Of Fists and Sticks
Hermione paced the room impatiently, twiddling her fingers and occasionally glancing at the clock. The girl sighed one too many times for Ino, who was currently in the room with her. Ron sat down in a chair, fiddling with his chess set. No one had said a word for the past hour that they had been there.
"How long does one hearing take honestly" Hermione finally yelled, frustrated. Ino rolled her eyes as she continued to file her nails.
"Too long if you ask me" Ron replied, finally looking up at Hermione since he came into the room.
"And what are you doing in here anyways?" Hermione asked Ino, clearly annoyed by her presence. For once Hermione felt really lost, she was bursting with too many uncontrollable, and unexplainable, emotions.
"Why I'm filing my nails, something you clearly don't seem to understand" the blonde replied hotly.
"I can see that, but we don't want you in the room right now"
"Honey, you mean YOU don't want me in the room, your red-headed friend seems to be having a blast glancing at me from the corner of his eye" Ino replied, not even bothering to look up from her nails.
"Ron!" Hermione yelled.
"Sorry" the boy responded all flustered, knocking down a few of his chess pieces in panic.
"We just want to be alone right now, so can you please leave?" Hermione tried again. Ino shook her head.
"Sorry sweetie, no can do" Hermione growled in frustration, stomping her feet and sitting down in the chair opposite of Ron, "anyways, don't get mad at him, I saw you eyeing Sasuke, yesterday" Ron snickered at how Hermione was the one all flustered now.
The thick atmosphere was easily broken as Shikamaru walked in, closing the door lightly behind him. Nodding at the two wizards before moving over to Ino. He placed a chaste kiss on her temple, as his left hand ghosted over the small of her back, a simple gesture in the eyes of Ron and Hermione, but for Ino, it meant so much more. Hermione got up angrily, letting out a huff, and stomping towards the door. Just as she opened the door she bumped into the chest of none other than Sasuke.
"So-Sorry" she stuttered blushing ten shades of red. But Sasuke had already brushed by her, being very use to it anyways. In followed Tenten and Shino.
"Your friend's back, but you might want to be cautious around him" Tenten advised. Although, Ron and Hermione didn't seem to register the last part of the sentence, as the two of them booked it out of the room as soon as 'Your friend's back' slipped out of Tenten's mouth. Tenten eyed Ino quizzically, the girl in return gave her a shrug.
"Did you even make any progress with those two?" Tenten asked Ino.
"What do you mean?" the blonde replied, genuinely confused.
"Didn't you try to bond with them?" Sasuke growled out. Ino flipped her hair over her shoulders.
"Well I tried, but they weren't being very cooperative" Shikamaru gave her a look, showing her he didn't buy it, but didn't push the subject. Neji and Kiba walked in shortly after, the latter looking rather pissed off.
"I swear I'm going to smack that kid if Naruto doesn't" Kiba mumbled as he stalked into the room.
"Kiba" Neji warned.
"He does bring up a good point though" Shino said. The others turned to look at him oddly, smacking a client was definitely not on the top of the list.
"I mean, us having a bad relationship with our three most important clients can cause some problems" The three ANBU's contemplated the problem.
"You're right…" Shikamaru began, "but whether they choose to accept us is up to them"
"I think some of us should have a chat with them" Neji mused quietly.
"And by some of us you mean?" Kiba asked.
"Shikamaru you talk to Harry" Neji instructed.
"So troublesome" he muttered resting his head on Ino's shoulder.
"Sasuke you talk to Ron" Neji continued.
"You want me to talk to him" he asked.
"Well if I sent Ino, he'd be too busy looking down her shirt, Tenten would do better talking to the girl, Kiba is as ignorant as Naruto and I have something else to do, so between Shino and you, I have chosen you" Neji explained. Sasuke sighed, but didn't bother arguing with the older boy, it was enough that Neji still didn't trust him.
"Tenten you-"
"Don't even think about it, there's no way I'm talking to that obnoxious girl" Tenten cut in. Her arms were folded, a signal Neji knew all too well, there was no convincing Tenten. Neji let out an exasperated sigh.
"Okay then, Ino, you do it" he said in a defeated tone.
"I tried, but as you can see that didn't turn out all too well" Ino said gesturing around the room.
"Fine!" Neji yelled, losing his temper, "someone find Sakura and tell her to do it, no ands, ifs or buts!" Everyone stared at Neji, who had already in his anger, stomped out of the room to attend to whatever he had to attend. He brushed by Sakura on his way out.
