I stared down at the bowl of ramen in front of me and twirled some noodles around my chopsticks. "Arisu~?" Nao whispered. My head shot up to my right so I was looking into his hazel eyes.
"What?" I asked my teammate. I studied his short, straight blond hair and his sweet smile that made dimples appear on his cheeks. He looked at me for a moment and I glared at him impatiently. Right before I was about to yell at him my other teammate, Ichiro, ran into the ramen stand Nao and I were in.
"Nao," Ichiro shouted as he held the red curtain to the side with his left hand, "you have to read this!" He held up a small, green book and tossed it to Nao. I watched Nao open the book and skim a random page in the center of the book. He smirked.
"Let me see this!" I growled as I snatched it out of his hands. I closed the book and flipped it over to the cover. "Make out Paradise by Jirai-" I stopped reading the cover aloud, "You guys are such perverts." I opened a pouch that was attached to my belt on my teal kimono kutie and slid the book inside. Damn, they're so immature.
I hopped off of the stool in front of the counter and started to walk out. "Hey, where are you going? Who's gonna pay?" Nao asked. I stopped dead in my tracks next to Ichiro.
"Your treat remember?" I laughed. He rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh. Ichiro flicked his blonde, curly; skater styled hair so it wasn't in his face and moved out of my way, still holding the curtain up. I turned to my right and started weaving through the crowd of people as I headed to the Hokage's office.
Once I had arrived to Lady Tsunade's office I knocked on the big wooden doors softly. "Come in!" Tsunade's voice called. I pushed on the door on the right, walked in and gently shut it behind me.
"Sorry to bother you, malady." I apologized.
"No need to apologize, I needed a break from doing these papers." Tsunade laughed. She placed both her elbows on her desk, laced her fingers together and rested her chin on them.
"Do you know where Master Jiraiya is?" I asked. She shook her head. "Oh," I sighed, "well if you see him can you give him this?" I reached into my pouch and pulled out the lime green book. I held it out to her and she hesitantly took it.
"Yes." she answered.
"Thank you. Well, I better get going!" I smiled. I turned around and opened the door. Before I shut the door I waved to Tsunade, receiving a sweet smile back.
As I started down the hall I stared down at my feet. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot...yeah, I'm doing it right. Suddenly I bumped into something soft and I backed up to see Shikamaru looking at me lazily. "I-I'm sorry!" I apologized. I felt my cheeks heat up as a light blush formed on them.
I have had a crush on Shikamaru for awhile and I haven't told anyone but my best friend, Ichiro. Yes I know, he's a guy and I tell him everything because we've been best friends since the academy. Even though we dated twice and broke up we stayed friends and kept secrets through it all. I gazed behind him to see Ichiro standing behind him with his hands in his pockets and a smirk plastered across his face.
"It's okay, you didn't mean to." He replied. After that there were a few moments of absolute silence, but of course Ichiro broke it.
"So, Arisu, do you want to go for a walk?" Ichiro asked. Oh crap, what if Shikamaru thinks that Ichiro and I are together again? Then my whole life would be ruined! Calm down Arisu, stay calm and go along with it, Shikamaru would never think that, I mean it's just a walk.
"Sure." I smiled as I trotted around Shikamaru and next to Ichiro, "See you later, Shikamaru!" I started towards the main doors that lead to the streets of the Leaf Village and Ichiro followed behind me.
Just as I was about to open the door Ichiro stopped me. He opened the door and gestured outside, trying to act like a gentleman. "After you." He chuckled.
"Thank you." I giggled as I proceeded outside.
"So, hottie, how've you been?" He joked. We always mess around and call each other by nicknames a couple would say to one another.
"Just great, sweetie." I answered sarcastically.
"Hm, what's wrong?" He asked.
"Well, first off you and Nao are reading porn," I continued, "second I ran into Shikamaru!" I rolled my eyes and exhaled heavily. I turned my head to him and he shrugged as if reading porn is a normal thing.
"Reading porn is a normal thing!" He retorted. I figured he would say that! Ha, I'm a mind reader!
"Moving on," I muttered, "how's your girlfriend?" I laughed at this because he didn't have a girlfriend; he just had a crush on someone. He stopped but I didn't notice until I was a few steps ahead of him. I turned around and gave him an innocent smile.
"She's not my girlfriend...yet. And she had a name!" Ichiro screeched.
"Well then, why don't you use it?" I shot back.
"Okay, Sakura isn't my girlfriend but she will be!" Ichiro announced. He started fussing with his headband that was tied around his neck and the green vest he got when he became a jonin. He messed with it for awhile and ended up making it look worse then it actually was before.
"Come over here I'll fix it." I motioned him forward. He walked up to me and I straightened out his headband and tied the knot tighter. I held him still by the shoulders as I moved behind him and tugged the bottom of the vest down to straighten it out. "Done!" I informed him.
Ichiro spun around and looked down at me because he is about five inches taller than me. Then he wrapped his arms around my upper back and said, "Thanks, Arisu."
"Get off." I grumbled as I pushed him away. I straightened out my clothes and placed my hands on my hips. His eyes were set on something behind me and I followed his gaze to Shikamaru. I tried to say something but nothing came out.
I could feel my face turning a dark red from embarrassment. "I-I have to go." I managed to say just before I sprinted down the streets to my apartment.
When I got home I slammed the door behind me and ran straight down the hall into my bedroom. I plopped myself on my twin bed with plain purple sheets spread across it and started crying. I was amazed I could hold it in while I was running home.
Suddenly there was a soft knock on the front door and I became silent. I wiped my tears away with my loose, teal sleeve and jogged to the door. As I opened the door I finger-brushed through my hair.
"Hey, I heard what happened and Nao said Ichiro is really sorry." Ino informed me.
"Whatever." I growled as I tucked a strand of straight, honey-blonde hair behind my ear.
"Ichiro is outside waiting for you, he wants to talk."
"Fine." I sighed. I squeezed out from the small crack in between the door frame and the door because I was too lazy to open it. I followed Ino down stairs and outside of the apartment building.
Ichiro was standing in the middle of the dirt path with his hands in his pockets, trying to look cool. "I have to go! See you later!" Ino yelled as she ran off to who knows where. I strolled over to Ichiro and glared.
"What's with the harsh look? I fixed everything." He laughed.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, when you ran off I asked him what he thought of you. He said 'Even though she's troublesome there's something about her that I like.'"
"That tells me nothing!" I shouted.
"You didn't let me finish. Then he said 'I think I like her' and I said 'You know she's like madly in love with you?'" He added. I smacked him upside the head for telling Shikamaru I love him. What an idiot telling him that!
He rubbed his head where I had hit him. "And guess who's got a date with the guy she's in love with?" He said with a laugh.
"No way!" I squealed,"Thanks!" I jumped on him and wrapped his arms around his neck, basically tackling him. As he tried to keep his balance he wrapped his arms around my torso. "You're the best! I so owe you!" I exclaimed.
"Damn straight." He chuckled.