Alchemists19-Thank you for reading and reviewing!
Artdog15-Thank you for reading and don't worry lol I'm not gonna make this a NaruHina story. While I do really like that couple I feel there are already too many stories out there using those two. As for a yaoi story… (Shudders) You don't have to worry about me doing that.
TajuuRasengan-Thanks for reading and your support! Lol honestly didn't expect to get any review.
matsumotomoom-I can't reveal anything yet, you'll have to keep reading! (:
The Dark End-Thanks, it's god to know that I'll be able to make this story more interesting.
It has come to my attention I think someone named…Q? He has made some good points about how I right NaruIno stories. Well actually I only wrote one story with the paring NaruIno which was called "The Signs". When I wrote that I was just happy to have a story out there. But when I re-read it, it did annoy me. Not the fact that I made Ino sound like a bitch. She actually seems like a bitch in the show sometimes lol but it was because I made Naruto way too kind. While yes Naruto is kind he is still a hot head and can be blunt, annoying, and overall a dick if you push him hard enough. I am much happier with the way I portrayed Naruto in this story. While yes Ino seems harsh didn't Naruto seem just a bit too happy to exploit Ino and Sakura's plans? I think when NaruIno stories are done neither Naruto nor Ino should be a pushover. They aren't like that in the anime/manga, they aren't compatible like that, and they damn well aren't gonna be like that in this story. I'm warning you now…prepare for psychological war!
I lay down at the lunch table with my head in my arms. Honestly it reminded of the way Shikamaru slept in class, but I can assure you sleeping wasn't an option I had the luxury of choosing. No, see my head was going at like a 1,000 mph! That damn Kakashi had backed me into a corner and finding a way out was becoming more difficult with each second.
I'm sure you're saying to yourself "It isn't difficult you dumbass just drop out and quit and you won't have to worry about the whole class president election anymore" Well see there is a big problem with that option. That thing, it's called my pride. See even if people viewed me as I loser, in my opinion I was fucking awesome! They just had yet to figure it out.
My pride was the one thing they could never take away from me. When they talked down to me and tried to hurt me with their insults my pride was the thing that took up for me. My pride would reassure me that I didn't need to listen nor did I need to believe any of the hurtful things. My pride was the thing that told me to fight back every insult with another and to make it ten times as more lethal then theirs.
Now while my mind was telling me "You fucking idiot drop out now and save yourself the embarrassment! This can all be avoided!" My pride said "Don't listen to him. If you drop out now you'll be even more of a laughingstock than you are now. But if you win…if you win that entire acknowledgement will be yours. People will have to respect you. They will have to pay attention to you. They will have to acknowledge us!"
Wait; wouldn't that make me a hypocrite? Wasn't that the same reason Ino was running for class president? Then again why did I care? Why should I have a noble reason to run for class president when everyone else was running for their own selfish reasons? Why the hell should I try to run and do something good for them when they had been treating me like shit for years!
"Uh Naruto…you feeling okay?" a voice said.
I looked forward to find Shikamaru and Choji looking at me with freaked out expressions.
"Yeah I'm fine why would I be?" I asked, still not moving.
Shikamaru looked at Choji briefly before turning back to me "Well you just started panting and growling really loudly. You sounded pissed off."
I put my hand to my forehead and sure enough I was sweating as if I'd been Walking on The Sun (Smash Mouth reference FTW!)
I sheepishly scratched the back of my head (A habit I had picked up from the pervert I called a godfather) "Sorry guys, I was just thinking something." I replied.
Choji nodded his head and quickly went back to devouring his poor food.
"I'm just gonna take a wild guess and say this whole class president thing has shaken you up?" Shikamaru asked in a bored voice. Sadly he was right. I meekly nodded.
"I don't see what the problem is. Just drop out. You have no chance of winning. I know it; Choji knows it, and most of all you know. Just save yourself the effort and embarrassment." Shikamaru said bluntly.
My blood was boiling so much I was sure my face was turning red. Shikamaru's words pissed me off to no end! The sad part is I hated them because they were true. God damn it!
