the city worked anymore. And the fact that they were there at all made it harder to see the stars. Part of the reason that he liked the hill he was on so much was the lack of the lights. When he was out some nights – with his mother's permission of course – he liked to just lay back and watch them glitter. The backdrop of the city's glow reminded him of just what a nice, boring-
At that moment he heard yelling down an alley off to his right hand side. Sounded like a couple people over there at least. Geez, you'd think they could talk in a normal tone of voice. But anyway, the base rule in the city was that if it didn't involve you, you just ignored it. This type of thing happened now and again in these parts. It's best not to get involved in things that don't matter to you anyways. He turned to walk away.
Just then he heard a shriek and more yelling. That sounded like a girl's voice. That was something that you didn't hear in these parts now and again. At least not that he ever knew of. But it still didn't involve him. Somebody else would get over there if it was serious at all.
He took a few steps and glanced over to the bus stop where the soon-to-be-drunk person was waiting. The person had his head up and turned to the direction of the voice. Then the person simply turned away and looked for the bus. It still wasn't coming. He sat down onto the bench.
"Why isn't he going" Shikamaru muttered to himself. But why wasn't he going either? His mind quickly went through all the reasons why he should just keep walking home. His mom was expecting him. The people yelling might be armed. He certainly wasn't armed. He reached into his pocket to make sure nothing useful had appeared in it anyways. Nope, just his wallet with the rest of his allowance in it, his pen, and the little string that was at the bottom of all of his pants.
At that point he heard another scream, further away than the first he had heard. Noticing two broken pieces of concrete he stuffed one into each of his pockets and took off with a dash towards the direction of the voice.
'How did I get into this position anyways? How troublesome.'
The owner of the voice was in a bit of a bind herself at the time. It was scary enough to be walking down a dark alley like this at all, but then two people came out of nowhere and started talking about partying and what not. They had walked towards her, and shocked at meeting new people, she had done what seemed like the logical decision at the time: run in the opposite direction.
But then they had chased her, and a piece of concrete had caused her to stumble. Now she was trapped, and the two guys were chuckling to themselves and moving towards her. She felt faint. She didn't want to go back. She couldn't go back to that place.
The one with longer, slicked-back hair was chuckling. "Boss told us that whoever found you would be well compensated." Long-Hair looked back to his companion, and chuckled again. "But then again, I was thinking that it would be a good idea to take part of our payment early. Wouldn't that be nice Jeremy?" He said motioning to the other one with shorter hair.
But Jeremy wasn't looking at his friend anymore. Turning his head, Long-Hair's face met with a piece of concrete as it was slammed into his head from the short-haired kid who had slammed it into his head.
"Hey, who ar-"
Jeremy didn't finish his sentence as this new brat threw the slab towards him. Moving with practiced skill, he quickly moved his hand to smash the rock before it hit his head. But he had missed the fountain pen that was tied to the slab before it was thrown. Moving his head in surprise, the pen imbedded itself slightly into his cheek, causing him to scream out in pain.
"Come on" the boy said. Still not knowing what was going on, the girl felt her arm being seized by the short-haired boy, and soon they were both running back in the direction where she had come from initially.
"Hurry, we need to get back to the main road. Why were you wandering down an alley at night anyways? Idiot."
She, however, was still shocked. And confused. Shocked and confused. She decided to ease at least one of those problems.
"Who are you?"
"If you have time to talk you have time to run faster" said the boy. "We need to get back to the road." She nodded to him, and picked up her pace.
Shikamaru was slightly startled when he felt his arm being pulled by the girl. Of course, by this point he was darn near ready to go to sleep. Running was not one of his specialties. And for the last few minutes he had done quite a bit of it.
"I'm gonna fucking kill you!!"
Shikamaru hazarded a glance back, and was discomforted by what he saw. Both of the men he had attacked were back up and behind him. And gaining on him to boot. He had hoped that he would've been able to knock both of them out, but with the way the second guy had deflected the rock he figured he was going to be chased. But the other guy was up too?
Shikamaru had to act fast. Letting go of the girl's arm, he grabbed hold of a pile of garbage bags he had seen on the way to save her, and pulled hard on it. He only needed to buy a little bit of time. The pile toppled down the narrow alleyway. He turned back to the girl, who was still standing right where he had let go of her.
"Come ON" he shouted, again grabbing hold of this girl's arm and again turning to run. It was only a little bit further. He glanced back, and saw the second goon clear the garbage. Cleared spectacularly in fact. It must've been by four feet! He saw the light, and the corner to the alley just in front of him. So close.
"Got ya." One of the goons was about to grab her arm. Thinking quickly, Shikamaru shoved the girl forward around the corner, out of the man's grasp. The goon's hand glanced Shikamaru's arm, which sent a surprising amount of pain through it. The goon didn't even grab him!
Taken aback by the pain, he found himself rolling on the ground until his body was brought to a stop by the streetlight in front of him. Panting, he looked back, and saw both of the goons walking towards him. The girl he had shoved was still cowering near the corner she had fallen at. You'd think she'd know enough to run away, again. And again she hadn't. Figures.
"You've given us a bit of trouble brat" said the one with longer hair. "But don't you worry. We'll pay yas back for it."
Shikamaru got up and dashed down the street again. The one who was bleeding with short hair was faster than he was though. He grabbed Shikamaru by the arm. Shikamaru tried to punch him with his free arm, but again the man was faster than he was, and hit Shikamaru. Hard. Shikamaru tumbled down until he was backed up to another streetlight.
"I'll make you pay… for scarring my FACE!"
It was then that he looked in Short-Hair's eyes. They were blank. Totally blank. Even in the streetlight he couldn't even see the pupil. A Hyuuga? What was one of them doing downtown?
They both walked together towards Shikamaru, the girl forgotten for the time being. Shikamaru stood up, one hand in his pocket, one in the air.
"If you want my money, you can have it." The two chuckled at this, and saw as Shikamaru tossed a rock at the two of them with the hand that was in his pocket. It landed between them.
They looked closer at the object. Wait a second, there was a wallet tied to the rock. What was going on?
Long-hair turned towards the brat and noticed that he had his hands together in front of him in some weird manner. It was then that he noticed that he couldn't move.
"Heh" said the brat. "Good thing that I was able to get you both over here. You see..." both of the goons felt their heads being raised slightly to look at the streetlight "I needed a working streetlight to do this with 100 certainty. So many of them downtown are on the fritz you know. You get to notice the ones that actually work right.
"But I almost wasn't able to make it over to this one. Thank you for the help with that by the way."
"Just who the hell are you!"
"Won't matter much to you guys. The last part of the plan was that I needed you two to be facing each other. That way I could do this. Figure it's a fitting punishment for someone who likes to pick on a girl."
Shikamaru raised his fits, and the two goons started the same. And then Shikamaru started shadow-boxing. Except for the two of them, they were boxing with something a little more substantial than a shadow. Unfortunately for them, they were at about the same height, and their heads were fine targets. After a couple test swings, the two of them were beating the tar out of each other, leaving them as bloody pulps on the ground.
"Now then" he said, turning to the girl who was now standing up by the corner instead of being on her butt. "Who might you be?
That's when he saw her eyes. Pale as the moon.
Shikamaru sighed. 'I knew that tonight was going to be troublesome.'