Authors note: Hey, I just thought I'd let you know, this is the start of my very first KibaShika, so please be nice about it? This chapter is Shikacentric as is most of the story, although sometimes might tell it from someone else's POV, but I'll try not to do that I a lot. I'd just like to say, it varies from first to third person xD. I warn thee of slight language.
- - POVs - -
- - ',' - - end POVs
"Mendokuse"—Translation—"Troublesome"
Disclaimer: I don't own Shikamaru or Kiba, but I DO own a pair of socks, you want 'em?
I Am Puppet;
Chapter one: Education.
Within an instant, his father's hand was slammed down upon his head, and the boy cried out in pain in a useless call for reprieve. His resulting wails of torment continued to go unheard as his body was yanked gruffly up by his hair, and his well damaged face was brought only inches away from his father's; his feet swung limply in the air. Tears stained his face, he was shaking uncontrollably, he couldn't breathe, and his body seemed bruised and broken beyond repair. Another fist connected with his jaw for the millionth time that morning just before his head connected with the wall. His body fell to an increasingly familiar spot on the floor with a muffled thud.
His world went black.
The school bell rang, and students emptied the hallways in favour of their individual home rooms, some quicker then others and others louder than most. The usual laughing, shouting, and quiet conversing were all still going on as select students filed into home room 1B to stand behind their desks and wait for their sensei to arrive. Paper wads flew in all directions, the obnoxious giggling from the hallway carried on in every corner, and general conversation filled in the blanks.
Classroom 1B was a far less than colourful place to be taught. The floor, unlike the tile that was in the hallways and most rooms, was covered in a cheap, ugly green carpet that had long since faded with age and had worn so thin that it was threadbare in some places, revealing the thick concrete floors beneath. The chairs were of an equally simple design, and the students' tables were far from noteworthy apart from the occasionally artistic piece of graffiti. The back wall of the classroom was home to a large display board, while the front of the room had a massive whiteboard, which was blank except for a few spots where the marker's ink had smeared and left behind imprints of math problems, due dates of class projects, lists of students scheduled for after-school clean up (as well as detention), and the like.
Seated squarely in front of the white board was the teacher's desk, which was lined with stacks of neatly and meticulously sorted papers and manilla folders. Two black plastic trays were placed at the far right corner to be used for student's completed papers. Only a man with a death wish would step foot near that desk without a damn good reason.
The door to the classroom swung open smoothly, and the select few well behaved students who noticed the movement sighed, and stopped talking. Slowly, their sensei entered the room, standing just inside the door, and cleared her throat. She glared silently for a moment, and when she saw that she had gotten the incorrect response from her rowdy students, she offered them a slightly more politely than necessary second chance. "May I have everyone's attention, please."
It wasn't a question.
About a handful more of her students acknowledged her presence and became silent. Most however, were still causing an uproar. "Quiet!" She shouted in a piercingly clear voice, stunning the remaining students into submission. Smiling sweetly, her tone returned to normal, as if nothing had ever happened to upset her. "Okay then! I'm sorry I'm late; you can all sit down now."
As the class settled themselves down into their seats, she heard many whispers of 'When did Kurenai-sensei get here?' and 'She scared the crap outta' me…'. She cleared her throat once more, and spoke gravely, "Obviously, there is a very good reason why I'm late," she paused and went back into super-cheery mode, "…and here he is!" She beckoned her 'reason' into the classroom with a warm smile.
"Class, this-" Kurenai gestured to the stunning young man with messy, dark-brown hair who had stepped into the classroom on a perfect cue, "is Inuzuka Kiba. He's new here to Konoha Academy, so he'll be--" She paused along with the rest of the class when loud, hurried footsteps echoed out through the hallways and into the dull classroom.
Kurenai sighed audibly when another student of hers stumbled into the classroom. He leant heavily against the doorway with his chest heaving, "S-sorry," he huffed, "I just…couldn't get here…fast enough." He let his breath catch up with him and inhaled deeply, clutching his chest as he did so. He continued to pant tiredly, 'I really, really couldn't…' Feeling lacking, the boy dragged his feet a little farther into the classroom, but stood still.