*Science* Teacher-Anko Mitarashi/Form of insanity: Strong like for blood
Naruto stood outside of the empty classroom. He looked around to see all his classmates cowering behind him. Naruto was no fool. He knew what was gonna happen. Right now he was outside the lion's den, no, scratch that. He was inside the snake pit. It was feeding time and he was the rat. Naruto looked back at his classmates. They looked back at him.
"Heh. So, uh, who's going first this time?" Naruto asked with nervous laughter. The class didn't join in on the laughter.
"Stop messing around dobe and just go in!" yelled Kiba from the crowd. Naruto turned an angry eye on him.
"Why do I always have to be the one to go in first with that psychotic snake teacher?" Naruto yelled in despair.
"Because she likes you the most Naruto." Said Shino.
"You don't know that!"
"We heard her say it on the first day. She has some type of attraction to your whisker like marks on your face." Shino explained.
Naruto unconsciously put a hand on his whisker marks.
"Come on! I had been doing this everyday for the whole year can't some else do it?" Naruto pleaded.
"Just do it already!"
"Come on dobe it can't be that bad."
"I would go…but I don't wanna."
"That bitch is crazy!"
Naruto's eye twitched at the random shouts. 'I'm surrounded by cowards!'
"Have fun Naruto!" Somebody screamed.
A second later Naruto found a pair of hands on his chest. Everything turned to slow-motion. Naruto looked to see it was female hands that were on him. Naruto faintly blushed at the contact. Till he saw that grin. That damn devious grin. That damn blond hair. Those damn blue pupil less eyes. That god damn Ino Yamanaka! Ino's push sent Naruto crashing into the room. The class quickly closed the door behind him and held it shut, just in case Naruto tried to get back out.
Naruto quickly picked himself off the ground and looked around wildly. He had to calm down. That woman could smell fear. I needed to find her before she made her move. But where is she?
I looked around the room. I looked under the desk. No sign of her. I looked outside the window. She had been known to hide outside the window and get the jump on me from there. Phew, she isn't out there. I sudden noise caught my attention. It was a loud thumping sound. I slowly turned around. The noise was coming from the cabinet!
I slowly and cautiously walked towards the cabinet. I had to be very careful. If I was too loud she would know I was here. I carefully took step after step until I was right in front of the cabinet. With shaking hands I grabbed the handles to the two doors (Or half doors?). It was now or never. I quickly pulled opened the door.
"Ha!" I exclaimed to…a bunch of snakes in cages?
She wasn't there? The snakes angrily hissed at me. Who the hell keeps snakes in their classrooms? Another hiss and I slammed the doors shut. I started laughing. I she wasn't here! Finally I escaped with any-
"Hello there my fox prey!" Said an excited voice.
I looked around for any sign of her. That was her voice!
"Anko…where are you?" I asked quietly.
"I'm hurt Naruto. I waited here for you. You promised you'd have lunch with me and you stood me up. And then you tried to find someone else to come in the room so you didn't have to see me." Anko said. But from where?
"It's not like that Anko, I had a lot on my mind today so I lost track of time. And as for not wanting to come into your room first can you blame me? You always cut me!" I exclaimed as I still searched for any sign of Anko. Still nothing.
"I can't help it Naruto, it's how I show my love." Anko said in a seductive voice.
I shivered. Out of fear and…excitement? Oh god there is something really wrong with me.
"Anko, where are?" I asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Damn straight I would.
"Come on Anko, we have to start class. Come on out." I said giving up on finding her.
"First apologize." I could imagine Anko; wherever it is she's hiding at, making that cute pouting face she makes whenever she doesn't get her way.
"I'm sorry Anko." I said.
"…And."
"You're incredibly smart, stylish, and most of all sexy." I said.
"…And."
I sighed. I could already feel my face heating up with embarrassment.
"And I would give anything in the world to have just one night alone with you." That…was kinda true…what? I'm a teenage boy damn it I have my urges!
"Thank you Naruto! You have very good taste" I sweat dropped, as if I had a choice "Now hold out your arms."
