Chapter 3: Regular School Day

"AKIMOTO-CHAN!" A voice called out from behind said person as she walked to school.

"Ohayo Naruto-kun," she said politely.

"I didn't know you lived around here," Naruto said, catching up and walking down the road with his newest friend.

"You met me two days ago," Akimoto said, giggling. "And Sasuke-kun dropped you off before me yesterday on the way home from the mall."

"That's right," Naruto checked his watch. "Hey, we're going to be late!" Instead of arguing that they had 15 minutes left, Akimoto followed her friend to their school, which was only a five minute walk.

"Ha! I win!" Naruto said proudly as he stepped onto the school grounds.

"What did you win dobe?" Sasuke asked.

"How do you always get here before me teme?" Naruto said pouting as he took a seat next to his dark haired rival.

"I drive faster than you walk," he said simply.

"Maybe I should just give up," Naruto said, a mischievous smile gracing his features. "You obviously want to be here first for some reason. Maybe you're hoping that I won't show up—"

"Finally you're catching on," Sasuke muttered, Naruto glared at him.

"You didn't let me finish, you want me to be late because—"

"Ohayo Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, smiling brightly as she walked up to them.

"Of that," Naruto said grinning ear to ear.

"It amazes me how dumb you are," Sasuke said, but Akimoto saw a small blush on his face as he said it.

"What did he do this time, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, looking confused.

"I just pointed out that he likes to get here early so that--," this clearly wasn't Naruto's day.

"Sasuke-kun!" a random girl said, rushing up to him. "Do you want to sit with me at lunch today?"

"No."

"Please, Sasuke-kun," the girl begged.

"No."

"I packed extra tomatoes, I know they're your favorite," the girl tried.

"Just as a warning," Sakura said, glaring at the girl. "Once he says 'no' the second time, he isn't so nice about it." The girl ignored Sakura as if she was part of the bench she was sitting on, and asked once more for Sasuke to join her. "Don't say I didn't warn you," Sakura said, as she motioned for Akimoto to take a step back.

"I don't get along to well with the dobe here, or Huuga Neji," Sasuke said through gritted teeth. "Ino bugs the hell out of me, and Hinata's constant stuttering, kind of gets on my nerves. If Shikamaru says 'troublesome' one more time, I think I might help Ino smack him, and don't get me started on how annoying Sakura can get. However, I would rather be locked in a small room for the rest of eternity with them, then eat one lunch with an irritating fan girl such as yourself. Now, I believe this is the part where you walk away, broken hearted, and never come near me again."

The girl was stunned, however, she was foolishly persistent, "How do you know you wouldn't have a good time Sasuke-kun? You seem too loath you're so called 'friends' so much, why don't you come hang out with me and my friends instead?"

Sasuke sighed, and looked at Sakura nodding to the annoyance in front of him. Sakura grinned as she walked up to the girl, "Let's go on a walk, shall we," it was more of an order than a request.

Sakura left, and didn't return until Ino, Tenten, Neji, and Hinata had arrived. "That girl was stronger than she looked," Sakura said, taking a seat next to Sasuke. "She bit my arm!"

"Who bit your arm?" Tenten asked, inspecting the wound. Sasuke and Sakura exchanged dark looks. "Not another one!" Tenten said, shaking her head sadly.

"She didn't take the warning?" Ino asked a slight laugh in her voice.

"I warned her," Sakura said. "Then Sasuke-kun gave her a speech about how much he loathed her, and then she asked again!"

"Did you beat her into a pulp?" Neji asked, amusement written all over his face. Sakura didn't answer, but her silence spoke louder than any of her words could have. The bell rang and they all made their way into the school, and separated to go to each of their lockers.

At lunch:

"Sasuke-kun, would you like to eat with us today?" A group of girls asked, coming up to the table that Sasuke was already sitting at, eating his lunch contently.

"Wow, I didn't know there were so many girls that had no dignity at this school," Akimoto said.

