AM. SO. SORRY. TO. EACH. AND. EVERY. ONE. OF.YOU.
I haven't updated in an eternity's time, I know this. It's just that a lot has been going on lately, I have a project and a paper in each subject (a ritual they always drop on us at the end of third quarter), my mom hasn't been home for three weeks, and my grandfather just died. I'm not trying to roll in self-pity here though, because it was definitely time for him to go, he was in very much pain.
But yeah, those are my pathetic excuses for having been away for so long. Not to mention I had three different documents of this chapter, and I had no idea which version to use.
So, again, I'm so sorry, I hope you guys' interest in this story hasn't been jaded too much from the delay.
Chapter 3:
Battle of the Sexes
"Don't play dumb," Tenten said, almost echoing Sakura's words. "There was an earthquake literally three minutes ago!"
She looked at Neji, who was looking at her as if she were some insane person. If there was anything Tenten hated, and there were honestly very little things in the world she hated, it was being looked at like a freak. She narrowed her eyes at him. He simply cocked an eyebrow in response.
"There was!" She spat at him, immediately biting her lip after. Nice one, Tenten, very nice, she mentally applauded herself sarcastically. Let's just keep on giving him more reasons to strike at me- and win.
"Stop looking at us like that!" Sakura said defensively, catching the collective looks of puzzlement on the guys' faces. "We found this weird piece of glass under a box, and then I dropped it on accident, and it shattered, and then the whole theater just started to shake!"
Silence. A long, twisted, silence just followed after Sakura actually thought about what she said.
Well, damn it, she cursed. At least that made sense.
Now, the guys just started laughing at them as if they had just insisted that algebra had a purpose (AN: sorry about that…I'm kind of multi-tasking with my homework…)
"Wait, wait, ok, wait a minute," chuckled Sasuke, shaking his hands. "So lemme get this straight, you girls decided 'hey, let's go look under a box', did so and found a piece of glass, were easily amused by it, and Sakura in all of her excitement over the little piece of glass, dropped it and it broke, causing an earthquake that effected only the theater." He clapped his hands together. "Well, I think I've got it now!"
"Yes- wha, no, but you-" Sakura began. However, she was cut off by none other then Shikamaru, as he sauntered on over to Ino, who simply scowled at every step he took towards her. She considered stepping back too, but she didn't want to appear weak. Shikamaru then stopped a few feet before them.
"Well, thank you girls, for a very lovely waste of a good fifteen minutes," he said, taking a gallant bow, as well as Ino's hand. Ino's face contorted as she tried to yank her hand away. However, the strength of Shikamaru's grip exceeded her own. What does he think he's doing?? Shikamaru just went on, though.
"And trust me, it was lovely…" Now, he brought Ino's hand dangerously close to his lips. Close enough for Ino to feel the heat of his breath on her skin. Close enough to make Ino's face turn involuntarily pink.
Shikamaru peered up at her with a slick grin, obviously satisfied at her reaction to his sarcastic exploit.
"Is it just me, Ino, or is this tension killing you?" He asked her this with an almost sickly grin on his lazy face. He kept Ino's hands millimeters away from his lips.
Ino's face wrinkled at this trick. Now, Ino understood his game, and was not going to let him win at it. Coming to her senses, she yanked back her hand quickly with thrice the strength she did before and held her wrist with her other one.
"Get off me rat, spare me the aneurysm, please," She scoffed, stroking her hand possessively as if it were a precious artifact that had nearly been tainted.
Shikamaru just looked at her with a satisfied grin and gave a lazy sigh as he scratched the back of his head.
"You just keep thinking that," he laughed into a yawn. "Troublesome woman…"
"Your comeback leaves me numb, truly," Ino replied sarcastically as Shikamaru walked carelessly back to his friends, happy that he succeeded in annoying Ino for about the billionth time in the last three years. Chalk one up for Shikamaru, he thought, grinning.
"So, what was really your intent in coming here, besides getting on our nerves to no end?" Sakura asked them in a sigh, intending to get to the bottom of things.
"Maybe I'm just on crack, but it think we've told you that already," answered Naruto slowly, a confused look on his face.
At this time, Sakura nudged Hinata.
"Time for your revenge!" She hissed into Hinata's ear.
"Um?" Hinata looked up at Sakura, unsurely.
"He tripped you!"
"…"
"Just say something!" Sakura mouthed.
Hinata hesitantly turned to Naruto. "Erm…" She began. "I think you're just on crack."
Naruto's eyebrows shot up, obviously having expected that from one of the other three girls, but not from Hinata. What's the deal with her? He thought. Since when did she start making comebacks of any kind?
Sakura gave a personal sigh. It'll do for now.
A heavy stare-down followed, and a very weird moment occurred.
Both sides were empty of comebacks.
Even though they were both well aware of this fact, neither of them exactly wanted to turn back yet without certain closure. So instead, it was beginning to turn into more than a stare-down…each girls' eyes began to lock with the guys' across from them, and they were unconsciously not blinking…
Realizing this, Shikamaru cleared his throat. "Um," he began. He looked at Ino, who made what sounded like a snorting sound back.
"Fine," he succumbed. "Well, I have no doubts that Naruto's on crack…but do you really want to know why we came here?"
"No," Ino said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "We're sticking around to enjoy the view."
Shikamaru ignored her and started scratching his head again, as he closed his eyes. "Well, it's kind of hard to explain…"
"Just get on with it," urged Tenten impatiently.
"Alright, well, believe it or not-"
"ALL EIGHT OF YOU PUT YOUR HANDS UP WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!"
What the-All eight of the teens were about to turn to the sources of this voice as they hesitantly brought their hands up, but they didn't get a chance.
Because right then, each of them felt a whack against the back of their heads from something that felt like the barrel of a rifle.
"Take them to the station," a raspy voice, which had most likely seen many cigarettes in the past, said. "We'll deal with the rest."
"Right, sir."
These were the last words any of the teenagers could hear before they each quickly slipped into unconsciousness.
I hope the cliffy grabbed people's attention a bit. I apologize for the short length, but I'll but a lot of action in to compensate…I've learned from previous stories that if you don't make action immediate, things get really boring really fast. I hope you guys liked the chapter!