I held out my arms in front of me.
"Like this?"
"That's perfect. Leap of faith!" Anko screamed.
Wait…leap of faith…Oh shit.
Anko's body came crashing down on top of mine. She was on the damn ceiling! Ugh, that really hurt.
"Are you okay Naruto?" Anko asked as she straddled me.
"Yes, but I won't me if you don't get off of me." While her straddling me was very…*cough*…sexy I don't think things would end too well if I got hard while my teacher was on top of me.
"Aw, what's wrong Naruto? Don't you think teacher is cute?" Anko said licking her lips slowly.
I needed to get her off immediately!
"Rape! I'm being raped in here!" I screamed.
Anko's face turned to that adorable pout.
"Aw, you're no fun today Naruto!" She said as she got off of me and went to let the other students in.
Twenty minutes later the class was working in pairs of two on a study guide Anko had passed out. I had already finished mine. I doubt I had all the answers right. Actually I know I didn't have all the answers right but I just wanted to finish so I could talk to Anko. I would check over the study guide when I got home. Right now I had to make sure Anko wasn't mad at me.
I pulled a chair up to her desk.
"Hello Anko." I said happily.
Anko, who was busy eating dango, looked at me one time before looking away. I sighed.
"I'm really sorry I missed out meeting today Anko. I just had a lot on my mind. I didn't mean to leave you alone." I said sincerely.
Anko was to put it bluntly an odd teacher. Her explosive personality tends to drive people away. For a long time Anko didn't have any friends when she was little. She grew up in a foster home with nobody really caring for her. She eventually made friends with a girl name Kurenai, also a teacher, but we'll get to her later. Even now that she was a teacher she still didn't really fit in with most of the other teachers. She seemed so lonely. It's no wonder why we felt such a connection towards each other when we first met. Her weird personality and obsession didn't bother me (Well a little but not anything I couldn't deal with) and my constant talking didn't seem to bother her.
Because of that the two of us instantly became friends. We usually met on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to eat lunch together and just talk but of course with the evens today o totally lost track of time.
Anko gave me a genuine smile. Not one of those crazed smiles she gave teachers and students to freak them out for her own amusement.
"So I'm forgiven?" I half asked half stated.
A second later my cheek was bleeding and Anko was licking blood from her fingers.
"Yup, you're forgiven." Anko said giving me a happy smile.
"That woman is insane." Someone said.
Anko's smile turned into a full blown insane grin and her eyes grew wide with joy.
"What was that Ami?" Anko asked sweetly.
"Nothing teacher, I-I-I was just talking to myself" A girl named Ami said quietly and got back to work before Anko could follow through with making her pay for the insane comment.
"You should get yourself checked out Ami. Talking to yourself is a sign of insanity. That's a serious condition." Anko said.
Naruto snorted "You calling someone insane? Hahahahahaha that's rich!" I said falling into a fit of laughter.
My laughter stopped when my other cheek was cut.
"Okay I had that coming."
Anko laughed.
"So why don't you tell me exactly why you missed one of our glorious lunch dates." Anko said.
I blushed at the word date. Damn Anko for being three years older than me.
"Well…" I proceeded to tell Anko about everything. Arguing with Ino and Sakura, Kakashi nominating me for class president, and me trying to decide if I should drop out of the race or actually try to win even if I had absolutely no hope.
"Well I think you're a coward." Anko said bluntly as she took another bite of her dango.
"What?" I said dumfounded.
Anko turned to me and gave me a serious look "You're talking about quitting the race before it's even begun. You haven't even given a thought of you having a chance to winning. You don't know how this can turn out."
"But I know how this is going to turn out! I don't have a chance to win. I'm not popular and people either ignore me or don't like me. This race is over before it even starts." I said sadly.
I'm glad Ino and Sakura couldn't hear me. I wouldn't be able to face them if they knew I was so hopeless right now.
"And that's why I called you a coward. You're not even going to try." Anko said.
"Because I have no chance of winning!" I whispered harshly so no one in the class could hear me.