"What's with him?" she asked confused. Everyone shrugged.
"Oh, Sakura, Neji said that you have to go talk to Hermione" Ino said.
"What?" Sakura whined, "why? Ino you go do it, you're better at these things" Sasuke pushed past Sakura, Shikamaru following behind him.
"Stop complaining" Sasuke said. Sakura huffed, her face flushing in anger.
"Sakura you're blushing" Ino said in a sing song voice. Sakura swiveled around to face her.
"Oh hush you" she said before running off to catch up to the other two males.
"She still likes him" Tenten said, laughing. Ino nodded, leaning slightly back into her chair before replying.
"He likes her"
As Sasuke, Shikamaru, Sakura walked down the hall to the room the trio currently resided in, they heard lots of yelling, again. Shikamaru let out a long sigh. It was starting to get annoying with all the bickering. The ninjas found it hard to believe that they had gone through so much together, only to end up acting like little children fighting over a chocolate bar.
"These people are so troublesome, I don't think they've stopped yelling at each other since we got here" he said, throwing his hands up in an annoyed gesture.
"As if you and Ino don't fight" Sakura said shooting an amused look at the genius, who let out a hollow laugh. Sakura walked up to the door and rapped twice. A quiet 'come in' was heard and the girl proceeded inside, followed by her friends.
"Hey guys could we talk to you for a second?" Sakura asked politely, "separately" she added as an afterthought after looking at the three. Harry had an extremely pissed off expression, not surprisingly, Hermione was blushing lightly and shooting Sasuke her covert looks again and Ron was stretched out on two chairs looking rather peeved himself. Naruto, Hinata, Chouji and Lee were in the room too. Sakura saw Naruto wave at her and she flashed him a small smile, hoping not to give too much away.
"Then we'll leave you guys alone then" Naruto smiled mischievously, "see ya Uchiha" he said grinning stupidly at the Uchiha, "Sakura" winking at Sakura, "Nara" and making a face at Shikamaru. Lee nodded excitedly.
"Come Kyo-kun, let us see who can do 1000 push-ups first" Lee challenged as he dragged Naruto out the door, Hinata and Chouji following after. Hinata bowed politely to the three ninjas on her way out.
"Now…"Sasuke began as he turned from the door to the three wizards.
The two girls were left in the room alone, as Sasuke and Shikamaru led the two boys to some other remote location. Sakura was plopped on top of a table, Hermione in a chair across from her.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Hermione asked nervously, looking anywhere but at Sakura. Sakura shrugged smiling at the girl.
"Anything you want, as your bodyguard I have to protect you both physically and mentally, so if you have any problems let them out now" Sakura replied. Hermione looked at her skeptically.
"Really?"
"No, my captain made me have a talk with you so we can build up our client relationship" Sakura said laughing. Hermione let a small giggle escape her lips as well, but otherwise kept silent. The pair settled into an uncomfortable silence, when finally Hermione decided to speak.
"Hey Sakura"
"Yeah" the girl whispered.
"Do you ever feel left out, being the only girl in a group of guys?" Hermione paused then began again, "Probably not since you have Ino and Tenten"
"Sometimes, back home on small cases I work in a team with two other guys, it's a system of two guys, one girl where I'm from" Sakura began, "though Naruto, one of my teammates, tries to include me, though I always feel like I'm watching Sasuke and his back. It does get a little depressing sometimes"
"Oh" Hermione muttered.
"Are Ron and Harry giving you a hard time?"
"No!" she yelled flailing her hands around in dramatic fashion. Once she quieted down, she began speaking again, "it's just I haven't had a girl to talk to in a long time"
"What having some boy troubles?" Sakura teased causing Hermione to blush heavily, "who is it?"
"No one" Hermione replied shaking her head furiously.
"Harry?" Hermione shook her head again.
"Ron?"
"Who has time for that jerk!" Sakura jumped back at her sudden outburst.
"Just tell me, I can keep a secret"
"Saucemk" she mumbled. Sakura leaned closer, a small grin on her face, ninja senses do come in handy sometimes.
"Sorry what did you say I didn't quite catch that?"
"Sasuke!" Hermione screamed jumping up from her chair, as Sakura burst into laughter, "It's not funny" Hermione huffed.