She shook her head and sighed simultaneously, "Evidently so, Nara-k-…Nara-kun!!"
As Shikamaru had stepped deeper into the classroom, Kurenai, along with the rest of the class, was given full view of his shaking body and badly injured face. There was a large, darkening almost purple bruise among his usually calm and graceful features, and, if she was correct, there were small specks of dried blood covering his face along with many tiny cuts, and a significant amount of blood coming from the corner of his mouth, possibly more that had came from his busted lip.
"What…what happened to your face? What happened to you?!" She gulped, and hurried over to fuss over him. She pulled a tissue from the box on the corner of her desk and began to wipe blood of his face. The class collectively snickered.
"U-Uhm…" his face turned a little redder as he tried stutter a made up story, but he couldn't get all that much out, "…m-my cousin, he…doesn't know his own strength…" Shikamaru laughed nervously and offered his sensei the tiniest of forced smiles, bringing his hand to his face, gingerly covering the most obvious wound on his face. Kurenai-sensei looked at him with a raised eyebrow, followed by an expression that was full of an unintended, hurtful pity, but pity none the less. She allowed him fully into the classroom, and pointed to an empty seat.
At this point, conversation had once again risen amongst friends, because the teacher had returned her attention to the new student. Hurriedly, Shikamaru made his way to the back of the classroom to sit in one of the only available seats left. He inwardly frowned when he heard whispers of his name when he walked by, which were accompanied almost religiously by insults and snickers; Kami, he hated this place.
Even more snide remarks were tossed into the air as he moved past: insults, cat calls, and the like. One overly ambiguous call made him stop in his tracks, and glower at a small bunch of people he really couldn't care less about.
"Hey, Freaky-Shiki!" A group of about five people laughed as Shikamaru turned to them, but all he did was scowl.
"What?" he snapped.
The group continued their pompous laughter and gave each other sideways grins. "So, what really happened to your face?" His scowl only deepened.
Shikamaru growled, "It's too troublesome to repeat myself." With that, he turned back towards the empty desk behind the gaggle of idiots. The group snickered again as their self appointed leader stuck his foot out from underneath his table, tripping Shikamaru, who gave a surprised yelp as he fell to the floor, only to be supported by his violently shaking hands and knees; a slightly more than laughable position for someone in his…'position'. Needless to say, almost the entire class roared with laughter.
"Are you sure it wasn't your boyfriend?" They passed around high-fives amongst themselves and almost literally patted their leader on his back, as if it were the cleverest damn thing he had ever said.
Kurenai and Kiba had stopped talking and discussing his new schedule about the same time the 'freaky-Shiki' comment was thrown out there. She leaned onto one foot, put all of her weight into one hip, and glared daggers at everyone in the room except Kiba and Shikamaru. Sadly, no one seemed to get the hint.
"Mm-hmm. So it's going to be like that, huh?" Kurenai's face turned absolutely deadly; she hated being ignored. "Well," she picked up her largest teacher's guide and held it out an arms length away. She raised it up high above her head, but her actions continued to go unnoticed. "Inuzuka-kun, would you be a dear and cover up your ears for me? This'll only take a second."
Having only been in school only a few minutes and already deathly afraid of his new home room teacher, he decided it was best to be on her good side, and immediately obeyed.
"Good." She smiled at him serenely before walking over, and throwing the book down on to the small group's table with all her might.
WHAM!
And with the fall of the book, Shikamaru fell flat onto his bottom and stayed exactly where he was, frozen to the floor, not wanting to get in the way of any of this, to just sit back and watch it.
The entire class had frozen as well, but all had their gaze locked onto Kurenai.