"And who are you supposed to be?" the leader of the group asked rudely.

"She's my friend," Sasuke said, glaring at the girls. "And if you want to speak with me, you first have to get the approval of her, then Sakura, and if by some miracle Sakura approves, then you may speak with Naruto. Afterwards, you are free to address me without being shoved into a dumpster by whoever is feeling bored at the moment."

"But last year we only had to speak with Sakura and Naruto," one of the girls from the back said.

"There's a problem with that," Naruto said, finishing his ramen. "You already know the rules, therefore in about two, maybe three minutes you will all be soaked." And with that Ino came up from behind them and poured a bucket of water over each and every one of the pathetic girls.

"Are you always this mean to them?" Akimoto asked, watching the girls walk away, some of them in tears others muttering death threats.

"Not all the time," Tenten said. "But if we let them get away with bugging us at the beginning of the year, then they are too much to handle, so for the first week we play pranks on them."

"They're kind of like rodents that way," Sakura added.

"What you saw this morning was actually very nice of us," Naruto said, eating the rest of Hinata's lunch.

"Would you really throw them in the dumpster?"

"Only to improve the smell," Neji said, though the way he was glaring at Naruto, it was obvious he was thinking of doing the same to him. Tenten whispered something in the glaring boy's ear, and he relaxed a little.

"Why do you think Shika-kun didn't make it to school today?" Ino asked.

"Why do you care if he didn't show up?" Sakura asked, smiling innocently at her friend.

"Maybe Temari kidnapped him!" Ino said, ignoring Sakura. "She wasn't here today either…"

"That's because she overslept, and I didn't feel the need to wake her up," Gaara said, walking up to the table. "You dropped this," he added handing a notebook to Akimoto.

"Arrigato Gaara-kun," Akimoto said, blushing ever so slightly. "You didn't read it, did you?" he shook his head. "Not that it matters, it's just notes," she said quickly.

"For what class?" Ino asked.

"Because I feel asleep today, I might need to borrow them," Sakura added.

"It was in the science class room," Gaara said, still standing.

"You can sit down," Akimoto offered.

"Yeah," Tenten said. "We'd hate to make you stand when there's plenty of room."

"There's even an empty seat," Ino started.

"Beside Akimoto," Sakura to finished.

"It's scary when you two do that," Naruto said.

"Watching you eat is even scarier," they both said simultaneously.

"Were you guys twins separated at birth?" Tenten asked in amazement.

"I don't have an overly large forehead," Ino said simply.

"And I my hair isn't a boring color," Sakura said, glaring at her 'twin'.

"Blonde isn't a boring color," Naruto, Ino, and Akimoto said at the same time. "And twins can look different then each other," Akimoto added.

"But no that different," the two girls chorused once again. "Stop doing that!" they glared at each other.

"They're really good at that," Gaara observed.

"I've seen real twins that couldn't finish each other's sentences and speak at the same time," Sasuke mentioned. "Though, they didn't look as different in appearance."

"See, Sasuke-kun agrees with us," Sakura said happily. "We look to different to be twins."

"You still act like it though," Neji said.

"We argue way too much," Ino said simply.

"End of conversation," Sakura added.

"Mostly because the bell's going to ring in about thirty seconds," Tenten muttered under her breath. "Before I forget," she added so everyone could hear her. "I'm throwing a part this weekend, you guys are all invited, that is, if you want to come."

"Sounds like fun to me."

"Hn."

"I l-look forward to it."

"I'll defiantly be there!"

"I'll make it."

"I'd love to come, Tenten-chan!"

"Is it a sleepover? For the girls I mean," Ino asked.

"I haven't really planned it out that much, it could be, if you guys want it to be." All the girls eagerly nodded and Tenten beamed. "A sleepover it is then!"

XxX

Short compared to my other chapter, but I'm out of ideas… So, any suggestions? Comments? Words of wisdom? Words without much wisdom? Doesn't matter, just please review!