"Good luck to you then" Sakura said hopping off the table and walking towards the door still laughing, pausing only once she got to the door, "come to me anytime you have a problem okay?" and she left. Hermione closed her eyes and slouched back into her chair, it felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulder. Snapping her eyes open, she leaned forward in the chair with an angry huff.
'What was with her laughing at me anyways' she pondered, 'she probably likes him too'
Getting up, Hermione let out a small smile. She would call today a rather productive day, gaining both a friend…
'and a rival in love'
"Let's go outside" Sasuke commanded. The two boys walked out the door, Ron sat down on the steps, as Sasuke casually leaned against the railing. Ron was giving Sasuke a rather dirty look, which wasn't anything new with Sasuke.
"So what's your deal anyway?" Sasuke asked out of the blue. Ron stopped glaring and blinked in confusion.
"There's nothing wrong with me" he shot back, quickly settling back into his glare. Sasuke let out his signature 'Hn'.
'Why did Neji make me do this, as if I don't have enough trouble talking to my own team' Sasuke thought angrily, before turning back to Ron.
"Stop being such a sheep" Sasuke stated, albeit rather awkwardly.
"What are you talking about mate, I'm no sheep!"
"Yeah and my hairs not black, stop following what other people do, it doesn't get you anywhere"
"I-"
"Stop doubting your abilities, don't let anyone try to run your life, or you'll regret it, trust me I know"
"As if you know anything about being a shadow"
"I've been in the shadow of my older brother ever since I could remember, my father adored him, even when he passed away I was always in the shadows"
"When your brother passed away or your father?" Sasuke turned to him with a wry smile.
"Both" Sasuke said pushing himself off the railing, "now come on let's go in before the others start to worry" Ron nodded getting up from the step. As the two of them walked in Sasuke started walking faster to rejoin with the others, but slowed down long enough to say one more thing to Ron.
"By the way, tell your girlfriend to stop looking at me"
"She's not my girlfriend!" Ron yelled after his retreating form.
"What do you want?" Harry muttered angrily at Shikamaru, "here to get your revenge for last night"
"Troublesome brat" Shikamaru whispered, though it went unheard by Harry, "Just trying to figure out why you're so angry with your friends"
"None of your business" Shikamaru rubbed his temples.
"I'm surprised those two put up with you for this long, are you always this grouchy?"
"You'd be really pissed off too if someone stupider than you gets chosen to be a prefect"
"I'd guess so, assuming I knew what a prefect was"
"Think of them as mini-teachers" Shikamaru nodded, thinking for a bit.
"Well I'm not to sure why you would think you are more deserving of this position than whoever made it over you"
"Ron made it over me, RON! I've done more than he has, for god sakes I'm the boy who lived"
"I don't think you could handle all that power and responsibility anyways"
"And Ron can, he's like a child compared to me" Shikamaru rolled his eyes.
"Having that much power can be really exerting, I think it's better just to let others handle it, the less responsibility, the less likely you'll have to deal with any of its consequences"
"I've watched Spiderman you don't have to lecture me"
"Troublesome, I think I rather go look at the clouds" Shikamaru said walking away, "Hey kid, if there's anything I learned as a bodyguard, it's that you never have to face anything alone" As soon as Shikamaru disappeared from his sight, Harry let out an annoyed groan.
"These people…"
Sakura, Sasuke and Shikamaru came one after the other into the room the ninjas were previously lounging in. Ino was off in a corner reading a fashion magazine, while Kiba and Shino dozed off on the couch. Neji and Tenten were looking over a map rolled out on the table. Sakura noticed immediately that Neji kept brushing Tenten's knuckles every time their hands crossed. Sakura laughed at the awkward couple, catching their attention.
"How'd the chats go?" Tenten asked, pulling her hand back and standing up straight.
"Fine" "Hn" "Troublesome" were the responses. Neji stood up fully and beckoned over to Ino, it was their turn for night duty.
"Yeah, yeah I'm coming" she responded, "hey Sasuke I think you got yourself another fan girl"
"Hn, don't remind me" Ino laughed.
"You're one to talk Ino" Tenten mocked, which only caused Ino to laugh some more.
"What can I say, I'm just that charming"
"Okay, I think you should go Ino, this room is small enough without your huge ego smothering us" Sakura joked. Ino ran off after Neji, giving Shikamaru a peck on the cheek on her way out.
"Whatever forehead"