Their sensei was going red in the face, and the class could have only presumed her voice was so loud, it probably carried over a few buildings. "How dare you? All of you! Where in Konoha have any of you, any one of you, ever gotten the nerve to victimize a fellow student like that?! You're all a disgrace to this academy, and you're doing nothing but bringing more disgrace upon yourselves! I don't want to ever, and I mean ever," she looked to the one's who had called him 'freaky-Shiki', "hear a single one of you," her glare at the boy who had tripped him clearly read 'death', "talk about a-n-y-o-n-e like that again!" Her view widened to span the entire class. "You hear me?!"
"Why oh why, on God's green earth, do you even listen to those rumours anyway?! Are you just going to believe everything you hear?! And what could possibly convince you to actually physically harm someone over some nonsense you heard in the locker rooms or during lunch?! You don't even know-!…"
Kurenai had to stop herself there, because she wasn't about to shout 'you don't even know if he's gay!' to the heavens above. She knew, of course, that that'd only make things worse and embarrass Shikamaru even more.
The class collectively blinked in a stunned confusion, shocked at their sensei's first explosion in weeks. It wasn't often Kurenai lost her cool, but when she did she was terrifying. That being said, unpredictable mood swings still weren't 'out of character' for her. They'd like to say that they were all used to it by now, but her outbursts never became any less frightening.
The boy who had been resting on the ground for several minutes, lost in thought, continued to stare dazedly at his sensei. So lost, in fact, he failed to notice the rush of cool air in his face or the new, nameless figure that had hurried to his side after the extended pause following Kurenai's screeching who was now towering over him. Shikamaru blinked once or twice as his thoughts returned to the present, and after just another moment longer he made to stand. He gasped as a smooth, warm hand gripped his arm.
For the second time that morning, the world stopped turning and the class gaped at the bold move on Shikamaru, which was made by none other than class 1B's newest addition.
Shikamaru's head shot up immediately upon contact to just what exactly had grabbed him.
"…Need a hand?"
Shikamaru's eyes followed up the tan arm gripping his, and his ears followed a pleasant, yet unfamiliar voice. It was another student, about his age but very different in appearance. For one thing, the boy was much cuter than—
Shikamaru's eyes widened at the thought.
"…you disgusht me, boy!…" The deep, slurred voice of his father echoed through the house as he moved with a slight stagger into Shikamaru's room. Slowly, he backed his way into the corner of his room like a scared puppy with its tail between its legs, wanting to disappear into the walls of his prison.
…but he had always known it was hopeless.
The man he called father was here to see him again, and he wasn't just passing through.
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed and without missing a beat, he withdrew his arm from the other boy's hands as quickly as he could, and began to cradle it against his chest as if it were broken, which it might have very well been.
"N-no, I'm fine!" he hissed sharply, "Just don't touch me!!"
He raised himself up so quickly, he nearly hit his head on the table in front of him. In a flash, he was off to his seat with the sleeves of his oversized dark gray shirt pulled down neatly over his hands.
Kiba was only the tiniest bit stupefied by Shikamaru's reaction to help, and he nearly jumped three feet in the air when his new sensei whispered in a low, grave tone right next to his ear.
"I should have warned you about him, he…" Kurenai paused solemnly, unsure of how to phrase it without giving away details even she didn't know.
"…has a bit of 'thing' about…physical contact…"
Kiba turned his head swiftly over his shoulder, and over to Shikamaru who's eyes were aimed down at his desk, impossible to see. What was very obvious though was the way he shook and tried to hide his flushed, sweating face. He was surprised no one else was watching him; the rest of the class was ignoring both the trembling Shikamaru and Kurenai's whispers.
He turned back around slowly with a frown, but nodded. And with that, Kurenai gave him a sweet smile and clapped her hands on his shoulders, spinning him around to face the class.
"Okay!" she chirped happily, "Who wants to be in charge of looking after Inuzuka-kun?"
"I will."
A single hand rose on the middle right of the room, and the whole class craned their necks to see who it was. A few people only turned around because they didn't recognize the voice, and the instant the speaker was found, the unending tide of whispers began.