"Damn it it's not about winning!" Anko whispered just as harshly.
I looked at her in fright. We might be good friends but she still scared the shit outta me.
"It's not about winning Naruto." Anko said softly "You can't win every fight you have. Sometimes it's just not possible. But do you know what is possible? Trying. You're so afraid of losing but you don't seem to understand that losing won't be the end of the world. Not trying is gonna be the worst thing in the world. By you not trying you're making yourself look weak. You're making yourself into more of a target that people can take aim at because they know you won't stand up and try to stop them. By not trying you're letting Sakura and Ino and everybody else win. So it's obvious to you that no matter what you do, you're going down. But wouldn't you rather be known for the guy that went down swinging? Or you can do what you're thinking about doing and be Ino's and Sakura's little bitch for the whole school to make fun of."
I stared at the floor. I…
"So what are you going to do? Huh Naruto?" Anko asked.
I looked at Anko. My fox like smile lit up my face. Anko gave me an equally twisted smile. We could feel the whole class shudder at our smiles.
I would tell you about my other classes but nothing exciting really happened. Besides, I had a plan to execute. People gave me bizarre looks as I laughed manically as I left school.
"Goodbye Ino!" Said a group of my friends.
I smiled as I waved back. I'm in such a good mood! Why am I in such a good mood do you ask? Well I'll tell you why! Because my plan was working perfectly!
Step 1. Announce run for class president. I know when I did this Sakura would instantly join too. Why would I be happy about this? Because it would give me a chance to crush Sakura! Sakura who had been a thorn in my side since elementary school. We've been rivals for years. Whether we were competing with looks, (Obviously I win in that category) book smarts, (Sakura had me there) or even for Sasuke's heart. But this is where it all ended. I'm tired of doing this same song and dance. (Eminem reference FTW)
Step 2. Had been broken up because of one Naruto Uzumaki! In step 2 I was to win over our classmates by explaining how and why I was such a better choice for president then Sakura. But Naruto had to decide to grow a brain and call me out in front of the whole class. Add to that he has been added in the race. But Naruto being in the race was a trivial matter. He didn't stand a chance so he was nothing for me to worry about. Actually, maybe I could use him to my advantage.
Step 3. Gain loyalty. Well after today I've just gained the support of the preps. Or at least half of them. Getting the second half that was loyal to Sakura would take some time but I'm sure I'd be able to do it eventually. Now, I just had to win over the rest of the cliques around school. How hard could that be?
I got into my purple convertible and sped out of the school parking lot. I couldn't wait to get home and tell mom and dad the good news!
I pulled over at my house. I got out and stared at the giant sign on the front of my house. Yamanaka's Flower Shop. My house was only half of a house actually. The other half or to be precise the bottom half was the flower shop which I worked at after school.
I walked in and the bell went off signifying someone had entered.
"Ino, honey is that you?" A voice called from the backyard.
"Yeah it's me daddy!" I yelled back and threw my book bag behind the counter.
A minute later my dad, Inochi, walked in with his full gardening gear. He gave me a bright smile and I returned it.
"Well aren't you going to give me a hug?" My dad asked as he opened his arms.
I quickly ran to him and hugged him. At heart I was still a daddy's girl and he knew it.
"Dad I have some great news to tell you!" I couldn't wait to tell him. He'd be so proud of me.
"That's great Ino but I have some great news to tell you first. You know how you've been having trouble with handling all the costumers?" I nodded. Where exactly was he going with this?
"Well I've found you a co-worker! So it'll be easier around the shop for you." My dad said happily.
I looked at him. I don't remember my dad bringing up anything like this to me.
"Really? Who is it?" I asked.
"Hey she's here! Come on in!" My dad called to the backyard.
A minute later that person came through. My heart dropped. So did my jaw.
"Why hello there Ino. I can't wait to work with you." That person said.
"Naruto." I simple said.
My dad hugged me again but this time my arms fell limply to my sides. My eyes never left Naruto's face. Slowly a large taunting smile formed on his face. He mouthed the words that would haunt me forever.
"I'm going to make your life a living hell."