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Blue Skies

Chapter 2- Repeat.

Once Temari arrived at the science lab she realized there weren't as many people in the class than she thought there would be. Guess not many people shared an interest in botany like she did.

As the class rolled on, Temari noticed the teacher was very smart and extremely beautiful. Her name was Kurenai and she wans't afraid to get a little dirt under her nails. Temari's mood instantly changed for the better just being in the class. Still, Temari thought about Shikamaru every now and then, just thankful that he helped her out.

When the class was over she waved over her shoulder to Kurenai who had became very impressed with her infinite knowledge in the subject.

Shikamaru had never had a particular like for Calculus. It was the only class where he actually had to stay awake to learn something. Every teacher had a way of teaching math, and if you didn't do the problems the way they did, you could get lost and fall behind.

But, at least Shikamaru got a good teacher. Iruka had always been one of the calmer, more enjoyable math teachers. Even though staying awake through the whole thing would be a drag, Shikamaru knew he would actually learn something useful from Iruka.

After that class was over, Shikamaru checked his schedule again. He was heading to biology. Now was the moment of truth, would he get suck with a troublesome lab partner for the semester, or would the teacher put him with someone he could tolerate? Shikamaru hoped it was the latter. He had suffered enough for the past three years with a talkative blonde always up his ass…

Temari took her time making her way to the biology class just so she could look around a bit. Once she got to the class she gave a frown. The entire front three tables were already taken. She decided to go for the next best spot... the table on the second row in the middle of the room. She preferred sitting up front where she could pay better attention with no distractions.

After pushing her bag under the table she placed her botany notebook in front of her. She figured a little extra research for that class wouldn't hurt. At least she liked the subject. After a minute or two she decided to work on it later and put the book away. She needed to try and talk to some people...make some friends. But every time she spotted a person she always found something to prevent her from approaching them. With a sigh, she sat back in the chair and crossed her arms staring at the ceiling. What was the point of trying to make friends...?

Shikamaru found the biology room in no time at all, and was surprised to find it so crowded. Seems like everyone had the same idea he did: get to class early and pick your seat. Well, at least the back of the room was pretty empty…

He saw a few familiar faces as he walked further into the classroom. Neji, the older student who didn't really like talking to anyone at all; Tenten, who seemed to be the only person Neji would even remotely deal with; Sakura, one of Ino's annoying friends. As soon as he walked in, Sakura called him over.

"Hey, Shikamaru! You know Ino's in this class too, right? I'll bet any amount of money that you two get paired up again!" She laughed, and those who had been in some of their previous classes joined in. Not if I can help it….Shikamaru thought to himself.

He started making his way to the back of the room when he spotted those four ponytails he had run into earlier. Deciding to be friendly to the new student, he instead opted for the second row of seats, and pulled out the one that was next to Temari. "So…we meet again."

"Ah~ pineapple." Temari said with a smirk and looked over to the boy, clearly pleased that she would have this class with someone she knew. "I mean, Shikamaru." She sat up and turned to face him.

"Thanks for the help earlier...it was much faster getting to the class than I thought." She spotted a few more people come into the room. They had gathered at the front talking with everyone. Looks like everyone was chatting it up with their friends they haven't seen all summer...lucky them.

He groaned when she called him pineapple. "Yeah, yeah, call me that all you want, but don't expect me to respond to it." He rolled his eyes and smiled when she thanked him for the help. "I'm glad you found your way. You'll know this school really well by the end of the month, trust me."

He noticed her gaze move to the front of the r

oom, and he wished he hadn't looked because just then, a blonde haired girl walked in the room and headed straight for Sakura. Shikamaru slumped in his seat, thankful when the teacher walked in and prevented them from talking.

There wasn't much special about the biology teacher, Yamato. He was a middle-aged man with brown hair that had a rather monotone voice, but none of the students had anything against him. As soon as he was finished calling role, he started assigning lab partners by random. Ino looked back at Shikamaru with a smile.

Temari turned her attention to the teacher and listened as he called role. She was glancing around the room looking to the shelf in the corner that held jars of random things. Something looked suspiciously like a baby pig... Her attention was pulled away when the teacher was talking about lab partners.

"Alright, you and….." Yamato pointed to Ino, and searched the room for her partner. Shikamaru slumped even more in his seat, trying to hide from Yamato's gaze. "You." Yamato pointed at the opposite end of the room, and everyone looked to see where his finger had landed.

"SHINO?! THE BUG BOY?" Ino's screams could be heard from a mile away, and Shikamaru inwardly sighed, thankful to be rid of that burden for a while. Shino had always kept to himself. Everyone called him the 'bug boy' because whenever he was outside, he was observing bugs. Shikamaru found Shino quite interesting to talk to, actually.

Temari glanced around the room wondering just who she would get as a partner when a loud whining voice could be heard. She glared at the longhaired blonde, slightly annoyed that she was screaming and calling names to the quiet boy across the room.

"That's a little rude don't you think?" She said out loud before realizing it. She leaned forward tapping her finger on the table. "You don't see him complaining he's stuck with a loudmouth...at least out loud anyway."

If there was something Temari hated it was someone thinking they were better than everyone: bullies, and loud mouths. In the past, she had to deal with a few people who thought they could push her brothers around.

Shikamaru turned to look at Temari when she stood up to Ino's yelling. Obviously this new girl wasn't afraid to speak her mind. Shikamaru liked that, and joined her. "Yeah, Ino. Shino's actually pretty interesting if you give him a chance. He's smart too. You'll make good grades on your labs." He looked to the boy in the corner, and saw a small smile on the corner of his mouth.

Ino huffed. "Who's this new girl, Shikamaru? She sure has a big mouth…" Shikamaru froze for a minute, realizing the entire class was staring at them at this point. Shikamaru decided to give Ino one more push.