"Thank you very much," Kurenai's smile broadened, "Aburame-kun."
She leant down and whispered into Kiba's ear again, "You're very lucky; Shino-kun doesn't interact often."
Shino turned his head in Kiba's direction expectantly, mostly because with his sunglasses you couldn't see where he was looking, but didn't say a word. Kurenai gave the somewhat reluctant Kiba a kind smile and a gentle shove in his direction.
In the back of the classroom, Shikamaru sat with his head buried in his arms, trying to rest, and on the outside of his self-made fortress, he heard a familiarly apathetic sigh.
"So, how's the great pretender doing today?"
"Shut it, Gaara," Shikamaru sat up properly and rubbed his eyes. His slight grimace lightened itself into a bored frown. "I'm not in the mood." He could almost feel the relaxed, sea foam green eyes roll.
"You never are." There was a pause, and Gaara carefully inspected what he could see of Shikamaru's body while Shikamaru looked off in a different direction, trying to pretend that none of today ever happened. "So…what did he do this time?"
Shikamaru sighed sadly. He was the only one who knew the whole story. Gaara was never told; he usually just gave a…very accurate, very detailed, very correct guess. It made him a little happier knowing that even though he had figured so much out, that he could still call Gaara a friend. Shikamaru turned his eyes as far away from Gaara's as possible.
"Not here."
Of course, Gaara knew that 'not here' was just another way of saying 'not ever', but he simply nodded and began digging through his bag, a sandy-brown messenger bag with a silhouette of what resembled a green-brown hour glass on the front. Shikamaru sighed again and looked at his own resting at his feet, like Gaara's it was an over the shoulder bag except it was forest green with a red swirl on the front.
"Your arm?" Gaara glanced up at Shikamaru in a futile attempt to get a damage report.
"Hurts." Shikamaru quickly busied himself with his bag as well, trying to change the subject, or at least stop having to talk.
He jumped in his seat and winced in pain as the bell rang, signalling the end of homeroom. 'I didn't even get to sleep,' he thought glumly. Gaara joined him as he prepared to leave the classroom. Both swung their bags over their shoulders and making for the door, Gaara brushing the invisible lint of his red button-up shirt as he went.
He had given up crying, He had gotten that out of his head a long time ago. No one heard his crying. No one heard his screaming. No one would help him, not here, at least. Not in this hell, his hell. Instead he was reduced to a whimpering mass on the floor as the fists flew at him. He only tried to block the blows to his face…he just didn't want everyone… to stare…
- -Shikamaru- -
Wow. This has got to be a new record. I'm only half an hour into my morning and it's already shit. Seriously, I'm getting so tired of everything. My school, my family, my life…I wish this entire day would just hurry up and end. At home this morning was… better than usual. I thought today was going to be a god send, but no. A new guy has to show up and touch me.
…
Okay, I just realized how stupid that sounded, but that's beside the point. It's not his fault I'm covered in bruises. It's not his fault my body is so sensitive (again, stupid, but beside the point). It's not his fault I'm always hurt so badly, and it's not his fault I can't have people touching me. He's not the one at fault here. I am.
I walk slowly through the hallways, hoping no one else notices my limp or the way I wince every time someone knocks into me, sending pain throughout my entire body. Gaara's keeping straight ahead of me, going at a slow, leisurely pace. I'm not sure if he does it on purpose like if he knows he's doing it. Y'know, because he knows that trying to go through the cramped hallways too fast will result in bumping into way too many people for me to handle. Maybe he knows that I hate running, or maybe he's just walking slow because he feels like it. Either way, I'm thankful.
Another person bumps into me, hard, I almost say something or yell, but I just bite my lip and let it go. My grip on the binder I'm carrying gets tighter; who's to say I won't drop it if someone else hits me?
I grunt and sigh when I remember what the first class of the day is; Math, which I sadly do not have with Gaara. I guess Gaara remembered this before I did because he's lead me there already. We face each other, nod, and go our separate ways.
I wander over to the table in the back of the class that's closest to the window and sit down. Staring out the window is one of my more fascinating hobbies, so I always try to get the window seat. Watching the clouds go by calms me down, and I find myself imagining what it'd be like to float by carelessly like they do, or to at least lay down in the grass and nap. I know I haven't done that in long time. We do get about an hour long break during the school day for lunch, and going outside then isn't unusual for most students. It's just lying down out there is like walking up to someone and asking for them to stomp on you; god forbid you try to sleep.
There's shuffling beside me, and a quiet apology. Whoever it is must have thought they woke me up. I blink and mumble a small greeting as I turn around, but it takes me a moment to remember her face. I…can't completely recall her name though. Guess I'm just not with it today. She smiles a tiny, curt smile at me, and I can't help but notice the faint blush on her cheeks. Taking the seat next to me, she runs her hand through her short, bluish hair and smiles again.
I turn back to the window.
It's not like I'm ignoring her or anything. It's just…too troublesome to make small talk. I think she knows that, because she continues about her business without getting offended. My frown lightens when I remember her name. She's Hyuuga Hinata. I guess the first place I met her would have to be the library here; she works there as a student librarian. She's one of my closer friends, so she understands me more than most people at this school. In fact, I'd have to say she's one of my closest friends, aside from Akimichi Chouji. I'd never tell them about Chouji though. Ever. Not in a million years. They're just…difficult about other guys hanging out with me.
Especially the ones that hang out with me.
It's one of the many reasons Hinata's been the only one to ever see the inside of my house before, even if it was only that one time. Her cousin though…he was pretty troublesome about it. Her cousin, Hyuuga Neji, threatened me to be absolutely sure I wasn't using Hinata. He left me alone after that, except for the occasional death-glare here and there.
I take a quick glance at the door. Hayate-sensei hasn't arrived yet, and quite frankly, I couldn't care less.
Hinata's talking to Shino now. I'm not really listening to the conversation, and I doubt Shino's even talking all that much, but I just like the back ground noise. It's kind of soothing. As I continue to watch their one-sided communications, I notice that Shino dragged one of his other friends over here too.
His friend is obnoxious, in my opinion, and ridiculously popular, though doesn't even try. I'm not even kidding; he steps one foot in school and his fan club will pop out of no where to roll out the red carpet. His name escapes me though…it's Uchiha something. Sasuke, I think. Yeah, him.
I sigh and rest my chin in my hand as I look over the classroom. The new kid, Kiba, is talking to that pink haired girl, Haruno Sakura. If I had to guess I'd say she was only talking to him so she could be one of Sasuke's 'friends-by-association'. Y'know, because she knows Kiba's hanging out with Shino who hangs out with Sasuke. Personally, I don't see what's so fascinating about him. I mean, I'll admit he is attractive, but–…
Point is, other than his looks, Sasuke's got nothin'. I think he has a bit of a personality complex, actually.
I blink confusedly when I see another person standing next to Sakura and Kiba, but he's not really saying anything. When did he get there? Seriously, I don't even remember him walking in the door, much less getting all the way to the other side of the class. It's like he came out of no where. He looks a lot like Sasuke, actually, but according to practically every girl at school, 'No one can measure up to Sasuke-kun's greatness!'
"Sas-kay!!"
Oh dear god. I turned around just in time to see the most boisterous blonde in the world locking her arms around Sasuke's neck. Sasuke, although he may not look it, is radiating anger. No surprise there.
As expected, Sakura started throwing a hissy fit, and Kiba is having to hold her back, which appears very difficult since she keeps lunging forward. "Get-…! Off--," she was flailing like a drowning bird in an attempt to get out of Kiba's grasp, "…of Sasuke! Ino-pig!"