Temari crossed her arms and glared at the girl, Ino, who shot her a nasty look in return. She didn't care if the others were watching her now. She was surprised when Shikamaru stood up for her defending her.

"Well, at least it's not as big as your ego…" He heard a few noises come from the other students and watched as Ino started at him open-mouthed. Yamato quieted everyone down and finished giving out the lab partner assignments. "Alright, since you two seem to work well as a team, you can work together on assignments too." Yamato said to Shikamaru and Temari.

"Thanks..." she shot him a smile just as the teacher began calming everyone down. He then paired Shikamaru and her together as lab partners. "Well, looks like we are partners." She pulled out her biology notebook. "Lucky you." She teased.

Shikamaru sighed in relief. He could work with Temari as a lab partner.

The teacher, Yamato, was giving them a speech about the class rules and then began writing page numbers down on the board giving them a bit of information on their first projects for the school year. "What is it with teachers giving us all work on the first day!" Temari muttered as she wrote down the page numbers.

"Right? It's like they want to torture us even more…troublesome." Shikamaru muttered, also writing down the page numbers. "We can get started on these tomorrow. They're not due any time soon."

Shikamaru noticed Temari's botany notebook. Seemed like she had already written a lot for the first day. "You like sciences, don't you?" He asked, filliping open her notebook.

Temari shrugged, "I guess you could say that. I really like botany though."

Her notes were very detail and organized. Shikamaru felt like he learned something just from reading them.

She nodded to the book watching as he flipped through it. "I was hoping to work on a little garden at home...I was going to try to start on that in a week or so if I find the time." She motioned to her homework book. "But looks like school isn't going to let me have any time to myself...on top of taking care of my brothers." She sighed.

"Well, I think I got a really good lab partner." Shikamaru smiled up at her.

"Don't worry." Temari laughed, "I won't let us fail this class."

Shikamaru finished flipping through the book and handed it back to Temari, keeping his voice down as Yamato continued to ramble on about rules and such. "You have brothers? Do they go here too? Younger or older?" He was curious about this new girl from California. Something about her was different from most girls he dealt with.

"Yeah, two brothers. Both younger." She kept her voice low so they wouldn't get in trouble with the teacher. "You have any brothers or sisters?" She asked moving her chair closer so they could whisper in peace.

"No, I'm an only child. I live ten minutes from school with my troublesome parents." He sighed, resting his head on his hand. "I can't wait until I graduate and move out of my parent's place…"

Temari nodded, "That's not too bad. I live about the same distance. I also have a pet weasel." She smiled thinking about Kamatari. "He has one eye and is just as much a family member as my brothers." She doodled in the corner of her paper drawing a little one eyed weasel.

"A what?" Shikamaru whispered. He could have sworn she said…yep. She said weasel. He watched as she drew a little picture of what he assumed her pet looked like. Only one eye? "That's…nice. It's good to have pets, I suppose."

She shrugged. "Yeah, he got into a fight with a neighbors dog where we used to live.

At that moment, the bell rang, indicating class was over. Shikamaru gathered his books and pulled out his schedule again. "Ugh…history right before lunch? I'll have a stomachache…" He sighed. "Where are you heading?"

"She closed her notebook and put it away just as the bell rang. "Oh...that was quick." She frowned. She was enjoying her time chatting with Shikamaru. Talking to someone besides her brothers was kind of nice.

"I have calculus then first lunch after that." She said. "History isn't that bad." she smiled throwing her book bag strap over her head. She made her way to the door and paused for a second as a group of other students didn't bother to pay attention and rushed out the door trying to get out of the class. The 'bug boy' from earlier was making his way out and she shot him a friendly smile and a wave.

Shikamaru almost wanted to tell off those students that almost ran them over as they headed out the door, but he decided it was better to stay quiet. He had done enough back talking for the day. "History just isn't really my subject. I like English, but all the teachers here teach the same thing every year. I usually sleep through English class."

"Heh, English is ok. Essays are a pain but they are easy." She shrugged.

"What lunch do you have?" She asked Shikamaru.

"Same one as you, after this period. Guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other this semester." He smiled. "If you want, you can sit with us at lunch. I have a small group of friends that I usually sit with, and you're welcome to join us. No girls though…if that's okay."

"Looks like we will be." She smiled back. "I'd like that...who is us?" She questioned. "I don't mind...I don't normally fit in with many girls anyway...I can't really bother to sit through conversations about clothes or make up or the latest crushes." She rolled her eyes and walked out of the classroom with him.

"I have a couple of friends that I like to hang out with at lunch. Chouji, Naruto, Kiba. You'll like them, and I'm sure they won't oppose to a girl sitting with us either." Shikamaru smiled.

"I see." Temari nodded. "They sound like a nice bunch." She smiled. "I'll see you there..." She waved and watched as he walked off. "Shikamaru..." She slowly turned away walking to her Calculus class.

Soon, it was time for them to part yet again. "Well, I guess I'll see you at lunch. We usually sit at the table at the very right corner of the cafeteria, so just walk right up." Shikamaru waved as he turned to watch to history. "See you then."

Through the entire calculus class Temari only half paid attention. Her thoughts wondered to how her brothers were doing. It was strange...she wasn't really as worried about them as she thought she would be. It was nice in a way but now that she thought about it...how were they doing? She hadn't seen them walking the halls... maybe she just missed them? Or maybe she was just distracted by Shikamaru.

What was it about that guy... he made her feel so relaxed and stress free. She liked it but it felt so different.

Her pencil tapped against the desk and her eyes glazed over as she stared at the same problem on the board for the past ten minutes. She had already solved the problem and was just waiting for the bell to ring so she could get out and go to lunch. How was meeting all his friends going to go?