Oh yes, it was Yamanaka Ino, Sakura's arch rival in this absurd competition for Sasuke's affections, which neither of them will ever win. It's actually quite funny (and sad) that they're only people that don't know it. Well, it's not that he's gay, which is my theory, at least, but the fact that they'll try so blatantly to win him over; it's laughable. No one tries. And personally, I think that it's too troublesome to deal with love. Whatever that is. But seriously, to just try as hard as they do is pathetic.
"Jealous now, billboard-brow?" Ino snickered. She's probably started to cut off Sasuke's air supply. Just lovely. Will I ever get to sleep?
I smile to myself for the first time in awhile when I hear the rustling of a plastic bag. My smile widens even more when I see the owner of said plastic bag, which isn't a plastic bag at all, but rather a bag of chips, barbecue flavour. He wanders over as I get my books out of my bag and set them on my desk.
"Hey, Shikamaru." It's Chouji, thank god. Finally, a decent conversation.
"Hi, Chouji." I reply curtly.
Just as I was about to start up an enlightening conversation with Chouji, Sakura and Ino's screaming match escalates, and Sakura's knocked over at least one chair. Sasuke looks absolutely murderous, although he doesn't really show it, I can tell. But I don't blame him. Anyone would with Ino screeching in his ear. Kiba's clearly getting tired out. I don't really have much hands on experience, but I'm guessing it takes a lot to hold back an angry fan girl.
"…mendokuse…" I grumble, getting to my feet.
I amble over to the origin of the noise with my hands in my pockets and my usual lazy expression on my face, Chouji following right behind me. Ino and Sakura are still bickering, Sasuke is a little closer to the edge, and Kiba…well…he's struggling, let's put it that way. We stop, Chouji to my right and another crowd of people behind us, watching every lunge and listening intently to every insult. I mutter nonsensically to myself as my head turns back and forth watching the less than original belittlements fly.
"Ino-pig."
"Billboard-brow!"
"Ino-pig!!"
"Billboard-brow!!"
I roll my eyes in disdain. "So…what are you two fighting about again?"
I let a small smirk cross my face when they look at each other quizzically. "Uhm…" Ino mumbles. It's just as I thought. They don't even remember. Are all girls like this? Do they always have to fight? I swear some of them pick fights just to yell. Lucky for my mum she doesn't have to pick a fight to get one.
"Well," says Sakura, "I kinda forget…but it was Ino's fault!!" She lunges forward again. Having let his guard down when the girls shut up, Kiba lost his grip on Sakura. But with amazing speed, Kiba follows Sakura's movements through and his chest collides with her back again before he tightens his arms around her. He grunts in discomfort. "Idiot," Sakura mumbles under her breath, thinking no one can hear her. And if I can hear her, what makes her think Kiba couldn't? She's the idiot here. But Ino's no better.
"My fault?!" Ino yells "You can't even remember what we were fighting about! So what makes you think it's my fault, billboard-brow?!"
"Shut up, Ino-pig!"
I grumble to myself lowly. How on earth do women manage shit like this? I seriously do not have enough patience for these two. "Shut the hell up! Both of you!!"
The pair froze exactly where they were and everyone in the classroom looked at me, most of them seem pretty alarmed.
Oh. Has anyone ever heard me yell like that before? Eh, another matter for another time. "Ino. Get off Uchiha." In no time flat, her arms were at her sides and she was a good three feet away from Sasuke. "And Sakura, get a grip already!"
"On Sasuke?" she chirped hopefully.
"On some self-restraint." I dead panned. Sakura was taken aback. So much so in fact, that she stumbled backwards into Kiba and this time mumbled 'sorry'.
"B-but, Shika-kun…" Ino rushed to stand in front of me.
I stepped back before she could close enough to touch me. She did this crap a lot when she was trying to get her way. Apparently, it works on every boy in the world except me, Shino, Sasuke, Gaara (she wouldn't dare try it on him), and all of Kiba's inevitably soon-to-be friends.
"We love Sasuke, and he won't date either of us!"
I raise an eyebrow quizzically at this. And they expect me to fix that…how, exactly? Ino looks at me, and I mean she's actually looking at me. Not just that either, she's kicked it up a notch with the big, innocent eyes and her hands clasped together under her chin. She was begging. Oh god, not this. Anything but this. You'd have to be heartless to ignore that look! God, I wish I was a cold bastard like Sasuke. He'd resist. He could resist anything!
I caved.
I sigh, and give the ceiling a look that says 'kill me now'. "Mendokuse…fine."
I look back down at the now buddy-buddy pair, and they both look ecstatic. "I'll talk to Sasuke. Go sit down." They almost instantly arrive at Sakura's desk and sit down…the one directly across from Sasuke.
I glare at the beaming idiots and point them to the other side of the room, near Hinata. "…over there." Pouting all the way, they stand up and walk over to Hinata and begin chatting with her aimlessly.
Poor Hinata. I'll have to apologize later. I gesture for Chouji to come closer.
"Chouji, keep an eye on them, while I 'talk' to Sasuke; you know what to do if they start fighting." He nods and goes over to watch over the two drama queens.
I turn to Sasuke, who pins me with an icy glare. I frown, but having grown immune to its effectiveness, I pull up a chair and sit across from him with my back turned to the girls. Kiba sits down at the table too, but I couldn't care less if he's here or not. It makes no difference.
Sasuke raises a brow. "What?"
I begin with a sigh. "Here's the deal. You're going to sit here and listen to my 'proposition'." I let my tone indicate what I mean, what I mean being bullshit. "Which I am saying right now," it takes Sasuke a minute, but he picks up on what I'm hinting at and nods in agreement, "and as soon as I mention their names, I want you to say the worst possible thing you can think about them."
Kiba, I notice, looks upset. For the girls, maybe? I bet he thinks this whole deal is cruel…oh well. They'll get over it. All three of them.
He nods again. "I see," he stays silent for a moment. "And how do you suggest we do this...?"
"Well," I say quickly, "they'll get one date with you, so all you have to do is pick which one you want to take. Ino or Sakura?"
"Okay, so now that I've listened to your proposition," he narrows his eyes at me for effect, "what makes you think I'd want to date either of those mindless harpies?!" he asked with an extra icy edge. I nod and stand when I hear the both of them wailing dramatically.
"Sorry to bug you." I half whisper before sauntering away.
"Who's the fa-"
I pause when I hear Kiba's voice and my hand is over his mouth in one second flat. I could've sworn that on my way around, I saw Chouji's ear twitch. Then again, I might just be seeing things. But can you really blame me? I glare daggers at the new kid.
"A word for the wise: taboo. Never ever say that word around Chouji." I hiss lowly. Kiba looked to Shino for help to find him in total agreement with me. No surprise there.
"Did someone say something?" Chouji asked. His eyes narrowed in suspicion as he watched me and Kiba like a hawk. I shook my head, and release Kiba, frowning lightly at him as I turn to face Chouji.
"Kiba just thought you had a fabulous shirt!" I smile, and emphasize my words for Kiba's benefit. Chouji nodded in acceptance, and I walk back to my desk slowly, stopping in front of the wailing pair. With as much indifference I could fit in there, I confirm their nightmare.
"He said no." And they just kept on wailing, almost holding on to each other for support.
Now I can finally get some fucking slee—
The door opened with a loud series of coughs, and I groaned.
"Sorry," cough, "I got held," hack, "up in a," wheeze, "meeting." More coughing, "Now if you'll just turn to page one hundred and three in you books…" I groan when Ino moves to the seat next to guy that had came out of no where earlier, who happened to be sitting just in front of me.
"Sai-kun," she says sweetly, "can you move across one so I can sit down?" Ino keeps smiling, and he returns it, forcibly too. Sai isn't actually all that bad. It's a shame he's socially retarded.
"Of course, pi-" I curse lightly and knock my books into the floor.
"Sai," I say quickly, "can you get my books for me, please?" He nods and gathers them quickly. I breath a sigh of relief; god knows what would've happened if he finished that sentence... I thank Sai when he puts the books back on my desk, and I lean back in my chair.
"What was that you were saying again, Sai-kun?" Ino asks with the tell-tale predatory gleam in her eyes.
Sai scoots over a seat like he promised, "I said 'Of course pi'!" I lean forwards quickly.
"Sai! I think you left my pen on the floor!" I say hastily. He gets the picture and leans down to find the pen that I 'dropped'. "You know what? I'll help you look!" I say with a smile. I get down on my hands and knees and jerk Sai's collar, setting him with a glare. I hiss lowly, "Don't you dare finish that sentence."
He looks at me quizzically, and turns his head towards his shoulder like a child. "Why?"
"Sai, I know you have an odd obsession with the word 'penis', so I'm going to say this in a way even you'll understand; if you finish that sentence the way you were going to, you won't have a penis anymore." Sai nods and gets back on his chair. Ino stares at him with a raised eyebrow.
"I was just saying 'of course pretty lady'!" Ino blushed. Good.
Crisis averted.
- - ',' - -
There didn't seem to be any other incidents like that morning, and there wasn't much else worth exposing at the moment. However, as Shikamaru arrived at his house, he called out to his mother to let her know he was home, almost knowing what he'd receive the instant he stepped over the threshold.
He'd receive a frown, a glare, and he was almost certain that he was about to receive only so much more.
He closed the door behind him with a barely audible 'click'. 'Maybe they won't bother with me today if I'm quiet…' he thought hopefully. But his mother was already right behind him with an ominous, unfeeling glare. "You're late…" she hissed angrily. Shikamaru froze, unwilling to say or do anything. He knew nothing good would come of it.
His mother, as unlikely as it may seem, greeted him with a smile and a warm, yet discomforting hug, which sent Shikamaru's mind into a whirl of confusion. 'Since when does this happen? Did something happen? What's going on?' His head felt like it was spinning. 'What's up with her today? Is something wrong? What did I…what did I do? What did I do?! Wait, what didn't I do? Did…did I possibly…could I have possibly done something right for once?! But that's impossible! They always find something wro-…I mean, I always do something wrong…'
"S-sorry," Shikamaru began, "K-Kurenai-sen--" his sentence was finished prematurely with a quick, but lasting flash of pain in his cheek. His mother just stood there, slowly lowering her hand back to her side with a hardened glare. He had a chance to leave, but he didn't dare move for fear of feeling his mother's scorn. So, he stood there, silent, like a good child would
"Shikamaru!" she tightened her hug. "I'm so proud of you!" Shikamaru couldn't speak. He couldn't move. What if he said something wrong? What if he did something stupid to ruin his mother's good mood? She held Shikamaru just far away from herself to see his face, and likewise for him. She was…smiling. Had he ever seen her smile? "The academy called this morning!"
"Don't you dare blame your teachers, you filthy boy!" she screeched furiously, "I already know who's fault it was!" He rose up his arms for protection; the last thing he wanted was for his mother to grab hold him and hurt him worse than he already was. People might see…
"They said you stopped a fight!" He offered her a small nod before she pulled him back into the hug.
Shikamaru sighed.
"Guess so…"
(A/N: Okay, this is my new creation, special thanks to Kitsunecubby, as she is my very special Beta and I love her, not in that way, obviously. Anyways I hope you liked it, I know it's not very exciting just yet but I promise it gets better. I'm never any good at the first chapter of anything. It took me god knows how long to even decide to write it... I really want to know what you think about it! Please sugar-coat the badness)
(A/N: Yeah...I know it's a schoolfic...I really couldn't think of any other way to make this story work. So, if you don't like schoolfic's and you decided to investigate, work with me here, please?)
((B/N: Awe, she loves me:D But would anyone like to tell me what she means by 'very special'? Like, 'cupcake with rainbow sprinkles' special or like '…Sai…' special?))